Blogging

In this course, we will use blog posts to prepare for on weekly discussions, reflect on our  work outside of class, practice writing for the web, and learn from one another as we explore class content. The course schedule contains prompts for each of the required blog posts (there are a few weeks when blog aren’t due)

Due Dates

Because each blog prompt asks students to reflect on the week’s content, they are due by the start of our Monday class period. For example, your first blog, is due at at class time on January 21. Students have until Friday to comment on a given week’s blog posts. For example, next week, students will need to comment by the end of the day on Friday, January 25.

• Your blog posts should be between 500 and 700 words, and they should be interspersed with screenshots, images, video, links, and/or other content. 
• Our blogs are “multimodal” spaces—that means that they will encourage you to compose with image, video and sound as well as text. You can pull from the vast media stores of the web, but you might also build your own slide shows, movies, etc. to include in your posts. You can embed YouTube videos, link to films or songs, etc. Linking is always to your advantage. If you make a historical claim, for example, link to the article where you found it. This is the hallmark characteristic and skill of writing for the web. You should choose pertinent outside material and explain your use of it well.
• Always cite your sources carefully. If you post an image or video to the blog, be sure that the owner of the content has given permission for its reproduction. Wikimedia has an excellent store of open source images. If you perform a Google Search for an image, always visit the page from which the image is derived and see what rights the owner has listed. If they don’t give permission, you can still provide a link to the original site, but don’t copy the image onto our site. Regardless of whether you copy the content over or provide a link, cite the original source using MLA style in the caption box (You can ask me if you are having trouble, and I’ve provided myriad examples in my own content on the blog). As with any academic work, citation is necessary when quoting from other sources. Provide a complete in-text citation for all quotations and include an MLA bibliographic entry at the end of the post. Consult Purdue OWL on the Web for help with MLA citation style.
• Blogs are traditionally more personal than academic writing. Think carefully about your audience; everything you are posting is for the entire class, not just the professor. How can you interest that wider audience? Be creative, experiment with tone, and use this as a space to find your voice.
• Use the same level of care with grammar, structure, and style that you would with any writing assignment.

Adding A Blog Post to WordPress

Accessing the Dashboard: there are three methods for getting to the site’s dashboard where you write posts.

1. You can access the back-end by going directly to the site link (listed at the top of this assignment sheet), typing “/admin” after the URL, and hitting return.
2. Our site will appear when you click on “My Sites” in the top left corner of the account screen along with any other sites associated with your WordPress account. From here, you can click on “View Site” to see the live blog or “WP Admin” to visit the back-end where posts are made.
3. If you are signed in when visiting the site, you will notice an icon with a pencil and a plus sign in the upper right corner. This will take you directly to a screen for adding a post.

Adding a Post: Once you’ve made it to the dashboard, click on “Add New” Under the “Posts” heading to the left of your screen. You’ll be taken to a screen that looks like a word processor. There is a “classic” and “improved” mode to choose from, but they are pretty much the same. You can type right into the post box, or you cut and paste directly from your own word processor into the blog screen.

Additional Formatting Options: Turn on the “toolbar toggle” at the top-right of the editor, for more formatting options.

Adding Media: At the top left of both editors there is an “Add Media” button from which there are several options for putting multimedia content into your post including images, film clips, and mp3s. To add YouTube videos, after clicking on the “Add Media” button, “Insert from URL,” and paste in the “Share” link that YouTube provides.

Block Quoting: If you have a quotation that is four lines or longer you should turn it into an indented block quotation. To do so, after your introduce your quote, hit return. Type out the entirety of your quote then hit return again. Highlight the quote, and then, with the “toolbar toggle” turned on, click on the icon with a picture of a quotation mark.

Saving your Work: Click on “Save Draft” and then “Preview” in the widget in the upper-right hand corner to check your work (In “Improved” mode “save” and “preview” are at the left of the editor). Take your time, add to the post, and proofread.

Publishing: You must eventually choose “Publish” from the widget at the right for the post to appear on your blog (or at the left of the editor in the “improved” version).

Weekly Comment Participation

You are responsible for making at least five comments each week. Comments need only be 100 words or less, but rather than being evaluative they should add additional thought and reflection to the original blog post. You shouldn’t think of commenting as a zero-sum game. Don’t just make the comments you need to make to have met your quota; instead, get into our conversation, participate actively, and communicate with one another! If you think about this blog as a community of thinkers and writers with common goals rather than a minimum course requirement, you are inevitably going to do well. I will also comment during our weekly discussions, but it is important that you think of me as just another participant, and continue to contribute rather than taking my word as final. In fact, I will often post questions to push our conversation further, and it is your responsibility as a class participant to attempt to answer those questions.

