The next student and class blogging challenge starts in September 2014. This is a special challenge being the 13th one organized. I hope this is not an omen of bad luck!!

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 early September, 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

Finally fill in this form with a way I can contact you eg your email address – preferably a school or education email address

 

69 thoughts on “Mentors wanted

  1. I would be happy to mentor again. Could I please have students in the 8/9 or 10 year range. I have a number of students from Berwick Lodge completing the challenge too. Their blogs all start with blps.

    cheers
    Lois

  2. Hello there!
    I just wanted to assure you that I have left two comments so far on each of my mentees`blogs (a full introduction in the first week, plus a heads-up about Challenge 3 last Sunday). A few comments seem to have been published this afternoon but the rest are not appearing yet.
    Would you be able to give my email to the teacher so that I can be sure that nothing is wrong.
    My next set of emails is to begin more in-depth responses and I don`t want to waste time if there`s a technical problem on the other end.
    Thanks!
    Mrs. Theriault
    All Things Quebec

    1. G’day Mrs Theriault,
      Thanks for being a mentor again this year. I notice though, whenever you leave a comment only a period or dot appears instead of your name. You might need to fix this as it might be putting some students off moderating your comments as they are not sure who it is, even though you include your name in the comment area. Also do you have an avatar on your wordpress blog or you could create one and add to gravatar as this then associates an email address I think with an avatar and will post on any blog platform?

  3. I’m a passionate educator, ICT leader & ICT teacher at a primary school in Melbourne and teacher-coach in the Melbourne region. I coach teachers on blogging frequently and blogging has been a great success at my school this year. I hope some of the classes will get involve in this challenge. I’d be really happy to mentor some bloggers – Primary school aged students.

    1. G’day Rita,
      Thanks for offering to mentor. I have allocated a group of 12 year olds to you. They are in a mauvy colour on the student participants list above the header flags.

  4. Hello,
    I am a teacher from the Riverside School Board on Montreal’s South Shore.
    I have been teaching at the elementary school level for more than a decade except for two years at the school board as an English Language Arts consultant. I’ve been blogging with my students for several years and will input their blog addresses tomorrow.
    I would be especially pleased to mentor students of 11/12 yrs and older including secondary level students.
    Thank you,
    Mrs. Theriault
    All Things Quebec
    http://allthingsquebec.wordpress.com

    1. G’day Mrs Theriault,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated you some 13 year old students. They are all from one teacher except Lily. They are in a green colour on the student participant list above the flags.

  5. I’m Head of Library at a govt school and using digital technology has been at the forefront of my own learning for many years. Last year I commenced a ‘Library Monitors’ program and expanded it this year to 14 students in Years 7&8. They assist with many aspects of running our library and promoting reading throughout our community. This challenge is certainly something I would like to get my students involved in next year. Becoming a blogging mentor would be a privilege and I’m sure I would learn just as much alongside them in the challenge.

    1. G’day Lynn,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a bright pink colour on the participant list. Two are from my online class and the rest from 2 classes in USA. I can give teacher details if you want to connect.

      1. Thanks Miss W, I’d love to get connected with teachers. Just had a look through my students’ blogs and it’s going to be an exciting 10 weeks.
        Cheers,
        Lynn

  6. I’m Heather Bailie, Library & Information Services Manager at The King David School in Armadale, Melbourne. The school is K-12.
    My school seems a little nervous about the idea of children blogging (there is a year 6 class blog but no student blogs). I’m hoping that by being a mentor I will be able to demonstrate the benefits and find ways to ally their fears. Perhaps there will be KDS students participating in the next student blogging challenge, I hope so!

    1. G’day Heather,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in an orange colour on the participant list. They are from two classes in America and I can give you teacher details if you are interested in making connections.

  7. Hi Sue,
    I have been teaching middle school in beautiful Queensland for the last 14 years. My students are aged between 9 & 11. I have a class blog – yr5sk.edublogs
    and a tech brekkie blog – http://techbrekkiesbowen.edublogs.org.
    I would love to assist as a mentor again this semester.
    Tammie

    1. G’day Tammie,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 9 year old students to you. They are in a purple colour on the participant list.

