And yet to dismiss Twitter is a mistake because it’s an incredibly powerful tool for your personal learning, connecting with others and complements your blogging. Twitters way more than telling people what you’re doing!

The key to “getting twitter” lies in using it effectively. Fortunately besides being a RSS power user I’m also well known as a Twitter-a-holic so let me share my tips on how I get the most out of using Twitter.

Disclaimer: Twitter is personal; it means different things to different people and there’s various ways people use it. Like blogging, my focus for using twitter is the conversations and connections. These are my personal tips and not rules for using Twitter :).

Getting Started With Twitter

Go to Twitter.com and click “Get Started-Join.” Think carefully about your username; I personally recommend use your real name. If I could wind back time I’d use Suewaters, and not dswaters, because branding with one unique and recognizable online identity is better.

Make sure you upload a picture; people connect more when they can visualize the person. Also very important you complete your “Online line bio” and add your “More Info URL” (for a link to your website) because people check these out carefully when deciding if it’s worth following you.

To gain a deeper insight into the value of twitter check out:

• This podcast, or the text from the podcast, I created with Alan Levine, Graham Wegner, Michael Coghlan, Kristin Hokanson and Simon Brown for the Knowledge Tree
• Michele Martin’s podcast with Jeff Nugent, Britt Watwood and Bud Deihl from Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Teaching Excellence where they try and educate Michele on what she’s missing out by not using twitter effectively
• Chris Betcher’s video tutorial on Understanding how Twitter works

Effective management of twitter lies with:

1. Processes i.e. how many people you choose to follow, how you choose who to follow and your purpose for using twitter
2. Technical i.e. the tools you use to manage twitter

Adding Followers

How many people you follow, and who you follow, influences what you get out of twitter and to some extent how you use twitter e.g. how effective you will be at maintaining conversations.

When you follow a person you will receive their tweets. You get their tweets when they follow you; but not necessarily their replies (tweets that start with @) to people they follow but you don’t (unless you have @replies set to “all @replies” in Settings>Notices — this is not something you want to do if following lots of people).

Following too few people with too few following means you’re less likely to see the true power of twitter for connecting and providing assistance. Follow too many people makes it harder to maintain the conversation.

My magic number of people to follow is between 100-200; that was when life was easier. Once you’ve set up your account check out the twitter accounts of some of your favourite bloggers (most have a link on their blog)– go through the people they are following to choose people to add to your account. Remember to follow Edublogs twitter account so you get the last news on what’s happening at Edublogs.

Personally I avoid choosing higher profile people, as they often have too many followers, are less likely to engage in conversations or follow you back — however do check their @ replies.

Using A Twitter Client

The power of twitter is in the instant notification/response to tweets of people you follow.

A twitter client is a MUST; using the web interface isn’t the way to go. They provide instant notification of the latest updates. Which to use is very personal however my favourites, at the moment, are Snitter and Twhirl.

Twhirl is really nice which I equate to a lovely sports car; has a beautiful interface. Definitely a good choice if you aren’t following too many people. Unfortunately I follow too many people and find the way Snitter displays notifications of new tweets is better for maintaining my conversations.

Snagging Link URLs From Twitter

People are always sharing fantastic links in twitter that are worth checking out. I use Twitter Link Monitor to collect these links and feed them by RSS into my Google Reader so I can check them out at my leisure; also handy for grabbing links tweeted when I’m offline. Note — doesn’t display links from people with locked accounts.

Tracking Terms in Twitter

I use TweetScan all the time to effectively manage conversations in Twitter that I want to track e.g. replies to my twitter name dswaters and any other variations people have used e.g. suewaters and tags like Edublogs.

With the number of people I follow I need TweetScan as my eyes and ears. By subscribing to the RSS feed for the tracking term using my feed reader I’m notified through Google Reader whenever anyone, anywhere, tweeters that term. Here are my instructions for setting up TweetScan. Note — doesn’t display terms tweet by people with locked accounts.

Applying A Bit Of Twitter Karma

There’s nothing worse than having a conversation and not realising you’re having it with yourself which is why I use Twitter Karma.  It displays whom I’m following and who’s following me back; I’ll often unfollow if they’re no longer following me.

And Let’s Not Forget The Classroom

The uses of Twitter in the classroom are really only limited by our imagination. Tom Barrett’s been writing some excellent posts on what his Twitter network means to him in terms of his classroom practice and the best ways that twitter can be utilised in your own classroom. Check out Tom’s posts:

• Twitter – A Teaching and Learning Tool
• Plan, Tweet, Teach, Tweet, Learn, Smile

FINAL THOUGHT

I’ve shared my tips for using twitter but everyone has their own secret ingredients —what are your tips for getting more out of twitter? Do you have any favourite applications?

If you’ve tried twitter and it wasn’t working for you — what did you like/not like? If you haven’t tried twitter and you now plan to — please let me know how you go and don’t forget to follow Edublogs on twitter.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

So we’ve tried our best to explain what is RSS and why it’s important to learn how to use. And as we said it’s hard to explain probably because the power of RSS is really something you need to experience first hand.

We’re really into RSS — RSS power users may be an appropriate title since we grab every RSS opportunity to make our lives easier and maximise our ability to interact effectively with others.

Remember that using RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the site; instead information is brought to one location, a feed reader, to read whenever convenient.

Let us show you some of ways to use RSS with an RSS Reader.

Subscribing To Blogs

Read a lot of blogs by subscribing to their RSS feeds because blogging isn’t about working in a vacuum; it’s about the conversations.

Conversations aren’t about you just writing a reflective post that invites / encourages / evokes readers to express their opinion by writing comments on your post. It’s also about you engaging in conversations on others’ blogs by linking to their posts and writing comments on their posts.

To engage effectively in blogging conversations, you need to subscribe to blogs that interest you.

Effectively Managing Comments

One of the most important tips for keeping up the conversations on blogs is being very effective at managing your comments on other people’s blogs. Getting good at this is when you use tools that track comments posted on other people’s blogs plus subscribe to the RSS feed from these tools.

Whenever a person comments on a post that you have commented on, their comment is transferred from the post into your RSS Reader, so you can choose to immediately respond back if you want.

Managing Interactions on Flickr

Flickr is really cool Web 2.0 tool that didn’t initially grab us back when it started because we didn’t get the whole idea of sharing photos online and it’s whole social networking aspect.

Make Flickr friends and comment on their photos; your friends’ newest photos and any comments you make are automatically fed from Flickr to your RSS Reader (here are instructions of how to do it).

This interaction has shown a different glimpse of their life compared to what can be seen from reading their blogs or following them on twitter.

