This is a little reminder for the blogging ISTEK teachers. I will announce the details of the ISTEK Blogs Competition very soon on http://blogs.istek.org.tr and I thought it would be a good idea to publish some DOs and DON’Ts just before that. These guidelines are specific to our school but some of the suggestions might be valid for the other blogging teachers too.

DOs:

• Find catchy titles to your blog posts
• Write your posts in a conversational tone
• Reply to your students’ comments
• Encourage them to contribute to the blog, give them responsibilities (Invent new responsibilities like ‘blog assistant’)
• Set clear guidelines so that all parents and students are aware of what is and isn’t appropriate.
• Get students involved in the process of creating the guidelines
• Get your students to create their own avatar without using their own photo (check out this link)
• Tell your students to write their names only while posting comments
• Adopt principles on mistake correction in student comments & let your students know about your expectations
• Update the blogroll frequently and encourage your students to visit those websites
• Talk about the blog enthusiastically if you want to get your students’ attention
• Make the blog assignments appealing by some bribery:-) e.g. an extra plus for the students who finish the story on the blog
• Build international connections (Start Twittering if you want to find other blogging teachers quickly and easily)
• Post your entries both in English and Turkish (Kindergarten and Department blogs only, since the target audience is the parents)
• Visit other class blogs for more creative ideas & share ideas with the other blogging teachers
• Reply to comments visitors (other blogging teachers, parents, etc.) make on your blog posts
• Have fun!

DON’Ts

• Write too long
• Publish students’ full names (first names only)
• Publish individual student photos
• Disclose the student names in photo captions
• Use copyright protected images
• Add music videos without reading or listening to the lyrics carefully
• Publish links before making sure that the link is age and level-appropriate
• Make the blog assignments obligatory (there might be students who do not have access to Internet at home)
• Postpone moderating comments (you need to share this responsibility with your co-teacher)
• Approve parent comments that include questions or comments that need a private phone conversation or a face-to-face meeting (e.g. exam grades, a problem in the classroom)
• Think that blogging is the aim of your lesson (although it is how you will feel inevitably at the very beginning)
• Hesitate to ask for help (you know where to find me:-)