Tonight I am up late listening to my phone vibrate. Each vibration brings another email letting me know that someone has made a comment on our class blog. This has become a regular routine for me. I often wake up in the morning to two or three of these emails. I quickly switch over to the Kidblog app on my iPhone to approve the comments so my students can see them. Grandparents sign in from the other side of the country to compliment the photos of the writing we posted the day before. Moms and dads tell their children how proud they are of their hard work. Fellow students compliment one another and encourage them to keep blogging. All are wonderful messages that I am eager to approve so everyone can read them. Tonight is different though. We are on spring break this week but my students have continued blogging. Some of them are on vacation with their families signing in to let us know what they are up to. Others are leaving comments for their friends complimenting their work from last week. While I am excited to see this digital conversation happening there is one post that has me up late, while my family sleeps, approving comments as fast as I can.
“My scans were … Clean i was so happy I called my dad and all my grandparents, I was so happy!!!”
One of my first graders is in Seattle for spring break and has just learned that the scans she gets every three months came back cancer-free. Her excitement has led her to our class blog as she reaches out to her classmates and our school community to let them know her good news. Suddenly, my little blog idea seems so much more important that I ever thought it could be.
“That is wonderful news! You continue to inspire me and make me proud to be your teacher! I hope you have fun in Seattle this week! See you soon!”
I quickly replied to her comment and shared the news of her blog post with our closed group on Facebook. And that is when the phone started vibrating to let me know that I needed to approve comments on the blog. Parents and teachers from our school signed on to share congratulations and warm wishes. Each comment brings tears to my eyes as I picture a six year old little girl sitting at a computer in Seattle reading about how much she is loved. The best comment however is her reply to my comment,
“Thank mrs.v I love you”
Our class blog is here to stay.
Ah...that is so wonderful!
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