The document describes a week-long blogging challenge with daily tasks for participants. The goals are to encourage bloggers to engage with other education blogs, learn new blogging tools and skills, and leave comments on other participants' blogs. Completing the tasks enters bloggers into a raffle to win a $50 gift certificate. The daily tasks involve following other blogs, adding links and comments, creating media like a Voki voice avatar, and generating a Wordle word cloud from text. Participants are encouraged to be creative and help each other learn.

1. 1
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
Your 3rd Blog Challenge Is Here!
Join the “Boost Your Blog Challenge” #3 – Complete the Daily Blog Tasks
and try Win the $50 Target Gift Certificate
Check your email daily OR the 157 Staff Dev. Blog for challenge instructions http://bit.ly/dXlJnu
Daily Blog Tasks
– Each pg. has a different daily task. Good Luck!
(Wed, July 13th)
Task #1 “Can You Follow EVERYBODY?”
---- Follow EVERY Johnson Teacher's Blog
Link: http://slidesha.re/raQSi6
Revised July 19, 2011

2. 2
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Thurs, July 14th)
Task # 2 “Link It Up!”
--- Make a new link category titled- Teacher Resources
Make the following (4) links to:
1. Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot - http://bit.ly/eR0GcT
Blog discusses free educational tools available to educators
2. Edublogs “Teacher Challenge- “Kick Start Your Blogging”
http://bit.ly/pmlGZi
Blog provides helpful activities to help educator produce effective
classroom blogs.
3. Choose (2) other comprehensive websites/blogs/wikis that you think
would be useful to every teacher at our school site.
For example: (you can’t use it -Lol!)
Google Tools for Educators -
http://sites.google.com/site/toolsforeducators/Home
Revised July 19, 2011

3. 3
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Fri, July 14th)
Task # 3 “Say Something Nice”
1. Post comments on (7) of the Johnson Blogs –
Link: http://slidesha.re/raQSi6
 IMPORTANT:
Notify R. Matthews by email which blogs you posted comments.
2. Post comments to the following Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot posts:
Post Title:
Check Out Schrock’s Google Apps Blooms Correlation Map
 http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/
Post Title: “Boost Your Blog” Challenge No. 1 Winner
 http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/02/boost-your-blog-
winner.html
Post Title: Learn 2 Blog Effectively with Edublogs
 http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/learn-2-blog-
effectively-with-edublog.html
 IMPORTANT: Must do for this task - Discuss your successes
and challenges you have had since you began to blog.
Revised July 19, 2011

4. 4
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Sat., July 15th)
Task #4 “Voki – The Mouthpiece”
Embed a “Voki” widget into your blog -
http://www.voki.com/create.php
Your “Voki” message MUST include:
 A “Welcome” to your visitors
 A short message of the purpose of your blog
See these (6) “Voki” examples:
1. 157 Staff Development Blog - http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com/
2. Nutrition and Wellness Biology 50- edublog
http://nutrition.edublogs.org/2008/04/20/meet-professordoc-the-nutrition-
course-voki/
3. Voki Educaton Resource Link: http://blog.voki.com/2011/02/18/interviews-
with-educators-lisa-nielsen/
4. LibGuides Help & Documentation -
http://help.springshare.com/content.php?pid=170792&sid=1474214
5. History – Voki – Pbworks w=Wiki – Jennifer Whitmer
http://innovations2010unco.pbworks.com/w/page/31340909/History%20-
%20Voki
6. World History – Great Voki by Kennedy Jones (A Student)
http://www.7aworldhistory.com/4/post/2011/02/great-voki-by-kennedy-
jones.html
Revised July 19, 2011

5. 5
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Sun, July 17th)
Task #5 “From My Head to My Feet”
1. Add a sub‐heading to the title of your blog.
 As an example ‐ SEE 157 Staff Dev. Blog’s header
http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com
 As an example – SEE Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot
http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/
 READ the sentences under the title of blog.
 Sub‐headings – can be used for the following:
‐‐‐ to describe the blog
‐‐‐ to direct your reader to a particular post
‐‐‐ to inform the reader of the sounds or vocals they are hearing
2. Add a fun widget “FISH” in the footer of your blog
 As an example – SEE D. Reels’ Blog – “B7’s Happenings”
http://b7happenings.blogspot.com/
 Directions for FISH ‐ When you click you mouse on an empty space
it leave fish food and the fish migrate to that area and eat the food.
Resources 4 U
Edublog – Teacher Challenge “Kick Start Your Blogging”
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/challenges‐2/30‐days‐to‐kick‐start‐your‐blogging/
Free blogging icons
http://bloggeruniversity.blogspot.com/2008/08/round‐up‐of‐free‐blogging‐icons.html
Revised July 19, 2011

6. 6
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Mon, July 18th)
Task #6 - “Wordle Your Words”
“Wordle” is a Free Word Cloud Tool - http://www.wordle.net/
This tool is for generating “words clouds” from text you provide.
You may want to create:
 spelling words clouds
 personality clouds
 subject matter clouds
 character study clouds
1. SEE the “Wordle” word cloud I made from the description
from above.
2. Simply copy and paste a bunch of text into the “Wordle” box
and it will generate your cloud instantly.
3. You can customize your word cloud by font, color, language,
layout, etc.
4. Convert your “Wordle” cloud into an image and upload to your blog
as a new post and give a brief description of you
word cloud.
5. “Wordle” video YouTube tutorial –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhL5D9nz5aI&feat
ure=player_embedded
SEE other examples
3rd Gr. Class Task of Naming their Guinea Pig –
http://mswift.edublogs.org/2011/03/24/naming-our-
guinea-pig/
Revised July 19, 2011

7. 7
Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge
– A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!
(Tues., July 19th)
Task #7 “Lights, Camera, Action”
1. Make a “short” screencast video for your students or parents to show them how to use a web tool (maybe
how to use “Wordle”- your choice).
2. Upload/ or embed the video into your blog using a FREE screen recording application. For example:
SEE my demo of using Screenr - http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com/p/boost-your-blog.html
Screenr - http://www.screenr.com/

My Blog’s Description of Screenr (super easy, but doesn’t display in district’s network)
http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/screenr-web-based-screen-recorder.html
 ActivInspire’s Screen recorder feature
Record a step in a lesson you are teaching.
Notify me if you need help utilizing this feature
 Jing – http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
Edublogs’ Description of Jing
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/04/26/free-tools-challenge-18-the-powers-of-jing/
Other screencasting applications:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/05/four-free-tools-for-creating.html
IMPORTANT: Make the video (very short) – 2min or less. Blogs cannot handle large videos upload,
unless they are embedded from another video storage site. This task is a challenge.
Examples of educational screencasts in blogs:
Blog: Stretch You Digital Dollar (Scroll down to almost bottom of page) - YouTube
http://digitaldollar.edublogs.org/2010/03/08/screencasts-turn-students-into-digital-teachers/
This was your last blog task for Challenge No. 3.
Good Luck!
Revised July 19, 2011