As part of a professional development opportunity with the #cpvpa, I thought I would go through some of the steps to set up your own educational (or personal) blog through WordPress. I am not promoting WordPress, it is just the one that I have been using for the past several years.
Steps:
- Go to www.wordpress.com and then click “Get Started”
- Sign up, using the email address you use most (to get updates on your blog), choose a username and password you will remember and decide on what you will call your blog. Remember when deciding on what to call your blog that you want it catchy, but relevant. If it is too specific, it may limit how long you can use it (ie, 30yearoldstories may seem good, but when you are 40, it may seem a bit sad).
- Now you need to choose a theme. There are many. Go to the Appearance tab on the left of the dashboard and scroll through the themes. There are many to choose from, but I would start with a simple one. You can always change the theme as you get more used to the wordpress system.
- Once you have a theme, you may wish to change the banner and colour background, but I can talk about that in a later post.
- To create your first post, click on the Posts tab and click Add New. Make a title that grabs attention, and start writing.
Once you are ready to share your thoughts, click:
Don’t worry if you aren’t a writer, you can post pictures, videos or questions for others to respond. Don’t worry about comments or the number of visitors, building a network takes time and through other social media (such as twitter and facebook) you will be able to share your thoughts.
Remember, everyone’s ideas have value, but be respectful.
Let me know when you post, I would love to read your thoughts and ideas!
Thanks, Bryn. Any concerns about using the .com version of this site as its “cloud” is located out of country? Teachers may wish to see if their district has a version of this program on drives in the district (?).
Thanks for the reply. We are trying to see if Coquitlam will set up a similar connection like Burnaby with WordPress. There is the option of making the blog private, but that might take away some of the global connections and sharing that many like about blogs. Hope your November is going well.
November went well, thanks!
I don’t seem to get your replies- hence the 4 week delay! Yes, I agree that a private blog takes away many potential connections. It’s perhaps perfect for the teacher looking for a way to connect with her students and parent community, but not for all situations. Good to connect with you! We miss you here!