Eric Balak is a 5th grade teacher in Pennsylvania, USA. For the last few weeks, he has been working on a special project with his students for STUBC.
You might remember during week 5 we asked participants to tell us about their school.
Rather than sharing some text or images, Mr. Balak’s students made a comprehensive VR tour! View it below or click on this link to view it via the web (you don’t need viewers or the app).
Click on the links to visit the students who’ve added this tour to their blog. You might like to leave them some feedback!
There are a number of important reminders this week:
The forms for weeks 1-7 are closed. You have 2 weeks to finish off tasks from weeks 8, 9, and 10. All forms will close on May 19.
If you’d like to join us again for the next challenge in October 2019, make sure you’re on our mailing list. You’ll get an email in September when registrations are open. Otherwise, check this blog in September for all the news.
While the Student Blogging Challenge is coming to an end, we hope this is not the end of your blogging journey. We encourage you to keep blogging and connecting.
Follow The Edublogger — If you’re not already receiving the email newsletter from Edublogs, maybe you’d like to sign up? I send out an email each week sharing the latest blog post.
Thank You
This was my second time running the Student Blogging Challenge and I’d like to thank everyone involved.
To Sue Wyatt…
Miss W/Tasteach/Sue Wyatt works tirelessly behind the scenes to help our commenting team, support participants, and keep our spreadsheets up to date. We appreciate you, Sue!
To our commenters…
Another big thank you goes to our team of commenters who provided an authentic audience for our students and classes each week. Your comments really helped our students with their confidence and motivation. We hope you’ll return again as a commenter in October.
To our participants…
It has been fantastic to see such enthusiastic participation from our students and teachers across the world! I hope you’ve all learned a lot and made some connections.
The Student Blogging Challenge will start again in October, 2019. Spread the word!
Summary Of The Student Blogging Challenge
Let’s look at STUBC by the numbers…
Number of registered individual students: 1200
Number of registered classes: 140
Number of countries represented: 26
Number of tasks submitted
These are the edited numbers after incorrect and duplicate URLs were removed.
This week there are two tasks to complete. If you don’t have time to write your audit post, please just spend 5 minutes completing our survey. We’d really appreciate it!
Teachers, please help us in making sure your students fill in the correct survey (for students)
Task 1: Audit Your Blog
Option One: Write a post on your blog reflecting on your participation in the challenge.
These are the sorts of prompts you could answer in your post:
How many weeks of the challenge did you participate in?
How many posts did you write in the ten week period?
How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers, or other visitors?
Which post did you enjoy writing the most and why?
Which web tools did you use to show creativity on your blog?
What are your plans for your blog now? Will you keep posting?
Option Two: Ask a student/teacher/family member who might not have read your blog to do an audit.
Sit beside them while they navigate around your blog, record what you observe as they interact with your blog. When finished, ask them the following questions:
What were your first impressions of this blog?
What captured your attention?
What distracted you on the blog?
What suggestions can you give me to improve my blog?
If you’re working as a class on this activity, perhaps the teacher could write a post and invite the students to reflect in a comment.
Task 2: Evaluate The Challenge
Please complete our short survey so we know what you enjoyed most about the challenge and what we could do to improve things in the future.
There is a separate survey for teachers and students.
The Google Forms for weeks 1-6 are now closed. You can still submit posts in the Google Forms for weeks 7 and 8 if you’re catching up.
Please check to see if you have comments waiting to be approved! Try to write a reply to your comments, even if you only have time for a short thank you.
Remember if you’re adding Google Doc/Form/Slide presentations to your post, please check these are public so others can see them. You’ll find the instructions here.
Results Of Our Celebrations Poll
Remember two weeks ago we ran a poll to see which holidays our STUBC participants celebrate? We had 365 responses.
Here are the most popular responses in percentages. If you notice anything interesting about the data, feel free to leave a comment on this post.
Other responses included birthdays, Eid, 4th of July, Ramadan, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Vaisakhi.
Tip: I made the chart above by entering the survey data into a free online tool called BEAM. It’s handy!
Time to begin this week’s topic…
What Makes A Quality Blog Post?
I hope you’ve learnt a lot throughout the Student Blogging Challenge! Perhaps if you look back to your posts from a few weeks ago you can see that you’ve improved.
This week we’re going to try to put together everything we know about creating a quality blog post.
Let’s go over some of the essential ingredients of a quality blog post. You might have your own ideas too!
Don’t forget to try to visit a couple of other bloggers once you’ve published your own post. Making connections is the best part of the Student Blogging Challenge!
Click here to see the week 9 posts that our participants are publishing.
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you’d like a commenter and others to visit your post, fill in the form below.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the Google Form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the Form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
No doubt you heard about the terrible Notre Dame Cathedral fire in France recently?
Serge Galligani’s class in France are on holidays but 3 students (Anna, Kenzo and Axel) returned to school to make a video about the fire.
Click here to see their post and click on the green box that says ‘comments’ if you’d like to leave them a comment. They’d be very grateful!
Reminders
Here are a few more important reminders:
The Google Forms for weeks 1-5 are now closed. You can still submit posts in the Google Forms for weeks 6 and 7 if you’re catching up.
To become a better blogger, before you publish consider: have I proofread? Is my text broken up in short paragraphs (bullet points can be good too)? Do I have an image? We’re talking more about images in this post.
Please keep approving comments quickly!
Remember if you’re adding Google Doc/Form/Slide presentations in your post, please check these are public so others can see them. You’ll find the instructions here. This is still an issue on many blogs.
If you have school holidays, you can catch up or skip weeks. Do whatever suits you!
Have You Taken Our Celebrations Poll?
Remember last week we ran a poll to see which holidays our STUBC participants celebrate?
As so many of our participants are on holidays, let’s leave this poll open for another week.
Here is the link to the poll if you haven’t had time to leave a response. Either teachers or students can respond.
Images are a really important part of blogging. We discussed images in week 3, but here are some more tips!
Try Photos For Class
I’ve noticed that some of our participants aren’t adding an image to a blog post.
If you don’t have your own image to add, a great website to use is Photos For Class. The photos are free to use, filtered, and students under 13 can use the site.
I’ve published a post on my own blog that includes two new posters. These posters explain how to download an image from Photos For Class and add an image to a blog post.
If you really like photography, you could set up a blog to share your photos.
Our commenting team leader, Miss W, has a blog called An Image A Day.
Miss W uses the blog to share her travel photography. If you take a look you’ll see pictures from her recent trip to South Australia.
Another member of our community with a photography blog is Mrs. Yollis. She has a blog called Yollis 365 Project which she started 9 years ago.
Mrs. Yollis’ students and community love the blog and find it a great way to inspire their writing.
You can even submit a photo to be added to the blog if you like! Find out more here.
Choosing a good theme for a photo blog
Miss W uses a theme on Edublogs called Magazino. If you’re setting up a photo blog on Edublogs/CampusPress, you might consider looking for a magazine or portfolio theme.
Go to Appearance > Themes in your dashboard and have a browse.
Does your blog theme include a featured image?
If you’re using Edublogs, some themes have the ability to add a featured image.
For example, on my own blog and on The Edublogger you can see a featured image show up with the post on the homepage.
The Equator is an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth. The Equator divides the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemispheres.
Which hemisphere do you live in?
I live in Australia so I’m in the Southern Hemisphere although around 90% of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Wow!
