Blog Assignment (Post 1)

I have kept a journal/diary since I was seven years old. Although I've always had great grades in English and Literature throughout my academic career, I have never pushed myself to write for a purpose other than myself. Blogging is a great way to outsource information and your thoughts. I have used a blog to reflect on personal aspects of my life that tied to daily life and updates on my mom and how I dealt with everything when she had a stroke. I used it for others and for myself. I also started creating art and used a blog to make people aware of what I was doing without forcing them to look at all the pictures on social media. I started a blog for lesson plans when I was teaching pre-kindergarten and was going to publish them once I was done. That is a project that has been left unfinished, but I still refer back to it sometimes and use it partially in portfolios of my work.

 

When I kept up with my Lesson Plan Blog, this was the bulletin board I would keep updated and then post a picture of it to the blog. In the blog, I had descriptions to the notecards. This might have included song lyrics, articles published on play we were doing that week, art templates that parents could download (cause sometimes our crafts were too awesome not to share with siblings), pictures of the books we were reading and the library I got them from, etc etc. It was a great way to communicate with parents without sending newsletters home in backpacks and I could refer to it when I had a new batch of kids.

 

 

I follow several blogs and subscribe to my favorites. It's an effective free organization of ideas and lessons and feelings and personal expression.  Blogging is great for outsourcing and expression in a lot of cases, however sometimes I feel like blogging in the wrong writer's hands is just a way of seeking attention and trying to affirm mistakes to an array of imaginary public. I think everyone should write. I think everyone should have and keep a journal. I think everyone should eat sleep and think with a journal- jotting down ideas, feelings, experiences, illustrations, questions, reminders.  A journal can be a witness to yourself, but I don't necessarily think it should be published, and sometimes people use blogs to just publish their lives. I have learned from great writers and tried to write for myself and other people. You can calculate the world through numbers, but you can persuade the world through writing and words.