One Teacher’s Journey with Blogs

The Teacher Blogs

Building a Flexible & Dynamic CMT The Class Takes Over

The Student Blogs on the Road

Diving through the Layers and into the Learning

Diving through the Layers and into the Learning

Into the ‘Zine

Considering the Excerpt

And the Full Text

Of Writing for the World

When Students Use the Medium

They consider structure and complex relationshipsbetween media and subject;

And they produce keen critical thinking in inventive forms as they master the technology.

Taking the Blog Outside: Multiple Layers of Learning

I just want to point out that the Blogger's Field Trip was only very loosely defined at the outset, with no clear purpose. Usually, loosely defined assignments only involve the student and professor, but with this Blogger's Field Trip, we have the opportunity to benefit as a class from each students unique interpretation, stretching the limits of the assignment even beyond the original concept. However, we also have the opportunity for our very different interpretations to clash and create conflicts, as well as move too far beyond the original concept.

Layer One: Reacting to Another View

Layer Two: Initiating Dialogue

Layer Three: Synthesizing and Reflecting

RESULTS

• Education in Context

• Knowledge Tree

• Emergence

• Efficacy

Layer 4: Ongoing, Deepening Discussion

Extending the Teaching Moment

Online, Connected Post & Response Benefits the Writer and the Reader

The Teacher• Highlights Noteworthy

Accomplishments• Models Critical Reading &

Response Writing• Helps the Writer to Revise

Real World-Classroom Connections

Students Affecting One Another

I mean, I’ve always thought that she was an excellent dancer, and I’ve always enjoyed watching her perform, but I don’t know, this year, she just went to a different level. She made The Leap. This was like watching Carly Patterson do her floor routine in the Olympics, and you knew (even knowing nothing of gymnastics) that she was giving the performance of a lifetime, and you knew you were watching something special. And that night, Charzetta was the best dancer out there. She had confidence, attitude, charisma, and such control and certainty of her world that all we could do was just let her take us on this incredible ride, cheering and screaming all the way…Dancing—this is her voice. This is how she reaches us and speaks to us. So for her to stop dancing would like voluntarily getting her vocal cords removed.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she will stop dancing at some point. But not before she’s run out things to say.

Posted by Eugene at December 5, 2004 06:35 PM

Student Responses:• I have to tell you Eugene, that your piece of writing

was really articulate…Your analogy to Carly Patterson was great and so to the point, it made me regret even more that I wasn't able to be there to see Charzetta communicate with the world.

Posted by: Katie at December 5, 2004 07:04 PM• It didn’t seem detached the way some reviews or

responses to a piece of art do…This raises a question. What about those that have not found his/her own form of expression? Surely, even those that have not developed the skill required to do certain thing still have a voice and an opinion to express…

Posted by: Zu at December 5, 2004 09:48 PM• OH MY GOSH EUGENE!!! You rock my world!!. In

order to appease my family I take internships at Lehman Brothers and Bloomberg News Media so that I have experience in a professional background and land a job after college... I know this may seem corny but I want to thank Class WP200 '04 for making me see my voice and helping me express it.

Posted by: Charly at December 6, 2004 01:33 PM• And so far as the other half of the conversation

goes. I feel at a place like Middlebury if your desires aren't to be a banker or a doctor you’re sometimes made to feel like you are wasting your time. There is a lot more to life than as my buddy Cuba Gooding Jr. would say "Show me the Money" As great as green paper is there are more important things like happiness, or maybe dance, or friends (especially being friends with me) etc. So there is my piece of social commentary and I hope you dance the night way again and again but not too many times a night because just watching that show made me tired and I didn't even shake my arms and other stuff.

• Posted by: john at December 9, 2004 04:30 PM

What Happens To A Student

Blogging Around the World

• Blog as Evolving Narrative

• Intersections Between Experience and Expectation

• Effects on Readers Raise the Bar

• Connections to Other Courses

So, Do Blogs Make Sense?

• If faculty want to give students ownership and therefore responsibility for the learning (necessitating teacher’s move out from the center and into the circle of the class);

• If faculty value exploration and inquiry taking place within an evolving course narrative;• If faculty want to move beyond the room and even the campus, linking to other classes and continuing beyond the semester;• If faculty are prepared for the work involved in using technology with this intensity.

For More Information

Héctor VilaAssistant Professor in WritingMiddlebury CollegeMiddlebury, VT 05753Tel: 802-443-2181Email: hvila@middlebury.edu

Barbara GanleyLecturer, English and Writing ProgramDirector, The Project for Integrated ExpressionCTLRMiddlebury CollegeMiddlebury, VT 05753Tel: 802 443 2220Email: ganley@middlebury.edu

A Sampling of Héctors’ BlogsAll blogging examples can be found off Héctor’s blog: http://www.mediainquiry.orgTo go directly to the Future Communities Blog:http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/hvila/FutureCommunities/

A Sampling of Barbara Ganley’s Blogsbgblogging http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgbloggingFall 2004 Arts Writing Blog: http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/artswritingSpring 2004 Creative Writing Blog: http://wl.middlebury.edu/el170bs04Fall 2003 First-year Seminar Irish Lit & Film Blog: http://wl.middlebury.edu/irishf03