One of the big differences between the Hemispheres is the seasons. They are opposite; it’s currently Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
You might also be able to use some of the fabulous Google tools for this topic like Google Earth and Google Maps.
Eleni Kyritsis shows us how to create a virtual tour with Google Tour Creator.
Matt Miller explains how to make a Google Map walking tour with Screencastify.
Task 2: Learn About Another Country
This task is the same as task 1 except instead of telling us about your own country you will research and share information about another country.
Be sure to tell us why you chose the country. Why does it interest you?
Task 3: Travel
Have you been lucky enough to travel to another country or city? Or perhaps you have dreams to travel somewhere?
Our commenting team leader Miss W recently travelled to South Australia and took some great photos which she’d like to share with you. Click here to visit Miss W’s website.
Sunrise at Marree by Miss W
This task involves writing a post about travel.
Ideas for your travel post:
Write about a holiday you went on that you really enjoyed.
Make a list of the top 10 travel destinations you’d like to go to.
Create a slideshow of your ideal holiday destinations.
Create an imaginary itinerary if you could travel anywhere and had an unlimited budget.
You might have your own ideas!
💡 Safety Tip
It’s fun to talk about travel, but it’s a good idea to avoid mentioning your specific travel plans online.
For example, instead of saying, “I’m going to visit Sydney next Monday” try “I’m planning a holiday to Sydney” or “I’m looking forward to visiting Sydney later in the year”.
Also, remember not to post pictures of yourself or others on the blog without permission.
Visit Others
Don’t forget to try to visit a couple of other bloggers once you’ve published your own post. You might learn a lot about where they live this week!
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you’d like a commenter and others to visit your post, fill in the form below.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the Google Form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the Form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Some of our STUBC participants will be celebrating Easter this week. Other participants don’t celebrate Easter but have other holidays that are part of their lives during certain times of the year.
This week we’d like to find out about the celebrations and festivities that are important to you. You might learn a few things about different cultures as well.
Week Six Recap
Last week we had some students publish excellent posts about music.
You can find them all here (or click on the green week six box on the sidebar).
Let’s take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted last week:
Yueshi from Australia made a quiz to test your knowledge of music and shared a song she created.
Evanne from Taiwan invites you to take her music poll.
Marie from the USA made a short quiz in Google Slides and shared a song she made.
Mrs. Matveyeva’s Class in Kazahkstan shared some interesting information about Kazahk music and instruments.
There are still some great posts coming in from previous weeks too. Serge Galligani’s class in France made a terrific video about their school day. Try leaving them a comment using Google Translator if you don’t speak French.
These are ongoing reminders for issues that we’re still coming across regularly:
Have you (or your students) got comments that need approving? Some commenters left comments many weeks ago that have still not been approved. Try to write a reply to your comments, even if you only have time for a short thank you.
Remember if you’re adding Google Doc/Form/Slide presentations in your post, please check these are public so others can see them. You’ll find the instructions here.
Please submit the URL of a blog post so people can comment (songs, Forms, quizzes and other things you make can be added to the blog post — either as a link or embedded). Last week we had some participants submit the URL of a song or something they’d created online so they will miss out on comments.
Reminders
Here are a few more important reminders:
The Google Forms for weeks 1-4 are now closed. You can still submit posts in the Google Forms for weeks 5 and 6 if you’re catching up.
Did you notice the homepage of the STUBC site looks a little different? You now have to click on the title of the post to read it. This is to make the site easier to navigate on a mobile device (less scrolling to get to the sidebar at the bottom).
To become a better blogger, before you publish consider: have I proofread? Is my text broken up in short paragraphs (bullet points can be good too)? Do I have an image?
Some classes are currently on holidays. That’s totally fine. You can catch up when you get back or just skip the weeks you’re away.
Time to begin this week’s topic…
Celebrations And Festivities
We have a diverse group taking part in the Student Blogging Challenge with lots of different cultural backgrounds represented.
Around the world, people celebrate different holidays and festivals.
It can be fun to tell people about our own traditions while hearing about others!
Want to learn a bit more about just some of the holidays that are celebrated around the world? This video might help.
Gabby wrote an excellent piece about celebrations that included multiple pictures and some fun polls.
Task 3: Holiday Craft
Some people enjoy making craft for special holidays and seasons.
This task involves creating something and then adding a photo of it to a blog post with a description. Or you could even make a video tutorial for your readers!
If you find inspiration from a website, be sure to include the link in your post.
Craft inspiration:
Origami Club has a list of origami (paper folding) objects you can make for a variety of holidays.
DLTK has lots of ideas sorted into different holidays.
PBS Parents shares a range of craft ideas for different celebrations.
Easy Peasy and Fun have lots of holiday craft ideas. For example, there are many Easter ideas. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the site to explore other holidays or adapt the ideas for your own holidays!
Easy Peasy and Fun has lots of craft ideas
Examples:
Rhiann made a fantastic video to share a craft idea.
Kaylie made a candle and explained how she did it. She also including the link to the site she used.
Explore the fantastic poetry generators on the Language is a Virus website. (I believe this works best on a computer rather than tablet/mobile device).
For example, their visual poetry mosaic tool displays your work as a shape. Take a screenshot of your end result and add it to a blog post as an image.
If you don’t want to use that tool, you could display your poem creatively using a tool like Google Drawings or Canva.
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you’d like a commenter and others to visit your post about celebrations, fill in the form below.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the Google Form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the Form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Music is something that can connect people, no matter where you live, what language you speak, or how old you are.
This week, we’re going to discuss all aspects of music — what we like, what we don’t like, how we use music, and using music legally.
Week Five Recap
There were so many great posts submitted again by classes and students.
You can find them all here (or click on the week 5 box on the sidebar).
Let’s take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted last week:
Mrs. Ruffing is a teacher in the US who is also volunteering as a commenter. She has written some great posts like this one to share her commenting experiences with her students. She also wrote a post about netball. If you know about netball, please comment!
Some of Mrs. Schmidt’s students (Pennsylvania USA) made a survey about school including Sophia and Julia
Ready, Set, Blog is a class in Melbourne, Australia with student blogs. I like the way the teacher wrote a post with some recommendations of student blogs to visit. For example, Oliver made a voice recording.
Allie in New Zealand also made a Google Form with lots of great questions about school. I like the way she included the links to the blogs of 3 other students she’s connected with.
Kalani in New Zealand wrote a great description of her school day. I like the way she broke up her text and used bold words. It makes it easier to read!
We’ve also had some more week 4 free choice submissions this week. Our friends in Mrs. Matveyeva’s class in Kazakhstan have written about their spring festival called Nauryz.
Georgina from Australia wrote an impressive free choice post about widgets.
The Google Forms for weeks 1-3 are now closed. You can still submit posts in the Google Forms for weeks 4 and 5 if you’re catching up.
Very important — Please keep approving comments quickly. Some teachers are telling us that their students left comments weeks ago that have still not been approved. Try to write a reply to your comments, even if you only have time for a short thank you.
Very important — Remember if you’re adding Google Doc/Form/Slide presentations in your post, please check these are public so others can see them. You’ll find the instructions here.
I’ve been visiting lots of blogs that don’t have an About page. This is so important. It doesn’t have to be long but please tell your visitors who you are and where you’re from (pen names are fine and you don’t have to be too specific with your location but at least include your country). Revise the steps to creating an About page in our week one post.
