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Day Two

Need Help?

Three Before Me

Ask three people before you ask your teacher.

One of those people can be Google!

Other links you might find useful:
Don't stay stuck, help yourself!

Reminder - During presentation or discussion time when you don't need your laptop, keep it closed to conserve the battery.

Day Two Overview

Crafting a Blog Post
POST Filter
Online Features of a Blog

Crafting a Blog Post

Now it's our turn to write a blog post. One type of blog post is to write a reflection on something. Today, we will write a reflection on something we've learned in Laptop BootCamp.

The word “reflection” means the act of “bending back again.” Like a face in a mirror or sunlight on a lake, images or light are bent back toward you. When we reflect on our learning, we think back to what we used to know and realize how our thinking has changed.

For a good blog post, you need a beginning, a middle, and an end.
  • Beginning:
    • Hook
    • Introduce the topic.
  • Middle:
    • Explain what you used to think.
    • Explain what you learned.
    • Explain how you learned it.
  • End:
    • How will this learning changed your thinking?
    • How will this learning impact your future?
    • What should the reader realize now?/what is the reader’s take away?

Activity

In a Google doc, make a list of ideas for your bootcamp reflection blog post. Think about everything we've done so far in bootcamp: opening kickoff session, setting up your laptop, one of the lessons you've attended...

Start writing a draft of your reflection blog post. Keep your saved draft in Google docs for tomorrow.


POST Filter

Remember yesterday's Think Before You Post lesson? What are the three things we should think about before we post anything online?

Along with following the online sharing guidelines in Think Before You Post, we should also make sure that the posts that we publish online are of good quality.

Compare your list of what makes a good quality blog post from yesterday to our SAS Checklist for a Meaningful Blog POST - the "POST filter".

Use this checklist each time you make a blog post. Notice the T is Think Before You Post!


Online Features of a Blog

One thing that makes blogging unique is the ability to add media (photos, videos, audio, etc) to your writing to help illustrate your point. We cannot use media unless we’ve been given permission from the artist. (Think Before You Post!)

Look at your reflective blog post, make a short list of search terms for images that might help your readers understand your blog post better. Now use the SAS Guide to Copyright Friendly Media to find photos you have permission to use. By following this guide, you are making sure that you have permission to use the photos that you find. The SAS Guide to Copyright Friendly Media gives you the following four options for media you have permission to use.

https://sites.google.com/a/sas.edu.sg/sas-ms-tech-resources/


Choose a photo

Experiment with Google Stock Images and CC Search to find a photo you can use for your blog post. (Click the image above for instructions for each of those methods.) Once you find a photo you like, put credit information into your google doc draft. (Again, see the guide above for how to give credit.)

Publish your blog post

Now that you have a draft blog post with a photo to go with it, we are ready to publish!
  1. Make sure you are logged in to your SAS Google account and then go to blogger.com.
  2. Copy your draft blog post from GDocs to Blogger. (How to make a blog post instructions)
  3. Insert your photo wherever it makes sense to in your post. (top, bottom, side...) Include credit for the photo somewhere in your post (caption area or somewhere else). (Instructions for adding photos and captions)
  4. Don't forget the following:
Blog post title - Laptop BootCamp Reflection (or another appropriate title)

Labels - Copy and paste ALL of the following core labels into the label area of your blog post.

gr6, homebase, bootcamp, math, pe, ela, science, ss

Now copy and paste YOUR elective class labels separated with a comma. Don't copy them all.

art, band, chinese, choir, cooking, dance, drama, french, coding, spanish, strings, support, teched, video, learning

Before you publish, THINK BEFORE YOU POST!

brain photo by Martha Ormiston, from The Noun Project

Publish!


Add a Labels Gadget

Check your labels

Before adding a labels gadget, let's check your class labels from your previous blog post. Look at your blog post and make sure your labels are:

Labels - gr6, homebase, bootcamp, math, pe, ss, ela, science

For future blog posts, use "gr6" and the appropriate class label. You may also use any topic words you wish to use.
(Example:  gr6, math, fractions)

(If you need to fix a label, first delete it and update the blog post, then go in and edit the post again and add the correct label and update. Instructions)

Add a labels gadget

Once your settings are good to go, take a few minutes and add the Labels Gagdet to the sidebar of your blog. This will make it easier for you to look at blog posts for only one class.

Adding a Labels Gadget in Blogger