how to create a blog post

*Before you begin, ask yourself what kind of tone you want to set for people reading your blog.  This is going to be your one and only chance to create a first impression, so try to imagine how people will perceive what you write.  Take a(nother?) look at the first post on this blog for an example.* 

1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard
2. Click on "Create New Post" (orange box with the pencil icon)
3. Give your post a title
4. Write your post & include any pictures, videos or links you want us to see
5. Proofread!
6. Publish your post and make sure you like the way it looks
7. Sit back, relax, and enjoy that sweet, sweet feeling of success

august 14

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Move on Up" by Curtis Mayfield)

Hunter S. Thompson observed, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."  How do you respond to challenges that arise from circumstances you didn't predict?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Your blog status
3. Quiz
4. A strength program for your memory
5. Memory exercise

HW:
1. Finish memorizing "Richard Cory"
2. Skim "The Socratic Method"

OPTION/POST:
Read "Train Your Brain Like a Memory Champion" & write a post for your blog with your reaction to the article (title: TRAINING LIKE A MEMORY CHAMPION)

create your blog

Right now you're probably using the internet to connect on social media platforms like FaceBook, YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. If you've used the internet for school, you're probably operating in a "walled garden" like OneDrive on the school-issued tablets.  The problem with social media is that most of you haven't yet learned digital branding or security-- that's not your fault, but it can be your problem if you don't understand who owns or uses the content you create.  One problem with walled gardens is that you don't own your work, and no one outside the garden-- like employers, college admissions officers, and scholarship judges-- can see your work, any more than they can walk into your classroom and see how well you take a test or answer a question.

Spoiler: if you're not telling your own story online, you can bet that someone else is.  It's time to learn how to present yourself in the way you want to be seen, so that your work creates value and opportunities for you.  In the old days, you'd write an essay that one person would see, mark up, and return to you privately.  Now you can write online and get feedback that will actually help you, while your progress and your ideas impress everyone who sees it.

In this course you will create an online presence.  

See the Member Blogs page tab just below the title image?  That is where we will maintain a directory of everyone's blog. (You can get an idea from last year's classes here.)  If you're already familiar with social media and blogging, and you feeling comfortable diving in, go ahead and use Blogger, WordPress, Postach.io, Tumblr, or whatever platform you think will most effectively help you tell your learning story. 

This blog was created on Blogger, which I recommend because it's quick to set up, it works well with gmail and all things Google, and it's easy to customize.  Go to blogger dot com and get started in class today.  You can name your blog anything you like (I'm a fan of alliteration, e.g., "Isaiah's Ideas" or "Alicia's Academy") and you can change it later if you get a better idea.  For the URL, please use this formula: [first initial] [last name] [smhs] [21].  For example, Jayleen Chavez would use the URL jchavezsmhs21.blogspot.com (Blogger will fill in the last part automatically).

Once you have your blog set up, go to your blog online to double-check that the URL works and your blog is visible.  Then, please copy/paste your URL and email it to me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com.

If you're new to this, or you need help, or if any of this makes you nervous, let's talk.  We can do this in class during the first week of school, or if you don't want to live in suspense you can email me anytime at dpreston.learning@gmail.com.  Mahalo.

pro tip

Now that we've decided to operate as an Open-Source Learning Network, it's time to start thinking about how we can make this experience work to our advantage.  As we move forward, I'll share some ideas that students have created in the past.  Please feel free to use what works for you and ignore what doesn't.

As you can see from the course blog so far, there is going to be a LOT of information here.  Sometimes that can make things difficult to find.  A few years ago when I taught AP Lit Comp, students decided to create a resource to make things easier.  It looked like this:

Please feel free to start thinking about tools and strategies that you can develop to "hack" the course and make it easier for you to navigate.  I'm here if you have questions or need help. -dp

august 13

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe your most memorable moment from this class yesterday.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Blogs
3. "Richard Cory" & memorization
4. Preview "The Socratic Method"

HW:
1. Email Dr. Preston with: a) confirmation of your name in the Member Blogs roster; your class period; and 3) your blog's URL.  If you run into any challenges please let me know.
2. Get a spiral notebook or a composition book and bring it to class tomorrow.
3. Get your "Richard Cory" on
4. Be ready to discuss the Socratic Method in class on Thursday

will this blog see tomorrow?

It's an open question.  Think about our first in-class discussion, ask yourself what you really want out of this semester, and then comment to this post with your decision and at least one reason for it.  (NOTE: As Benjamin Franklin famously observed, "We all hang together or we all hang separately." We won't move forward unless all of us participate.) 

I've created an approach to learning in which students use 2.0 tools to create their online identities, express themselves, and show the public what they can do. 

I call the model Open Source Learning and I define it with a mouthful: "A guided learning process that combines timeless best practices with today's tools in a way that empowers learners to create interdisciplinary paths of inquiry, communities of interest and critique, and a portfolio of knowledge capital that is directly transferable to the marketplace."

