Encouraging Participation Through Product Recognition -

Distribution is Key - Blogging...

Blogging has mushroomed on the Internet. It can be harnessed to your classroom motivational needs by giving the students more reason to take pride in their work: It isn't just the teacher who will be viewing what they produce...

Setting Up the Website and Blog

There are many website-based products for blogging online. It is a very popular, growing trend.

Your school's own website might offer blogging options.

My personal choice is Wordpress.

Some school districts, however, block blogs and blog sites on school servers.

My school will not even allow a search in Google with word "blog" included...

You an get around this problem, at least where I work, when you set up your own website domain: because the blog you set up as part of the service plan --- will not have "blog" as part of the URL.

Yahoo! Small Business - Web Hosting: This is the location I have always used for my websites. (There are plenty of other options you can research.)

The cost per month is not much. It includes ample storage space for a class website and any images or videos you upload.

It also includes several blogging options you can set up.

You will need a Yahoo! account to set up a Web Hosting plan. Signing up for both is user friendly.

Blogging Tool

You can write your blog entries online or get a program that allows you to write offline then upload the finished blog entry.

Windows Live Writer is the tool I prefer for my students. It is free for download, easy to setup, and easy to use.

Easy Uploading

If you want to store images, multiple webpages, videos, and other items you link on your blog or main website page, you might want to get a program that makes it easier to upload them.

Dispatch WS_FTP Pro is the program I've always used. There are other options including free downloadable shareware programs you can search for.

Once you have a main website setup at Yahoo! or some other online server, you can run your ftp program and easily configure it to allow simple uploading to your website domain.

Video Editing

Windows Movie Maker comes packaged with most computers. Chances are good that it is on your school computer.

This is a simple video editing program that will take a couple of hours to learn the basics.

It should suit most classroom needs.

Video Distribution

Teacher Tube is a school server-friendly online site where you can upload student/class videos.

Videos from sites like Teacher Tube and You Tube are easy to embed on a blog entry for your site.