The idea popped out over a casual chat with Thanh Nguyen, who is a dear friend of mine, a game theory expert, a prolific writer, and a soon-to-be doctor of Math and Computer Science at Cornell University. I was anxious to figure out a way to stimulate conventional classroom's dynamic, esp. with shy and easy-to-distract first year students!
I conveyed the idea with several fellow teaching friends of mine. Some like it, some thought it would be too much work. Some completely drew a blank as they have never owned a blog, less alone being a moderator of one. Some feared that students would write political sensitive topics and blog's content would be out of control, etc.
Being technology-challenged homo sapiens as well as pro-procrastinator, I was discouraged but couldn't give up such a brilliant idea! I reckoned more than a decade ago when i was a freshman, how isolated i felt in new environment such as university, how dreadful and inferior it was to talk with my known-it-all professors, how much I wanted to befriend with the other cool kids who sat on the other side of the lecture hall but couldn't find a good reason to break the darn ice! I even prayed about it asking if I know what I got myself into! And so I thought: What the heck, just do it! It's not gonna be pretty, but without messiness, beauty and order loose their ultimate meanings!
We discussed in class how our blog gonna work, we ruled out a few sensitive topics that would be futile to debate and discuss about, we agreed upon codes of conduct as blogger as well as commentators, etc. There were concerns, there were chuckles, head shaking, and what not, but I learned one thing: youngsters are the most flexible and adaptable machine. If the thing you proposed persuasive enough, they're sold! :)
Currently, we are in our third week of the semester (class only meet one a week), and we had so far 13 entries in which these smart young men and young women wrote things that matter to them, anything from premarital-sex to rebellious Vietnamese teens, or Vietnamese perception in following traffic law to the severity of environmental footprints!!!
For sure, there are grammatical errors in their writings as English isn't their first language, simplicity ways in developing their chain of thoughts, and what not! But as a teacher, I'm couldn't be more proud of these young men and women! My heart is ridiculously butterflying with joy and excitement for them every time I log on to our blog and spot new entry, or witnessed debates becoming heated (after all you get mad and engaged in things that you're care about, right? Otherwise, you would be perfectly comfortable in a state of indifference! There's nothing worst than indifference!) I found myself can't stop talking about my students with my friends and loved ones. It's hysterical!
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Blogging is a great way to make classes more dynamic, I think. You mention this in this posting, and I've also tried, with some limited success, to get my ESL students in Chicago to blog. Not just to take their ideas and drop them on the Internet, but to use blogs as a way to ask each other questions, to make answers, and then to be sure that their answers, rather than being fixed for all time, are tentative and on-going. I've encouraged them to go back edit and improve the Q-and-A blogs by adding photos and links, but applying critical thinking skills to their own answers so as to make them better.
ReplyDeleteThis past semester, I haven't done much of this, but your posting here makes me want to apply some of your ideas in how I manage my class with international ESL students.