My First Blog.....Scary!!!!!

Wow! Making a first time blog, knowing that everything I type here can be seen by anyone in the entire world, is a scary thing. I feel that most teachers are afraid to voice their opinions and make them public in fear that parents and administrators will retaliate. After reading the article, That's Online Writing..., I noticed that the teacher had to overcome obstacles that the administrators put in front of her. Of course, there is no doubt in my mind that the administration decided to cut the Talkback Project because they were concerned about the safety of the students. But, I thought it was wonderful how the kids and parents were so passionate in their response to save the blog project. Even though the administration in this article decided to listen to the kids and parents and revive the project, this doesn't always happen in our reality as educators. I agree that there is a gap between digital fluency and traditional literacy skills in our education system. I remember taking a typing class in 5th grade, but that's about it. Most of my computer education occured once my family bought a home computer while I was in middle school. Cassandra's experience with computers is pretty similar to my own. I remember my friends and I using things such as Xanga and LiveJournal; however, I didn't like it as much as Cassandra did. Ironically, I actually preferred to express my opinions and literary creations using good ol' paper and pen. I guess I would have been the one person using "leeches instead of nuclear medicine" as one kid put it. However, I believe in the phrase, "to each, his own." Some people prefer to express their opinions on paper while others like typing on the computer. This just means that we need to utlitize both ways as means of expressing ourselves. Just because we are now focusing on digital fluency does not mean that we should give up entirely on expressing ourselves using pen and paper. Remember to "make new friends, but keep the old." Let's use both mediums in the classroom, especially since it would increase our chance of reaching a variety of learners.