I’m tasteach or Miss W when on the internet but in real life I am Sue Wyatt.

I am a retired teacher from Tasmania, Australia who loves blogging, travelling and genealogy. When I am online I am a fairly talkative person as you will notice with my posts and comments, while in real life I am quiet unless with friends. Are you a different person online than in real life? How do you change or not?

avatarbigWhen online, you are usually represented by an avatar – these are used in gaming as well as on blogs. An avatar is supposed to represent the real you. Check out mine – I am a white haired lady with reading glasses. I usually have a cup of coffee in my hand and I always wear thongs on my feet – yes that’s where we wear them in Australia.

Activity 1. Create an avatar to use on your blog when leaving comments. Here is a post including some avatar sites . To add your avatar to your blog, if using Edublogs, check here. If using blogspot, check here.  Teacher might need to change some settings in Kidblog to allow students to add own avatars.

Did you find a great avatar site not mentioned here? Write a post about your avatar and how it represents you. Include a link to the website where you created the avatar.

Some students have mentioned the following as great avatar sites as well: Avachara, Chibimaker and Pocoyo

Activity 2. On your blog you also need a page or post telling us about yourself. Again you could use a variety of tools to embed on your blog. If you already have an About Me page, you might want to create an About my State or Province page as well. Be creative:

If using Edublogs, below are instructions for creating your page. If using blogspot, check here. If using weebly, check here. If using Kidblog, you will need to write a post.

  1. Login to your blog, go to the dashboard>pages>add new
  2. Change the title to About Me or something similar.
  3. If you only have one row of icons above the box, click on the last icon called the kitchen sink or toggle. This opens a second row which allows you to change font colours.
  4. In the box, write a bit about yourself remembering to be internet safe. Make sure you have checked out the pages from other students mentioned – many of them have been blogging for a while.
  5. When you have finished click the big  button on the right side of your screen – probably says update or send for review.
  6. Once you have saved your about me page, go back and delete the sample page.
  7. If your theme doesn’t show pages in the header area, then you will need to go to dashboard> appearance> widgets and drag across the Pages one to your sidebar.

Finished the work for week 1?

Then head off to the class or student list above the blog header and start visiting other blogs. You might not want to comment this week but maybe check them out. Are there any students with interests the same as you? Do you have a mentor yet? Have they left you any comments?

Other admin for week 1

  1. Check that your name appears only once on the list of participating students. Leave a comment on that page if I need to remove your name from the list – give me your name, URL and age so I can find you easily.
  2. If all the students in your class have blogs and your teacher has a section called ‘My class’, you should have a widget called ‘Class blogs’. Make sure this is on your sidebar.
  3. Add the challenge badge to your sidebar – UPDATE Once the page is written a link will be added here.
  4. Can visitors leave comments on your blog posts? If your country is in bright pink, then you might need to change your privacy settings or give me your correct URL. Check this post for how to do this using Edublogs, Blogger and Kidblog.

How do I know you have done your activity?

You come back here to this post and leave me a comment once your teacher has approved your post or page. Make sure you include the URL of your post so I can visit and leave comments. Tell me what you enjoyed most about the activity.

Also great posts get added to our Flipboard magazine on the sidebar of the challenge blog. A new one of these will be started next week for 2016.

239 thoughts on “Week 1: I am ….

  1. Hi Ms. W!
    I completed week ones challenge! it was super fun! check it out! edublog.amdsb.ca/myblogaislinn581

  2. Hello Miss W,

    I registered with the intent of using my old blog on my website, but I’m having trouble getting it updated and working properly to be used for my class. And I’m now about 4 weeks behind! Is there a way to switch my registration and use the edublog instead?

    Here’s my edublog link – with avatar and about page set up 🙂

    http://missbethart.edublogs.org/

    Miss Beth

  3. Hi,

    My class has really enjoyed talking about why people use avatars online. This challenge has fit perfectly into our CBL challenge solution for the term and 3A is really looking forward to reading, commenting and communicating with others through blogging next term. We have just gone on holidays but are raring to catch up and continue once April comes around!

    Here is a post about our avatars and the blogging challenge:
    http://acpsyear34.global2.vic.edu.au/2016/03/24/3a-student-blogging-challenge/

    With Thanks,
    Ms Candice Huntly

  4. Hello Ms. W,

    I had fun creating my avatar today! I wanted to see what other people had come up with so I checked the students page and found that I had accidentally entered twice. One of my blogs is in Ms. Brigo’s group and the other one does not have a group.

    Thanks,
    Max

  5. Hi Miss W check out my avatar posthttp://blogs.csdvt.org/elenas/2016/03/11/avatar/

    Hope you like it.

