Mrs. Huebner Thanks You!

I got this email today (November 17). It is really for those of you commenting on her students' blogs this week!

I don't know if you are the professor that is making their students comment on students' blogs in their class, but if you are.......THANK YOU! My name is Marla Huebner from Sioux Rapids, IA, and my class has a blog out on kidblog.org. I think it may be your students blogging about our blogs! My students are loving it! We are charting where all of the comments are coming from and putting them on a map. They are realizing the power of their words and are actually starting to love to write. There are times when they are a little nervous about the mechanics of their writing, but they are finally starting to write because there is an authentic audience out there! I want to thank you so much for the time you took to write on the students' blogs! You don't realize how you are making a fifth grader in Iowa's, day! Mrs. Huebner
Our blog site: MrsHuebnersClass2

My reply:

You are welcome. I have 148 students in my class for aspiring teachers. They all have to comment on at least one kid's blog every week for 12 of the 15 weeks in the semester. When I first started doing this in the fall of 2009 it was difficult finding enough blogging teachers. Now there are lots!.

All of this happened because of Mr. William Chamberlain (@wmchamberlain). He has outlined some of the history of comments4kids at Comments4Kids. There is also a link there to a post which explains why I think blogging and commenting on blogs is so important: Kaia and Room 10: Why Blogs and Commenting on Blogs Are So Important

I have a list of my student's blogs at Fall 2010 Links to Student Blogs. Maybe you or one of your students might like to leave a comment on a blog of one or more of my students, especially one that has left a comment for a student of yours. My students summarize their comments4kids activities the first Sunday of every month so on December 5 your student blogs will be mentioned in these monthly posts.

My class blog can be found at EDM310 Class Blog

Thanks for the feedback. Just like your students we like to know we have an audience as well.

John Strange