Welcome to the fourth step in our free professional learning series on personal blogging to help you set up your own personal or professional educator blog!

The aim of this step is to:

  1. Help you understand why commenting is an important part of your reflective blogging process.
  2. Provide commenting tips.
  3. Help you connect with other educational bloggers.


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Importance of connecting and commenting

It’s an easy trap to focus too much on publishing your own posts. Reading other people’s posts and commenting on posts are very important parts of the learning process as a blogger.

Blogging is a constant cycle of:

  1. Evaluate
  2. Review
  3. Reflect
  4. Revise

The idea of reflective blogging is you’re evaluating, reviewing, reflecting, revising while reading other people’s posts, commenting on their posts, writing your own posts, and commenting back on comments made by others on your own blog.

By following this process you’re learning at a deeper level and differently from how you’ve learned previously; and you’re doing it as part of a community.

Simply put — Blogging is about connecting with others!

Blogging Cycle


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How comments work

By default, comments are enabled on all newly created blogs, and a comment form will appear at the bottom of posts where readers can respond to what you’ve written.

Approved comments are displayed under the individual post or page. You just click on the post title or the comment link to read the comments.

Threaded comments allow readers to reply to other comments inline/nested which encourages better discussion and responses.

Here is an example of a threaded comment on a post:

Comment on a post

Refer to the following support documentation for more information:


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How to add a comment

To leave a comment on a post just:

1. Click on the heading of the post you wish to comment on or the “comment” link at the top or at the bottom of the post.

2. Scroll down the page to the comment form or click on Reply (to reply to a specific comment).

3.  Enter your name and email address – your email address is hidden and only the blogger sees it  (If you are logged into your Edublogs account you won’t need to add these details).

4. Write your comment.

5. Enter the anti-spam word.

6.  Select ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail‘ if you want to be notified by email of comments from other readers.

7. Click ‘submit comment’

Comment form

Here is a PDF cheat sheet of the above instructions. Click on the ‘download’ button under the document if you want to save or print a copy.

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Commenting Etiquette

There are no hard and fast rules about commenting but here are some etiquette tips to keep in mind:

  1. Be polite and stay on topic.
  2. Where possible refer to the blogger or another commenter by their first name.
  3. Try to contribute new ideas to the conversation.
  4. Don’t comment if you are doing it just for self-promotion.
  5. Avoid being too negative. If you don’t agree say it in a nice way and provide an explanation of your alternative viewpoint.
  6. There are no rules to how long or short a comment should be. However, if it is a long comment think about if it is worth responding to by writing your own post in response.
  7. Respond back to comments on your own posts. It shows you value readers’ comments. Some educators also send an email reply to their commenters. This ensures the commenter receives your response and provides a more personalized experience –strengthening your PLN.
  8. Select to be notified of follow up comments if the option is available. This notifies you of follow up comments by email and makes it easier for you to respond back with further comments.


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Connecting with others

Mobile devices and social networks have changed how we source the content we read.  It’s also impacted on how we connect with others.

We’re far more social now and more likely to use social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ as a buffet. We can consume whatever we want at our leisure by selecting posts from links shared by our networks.

To increase our chances of posts being read we need to:

  1. To be an active part of the edublogosphere and make time to network with others via social media e.g. Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
  2. Add social share tools like AddThis Social Share to make it easier for others to share your posts.
  3. Consider adding an email subscription widget to your blog or starting an email newsletter. We’ll talk more about these options in step 10 of this series.

Twitter and RSS

Twitter is one of the key network used by educators and where many educators source links to posts to read.

If you aren’t using Twitter or don’t follow many educators on Twitter — now is the time to build up your Twitter network!  You learn more about using Twitter here.

The key to reading and responding to other peoples’ blog posts is finding effective strategies that make reading and commenting time efficient.

There is a lot more personal preference in where we source our links from and how we choose to read the content.

Some people prefer to read posts directly from Twitter, Facebook, and/or Google+ — dipping into the stream when they have time and knowing the more popular posts will be shared the most (so easily found). Sometimes people sign up for email newsletters from their favorite bloggers, while others subscribe to RSS using RSS readers like Feedly or Flipboard.

