Admin for week 2:

When visiting many blogs last week, I noticed your pages in Edublogs often didn’t allow for comments to be written. You might need to do the following:

  1. Go to your about me page and open it in your dashboard.
  2. In top right corner, click on screen options and make sure Discussions is ticked. Close screen options.
  3. Now below the writing area for your page you should see a dropdown labelled Discussions.
  4. Make sure you have ticked the boxes about leaving comments.

Each week, I am going to highlight some well written and interesting posts for you to check out. Remember to check Flipboard as well.

Elena and her avatars, Issaka loves magic and eSports, Victoria and her experiences,

About week 2: Commenting skills

This is another important week in the challenge. Blogging is all about having your voice heard and connecting with others who might like to read and comment on what you have written. But, as in many things we humans do, there are some protocols bloggers in schools like to follow.

Check out these videos about leaving quality comments. The first video was created for one of the very first blogging challenges back in 2009 by Mrs Yollis’ grade 3 students and it has been seen by thousands of students who have taken part in the blogging challenges since then. This video is suitable for all ages but specifically primary/elementary school or lower. But those in middle/high school or older might like to check out the second video which is more suited to an older age group.

Teachers: You might want to visit the post about teaching quality commenting on the Teacher Challenge blog. It has an excellent video about the possibilities of blogging through commenting. It also includes the videos below and others you might want to share with your class. You also find out about commenting and blogging guidelines, paper blogging and other ways to use your blogs to connect globally.

Using Edublogs? Check out these posts about comments: Comment overview,  managing comments,

Mrs Yollis and her third grade class

Nicolas Weiss – Leaving high quality blog comments

 

Activity 1: Create a ‘How to comment’ page on your blog

Many themes and blogging platforms have different ways to leave a comment. You might need to click on the title of the post, or click on a number in a circle or click on the words ‘Leave a comment’. Write a page for your blog explaining how to leave a comment. You could write it as a set of steps or perhaps create a video showing what to do. Be creative. Here is an example on  my family history blog. Mrs Yollis created a video showing how to comment on her blogspot blog.

Activity 2: Make a set of commenting guidelines

Explain what you expect when someone leaves a comment on your blog.

  • What type of comment is acceptable?
  • Which type of comment will you put in the trash?

Here are some examples:

Huzzah commenting guidelines,  a Glogster poster about commenting, WarriorKat used a variety of tools for her guidelines, notice how Sophie included a link back to Mrs  Yollis’ blog where she got her information from, Emme created a PowToon, Darcey included some interesting points, Kyndal has her guidelines here, Meghana used Canva to create a poster, Taylor included some great commenting tips

Activity 3: Leave a comment on this post – you might be able to combine this with activity 4

Each week the best posts published in the Student Blogging Challenge are featured in our Flipboard magazine.

To check your posts we need you to leave a comment with a link to your post on this blog whenever you finish a weekly activity.

So your activity is to practice leaving a comment below with a link to your post for an activity you’ve completed this week or last week.

But first you need to know the difference between your BLOG link and your POST link

  • Blog link: https://studentchallenge.edublogs.org
  • Post link: https://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2016/10/02/gday-my-name-is/

If your teacher is moderating and approving your posts, you will need to wait until this has been done before leaving me a link in a comment.

Activity 4: Use some HTML in a comment

Did you check out Mrs Yollis’ blog? She includes a page with some HTML (code) you can use when commenting especially on blogspot blogs. If leaving a comment on an Edublogs blog, here is a post explaining the HTML to use.  If you want to leave a link to your blog that looks neat and tidy, check out this post.

Activity 5: Visit other student or class blogs

Visit 4 other blogs on the lists above the header area. Leave a quality comment on one post on each blog. Might be the About Me page or another post you found interesting.  Write a post on your blog mentioning who you visited, which post you left a comment on and why, then include the comment you left. Hint: make sure you copy the comment before you hit the submit button. Here are some examples from previous students in the challenge: Allegra but try to include a link to the actual post you left a comment on, Meghana who has linked to both the student’s blog and their blog post where she left the comment.

