Swallow-tailed Kite

Creative Commons License Andy Morffew via Compfight

This is our last post for the Student Blogging Challenge until we start again in March 2018. I hope you have enjoyed the activities and the chance to make connections with other students and classes around the world.

I would like to thank the mentors for taking time to visit and comment on student blogs. I would also like to thank those students aged 16+ who took on the role of mentors.

I would also like to thank those bloggers who allowed me to use their blog posts as part of the visiting challenge.

We have had a great 10 weeks of blogging. You have learnt so many skills to help you improve your blogs. Many of you have improved those writing skills or maybe digital skills with using a variety of tools to embed on your blog. But it is now time to evaluate your progress as well as the progress of the blogging challenge itself.

This week there are two things to do:

  1. Evaluate your own blog
  2. Evaluate the actual blogging challenge

1. This is an audit of your blog since the beginning of October 2017.

  • How many posts did you write?
  • How many were school based, your own interests or set by the challenge?
  • How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers or overseas students?
  • Which post received the most comments? Why do you think that happened?
  • Which post did you enjoy writing the most and why?
  • Did you change blog themes at all and why?
  • How many widgets do you have? Do you think this is too many or not enough?
  • How many overseas students do you have on your blogroll?
  • Which web tools did you use to show creativity on your blog?

Now ask another student and teacher/parent from your school who might not have read your blog to do an audit.

Sit beside them while they navigate around your blog, record what you observe as they interact with your blog. When finished, ask them the following questions:

  1. What were your first impressions of this blog?
  2. What captured your attention?
  3. What distracted you on the blog?
  4. What suggestions can you give me to improve my blog?

Write a post about your blog audit.

2. Evaluating the challenge.

This is the nineteenth challenge and sometimes I feel like the activities are getting stale especially for those students who have taken part in more than one set of challenges. So there is a new page that you all can contribute to. Every month of the year, there are special events, festivals, birthdays of authors etc. Which ones do you think it would be interesting to write about? Find the post ideas page and add your ideas in the comments. (These are found above the header area)

I would like you to leave a quality comment giving your opinion of the challenge. You might want to mention some of the following things:

  • the most interesting challenge for you
  • how often you visited other blogs and left comments
  • whether you read the challenge flipboard magazine
  • a PMI or plus/minus/interesting point about the challenge
  • the most important thing you learnt while doing the challenge

Thanks again for taking part in this challenge. Hopefully you will take part again in March next year. If you have taken part in at least two sets of challenges, you can also become a mentor, so watch out for the mentor post in late February.

Keep writing, keep reading the magazine, and if you have a great post you would like me to add to the magazine over the summer/winter break, feel free to leave a comment here.

52 thoughts on “Week 10: Farewell from the 19th challenge

  1. Dear Miss. W,

    Thank you for giving us 10 weeks of something fun to write or comment about. I really did enjoy doing this Student Blogging Challenge. It helped out my writing skills and grammar punctuations a lot.
    I was glad to do this challenge, thank you for creating the Student Blogging Challenge.
    Blog – http://hmsty.edublogs.org/

    From,
    hmsTyler

  2. Aloha Miss. W,

    Hi! I’m Taylor, and I’m from Honolulu, Hawaii. Thank you so much for giving such an awesome SBC! The most interesting challenge for me was the activity when we had specific posts to visit. I tried to visit blogs as much as I could but some I couldn’t leave a comment on. The most important thing I learned is that it’s not about your comments and views, but about making quality posts. Thank you so much! Come check out my post from week 10!
    Mahalo,
    hmstaylor

  3. Dear Ms. W,

    I would say the most interesting challenge for me was week 9 “Have I Improved”. I chose to write about History and I thought it was interesting to write ab out my parents past.

    I don’t visit other peoples blogs often. I only visit them when it is part of the challenge, but I do like to visit other peoples blog when I have nothing else to do.

    I think that challenges was a good way to help us practice on commenting on other peoples posts and how to write more effectively and posting them on our blog. These challenges help me by putting myself out there to everyone!

    Best Regards
    Fern,

  4. Hi Mrs. W,

    I really liked this year’s SBC and I am really thankful that you made this and I get to blog. The most interesting challenge this year was the school one. I visited other blogs very little. To be honest getting to know different people is scary for me. I didn’t read the magazine but if I have time, I look forward to looking at it. A plus thing about the SBC is working with my friend Aaron (hmsaaron). The most important things learned from this year SBC is always doing it with a friend because it makes it a lot more fun and easier. Come check out my blog.

    -hmsskylar

  5. Hi Mrs. W,

    This session of the Student Blogging Challenge was a great joy. I had a lot of fun doing it. The most interesting challenge to me was game time. This session of SBC visited approximately 7 blogs and commented on them. I didn’t look at the Flipboard Magazine, but I am looking forward to looking at it. A plus thing about this challenge is that I get better at blogging. One thing that I learned from this challenge is that you need to always have ideas, no matter what. Come check out my blog.</a It is full of my SBC and daily posts and game posts.

