Diane Chen

Can kids review?
January 23, 2008

I asked #3 son to help me review some books. His comments were typical for a relatively nonreader and made me laugh so hard. I appreciate his giving me 3 minutes of his teenage day. What did he say?  Buy lots of books like this Ferrari series because kids like cars and they'll all check out the book just because the cover is cool, plus it's not too hard to read because it's in the Blazers series. 

 The Terror Bird book looks really cool, but it's full of information on just one bird. I think you should find more scary birds. 

The Volcano book looks so cool, but it tricks you into learning facts about Volcanoes when you think you're reading a comic book. If kids want to learn something, they should read it.

I am working with my students to help them become better writers than my own children have become. Before the holidays we began a new blog just to enable them to start writing about books. Our blog is called HickmanTales and is in very rough form, but the purpose is to have the students write. We wanted to protect the students so we allowed them to make up names and post their reviews in comments. I'm able to moderate every comment to increase safety. The teachers have noticed how often the students go to read each others' work. They are avidly working on reviews and new ideas, plus engaging in peer editing. 

Hopefully when they are teens, they'll be able to offer more detailed reviews and opinions. I will have them write about the same books #3 son reviewed so you can see the difference in opinions and voice. Stay tuned and remember that blogs don't have to be perfect. They provide communication opportunities and real-life interactions.

Posted by Diane Chen on January 23, 2008 | Comments (0)