Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words...
These pictures illustrate a conversation I had this morning. The first is picture is of Rodin's statue entitled "The Thinker," and it is famous enough that many people would recognize it with no label. The second picture, however, has an interesting addition that brings us to the 21st century and the topic of my conversation! What do you think?
This morning before school I met with my fellow English teachers, and I found myself talking about blogging...I accidentally said something that I thought truly summed up why I see blogging as a great avenue for teaching. Let's see if I can remember it........
........I believe that we are ALL learners: students and teachers, adults and teens alike. I don't want to insult anyone - ever - by telling them what they should think. Likewise, I don't want anyone to insult me by telling me what to think. The blog allows us the liberty to write about our thoughts, our views, our opinions, and to share (summarize and link) the information that led us to form those conclusions. Readers get to see why I think the way I do. In other words, I could write about UFO's (just as an example) and instead of simply telling my readers whether or not I thought they were real, I could link my readers to the outside reliable sources that led me to my opinions. You may not really care about the way I think, but you might be interested in knowing how I formed my opinion! This might or might not influence your opinion, but will allow you a glimpse of my view.
Real blogging is making those connections with each other, the texts we read, and the world beyond us all. In today's world, we are so influenced by the media that surrounds us that I think it's important to be able to evaluate our sources, understand our differences, and examine how and why we believe the things we do!
The other beauty about blogging is the ability to share ideas through commenting. It's, of course, nice to get validation from fellow bloggers who agree with our thoughts, but it's also a great opportunity to ask the right questions and explore a topic more deeply...This doesn't mean flaming about hot issues, but does mean reading other viewpoints and finding an understanding of how others came to think the way they do.
We'll be taking the citywide benchmark tests today and tomorrow, but Friday we'll return to classroom reading workshop time and blogging. Be thinking about the most profound reading you've done this year. Be thinking about a book that changed the way you see things, or a book that was entertaining, or a book that challenged you. Be thinking about how you might blog about that experience, about how you might research or link us to enrichment or other related material. As you are reading through our blog, please connect with other bloggers by looking for potential discussions you can participate in. This will also give you a chance to build your summer reading list!
