Blogging is an art and a skill that many practice – but only a few master.

Luckily for us, great bloggers often like to write about blogging, so that the rest of us can learn from their success and expertise.

We scoured the web for what professional bloggers have to say that might be applicable to educators and blogging with students. Here are our five favorite pro tips for writing better posts, getting more comments, and helping your students get the most educational value out of their blogs.

If you have any other tips that you think would be helpful for students, please share them in the comments!

1. Turn Your Blog Post Upside Down

This first tip comes from well-known ProBlogger Darren Rowse. What he means by “turn your blog post upside down” is that rather than the focus of a post being on your own thoughts, have the comments and discussion be the real meat or purpose of the post. This can be as simple as asking the reader a question or prompting them to share their thoughts early on in your post

You can even put the question or prompt in your headline. Post titles like “Twitter or Facebook: Which Is Better for Engaging Students Online?” or “How To Flip Your Classroom: Leave Your Tips Here” invite readers to leave feedback for the author.

If you engage readers early on in your post rather than waiting until the end to ask for thoughts, you can increase the number of comments you will get on your posts. For new bloggers, getting feedback in the form of comments is one of the most exciting parts of blogging!

2. Write What You Love

If students are blogging for a class, then chances are the decision to start a blog was not made of their own volition. There’s also a good chance they may not be free to choose the subject of their blog. When possible, it is, however, a great idea to let students write on a subject about which they are truly passionate.

BlogHer author Mariel Sunday Wangsgard accurately states that “[m]aintaining a blog is a lot of work, and if you don’t love [insert topic here] enough to write about them several days a week — until the end of time (or you quit) — don’t start. If you don’t have the passion for your topic, you don’t have much to offer your readers… and, they will soon be gone.”

Students may have a captive audience since their classmates are often required to read what they write, so losing their audience may not be a huge concern. Take me at my word, though, when I tell you blogging will be a much more enjoyable experience for both author and audience if the students are excited about what they are writing!

Leave room for personalization and creativity when assigning students topics to write about. Even if students will be required to write about specific class-related topics, there may still be opportunities to let them insert a bit of what they are passionate about into their blogs.

3. Produce Your Own Media Content

There are four great reasons to have students create their own media – which includes, photos, videos, slideshows, vines, animated gifs, and more.

First, media makes a blog more interesting. Newspaper, magazine, and online publishers understand the value of an intriguing photo. As publishers, your students should also understand how to enhance their writing with well-placed media.

Second, when teaching students about copyright, fair use, and media, what better way to avoid any copyright issues than to have them create their own media instead of using someone else’s?

Third, learning basic photo, video, or audio editing skills is something that students will be able to apply in other classes and other aspects of their careers as they progress.

Finally, as tip author Jim Belosic points out in the original post, using media wisely can help improve the SEO of a blog. This may not be instantly applicable to your students’ class blogs, but it is a good general blogging lesson and can significantly increase the sharing of and engagement on a blog post.

4. Write Catchy Headlines

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen student blog posts with horrible, terrible, no-good headlines. I understand that sometimes it is a necessity that for the sake of organization – and the grading teacher’s sanity – blog posts be named things like “Assignment 21” or “Reflection Essay 12/20/14.” Yet, when possible, it is a wonderful idea to have the students focus on writing good headlines.

Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Local, originally shared this tip with the intent of helping bloggers get more clicks on their posts. For students, though, writing good headlines is better used as a writing exercise than a way to get site traffic.

Asking students to write good headlines not only forces them to focus on the main point of their post, it also challenges them to distil that idea down into a few select words. Writing catchy headlines can be a challenge. In fact, it might be more of a challenge than writing the rest of the post!

5. Make Posts Social

This is a great tip for any classroom that is not restricted by policies requiring class or student blogs to be fully private.

This tip was originally shared by Mike Bal, director of social media and content at Single Grain, who suggests using social content like embedded social posts and prewritten tweets to maximize your post’s shareability. Yet, you don’t have to go that far to make your posts more social.

Simply teaching your students how to add social sharing plugins or social widgets to their blog will help them better understand the process of content distribution and learn the important role that social media plays in sharing their work with a wider audience.

What Else?

Those are our five pro blogging tips to share with students. Now it’s your turn! What is the one tip you think students should know as they begin blogging? Let us know in the comments below.

Happy blogging!

Last week we launched a year-long blogging series where educators blog together weekly around a common topic or theme.

Prompt #1 focused on My Blog story and its aim was to help participants get to know each other better.

This is a summary post of what we’ve learned from everyone’s stories!  You’ll find links to every My Blog Story at the bottom of the post.

Blogging Challenges

There are lots of barriers that keep us from blogging and the ones shared with us include:

• Time challenges….balancing work commitments with family and personal life.
• Blogging and sharing online makes me feel uncomfortable.
• Desire for perfection.
• Fear I have nothing worth saying.
• Unsure of what to write about.
• Struggle to decide the direction I would like to take my blog.  What to share?
• What do I have to offer?  There are so many excellent educator blogs.
• Fear nobody will be interested in what I say.
• My ignorance will be exposed.
• I struggle with writing and worry it won’t have the character, charm, or voice I often see in popular educator’s blogs.

Benefits of Blogging

Yet benefits absolutely outweigh the challenges and the ones shared include:

• Blogging helps reflect — and reflecting on teaching practices is one of the best ways to improve.
• Changes how I learn.
• I developed a personal learning network — connecting with other educators who help and support my learning.
• Helped me become a better writer.
• Gave me a voice and mechanism to share my thoughts and help others.
• Can lead to career opportunities including travel, authoring books, conference presentations, and new job roles.
• Blogging has helped me define myself and has encouraged me to believe my voice matters.
• Sharing what we were learning in class with families made it a more transparent classroom which improved communication, awareness, and overall student success.
• Students benefited from informal writing on their blogs and exchanging comments.  I was able to work through all aspects of digital citizenship as part of the blogging process.

Blogging Goals

Goals for participating in the #EdublogsClub included:

• Get into the habit of blogging consistently.
• Improve my writing skills.
• To become comfortable with putting my thoughts out there.
• Create deeper connections with educators around the World.
• Decide what I want to share and what’s important to me.
• Help me clarify the purpose and audience of my blog.
• Find my voice.
• Engage in more conversations in comments with my readers.
• To do and experience what I am asking my students to do when I ask them to blog.
• Help me develop professionally and allow me to be better organized.
• Find effective ways to keep up with reading other blogger’s posts.

Blogging Tips

And the more experienced bloggers shared their tips!

Below are quotes of our favorite tips or inspirational statements!

We couldn’t include all their tips so have linked their name to their posts so you can check them out.

Justine Hughes

Just jump in and enjoy.  Don’t be afraid to share your ideas. You’ll find that everyone is really supportive and encouraging, particularly if they’ve joined a challenge such as this one.  You’ll be surprised by the feedback conversations and connections that develop.  Don’t feel that it has to be an ‘academic standard’ essay-type exercise.  Think of it more as a conversation with other like minds.

Jo Prestia

I’m proud to say I have a little following and every now and then I get feedback. However, I don’t write to get comments or praise (though it is nice!). I just write because I like it. It helps me think – in writing.

Michelle Pacansky-Brock

I have made mistakes. And I’ve learned from them. But I’m still here. I’m still blogging. And I’m still learning. And that is something I hope all educators strive to model for students.

Robert Schuetz

I started blogging with the hope of initiating some sort of revolutionary change in education. What I’ve learned is blogging is much more satisfying when I just write for myself.

Sue Wyatt

You need to become a connected educator for blogging to succeed. Read other people’s blogs, leave tweets about posts you have written, and connect with other teachers who also blog.

Dan Gallagher

Keep blogging, even if you don’t believe someone is reading, because you never know who is or will be reading. I have on several occasions returned to past posts to recall what I did to set up a workflow or try to remember a tool I recommended a ways back which might help one of my teachers now.

Damianne President

The advice that I would give my younger self would be to blog regularly and to engage with colleagues, the community of bloggers, and Twitter chats for ideas to blog about.

 Lyn Hilt

My advice for new bloggers is to write for YOU. Don’t write for page views. Don’t write for RTs. Write to share your ideas, to reflect, to ponder. Write to unleash your creative spirit. Write to make a difference. Schedule time in your day to write. Write every day, something, somewhere. You don’t always have to click publish. Don’t be discouraged if you hit a lull or encounter writer’s block. I used to blog several times a month, and now I’m lucky if I blog several times a year. Life happens, responsibilities shift…. your blog is a space you can always call home and it will welcome you back with open arms when needed.

Luis

One of the fears of many bloggers: having posts with no comments. Most, if not, all bloggers have had blog posts that have not received a comment. Don’t let this be something that demotivates you. Most of those blog posts are still read by a lot of visitors. I’ve had a lot of blog posts that have not received comments but I know that they have been viewed by many visitors

Sue Waters

Make it a goal to read and comment on as many of the posts as possible.  You learn as much, if not more, by reading/commenting as writing your posts and it helps generate ideas for things to blog about.

And don’t forget — what is obvious to you is amazing to others.  Don’t assume others know what you know.  There is always someone who will be grateful for what you shared — even if they don’t necessarily tell you.

Don’t Forget to Comment

Remember blogging is about connecting with others!

Visit the #EdublogsClub participant’s posts to leave feedback and comments on as many as you can.

We’ve included links to all My Blog Story submitted so far below to make it easier:

If you’re anything like us, you’re taking more photos than ever but there’s an important next step which is often overlooked — organizing and archiving.

Google Photos is our favorite solution for storing, organizing, and sharing photos and videos.

It’s easy to use and it’s free, yet many people still don’t know about this useful service. We’re here to help!