To become a better blogger, before you publish consider: have I proofread? Is my text broken up in short paragraphs (bullet points can be good too)? Do I have an image?
Commenting team leader Sue Wyatt/Miss W is now back from her holiday. Thank you to Sheri Edwards for her help. We look forward to seeing some of Miss W’s photos in the coming weeks.
Let’s Look At Music
What sort of music do you like?
Pop?
Rock?
Classical?
Country?
Alternative?
Jazz?
Dance?
Hip hop or rap?
There are so many different types of music enjoyed around the world.
As Greek Philosopher Plato apparently said,
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.
Music and the Law
Remember back in week 3 we discussed how you can’t just use any image that you find online? Well, the same applies for music.
Most music is protected by copyright. So you can’t use it for your own digital projects without permission or paying for a special license.
Listening to music
Not so long ago, when people wanted to listen to their favourite song, they had to wait until it came on the radio or buy the CD/cassette/record.
Now there are choices but it’s important to know what you can and can’t do with music.
Using music in projects
Normally, you can’t just use any music you like in something you’re creating — like a video.
However, in most countries, you are allowed to copy music to add to a video if:
a) it’s for educational purposes and
b) you’re not sharing your video publicly (or selling it!)
So, if you have a public blog, you aren’t allowed to put a video on there that you made with copyright music. And you couldn’t show your video at a public event. However, it’s okay if you’re just showing the video to your teachers and parents.
Hopefully you do want to share your work with a public audience. That’s what this challenge is all about! Don’t worry. You can still use music. I’ll share some options below.
Note: This is the case in Australia and the US but if you live in another country you may need to check your own guidelines.
Paying for music
There are popular sites and apps where you can pay to download music legally — for example, Apple Music, Google Play Music, and Spotify.
You can listen to your downloaded music yourself, but can’t upload it to your blog or to a video or other project you’re working on.
You also can’t use it publicly (e.g. at a school event, store, or public event).
Streaming music
It’s fine to stream music online on sites like YouTube (although remember, YouTube is 13+) but it’s not usually legal to download the audio from a YouTube video as explained in this article.
Also, streaming music in this way is meant for personal use — not for a public broadcast. As Spotify says,
…it’s not possible to use Spotify in public places (such as bars, restaurants, stores, schools, etc.). You may only make personal, non-commercial, entertainment use of the content.
Most streaming services are similar.
Embedding music
Embedding a video from a site like YouTube or Vimeo into your blog is usually allowed.
If the host provides an embed and you embed it using their code according to their rules (usually that means not trying to hide branding), you can embed it without violating copyright.
CDs or digital music?
You can also listen to music by buying a CD or borrowing one from the library. Although digital music is becoming a lot more popular than CDs in many parts of the world.
Again, you can’t copy the music from a CD and use it for another project (e.g. upload it to your blog or add it to a public video).
Confused? Here’s a summary of the do’s and don’ts you need to remember
Remember, I’m no legal expert and things are different in different countries so please contact me if you have any extra information. We can all learn together!
Where to find music and clips that you are allowed to use
Just like with images, there are options for students and teachers who need music or sound clips for a video, slideshow, or other digital project they’re working on.
Let’s take a look at three …
Dig CC Mixter
Dig CC Mixter offers thousands of hours of free music.
The music on this site has different Creative Commons licenses so you need to check whether you need to attribute the music or not (attribute means saying who made the music and where it’s from etc).
Educational Blogger Richard Byrne’s video below explains how to use Dig CC Mixter and filter by license.
BBC Sound Effects
During 2018, the BBC made over 16,000 sound effects available to use for personal, educational, or research purposes.
You can browse by category to find the sort of sound effect you’re after for your project.
You should put a link in your project or blog post to say that your sound effects were from the BBC and link to their site.
Here is an example of a sound clip. This is the sound of the surf at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.
This week you can choose from a list of 8 ideas to create a post about music. Or you can come up with your own idea!
Because the topic of music is a new one for the Student Blogging Challenge, we don’t have many examples to share this week.
Important: Please make sure you write a blog post and don’t just submit the link to a quiz or song. Otherwise commenters and other visitors won’t be able to leave a comment.
8 Prompts For Your Post About Music
Choose one or more of these ideas to create a post about music. Or, you might have your own idea!
1) Create a survey about music (opinions)
Create a poll to survey your readers (Google Forms is a good way to do this or you could use a tool like Crowd Signal).
Alternatively, you could write some questions that you’d like readers to answer in a comment.
Your survey questions could be about:
Your favourite music genre
Your favourite artists or groups
Would you rather? (e.g. Would you rather Ariana Grande or Billie Eilish? Would you rather classical music or rap?)
Idea: When your survey is completed, you could share a summary of your findings. I love a tool called Beam for making simple charts.
2) Create a quiz about music (facts)
Quiz your readers about anything music related. Perhaps your quiz could include questions like:
Facts about artists (year they were born, or first number one hit)
Facts about instruments
Music theory
Questions about a certain genre or period of time (e.g. 1980s music)
Google Forms is great for making quizzes but please make sure it’s public. You could also make a Google Slides presentation. The question could be on one slide, and the answer on the next (or all the answers could be at the end of the presentation).
Remember to please make sure any Google Forms/Slides/Docs etc. are public.
3) Tell us about an instrument
Do you have a favourite instrument? Or perhaps there is an instrument that fascinates you and you might like to do some research and write a post about it.
You might include things like:
Construction or appearance
History
Technique or how to play it
Famous works or artists
Classification or family of instruments (e.g. strings, or percussion)
Don’t forget to include an image or embed a video.
Example: Ash wrote a post about the ukelele for her free choice post in week 4.
4) Research a famous artist or group
Find out more about a singer, songwriter, musician, or group. This might be someone who is popular now or performed long ago.
Share some interesting facts in a post.
Bring your research to life with an image or video.
5) Make a playlist
Music lovers have enjoyed making their own playlists for years. A playlist can celebrate a certain artist, genre, or mood.
Write a blog post that includes a playlist of your favourite songs. Don’t forget to explain why you like each song and why it’s part of your playlist.
Example: Principal Meredith Akers made a playlist by embedding YouTube videos into her blog post.
6) Discuss music and the law
Many people don’t realise that by using music illegally, you are putting artists at a disadvantage because they are not getting paid for their work.
Do some research and write an article about the downsides of using music illegally.
Alternatively, you might like to write a post about do’s and don’ts of using music legally. You might be able to teach others who aren’t aware that there are rules we need to abide by.
7) Guess the artist, song, or instrument
Guessing games are fun!
Give your readers some clues as they scroll down the page and have them guess the artist, song, or instrument.
You could put each clue on a slide of a Google Slides presentation if you prefer (just remember to make sure your Slides presentation is public).
Invite your readers to put their guesses in a comment.
8) Make some music
We don’t just have to talk about music or listen to others’ music. Why not make your own. There are lots of apps and websites where you can make music.
Play around with it to make a tune and then click Save in the bottom right-hand corner.
Next, you can copy the embed code. Another option is to copy the link to your song if you don’t want it embedded in your post.
In your blog post, go to Add Media > Insert Embed Code
Paste your embed code and press Insert Into Post
Your song will appear!
Another music creation tool that is popular and free for all ages is Incredibox.
When You’ve Published A Post, It’s Time To Visit
As always, an important part of the challenge is to connect with others. You never know what you might learn or who you could connect with!
