We Day Inspires Blogging at Gleneagles Elementary
byWe Day is one of my favourite annual events. Their line-up of international guests is always impressive and the campaign not only raises millions of dollars for Free the Children, it also raises millions of volunteer hours. The event educates children and youth across Canada about global causes while also inspiring them to do what they can for their own communities. There’s nothing like hearing 18,000 children at Rogers Arena shout “We Are!” – as in we are the change.
One school that was in attendance was Gleneagles Elementary from West Vancouver, located just off Marine Drive near Horseshoe Bay. Their principal, Mr. Wallace, contacted me to see if I would come and talk to the students about blogging. The school recently started a weBlog initiative that has students in grades 6 and 7 honing their skills while writing about social issues on an internal blogging network. I had previously spoken at a few high schools in Vancouver and really enjoyed the experience so I happily took on this challenge.
I put together a 45-minute presentation for the students in Mrs. Crowdis, Mr. Parslow, and Ms. McLachlan’s classes complete with information about my own blogging journey that began in 2004. I covered Twestival, Blogathon, and years of blogging about local and international causes. From sitting down at my computer in the morning and writing about a fundraiser or toy drive, to serving meals in the Downtown Eastside, or traveling thousands of miles to deliver bikes to school children in Ghana, blogging has taken me on many amazing journeys.
Photo credit: Nordica Photography
Aside from stories about rapelling down a building for a cause, I shared a few very basic blogging tips with the students to get them going.
- Document Experiences: If you can’t think of anything to blog about, think about something you’ve done. Writing about that not only allows you to share your story, it also helps you preserve the memory of the experience.
- Add to Discussions: One of the easiest ways to get inspired when blogging is to read other blogs. If someone wrote something that you liked or perhaps asked a question, write a reply on your own blog (then link back to the source).
- Have Themes: You can have a weekly or daily theme on your blog which will help you think of content. Every week on Miss604.com I feature a history post. It could be the story of a famous statue in Vancouver, the origin of a street name, or a collection of photographs from days gone by.
- Share Your Passion: It’s easy to write about something every day or every week if you really love that something. I could write about Vancouver, Surrey, and the Lower Mainland every single day (in fact I do, at least twice daily). If I were really into knitting, baking, basketball, or music I could write about those things frequently as well. When you like your subject matter you’ll never run out of ideas and your passion will shine through in your text.
I can’t wait to hear about how the weBlog project is going and Mr. Wallace already informed me that students wrote their first posts this week. Using blogs, they can inspire their friends, launch campaigns, and learn to tell their own stories. Just think about what can be accomplished when we engage and encourage our young people to talk about social issues.
29 Comments — Comments Are Closed
Fantastic advice, especially having themes. It really helps when you’re first trying to get into that writing habit.
That was fun, thanks for comeing. i reamember all the things you talked about, like the bycicles in giuna or the propelling down a building! again, thanks for comeing.
That was really interesting when you came out! I think it would be really cool if you got to go to all the school is Vancouver. I also thought is was awesome how you got to repel down the side of a building. Are you going to do the Blog-a-thon again this year? It looks really fun but tiring!
I thought your speech to us was pretty interesting!
I think it was cool how you got to do a lot of adventures and go places!
Your tips on blogging were also really useful
Thanks a lot for coming to our school and teaching us about blogging!
We didn’t have plans for Blogathon this year but several other bloggers and I would like to start it up again. You’re right, it’s fun but very tiring! The Easter Seals Drop zone usually happens in September so perhaps I’ll fundraise in the summer and go down the building again too.
Thanks Tyler, you were all great classes!
I am a student at Gleneagles and after having miss 604 visit the most useful information I took from that would be document experiences. I think this is usefel because I always have trouble with starting any type of writing and this can help me think of ideas.
Before you came to Gleneagles I was terrible at writing blogs and didn’t like it that much. But after you came I wrote a few of my best blogs I have so far. When you told my class to share our passion through our blogs, I did just that. My blogs are now great thanks to you! Thanks a ton!