RSS is More Than Blog Posts

As Rafa Ribas said about a previous post on RSS:

There is more to RSS than just blog posts. You can RSS news, comments to your posts or others, audio and video, comic strips (I am an absolute fan of xkcd.com), other people’s bookmarks (del.icio.us), and so on and so forth. In summary, RSS is a bit daunting at first, but absolutely amazing in its potential.

We’ve only given a small glimpse into the ways to harness the power of RSS. Remember to look out for the RSS icon whenever you visit a web site and consider if subscribing to it’s feed will make your life easier and/or more fun.

FINAL THOUGHT

So have you set up a feed reader yet? If you’re just getting going – please let us know what’s working for you and what’s not.

If you are experienced with using RSS how about telling us about the different RSS feeds besides blog posts that you subscribe to, and why you like subscribing to them.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

International Dot Day is coming up on, around, or during the week of September 15-ish.

Every year, millions of students and educators connect on International Dot Day to celebrate creativity, courage, and collaboration.

Getting involved in International Dot Day is easy. It is free, flexible, and open to any classes from all around the world.

This ultimate guide to International Dot Day explains exactly what it is and how to participate.

We’ve put together lots of examples from the educational blogging community and invite you to leave your own ideas in a comment.

About International Dot Day

International Dot Day began when Terry Shay introduced his class to Peter H Reynold’s book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

Since then, this date has been celebrated each year as International Dot Day — a day for classes to explore the story’s powerful themes: bravery, creativity, and self-expression.

About the Book – The Dot

The Dot tells the story of a caring art teacher who reaches a reluctant student in a remarkably creative way.

In Peter’s book, the teacher encourages the student to begin a journey of self-discovery and creativity, starting with a simple dot on a piece of paper. Transformed by this journey, the student goes on to inspire others.

How to Get Involved

Participating in International Dot Day is simple.

1. Visit https://www.internationaldotday.org/welcome Here you can read up on the day, find ideas and check out the resources.
2. Sign up to participate. This is just a simple survey the organizers use to help plan events around International Dot Day.
3. Read the book to your class. If you or your library don’t have the book, you might opt to view a YouTube video or purchase the interactive online version. 
4. Express yourself in any way. This is where you can get creative. Your dot theme can be incorporated into story writing, artwork, songwriting, photography, dance, cooking, performances, or more.
5. Publish! If you have a blog, this is the perfect platform to show the world how you have celebrated the day.
6. Connect. International Dot Day is as much about celebrating creativity as it is about connecting and collaborating. There is a page on the International Dot Day website which has been set up to help you connect with others. There are links to a Google Doc and social media channels. There are many teachers looking to connect their class through their blog or Skype etc. Such wonderful possibilities for your students!
7. Connect. International Dot Day is as much about celebrating creativity as it is about connecting and collaborating. You can connect with the Dot Day community on Twitter or Facebook. There are many teachers looking to connect their class through their blog or tools like Flipgrid or Skype. Such wonderful possibilities for your students!

International Dot Day Ideas

International Dot Day is something you can celebrate throughout your entire school, with your class, or by connecting with other classes around the world.

Here are a few ideas from previous International Dot Days.

1) Shannon Miller’s Resources

K-12 Teacher Librarian, Shannon Miller is a leader in the International Dot Day Community. A post on Shannon’s blog explains how you can connect and celebrate.

She shares a link to a Google Doc where people can add their details, schedules, and make connections. Shannon has also put together some Padlets with resources and picture books, plus a Pinterest board.

Check out Shannon’s post for all the details and links.

Padlet books with dots

2) Group Blog: Connect The Dot Stories

When I was teaching grade 1/2/3 students last year, we connected with 3 other classes in different countries for Dot Day and set up a group blog.

We worked on a range of collaborative activities. One of the most popular was “Connect The Dot Stories“.

Here’s how this activity worked:

• Students got together in small groups and came up with a team name.
• The group came up with one keyword from The Dot story that was written or inferred.
• They then came up with a set of 4 other words (not necessarily from the story).
• The children wrote each of their 5 words on a circular ‘dot’ and had a photo taken of the words.
• These photo story prompts were posted on the blog.
• Individuals/pairs/groups from the other class then came up with a short story that includes each of the words.

This was a fun challenge!
Here’s an example that was posted to the blog by one team. Other students used those word prompts to make up a short story.

Team Polar Bear: Art, opened, draw, empty, polar bear, strong

Other activities we came up with that you might want to explore include:

• Augmented Reality Dots
• What Can You Create With A Dot?
• Copy Our Dotty Pictures!

3) Google Meets

Amy Kincaid‘s elementary students met with a bilingual class via Google Meet. They shared writing assignments about encouragement.

Read more on Amy’s Library Blog.

4) Dot Day Circle Stories

Kevin Hodgson‘s sixth graders celebrated being creative with writing and with art.

They wrote short Circle Stories with either a circular object or a circular theme. They used the words to “paint” the stories into circles (or dots) using a free tool called Visual Poetry.

They collated their Circle Stories in a Padlet.

Find out more on Kevin’s class blog, The Electronic Pencil, and on his professional blog, Kevin’s Meandering Mind. 

5) Kindness Rocks

Inspired by the Kindness Rocks movement, Mrs. Shemansky and her colleague did a rock painting activity with their middle school art classes.

The students ‘made their mark’ by painting two rocks each. One rock became part of the school rock garden and the second rock was hidden and shared with others.

Read more on Mrs. Shemansky’s Class Blog.

6) Dotty Videos

Senior School students at Togher School in County Cork, Ireland put together this great video about Dot Day 2018! Here is their video from Dot Day 2019!

During a collaboration with Linda Yollis‘ class in California in 2017, her third graders made a video to show my students around her school.

Read more about this project on Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog.

7) School-Wide Thinglink

Dot Day was a school-wide affair for Karen Arrington’s students in 2017. The activities involved design thinking, art, augmented reality, Flipgrid, and more.

Karen compiled all of the great activities the students completed in a Thinglink.

Read more details on these activities on Karen’s Tech Tips blog. 

8) Skyping In-Person

Jen Bearden, Rachael Turken, and their first-grade students tried all sorts of things on International Dot Day. There was singing, dancing, artwork, and math.

See what these young students got up to on Jen Bearden’s blog, 20 Something Kids And 1 Kooky Teacher, and Rachel Turken’s blog, im 4 students. 

To share their creations, Mrs. Bearden’s class was going to Skype with Ms. Turken’s class next door as practice for future calls. Technical problems led to them doing ‘in-person’ Skype calls in a fun and creative way.

Check out all the action from their in-person Skype session on this blog post. 

9) A Dotty Day

Becky Versteeg and her Team 2 Eagles students had a busy Dot Day in 2017. After reading the story, they got creative with some artwork and writing.

