Beginning a new venture to write online

As we begin our new unit with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, we will also be undertaking a new venture to do more of our writing and responding to the texts online. In the past, we have used this blog as a way for me to post a prompt and for you to respond to it in the comment section. However, that method limited your ability to revise your writing and to comment on one another's ideas. That, to me, are two important components of an English classroom.

For this unit, you will create your own personal blog. You will be in charge of regularly posting ideas and thoughts related to the novels. This space - Miller's English 10 Homework blog - will become the area you will receive your assignments and information.

With a blog, you can post your thoughts and responses to the novels, allowing your classmates to read what you've written and to build on your ideas. Likewise, you will read the writing of your classmates and be able to connect to their thinking and ideas. On a more individual note, the blog will become the primary area where you will maintain a record of your thinking and writing. In a sense it will become an online notebook that will be graded, both for content and writing quality.

Like almost everything we've done this year, I ask you to keep an open mind. It may be foreign to you at first, but do not give up. One skill that's going to make you successful in this world is the ability to adapt and adjust to new situations. Maybe this is one of them.

To get started, click the "create blog" link in the upper right hand corner of this page. If you already have a Google log-in (for example if you have a g-mail account) use that to sign in and name your blog. If not, use your school e-mail address and create a free account. The name of your blog should be something you can remember and I can easily identify as yours.

Once you create your blog, cut and paste the address into the comment section of this post so I can begin compiling all the student blogs in one place. Good luck.