Almost Random Thoughts on Blogging

The following quote was sent to me by my teacher/writer friend, Lara:

 "You're not a writer. Blogging isn't writing. It's graffiti with punctuation."

                                                                 (from the movie 'Contagion')

Whether or not I agree with that humorous comment,  I must say that to me blogging is more than writing.  It's sharing your thoughts, ideas, experiences and passions with the Blogosphere.  (I almost said it's sharing with the world - but that's an assumption that everyone in the world has access to this technology.)  It can mean getting almost-instant feedback on those thoughts from anywhere in the world - or from the fellow student who sits in the back of the room whom you've never had a chance to talk to.  It is about building a community with like-minded people (usually we follow blogs about topics which interest us).  How is this different than writing an interest piece in class and reading it to your friends?  Perhaps there isn't a huge difference, except in blogging there is the potential to reach a wider audience - and to experience the text on a different platform.  Paper or screen? It might come down to a personal preference.

Photos found on Creative Commons  1. Globe, 2. Sliced Digital Camera, 3. I ♥pod, 4. shoebox project - boxes

As students in my Language and Literacy class share their own blogs with me and their classmates - I get excited about the possibilities.  I also get worried about the dark side of the Internet.  I think we have a huge responsibility as educators to teach our students a safe way to interact within the World Wide Web.  The best way I can think of is to experience it ourselves so that we may be better informed on how to practice safe blogging.  Avoiding it in the classroom doesn't make our students safer when they leave the school zone.

As we experience new technology ourselves, and consider how it might be used in our classrooms, it is important that we don't throw the baby out with the bath water.  We need to learn to use wisdom in our choices.  We don't need to use technology for the sake of using technology, but use it because it might be the best method for reaching our curricular goals.  The Internet is a tool, just like chalk is a tool for teaching.  It's our job to know when to use the right tool at the right time with the right learner.

And that would be me on my educational soap box; ranting about the joys of blogging to anyone who will listen/view/read/consider.

We'll talk more in class.

Warm regards,

Carol N.