As most teachers who have students writing blogs know, kids get very excited when people leave comments on their posts. Of course, we all appreciate it when people respond to our writing, and nothing beats having an authentic audience.

Today, I learned through Paula Naugle, a teacher in New Orleans, about the ability to solicit comments on student blogs through Twitter by using the hashtag #comments4kids. She relates in her blog post that her students received over 1,500 comments this year. And she told me separately that 70% of them were generated through use of that hashtag.

I think that’s amazing. The hashtag idea is brilliant, and I’d love to give credit to whomever came up with the idea. Let me know if you know who did.

(Paula writes that “The creator of the #comment4kids hashtag is William Chamberlain. There are teachers and student bloggers all over the world who are so thankful to Will for this innovative idea.”)

I’m adding this information to The Best Sources For Advice On Student Blogging.