Tag Archives: blogging

More great blogs to check out

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[Edit: I’ve found a couple more blogs definitely worth mentioning. See below!]

Continuing with our recent push to expand your community, read others’ blogs and thereby develop an audience for your OWN blog, in this post I’m going to point out a few more blogs that deserve some attention. Maybe you’d like to read a few and connect with the writers?

Thanks to Sue over at The Edublogger and my Twitter network, I am finding heaps more blogs by students your age from around the world.  Here are some of my latest finds:

 

  • Mr. Pepper has a class of students in grades 7 and 8 who are blogging. Recent “Honourable Mentions” worth visiting:
    • Austin’s blog: Austin posts an interesting questionnaire — feel free to answer it.
    • Bailey is writing lots of interesting poetry and some very introspective and thoughtful posts.
    • Morgan is blogging about rather inspring topics like what she is grateful for and how to look forward to the future — very positive if you’re having a rough day!
    • Melanie is also writing very thought-provoking poetry and posts.
  • Over at Eight is Great I found these student bloggers:
    • Ryan is writing extensive book reviews, and about what he does on the weekend.
    • Alex writes about field hockey and his annoying little sister.
    • Jaime writes a very funny story about his trip to see the movie Taken.
  • Thinwalls / Upload way up in northern Canada has a stack of busy student bloggers, too:
    • Tyler has been blogging about the book The Wave and about Venice, Italy.
    • Zelnaga blogs a lot about South Africa
    • Skyler – “Random words from a Random kid” – blogs about Australia, bionic eyes, and music. Yep, random!
    • Logyn shares her history of blogging and RSS. She also writes about Cairo.
    • Devon likes to tell you about his latest World of Warcraft adventures, the World Wildlife Fund, and his project city – one you all know quite well – Bangkok!
    • Clarisse has been blogging about some very interesting current events, including things happening in Tibet, Africa (with the Pope’s visit) and recent studies about red meat. She also uses her blog for vocabulary words.
  • Do you love the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer and the film, too? Check out this Twilight fan-blog, created by a fan, Stephie, aged 14. She also runs a joint blog with another friend with different content, called Taking It Further.
  • MeghnaK in India is 13 years old and writes about all sorts of things — school, ugly cats, poetry, SMS from her best friends, and more. She has a very big fan base, with lots of comments. Check her out!

 

Hopefully you’ve found a few places to sit, read, and comment. And if you come across any other really cool blogs — they don’t have to be student blogs, by the way — then please leave the URL in the comments below this post! Or, even better — blog about it yourself!

Happy reading! I look forward to seeing your blogs grow!

[Image created using Sign Generator]

On Community and Audience, continued

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Friendlies by moriza
Attribution-NonCommercial License

Last week I wrote about how important it is to check out what is happening on other blogs in your community, and I suggested a few places for you to begin.  I hope you had a chance to look around. I know at least one of you did (he was brave enough to share his very insightful reflection on his own blog).

This week I’d like to challenge you to start leaving comments on other people’s blogs — and not just those of your friends. Browse around, see what you can find that interests you. Are there people writing things about what you’re interested in? Do you read something and think, “Hey, I disagree,” or “Yeah, I agree and this is why”? If so, that means it’s time for you to join in the conversation. Leave a comment!  And don’t forget to include YOUR blog’s URL in that comment form.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, look here for an example of what that comment form might look like:


So, your assignment this week: leave at least 3 comments on others’ blogs outside our UNIS community. If you like you may also leave comments on blogs within our community, too.  And see what starts happening to your blog — is your audience growing? 

You’ve made it!

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Beginnings are tough – but you’ve made it this far, so let’s keep going.  Starting a blog can be intimidating for some, liberating for others.  Everything you say will be “out there.”  Is that thought scary or exciting to you?  (Add your reply in a comment if you wish.)

In setting up your blogs we will guide you to look at some other blogs here and there, so you can get some ideas about:

  1. What this blog stuff is all about, anyway
  2. How to blog (and the different ways to do it)
  3. How other people blog — what works and what doesn’t

But first – a real beginning:  Your first post!  In your blog, please respond to the following:

Are there any holidays that, in your experience, are connected with carefree fun and merry-making?  What are they?  Write about a holiday, or a time, when you were inordinately silly.

In your published response, please:

  • Give your post a unique title (you want people to read it!).
  • Tag your response with something that will make it identifiable to those who might search for it. (e.g., merry-making, silliness, holiday)
  • Create a category for English A 8 and call it “EngA08” (without the quotation marks) and put this post in your EngA08 category.
  • Include a photo, if possible!  🙂  Images always make the stories come more alive.  If you are going to use a photo from the internet, please speak to your teacher (Mr. Powell, Mr. Tangey, or Ms. Michetti) first.