So Why Blogging?

So Why Blogging?

Several of you have asked, “Bob, so why are we blogging? And when we do, what should we be writing about?”
Let me start by answering the question of “Why?” Why do Mélaine and I want you to blog each week? You might think it’s because we’re heartless bastards, and you’d probably be half right (I’m heartless, Mélaine however is not). In all seriousness, one of the drawbacks to an online class is that it’s really easy to lose contact with your students as people. Because we don’t get to spend 3 hours a week interacting with you in a face to face fashion, we never really get to find out about you.

As many of you have pointed out in your own first blog entries, you want to impact your students; you want to make a difference in their lives. Not a single one of you have said, “Man, I want to make Math exciting for them,” or “Wow, I want to make them better writers.” It’s never the content but rather the substance that matters. Teaching math is an excuse to make an impact on a person for the rest of their lives. It gives you a vehicle to care and mold the future.

We want the same opportunity. This class is more to Mélaine and I than teaching you that Macs rule, and blogging is the bomb. It’s an opportunity for us to make a difference in the lives of future educators. To instill a passion for changing the world and then to give you the tools of technology that you can hammer out the dents that others have created. Plus, when you come us and ask for an extension, or extra help, it’s a lot easier to cut you some slack if we know you better ;) .

So, now what do you write about?

Write about you. Write about what you thought about the reading. What did you learn, what did you think? Write about your week, your struggles, your successes, your whimsical thoughts and ideas. Share your story with us, and with your classmates.

And in the end, because of you, we’ll all be better for the experience. It’s nice to know that you’re not alone in the universe. That the words that are flowing my from synapses to this blank white screen are being read, absorbed, and maybe, just maybe, might even be making a difference in small ways that can’t even be seen yet.

If all that doesn’t work for you, do it because if not, you’ll get a bum grade and you’ll really piss of Mélaine (which is *not* a pretty sight)