The next student and class blogging challenge starts in September 2013.

Why do we need mentors in the blogging challenge?

When I first began the challenge back in 2008, there were only about 200 students taking part and I could visit each of them three times over the ten week period.

But in the last few challenges, there have been  over 1300 students and there was no way I could visit them regularly.  So in 2010 I started asking people in education to mentor a small group 20-30 students over the ten week period of September to November or March to May.

If you register to be a mentor, please keep checking back on this post as I will allocate the students to you and mention in your comment reply who you will be visiting. I will also send you an email reminding you about checking this post early in the challenge.

As soon as students start registering in late August, I will allocate mentors so please keep checking out the student participant’s page in the main header above to find out who you are mentoring.

Who can be a mentor?

  • classroom teacher or homeschool teacher
  • principal or senior staff or faculty members
  • trainee teachers
  • students who have taken part in at least two sets of previous challenges
  • educational coaches or trainers
  • regular blogger about educational matters

What do you do if you are a mentor?

  • Visit your allocated student blogs at least three times throughout the challenge
  • Leave comments on posts written by the students
  • Continue conversations in the comments
  • Remind them about visiting the main blogging challenge page each week
  • contact me by email or a comment if having concerns or problems (contact is on right sidebar)

So you have read the above and have decided you have the time to visit the student blogs, now it is time to register.

In a comment below, mention the following:

  • A short bio of yourself including some interests
  • Link to your own blog, especially a class blog or your personal blog – allows me to check validity as an educator
  • Age group you would like to mentor

78 thoughts on “Register as a mentor

    1. Hi Karen,
      Thanks for offering to mentor again. With only a couple of weeks left, I wont allocate you to any students but feel free to visit any that have not got a mentor in their section – there are lots without mentors this time. Feel free to register as a mentor in February next year when the new mentor form goes up.

  1. Hi, I would be interested in being a mentor if you still require one.
    I am in my third year of teaching. I teach in a special school in Melbourne, Australia. I have strong interests in students with special needs (particularly Autism) and educational technology.
    The students in my class currently range from 8-10 years old and in Term 4 I am hoping to get them started with blogging, so this would be a good program to show them and get them involved in reading blogs as well as writing them.
    My site is: http://www.anthrogirl.net From here you can access my blog for school as well as my blog documenting our trial of 1:1 iPads in the classroom.

    1. G’day Sarah,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you a group of 9 year old students. Check the list at the top of the header in the student blog and scroll down to the 9 year olds. Your name and the group of students will be in the same colour.

  2. I have retired recently as a classroom teacher and have retrained as an adult educator. I train Education Support Officers or teachers aides. My teacher registration is up to day. When teaching I maintained wikis, blogs and a website. I collaborated in a number of online activities with schools in India, South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom. To continue to train ESOs I have to maintain industrial experience and I work as a casual relief teacher and I tutor students at the local high school and refugee boys. My blog is here: http://ropie.edublogs.org

    1. G’day R. Opie,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor in the challenge. As you work with older students, I have allocated some 13 year old students to you. You will find them in the list in the header of this blog. Scroll down to the 13 year old group and find your name R.Opie in a colour. Your students are also in the same colour.

  3. I am a Grade 3 primary school teacher in Victoria, Australia. I have 9 extension students participating in the blogging challenge and would like to get involved and assist others.

  4. Hello Sue! I too, am willing and interested in being a mentor if still needed. I’ve been teaching for twelve years now as a middle school teacher. Last school year I introduced my students to blogging and maintaining an online portfolio of work. This year, I’m adding this challenge for my students to complete. I would enjoy mentoring middle school students (6-8 grade), but I would perfer not to mentor my own students.

