24 Comments to “Bloggy Question 61: Okay Kids, Login!”

1. September 2nd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
   Scot Herrick said

   This is a great — tough — question.

   First, most parents, I suspect, would not know what a blog was — so some quick research would be in store.

   Second, here is your opportunity to embrace the fact that we now all live on the front page of the Internet, so what we write reflects on ourselves. How to explain that to a 6-13 year old is beyond my capability.

   Third, have some fun! It’s a challenge and I’m hoping the parents would have access so they could provide some feedback to their children.

2. September 3rd, 2007 at 3:18 am
   Alina Popescu said

   Hi Liz, I’m back from my vacation and I was greeted with this very interesting question

   I think such an idea would be great actually. Kids can learn to manage something of their own, to create content and also moderate comments, which would improve both writing and debating skills. Also, they would learn a thing or two about responsibility (as having the blog written for their colleagues and teachers will impose a certain type of content and they wouldn’t be able to write anything while hiding behind anonymity). It would also make for a great lesson on censorship at a certain point

3. September 3rd, 2007 at 3:52 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Scot!
   It is a question that would stop me as soon as I read it . . . I would have more questions than answers, I know. “What do they mean by ‘online’?” would be the first. I’d be both thrilled and nervous I think. I’d be wondering why they didn’t have a meeting about it.

4. September 3rd, 2007 at 3:55 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Alina!
   Teachers are already using blogs in classrooms, but mostly as a class project from what I can see. Wikis seem to be more popular for that reason.

   I hear what you’re saying about the potential for learning, especially about anonymity and censorthip. I just had a thought about the kid who writes the wrong thing about a teacher . . . whoops!

5. September 3rd, 2007 at 5:32 am
   cerebralmum said

   That’s a sticky one. I’ve got no problem at all with young kids blogging, but I would want to see a lot more details on how they would be used by the students and what purpose they would serve.

   Group blogs and wikis I can see working really well, but individual blogs accessible to all the other students are far more problematic. What would the content be? How would they be monitored? Personal blogs would be completely inappropriate, both because of censorship, overt or perceived, and because it would provide an extra platform for kids to be bullied or teased. It would also teach them self-censorship, not something I would want my child to learn.

   Would they be integrated into classwork, and, if so, how would that affect a child who struggles with their assignments or has low self-esteem? If their work is available for all to see, rather than given to teachers trusted to provide constructive criticism, it would surely leave them feeling exposed and vulnerable.

   I can see a lot of risks to forcing children to have individual (public) blogs, and no benefits educationally that could not be gained by group blogs just as easily.

   It is possible that the imaginary school would have answers to my questions, but I would make sure they gave them to me.

   Besides, blogging should be a labour of love, not a chore.

6. September 3rd, 2007 at 5:41 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Cerebralmum,
   You sure point out the problems I see, and I was a first grade teacher. So much depends on the teacher, the school, the situation.

   If the personnel at the school are going into this idealistically blind, thinking that blogs are merely online versions of the journals that kids have been keeping, then a world of problems surrounds the entire idea.

   I’m with you, a class blog seems to be a great solution. But if they’re deadset on individual blogs, I might volunteer to lead a group of teachers and kids who write a handbook for blogs. Any school “director” certainly would listen to the idea of the liability involved.

7. September 3rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
   Two Knives said

   If all the previously posted questions were answered to my satisfaction, I would welcome it. It would be a way to share something I do with my daughter and would be an excellent lesson in online responsibility. The sooner we start the dialogue about the consequences of public posting with our kids, the better. This is the world they live in.

   That being said, I do think age 6 is a bit young for it. We’re trying to eliminate “screen time” in our house, not increase it. Maybe start closer to age 9 or 10?

8. September 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Two Knives!
   As an past first-grade teacher, I have mixed feelings about putting kids online in the classroom. I’d want to open the world for them, but as a mother I totally understand “limiting screen time.”

   I also wouldn’t want to do with the Internet what we did with reading — turn it into a class, make a world in which kids started saying they least favorite thing in school was “Reading.” Schools have a way of doing that sometimes too.

   The potential is wonderful . . . the human element always complicates things, doesn’t it?

9. September 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
   Mother Earth said

   when I went to highschool we wrote daily journals in junior years’s english class, some students wrote pointed commentary about parents, other kids or the teachers or wrote about inappropriate topics -it opened up too many cans of worms and it got out of control. For myself and at the time it was some of my best unorganized and unorthodox writing, I got in trouble for it. Kept me away from the idea of writing in public for a very long time

   if the work was “guided” moderated I think it would be awesome - i love the idea of immediate publication and online peer editing or commentary - how quickly a community could be developed also would be a great school project

   what a very interesting question

   mother earth

10. September 3rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
    Hsien Lei said

    In my family, I’d probably tell the school that my son already has a weblog/photoblog or, as this past week’s activity hinted at, a video blog. But on a more serious note, I wouldn’t ask the kids to keep a weblog of personal thoughts/experiences but perhaps a guided weblog with writing prompts. This will help them avoid getting into trouble from saying something damaging about their family, friends, or teachers.

11. September 3rd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth!
    I know what you are talking about. The line between opinion, venting, and outright meanness can flimsy and is so easily crossed when we are learning about limits.

    I so like how you talk about your “unorganized and unorthodox writing.” What a wonderful description that is!

    With the right “guide at the side,” yes, I agree it would be truly wonderful. Yet I fear even then some folks would find fault. It’s dangerous.

12. September 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Hsien Lei,
    I also think that personal thoughts and experiences are meant for the family and not for the school. That word “guided” is back again and again I am right with you.

