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. Balakâs students made a comprehensive VR tour! View it below or click on this link to view it via the web (you donât need viewers or the app).
Click on the links to visit the students whoâve added this tour to their blog. You might like to leave them some feedback!
Part One:Â 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?
Part 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?
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.
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, Motherâs Day, Fatherâs Day, and Vaisakhi.
Tip: Mrs. Morris made the chart above by entering the survey data into a free online tool called BEAM. Itâs handy!
Time to begin this weekâs topicâŚ
What Makes A Quality Blog Post?
I hope youâve learned a lot throughout the Student Blogging Challenge! Perhaps if you look back to your posts from a few weeks ago you can see that youâve improved.
This week weâre going to try to put together everything we know about creating a quality blog post.
Letâs go over some of the essential ingredients of a quality blog post. You might have your own ideas too!
Youâre welcome to add this poster to your blog.
Week Nine Tasks
This week there are just two tasks. Complete one or both depending on how much time you have.
Our graphic summarises the tasks and I will explain them in more detail below.
Task 1: Write a quality post on a free choice topic
Use the ideas in the graphic above about what makes a quality blog post (as well as your own ideas) to create a fantastic blog post.
Make sure you proofread it really well and try to make it your best post yet!
You can write about anything you like! If youâre stuck for ideas, why not try:
A happy memory
If you had three wishesâŚ
Your pet (or a pet you wish you had)
Your hobby
Your dreams for the future
Things others wouldnât know about you
Task 2: Recommend a blog
Have you come across a great blog during the Student Blogging Challenge? (Preferably from someone who isnât in your class).
Write a post about that blog and tell us what makes it special. Include links to a couple of posts they have written.
Add a screenshot of their blog (remember a quality blog post includes a visual!).
When youâve published your post, leave a comment on their blog to say you have written a post about them.
Donât forget to try to visit a couple of other bloggers once youâve published your own post. Making connections is the best part of the Student Blogging Challenge!
No doubt you heard about the terrible Notre Dame Cathedral fire in France recently?
Serge Galliganiâs 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 âcommentsâ if youâd like to leave them a comment. Theyâd be very grateful!
More Tips For Photos And Blog Posts
Images are a really important part of blogging. We discussed images in week 3, but here are some more tips!
Try Photos For Class
Mrs. Morris has noticed that some of our participants arenât adding an image to a blog post.
If you donât 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.
Mrs. Morris has published a post 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 youâll 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. Yollisâ 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 youâre 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 youâre 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 Iâm in the Southern Hemisphere although around 90% of the worldâs population lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Wow!
One of the big differences between the Hemispheres is the seasons. They are opposite; itâs 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 traveled to South Australia and took some great photos which sheâd like to share with you. Click here to visit Miss Wâs 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 youâd 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!
đĄ Safety Tip
Itâs fun to talk about travel, but itâs a good idea to avoid mentioning your specific travel plans online.
For example, instead of saying, âIâm going to visit Sydney next Mondayâ try âIâm planning a holiday to Sydneyâ or âIâm looking forward to visiting Sydney later in the yearâ.
Also, remember not to post pictures of yourself or others on the blog without permission.
Visit Others
Donât forget to try to visit a couple of other bloggers once youâve published your own post. You might learn a lot about where they live this week!
Some of our STUBC participants will be celebrating Easter this week. Other participants donât celebrate Easter but have other holidays that are part of their lives during certain times of the year.
This week weâd 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.Â
Week Six Recap
Last week we had some students publish excellent posts about music.
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. Matveyevaâs 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 Galliganiâs class in France made a terrific video about their school day. Try leaving them a comment using Google Translator if you donât speak French.
Gabby wrote an excellent piece about celebrations that included multiple pictures and some fun polls.
Task 3: Holiday Craft
Some people enjoy making a 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.
DLTKÂ 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 donât want to use that tool, you could display your poem creatively using a tool like Google Drawings or Canva.
Music is something that can connect people, no matter where you live, what language you speak, or how old you are.
This week, weâre going to discuss all aspects of music â what we like, what we donât 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).
Letâs 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. Schmidtâs 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 sheâs 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!
