On Comments4Kids

This is Kalim, and he wants you back. Courtesy Room 18 Point England School. Go drop 'em a line.

Alternate post title: "Saving the best for last."

Throughout the semester, we EDM three-tennants have participated in Comments4Kids, an effort begun by Mr. Chamberlain (if you're reading this, Mr. C: thanks again for all your thoughtful comments on my blog, and seriously, how many hours does your day have?) that's at once head-scratchingly obvious, righteously innovative, extraordinarily powerful, and just plain cool.

Seriously, it's all right there in the name: it's comments, for kids. Students around the world commonly share their work online and maintain their own blogs, and it's likely an understatement to say that this trend tilts upward. Comments4Kids provides a hub for teachers to solicit comments for their students, and for concerned stakeholders in education (read: "people who care") to share links of class and individual blogs. At the risk of redundancy, this is kind of a big deal.

I've left comments for Kate, an young narrative writer in Manchester, UK; for Beth, her classmate, a gifted and posh lupine role-player; for Kalim, a year-6 New Zealand rockstar; for Ms. Deyenberg’s class, who put us to shame by thoughtfully podcasting about technology and learning way younger than we ever got around to it; for Allison, Danny, and Ally, students in Ms. Ionno’s Math Class in Florida with interesting perspectives regarding mathematical inventions; for Shane, an aspiring animator; and for Alex, an award-winning gingerbread baker and artist, among others throughout the semester.

Click here to (gulp)... follow Comments4Kids on Twitter. At long last, Dr. S and Mr. C, you've managed to thwart my Twitter prejudice. I'm not tweeting yet, but I understand it's a slippery slope.