Welcome, Future Bloggers!
i'm excited to let you all know that i've accepted an offer to teach a 10-week course in Weblog and Design for Valley Oak Charter School, a "home-based independent study program" serving grades K-10.
From the school's website: Organized as a parent cooperative learning center, VOC stresses family involvement and individual responsibility. Our program provides homeschooling and parenting support, funding for curriculum materials and a consistent social group in a multi-age setting.
i'm very excited! the class is for grades 7-10, and i'm making this post now so we can read it at our first class meeting in...ack!...just over 6 hours!
FIRST OF ALL, thanks to Tyler and many of you in the Ojai Post community for teaching me everything i know about blogging in the relatively short time i've been doing it. at one time, i swore to myself that i'd never "blog"...not because i had any idea what that meant, but because it was such an ugly word. sounds like something you have removed from your body, right? i'm glad to have betrayed my uninformed oath, because - as many of you know - i've got stuff to say! and it's validating and therapeutic to have a community in which to test ideas, generate dialogue, and make new connections.
i'll check in from time to time and have the students do so as well. thanks in advance for your support, and for sharing what YOU know and have learned about blogging along the way!
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Comments (9)
They are fortunate to have you!
Comment #1 Posted by: Anonymous | September 2, 2008 07:19 AM
Good luck, we're all counting on you. :)
Comment #2 Posted by: Tyler | September 2, 2008 08:11 AM
Why does Howard Smith feel it is necessary to delete dissenting comments to his posts? The few remarks I've read, prior to their removal, seem both legitimate and thought provoking.
Is the Post merely a platform for Mr. Smith to launch his diatribes at a stifled audience?
Please advise your readers if selective editing is an accepted practice amongst the OP authors?
Thanks Jim
Comment #3 Posted by: A chilling precedence | September 2, 2008 08:29 AM
Jim - I give every author the ability to moderate their own entries. Authors may also post new entries with no comments accepted. My personal preference is to not delete dissenting comments, and instead to engage head-on.
Comment #4 Posted by: Tyler | September 2, 2008 08:38 AM
A class on blogging? Now I've heard everything.
Comment #5 Posted by: Anonymous | September 2, 2008 09:04 AM
I am in it RIGHT NOW.
Comment #6 Posted by: Paganini | September 2, 2008 10:00 AM
Hi Alexa
Comment #7 Posted by: Paganini | September 2, 2008 10:01 AM
i'm sorry to hear about your censorship woes, #3. incidentally, however, thanks for providing us an interesting case study in unrelated commenting! we'll be talking a little about censorship, free speech, and community standards next week...i'll likely make a new post about that so we can gather ideas on those topics.
Paganini, oh mysterious pupil, thanks for jumping right in! thanks for contributing your experience to our discussion today...i hope i have something to teach you! i don't want to be your Vader. (you know, where the student becomes the master, and then strikes him down....)
today we brainstormed what a blog is (or can be) and spent some time sifting through blogs in order to create a preliminary list of things we like and don't like about them.
we DISLIKE:
• irrelevant comments
• poor grammar and language
• small text
we LIKE:
• visual clarity and interest
• ease of navigation
• individually interesting content
• presentation of new information (opportunity to learn)
• good writing and responding - intelligent and respectful
• help making consumer decisions
• practical help
• pictures and videos to break up the space and provide
more information on the topic at hand.
Comment #8 Posted by: evan austin | September 2, 2008 11:33 AM
Good luck, Evan. I, too, think your students are fortunate to have you as a guide to responsible, effective blogging. I believe weblogs, when entered into with a community spirit of increasing our knowledge, have the potential to fulfill the dream of a true democracy. Hey, you've inspired me to sign my real name.
Comment #9 Posted by: Lanny | September 3, 2008 03:21 PM