Weâve also had some more week 4 free choice submissions this week. Our friends in Mrs. Matveyevaâs class in Kazakhstan have written about their spring festival called Nauryz.
Georgina from Australia wrote an impressive free choice post about widgets.
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 canât just use any image that you find online? Well, the same applies for music.
Most music is protected by copyright. So you canât 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 favorite song, they had to wait until it came on the radio or buy the CD/cassette/record.
Now there are choices but itâs important to know what you can and canât do with music.
Using music in projects
Normally, you canât just use any music you like in something youâre creating â like a video.
However, in most countries, you are allowed to copy music to add to a video if:
a) itâs for educational purposes and
b) youâre not sharing your video publicly (or selling it!)
So, if you have a public blog, you arenât allowed to put a video on there that you made with copyright music. And you couldnât show your video at a public event. However, itâs okay if youâre just showing the video to your teachers and parents.
Hopefully, you do want to share your work with a public audience. Thatâs what this challenge is all about! Donât worry. You can still use music. Iâll 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.Â
Paying for music
There are popular sites and apps where you can pay to download music legally â for example, Apple Music, Google Play Music, and Spotify.
You can listen to your downloaded music yourself, but canât upload it to your blog or to a video or other project youâre working on.
You also canât use it publicly (e.g. at a school event, store, or public event).
Streaming music
Itâs fine to stream music online on sites like YouTube (although remember, YouTube is 13+) but itâs 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 â not for a public broadcast. As Spotify says,
âŚitâs 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 canât 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? Hereâs a summary of the doâs and donâts you need to remember
Remember, Iâm 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 projects theyâre working on.
Letâs take a look at three âŚ
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 itâs from etc).
Educational Blogger Richard Byrneâs 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 youâre 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.Â
YouTube Audio Library
YouTube also has a great library of music you can use although remember YouTube is 13+.
Visit the AudioLibrary to browse the selections.
If you click on Attribution, you can filter your results to find music that doesnât need to be attributed.
You can preview the music to see what it sounds like and download the music you like.
Want more places to find free music?
Check out these sites from Richard Byrne for more sites and details:
This week you can choose from a list of 8 ideas to create a post about music. Complete at least two!
Because the topic of music is a new one for the Student Blogging Challenge, we donât have many examples to share this week.
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 youâd 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 itâs 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 favorite 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)
Donât 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 favorite songs. Donât forget to explain why you like each song and why itâs 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 donât realize 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 doâs and donâts of using music legally. You might be able to teach others who arenât 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 donât just have to talk about music or listen to othersâ 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 donât 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 Youâve Published A Post, Itâs 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 youâve 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 participantsâ posts on the sidebar of this blog on Tuesday.
Submit Your Post URLÂ
If youâd 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 donât just submit the link to a quiz or song. Otherwise, commenters and other visitors wonât be able to leave a comment.
This video shows you how to find your URLâŚ
Note, this isnât a real class blog. Just one I used for testing đ
This graphic below should help you understand what a post URL looks like if youâre using Edublogs/CampusPress/WordPress
Micah from Panama wrote about a bird called the rufous-crested coquette.
Miss Blessingâs 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.
Whenever my own students have connected with other classes through blogging, Skype, or other projects one thing theyâve been really fascinated is school.
Itâs 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
Letâs 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: Complete at least two!
Safety First!
đĄ Remember itâs important to think carefully about what information we publish online.
Students should check with their teacher about whether itâs 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 âI have karate lessons at the town hall at 4pm on Thursdaysâ try âI enjoy weekly karate lessonsâ).
Now onto the ideasâŚ
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 youâd 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 favorite 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 âAbout my schoolâ 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 donât 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 whatâs 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 canceled 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 projectwith 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 youâre pondering.
Alternatively, if youâve 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 weâd like to hear them:
Whatâs 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, thatâs 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 Youâve Published A Post, Itâs 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 youâve 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 participantsâ posts on the sidebar of this blog on Tuesday.
Itâs time to start the challenge! At this point, we are all veterans so I will post a shortened post of this first introductory week.
The actual post is quite long because there some reminders to go through. Click here to refer to the actual post. If you do, use the menu on the right-hand side of the SBC page to help you navigate the post (you might not see it if youâre reading this on a phone or tablet).