Adding a Comment to WordPress

To view comments and add your own, click on the blog post’s title or on the comments link at the bottom of the blog post.

1. If you are commenting directly on the primary post, type in the box at the bottom of the page.
2. If you are commenting on an already posted comment, hit the reply link so that you have your own box to add to the conversation.
3. Comments should be around 100 words and should address the already underway conversation while also allowing for further elaboration. Feel free to ask your classmates questions to spark additional conversation.
4. Imagine these as sites for further commentary and extended discussion. In other words, don’t just praise your fellow students, use the comments to answer their questions, pose additional ones, and reference particular scenes in the text we are reading or help students troubleshoot the tools we are using.
5. Ask questions and give examples in your comments.

Please Note: One frustrating thing about WordPress is that as site Authors you don’t have permission to moderate or edit your own comments. If you catch an incredibly frustrating error that you made in a comment, let me know and I will go in and fix it for you.

Tips for Keeping Yourself “Up-to-date with a Vengeance”

1. Download the WordPress Mobile App (available at both the Apple and Android App Stores)
2. “Follow” the blog itself so that you receive e-mails about new posts.
3. When you make your first comment to each initial and primary post, make sure to “Follow” it so that you receive e-mail updates of future posts.
4. Use the Author and Recent Comments Widgets to the right of the blog to see the most recent activity on the site.

Writing Quality Posts

As with all of our assignments, the quality of your work will be assessed as a part of your portfolio and your learning contract. The rubric below may help you understand the markers of quality in a typical blog post

Blog Post Rubric

Criteria	Needs Work	Competent	Exemplary
Depth of Thought Weight 50.00%	•Does not elaborate on ideas or questions by providing evidence from the text or the tools •Does not provide critical readings of the  books or tools discussed. •Does not provide quotes, page numbers, or examples in relationship to ideas.	•Begins to flesh out ideas or questions by providing evidence from the text or the tools •Provides provide critical readings of the  books or tools discussed. •Provides quotes quotes, page numbers, or examples in relationship to ideas.	•Fully fleshes out ideas or questions by providing evidence from the text or the tools •Provides innovative readings of the books or tools discussed •Provides full quotes with page numbers or examples that further illuminate ideas.
Level of Completion Weight 15.00%	•Does not provide a full 500 to 700 words for each entry.	•Provides a full 500 to 700 words	•Provides 500-700 words of substantial thought.
Grammar/Style Weight 15.00%	•Post have several grammatical errors. •Instances of passive voice, non-descript words, etc. •Writing style is unclear, jumbled, inappropriate tone.	•Post is relatively free of grammatical errors. •Has some instances of passive voice, non-descript words, etc. •Uses basic but clear writing style.	•Post is free of grammatical errors. •Avoids common pitfalls like passive voice and non-descript words. •Uses complex sentence structures, develops an appropriate tone related to content, and chooses words thoughtfully.
Design/Multimedia Weight 20.00%	•Student does not integrate multimedia or external links into the blog and/or multimedia isn’t meaningful. •Does not cite source materials.	•Student uses multimedia and external links, but doesn’t always explain its purpose, or consider copyright restrictions.	•Student integrates cohesive, meaningful, clever multimedia and external links, and cites all source materials according to current and precise MLA style.

Weekly Commenting Rubric

Criteria	Needs Work	Competent	Exemplary
Frequency Weight 20.00%	•Students submits less than 5 comments during the week.	•Student submits at least five comments during the week.	• Student meets all required expectations and comments indicate a substantive willingness to participate based on content as opposed to required number of comments.
Content Weight 40.00%	•Student comments are not substantive •Comments do not relate to the issues discussed in the initial post.	•Student comments are substantive •Comments provide additional examples	• Student comments are substantive•Comments include well-cited, well-chosen additional examples.
Classmate Engagement Weight 30.00%	•Student does not ask questions. •Student does not extend the points of others.	•Student asks some questions. •Student does more than affirm the comments of others.	• Student is actively engaged in debate with classmates.•Student asks questions that extend the conversation, and provides new angles on the topic under discussion.
Clarity/Grammar Weight 10.00%	•The comments are garbled, the language is unclear, or there are several spelling/ grammatical errors throughout the week.	•The comments are clear and relatively free of grammatical errors	•The comments are engagingly written. •The student experiments with writing style while also appealing to his/her audience.