Good to hear from you. Too bad we couldn’t hang out in Shanghai.

The Korean culture you describe resides in my school as well. Even in China, it influences the way Koreans approach learning. For the most part, they expect to be instructed and tend to look charmingly perplexed when asked to inquire, make conclusions, and take meaningful action. Your “Visionary Student Blogging” project lends itself to inquiry-based learning very well. Your right not to give up on it. I like the mentoring and scaffolding ideas you got from Diane and Carolyn. You’ve probably come across it already, but I’d like to recommend a book Robin and I learned about last summer at Lehigh. I’m using it now to help me develop a shared vision with my students, one that will lead them to more constructive learning. It’s called The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, and Bryan Smith. I’m finding the sections entitled Mental Models and Shared Vision inspirational, especially when it appears that I should just give it up. Cheers!

One other thing I wanted to mention. In her work on the research process, Carol Kuhlthau identifies that the most difficult stage emotionally for students is when they are “deciding on” their topics and first starting. They are stressed, don’t know what to research, think they can’t do it, etc. Not having been asked all that often to research whatever they want, it can become hard for them to locate that gem of an idea.

That’s the stage where there’s the most resistance, kids wanting to give up or change topics. But if we offer them some scaffolding, they can hang in there, and then once they get going and their concept materializes, they find their “flow” and then really get moving.

So I do think a key here is to find the scaffolding, and hang in there with them until they get going, without making it too onerous, but recognizing this may be a normal stage.

Maybe once they realize that their comments won’t be censored, that they have an opportunity to tell their own story in their own way, some of them will step up and be heard.

Oh where are the activists of the ’60s?

I’m in as well.

Thanks for sharing your struggles, and I agree with Diane that it seems just as hard for the adult learners.

One thing I’ve realized with my own faculty is not everyone is expressive verbally. Some teachers like to write and read, some like to see visuals, some like to show what they are doing in photographs rather than write….some like to work together, some like to work alone.

Any chance that some of their posts could be photographs, or videoblogs, or other representations of their feelings and ideas?

And like Diane, I’d certainly be happy to mentor as well.

I also think that maybe adding an auditory element would help. One of our teachers does what I think of as the equivalent of blogging, which he calls Occasional papers.
(Actually other teachers now do it, but I think it was his idea originally)

Students write about something that interests them, has piqued their curiosity, bothers them, etc., and once they’ve written it, they read it aloud to the class…and then they just talk about it. The papers are like essays, about what’s on their minds, which is why they remind me of blogs.

And like you, he writes himself and reads his, and is honest when things are bothering him.

I’m meandering a bit, but I guess my point is–I think the in-class sharing is an important piece. It gives the students examples, it gets them interested, they can authentically discuss what they are hearing….and then it can carry over into their own writing later.

I do think the caveat is, if it gets too schooly, it loses it’s energy, you know?
It’s a fine balance between blogging and “assignment-like” writing.

To me the point of it is reflection, but as I said above, I’m realizing that as much as I like to reflect in words, that is not everyone’s preferred method of reflection.

Food for thought…Carolyn