Next week I will be attending a workshop on using student blogs in the elementary classroom. I am exceptionally proud of the work my students have been doing and look forward to sharing it with my fellow elementary teachers.  Inspired by conversations with my colleague and building tech guru, Chris Casal, I encourage my students to write often. We talk in class about studying other students’ blogs, we actively search for blogs that are interesting and serve as solid mentors. We talk about the importance of them reading each other’s blogs and learning from one another. The conversations are rich and meaningful. My students’ blogs are populated with stories of their own choosing (Chris is writing a mini-series and has multiple installments; Nate posts weekly math challenges) as well as posts that were assigned. They have learned to add images and embed videos in their blogs to make them more interesting to the readers (we’ve also discussed the importance of knowing your audience).

Chris has taught these promising young writers about the importance of blogs and identity.   Blogs exist in many forms, cooking blogs, travel blogs, etc.  and they have one focus. You, as a 5th grader, have many topics to write about, however the focus can be around learning. Take that angle every time and even your story about visiting grandma can be about what you’ve learned during that visit.

My students took their blogs seriously and really worked together to create unique, cool names (Live, Love, Lola; Nate Knows; Just Drew It), they added attractive color schemes and images,  and this in turn helped them to polish their voice in writing over time (and for some they found their voice for the first time).

In reflecting on how much they have grown, and how much we have taught them, it came to my attention that one thing was missing…my writing. I had started a blog, I have talked about my blog, but sadly I’ve abandoned my blog. True story. We taught the kids that the blog is a place to tinker with writing, revising a published piece was encouraged and every post needn’t be epic in length. It is only now that it’s loud and clear that I haven’t been following my own advice as I thought that was fine for them, but my posts should be Edutopia worthy every time. I held myself to a higher standard that led to many ideas (I have a long list) and zero writing. I’ll admit I was wrong and have vowed to try and write more often – short posts that serve as updates, documentation for my own learning if you will. Now I will be able to join the class conversations with a new lens, as a writer who shares in the creation process, learning with and from my students.