orientation follow-up & blog instructions

Hi and thanks to everyone who attended orientation today.  Special thanks to Dante, Tommy, Hayden (schemata was clutch!), and the other new students who are taking the plunge, along with all the returning veterans from Eng2H-- I'm looking forward to working together again.

As I said earlier there are multiple benefits to expressing yourselves to a wider audience.  There are also multiple challenges in adopting new media.  At the beginning of fall semester you will learn more about privacy, security, and how the Internet and its business models actually work.  This information will enable you to take full advantage of online resources without exposing yourself to unnecessary risk or embarrassment.  In the meantime, both to avoid any confusion and to ensure that we get off to a good start, please err on the side of caution and email me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com if you have any specific questions or concerns.

Here are the instructions for building your blog:

1. Go to blogger.com and create a blog
2. The URL for your blog should be [first initial][last name][rhsenglitcomp].blogspot.com
3. The title of your blog should be "[first name] [last name]'s AP Lit Comp Blog"
4. You can choose your own layout and template design features, and don't be afraid to change these as the course begins and you learn more about how to organize and curate information on this platform
5. Once your blog is set up, please email the URL to me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com so that I can add your blog to the Member Blogs page on the main course blog.
6. Michelle Arriaga has already done a terrific job of setting up her blog, which you can see HERE.

NOTE: Don't be shy about asking others for help if you need it.

Once you've set up your blog you're ready for assignment #1.

Please post a video from today's orientation and write 1-3 paragraphs that explain:

• your reason(s) for taking this course;
• what you're excited about and what makes you nervous;
• your goal(s) for this course;
• how you expect your knowledge and thinking to be improved by taking this course.

If you didn't have a smart phone today, or if you weren't there, or if you don't know how to upload a video to youtube and embed it on a blog, you'll have to get some help.  You can start by talking to people you know or you can ask a question/ make a request in a comment to this post.