Since we didn't get a chance to talk about the blogging articles in class, I thought we could follow up on-line. Here are some prompts to get us started:
- What has your experience been like so far? Any questions? Concerns? Technical glitches?
- Did anyone check out the blogs that Suen (2007) and Bird (2006) mentioned? Which ones? What did you think?
- Here's a quote from Bird that I thought was interesting:
"For good or for ill, blogging gives voice to anyone--a parent, a writer, a publisher, a librarian--with an opinion." (305)What does the "for good or for ill" refer to?
Suen writes that "posts that are easiest to read" contain only one idea. (She also says they are the ones most likely to get responses. I guess I didn't do a very good job of following her suggestion! Feel free to respond with your own ideas on blogging or follow up on any of the prompts!
3 comments:
When I was reading Suen's article, the idea of elementary school students participating in blogs captured my attention. Perhaps it is because I cannot imagine blogging in the classrooms when I was in third and fourth grade.
I checked out Bob Sprankle's blog Room 208. I thought that it is such an innovative way to help your students become familiar and comfortable using the internet. Also, as Suen noted, your students get great writing practice fueled by computer-usage enthusiasm.
On the Room 208 page I read 'Cassidy's Stuff.' I loved her poetry, which held such light-hearted and innocent tones. I think blogging is a great way to build confidence in students, who sometimes feel insecure about their writing techniques or topics. Imagine if Cassidy did not have the opportunity to compile her poetry on the blog for Room 208. Perhaps she may never have found the courage to publish and share her work.
I think that "for good or for ill" can refer to a number of things. The good could be to simply make people aware of a situation that maybe they wouldn't gave been aware of otherwise. Or maybe it is saying that a class is canceled, I think it is in general providing useful information or expressing one's thoughts or opinions on a subject. The "ill" would I think refer to the negative aspects of publicly displaying things that maybe should have been kept personal. An example of this could be maybe telling someone's secret that they confided in you or talking about someone's character in a derogatory way, gossip. In spite of these things the purpose of the blog is essentially to express whatever feelings or thoughts that a person may have so maybe there are no bad blogs or "ill" just depends on a personal interest??? Idk...well just my thoughts
Initially the quote (and the article) made me think about professional voices/opinions. Phylicia's comment made me think about more of the social pros and cons of instant publishing. Even in our class, I felt like I had to say something about not using someone else's name/i.d. on the blog. (Some blogs do let you decide whether to let someone's comment or post appear. I don't have ours set up to let me do that as the administrator)
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