Will visitors to your blog find it easy to search for a post they might be interested in commenting on? Maybe you need to start using Categories and Tags or Labels (blogspot) or Categories (weebly) or Categories (Kidblog) or make sure you have an archive section.

UPDATE   UPDATE   UPDATE   UPDATE

There will be a special post during the week relating to Blog Action Day on October 15. Make sure you visit the challenge blog again about Wednesday for this post.

377 thoughts on “Week 2: Time to comment

  1. Hi Miss. W,
    I finished Activity 1 and 2, I wrote about how to write a good quality comment and I wrote about the steps to write on someones site.
    It would make me really happy if you go and check out my blog, it’s http://20abigd.edublogs.org/.
    -Abigail

  2. Dear Miss W,
    I created a video about ‘how to write a good comment.’ You will see it below my Week 2, Activity 1. Please visit my blog and check it! I hope you will like it!

  3. Dear Miss W,

    I completed week 2 and here is my website’s URL – anisha6.weebly.com.

    Best Regards,
    Anisha

  4. Hello Mrs.W,
    I have found these opinions in the classes commenting guidelines interesting and helpful. I have just started blogging with my class and very excited I’ve both submitted my about me page as well as my how to comment. I hope if you can you could check my blog if you have spare time http://hmsmina.edublogs.org/
    -Mina

  5. HELLO! this is my website of Week 2 Activity 1
    I made a small page on teaching how to comment!

    nishijimarito.weebly.com

  6. I really like the blog challenge. it is really fun and i like to do it. The HTML code is Eli’s Blog

  7. Hey Mrs.W,
    Thank you so much for using your time to help kids start blogging. I have loved every activity on the blogging challenge so far and I can’t wait for next weeks post and activities.
    Thanks again,
    Hannah 😉

  8. Hi Ms W.
    I’ve done my How to comment page and post but I don’t think they have finished pending yet. They should be done soon 8tom.edublogs.org
    Also, I didn’t do the week 1 activity because I have already made a massive ‘about me’ page on my blog. I was hoping it would be alright to just enter that instead because there is soooo much in there that if I was to make a new one that there would not be much to write about.
    Here the ‘about me’ page is
    http://8tom.edublogs.org/a-bit-about-my-blog-a-bit-about-me/
    Sorry about the late post.

  9. I appreciate the Student Blogging Challenge because it offers the opportunity to interact with students all around the world while improving your internet etiquette (e.g commenting tips).

  10. Wow it’s interesting!!! Tanks for uploading it because it’s helpful for the new bloggers. This helped me with my class work pretty easily because it is easy to understand the directions. Keep up with the good work.
    About Me!
    My name is Fatima and I live in Dakar, Senegal but born and raised in Washington D.C. I love playing basketball, I been playing since I was six, so that has become a huge part of my life. Moreover, some of my hobbies include painting and drawing, photography and dancing. These activities have had a major influence of who I am and what I am like. I consider myself to be a positive person, I always try to make people happy when they are down and I am always smiling. I am really close to my family, and I love the little traditions we have like eating salad every Thursday or traveling together in summer. Those are just a few of my interest and about myself.

    I commented on this blog because it is creative and relatable.

  11. I think that this post was pretty interresting, keep up whith the good work.

    I commented Austin’s blog

    One thing I really want to do is go skydiving because everyone in my family says it’s scary but I really want to “live.”

    I commented this blog because he seem’s to be someone that injoys life, he is right.

    1. Hi Miss W,
      I forgot to use the HTML code in my comment I’m am really sorry about that, however I incorporated it in this comment. 🙂
      Fatima

      1. Hi again,
        so i learned that there should be no space between the HTML code and the word, that is why it did not work in my other comment.

  12. Hey everyone,
    So, I did the challenge and explained how to both comment and the guidelines for doing so, and here is the link to my page on it.

  13. hello! our class is a week or so late to the activities, so I am only just now completing them. I’ve made a new commenting page and it would be nice if you checked it out.

    thanks!

  14. Everything the guy said is true, the best way to leave a comment is positive feedback, adding facts that might not be included, asking questions, and grammar. Its hard to find very many comments with these. I hope that this video does encourage more people to think about how they post.

  15. I appreciate this challenge because it taught me how to effectively comment on someones post and to stay away from being negative towards someone.

