ISTEK Blogs

We are happy to announce the 1st ISTEK Blog Awards!

Categories:

• Kindergarten Class Blog
• Grade 3&5 Class Blog
• Prep Class Blog
• Department Blog

(Only ISTEK blogs will be nominated.)

Two teachers of each winning class blog and the department head of the winning department blog will be rewarded a one-week teacher training in the UK.

There will be a group of evaluators who will be monitoring the blogs throughout the academic year.

Evaluation committee members:

Deniz Demirtaş – ISTEK Schools Advisor to the Chairman of the Board

Yıldız Köksalan – ISTEK Schools General Manager

Selcen Özkaya Seçil – ISTEK Schools Deputy General Manager

Burcu Akyol – ISTEK Schools Foreign Languages Coordinator

Gavin Dudeney – External Evaluator

Nik Peachey – External Evaluator

Shelly Terrell – External Evaluator

Competition Sponsors

• Cambridge University Press, Dünya Aktüel
• İnkaş, Express, Trinity
• Macmillan, Macenta
• Nile Institute
• Oxford University Press
• Pearson Longman
• Sempa

The blogs will be evaluated according to the criteria below:

POSTS

• Blog is updated frequently.
• Content is age-appropriate.
• Content is level-appropriate.
• Blog posts are supported with visuals and videos.
• Blog posts are neat and clear.

PAGES

• There is a page which gives information about the blogging teachers.
• There is a page for visitors (parents, etc.) to encourage them to leave comments.
• There is a page where students can find the ‘Blogging Rules and Guidelines’ and ‘Expectations from Students” (This criterion does not apply to Kindergarten and Department blogs)
• Pages are used efficiently to share static content. (e.g. newsletters, pages for classes, exam dates, performance tasks,etc.)

COMMENTS (These criteria do not apply to Kindergarten and Department blogs)

• Student participation is high.
• Students interact with each other.
• Comments are of good quality. (Content is more sophisticated than ‘hello, how are you’)
• Teacher(s) interact with students via comments.

BLOGROLL

• There are useful links on the blogroll.
• Links are categorised appropriately.
• Links are age and level-appropriate.

OVERALL LOOK OF THE BLOG

• Blog looks attractive in general.
• Sidebars are used efficiently.
• Widgets are age-appropriate.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

• Teacher has built at least one international connection via the blog class (This criterion does not apply to Kindergarten and Department blogs)

GOOD LUCK TO ALL BLOGGING ISTEK TEACHERS!