Recap
1. Kathleen Morris is the teacher who runs the Student Blogging Challenge from Australia.
2. So far we have nearly 800 individual students and 115 classes registered. Our participants represent 25 countries and 6 continents.
3. Week 1 tasks involve:
Making an avatar (and there are a few choices for extra avatar activities)
Creating or updating your About page
Making connections with other students
4. These are the steps you should take:
Week One Tasks
Most of us have completed these tasks, but if you did not, please do! If you would like to do these tasks again on your individual blogs, you may do so.
Stay Safe Online
Remember, as weâre sharing information about ourselves, we need to be internet savvy and avoid sharing too much information or personal details.
Never share your YAPPY online.
Task 1: Avatars
đĄ There are many different avatar creation sites on the web:
Some tools allow you to save the avatar to your computer to then upload into your blog.
Others tools require you to take a screenshot of your avatar and save it as an image. Tip: This article shows how to take a screenshot on any device.
The Symbaloo below was compiled by Miss W (Sue Wyatt) to share links to sites where you can make an avatar. If you want to embed the Symbaloo on your own blog, click on the share icon at the bottom and copy the embed code.
Some of the tools listed require Flash to work. This means they wonât work on mobile devices and you might have to manually allow Flash if youâre using Chrome (instructions here).
Know any other avatar creation tools that arenât on the Symbaloo? Leave a comment on this post.
Once youâve made your avatar, you need to add it to your blog so it shows up when you comment. If youâre using Edublogs, check here for instructions.
If youâre using Edublogs, click here to find out how to add an About page, or watch the video below.
There are many ways to write an About page.
You might want to include:
You first name
Your approximate location (even just state or country)
Your age or grade level
Some of your interests
What your blog is all about. Tell us what youâll be writing about
Remember to be safe online: donât include personal details like your YAPPY (see above).
đĄ Here are some ideas and examples that classes or students could use:
Write a poem. It could be a traditional rhyming poem or any other style of poetry. Learn about different styles of poetry here. Here is an example from Daniela.
Rina wrote 15 things about me for her About page. Check it out.Â
Write an A-Z about yourself (e.g. I am an athletic and brave child who decided that saving the environment is one of my future goals). Check out how commenter Dinah created her A-Z About page especially for the Student Blogging Challenge a few years back.
Zaprina made a creative About post thatâs an acronym of her own name. It includes paragraphs and colored text.
Mrs. Mooreâs class wrote about their school and where they live on their class blog About page.
Huzzah! class included a map to show where they live.
Student Rajyashori wrote a creative interview script.
Year 5/6 Class at Westwood with Iford School made a Thinglink.
If you prefer a traditional style of writing, thatâs fine too. Be sure to use paragraphs like in these examples from Grace and Madison.
Task 3: Visit other blogs. Start making connections!
One important aspect of blogging is commenting on other blogs.
Remember:Â The more you put into making connections during this challenge, the more youâll get out!
There are two places you can find other participantsâ blogs to visit: Student bloggers and page for class bloggers. These are sorted by age. Student bloggers have hobbies listed so you hopefully can find someone who is not only a similar age to you but shares some of your interests.
Commenting advice
Weâre going to talk more about quality commenting next week but for now, you might want to remember:
Write your comment like a letter
Ask a question, make a connection, or give a compliment
Leave your blog URL so the blogger can also take a look at your blog
Donât forget to approve your comments and politely reply to any comments as soon as you can!
Mrs. Kâs class are making Dance Party videos. (You can try the Dance Party project yourself here. I did it with some students yesterday and it was a lot of fun!)
James tells us a bit about learning HTML and JavaScript.
There are a number of important reminders this week:
Thank you for all your comments for Alex! He is enjoying going through them. Alex is currently traveling so stay tuned for some answers in the future.
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. If you need ideas for your blog posts, check out this recent post on The Edubloggerwith 50 prompts for students.
Thank You
This was my first time running the Student Blogging Challenge and Iâd like to thank everyone involved.