  6. My name is Isabel B, I am having lots of fun with the blogging challenge thank you for creating it!

    Blog: blogs.csdvt.org/isabelb2/sample-page/

  7. I’ve done this activity. I came up with a few interesting ideas for my blog like a spot the differences activity! If you wanna see go to my blog at:
    http://cillian123stb.edublogs.org
    And I’ve got a surprise up my sleeve… check in with my blog some time to see if I’ve made it…

  8. I just finished week one! I really enjoyed creating my avatar! Here’s the link to my blog.
    kendalpcs1516.edublogs.org

  9. I liked activity 1, because it let us start to practice as if we were talking to a larger audience of people who don’t already know us, and I think that was good practice because your viewers aren’t always going to know a lot about you.

    http://runnergirl1818.blogspot.com/

  10. I liked the whole expressing yourself to the world message about this challenge. It makes you feel free as a person because most of the bloggers don’t hold you to a strict reputation. Here is the link to my blog; http://hamboni4.blogspot.com/

  11. I really liked how we were able to be creative with our avatar. You could make it like you, or like a cool character from maybe a video game that you like. I thought that was cool. My blog URL is sambolicousstem.blogspot.com

  12. Hi Mrs. W! I finished week ones challenge! I enjoyed making the all about me page! I am enjoying being able to connect with other children from all over the world! Here is my blog!

    edublog.amdsb.ca/myblogaislinn581

  13. Hey Mrs W,
    Here is the link to my blog //20blanbr.edublogs.org/files/2016/02/Copy-of-My-FUTURE-Cover-17u5d1d.jpg

      1. Hi Sierra,
        The avatar activity has a post to click on that gives you lots of choices for creating an avatar. Legally you shouldn’t be using any image from Google as many of them are copyright and owned by someone else.

  14. Hi Miss W,
    Completed the tasks for this week!
    My avatar post: https://briannal27kns.edublogs.org/2016/03/11/first-student-blogging-challenge-of-the-year-part-1/
    My About Me post: https://briannal27kns.edublogs.org/2016/03/11/week-1-student-blogging-challenge-part-2/
    Also, I’m mentoring a girl named Riana. She’s put her blog address wrong on the signing up page. I asked Riana (I know her), and her address is: http://rianap123.edublogs.org
    Thanks!

  15. Hi Miss W,

    I’m back for my second year! The challenge last year was so great for so many reasons and this year I’m hoping to do something for all my international viewers.

    I have written a poem on me ‘About Me’ page. I would love some feedback on it so was wondering if you could check it out. Here’s the link
    http://brookeroom7bnms.blogspot.co.nz/p/more-about-me.html
    Thanks,
    Brooke

  16. Hi Miss W!

    We are thrilled to be joining you again for the Student Blogging Challenge. My students have been hard at work here in the Northern Hemisphere as we rolled through the winter with a few snow days – we work from home using technology and don’t have to make up the days! Our focus has been on the FUTURE. My 8th graders have been researching and planning their FUTURES. I hope you and the other bloggers enjoy our blogs! Thanks!
    http://mrspowers21stc.edublogs.org/2016/03/10/back-to-the-future/

  17. Hey how has your Summer-Fall been lately. We’ve been in school for 3 months now. Just working on school. Everythings been good. Here is my link to my future.
    20moorbn.edublogs.org

  18. Hi! How was your week? How are you doing:))? Anyway i was wanting to show a link to “my future” Let me no what you think!!. 20littbm.edublogs.org

  19. Hello, Ms w. I hope you had a great summer down there because where I am in my school we have been working on a little project about our future and so here is a link to my future project on my blog page.
    http://20smitme.edublogs.org/
    Hope you enjoy it!!!!

      1. I am about to publish the post about the challenge badge which you can put on the sidebar of your blog to show you are taking part in the challenge in 2016.

  20. I have done my about me page. I have so far enjoyed the challenge. Here’s my blog edublog.amdsb.ca/myblogannabelle600

  21. Hi, I have finished the activity. Here is my blog post with my avatar http://oliviaglca.edublogs.org/.
    I have one question: You mentioned that we should add the challenge badge to our sidebar. I do not know how to find that “challenge badge.”
    Thank you so much

    Olivia

  22. Hi Miss W,
    I’ve just got two questions:
    -Do we do both activities or one?
    -For Activity 1, does it have to be an actual avatar? I just changed my picture today, and it’s not like a person, so…

    1. Brianna,
      You can do one or both activities. You might want to create an about New Zealand page or post so the students you are mentoring have somewhere to come and ask you questions. The avatar one is more to have fun and be creative with making an avatar. As long as the image you have used in a creative commons image then you should be OK.

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