Can you help?

I’ve been asked for advice for blogging with ESL/EFL students.

I’m sure that ESL/EFL educators and their students will provide the best advice.  So I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Larry Ferlazzo’s Thoughts

And to get the conversation started Larry Ferlazzo (from Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day……For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL) has kindly shared his quick thoughts on blogging with ESL/EFL students:

1. Help students get email addresses
2. Compile a list of user names and passwords because someone will forget theirs.
3. Choose a blogging solution that includes an option for leaving an audio comment as it is a MUST – (if you use Edublogs.org you need to use either a Pro blog or Campus blog)
4. Identify some very, very simple tasks that students can do (refer to my Class website Intermediate English for ideas) and then they just have to paste the URL address of their creation in the comments.
   • They’ll get used to the tech that way.
   • Model on a computer projector each task and what is required so everyone sees.
5. Next, have students leave audio and written comments.  Highlight examples on computer projector.
6. Gradually use more complex tasks, like on my class blog.
   • Students can paste essays they write in the comments section, but should type them out in Word first to take advantage of grammar and spell check.
   • However, first, they should write it out longhand so they don’t get intimidated by all the mistakes Word will show them making.

Your thoughts

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What have you found works well?
2. What hasn’t worked well?
3. Do you have any questions on blogging with ESL/EFL students you would like answered?

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As promised here’s my follow up post on general blogging questions asked during Richard Byrne and my ISTE Unplugged blogging session and in comments on my What Do You Want to KNOW about Blogging? post.

The aim of the post is to help educators and students with their personal blogging.

For my responses to student blogging questions refer to What You Wanted To KNOW About Student Blogging.

Want my blog to be well read and have a great appearance

Here’s my thoughts including recommended widgets:

1. Always put the most important widgets at the top of your blog
2. Search widget – top of blog or top of sidebar
3. RSS feed using Feedburner – here’s how to add it to your blog
4. Subscribe by email using Feedburner – here’s how to add Feeburner email subscription to your blog
5. Effectively use both categories and tags on your post to make it easier to find posts – here’s the difference between categories and tags
6. Place category widget above tag widget in your sidebar
7. Consider all widgets you add very carefully.  Do you really NEED them?  Do they help or distract from your blog appearance and content?
8. AVOID excessive use of bold, italics and colored font in posts
9. Use headings, number listed, bullet lists, short paragraphs to break posts into manageable chunks– here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts
10. Use images effectively to engage attention –- read these posts:
    • Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts
    • Finding and Adding Creative Commons Images To Your Blog Posts
    • Uploading Photos From Digital Cameras Into Blog Posts
11. Avoid blog themes with strong colors or text that is too small that distract the reader from content and make them not want to read it
12. Choose a blog title that is immediately meaningful and relevant to first time visitors – this can make or break their decision to become a subscriber.
    • For example, the original name Mobile Technology in TAFE for my personal blog is a classic example of a REALLY bad blog title

Here’s what to consider when choosing a blog theme.

And think about using your own custom image header like I’ve done on my personal blog – here’s how to upload custom image headers

Do a first time reader audit on your blog

A good approach to improving your blog appearance is to “Do a first time reader audit on your blog” by:

1. Following Darren Rowse’s Run a First Time Reader Audit on Your Blog instructions to observe how someone who has never read your blog navigates it
2. Contacting a few experience bloggers and ask them to do a quick audit of your blog to give you advice on what works and what doesn’t

How you see your blog and what you write about is often totally different from how viewed by others

What experienced bloggers spot differ from someone who normally doesn’t read blogs.

Can you tell how many times your blog has been viewed?

Knowing how many times your blog has been view doesn’t give you a true reflection of your readership.

Blog readership is made up of two totally separate components:

1. People who visit your blog site
2. Readers who subscribe to your blog using RSS or email subscription

The number of people who read your blog by visiting your blog site is generally considerably lower than those that subscribe by RSS or email subscription.

To understand your readership and changes you need to:

1. Set up Google Analytics for your blog
2. Set up Feeburner RSS and email subscription

PostRank is also good for monitoring other engagement factors.

How can a blogger attract more readers?

Hard question because it’s a combination of factors including:

1.  Your blog’s appearance

Some bloggers write great content but:

• Their blog theme and sidebar clutter distracts readers from appreciating the great content
• Lay out of their posts makes their posts hard to read -  here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts

2.  Type of posts and how frequently you publish posts:

Bloggers like Stephen Downes, Larry Ferlazzo and Richard Brynes all have high readership because they all:

• Have high posts frequency (post several posts per day)
• Publish posts that provide great information for their readers

As a general rule high posts frequency combined with great content increases readership faster than low post frequency with great content.

But you don’t always need high posting frequency to have high readership.

For example, some one like Vicki Davis posts less frequently but  has high readership because of her great content and amazing support of the educational community.

It’s worth checking out Post Rank’s Education list even though their list is based on engagement factors (as opposed to readership) — to check out different edublogging approaches.

3.  Connecting with others

Being a blogger isn’t just about publishing posts.

