I Finally Bought It! ClayReisler.com

I finally bought it!

ClayReisler.com

You know, my first domain name.

I've been talking about it for years.  I've even told other people it's a great idea.  We had a Lunch N' Learn in 2013 to inform staff about how to positively brand yourself online.  I've provided students with three digital artifacts that they should have prior to leaving high school.  One of those things being a positive professional website.



If I'm being honest, I first wrote a blog post at recessduty.wordpress.com in 2008.  I was tentative in posting my name as I really wasn't sure if I wanted or if it was safe to be placing my name and image all over the place.  In 2007, I actually signed up for Twitter using my real name, but automatic, unwanted computer bots were retweeting and following using all Twitter user names.  It was unnerving at a time when the WWW was really not fully understood.  I deleted my "real name" Twitter account.  In November 2009, I came up with an idea to use RecessDuty and didn't put my picture in my profile.  I accumulated Twitter followers, without my real name.  I even experienced in 2014 being at a conference where I tweeted something.  The man two seats away from me looked back at his friend and said, "Hey, RecessDuty is here!" I cautiously looked at him and said, "I know...I'm him!"

In 2010, I started videoing every activity that we used the iPads for while teaching 8th grade students.  I never video taped me.  It was always about the students and the innovative, educational practices we utilized in everyday lessons.

I've presented in so many places, but for some reason, I was uncomfortable putting my face on the web.

It started to change this year.  I'm not sure why, but it hit me.  You've been telling everyone to "write their story, yet you aren't writing your own story."

I was impressed and encouraged along the way by people such as Tony Vincent,  Kelly Croy, Andy Losik, George Couros, and many others. I decided to use hover.com to buy my domain clayreisler.com I am so glad I did.   Customer service has been great.  The personal dashboard has been easy to use.

I'll encourage you (educators, students, leaders), if you haven't done so already get yourself a domain name and write your story!  Every educator should write their own story and positively portray themselves online.  You're doing great things in your classroom. Tell people about it!

Promote Yourself; Promote Your Content

Promoting yourself as a professional educator or providing a "here's my content" from my class can take many forms.  You could use one of these tech tools to promote a high school department, complete with staff information.  The tools could be used for proclaiming the great information found in a class.  A group of teachers could promote their class in just a few simple steps.    In addition, anyone of these tools could be used as a tech tool to instill classroom concepts.  Maybe an about page is used for a historical person or a historical event!  Finally, are you starting to create a classroom digital presence?  Are you blogging about your instructional techniques?

Below you will find some great tech tools that may help to promote yourself & your classroom content as an educator!

About.me
Free, easy to use, stylish

• My Example
• Directory
• The App

Carbonmade.com
My Example

• Educational Example
• Educational Example

Flavors.me
Good, but slow loading

Corkboard.me
Works On iPad, Great quick option for class concept!

Google Sites
Use personal Gmail account

• My Example
• Video Tutorial

     Hover.com
     Great customer service!
     Easy user dashboard

1and1 - Custom Website
Create a custom url for your information page that you created above.  Easy to connect!
Ex: www.yourname.com
      www.yourclass.com

Wisestamp.com

Easy Gmail extension to enhance your email
signature

Digital Business Card
Search Me: Online Reputation Management

iPad Camera & YouTube Channel

So many articles have focused on teachers branding themselves in a positive light.  We speak on a daily basis to students about branding themselves in a professional manner on the web.  A FREE and easy method of positively branding your classroom and all that happens on a daily basis is a YouTube Channel.

For me, it started with the idea that I would document everything that happens in my journey with iPads in my classroom.  While I like typing and certainly appreciate my 11th grade teacher teaching me the home row in typing class, I can't type fast enough to document everything.

My solution!  Use the iPad2 camera and a YouTube account.  (Signing in is so easy if you are a GAFE school or have a personal Gmail account)  Having this option has allowed me to post less than three minute videos in such a short time.  The great thing for me is that it is quick.  See how I exactly do it:



Problem:  I don't have an iPad!  If this is you, consider using your Smartphone.  Android services (yes, I said the competitor on this blog) on a Smartphone make it quite easy to upload a video to YouTube.  See how this can be done.


Once you have decided to take the plunge, set up your YouTube channel.  I don't have time to create all of these, so I used a pretty decent series by the manager of the link above.

My Settings:

• I have connected with our classroom blog and Twitter account
• I have included Playlists that are educationally based and used in our classroom
• I have created a featured video section on the front page-this rocks
• I NEVER state a students name while filming them
• I try to keep the video less than three minutes
• Lately, I have started to include students describing steps in tech teaching-it is amazing how much more students listen to themselves and classmates when learning something new.  

One Final Obstacle: My school & district block YouTube!!!  If you have the desire, take my channel and show administrators, school board members, and anyone else that wants to listen and show how it can positively reflect on your school district.  I know that tech support can choose to allow certain YouTube sites to be unblocked.  Have them make your YouTube channel the one!  If that doesn't work, take the video and upload it at home.

There truly is no reason, that you can't create a YouTube channel with a small goal of posting 1 video a week.  I get the fact that I may be overboard by posting 428 videos in less five months, but so many community members, administrators, teachers, students, and parents appreciate seeing the many positive educational experiences occurring daily in our classroom.

I would certainly welcome any feedback on this concept and other examples of educational classrooms that are utilizing this FREE method of promotion!