Students use Open Source Learning to create a wild variety of personal goals, Big Questions, Collaborative Working Groups, and online portfolios of work that they can use for personal curiosity, self-improvement, or as a competitive advantage in applying for jobs, scholarships, and admission to colleges and universities.  You can see a sample course blog here, some member blogs here, and sample masterpieces here and here. 

Several members of the first Open Source Learning cohort made this video about the experience:



In an era when it seems like all you hear about school is how much it sucks, it's nice to see student achievement make positive waves.  Check out this Open Source Learning interview with students and Howard Rheingold, the man who literally wrote the book on The Virtual Community 20 years ago. 

The defining characteristic of Open Source Learning is that there is no chief; all of us are members of a network that is constantly evolving.  Another key element is transparency.  What we learn and how well we learn it, how we respond to setbacks, and even some of our favorite inspirations and habits of mind are right out there in public for everyone to see.  Readers will rightly perceive what we curate as the best we have to offer.

And all this is Open.  In thermodynamics, an open system exchanges substance, not just light and heat.  To us, the important idea is that the network can change in composition and purpose.  Every time you meet someone new and exchange ideas, you're not only enriching each other, you're changing your minds and contributing opportunities for others to do the same.  In other words, you're learning and teaching* (*one of the most effective ways to learn).

We're not limited to one source for curriculum or instruction.  We have a full slate of online conferences scheduled this year including authors, authorities on the Internet and social media, entrepreneurs, and others.  A few years ago a mother/daughter team presented a lesson on class distinctions in Dickens & Dr. Seuss online.  Ricky Luna invited a champion drummer to talk with students online about music and its connections to literature and life.  If we read something that makes an impression we can reach out to the author.    As you get the hang of this you'll come up with your own ideas.  Testing them will give you a better sense of how to use the experience to your greatest advantage.

No one knows how learning actually works--what IS that little voice that tells you what you should've said 15 minutes after you should've said it?  How does a subneuronal lightning storm somehow account for our experience of being conscious?  We are not sure how to account for the individual experience and demonstration of learning.  We are also not sure what exactly the individual should be learning about at a time when factoids are a search click away and the economy, the environment, and the future are all increasingly complex and uncertain.

Maybe this is why learning still seems magical.  Maybe it shouldn't be.  Maybe if we learned more about how we think we'd be better off.  After all, how we think is a powerful influence on how we act.  If you think of your blog work as a list of traditional school assignments/chores, you will treat it that way and it will show.   Your friends will miss your posts and worry that you've moved to The House Beyond the Internet-- or that you're still at your place but trapped under something heavy.  At any rate you'll be missing the whole point.  This work should help you connect the dots between the interests that drive you, an academic course that derives its title from words hardly anyone uses in casual conversation, and practical tasks like applying for scholarships and college admissions.  The general idea is for you to: do your best at something personally meaningful; learn about how you and others learn while you're in the act; and fine-tune your life accordingly.  In addition to mastering the core curriculum, improving your own mind is the highest form of success in this course of study.

As you well know (Put that phone away or I'll confiscate it!), many people are worried about the use of technology in education.  They are rightly concerned about safety, propriety, and focus: will learners benefit or will they put themselves at risk?  The only way to conclusively prove that the benefits far outweigh the risks is to establish your identities and show yourselves great, both online and in meatspace.  As we move forward you will learn how the Internet works, how you can be an effective online citizen, and how you can use 2.0 and 3.0 tools to achieve your personal and professional goals.  You'll also learn a lot about writing and the habits of mind that make readers and writers successful communicators. 

Because Open Source Learning is a team sport, this is all your call.  You have to decide if you want to pursue this new direction, or if you want to invent another possibility with or without digital and social media, or if you prefer the familiarity of the traditional approach.  There is admittedly something comforting about the smell of an old book, even if it's a thirty-pound textbook that spent the summer in a pile of lost-and-found P.E. clothes.  My perspective may be obvious but I'm just one voice.  Please add yours with a comment below. 

august 12

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Move on Up" by Curtis Mayfield)

Hunter S. Thompson observed, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."  How do you respond to challenges that arise from circumstances you didn't predict?

AGENDA:
1.  To be an Open Source Learning network or not to be an Open Source Learning network?
2. Journal
3. "Richard Cory"

HW:
1. Memorize "Richard Cory"-- due in class Friday, August 17
2. Why "Richard Cory" now, when most World Literature courses start in chronological order with ?  Because one year I taught this course, one of the funniest, most beloved people ever killed himself the day before school started.  And I'm concerned-- between 2007 and 2015, teen suicide rates doubled for girls and went up 30% for boys.  According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, on average there are 123 suicides in America EVERY DAY.   Please click the links & read the articles by the beginning of class tomorrow (Tuesday, August 14). Think about Richard Cory and come to class prepared to discuss how literature reflects the versions of ourselves that only we know.

Q: I can't think of anything more important to learn than living.  Can you?

A: Nope.  But living is a loaded topic.  In order to learn how to live well, we'll need to better understand our popular culture and economy, digital technology, politics, and the environment.  We also need to learn about our own Mental Fitness, Physical Fitness, Cultural Fitness, Spiritual Fitness (slow your roll -- it's not what you think), Civic Fitness, and Technical Fitness.