#Blogging28 Challenge Week One Round Up

A week ago we launched our 28 day challenge to help educators gain momentum with blogging in 2019. We’ve had a great response from enthusiastic educators who want to reap the rewards of blogging!

Read all about the Get Blogging in 2019 Challenge here. It’s not too late to start. You can join in at any time.

Some participants have been blogging for over a decade and want to get into more of a routine with their posting. Others are new to blogging and want to explore the many benefits that educational blogging can offer.

As Joy Kirr said,

If we expect our students to write, shouldn’t WE be writing?

Our January calendar shares bite-sized steps you can take to build momentum and put positive habits in place that you can continue with throughout 2019.

Have you dabbled with blogging in the past but struggled to maintain momentum? You're not alone! We're here to help with a new 28 day challenge to get you off to a great start in January.

You can also join in the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #blogging28

Week One Tasks

During the first week of the challenge, participants were asked to complete the following tasks:

  • Publish one blog post (some participants decided to publish more!)
  • Update your About page 
    • Don’t underestimate the power of your About page! It’s the first thing many visitors will look at to find out who you are and what your blog is all about. Find more tips here.
  • Comment on two other blogs
    • You’ll get more out of blogging if you connect with other educators along the way. Exploring the give and take nature of blogging can lead to both personal and professional growth. Check out our list of participants who are taking part in the challenge to find blogs you can visit.
  • Review/update your theme or header
    • Perhaps you’ve had the same theme or header for a long time and it’s time your blog’s design got a makeover! You can find tips about updating your theme here. Want to create a custom header for your blog? This tutorial might help.
  • Start a list of blog post ideas
    • This practice will set you up for the future but it doesn’t have to be fancy. Many bloggers like using a Google Doc, Notes in their phone, or old fashioned pen and paper!

Week One Highlights

There were so many great posts published in the last week! Here are a just a handful…

Sue Waters

Sue Waters from Edublogs explained how this challenge came about in her post on her personal blog. 

She also shared a modified version of the calendar to fit her own schedule and goals.

Sue Waters’ challenge
Joy Kirr

Likewise, Joy Kirr has also adapted the calendar to meet her own needs. Here is the link to Joy’s Google Doc below (go to file > make a copy to replicate).

Joy’s Blog is called My Own Genius Hour.

Joy Kirr’s Daily Challenge

 

Gail Desler

In her 13th year of blogging, Gail Desler wrote an excellent post about why she blogs and her plans for 2019,

But blogging still serves an increasingly essential role in my learning journey. BlogWalker is where I document and reflect on my learning. It’s my digital file cabinet.

Britt Watwood

Britt Watwood is a retired faculty developer who has a strong background in digitally enhancing teaching in higher education. His first post for the challenge reflects on what he’s been up to and his 2019 plans,

I am planning ahead to next week where I will look at the past few months of intensive teaching and a conference presentation, continuing to reflect on 2018 and looking ahead to 2019.

Denise Krebs

Denise Krebs is a Californian teacher working in Bahrain who got started with blogging through a similar challenge in 2010. She reflected on her new year goals,

I do want to sow more seeds of kindness, love, learning, and creation in 2019, so blogging can be a place to share about what is going on in my life.

Theresa Christensen
Theresa Christensen

Theresa Christensen is a high school English teacher who has been blogging for a decade. She wrote a wonderful piece about her blogging past and future,

Writing heals, soothes and strengthens. Writing spurs clearer understandings of ourselves and those around us – especially when we use writing to reflect. Blogging in particular offers an accessible, digital opportunity to share some of those reflections with authentic audiences we might not otherwise reach. And whether that audience consists of one, 10, 200 or 1,000s, the act of writing in itself is a growth opportunity.

Our List Of Participants

We have had many people share their intention to get involved in the challenge via a comment on the original blog post or Twitter.

We have begun compiling the list of participants into a spreadsheet which is embedded below.

  • Click here to open the spreadsheet in a new tab
  • Click here to add your details to the spreadsheet via a Google Form

We encourage you to visit some of the blogs and leave a comment.

Try striking up a conversation! You never know where your connection could lead you.

Share Your Post In A Comment

We’ve only shared a small selection of posts published this week and will highlight more work from participants on The Edublogger next week.

We’d love you to leave the URL of one of your most recent posts in a comment below so we can all take a look.

Also, remember to join in the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #blogging28. Feel free to tag @edublogs as well so we read your work and share it with others!