This complete guide explains how Google Photos works, how to get started, and lots of tips and tricks for getting the most out of it.

Contents of this Post

Google Photos boasts many excellent features.

Use the menu below to navigate our guide and learn all about Google Photos.

What Is Google Photos?

Getting Started with Google Photos

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Memories

Create Movies, Animations, and Collages

Google Photos Albums

Google Lens

Storage and Space

Digitize Old Photos

Add a Partner Account

Safety and 2 Step Verification

Embedding Tips for Bloggers

Don’t have time to read the guide? Here is a two page cheat sheet you’re welcome to download and share.

Download the PDF summary.

The Basics – What Is Google Photos?

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was released in 2015 and is now hugely popular worldwide.

Google Photos stores your photos and videos in “the cloud” — this is just tech-talk for online storage.

In the past, you might have plugged your phone or camera into your computer and laboriously transferred all your photos and videos. From there, you might have backed up your computer on an external hard drive.

While extra backups can still be a good idea, especially for important files, storing your photos and videos in the cloud does have many advantages, such as:

• It’s quick and easy — you can set up backups to occur automatically when you’re connected to wifi.
• You can access your photos or videos from any device (phone, tablet, computer) as long as you have internet access.
• Sharing albums, photos, or videos with others is simple.
• Running out of storage on your phone is a thing of the past! Once your photos or videos have been uploaded, you can free up space on your phone.

There are a number of services available where you can store your photos in the cloud but Google Photos is particularly popular. Let’s take a look at why.

The Benefits of Google Photos

These are the main reasons why we consider Google Photos the best cloud storage service going around:

• You get unlimited storage for free. You can pay if you want your photos stored with the original resolution but you’ll probably find the standard high quality free version is fine. (Images over 16MP are compressed to size, and videos are capped at 1080p resolution). We explain storage more later on.
• It’s packed with numerous features to organize, use, share, and manage photos and videos.
• It works on all devices seamlessly.
• You don’t need to be overly tech-savvy to use Google Photos. It’s fairly intuitive and straightforward to navigate.
• Other people don’t need to have Google Photos to be able to view the content you share with them (sharing is optional; your content is private by default).
• You can archive photos that you want to keep, but don’t necessarily want to revisit like screenshots or receipts (find out more about archiving).
• It’s easy to find a specific photo. You don’t need to remember the date the photo was taken. You can search by someone’s name, an event, objects, places, text in a photo, or even a map.
• You can make movies, animations, collages, and albums to save, share, or embed.
• You can access Google Lens to identify objects in photos, copy-paste text from textbooks and documents, translate text in textbooks and on signs, scan QR codes, and more. 
• You can relive your favorite memories within the app (a very popular feature).

Google Photos has become more than just an app to manage your photos, it’s become the home for your life’s memories.

Here’s a summary of why we recommend Google Photos. Feel free to share this summary graphic with others!

How to get Started with Google Photos

Getting started with Google Photos is simple:

1. Download the free app from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Open the app and sign in to your Google account. Chances are, you’ll already have a Google account (such as Gmail). If not, it’s quick and easy to sign up.
3. Once you’re signed in, you simply follow the prompts to start uploading your photos and videos. Be prepared: this can take a while if you have a lot of images and videos. Make sure you’re connected to wifi if you don’t want to waste your mobile data.

There’s also a web version of Google Photos for uploading pictures and videos that are stored on your computer. You can view and share images and videos via the web version but the app is better for exploring memories or creating movies.

How to View Your Photos and Videos

To view your uploaded photos and videos, you simply open the app or visit the Google Photos website from any device.

Go to https://photos.google.com on the web, or tap on the Photos tab in your app to view all your photos sorted in order of date uploaded.

The great thing about Google Photos is it doesn’t matter if you use multiple devices; as long as you’re signed in to your Google account you’ll be able to access your photos and videos.

Navigating the Google Photos App

The Google Photos app has three main tabs at the bottom: Photos, Search, and Library.

You’ll notice the app looks ever so slightly different depending on whether you’re using an iPhone/iPad or Android device.

Let’s take a closer look.

The first tab is Photos. This is where you see your past Memories and most recent photos.

The next tab is Search. This is where you can look for your photos by person, category, map, or things. You can also view your creations: animations, collages, and movies.

The third tab is Library. Here you’ll find your Albums, Favorites, Archives, and Trash. You can also make animations, collages, and movies through the Utilities option.

You view an individual photo by tapping on it. This is also how you access the options for editing and sharing a photo.

The image below explains what all the icons on a photo mean.

This is what the icons surrounding an individual photo mean:

• Cast to: Allows you to stream your photos from your phone to your TV using Chromecast. If you don’t have a Chromecast, you won’t see this icon.
• Favorite: Adds the photo to your favorites folder.
• More Options: Lets you add to album, archive, delete, and edit photo information. You can also open the image in Snapseed which is a photo editing app.
• Share: Used to easily share a photo with others. The icon looks a little different on iPhone/iPad but is in the same position as the image above.
• Edit: Used to apply filters to your photos; adjust light, color, or pop; rotate or crop the photo. If you want more complex photo editing tools you’d go to More Options (…) and then Open in Snapseed.
• Google Lens: Image recognition software designed to bring up relevant information using visual analysis. We explain this tool more further on.

Backup And Sync in the Google Photos App

If you take photos on your phone, the easiest way to get them to your Google Photos account is via backup and sync.

My phone is set to automatically upload my photos to Google Photos when I’m connected to wifi. It’s a good idea to make sure this setting is turned on if you have a limited data plan on your phone (so you don’t waste all your mobile data).

To turn on the wifi backup setting:

• Open your Google Photos app and tap on your profile image (or initial) in the upper right corner of the app.
• Tap Photos settings (the gear icon).
• The first option is Backup & sync. Toggle to activate backup & sync.
• Make sure the two options at the bottom of the screen, “Use cellular/mobile data to back up photos” and “Use cellular/mobile data to back up videos” are turned off.

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Search

Google Photos uses complex techniques to analyze and group photos which make its search very accurate and powerful!

You can search for people, pets, places, things, text, and more. You can type in search terms like “tennis”, “Sydney”, “Mike birthday”, “carrot cake recipe”, “Charlotte wedding” or anything else that springs to mind. You can have multiple search terms too like “2016 summer Steven picnic”.

What makes all these search options great is you don’t need to remember the specific date or even any specific details of the photo you’re looking for.

To find a specific image in Google Photos:

1. Click or tap on the Search tab at the bottom of the Google Photos app (or use the search bar on the web).

2.  When you start typing in your search, suggestions will pop up like recent searches, people you’ve named, location and so on.

3.  When you enter your search term you’ll see all the options which you can then scroll through and select.

Naming People and Pets

If you use Google Photos a lot, it can be very helpful to name your friends and family. You can also give pets a name!

When you click on a photo of a person or pet at the top of the Search tab, it pulls up any photo you’ve uploaded to Google Photos with them in.

Want pets included? Go to Photo settings > Group similar faces in your app and turn on Show pets with people.

You can name the faces of people for easy future searching too. This is how you do it:

1. In the Search tab of your app, you’ll see faces of people (or pets) who show up in a lot of your photos.

2. Tap on the photo of the person or pet you want to name.

3.  Tap on Add a Name.

4.  Type their name and tap Done if it’s a new name.

Or select from an existing list of names if it matches an existing name you’ve already created. Then tap Yes for merge.

Google Photos Memories

Memories is a feature that was added to Google Photos in 2019 and due to its popularity, it became a main feature of the app in mid-2020.

Memories are collections of some of your best photos and videos from the past. Memories are available on Android devices, iPhones, and iPad (not on the web version).

Only you can see your Memories unless you choose to share them.

To access your Memories, simply go to your Photos tab in your app. Memories are displayed in a carousel above the grid of your most recent photos.

Tapping on a preview for a year opens up your memories of photos and videos.

You can select the types of Memories you want to see in Settings:

• At the top right of the app, tap your account profile photo or initial and then Photo settings > Memories.
• From here you can hide particular people, pets, and dates if you don’t want to revisit these memories.

Embedded content like slides, quizzes, polls, videos, and storybooks are a great way to create opportunities for reader engagement and interaction not achievable using plain text or images.

Most online tools provide embed code that you can use to embed what you’ve found or created into posts.

We’ve assembled a list of the most popular tools used on class blogs, student blogs and personal educator blogs by activity type to help get you started.  We’ve included:

1. A brief explanation of why each tool is used with students.
2. Embedded examples of each so you can check how they work.
3. How to embed into posts.
4. A chart to identify which of the sites allow students to create an account.

Tools were chosen on the basis of their popularity, ease of use, and ability to be embedded into posts.

Audio Hosting Websites

Audio is used for a wide range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging auditory learners.

Educators use audio hosting websites when they want to embed their audio within embedded players rather than uploading them directly to posts as a links.  Audio Boo and SoundCloud are the most commonly used audio hosting websites.

AudioBoo

AudioBoo is a website, and a smartphone and tablet app, which allows users to post and share sound files.

The AudioBoo embedded below was used by the teacher to help students practice learning about nouns and naming words.  You can see how the teacher used Audio boo with her students in her Audioboo – Time for Grammar – Nouns and Naming Words post.

Students under 13 can create their own AudioBoo’s provided it is part of a school-led initiative.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform that allows users to upload, record, promote, and share their own sounds.

The teacher used the Soundcloud embedded below to engage the students, showcase their creativity, and make the essence of a story memorable. You can read more about the activity and check out their Soundclouds here.

Your students must be over 13 if you want them to upload their own audio to Soundcloud.

Audio Presentation Tools

Audio is used for a wide range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging auditory learners.