To Sue WyattâŚ
A BIG thanks goes to Miss W (aka Sue Wyatt/Tasteach). Despite officially stepping down from running the challenge, Sue has played a hugely important role behind the scenes leading our commenting team and tirelessly visiting student blogs. We appreciate you, Sue!
To our commentersâŚ
Another big thank you goes to our team of commenters who provided an authentic audience for our students and classes each week. Your comments made a big difference to the confidence and motivation of our bloggers. We hope youâll return again as a commenter next year.
To our participantsâŚ
It has been fantastic to see such enthusiastic participation from our students and teachers across the world! I hope youâve all learned something and made some connections.
The Student Blogging Challenge will start again in March 2019. Spread the word!
Part One:Â Write a post on your blog reflecting on your participation in the challenge.
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?
Part 2: Ask a student/teacher/family member who might not have read your blog to do an audit. In the same post as part one, write about your auditing experience and their answers to the questions below.
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?
Task 2: Evaluate The Challenge
Please complete our survey so we know what you enjoyed most about the challenge and what we could do to improve things in the future.
So far in the Student Blogging Challenge, weâve done a lot of creating and communicating with our blogs. This week, weâre looking at the more technical side of blogging and computers: coding!
Iâll be introducing you to my colleague who is an inspirational young coder and weâll also be celebrating Computer Science Education Week (December 3-8).
Week Eight Recap
There were lots of great tasks submitted last week!
Letâs take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted last week:
A number of students were inspired by Mrs. Vazquez and gave their blog a makeover. Check out some examples from Evelyn, Fraser, and Clay.
Rhiann made a fantastic video to share a craft idea.
Nandini from India told us about the Holi festival.
Other responses included birthdays, Eid, 4th of July, Chinese New Year, Valentineâs Day, St. Patrickâs Day, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Vaisakhi.
Tip: I made the chart above by entering the survey data into a free online tool called BEAM. Itâs handy!
Meet Alex!
I invited a young coder who works for Edublogs to tell you about himself.
Alex is a 17-year-old school student in the United States.
He became vision impaired during 9th grade and lost most of his sight within 6 months.
Alex would LOVE you to comment on this post.
Over to AlexâŚ
My name is Alex and I work as an accessibility developer and system administrator for Incsub which is the company behind Edublogs.
I started here at Incsub in May 2017 just days after I turned sixteen years old. I go to school in the day and work in the night. Although this job can be demanding, I always love the challenge it offers me day by day.
Alexâs role with the company
One of my main roles is to ensure all servers are running properly and respond when automation fails. Basically, I make sure we stay online.
I have helped with building infrastructure components and hosting. This means IÂ built the parts that make our servers work to host our sites and helped with moving networks of websites to our servers.
My other working time is spent ensuring all Incsub sites (including Edublogs, CampusPress, and WPMU DEV) stay completely accessible to visually impaired users who rely on screen reading technology. A screen reader reads aloud the screen for people who canât see or have other limitations.
Alexâs blindness
Although some would see visual impairment as something you canât live with, I assure you itâs very possible.
When I first started at Incsub I was hired to provide live chat support for WPMU DEV (a WordPress company thatâs part of Incsub). That would later translate into becoming an accessibility developer. (Developer is another word for coder or programmer).
I study our company sites weekly to ensure they are accessible to everyone. The sad news is most sites are not. Just because I cannot see very much, I cannot use a lot of websites.
Now I get to work every day to ensure all sites are accessible within Incsub as everyone deserves the same opportunity for accessing the web.
How Alex learned to code
Learning to code wasnât all that challenging. I first started learning basic HTML in the 7th grade. It just took off from there.
I found WordPress, signed up for web hosting, and started learning the ways of web development.
It wasnât until I started to code for accessibility development here that I really learned more of the advanced coding languages. I have taught myself HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, React JS, PHP, and Shell.
Moving on from accessibility development, I ran into system administration (upkeeping and configuring servers). I started learning with a company called Linux Academy. Itâs an online program that allows you to learn Linux concepts, Cloud basics, Docker, and a whole host of other subjects.
Iâm still very much in the practice stages but getting better every day. Itâs cool what you can do with servers and donât let your disability stand in your way.
