Reflecting

When I first started blogging, I have to say that I really wasn't a fan. I felt it was useless, dumb, pointless, and 400 words was a lot more than what I had to write in my writing notebook so I felt I was getting gipped and it wasn't fair. But now that I've had time to think about it and I've gone a while with blogging, I can see why a teacher would choose to have their students blog.

First of all it lets them write freely. I'm glad we could write about anything we wanted to because that gave me the opportunity to babble if I felt like I wanted to or vent about something if I really wanted, which was nice. Especially since it's easier to write things down when you're frustrated than to talk and it just makes you feel better.

It also gives students and opportunity to see other bloggers and their opinions on things and then you can even write a response to it. If you write in a notebook, you don't really get to do that. You might read a neighbors entry or something if they allow it, but it's just not the same.

Then there's the aspect that anyone can read your writing. Yes, it is kind of scary that anyone can read your writing, but you can also get noticed if you'd like. I didn't personally get any comments from people I didn't know, but my friend was telling me about how he reviewed a book and connected the link to the authors blog, and the author actually commented on his post. That's pretty cool.

It's also an easy way for the teacher to check without the hassle of handling a bagillion different papers. He or she can just jump on the computer and check it out. That seems much more convenient to me than having all the kids turn everything in and then getting them back and all that jazz. It's also easier for the student because they don't have to deal with handing them in and getting them back.

As the year has gone by, I've grown to like blogs more. They're still not my favorite because we're being made to do them, but there are worse things in the world we could have to do.