BlackboardSee the demo page / Download the template
My biggest secret is that - despite my overall coolness and snappy Southern vernacular - I'm a little bit of a tech geek. Just a little, though, and only as it relates to Making Things Pretty. Many times I've run across a techie this-or-that and decided not to bore you all to death, but this time I've just got to show you a few things I've run across.
Teachers need to blog for a variety of reasons: blogs instead of emailed parent newsletters, blogging with students, and connecting to the larger educational community by both writing and reading blogs about best practices. There are scads of blogging platforms out there for these purposes. I use Blogger because it's free and easy to customize.
Click on the demo pages to get a good look at each of these templates. None of these require a fancy header and all of them are friendly. I chose graphics-heavy templates for a reason - teachers on the run will be entering mainly text. You can show off to your students and make believe you know as much as they do about technology. Besides, they're just so stinkin' cute.
I scooped up these templates from BTemplates, but there are many other sites as well. Just google "Blogger Templates" and plan to kill an hour or so. Instructions for uploading are below.
RecklessSee the demo page / Download the template
Desktop ChaosSee the demo page / Download the template
PencilingSee the demo page / Download the template
Book TreeSee the demo page / Download the template
Education StyleSee the demo page / Download the template
Now, I know Blogger has come out with all manner of new ways to configure and reconfigure your blogs into loveliness. It's a marvel to be able to whip through the new design feature and make a blog look like you without using those tired templates they had for years. Bully for Blogger, I say!
But if you want something snazzier, it's out there and it's ridiculously easy to install. Here's how:
- Pick a template and download it onto your computer. Unzip it and remember where you put it.
- Go to your Blogger dashboard and click on Design, then the Edit HTML tab.
- Click on Download Full Template. This saves the template you already have and will put it back just like it was should you change your mind. Always back up your template.
- Click on the Browse button and choose the new template. There may be several items there - your template will be an .xml file. Once the file name is showing in the box, click Upload .
- You'll get a warning box about deleting widgets. Clicking Keep Widgets will leave all your previous widgets intact. I suggest choosing that option so you don't start again from scratch. You may have to move them around a bit later, though.
- Done! Click View Blog and enjoy!
UPDATE: Just found another cute template!
5 Comments:
I included teachers using blogs for the classroom in my grad class final presentation. I'm totally checking out these templates-not that I have my own class yet, but whatever. It's never too early to plan.
I think we all need to blog. The Blogging is the sharing of what was grasped by us (the application of theory to practice) While blogging we all become the teachers and inescapably learn something new. The blogging expands the horizons. That's always rewarding - the communication rejuvenates and the comprehension of the above fills us with the gratitude. So blogging is art of being.
I found another template to add to the pile. As I run across other teacher/classroom templates I'll add them to the post, so keep checking back!
Thank you so much for putting this link list together! It's the most helpful grouping I've found during my Christmas-break bloggy Googling!
-Leigh
Thanks! I found something that i want to know-linkwithin!!! thanks a lot!
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