I really liked your presentation. It was really engaging and I like how you didn’t put everything you said into the PowerPoint. I really liked your advice and have used it to improve my stories (I like writing fiction more than blogs). I found it really interesting when you told us about rappelling down that building. Girl Power!!!
FYI: I’m from Gleneagles!
I am Evelyn in Mr.Parslow’s class. I really liked your presentation when you gave us tips to write blgs easily and the theme part was my favorite part about your presentation. it was great to have you with our school and my favorite part in your blog post is where you say about the history post and I thought that I should pick a catagory that I like and write about it.
I thought it was really interesting when you came to visit us about blogging. I never knew that you could make a life and live off of blogging and that it would be fun and exiting. It’s cool how you got to climb down buildings and give bikes to people and families living in Ghana. You should visit more schools in Vancouver and other places to share your expiriences with them.
thakns for all of the helpful tipe! Having themes for your blog is a really good idea1! It sure helped me! Thanks again for coming in and telling us about bloging!
Im from gleneagles, that was an awesome blog. I ahve a conetiton my dad owns bean around the world the coffee shop and he bilt a shcool in Gwatmalla.
I really liked wene she propeled down the bilding. I hope you coment on my blog it will make my day bye.
Sorry I was typing too fast!
Thanks for coming in! Thanks for all your advise about having themes to blog about every week, like Vancouvers history or food.
It was really fun hearing about what you had to say!
hi miss 604, im not sure if remeber me i was one of the children that you talked to about bloging at gleneales elemtenry. i really enjoy reading your blogs and when i heard you wrote about us i was even more excited. i love all the stories you told us about your blogging advenures that you get to do because you blog. i hope you enjoyed comeing to gleneagles sincerierely a student from gleneales.
Hi miss604. I love that you came to visit us and tell us all about your adventures that you get to do just because of your bloging. Thank you for giving us some advice on how to blog!
i really liked listening to you talk about your adventures at gleneagles.
Your job sounds so cool because you get to do amazing things and even better they help out people who need it.
I am from Gleneagles Elementry school and when you came to the school and talked about blogging the thing that I found most interesting was the part when you said you started by blogging about your cereal and eventually got to where you are now. Also thank you for coming to my school.
I just wanted to say thank you for coming to our school. Blogging is still really new to the majority of us and we really appreciated you helpinng us. We still don’t really know that much about blogging, but your tips are really helpful. Especially the one about writing about our passions. It has really helped me alot. Your presentation was very interesting and really helpful. Thanks so much for coming!
cool i relly ingoyd you comeing to are school and talking adout you going on a building and goig down it and how you sent bikes to pore countres and stuff like that thank you
I am a from gleneagles elemenrty school, I really enjoyed when you came in to talk to us about blogging. My favorite part was when you gave us some advised because whenever we get assigned to write a blog first I always think about what you said; it also helps me diced on a topic. I really enjoyed you coming in to our school thanks!!!
Thanks for coming to Gleneagles! You gave us great advice, about how to write blogs. I liked the story about you repelling down the building. Its really cool how you get to do fun stuff like that just by blogging!
Hi miss 604 I really enjiod you coming to gleneagles and talking about your adventures in bloging and going to ganah and almost getting stuck in the mud on the bus ride, but you really changed my opinion on the meaning of bloging. Thanks alot.
Thkn you for coming to are school it was really fun having you. I learned alot about blogs. I still remeber what you said.
I really enjoyed you coming and teaching us all of those blogging tricks! I’ll use them next time I blog.I didn’t think that you could make blogging a career. It’s cool how you can go around the world, and go down the sides of buildings(justby your job!)!
Thanck you, so much!
Thank you for coming to Gleneagles it was lots of fun listening to all your advancers and your tips were helpful
Rebecca,
Thank you for coming to Gleneagles and sharing your jouney as a blogger. It is obvious the students learned valuable tips about blogging and were inspired by your many adventures. We will be following your blog to find out about your next exciting experience.