A blogger/educator that I follow is Richard Byrne. He has great tips about everything, but I think his 11 Things You Should Know About Blogging post is highly relevant to all of my students. You are all bloggers now, and while in the future I’ll share this at the beginning of the year, it’s never too late to refresh, remind and renew one’s commitment to their blog. Oh, and the “niche” that he refers to…remember “your sentence”?

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Guy Kawasaki (Apple guru) gives some great tips for presentations:

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I’ve added a calendar for students who give me notice that they are going to be out a week in advance. This way you can be sure if you’ve notified me or not by checking to make sure your name has been added. This should be more efficient than my previous little scraps of paper.

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I’ve added some things to the blogging instructions and put it in the important docs. These are things I look for when grading your blog. I’ve discussed all of this in class, but maybe having it in writing will help some of you.

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I’ve posted this, discussed it in class, put it in the syllabus, discussed it with students one-on-one, yet there is still confusion as to the one week absence rule. I’ll try once again to clarify…

If you are going to miss class for any SCHOOL related reason you must notify me a week in advance. If you do not you may not make-up anything you miss in class like tests or classwork.

What is a school related reason?

• Blood drive
• Field trip
• ANY drama, leadership or club activity

What is not school realted and therefore does not fall under the one-week rule?

• Doctor, dentist, orthodontist appointments
• General illness
• Family Emergency

I hope this helps clear any confusion. This is a rule I implemented six or seven years ago, it’s nothing new, however the constant misunderstandings are new. So take note.

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Really and truly I am finally done, and pretty happy, with the website changes. In addition to the overall look I’ve made some other changes I hope you like:

1. Student blogs are all listed under the “blogs” tab.

2. I’ve added a contact tab where you can easily send me a message.

3. The biggest change you will find is the “instruction” tab. There you will find the blogging instructions and websites, in addition to any other generic, non-class specific, instructions you might need.

4. I’ve changed the “docs” page (now called “important docs”) so that people with iOS devices should be able to access the content without issue. You should just click on the button for whatever it is you want to view and you will be taken to that page. Be sure and let me know if the new system doesn’t work.

5. This last item isn’t a new change but people are still having problems posting their scribe posts. You just need to type your message into the comment box, click “post as” in the lower right corner. When the box pops up it defaults to guest. Just type in your email. In the your name box type:

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I need every single person to IMMEDIATELY check the reading setting of your blog. Go in your dashboard and under “setting”, “reading” please make sure it is set to “full text” NOT summary. I need it set to full text to help me grade things faster.

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