We’re going to show you how to subscribe using RSS; and how to use both Feedly and Flipboard because these approaches make reading and commenting time efficient.

I use Feedly for reading my blog subscriptions and Flipboard for sourcing links from my social networks.

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Introduction to RSS

RSS is an acronym which stands for Really Simple Syndication.

In simple terms, RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the website to check for new updates.

How RSS Works

You subscribe to your favorite website using the RSS feed in an RSS feed reader such as Feedly. Whenever new information is added to the website it is automatically sent to your RSS feed reader where you can read it at your convenience.

Sites with RSS feeds are normally indicated with the word RSS and/or the orange RSS icon.

For more information, watch RSS in Plain English

Important facts about RSS:

  1. Blogs on all standard blogging platforms automatically include RSS feeds and don’t necessarily use words or an icon to indicate the presence of the RSS feed.
  2. For all Edublogs, the RSS feed is found by going to yourblog.edublogs.org/feed. RSS feed readers like Feedly automatically detect your RSS feed from your blog URL so there is no need to know the feed URL.
  3. RSS is automatically disabled on all private blogs to ensure only people who should be able to view the content of your blog are able to.


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Subscribe to blogs using Feedly

There is a wide range of feed readers available and the most popular RSS Feed Reader currently is Feedly. The free version of Feedly allows you to follow up to 100 sources which should be enough to keep you busy!

This short video by Joshua Essary explains how to get started with Feedly.

Refer to these instructions to set up and use Feedly:

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Connecting to social networks using Flipboard

Flipboard was originally designed as a social network aggregation, magazine-format app for iPad in 2010. It’s now the most popular of the magazine-like content aggregation apps.

Flipboard’s strength is you are able to bring your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn into one location alongside your favorite news sources and anything else you like to read or watch (like YouTube). On top of this, it’s easy to share your favorite content with your social networks and easy to curate your favorite content into Flipboard magazine(s).

Watch this video to learn more about Flipboard.

I use Flipboard to subscribe to the following type of content:

  • Local newspapers (search using the name of the newspaper)
  • Technology blogs (search using the blog URL or blog title)
  • Tweets mentioning posts published on Edublogs and Global 2 (search using edublogs.org or global.vic.edu.au) — finds all tweets that shares a link to a post published on any blog on Edublogs.org
  • Twitter hashtags (search using the hashtag)

The Edublogs team also uses Flipboard to curate magazines. For example, here is our Flipboard magazine from ISTE 2018. 

Refer to these instructions to set up and use Flipboard.


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Commonly asked questions about comments

Here are the answers to commonly asked questions we receive into Edublogs Support:

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1.  How do you enable comments on pages?

Most our themes support comments on pages and, by default, comments are enabled on pages.

You can enable comments on pages using Quick Edit as follows:

1. Go to Pages > All Pages

All pages

2. Locate the post or page you want to enable comments on.

3. Hover over its title to bring up its action menu and then click on Quick Edit.

Click on Quick Edit

4. Select ‘Allow Comments’ and then click on Update.

Allow Comments

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2.  Why don’t comments display on pages?

Most of our themes now support comments on pages, however, there are a few themes that don’t.

If the theme you are using doesn’t support comments on pages, and you would like this feature, then you will need to use an alternative theme.

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3.  How do I make comments display on my homepage?

Traditionally comments are designed to be displayed under a post and you view the comments by clicking on the post title or the comments link. It is done this way because posts can have hundreds of comments and displaying them directly under a post on the post page can make it hard to read the content.

You can display comments by adding the Recent Comments widget to the sidebar.


