In the novel and movie BEING THERE, Chance the Gardener is a simple man who is mistakenly taken to be a very wise, intelligent and profound man. The misuderstandings lead him to great and high places. He accidently creates a platform that allows him to very influential. Most of us will never get the chance to be that influential. Our students will probably never be that influential, but we can all be heard.
With blogging each of us can create a platform that allows us to be heard. We can have a voice that allows us to express, teach, and share who we are. This electronic expression has a power to allow each of us a chance to command the center stage in some symbolic way. Students need to be heard. Students often clamor to be heard. Teenagers claim to be misunderstood and ignored. The blog can be an opportunity to change this perception.
The teacher that can be confident enough to embrace the student blog has the potential to engage students on a deeper level. There has never been a middle school teacher that hasn't dealt with a talkative student or class. Middle school students believe they have something important to say. Middle school students believe that others will think what they have to say is important too. The blog can be that platform.
As educators we can give them their voice. The blog can be a safe but expressive way for a middle school student to be heard. And while they are expressing or venting, the good teacher sneaks in some grammar, vocabulary, and figurative language on the sly. Everybody wins.
Everybody doesn't necessarily want to learn, but everybody wants to be heard.
Great perspective Jim! I enjoyed reading your thoughts about blogs as a tool for teaching and learning and allowing students' voices to be heard. Do you have plans for implementing blogs in your school? Do you have teachers and students currently using blogs? I hope you'll continue to blog to share your own voice.
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