why blog?
Comments(4) | This is what I like to call an “Excellent Question” – why should we do this? What does it matter? Does it matter?
Since I have again embarked on the journey of blogging with my students, I have been barraged with the inevitable queries as to why we have to do this (usually spoken in a planitive and/or whiney voice) by my students and colleagues (not in the whiney voice though, of course).
My answer? Because I believe in it. I believe that there is a world out there that goes deeper than Facebook superpokes and MSN instant messages. I believe that my students are a the edge of a precipice and they have two choices: leap into the unknown which is rife with fear and possibility and the potential for greatness or meekly tiptoe back into the blank safety of normalcy and mediocrity. I believe that these incredible fifteen and sixteen year olds are finding out who they are and what they believe in and they need a creative intellectual outlet for that process. I believe that what they have to say outside of class is just as valuable – if not more so – because it allows me to learn about Who They Are.
“Write about music! Write about TV! Write about identity! Write about socialization! Write about food! Just write!” I have heralded in class, trying to transmit my deep enthusiasm and excitement over this endeavor. I’ve made the party analogy: when you go to a party, who do you talk to? Do you talk to the interesting person with varied interests and a passion for life, art, architecture, theatre, politics, something, anything, or do you want to talk to the person with nothing of interest to say? One student response was, “But I don’t have ANYTHING interesting to say!?” And my response was this: “YES YOU DO! YOU ARE INTERESTING! YOU HAVE THINGS OF VALUE TO SAY! YOU DESERVE TO FIND A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE WHO ALSO BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO THIS!”**
So. I’m excited to see what happens. Last year blogging was hands down the best way to get a better sense of who my students are and what they need…I don’t want them to focus on grammar or a certain number of words (though posting with regularity is key to establish the regular habit of self-expression and developing your online voice), I want them to focus on meaning, on ideas, on passion, on excitement…on anything that inspires them. Because that, my friends, will inspire me.
**Caps added for emphasis but not necessarily to indicate yelling.
photo: laos village child / s. patterson / 12.08
Ms.P! I love the little boy’s picture. I think last year, when we started blogging, we always asked why we had to do it. BUT, by the end of the year, we all (or at least most of us) came to appreciate it. I remember, at the beginning, I feared that people or other readers would criticize my writings, but I realize that my blog was my very own space, just like my room, AND, now, I love blogging
Haha, Ms. Patterson, I could actually hear your voice while reading this post. =P
I think it’s a great idea how you introduced blogging in our English class.
I’ve never done any sort of blogging before, though I keep my journals everyday on my Korean homepage. And now that I started blogging, I became addicted to it. Like, seriously.
I didn’t know it would be so much fun to blog, read other people’s posts, and write comments.
Oh, dear, I just forced myself to go on facebook LESS frequently ( i just can’t quit, you know), and NOW blogging took its place. I hope you know this is ALL your fault, our lovely Ms. Patterson!
Thank you for introducing the new world of expressing thoughts!
<3
Yeah I can really see that many of us are getting addicted to blogs just as facebook used to be. I’m surely spending more time on this blog than I did last year.
^_^ But I think I still need to see more activity in my blog other than 1 or 2 comments from my friends to get more interested in this. Ms. P, help me activate my blog!!
Wow. Ms. P, your writing is so…FULL OF LIFE! LOVE IT!
Agatha (still searching for her voice)