This video with The Dot author, Peter H. Reynolds, provided inspiration for their dotty creations.

They then tried some dot day math with dominoes and finished the day with some music.

These lyrics are for a song that Peter H. Reynolds and Emily Arrow wrote for International Dot Day. Find the video and actions here.

10) Going on a dot hunt

Karen Arlington’s school has been participating in International Dot Day since 2011 and you can check out some of the creative ways her students have celebrated here. 

In 2017, Karen’s first-grade students went on a “dot hunt” and took photos of dot-shaped objects. Her video is embedded below.

How will you celebrate?

How will you make your mark on International Dot Day this year? Leave a comment and tell us.

If you blog about International Dot Day, be sure to leave the link in a comment!

The 24th Student Blogging Challenge begins on March 15 and registrations are now open!

Since 2008, the Student Blogging Challenge has run twice yearly, beginning each March and October.

Why take part in the Student Blogging Challenge?

• Help your students learn how to publish on the web safely and effectively
• Increase student motivation for writing by engaging with an authentic audience
• Reap the benefits of global collaboration by connecting with other participants around the country and world.

Sound good? Read on to find out more!

Challenge Summary

The next Student Blogging Challenge begins on March 15, 2020.

The challenge is made up of a series of 8 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills, while connecting students with a global audience.

The weekly schedule is published on the Student Blogging Challenge website.

This experience is totally free and open to students and classes aged between 8 and 16.

Many teachers appreciate the fact that they don’t have to be the expert or bring the ideas or audience. It’s all done for you.

The challenge is also flexible — you can participate every week, every second week or choose a time frame that suits you. You can also adapt tasks to meet the needs of your own class.

Quick links

• Find out more about the Student Blogging Challenge
• Register to take part as a class
• Register to take part as a student
• Volunteer as a commenter

Why Take Part In The Student Blogging Challenge?

Last year, I made a short video with insights from past participants to give you an overview of what the challenge is all about.

Take a look and please share it with others who might be interested.

You might also want to read 8 Reasons To Take Part In The Student Blogging Challenge which breaks down this infographic.

How Do I Register For The Challenge?

Interested? You can follow the steps below to register or check out the FAQs if you want to read more about the challenge before registering.

Step One: Join Our Mailing List

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Student Blogging Challenge mailing list to stay in the loop!

This isn’t a registration form but you’ll want to be on the mailing list to keep up to date with all the challenge news.

Step Two: Decide How You Want To Register

There are three ways to register:

1) Register As A Class

This means teachers and students participate together and students don’t need to have their own blog (although they can).

Student work will be published on the class blog as a post or series of posts. Or the teacher might publish a post and invite the students to comment.

2) Register As An Individual Student Blogger

Students with their own blogs can take part by publishing posts in response to the weekly challenges (these challenge are published on the Student Blogging Challenge site).

As well as publishing on their own blogs, students can comment on other students’ posts.

3) Register To Be A Volunteer Commenter

Commenters need to be approved by our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt. They need to be involved in some field of education — e.g. teaching, working with children, studying education, retired teachers etc.

If you know someone who might like to volunteer, please ask them to consider registering and joining our mailing list! 

Commenters are asked to visit five blogs per week and you can make a big difference in the lives of young people by just dedicating one hour a week for 8 weeks!

Step Three: Get Ready

While participants will learn about blogging through the challenge, it can be very helpful to start setting up your blog before the challenge begins.

These two self-paced courses will be helpful if you want to be walked through the process of setting up your blog:

• Student Blogging Bootcamp (for students) — This course guides students through the process of setting up and using their own blog. Some teachers like to assign all/parts of the bootcamp to their students before the challenge begins.
• Blogging With Students Teacher Challenge (for teachers) — We walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up a class blog and blogging with students. You can also sign up to complete this challenge over 30 days if you wish. 

Join Our Facebook Group

We’re very excited to be launching a Facebook group for educators involved in the challenge this year. This group will be the ideal way to find connections for your students, ask questions, share tips, and stay in the loop.

This is a private group so only members can see who’s in the group and what they post.

The group is only for challenge participants and is for educators. Older student participants may join if they are old enough. Remember, Facebook has age restrictions (13+ and even older in some areas) so the group is not for young students.

How To Join The Group!

To join the group, just go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/StudentBlogging

Alternatively, search for “Student Blogging Challenge March 2020” on Facebook.

Click on “Request to join” and answer the three questions so we know you’re a challenge participant. When your request is approved, go ahead and introduce yourself!

I’ve Registered As A Participant. Now What?

Fantastic! Perhaps you’d like to add the challenge badge to your sidebar or About page?

Every week on a Sunday (starting March 15), we’ll publish a new post on the Student Blogging Challenge website.

If you’re subscribed to the email list, you’ll get a reminder about this via email. Otherwise, you can just check the Student Blogging Challenge site when it suits.

Then there are four steps to follow each week:

1. Read: Teachers can read through the post that’s on the Student Blogging Challenge site with their class, or assign the post to their students to read. Alternately, teachers can summarize the information on their class blog.
2. Task: Students will complete one (or more) task and publish it on their individual blog or class blog.
3. Form: Participants need to enter the URL of their blog post in the Google Form that will be at the bottom of each weekly post. This is so commenters and others know about their post and can visit.
4. Connect: The last step involves visiting other participants’ blogs. Leave a comment and strike up a conversation.

If you can’t complete a task every week, that’s fine. You’re also welcome to adapt tasks to best meet the needs of your class.

Find out more here. 

I’ve Registered As A Commenter. Now What?

Our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, will contact you to let you know if you’ve been accepted as commenter. She’ll also email in the lead up to the challenge explaining the process if you’ve been accepted.

Sue will support you as a commenter throughout the challenge. She’ll send you weekly emails with instructions and tips, and you’ll be able to contact her to ask further questions.

There’s also a badge for commenters that you might like to display on your own site if you have one.

More Questions?

We’ve created a PDF document of Frequently Asked Questions. Click here to save a copy to your computer.

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Anything else you’re not sure about? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you! Alternatively, you can send us an email via this contact form. 

Remember, the Student Blogging Challenge only happens twice a year, so don’t miss out!

Do you want your students to learn how to publish on the web safely and effectively?

Perhaps you want to increase their motivation for writing by engaging with an authentic audience?

Would you like your students to look beyond the four walls of your classroom and connect with other students from around the world?

The Student Blogging Challenge can help and registrations are now open!

Since 2008, the Student Blogging Challenge has run twice yearly, beginning each March and October.

The next challenge begins on October 6, 2019.

The challenge is made up of a series of 8 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills, while connecting students with a global audience.

This experience is totally free and open to students and classes aged between 8 and 16.

Many teachers appreciate the fact that they don’t have to be the expert or bring the ideas or audience. It’s all done for you.