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Your Task

We’d like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation about blogging by undertaking one or more of these tasks:

  1. Comment: Visit someone else’s professional educator blog and leave a comment. Strike up a conversation — ask a question and see if they get back to you. Leave a comment here to tell us which blog you visited.
  2. Join Twitter: If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, head over to twitter.com and sign up. Leave a comment on this post with your Twitter username so others can follow you. If you’ve joined in the past, now could be a good time to review your account. Do you need to update your images or bio perhaps?
  3. Feedly or Flipboard: Set up Feedly and/or Flipboard. Refer to these instructions to set up and use Feedly or this information to use Flipboard. Here is a list of blogs you can subscribe to using Feedly.
  4. Write a post on your blog to reflect on what you’re learning about connecting with others via blogs. Please include @edublogs if you tweet your post so we can share your post with our network. Leave a comment with a link to your post so we can read it! In your blog post, you might like to cover topics like:
    • What are your favorite blogs to read and how do you stay up to date with them?
    • What do you like/not like about Twitter, Feedly, or Flipboard?

Also feel free to leave any questions you are having (or tips/advice) as well.


How to leave a comment: Scroll down to find the comment box. Write your comment, then enter your name and email address (email addresses are not published). Enter the anti-spam word. Press submit and we will moderate your comment ASAP.

172 thoughts on “Step 4: Connecting With Others

  1. My twitter handle is @avujaklija. I follow several education leaders, classroom teachers, and organizations focused on teaching, particularly English (Writing Project, NCTE, etc.). I like the analogy of Twitter as a stream to dip into – and there is also the option to search for particular threads of conversation. It can also be a time consumer when other work needs to be done.
    I set up a Feedly account (again – I did not have much success in the past) and am following blogs for education news, education technology, YA literature, and teaching. My favorite blogs would have to be ones that speak to me as a teacher and teacher educator and who motivate me to be better while acknowledging the hard work it takes.
    I commented on https://www.coolcatteacher.com/perfect-can-paralyze-you/#comment-49479 because this post spoke to a theme in my recent podcast listenings (Justin Su’a, Joe Ferraro).
    On another note, I decided to change my blog site theme for a few reasons – date of post at the top instead of bottom, a sidebar for better menu access.

    1. I just found you on Twitter, Amy. Great to connect with you. I also love your new theme! It’s a really clean and modern look. It’s funny how it can take some playing around to figure out those little features you’re after like date and sidebar locations too.

      Kathleen Morris
      Edublogs Community Manager
      @kathleen_morris

  2. My twitter account is @fitziane. I’ve been tweeting for a while now and have tweeted my new blog.

    I have a Feedly account but it got to be too much. I’ll give Feedly another try. Perhaps the tip is to limit the number of feeds so that I am not so overwhelmed by all the unread content.

    1. It’s great to connect with you on Twitter, Josianne.
      It took me a while to start using Feedly properly but now I find it really useful. As you said, considering whether you want to limit your feeds can be a good strategy. I also unfollowed a few blogs that post a lot (like multiple times a day) because they just took up a lot of the feed. I just check those sorts of blogs manually from time to time.

  3. Hi everyone – I’ve set up a Feedly account. Hoping it’ll help me connect to educators in the field of self-regulation research (and help with testing out metacognitive teaching strategies).

  4. I joined Twitter in April 2014, after a couple of teachers provided a professional learning session on how they use Twitter. I use it to bookmark professional reading to do. My Twitter handle is @mbrown21274. I have embedded my Twitter feed in my blog.

    1. Hi Michelle, I love Twiter for professional reading too. I just found you on Twitter. I am @kathleen_morris 🙂

    1. That’s great to hear you enjoy Flipboard. Personally, I just use Flipboard occasionally. I’m finding it a good way to share some Student Blogging Challenge posts. It’s good to figure out which tools suit you best. Nice work writing up a reflective blog post! 🙂

  5. I have recently begun to use Twitter as my PLN and have discovered a wealth of knowledge. It can be overwhelming though to me when I don’t check in regularly. I am learning how to filter through and find things that apply and interest me.

    My Twitter handle is @Njean88

    1. Thanks for sharing! In the past I’ve sometimes found it helpful to create a list of just a handful of people who I’m particularly interested in following. Not sure if that approach might help you too. It can get overwhelming when you’re following lots of people!

