October '18: Student Blogging Challenge #2: Writing quality comments

My two classes are enjoying participating in the free Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge.  This is a great way to learn about Internet safety and blogging at the same time. If you would like to add some students from your class to this challenge it is not too late! Find out more at:
http://bit.ly/2Abv09v

We are in week two of the challenge and this week’s post is all about writing quality blog comments. I am adding some of the highlights in this post.

Benefits of commenting
This is taken from the Week 2 Blogging Challenge post found at:
 http://bit.ly/2Abw6lP  

"Here are ten reasons why comments are important:

1. Comments turn your blog from a static space to an interactive space. This means it’s not just you talking. There is interaction. 
2. Back and forth conversations are fun and you can learn a lot. 
3. Because comments are not instantaneous (like online chat or text messaging), you can have more time to reflect, research, or think about your response. 
4. When someone leaves a comment, they can leave feedback, constructive criticism, or give you new ideas. This can help you grow and learn. 
5. A commenter might suggest something that you didn’t include in your post. You can learn new perspectives. 
6. When you have an authentic (real) audience, it’s more motivating! You know someone will read your post, so you will probably put more effort into it than if you were just writing something in a notebook. 
7. Commenting can be an ideal way for busy parents to get involved in the classroom. 
8. You can learn how to interact politely and how to have conversations. 
9. You can meet new people and form friendships. 
10. Students who don’t have their own blogs can enjoy the benefits of blogging by being a participant in the comment section.” 

How to comment
Week 2's tasks included discussing good commenting skills, creating a ‘How to comment’ page' on their blog and making a set of commenting guidelines, time permitting of course. Kathleen Morris from Australia, who is running the challenge, added this lovely commenting image this week,

A video on how to commentThis video is featured on the Edublogs page. I like it! Sling’s class in Canada has completed this must-watch video on commenting.



Interesting pointers from this week's Student Blogging Challenge post
1. Each week the best posts from the previous week's Student Blogging Challenge are featured in the 2018 Student Blogging Challenge Flipboard http://bit.ly/2AbncVf.. Since I only see my classes once a week, we won't have time to do all the lovely activities. We plan to dip in and take out what is important for us.

2. Some teachers like their students to make screencast videos about commenting. This is what Kathleen says about making your own video. "To make the video you could use a free Chrome extension called Screencastify . Loom is another good tool for making screencast videos if you use the Chrome browser. If you use an iPad you can make a screencast without any special app. Tony Vincent shows us how to do that in this graphically."

I had no idea you could do this on an iPad. How awesome!

This week's task for my classes
Write an encouraging post on four blogs from another country. Use this frame:
Hello. My name is (use your online name)
I like this post because...........
Ask a question OR add some new thoughts about the post
I think your blog.......
Please visit my blog (add your blog address)

October '18: Student Blogging Challenge #1: Introductions, online safety and avatars

I have joined two classes to this year's free Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge. It is the 21st Student Blogging Challenge - two a year for the last ten years http://bit.ly/2Abv09v. You can join your students individually which is what I have done or you can join as a class. It is a great way to learn about Internet safety along with 1550 other students from 27 countries and six continents around the world. My two classes are very excited about it.

Introductions
This week's post is all about Introductions. We will be creating poems about ourselves using our online names. I gave my two classes this poem outline to complete:

Online Name

Three descriptive traits
Who lives in Cape Town

Who enjoys…… (at school)

Whose hobbies are….

Who likes... (food)

Who thinks….

Who loves…
Online name

Instead of adding a photo we use an avatar. An avatar is an image that you use to represent yourself on the internet. It’s like a character that represents your online identity. In the past we have made different avatars - I rather like the way www.cartoonify.de does their avatars so we will use that site to create ours. 

The other things we learn about this week is online safety. We are introducing ourselves online in a safe way - not revealing too much about ourselves. I like the poster that Kathleen Morris from Australia (who is running the Blogging Challenge) has added to the post.

This week's tasks for my classes

1. Register for the Blogging Challenge
2. Add the Blogging Challenge badge to your blog
3. Create an avatar using www.Cartoonify.de and add it to your blog.
4. Make sure you have an introductory poem about yourself on the blog
5. Add your avatar and poem to a collaborative slide show.