Friday, September 3, 2010

Welcome

I want to take this opportunity to welcome my new crop of bloggers. I am excited to read your postings and comments.

During class today we discussed Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." I always love to introduce this piece to students. Our discussions associated with the allegory are, in essence, a representation of the "light" that blinds the emerging cave dweller. In a small way, all of you saw the "light" just by being exposed to the fact that there is a "cave."

I hope that the exercise of blogging will serve as another way for you to emerge from the "cave." Through blogging you will have the opportunity to read other people's opinions and engage in an online discussion about issues, trends, and people around the world. How lucky you are! When I was in high school we were limited to the opinions of those in my class and community.

During my blog postings I will be addressing many topics. Mine is the only blog that you will be reading that is not dictated by a central theme. Although I have many topics in mind already, I would love to see what you would like to learn more about. So please, give me some suggestions...

Happy Blogging!

20 comments:

carmelavallalta said...

Childhood memories. Music. Movies. Worst movie. The crabs’ immortality. Egypt. Turtles. Ninjas. Teenagers. Mutants. Teenage mutant ninja turtles. Teeth. Sailing stones at Death Valley. SarisariƱama’s holes. Google. Cereal. Good movies. Pay it forward. Stars Wars. Clones. Books. Harry Potter. Global warming. The Big Bang Theory. TV shows. Superman. Batman. Robin. Birds. Wings. Flying. Photography. Nature. Trees. Houses. Cultures. Family. Hopes. Dreams. Shoes. Politics. Cars. Sports. Baseball. Football. American Football. College. School. And the joys of being a teacher.

Ashli Strawder said...

I am actually kinda excited about the idea of blogging every week. At first I wasn't all for it but I think its starting to grow on me. I am interested to see how much people really get into it. Some interesting and fun blog ideas are doing a different movies and/or TV show every posting. The movie and You can explain a movie or even episode on TV each time.The ideas seem like people can really have fun with them!

Christine said...

Carmelavallalta had a lot of great ideas that I think everyone would be interested to learn about. In addition, I like to learn more about what I could do to prepare more for the future in addition to your SAT Thursdays. I look forward to getting to know you better. I think these blogs were a great idea and it will be very interesting to learn more about everyone's topic and communicate in a new way.

Ashley said...

I want to learn more about saving the planet because I know your really into that. I want to know what TV shows and new movies you think are going to be good for people our age. Occasionally I think, you should do something about colleges anything to inform us on them. I pretty much want to know your opinions and views on things rather than facts. I will take your advice on most things. So in the end, your opinions will help us out.

MACK said...

Well I am a pretty open about learning new things seeing as though it intrigues me by drawing me into the topic. I am sorry to say but I do find sciences to be my favorite subjects... Sorry! But whenever their is something that I can relate to, and that goes for English to, you'll have my full attention. My greatest passion is athletics. I just love constantly keeping in shape by going to the gym, or participating in sports. I am an active athlete in Rugby, Lacrosse, Hockey, and Track and Field. These 4 sports are probably what defines me best. Not only does it keep you in shape but it is also where I have made some of my closest friends. Some of my favorite movies are Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Catch Me If You Can, and Inception. Some of my favorite TV shoes are Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, Family Guy, and the King of Queens. And you can also never go wrong with the kick ass series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I also quite enjoy the analyzing of reading and visuals. It amazes me how much you can get out something just by lessening or looking closely. Eventually I hope to research in the field of paleontology when I am older. It has always intrigued me since I was little. Hopefully this helps to sum up just some of my many interests.

Jose said...

jigga jigga t stock! I would love for you to post topics about movies and your favorite type of music. I would also very much like to see a post where you tell us the craziest thing that ever happened to you. You seem like a person that has a lot of cool stories to tell.

Carly said...

I think the necessity of the use and knowledge technology is rapidly growing and to have it incorporated in our class is very exciting.

JD said...

