My First Blog

I'm no longer a blog virgin. Hmmmm. I don't feel like I'm glowing or tingly or anything. Oh well, why should this be any different? So, I'm going to become a blogger. I work on the web, I teach on the web, I depend on the web, so why not add some of my life to the web. I plan to have my students blog instead of keeping journals for basic composition class, and so, before I can teach it, I have to do it. Then, in a year, my students will be showing me more cool stuff about blogging than I ever could have figured out on my own. That's the joy of teaching!

Blogging instead of keeping a paper journal will be better for my students for several reasons:

1) They will learn computer skills. No, not all of them have those skills, and not all of them are very strong in those skills. I teach in a not-so-affluent, remote, rural area, and the more exposure I can help my students have to technology, the better.

2) It will get them to be more interactive in their thought process and analytical skills - thinking about others reading their blogs, having to read and respond to other students' blogs. More of a writers community than the individual, private journals. Those have their place, don't get me wrong, but I think my students can have some fun going public, and even airing their private ideas to the public. Hey, it's up to them what they want to share. Blogger.com sents the rules, not me.

3) They don't write in their paper journals. Okay, well, they do, but not like they "should." I assign three journals a week, and then collect their journals at certain intervals throughout the semester. By week five, they should have 15 journals done. By week five, I have students with none completed, and I listen to them talk about how they'll be up all night writing to get them done. Okay, I do tell them it's about quantity of writing, not necessarily quality when it comes to a journal, but this seems excessive in the practice of procrastination. With blogs, it will be easier for me to see that they are completing the work on a regular basis.

4) Blogs are cool. Way cooler than those ugly black and white composition books (which I, by the way, use - which is a clear indication they are not cool to a younger generation). So, they might actually like blogging and show it off to their family and friends, whereas the journal is hidden away.

5) After class is over, they may just keep it going. Wouldn't that be cool?