Online Class!! 486

Well,
That was really interesting. I think that it is more difficult and easier at the same time to hold class online. It is more difficult because it tends to go all over the place. It is hard to read every ones comments and try to respond to all of them, especially being the slow typist that I am. Also, there wasn't too much Internet jargon, but I am not familiar with the jargon, so that can be a problem. I swear I didn't know lol until last year!!
The positives are that everyone says what they want. You don't have to wait until someone is finished to raise your hand and possibly talk. You just type what you want and people either respond or not. It also gives people who are not big public speakers a chance to say more than they would in class. People tend to break out of their shell on the Internet.
Anyway, I enjoyed the class today though I wouldn't want to do this everyday.
There was a lot of good insight into the process of writing. I do think that the process is important to teaching writing, but I also think it is a hard thing to really teach. What process??? Who's process do we teach?? Do we all really have or need the same process for writing? That is where I think teaching process becomes difficult. There are the standard text book ways of gathering ideas, brainstorming, etc. What about the process of hands on experience? Can I take my students outside and have them collect rocks for their writing process? This may actually work for a student, maybe two, what about the rest? That is how I feel about what is being taught now. It doesn't apply to everyone. What does then?? I think it is important for students discover their own process, and I'm not sure how to start them in that direction. Maybe giving them different examples, trying out different things? I liked the ideas for meditation, journals, and use of analogy in Landmark Essays. (Perl, 14)
Content is also very important in writing and I think that the process loses touch with content sometimes. The process can't be everything. The content has to get in there in order for the product to be meaningful. Content can't be everything either, so there needs to be a good mixture of the two. This will take a lot of idea gathering and practice, but I'm up for it!