This is the third week the my English 3 class (11th grade) has been blogging. The first week they responded to a statistic and question and several responded to each other. In the process, Tate came up with a really cool comment. Last week they wrote a little longer entry tied into the literature we’d been reading. This week they wrote short essays responding to 3 prompts, again related to our literature.

After finishing his own great response, Grogan commented on another student’s post. I might add that the student he wrote to is in a different hour. That’s one of the cool benefits I’ve discovered about blogging with them—we’re no longer limited to a conversation just within our own class. Now students in different hours can comment and work together. Anyway, here’s Grogan’s comment to Ashley:

While her point of view differs entirely from my own, through her writing I have come to see the point of view of the settlers.

YES! That’s awesome. This is becoming a great DISCUSSION place for us. We can share our ideas, our thoughts, our opinions, and we have a terrific opportunity to debate, learn from each other, and add to the conversation with respect and in a safe environment. What we write has an effect on others. What we say matters. We learn to appreciate and understand other viewpoints. COOL!

I can’t wait to see how this continues to build and grow.