  16. Hello Miss. W I completed this weeks challenge task 5. I had fun working on the challenge this week and can’t wait for this week’s challenge. Please come visit my blog @http://2021sy.edublogs.org.

  17. These are some of the people I Commented to. From Ben

    Hi my name is Ben, I read a book about Ben Franklin a while ago he is pretty cool and I like your facts about plagues like that plague with the rats if you want to you can see some of my posts https://2022bhs.edublogs.org to http://nicolbegui4903.blogspot.com/2016/09/7

    Hi my name is Ben, I also like gaming and going outside it is one of my favorite things to do if you want to see some of my posts check out http://2022bhs.edublogs.org to http://dylan417.edublogs.org/2016/10/07

    Hi my name is Ben, I really like baseball and Video games if you want to see some of my posts then visit https://2022bhs.edublogs.org

    Hi my name is Ben, I liked how you got to go to Kings Island I have never been there before if you want to visit my site go to https://2022bhs.edublogs.org to https://zachary516.edublogs.org

  18. This is bold textHi Ms. W,

    Thank you for the steps to help complete this. This is my first year doing the blog challenge and I’m really looking forward to it.

    P.S. Checkout my blog:

    Danny This is bold text

  19. Hi Miss W,
    Thank you for this post, it really helped me figure out how I could do my recent post, go check out when you can:
    Commenting

  20. This is my blog and it is so funny you will like it and if you want more this is my blog tag http://jacoblgms23.edublogs.org/ I hope you like it I will do the A-Z poem. I’m Ambitious with everything. I’m the best at what I do cause I love to do farming, chickens, and so on and I excite people and get them fired up. I’m glorious to every one I know. You do not know how hilarious I am. So intelligent. I can do math so easy. It is like nothing. One of the best of me is I’m a joker, I’m so kind, lovable, too, so I make friends is easy. I’m sometimes messy, naughty, but I can be obedient sometimes. I’m not so popular, but I’m on a quest to be popular or what ever suites me.

    I love turtles. They are so unsure of things and they have very, wierd, x-skeletons but that is one reason I like them. I’m yak lover. They are so cool looking and where they live is cool and I’m a zombie believer and that is all.

  21. I really liked this challenge because it helped me improve my commenting skills a lot! It taught me how to make way better comments then just, “I like this challenge a lot.” Instead know I make good comments like this one! I can’t wait for the other challenges! Here is my blog link, http://ameliavgms23.edublogs.org/about-me/ so you can check it out.

  22. i think that you put in alot of effort in to setting up the challengeshttp://ethanpgms23.edublogs.org/about-me/

  23. I loved this challenge because we got to see what other peoples interests are and I got to see ways that I could improve my blog by looking at other peoples blogs. If you want to see my new and improved blog or want to learn a little bit about me here is the link http://graciedgms23.edublogs.org/

  24. Hi! I was hoping that one or two of my students’ posts on About Us or My Favourite Things would be flipped into Flipboard Magazine but they didn’t. They may be disappointed but that’s Ok. We’ll go on.
    They’re very excited because other students have already left some nice comments on their posts. They have visited those students’ blogs and also left their comments. They have visited Mrs. Jan Smith’s and Mrs. Kriese’s class blogs and left their comments. They did research on how to write quality comments and we discussed it in class. They made their own list of commenting guidelines and next week they’ll make a video and post it on their blogs. We may be getting behind but as they’re non-native speakers they sometimes need more time to perform the tasks.

    1. Hi Maria,
      I couldn’t find the links to your actual student blogs. I can get to your class blog but there is no link there to the actual student blogs. Or are your students writing comments on the class blog only?

      If your students each have their own blog, you will need to create a page or widget that will show the student name(s) and link it to their blog. Here are the instructions for adding links to your sidebar http://bling4yrblog.blogspot.com.au/2007/01/adding-links-to-your-blog.html

  25. Hi Miss.W,

    This commenting activity has definetely helped me with my commenting skills. I have learned about the HTML codes and what they can do. Also, for the week one activity, it says I can write an “about me” post, but I have written one already back in early September. Does it still count?

