A lot of people visiting my blog have read one of the quotes I posted:

“Actions are like typewriters. They don’t have backspaces.”

Yes, it is true, I came up with this. But, I’m not going to talk to you about that right now. I’m going to tell how my quote relates to blogs, even though it seems as if it doesn’t.

When you post something new on the Internet, wherever it is-MySpace, Facebook, your blog-the second you publish it, the whole world can see it. That’s how blogging relates to my quote. But, is this the end? No, far from it! Who you are online should reflect who you are offline. It’s always bad to pretend to be something you’re not. For instance, if I were to go out on the web and say, “Yeah, I think global warming is not happening,” I would be lying, especially if I was doing everything I could OFFLINE to stop it.

“Actions are like typewriters. They don’t have backspaces.”

This quote is completely true. Your voice online should reflect your voice offline.
Now that you know all this, you might be wondering what blogging is. Well, blogging is an online way to express yourself and/or your feelings about something. A blog is a website where these things are posted for the world to see, read, and comment on.

A few weeks ago, my English teacher, Ms. Sterne, told us that we were all going to have our own blogs. Like most other people, I was completely excited. That night, she had us create an account on Learner Blogs. A few days later, Mrs. Deisley, who is really, really good at blogging and such, talked to our class about having an “online voice,” posting, and she showed us some other people’s blogs. It’s amazing to see how “small” the world is with the Internet! Anyways, she taught us how to be safe on the Internet; this means whatever you post, anytime and anywhere, anyone can view it.

Blogging is cool. Having a blog is a way to express yourself. But, since everything is being published on the Internet, blogging comes with a few extra rules. The most important being:

“Actions are like typewriters. They don’t have backspaces.” -Samantha D.

Photo: Typewriter, uploaded by Garda

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think”.
–Lord Byron

I spent Friday morning exploring the world of blogs with 150 7th graders. Their wonderful English teachers are giving them a gift: their own individual blogs. Assessed only for completion they will be geared towards passions, interests, and development of individual voice. The student excitement was contagious, and their engagement evident. I cannot wait to see what they will discover about themselves and one another, who the writers are and who the community builders will be!

Process
I spent the first part of each class brainstorming with the students to identify what blogging is and how it is different than writing to an audience of 1.

We discussed Lord Byron’s quote, and the students–in groups of about 40 separated by gender (we are piloting single gender classes at Lovett with great success)–were very clear about his poetry. “We have the ability to be influential with our words,” they exclaimed. (I was impressed…) We talked about words, reflection, our voices, conversation and commentary, and the difference when you write in a social context.

After determining what makes blogging different than traditional classroom writing we started reading. We spend the majority of the class looking at a wide variety of blogs, everything from Cute Overload and Daily Kitten to World Changing and Huffington’s Post to Bethany’s Post on Spiders (and the comments!) and 7th Grade Students Blogging in Singapore. We read about first time horse ownership, basketball, tap dancing, and why Dino Guardio should be Coach of the Year. (OK, tonight’s UNC domination of Wake Forest will have me eating crow tomorrow…)

It was fascinating to explore these sites with them looking at text, design, structure and discussing images, video, and copyright. They were blown away by the Clustr Maps, and intrigued by blogrolls and links. Be Funky avatars and Vokis were tempting diversions for the boys, while the girls wrestled with “does mine have to have just one ‘theme’”?

We’ll be in the labs on Tuesday and Wednesday getting started, and then I’ll move into my observing, commenting, and tweaking role–working with teachers and students. I look forward to sharing their voices from time to time. And I hope this community with help them grow. The classroom home sites are English 7 Blue and English 7 White.

PS: If you’d care to see the initial overview with links to the various blogs we considered, I’ve attached the document below.

intro-to-blogging.doc

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. -Anne Frank

Running in the early morning hours before school is treasured time for me. It’s hard to climb out of those warm covers at 5:15, but somewhere inside me I find the discipline. The lure of time with my iPod takes some sting out of the effort, and this morning the random songs playing in the shuffle mode made me smile; and one in particular stirred my soul.  As I listened to Billy Gilman pour out his heart out, I recalled several years ago sitting spellbound in Hendrix Theater as one of our own Lovett students, Jamie H., filled the room with her version of “One Voice”. I remember thinking to myself, “How powerful and moving it is to ‘hear’ a young person’s heart…”

Our 7th grade students will soon embark on a study of Anne Frank and a reading of her diary. It makes me pause. The atrocities of World War II , and the promises made to never again allow genocide “on our watch”, reverberate in my mind. And, it saddens me to think of the an ongoing crisis in Darfur that has killed hundreds of thousands of human beings…a genocide in our lifetime.

What can one voice do? As the legacy of Anne Franks’ words demonstrate, one voice can be heard. And when one voice is added to another the opportunity for change is endless. A colleague of mine, George Mayo, and his 8th grade students, and another teacher, Wendy Drexler and her 3rd grade students, are offering up a platform to collect individual student voices to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur. For 48 hours beginning March 6th, students from around the world are invited to add their voices to the Many Voices for Darfur blog. Lovett students have been invited personally by Mr. Mayo to add their voices, and the Mayo/Drexler classrooms have compiled current information on the Darfur crisis at their Many Voices Wiki.

One Voice+ Once Voice = Many Voices. I hope Lovett students (and faculty) will exercise their voices on the Many Voices project. We don’t have to wait a single moment longer…thanks, George.

Photo:

This image is called Untitled (1) 2004
Bahai, Chad – on the border of Sudan’s Darfur region
photograph by Michal Ronnen Safdie
from the photo exhibit:
Rwanda: After
Darfur: Now

“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” -Flora Edwards

In our MS assembly last Monday Charlie I., a Lovett 6th grader, bravely exercised his student voice. He was inspired by his brother and a website to do something good for someone else while “literally” doing something good for himself…and he wanted others to join the cause. The website, freerice.com, builds vocabulary and rewards mastery with grains of rice delivered by the U.N. to needy families around the world. Nearly 20 billion grains of rice have been donated since the website launched in October 2007, and Charlie wanted all the students to be aware of how much fun the site is and how easy it is to help someone else. Together we brainstormed ways he could get the word out, and he chose to compose this Jing screencast(00000007.swf) and design a postcard (above) for each student.

Charlie should be very proud of himself. The kids responded with great enthusiasm, and he learned how technology can help him communicate an idea. Great job, Charlie.

Thinking forward: How can we help Charlie keep this idea alive as a community? How might we nurture Charlie’s interest in Africa, helping others, and leadership?