Angela Burgess - Electronic Portfolio
  • Introduction
  • Video Reflection
  • Resume
  • Vision
  • Diversity
  • Standards
    • Standard 1 >
      • 1.1 Shared Vision
      • 1.2 Strategic Planning
      • 1.3 Policies, Procedures, Programs & Funding
      • 1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change
    • Standard 2 >
      • 2.1 Content Standards & Student Technology Standards
      • 2.2 Research-Based Learner-Centerd Strategies
      • 2.3 Authentic Learning
      • 2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills
      • 2.5 Differentiation
      • 2.6 Instructional Design
      • 2.7 Assessment
      • 2.8 Data Analysis
    • Standard 3 >
      • 3.1 Classroom Management & Collaborative Learning
      • 3.2 Managing Digital Tools and Resources
      • 3.3 Online & Blended Learning
      • 3.4 Adaptive and Assistive Technology
      • 3.5 Basic Troubleshooting
      • 3.6 Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools & Resources
      • 3.7 Communcation & Collaboration
    • Standard 4 >
      • 4.1 Digital Equity
      • 4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use
      • 4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
    • Standard 5 >
      • 5.1 Needs Assessment
      • 5.2 Professional Learning
      • 5.3 Program Evaluation
    • Standard 6 >
      • 6.1 Continuous Learning
      • 6.2 Reflection
      • 6.3 Field Experiences
  • Field Experiences
  • Blog
  • Capstone

Why blog?

1/24/2013

2 Comments

 
Why blog?

I was a kid that always wrote in her diary. Every night, before bed, I would open my diary, write Dear Diary, and then proceed to tell this un-judgmental friend all that I had thought throughout the day. I distinctly remember being in high school and a friend telling me that she started keeping her journal (of course her journal! We were too old and too cool to keep diaries anymore! They were journals!) on her computer.  I thought that was cool, but there were two issues:

  1. I didn't have a computer.
  2. I liked lying in bed as I wrote and getting everything that was circling my brain out of there before going to sleep. A computer seemed to defeat that purpose.

Fast-forward an unspecified number of years and we are now at a point in time when blogging has become mainstream.  I always thought that journaling and blogging were the same thing.  But instead of people confining their inner-most thoughts to a private paper journal that would be hidden away from the eyes of even the closest bosom-buddies, it would be posted for the world to see - friend, foe, and, unknown. Not so, according to Will Richardson. In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2010), Richardson purports that true blogs engage others in "a process of thinking in words," not just that daily reckoning that occurred in my old-school diary.

SO it turns out that I was wrong. Apparently, I was supposed to blog as a way of reflecting upon my learning (both educational and life), and helping others to do the same. I was then supposed to go and read the blogs of other people (friend, foe, and unknown) AND comment on them so that they would know that I was reading them. This is baffling information for someone who got used to hiding her diary from her younger brother.

Luckily, I actually realized my misconception regarding blogs long ago. I began reading and even commenting on several (friend and unknown - no foes) about 8 years ago. Some are personal, some are professional, and others are a casual mix of both.  But they all share certain commonalities. While generally being professional in writing and editing, they are casual and informal in speech. In this aspect, they are similar to a diary. Even though the author has never actually met most of the readers, the tone is similar to that of a close friend at best, a casual acquaintance at worst. In addition, due to the interactive nature of a blog, the author tends to invite comment, even explicitly posting questions to which (s)he wants readers to respond.  As such, when readers see these questions, instead of thinking of them as rhetorical questions, the readers respond, and invite further comment. This is what Richardson means when he says that, "Blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction."

Finally, in the true spirit of a blog, I leave you with two questions:

  1. Think back. Waaay back. When you first heard the word blog, what definition did you create and how did it differ from Richardson's definition?
  2. What are your favorite blogs? Do you keep one? Why or why not?
My response: No, other than this blog, I do not keep one, although I often think that I should. My answer for why is simply time. I often find that now, outside of school (my job) and school (the classes that I teach), away from my friends, apart from my family, I prefer to spend whatever time I have left on the joys of relaxation and de-stressing.


RESOURCES
Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3rd ed.) [Kindle]. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.


2 Comments
Valerie Conner
1/27/2013 05:03:46 am

Your description of keeping a diary as a child/teen sounds familiar. I always imagined that I would keep one like Anne Frank that held all of my secret thoughts and activities. Alas, I never wrote in a diary for more than a few days at a time. When I first heard about blogging I thought it was an online journal or diary and could not imagine why anyone would blog. Reading Richardson's explanation of blogging cleared some misconceptions that I held and has helped me understand how it might be a useful educational activity. I read blogs from time to time but rarely comment on them (although I do troll the comments of the blogs I read.) I don't really have a favorite. Some are cooking or decorating blogs or random things that I come across on Pinterest or in a newsletter. Other than the blog that we keep for class, I do not write one. Outside of the educational setting, I cannot imagine that I would ever blog. I am far too unstructured to write one with any consistency.

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Felicia Belcher
1/27/2013 12:38:25 pm

Well it is good to know that I wasn't the only one writing and venting in a diary as a child. Being so young, my mom still calls me when she has decided to clean her house and she finds pages that were apart of many diaries I kept. I never thought that those diary entries would be so similar to blogging today. I have read blogs pertaining to celebrities, entertainment news, and sports but never really indulged in the actual commenting and posting of my thoughts. However, becoming apart of the social network world has caused me to respond to twitter and facebook feeds. Now Richardson has changed my thoughts of blogging which were basically an overwhelming amount of unneccessary information and an ongoing conversation about "nothing." However, I am only intrigued by his discussion and analysis of blogs in the classroom setting. I have found what seems to be valuable and effective use within classroom instruction. I doubt that I would blog on a consistent basis for any other topics outside of the impact it has in the classroom. One reason being, the time consuming component of blogging and keeping up with everyones ideas and thoughts. However, I think the biggest impact in my classroom would be to finally hear from those students who are shy or not very comfortable with expressing themselves verbally.

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    Author

    Angela Burgess is a high school French and Lit teacher, as well as an Instructional Technology Specialist.  She is also  understandably a Francophile and technophile. She obtained her M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from Kennesaw State University in May 2014.

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