Audio presentation tools allow you to combine images (or videos) with audio.  Popular audio presentation tools include Fotobabble; VoiceThreads; and Voki.

Fotobabble

Fotobabble enables you to create a talking photo.  It is excellent for speaking practice and students find it engaging.

The Fotobabble embedded below was created by an ESL student.  Their task was to choose a photo from a field trip and use Fotobabble to talk about what they like about the trip and what they learnt.  You’ll find links to all their fotobabble in the comments here.

Another task the students did was to make a one-minute Fotobabble review of a book using a book image sourced from Amazon.  You can read more about the process of creating the Fotobabble and check out all their book reviews here.  Fotobabble was also used to share their artwork.

Your students must be over 13 if you want them to create their own Fotobabbles.

Voicethreads

VoiceThreads is an online media album that can contain any type of media and it allows other people to make comments in 5 different ways (voice using a microphone or telephone, text, audio, or video).

Embedded below is a Voicethread created by Michael Graffin’s PLN Voicethread Project.

You can read more about using Voicethreads with students here.  Students under 13 are allowed to have a Voicethreads account provided it is created by the educator or school.

Voki

Voki allows you to create talking avatars which is excellent for speaking practice and engaging students.   Teachers and students also like to add them to their blog sidebar to welcome visitors to their blogs. You can embed Vokis in posts and pages.

Students under 13 can create their own Vokis.

Brainstorming Tools

Brainstorming tools help students think up new and creative ideas quickly and easily. Brainstorming allows students to comprehend connections between concepts and helps them with their thinking process.

Popplet

Popplet is a popular collaborative brainstorming tool that can be used to create graphic organizers, timelines, and many other visual organization forms.  Popplet is also a powerful presentation tool.  Students can create puppets on their computers or using the iOS app.

Check out the following popplet to see how it can be used for maths.

Students must be over 13 to create their own Popplet.

Watch this video on how to use the Popplet lite app.

Padlet

Padlet, originally known as Wallwisher, is an online notice board creator.  Padlet’s popularity is how fast and easy it is to create engaging activities to use with students.

You can read more about using Padlet with students here. Students under 13 are allowed to create their own padlet provided it is under the supervision of the teacher or school.

Book Creation Tools

Book creation tools allow students to quickly create their own beautiful books.  We’ve included Book Creator for iPad in Step 9: All About Video because books created using this app are often shared as a video.

Storybird

Storybird is an online book creation tool that provides artwork and templates that students can use to create their stories. Students can also browse their Picture book gallery and embed Storybirds created by others into posts.  You need to be logged into a Storybird account to access the embed code.  You can only embed Picture Books into posts.

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Storybirds.

We’ve embedded Storybirds: A Simple Guide for Teachers and Students below so you can see what a Storybird looks like.  You can check out some examples of Storybirds created by students here.

Comic and Cartoon Tools

Comic and cartoon tools can be very engaging for students, especially visual learners, and are another way that students can enhance their posts with images.

ToonDoo

ToonDoo is a comic strip and comic book creation tool. We’ve embedded examples of a Toondoo comic strip and comic book below.

Learn more about using ToonDoo with students here.  Students under 13 aren’t allowed to create their own ToonDoos.

Students under 13 can create their own comics using Make Beliefs Comix.  Once the student has created their comic it needs to be saved onto their computer and then uploaded to their post as an image.

whatedsaid

 

TeacHer toons by whatedsaid | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Curation tools

Curation tools allow you to collect, preserve, maintain, archive, and share information.  The goal of content curation is to find the most relevant content pertaining to a specific category and funnel this information for yourself and your readers in a very targeted way.

Livebinders

Livebinders allows you to curate webpages, PDFs, documents, images, or videos into a digital 3-ring binder.  Content can be curated by tab and subtabs within tabs.

The Livebinder below is used by the teacher to share resources from classes.

Check out the following for more information:

1. Using live binders with students
2. Using Livebinders on iPads

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Livebinders provided their parent or guardian agrees to their terms and conditions.

Scoop.it!

Scoop.it! is a curation platform that enables users to collect news, articles, and other sources found on the Internet, and share them on their own custom-themed Scoop.it! site.  Scop.it! is like a social bookmarking website but with a visual, online magazine-like format.

Some bloggers set up their Scoop.it! account to auto post their scoops to their blog.  You can also embed a link to your Scoop.it site in a post or page.

Students over 13 can use Scoop.it! with parent or guardian approval.

Storify 

Storify allows you to curate your own stories from photos, videos, tweets, what people post on social media sites and your own narration.

Read more about using Storify with students here.

Students under 13 can’t set up a Storify account but they could embed Storify’s created by other users such as news services into posts.

Poll, Survey, and quiz tools

Online polling and survey tools help you gather opinions, collect votes, and see and share results immediately.  Some of these tools can also be used to create quizzes.

Google Forms

Google Forms is part of the freeware web-based office suite offered by Google within Google Drive.  Google Forms can be used for planning events, surveys, student quizzes, and collecting other information in an easy, streamlined way.

The Google Form embedded below is an example of how you can use it for a simple poll.   You’ll find an example of a more extensive Google Form embedded in this post.  Graphs and data generated from this form were compiled into our State of Educational Blogging 2016 post.

Watch this video to learn more about using Google Forms.

PollDaddy

PollDaddy allows you to quickly create online surveys, polls, and quizzes.

Presentation tools

Presentation tools allow you to publish and share presentations in a range of formats online.

Animoto

Animoto is a great site for quickly creating professional-looking videos from your images.  It is a great tool to use with students because it allows them to focus on content creation rather than trying to learn an editing or manipulation tool. In the school context, Animoto For Education is the ideal tool for students to create their own book trailers, digital stories, or music videos.

Below is an example of a student-created animito.  Check out more student work here and learn more about using Animoto with students here!

Students under 13 are allowed to use Animoto for Education under the direct supervision of the teacher within the classroom.

Our trip

Biteable

Biteable online tools that allow you to make animated videos and presentations easily.  Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Biteable presentation.

Below is an example of a presentation created using Biteable.

Australian Animals on Biteable.

Watch this video to learn how to make a video using Biteable.

https://youtu.be/PUKWRHhmId4

Glogster

Glogster allows you to combine images, video, music, photos, and audio to create interactive posters.  Glogster encourages students to gather their information, synthesize it, remix it, and then create their original presentation. It is an excellent alternative to the traditional classroom poster project by providing an online tool that is fun to use (and it’s not messy or bulky).

Learn more about using Glogster with students here.

Students under 13 are allowed to use the Glogster.

Google Presentation

Google Presentation is part of the freeware web-based office suite offered by Google within Google Drive.

Below is an example of a Google Presentation.

Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a tool that allows you to create presentations using their website on your computer or their app on your iOS device.  Haiku Deck works by combining beautiful images with minimal text.  As you type a word(s) on the slide Haiku Deck searches Creative Commons images to find images to match your text.  You can also upload images from your computer.

Below is an example of a Haiku deck created by a student.

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Haiku Deck presentations provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

Persuasive Presentation – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

For more ideas, check out Haiku Deck’s Pinterest board of Education case studies.

PowToon

Powtoon are online tool that allow you to make animated videos and presentations easily.  Students under 18 are allowed to use the Education version of Powtoon.

Below is an animated video created using Powtoon.

Refer to PowToon’s quick start guide to learn how to create a PowToon video.

Prezi

Prez is an online presentation and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of a traditional series of slides.  The images, text, videos, and other objects are placed on the canvas and users can zoom in and out.

Below is an example of a Prezzi created by a student.

Students under 13 aren’t allowed to create their own Prezzi’s.  Students over 13 are allowed to use provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

SlideShare

SlideShare is a site where you can host your presentations and share them with others.  Slideshare is ideal for those who want to embed Presentations in their posts and websites rather than upload their PowerPoints directly and insert them as a link.

Students under 13 can’t upload slides to Slideshare but they can embed Slideshare’s created by other people in posts.

https://www.slideshare.net/gwynethjones/secrets-of-the-remix-mashup-youtube-generation-video-version

ThingLink

ThingLink is an easy-to-use online tool that allows you to make any graphic or photo interactive. With ThingLink you can create multiple hot spots on specific parts of your image that link to a website, video, music, text, or audio file.

Read more about using ThingLink with students here.  Students under 13 can use Thinglink under the supervision of a teacher or school.

Hover your mouse over the ThngLink below to check out how it works.

Slideshow Tools

Slideshow tools allow you to create and share slideshows.

PhotoPeach

PhotoPeach allows you to quickly upload photos to create great looking slideshows and even simple quizzes. Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Photopeach presentation provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

Watch this video to see how to create slideshows using PhotoPeach.

Video Sharing websites

Videos can be used for a wide range of purposes including: grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging visual learners.

Video-sharing websites are used when teachers need to a site to host their videos or find video resources for use in class.

Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to upload video files up to 10 GB in size on your desktop computer or use the Google Drive app on your mobile app, and share them with select people or embed them into posts and websites.

Google Drive is a popular video hosting option for schools using Google Apps for education.

You can embed videos uploaded to Google Drive if you select Public on the Web or Anyone with the link in the Sharing settings.

TED

TED is a media organization that posts talks online for free distribution.  It is used to share the best ideas from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech, and creativity.

Vimeo

Vimeo is another popular video-sharing and viewing website.  Fewer videos are hosted on Vimeo compared to YouTube.  Vimeo is less likely to be blocked in schools compared to YouTube which is why it’s a popular video hosting website for uploading videos for class and for finding videos to use in class.

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular video-sharing and viewing website on the Internet.  While some schools block YouTube there are lots of educators who use YouTube to share videos they or their students have created or to source video resources to use with their students.