    Feelings and reputations are so easily hurt when we are children . . . I still know who wet their pants in first grade and who couldn’t get the knot out of his shoe. . . .

13. September 3rd, 2007 at 4:54 pm
    April Groves said

    Hmmm…where to start…
    I am trying to coach my 10 year old into starting a blog. She is wonderfully artistic and I think it is all the things your previous comments suggest in the relam of the learning experience. I am not with the younger ones because I agree with Two Knives - that’s a bit young I think.

    Like you, I have more questions - security, personal information, moderation, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. Is it going to be too much to ask that I get a copy of the DRAFT before it is actually published? If it is - then I am out. No further discussion needed.

    I think our children need to understand self censorship. I think it is important to employ it. While I encourage my children to express themselves, I also insist that they remember to remain respectful, truthful, and within good character.

    They must understand the ramifications of internet posting. We have discussed the behavior that some bloggers participate it - exposing details of their life with a disclaimer that says “keep this to yourself.” Our technical world doesn’t work that way.

    I think blogging exercises the brain and free thinking. I also think it educates on personal responsibility and handling the viewpoints of others. I look back at the increase in my life since the start of my blog and it has been amazing. I am all for opening up this opprotunity to my kids - with my involvement.

    Lots of questions to be answered before I am comfortable, but the right answers would make me very excited at the process.

14. September 3rd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
    ME Strauss said

    HI April!
    Yep. You ARE the parent. I think your position is so wonderfully well stated. I wish all future bloggers had a mother like you to guide them. Add to that all future reporters while you’re at it.

    (Am I again adding to your family again? Sorry)

    I can only stand up to say “Bravo” to your point by point discussion of the situation.

    Thank you so much for this comment and for the future citizens that you’re raising.

15. September 4th, 2007 at 7:01 am
    Mother Earth said

    Liz, I appreciate your comments about my writing. We were part of a HS admin’s misinterpretation of writings on a blog last fall, where a very brilliant, poetic although dark sometimes in the bowels of her mind, young lady was expelled from school - they had good attorneys who eventually got her back into school - which was her only pulse and joy, yet in the midst of it all it was extrememly wrong and unfair the way she was treated - YET what she wrote on her blog however expressive and poetic, was inappropriate and at some level threatening to the school. This fine line makes it a terrible challenge. If the same message was written on college rule how would it have been handled? It wouldn’t have had the same public - ness - does that mean it wouldn’t have had a following or impact? Based on this young lady’s cult-like following I really wonder.

    At what point, what’s the difference??

    In HS after getting found out… so to speak, with my writings —I was made to burn all my journals - sortof like salem witch trials if you ask me. I did not write for many many years nor was I ever acknowledged for my talent. There has to be a better way.

    Mother Earth

16. September 4th, 2007 at 7:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth!
    Wow! I think it would have to be something awfully spectacular to warrant expelling a kid from school!

    The difference is the size of the minds of the people who are reading . . . and the size of their fear.

    Burning books. Man oh man. That hurts me. Burning journals. I’m so sorry.

17. September 4th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
    Mother Earth said

    you’re truly so sweet to understand liz- gosh thank you

    my blog celebrates it’s 3rd month in just 4 days. Writing it has been such an awakening. I think I needed to be ready to be this vulnerable again. If I can’t let it all hang out then what’s the point. I have so much to say and express. I have not talked about or thought about the “burnings” in a really long time. Felt kindof good. What I wrote about then was pretty scary. I bet I had fear the size of argentina !

    This young lady was made an example of - my opinion the school “postured” the entire thing. In the end she was mature enough and understood how she contributed to the concern –it all worked out in the end

18. September 4th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth,
    One thing I have learned is that your cannot preach love and punishment at the same time. You cannot grow a flow and steal it’s soil and sunshine.

    You cannot teach by serving your own gains. Never, ever. If your motive is self-serving, you are not teaching what you think you are teaching in any way.

19. September 5th, 2007 at 12:32 am
    Mother Earth said

    that you use the word teach floors me - i was thinking about the difference between this young student telling, swaying, munipulating and furthering personal cause - she was doing that in a naive youthful way — because she could. She was in her own blather - Verses if she considered her path as a leader and teacher would the whole thing have had a different integrity

    you speak to it beatifully - grow a flow

    I didn’t understand the power of teaching for quite some time - I felt there wasn’t a listening or perhaps I wasn’t speaking clearly enough or perhaps it wasn’t until I really cared about what i was saying

    are you a night owl too??

20. September 5th, 2007 at 8:33 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth!
    We are all teacher and learners. Some of us just don’t take our roles seriously.

    Am I night owL . . . I live inside your computer.

21. September 5th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
    Edward Mills said

    Great topic Liz. And what a can of worms. My wife and I are considering Waldorf for our 4-year old. That would mean no computers for her for the first few years of her education. I’m having a hard time seeing how I could stand behind that path since I’m on the computer most of the day and feel that the Internet holds huge potential for positively impacting our world.

    If it were my daughter and her school, I would want to be quite sure that there was a strong balance between connecting and communicating in the virtual world and connecting with and exploring the physical world.

    It’s a balance that I am continually seeking in my own life and would love to (will love to) assist my daughter with as she grows and matures into this increasingly digital age.

22. September 5th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Edward!
    I chose to send my highly gifted child to public school because I wanted him to be able to talk to the kid in the desk next to him.

    It was the opposite path you are looking at.

    Still I faced the same kind of wondering. Now that he’s graduated well to his potential and has a fine start on a life, I realize it may not have mattered as much as I thought it did.

    Good luck. Do call if you want to talk about it.

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