| my group revised paper:
Stand in a straight line. No pushing. No thinking for yourself. Read this, answer these questions. Take a nap now. Eat now. Stop picking your nose. These are rules. I hate rules. Ever since my impressionable little mind embarked on kindergarten it has been nothing but rules. What if I want to eat later, skip my nap, think for myself, be original or push my way to the front of line? I break rules. This is precisely what weblogs do. I embrace weblogs as a academic and personal tool. With the help of weblogs, students could learn more and become better team players. Computers could revolutionize school the same way paper and pencil did. Out with the old conventional way of thinking, in with the ultra hip, new age way.
When I am online, the hours just surge by. Days have been filled with electronic nothingness. Doing something productive might be a better idea. I could use this time to brainstorm. My weblog is only two clicks away. Updating it is a breeze. It is much easier to quickly jot my ideas online then go digging in my closet for a backpack, then searching in the backpack for the right notebook and find a pencil. In the mean time I usually forget what I was going to say. Kids enjoy things that are fun, and weblogs are fun. Weblogs could make brainstorming fun the same way Hooked on Phonics makes reading fun. Listing your quick thoughts for the world to read would interest even the kids with the shortest attention spans. Everyone with access to the internet could see what you are thinking, Groups would no longer have to meet in person. Students could collaborate with kids from different nations on projects.
Weblogs help to explain what we learned in class. Upon introduction they seemed confusing. My decision to go online and search for more information was key to understanding what weblogs were all about. I typed in “what are weblogs?” in Yahoo! and thousands of sites came up. Filtering through them all was a daunting task, but that very day my life changed forever. Using weblogs to explain weblogs was all the convincing I needed. I can just imagine the millions of weblogs that could point me in the direction of great websites about architecture, mathematics, science or any other subject. Authors of weblogs share their honest opinions about websites. Time saving is a advantage of using weblogs rather then search engines. A weblog with either tell you the websites to go to or the information needed right on the blog. Bias is not a option on weblogs for the most part. There is no reason to butter-up a certain website for the pay per hit scenario. Straight forward honesty leads people to come together.
Collaboration can be made very simple using weblogs. Many good weblog hosting companies feature “blogrings.” Students could easily make their own with each of the member’s blog part of the blogring. Another alternative would be a community weblog. Each student could add their own information. Students could edit content and write a whole paper collectively online. It would be much easier then having to drag the paper to class or set up a meeting outside of school. Frankly, I wish that our group would have thought about this. We could edit each other’s papers online rather then having to meet at eight a.m. Time saving and fun with group collaboration would be a first in my fourteen years of scholastic mayhem.
Without weblogs I would do no writing. For the first time in my life, I actually care about what I write. Before weblogs I would just write for school. Fear of failure guided my writing, not the love of writing. Now, I share ideas openly with the cyber universe. Having distant people read my ramblings is a thrill. Human followers motivate me to think of new and more interesting ideas. Impressing readers is a concern of mine. These people take time out of their busy day to learn a little about my life, and they deserve only the best from me. Some shy students talk like a drunk on the keyboard. Computers are their shield. Inside the shell is often a dynamic person with great intellect. Weblogs may be the first step to bringing it out to the rest of the unplugged world. On the other hand, outgoing students may not like strangers following their lives. Anyone could easily see how it can be disturbing in this day having people you aren’t familiar with know where you live and what you like. These kind of people can just omit all the personal information.
Should weblogs be assigned? This is a very tough question. The good old double edge sword. In my opinion, they should be “lose” assignments. Weblogs are something that I just can’t up and start doing when I am told. Blogging is something the one must feel like doing at a certain time. In a structured class, it should just be assigned to have done by a specified date. If a weblog is in the course, it should be mandatory just like a specific notebook or journal would be. To myself weblogs are not just another boring motion that needs to be completed in order to get a good grade. They are fun. Teachers who turn learning into a game are often more successful. School tasks that are different encourage students to attain new methods of learning. Computers are, and will always, be the wave of the future. Anything that encourages students to exploit these powerful machines in new ways is a good thing. Without this class, and assignment, I would have never thought to use computers in this new way.
