Your Project Blog:
A good blog has interesting posts on the topic the blogger has chosen. Your blog will be devoted to tracing how you are making your project come to fruition. We will prompt you with questions to answer about the progress of your self-directed learning. Your blog posts therefore will tell us that you are working consistently, are meeting benchmarks and are thinking deeply about your chosen topic.
Failure. In school, failure is a bad word, but in this project failure is another method of learning. We don't care if something you do in your project doesn't work, doesn't pan out, doesn't end up the way you wanted it to. Maybe we need to redefine what failure even means. Failure doesn't mean you failed. Failure means you learned something and are taking another direction to meet your goals. By all means, post about your failures, setbacks, obstacles. We want to hear what you learned, how your setbacks caused introspection and made you rethink the way you were undertaking all or part of your learning experience.
Obviously, when something you've done is progressing well, is giving you satisfaction, is challenging you and broadening your worldview and changing the way you think about the world, please share that experience as well.
Blogging Requirements:
Each one of you is required to create a gmail account, if you don't already have one, and then create a blog using blogspot. We'll walk you through the process.
Once your blog is made and you've tinkered with the layout and background and other design elements to make the blog personal and appealing to you and your readers, we will embed all the student blogs into the wiki, so that you can easily view your classmates' blogs and we can easily monitor the progress of your project.
The aim of the blog is for you to take your readers on the journey of the design, development and execution of your project. The blog is worth 30% of the grade for the paper. The blogs and their completion will factor in heavily when your teacher computes each quarter's grade. Writing for the blog should also allow you to develop a personal voice and writing style.
Blog post requirements:
Content
50%
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Voice
5%
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Clarity and Mechanics
20%
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Timeliness
25%
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Postings must demonstrate reflection and awareness of the progress of the project
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Postings are written in a style that is engaging and appropriate for both writer and reader
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Postings exhibit coherence and unity and adhere to the standards of written English
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Postings are weekly and one per calendar month must include discussion of one other student blog
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Example of a good blog post on blogging:
Here's a link to a blog post that demonstrates what a good blog post should be (This is going to be a very postmodern moment: we're going to use a blog post about blogging to show you how to blog):
The Imperious Loudmouth
Comments:
Comments are an important part of the blogging genre. We're going to ask you to make thoughtful comments on your classmates' blog posts and integrate some of your peers' observations into your own observations.
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| We're English teachers. Of course, we couldn't resist adding this! |
Multimedia content and hyperlinks:
A blog is partly a visual media. Notice that most blogs have embedded videos or images. Consider what the images and videos add to the reader experience, and consider how you might find interesting visuals to emphasize and develop the ideas in your blog posts. Blogs also allow you to deepen a reader's learning by directing a reader to sites with relevant information. Be sure your blog posts include hyperlinks.
In-class practice:
Select a blog post and two comments that you think are successful in demonstrating a well thought idea. Post your answer as a comment to this blog post. Be sure to adhere to the rules of standard written English.
Sample blogs:
Here are some good sample blogs from last year's Frisch LEADs projects:
This blog traced the topic of comparative mythology, focusing on creation myths from around the world and comparing them to the Torah:
Cogito Ergo Sum
This blog was about sharks, a very different topic from the last one, to say the least:
C Zucker's Blog
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