When you’ve finished your post, choose a couple of blogs to visit and leave a quality comment.
Remember to ask a question and check back to see if they replied to you (most platforms have a box to tick so you can get an email when there is a follow-up comment).
You will find the link to the week 6 participants’ posts on the sidebar of this blog on Tuesday.
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you’d like a commenter and others to visit your post about music, fill in the form below.
Important: Please make sure you write a blog post and don’t just submit the link to a quiz or song. Otherwise, commenters and other visitors won’t be able to leave a comment.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the Google Form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the Form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Micah from Panama wrote about a bird called the rufous-crested coquette.
Miss Blessing’s young students in Vermont USA have been writing some great poems. Here are some examples from Bunny Jumper, Bee Buzzer, and Lead Dog. I love the way they include photos of their drawings.
Mackenna is a third grader who invites you to sprinkle kindness.
Sophia from Pennsylvania, USA is rhinestone crazy and is happy to answer questions about rhinestones.
Mrs. Yollis and her 3rd grade students continue to be STUBC role models. I encourage teachers to read this post about how Mrs. Yollis helped a student find an audience. Also, check out some of the excellent posts on the blog sidebar.
The Google Forms for week 1 and week 2 are now closed. You can still submit posts in the Google Forms for weeks 3 and 4 if you’re catching up.
I’ve been visiting lots of blogs that don’t have an About page. This is so important. It doesn’t have to be long but please tell your visitors who you are and where you’re from (pen names are fine and you don’t have to be too specific with your location but at least include your country). Revise the steps to creating an About page in our week one post.
Please keep approving comments quickly. You might be missing out on some great connections!
Remember if you’re adding Google Doc/Form/Slide presentations in your post, please check these are public so others can see them. You’ll find the instructions here.
Do your posts have images? Images make posts much more shareable and they stand out a lot more on our Flipboard magazine. Remember, as we discussed in week 3, you can’t just use any image you find on the web, however, there are lots of options available to you.
Posts that are proofread and written in short paragraphs are much easier to read! Need help with proofreading? Try a free tool like Grammarly. Note: Grammarly is 18+ but if you’re aged between 13-17, you can use it with permission.
A Special Thank You
Our hardworking commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, is currently travelling and has a broken iPad.
I’d like to offer a special thanks to Sheri Edwards who is checking our students’ work and managing the spreadsheets while Sue is away. We appreciate you!
Be sure to check out Sheri’s great blog as she has some excellent posts that will help teachers and students.
Whenever my own students have connected with other classes through blogging, Skype, or other projects one thing they’ve been really fascinated is school.
It’s funny how schools can be very similar in some ways but also very different!
What sort of school do you go to?
Primary/elementary school?
Middle school?
High school?
International school?
Home school?
Private school?
Public school?
Religious school?
We even have some participants in college
Let’s take a quick look at how school varies around the world.
Video
This video from INSIDER shows what school looks like in 27 countries around the world. Was your country included? Did it look accurate or not?
Google Earth Show
To learn more about school around the world, check out this show on Google Earth called This Is School. From London to the Himalayas, you can explore classrooms around the world in Street View.
This week you can choose from a list of 8 ideas to create a post about school. Or you can come up with your own idea!
Thanks to Sue Wyatt who came up with many of these ideas for previous challenges.
8 Prompts For Your Post About School
Safety First!
💡 Remember it’s important to think carefully about what information we publish online.
Students should check with their teacher about whether it’s okay to mention their school name. If not, you might just like to tell people your state/country.
Another thing to consider is writing about your plans (e.g. instead of saying “I have karate lessons at the town hall at 4pm on Thursdays” try “I enjoy weekly karate lessons”).
Now onto the ideas…
1) Survey your readers about school
Create a poll to survey your readers (Google Forms is a good way to do this or you could use a tool like Crowd Signal).
Alternatively, you could write some questions that you’d like readers to answer in a comment.
Your questions could be about:
How people get to school (or work)
School starting/finishing time
School holidays
School uniforms
School subjects
Anything else that interests you
Idea: when your survey is completed, you could share a summary of your findings. I love a tool called Beam for making simple charts.
Write about your school day or make a slideshow or video to explain it.
You might include things like:
How do you get to school?
What is your timetable like? Do you have set subjects at certain times?
Do you have one teacher or many?
What time do you begin and end school?
Do you get to choose what you learn?
What technology do you have at school?
Remember to explain abbreviations you might use e.g. LOTE, STEM, or ELA
Example: Kayden wrote about her favourite school subjects
3) Do some research
Do a little bit of research for a new post.
Here are some ideas:
Research the history of your school and create an “About my school” page.
Research a famous person who attended your school.
How has schooling changed over the years? Interview parents or grandparents and ask questions about schooling. You could make a written interview, make a video, or make an audio recording (Anchor is a great tool for making audio recordings).
Find out more about someone at your school who you don’t talk to very much. Maybe you could interview a student who is older/younger than you. Or you might interview your cleaner, crossing supervisor, canteen worker etc.
Example: Farrah asked her parents about how school has changed.
4) What happens at break times?
Tell us what you do at break time or what’s popular at your school.
You might write about:
The food you eat at school. Do you take your own lunchbox or do you buy lunch? Include some photos if you can!
What do you do at break time? Are there any popular games, sports, or activities at your school?
What precautions do you have to take from the weather at break times? Hats? Sunscreen? Snowsuits? Is school ever cancelled or do you ever have to stay inside?
Example: Van Anh explained how to play a traditional Vietnamese game.
5) Describe your school grounds
Tell us a bit about your school grounds. You could even draw a map, or make a slideshow or video that gives readers a tour of your school.
Is your school big or small?
What sort of play areas do you have? Playgrounds? Fields? Courts?
What special buildings do you have? A gym? A library?
Example: Mrs. Yollis class made this great school tour video when I worked on a project with her for International Dot Day.
6) Tell us about your special events
Does your school hold any special events? Maybe a fair or fete, a dress up day, a fundraiser, camps or school trips?
Share the details in a post!
Example: Jueun wrote about a sports event held in his district.
7) Compare your school with another
Find a video, photo, or article to shows what school is like in a different part of the world.
Feel free to use the resources I added above.
Write about the similarities and differences as well as the questions you’re pondering.
Alternatively, if you’ve been to more than one more school you might be able to compare them in a post.
Example: Yuyang compared his school experiences in China and Senegal.
8) Share your opinions about school
No doubt you have some opinions about school and we’d like to hear them:
What’s your ideal school? You could even include a map of what it would look like.
Share your opinion on uniforms, school starting times, homework, recess, or another controversial issue.
What do you dream of doing once you finish school?
If you were principal for a week, what would you do?
If you have any other ideas, that’s great! Write about anything that relates to schooling around the world.
Examples: Fran wrote about his plans for when he finishes school while Van Anh shared her opinions on school uniforms.
When You’ve Published A Post, It’s Time To Visit
An important part of this topic is to find out about some other schools. You never know what you might learn or who you could connect with!
When you’ve finished your post, choose a couple of blogs to visit and leave a quality comment.
Remember to ask a question and check back to see if they replied to you (most platforms have a box to tick so you can get an email when there is a follow-up comment).
You will find the link to the week 5 participants’ posts on the sidebar of this blog on Tuesday.
