Wow, just had a Google Hangout session with the author of one of my textbooks. What an amazing convenience and tool! The author lives in Canada and there were nine of us in two separate rooms able to talk to her. Cassidy, the author, is a 1st grade teacher who has her students blog throughout the year. I'm new to blogging and am just beginning to understand the value of blogging with students. The benefits are far reaching, such as making global connections, practicing writing skills, and most importantly, developing critical thinking skills. I had difficulty seeing any value in having a 1st grader blog when they have no keyboarding skills and are not able to read or write. What are they blogging about? So I asked Cassidy during the Google hangout and she helped me see how valuable it is for 1st graders. Even though they can't read, just being on the computer and using the keyboard is helpful. It is but an introduction in the beginning of the year to the whole process of blogging. The student presses whatever keys and Cassidy translates underneath what they had to say. Being that they are 1st graders, they don't have a lot to say in the beginning. Which was my fear that it would be extremely time consuming to translate each student's thoughts. As they become more proficient with literacy, they will get better with using the keyboard. I suppose one could liken it to having a child play on a piano for the first few times. You don't forbid them to play until they've learned the keys and notes. And the more they play the more comfortable they become and start to learn which keys produce what sound. Then when you introduce more formal learning, they are that much more familiar with it.
   I realized I do that with kindergartners. I have let them use iPads without any real instruction just to let them get used to the devices. They all started to learn very quickly on their own what they could do with them. Yes, Cassidy inspired me to have more faith in what young children can do if we only just provide the opportunity.
Here is an interesting article addressing the naysayers of computer usage and young children:http://www.wiu.edu/thecenter/articles/gold.html