BlogMeister is a blogging tool developed for teachers as an authentic publishing environment to promote the development of effective communication skills in students. Teachers establish a blogging account, which they can publish their own articles. Teachers can then set up blogging accounts for their students, which the teacher maintains publishing control.
To Create your own Blog with BlogMeister go to:
History of Class BlogMeister
The creator David Warlick is a 35 year educator -- a classroom teacher, district administrator, and staff consultant with the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. Since 1995, he has been the owner and principal consultant of The Landmark Project, a professional development and innovations firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. During this time David has spoken at numerous conferences and delivered workshops for educators throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and South America. His attribution are: Citation Machine, serves nearly a million page views a day and classroom blogging tool, Class BlogMeister, has served more than a quarter of a million teachers and students.
Comments by the creator, David Warlick; “The Web has changed dramatically since Landmarks for Schools was launched in 1995. At that time, virtually all of its content was published by organizations. Today, an increasing portion of the Web-based information that people are using is published by individuals. We are not only consuming information, but also sharing knowledge and ideas that we care about. Below, I have installed a number of widgets that serve to mine this new social web and provide glimpses at the global conversation -- as of this minute”.
Please view the interview video of David Warlick conducted at ISTE 2010 by EdTech Magazine. The interviews included some of his ideas in two parts, click here and then the 21st century classroom. |
Class BlogMeister is an online classroom blogging tool which is provided free
of subscription or purchase from The Landmark Project. These and all of
David Warlick’s other web tools for teachers are free.
of subscription or purchase from The Landmark Project. These and all of
David Warlick’s other web tools for teachers are free.
Instructional Uses
Using BlogMeister with Students
The principal purpose of BlogMeister is to enable teachers to provide authentic publishing opportunities for their students. One of the barriers for using most general blogging tools is to assure the quality and appropriateness of student publications. Students can work on their writings over a period of time, understanding their writing are not public until the teachers
have reviewed and approved the article. In addition to the articles, all comments posted are filtered through the teachers before they are made available to students.
Some examples of teacher use:
- to present a lesson where students learn how to read and write
- to present a lesson on selecting books - reading
Some examples of student use:
- to demonstrate different book and career interests
- to present a story - The Fairy Tale
- to reading outloud - recording
Here is an example for a an elementary teachers blog classpage:
Another example for a an elementary teachers blog classpage:
This is an example of a blog page by a student:
All Vidoes created on BlogMeister are not downloadable. Here is one from YouTube on Aliens created by a student:
Setting Up A BlogMeister Account
The follow steps were created by David Warlick and modified for this posting, from his Blogmeister_Instructions.pdf supplied for new users of his Class BlogMeister to create teacher blog accounts.
How to Establish a BlogMeister Account:
- First read over the Terms & Condition
- Then go the BlogMeister website: http://landmark-project.com/blogmeister/ and click on the Register button on the right panel. You will need to request a school pass code from David Warlick, BlogMeister author at: david@landmark-project.com
- After entering the school pass code, then you will be asked to fill out an information form. Once this is completed, you will click on Add Me button.
- Type in your name (first & last names) or your e-mail
address in the Login box and your password in the Password box. Then click the Enter button.
- Next you will be asked to register a classroom. The directions suggest for your first blog you might want to team teach. This can be accomplished by going to Select an Existing Class from the classes already registered for your school. Make sure you enter your entire class and give the class a title for your room with a brief description. This will appear for all your blog articles, edit for punctuation and proper capitalization is in place.
Customizing & Publishing to Your Blog Page
Step 1: Customize use the Templates button.
Click on the left and right arrows to find the right Style for your blog. You can do this at any time. While you are editing your page.
Step 2: Once you have a style you want, title your blog. Do this in the edit window to enter the title and click Save Title button.
Step 3: Now you will enter the content of your blog which will be displayed on all your blog articles. Make sure to include class description, about yourself, class and any personal images and favorite links. Make sure it identifies you and your authority to the articles posted. Once completed, click on the Submit Description button.
Step 4: Adding images to your blog, make sure they are approximately 2.5 inches square, and the blog page will automatically size them about 160 pixels. Initial images you should load will be the class picture and your picture. They are placed in the two corners of the page. Please NO Student pictures for these two areas.
Step 5: Make sure you upload to the hard drive all pictures before uploading. Click the Browse button to find your picture off your hard drive. A standard Windows or Mac OS file dialog box will appear. Use the box to identify and select the image you wish to upload. Click the Upload button to move the file from your hard drive to the web page. The image should appear in the upper right of your blog page. Do the same process for uploading a personal picture.
Step 6: To add a new web link, simple type or paste the title into the Add Link title text box and the URL in the Add Link URL text box. Then click Save. You can delete a link from your list by clicking the X to the right of the title.
Adding & Editing Blog Articles
Step 1: To start a new blog article or edit an existing article, go to the edit blog page, login from the main BlogMeister page, and click the Articles tab. The article form will appear enabling you to start a new blog or continue work on an existing one. Suggested you may want to write your original blog articles inside a word processor program so that you will have access to the spelling and grammar checker with a thesaurus. Then you can copy the text paste it into the blog textbox to the right.
Step 1: To start a new blog article or edit an existing article, go to the edit blog page, login from the main BlogMeister page, and click the Articles tab. The article form will appear enabling you to start a new blog or continue work on an existing one. Suggested you may want to write your original blog articles inside a word processor program so that you will have access to the spelling and grammar checker with a thesaurus. Then you can copy the text paste it into the blog textbox to the right.
Editing an existing article, click the article title in the listing below the textboxes. The title and text of the article will appear in the textboxes so that you can begin editing. Again, using word processor program will eliminate spelling and grammar errors.
Step 2: You do not need to publish your blog articles until you are ready. You can come back to edit your blog article, by clicking the Save button not the Publish checkbox will save the article under your account, without being published to the public. Once you are finally ready for the article to display to the public,
then check the Publish checkbox and click Save.
then check the Publish checkbox and click Save.
The three columns indicators are:
Pub will display an asterisk (*) for articles that are published and public.
Cmmt columns display the number of article comments posted approved for public viewing.
Cmmt Pndng column indicates the number of article comments not approved for public viewing.
Step 3: You receive an email when someone comments from the reader and a hyper link to a page where you will be able to read and show, delete, or keep hidden the comment.
Step 4: To review your comments, go to the edit page click the Articles tab.
Then click the triangular twisty icon at the left of the title to review. All comments to the article posted will appear. The articles appear to the right are links labeled Show and Delete. If the comments are not appropriate for public viewing, click Delete. This will remove the comment from the database. If the comment is appropriate, then click Show. If you wish to wait to approve it for posting, then leave it alone.
Setting Up Student Accounts
Step 1: Add a student, click on Class Panel tab at the top of the article section. Make sure to type in the student’s full name and password. If you have student email accounts, add their email accounts.
Step 2: Once students are setup they can access their blog accounts. They will log in at the BlogMeister page with the login name and password to start blog articles.
Step 3: The differences are:
· Students cannot publish
· Teachers can approve their article once they receive email notification, delete the comment, or leave it alone until later.
· Teacher can write a comment, directions, and send back for revisions
· Comments should suggest further revisions, can read them, remain available, and editable.
Activity
Objctives:
1. For teachers and students on how How to Establish a BlogMeister Account
2. For teachers and students will able to realize the importance of the use of blogmeister in their life
Make your own blogmeister account guiding by the ways on how to establish a BlogMeister Account.