    -hmsaaron

  6. Dear Ms.W The most interesting challenge for me was week 9 for one reason. We got to write whatever we wanted. I didn’t go to other people blogs often unless the challenge told me to. Also I did not read the flip board magazine. The most important thing I learned during the challenge was to do a nice work so that you get full credit. Thank you.

  7. Hi Mrs. W,

    The most interesting challenge for me was the free post and “How much did I improve?” because it displayed what interests different people talk about their hobbies or subjects. I frequently visited other peoples blogs and comment a lot as well.
    For the Flipboard, I subscribed to many sites and read it frequently. However, I rarely comment. A plus of the challenge is the ability to participate in the challenges. A minus is that some challenges like the games are too lenghty while some are too short. Finally, a interesting point was how you can make a puzzle. Finally, the most important thing I learned is how to comment.

    Here is my blog!

    Cheers,

    HMSChad

  8. Dear Ms. W,
    I really enjoyed being a part of the student blogging challenge. It was really fun. The most interesting challenge for me would be Week 7: Thinking Globally. This was the most interesting challenge for me because I found out ways of how I can help my environment by doing even the littlest things. I visited others people’s blogs a lot. I tried to visit at least two every week. Every blog I went to that had posted, I commented on. Although the Flipboard magazine was there, available to us, I may have only looked at it once to find interesting blogs. A plus for the challenge was that you could visit others people’s blogs from around the world and learn a little more about them. A negative about the challenge for me would be finding the right picture. An interesting point in the challenge for me was when we did the gaming challenge, it was a little difficult to find blogs with posts on them because sometimes they would have posted, but sometimes there would be nothing. The most important thing I learned about doing the challenge was to not be afraid to write about something that you’re passionate about because others may have the same passion as you. Please come and check out my blog @ https://hmsjena.edublogs.org.
    Aloha,
    Jena

  9. Dear Mrs.W,
    The blogging challenge was really fun to do but I think the most interesting one was the free one because it was a fun way to let the people reading your blog know you based on the type of blog you posted. I had a blast in the SBC and can’t wait for the next time. If you have the time please check out this post which is one of my favorites http://hmsmina.edublogs.org/2017/11/03/t-v-shows-i-love/
    From,
    Mina

    1. Sorry this is my add on.

      My challenge for this activity was that I needed to find someone who hasn’t looked at my blog and would like to answer some questions while looking though it. I think the plus was to express all my emotions in me what I can convert into words so other people can read, and think about. I’ve read the flip board magazine and I saw a hand full of amazing blogs. Minus is I can’t think of one. What was interesting was being able to look, read, and comment on other people’s post because it’s their unique story. and I just had a blast doing everything I did on SBC. Thank you

  10. Hi Mrs. W,
    I love SBC! I think that I am really improving my writing skills. I really liked Week 3: Using Pictures because it is really fun and it is very fun looking for pictures!
    Thank You!
    Love,
    hmsallyson

  11. Hello Ms. W!
    Congratulations on finishing your 18th Student Blogging Challenge! The most important activity for me was probably SBC Week 3: Activity 6, where we had to create an image. I was able to create a very cute image/comic, and I liked the final result of it as well as creating the image. I sometimes left comments on other students blogs, but not all the time. I constantly looked at the Flipboard magazine, and I was very happy to see that four of my posts were in the magazine (during one week). One thing I would change is to add fewer activities per week. We receive many assignments for each week, and it is hard to finish them all before the deadline. I think that three or four assignments per week are the best. The most important thing I learned from the challenge is that blogging is a great way to stay connected with others around the world. I enjoyed this challenge very much and I can’t wait for SBC Challenge #19! If you have time, please check my week 10 post on my blog:
    http://hongwanjimissionschool.edublogs.org
    Aloha,
    Naho 🙂

  12. Hello Mrs. W,

    My favorite challenge was Free Choice. I really enjoyed this challenge because you were free to post whatever post you wanted. It was a really fun challenge for me. I didn’t really ever have time to visit anybody else’s blog. I did comment on some of the classmates posts though. I never have really read the challenge flipboard magazine because, again, I never have time. One plus about the challenge is that it is fun to do. I always enjoy it. A minus is that some of the challenges are getting really repetitive. An interesting point about the challenge is that people from all around the world participate in it. The most important thing I learned about the challenge is to NEVER procrastinate.

    ~Raya

  13. Hi Miss W,
    I liked the Student Blogging Challenge and I enjoyed doing it. The most interesting challenge for me was Week 9 because we could write about anything, which was fun. I visited some people outside of my class and left comments on some of their posts. I read the Flipboard magazine and I liked it. The challenges are fun to do, and from these challenges, I learned how to make my posts more interesting.

  14. Hello Ms. W,
    I had a lot of fun doing the SBC challenges.
    1. The most interesting challenge to me was week 4. It was a challenge where we had to write a free post. I liked it because we got to write about whatever we wanted.
    2. I visited about 25 peoples blogs but only commented on 10.
    3. I didn’t read the Flipboard magazine.
    4. All the challenges are fun to do, but sometimes they seem a little boring. I mean we do the same things every SBC. It never changes so sometimes it get’s a little boring.
    5. The most important thing I have learned while doing the challenges is to be careful when I wrote things. Sometimes I write incomplete sentences or fragment sentences, so I need to work on that.
    Ohhhh and please come check out My Blog.
    From,
    Reise 😁

  15. Hey Ms. W

    The most interesting challenge for me was probably the SBC Week 9 Challenge. Visit Is It A Whale or A Shark?| SBC Week 9. A plus for doing the SBC was getting better at blogging. The minus is that the SBC is getting stale. I don’t read the Flipboard magazine, but my friends do. The most important thing I did that I learned is that pictures are important to attracting readers. 