A coding career
It is very important to me that the younger audiences get involved with coding. Without the younger generation, the sharing of information starts to drop. We need to keep this open sharing idea around. That way, everyone can learn from each other. It is truly the sharing of information that makes everyone smarter.
Getting the young involved in technology should increase the chance of them finding a really good paying job in the future, after graduation.
Leave a comment!
What are you curious about? Do you have any other questions for Alex? Heâs very happy for you to leave a comment on Mrs. Morris’s week 9 post.
Below is a picture of Alex at work at a big WordCamp event last year (thatâs a WordPress conference. WordPress is the software that powers 30% of the web including Edublogs and CampusPress). Alex is wearing the yellow and black hoodie.
Rian Rietveld@RianRietveld
Thanks all the people who were at the #a11y table of the #WCUS contributor day!
Especially @jdelia and Katherine White for testing Gutenberg for a full day.
And a big shoutout to Alex Stine, a 16 yr old web dev that helps with coding and testing with NVDA.
Coding is basically a set of words that tell your blog, a website, an app, a game, or other software what to do. Without coding, a computer or device wonât do anything.
Here are some videos that explain coding further.
This is a great one-minute video for younger students to explains coding.
Many schools, teachers, and students participate in Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week.
Why is computer science worth celebrating and promoting?
This video shows us how computer science is improving so many areas of our life.
What is Hour of Code?
Hour of Code is designed to introduce young people worldwide to the basics of coding and computer science through one-hour coding activities.
While these activities are promoted during Computer Science Education Week, they can be done at any time throughout the year.
Coding And Blogging
In the early days of the internet, if you wanted a blog or website, you had to know how to code it yourself.
Nowadays, most of the hard work is done for us and anyone can claim a website in minutes. For example, you can go to edublogs.org and sign up for a free blog. You donât need to make your blog. All you need to worry about is the design and content.
Despite that fact that you donât have to know how to code to be a part of the online community, there are many reasons why having some basic understandings of coding is helpful.
Being comfortable with coding can help you:
Customize aspects of your blog (like adding/editing embed code).
Troubleshoot (when something doesnât look right, you can check the code for obvious errors).
Learn important skills like logical thinking, creativity, and communication.
Consider a wide range of career paths and explore coding in more depth.
Week Nine Tasks
This week there are three tasks to choose from. We strongly encourage you to complete the first task and leave a comment for Alex. Heâd love to hear from you!
All tasks are suitable for student bloggers and Iâve offered ideas on how they can be adapted for classes.
Task 1: Leave A Comment For Alex
Go back and re-read the blurb above about Alex.
Alex certainly has an inspiring story to share. Despite being blind and a school student, heâs an outstanding self-taught coder and a highly valued member of staff at Edublogs.
Leave a comment on Mrs. Morris’s week 9 post. Scroll down to find the commenting box at the bottom of this post.
Maybe you want to know about learning to code, using a computer as a blind person, managing school and a job, or anything else!
Donât forget:
Introduce yourself briefly â maybe say your age and where youâre from
Read over your comment before you submit it and fix up any errors
For this task, try an Hour of Code activity and write a blog post about it.
The Hour of Code website is jam-packed with activities that you can try!
A good place to start is the âstudent-guided tutorialsâ. Donât worry if you havenât tried coding before, youâll be walked through what to do. Itâs fun!
Be sure to filter your search results to find a suitable activity.
Youâll see the ages listed on the bar at the top from pre-readers up to Grades 9+.
Along the left-hand side, you can also filter activities based on what technology you have and what topics youâd like to explore.
When youâve tried out an activity, write a blog post about it. Make sure you include the link to the activity (a screenshot would be awesome too!). Review the activity. Tell your readers what you learned and whether you recommend it to others.
Task 3: Try Some Code On Your Blog
While you’re creating a post, youâll notice that there is a visual editor and text editor.
Switching between the two is easy but we mostly write our blog posts using the visual editor. Itâs based on a âwhat you see is what you getâ framework (just like programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs).
Unlike the visual editor, the text editor requires you to add any formatting such as italics, bold, links, and spacing manually using HTML (although there are some shortcut buttons you can use).