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you’d like a commenter and others to visit your post about school, fill in the form below.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the Google Form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the Form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Phew! The first three weeks of the Student Blogging Challenge are the hardest. There’s a lot to learn and set up!
You’ve been working hard and now it’s time to catch your breath.
This week you’ll have some space to catch up on the first three tasks or write a free choice post. I’ve got some more ideas for you below.
Week Three Recap
There were many great posts submitted again by classes and students.
You can find them all here (or click on the week three box on the sidebar).
Let’s take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted last week:
Josiah wrote a great story that included some tips for taking perfect photos. He’d love to hear from you!
Mrs. Yollisran a powerful lesson for her students to learn how it feels when your work is stolen. Read about it here and check out her sidebar for some excellent student blog posts.
Mrs. Wermager proved you don’t need fancy tools to make a fun interactive blog post. Can you guess her hand-drawn sentence?
The students from “Ready, Set, Blog” in Melbourne, Australia would love you to click on the links on the sidebar of their blog to try guessing their sentences.
A student in Mrs. Matveyeva’s Class in Kazahkstan shared their top 5 hip-hop artists using free images. If you’re a music fan, be sure to leave a comment!
Rachelmade a video to explain how to avoid copyright infringement when getting images off the web.
During the week I published two posts that I invite you to check out:
11 year old Lauren made a great tutorial about random header images. I’d love to publish some more student tutorials so let me know if you write one.
I wrote a post to explain how to make sure your Google Doc/Form/Slide is public if you’re using them in your blog posts.
Reminders
Here are a few important reminders:
Please keep approving comments quickly. Some students don’t realise they have comments waiting to be approved in their dashboard.
Do your posts have images? Images make posts much more shareable and they stand out a lot more on our Flipboard magazine. Remember, as we discussed in week 3, you can’t just use any image you find on the web, however, there are lots of options available to you.
Posts that are proofread and written in short paragraphs are much easier to read! Need help with proofreading? Try a free tool like Grammarly. Note: Grammarly is 18+ but if you’re aged between 13-17, you can use it with permission.
Are you writing in a language other than English? Please add a Google Translate widget to your blog by following these instructions.
Quick Tutorial
Did you know you can edit the permalink or URL of your post before you publish it? This can make your URL neater and easier to share.
This quick video explains how to edit your permalink if you’re using Edublogs or CampusPress.
Remember never to edit your permalink after you publish a post or people will no longer be able to access the post with the original URL you shared.
Now it’s time for this week’s task…
Week Four Tasks
This week’s tasks are simple but I’ve offered a little elaboration below the summary graphic.
Task 1: Catch Up
You might not have had the chance to complete a task for week 1-3. Or you might like to complete an additional task from the choices on offer. Go for it.
Here are the links (you’ll also find them on the sidebar of the challenge blog).
Saturday 30th March is Earth Hour. Read about this important event and write a post about it.
This week’s post on TheEdublogger.com which will be published Monday/Tuesday (depending on where you live) has 15 poetry activity ideas.
One of our great commenters, Sheri Edwards, created a tutorial showing how to make a character out of Google Drawings. Why not make a character and blog about it?
If you write a free choice post this week, submit it in the Google Form at the bottom of this post.
Task 3: Visit
You might have a bit of extra time this week so it could be a good opportunity to visit at least one other blog and leave a quality comment.
Remember to ask a question and check back to see if they replied to you (most platforms have a box to tick so you can get an email when there is a follow-up comment).
Task 4: Kahoot!
Have you ever played Kahoot? Get some friends together and test your blogging knowledge with our 15 question quiz!
How Kahoot! works:
The multiple-choice questions appear on the screen in the classroom and students submit their responses in real time using their computer, tablet, or mobile device.
Students can work in teams and can work for points (most correct answers and quickest responses).
You don’t need an account to play, however; you will need to log in if you want to edit the quiz (teachers can adapt it for your own students if necessary).
You also need to be signed in to save results.
You’ll have the option for your students to play against each other individually (classic mode) or in teams.
You’ll also have a variety of game options you can play around with (see below).
Once you finalize your selections, a game pin number will show up. Students will go to the Kahoot app on their device, or to https://kahoot.it/ and enter the pin number to begin!
Feel free to leave a comment on this post and tell us if you tried the Kahoot!
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you write a free choice post and would like a commenter and others to visit, fill in the form below.
Do you have a post on your class blog and student blogs? Awesome! Feel free to submit the class blog post and student blog posts.
You need to submit the URL of your post. You can submit the URL of a page if this is what you’re working on but make sure comments are enabled.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
Remember:
Click on the title of your post/page and then copy the URL from your address bar.
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Many students and classes are enjoying publishing their tasks as a Google Doc or Google Slides presentation. This is fantastic!
However, there is one recurring problem.
Those using a Google Doc/Form/Slide presentation are often not changing their privacy settings so anyone can view it.
Viewers are told they don’t have permission to see the work.
How To Make Your Google Docs And Slides Public
At the top of your Google Doc, Sheet, or Slides, click File and then Publish to the web.
You’ll be prompted to choose a publishing option. E.g. With a Google Slides presentation you can choose how quickly to advance the slides.
Click Publish.
Check whether others can view your work by opening your blog post in Google Incognito or another browser you’re not logged in to.
These instructions show you how to embed your Google work in an Edublogs or CampusPress blog.
Also, if you’re including the link to a Google Slides presentation on our weekly Form, please make sure the setting is allowing for comments. The best approach is to add the presentation to a blog post and share the blog post URL. That way, people can comment on your post.
All this is part of the learning how and when to share work to a public audience. Such an important skill for teachers and students!
Need help? Just leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
I noticed she had some cool headers showing up on her blog and they change as you navigate the blog.
I asked Lauren how she did this and she put together a quick video to share with you all!
She made her images using Canva and her blog is with Edublogs.
Any feedback for Lauren?
Lauren is happy to hear any feedback or answer any questions. You can leave a comment on this post or head to the original post on her blog and leave a comment there.
I’d love to publish some more student tutorials here on the STUBC site.
If you’ve figured out how to do something on your blog (or on a web tool that you can add to your blog), feel free to make a tutorial, either with text/images, a slideshow, or a video.
Share it with me via a blog comment, an email, or Twitter and I’ll see if we can include it on the site!
This week’s topic is an important and useful one to know about. We’re going to have fun using photos while learning how use images easily, legally, and safely.
Some people find this topic confusing but don’t worry. I’ll break it down for you in this week’s post!
This post is long as there’s lots for you to learn. Remember to use the menu on the right hand side if you’re on a computer.
Next week we will be having a catch up/free choice week so you can catch your breath!
Week Two Recap
There were so many great posts submitted by classes and students.
You can find the participants’ week two posts by click on the purple link on the sidebar.
Many students have also submitted a week one task late. Check these out by clicking on the green link on the sidebar.
Let’s take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted for week two:
Mrs. D from Arizona had her 6th graders vote on their commenting guidelines which they then put into a fabulous poster. Check it out here.
Noeis an experienced student blogger who shared his views on how to leave the perfect blog comment.
Jerry from Taiwan shared some tips about quality commenting. Using bold words to make certain things stand out was a good idea!
Miaomiao from Australia included a cute comic where a dolphin and turtle learn about quality commenting. Her classmate Lauren made her own respectful commenting graphic which she put on a page. If you’d like to leave Lauren a comment, you can do so on this post.
