Blogging About Blogger

For the past several weeks, my 11th grade class has been using blogspot.com to express our thoughts about the stories or poems we have been reading. I enjoy being able to express my ideas on this website and having access to my fellow classmates’ websites to read about their ideas too.
In addition, blogging really helped me with my writing. It's become a lot easier for me in terms of clarification and expressing my thoughts and opinions quicker. Not to mention this method of expressing our individual thoughts is probably convenient for most of us in the class because we all go on the computer daily, anyway.
However, I didn't enjoy blogging at first. I was actually really intimidated. Having all of your writing out on display for people to see really puts you under a little pressure if you're someone like me, who, use to never really speak in class. I am also not use to having anyone but the teacher read my work. But, in spite of all the intimidation, this started to bring out the best in my writing because I would write knowing others were going to read my entries. And by observing other people’s perspectives, it makes it easier for me to form opinions based off of their point of view, especially if I am having trouble expressing what I want to say or if I don’t know what Mr. Fiorini wants out of this assignment.
By reading my classmates’ blogs, I have also discovered that they are all really good writers as well. They form interesting opinions and mention details about stories that I often overlook.
Thinking back on last year, I have to say I like this English class a lot better. Unlike last year, this class has taught me how to take analytical approaches on simple pieces of writing.
Last year, it was always only about the technical elements of writing, such as identifying personification and learning how to use proper grammar in your writing. But to me, that all means nothing if you don’t understand what you are reading about.
In summary, even though making a website in order to be graded on blogging and having to blog every weekend didn’t really appeal to me at first, I have found that it had positive effects on my writing in the long run.