Survivor....
Here I am, attempting to enter the 21st blog century. It should be easy, but is it useful? How about all that writing out there in the online cosmic sea? Does it float around unnoticed, snag a big pile of soggy (bloggy-ooh, sorry) trash, or land the big prize blog? Am I twirling around out here with no lure so to speak? My students are text messaging addicts and can figure out most anything in the information world. This truth can make a veteran communication arts teacher humble with the reality of the new cosmos and the fading medium of paper and ink. (I've only owned a cell phone for a month now.) So, here's my plea to all of you writers out there in my invisible audience: send me a blog. Tell me how the teaching of writing can be complimented by the online ocean. While you are at it, those of you who teach composition, please write about your successes. How do you motivate students to grow as writers? How much freedom do you invite your students to exercise with regard to topic and genre? I personally am a believer in quantity - keep them writing. I also know that reading is a key to good writing. What I really want to nurture is a community of lifelong writers and readers. Please respond.
posted by Ms. James @ 7:52 PM
8 Comments:
At 8:47 AM,
Marcia said…
Hi!
I think blogging helps students focus on writing. I try and motivate my students by suggesting different writing prompts for them when they get stuck and don't know what to blog about or don't want to get too personal in their blog posts. My students have really liked the Imagination Prompt.
My students are college-age so I allow them pretty much unlimited freedom as long as they don't post any XXX content. I do say that they shouldn't post anything online that they wouldn't say to someone's face because that someone could find their blog. Also, I encourage them to be respectful. This last part is most challenging, especially about issues they feel very strong about because when they say something is "ignorant" or "stupid" it's easy to be misconstrued as they're saying the person is stupid or ignorant. When they argue about issues, I try and suggest focusing questions and also point out hyperbole.
Blogging enables not only writing, but reading. One of the key aspects of blogging is to look outward and see what other people are saying on subjects you want to write about and then linking to them. As such, blogging becomes more like an ongoing conversation. You can visit my blog anytime: m2h blogging. Right now I'm posting mainly about my own assignments, but I also post personal stuff that happens during the day, as well as reflections on teaching writing.
Welcome!
At 9:11 AM,
Keri said…
Queen,
I've been thinking about your blog today, and how you are getting started with this class blog. I think we need to write about this. We need to have an article by the end of this semester--before this class leaves you--our reflections and conversations and pitfalls and successes to getting this thing started. But let's use these blogs to get this thing started. What do you think?
At 4:23 PM,
Ms. James said…
Keri - Great idea! Writing together about the classroom blog is a wonderful idea. I'm moving slowly, since I just got the email addresses today, but I'm thinking that a bunch of kids will jump on the idea of doing a blog instead of the old pen/paper book response. Thanks for the support. As always, you make teaching fun. Queen
At 7:16 AM,
Keri said…
Hi,
Are you going to have the students post on their class blog or on this blog?
When are you going to post again?
At 2:08 PM,
pineapplesurf said…
Queen James,
I'm really enjoying the blogging thing. I hope that everyone gives it a try.
I hope you don't feel too lost in the sea of technology today. I help my parents and grandparents all the time with things, so I see the frustration of keeping up with the times in everyday life (my grandparents just got a new computer last spring -- with internet!!! ha ha).
I know I'll post frequently on the blog. Hopefully we can get everyone involved!
-Loren
At 12:12 PM,
Keri said…
Why aren't you blogging?
At 1:42 PM,
Unknown said…
Well. I find that the internet is a good resource for a writer, if you know where to look. My blog is relatively new though, and I'm not sure that anybody reads it.
When I was in school I really didn't use the internet much for pure research. Mostly that was because our teachers would not let us, which is like breaking somebody's arm and then making them play baseball.
At 1:42 PM,
Unknown said…
Well. I find that the internet is a good resource for a writer, if you know where to look. My blog is relatively new though, and I'm not sure that anybody reads it.
When I was in school I really didn't use the internet much for pure research. Mostly that was because our teachers would not let us, which is like breaking somebody's arm and then making them play baseball.
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