always learning

I was recently complimented on my writing, which, although I have a humanities background and spent most of my university years writing loooong papers, came as a surprise to me. At the time I didn’t really realize it, but upon reflection, it’s the blogging that has made me a better writer.

Not only do I have an actual audience for my writing (all 3 of you out there), but blogging requires that I write much more frequently than I naturally would. In fact, I probably wouldn’t be writing much at all if it wasn’t for the blogging. The practice of writing has naturally and organically improved my writing over the past six months. Now, I’m not saying I started from scratch, but even I can see a marked difference in my writing ability over the past semester. That’s a pretty powerful tool.

When I think about the experience our students will have writing and interacting with their audience at such a young age I am so excited for them! I see how empowering and motivating this tool can be for me as an adult and it must be even more so for the students. Even if we are reluctant to include technology in our teaching, we must want our students to be better writers, better communicators, and more reflective learners. If blogging is a tool that can enable this to happen in a completely natural, yet exciting and new way, shouldn’t we encourage all teachers to take advantage of it?

Image from: http://www.imaginethatstudios.com/writing/images/writing.jpg