When I responded on one of the student's blogs, I mentioned that what's really neat about blogging is that it's instant and we can now connect with people all over the world quickly. When I was in elementary school my classmates and I had pen pals from a different state (don't remember which one now...). It took so long to hear back because we had to wait for our letters to be written, sent, and then delivered... the slowww way. Now, it's as simple as logging into the internet, reading a blog, posting a comment, and hitting publish. That person across the country or across the world can read your comment in the same day, even hour.
I've really been thinking about using Kidblog with my 3rd and 5th graders. For those of you who blog with your students, can you comment on how it has been going? What has been working well?
I haven't started using blogging with my little ones yet, but I am very interested in starting. I teach 1st grade but think that starting a class blog would be awesome! My students use technology all the time and I think that giving them the opportunity to write about chosen topics would really help them to become better writers! I think it's definitely possible to start blogging with your 3rd and 5th graders. When and if you start, let me know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI agree! I also work with children and I think they would absolutely love having a class blog. It would be amazing to see classrooms from across the world having blogs so that they could communicate with one another. It would really help the kids to learn about different cultures and to discuss worldwide problems. I'm all for it! :)
ReplyDeleteAs both a world language and ESL teacher, I think blogging is an excellent way to make learning a new or second language fun! As you mentioned, old 'snail mail' took forever, and at times the correspondence was even lost...now it's instantaneous and gives students a practical reason for writing. Most students probably wouldn't even look at it as an assignment and they would be practicing the 3 domains of reading, writing and comprehension in an activity that fosters exposure to foreign cultures, many of which are represented in our own school systems!
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