    Thank you for your consideration. Here is a link to my blog.
    http://kidblog.org/SconyersRaiderTime-2/author/2ceb7c5d-8133-47b4-b162-084af0dbb01f/

    Sara

    1. G’day Sara,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  5. Hi Sue
    I would like to mentor some students in the grade 3/4 level if possible but will work with any students.
    I teach in a primary school in Victoria, Australia. My role in the school is ICT extension for the gifted and highly capable students. I have asked all my grade 3/4 students to participate in the challenge and their class teachers are going to help out as well.
    This is my second challenge as a mentor and second group of students completing the challenge. My class blog is http://berwicklodgeps.global2.vic.edu.au and my personal blog is http://loisath.edublogs.org
    Thanks for organising the challenge. It is a great opportunity for the students and teachers involved.

    cheers
    Lois

    1. G’day Lois,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 9 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

      1. Perfect – thanks Sue. I have grade 3&4 students doing the challenge this term – we’ll start as soon as we get back from term break so it will be interesting to see what other students of a similar age are doing. Hopefully some great collaboration will evolve 🙂

  6. Hi Sue,

    My ICT Leading Teacher told me about getting my grade 4 students involved in this years Blogging Challenge. She also mentioned teachers could be mentors to students participating. I have been teaching for 13 years am curently a Leading Teacher at Berwick Lodge Primary School. I teach a grade 4 class four days a week and Lego Robotics one day a week at my school. I currently have two blogs (my grade and Robotics Program) that I am happy for you to look at.
    http://blps41.global2.vic.edu.au
    http://blpsrobotics.global2.vic.edu.au
    Looking forward to the opportunity to mentor some students participating in the challenge.

    Traceye Rapinett

    1. G’day Traceye,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 10 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  7. G’Day Sue!
    I didn’t realize, until shortly, that the number of mentors was not closed yet. If I can help and if it is possible to mentor a group of students smaller than 20, I would be happy to participate in the Challenge. Thank you
    Ines

    1. G’day Inpi,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

    1. G’day Michelle,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 9 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  8. G’day Sarah,
    Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 13 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  9. I am the principal at a 1:1 technology magnet school (and a former high school English teacher!) We are working to become a community of bloggers, and I would love to work with others to do the same.

    I blog at principlesfromaprincipal.blogspot.com

  10. Hi,
    I really liked the idea of mentoring student blogs. It sounds very motivating for them to write. I’m new but I would like to mentor some students over 16 years old if you still need mentors.

    Here is my personal blog but I haven’t written anything for about a year since I was too busy with my DELTA course and observations.

    http://myenglishpot.wordpress.com/2012/10/

    1. G’day Asli,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 13 year old students to you as students aged 16 and older are already covered with mentors. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  11. My name is Megan Stamer and I would love to mentor students in 6-8th grade. I am a new teacher who would love to help students learn the benefits of blogging. I love learning new technologies, reading, spending time with my family and friends, and love watching TV.

    My blog is: http://liveloveteachchange.blogspot.com/

    1. G’day Megan,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 13 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  12. Hello,
    I would like to mentor a small group this fall for the blogging challenge. I teach high school social studies in Pennsylvania, but have worked with all ages as a reading specialist. I would be comfortable mentoring any age group that you would need help with. My professional blog is located at http://mrsal.edublogs.org/

    I encouraged my students to sign up for the Student Blogging Challenge and actively participate. I feel it is only fair that I participate in some way also. Our class blog is located at http://mrsalsclasses.edublogs.org/ where my students’ individual school blogs are linked.

    I have a wide array of hobbies ranging from outdoor activities to watching sports.

    Sincerely,
    Dom

    1. G’day Dom,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 16 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

    1. G’day Brenna,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 8 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  13. Hi Sue,
    I’m a teacher in transition right now. In a few months I will be moving to Bahrain. Right now I substitute teach and help out with a computer programming exploratory class at my small Catholic school, where I taught for 7 years and they are still family.

    I will help out mentoring any group, wherever you need me. I like them all!
    My blog URL is http://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org

    Thanks,
    Denise

    1. G’day Denise,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 11 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog. I think many with the Google shortened URL have login to comment problems but I need a way to find the teacher.

  14. Would love to get involved.
    Currently not a full-time educator but secondary Historian, also English, literacy development and old NSW General Studies syllabus experience.
    Worked with Edmodo with my junior classes and blogged with special groups/projects.
    As a newbie, happy to start with whatever group allocated.
    Looking forward to connecting, guiding and learning. 🙂
    Southern suburban Sydney, NSW, Australia.

    1. G’day Lynne,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 10 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  15. Bio- I am an ICT teacher from Sydney, Australia. I teach students from year 1-5 every week in the computer room. I am also the Technology Coordinator for my school (a primary school of 730 students). I help teachers and students integrate technology into their learning. I currently use BlogEd as my blogging platform. I have 2 blogs that students we are currently using at school https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/890704-ourlibraryinthebush/ and https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/874363-ict1/
    I also have 2 groups of students who publish work on blogs for the school and I am the moderator and mentor of those as well. https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/382083-bushbricks/ and https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/831743-thebushschooltour/
    I would be happy to mentor students up to age 12 if you are still in need of mentors.

