I love sounds. They take me places. Tell me stories. And connect me with my surroundings. I never understood why people walk or jog through the park wearing earphones. I imagine they’re most likely listening to music to energize their physical exercise. But it seems they are also missing out on a world of stories being told all around them. If they were only listening for them. I can only hope, at the very least, they can hear the horn of the oncoming car when they cross the street.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But venerable newsman and former radio journalist Dan Rather once said, a single word, the right word, is worth a thousand pictures. Writing for the ear produces an active, intellectual experience for the listener. Sounds and spoken words can feed the listener’s imagination and transport them to a different time or place. And the beauty of this experience, is that every listener will imagine a place a little different from the person sitting next to her.

For instance, if I were to speak of the “blue waters” of the Caribbean, each person hearing my voice would most likely see something different. Different shades of blue. Whitecaps on windswept waters. Or maybe some would see stillness, like blue ice. In a way, stories told for the ear, create customized story experiences. No story looks or sounds the same for each listener, making stories written and told for the ear, a truly personal experience.

Here’s one I wrote a few years back about the Edgewood History Club. What do you see as you listen?

Well, I certainly don’t blog for the readership. For me, it’s a creative outlet. A constant reminder that I should be writing something else, but at least I’m writing. Although I will say it feels great when I hear that it is being read.

When students blog at Edgewood it’s an opportunity to practice skills and etiquette required in an online community, while sharing ideas, perspectives, and attitudes. For teachers, it’s not only a means to assess student learning, but an opportunity to correct breaches of etiquette that if gone unchecked can become those infamous incidents that make tabloid news.

A good friend of mine blogs with her first grade students. She recalled a parent who once questioned the appropriateness of first graders participating in online work. Perhaps 5th grade, the parent suggested. My teacher friend replied, “If we wait ’til 5th grade, we will already have lost them.” In short, if disregard for civic and moral obligations go unaddressed they might become deep-seated and possibly inextricable. That’s why it’s important to expose our young children to social media (videochats, blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc) as early as possible and walk them through their responsibilities to fellow members of their online community.

When I see students participating in a class blog I think about my own childhood. I wish my teachers had blogged with me. That way whenever a teacher had asked if any student had questions about a lesson that was so overwhelming and convoluted I would have been able to say, “Yes! Me! I don’t get it! Help!” and slam the brakes on the teacher before he moved on to the next subject. Instead, I was too afraid to compose an intelligent question or articulate my confusion. I was incapable of asking for help.

So, I’d walk home frustrated, full of despair. Until suddenly, it would hit me. And I’d have the question and the words to articulate exactly what I would need from my teacher. But by morning, that language would be gone, buried in fear and the shame of my own ignorance. In class, the teacher would move on, confident that every child was ready to move forward. And I would slip back, a little further, each day.

This is why I love watching teachers blog with their students. They post discussions to their blog, prompting students to reflect on what they learned, assessing their learning through their ideas, and using their questions to frame subsequent class conversations or entire lessons.

They’re giddy, confidently sharing observations and questions, responding to comments posted by other classmates, while demonstrating a healthy respect and appreciation for the words and wisdom of their peers, ultimately creating an environment in which no child is left behind.

-reposted from http://edgewoodtech.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-blog.html