We recommend you set up a class or teacher YouTube account if you plan to upload videos or create YouTube Playlists because this helps separate your work videos from your personal videos.

YouTube Playlists are a fantastic way of compiling a list, or group, of videos that play in order to share with students.  When one video finishes playing the next video starts.  Using YouTube playlists you can control the start and finish times of each video — this is handy if you want students to watch specific parts of videos.

YouTube, Vimeo, and TED videos can all easily be embedded into posts using their video URL.

Embed in posts

Once you’ve created your content using one of the above online tools you embed it into a post as follows:

1. Copy the embed code.

• Websites use a range of different icons to represent Embed code.
• Look for icons like </>, the word Embed, Share, the share icon, HTML, or hover your mouse over icons until you see the word Embed.

For example, if you created a Biteable video the embed code is located in the Controls panel when you view your video:

2.  Go to Posts > Add New

3.  Place your cursor where you want the video to appear and then click on the Add Media button.

4.  In the Add Media window click on the Insert Embed Code tab.

5.  Paste the embed code into the Insert Embed code box and click Insert into post.

6.  When you have finished writing your post click Publish.

7.  You should see your embedded content when you view the published post.

Using with students

Some websites have age restrictions that restrict who can create accounts.  We’ve embedded a chart below to help you identify age restrictions.  Age restrictions are normally listed in Terms & Conditions, Terms of Service, or in a website’s privacy policy.

Share your favorite tool

With so many online tools that you can use, we are certain to have overlooked a few of your favorites.

Leave a comment below with any that we missed so that we can add to the list!

When was the last time you checked your spam or junk email folder?

Email service providers’ spam filters are very good but occasionally they can send legitimate emails to your spam folder.

It’s a good idea to regularly check your spam folder if you don’t want to miss important emails that may have been sent to spam by mistake.

Here are our tips:

Change your Spam folder to show (if it is hidden)

By default, the Spam folder is hidden when a Gmail or Google account is set up.

Changing your Gmail spam folder to Show makes it easier to monitor how many spam emails you receive and check your spam folder.

The easiest way to show your spam folder is to use the Gmail Settings page as follows:

1.  Click on Settings

2. Click on the Labels tab.

3.  Click on Show next to the Spam label

4.  When you look at your menu items you should now see the Spam label above the More drop-down menu.

Regularly check your spam folder

Make it a habit to regularly check your spam folder (which, depending on the software used, may also be called the junk email folder).

Once you’ve established a habit of checking your spam folder, you’ll quickly work out how often you need to check it.

Mark any legitimate email as Not Spam

Spam filters learn by what you spam and mark it as Not Spam.  Marking an email as Not Spam (or Not Junk) moves the email from the spam folder and will help prevent future emails from the same person from being marked as spam.

Here is how it is done:

1.  Click on your Spam label (or Junk Email folder).

2.  This reveals the emails that have been sent to spam.

3.  Select the email(s) that aren’t spam by clicking on the check box next to the sender’s name.  

4.  Click on Not Spam to move the email(s) back to your inbox.

5.  Select all other spam emails and mark them as Read.

This makes it easier to monitor for new emails in your spam folder.

Check Spam Folders in All your email accounts

Remember to log into your original email service provider account if you forward emails to another account.

For example, I forward my Google apps account to my personal email account.  Emails sent to the spam folder of my Google Apps account aren’t forwarded to my personal email account.

Filters on Educational Email Domains

If you can’t find an email you were expecting in your spam folder it’s either been sent to the wrong email address by mistake or it’s being blocked by your email domain.

Filters on educational email domains, and some parent’s business email accounts, are more likely to block or spam legitimate emails than web-based email service providers like Gmail.

Student email domains are most likely to block emails.

If emails are blocked you either need to request the sender’s email domain be whitelisted by your IT Department or use an alternative web-based email account.

Your Tips

What did we miss?  What else did you want to know about dealing with missing emails?  What are your email tips?

Leave a comment below to share your tips or ask a question.

This is an update of a post that was first written by Sue Waters in 2013.

Whether you’re blogging, using social media, producing videos, or publishing any digital creations, the topic of student privacy must always be considered.

Information that helps someone identify a student should always be shared with care and appropriate permission must be sought.

Many educators and schools wonder whether they should be sharing photos of students online.

This post gives you some tips on sharing students’ images and other identifying information. Scroll down for a summary poster.

Using Images On Blogs

Even though 99.99% of visitors to your class blog will be well-meaning parents, students, community members, or interested visitors from around the world, the unfortunate reality is that those with bad intentions can also visit public sites.

There are many reasons why educators do not publish images of their students:

• Some educators decide not to use student photographs on their blogs to avoid facing problems with parents, caregivers, or administrators who have concerns about cyber-predators.
• There are also cases where the personal background of a student might mean they need more privacy and anonymity than others.
• Furthermore, some people are selective about their digital footprints and try to limit their information and photos being widely shared.

Of course, there are benefits to sharing student photographs and information:

• It can be fantastic to celebrate student achievements and showcase their learning.
• Photos can help build connections with other students and classes around the world.
• Many families also love seeing what their child is up to during the school day.

Weighing up pros and cons is something for schools to evaluate while giving students and families individual choices.

Whether or not you choose to use student photographs, there are strategies that should be considered to minimize any risk.

What To Do Before Using Student Photos

You can make your blog private, or set it so it’s not indexed by search engines like Google but there are still things to keep in mind whenever any information is shared online.

Before using any student photos online, even on a private blog, you need to:

• Find out your school, district, or Education Department guidelines for sharing student photos online — make sure you follow these guidelines.
• Find out if there are forms caregivers and students need to sign to consent to the use of student photos online — make sure you have all forms signed by parents or caregivers.
• Respect the wishes of caregivers and students while understanding consent to use photos can be withdrawn at any time. If you are asked to remove any student information, act quickly. You can contact us if you don’t know how to remove images etc. from your blog.

Consider Social Media

Remember, it isn’t possible to stop parents, students, and caregivers from downloading photos and sharing them on their social networks, even if you are using a private blog.

If you don’t want a photo shared with others or shared on social media then don’t upload the photo.

Our Recommendations

We suggest you consider using the following approach in regards to photos of students.

• Avoid the use of any photos that can identify individual students. A safe compromise is to only use photos taken from behind students.
• Remember, school uniforms and logos in images can quickly identify your school.
• Don’t use student photos for their avatars. There are many free online tools where students can create a cartoon representation of themselves (find some here in the Teacher Challenge). The students can even draw their own avatar and take a photo of it.
• If you do use photos of students, don’t refer to the student by name (even their first name) in the caption under the photo or in the post.
• Don’t use the student name/s in the file name of the photo. You might not realize this information is visible but if someone inspects or saves the file, the name is available for anyone to see.
• Turn off location services when taking photos on your mobile device. Location services can attach location data to pictures you take. Find out how to turn off location services on your iPhone/iPad or Android device. 

An Example Of A Safe Photo

• This photo has been taken from behind.
• Students can’t be recognized and the photo doesn’t refer to any individual student.
• The file name doesn’t have any identifying information as you can see when you click on the photo and save it to your computer…

What You Shouldn’t Do

• The photo above has been named john_smith.jpg
• It includes the name of the student in the caption and you could identify the student from the photo.
• Anyone could easily find this image in Google Images, due to the file name john_smith.jpg, if the blog was set to ‘Allow search engines to index this site’.

If You Are Using Recognizable Photos…

If you have permission to use photos where you can recognize individual students, and you have decided you want to do this, then we recommend you:

1. Word the photo like the example above so it doesn’t include the student’s name.
2. Remember to not include the student’s first and last name in the file name.

Don’t Forget Comments

Your individual privacy guidelines also need to apply to anyone leaving comments on the blog.

If a family member is writing a comment, they should identify themselves as “_____’s mom” or “______’s dad”, instead of using their name and they shouldn’t refer to name of the student in the photo.

Ensure you make this part of your blogging guidelines and explain the guidelines to students and families.

It’s a good idea to moderate comments and edit them if a commenter inadvertently includes names or other personal information. Then privately remind the commenter of the guidelines so they know for the future.

More Tips

Videos

Many classes enjoy making videos and sharing them on their blog.

This quick tip from Tony Vincent demonstrates how to use the built-in tool on YouTube to blur faces when necessary.

️ YouTube can find, track, and blur faces of people who appear in your video. pic.twitter.com/8IvhvxqiHb

— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) June 10, 2018

Blurring Images

Tony Vincent has also shared this visual which demonstrates how to blur faces or sensitive information using an online tool called Pixlr.

Note: This tool will require you to allow Flash but there are many similar tools available. Tell us your favorite way to edit photos in a comment!

Emojis

Some teachers like Keith McCray find it handy to add emojis over students’ faces before sharing publicly on social media. Is this something you’ve tried?

There are many free apps and online tools to add emojis to your photos.

Ss @EasternWCPS are sharing how their perspectives changed after they tried something new! Cheer them on and make their day by sharing your experiences at https://t.co/i014X8MLbe #wcpsmd #comments4kids #globallearning pic.twitter.com/fsIvHgMsbg

— Keith McCray  (@KMcCray85) September 13, 2018

Lesson Plans And Resources

If you’d like to learn more about the topic of protecting students’ data and privacy, check out the resources on Common Sense Education.

Summary

This summary reinforces our key recommendations. Feel free to download a copy, display it on your blog, or share it on social media.

What Do You Think?

What advice would you give? What resources do you use with students to teach students about internet safety and privacy?

Let us know in the comments below!

