Blog+Overview

Over the course of the next few weeks, you all are going to reflect on essential questions in a blog of your own creation. Your blog will be a place for you to explore your own ideas, discuss readings from class, and be creative in your approach to our essential questions. See the details below for getting started on this assignment.

**CREATING A BLOG **

For our final two essential questions for this semester, instead of showing your response to the reading in a traditional journal, test, or essay form, you will be creating an online journal (or blog) as a space to explore the text and our discussion of it. Please be sure to implement the privacy settings as instructed below as it is my responsibility to ensure that this is a safe and secure environment for you.


 * __Complete the following steps by the time you come to class on MONDAY: __ **


 * Step 1 **: Go to [|www.blogspot.com]


 * Step 2 **: Select Create Blog. Sign in using your CFA Google account or your own personal Google Account. Follow the steps for establishing your Blogger account.


 * Step 3 **: Create your blog and follow directions on screen for naming and choosing a template.


 * Step 4 : **Name your blog and url according to your first name ONLY, class, and assignment. For example – “Audrey's American Ideal Blog." Please make sure your name is some part of the url for this blog.


 * Step 5 **: Personalize your blog :
 * Go to “Design” in the top right and then “Template Designer” - you can change the format, colors, theme, etc.
 * Add, delete, and arrange page elements for your blog to create the design you want.


 * Step 6 : Set Permissions : **
 * From your dashboard, Go to Settings.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Up top, click on Comments and set your blog to allow Registered Users to be able to comment on your blog.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Up top, click on Permissions and set your blog to allow Anyone to view your blog.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Step 7 **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">: Copy and paste the link for your blog into an email and send to Mrs. Holsten. Please put your name in the subject line of the email. This step is important so I know you have completed steps 1-6 and so I can bookmark your page for future viewing.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Step 8 : For extra points and pizzazz … **
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Under Design, go to “Add a Gadget” and select from options available
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Add a cluster map to show how many hits from different places you get on your blog --[]
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Add a free Avatar as a Gadget on your home page – go to [|www.voki.com] (see wiki for example


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Overview of Blog Requirements : **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">1) For each Blog Post, you should develop your answers to between **400-500** words. You should utilize paragraph format; most likely each post will be **2 to 3 paragraphs** in length.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2) Blog writing is largely about creating a unique and personalized voice; as such, you may use **first person** on your blog. Please remember, however, that though this is an online journal, good rules of writing always apply – you need complete sentences and proper word choice (i.e. no “u” instead of “you” or other “texting” shorthands).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3) Carefully review the **rubric** below before starting your first post; I will be looking for key things in your analysis like clear topic sentence **claims**, strong **evidence**, and thoughtful **commentary**.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4) You should choose **from the prompts posted on our wiki each week**, but also feel free to explore other thoughts and ideas you considered in reading the text.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5) Add visual images, gadgets, web sources that you feel enhance your blog and/or your understanding in some way. Make this your own by being **original** and **creative**. My expectation is that your blog is more than just text. Some places to explore as you search the web :

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">→ Search for current news stories relating to what it means to be an American: [] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">→ Search for images on the web to add to your blog : [] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">→ Add audio files (music or podcasts) to your blog : [] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">→ Add video files from You Tube to your blog : []

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