If you don’t know of her already, you really should meet Sue Wyatt.

She is a true pioneer in educational blogging and building global connections.

Sue, maybe better recognized by her display name of Miss W or @tasteach on twitter, is well known by thousands of students and educators from around the globe that participate in her twice yearly Student Blogging Challenges.

She works ridiculously hard organizing tasks, managing helpers, and reading and leaving comments on student blogs. She does this all as a volunteer, because she loves helping students and teachers from all over.

Right now, Sue isn’t at all enjoying the comforts of home which is in Tasmania, Australia. She is in the middle of a whirlwind trip around North America that most can only dream of!

But instead of relaxing and going quietly on her great trip alone, there are two unique things about this trip:

1. Sue will be visiting tons of classrooms, bloggers, and chat friends she’s gotten to know over the years
2. She brought along a Tasmanian friend, Mr. ‘Davo’ Devil as a mascot and travelling companion

You can follow the entire journey on Mr. Davo’s blog – complete with tons of updates and photos!

This is a true case where connections made virtually are turning into amazing experiences for all involved.

About the trip

• Left Australia in mid-September and will continue into November
• Covering more than 6,000 miles (~10,000 kms)
• All in a rental car – driving on the wrong (ie. right) side of the road that Miss W. isn’t used to!

We asked Sue a few questions about her trip, which is currently a couple of weeks in progress.

Why this trip?

Where are you staying?

How is it visiting other schools?

So far have visited four classrooms and have plans to visit at least 7 more. Teachers looked at my rough map and said, “You are coming near us – can you visit our class?” If it wasn’t too far off the route, I diverted slightly to visit them.

What else are you getting to see?

The cool things are visiting the classrooms and meeting the teachers and students, blogging about the trip, going to places I have never been before on previous trips and re-visiting Grand Canyon to see the glass walkway. I’ve always wanted to see Banff and Calgary, look at whaling on the east coast of USA, Mount Rushmore, and visit Kansas and Oklahoma to see how “country”  they are.

How do people find your accent?

Some people have noticed the accent but they often ask questions about language usage like lift/elevator, trunk/boot and so on. The students want to know more about the animals of Australia.

Getting students involved

There is a place on Mr. Davo Devil’s blog to leave questions about Australia, the US, and Canada – Mr. Davo will get around to answering any questions that are left.

Students are already asking things such as types of fruit, kinds of animals, and customs of each country.

Or even cooler is this fantastic question left on the Kids in the Mid blog of Miss W’s home town:

What do you think about Sue’s trip? 

I, for one, sure am jealous!

Here’s the news the students have been waiting patiently for!

It’s time to announce the winners of ” The Edublogger’s Share Your Blogging Experience“.  A big thanks to everyone who entered.

And the winners are:

Art ‘n’ Articles (Grade 6 student)

I’m not even going to attempt to summarise Rebecca’s post.  She’s a better writer than I’ll ever be!

Check out how passionately she expresses her feelings for writing.

My Blog! (Grade 9 student)

Dominique explains that blogging is a great way to broaden your view of the World and other cultures.  She has interacted with people from so many countries and cultures since she first started blogging in 2009.

Leawood Middle School Blogs

Mrs R. asked her students to provide feedback on what they think of blogging, how it has helped you learn and have you liked learning this way.

From their 60 comments she created a “MUST READ” post on the Top 10 ways blogging has made a difference in your life at school.

Super 7  Scoopers@St Clair

The Scooper’s explain how their class blog has changed considerably over the year;  from teacher driven tool for modeling shared reading and writing sessions and sharing in learning activities with families to students driven tool where the students decide what is blogged and which web 2 tools they use to publish.

Blogging has changed their classroom practises and outcomes of students’ writing.

Check out the Scooper’s excellent video on what a difference blogging makes!

4/5 S

Sam reports that it’s impressive how many students continue to edit and publish work from home after school.  Many of these students do not submit regular homework, but will work in their own time on our blog.

41 Weeks With 5/6C

5/6 C says that their blogging experience has allowed them to look at literacy in a new more modern way. “What is so rewarding about this new literacy approach is that suddenly our class’s reading and writing activities became more purposeful and authentic!”.

Ms. Bush’s Blogging Bunch

Ms. Bush explains that through blogging her students are able to connect wtih each other from outside the classrom, in their comfort of their own homes, while challenging each other of heavy literacy weights like Toni Morrison and William Shakespeare.

Coleman’s blog (Grade 6 student)

Coleman says that the most important things he learned from blogging aren’t about technology; the most important things are about other cultures, good ethics, and how to connect to other people.

Jessica’s Fantastic Blog

Jessica’s reports that it wasn’t until she had her own blog that she realised how amawing and fun it is to blog.  She says blogging has improved her writing making her feel more confident and sure about what she is writing about.

Shirley’s 6th Grade – Alexandra’s post (Grade 6 student)

Alexandra wrote an incredibly detailed post on six tasks she would include if she was in charge of the Student Blogging Challenge.

The Digiridoos (Grade 4 students)

I can’t choose between the Digiridoo students

And their great approach to what they would include if they were in charge of the Student Blogging Challenge inspired my Befunky, Photopeach, and Sketchfu – it’s what students want to do! post.

So I’ve decided the only fair thing to do is give the Digiridoos five Edublogs Pro subscriptions and their teacher can decide how their used

Thanks Anna, Bree, Danielle,  Ella,  Ethan, Evan, Finn, Flynn, Grace, Ia, Jack , Jakob, Laura, Millar, Reif, Sumayah, Tyler, Zara!

Your own choice of topic winners

The students really came into their own in their own choice of topic.

This is where many of the students demonstrated:

1. Their incredible writing skills
2. Ability to reflect on their thoughts
3. That blogging really can give student’s a voice where they can share their opinions on socially important issues.

I attempted to summarise their work and failed badly   — it really didn’t do justice to their amazing work.

Instead I encourage you to check out their winning posts:

• Addie’s Unnoticed post is a deep reflective post on what we do and don’t notice in life (Grade 5 student)
• Vaishnavi’s Best Friends Forever post shares the story of her best friend (Grade 6 student)
• Joseph’s The Original Social Network post discusses why he thinks ant colonies are the original social network (Grade 6 student)
• Rohan’s Does Patriotism still matter? post highlights his thoughts on patriotism (Grade 6 student)
• Rishika’s An experience of a lifetime post reminding us that life is what you make it (Grade 6 student)
• Grace’s In our post on forgotten people and we can make a difference (Grade 7 student)
• Dani’s win win win! yeah boy! post on cyberbullying (Grade 8 student)
• Suman’s Meeting Other little People post reminds us all that we all like to met others like ourselves

Winners Badge

Congratulations to all winners!

Here’s a badge if you would like to add to your sidebar.

Please send an email to tell me if you want to use the free 12 months Edublogs Pro subscription on your own blog or to give away to a reader.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Choosing the winners was incredibly hard due to so many excellent entries.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!