It’s also about reading others posts, taking time to comment on their posts (in meaningful ways), engaging with your readers by commenting back when they leave comments — being a good blog citizen.

A natural part of connecting with others means that more people are likely to become aware of your work.

Don’t forget that linking to someone else’s post is an important part of blogging.  Why?

Because reading posts that talks about other bloggers or their posts but doesn’t include links to them is really frustrating for readers. Readers like to follow the links and check out the information in more detail but without the links they can’t!

And when you include links to another bloggers post it sends a pingback to that blogger.  Most bloggers check out pingback to their blogs.

Here’s more information on What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links

But please note — I can’t stress meaningful ways enough when connecting with others, writing comments or using pingbacks.

4.  How you make people aware of your posts

I know other bloggers feel uncomfortable about this as myself.

But nowadays increasingly readers are reading blog posts by links shared on twitter rather than RSS.   So it is now a good idea to tweet when you’ve written a new post.

If you’re not currently using twitter – here’s how to get started.

Bloggers are also using Facebook to connect with more readers – here’s how you do it.

How do you get more people to read your blog and comment?

Increasing readership doesn’t necessarily lead to more comments.

As a general rule if you publish several post per day readers are less likely to comment on posts than if you publish posts two or three times per week.

Scheduling posts several days apart gives readers time to process your posts and means they are more likely to write comments.

However, it does all depend on how you’ve written your post.  Has your post invited a response?

There are skills to writing posts that make readers want to comment — my Comment Count post should give you some ideas.

What are your best practices to ensure uninterrupted publishing posts?

We’re all always busy — so time can be a challenge.

The key is work out what routine works best you and set up a system that helps you.

For example, decide how often you want to publish posts?  Several times daily, once daily or a few times a week?

As a general rule writing a post 2-3 times a week is more achievable for most educators.   So how you do it is decide that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days your posts will publish.

And to make life easier you can write the posts at the same time and then schedule to post on those days.

Some bloggers also find using a calendar where you plan the topic of your posts helps.  While I’ll also use Google Document which I update with new post ideas.

How do you determine “worthy” topics to attract readers

Really gets back to the reason why you blog.

For many edubloggers blogging is a bit about their readers and a lot about their own personal needs to reflect on what they are learning or what they want to share.

One of the commonest mistakes I see made by new blogggers is focusing on what they think their readers want to read.

My advice is forget about your readers and focus on your own needs.  You’ll be more passionate and it’ll come through in your posts.

And never assume that someone’s already written what you’re saying.

Have bloggers block.  How do I get going again, post length, finding my voice etc

Don’t feel alone — we all suffer from it at some stage.

Some find having a break helps.

Whereas breaks don’t help me and the best solution is to force myself to write the post (any post) to get back into my blogging routine.

Post length

Post length is an interesting topic.  As a general rule shorter posts are more likely to get comments while longer posts are more likely to be bookmarked.

It’s really about what works for both you and your readers.

For example, this post is definitely too long but I didn’t want to break into a series of posts because I normally post twice weekly.  Would it have been better as separate posts for each question?  Probably!

Finding your voice

Each blogger has their own distinct writing style which we often call their voice.

Once you’ve got your blogging routine back I’m sure you’ll find your voice comes back with it.

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What did I miss in my responses?
2. Do you have any other questions on blogging you would like answered?

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We weren’t in Delhi for very long. Two sleeps, in fact. For me, personally, the time was marked by a ridiculously wicked abscessed tooth I had. I discovered that one can walk into a chemist in India, describe searing tooth pain, hand over 900 rupees and be given two sets of mysterious pills. These pills, referred to as the “Shady-Yet-Magic-Red-Pills,” helped my pain level better than anything else I tried and I will be eternally in the debt of the chemist in that shadtastic shop in Delhi.

But beyond my unbelievable amount of pain, we did some things in Delhi. Most remarkably to me, we hung out at a Sikh temple and drove past the location of Ghandi’s assassination. Also, we discovered the Delhi is more or less closed on Mondays and that Ba’hai Temples are sometimes shaped like flowers.

I’m not entirely sure how to – in this short space – describe Sikhism. I can offer you this link (as clearly Wikipedia is my definitive source) or this one (which has the benefit of being written by Sikhs). There are disciples and swords, a very special book and covered heads. What gets my soul all kerfuffled is that they feed people. The Sikh temple in Delhi is arugably the largest soup kitchen in the world – serving thousands each day with homemade food regardless of their faith system, caste or race. We were invited to sit down and press some chipati. I sat next to the woman pictured above in the blue shalwar. Without speaking the same language, she showed me how to make the bread and we sat quietly and rolled for a few moments. It was one of the holiest moments of my life.

Once again, perhaps you’ve heard of this guy. The museum was sadly closed, so we just took pictures of the gate of the home where Ghandi’s life was stolen from him by an extremist who felt he wasn’t quite Hindu enough to be an Indian leader.

A tradition on the team was to start each dinner off with a toast. We toasted a variety of things: friends from Truett, hygienic bathroom options, new Indian friends. This photo captures the last toast on Indian soil, made with Fresh Lime Sodas, our favorite beverage option. This toast was to “going there and back again” in honor of our journey home.

