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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Old vs. New

The ages old struggle between tradition and progress has manifested itself in the classroom once again. English teachers at all levels are now debating whether or not to continue assigning essays and term papers, or to start asking students to show their writing skills through blogs. Some advocate for keeping curriculum restricted to more formal types of writing. Others say the opposite. Naturally, it is nearly impossible to say with any certainty exactly what is best, as it is different for each person.

Before this year, much of the writing I have done for my English classes has been more traditional. While I have had to write in the occasional journal, almost everything has been an essay or essay-like, and none of it as been online. To be honest, I have not enjoyed writing that much. Blogging for English class is a new experience for me. From what I have learned in my limited experience, I think it is a positive addition to the variety of ways I have been asked to express my ideas in English classes, at least in some ways. Blogging  seems to be more personal and less formulaic. I can look at my peers' work and ideas to help me better understand my own.

Despite my dislike for the highly structured writings of my past, there are some important benefits of writing in  those forms both for the writer and the grader. The structure of the formal essay makes it (with practice) easier to write. If you are familiar with the structure of an essay, writing one seems natural. Once you have your ideas it is fairly easy to express them on paper, and you almost always know what to put in your next sentence. If you actually stick to the structure, this prevents some of the rambling that seems inevitable when you are not following it. This form also makes it easier for the person grading it, as they know exactly what to look for.

As you can almost certainly tell by now, I do not know too much about the subject. What I do know comes from other peoples opinions and my readings. I feel like I need more experience blogging to understand exactly what I think is best. At the moment, I believe that writing in both forms throughout the class is best for my education. Even though I do not know much, the little that I am aware of leads me to fear the extremes. While I believe it is safe to lean a bit to one side, only writing essays or solely posting in blogs could be harmful.


Being restricted to formal writing throughout my English career has pushed me away from the subject. Especially when I was younger I did not understand the value of formal writing, and did not take it seriously. Additionally, confining students to formulaic writing could stifle their creativity ability while writing. At the same time, blogging without any structured writing could lead to students' writing lacking in concentration or focus. Not only is it more difficult to write coherently without having a specific form to follow, it is also more difficult to formulate ideas and express them in ways that other people can understand. As with almost everything else, straying too far to the extremes is bad, they often don't make much sense...but they do make good memes.



ALIENS!!!!!

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