HTML is a computer language that stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Itâs the standard language for creating web pages.
This activity involves trying some HTML by writing the code in the text editor. You can also use HTML in comments. When youâve had a go at trying HTML, write a blog post about it and tell everyone how you went. Was it easy/hard? Did you learn anything new?
The instructions below show you how to use bold, italics, and add a link.
Remember, coding is about troubleshooting. So if something doesnât work, take a closer look at your code. Maybe youâve added a space or missed a symbol.
Too easy? More advanced coders can look up the HTML for different functions like headings, lists (bullet points), color, horizontal rule (line), and more. There are a LOT of guides to learning HTML online. You might even make your own cheat sheet and publish it for others!
The year is quickly drawing to a close and for a lot of people, that means the season of celebrations is upon them.
This week weâd 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.Â
Week Seven Recap
Last week we had some students publish âfree choiceâ posts.
Some people have put a link to a Google Doc/Form/Slide presentation in their post BUT it canât be viewed without logging in. This resource shows you how to make your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms public.
Do your posts have images? Images make posts much more shareable and they stand out a lot more on our Flipboard magazine. Remember, you canât just use any image you find online in your blog posts. Re-read the information in the week 3 postto find out free and easy options for images you can use.
Time to begin this weekâs topicâŚ
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. As we learned in week five, there are many benefits to learning about similarities and differences.
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.
This week there are five tasks to choose from that explore holidays, celebrations, and festivities.
Our graphic summarises the tasks and I will explain each task in more detail below.
Task 1: Family Celebrations
Think of all the holidays, festivals, or celebrations that are important to your family. Write a blog post about this. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post!
You could make a list of your familyâs celebrations with a short description for each one, or
You could choose one celebration to explain in more detail.
Donât forget to include lots of information about your holiday so your readers can get a clear understanding of this special day/season.
You could include things like:
The time of year/date itâs celebrated.
What you do to celebrate? Are there special costumes, decorations, music, lights, food, prayers etc?
Do people give each other gifts?
Who is involved in the celebration? Do you visit other people or host family and friends?
What special memories do you have?
You might even like to do some research into the origins of your holiday.
Task 2: Photo Spark
Often, holidays and celebrations include different decorations, food, costumes, or other objects. Think of a celebration thatâs important in your family and share at least two photos of something that represents that holiday. Write a reflection to give readers an idea of the significance of this object. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post!Â
Your house or classroom isnât the only place you can decorate for the holidays, why not decorate your blog?
Alethea Vazquez is a wonderful teacher who is a commenter and a past STUBC participant. She has been very busy helping us with this task.
Head to Mrs. Vazquezâs âChristmas Funâ blog to get lots of ideas for themes, backgrounds, widgets, countdowns, music, puzzles and more!
Tip: Decorating your blog is fun but make sure your visitors can still read your posts amongst all the colour and action.
If you decorate your blog, you might want to write a post about it telling others what you did. You can then submit your post in the Google Form below.
Task 4: Holiday Craft
The holiday season can be a great time to make some craft!
Create something and then add a photo of it to a blog post with a description. Or you could even make a video tutorial for your readers! Don’t forget the essentials of a great post! 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 with a Christmas theme. There is origami for other holidays too.
DLTKÂ has lots of ideas sorted into different holidays.
PBS Parents shares a range of craft ideas for different celebrations.
Once you try out at least two sites, write a blog post about it and let others know whether you recommend it. You should take a screenshot of the site and include the link. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post! There are lots of fun websites online where you can play games, create things, and get in the holiday spirit!
Here are some examples of sites. If you know some good sites, please leave a comment and let us know!
Magnetic Poetry â This is where you put words together to make a poem. It uses Google Drawings or Slides.
Googleâs Santa Tracker has a range of different activities from coding to mapping to translating. They are available in December. Check them out here in December.Â
Topmarks has a selection of Christmas games. Many are for younger students.
Googleâs Emoji Creator that we mentioned in week 4 has had a holiday makeover. You can make your own emoji with a festive look. Check it out.Â
I made this emoji using Googleâs Holiday Emoji Creator
This was my first time running the Student Blogging Challenge and Iâd like to thank everyone involved.