    ~Sarah

  16. Dear Mrs. W,
    Hi! I’m here to say the student blogging challenge was really fun. Now, I’ve done 3 challenges, but this one was great. The most interesting challenge for me would have been Week 7: Think Globally. I liked that we had to do research because I learned a lot I wouldn’t have otherwise. On the matter of visiting other blogs, I’ve done that at least 10 times this challenge, but leaving comments, I have tried but haven’t been doing too often. I’ve read the challenge Flipboard magazine and found a lot of great blogs! About the challenge, a good part was that I was able to share my passions with other people. A not-as-good part would be that it couldn’t stay a bit longer, but I’ll let that point slide. Finally, this challenge taught me something. It taught me that I shouldn’t be afraid to share my passions with others since they might just like what I do!
    Sincerely,
    hmsjustinm

    1. Hi Justin,
      Even though the challenge is over, you could still check out the page with other post ideas and complete some of your own posts from those topics. Leave me a comment here on the blog and I will still come visiting.

  17. Hi Ms. W,
    The most interesting challenge this year was the free post because it helped me use my creativity and thing beyond the challenge. I tried to frequently visit other blogs as much as I could because I enjoyed reading other people’s posts and what they are interested in. I read the Flipboard magazine frequently because I liked the interesting posts that were put up there. A plus about the challenge was that I was able to learn about different things around the world. A minus was that some of the posts were very lengthy and difficult to do. The most important thing I learned during the challenge was that everyone has different writing styles and many different interests.

    ~Isabella

  18. How often have you visited others blogs?
    Probably every other week or every week.

    The most important thing I learned is that a lot of people like football, and are very different.

  19. This is a response to your blogging challenge questions:

    One of the questions asked what the most interesting challenge for me was. For me, the most interesting challenge was the third challenge. I loved taking a random photo and making it into a story. It left so much wiggle room and gave a great start. I visited other blogs and left comments quite often. I didn’t always considering I spent quite a bit of time writing my stories for my blog, but I enjoy traveling to other blogs and see their interests and talents. In a way, it’s like learning all about someone you’ve never met. I have a blog myself and as I’ve stated it’s mostly for writing stories. You can find it here http://afascinatingblogbysofia.edublogs.org/
    Thank you for your time.
    Sincerely,
    Sofia

  20. The most interesting Challenge for me was the picture story post. I had to really find the right picture for the post. I visited other peoples blogs at least 3 times a week to see what people from my blog roll have posted.

  21. I think the most interesting challenge was the puzzle and it was fun to make. I think the most important thing that I learned during the challenge is managing a blog.

  22. I have really enjoyed doing this blogging challenge and all the input people have put in on my blog. My favorite challenge was the puzzle challenge because it is interactive and it really makes you think of a quality picture that you can get that is labeled for reuse. In my whole time here I have been to about 30 different blogs and have enjoyed every single one of them .
    Come check out my blog! http://afascinatingblogbyowen.edublogs.org/

  23. So the Student Blogging Challenge is coming to an end…

    But still got challenges to do so here a my answer to some of the questions you asked:

    How often you visited other blogs and left comments?

    I visited blogs frequently and it was nice to see what other people’s lives where like.

    Whether you read the challenge flipboard magazine?

    I read it a couple times and some of the blogs that I visited came from there.

  24. The most interesting challenge was when I had to make the three part story, it was fun but hard. I visit other blogs and left comments about 3 times a week for different types of posts, or different assignments.

  25. Hello, my name is Rafael. The most interesting challenge was when we did the puzzle and picture sentence. This is a good way for people to see other people. I haven’t checked the flipboard magazine yet.

  26. I visited other blogs very week to know what was going on in other parts of the world, like a flood.
    The most important thing I learnt while doing the challenge was that all the blogs show the blogger’s personality and characteristics. Just like how the avatars show what one may look like.
    -Brooke at http://afascinatingblogbybrooke.edublogs.org/

  27. Hi Sue,

    19th Challenge? Wow! Congratulations to you.

    Having watched you run the challenge closely this year I can see what an enormous effort it is to co-ordinate, and what enormous rewards it provides the students.

    Well done to all the teachers and students who took part this year. We hope many of them will be back in March for another round!

    Keep blogging, everyone!
    Kathleen Morris

  28. My mentor has never commented on my blog and I have hardly any visitors and comments. My mentor is Angelica from New York for the 13 year olds. I also haven’t been able to take part in week 6 – 8 challenges. It is sad to see the challenge leave. I have had fun and will take part in the March Challenge. I will also be adding more post soon. Please check out my blog at http://emmatheweathergirl.edublogs.org/

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