No contest – a good week of kid-blogging

Scenario 1

The scene : First week back at school in an Australian classroom after a long summer break.  Class of 10/11 year olds.  Students asked to get out their diaries and write about their holidays.  They write, then perhaps the teacher reads it and responds with an encouraging comment and maybe a sticker.    The book returns to the child’s desk.  The writing is never read again.

Scenario 2

comments4kidsThe scene : First week back at school in an Australian classroom after a long summer break.  Class of 10/11 year olds.  Students asked to write a blog post highlighting how they think their holiday may be different to those of children in other parts of the world.  The posts are published and the teacher sends out one Tweet using the #comments4kids hashtag.   The students receive instant feedback – within 1 hour there are lovely comments from Alabama – a teacher who comments and promises to show his students when they are at  school the next day (assuming the snow does not close the school)    In the following days, more comments come in from teachers and  students in Hawaii, Vermont and Pennsylvannia.  They are sharing their experiences of summer, of Christmas and later on, of sports too.    The class considers good commenting skills so that they can reply to their comments and then reciprocate to their readers.  Cybersafety is discussed to ascertain the amount of information to include.   An atlas is brought out – where exactly are Alabama, Pennsylvannia, Vermont  by the way they ask? (they seemed to know where Hawaii is)

Which is the more meaningful exercise ?  No points for guessing my preference !

Thanks again to #comments4kids for a great week of blogging/writing/learning !!

9 thoughts on “No contest – a good week of kid-blogging

  1. I am pleased this is working out so well for your class. It is great to get to troll through blogs and see success stories like this. Thank you for sharing. I would love to put this post on the comments4kids blog if you don’t mind. 🙂

  2. How wonderful Celia…educators who just don’t “get” the whole notion of how technology can enhance teaching and learning, should read your post. It’s a credit to you for making this happen. 🙂

  3. Great blog post and perfect comparison. It really sums up what is so great about blogging and being able to connect with people from around the world. I can’t think of a better way to motivate students and provide a truly authentic audience, keen to share their experiences.

    Well done on creating such an environment in your classroom – keep it up 🙂

  4. This is a great post! I’d love to share it with some teachers who are just getting started with class blogging. May I include it in my presentation with a link back to your site? Of course, I will credit you! Thank you for sharing!

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