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Julianne Harmatz, Fran McVeigh, me, and Mark Flannery (Kidblog President)
I have been a devoted Kidblog user for three years. My students love blogging. When I was at NCTE, I had the privilege of meeting Mark Flannery, Kidblog president. He invited me to try out the new Kidblog interface. I was thrilled, and so are my students.
I teach elementary gifted academics, and twice a year when testing is completed, I may receive new students. This week Jacob, 1st grade, started coming to my class for his morning ELA block. Jacob knows a little bit about my class because I taught his older sister, and his mother teaches across the hall from me. What a joy to have him officially be my student. After his first day, his mother texted me a picture saying “Look who just finished his first chapter book.”
But she told me he writes like a first grader. Well, she couldn’t have been more wrong. On Monday, I asked my other older and more experienced students to read some of their slices to him. I told him he should write about himself for his first slice to help everyone get to know him. He came in on Tuesday with a whole paragraph. When I asked him to add another paragraph with one detail about each person in his family, he did not hesitate. (He has three sisters, so he had to add 5 more sentences.) Then on Tuesday he told his mom he had to write another blog post. She gave him the topic of pets. And on Friday, I taught him how to write a haiku poem. Whew! First week and he already has 3 blog posts.
I continue to believe strongly in the power of blogging to inspire student writing. I also believe by this daily writing practice, skills improve. When we were talking to Jacob about blogging, Tyler, a 6th grader, said, “It’s a way for us to connect to each other.” I love it when students have discussions and say exactly what you want them to say.
The connections we make, the stories we write, and the support we give each other makes blogging top priority in my gifted classroom. Thanks, Mark and Kidblogs, for giving us the opportunity to connect in such a meaningful new way. I hope the new interface will be available for everyone soon. Take a look at our site here.
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Reflections on the Teche 
I don’t have a post, Margaret, but wanted to say I’ve started ‘slicing’ with students and they are doing wonderful things. We’ll start our blogs in January. Also, I suspect your teaching also had so much to do with Jacob’s motivation to do well. He’s lucky to have you!
I love this, Margaret. What a lucky little boy to be placed in your class. I know he is going to flourish!! I will take a look at the new interface. Still debating whether or not to take my kids’ Kidblog posts public. Did you get any problems with inappropriate comments from the outside?
Holly, I approve every comment. I have (cross my fingers, knock on wood) had no inappropriate comments.
How wonderful, Margaret! You are giving these children the gift of being able to find their writing voices. Kidblog is something I want to explore over Winter Break – when I will have (I hope!) time to think!
Yes it is all about the connections we make. Your Tyler said it well. Lucky Jacob to have the experience of blogging as such a young writer.
I couldn’t agree more! I believe blogging is so important for so many reasons…raising the quality of writing, connecting with others, building community, learning things about our students that we might otherwise not know. I’m so excited that many of the teachers in my building are introducing blogging to their students. It’s very exciting.