    1. G’day Ruth,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 11 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  16. Hi . . . My name is Charles Bickenheuser, and I’m a teacher of sixth-grade students in Pasco, Washington, a mountainous and desert state on the West Coast of the US. I live in the desert where some of the best grapes in the world are grown for wine making. Many of my students emigrated from Russia, Mexico, and Southeast Asia. About half of my students learned to speak English as a second language.

    I have two classes: one is a general class and the other is a gifted class where the students are taking pre-algebra. In my classroom we have five computer workstations, and we do a lot of collaboration in a program called Edmodo.com; we use Edmodo.com for many of our assignments and conversations.

    In my school district we have about 900 teachers and about 9,000 students. Pasco has been my home for 20 years, and before that I worked for a state legislature drafting legislation and holding public hearings. And a long long time ago, I was a soldier in an airborne unit in Vietnam. I like to tell my students that I’m 108 years old, that they don’t believe me. Most of my students think I’m in my 50s, when actually I’m 20 years older than that estimate. I never tell anybody my age because I think it may work against me and, because I look younger than I really am, most people just think I’m in my 50s.

    My subjects are English and history, and I have bachelors degrees in each. Recently I completed my doctorate, and the whole school now calls me, “Dr. B.” I like being a doctor, and I like research, but not as much as I love teaching. In my classroom we have a lot of fun, and we do a lot of silly things, and we learn how to work together and take care of each other.

    I think being a mentor is just going to be plain fun, and I look forward to meeting the students that I’ll be working with in this project.

    All the best . . .
    Dr. B.

    The blog that I use for my parents is: http://www.NamingTheDragon.com

    My school email is: CBickenheuser@PSD1.org

    The code for one of my Edmodo.com classes is: g68xia
    Please register for the class as a teacher and meet some of my students.

    1. G’day Charles,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  17. Hi again,
    I’d love to mentor another group. Happy to do any age you need.
    Have a great Blog Challenge.
    Tamara Wolpowitz

    1. G’day Tamara,
      Thanks for being a mentor again. i have allocated you a group of 11 year old students. They are near the end of the list of 11 year old kids.

  18. Dear Miss W.,
    I’d be happy to take part in September challenge as a mentor again.
    I’m a teacher of English as a second language from Ukraine working with primary and middle school children. My 9 y.o. daughter Kristina and a few of my students will be taking part in September 2013 challenge.
    Here’s our blog: http://kidblog.org/HelenOnyshchenkosClass/
    I’d like to mentor 7-11 y.o. kids and i wish you gave me not more than 15 students so that I have time to attend and comment on their blogs regularly 🙂

    Best regards,
    Helen Onyshchenko

    1. G’day Helen,
      Thanks for offering to mentor in the challenge again. I have allocated you the 7 and 8 year olds. At the moment, this is only a small group, but as more register you might get a few more to mentor.

  19. Hi,
    My name is Kate Degner. I taught high school mathematics for 7 years. Now I work at the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa. I am part of the STEM initiatives team as well as an administrator for a few other high school programs run by the Center. I’ve taught a variety of classes from Consumer Mathematics through Calc II.
    My blog is http://katedegner.wordpress.com
    I’d love to mentor high-school or middle school aged students.

    1. G’day Kate,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. At the moment you only have 3 students in your group of 13 year olds. As more register they will be added to your group. To find your students, go to the student page in the header area of the challenge blog and scroll down to the end of the 13 year old students.

  20. Greetings from Tunisia,
    My Name is Hayfa Majdoub, I’m an English teacher from Tunisia. My students participated in March’s blogging challenge and they loved the experience, and I mentored them unofficially. I’d love to be part of the mentoring experience this September, mentoring 15 and up years old. Here is my personal http://haymajd.blogspot.com,
    Hayfa

    1. G’day Hayfa,
      Thanks for being a mentor again in the challenge. I have allocated the 15 year old students to you. At the moment, there is only a small group, but as more register I will add them to your group. To find your students, go to the student page in the header, scroll down to the 15 year olds.

