SOME THOUGHTS ON BLOGGING

I realize that my actual audience is minuscule, and that is fine. I want you to know I appreciate each and every one of you. But I confess, occasionally I wonder why I continue. The only reason I ever come up with, is that I really enjoy it. And, like my poetry, even if no one else ever reads what I write, that's enough.

I'd like to share with you intrepid few, a little something I found on The Daily Dish, from blog scholar Scott Rosenberg:
(The emphasis is my own)

"A blog lets you define yourself, whereas on a social network you are more likely to be defined by others. [...] A blog lets you raise your voice without asking anyone's permission, and no one is in a position to tell you to shut up. It is, as the journalism scholar Jay Rosen puts it, "a little First Amendment machine," an engine of free speech operating powerfully at a fulcrum-point between individual autonomy and the pressures of the group. Blogging uniquely straddles the acts of writing and reading; it can be private and public, solitary and gregarious, in ratios that each practitioner sets for himself. It is hardly the only way to project yourself onto the Web, and today it is no longer the easiest way. But it remains the most interesting way. Nothing else so richly combines the invitation to speak your mind with the opportunity to mix it up with other minds."

When I open my blog page, I feel at home. It is a comfortable place where I can share some of the things inside of me. I make full disclosure here no more than I would in a classroom or on the job. That's only common sense.

My thought here is that I am using reading and writing skills, as well as research skills and critical thinking. I am also building technical skills.

There are plenty of voices warning us to keep our kids away from the internet with its snares and pitfalls. But I think teaching them of its wonders and potential is a better way. For educators, it is a wonderful, barely tapped tool to both capture and expand the imaginations of our students. We can use it to teach the aforementioned skills, along with responsibility and making good choices.