Shelly Blake-Plock is a high school teacher and authors the blog Teach Paperless. He said, "Before I went paperless and used blogs to get information from them, I would only see students' work if they wrote an essay or turned in a quiz or test. Now I'm seeing what they're working on all the time..."

As I read e339 blogs this week, I learned more about each of you and your "process" in selecting and researching the topic for the multigenre research paper. It was another form of "inside sentences" that Hale talked about in Crafting Writers. I experienced another advantage of blogging for students AND teachers!

Creating a Learning Community

A new technology does not wipe out what went before; it transforms and enhances it. When people started writing, they didn't quit talking.

Walter Ong, (2002). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Taylor & Francis, Inc.

This is my first experience blogging. Creating a classroom culture where everyone's voice is heard is certainly enhanced by this technology! Responding, thinking, and wrestling with ideas to tell each of our "stories" facilitates building a strong learning community where new ideas will certainly emerge.