Blogging overview

I have read many different opinions on blogging, so I have decided to write a post based on my own idea of blogging. I have answered the questions that Mrs McLeay set for us to answer, but I have also compared my answer with what other people think.

What have you learned through blogging?

Fran: Through blogging I have learnt about what different people think and what issues people like to address. It has helped me come to understand what different girls in my class and around the world write and think about the same issues and the way they respond to these. Blogging is all about sharing thoughts and feelings with other people.

Myself: Blogging allows you to say what you think about different things from your heart, without people interrupting you. Of course, there are guidelines to blogging. Although there are many people just like us who are students, teachers or just bloggers, we have to be aware that not everyone is trustworthy and genuine on the internet. Anyone can access our blogs, as it is open for anyone who finds it to come and read what we have written. There can be some dangerous people who use the internet as bait, so therefore we cannot give out any personal information such as the town that we live in, our address, our surname or any other information that can be used by these people who are up to no good. This is one thing I have learnt through blogging; about the importance of internet safety.

Like Fran said, by reading someone’s blog, you actually get to know them more. You learn about other people’s opinions from other countries, and you also learn what other people in your class think about different issues. As well as reading what other people think, you also get to voice your own opinion. Blogging allows you to share your thoughts with other people over the internet, and you can actually devalop an online friendship with someone.

What would you say to other Year 8’s about the possibility of blogging in English next year?

Sarah: I would say why. I don’t really get the point of it.

Myself: I believe that what you put into blogging is what you get out of it. I really enjoyed the opportunity to have a blog, write posts and communicate with other bloggers this year, but not everyone has the same opinion as me. As Sarah said above, she didn’t understand what they point was of blogging. However, I look at blogging as a different way of learning, instead of sitting there in class with a book open, reading about how to write and how to blog. I’m the kind of person who actually has to get in a try something instead of read about it. I really think that you have to give blogging a chance, and by doing this, I have got a lot out of it. Although blogging may not be the style of learning that everyone likes, I have found it a really great experience. I remember reading a comment that someone left which said something like, “Your blog is great, but why do you write so much?” Well, the simple answer is that I have such a strong passion for writing, it is natural for me to write such long posts. Not many people are like this, but and actually do the opposite. They can’t think of anything to say and their posts are usually quite short according to me.  

At the beginning of the year, I didn’t really understand blogs that much. I had never come in contact with one before, and I didn’t understand why we were doing blogs in English. I assumed that English was just learning about grammar and spelling, but as I looked into it more I began to realise that English revolves around us everyday. Communicating with people, understanding how other people live and basically “exploring the language we speak” is how I describe English. I have continued to write new posts throughout the year, and every new post has improved my writing skills. I have put the most into blogging, and have really got the most out of it. When I look back at my very first post, the length of the post was tiny compared to what my posts are like now. I can now look back and read all my previous posts, watching my writing grow, improve and become more passionate along the way. Blogging is truly a great thing to be doing, as long as you put a lot of effort into it.

People say that blogging is just a different way of learning. What do you say about the possibility of using blogs to learn?

Everyone has their own style of learning that helps them learn. Whether it’s reading from a book, listening to someone explain how to do something, following a picture or a diagram, listening to the instructions being sung out with music or building something that will help them understand the topic, everyone has at least one style that they know helps them learn well. Just like all these styles I have listed above, blogging is yet another type of learning style that some people prefer. I know that I’m definitely one of these people that’s learnt so much from blogging, but other people may not like this style as much as, just say, listening someone explain how to do something. It all depends on your personal preference to how much you learn out of blogging. As well as this, you must also give blogging a chance. If you don’t, you may miss the opportunity of discovering a great learning idea for yourself.

Compassion

When I say the word ‘compassion’, what do you think of? What kind of things do you imagine someone doing which involves compassion? Why is being compassionate so important? Today I have decided to write a post which is all about compassion, which will answer all of these questions.

Have you ever heard the saying “treat others how you want to be treated”? I believe that this saying is in the center of compassion. If you do not respect people for who they are, and do not show kindness, don’t expect people to treat you any better than you have treated them. People must realise that everything doesn’t revolve around themselves. The key words that need to be focused on in compassion are kindness, empathy and generosity. I have explained these three words below:

Kindness– Kindness involves treating people in a manner that would make them feel comfortable. Showing kindness could simply mean saying greeting someone friendly, including them, starting a conversation with them etc.

Empathy- I would say that empathy is one of the most important points in compassion. The word empathy basically means understanding how others feel and trying to put yourself in their shoes. Instead of only thinking about yourself, you are imagining what things would be like for someone else. When I say “putting yourself in someone’s shoes”, I don’t mean this by physically putting on their shoes, but I mean imagining that you are actually this person, and how things would feel like from their point of view.

Generosity- Generosity is giving up something of yours for someone else. This may simply mean sharing your money with a friend so they can buy a chocolate muffin from a cake stall, or it could mean giving up your bedroom so that your new brother has a place to sleep at night. No matter how big or small the sacrifice is, it will always make someone else happy.

