In setting up this blog I wished that I could have had someone sitting in another room to say “oh, I see that!” It was intimidating and I decided to experiment a little to get myself familiar with the platform. I decided that my first entry – just to see if it would work – would be in Old English. I thought about all the lines I know and selected the one that brought me the most comfort in the situation, the description of Beowulf’s ship as it sets to sea, “she is icy and outbound.” That being done and verified, before I signed off I wondered if I would ever find my way back to it … seems I did.

I reviewed some blogs, one a friend, two a professional news organization, three – three “famous” people. I can say that I liked one of the famous people better than the others because one navigates his blog by clicking on his cranium – seems like he has a sense of humor link to this guys blog that I appreciate, and my other favorite is by a friend of mine who posts poetry and photos as she is traveling the world.

I was a little worried, and still am, about the public nature of the blog. It feels a little scary to put my toes out there for the world to see. But at the same time, I feel like this little mess of wall writing can’t possibly be found in all of the other blogs that are out there for people. So after two days I got used to the idea and found that I didn’t feel at all worried anymore about being exposed. It’s not like I have any juicy stories to tell and reading a book and telling all of you about it can’t possibly be a radical action. Or can it?

I think that blogs would be great for reading and writing in school, because the blog comes from the writer and the writer intends to communicate something to their audience, plus they have the freedom to do it with as much pizazz as they like. I would think that blogging could be used for formal and informal assignments, and in either case, would become public writing. But before I make my final decision I want to blog this week and see what challenges come up for me.

For me, a quality blog communicates without being messy. Its tone is practical and inviting. It is a diary in the clouds, a way to communicate without expectation of response but hope of response. Or it is a very public and message driven – there for a cause. And in all cases reflective.

For this upcoming assignment I started a little early on my reading. The list that Dr. Pence gave to us looked so dang interesting and once I selected a text and started reading I realized that this reading list was something I have been hunting for years! These texts give you theory and practice in a concrete way.

So far I have read:

Coming to Know: Writing to Learn in the Intermediate Grades edited by Nancie Atwell (I have been a big Atwell reader since studying the field of Tutoring of Writing and selected it just because I know Atwell’s work).

But I’m Not a Reading Teacher: Strategies for Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas by Amy Benjamin (I have very little training in the teaching of reading and really don’t understand how my own children or I learned to read, so I felt I should find out more).

Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom by Linda Christensen (I am working on curriculum that uses a text steeped in social justice issues in the fall and I was hoping this text could give me a more passionate framework for getting student interested in creating change in our community beyond the classroom and beyond our class. I was not disappointed).

They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein (I panicked and got this text via kindle on the first day. I didn’t want to wait to select a text and up here in Northern New Mexico we don’t have a lot of book stores, much less stores with this type of inventory, and even Amazon delivery dates can be unpredictable. I found a text rich, rich, with templates for struggling or developing writers and the researched rational as to why it is good to teach students how to create these moves with templates in their writing. Get it!).

For our blogging assignment I selected: Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension: Role Plays, Text-Structure Tableaux, Talking Statues, and Other Enactment Techniques That Engage Students With Text by Jeffrey Wilhelm. I really want to engage the whole reader in a whole community of learners and this text arrived on Friday as we were assigned to set up our blogs … so I thought, perfect! I can share this reading experience with you. I’m hoping that its 9 chapters are full of insights that excite the teacher in me so that I can excite the teacher in you.