    Check out my blog! http://hmsalexandra.edublogs.org

    Thank you,
    Alexandra

    1. Hi Alexandra,
      Yes if you have written once since the beginning of your school year that will count. Maybe you could write an About my State instead.

  26. Hello again!
    This was a hard but challenging week. My students did some enthusiastic work.
    Here are our class blogging guidelines:
    http://englishclassspg.blogspot.pt/p/blogging-tips.html

    They felt more responsible on “How to comment” and they understood better the meaning of “quality comments”!

    We also visit these blogs and we posted our comments :
    – huzzah, Canada – Blogging guidelines
    – ethan, USA – Munich Oktoberfest
    – lynnie, Australia – Blooging guidelines
    – Mrs Kriese, USA – About us
    Hope we have accomplished all the activities sucessfully!
    See you on week 3!

    1. Maria,
      I mentioned your class as one of those to visit in the Week 3 challenge. I hope you get lots of visitors. Otherwise have your students visit other student blogs and leave the URL of their blog.

  27. this video would be great for people who have just started their blogs and I’m glad that your using your time to do something like this Mrs. W. By the way what else do you like to do?

  28. Hello Bloggers,
    My name is Jason, in my opinion I think this video is very educating and helpful. It very well explains the steps leading up to a successful comment. This video was helpful to me and lots of other people. Thank you very much! You can view my blog at http://jlbgjhs16.edublogs.org

  29. Hi Miss W. I have completed this weeks time to comment challenge. I loved doing activity 5 because I got to read other blogs that were very well written. Please come visit my blog at http://2021lms.edublogs.org/ Thank you! Have a great weekend!

  30. Hi ms w.
    I have completed my tasks for the student blogging challenge. Please come cheack out my bolg I think I have some really great quality comments.😊

  31. Hello Mrs.W! I like how you describe everything as best as you can, but some of it I didn’t understand. I still did all the activities in the time limit. I really liked doing this weeks’ Blog Challenge. Can’t wait until next week! 🙂
    Please come visit my blog and leave a comment on a post or page you think is interesting.
    Please visit http://blog.elanco.org/stern338/

  32. Hi how are you doing? Your post helped me learn more about commenting. I have had experience with commenting on other social media websites. Your posts are very educational and helpful. Thank you.

    Please go check out my blog

    https://hlggjhs16.edublogs.org

  33. Hello, how is your evening? I am very excited for the next blogger challenge. I would also like to say, that this was a terrific blog.

  34. I did this challenge, and I have to admit it was pretty hard! It’s really awesome to learn about other peoples blogs though. Thank you for putting this much information and detail into this blog. It was really helpful for beginner bloggers like me. 😀

  35. Awesome! It has great textual and factual information for upcoming bloggers to join, and others who are already in the mix. Over all, it is very meaningful and shows effort.

  36. Hi Miss W, my name is Rylee. I have finished the Week 2 Blogging Challenge. If you want to visit my blog to check, come check it out @ 2022reh.edublogs.org

  37. Dear Mrs.W,
    Hi my name is Ereka and I would like you to look at my “About Me.” The about me is on this link! ://erekatouss0704.blogspot.com/
    Ereka

  38. Dear Ms.W,
    My name is Margaux, and I have really enjoyed posting blogs. I am excited to start this blogging challenge! I am also interested in reading blogs about other students from different schools. Please check out my “About Me” page where I have an introduction to myself. Here is the link: http://margajubin1904.blogspot.com/2016/10/about-me.html I hope you enjoy my blog!
    Thanks for reading!

  39. Dear Mrs. W,
    Hi my name is Lea I am so excited to start blogging because I love writing and I have had so much fun writing for the past few days. I would love for you to check out my blog to see some about me information you shouldn’t miss out on. Check out my blog at http://leazagur2004.blogspot.com/ to see some fascinating facts about me! Thank You.
    Lea Z

  40. This is certainly helpful to me! It helped me learn to blog better. It’s great for people who just started blogging and it helps everyone who already knew about all this to freshen up on their information, so thanks for helping us all out! How often do you blog, Miss W?

    1. On this blog, I write posts once a week while the challenge is on. I often forget to write on the Davo Devil travel blog I use and I often blog on my family history blog. It is much easier when you get into a routine of say one post per week.

