For the past number of weeks
2nd Class Room 6 has been doing
the ‘Student Blogging Challenge 2013’.
During this time, we have visited
many excellent blogs
and received some very welcome visitors.
Photo Credit: Kristina B via Compfight
Here are some bloggers and posts that
I thought deserved
a very honorable mention:
I really liked English Beat
from St. Mark’s School,
California, USA
but I warn you …
The quality and the range of posts on this blog is such,
that you may have a ‘Hotel California’ experience.
‘You may check out anytime you want,
but you may never leave’.
Not that you would mind.
There is ‘food for thought’
and great depth of feeling
in the student posts on this blog
and if this is the quality of thought
that the new generation is capable of,
the world is in safe hands.
The names the students have chosen
as their blog title reflect their originality
and their enthusiasm for blogging
e.g. Barely A Blog, Blogerifica,
Claire’s Pride & Protagonists, Elaine’s Epiphany,
Gabe’s Glorious Blog, Luigi’s Amazing Blog,
Ming’s Laboratory, Simply Sonnets,
T-Bone’s Blog, The A’s Factor,
The Secret Life of a Bibliophile
and Sentences and Sensibility.
I learnt from, and was inspired by their work.
I think their teacher must have many gifts
including a special one of being able
to motivate and inspire her students.
The following post from Larkin from ‘English Beat’
gives an example of what I mean.
Larkinblog8’s response to Student Blogging Challenge 4: Images
The post is one of quality not quantity
and yet a great deal of thought has gone into
crafting a response to Student Blogging Challenge 4:
Using pictures in posts.
Earlier in the challenge there was
Great post from Larkin about 10 things that he values.
I think this is a moving post,
that lets us know that Larkin
is a thinking, good hearted person
and an individual of depth.
And so onto another post from one of English Beat’s
many talented bloggers:
Adam’s English Escape’s Online Me vs Real Life Me
I find a visit to Adam’s Blog always arresting
because like Adam, I love widgets.
Adam has a very eye catching blog
with a good design and a judicious choice
of more unusual widgets.
I find the above post written in response to
‘The Student Blogging Challenge 6 – Your Digital Footprint’,
very insightful and considered.
Adam’s perceptive post shows excellent self knowledge and maturity.
He has a balanced and informed view of online dangers.
I comment his understanding that
‘some people may feel pressured in person, but are totally fine online’
and his observation that the opposite can also be the case.
I was very taken with this initial post
by David W’s Why You Should Visit My Blog
written as a response to the 1st Challenge.
I thought he sounded like an interesting person
and I thought that his strong post on Singing confirmed this.
I think David is honest in what he writes
and I think this post is well rounded
and shows great range:
He talks about history and tradition,
the role and effect of song.
I agree whole heartedly when he says
‘No matter what the situation singing can make it better’.
I would like to read more of what this blogger has to say.
I think David shows excellent potential.
Finally this is one of the first posts
I read during the Blogging Challenge.
Sydney M’s ’10 People I would like to meet’ from her portfolio
I liked SydneyM’s post on that occasion because
she had added images to her post
and this really brought her choices
of her heroes and heroines to life.
Since then, there is every evidence
that SydneyM has worked very hard
on her blog and been very attentive
to the suggestions given by Miss W
in the challenges.
So there is a Voki Avatar,
a search and a translate facility,
a poll,
links to other blogs.
Sydney has been inventive
using a variety of blogging tools;
a digital story book and a Thinklink
This blog is called: ‘If only the best birds sang’.
So my question for you is:
If you look on the sidebar
to the upper right of this post,
what kind of animated bird will tell you about
how to post comments on this page?
T _ _ _ _ _
Didn’t really know about the blog prior to seeing this post so thank you so much for the link. Next week in New Zealand we are back to school and the classroom and we’re going to complete our Ireland class display and we were wondering if we could have some assistance with that, I will have the students be in touch.
Mr Webb and Room Five, Melville Intermediate, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand.
melvilleroom8.blogspot.com
Oh but of course. We would LOVE to help 🙂
With all the blogs we visit,
we always come back to Room 5’s.
There is something special about it.
We think it is that it is a real
‘window’ into the interesting,
student centered and activity based learning
that is so valuable and that you seem
to do plenty of 🙂
We are coming into the summer months now,
so we are going to take some photos
and make a guided tour to our school
just like Room 5 did on Photopeach in the past.
Everything looks so much better in the sunshine 🙂
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Hi Merrybeau,
I really enjoyed reading this post and the title of this blog is so creative.I love reading post and seeing how other people are doing these challenges.Thankyou for showing me some new blogs.
From Kiah
Thank you Kiah. We are glad that you like the title of our blog 🙂 Yes it is very interesting to see how other participants respond to the various challenges. Thank you for visiting our blog.
With every good wish
Hi Merry-beau I like your wordle and I like your all of your books I hope you can visit my blog.
http://keylahb.blogspot.co.nz/
By Keylah
Thank you Keylah 🙂 Certainly we will visit your blog 😀
With every good wish
2nd Class Room 6
Turkey.
Hi,
The bird is a Turkey. Hi. Thank you so much for regarding me and my teacher so highly in this post. My name is Larkin. The things you said about me in this post,
“The post is one of quality not quantity and yet a great deal of thought has gone into crafting a response to Student Blogging Challenge 4: Using pictures in posts… I think this is a moving post, that lets us know that Larkin is a thinking, good hearted person and an individual of depth.” mean a great deal to me. And I am sure all my classmates that are mentioned in this post feel the same way.
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Hi there Larkin,
I am glad you liked the post and the comments I made about your good self, your teacher and your class.
What I said in the post about your work is very true and it is probably only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
I could have said a lot more as there is great substance to your writing.
I hope you feel affirmed, because you deserve to be,
Keep up the great work
With every good wish,
Merry Beau
Indeed, it was a turkey.
As our blog is called
‘If Only The Best Birds Sang’
we went looking for a bird avatar.
A turkey was all we could find.
But it was Christmas,
when traditionally turkey is
on the menu… and we became
fond of this turkey.
We feel she is doing a good job.
Well done.
With every good wish
2nd Class Room 6
Dear Merry Beau,
Thank you so much for such high praise for our blogs from English Beat. This has been a remarkable project on which to work, and I have seen amazing growth and enthusiasm from my students. We have so enjoyed connecting with you and other classes and students around the world. I hope to continue this next year, and I know my next class will enjoy reading your blog and hearing from you! Your comments have made a real difference to all of us!
Jenn W.
Thank you Jenn W @ English Beat.
I think you must be a very inspiring teacher.
I went to pay a quick visit to English Beat
on that first occasion and found I was ‘drawn
in’ fascinated to read what your students
had to say and how they said it.
I am very taken with the writing ‘exercises’
that were suggested to them and
how enthusiastically they responded.
There will be a very literate and articulate
generation of individuals heading out into the world
from your class and St. Mark’s.
So thank you and English Beat, for being so inspiring.
With every good wish
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Larkinblog8′s response to Student Blogging Challenge 4: Images
was my favorite because it sounds like a professional piece
Yes Pantera, Larkin’s paragraph to describe that image does
sound professional.
Very evocative. Atmospheric. When you analyse then you see
that there is great use of verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
It would be a great ‘story starter’ or in even more of a challenge
it could be the final paragraph of a short story.
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