Kids Can Blog Too!

First graders blogging?!?!  I figured this was an activity reserved for much older children but these kids are making iMovies and posting them on their blogs.  I am amazed.  Looking at the benefits of these activities takes my amazement to a whole different level.  These children are able to purposefully share their learning with others.  In reading the article Online Collaborative Inquiry: Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies it notes how children are finding their "voice" and were quite excited when participating in a genuine writing activity such as this.  How are they not to get excited?  They are sharing information with people all over the world and when they respond and make comments what a great motivator for a young child!  I relate it to in my childhood receiving a letter in the mail.  It was a pretty exciting day to get mail! (And yes I am talking about snail mail.)  Additionally as students share information they are reinforcing their own learning.  I typically believe if a child is able to explain their learning to someone else, they are demonstrating their understanding of their own learning.  And guess what -- while they are doing this they are also working on their writing skills!  Another embedded skill in which they are practicing.

The use of technology in the classroom further allows the outside world of various sorts to come into the classroom.  Through Skype, blogging even twittering the information in which students can access and the individuals which can be consulted are endless.  Further a website called Quad Blogging connects classrooms around the world to work on common projects. 

Again, it seems as if with the use of technology, the possibilities are endless.