  21. Hi Sue and Sue,

    I’m happy to mentor any age group.

    I’m a teacher in the Elk Grove School District, which is located in northern California (USA). In my current position as a technology integration specialist, I work with teachers and students across grade levels and subject areas. Promoting students’ skills as digital/global citizens is my top priority.

    I blog at http://blogwalker.edublogs.org
    I co-curate a digital citizenship wiki at http://digital-id.wikispaces.com

    Looking forward to the September Student Blogging Challenge,
    Gail

    1. G’day Gail,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor for the challenge. I have allocated you a group of 11 year old students. You can find them in the student page in the header of the challenge blog. Scroll down to the 11 year olds until you find your name. You and your students will be in the same colour.

  22. Greetings. I’d like to request the opportunity to become a mentor. I work as a Media Specialist for an instructional resource center. Our center provides teacher education students with resources to help them become 21st century leaders.
    I’d be willing to work with any age group. My blog is http://dinahhunt.edublogs.org/ You can find me on Twitter @aueagle1.
    I enjoy exploring different Web 2.0 tech tools. QR codes and Augmented Reality are particular favorites of mine.
    Thanks.

    1. Thanks for being a mentor again, Dinah. I have allocated you a group of 12 year old students. You can find them on the student page in the header of the challenge blog.

  23. Magandang araw sa inyong lahat!
    It’s a Filipino greetings which means good day to all of you!

    Hello out there!
    I’m Rolan (Rolando R. Barcelon), a science teacher at Quirino High School, Quezon City, Philippines. At this time, I’m teaching Chemistry for third year high school students. I’m already 34 years old. I’m a YES-O (Youth for Environment in Schools Organization Adviser, and also a SEED teacher. SEED means Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development.

    I love to teach kids and listening news. I do love blogging as well especially at http://www.planetseed.com. My blogs are found in this link: http://www.planetseed.com/category/keywords-tags/teacher-blog-project

    I love posting polls also. Some of my created polls are here: http://www.planetseed.com/poll_page

    My facebook account is here: https://www.facebook.com/roland.barcelon.94

    I want to mentor 12-22 years old.

    God bless us all!

    Cheers from the Philippines,
    Rolan

    1. G’day Rolan,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you a group of 13 year old students. Check the student page in the header of the challenge blog and scroll down to the 13 year olds. Your group is in the same colour as you near the end of the age group.

      1. Hello Miss W.!
        I’m sorry! I really need your help.
        I tried many times to find my students, but still to no avail.
        I can’t find my students for comments on their blog.

        Thanks for your help!

        Rolan

  24. I am an educational technology specialist involved with training religion teachers in using technology in their classroom or ministry. To learn more about me, visit: http://acyberpilgrim.org. I would be comfortable in mentoring junior & senior high students, as when I taught, I taught math and spanish at the high school level. I am especially interested in learning how a project like this engages our youth in learning and interacting with one another through a blog. I look forward to the opportunity to mentor these students.

    1. G’day Caroline,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you a group of 14 year old students. As more students register, you might have a few more added to your group. To find the students, go to the student page in the header of the challenge blog, scroll down to the 14 year olds and you look after the group in the same colour as you.

  25. Hi, I’d love to help out.
    I’m an Education Consultant with 27 years experience in the classroom. I mainly deliver professional learning on Learning Styles, Behaviour Management, Boys’ Education, Positive Education, Restorative Practise, Brain Training, Study Skills, Special Education. I’m currently completing a research unit on The nature of the relationship between teachers and teacher aides at Monash University. I’m based in Melbourne Australia.

    My website: http://www.joprestia.com.au
    Blog: “Smart is Cool!” http://joprestia.edublogs.org

    Look forward to hearing from you
    Jo

    1. G’day Jo,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor in the challenge. I have allocated you a group of 13 year old students. You can find them in the student page in the blog challenge header area. Just scroll down to the 13 year olds and find the group allocated to you – they will be the same colour as you.

  26. Hi Miss W
    I would love to be a mentor again this year, any age group.
    I am a in my final year of an Education degree in Melbourne Australia. I am interested in learning more about blogging and hopefully one day start my own class blog.

    1. G’day Lisa,
      Thanks for being a mentor again. I have allocated yo a group of 11 year old students. You can find them in the student page in the header.

