Thursday, November 7, 2013

Your Blog Posts So Far

For eight weeks or so we have been developing, revising, and adding to our blogs.  Many of you have not only completed the required assignments, you have made your blog your own space by posting all sorts of wonderful extras.  You have posted artwork and music, videos and photos, poems and commentary.  And as a result you are enriching our intellectual environment by demonstrating the mission of our class: Learning is what we do in all of life, not just school.

Some, however, have maintained their blog as just a class assignment, a place to store their homework assignments.  Although that was not the intention of this ongoing project, I recognize that for some of you, that is the limit of what you are willing to do.

So how are your blogs going to be evaluated?  Well, first we look at the visual space and we ask if it is visually appealing and engaging?  Does the audience enjoy being in this space?  Second, we look at the quality of the posts and we ask if they are insightful and interesting to read?  Do the posts make the audience think at all?  Third, we look at the number of posts and we ask if all the assigned posts are there?  Are there extra posts that you put on there because you wanted to share ideas and other things you've come across with your intellectual community?  Have you enriched those who visit your blog?  And fourth, have you acquired an audience?  How large is your reach?  If you blog is interesting and engaging, your followers will multiply beyond those you asked to follow you.

As a check in, below you will find the required blog assignments as of 11/7/2013
1. What is courage?
2. What makes you enthusiastic about learning?
3. Write from the perspective of a non-human object.
4. Advertisement for a best friend
5. Reaction to Adora Svitak talk on TED.com
6. "A Difficult Conversation"
7. Define "flifferhuzza" using narrative
8. "New Thoughts"  Expand your thoughts on one or more of your daily exposure reactions
9. A representation of love
10. Parent Interview -- at least ten questions.
11. Reaction to Time article, "None is Enough" -- at least 500 words
12. "To Love or Not to Love?  That is the question." -- 500 words on whether or not you should fall in love.
13. Read six peer blog posts on the above and synthesize those perspectives into your own thoughts.

What's ahead?  More, more, more.  More of everything we've been doing but of better quality because how else would we show we are learning if the quality didn't improve? How could we claim to be making progress if second trimester posts look like first trimester posts?