Shauna Fisher

So today I attempted to read chapters 1 and 3 in the textbook. As it was a beautiful, sunny, slightly breezy day I decided to read the chapters outside with my dogs. This worked well for all of 10 minutes. Mia couldn't get comfortable. She sat on one side of me, then the other side of me, then began licking my face, and finally ended up in my lap. 40 pounds of dog in your lap does not make for a comfortable reading position. I managed to make it through chapter one before giving up and coming back inside to finish chapter three.

My thoughts: Chapter 1 has an interesting perspective that I hadn't previously thought about. The Internet obviously gives us lots of content to look (read) at but I never thought of it as a way that gives us the opportunity to write. Which is silly because I comment and blog and Facebook so of course I'm writing to the Internet-verse but I never thought of it as a collaboration tool. I guess what I'm saying is I never realized just how powerful that opportunity to write was. It's one of the many things I'm learning about in these courses- not just about how to use the technology tools, because I already know most of that. Really, these courses are teaching me how to utilize what I know in powerful and meaningful ways. Despite the dog in my lap licking my nose the first chapter made a pretty big impact on me.

The 3rd chapter was about using Blogger which I knew most of. The funny thing is, most of that is outdated, at least the parts telling you how to use Blogger. Blogger has updated it's system and I am not positive that it was for the better. I think the old system was easier, but then again that could just be me. Regardless, the main idea is to create a blog and maintain it and figure out how it works; you can't expect your kids to do something if you can't do it yourself.

I don't have a problem with that. I have a blog that no one but myself and my family read but I still try to write in it every week. As an aspiring author I have read blogs by many published authors who say WRITE WRITE WRITE every day, even if it's just an email or a blog post. So I have been trying to do that with my blog. Therefore, Blogger is nothing new to me.

I do like the idea of having a blog for each student. Kidblog would be a great tool for the classroom. I watched a video recently where the teacher would let the students blog some of their more exceptional work which I think could be great motivation for the students to do their best on assignments. I also watched a quick video about middle school kids blogging and they liked that it brought the classroom together as a community and they were able to express themselves.

I always express myself better in words. Online classes are great for me because this is how I communicate best- with writing. I am sure there are other kids out there who are the same and this blogging thing will be great for them to learn and grow in the best way possible.