    1. Sure thing. There’s no pressure to join Twitter. Hopefully it’s still interesting to hear about how it’s used in the wider education community. You’re doing great! 🙂

  6. Hello,

    My blog is trivediziemba.edublogs.org
    Twitter Handle @trivediZiemba

    I am using Big Brother theme with jetpack settings. It allows me to share the posts on social media when I publish them. Rather than retweeting and adding @edublogs, I would like to add @edublogs upon publishing my initial post. Is it possible? Or do I have to tweet the post by itself & include @edublogs to it?

    Thank you.

  7. Hello,

    My twiteer handle is @TrivediZiemba

    Please visit the Post I wrote as a reflection of Connecting with others by visiting
    Connect with Others by visiting: http://trivediziemba.edublogs.org/2017/10/12/connect-with-others/

    In Nutshell,

    I am going to use twitter more as PLN

    I learned fro

    October 12, 2017 Purviben K. Trivedi-Ziemba Challenges, Musings, My Blogging Journey
    Connecting with others allows us to build and maintain personal learning network (PLN). This post is aimed at reflection on the learning from Step 4 of Personal Blogging for Educators, https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/

    Here is the gist of the post:

    I learned that the twitter is an excellent resource for busy professionals. Though I have joined twitter a while ago, I have not used its potential yet. I am planning to change it by joining professional learning communities such as Explore @MtBoS and @GAVirtual

    STEVE WHEELER’S VIDEO: 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BLOGGING!

    Steve’s video was informative & reaffirmed that what I learned from Kindergarten is true today.

    1. Always choose Kindness
    2. Use good humor & share constructive Criticism
    3. Give credit to the source
    4. You build, they may come

    Freedly and Flipboard

    I like to receive my content in email so I can pursue it at my leisure. While waiting for things, I like to knit or read. I find Fipboard too noisy and Freedly unnecessary. Therefore, I choose not to sign up for Freedly or Fipboard.

    Et Cetera

    Thank you https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/personal-blogging/ for the step by step instruction. I am learning about blogging one step at a time. I have nothing but good things and a single question: How often the instructions are revisited When I tried to set up my flipboard, it did not work due to different directions on Edublogs for using Flipboard.

    I am looking forward to visit from all of you.

  8. Hello!

    I really think that one of the pros for blogging is something that Mr. Wheeler mentioned in his video: it is un-choreographed discourse. I think that students who are moving into being true 21st-century learners and citizens need to know how to have this kind of discourse and to do it well. Even my 4th graders will need to know how to relate and respond with others online.

    I am working on a Flipboard and I’m not completely “sold” on it or its content. Perhaps it’s because I live in such a tiny community that the relevance for many things is just not there for me, but I will keep exploring!

    Thanks!

    Mrs. Wheeler (no relation to the Mr. mentioned before!)

  9. I have a Twitter, and I use it mostly for my master’s courses and my professional learning. My handle is @roundhousejz. I have a personal/professional blog that I prefer to post on (more than my EduBlog) only because my Edublog is intended to be more student-led.

  10. I set up a flipboard! I used to have the app on my phone years ago, but I got rid of it because I never used it. I can definitely see how it would be interesting to use in an academic setting.

  11. 1. My Twitter handle is @jofrei
    I love Twitter and particularly enjoy participating in the weekly chat session on the hashtag #gtchat. All the information, links and blog posts referenced during the chat later posted on the GT Chat blog http://globalgtchatpoweredbytagt.wordpress.com/
    I notify my newly posted blog entries on Twitter adding the hashtags of the main groups I follow and I find that most of the posts by other people that I follow are announced on Twitter.
    2. I have now loaded Flipboard onto my iPad and will have a play with it when time permits. I can see that it could be a very useful tool.
    At present I choose to find blog posts to read and comment on via Facebook, Twitter and especially via blog hops such as Gifted Homeschoolers Forum monthly Blog Hop http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/blogs/blog-hop/ HoagiesGifted monthly Blog Hop http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/blog_hops.htm and the annual New Zealand Gifted Awareness Week Blog Hop.
    3. A PLN is such a valuable asset for any educator and posting on a blog and commenting on the blogs of other people is a great way of connecting with them to share information and encouragement.
    Flipboard is a new tool for me to add to my toolbox.
    I could add share icons to my blog and will look into doing it (I think I might learn about that in the next step of this challenge)
    I have found a few more Twitter contacts via this step of the challenge and read a few blog posts from challenge participants. One which I particularly enjoyed was a post on Mrs. McNally’s Mumblings
    http://mcnallymumblings.edublogs.org/2015/05/07/10-things-your-teacher-wants-for-teacher-appreciation-week/
    This is the comment I left for her
    I just love your mumblings about how your students can show you their appreciation! I particularly like that you want primarily for them to be happy and engaged in their learning!
    My blog post about this step of the challenge can be found at https://jofreitag.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/2015-edublogs-teacher-challenge-step-4/