The challenge is also flexible — you can participate every week, every second week or choose a time frame that suits you. You can also adapt tasks to meet the needs of your own class.

Quick links

• Find out more about the Student Blogging Challenge
• Register to take part as a class
• Register to take part as a student
• Volunteer as a commenter

Why Take Part In The Student Blogging Challenge?

Earlier in the year, I made a short video with insights from past participants to give you an overview of what the challenge is all about.

Take a look and please share it with others who might be interested.

You might also want to read 8 Reasons To Take Part In The Student Blogging Challenge which breaks down this infographic.

Finally, be sure to check out this insightful post by 3 high school students who reflect on what they got out of the Student Blogging Challenge.

The students made this video about their challenge experience.

How Do I Register For The Challenge?

Interested? You can follow the steps below to register or check out the FAQs if you want to read more about the challenge before registering.

Step One: Join Our Mailing List

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Student Blogging Challenge mailing list to stay in the loop!

This isn’t a registration form but you’ll want to be on the mailing list to keep up to date with all the challenge news.

Step Two: Decide How You Want To Register

There are three ways to register:

1) Register As A Class

This means teachers and students participate together and students don’t need to have their own blog (although they can).

Student work will be published on the class blog as a post or series of posts. Or the teacher might publish a post and invite the students to comment.

2) Register As An Individual Student Blogger

Students with their own blogs can take part by publishing posts in response to the weekly challenges on the Student Blogging Challenge site.

They can also comment on other students’ posts.

3) Register To Be A Volunteer Commenter

Commenters need to be approved by our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt. They need to be involved in some field of education — e.g. teaching, working with children, studying education, retired teachers etc.

If you know someone who might like to volunteer, please ask them to consider registering and joining our mailing list! 

Commenters are asked to visit five blogs per week and you can make a big difference in the lives of young people by just dedicating one hour a week for 8 weeks!

Step Three: Get Ready

While participants will learn about blogging through the challenge, it can be very helpful to start setting up your blog before the challenge begins.

These two self-paced courses will be helpful if you want to be walked through the process of setting up your blog:

• Student Blogging Bootcamp (for students) — This course guides students through the process of setting up and using their own blog. Some teachers like to assign all/parts of the bootcamp to their students before the challenge begins.
• Blogging With Students Teacher Challenge (for teachers) — We walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up a class blog and blogging with students. You can also sign up to complete this challenge over 30 days if you wish. 

Our Blogging With Students course currently comes with a free upgrade to Edublogs Pro. Find out more here. 

I’ve Registered As A Participant. Now What?

Fantastic! Perhaps you’d like to add the challenge badge to your sidebar or About page?

Every week on a Sunday (starting October 6), we’ll publish a new post on the Student Blogging Challenge website.

If you’re subscribed to the email list, you’ll get a reminder about this via email. Otherwise, you can just check the Student Blogging Challenge site when it suits.

Then there are four steps to follow each week:

1. Read: Teachers can read through the post that’s on the Student Blogging Challenge site with their class, or assign the post to their students to read. Alternately, teachers can summarize the information on their class blog.
2. Task: Students will complete one (or more) task and publish it on their individual blog or class blog.
3. Form: Participants need to enter the URL of their blog post in the Google Form that will be at the bottom of each weekly post.
4. Connect: The last step involves visiting other participants’ blogs. Leave a comment and strike up a conversation.

If you can’t complete a task every week, that’s fine. You’re also welcome to adapt tasks to best meet the needs of your class.

Find out more here. 

I’ve Registered As A Commenter. Now What?

Our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, will contact you to let you know if you’ve been accepted as commenter (via the email or Twitter handle you provided). She’ll also email in the lead up to the challenge explaining the process if you’ve been accepted.

Sue will support you as a commenter throughout the challenge. She’ll send you weekly emails with instructions and tips, and you’ll be able to contact her to ask further questions.

There’s also a badge for commenters that you might like to display on your own site if you have one.

More Questions?

We’ve created a PDF document of Frequently Asked Questions. Click here to save a copy to your computer.

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

Anything else you’re not sure about? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you! Alternatively, you can send us an email via this contact form. 

Have you heard of International Dot Day? It’s BIG! This year, over 14 million students and educators in 181 countries will be celebrating.

International Dot Day is coming up around the week of September 15-ish.

This annual event is all about celebrating creativity, courage, and collaboration.

Getting involved in International Dot Day is easy. It’s free, flexible, and open to any classes from all around the world.

This updated ultimate guide to International Dot Day explains exactly what it is and how to participate.

We’ve put together lots of examples from the educational blogging community and invite you to leave your own ideas in a comment.

About International Dot Day

International Dot Day began when Terry Shay introduced his class to Peter H. Reynold’s book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

In the decade since, this date has been celebrated each year as International Dot Day — a day for classes to explore the story’s powerful themes: bravery, creativity, and self-expression.

About the Book — The Dot

The Dot tells the story of a caring art teacher who reaches a reluctant student in a remarkably creative way.

In Peter’s book, the teacher encourages the student to begin a journey of self discovery and creativity, starting with a simple dot on a piece of paper. Transformed by this journey, the student goes on to inspire others.

Don’t own the book? You can find the story being read on YouTube.

How to Get Involved

Participating in International Dot Day is simple.

1. Visit www.thedotclub.org/dotday Here you can read up on the day, find ideas, and connections.
2. Sign up to participate. This is just a simple survey the organizers use to help plan events around International Dot Day.
3. Explore the handbook. Once you’ve signed up, you can browse through the Dot Day participation handbook. This PDF guide has lots of ideas and a certificate for your students.
4. Read the book to your class. If you or your library don’t have the book, you might opt to view a YouTube video or purchase the interactive online version. 
5. Express yourself in any way. This is where you can get creative. Your dot theme can be incorporated into story writing, artwork, songwriting, photography, dance, cooking, performances or more. Remember, there are lots of ideas in the handbook and in this blog post.
6. Publish! If you have a blog, this is the perfect platform to show the world how you have celebrated the day.
7. Connect. International Dot Day is as much about celebrating creativity as it is about connecting and collaborating. You can connect with the Dot Day community on Twitter or Facebook. There are many teachers looking to connect their class through their blog or tools like Flipgrid or Skype. Such wonderful possibilities for your students!

International Dot Day Ideas For 2019

International Dot Day is something you can celebrate throughout your entire school or just with your class. You can keep things simple or amplify your projects by connecting with others around the globe.

We looked back at how some classes celebrated International Dot Day over the past two years to provide you with some inspiration for your 2019 activities.

Here are 8+ ideas from primary (elementary) and middle school classrooms worldwide.

You can find these ideas and more on our Pinterest board.

