Better Writers

[Jami Miksiewicz]

I can already see how blogging can help me be a better writer. Every sentence produces some anxiety knowing that other English teachers might read it. Will it affect my students like this? Maybe they're so used to MySpace and Facebook that blogging in class won't make much of a difference.

[Angela Stockman]

My 11 year old daughter started a charity blog last winter, and I was keenly interested in seeing how it would effect her own writing. What was interesting is that it didn't--until she started getting a lot of readers. In recent months, she is very eager to proofread and has been trying to work on her "hooks" as well as sentence fluency. It's been rewarding in other ways too, but the writing piece is evident. I agree with Patrick--I think I'm a better observer of the world and my work because I blog. I'm also pretty shy about blogging professionally and worry a bit about how my thoughts might be intepreted. I think this is all good, though.

[Patrick Higgins]

I'll agree with Lisa here. Adding appropriate amounts of "good stress," like audience, to student writing situations will do wonders for their interest in writing. Personally, writing in this medium has done great things not only for my writing, but my reading. I am constantly on the lookout for things that interest me, and while I read I am always thinking of how I would react to it on my blog.

[Tammy Gillmore]

If nothing else, this makes us better proofers! This evening alone, I have deleted two comments and reposted after finding errors in my original comments! My pen, in any bright color, is far away from this screen!

Proofing one's own writing is a tremendous skill, though. Certainly made a difference in an A or a B in college! Thus, maybe blogging will appeal to visual learners even more when proofing..and help their grades in the process.

[Jodi Douglas]

I think it makes us better teachers when we put ourselves in those anxiety-ridden situations that our students find themselves in so often.

[Lisa Huff]

Publishing for a REAL audience, especially a global one, does matter to students. When they get a comment from someone other than one of their classmates, someone outside the school walls, it matters even more!