Tender and Sweet First Grade Blog Comments

Most of the teachers at my wife’s elementary school in Oklahoma City have starting using KidBlog with their students this semester for interactive writing, and students as well as parent volunteers are getting involved with commenting. This comment thread on a first grader’s photo post about his animal project is tender and sweet, including feedback from a sibling.

  by  Wesley Fryer 

How wonderful it is that adults as well as students are able to engage in interactive writing like this together, which is all MODERATED by classroom teachers! Can first graders safely blog with iPads? Yes they can!

My wife commented this week how wonderful it is that her third and fourth grade students are eager to write on their Kidblog. This is a big contrast to the responses she’s received in the past, when she’s asked students to write on paper.

Technology is not a “silver bullet” nor a panacea for the challenges facing teachers in the classroom, but interactive writing can and does have powerful potential to help engage and motivate students to read and write more. Interactive writing sites like KidBlog can also open a window to supportive and edifying feedback which can further develop a loving and supportive classroom culture in which students can thrive as learners.

For more resources on classroom blogging, refer to the “Interactive Writing” page of the Mapping Media to the Common Core digital literacy framework. If you’re interested in learning more ways students can use media to “show what they know” using iPads, consider attending one of the 3 day iPad Media Camps I’ll be leading this summer in Texas, Kansas, Illinois, and Alabama!

  by  Wesley Fryer 

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