  12. My Twitter name is @TravelwithMrsT. I’ve been tweeting since January 2015 and love using it to connect with a wide range of educators and travel bloggers, as well as newspapers and magazines.

    1. Hi Michelle, as an ex geography teacher, I love your tweets. Your blog is very informative too. It would be great if there was a subscribe option on your blog so we can keep up to date of new posts.
      Eugene Brown, Edublogs Support

      1. Eugene, I actually did have the subscription widget on my sidebar, but I had it under my Shelfari widget. I moved it above the widget to make it more visible. Do you think it’s better there?

        You can go in and subscribe! http://idsja.edublogs.org/

        That made me feel so good that you would want to! Michelle

  13. Okay, I have just set up a Twitter account this year to follow some of the other classes in our school that are using Twitter to share with parents. I haven’t used my account for that yet, mostly just follow educational blogs with it and retweet some interesting things and/or humorous cartoons. I am looking at using Twitter next year with my class, but I am moving schools, so things are all in the air. Anyways, my Twitter feed is Stacey@StaceyBeth82. I am going to work out the RSS feed as my next task.

    1. ​Hi Stacey, congratulations on setting up your twitter account! I tired to follow your tweets, but your twitter account is private. Do you intend keeping your twitter account private and use it just to communicate with your students? If so, I suggest you create another twitter account to promote your blog, and share useful information. It’s great to see that people have started commenting on your blog posts!
      Eugene Brown, Edublogs Support

      1. Hi Eugene, I think I have it public now. I had it set to private because when I first set it up I was getting a lot of strange people/groups following me haha.

  14. I checked out Feedly and Flipboard. I signed up for Flipboard, and I think it has changed its environment for building a magazine since the provided instructions. What I did was essentially create a new magazine called My Favs, and I made it private for now. I also connected on Twitter with a couple of folks, to help me guarantee that I’ll continue blogging! Michelle

  15. Thank you, Sue, for sharing your Flipboard feed. After getting a bit deeper into both Flipboard and Feedly, I have decided that for now I’m going to just follow your feed and a couple of others. As I follow someone else, I can maybe figure out what and how I want to create my own personal one.

  16. I’m on Twitter w/ the handle: @Gallagher_Tech. I have also used Feedly ever since Google Reader went down. I have a long list of blogs I follow, sometimes it can be overwhelming when logging back in after a couple of days.

  17. I choose to view the video because I use twitter for my personal account and do not want two twitter accounts. The video teaches us that when we blog, we communicate with a global audience. We can discuss topics that will get comments with all types of outlooks. The discourse is not planned. It takes time to build up an audience and if you use hyperlinks, images and videos it can generate interest. So much content is written and only viewed by a few people in some cases. Blogging can help the blogger clarify his/her thoughts.

    1. Hi Sheriann, I totally agree, blogging is often more about unpacking our own thoughts, than looking for an active audience; and if we are lucky, people may like what we write.
      Eugene Brown, Edublogs Support

  18. My Twitter account is @fisherfrancene I have had it for a while but have just recently begun to use it actively. I realize it is an important tool. However, it is “one more thing” that I need to keep up with. I feel overwhelmed…

  19. Connecting with others using a blog or other social media platforms is important, but I find it overwhelming. There are so many different forms of communication now,and so many different networks, or sites that a person can use. It all takes time, and there are still only 24 hours in a day. My issue right now is how to stay connected and communicate in a postive way that brings meaning to me and those I share with. How do I balance my real life and my digital life? It’s not easy.

