Keep Trying: “I think that all three of these groups are searching for meaning. The teenage years are a major time of discovery of self. Being popular and liked is a tremendous part of self definition in those early years. The blog is an amazing tool for self discovery. It helps you define yourself in both an independent and interdependent context.”

I have been wondering this too, if any kids here at school have weblogs. Wondering if I should encourage them as self discovery, heck, even start a weblogging club. There’s an idea. I still think there is a potential for using these throughout the four years to chronicle learning. Perhaps credit for kids that want to do it as independent study or something. There are very cool possibilities for the weblog/electronic portfolio given that someone finds a way to index entries more effectively. The way I have it set up right now, Diaryland is the portfolio, separate from the weblog. Would be great if we could integrate both somehow.

Rebecca e-mailed me back with this piece of advice: “I would think there’s at least one book on weblogs in education waiting to be written. it would be nice to have a few real case studies to include, though, rather than just speculating on how effective they could be. my advice is to spend this year plugging your fellow teachers — and students — into weblogs and then you can start writing a practical look at what works and what doesn’t work in a year. I look forward to buying the book in two years. ;)” Remember…patience, perserverance.