1) Group Blog: Connect The Dot Stories

When I was teaching grade 1/2/3 students last year, we connected with 3 other classes in different countries for Dot Day and set up a group blog.

We worked on a range of collaborative activities. One of the most popular was “Connect The Dot Stories“.

Here’s how this activity worked:

• Students got together in small groups and came up with a team name.
• The group came up with one key word from The Dot story that was written or inferred.
• They then came up with a set of 4 other words (not necessarily from the story).
• The children wrote each of their 5 words on a circular ‘dot’ and had a photo taken of the words.
• These photo story prompts were posted on the blog.
• Individuals/pairs/groups from the other class then came up with a short story that includes each of the words.

This was a fun challenge!
Here’s an example that was posted to the blog by one team. Other students used those word prompts to make up a short story.

Team Polar Bear: Art, opened, draw, empty, polar bear, strong

Other activities we came up with that you might want to explore include:

• Augmented Reality Dots
• What Can You Create With A Dot?
• Copy Our Dotty Pictures!

2) Google Hangouts

Amy Kincaid‘s elementary students met with a bilingual class via Google Hangouts. They shared writing assignments about encouragement.

Read more on Amy’s Library Blog.

3) Dot Day Circle Stories

Kevin Hodgson‘s sixth graders celebrated being creative with writing and with art.

They wrote short Circle Stories with either a circular object or a circular theme. They used the words to “paint” the stories into circles (or dots) using a free tool called Visual Poetry.

They collated their Circle Stories in a Padlet.

Find out more on Kevin’s class blog, The Electronic Pencil, and on his professional blog, Kevin’s Meandering Mind. 

Padlet books with dots

4) Kindness Rocks

Inspired by the Kindness Rocks movement, Mrs. Shemansky and her colleague did a rock painting activity with their middle school art classes.

The students ‘made their mark’ by painting two rocks each. One rock became part of the school rock garden and the second rock was hidden and shared with others.

Read more on Mrs. Shemansky’s Class Blog.

5) Dotty Videos

Senior School students at Togher School in County Cork, Ireland put together this great video about Dot Day 2018!

During a collaboration with Linda Yollis‘ class in California in 2017, her third graders made a video to show my students around her school.

Read more about this project on Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog.

6) School-Wide Thinglink

Dot Day was a school-wide affair for Karen Arrington’s students in 2017. The activities involved design thinking, art, augmented reality, Flipgrid and more.

Karen compiled all of the great activities the students completed in a Thinglink.

Read more details on these activities on Karen’s Tech Tips blog. 

7) Skyping In-Person

Jen Bearden, Rachael Turken and their first grade students tried all sorts of things on International Dot Day. There was singing, dancing, artwork, and math.

See what these young students got up to on Jen Bearden’s blog, 20 Something Kids And 1 Kooky Teacher, and Rachel Turken’s blog, im 4 students. 

To share their creations, Mrs. Bearden’s class was going to Skype with Ms. Turken’s class next door as practice for future calls. Technical problems led to them doing ‘in-person’ Skype calls in a fun and creative way.

Check out all the action from their in-person Skype session on this blog post. 

8) A Dotty Day

Becky Versteeg and her Team 2 Eagles students had a busy Dot Day in 2017. After reading the story, they got some creative with some artwork and writing.

This video with The Dot author, Peter H. Reynolds, provided inspiration for their dotty creations.

They then tried some dot day math with dominoes and finished the day with some music.

These lyrics are for a song that Peter H. Reynolds and Emily Arrow wrote for International Dot Day. Find the video and actions here.

Shannon Miller’s Resources

K-12 Teacher Librarian, Shannon Miller is a leader in the International Dot Day Community. A post on Shannon’s blog explains how you can connect and celebrate.

She shares a link to a Google Doc where people can add their details, schedules, and make connections. Shannon has also put together some Padlets with resources and picture books, plus a Pinterest board.

Check out Shannon’s post for all the details and links.

How will you celebrate?

How will you make your mark on International Dot Day this year? Leave a comment and tell us.

If you blog about International Dot Day, be sure to leave the link in a comment!

This is a guest post by students Emily J, Kira H, and Sam C. They are Canadian high school students who use a CampusPress network to host their impressive blogging program.

The three authors of this post all have their own student blogs. Take a look and leave them a comment. They’d love to hear from you!

Sam | Emily | Kira

To find out more about the wonderful Performance Learning Program they’re a part of at Seycove Secondary School, check out their website.

Now, over to our guest bloggers…

Introduction

Are you a student interested in blogging? Then check out the Student Blogging Challenge!

This biannual event is a great opportunity to connect and be inspired by meeting new people, learning skills in areas such as coding, science, and web design, and be able to creatively express your ideas through blogging.

2018’s Challenge had over a thousand bloggers who signed up, and maybe next time you could be one of them!

Here’s a video we put together about the challenge…

Who Are We?

Sam

Hi, my name is Sam. I’m one of the many students that participated in the 2018 Student Blogging Challenge.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m currently a student at Seycove Secondary located in British Columbia, Canada. I am in Grade 9 and I’m in a special program called PLP. Or you can call it, the Performance Learning Program.

In this program, we learn by using devices such as iPads instead of textbooks. If you want
to know more about me, go to my About Me page on my blog! Anyways, enough about
me. Let’s move onto how I felt about the Student Blogging Challenge.

First, let’s start with the challenges. Personally, I thought the challenges can be difficult but fun at the same time. Each challenge is supposed to teach us something.

For example, one of my favourite challenges was the week 6 challenge. The week 6 challenge was the scientific challenge. We got to research about something we were curious about and then share it.

For me, I chose to research about the universe. Or more specifically, how old the universe is. Based off of my research, I learned that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old! Now how did they calculate that? Well, I guess you have to go to my post to find out.

From my point of view, some challenges are supposed to teach about your knowledge, some are supposed to teach about your blogging skills. Personally, one of the most important things I thought was great is commenting. This allows you to connect with thousands of people that do the Student Blogging Challenge.

You get to learn about their point of view of solving each problem and I think that’s an important part of the Student Blogging Challenge.

Emily

Hello, my name is Emily, and I’m a grade 10 student in the Performance Learning Program at Seycove Secondary. I’ve been blogging for about two and a half years now, but it wasn’t until I participated in the Student Blogging Challenge that I realized how empowering sharing your stories by blog can be.

Through the unique challenges (the music task from week 5 being my personal favourite), I feel that I was not only able to develop my writing voice, but learn how to express my thoughts in creative and engaging ways.

It was also incredible to get to hear from people halfway across the world and see how similar their experiences with blogging have been to mine. It makes you realize that we are not all that different from one another, no matter where we happen to live.