Manav from Mr. Balak’s class in the US got creative with Scratch and made a game. You can find the link to the game here.
Mrs. Yollis made a wonderful infographic using Canva and Bitmoji to share her expectation for quality comments. Also, check the creative work of her students “Dr. Hagle” and “Sarah Gold”who used Puppet Pals to explain quality commenting using a Fairy BLOGmother!
If you ever come across any outstanding work in your class or another class I’d love to know about it so I can share it with others. Email me, leave a comment on a STUBC post, or tweet me!
Flipboard
Click here to view the new 2019 Student Blogging Challenge Flipboard for more notable posts.
Flipboard is a digital magazine that brings together stories and articles from the web.
You can use Flipboard on your computer, or via the app on your phone or tablet.
A few days ago our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, published a post with suggestions for adding a visitor tracking widget to your site. Read that post here.
Here are a few more challenge reminders:
Are you on our mailing list? Sign up here and make sure you add support@edublogs.org to your email contacts so it doesn’t end up in junk/spam. I send an email every Sunday.
Please keep approving comments quickly. Some students don’t realise they have comments waiting to be approved in their dashboard. Remember, it’s good etiquette to reply to comments.
You don’t need to request access to view/edit the spreadsheets with participants’ posts that are linked on the sidebar. They are ‘view only’ and open to everyone. Please let students know.
Edublogs/CampusPress users with student blogs — If all the students in your class have blogs and your teacher uses ‘My Class’, you should have a widget called ‘Class blogs’. Make sure this is on your sidebar. This video shows you how.
Some people have put a link to a Google Doc/Form/Slide presentation in their post BUT it can’t be viewed without logging in.This resource shows you how to make your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms public.
Haven’t caught up on week one and two? Don’t worry! You can complete your tasks late, or skip some tasks. Please submit your task in the correct form (e.g. if you complete a task from week one, go back to the week one post and add it to the form). The forms are closed 3 weeks after each post is published.
Let’s Learn About Images
A blog without images would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it?
Images can really jazz up our posts, pages, headers, and widgets. Students and teachers also need images when they’re making a presentation, video, or other digital creations.
But where do we get those images?
Can’t we just use Google Images?
Do you know how to find pictures using Google? It’s so easy. You just type in the word you want, find the image you like, and save it to your computer.
But stop right there!
Should we be doing this? Should we be getting any image we like from Google and using it in our own work?
Most images on Google are protected by copyright. This means, they are not free to use and you can get into trouble if you do use them without permission.
You can use Google Images advanced search filter to find images that you are allowed to use but this isn’t as simple as it seems. You need to know what the usage rights mean and how to attribute correctly.
We have some easier options to share with you this week.
Including the source is not enough…
A situation we commonly see on blogs is where someone uses an image they found online and then include a link to the site they got it from.
For example,
Image from Kathleen Morris www.kathleenamorris.com
Just because you link to the source of an image, does not mean you can use it. You would need to ask the image creator for permission.
Unless stated otherwise, everything on the web is protected by copyright.
Let’s take a look at some options for finding images…
Where Can You Find Images?
I have a post on my own blog that goes through the 5 main ways to find images for blog posts or other digital work.
Here is a summary. Feel free to use this poster on your blog or in your classroom if it’s helpful.
We pay a hairdresser when we get a haircut, pay a baker for a loaf of bread, so why not pay a photographer for their work?
This is good to know about as an option but isn’t something schools or students would usually do.
3) Using Google Images is not usually a good idea
We talked about this above.
Most images that you find on Google are protected by copyright. Find out more about copyright by watching this short video.
4) Creative Commons is worth knowing about!
Everyone’s work is protected by copyright unless stated otherwise.
Many people are happy for others to use their work (as long as they give them credit etc.). They give their work a Creative Commons license to tell everyone what they can or cannot do with their image (or text, videos, music etc).
Copyright means the person who took the photo (or created the work) does not allow anyone to use it.
CreativeCommons means the person who took the photo (or created the work) does allow people to use it IF they follow certain rules.
Usually, these rules mean saying who created the image/work and where it’s from.
Sometimes the rules state that you can use the image/work only if you don’t change it or don’t use it as part of something you’re selling.
These rules are called licenses.
There are a number of Creative Commons licenses creators can choose from.
No matter what license is used, you must always attribute the creator of the image/work (unless it’s a Creative Commons Zero license — see point 5). Attributing means crediting the author. In a blog post, this usually means putting the attribution under an image as I’ve done below.
By Erik Veland [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
Here’s a short video by Nancy Minicozzi that explains Creative Commons.
The trickiest part of using Creative Commons images is often the attribution (crediting the creator: saying who the creator is, where it’s from, what the license is etc).
If you’re using Edublogs or CampusPress, there’s a plugin you can use to find and insert Creative Commons images without worrying about attribution. It’s called Pixabay.
While the Pixabay plugin provides safe filtered options, nothing is foolproof. Younger students should be supervised or use Photos For Class for the safest option.
If you’re familiar with the old Compfight plugin, this is no longer available as it doesn’t work properly with the latest versions of WordPress.
5) Creative Commons Zero or royalty free images are the easiest choices
If your mind is spinning with all that talk of Creative Commons licenses and attribution, don’t worry!
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) or royalty free images are easy to use.
These are the least restrictive licenses so anyone can use the images freely and attribution is optional.
There are an increasing number of sites where you can find CC0 or royalty free images but remember:
Many sites contain inappropriate content if you search for it
Many sites have age restrictions
I made this comparison chart to show you some of the best options to find images that you can use freely without attributing.
You can read a detailed description of each one in my blog post if you’re interested.
This week there are five tasks to choose from to help you learn more about using images. The third task links with doing either task four or five.
Here is a summary. I will explain each task in more detail below with some examples and ideas for how classes can approach each task.
Task 1: Educate Others
Many teachers and students around the world know very little about using images legally, Creative Commons, attributing Creative Commons images etc. You can help them learn while learning more about this topic yourself.
Do some more research into any of the topics discussed this week and make a blog post, poster, video, slideshow etc.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, perhaps students could work in small groups to create a poster or video to share in a post (or a series of posts). Or, all the students could make a slide for a slideshow.
Example:
This video is the reaction of students in Mrs. Yollis’ class when she mislabelled their artwork. It helps people learn about the importance of correct attribution.
Georgia summarized the places you can find images and included a slideshow.
Chris explains why you can’t take images off Google.
Izzy wrote a fabulous post about not using copyright materials.
Task 2: Make An Image
Creating your own images for your blog posts is a great idea! You don’t have to worry about copyright and Creative Commons.
You can:
Draw something and take a photo of it.
Take a photo of something in your surroundings (don’t use photos of other people without permission and remember not to include personal details like the front of your house).
Remember, some online tools have age restrictions.
Leave a comment on this post if you know any other good tools for making your own images.
Add your image(s) to a blog post and tell us a bit about the images and how you made them. If you used an online tool, include the link so others can try it.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, all the students could make their own image and the teacher could compile them into a Google Slide presentation or simply add them to a blog post (or series of posts).
Wesley shared an original photo he took for a photography class.
Sue Waters from Edublogs took this funny photo of something odd she spotted at the supermarket. What can you find in your surroundings that makes you feel surprised, happy, amused, frustrated etc?
Task 3: Image Task Cards
This connects with task 4 and 5.
In the blog post I wrote about images for teachers and students, I prepared two task cards.