    1. I find it helpful to only focus on one or two networks that you can get the most out of. For some that may be Facebook and Twitter. For others, it may be LinkedIn and Google+. Focus on finding the ones that you gat the most from and developing a presence there. You can always switch it up or add more later on. Also try blocking out some time – maybe just 20 minutes a day to start – to get online and really focus on fostering some beneficial communication. Again you can always squeeze in more in the future is you feel it’s beneficial.

    2. Goodness, thank you! You said exactly what was on my mind. I find it very frustrating to keep up with changes and curriculum and connecting, and !!!!!! If you find any answers, I too, would appreciate it.

  20. I have a couple of Twitter accounts @QLDtechbrekkies and @5SKNthQld. I have made many great connections through Twitter.
    I haven’t spent a great deal of time looking at Flipboard but could we ‘Tech Brekkie’ crew use it as a place to gather readings that we wish to promote?
    Tam

    1. Hi Tam

      I have a Flipboard magazine ( http://flip.it/mQGOO ) that I use to curate articles from across our Edublogs community that I either want to use to share with others or I’ve spotted something that I want to check out in more detail to provide assistance to the blogger.

      This approach works for me because I like to relax using my tablet when I’m reading and then switch to my computer when I want to share via my networks. I use it mostly for my own purpose however others still subscribe to it.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  21. I’ve been using Feedly since Google took down Reader. I really miss the statistics that I could get from Reader; if Feedly has them, I have not found them yet! I sometimes get overwhelmed by how much information there is to absorb, but I keep plugging through. I’m using Evernote & Dropbox with Feedly now and I feel much more organized with my information. I have way too many favorite feeds. Most of the ones used here as examples, Clarence Fisher’s Remote Access-Even from here, The Nerdy Teacher, The Digital Scoop and Joyce Valenza’s Neverending Search.

    I don’t feel like I have that control over Twitter yet. I’ve tried using TweetDeck, it helps, but I’m still not where I want to be. I just downloaded Flipboard to my iphone and I’ll see how that goes. Just from a preliminary run, I’m not sure I’m going to like reading that much on the iphone. It may be what pushes me to get an ipad!

    sjgslmc.edublogs.net; @StJoeLibrary; @LbrDragon

    1. Hi Donna

      I miss Google Reader. I mainly use Flipboard Magazines to curate the posts I want to share and Feedly to subscribe to blogs. I read on my phone went I’m out but use my Samsung Tablet when I’m at home. I prefer to do most of my reading using my tablets rather than using a computer.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  22. Hi, I have 2 Twitter accounts I use. @LbrDragon for my PLN and @StJoeLibrary for posting to my blog. The biggest problem I’m having right now is that I seem to be following so many that I can’t keep up with them. I’m using Feedly for following blogs but I’m going to look at FlipBoard next to see if I can get some kind of order to the information!

    1. Hi Donna

      As you increase the number of people followed you learn to accept that you can’t keep up with it all. I’ve learnt to reply on people using @suewaters if they need specific help and I pull the links into my Flipboard account where I can look at them at any time.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  23. @HeatherHollands

    My co-blogger Amy Laitinen and I also set up a new Facebook page for our blog. We are participating in the TeachThought 30 Day Reflective Teacher Challenge at http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/reflective-teaching-30-day-blogging-challenge-teachers/, and we thought that it was good timing to connect with readers on Facebook. Here is our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blended-Voices-Two-Teachers-Blog/692297667530346

    I have been reading lots of blog posts through the 30 Day Reflective Teacher challenge and have commented on 35+ different teacher blogs so far. I’m learning a lot!

    Now I’m off to check out Feedly and Flipboard 🙂

    1. Hi Heather

      I’ve been impressed seeing all the posts from the 30 Day Blogging Challenge for teachers being tweeted. It is great to see all of you forming a community through that challenge!

