From another eye …

Day Twelve’s task of the “#blogging101” course is to:
Read six posts written in response to the same prompt, and leave comments on at least two of them.

Image Search was my daily post’s writing prompt that inspired me in the previous assignment. I decided to click around arbitrarily and see how it can take me. Quickly I chose 6 posts based on their catchy titles. How creative those bloggers were! They did the task so beautifully. In this post, I will talk about 3 of them.

Retrieved on July 21, 2015

“Leap into your Future” was the title of the first post I read. Both the picture and the message were inspiring. In my previous post, I wrote a bout “Tomorrow” and what we can do to get things done. This author posted a similar idea that was about “Future” encouraging the audience to be more focused and disciplined to get the success one wants:

Leap into your future if you want to get anything done, it can take a long time to build bridges to get to the success you want. You have to be very focused and disciplined proceed with perseverance.Take the leap.

Retrieved on July 21, 2015

The picture of the second post was so catchy. A lot of doors were there. Paula wrote about the changes we have in our lives. I love her words so much:

I pray for grace to go with this flow of changes, to ride the waves. I feel the urge to lighten my load of things and prepare for movement into the unknown.

So many doors are closing.
I need to believe in other doors opening.

When we lose something that is dear to us, we takes a long time staring at this door although it is closed. We think that it may open again one day, instead of looking around for another door opening and starting a new adventure or finding a new beginning for a new life. Anyway, it is the human nature! Reading through the comments, I also found another inspiring quote shared by another fellow:

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller

The last piece of writing that I enjoyed reading came from Sukriti. She googled the word “Life” and got so touching picture that inspired her to write a poem not from her point of view as she said. This can be an invitation to read and reflect!

Retrieved on July 21, 2015

Speechless! Her words are very expressive and colorful with deep meaning. Actually, she conveys what everyone of us feels when found after lost. I loved how she ends the journey with one’s self:

This is a place I call, elsewhere.
Where I reach every time I close my eyes.
It’s only me. Me and my trusty and quite rusty bench. With my thoughts.
It’s wonderful. 

Completing today’s task, I enjoyed reading about how to leap into my future, searching for opening doors always and never looking behind, and at last sitting with the self and trying to hear and feel by heart.

Blog posts I commented on:

• Leap into your Future
• Doors
• Image search: A story

Have you enjoyed reading them, too?
🙂

I’ll GET to it TOMORROW!

Day Eleven’s assignment during the “#blogging101” course is to:
Publish a post based on your own, personalized take on a blogging prompt.

I spent more than 2 hours “trying another prompt” to find something interesting with open options and enjoyable, too. Again and again, my visual style of learning played a big role while working on this post. The prompt that captured my eyes was:

Image Search:
Pick a random word and do Google image search on it. Check out the eleventh picture it brings up. Write about whatever that image brings to mind.

Have you noticed the amazing coincidence of No. 11? It is the assignment of Day 11 and according to my daily post’s writing prompt, I have to select “Picture No. 11.” I love such things that bring surprise. evoke thinking, and draw smiles on our faces because we just don’t expect them to happen. And this assignment is like a game in which I am going to play with words and pictures. Let’s have fun!

Back to my writing prompt, “Tomorrow” was the first word that came to my  mind. Hitting the search button, I found my eleventh picture so interesting and inspiring.

You know that there are some things that must wait for tomorrow. Maybe they are a little bit big to accomplish in a day or two or even in a month. Maybe it is our big dream that takes years. So always we keep saying, ” …. will get it tomorrow!” But, tomorrow comes and for many reasons we can’t finish what we promised ourselves to get it done. Have you tried to jot down a to-do-list everyday? Just small things that you have to do by the end of the day. And when you complete something, just check it. This will give you a sense of achievement and will encourage you to do more. For the task you can’t complete in yesterday’s list, TOMORROW is your day to start with.

Just start small and keep going.
Your big dream can’t come true unless you get started and take actions.
😉

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Image Search.”

Have a BLOG featured once a week!

Day Ten’s assignment during the “#blogging101” course is to:
Create a blogroll to share a few links you love.

I created a new link category and called it “Featured Blogs.” I’ll keep sharing one blog a week telling my audience why I chose it. Of course, my readers will be eager to know who will be the next.

Retrieved on July 18, 2015

Which One?

My featured blog this week is “Impromptu Promptlings” by Calen Sariel.  Beside the title that’s linked to the blog’s URL, I added an image, and a short description to help my visitors get an idea about what they are going to read.

Why?

• The author talks about a variety of topics, e.g., creative writing, poetry, fiction, quotes, books, insightful reflections, and more.
• She is a prolific creative writer. You will notice that she always updates her blog daily more than once.
• I love her interaction with the audience. One of her techniques to do so is leaving questions at the end of her posts to engage her readers and encourage them to talk about their experiences.
• Always she responds to others’ comments and queries.
• She follows her readers and leaves comments on their blogs building a bridge for connection and more discussion.

