I really like the idea of "self-publishing" as a writing/literature class experience. I just read someone who coigned the term, and I haven't given it a lot of thought, but it seems to get at what I think I want from weblogs. Without having used weblogs in the classroom yet, I have this feeling that they will facilitate more "immersion" in the writing process. How will students feel about this publishing? It will certainly make the publishing part of the writing process more real. Publishing to date has been little more than sharing with a writing group or the whole class (which is not insignificant), but it has not facilitated the interaction about writing that I hope for. Adolescents are dancing, moving around each other, trying to find their place, and it is a huge risk for many to appear interested, let alone smart. It is also a huge risk for them to make public suggestions about a piece of writing. At the very least, it is harder for some than others.

So this is what I'm thinking:
First, the glass is separated into writing groups for both class and weblog purposes. Having discussed and practiced conferring and revision, each member of the group posts her piece to the group weblog. Then each member of the group reads the pieces and give written feedback in the comments section that each writer can use in the revision. Then the writer can post the piece to his own site. As part of his own site, he would a place for reflection about the process as part of his portfolio.

The more I think about this process, the more it seems to mushroom. The possibilities are exciting. I have to remember to take this one step at a time, let it grow carefully.

I think I'm getting the hang of this. I was impatient the other day to make it work quickly, perfectly, shiningly, and when it didn't, I threw up my hands, threw in the towel, and threw Will a petulant e-mail. Getting a second look shows me a couple of things: it takes a little time to post; it takes more than one look, da!! (how do you spell da?); you gotta let things grow on ya.

Now, some questions:
1. Can you cut and paste documents? Can I post a class calendar here, for example?
2. Can you do group blogs here? probably. It's a question of how. I guess that is more the question - how do want your group blogs to look/work?
a. small group blogs
~could these be used as on-line writing groups?
b. individual blogs
c. ongoing question/feedback blog for whole class.
3. Do I set up individual blogs here, or does every student create his own account? If everyone has their own account? How do I get there? For example, how did Will get to my site?
4. This is not a setup question, but how will you go about assessing/evaluating blogs? At this point, I'm thinking about a pilot group.
5. Does/can one use the weblog as a portfolio? I don't see why not.
6. Can you save a weblog to as disk?
7. How far can you break a topic down into subtopics?
8. Could we make a class zine?

(These are questions for you, Will!)