Catching up

I took the plunge this semester and have my students in an intermediate writing class blogging. They have been writing fairly regularly for the last six weeks as we prepare for graded writing in class. I have been very pleased with their efforts so far and have not commented on their grammar at all. I try to ask questions when I visit their blogs.
Already there are some things, mostly procedural, that I would do differently next time. I would give them a handout on which they can write their blog address, sign-in, and password. Some of the students couldn't remember where their blogs were and created new ones. Some create new ones with each assignment. I prepared a webpage tutorial for enrolling, but I think I need more information about limiting comments because some of the students have been spammed on their blogs with irrelevant comments.
There is an enthusiasm on the part of some students to use their blogs more, but I don't see them interacting much except when I urge them to. This may be because I first set up a webpage for their addresses before I set up a blog for the class. Next time, I will dispense with the webpage and move directly to the blog. Also, I think I should introduce Bloglines, Furlit or del.icio.us, and Flik'r early because now I don't know how to fit them in now with all the other demands of the class.

more on answering questions

Sorry I haven't tried to answer your questions earlier. I usually use the exercise toward the end of class so the quick ones may finish while the slower ones can take the exercise home to finish. I am still learning with this technique. When I tried it in the middle of class, I didn't like the down time it gave some students.

Also, I have used this technique in reviewing homework since the students have come to expect it. I have the students in pairs or small groups reviewing their homework by comparing answers and negotiating different answers for the same question. Yesterday, some students wanted answers as they were comparing, and so I gave them the correct answers. That kept them on task, but I need to tell some students to figure out why that is the correct answer instead of changing their answer to the correct one. It seems to work better when I say "yes that is the right answer" or "no, that is not the correct answer."

In class multiple choice practice

I am teaching our advanced reading class for the first time in a couple of years. We are using a different book than we when I last taught the class, and we are on a new six-week summer schedule with classes five days a week for 105 minutes a class. I approached this class with some trepidation because I prefer the 50 minute classes of a regular semester since I have in the past found managing the time more difficult in the long classes.
So far, the class has been going well. I enjoy it and have not too often talked too much. One reason is that my colleague gave me a different way to do the multiple choice in class practices. Her practice is to give the practices out to the students and go around the class telling the students when they have right or wrong answers. By the time the whole class finishes the exercise, everyone knows the correct answers. When there is more than one exercise and it comes at the end of class, it seems to work better than in the middle since it doesn't leave the quick students time for fiddling their thumbs.

Bogged down

Been sick, so I haven't gotten around to blogging and haven't kept up with the course as I would like. The Furl and Bloglines assignments were not a problem because I was already using them, but I did like learning how to add the class blogs to my bloglines feeds.

I enjoy the discussions, but I face a problem I don't see others discussing. In our program, if something new is introduced it should be introduced for all classes at the same level. This is not a problem when I write exercises with Hot Potatoes and link them to my class because the other teachers have this link available.

The problem is many of my colleagues feel uncomfortable with computers let alone the internet. So if I try to get my students blogging, I am unsure how to bring the other teachers along. Also, there seems little room for failure, yet I don't feel confident my first efforts at getting students involved in blogging will be successful. Perhaps I am defeating myself before I even try.

Audience

I keep telling my students to consider their audiences in their writing. For this class, we assume some things about our audience. But when we induce our students to write, what audience do we encourage them to write for? Is the audience the other students, the teacher, or a combination of both? Or do we encourage them to write for some generic audience?

Thanks for the comments. Leslie raises a good question about how to reply. I don't know. For a while, I was on a discussion board and these seemed to work with one person making a statement and others adding their comments. I think it might be better to respond to comments in the comments section. I will try to do that.

Setting up

I have finally gotten this blog off the ground. I set it up to try to make it interactive, but I will have wait to see if it works.

I have tried blogging some in the past and have maintained one for my students which I think they pretty much ignore. I suspect they do so because I tend to go on and on about some grammar point. I haven't invited comments because I haven't been to sure how to manage them. However, in setting this up, I think I have the comments as very accessible.

My feelings about blogging range from excitement to fear. I like writing and putting my ideas out, but I fear they will be considered shallow or obvious to a reader.