Let’s visit Calen’s blog and enjoy!
What do you think of this idea?
🙂

“It is the human connection,” said Mrs Pierson

Day Nine’s assignment during the “#blogging101” course is to:
Write a post that builds on one of the comments you left yesterday

Her human touch that I felt when reading her warm, unforgettable post yesterday reminded me with an inspiring video which I watched two years ago about relationships. And, I never stop watching it since then.

Retrieved on July 16, 2015

In her TED Talk, Rita Pierson (May 2003) discussed the value of human connection and from the stage she sent a message to the educators to believe in their students and connect with them on a real, human, personal level. One day, one of her colleagues said to her, “They don’t pay me to like the kids. ” She responded, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” Whatever approaches and techniques teachers use to teach their subjects, they can’t succeed unless a relationship is built with students that I believe will last so long. To know more about what passionate teachers can do for their students, please click the picture below and enjoy Pierson’s talk:

Every kid needs a champion by Rita Pierson

Welcome back! To me as a teacher …

By heart I always teach my students not only English, but also how to be human. Apologizing, patting on the back, smiling, asking about their feelings, listening to their problems, telling them how proud I feel when they try and never give up, or even putting smiley faces on their homework are among many things that have a powerful impact on them. Believe me, doing these small things will make a difference in our students’ lives and will make them feel more secure, and self-confident when learning. They will be more positive and optimistic when dealing with challenges in their future careers.

I see the results at the end of each year when my students shower me with many Thank You letters, presents, flowers, or a call that I never expect, in addition to many other things that can be only felt, but not talked about. My students consider me as a good model to follow. They always imitate me; the way I speak, my body language, and even my smile. Simply, it is the human touch!

Resources:

• “The touch of another human being” post that inspired me by Catherine Mullaney
• “Every kid needs a champion” talk that touched me by Rita Pierson

Catchy, according to what?

Day Eight’s assignment of the “#blogging101” course is to:
Leave comments on at least four blogs that you’ve never commented on before.

Retrieved on July 15, 2015

Today, I was a little bit busy, so I decided to go ahead to #blogging101 tag suggested by the course team, and find some new blogs to comment on. To my surprise, I found tons of posts there with a variety of topics. I spent some time viewing and reading posts and forget myself as usual. Two hours passed without deciding which ones I am going to leave comments on. Then, an idea comes to my mind. It is simply: “Choose what catches your eyes.” I chose 4 blogs according to 4 criteria.

Let’s see what are these!

1. A picture that is worth a 1000 words …

Scrolling down the page to see what other bloggers posted, I found it; a picture of a donkey cartoon. @danielleduberry, the author, was so happy and comfortable with the title and tagline of her blog. I love what she said, “I am going to be stubborn and not change it …” Then, she spent the rest of her post explaining why she had chosen them. For her, life is an unpredictable broad title that includes lots of things that she can blog about from funny stories, to world or personal events, to other random thoughts that may cross her mind.  Really, I enjoyed reading her argumentative post. She convinced me. What about you?

2. A title with a message …

Captured from: https://foundinthetruth.wordpress.com/

“The touch of another human being” is a post written by Catherine Mullaney. What a powerful, touching title she chooses to her post! After having a quick look, I found that it is not the title only that attracted my mind, but the deep message inside. She talks about the need of human touch when one struggles with many things in life. The message is so short, but it is too touching to forget. Why not visit her blog and fill your heart with love?

Captured from this blog

3. A genre that is different …

You know there are many different genres of writing; description, narration, argument, exposition, poetry, and more. The third blog that I have visited today is for a mom. She didn’t write a paragraph as we usual do. She chose to write a poem to introduce herself. With few lines, she told her audience who she is and what she is doing now. Really, it so creative. To attract more readers, one should be creative and different when presenting a new topic or an idea. I know that not all people have talent to write creatively, but we have to read other people’s pieces of writing to get an authentic exposure. And also we should practice and write more and more. I think it is worth a try! You can follow her blog and enjoy her adventures.

4. A bridge of dialogue …

Captured from here

A post with 50+ comments captured my eyes while browsing and viewing my reader. I just wanted to know what others say or discuss not what the post wants to convey. “What is on your shelves?” was the title of this post. Visiting her Pinterest account, Calen Sariel found a quote that caught her attention:

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood.

