Professional Blog Set-Up

Background thinking...

The usefulness of your professional blog (i.e. its ability to show how you are meeting your
TAI expectations, professional standards, registered teacher criteria and cultural
competencies - all for your ongoing development, appraisal and registration purposes) is
based on the approach that everytime you post (evidence, a reflection, student voice etc),
you critically reflect on which of the PS, PTC, CC you are meeting and show this in your
blog.

This is done by using the labels feature in Blogger. Labels are like tags or think of them as
the key words for your posts. We can use labels to show which of the PS, PTC and CC we are
meeting.

By approaching and setting up a blog in this way, you will essentially create an index,
allowing you and your appraiser the ability to find evidence of your progress and
achievement against the PS, RTC, CC as well as your TAI.

Step by step how to

The following instructions will set you up to be able to do what is described above as well as
how to set up a blog that is private and can only be viewed by people you invite.

1. Create a new blog:

2. Give it a Title and Address and click Create

blog!

3. Go to your Professional blogs

Dashboard by clicking on the blog
name.

4. Click on Settings

5. Find the privacy settings and

click Edit.

6. Change the Privacy settings to

those shown here and save.
7. Find the Blog Readers settings and click Edit.

8. Change the Blog Readers settings to Public or Private (make sure you read about what
these both mean). Save your changes.

9. Now we need to set up labels. To do this, create a new post by clicking on the create new
post button.

10. Give the post a title (doesnt really matter what it is) and then click the Labels button on
the right.

11. Copy and paste the following into the Labels box and click
Done.

Ako,Whanaungatanga,Wananga,Manaakitanga,Tangata
Whenuatanga

12. Save your post (dont publish it).

13. Repeat the process 4 more times, copying and pasting the
following label groups into 4 more posts, saving (not publishing)
each as you go.

Professional Knowledge,Teaching Techniques,Motivation of

Students,Communication,Classroom Management,Support for and
Co-operation with Colleagues,Contribution to Wider School
Activities

PTC7-Learning Environment,PTC8-How Akonga Learn,PTC9-

Diversity,PTC10-Bicultural Context,PTC11-Assessment,PTC12-Critical Inquiry

PTC1-Professional Relationships,PTC2-Promoting Well-Being,PTC3-Bicultural

Partnership,PTC4- ongoing PLD, PTC5-Leadership,PTC6-Learning Programmes,

Focusing Inquiry,Teaching Inquiry,Learning Inquiry

14. Finally we need to make sure the labels will be displayed on your blog. Go back
to the blogs Dashboard by clicking on the blog name.

15. Click on the Layout option.

16. Click the Add a Gadget link in the sidebar.

17. Scroll down until you see the Labels gadget and click the + sign.

18. Change the settings as required. This is really up to you and how you would like them
displayed. Save your settings and then save the layout arrangement.

Wahoo, you are now ready to post for real.

So

19. Create a new post.

20. Once you have finished writing, adding images, embedding

files etc, click on the Labels box on the right. You will see all of the
labels we entered earlier.
 21. Ask yourself these questions:
What professional standards am I working towards/meeting/demonstrating in this post?
What Registered Teacher Criteria am I working towards/meeting/demonstrating in this post?
What cultural competencies am working towards/meeting/demonstrating in this post?
What aspects of TAI am I working towards/meeting/demonstrating in this post?

22. Click on the appropriate labels to add them to your post. Add any additional labels by
typing them in the box. Click Done and then Publish.

23. When you view your blog you will see a list of the labels that have been used i.e. your
blog index. Clicking on one of the labels will show all the posts that show progress and
achievement towards that area of the PS, RTC, CC or RTCs.

Happy blogging!