Recommended Reading

You might also be interested in reading the following posts about blogging with students:

• How To Teach Digital Citizenship Through Blogging
• My Class: Student Blogging Made Easy
• Should Your Class Or Student Blogs Be Public Or Private?
• Different Approaches To Using Student Blogs And Digital Portfolios

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, we will be starting our next school year in the coming weeks and months. Depending on where you live, there will be really difficult decisions made about how school will proceed during the current pandemic the world is facing. 

Will school be all online? If so, will it be better than the online experience most of us had back in March and April?

Will we try some sort of hybrid approach with smaller class sizes where remote and on-campus learning is alternated? How will that be organized?

If we are at school, can students really wear masks all day? Can teachers teach in them? Will school be a scary place producing too much anxiety for our kids?

How will parents and caregivers balance school requirements with their own work and other obligations?

How will teachers be able to manage and teach students in both traditional and online locations at once?

So. Many. Questions.

My wife and I are both former teachers with graduate degrees in education, so you would think that we’d be ahead of the curve for homeschooling, distance learning, or being able to handle anything education-related thrown our family’s way. However, we don’t feel that way. We’re nervous that our kids will fall behind, we’re sad about the missed experiences we had hoped for our kids, and we’re longing for normalcy. 

But we also want to ensure, like every parent and every educator out there, that we do what’s best for our children. 

If you are looking for concrete answers and guidance, I don’t think anyone yet knows the answers. But, as we have been discussing and preparing for the upcoming school year for our own kids, it has been cathartic to put together some thoughts, tips, and ideas here in this post that hopefully may help others in similar situations.

What Will Learning At School Look Like?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with the goal of having students physically present in school. I agree, for the reasons outlined below, but how will that go? We can start by looking through the advice and guidelines published recently by the different authorities out there.

Summarizing and highlighting common recommendations for schools made by the World Health Organization, the US CDC, and the Australian Department of Health, this is what school could be like:

• Social distancing will be practiced. As a result, class sizes may be limited, school schedules may be changed, and activities may be canceled.
• Hygiene will be a focus with more frequent requirements for kids and teachers to wash hands and use hand sanitizer.
• Lunch and meals may all be served in classrooms.
• Masks may be required or encouraged for teachers and students.
• Extra-curricular activities, physical education, and other opportunities for play may be changed or limited. 
• Schools will be cleaned more frequently to disinfect common areas, desks, playgrounds, etc. 
• Group work and collaborative learning will be harder to implement.
• Parents, volunteers, and non-necessary visitors may not be allowed in the building.
• Any student or faculty member who tests positive for COVID-19, experiences any possible symptoms, or comes in close contact with someone confirmed positive will be required to stay away from school for up to two weeks.

For the best set of guidelines and guidance I’ve seen so far, everyone really should read this entire 62-page Risk Reduction In Schools Report by the Harvard School of Public Health.

There was a memo going around the web recently from a large company that was preparing employees who have been working from home since March to come back to work. That memo laid out new rules for workers that included no eating in the break room, no using conference rooms (so continuing Zoom meetings), and staying several meters apart from each other. 

In short, all of the benefits of having workers in a physical office were removed. Yet, the management wanted workers to return. For these employees, it was likely they’d be more productive at home given all the restrictions.

I gotta say, as I read through the different reopening plans, it feels like if all of the suggested measures take place, we are doing the same with schools – we risk removing many (if not all) of the benefits of attending school in person in the name of reopening. There will also be so much time spent on extra precautions that the day just won’t be as productive. Not to mention real concerns about mental health, anxiety, and stress from all of the protocols and procedures. 

There’s a hugely important reason for schools to open as much as possible, though. Many students rely on school for meals, health, and other services – pandemic or no pandemic. It is also true that schools being open is essential for many parents and caregivers to be able to work and earn a living. We can’t get to a place where the fight against the virus causes more harm than good from increased poverty, malnutrition, or social isolation.

I don’t envy the tough decisions by government and school officials who are deciding when and how to re-open. It is an impossible situation.

Home Learning Is Likely

Even with all of the risk reduction and social distancing strategies in place, realistically, many students will most likely experience online, distance, or home education options this school year. 

It is also probable that even those who start back in the classroom will need to change back to temporary remote learning on short notice at some point during the year if there is a spike in active cases at the school. 

This means two big things are true:

1. We all must be prepared for learning at home.
2. Disruptions and unexpected changes are almost a sure thing.

Given that at least some level of learning at home will be likely, we can turn our attention to planning and making the best of it.

Forget About The Past

Let’s reframe a conversation that I’m hearing over and over again. Many parents and students are afraid that this new school year will be much like the experience they had in March through May when schools closed.

I will bet anything that this isn’t true. 

Schools closed quickly, often without any preparation or planning. Student belongings, technology, and school resources were left in the classroom. Teachers didn’t have access to their books and materials.

It happened fast. There was basically no plan.

This will be different.

Perhaps, I should say, I sure hope this will be different. But I’m confident that it will be. Teachers and educators are creative, they love their craft, take their responsibilities seriously, and have now been spending summer vacation (and mostly unpaid time) preparing.

So, all I’m saying, please don’t make decisions for the next school year based on your experiences of recent remote learning. 

Don’t Fall For The Trap

Regardless of at home or in classrooms, given everything going on, it is going to be tempting for schools, teachers, and parents to want to simplify as much as possible. One giant pitfall to look out for is to ensure that the expectations and types of learning opportunities offered don’t suffer.

Now, more than ever, we have to decide what we want out of school. Are the individual concepts and skills the most important part?

Or do we want to focus on learning opportunities that emphasize creativity, critical thinking, choice, and personal growth?

The ideal scenario is somewhere in the middle and depends on the subject matter and age of the student.

But as you research learning options for the upcoming school year, consider this chart in how you evaluate and choose the path forward:

There have been many great strides towards a richer education experience in the past few decades. In fact, school probably looks very different today than many of us will remember from our own childhood. We risk using the increased complexity and new obstacles during this pandemic as an excuse to move backward.

Perhaps An Opportunity?

Trying to make the best of a difficult circumstance, maybe this is as good a time as ever to really think outside the box. We should fight the tendencies and natural reaction to try and replicate traditional schooling but doing it remotely, and instead, reinvent what school could look like both at home and at school.

Nobody has asked, but if I had the opportunity to design what learning looks like until COVID-19 is no longer a threat to human lives, here’s what I’d consider…

The school day would look nothing like we’re used to. Instead of traditional classes assigned to one teacher, I’d survey and organize all faculty and staff at the school into 3 groups:

Group 1: Small Group Teachers – experienced with or strong at teaching math, reading, and writing.

Group 2: Project Coaches – experienced, interested in, or showing potential for organizing and leading independent learning projects.

Group 3: Learning Mentors – a group for providing parent support, one-on-one student mentoring, solving technology problems, etc.

For the Small Group Teachers, I’d use all available data and knowledge about each student to create small groups (or even one-on-one instruction) for math, reading, and writing. These individualized lessons and coaching would take place either in person when possible or remotely by video. The goal here would be to make sure, if nothing else happens, all students move forward in their math, reading, and writing skills.

For the Project Coaches, all other academic areas and school subjects would take place via individualized and self-paced learning projects. The school would come up with requirements, timelines, rubrics, and expectations. Students would be given as much choice as possible and would have a Group 2 faculty/staff member assigned to oversee each project. Perhaps no more than one or two projects would be allowed at a time. While there wouldn’t be formal classes in the sciences, social studies, history, art, music, etc. – all would be encouraged to be incorporated into projects.

The third group of Learning Mentors could be thought of like case managers – they would be helping to take care of the entire child, not just academics. Schools will need extra staff to help keep up with increased reporting requirements on health guidelines or even tracking attendance. Parents will have questions about technology and how to facilitate home learning. Students with special needs will have individualized plans and accommodations to implement. This would be a flexible and responsive team to help with social and emotional needs. It might be the most challenging and important group of all.

So, at minimum, students would be assigned a small group teacher for math, another for reading/writing (or maybe one for each), a project coach, and a learning mentor.

Any kids that needed a place to be and learn, I would do my best to ensure the school was open and available – ideally for extended hours too. This would be more like a library or cafe – come and go as needed with supervision and a safe place to do work. Watching TV, playing games, and virtually collaborating with others would be ok too, as long as school progress is made.

Sure, there are probably a million regulatory and logistical reasons why the above isn’t possible, but this is just one quick and simplified example of how schools might choose to respond in more meaningful ways. If given a choice for my own kids, I’d be interested in something that might be experimental if it seems well-planned and thought out. We might really have an opportunity for systemic change here.

My Biggest Fear

Thinking beyond my own children, I worry deeply about the long-term effects that a sustained disruption to the education system will have on students, teachers, and communities for years to come.

All schools – public, charter, and private – have funding that is in one way or another directly tied to attendance. As I see more and more families seriously (and reasonably) explore the possibility of unenrolling their kids from whatever school they were previously in, I know the result will lead to teacher layoffs and a catastrophic financial situation.

It can’t be sugarcoated – if students leave their current school in droves, many schools won’t still be there when the pandemic is over. Then what do we do?

Teachers are also contemplating retiring or resigning at high numbers. Will we have enough teachers, especially in disciplines and locations already experiencing a teacher shortage, in a post-pandemic world?

It makes sense that the current focus is on what is best for this school year, but I hope we discuss and think more about how we recover from this when it is all over, too.

When we plan for what is best for our own kids, we should give significant weight to what will be least disruptive and provide the most continuity in the long run too.

Our Plan (Is Not For Everyone)

Where we live, it has been announced that full-time regular schedules in the school building will not be an option when school resumes. At best, we’ve been told that we can expect our kids to be able to attend school in person for 25% of the time. We’re not even sure what that really means. The school district is also offering a completely remote learning option.