She started visualizing what sections she can set up on her bookshelves. She asked for suggestions about what categories she could add to make her library more well-rounded. Then, she talked about her favorite book and the worst one, the one that gives her joy, and the one that never fails to make her cry, …etc. What I liked the most is her attractive style of writing. I feel that her audience is there waiting for her post to read and comment on. Also, she posed a question at the end to let the conversation go encouraging her followers to respond and talk about their experiences. I recommend following this creative writer to learn from.

Really, I enjoyed this assignment so much as it gives me the opportunity to meet new people with different perspectives, talents, and gifts. It s not just reading their thoughts on the fly, but digest them, and engage in their discussions. Definitely, this helps us build bridges for dialogue and communication with each other.

I hope you like my reflection today and my recommended blogs.
I am looking forward to hearing from you!
🙂

My new followed blogs:

1. Life: an unpredictable journey
2. Disarmed by Love
3. Working AT Tri-ing
4. Impromptu Promptlings

It is not just form, but content too!

Day Seven’s assignment of the “#blogging101” course is to:
Create and upload a simple header, background, or both.
If it is already done? Try a widget.

Retrieved on July 14, 2015

How your blog looks like to your readers when they just drop by is so important; either they come back or forget about you at all. To encourage your visitors to come back, you should care about your blog’s theme, colors, images, widgets, and if they work all together and seem charmingly organized. It is not just for them, but for you too because you will spend a lot of time in this space. So, feeling comfortable is a must. However, the form is not the only issue here. The content is also of a great importance. Your style of writing, your choice of words, presenting new ideas, trying to involve the audience, and helping your readers by answering questions are among many things that we should put in mind when blogging.  That’s why I didn’t change a lot in my blog. I just polished it by adding, and deleting.

Let’s see what I have done:

1. I feel comfortable with my blog without a header. Actually, I tried to add it, but it didn’t seem as I drew in my mind. I will go back to the header later to see if I can make something lovely and suits the content I create.
2. I also tried to change the background last week when activating my “Crafty” theme, but I found it the best of all options.
3. I went to my “All posts”, and hit the quick edit button of each post to filter its tags and refine them. It is a great way to group my topics later.
4. I created a page and inserted a Contact Me form to build a bridge of dialogue and sharing with my audience.
5. I also created another page entitled “Blogging” in which I wrote about the two courses announced by the Blogging University; Blogging 101 & 201.
6. I went to my dashboard – appearance – menus,  and added the two pages above to my primary menu.
7. Under the “Blogging” tab, I inserted two categories; Blogging 101 and Blogging 201. This will help my readers to find the posts of each course more easily. Here is my final navigation or menu bar:

   

8. Finally, I deleted my “Twitter Timeline” widget that I added last week. I think it doesn’t add something unique to my blog. If someone wants to know more about my tweets, he or she can follow me via twitter by clicking on the icon that I added in another widget called “Connect to Me.”

This is all what I have done today. Polishing it!
I just wanna keep it simple and clean.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
🙂

A picture is worth a thousand words

Day 6 assignment during the”#blogging101″ course is to”
Create and publish your About page, then either adapt it into a widget on your home page or add it to your menu.

Retrieved on July 13, 2015

I always draw illustrations while learning. I also love reading books, articles, novels, blog posts, and even tweets that include images. I think I am a visual learner. For anyone not just me, pictures are very powerful and lead to memorable moments. Maybe you forget words, but not pictures that stick to your mind. Once you see them, you so feel happy, excited, and curious to know more about the topic you are reading or following.

That’s why I chose to visualize my About Page. It seems a little bit easy, but it took a lot of time and effort. Here are the steps that I followed:

1. I used Canva to create my poster, then I downloaded it as an image.
2. I uploaded the poster to another cool online website called ThingLink.
   It can make images more interactive by adding text, links, videos, … etc.
3. I created a new page and added it to my blog’s menu bar.
4. I copied the picture’s embedded code from the website.
5. I went to the “HTML” editor in my About Page and pasted it there.
6. Finally, I hit “Publish.”

More Resources:

• A webinar about how to use Canva and more links.
• A blog post about ThingLink and how to use it with students.

What do you think?
Is that enough? Or do I still need to add words?
I am looking forward to hearing from you!
🙂

I don’t have my own touch …

The fifth task during this course “Blogging 101” is to:
Try out some other themes.

Retrieved on July 10, 2015

I tried most of WordPress free themes, but I didn’t find one that suits my blog. I need one that is simple and has a comfortable layout with calm colors. I love to add my own touch to anything I create on the web just to give my students a model not by words but by deeds that last so long.

I tried out the blogging experience with my students two years ago. The start was so difficult because of the theme. Actually. I wanted something clear and easy to use, but I didn’t find. That’s why I searched for another platform that enables me to change some of the features. It is also based on WordPress, but it provides teachers with some widgets for free. One of them is the ability to modify fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more using CSS programming language.

It is PrimaryBlogger … Just go and give it a try!