  8. Greetings. I’m interested in becoming a mentor.
    I’m a Media Specialist at a college instructional resource center. I work with Teacher Education students. My personal blog is http://dinahhunt.edublogs.org. I’ve been so preoccupied with helping my daughter recover from injuries sustained in war that I’ve not spent much time on the blog. Now that she is well…
    My work blog is http://teachereducationresourcecenter.blogspot.com.
    In my spare time I enjoy exploring tech tools and sharing what I’ve learned with the students. Thanks.
    Dinah

    1. G’day Dinah,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a purple colour on the participant list.

  9. Hello!

    My name is Tamika Kelly. I teach Music K-5 in Fayetteville, NC. I really enjoyed being apart of the Fall session last year and would love to participate again. My blog is http://www.twkelly.edublogs.org and I would like to mentor 5th grade, if possible. Thanks!

    1. G’day Tamika,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 11 year old students to you. They are in a reddish colour on the participant list.

  10. Sorry it took me so long to leave the comment, although I registered some days ago.
    This is my blog: http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/ and there you can read it all about me: http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/p/about.html

    I’d be thrilled to mentor any type of age group, I love them all. I am more used to adult education and teacher training, but teenagers and young learners are also an awesome target audience.
    Best regards

    1. G’day Maria,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated the 14/15 year old students to you. They are in a purple colour on the participant list.

      As more 14/15 year olds register, they will be added to your group until you have 25 students to mentor. Thanks again.

  11. G’day Kim,
    Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a peach colour on the participant list.

    As more 12 year olds register, they will be added to your group until you have 25 students to mentor. Thanks again.

  12. My name is Kim Yeomans and I am a primary school teacher librarian from Melbourne, Australia. After 28 years teaching I am enjoying a Gap Year in 2014. I started our Library blog http://smotlrcblog.edublogs.org/ in 2009 and I have taught teachers at my school how to blog with their classes. I am passionate about books, reading and technology and finding creative ways to combine all three!

    I enjoy travelling, reading, photography, AFL football and I love chocolate!

    I would be happy to mentor students from Year 3-6 (or wherever needed)

    1. G’day Ben,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 13 year old students to you. They are in a blue colour on the participant list.

  13. I have been blogging with students for four years. My district implemented a digital 1:1 curriculum two years ago and it has been wonderful. This is my 19th year of teaching in the wonderful state of Alabama. My youngest child just started his freshman year at Auburn University.

    1. G’day Hope,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a lavender colour on the participant list.

  14. I am a fourth/fifth grade library media specialist in a suburb near Chicago. This is my 28th year as an educator. I am a mother of three grown children and have two grandsons. My husband and I enjoy taking rides on our Can-Am “Spyder” motorcycle, visiting state parks or other points of interest, or even just going out for ice cream. I love anything technology-based and am an actively involved teacher-leader.

    1. Thanks for offering to be a mentor, Mary. I checked out both your personal blog and the one you run for the media centre. I will be able to direct any students using weebly to check it out and perhaps get help from you if they have any queries.

    2. G’day Mary,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 10 year old students to you. They are in a ochre colour on the participant list.

      As more 10 year olds register, they will be added to your group until you have 25 students to mentor. Thanks again.

  15. I am a musician and instrumental teacher. I am currently training as a classroom teacher. I play a range of styles and play the guitar. I am passionate about the use of technology within the music classroom and this is the topic of my blog. I am also from Australia and study and work in Melbourne.

    1. G’day Tim,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 10 year old students to you. They are in a green colour on the participant list.

  16. I am a 5/6/7 teacher in Australia. My students will be participating in the student challenge for the first time, so in this way I can help keep the whole thing running smootly. Kids rely on comments to keep their motivation up!

    1. G’day Mrs Pratt,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a green colour on the participant list.

      They are all from the same school and if you want to connect with their teacher, he is @paulbogush on twitter. He is one of the first teachers to take part in the blogging challenge back in 2008.

  17. My name is Chelsea Chandler and I am about to start my teacher candidate internship in Virginia. Come December, I will receive my master’s degree in elementary education and I will also start my career as an elementary school teacher! I started blogging about children and young adult books as part of a class assignment, but I really enjoyed the experience and plan to use this as a personal teaching tool.
    Personal interests of mine include reading, gardening, yoga, coloring, exploring, animals, and math!
    I have experience working with children of all elementary ages and would feel comfortable mentoring any grade level up to 6th grade.
    By blog link is: chelseachandler.edublogs.org

    1. G’day Chelsea,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor, You will find I have moderation settings on comments which means they don’t appear straight away. This is something I learned while blogging with students and other teachers – safety. If you have comments automatically appearing, you will also get a lot of spam.