As such, we have tentatively decided that we can rearrange our work schedules (a major privilege and luxury, I know) to support the fully at-home learning option for our two school-aged kids this coming year. However, for the reasons above, we feel strongly we want to keep our kids enrolled and educated at our local public school – just as would be the plan if COVID-19 wasn’t a reality.

Unless community spread is significantly less than it is now in our area, and if kids can regularly attend school (not just once per week), we’ll opt to do it fully at home.

Of course, parents are the experts on what is best for their children and their families. Not all will have the same opportunities or choices available. Different countries, states, and cities will see different rates of infection and hospitalizations too. Unique needs are important to take into consideration.

How is your school currently planning on starting the next school year? What are your thoughts on your own kids returning to school?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below as we all work to ensure our kids and students continue to be educated and taken care of.

The statistics around school closures due to COVID-19/Coronavirus are nothing short of staggering.

In mid-February, China was the only country in the world with school closures. Today, there are 188 countries experiencing nationwide school closures and almost 90% of the world’s students are affected.

Millions of teachers have been thrown into teaching remotely from home. This is drastically different from working in a classroom. It’s different physically, socially, and psychologically. And this change has come with almost no warning or preparation.

In this post, we are sharing our top tips for working remotely from home.

This is a collaborative post from Sue Waters and Kathleen Morris.

Sue is a former lecturer who has been working remotely since 2008. In recent years she has provided palliative care full-time for her mother while also overseeing the care of her disabled sister. All while managing full-time work from home and running a household.

Kathleen is a primary school teacher who has transitioned to working from home over the last few years. Kathleen’s 6-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia 10 months ago so she has plenty of tips about juggling responsibilities — work, medical treatment, homeschooling, and parenting young children.

Onto the tips! We’ll go through:

• Work Environment
• Tools for Working
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
• Working With Young Children at Home
• Daily And Weekly Structure
• Staying Active
• Dealing With Stress

Work Environment

In the classroom, you’re probably sitting, standing, walking, bending down, and generally engaging in a whole range of natural movements.

Teaching remotely means you’re more likely to sit longer working at a computer so there’s a greater risk of injury. It’s important to make sure your work area is set up properly so you can maintain good posture.

Some teachers are starting to get into the habit of working from the couch or a poorly set up kitchen table. Not only is it better psychologically to have a dedicate work area, you really need to look after your posture.

If you can, consider investing in a supportive chair.

Here are some tips to ensure you’re sitting correctly at your computer:

Sue has had bursitis in her shoulder from bad posture and knows other remote workers that have had similar issues. Don’t let yourself get injured due to a poor work environment! You have enough going on already.

Any prolonged time spent in one position can cause problems. Ideally, every hour you should get up from the computer and walk around for 5 minutes; every 3 hours have a break for 15 minutes minimum.

Switching to a standing desk won’t necessarily help. Extended periods in similar postures can lead to fatigue or injuries. Moving and changing positions throughout the day is key.

Here are some key tips for staying healthy when working on a computer. You might like to share these with students as well.

Download a PDF version of the tips.

Tools For Working

Working remotely is different from working within a school or office environment, and finding tools that help improve work efficiency in a remote environment makes a big difference.

The key is to focus on what you’re wanting to achieve and then work out the best tool(s) to achieve your outcomes most efficiently.

Here are just some of the tools we use to improve work efficiency in our team that might help you too.

Communication Tools

As a teacher working remotely, you’ll need to stay in regular communication with your team. You no doubt have year level or subject area teams, perhaps special project groups, as well as your whole staff team.

We find it very helpful to use tools that reduce email exchanges where possible. Emails can quickly get out of hand!

When our team was smaller we used Google Chat with our Gmail accounts (now called Google Hangouts/Meet) and nowadays we use Slack.

Very few emails are sent internally within our team because we’re now able to more efficiently manage it using Slack. Decreased emails mean less time spent replying to emails or losing track of conversations in email threads.

The key features and benefits of Slack include:

• Free for small teams (no advertising or time limits)
• Useful search function to look for previous conversations, keywords, or files (the free plan just allows you to search the last 10,000 messages as opposed to an unlimited search)
• Real-time OR asynchronous messaging (if a colleague is offline, they can get back to you later)
• Different channels can be set up for different groups (for example, you could be in a whole staff channel, year six teachers channel, and team leader channel)
• Communication via text or voice/video call
• Channels can be public (any staff member can join) or private (invitation only)
• Direct messages allow you to communicate privately with one or more colleagues

Slack is ideal for our team as we have over 100 staff at Edublogs, CampusPress, and WPMU-DEV.

Nowadays, our meetings are held using a Slack call or Google Hangouts. Some teachers find Google Hangouts is a good way to stay in touch as well. It has the added benefit of being linked to your Gmail account so you can easily search for conversations.

Collaboration Tools

Look for tools that allow you to easily collaborate with others.

We use Google Docs and Google Sheets because these enable us to work collaboratively and add comments for feedback.

We try to encourage all clients to use shared Google Docs and Google Sheets rather than attached documents and spreadsheets to email because it is too easy to lose track of the latest version. If you’re not already making the most of Google Docs and Sheets in your school teams, give them a try!

You’ll find it’s more time-efficient to edit Google Docs and Google Sheets online than constantly download attachments as they’re updated.

Any files we want to share are uploaded to Google Drive. Many teachers and schools are embracing Google Drive which is a place to store your files securely and open/edit them from any device.

Here’s a quick Getting Started with Google Drive video to get you on your way

For managing tasks and projects we use Asana. It allows you to map out each step of tasks you’re working towards, and assign tasks to others. The free version is available for teams of up to 15 people so it might be worth looking at if you want to manage projects in small school teams.

Some students also use Asana themselves to keep track of school work and deadlines.

Working With Young Children At Home

You may find yourself now trying to teach while simultaneously looking after your children. It’s a new and challenging dilemma!

Kathleen has two young children and works from home a lot. Here are some tips that might work for you:

• Create a Flexible Schedule: Set a plan so the children know what’s on for the day. While you might not like the idea of a rigid schedule, having a basic routine can be a good idea because, during times of uncertainty, patterns bring comfort. I have included my sample schedule in my post with 10 Tips For Homeschooling Children.
• Avoid Multitasking: Set time in the day when you will be doing activities with your own children, and time when you will be working. Trying to do both at the same time will leave you all frazzled!
• Use Focussed Screen Time: Save screen time for when you really need it (for example, if you’re doing a video conference with your class). No matter what your beliefs on how much screen time you want your children to have, using leisure screen time sparingly makes it a more powerful and effective tool.
• Set Aside Fun Activities: Help your children decide what they are going to do independently while you’re working. You might have things you only get out during these times — for example, a certain toy box, play dough, craft supplies, etc.
• Tag Team If Possible: If you have a partner who is also working from home, consider making a schedule so you can tag the team. For example, one of you could get up early and work until lunchtime then switch. Or, you can negotiate times when you really need an uninterrupted block (for example, during video conferences, phone calls, or your “office hours” when you need to be on call).
• Be Creative With Your Work Hours: Make the most of the early hours of the day or the hours after your children go to bed at night. You might not want to work during both of these blocks so you don’t burn out, however, working a bit earlier or later in the day can really free up hours during the middle of the day when your children need you most.
• Set Boundaries and Expectations: Explain to your children that you must work and have them help come up with the family rules. For example, you might want to close your door when you can’t be interrupted. Then you can train your children to stay away if your office door is closed (I actually have a sign on my door that I made together with my children). If they interrupt you (and it’s not an emergency), calmly remind them of the rules. Running through emergency/important scenarios is always a good idea, e.g. someone is hurt, something is broken, there’s a knock at the door etc.
• Prioritize and Use Your Time Wisely: I quickly learned that when I have dedicated work time, I must put my head down and work! A quick check of emails or social media can waste precious time. When your time is limited, write down what you want to achieve and make yourself stick to that list. Prioritize your most important goals for the day.

Working from home with children can be messy. Give yourself some time to figure out what works for you and your family. It won’t always be perfect but with some creative scheduling and routines, it can work!

Daily And Weekly Structure

While it’s easier said than done at times, work-life balance is very important.

Sue and Kathleen work as part of a global team supporting a global community and work hours are very flexible. We could work 24 hours a day and there would always be more to do.

Teaching has always been a never-ending job as well; there is always something to do even when you don’t have students in front of you. Now that you’re working from home, you might be feeling the pressure to work long hours even more.

Time tracking can be a powerful tool. If you aren’t required to track hours then we suggest you keep a simple spreadsheet to record start and finish times of blocks of work. You can include a simple record of what you’ve done to help identify how long tasks take. This helps identify ways you can improve work efficiency while also helping to keep focus on work-life balance.

Sue tries to make her weekends different from her weekdays as it’s too easy with her work, and personality, to end up working 7 days a week.

Obviously, this is harder if you are now in lockdown, however, setting goals of things you want to achieve in your personal life and working on these on the weekend helps. Why not try making a list of non-work activities you’d like to conquer? It could be anything from cleaning out your closet to starting a new art project.

Staying Active

Do you have a Fitbit or other step counter? Kathleen has noticed a big difference in the number of steps you can rack up during a day in the classroom compared to a day working from home.

We all know being sedentary isn’t healthy and it’s important to think of ways to stay active while you’re at home.

Sue is an avid walker and Kathleen enjoys jogging, however, there are times when you can’t get out of the house.

