Reflective Post

This semester, my involvement with digital writing has been higher than in any previous semester. Do I feel smart? Brave? Vulnerable? Accomplished?

I actually just feel pretty much the same.

You see, I engage in “digital writing” more than I’d like, because our culture – and our education – is so reliant on technology. I can’t remember the last time I wrote something solely on paper and didn’t have to share it with the world. Frankly, I’m not even really a fan. Blogging in of itself is fun because I enjoy typing, and I enjoy archiving my work. But proclaiming it to the world can wait, in my opinion. Privacy is a thing of the past.

But enough about my reactions. The point of this post is to reflect on my experience with digital writing as a student and a future teacher. So let’s get to it….

I noticed that our professor, Dr. Scanlon, took a leaf out of Troy Hicks’ book The Digital Writing Workshop by making this mandatory blog component for our class. One of the benefits of blogging that Hicks points out is that it allows students to get their ideas out in the open for exposure and peer feedback. Because blogging allows readers to comment, students can learn from their peers’ without direct confrontation; it’s all done on a computer screen. In our own class, I did enjoy getting and giving feedback to my classmates, if nothing more than for the sake of communication and encouragement. It was also affirmation that SOMEONE was reading my stuff. SOMEONE knows what I’m thinking. And as long as I don’t think horrible awful things, that can kind of be a good thing.

When I’m a teacher, even though I prefer to write with pen and paper, I can see myself integrating blogging into my class assignments. I like the idea of my students being able to confer with each other, and have a digital space that they can customize to an extent. Teens thrive on self-expression and communication with peers; in light of that, what better way to get students to write than to trick them into it with computers and friends?

To be completely honest, I used to blog consistently and I haven’t for a while, simply because school has knocked the wind out of my desire to write. Keeping up with this blog has been a challenge because it’s been one more thing to do. But at the same time….. it actually has been nice to have an assignment that I could do in my own informal language, as long as I addressed the assignment requirements. It’s been low-stress compared to all other assignments, so in that respect I didn’t mind it that much. I’m glad that I successfully completed seven, so my requirement is met. This is my last mandatory post, but I’ll keep my WordPress. Who knows; maybe after I graduate and the academic dust settles, I’ll pick it up again just for fun.

Thanks to all of my classmates for reading my stuff and giving me feedback. You guys rock, and you’re all going to be great teachers and writers someday. Let’s make it to the finish line; we are so close!

Cheers.