The prospect of a blog sparked my interest at the beginning of CURRINS 547. I have had my share of experience reading and engaging with them in my younger years, but I feel that I missed the cutoff to live in and experience a time where they were truly in their "golden era." Furthermore, I never had the chance to create and engage in one of my own. That being said, setting one up along with customizing it to my liking was a joy. In a time where every social media platform feels like an intimidation of the other, it's hard to distinguish yourself and make something feel genuine and "human" within each website's limitations/algorithms. Blogs, and specifically blogger give me the impression that I as the creator am in control of everything. This kind of customizability and personality calls back to my adolescence to a time where the internet felt so much more mysterious, exciting, and "unexplored." The quirks and jankiness of setting up my own page made it feel as if I was creating something analog, DIY, and entirely my own. In turn, I had a lot more of a sentimental attachment to my end product as compared to something pre-manufactured like a canvas discussion board/google doc.
1) professionalism. The blog post that I found most professional would probably be the writing coach reflection post. I'm proud of this post for it's honest exploration of the writing coach experience. I worry that I might have harped on my negative experiences/sentiments in this blog post, but also can back up these criticisms with the fact that I supported my arguments with quotes from the assigned readings. Furthermore, I think this blog post set the ground work for my writing coach analysis paper, which turned out really well and I think gave a bit more of a positive and well-rounded examination of the writing coach role.
2) multimodal design. Without a doubt my mini-multimodal blog post. This is an obvious choice, but I chose this post mainly because of the large amount of positive feedback I received which I wasn't really expecting. I felt that I kind of took a risk in making a movie poster because it wasn't a format/genre that was specifically mentioned in the guidelines, but nonetheless met the qualifications of a multimodal media piece.
3) creativity. I would choose my digital storytelling/zine blog post for "most creative," but this has less to do with the content within the blog post itself and more to do with my mindset and interest in digital storytelling/zines. Specifically, the idea that "writing doesn't occur in a vacuum" is a sentiment that I hope to hold onto for the entirety of my teaching career.
4) civic engagement. I think blog post exploring my "writing process" would be best suited for this label, as I go off on a bit of a tangent in it about how I feel like so many English classes failed to keep me engaged and involved as a reader and writer. I want to hold myself accountable as an educator and ensure that my curriculum serves my students not only for their academic needs, but for their creative endeavors, and serves as a creative/artistic outlet in expressing whatever students decide to write about. This way I will help students actualize their identity outside of an academic setting, and hopefully instill a love for reading and writing rather than giving it to them in the form of busywork/homework.
My people's choice award is David! His blog is very professional, whether in its presentation, use of visuals, cohesion, formatting, connection to readings, or of course the writing itself. David has clearly put a lot of thought and effort into his blogs and his entries are a joy to read. His blog displays his reflective and creative mindset. In addition, all of the comments he has made on my blog posts have shown a commitment to engaging with other's writings, seeking understanding and further questioning.
Greetings Seth! I agree with your sentiments about David's blog wholeheartedly. I have consistently read yours as well and find you exhibit much of what you admire in David's. I always find your pictures thought provoking...wondering the why and where of them, and I like that you don't actually explain them...though my interpretation is they go with the title of your blog post. I really enjoyed the music video on blog post 4 and it is the area I am also most interested in so many of your thoughts resonated. We need more teachers who want to push the writing space and I am excited that our profession is getting someone as insightful and passionate as you. Cheers!
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