I hope that I get the chance to participate in this challenge again next year, and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in any of the aforementioned areas.

It’s been a great outlet for me to express myself and pick up new skills.

Kira

Hi! My name is Kira! I’m in grade eight in the Performance Learning Program so that means my class got the opportunity to participate in the Student Blogging Challenge!

I’ve always wondered what’d it would be like to be a blogger and this year I got to experience that! Having a blog was exciting, you could express yourself in creative ways and really show what you learned.

Having a blog made me in control of my learning and free to express myself, something I feel many students miss out on.

Writing the blog posts made me reflect on all the learning I had done and really appreciate all the effort I’d put into something!

None of the challenges were boring to me since all the topics were things I was interested in. If I was to choose a favourite topic I’d have to choose the scientific challenge because I got to choose something to learn about, being able to choose what I was learning about made me become more engaged in the topic.

My blog is something that I’m now very proud of; it’s like having your own little personal folder of all your learning and ideas.

Would I recommend this to someone? Yes! Of course! Even if you think you might not like it try it out, there is some much to learn just by writing a few sentences a week.

Become a blogger and share your stories with other learners across the galaxy!

See You At The Next Challenge!

In conclusion, the Student Blogging Challenge is a great place to interact with thousands of people around the world.

It’s a great thing to do if you want to improve your blogging skills or to simply learn about different unique subjects.

It’s a great place to show off your amazing work to the world. Each week, people are selected for their outstanding work!

We all hope to see your blogs, at the next Student Blogging Challenge.

Learn More About The Student Blogging Challenge

We thank Sam, Emily, and Kira for sharing their experiences with us.

Be sure to take a look at these students’ blogs. Their high standards and creative approaches to blogging really shine through.

Quick Student Blogging Challenge links

• Find out more about the Student Blogging Challenge
• Register to take part as a class
• Register to take part as a student
• Volunteer as a commenter
• 8 Reasons to take part in the Student Blogging Challenge

Any questions or comments for our three guest bloggers? Scroll down to find the comment box!

Broadly speaking, there are two types of teachers.

One is content with staying within the four walls of the classroom and relying on the ‘talk and chalk’ approach they grew up.

The other type of teacher is aware of how rapidly the world is changing; they know how important it is to help their students become dynamic global citizens.

What type of teacher are you? I’m guessing you’re the latter and, if you are, no doubt you’ll be interested in the Student Blogging Challenge!

The Student Blogging Challenge In A Nutshell

The Student Blogging Challenge is about embracing all of the benefits of blogging — from learning digital writing skills, and digital citizenship, to developing an authentic audience and connecting with others around the globe.

We know these are the sorts of things teachers want for their students but they might not always know where to start or how to go about that. The Student Blogging Challenge solves this problem. The teacher doesn’t have to be the expert or bring the ideas and connections. It’s all done for you!

Since 2008, the Student Blogging Challenge has run twice yearly, beginning each March and October.

The next challenge begins on October 6, 2019.

The challenge is made up of a series of 8 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills, while connecting students with a global audience.

Quick links

• Find out more about the Student Blogging Challenge
• Register to take part as a class
• Register to take part as a student
• Volunteer as a commenter

8 Reasons To Take Part In The Student Blogging Challenge

Maybe you’re on the fence, or maybe you’re interested in the challenge but not sure exactly what your students will get out of it?

Let’s break down some of the key benefits!

1) Learn about blogging and publishing online

Publishing online is more than just writing blog posts.

• Students will learn about setting up an online space that’s user-friendly and representative of their personality.
• They’ll discover how to use comments to interact with other bloggers near and far.
• Students will also learn about using a range of web tools to demonstrate their learning and passions.

Publishing online is a lot more dynamic than traditional pen and paper publishing. It’s fun, meaningful, and an important 21st-century skill!

2) Become a responsible digital citizen

Technology plays a big role in the lives of many students. All teachers and caregivers want young people to be navigating technology safely and responsibly.

Blogging is a fantastic way for students to learn about digital citizenship and internet safety in an ongoing and authentic way.

Throughout the Student Blogging Challenge, participants will learn about the importance of becoming a safe and responsible member of an online community.

Interested in reading more about digital citizenship and blogging? Check out this post. 

3) Meet others from around the world

It’s now easier than ever to connect with others from around the world. There are so many benefits of integrating global collaboration into the lives of young people!

Meeting others from around the world means students can:

• Gain new ideas and perspectives.
• Learn about the world authentically — topics like time zones, languages, seasons, weather, cultural similarities and differences can be brought to life.
• Develop empathy and a sense of understanding and respect.
• Have fun! Developing relationships with others near and far is so enjoyable.

4) Increase engagement and motivation

Over the years, we have heard the same message from so many different teachers: Their students worked harder on their Student Blogging tasks than on their general classroom work. Why? The power of an authentic audience.

Through the challenge, students have a real purpose for their work and they know it will be seen by others. This is in contrast to general classwork that is traditionally only seen by the teacher.

The power of an authentic audience can’t be underestimated and that’s why we’re building a strong team of commenters to visit our participants’ blog posts.

Exploring the ‘give and take’ nature of publishing will also be a big part of the challenge — so, to have an audience, you also need to be an audience and so on.

5) Prepare for the changing workforce

What does the future of the workforce look like? We don’t know for sure but there are certain things we know will play a part. For example, the world and workforce is becoming more globalized and the trend towards a gig economy has begun.

Students who can communicate and empathize with individuals from all cultures will thrive in the changing labor market. Learning to explore global collaboration while still at school will set students in good stead for the future.

The Student Blogging Challenge can be just one piece in the puzzle of this preparation.

6) Develop technology skills and human skills

Let’s build on the previous point by looking at some specific skills that are important for global citizens.

Throughout the challenge, students will learn a variety of tech skills, not as ‘skill and drill’ exercises but as authentic tasks. They’ll try a variety of free web tools and explore the potential of their blogging platform.

They’ll also have a chance to communicate, collaborate, and problem solve with fellow participants in their class, or on the other side of the world.

These sorts of things are important.

A report on the future of jobs from The World Economic Forum shows us that there is a growing demand for various forms of technology competency.

However, this is only one part of the equation and human skills like creativity, critical thinking, negotiation, resilience, problem solving and leadership will also be in high demand.

7) Explore passions and interests

All students have their own passions and interests and often these don’t align with their everyday schoolwork.

Through the Student Blogging Challenge, students can work in a way that suits them.

Each week, there will be a choice of activities so participants can work on something that meets their needs and interests. If they’re more into creating videos, audio files, or graphics instead of written work, that’s fine!

We explore a range of different topics in each challenge so there is something for everyone over the 8 weeks.

8) Find a voice and community

Through participating in the Student Blogging Challenge, students can begin to find their voice.

