That is the question.
Why? Because blogs are PUBLIC. Anyone and everyone on the internet (unless you create special settings) can read it. SO you must ALWAYS think to yourself... is this okay for EVERYONE to read? My parents? My grandparents? My coworkers? My BOSS!?
When I think of blogging, many different blogging experiences come to mind. Let me share a few.
1. Tucker Max - This guy started off blogging about his "encounters with women" in college. They were outrageous, condescending, and hard to believe... but for some reason, very appealing. Tucker Max knew that. He continued to use his blog to share his "stories". His blog became so popular that he now has three books and a movie. **The power of the blog**
2. Julie Powell - This lady wanted to try every recipe of the famous chef, Julia Child. She decided that throughout her journey, she would blog about her experiences, how everything goes, and her journey to achieve her goal. She gathered a great number of followers, and had a book and movie created about her. **The power of the blog**
3. Shana Speiss - A lady that I know had a traumatic stroke while she was in her twenties. She went through a long period of recovery, and found comfort in blogging about what she was going through for two reasons. First, it helped her come to peace with what had happened to her, and what she had experienced. Second, it helped her spread the word to other women about their chances of having a stroke while being so young. Shana got a big enough following that she was asked to come onto GMA and share her story. **The power of the blog**
4. My experience - I have never been fully successful using blogs because I have never had a solid reason or the desire to follow them through daily, much less weekly. I had one blog over the summer with coworkers, in which we would share recipes. It worked for about.. a week. Then, the summer engulfed me in it's beautiful glory, and I never blogged again. I also started a blog for my wedding, to share my journey.. but since things were not happening every day, I didn't know what to blog about, so I stopped.
As you can see, there are many different uses to blogs. Showing off your writing skills through story, sharing a personal journey that you are taking, spreading the word to help educate the community, and for just being goofy.
I think to myself, how could fifth grade students benefit from blogs? And what would they enjoy blogging about?
My idea:
Every Friday, my homeroom goes to the computer lab. They are going to start blogs about their highs of the week, and their lows of the week. I am going to explain to them that their highs and lows can be academic, or personal. I will have to reinsure them that only I am going to be reading their blogs. I anticipate that the blogs will begin meekly, but then will transform into true self-reflections containing deep thought and future goals. By doing this, the students will be able to find something good about each week, and something that they want to change or work harder for. I hope to use it as a tool of encouragement and hope. **The power of the blog**
I completely understand! I've tried to do a blog with my baking before. Its hard to keep up with- but since we teach everyday, maybe that will be easier for a blog. I like the High-Low blog idea, some families do that with their kids at night.
ReplyDeleteGood idea Dude! I like how you would use this to teach the covert goal of long term and short term goals. That idea actually goes well with my ITS group advocacy project. Putting this in my back pocket for class!
ReplyDeleteI also love the high-low blog. We did that every night with the girls when they were growing up...it was a blast and a great way to communicate! I think the kids will increase their writing ability as well.
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