    2. G’day Chelsea,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a brownish colour on the participant list.

  18. I have been a teacher at an International School in Hong Kong for 13 years now. This year I will be leaving the classroom to become the school’s ICT Educational Specialist. I would like to monitor students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.

    1. G’day Lisa,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 11 year old students to you. They are in a yellowish colour on the participant list.

  19. Big thank you to those who have offered to mentor. I will get back to you with your list of students in early September once they have registered.

    If you want to keep up with the posts from this blog, please subscribe by either email or, if you are using an Edublogs blog, you can use the Follow button and see the posts in your Edublogs Reader in your blog.

  20. I’m a primary school teacher from Sydney currently teaching a Year 3 class. As a school executive team member I lead digital pedagogy and gifted education whilst completing my MeD Leadership. I co-mod the #aussieEd chat with a few friends, you can view my tweet feed @ZeinaChalich. I’m an Australian Catholic University Mentor working with a group of prac students to develop their professional practice at my school. At school I am currently running a writing mentoring program with primary/high school students and so I would like to take up the opportunity to mentor students aged 10-13 year old. My current learning goal is to blog so this would be a great way to get me started as well!

    1. G’day Zeina,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 11 year old students to you. They are in a purple colour on the participant list.

  21. I have been teaching for 19 years and am currently looking at applying to do my Masters in ICT in Education next year. I currently teach Year 3 and have a blog for my photography club “gppsshutterbugs.edublogs.org”.
    Mentoring would be a fabulous process.

    1. G’day Shutterbug leader (Suzanne – great name),
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 10 year old students to you. They are in a green colour on the participant list.

  22. Hello,

    I am currently in my final semester of a Bachelor of Education at the University of Tasmania. Upon graduation I will be qualified to teach in the Primary education sector.
    The concept of educational blogging is something which excites me greatly, however I am yet to have much experience with the concept. I would love to offer my support to students though this project and would be willing to mentor any student groups in the primary sector.

    Although my professional blog is still a work in progress, I can also be contacted through my Twitter account : @misscampbellAUS

    What a fantastic concept, thank you for the opportunity to participate!

    Amelia Campbell

    1. G’day Amelia,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a yellowish colour on the participant list.

  23. Proving that “booting up is not hard to do,” I was the first teacher at my school to hack into my principal’s dial-up internet connection in the halcyon days of the burgeoning web, circa 1999. Since then I have taught K-Adult learners in online courses through PBS TeacherLine and face-to-face professional staff development sessions. I’m also a curriculum writer, an instructional designer, and doctoral student in learning technologies at Pepperdine University. My blog name and address is Teague Tech Tricks Blog: http://4oops.edublogs.org/ Happy to help mentor students in grades 6-12. This is a great idea!

    1. G’day Helen,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 12 year old students to you. They are in a reddish colour on the participant list.

  24. Hi,
    I’m a teacher of History, Philosophy and Anthropology in a network of schools here in São Paulo, Brazil. I love to teach, read, do some research, write, everything. Unfortunaly my blog is still with nothing, once I’ve have do my register today. But I would like very much to participate as a mentor in this challenge, and specifically with people 13-18 years .

    1. G’day Mauricio,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. It would be great if you could have a blog that I could visit to check your credentials. Maybe you have a class website in Brazil?

  25. I am a university instructor in Wisconsin. I teach several courses: Academic Study Skills, College Reading, GRE, and the PPST. I think this would be a great opportunity to help college students (other than my own) around the country! The age range would be college students-18-22. Thanks!

    1. G’day ,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated the 18-22 year old group to you this time. They are in a reddish colour on the participant list.

  26. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a mentor for the spring challenge, and I would be honored to reprise the role come September. I’m a sixth grade language arts teacher with a past life as a promotional/pr writer. I would be happy to mentor any middle school bloggers (grade 6-8). Thanks! 🙂

    1. G’day Cyndi,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor. I have allocated some 9 year old students to you this time. They are in an orangey colour on the participant list.

  27. I will be teaching a 3/4 combined group this year. I am a mom to 3 children, and I have been an elementary teacher for 26 years. I love to read, blog, cook, knit, and garden! This year I would love to give back to such an amazing blogging community! I look forward to the opportunity!

    1. G’day Tracy,
      Thanks for offering to be a mentor again. I have allocated the 5 to 8 year old group to you this time. They are in a purple colour on the participant list.

  28. It would be my pleasure if as past years I could be a mentor for group 15-18.

    With special thanks to Ms. Sue

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