A Chain of Reactions

Rosen here. That's how my dad answered his phone at work and it became the phrase he was most well known for. Certainly I'd prefer my catchphrase, established by long years of frequent use to be something along the lines of "why yes, I'd love another lottery jackpot" but the odds are against that.

I just spent a few minutes reviewing the initial blog posts of my AP section. Aside from one blog which doesn't seem to exist, one that was unlisted and 3 which have yet to be made (add to list of things to do...figure out what's up with these missing blogs) the reactions were lots of fun to read. I smiled, I empathized and I derived a whole lot of pride. Sure, some of you are about a half a step away from organizing a lynch mob, but you have that lynching in mind because you feel that afterwards, you will have a splendid topic to write about! Awesome!

There was the concern over what a blog is or is supposed to be, complaint about the concept of a long-term assignment, or a sizable paper, qualms about the volume of work required in any year, let alone the senior year. There was a whole lot of uncertainty and hand wringing.

There was also a whole mess of understanding -- not just realization that we, as teachers didn't design this assignment in order to crush anyone, but a revelation about the value of a project, paper and blog and a student driven and unique unit of study.  Fact is, we aren't wholly evil and we thought through this assignment and developed standards because we want our students to do something which gets lost in the mix sometimes: think. Were and are there other ways through which we could have reached this goal? Maybe. But maybe we, like the sharks that we all pretend not to be, must keep moving forward in order to survive.

Yes, some of you are still mired in the sense of dismay and frustration and haven't yet seen that reading other blogs doesn't mean being interested in other people's topics, or that a blog post as a weekly writing assignment is significantly LESS intensive in the traditional sense than a graded in-class essay each week. Some of you are so floored by the idea of a large paper or a project, or anything not simply due next week that you haven't let yourselves get swept up in it yet. I hope you let it happen. because that's when the magic starts.

Rosen, out.