Reflections on "Blogs"

Guadalupe Estrada, Clarissa O’Connor, Erica Valdez, and I presented on “blogs” in yesterday's class. What did you think? I've been reflecting on the presentation and the discussion that followed, especially with regard to the suggestions class members had on how to improve an instructional assignment using blogging technology.  First, I thought the idea of including an audio track with a reading of the poem was brilliant! I'm a visual learner and tend to fall into the trap of assuming everyone else is as well. However, there is nothing like hearing a poem read and this would use the technology in a relevant way to truly enhance the assignment. Thank you for that stellar idea. Secondly, I really like the discussion about recasting the questions to encourage an online discussion so that students can add to, agree/disagree, point out other possibilities, and so forth. With this in mind, I began to see this as a preliminary activity before students actually write their own essay in response to questions that naturally evolve from that online discussion. I'd love to hear if you have further thoughts on using a blog as a kind of pre-writing activity.