So far I am not a very big fan of Blogger.com

So, after 30 minutes of trying to log into my account, screaming and shaking my laptop, I was finally able to get the website to log me in to my account. Needless to say, I am not thrilled with Blogger.com. I like to think of myself as reasonably skilled with technology, especially systems that require you to log into an account and post comments, after all, I have been using email accounts and Blackboard for quite a while now. I have never had as much trouble with a program as I have with this one.

That being said, I think I will stick with Blackboard for my discussion forums this year. I have been thinking about mediums through which my students can have discussions about class topics and literature. Also, if I use Blackboard I could post memos for the students, or they could even turn in papers or other documents through the site. I certainly do not wish these similar difficulties on my students.

Speaking of the start of school, I have spent a great deal of the last few days doing extensive planning for both my sophomore and senior English classes. I am disappointed to say, that as of now, I do not have a lot of technology use scheduled for my sophomores (with the exception of word processing, but I know that doesn't count as technology use). For my seniors though, I plan to have them do a WebQuest in introducing them to the novel Catcher in the Rye. I taught this novel last year to my seniors and I had them do a WebQuest, however, many of the questions consisted of me asking a question and providing them the website on which they could find the answer. They had to then search the website for the answer. Only a couple times did I ask them questions in which they had to do the actual surfing, meaning sifting through a variety of websites to find the answers themselves. After reading the textbook on WebQuests, I think I will change my WebQuest this year to involve more open ended questions. For example, I might ask questions such as:

--Research the life of the author J.D. Salinger. What about his life seems particularly interesting and/or important?
--After researching Salinger, is there anything about his life that you think is important to know or consider while reading Catcher in the Rye? Why is this information important?
--What does is the difference between censoring, banning, and challenging the teaching/reading of a book?
--Are there any issues related to the banning of books that have an important and lasting effect on the issue?
--What are some of the reasons that books are banned?
--Are there any books that you are surprised to see on the banned book list? What are the reasons for which those books have been banned? Do you agree or disagree?
--Why has Catcher in the Rye been banned from some schools?
--What are some of the arguments for an against the banning of books?

These are just some questions that I have been able to come up with off the top of my head. I think this WebQuest will really get the kids interested in the topic. I know that last year it got the kids really heated, as most of them really disagreed with banning books--and that was with a lame WebQuest. I think the kids will enjoy the surfing these questions will allow. This will also allow me to introduce topics related to reliable sources on the Internet. My only concern is that the students might encounter many blocked web pages as they surf.

I plan to do this activity the first or second week in September. Will let you know how it goes!