It’s now possible for everyone to be a writer and publish on a public platform. There are many benefits with this but it comes responsibilities.

Students participating in the challenge can recognize the value and responsibility of publishing online and being part of global conversations — on both light and deep topics.

Through weekly exercises, students practice communicating with others. There will be opportunities to give and receive feedback which can allow for continual improvement.

Many students have told us that they have developed confidence as a writer throughout the process and have begun to understand their place in the world.

Make The Student Blogging Challenge Work For You

Underpinning all these benefits is the fact that the challenge is flexible:

• You can participate every week or pick and choose.
• You can complete one small task if you’re short on time, or spend a lot of time on multiple tasks if this fits into your week.
• If the topics or activities don’t align with your curriculum goals, you can modify them.
• You can use any blogging platform to participate as long as your blog is public and others can leave comments.

Most of all, the teacher doesn’t have to be the expert. Teachers can be role models for their students, demonstrating that they too are learners and they don’t know it all!

Let’s Hear From Some Students…

If you haven’t already seen it, check out this short video with insights from past participants!

We’ve had so many students, teachers, and classes who take part in challenges year after year because they enjoy it and they discover new personal benefits each time!

More Questions?

We’ve created a PDF document of Frequently Asked Questions or you might like to explore the Student Blogging Challenge site.

Anything else you’re not sure about? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you or contact the Edublogs support team.

Imagine your students running into the classroom to check which international visitors have left a comment on their blog.

Imagine your students putting in more effort than ever before because they know their work will have a global audience.

Imagine your students learning about publishing online without relying on you as the expert.

Does this sound ideal to you?

For the last 10+ years, these are the sorts of comments we’ve heard from teachers who have taken part in the Student Blogging Challenge.

Now it’s your turn to sign up!

What Is The Student Blogging Challenge?

The Student Blogging Challenge is a way for students to learn about publishing online while making global connections.

The 22nd Student Blogging Challenge beings on March 3, 2019. Registrations are now open!

This experience is totally free and open to all.

I’ll be leading the challenge and have made a short video with insights from past participants to give you an overview of what the challenge is all about.

Take a look and please share it with others who might be interested.

Thank you to the students who featured in the video from California (USA), Performance Learning Program at Seycove (Canada), British International School Belgrade (Serbia).

How Do I Register?

Interested? You can follow the steps below to register or scroll down if you want to read more about the challenge before registering.

Step One: Join Our Mailing List

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Student Blogging Challenge mailing list to stay in the loop!

This isn’t a registration form but you’ll want to be on the mailing list to keep up to date with all the challenge news.

Step Two: Decide How You Want To Register

There are three ways to register:

1) Register As A Class

This means teachers and students participate together and students don’t need to have their own blog (although they can).

Student work will be published on the class blog as a post or series of posts. Or the teacher might publish a post and invite the students to comment.

2) Register As An Individual Student Blogger

Students with their own blogs can take part by publishing posts in response to the weekly challenges on the Student Blogging Challenge blog.

They can also comment on other students’ posts.

3) Register To Be A Volunteer Commenter

Commenters need to be approved by our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt. They need to be involved in some field of education — e.g. teaching, working with children, studying education, retired teachers etc.

If you know someone who might like to volunteer, please ask them to consider registering and joining our mailing list! 

Commenters are asked to visit five blogs per week and you can make a big difference in the lives of young people by just dedicating one hour a week for 10 weeks!

Step Three: Get Ready

While participants will learn about blogging through the challenge, it can be very helpful to start setting up your blog before the challenge begins.

These two self-paced courses will be helpful if you want to be walked through the process of setting up your blog:

• Student Blogging Bootcamp (for students) — This course guides students through the process of setting up and using their own blog. Some teachers like to assign all/parts of the bootcamp to their students before the challenge begins.
• Blogging With Students Teacher Challenge (for teachers) — We walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up a class blog and blogging with students. You can also sign up to complete this challenge over 30 days if you wish. 

I’ve Registered As A Participant. Now What?

Fantastic! Perhaps you’d like to add the challenge badge to your sidebar or About page?

Every week on a Sunday (starting March 3), I’ll publish a new post on the Student Blogging Challenge website.

If you’re subscribed to the email list, you’ll get a reminder about this via email. Otherwise, you can just check the Student Blogging Challenge site when it suits.

Then there are four steps to follow each week:

1. Read: Teachers can read through the post that’s on the Student Blogging Challenge site with their class, or assign the post to their students to read. Alternately, teachers can summarize the information on their class blog.
2. Task: Students will complete one (or more) task and publish it on their individual blog or class blog.
3. Form: Participants need to enter the URL of their blog post in the Google Form that will be at the bottom of each weekly post.
4. Connect: The last step involves visiting other participants’ blogs. Leave a comment and strike up a conversation.

If you can’t complete a task every week, that’s fine. You’re also welcome to adapt tasks to best meet the needs of your class.

I’ve Registered As A Commenter. Now What?

Our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, will contact you to let you know if you’ve been accepted as commenter via the email or Twitter handle you provided. She’ll also email in the lead up to the challenge explaining the process if you’ve been accepted.

Sue will support you as a commenter throughout the challenge. She’ll send you weekly emails with instructions and tips, and you’ll be able to contact her to ask further questions.

There’s also a badge for commenters that you might like to display on your own site if you have one.

Read more about volunteering as a commenter in this post. 

More Challenge Information

What Is The Challenge About?

The Student Blogging Challenge is about embracing all of the benefits of blogging — from learning digital writing skills, and digital citizenship, to developing an authentic audience and connecting with others around the globe.

The challenge is made up of a series of 10 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills while connecting students with a global audience.

Who Can Join The Challenge?

The challenge is totally free and open to students or classes from all over the world. While we’ve had participants from K-12 take part, the tasks are ideal for students around the ages of 8-16.

While Edublogs supports the challenge, you don’t have to be using Edublogs to take part. You will just need to alter the ‘how-tos’ we share throughout the challenge to match your own blogging platform. Our detailed instructions will usually refer to Edublogs or CampusPress blogs.

Why Join The Challenge?

There’s a lot to be gained from joining the challenge! Of course, students and teachers will learn how to blog and there are SO many benefits of blogging.

You never know what sort of learning can take place when you start building connections and finding an authentic audience for students’ work. There is a lot of power in amplifying learning!

The more you put in the more you will get out and many participants have found they’ve gained the most when they’ve spent time on building relationships with other classes taking part.

Participants are strongly encouraged to read posts from other students/classes and leaving comments that include questions. Connections can span long after the challenge ends.

Students who join the challenge will have access to a badge for their blog and certificate too!

What Will We Learn?

