Passing on the ‘blog pearl’ to China
School’s
out and it’s hot. Too hot, hot, hot. Hotter than a rainless July in
Jersey. So forget trying to make the image background transparent.
Kudos to King Chen, btw, recent Gal graduate and budding illustrator
for edBlogger’s and the beastie’s artistic confrontation.
BAWP in China did hand off the “blog pearl.”
Granted, an unusual classroom situation, with only 12 students for four
weeks, but it had definite advantages for beta-testing and we did
successfully bridge the Pacific with writing and responding and posting
and linking. We’ve got screenplays, memoirs, biographical sketches,
magnetic and classical Chinese poetry, and more. Stop by from a visit
and drop a comment or two on some of the writing. But before you do,
remember BAWP founder Jim Gray’s two principles of organizing, which apply to
response as well:
- Nobody likes criticism.
- Everybody likes compliments.
Life is short and editors are numberless. I make young writers vow to listen only to the ones they know and trust.
Daily and long classroom practice forces tech enthusiasts to get real
and it ought to be required of anyone pushing anything in schools. That
said, some of what I tried with Manila’s CMS might work. I twinned two
sites, one private and one public, and used news departments heavily.
The private site allowed student content creation and organziation. The
teacher could easily correct the organization, watch the flow of
drafts, and finally use Net News Wire to publish final stuff to the
public site. The same public site provided postings of daily
agendas, homework, daily howlers (student reports on the previous day’s
activities) and special assignments. Proof will be in the
transfer to a Galileo class in the autumn.
Meanwhile, I think I hear fog horns somewhere beyond the haze.