This first quarter of school has been the first time I've ever had a blog. In the beginning I thought it would be difficult to write two of these each week, but it actually turned out to not be that challenging. Blogging has also made me think more about situations that I encounter during my day to day life than I have before. In addition, I enjoy how unlike most writing assignments we get in school, we get to write about pretty much anything we want to.
When we were first assigned to write two blogs a week, I predicted that I would have a pretty hard time doing this. I especially felt like this was going to be a challenge for me when I read the guidelines and saw how many words we were expected to write. I didn't think that I would be able to find a topic that I could write at least three hundred words on, let alone two. However, almost each time I worked on a new post for my blog it wasn't as hard to do as I had expected. Sometimes I would just take a simple, random idea that popped into my head and write a complete blog post about it. I didn't think that I would be able to fully go in depth to some of these topics I came up with, but I did. For example, once I did a blog post on how most teenage Disney Channel stars don't have successful, lasting careers. I got this idea just by watching a story on Lindsay Lohan on TV and about 6 people responded to it. It was interesting to see how some people had the same ideas and opinions that I did. I also surprised myself with how I was able to make sure I got at least one of my blog posts done before Friday night. When we first started this assignment I would usually have both of my blog posts done by at least Tuesday night. I was proud of myself because usually when I get work at school and I have a couple of days to do it, I'll just procrastinate at do it at the last minute. However, in the beginning of the year this would usually be one of the first things I finished. Unfortunately, now as we are getting more homework in our other classes I sometimes wait to do my blogs last. It doesn't take me very long, but I want to push myself to go back to my old habit of completing my work early.
Starting this blog has also made me think differently about things I see daily. Weather I'm on the bus or just walking down the street, I can usually find moments or situations that stand out to me and later inspire me to incorporate them into my blog. One time I was on the bus and I saw a couple get accused of stealing some mans wallet. I'm not positive, but I had a feeling that they were guilty. I heard the person next to me whisper that they saw the man slip something into the woman's sleeve when he got off the bus to talk to the police. They also had a daughter and this kind of affected me because I felt bad for her. I imagined what her life was like at home and how her parents probably struggle for money to pay for a place to live and food to eat. It seemed like I thought of this more in depth than I normally would have. However, I didn't put my thoughts on this situation on my blog because it was on one of the weeks when we were working on a different assignment. In my blogs, I really enjoy being able to express my opinion on certain things and generalize an idea from a specific situation I witness.
Another thing that I enjoy about these blog assignments is that we can write about pretty much anything we want to. There's such a wide variety of topics we could discuss and share that it is kind of hard not to find anything to write about. I've seen people write about their week at school, a movie they saw over the weekend, I've even seen some people write poems on their blogs. There's just so much to write about and sometimes it's nice to be able to share your thoughts with other people. In most of our other classes, whenever we write papers we don't really have as much freedom as we do in this class. For example, in writing when we have big papers and essays due there are usually a lot of guidelines we have to follow in order to get a good grade on it. We normally have to write about a topic that we get assigned by our teacher. Sometimes when I write these papers I have a hard time coming up with ideas to write about which is normally the complete opposite for when I am writing posts for my blog. Occasionally I will have a struggle with finding a topic or idea to write about for my blog since there is such a broad range of ideas, but when this does happens you can always just do two response post for the week which is also a good way to get yourself thinking. Also, having a requirement for students to have at least one response post a week is a good way to get students discussing certain topics with each other and sharing their opinions with one another. This could also contribute to starting online debates between students which is good practice for future debates we have in class.
All in all, I think writing blogs is a great way for me to practice my writing and express my ideas at the same time. In the beginning I expected to have some sort of challenge with this, but I have surprised myself with how I am able to turn simple ideas into 400 word blog posts. Writing these posts have also made me think and analyze situations more thoroughly. I enjoy having freedom to write about whatever comes to my mind and I believe that this assignment has been and will be successful in helping students practice their writing skills in an enjoyable way.
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