Ines Pinto recently wrote a great post on her blog entitled The Bloggers of the Future. She reminds us that it is important to just not follow and support adult bloggers, but also the bloggers of the future.
I believe that young bloggers are already playing an active part in the renewal of our era; that the fragile web they are weaving with their written words conceal the power to multiply and deepen friendly connections as the foundations of a different society: the one that will find its joy in sharing and thus will be healthier, more happy, more free.
When was the last time you left a comment on a kid’s blog? After blogging with my kids I can tell you that a comment from an adult, goes just a bit farther than a comment from a kid. It means that they have the respect of the blogging community. It means that they impressed an adult just long enough to make them pause to become apart of their conversation. I recently told my kids to stop saying “Hello, I am from Mr. Bogush’s class” whenever they leave a comment on an adult blog. That they can consider themselves an equal contributor to the blogosphere and do not have to feel intimidated or anxious about entering a conversation on a blog. Their words are taken from a perspective that adult bloggers no longer can see. I think that they can bring a unique point-of-view to the blogosphere and should be supported by the community that they don’t hope to be apart of someday, but are a part of right now. So please, take the time this week to visit at least one kid’s blog, whether it’s an individual blog, or a classroom blog, and encourage them to continue taking an “active part in the renewal of our era.”
If you have a class that blogs, please leave your URL in the comments.
And don’t forget to vote! Polls close Tuesday afternoon.
Thanks so much for highlighting our classroom blog. My students are so excited! Also, we loved hearing about your experience with a rogue snowman. You really have to watch out for those!
you got my vote mr.B
I can only applaud this post. My students are my most valuable connection. I have a long subscription list in my google reader but have added my students, classified into year levels to the list. I tend to ignore the subscription list now, to concentrate on the students, so that I can comment on their blogs.
I love it when they reply back, despite the spelling, the poorly phrased sentences, bad grammar etc. I try to ask a question and delight when they do comment back to me.
It gives connectedness, real understanding and a basis to facilitate real student led learning.
I had better not write more here, as you have reminded me that I have not checked the student subs in my reader. We are on holidays, but the kids are still blogging!
Thanks for your support, Paul.
I really love to visit students blogs. And I’m also collecting tips and ideas from their posts to share with my kids and keep them writing too.
For the moment, my student Madalena (http://madalena12cad6b.edublogs.org/)is preparing her own posts for our turn at “Bringing us Together”.
I think this young generation is also “bringing adults together” by the beauty and simplicity of the links they establish between themselves and, as a consequence, between us, adults.
Let’s keep blogging with them!
Ines
My classes have started blogging in a small way this year. As a complement to watching Roots, they’ve been blogging as characters in the different episodes. It started a little rocky, but it has gotten better and better. This is a challenging group of students this year, but they’ve done some very good writing. I’ll definitely be expanding this project next year.
Project instructions – http://kuntakinte.edublogs.org