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Working online, we practice our best writing skills and our netiquette.

Be sure to read these first:  Blog Posts Blog Comments, YOTT Blog

Are you ready?

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Since we do not identify ourselves with a photo, and we still want a PICTURE that represents who we are, we create an image that represents us, and "avatar." Please consider the challenge you chose from Rachel's challenge:

  • Look for the best in others
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated
  • Choose positive influences
  • Speak words of kindness
  • Forgive yourself and others
If you are meeting that challenge, what would your avatar look like? How does this challenge help you make a mark in the world?  Create your avatar with these questions in mind, and your personality. You should be able to explain how your picture reflects your personality and your challenge goal.

Here is an example of mine. I created an avatar (Wild Self), then edited it, and added it to my "dot" drawing:



I chose pretty colors I like, purple and blue-green, with a rainbow on my shirt. I wanted to be independent, my own way, and these colors show that. I chose orange butterfly wings because sometimes I flutter around to get everything done I need to and because the wings are bright so that I stand out-- in case any one needs help, they can see me. I have a big smile on my face as I speak words of kindness. I want to model kindness everyday and start a chain reaction of kindness to make the world a better place. How about you?

Are you ready?

Create an Avatar:

Information:

Once you are starting to create online, you often need to have a special identity. This is usually in the form of an avatar.  You may have them in Facebook and, of course, you have them when leaving comments on blogs.  You see them when you make comments and the blog you are visiting chooses one for you.

So, this week’s activities relate to avatars and online identities including creating a positive digital footprint.

Activity – make an avatar -- for your class and for you

Step 1. Create an avatar for your blog and for you to use when leaving comments.

Avatars are a representation of yourself. Check out this post about avatars.  Create your avatar using one of the websites below. See if Edmodo lets you add your avatar. 

Most important is remember to save as a jpeg file if using Edublogs.

To make an avatar, go to the links below, then read and follow the directions that follow to copy, rename, and adjust the size for uploading.




Step 2. Using printscreen to save your avatar

So you decided to create an avatar like “Build your wildself” or “Wimpy Me." You need to take a picture of the screen first.  

On a Mac, hold down the command key, then hold down the shift key with it , then press the 4 key -- you will your cursor change to a "crosshair."  

Click and hold your mouse down to draw a square around your image. Let go of the mouse. You will hear a clicking sound of the computer taking picture of the screen. It will be on your desktop as a "screenshot."

Double click to open it.  

Go to file save as and save as a jpeg with the the name "codepic."


Now for some other changes. 

With your avatar open, go to Tools --> Adjust size.

Make sure "Scale proportionally" is checked. Change the largest number height or width to 97 pixels per inch.


Close your file.  Then drag it into the Student Work file on the desktop -- just the main file, not your own.  I need to get to easily and so do you.


PC: Most computers have a printscreen button on the keyboard or if using Windows 7 you have an icon called “snipping tool”. 

When you press printscreen an image of your screen is now copied to your clipboard. You will still need to crop and resize to get an avatar that fits well on your blog.

Open MS Paint

 and click control V to paste your image from the clipboard. 

To save, you need to go to File>Save As> change the name of the file to yourname with ava eg  sueava then underneath change the file type to JPEG. Make sure you save your avatar to your drive. 

Go to your drive, right click on the icon for your avatar image and choose “Open with” choose MS Picture Manager.

In the icons at the top, go to View> task pane.  On the right go to edit pictures > crop.  Now move the black bars on the side of your image in, to crop your picture to what you want in your avatar.

Click OK, then back to edit pictures. Now click on resize. In the box “custom width and height” put  97 in both boxes. These numbers might be slightly different but one has to be 97 and the other smaller than 97. Click OK.

Back up to file>save as> call it sueava2 or similar> make sure it is still JPEG. Make sure you have saved it to your drive again.


To create a transparent background, ask your teacher how to use:

Photo Editor: http://pixlr.com/editor/






Sue Waters from ‘The Edublogger‘ has written a great post about avatars, including giving instructions on how to save them and then upload to your blog profile.
Subpages (1): Avatar Help
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