      Here is how I would use Feedly vs Flipboard. For those blogs I wanted to read daily I would subscribe to using Feedly, To monitor the 30 Day blogging challenge I would set up Flipboard and subscribe to the #reflectiveteacher hashtag. You could even set up a Flipboard magazine to curate the best posts from #reflectiveteacher to share easily.

      Your new Facebook page looks really good.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  24. I am on Twitter – @chuntlytweet. I also have started to use feedly to keep track of all the blogs I have begun finding and reading though I do find I have so many there I find it difficult at times to get caught up! How do others find they manage keeping on top of all the articles and posts they want to read?

    1. Hi Candice

      I find using a tablet helps as I prefer to read on my tablet and I have a set routine for reading posts. Any thing that I want to follow up to leave a comment on or to keep for later I’ll either curate into a Flipboard magazine or mark as Save in Feedly. I refer back to them later when I’m on my computer. However, I also accept that you can’t always keep up with everything so do what I can.

      Hopefully these tips helped!

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  25. My Twitter handle is @shanpoulsen. I use Twitter as a professional tool only and I am gradually adding to my PLN. I enjoy being able to go to Twitter whenever I happen to have a few spare moments and catch up on some professional reading. I find it is a great way to learn and connect with people all over the world who have similar interests and a wealth of knowledge to share. I don’t want to connect to FlipBoard or Feedly at this time. I find one can easily be overwhelmed by all the web tools that are available and create endless accounts of things you won’t use. I have learned to keep it manageable by choosing a few useful tools that will assist me in my work world.

    1. Hi Shannon

      I agree there are so many tools available and you can be overwhelmed. It is important to focus on tools that will assist your work. Flipboard and Feedly both work for my situation because they make it faster, and more time efficient, for me to read and share content. Others prefer to use tools like Pinterest, Scoop.IT, Diigo. Whereas I would like to use Diigo more but don’t have time.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  26. I really think I am going to like Feedly because it is going to make my web searching easier to create my craft calendars. I look forward to having more ideas and make my after school program the best that it can be!

  27. Hi All

    Just wanted to let you know I’ve followed all your twitter accounts via my personal twitter account (@suewaters). Feel free to tweet me any time if you have a question or if you would like me to read your posts. Remember to use @suewaters as I can miss tweets easily due to my following number.

    Sue Waters
    Support Manager
    Edublogs | CampusPress

  28. I have a twitter account (@t1olen). I use it mostly as a silent participant and get lots of resources and ideas from others that I follow. My goal this year is to use it more actively and share my ideas and resources.

    1. Hi readlearngrow

      Twitter provides several benefits for bloggers. As you increase the number of people you follow on twitter you end up reading a wider variety of articles and posts; you may participate in twitter chats and bloggers often find this helps them with ideas of what to blog about.

      Articles shared on social networks is our major source of posts we now read.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  29. I had been thinking about what to write this week and while not exactly a true reflection on the questions you posed in this step, my blog post this week is about crawling before you can run. I have to do this with blogging as much as I want to be up and running with the big dogs. I am still working on a true style as writing has not always been as strength. I also related this concept to how I am training teachers and working with them in all their varied levels of tech-savvyness.

    I have been using Twitter for a few months and am getting more comfortable but have to really get into my TweetDeck and Twitter account to make lists and be more selective in what I am trying to follow and read. THERE IS SO MUCH!

    This challenge was great. Thank you.
    A Quick Byte Blog: http://billpratt23.blogspot.com
    This Week’s Post: http://billpratt23.blogspot.com/2014/08/crawl-walk-and-then-run.html
    Twitter account: @billpratt23

    1. Hi Bill

      Thanks for sharing a link to your post! We’re happy for you all to share what ever reflections you would like to share with us. I really enjoyed reading your crawl, walk and run post. I’ve scheduled a tweet to share it tomorrow and hope that some leave comments as I would love to know what others thinks should be included in each of your steps.