Kathleen has some favourite online workouts which you might like to check out:

• Les Mills On Demand: These are popular gym classes that you can stream at home. There are all sorts of workouts — aerobics, weights, yoga, spin etc. It’s like a Netflix of workouts. This is a paid service but they currently have a 30 day free trial. Might as well make the most of that while you’re home. Just don’t forget to cancel your trial.
• POPSUGAR Fitness: This YouTube channel has been running for years and offers very professional workouts for free! There is so much variety! There are long and short workouts and everything from dance, HIIT, barre, weights and more.
• Heather Robertson: These free YouTube videos are around 30-40 minutes long and offer you a really solid workout with fairly simple routines. Kathleen likes the way you can see what move is coming up and next and there are no audio cues, so she often listens to a podcast or her own music while following along.
• MadFit: This free YouTube channel is simple and effective. There are lots of workouts around 20 minutes long as well as quick videos where the routine is choreographed to a popular song. A fun work break!

There are lots of apps available as well. For example, many people like the free workouts on Nike Training Club. The “7 minute workouts” are very popular as well as they provide you with bang for your buck in a short amount of time. You could try one like this at the end of every hour of work.

If digital workouts aren’t your thing, think of other things you can schedule into your day to ensure you’re getting regular physical activity. A few hours of gardening is a good workout, as is giving your house a deep clean.

We’d love to hear about your favourite at-home workouts in a comment.

Dealing With Stress

Sue has been dealing with high stress since 2017 when she became responsible for the full-time care of her mother who had life-limiting motor neurone disease (ALS). Sue also oversees the care of her disabled older sister. Kathleen’s been on a stressful rollercoaster since her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 at 5 years old.

Maybe you felt a little blindsided by the pandemic? Suddenly your entire life’s turned upside down. What was normal no longer exists; and you’re having to adapt to a rapidly evolving new normal on a daily, or if you are lucky, weekly basis.

Maybe, like us, you’re dealing with not only the pandemic but serious personal issues as well? Not to mention work, homeschooling, isolation, and all the other challenges of this crazy new world.

We’ve both learned how important it is to know our own symptoms of stress and what strategies help us reduce the impact stress has on us.

Did you know there are many signs and symptoms of stress?

We all react to stress differently. Learning strategies to deal with stress helps reduce its mental, physical and emotional impact.

Like our reactions, our coping strategies are personal. What works for some people might be boring or stressful for others but here’s what helps us:

1. Focus on the NOW

When you’re dealing with a life-limiting disease or cancer, you can’t afford to focus on the past or spend time trying to predict the future — you need to focus on the present. Grieving the loss of the normal you had in the past or worrying about what the future holds means you miss out on the magic happening in the present.

COVID-19 is proving to be a rapidly evolving situation and you can’t tell what will happen from one day to the next.

The best approach is to focus on each day; try not to look too far ahead and just think about what you need to do for the current day or week.

2. Accept what you can CHANGE

Don’t waste time worrying about things that are out of your control that you can’t change, or planning for the worst. Identify what you can change and what’s worth fighting for; let go of the things that you can’t change.

Here’s a great graphic from The Counseling Teacher:

3. Look for JOY

After Sue’s mum died she organized her house as part of her way of dealing with the trauma, part of which included some of Marie Kondo’s methods. The most important lesson she learnt from Marie Kondo was joy.

Whatever you do in life, whatever your situation, keep looking each day for what gives you joy.

Sue’s house mightn’t be spotless, and her husband might continually try to sabotage her lovely KonMari folding of clothes (she’s still working on letting go of how her hubby folds), but she ends each day reflecting on the things that gave her joy during that day and the positive things that were achieved.

4. Do something relaxing

The best way to reduce stress is to do things that you find relaxing. However, it’s very challenging when your favourite forms of relaxation may no longer be options (catching up with friends, cafes, movies, gym classes, concerts and so on).

Sue spent 17 months caring full-time for her mum. Her mum was connected 24/7 to a machine that assisted her breathing which meant someone needed to be in the house at all times. Sue could only leave the house if someone was available which meant there were only a few hours a week where she was able to go out. Kathleen’s situation has been similarly intense and she’s had many months of isolation due to her daughter’s compromised immune system.

The key is, if you can’t do what you normally do for relaxation, look for alternatives.

Sue finds setting goals she wants to achieve helped her. She created a list of 100+ Crime and Mystery novels of all time and has been working through the list. Currently, she’s back to her goal of walking for at least 45 minutes daily and has set up a daily eating plan with an emphasis on healthier eating.

There are lots of ways to relax, even in isolation. Here are some more ideas from The Counseling Teacher (ignore the spa example for now! ).

5. Have a Routine

Sue and Kathleen both find having routines helpful. We both have a rough outline of our daily routine for our weekdays and our weekends while ensuring it’s flexible to adapt to our changing circumstances.

Our routines include time for exercise, work, family commitments and relaxation. We both have “to do lists” of things we want to achieve.

Keeping ourselves organized helps us manage our time in the most efficient way. It’s far from perfect but we find it works much better than having a “let’s see what happens” approach!

6. Say No

Sue and Kathleen have both been called workaholics and can be quick to take on more than they can handle. We’ve both learnt it’s okay to say no.

If you don’t want to do it, or it’s taking away from what you really want to be doing, don’t feel guilty saying no.

Saying yes when you don’t want to do something is saying no to yourself. Put yourself first. Especially during times of high stress.

7. Laugh!

Laughter really is the best medicine. It helps keep you relaxed and happy while relieving tension.

A small silver lining emerging from the trauma of COVID-19 is the humour. The jokes and memes that are being thrown around social media on a daily basis show that humour is a coping strategy for so many of us around the globe!

What Tips Can You Add?

Although it probably feels like you have more work to do than ever before, there’s never been a better time to focus on your own health, wellbeing, and routines.

Teaching remotely is a brave new world and you need to look after yourself. You’re an essential worker and the world needs you!

We’d love to hear how you’re approaching working from home. Please scroll down to find the comment box.

Other Posts You Might Enjoy

Resources For Teaching Online Due To School Closures

Facebook Groups For Educators

The Ultimate Guide To Twitter

Looking for examples of class blogs? We’ve just completed the latest update of our list which we’ve maintained since 2008.

Our class blog list is updated twice a year and always proves to be a popular resource.

Perhaps you’re looking for insights into how other educators use blogs? Maybe you’re seeking lesson inspiration? Or perhaps you’re wanting to make global connections? Our class blog list is a useful starting point.

In our latest update, we’ve removed blogs that have been deleted, moved, or haven’t been updated in the last 6 months.

Note: This is far from an exhaustive list of class blogs around the world. Scroll down to find out how to add your class for our next update.

The Class Blog List

The complete Edublogger’s class blog list is embedded below.

The list is separated into:

• Grade or year level, then
• Subject areas such as Maths, Science, English, History, etc, or
• Type of blog such as library or school news

The columns on the spreadsheet help you identify:

• Class Blog Title
• Country
• Blogging Since — This is the year that the teacher began blogging with students (perhaps not with the same blog they’re currently using)
• Blogging Platform
• Student Blogs — Class blogs with individual student blogs are listed as “Yes” under this column. Most student blogs can be found on the sidebar of the class blog under the class blog widget or student list. The platform that student blogs are hosted on is indicated in brackets on the spreadsheet (EB = Edublogs, CP = CampusPress, KB = Kidblog, and SS = Seesaw)
• Class Twitter account where applicable
• Teacher(s) Name if we have that information

Click on the blog title to visit the class blog!

Click here to open the list in a new tab for easier viewing.

Add/Amend Your Details

Is your class blog on this list but you’ve spotted inaccuracies or missing information? Please leave a comment on this post and let us know what details we need to update. Scroll down to find the comment box.

Would you like to add your class blog to our next update of our list? Complete this Google Form. Your class blog must be public to be added to the list. It should also be active and established (i.e. not brand new).

Important Notes:

• We update the list twice a year so your blog might not be added to the list until our next update which will be published on The Edublogger around May 2020.
• This list is for class blogs. It’s not for teacher blogs or promotional sites.
• You don’t have to use Edublogs to be on the list!

We’d love to hear from you if you’ve found this list of class blogs helpful. Scroll down to find the comment box.

Related Reading

You might also be interested in:

10 Elements Of A Quality Blog Post: Tips For Teaching Students

8 Reasons Why WordPress Is The Best Choice For Student Blogging

My Class: Student Blogs Made Easy

Different Approaches To Using Student Blogs And Digital Portfolios

So you’ve been busy working on a blog post and you’re finally ready to hit the publish button. Fantastic!

One problem: just because you publish a post, doesn’t mean anyone will know about it or read it.

You need to make sure you share your work with people who want to read it or might be interested in discovering your writing. 

There are two great ways to do this. The first is by having an email list. Not long ago, we wrote about how to set up an automatic RSS or manual email newsletter for your blog.

Along with using email, we recommend you share your blog posts on social media. 

There are many places you can do this. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn are popular platforms and no doubt you have your favorites. 

This post zooms in on how to share your blog posts on Twitter which remains to be a popular platform for educators worldwide. 

Once upon a time, you could create a tweet by simply copying and pasting the link to your blog post. This is still the go-to approach for some, but is it the best strategy to make your tweet stand out?

Does this example make you excited to click through to the post?

We’re here to help you power up your tweets and invite a whole new community of readers to your blog or website. 

If you’re using a different social media platform, some of these tips will certainly still apply. Just modify them to suit the platform. 

Before we dive into the eight tips, let’s start with the basics of sharing a link…

Get Your Link Right

While there are much better approaches than simply copying and pasting the link to your latest blog post, the link is still going to be the most important part of your tweet.

You need to get it right!

Tip One: Share the link to the actual blog post. Not the blog itself

For example, https://www.theedublogger.com is this link or URL of this blog.

https://www.theedublogger.com/tweet-tips is the link to this blog post.

If you send readers to your blog and not a specific post, they won’t know what they’re supposed to be reading. They’ll have to click around to find the post they want to read… or leave!