There will be a different topic each week and a new post will be published on the Student Blogging Challenge site every Sunday.

• Some topics will be blog skills — like commenting (the first few weeks will focus mainly on essential blogging skills).
• Some topics will be important digital literacy skills like images and copyright.
• Other topics focus on developing global understandings — like learning about holidays and celebrations.
• Some topics will focus on fun and creativity too.

After reading through some information and examples, you’ll be presented with a number of options for tasks to complete.

The task might be writing a blog post or page, trying out a free online tool, trying an online activity, completing some research, or visiting other blogs and leaving comments.

Do I Have To Participate Every Week?

No! You can pick and choose what suits you and your students.

Each week there will be a choice of different tasks. Here are some key points to remember:

• Some weeks you might spend a lot of time on a topic. Perhaps opting to complete more than one task.
• Other weeks you might be busy or the topic might not suit your class, so you can simply skip it.
• You also have the option to modify anything to suit the needs of your students.
• If you need to start late or you have holidays that fall during the ten weeks (March 3 to mid-May), that’s not a problem.

More Questions?

We’ve created a PDF document of Frequently Asked Questions. Click here to save a copy to your computer.

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Anything else you’re not sure about? Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you! Alternatively, you can send me an email via this contact form. 

The 21st Student Blogging Challenge beings on October 7, 2018. Registrations are now open!

After ten years of running the challenge, Sue Wyatt has passed the baton over to me, Kathleen Morris!

I’ve made a short video to give you an overview of what the free challenge is all about. Take a look and share it with others who might be interested.

How Do I Register?

Interested? You can follow the steps below to register or scroll down if you want to read more about the challenge before registering.

Step One: Join Our Mailing List

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Student Blogging Challenge mailing list to stay in the loop!

This isn’t a registration form but you’ll want to be on the mailing list to keep up to date with all the challenge news.

Step Two: Decide How You Want To Register

There are three ways to register:

1) Register As A Class

This means teachers and students participate together and students don’t need to have their own blog (although they can).

Teachers and/or students can publish their weekly tasks on their class blog. Or, the teacher can publish information on the class blog each week (copying/pasting/altering from the Student Blogging Challenge post).

The students can take part by commenting on their own class blog and other class blogs.

2) Register As An Individual Student Blogger

Students with their own blogs can take part by publishing a post each week in response to the prompts on the Student Blogging Challenge blog. They can also comment on other students’ posts.

3) Register To Be A Volunteer Commenter

Commenters need to be approved and need to be involved in some field of education — e.g. teaching, working with children, studying education, retired teachers etc.

If you know someone who might like to volunteer, please ask them to consider registering and joining our mailing list! 

Commenters are asked to visit five blogs per week and you can make a big difference in the lives of young people by just dedicating 30-60 minutes a week for 10 weeks!

Step Three: Get Ready

While participants will learn about blogging through the challenge, it can be very helpful to start setting up your blog before the challenge begins.

These two self-paced courses will be helpful if you want to be walked through the process of setting up your blog:

• Student Blogging Bootcamp (for students) — This course guides students through the process of setting up and using their own blog. You might like to assign all/parts of the bootcamp to your students before the challenge begins.
• Blogging With Students Teacher Challenge (for teachers) — We walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up a class blog and blogging with students. You can also sign up to complete this challenge over 30 days if you wish. 

I’ve Registered As A Participant. Now What?

Every week on a Sunday (starting October 7), I’ll publish a new post on the Student Blogging Challenge website.

You’ll get an email to let you know about the weekly topic and task.

Then there are four steps to follow throughout that week:

1. Read: Either read through the post that’s on the Student Blogging Challenge site with your class, or assign the post to your students to read.
2. Task: Complete one of the tasks together as a class and publish a post on your class blog, or instruct your students to complete one of the tasks on their own blog.
3. Submit: Enter the URL of your blog post in the Google form on the weekly post on the Student Blogging Challenge site.
4. Connect: Take the time to visit another participants’ blog. Leave a comment and strike up a conversation.

I’ve Registered As A Commenter. Now What?

Our commenting team leader, Sue Wyatt, will email you explaining the process by September 20 if you’ve been accepted. Sue will use the URL you provide on the sign-up form to verify your role in education.

Sue will support you as a commenter throughout the challenge.

More Challenge Information

What Is The Challenge About?

The Student Blogging Challenge is about embracing all of the benefits of blogging — from learning digital writing skills, and digital citizenship, to developing an authentic audience and connecting with others around the globe.

The challenge is made up of a series of 10 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills, while connecting students with a global audience.

Who Can Join The Challenge?

The challenge is totally free and open to students or classes from all over the world. While we’ve had participants from K-12 take part, the tasks are ideal for students around the ages of 8-16.

While Edublogs supports the challenge, you don’t have to be using Edublogs to take part. You will just need to alter the ‘how-tos’ we share throughout the challenge to match your own blogging platform. Our detailed instructions will refer to Edublogs or CampusPress blogs.

Why Join The Challenge?

There’s a lot to be gained from joining the challenge! Of course, students and teachers will learn how to blog and there are SO many benefits of blogging. You never know what sort of learning can take place when you start building connections and finding an authentic audience for students’ work. There is a lot of power in amplifying learning!

The more you put in the more you will get out and many participants have found they’ve gained the most when they’ve spent time on building relationships with other classes taking part. So, reading other students’/classes’ posts and leaving them comments; asking questions etc. Connections can span long after the challenge ends.

Students who join the challenge will have access to a badge for their blog and certificate too!

What Will We Learn?

There will be a different topic each week and a new post will be published on the Student Blogging Challenge site every Sunday.

Some topics will be blog skills — like commenting (the first few weeks will focus mainly on essential blogging skills). Some topics will be important digital literacy skills like images and copyright. Other topics focus on global collaboration — like learning about holidays and celebrations. Some topics will focus on fun and creativity too — like emojis!

After reading through some information and examples, you’ll be presented with a number of options for tasks to complete. The task might be writing a blog post or page, trying out a free online tool, trying an online activity, completing some research, visiting other blogs and leaving comments etc.

Do I Have To Participate Every Week?

No! You can pick and choose what suits you and your students.

Each week there will be a choice of different tasks. Some weeks you might spend a lot of time on a topic. Perhaps opting to complete more than one task. Other weeks you might be busy or the topic might not suit your class, so you can simply skip it. You also have the option to modify anything to suit the needs of your students.

If you need to start late or you have holidays that fall during the ten weeks (October 7 to mid-December), that’s not a problem.

More Questions?

We’ve created two PDF documents of Frequently Asked Questions. One is for participants and another is for commenters. Scroll down to find the ‘download’ button under the document if you want to save a copy to your computer.

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Anything else you’re not sure about? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you!