Entry #11: Keeping Up With The Blogs

Throughout the course of this semester, I was required to write blogs as a way to document what I had learned about written expression and the ways to keep my students engaged in a writer's workshop. Before this course, I had no experience with creating my own blog. It was very much a trial and error process. I was required to learn how to navigate this website, Blogger. I was able to write about the thoughts, questions and ideas I had about the weekly readings I was assigned to read. Through this writing process, I was also able to add images to support my thinking and create labels that would connect the previous blogs I wrote that discussed similar themes and ideas. I was able to change the roll-over font colors to make reading my blogs more meaningful and an exciting experience for my readers. Lastly, I was able to add hyperlinks to websites that would provide my viewers with additional information and resources about a specific educational topic. 

https://holmessp19writing.blogspot.com/

Keeping a blog was a new way to organize my learning. I was able to put my personal input on the information I was acquiring. I was able to examine a wide variety of genres that readers and writers can use to communicate for a specific audience and purpose through a digital forum. Through this forum, I was able to view my classmates' posts and give critical feedback about what I enjoyed about their posts. This peer feedback experience was difficult for me because it is hard to pinpoint what you enjoyed, critiques, and thoughts I was still wondering about on posts that were written by individuals I know. Learning to provide feedback is also a wonderful tool that is necessary for me as an educator to present for my students. Giving students purposeful feedback is crucial so that my students know what kind of changes or improvements must be made to led to more successful learning experiences. 

In each of my posts, I had to consider who my audience was and the purpose of my blog. My audience was specifically my fellow classmates, my professor and anyone else who was interested in reading my blog, in order to learn about my writing journey to becoming a stronger reader and writer. This process also helped me to become a well-rounded educator because the various strategies and techniques I acquired throughout this course can be used in my classroom as a way to improve the reading and writing experiences I can provide for my students. For example, the use of revising centers as a way to differentiate my writing instruction (Tompkins, 2019, p. 12). These centers can help students become more consciously aware of changes they can make to improve their writing pieces.

Author's craft is a multi-faceted concept that I used in every experience I had within this course. For example, while creating these blogs I was able to practice using a number of elements found within an author's craft. I began my coming up with the ideas and I had to determine how to organize these thoughts to make them sequential and understood by all of my readers. This organization was improved by my word choice, sentence fluency and conventions that I chose to use for each piece. Because these blogs are to meant to be used to display personal thoughts, my personal voice was often found in each of my written posts. Lastly, the presentation is especially important for these blogs. It is crucial that my blogs are digitally enhanced to make each post accessible and entertaining for all of my viewers. 

My habits of mind towards writing have developed throughout these blogs. Curiosity and creativity were especially present while writing these posts. The purpose of most of my posts were developed based upon my desire to know more about a particular topic. I also had to be creative in the way I presented the information within my blogs. I had to find images that would enhance one's understanding of what I was trying to present.  Metacognition plays a big role in the process of creating these blog posts (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project, 2011). Sometimes, I have a hard time brainstorming what to write for each of these posts because I struggled to compose my thoughts and think critically about what I have just read. During this course, I have become more conscious to the process of thinking about what I read in a way that will be memorable and can be applicable to my future teaching career. 

References 

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing.Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.