Two major types of blogs could be used for school work. Filter blogs are like topic/note cards. The other kind is a journal blog. Both of these blogs have their high and low points. Each one of them would be great to use in the classroom. The filter blog would be nice to keep all of the information straight. Filter blogs would be the best idea for school work. Something to keep in consideration when choosing is whether or not they can be commented on easily. This is the best feature of blogging. Groups of students would find it easier to discuss the project if this feature is embedded in the blog software. Students would be able to type right into their note cards online and then copy and paste the information to their actual papers. Time saving and convenience are benefits to using filter blogs for school work.
However, there are benefits to using the journal form as well. Students, could track their work much easier. When I take a look at my organizational journal style blog, I am either pleased with my weekly performance or think I was a idiot for not trying hard enough. If you are using Xanga you can just click on the day of the month that you are wondering about and see what you did on that day. Students sometimes can remember what they were focusing on if they see all the other stuff they did that day as well.
In all my years of schooling, I have never seen so many students excited about something like writing in their weblogs. After the first week into the class everyone was totally into it. Before class started everyone was comparing weblogs, exchanging cool blogs and tips on how to make theirs better. Weblogs are like outfits. A lot of work goes into making one, but when you are done it is all worth it. Blogging becomes part of the students everyday routine, just like dressing. You have a certain time that works best for doing it. Most look forward to there blogging times as a means of escape. It is just you against the keyboard. Never-ending creativity explodes onto the monitor. Pupils are motivated to weblog for many reasons. Some like to express themselves in ways they can’t in public. Others do it to keep daily activities straight. Everything to do with computers is fun. A computer hater is like a blind man with glasses. They just don’t make sense at all. People who try weblogs will be motivated to experience the thrill of updating and getting responses.
Blogging in the past couple months has done a lot to boost my confidence as a writer. Know that hundreds read what I write make it easier to express my thoughts. When some hundred year old teacher reads my material I am way less likely to exploit my feelings. People that are online and able to read my weblogs are usually more open minded then those who sit behind a desk waiting for their pension to role in. Online students can have any kind of voice that they want. They can be cynical, sneer, bitter, happy, ditsy or clever. Using the internet to teach oneself how to be like this will overflow into their writing in class. I know for a fact that my vocabulary has increased with the use of the internet. The growing quest to be more interesting online has spilled over to my writing in class. Compliments I get from classmates regarding my online writing makes me feel better about my life. Laughter is the opium of the common man. Comments on my writing and stories makes me want to get at it again. Blogging might be what is takes to make some people not only more confident as a writer, but also more confident as a human being.
Students are oodles more motivated to read when weblogs are assigned as course reading. The first day of class when all the students showed up and you said to take back all our books was a true shocker. Surrounding me were intellectuals in shock. Classes without books? That would be like Prince without chest hair. Revolutionary ways of learning like this is what the mundane school needs. Learning can be fun. Reading can be fun and interesting.
Throughout this paper I have said nothing negative about weblogs. There are some downsides. Crazy people. In the world we live in, occasional news stories come out about some fifty year old pedophile. At times it is scary to think about. Weblogging may not be right for everyone. Age is a factor. I wouldn’t want my kids to have a online journal about their middle school lives. Weirdos can meet other weirdos. People full of hate can meet up online and form acquaintance. Acquaintances can become more and more. With out monitoring, the internet and weblogs could turn into hate mills.
Some people can not or are not able to use computers. There is no other way around the use of a computer when it comes to weblogging. Some people are too old and too stubron to learn computers. This is all different when it comes to college students and most high school kids. I would hate to see kids not be able to weblog because their families could not afford a computer and there is not way of gaining access to one. The good old double edge sword again.
New trends are always more appealing to most people. Some, conversely, like the old way of doing things. At times I am frightened of technolagy. Every once and a while I like to talk to a real life person when I call tech support. I can only learn so much for a recorded voice or reading information off of a computer screen. Teachers and human interaction are necesary for survival. Computers and technology are tools, not replacements for teachers.
I will break rules for the rest of my life. New ways of thinking, in the classroom will come and go. Weblogs are another development in teaching. They should not replace the old ways, but complement them. If a student wants to budge in line let them. Skipping naps should be allowed. Every student learns in a different way. From now on, my lines will be scribbles. |
