Teacher Blogging Series- Part 1 [Setting Up your Blog]

Finally, the blogging series for teachers is here! Over the next few weeks, I will be putting up blog posts to guide you on how to set up your professional educator blog. To read up on why teachers need to own a blog and what can be done with it, check out the review of a WhatsApp training which I organised for teachers here. 

You can use any blogging platform you like such as Wordpress, Blogger, Edublogs but this tutorial is suited to Blogger which is the platform that I use. In my opinion, blogger is easier to use, especially for new bloggers. Tutorials on how to set up a blog on other platforms may come later.
Tech-savvy teachers may not need the step-by-step guidance below, hopefully, in subsequent posts, you will get to learn new things.

Creating Your Blog

1: Get a Gmail account
You need to have a Gmail account to be able to create your blog. If you do not have one you can create one here.
Your Gmail is what you'll use to sign into google blogger which you can access here.

2: Title, Blog URL and Template
As soon as you sign into blogger, click on "New Blog"if you see the screenshot below, then you are on the right path.

Type in your blog name in the Title Box e.g Teacher Lola's Blog, My Maths Fun Blog, Diary of a Science Teacher etc. 
Choose an address for your blog, this is what your readers will use to access your blog. Be sure to choose an easy-to-remember blog name so your readers can keep finding their way back. The blogspot.com will be added automatically to any web address you choose and will remain until you purchase your own domain name. For example, my blog used to be oneteacher2anoda.blogspot.com when I purchased my domain space it became www.teacherlola.com. More on domain name purchase in subsequent posts.
Next, choose a template. From the screen shot above, Simple has been selected. You can always change the look of your blog as many times until you get one you are satisfied with.
Click on the orange button "create blog!"

3. The Dashboard
You will be taken to the dashboard environment as shown in the screen shot below.

The dashboard is the blog management centre. A list of the things you can do here has been highlighted in green.
Be sure to start off  with the settings tab to complete the setting up of your blog. The various options under the setting tabs are explained below.
Basic- Here you can change the title of your blog, type in a few words to describe your blog and click on permissions to change the privacy settings. If you want others to edit your blog, in the "Blog Authors"section click Add authors and invite whoever you want using their Gmail address. To select who can view your blog, under Permissions, edit the "Blog Readers" section, choose your preference and Save Changes.

Other sections under the settings tab are Posts, Comments and Sharing, Email, Language and Formatting, Search Preferences, and Other. Go through each section to select your preferences and be sure to Save Changes as you go along. I will advise that the Email, Search Preferences and Other sections be left at default settings although you may want to click No in the Adult Content section under Other.
Change the Time Zone section under Language and Formatting to suit the country in which you reside. 

Now we are good to go! Next blog post will be exclusive tips on how to change how your blog looks. Be sure to follow by email so you never miss a post. 

After all said and done, make my day send me the URL of your brand new blog and I will add you to networks where you can learn more and be inspired to do more. You can post the blog address in the comments section or email it to me. 

Let's get blogging!

CIAO,