Students 2.0
Published December 12th, 2007 in Blogging, EducationI have read more thought-provoking posts on students 2.0 (a collaborative blog produced by students) since it launched than on any other blog in my reader. I thoroughly recommend it for that reason and for that reason alone.
If I were one of the contributors to the new students 2.0 collaborative blog, however, I think I’d be getting rather sick of the patronising tone of many of the comments - stuff like “I’m really impressed by the quality of your writing.” No one would say that to me (not even if they were impressed, which would be rather unlikely) so why say it to these confident young bloggers? Hopefully the virtual patting-on-the-head will end soon, and folk will stick to commenting on the substantive issues which are being raised so eloquently.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the youngsters involved were worried about how they would be received, and are most grateful for the words of support. What do I know?!
Stumble it!
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Hi Robert,
I have, from time to time, complimented adults on the quality of the writing which seems, to me, a separate skill from the coherence of the argument or the ingenuity of ideas, connections etc. I hope it doesn’t seem patronising. There seem to be four types of post:
dull topic - dull writing
dull topic - lively writing
interesting topic - dull writing
interesting topic - lively writing
At the speed which most people assemble their posts it’s difficult to hit that fourth category every time and it’s nice to let someone know when they’ve hit the spot.
Rather unbelievably, one of my favourite writers - George Eliot - fits, in my personal view, into the second category. I’m not much bothered by the outcome of the stories but the writing is top class.
I’m trying to put a coherent sentence together in response to your comment Alan, but I’m afraid that after 2 concerts and the S2 dance tonight my brain has seized up completely. The best I can manage is “yep”
Bouncy and to the point! I admire your lively writing style, Mr Jones.
LOL gee thanks Mr Coady.
first of all… thank you for supporting Students 2.0
You’ve hit on a very interesting point there, and one which a lot of us authors on the blog haven’t realized. I guess this is down to the fact that we are so used to these sorts of comments with school writing… what do you think?
Sean
Hi Sean. I suppose it is natural for teachers to comment on the writing of their pupils in this way. Maybe I was being a bit hard on teachers who were just trying to be encouraging, but their comments seemed to me to suggest that they were viewing students2oh as “the writing of students” rather than “interesting writing about education”.
What is important, though, is how you and your fellow contributors feel about it. If you feel good about the positive responses you’ve received from the edublogging community, I would hate to think that I have rained on your parade. You guys thoroughly deserve the rave reviews