Literature Circle Discussion Reflection

Student Blogging Challenge--commenting and catch up

We'll use today to catch up on the Student Blogging Challenge and practice the rules of good commenting.

I. Connecting:

First, visit the list of student blogs and leave comments on at least five different blogs and follow at least three new blogs.  This can also be a good time for your to visit and leave comments on the blogs of anyone who left comments for you. Before you submit two of the comments, copy and paste them in the form below.

  
II. Blogging Challenge Update. 

Have you completed all parts of the Blogging Challenge that have been assigned?  Most importantly, be sure you have:
     1 Created/updated your About Me page (click here for directions)
     2. Created a blog roll (click here for directions)

Done?  Cool, use your time to either write, visit and comment on blogs outside of our class, or read and comment on the cool poetry that students in our classes have published.
  

Poetry Self Assessment

Week 3 Blogging Challenge--Add your blogroll!

This week will be about
Adding great blogs to your blog list

1. To make it easy for visitors to find the blogs of your classmates and friends you need to add their link on your blogroll.
2. To do this, from your dashboard, click on "layout," then on your sidebar, click "add gadget."  Scroll down the list to find the gadget called "blog list." Add it.
3. At at least 10 blogs that you like to your list.  You can add the blog from the url or from your reading list.  At least 5 blogs on your list should be written by students at different schools.  Click here to see the list of Student Challenge participants.  *Don't forget to leave quality comments as you browse!

Literature Circle Novel Evaluation and Selection

Below are the list of novel choices for Literature Circles.  Each is a link to that novel listed on Amazon.  Visit each site, read the desciption of the book and the user reviews. 

Rx

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Rash

I am the Messenger

Unwind

Define Normal

House of the Scorpion

Bang/Bottled up

On a separate sheet of paper, write your name, and rank the books in order of your interest in reading them.  #1 should be the book you would most like to read, #2 the second most, and so on....

Getting Ready for the Student Blogging Challenge

This week begins the Student Blogging Challenge.  It consists of completing different blog-related activities each week and interacting with other student bloggers from around the world.  This week, we'll just be sure that our blog is set up and ready to be viewed by a global audience.

To do for week 1:
Part 1: Change your blog comments settings (for Blogger only)

• *(old layout)In your dashboard, click on "settings," then "comments"
• *(new layout)In the dropdown menu on your dashboard, select "settings," then on the left sidebar select "posts and comments"
• Under "who can comment," select "anyone"
• Under "backlinks" select "show"
• Under "comment moderation" select "always"
• Click "save settings"

Part 2: Update (or create if you don't have one) your About Me page in your blog

•  (Old Blogger interface) Click on"settings" "posting," then "Edit Pages," then "Add New Page."  Title your page, "About Me" 
• (New Blogger interface) In the dropdown menu on your dashboard, select "settings," then on the left sidebar select "pages"
• Tell your readers your first name only, a bit about your interests but remember to be internet savvy and not give out any personal details.

Part 3:  Connect!

• Find your name on the student participant list, check that the link works, then visit at least ten blogs  and leave comments on one of their posts.

For week 2 *(for block 1)

Part 1:
Your place

• Write a post about tourist attractions in your state. Try to include at least five places that Miss W , Davo the Tasmanian Devil or Squirrel would like to visit
• Visit at least five other blogs from students or classes around the world and ask some questions about their town, school, country in your comments. We have participants from 24 countries taking part in the challenge.

Published Writing Self Assessment--March 2