  41. Dear Ms. W,
    Hi. My name is john, and I am really enjoying bloging If you want to know about my experience at school, visit my blog @ johnstoni5204.blogspot.com.
    Blog on!
    John

  42. Hi Mrs. W,
    My name is Rachel, and you can learn about how I’ve adapted from living in Michigan to living in California and what usually happens in my everyday life which you can see on my “About Me” post on my site. Please come visit my site @http://rachebir1104.blogspot.com/
    Sincerely,
    Rachel

  43. Hi Mrs. W,
    My name is Olivia, and if you would like to know more about me and how to comment kindly, visit my home page on my blog!

  44. Hi Miss W.,
    My name is Danika and you can learn all about me and the sports I have played and would still like to play in my life on my “About Me” page.

  45. Hi I’m Micah, and this assignment was so fun. Getting to talk to someone in a different country. I can’t wait for the next task!

  46. This really helped me. I love this because it is great for beginners! How did you know how to make a comment? Http22diwgjhs16.edublogs.org

    1. I learnt how to make comments when I first began blogging with Sue Waters who is now a manager at Edublogs. I got annoyed because no one was leaving comments on my blog ( even though it was only a couple of weeks old) She explained about having to visit other people’s blogs to start making connections and to leave my blog URL when I left a comment.

  47. This video was really amazing,it helped me realize how to leave an effective comment thank you for this! https//22jjhgjhs16.edublogs.org

  48. Hello Mrs. W. How are you? I hope you’re doing well!
    My name is Reina, and your video really helped me to understand how to write effective comments. Thank you.

  49. Hi how are you today? I really like that you could share this post with my class and I. This video really helped me understand how to write an effective comment. I comment a lot on other social media websites, so I have some experience with commenting. You seem like a good blogger and I like your posts they are very educated. Thank you.

  50. Hello! how are you today?

    I just wanted to say that this post really helped me understand how to make an effective comment! Thanks for your help!

    1. Panda has been in Mrs Yollis’ classroom for a long time. I met him in 2010 when Davo Devil and I met Mrs Yollis for the first time while we were travelling around America.

  51. Hello Miss W. and all Bloggers,
    I have so far enjoyed all of the weekly Edublog challenges and look forward to doing more. I really appreciated the time and effort you took to thoroughly explain all of the instructions. I’ve learned so much about blogging and am excited to finish the blogging challenge. If you have the time, please check out my blog!

    Thanks for reading!
    http://anikakolan5504.blogspot.com/

  52. I think this is great for beginners/people who don’t know anything about this. This helped me learn how to blog and thank you for helping me.

  53. I love these challenges they really open me up to a new feature of EduBlobgs. Is this the first one you’ve done?

    1. Hi Alyssa,
      This is the 17th student blogging challenge I have run. Many teachers who take part also make videos to use in their classrooms in future years and that is how we found out about Nicolas’ video. Hope you are enjoying the challenges.

  54. Hi Miss W. and all Bloggers,
    My classes have really enjoyed setting up their blogs and partaking in the activities thus far. My student teacher, Ms. Andrews, and I are also having a lot of fun, and we are learning so much about blogging. We are excited to start visiting other blogs and reading about others from different schools. Please check out my “About Me” page where I have an introduction to myself. Scroll down to view “7 Random Facts About Me,” too!
    Thanks for reading:)
    http://aewkk.blogspot.com/

    1. Hi Dawson,
      There are 10 weeks in the challenge so you have only just done for the first two weeks worth. I have been running the challenge now for nearly 9 years and this is the 17th challenge.

    1. Hi Sonia,
      Wordpress which Edublogs use has changed so that you can’t leave comments on pages as the default, so students now have to set it up that comments can be left. This can make it difficult. So I would wait until Haley and Seth have written a post on their blog, then comment there about their About Me page if they have written one.

      I would visit the blogs only once every couple of weeks. If the comment area has a section labelled Notify me of follow up comments by email then I would tick that box as you would then know when either the student or another person has left a comment on that particular post.

  55. Hi, I love doing the student blog challenge. It is a lot of fun. I always look forward to seeing what we will do next.

    – Kaylie

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