18 thoughts on “#Blogging28 Challenge Week One Round Up

  1. Hi Kathleen,
    I am trying to follow the planning of the challenge.
    I have just tried to understand about analytics and honestly I am a bit in difficulties.
    My blog is with BLOGGER and I found some information about visitors. I am not as famous as SHELLY TERRELL but I can see that there are some readers. Thanks for suggesting it in your planning… I am not able to cope with the demands of using ANALYTICS and I might give up.
    I posted about SAM and I this is how I use BLOGGING, for reflecting
    http://educationalandissue.blogspot.com/2019/01/blogging-28-writing-about-what-i-am.html

    http://educationalandissue.blogspot.com/2019/01/blogging-28-reflecting-on-setting.html

    Looking forward to the next week

    1. Hi Tiziana,
      You’re doing great! I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with Analytics. As you said, it doesn’t matter too much when you’re mainly blogging for reflection.I do find it interesting to see which posts are the most popular and it has helped us in the past to know which posts need to be updated or expanded upon to help our readers.
      Good luck!

    1. Hi Kirsty,
      That’s a good question and I’d love to hear what others do. During my first 5 years of blogging, my approach was pretty simple. I’d think of a post idea, write it out (often in one sitting) and then hit publish. Nowadays, I tend to write more detailed posts. I publish posts on my own blog less but they’re always fairly long form. So I’ll work on it over a few days usually. I’m currently working on a big post that I think might take a few weeks!
      So you can see, there is a lot of variation!
      Maybe someone else will chime in with their approach 🙂
      Kathleen

      1. Thanks for your reply, Kathleen. It’s really helpful. And thanks for putting the question out on Twitter, too. I’ve been enjoying reading the responses!

  2. Dear Kathleen,
    I miss Edublogs so much! I would love to join this Challenge, but I’m overwhelmed with extra work, as my brother is moving to a beautiful and very tiny village very far away and thus we are dismantling, for the first time, my parent’s house. It’s very tiring and it takes all my free time, but at the same time it’s like an adventure to be able to share and to give a happy destiny to beautiful things, full of memories and family sweetness.
    I apologize for having finished my last week of comments on the wonderful Student Challenge so late, but Christmas Holidays were entirely taken and, with my “flying crutches” I felt exhausted at the end of the day.
    My school asked me to open a new site “cadescrita.org” because my dear blog was considered “not secure” by the European laws and I don’t know which links caused that, in order to suppress them. So I’m orphan of Edublogs, with my kids, floating on a lonely large ocean.
    At least I’m allowed to keep my teacher’s blog. Give me just some more months and I will be back again.
    Thank you for your Friendship,
    Ines

    1. Hi Ines,
      We miss your involvement in the community too but don’t worry. It sounds like you’re very busy with family life. No need to apologise about STUBC either. We really appreciate your help as a commenter!
      Looking forward to seeing you back on your teacher blog in the coming months.
      Kathleen 🙂

  3. Edublogs is always so supportive of bloggers — the novice and the proficient. I thank you for that. Love this blogging challenge too. I’m renewing with old friends and finding new ones. I love that blogging allows us to learn together — a reciprocal relationship as we each share what we know and how we adapt what we learn from others. Sometimes the learning is incidental to the actual point of a post, because that is how learning works. Karen Richardson reminded me of struggle, though her post was about crochet and math. http://whatelse.edublogs.org/2019/01/08/yarn-over/

    1. Hi Sheri,
      Thank you so much for your kind recommendation! It’s so great that you’re connecting with old and new friends in the wonderful educational blogging community.
      Thanks for sharing such an interesting post too. We’ll share this in our next #blogging28 round up!
      Kathleen

  4. Hi Kathleen,
    It’s so exciting that so many people are involved in this challenge! I’m having a lovely time checking out all the various blogs!
    Cheers,
    Kirsty

    1. Agree, I love that the community is coming together to support each other with this challenge. Great start to 2019!

    1. Let’s know what you need help with. Are you looking to set up a teacher blog, class blog, or student blog?

  5. I really enjoyed my challenge yesterday – writing lists. I have some outstanding blog posts (personal and professional), and I found that writing about what I intend to write about really helped me get a move on. Ha. Well done everyone for being so motivated.

    1. Good point, Nina. Sometimes I find motivation comes once you make a start. And writing some lists is a great easy starting point!

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