This isn't my first time blogging. I might be a rookie teacher, but I'm not rookie blogger. I was assigned to create many blogs in my high school career. I know! I'm a pro! However, I eventually deleted them on the last day of class. Blogging, to me, had always been temporary: something I had to do to get a good grade. It never had a greater purpose for me. Now that I'm on the other side of education, I now want my students to blog or at least get their writing out there somewhere. Whoa. . . whoa. . . whoa. Hold up. You just said, you as a student didn't see the purpose of it. Yes. Yes I did. Not because there WASN'T a purpose in it, but because it was never given to me. I had great teachers, but blogging was new territory 10 years ago. Teachers knew it was going to be something big, they just didn't necessarily have the tools to teach it just yet. I respect their boldness. I will be different. This is different. This is to set the groundwork for my classroom for this upcoming school year. I'm a new teacher, and I have many ambitions. I am bold. Well, a bold planner at least. I like to be prepared. If I want my students to share their work with people all over the great, wide web, then I should be doing it too. This is the trial. The guinea pig stage. The first pancake. Thankfully, this summer I participated in the Prairie Lands Writing Project (PLWP). Through this structured writing institute of teachers, I had the time to write, prepare, plan, and research ways to handle the issues I experienced before. I settled on one many goal. I focused my whole project on it. Curious? Download the link below to see my plan for next year.
My mission is to create a community of writers in the classroom. Bold, right? For the half-year I was teaching, I found myself and the students not writing enough. It was English class and we weren't writing. They didn't know the process, and I was running out of time to teach it. I have lots of regrets about that half-year. I know I learned a lot from that experience, but I have regret. I'm not sure that any of those students gained anything from my brief time with them. Now that I am starting fresh rather than being plopped in a classroom in January, I get to set those routines, expectations, and rules with my kiddos. I am so excited. It is technically going to be my first day of school as a teacher. I have a plan of attack on how to establish and build this community of writers. I know what things I want to do for the first 10 days. I know how I want to continue that mindset of being a "writer" throughout the whole year with writing assignments that match our curriculum. I have it all mapped out. I'm ready! Except, I'm missing one component. Publishing. How are students going to see the value in their writing if no one is going to read it? This question has been nagging at me since I started this project over the summer. My students have the means to create their own blogs. We are a 1-1 school with Chromebooks. Students like playing with technology. Why not just have them blog? You do remember my experience, right? How can I teach something that I haven't gotten the chance to enjoy? So I'm experimenting. I am doing this with a purpose. I am going to enjoy this. . . hopefully. I'm going to build my community of writers. Nothing is going to stop me. I'm determinedly excited. However, the niche of publishing is now solved through this website and blog. I am going to try out blogging for this school year. A whole year of dedication. Taking you through my struggles building this community and the benefits. When the times are really good, you'll have the chance to read my student's work. I will publish them MYSELF. I hope to gain the confidence with blogging so that for the NEXT year, I'll be ready to implement a blogging classroom. Again, I'm bold. Just boldly nervous. I have to know what it's all about. So. . . Welcome! This will be a treat to witness, I'm sure.
I'm skeptical. I'm a Non-Blogger just hoping to create a meaningful blog. For myself, for my students, and hopefully for my readers (if there is any).
4 Comments
|
Erica CookRookie, Newbie, New Teacher. Archives
September 2018
Categories |