From the moment I was even able to grasp the idea of blogging, i came to a squandering question: how come we have always been taught what to think? And a very wise teacher like Mrs. TStok encourages us to express our opinions. Never in school before, had a teacher asked me, how do you think I'm teaching? What do you think about the lesson? Is this even important? All of these things made me realize really to what potential could knowledge really edify my future? Should i be selective of what I learn? Should i only learn about a certain subject and ignore the other subjects? If life is all about learning, is part of leaving the cave, enjoying what you learn? I ask these questions as a sense of reflection. The cave got me thinking.

Anonymous said...

Blogging is really going to help us to open our minds to many things. We can have a lot of fun while we're reading what other people write, and we can learn a lot from them. This will give us an opportunity to say what we want to say and have feedback from many other people. I think that one of you're blogs should focus on college. It should talk about ways to help us start thinking about which school is right for us.

Anonymous said...

Blogging is really going to help us to open our minds to many things. We can have a lot of fun while we're reading what other people write, and we can learn a lot from them. This will give us an opportunity to say what we want to say and have feedback from many other people. I think that one of you're blogs should focus on college. It should talk about ways to help us start thinking about which school is right for us.

stephanie said...

I really like blogging as an assignment. It gives us a chance to read everyone's blog and learn new and exciting things. A really good topic for another blog should be a survival guide for college, it can be very helpful for us in the future.

Vane said...

MOVIES!!!

Coco said...

I already like the idea of blogging, I have always been one to discuss with my peers about things we agree or disagree on. I find it refreshing to be able to tell my ideas, and be able to hear others. So already I enjoy being able to talk about my topic and my ideas, I believe this will be a great and fulfilling experience. Thank you.
Some topics I would like to see, would be your funny stories about what students have said and how uneducated their comments were.

P.S. I believe my sister had your class as well, her name was Claudia Muller, and she says you will remember her because she was always fighting with her boyfriend?

mykub414 said...

I actually already love my blog! I love all the possibilities that can emerge from just expressing myself. I have told some of my friends and most of them are jealous and want to post on it. Thank you from showing me the "light" of blogging.
as for suggestions, I say anything. It could be controversial or it could be something goofy.

Daniel Shirley said...

I like variety and talking about other topics than just school would be nice. Unless you want to give us some hints as what to study on your tests, which would also be nice. I know how you like classic rock and I like it too so it would be cool to hear your opinions on some bands or even history/fun facts about them.
But still feel free to talk about anything interesting since wer'e going to be reading your blog for eighteen weeks. I know you also teach a film class so it would be good to have a movie reviewer suggest the best movies to rent. Thanks for asking our opinion.

S said...

I think this blogging idea is an excellent way for all of us to hopefully leave the "cave" we're all probably still in. It gives us all a way to give our opinions and view others' outside of the classroom environment. I believe that blogging will educate us all in the different subjects that other people have chose to blog about.

Emily said...

Personally, I am looking foward to a year full of blogging. It is something I am new to and plan to be a pro at by the end of this class. So far, my experience with blogs and posting comments on them has been uneventful, and I aspire to get more in depth in the process as the year goes on. Some more topics that I would like to learn more about on your blog would be politics, world events, the ocean, animals, the marines, sports, and environmental issues. I take great interest in all of these subjects and hope to discuss them in the near future.

M said...

I thought that you starting with the piece of Allegory of the cave. Because when we discussed about it we gave out a lot of opinions of what we thought about the book. Which is good because we learn to think how other people think about something. Also I am excited to start blogging.

Martin said...

I couldn't agree with this idea of blogging any more than I already do. I often lose interest with normal writing, which we get a lot of during school. With blogging, we get to use the technology we love, write about matters which are of interest to us, and also see what our fellow peers have to express through their writing.

Melissa Tirado said...

I find myself to be a nerd also and any kind of random information makes me happy, when you mentioned the blue holes in the bahamas article, It's the first thing I looked up when I got home, It was great. I also appreciate elegiac things. I hope that through this blogging idea you enlighten me a little out of my boring, morbid cave.