TIME TO SET UP YOUR BLOG!

Unfortunately, we discovered that we can’t have 200 students set up their blogs at the same time with the EMS IP address. SO we need you to set up your blog at home.

Here are step by step directions. Miss Garofalo will check here email from home so if you are having trouble, please send her a message at lgarofalo@ellingtonschools.net and hopefully she can help.

How do I start a web log?

1. Go to www.blogger.com and either log in using your Google account or click on the red box found at the top right corner to sign up. Please make sure you write down your username and password so you can access your account from school.
2. You may need to click through a couple account setting options till you get to a screen that gives you the option to set up a New Blog.

3.    Follow the directions to name your blog and create its URL Address.  The name and URL do not necessarily have to match.  

·         Please start your blog name with your first name and last initial (for example Susan Q’s Blog)

·         The address of the blog should be short if possible. We’ve been suggesting using your initials followed by blogs or reads (for example stqreads or stqblogs). You will need to give this address to your LA teacher so please write it down.

·         Follow the directions to pick a template (you can always change this later), and your blog is ready to go! Click on create blog.

How do I set up my blog the way I want to?

1.    Click on the name of your blog to get to the dashboard for you blog. This is where you can change the design and add new posts as well as change your privacy settings

2.    Go to “Settings” and under ‘basic’ change the “add blog to our listings” and “let search engines find your blog” to “no.”  If you want search engines to find your blog, you MUST make that change with your parent or guardian.

3.    Also under “Settings” page click on the tab for ‘posts and comments’ and change “Who can comment” to be “registered users.”

Additional Guidelines

This blog is a part of a school project.  Therefore, all content on your blog must be related to your reading and writing life in some way.  Please do not use this blog as an online journal.

Our expectation is that we are a community of readers and writers.  We will be monitoring all blogs and trusting that your words that appear online will come from a place of respect for your fellow classmates and have a tone that is appropriate for school.

Extra FeaturesAs you customize your blogs, feel free to utilize all the tools available to you on blogger - some of the more popular tools are found under “Add a Gadget.” A few of my favorites are:

·         labels: you can label each post according to genre, author, topic, etc.  I have found this really helpful when I want to go back and read a certain type of post I’ve done in the past. It also helps new readers to your blog find what they are looking for/interested in.

·         blog list: you can create a list of blogs you are reading on the sidebar. Each time an author posts something new, it automatically moves that blog to the top of your list.

These “How-To” tips were borrowed and adapted from http://www.room116ela.blogspot.com/