Summary: A one sentence summary of the meaning of the article would be, “becoming good at anything worth becoming good at takes a lot of time.” But going deeper into the article; on a blog you get to control the subject matter, length, format, and due dates instead of not getting to really choose what to write and the format of it in a assignment in a writing class. Through blogging, you can discover motivations not only for writing on your blog but for writing in general, making it easier to put the words on your screen that come from these motivations. A blog can be an invaluable part of your time that you spend trying to reach a writing-based goal.
Main Ideas and Key Terms:
- A blog gives you a lot more freedom of creation with the same input of other people.
- You can publish entries chronologically or you can also publish them by category, alphabetically, or by author.
- As a blogger, you are free to write whatever and whenever you like.
- Exigency- an urgent need or demand.
- Class-type Blog- The students and instructor post to a common blog on the course subject, students are often asked to post new material and comment on other blogs.
- Individual Reading-type Blog- Asked to write specifically about the course topic, may write in response to readings or other assignments too.
- Class Team-type Blog- Students work on group projects and are asked to keep a blog that updates the class on their activities.
- Individual-type Blog- You have the greatest autonomy. The instructor might ask for a certain amount of posts and length, but the content is your decision.
Analysis: Although I do agree that blogging can bring on a lot more creativity and freedom, I think that without some guidelines and actual assignments, for most people it gets confusing in that they don’t really know what to write about. A good way to balance these ideas are to give students enough freedom to write in their own opinion on a certain subject or article/reading/other blogs. Just get the pot stirred, so to speak, I think that opinionated responses are the best ones because it sparks a conversation/arguments and it shows how different people react to different situations. On his technical advice on building a blog, I see it as helpful and useful, and probably will take it into consideration for building my own blog.
Dalton's Blog 