Our last act in India as a team was to gather at a home of some friends and have a puja, complete with communion through coconuts.

~*~

Well, that’s it. India in a handful of blog posts. I’ve been home for a little under a month now and I really have no idea what to do with most of what I experienced. I don’t know how to rectify some of the dichotomies I saw with each other and certainly not with my own existence. As Bartlet said, “There are a few black and white days, days with absolute right and absolute wrong, but those days usually include body counts.”Absolutes are so rare in this world – perhaps the journey is learning to live in dissonance and loving the person in front of me while doing it.

I hope that India will continue to shape me as I move forward from here. That I would continue to be shaped by the rough parts and the smooth parts. That I would continue to be a different person as I learn to lean into the grace and brokenness of creation.

Really, all there is in Agra is the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Because when those two things are in a city, why would you focus on anything else? This post will be largely pictures. Also, the Taj is just as impressive as you think it is. There are things in life that are underwhelming because the hype overtakes the reality. However, the Taj is not one of them. It was incredible to stand there and gawk at the incredible structure. The detail is fantastic and the symmetry is striking.

We’re almost at the end of our recaps of India – only one city left, friends! Stay tuned for the last round of temples and forts: or, our time in delhi

This is the entrance gate to the Taj. Yeah, just the entrance.

THE TAJ MA-FREAKING-HALL! I happened to be walking in next to Stroope and I looked at him and shrieked. He just laughed.

Side view

Detail work on the Taj

These are the pieces that make up the detail work on the Taj. And each of those pieces are made up of several pieces. DETAIL.

What the Taj looks like backlit

Obligatory picture

Clearly, my turn

Me and Stroope

Architecture at Red Fort

Another shot taken by Michael on his early morning adventure

Me and Michael in front of the Taj

Varanasi, located on the banks of the Ganges River, is the holiest city in India. It’s regarded as deeply holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Varanasi is in the state of Uttar Pradesh and contains hundreds of temples to various gods in various faith systems. Those are some simple words to sum up one of the most chaotic and fascinating and frustrating and beautiful cities I’ve ever been to. There are hundreds of legends that surround Varanasi, and I’d encourage you to seek them out for yourself. (For instance, the creation of the Ganges as rivets of water flowing from Shiva’s hair is one of my favorite.)

I’ve struggled how to explain this city. I decided that instead of offering my traditional summary, I’d rely largely on the photo summary. Know that we were there for about three days and arrived and left by train. We took a boat ride down the river at sunrise and attended an evening worship service unlike I’ve ever seen. In our team language, Varanasi was the bottom of the Indian well. It was the place that the messes that come with Indian culture came up and demanded our attention in a way that hadn’t happened before. Plus, friends, it was HOT. We were hot everywhere, but Varanasi was like baking inside a humid oven.

My experiences in Varanasi will probably feature in my posts again, especially as I begin to understand how to describe it. In light of that, stay tuned for the final two summaries concerning Agra and Delhi.

How we arrived in Varanasi: night train from Calcutta to Varanasi. This is the compartment I shared with CJ, Katie and Kari.

CJ hangs over to her bed to watch Chef Kari make our snack

I love that the cow is sleeping right underneath the sign for the Internet cafe

Man sitting by the ghats

Me and my travel buddy Casey in the back our of cycle rickshaw

Clearly, I have no idea what this says. But this is what Hindi looks like.

Boy playing in the Ganges

The Ganges Arti is performed each night at the same ghat at sunset. It’s an amazing example of devotion and ritual that I was honored to experience. It’s also typically dichotomous. People sitting next to cows, mixed with child beggars and girls selling hand stamps, next to men selling Dora the Explorer blow-up toys and tourists with expensive cameras. All while the service is happening and the sun sets.

A large part of Hindu worship experiences is about getting the attention of the diety. Gongs are clanged, bells rung, insense burned, candles lit – it’s a completely visceral experience. So here’s a shot of the end of the arti, where the priest ritualistically throws flower petals in the air.

The Bodi Tree where Buddha received his enlightenment – located just outside Varanasi

Tibetan prayer flags hanging around the Bodi Tree

There’s a Jain temple located down the road from the Bodi Tree. Ask me about peacock feathers sometime.

Please remember that I love India when I say this : the three hours we spent on the Varanasi Train Station platform will rank as three of my least favorite hours of life. Hot, stuffy, rats, exhaustion…

Out of order, I know, but I wanted this to be your parting shot of Varanasi.

What makes a poem not parallelistic elevated styles is that he poem has parallelism as a constituitive device, namely a device on which the artifact is created.

At the end I still wonder what would Gardner say about prose, poetry and narrative.

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Just a heads up that I’m boarding a flight today to head to Bogota, Colombia. I’ll be spending some time down there with a dear Asbury friend who works for a mission organization with a presence in the country. I’m doing some research about conflict and its affect on society, hoping to have conversations with both perpetrators and victims. I’ll be in Bogota and Medellin over the next ten days.

Hope the rest of your July is fantastic and full of your own brands of adventure. See you in August!

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