The best way to get the link to your blog post correct is to open it up in your browser and copy/paste it.

Keyboard shortcuts make this easy! For example, if you’re using Windows:

• Place your cursor in your address bar. It should highlight automatically or press Control A (select all)
• Control C is the shortcut for copy
• Control V is the shortcut for paste

Tip Two: Shorten your permalink

Did you know you can edit the permalink or URL of your post before you publish it?

This can make your URL neater and easier to share. And it uses up fewer characters if you’re sharing on Twitter.

This graphic we shared with students during the Student Blogging Challenge explains:

You edit your permalink before you publish a post. Don’t edit the permalink after you’ve published a post, otherwise, the original permalink that you might have shared will be invalid.

This quick video explains how to edit your permalink if you’re using Edublogs or CampusPress.

Bonus Tip: Teach students these tips about links

The tips above can also be very handy to share with student bloggers.

Using the wrong link is a common issue participants of our Student Blogging Challenge face when wanting to share a blog post. They tend to share a link to their blog, dashboard, or even a preview post when they’re starting out.

We made this graphic to help Student Blogging Challenge participants understand how to find and share the link to their specific blog post.

This video demonstrates to students how to find and copy their blog post URL.

8 Tips For Better Tweets

So you know one thing you want to include in your tweet — the link to the post — but what else will you write to use up your 280 characters?

And should you use all 280 characters? Not always. Good communicators know not to use redundant words, repeat themselves, or generally write in a “wordy” way. 

Here are eight tips to consider the next time you share your latest blog post on Twitter. We’d love to hear your own ideas or suggestions in a comment!

1) Break Down Your Blog Post

Just because you write a blog post, doesn’t mean anyone will see it. And just because you tweet out your blog post, doesn’t mean others will see it either. You’ll probably need to tweet multiple times.

In 2018, Twitter cracked down on tweeting duplicate content. That means you can’t repeat the same tweet over and over. But why would you want to? That probably wouldn’t provide value to your professional learning network (PLN).

Consider repurposing the content from your blog post into bite-sized content for your followers.

What might this look like?

• Choose some quotes from your blog post to share in the tweet. Or, better yet, turn quotes into images using a tool like Canva.
• Tweet any other images you have in your post separately. Especially if you’ve created charts, diagrams, infographics or anything educational, inspiring, or entertaining.
• Break down the main tips from the post into separate tweets. For example, we could do a separate tweet about each of the eight tips in this blog post.
• Create a short video about your blog post. A great tool to do this “automagically” is Lumen5.
• If you’re game, you could tweet a short video of yourself talking about your blog post. That would create a lot of interest.

Here’s a video from Monica Burns where she talks about an upcoming blog post before she has published it. That’s a fun way to build excitement on Twitter too!

A quick Saturday update!

— Monica Burns, Ed.D. (@ClassTechTips) January 4, 2020

2) Build Interest

Many people now like consuming content on the social media platform itself, without clicking away down a rabbit hole of content.

However, you do want to entice people to actually get off Twitter and go to your blog.

To do this, try to build interest and intrigue; give your followers a reason to click and read your blog post.

This obviously doesn’t mean clickbait; you don’t want to over promise and under deliver.

Building interest might look like:

• Addressing common concerns
• Hinting at the conclusion or advice your post offers
• Explaining why you wrote a post

No doubt the tweet would spark interest and encourage readers to click through to his post.

This #EduGIF may make you say “Whoa. Too complicated. Too time consuming.” but students could whip 1 of these up in a few minutes, then it over to show content in a way that is much more *sticky* than traditional activities. #GoogleEI #GoogleDrive https://t.co/S8xErbA6Cr pic.twitter.com/6fk2mIhwdg

— Jake Miller (@JakeMillerTech) January 4, 2020

In this example, Chris Young explains why he wrote his blog post. No doubt, his followers’ interest would be piqued at the emotive tweet. 

This was what my 6 year old daughter asked Santa for Christmas. The fact that #STEAM is advertised on the same canvas as the amount of likes a girl (6 years and up) receives infuriates me. It’s 2020, right?!? I wrote a blog post to get my feelings out. https://t.co/7km7Z7veRb pic.twitter.com/0ALsfbrNuz

— Chris Young (@ChrisYoungEDU) January 2, 2020

3) Create A Custom Image

Want your tweet to catch your followers’ eyes? An effective image will help!

Whenever we write a blog post on The Edublogger, we create a custom image. Canva is a great place to do this as is Google Drawings (we have guides to Canva and Google Drawings that will help you get started).

Here is an example:

You might not want to put this exact image in every tweet about your blog post. As we mentioned in tip one, it’s also a good idea to share any other images from your blog posts in separate tweets.

Silvia Tolisano is excellent at creating graphics to accompany her tweets. Sometimes they just describe her blog posts, sometimes they’re quotes, sketchnotes, or tease the post in a different way.

4) Try Emojis And White Space

You want your tweets to stand out in a busy stream and two effective strategies to try are emojis and white space. 

The white space part should be obvious: hit your Enter key and break up your text. It may just make the tweet easier to read and more impactful. 

The role emojis play in writing has evolved over recent years. They’ve gone from being a bit of fun to add expression to really changing the way we communicate. 

Using emojis as bullet points is a particularly effective strategy.

Tony Vincent is masterful at this approach. Yes, it takes a couple of minutes to select the most appropriate emojis but it will definitely make your tweet stand out!

6⃣ Thinking scaffolds for deeper understanding from @MindShiftKQED

Prompt to include context
Ask open-ended questions
Help transfer knowledge and experience
Leave room for ownership
Invite and manage risk
Encourage reflection
https://t.co/PYwVa580dE

— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) January 3, 2020

5) Use Hashtags … But Don’t Overdo It

Hashtags are an important part of Twitter. They help to categorize tweets and make it easier for people to find tweets they’re interested in.

There are a lot of opinions out there about using hashtags in your tweets. While they are a good idea, we believe you want to use them sparingly. 

Even Twitter itself concurs:

Although it may be tempting to fill your Tweet with trending hashtags, studies show that less actually is more. Internal Twitter research shows that Tweets with 1-2 hashtags gain 100% more engagement — so try to limit your usage.

Want to learn more about hashtags? Check out our top ten hashtag tips from our Ultimate Guide to Twitter. 

6) Tag Others Wisely

It’s a great idea to tag other people in your blog posts. They might be able to share your work with their own PLN. Or they might simply read and enjoy your work which will strengthen your connection.

However, you want to tag wisely.

Don’t just tag any individuals in your field simply because they have a large following or are well-known. 

Tag individuals who you mention in your blog post. Perhaps you’ve linked to their resources or built on their ideas. Or maybe you’d like to ask their opinion of your post. If so, ask them. 

If you have the characters, it can be a good idea to make it clear why you’re tagging someone in your tweet. 

Here is an example:

Blogging prompts can be a great way to get ideas for your next post!

This post shares some blog post prompts for teachers and students including some very creative prompts from @spencerideas!

Take a look https://t.co/JTyH08HH6O#EdChat #ELAChat pic.twitter.com/GEhWNXDvgH

— edublogs (@edublogs) January 2, 2020

Some bloggers who are active on Twitter have a reciprocal relationship with other bloggers — even if it’s informal. You might have some members of your PLN whose work you share out to your network regularly and you know they will do the same. This approach can be effective.

7) Replicate What Works

Everyone has their own unique community on Twitter. Over time you should start to notice what sort of tweets get the most engagement.

Take a few moments every now and then to think about this. You can even analyze your tweets through your activity dashboard. 

Perhaps your tweets where you use images or emojis are better received? Or maybe there is a certain time of day where your tweets receive more engagement?

Basically, you want to figure out what is working and keep doing that!

Also, don’t forget to tweet about your popular blog posts more than once but mix it up with different text and images. 

8) Be Part Of Your Community

Give and take is the key to success in all relationships whether online or offline.

It’s certainly a mistake to only promote your own work on Twitter. Invest in your PLN and share some of the great things that others are doing. Retweet their tweets and add your thoughts and encouragement. 

Joy Kirr is great at supporting her community on Twitter. Here is an example retweet from Joy:

Yikes and Wowsers!
Got some time on your hands?
Want to learn something new?@jmattmiller has the past #DitchSummit videos all in one place!#edtech #edchat #tlap https://t.co/4alZDtYAPa

— Joy Kirr (@JoyKirr) January 1, 2020

Not sure what a PLN is all about? We’ve got a free self-paced course to help you learn more. Check it out here.

Conclusion

Twitter is a great place to promote your blog posts. With a few easy tweaks you might be able to make your tweets much more effective!

Let’s recap the eight tips:

1. Break down your blog post (create bite-sized content from quotes, tips, images etc.).
2. Build interest (give your followers a reason to click and read your blog post).
3. Create a custom image to catch your followers’ eyes. 
4. Try emojis (perhaps as bullet points) and white space to make your tweets stand out. 
5. Use hashtags in your tweets but don’t overdo it. One or two is plenty. 
6. Tag others wisely especially if you mentioned them in your blog post. 
7. Replicate what works and make the most of the provided analytics. 
8. Be part of your community — give and take is the key to success.

If you want to learn more about Twitter, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide. It’s useful for beginner to intermediate users. 

Thoughts? Questions?

How do you share your blog posts on Twitter? What can you teach your students about sharing their work with a network online?

Leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you. 

Learn More

These useful posts were mentioned in this article:

The Ultimate Guide To Twitter

Set Up An Email Newsletter To Share Your Blog Posts Using Mailchimp

Share Your Blog Posts With Automated Mailchimp Emails (RSS)

A Guide To Google Drawings For Teachers, Students, And Bloggers

Canva In The Classroom: Getting Started, Example Designs, And Tips!