I will give you an example:

• This is my Edu Blog using WordPress.
• This is one of my Class Blogs using PrimaryBlogger.
• Note: The theme is similar in both blogs.

I just wonder, “Can WordPress give us some widgets like CSS for Free?”
I am sure it will be a fabulous experience for bloggers!
😉

WANT, but I have NOT

The fourth task of “Blogging 101” course is to:
Publish a post you’d like your ideal audience member to read,
and include a new-to-you element in it.

Retrieved on July 9, 2015

Sometimes, I feel I strongly want to write a story, but no words come out as powerful as my feelings and desire to express my inside. I am quite good at writing instructions and explanations to my students and colleagues, posts about my teaching experiences, or debates to explain my viewpoints with others. My problem arises when it comes to writing stories and descriptions. 

I know I have a great desire to start writing creatively.

Many questions come to my mind when deeply thinking about this issue as a learner and writer:

1. Is it a problem of lacking a huge list of poetic vocabulary to choose from? 
2. Is it  a lack of background about other styles of writing to learn from? 
3. Is it a matter of time and persistence to achieve a level of mastery in this kind of art?
4. Is it a talent or gift from God that some people have?
5. Is it possible to write creatively and play with words although I don’t have a narrative writing style? 
6. Can I learn the tools of being a successful novelist?

Please, don’t say it is so easy to do this. Just go and start writing and writing and writing. I’m a very passionate learner who loves pursuing challenges and achieving difficult goals. I tried to improve my creative potential through attending some writing courses and getting engaged in many tasks. I admit I loved my pieces of writing, but they weren’t what I love to read. Here is my blog that I kept to track my progress and improvement during five weeks of the “Crafting An Effective Writer (CEW)” course.

Although I spent much time doing the required tasks, I was not satisfied with the final products. Discussing the main question about writing styles with my peers in the forums, I found that I have a Teacher (i.e., expository) and Activist (i.e., persuasive) writing styles.  This explains why my descriptive and narrative writings are not creative and rich. Here is a piece of my CEW writings that asks for describing a natural object or scene in nature:

Retrieved on July 9, 2015

Leaning on the trunk of an old fallen tree in my grandmother’s lifeless garden, my eyes quickly went into a deep slumber after a long day of work. I woke up to the lovely sounds of birds singing and spinning over my head. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I saw an incredibly charming scene with no human touch: crystal sea water, bright blue sky, colorful birds and a large grassy meadow all around. The waves lapped the seashore gently sending a cool breeze towards me to smell. I kept breathing deeply filling my lungs before it blew away with the wind. Looking around, I found them, blushing red flowers proudly stood, and gently swayed to the sea song. If I were a bee, I would spend the whole day buzzing around, just smelling their sweet fragrance, heavy in the air. The first rays of the sun, which were so white, slowly shone down upon the crystal-clear sea water creating a breathtaking landscape with delightful colors of the rainbow. Two dolphins graciously jumped out of the water making a big splash to say hello and celebrate my arrival. My eyes deeply closed, I tried to lustily hug this magnificent scene, when my 80-year-old grandma’s croaky deep voice sent me back to where I was on the other side of the sight. Although it lasted a few moments, this dream stuck in my mind simply because it carried unforgettable memories in my life.

I’ll keep taking online courses and reading others’ stories hoping to find what I’m searching for; tools for crafting my own style of narrative writing.
🙂

Bringing Life to my Blog – Title & Tagline

The second task of this course is to:
Edit your title and tagline.

Retrieved on July 7, 2015

Why?

• The title is the first thing most readers will see.
• The title and tagline work with elements like blog’s address and theme to give visitors context and help them decide to stick around.

A title is typically only a few words, so we need to add a tagline to our blogs. Here are some examples of great taglines, along with a few tips suggested during the course:

• Avoid repeating your site title. Your tagline is a space to share some context on what your site is about. Take advantage of it.
• Keep it short and sweet. Thirty and 40 word taglines leave us breathless. Be concise.
• Be original. Don’t let your blog’s tagline become another in the sea of “musings about thoughts” — make sure it tells us something about you.

Reflections:

First, my blog’s URL and title were the same. Then, I decided to change the title to describe my goal behind creating this blog and make it enjoyable for my readers. You can see my trials below.

First Draft:

Title: e-Things 2 Learn
Tagline: No tagline

Second Draft:

Title: Nonstop Teacher E-dventures
Tagline: A place to learn and share new things.

Third Draft: After reading the comment of @lolettestephenson, I changed the tagline.

Title: Nonstop Teacher E-dventures
Tagline: A place to share what I learn with others.

I love this experience of learning from each other to check if we are on the right track and improve our final products. Looking forward to the next task with Blogging 101. 🙂