      As your twitter following grows you learn to accept that you can’t keep up with all the conversations and information shared on twitter. You learn to accept how it changes. Pulling it into Flipboard helps me.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  30. The breadth of information in the “technology in education” universe is mind-boggling. I could spend endless hours perched in front of my computer reading others’ post, but, being a Libra, my primary goal as a teacher, mom, wife, and life-long learner is balance. I always find an amazing new blogger when I do these challenges; this time it’s The Daring Librarian. Already retweeted lots of her posts. @mrsrombachreads #litjourney

    1. Hi Mrs Rombach

      It is mind boggling! Great to hear you found The Daring Librarian through this challenge. Gwyneth will be pleased to know you are enjoying her posts. Have you sent her a tweet to let her know?

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  31. For some reasons ( that I don’t know myself:) ) I resisted Twitter for a very long time. I recently created a twitter account. In fact, I created it during this year’s Edmodocon. I love it and regret all those years I didn’t use it. Here is my twitter handle. @EslRiyadh

  32. I have Twitter (@MsLRodrigues). I have been using that since June and have learnt a lot from educators around the globe. It can get quite overwhelming at times- overload of information. I like participating in edchats. I also have feedly

  33. I’m using two Twitter accounts. For my PLN, my account handle is @ElemMediaSpec. I’m also using an account to connect with parents to keep them updated with what’s going on in my classroom. That Twitter handle is @Mrs_Creek.

  34. I’m on Twitter w/ the handle: @Gallagher_Tech. I have also used Feedly ever since Google Reader went down. I have a long list of blogs I follow, sometimes it can be overwhelming when logging back in after a couple of days.

  35. Blogging helps me to clarify my thinking also. It gives me a wonderful venue to reflect and share globally. I prefer my feedly account but others in my PLN like bloglovin. It all boils down to personal choice. My Twitter handle is @sue_fitz.

    1. Hi Sue and Dan,

      I enjoy using Feedly as well – I agree it can get overwhelming when I don’t log in for a few days. This is certainly the era of content creation, as many of the blogs I follow churn out multiple long-form posts a day.

      Dan Leeman, Edublogs Support

  36. Hello All,

    Here is my Twitter info: @engteach7678

    I will be honest…I really don’t use it that much…no time. 🙁

    1. It can be difficult to be consistent in tweeting. Try out an #edchat some time, you might find that is more relevant to you than regularly tweeting content.

      Dan Leeman, Edublogs Support

  37. I really loved and used Google Reader as my RSS. I now use Feedly and the only downside I find is that I need to pull it up separately from opening Google.
    When I find someone to follow on Twitter I like to read their Twitter profile to see if they have a blog I can add to Feedly as well.

    1. Hi Carole, thanks for sharing what you have learnt. It is very important to acknowledge original sources of information. Occasionally we have a new blogger who likes a post too much and pastes the entire post on their blog. Here is a post we wrote on this topic to explain the correct way to use someone else’s work – http://www.theedublogger.com/2010/03/11/how-do-you-feel-when-someone-copies-and-pastes-your-post/

      Hi Penny, I miss Google Reader too! I probably should use your approach to adding their blog to Feedly but I handle it by pulling my Twitter timeline into Flipboard. This way I check in both FlipBoard and Feedly on my tablet.

      Do you have a favorite blogger you like to read?

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

      1. Of course, but it more like several bloggers!
        I like Catlin Tucker catlintucker.com for Blended Learning resources, Scott McLeod dangerouslyirrelevant.org and Tom Whitby tomwhitby.wordpress.com for some “thought pieces,” SHIFT’s info.shiftelearning.com/blog for eLearning specific articles, Larry Ferlazzo larryferlazzo.edublogs.org and Cybrary Man Jerry Blumengarten cybraryman.edublogs.org and cybraryman.com when I want to learn the nitty-gritty about anything.
        My Feedly is jam packed with tons of good blogs!

        1. Hi Penny

          Thanks for sharing information on your favorite bloggers! Great selection! I subscribe to many of them using Feedly.

          Sue Waters
          Support Manager
          Edublogs | CampusPress

  38. I learned that is is respectful if you use content from someone else on your blog to recognize the person on your blog, otherwise it’s just stealing. @Cool_Beans_cc

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