My colleague Tom McHale asked that question in a comment on an earlier post, and it’s been sticking in my brain ever since. He followed it up with “Seems to me that at this point some should have emerged.”
Hmmm…any nominees?
Speaker, consultant, writer, learner, parent
I’ve got some nominees — but one’s still in the “developing” stage. Tullia has just begun blogging as a supplement to her work in my self-paced Journalism course — her first post was downright delightful to read, but she’s not incorporating links into her writing. Yet.
Here’s her first post:
http://oldeschoolnews.com/news/?q=node/25
I also would point out Elle. She was one of my pilot bloggers last Spring, and she has recently returned to her blog. She’s now a graduate of our high school, but I believe she’s still a teenager — so I think that she would count. (In fact, I think she counts more, because she’s blogging because she wants to, and not because of a course requirement.) Here’s her blog:
http://ellethestudent.blogspot.com/
You can follow the links for the other blogsperimenters at my classroom site: http://budtheteacher.blogspot.com (If you’re still reading this rather lenghty comment, that is.) Unfortunately, their great blogwork fizzled out when the course ended.
Great by what standards? If you are looking for teen bloggers whose writing mets the critera of an adult audience then there is one set of answers. If you are looking for teen blogs whose writers work resonates with other teens then it is likely to be a very different list.
Try http://bigben.blogs.com/. That said, I would have a hard time defining criteria for a “great teen blogger.”
Richard
http://inside.sfuhs.org/kassblog
One of the students in my AP Calculus class decided to start her own blog after about 6 weeks in my class. This was not a course requirement, it was not part of any assignment or assessment. I had nothing to do with it. She did it because she wanted to — and it’s awesome! Here’s a kid who has taken control of her own education and is encouraging her classmates in the process — because SHE wants to. Her blog is called AP Calculus Peer Help. Sarah is a great teen blogger.
Liz Lawley was just talking about her son’s new blog isowantone.com. Interesting confluence of a blog and a business venture =)
Otherwise, we probably would have to ask some teens about what they think is a good blog. And, we would have to be prepared to not like the results.
Why don’t we use Will’s definition: “Blogging is read, think, write (and link) and read some more.” Are there teens that are reading, linking, and creating blogs that show original thought on subjects that they are passionate about? To me that would be a great teen blog whether or not it was written for an adult audience. It would have a strong voice and show evidence that the blogger is well informed and cares about their subject matter. To me, that is what makes any blog great whatever the subject material might be.
So… what’s the definition of a teen?