opinions on mrs. franklin's findings

Sooo... these are the things Mrs. Franklin wanted us to answer. Her statements are in white and my responces are in red.

1. Students talked more about books on the blog than they would have by just talking about the books in class.
I think this is true, and that it was probably because of the anonymous names.
2. Students liked the blog because it gave them time to formulate ideas that they had before sharing with the class. Writing on the blog was safer than sharing an idea in an in-class discussion.
I liked blogging because I could type my thoughts and then read over them and make sure they made sense. It was a great way for me to think before i spoke.
3. In previous courses, the main audience was the teacher. Students turned assignments in to the teacher, and she was the only one to see the students’ hard work. On the blog, the entire class could read the students’ work and offer feedback.
I like both ways. Sometimes i like it when other people get to read what i have written, but other times i don't want everyone to see my papers, so i don't mind turning the paper in to just the teacher.
4. Students liked getting comments, and they tried to create posts that would entice readers to their posts.
I loved getting coments, and because of that i would try to write as many comments to other people as i could. And i would try to write interesting posts so that other people would comment me, but i still didn't get very many comments. And when i did, they were mostly from the same people. I think this was because as time went on, people got tired of reading other peoples posts, or they just didn't have enough time.
5. Many times, students included pictures with their written posts. The pictures were a visual representation of the content of their writing. What I mean is, the picture matched the words. A lot of thought went into choosing those pictures.
I liked it when people would post pictures. They were fun and creative, and i wish i would have picked out more pictures to go with my posts, but i would often forget to.
6. Effective blog posts had good pictures, an interesting title, and went beyond summary.
Sometimes if i didn't have time to read all of the posts, i would read the ones that caught my attention, and titles and pictures were a huge part of wich ones i choose to read.
7. Ineffective blog posts were static on the ladder of abstraction.
If you mean they were boring, then i agree with you.
8. Students shared personal experiences and stories that connected to the literature they read.
I loved it when people would tell stories that related to the literature because just reading sumaries of the literature got a little boring.
9. The class felt like a community was created because of the blog. The class felt closer and more “bonded.” The blog allowed you to get to know each other better through writing.
Well, that is true in a way. It did unite us outside of the classroom, and we all became fellow bloggers, but i dont think it united us very much on a personal level, because we didn't know who everyone was. However, if you did know who the person was, i think it did "bond" us.
10. In past Communication Arts courses, students mostly wrote book reports, summaries, or constructed responses about the literature; the blog allowed them to write more expressively, informally, freely, and more frequently.
I do agree with that. The blog was definately less informal that a book report. And we felt free to express our opinions.
11. Students felt free to write with voice and to write about their choice of topics. Their writing style expressed their personality.
I also agree with that. When i write emails or chat or something, i put "voice" into it without even trying. I love using colored fonts and big letters to enforce a point, but we had rules against some of that stuff, so i just didn't do any of it to be safe. And as you can see, i dont really use proper punctuation when i type...
12. More students than not liked blogging and found it motivating and engaging.
I did like blogging, but sometime it became a little tireing to read so many posts, expecially when some people were posting simply to meet the required number of posts. You could really tell when someone was doing that because they put almost no effort into the post.
13. Students were surprised by the quantity of writing as they looked at the posts they created throughout the semester.
If you mean the number of posts as a class, you already know my thoughts on that, that it took forever to read all of them. but if you mean that students were surprised at how much they personally had written, then i'm not really sure what to say... lol.
14. Blogs allowed you to read the different perspectives of each student in class.
Yes, it definately showed me other people opinions, and i liked that because sometimes people made connections that i never would have thought of.
15. Students who might not share as freely in class discussion—“shy” or “quiet” students—blogged frequently and felt free to share ideas.
I kinda think that is the same statement as #2, and yes, i agree with that.
16. Students were polite and supportive in their comments. Occasionally, students pressed, questioned, or asked for clarification.
People were very polite in their comments, i dont know how else to say that. But i also think that some comments were not posted because the person was afraid of being rude. Because i know that one time i disagreed with a person, but i didn't know how to tell them that without sounding accusing or mean.
17. Instead of looking to Mrs. James for “correct answers” when discussing the literature, students responded to the literature independently. They read the perspectives of other students to clarify their own thinking and understanding of the literature instead of depending on whether the teacher thought they had the right answer.
Yes, if i had a question, i would more likely post it on the blog instead of ask Mrs. James, although i forgot about that option when i was working on the Romeo and Juliet study guide, but i would have posted even more questions had i remembered.
18. The blog was student-centered instead of teacher-controlled.
Yes, i was glad that Mrs. James was a member instead of a person in control. I think that made me closer to Mrs. James.
19. The blog kept students “on schedule” with the reading. They didn’t want to feel behind on the blog, so they kept up with the reading.
I know that it kept me on schedule, because when i fell behind once, i couldn't read the blog because if i did, i would know what was going to happen.
20. Students read more deeply while they blogged. They re-read and took notes as they read, so they would be prepared to blog.
I actually didn't do that, but it sounds like a good idea.
21. Students rarely linked to other websites.
I felt bad about not linking, because a couple of times i had a good idea for a website to link to, but i either forgot to link to it or i was to lazy to.
22. Students used the blog to ask each other questions about class and about assignments.
I did ask questions on the blog.
23. Students used the blog to share weekend events and happenings.
I don't think that happened very much. A couple of times people would mention something they had done over the weekend, but most of the time if that happened, it was because it was over a long break and they had nothing else to talk about.
24. Blogs helped students to extend conversations beyond the classroom walls.
Well, i wouldn't call them converstions, because if i left a comment, i wouldn't go back again to check and see if they had replied to my comment, so the "conversations" weren't very long. I would often even forget which posts i had commented on, so i wish there was a way to be notified if someone replied to my comments.
25. The writing on the blog changed throughout the semester. How did you see the writing change? Look back at the beginning of the blog and return to more recent posts. What differences do you see?
I think we became a little more relaxed and personal towards the end of the semester.
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A few more questions:

Most of you had very positive things to say about Mrs. James class. What part did blogging play in those feelings? I think that blogging played a huge part in those feelings. It was a fun and creative assignment. It was a nice change from the usual written homework.

What else did you learn? What am I missing as I try to understand the perspective of students who blog as part of a Communication Arts classroom? I'm not really sure, but as i tried to think of an answer to your question, i realized that i was trying to tell you what you wanted to hear. (not on all the questions, just this one because i couldn't think of a good answer.) And maybe a lot of people do that when they blog, they simply blog to get the credit, and they only say what the teacher wants to hear. But it's just a thought.

What have you learned about writing through the blog? I learned that i like to write on an personal level. Maybe in the future i could choose a topic where i got to write a letter or email or something, because i think i would enjoy that.

What have you learned about reading through the blog? I learned that author's can leave a lot up to the reader, because what i understood from a passage might not be what someone else understood from reading that same passage.

Did you only blog because it was a class requirement? Did you ever blog because you enjoyed writing and sharing your ideas? I did both. At times, i would only blog to meet the requirements, but if i had an idea that really liked, or some insight i thought would be helpful, i would enjoy blogging about it. I also really enjoyed blogging about my free reading book, and reading other people's post about their free reading books, because it gave me ideas for what i could read next.

How did blogging impact your reading and writing skills? Blogging impacted my reading skills by trying to read between the lines so that i could have something unique to say on the blog. It helped my writing skills by letting me practice writing.

Will you continue to blog? I will, but not as often.

If you were the researcher, what questions would you ask? Pretty much the same things you have asked.