  27. Hello!

    http://twkelly.edublogs.org/ (Music Room blog)

    My name is Tamika Kelly! I teach K-5 Music at Morganton Road Elem in Fayetteville, NC. I am beginning my 7th year in the classroom. Last year, I really integrated technology throughout my professional development as a teacher and within my lessons with students. I’m looking to improve upon that growth this year and I hope that serving as a mentor will help in that goal.

    I would love to work with grades 4th-5th.

    1. G’day Tamika,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you a group of 10 year old students who are nearly all from the same class, in case you want to skype in to them at some stage. You will find the list of students in the header area of the challenge blog. Scroll down to the 10 year olds to find your name and the students you will look after, all in the same colour.

  28. Dear Miss Sue,

    It would be my pleasure to participate this challenge as a Mentor as past years.

    1. Thanks Astaneh for offering again. I have allocated the students aged 17+ to you. Some of them you might have had in the last challenge as well.

  29. Hi Sue,
    I’d love to be a mentor again this year. I would prefer to work with students in grades 5-9 if possible.

    I am a computer and media teacher, currently seconded to Alberta Education working on a new project-based Career and Technology elective curriculum for students in grade 5-9 that is competency-based. This year I will be working on developing the framework for a community of learners for our teachers (and eventually students.)

    I have been blogging for about 3 years. You can find my personal blog at http://rhondajessen.com. I am interested in curricular transformation, media, photography, gardening, yoga, travel and reading (among many other things.)

    I am looking forward to this latest version of the challenge.

    1. G’day Rhonda,
      Thanks for being a mentor again. I have allocated you a group of 12 year old students. They are all from the same class if you want to contact the teacher for skyping etc.

  30. I would love to be a mentor for any age group.

    I am the 21st century learning & innovation specialist for a large school district in Colorado Springs. One of my goals for this year is to get more of our students and teachers blogging! I teach a class on blogging for district teachers. I have been blogging myself for about 3 years personally, and previously blogged for the Colorado Assn. of School Librarians.
    My blog: http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/

    1. G’day Nancy,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you a group o 13 year old students. Check the students list page in the header area and scroll down to the beginning of the 13 year olds to find your students.

  31. I would like to be a mentor again. I have experience with the challenge (this being my first one, second as a mentor). I have 3 years of blogging experience. I’m capable of this position. I would like to mentor 9-11 year olds.

    1. Hi Jake,
      I have given you a group of 10 year old students. If looking after 20 bloggers is too much with your school work, get back in touch with me and I will help you out.

    2. I would like to mentor. I teach Japanese 9 to 12, Social Studies 9, BC First Nations 12 and Comparative Civilizations 12 at a rural high school on Vancouver Island – Kwalikum Secondary School http://www.sd69.bc.ca/school/KSS/Pages/default.aspx/ . My personal blog is here http://educationadvocating.blogspot.ca/ My class site and blog are here http://skoki12.edublogs.org/

      I would like to mentor students in the 14 year old space. I could then connect them to my grade 9 students who are blogging in my social studies 9 class http://skoki12.edublogs.org/category/social-studies-9-2013/

      Thanks

      Brad Wilson

      1. G’day Brad,
        Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 14 year old students to you. Find them in the student list in the header of this blog.

  32. I would like to mentor 12-14 year olds- Middle school

    http://www.neidlingerla.blogspot.com/ – class website
    http://literacyshoptalk.com/ – professional blog- still working on- will be live soon

    Bio- I currently teach 7th grade language arts and have been part of a 1:1 school for four years. Additionally, I have utilized the flipped classroom philosophy for the past three years. I have been a teacher and administrator in the Plymouth School Corporation for twenty plus years. Global connected learning and creating engaging real world experiences in the classroom is the focus of my 21st century teaching. I am a life-long learner and model my passion for learning and technology in my classroom every day. I blog and have engaged my students in the collaborative process of blogging, as well, through self-designed student websites. Students are currently engaged in a ten week International Blogging Challenge, where they are demonstrating their skills of creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Additionally, social networking avenues such as Twitter, provides additional PD on a daily basis.

    1. Hi Paula,
      I rearranged some names so you don’t have any of your own students in the 12 year old group. Also all mentors only having 20 students this year, less of a burden on hard working teachers.

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