Now, can you imagine a world where there is no compassion at all? Try to imagine what things would be like for not only you, but everyone else as well. Everyone only helps other people for money, the poor people get left to starve because no one cares about anyone but themselves, everyone uses everyone else to please themselves… it wouldn’t be a very nice world at all! Everyone is capable of showing compassion, but not everyone is willing to do so. That is why today I would like to thank everyone who have taken time to read this, and everyone who has shown compassion in this world, or will do after reading this.

So next time there’s a job that needs doing, do it out of good-will instead of only doing it to gain money for yourself. I know that this week I’m going to set myself a goal of to do things out of good-will instead of money, and I hope that I have aspired you to do the same.

Memories

In English, we have received another class novel. This book is called ‘The Dons’, and I have really enjoyed reading this fantastic book!

When I read books, I usually pick up a main topic in them. After reading The Dons, I felt a post forming in my head. This is the very post that I have been looking forward to writing. This post is all about memories.

If there was a house fire, and you got the chance to save a few items, what would they be? This is the question that formed in my head after reading The Dons. I decided to go around and ask a few people this question, feeling very curious about what their answers would be. I have listed their responses below, which I’m sure you’d like to read.

Mum- I would choose my oboe (a woodwind musical instrument) and photographs.

Grace I would save my pet dog, and some objects that mean something to me like photos.

Mrs McLeay– I would save my computer and the baby photos of my kids.

You may have noticed that all three people have mentioned that photographs would be one of their choices to save. But why photos? Lets find out.

Why were photographs one of your choices?

Mum– You can never replace them.

Grace– They show what happened in the past and you can’t buy them.

Mrs McLeay- That time of my life can never be replaced. It’s a way of talking to my children about what life was like for us then- reminding them of things they’ve forgotten.

If you think about all the things you use a lot in your house, or items that cost a lot to buy, you would probably feel that it is a big loss that you no longer own them anymore. However, the biggest loss would be the things that you cannot buy/replace. These things include:

Your pets- Pets are amazing things. When you first meet your pet, you are unaware of all the mysteries within that very animal. You hardly know the pet, however you are willing to take it back to your home and care for it. You pet gives back what you have given to it, making every second you spend with it something to remember it by. Each time you play with it, look after it, and touch it, you grow closer and closer to that animal. The very same thing happens to it as well, and very quickly the bond becomes so strong that you both need each other. The fact that your best friend has perished in a fire would devastate you so much. Every pet is individual and no other pet that could replace it. Therefore, if you could, you would save your friend that you became attached to so that you can both continue your lives together and share the many pleasures of friendship together.

These three people also mentioned that they would save items that are quite valuable to them. These items include things such as computers. Your computer is like a personal information keeper. Data for work, programs that are quite expensive and other things you have spent ages working on for a reason would all be lost, causing you to become very frustrated. The computer itself would also be a loss as computers can do so many things. Access to the internet, music, blogs and videos can all be found on a computer. I can tell you now, I would be very angry if learnerblogs just cut out on me right now and I lost the whole of this post I have been writing.

Another thing that these people mentioned was special items. Most people have an item which is very important to them, like Grace mentioned above. My mum would choose to save her oboe as it is a special item to her. Besides the value and the use, this item means a lot to her. Her passion for music is expressed through her oboe, and by playing this special instrument, it also brings back memories. The whole side of her family’s all fond of their music, and losing this item would be quite a loss to her. In The Dons, one of the characters called Nonno (Paul’s grandfather), had a collection of aftershave bottles. These were his special items, and each bottle brought back memories of his past. When the bottles were smashed, the loss was so bad because those bottles had become a part of him.

This leads me to the final thing that all these people mentioned. Photos. Experiences, childhood, and other things that have happened in the past cannot be replaced. What you have experienced in the past is in your head. You can’t physically touch them, and you can never turn the clock back to do the whole thing again. What’s in the past, is in the past, but you can still remember many of these experiences in your head. However, not all of these experiences can be remembered this easily. This is where photos come in. Believe it or not, photos are a link to the past. They help bring back all those memories that are fading inside your head. Do you ever look back at your baby photos and you suddenly remember all those memories of when you were little? Without photos, your childhood may seems like a blur.

I remember looking back at all the photos of my early life. The photos of me up a tree, our old car, my pram with the big yellow balloon attached to it… And then I remember looking at the photos and going, “Is that me?” Those memories were fading, and without the photos, I may never have found out what life was like for me back then. The huge 1 year old birthday cake, the bucket of wooden blocks, the people I still know now, but younger… Those photos brought back so many memories of being a baby, and without them, my childhood would just be a blur. All the good times I had need to last, and with the help of photos, I can look back at them even when I’ve finished school and all of the memories will flood back into my head again. This is exactly what Mrs McLeay was talking about above, and this is the reason that photos would definitely be one of my choices to save as well.

Feel free to explain what you would save if there was a house fire through a comment, as I’m curious to see what other people would choose. Also, if you get the chance to, pick up a copy of The Dons book and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!