Interesting Article...

I really enjoyed reading Kathleen C. West's article about blogging in a classroom setting and I'm not just saying that because we had to read it. I thought it was really thought-provoking when West discussed how students actually benefit by participating in blogs. I thought the entire article was significant in stating that blogging is just not for commercial or personal use but it can also help students comprehend the literature they are reading. She stated in the article that she observed many of the students, including her three case studies, showed legit discussion of literature behind the web lingo. For example in Lucy's blog, also one of her case studies, West stated that behind Lucy's humorous pop culture lingo she showed academically advanced analysis of the novel she was reading at the time, which was Huckleberry Finn.

I thought it to be interesting that using blogs in a classroom setting can help a student form a better understanding of the work that is being taught in the class. West also stated in her article that when the student is away from a classroom setting, he/she can write more freely and therefore state things on his/her mind clearly without academic expectations. This article made me think that our use of blogging in our core class is actually pretty helpful in discussing things such as this article I am discussing now. Writing in blogs the way we want helps us stay focused and then we perform better in class because we have our thoughts gathered before hand.