Depending on your age, use one of these task cards to find an image or a series of images to add to your post.
You could add a slideshow with some of your favourite images you found and write about why you like them. Or, you could use your images to complete task 4 or 5 below.
Tip: If you’re using Edublogs Pro or CampusPress, you can use the slider feature in the Live Shortcodes plugin to quickly add a slideshow to a post, page, or sidebar. Instructions are here. (Another option is the Metaslider Plugin) Find the instructions here.
Here’s Emmitt’s slideshow he created with Google Slides. Not sure how to add a Google Slides presentation to your blog? Here is a tutorial from Mrs. Vazquez.
You’re welcome to print these task cards, or add them to your blog. To do this, you’ll need to click on the download button under the task card. Find out how to add a PDF file to your blog using Edublogs or CampusPress here.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, perhaps all students could use the task card to find an image. They could create a story, poem, or description for the image and these could be placed in a blog post (or series of blog posts). Or, the teacher could add some images to a post and ask the students to write an imaginative response in a comment.
Task 4: Write A Poem
Find an image using one of the task cards above. Or you can try the Pixabay plugin if you’re an Edublogs/CampusPress user.
Now write a poem about your image.
Need some inspiration or advice? Check out Ken Nesbitt’s site which has lots of poetry resources.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could write a poem as a class, or have students write their own poetry and publish them as a series of posts. Alternatively, the teacher could publish a photo and have the students write a poem in a comment.
2) Or, make a sentence guessing game. Come up with a sentence and find a series of images to illustrate your sentence. Ask your readers to tell you what the sentence is in a comment.
Tip: You might need to visit some other bloggers and invite them to look at your post and complete your story or guess your word. Remember to leave the URL of your post for them to click on.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could publish a series of posts with the students’ picture prompts. Perhaps students could work in small groups. Or the teacher could publish the picture prompts and invite the students to respond in a comment.
Final Tips
Beware of advertisements
Remember, some of the free image sites have advertisements for paid image sites. We don’t want to click on those ads.
For example, on Pixabay, I typed ‘dolphin’ into the search box. The top row of results has a Shutterstock watermark on it. Clicking on this takes me to the Shutterstock website which is a site where you can pay for images.
Note: You won’t see advertisements when using the Pixabay plugin.
Do you need to go back and fix images in old posts?
Have you been using images from Google on your blog so far? Whoops. You might want to go back and fix these up when you have time. Remove the image or replace with a Creative Commons image.
Have you tried using categories, tags, or labels yet?
Categories, tags, or labels are all ways to organise your posts. It’s a good idea to set up a category (or label in Blogger) called Student Blogging Challenge or STUBC. You can assign this category to all the posts you write for the challenge.
If you use Edublogs or CampusPress, maybe you need to start using categories? You can also use tags once you get the hang of it.
We now have 1050+ students and 135 classes taking part in the challenge. Can you tell which new country has been added to our participant list?
(Let me know if I missed any countries!)
This week we are talking about commenting. And not just any old commenting, qualitycommenting.
Remember, if you’re on a computer, the menu on the right sidebar will help you navigate this post.
Week One Recap
Before we begin, let’s recap our first week…
Our commenting team was very busy BUT they did run into some difficulties with leaving comments on some posts.
If you can’t see the URL you submitted on the spreadsheet here or haven’t received a comment, please read this postby our commenting team leader, Miss W (Sue Wyatt).
If you’re ever confused or need help, just leave a comment on one of the posts or email me.
A big thanks goes to Miss W and her team of 80+ commenters!
Remember to approve any comments you receive in a timely manner and write a polite reply.
Some notable posts and comments
With so many amazing posts and pages written last week, it was hard to choose just a handful to showcase.
Let’s take a look at just some of the great work we spotted last week:
Mrs. Yollis is a role model blogger from California, USA. Her students are setting up their own blogs with Edublogs for the first time (they are using pen names).
Check out this great avatar post from “Jodie Bloom”. This enthusiastic blogger also shared a diagram to explain the visual editor in her blog’s dashboard.
Check out the sidebar of Mrs. Yollis’ class blog for more student blogs. Don’t you love the way they’re ending their posts with questions?
Have you ever heard of a country called Kazakhstan? Meet Mrs. Matveyeva’s classand learn about their interesting country. Her students would love you to comment.
Allie in New Zealand wrote a wonderful About page and included a cute watermelon avatar.
Cora from the US updated her About page and it includes some fun facts in a nicely presented format.
Aleira from Australia wrote her About information as a post. If you’re into dance, music, gymnastics, circus, or traveling, you might like to stop by and say hi.
Jemimah from Australia put together a wonderful A-Z post to tell us all about herself.
Ash Eryn from the Philippines (a regular STUBC participant) introduced herself in a poetic way.
Faye’s grade 8 class from India would like you to leave a comment and say hi.
Click here to view the new 2019 Student Blogging Challenge Flipboard. Our commenters will be adding some notable posts and pages to the magazine over the coming weeks.
The two most important reminders this week are making sure people can view your blog and comment.
Is your blog password protected?
To take part in the challenge you need to make sure that visitors can view your blog without signing in.
To check this, open your blog in a browser you’re not logged into (or something like Chrome Incognito). Does your blog appear? Or is there a prompt for a password?
If your blog is password protected (and you use Edublogs or CampusPress), go to your dashboard > settings > reading. Please select “Discourage search engines from indexing site but allows normal visitors to view” OR if you have a pro/CampusPress blog you can select “Allow search engines to index this site”
You need one of the public options enabled
Teachers, if you have student blogs, you don’t need to do this individually. In your blog dashboard, go to My Class > Settings and choose one of the public options as per the image above.
Using a different blogging platform? Check out this reminder post which has links to the help guides you need to change your settings.
Can people comment on your blog?
Some blogs don’t allow comments on posts or pages or they need visitors to log in before commenting.
If you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress, go to settings > discussion and ensure you don’t have “Users must be registered and logged in to comment” selected.
Pages on Edublogs/CampusPress blogs are turned off by default. Some people don’t like comments on pages but you will need comments enabled if you’re submitting a page as a task. Find out how to enable comments on pages here.
If you’re using Blogger, make sure anyone can comment using the Name/URL option (so they don’t need a Google Account). Blogger commenting instructions are here.
If you’re using Google Sites, make sure it’s easy for people to leave a written comment. Some students only had the option to leave a voice comment.
Reminders over, let’s get on with our topic… 🙂
How To Comment
Before we look at quality commenting, let’s revise the basics of how to comment.
This Google Slides presentation might be useful to use in the classroom with beginner bloggers. It explains how to comment on Edublogs or CampusPress blogs.
Using a different blogging platform? Maybe you could make your own slideshow and share it with us for this week’s second task option!
The Benefits of Commenting
What’s so special about commenting? Why not just publish blog posts?
Here are ten reasons why I believe comments are important:
Comments turn your blog from a static space to an interactive space. This means it’s not just you talking. There is interaction.
Back and forth conversations are fun and you can learn a lot.
Because comments are not instantaneous (like online chat or text messaging), you can have more time to reflect, research, or think about your response.
When someone leaves a comment, they can leave feedback, constructive criticism, or give you new ideas. This can help you grow and learn.
A commenter might suggest something that you didn’t include in your post. You can learn new perspectives.
When you have an authentic (real) audience, it’s more motivating! You know someone will read your post, so you will probably put more effort into it than if you were just writing something in a notebook.
