November 22, 2022: What’s Peeping? It’s our Tweeting alternative. Frankly, I’m not sure if I’ll continue posting with the children on Twitter. I’m disappointed in the direction the site is taking. It doesn’t have the same vibe it had when I started Tweeting with my students nearly 12 years ago. Although the Twitter account for Hogarth Kids is private and not directly connected to the free-for-all that the “Twittersphere” has become, I’m stepping back until I see where Twitter stands after the dust settles. In the meantime, the children will continue “writing” down their thoughts here at Peepers Gotta Peep!
Tweeting, and now Peeping, is a wonderful early literacy experience for writers who are not yet able to record their own thoughts. When we first started this grand experiment on Twitter in 2011, I noticed that within the first few days of Tweeting, the children’s thoughts started becoming more fully formed and personally meaningful to them. Here’s what I mean. Camryn was listening to Olivia Tweet with me. Olivia tweeted: Space dogs like to eat space bones. Space dogs like to chase space cats & the cats like to chase outer space mouse. She had more to say, so she did a second tweet: Space flamingos like to walk on outer space water. They like to stand on 1 foot & they say Please when they want something to eat.
Camryn was astonished. “You mean we can make stuff up?!” I told her that Tweeting was a way of writing, and that Tweeting makes her an author. I told her that some authors write fiction, and others write nonfiction. If she wanted to write fiction, then she needed to make up her own story. She was thrilled, and immediately Tweeted this: One time Camryn went to the woods & saw a big, bad wolf & she went to her Grandma’s house. She got there before the wolf ate her.
Look what Camryn has done here. She gave her readers a hero who overcame obstacles to achieve a goal. We have rising and falling tension and a satisfying resolution. In those two little sentences, we have an entire story. A journey narrative, if you will.
When the children Peep with me, they get to practice the writing process. They’ll either come up with a topic or we’ll brainstorm one together. They dictate a first draft, watching their words appear upon the screen as I type them. Next, I’ll read their words back to them and they’ll edit as they see fit. When they are satisfied, after a final read-through and approval from the author, the Peep is published.
Here’s one of the earliest Hogarth Tweets from 3-year-old Zephan, who I think might be a philosopher: I want to sort out the whole universe.
Check out our growing collection of Peep pages, or visit our Twitter page to see 11+ years of preschool writings. You’ll need a Twitter account and also permission to view the Tweets, but I think it’s well worth the time investment. (Twitter accounts are still free to establish as of November 22, 2022.)