NCTE Podcast
My friend Bud Hunt just posted a podcast of our presentation at NCTE last month. I haven’t listened to it yet, so I can’t vouch for the audio quality, but I remember it being a good presentation. I’m not too sure I want to listen to myself speak, but I know I want to go back and listed to Bud and Bill.
Anyway, you might want to check it out. It’s my first time being part of a podcast in any way.
The Dilbert Blog
Recently I came upon The Dilbert Blog by Scott Adams the cartoonist. It’s usually an interesting read. Today he talked about something that relates to writing that struck home to me:
When I think about a topic, it’s almost always in the form of how I would explain my views to a hypothetical other person. Then I imagine how it would sound to the other person and judge the worthiness of my thought that way. Thoughts without words are just feelings, and hard to trust. But if a thought is easy to describe, there’s a fighting chance it makes some sense.
I almost always think about things this way, explaining to some imaginary person what I’m thinking as a way to clarify what I’m thinking. I also realize that I usually come up with my best ideas while in conversation (real or imagined). I know there have to be some implications about this concept and the teaching of writing, but at 3:00 on a Friday I’m not sure what they are. I’ll think talk to some imaginary people about it over the weekend and let you know what I come up with.
Actually, come to think of it, I think this is actually why so many people like blogging. As a blogger, you can think aloud to a real audience, figure out what you really think and still get feedback from other people. Hmmm.
Trying to Develop a Blogging Habit
Well I’m trying to develop a habit of writing on my blog. Like I tell my students with their journals, writing is like exercise–it’s a lot harder to do if you don’t do it consistently.
Last time I reported a long list of projects I want to work on. I’ve started working on some of them. The one that I’m most happy with is the idea for a writing group. I’ve approached some teachers in my department and three of them have expressed interest in starting a writing group. In fact, those three are all as excited as I am, which is great. We’re going to meet sometime next week to discuss what we might want to do and then put out a memo to all faculty, inviting them to join us. I think it would be great to get some teachers from other departments, too. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m very excited.
I was inspired to start this project from a presenation at NCTE, so I e-mailed Penny Kittle (one of the presenters) and she sent me a couple articles she had written about writing groups and a very helpful e-mail. Apparently she’s written a few books published by Heinemann, too, though I have yet to read any of them.
I’ll let you know how our groups gets on. Wish us the best.