Commenting can be an ideal way for busy parents to get involved in the classroom.
You can learn how to interact politely and how to have conversations.
You can meet new people and form friendships.
Students who don’t have their own blogs can enjoy the benefits of blogging by being a participant in the comment section.
Could you add anything to this list? Tell us in a comment!
What Is Quality Commenting?
Which of these comments do you think is better?
Comment one
Comment two
Some students are young, learning a language, or just starting out and no one expects students (or teachers!) to be perfect.
However, when we aim to do certain things in our comment, we will learn more and developskills that we can use in all areas of our life. We’ll also have a better chance of forming strong connections with others.
So what makes a quality comment? Here are some ideas. You might have your own ideas.
Elements of quality comments:
Written like a letter with a greeting, body, and sometimes a closing.
Correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and spacing.
Questions, compliments, and/or relevant new information.
Making connections without revealing personal information like surnames, addresses, birthdays etc.
You won’t always include all of the above in your comments but these are the sorts of things you might aim for.
Quality commenting videos
This is a video about quality commenting that Linda Yollis made with her third-grade students back in 2010! Many classes still enjoying viewing it.
For older students, this video by Nicolas Weiss is popular.
Sling’s 7/8 class in Canada created this must-watch video on commenting during the last Student Blogging Challenge.
Commenting Help
When someone leaves a comment on your blog, it won’t show up straight away (unless you have turned off moderation in your settings which is not recommended).
Whoever has permission (teacher/student) will need to approve the comment first. Try to approve comments quickly, especially during the Student Blogging Challenge.
If you need help with managing your comments, take a look at these guides:
You can just write your guidelines down as text or make some sort of poster, graphic, or slideshow.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could come up with your guidelines together and all the students could make a graphic or poster to share on a page (or a series of posts). Perhaps a small group of students could illustrate one step each. Or the teacher can make the page and the students can comment on it.
Examples
You might make a How To Write A Quality Comment poster like I did below. Teachers, if you want to use this poster for your own class blog, feel free. You can grab a PDF copy here.
Of course, if you make your own poster, please personalise it and don’t copy my exact wording.
Check out the creative way Mrs. Vazquez made a commenting poster using a web tool called Thinglink. If you hover over the blue circles you’ll find more information.
More examples:
Aubrey shared some examples on her page to explain what sort of things make a quality comment.
Rajyashori used emojis to explain her commenting guidelines.
Task 2: How To Comment
Many themes and blogging platforms have different ways to leave a comment.
You might need to click on the title of the post, or click on a number in a circle, or click on the words ‘Leave a comment’.
This task involves writing a page (or post) for your blog explaining how to leave a comment. (Remember, if you change themes in future, you might need to change your instructions).
You could write it as a set of steps or perhaps create a video showing what to do. Alternatively, make a slideshow like the one I shared in this post.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could come up with your instructions together and all the students could make a graphic, poster, or video to share on a page (or a series of posts). Or the teacher can make the page and the students can work on other activities.
I used a free Chrome extension called Screencastify to make the video above.
Loom is another good tool for making screencast videos if you use the Chrome browser.
If you use an iPad you can make a screencast without any special app. Tony Vincent shows us how to do that in this graphic…
Tip: Find out how to add a video to an Edublogs or CampusPress blog here.
Need Pro? If you have a free Edublogs blog, you won’t be able to embed the video into your post or page. This is to prevent misuse by spammers. Contact me to get a free upgrade to Pro for the duration of the challenge.
If you want to leave a link to your blog that looks neat and tidy, check out this post.
Cheat sheet: bold, italics, link
The instructions below show you how to use bold, italics, and add a link.
Remember, coding is about troubleshooting. So if something doesn’t work, take a closer look at your code. Maybe you’ve added a space or missed a symbol.
Visit one of the participants’ blog posts then write a post telling everyone about the HTML you used. You might make your own tutorial for others.
Tip: If you want to include a demonstration of HTML code in a blog post, it can be best to write it in another program like Word, Google Docs etc. and take a screenshot of the code. Then insert the screenshot into your post like any other image.
This article shows how to take a screenshot on any device.
Click here to find out how to add an image to an Edublogs or CampusPress blog.
See this example below from Mrs. Yollis: she didn’t write it straight in the post. She made it into an image…
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could try leaving some comments with HTML as a whole class activity. Or perhaps the teacher can publish a post with instructions for HTML and the students can leave a comment trying out some codes.
Task 4: Comment On Other Blogs
We know the benefits of commenting, so let’s leave some comments!
Find three or four blogs you’d like to leave a comment on. Check out the green week one list or purple week two list on the sidebar (it will appear on Tuesday). These are the lists of students and classes who have submitted a task so far.
Leave a quality comment on one post on each blog.
Write a post on your blog mentioning who you visited, which post you left a comment on and why, then include the comment you left. Include a link to the blogs you commented on too. Hint: make sure you copy the comment or take a screenshot before you hit the submit button.
Example posts:
Figgy wrote a post telling us about the comments she left on other blogs and included the links.
Rajyashori from India shared some of the great comments she left on various blogs in this reflective post.
Ms. Blessings’ grade two/three students shared some examples of the comments they left during the last challenge.
If you’re working as a class on this activity, you could try leaving some comments as a whole class activity. Or perhaps each student could leave a comment on a different blog and write about the experience. The students’ writing could be compiled into one post or multiple blog posts.
Final Tips
Encourage comments: end with questions
A great way to encourage your visitors to comment on your post is to ask a couple of questions at the end of the post. You might make these bold or coloured so they really stand out.
Try using open-ended questions. So, instead of saying, “Do you have a dog?”, you might say, “Please comment and tell me about your favourite animals”.
Tip for more advanced bloggers: organise your posts
If you’re new to blogging, try this later on!
Will visitors to your blog find it easy to search for a post they might be interested in commenting on?
If you use Edublogs or CampusPress, maybe you need to start using categories? You can also use tags once you get the hang of it. Start with categories.
Categories, tags, or labels are all ways to organise your posts.
It’s a good idea to set up a category (or label in Blogger) called Student Blogging Challenge or STUBC. You can assign this category to all the posts you write for the challenge.
Safety first!
Remember when you’re commenting or writing posts, don’t yap about your YAPPY!
Submit Your Post URL ⬇
If you want a commenter and other participants to visit your blog, remember to fill in the form below for the post you publish about your week two task.
You need to submit the URL of your post. You can submit the URL of a page if this is what you’re working on but make sure comments are enabled.
This video shows you how to find your URL…
Note, this isn’t a real class blog. Just one I used for testing 😉
Remember:
Do not submit the URL of your blog or your dashboard.
Click on the title of your post/page and then copy the URL from your address bar.
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if you’re using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
The Google Form
Edit: Enter your details in the form below or click here to open it in a new tab.
Teachers, feel free to put the form URL on your class blog if it’s easier for your students to access.
Today our Language Arts class was able to use the VR headsets to experience what a product engineer’s job looks like. As a class, we followed the process of designing a product; from the original drawings, to the prototypes, to creating, editing, manufacturing, and producing a product. The students were able to connect this experience to their own task of designing a holiday toy that will be a hit with kids their age! What a great first experience using the VR headsets!
This was my second time running the Student Blogging Challenge and I’d like to thank everyone involved.
The Google Form
Comment two
