In my grade 10 English class, we have been working on getting the students to write for a directed audience. To do this they have made their own blogs. Some of them have put quite a bit of effort into this. If you really want to make a student's day, drop by their sites and drop them a quick comment. They have been hard at it generating posts on various short stories to elicit comments.
http://lmoon.blogspot.com/
http://chanelsworld.blogspot.com/
http://www.wombatmaster.blogspot.com/
http://www.chocolaterandomness.blogspot.com/
I'll even let you know how excited they get about receiving a positive comment from someone they have never met, epsecially if it happens to be from someone more qualified to teach english than a physics major like myself.
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Well Thanks for the comments on the student's post. I think they really made the students think. I think they were surprised to see that people outside of their class were reading the things they were writing. I'll let you know more as soon as regular classes start again.
I talked to my now former class a couple of days ago. They were rather surprised by the few comments they did get on their blogs. Most students thought they were "weird". I think they are too used to assuming that everyone thinks exactly like they do. The different perspectives of the comments surprised some of them. They are used to thinking that everyone can read their thoughts. Hence they forget to spell out their thesis, fully defend their views, etc. I think it is a good exercise for them. It made them realize that writing for an audience is quite different than just polishing off a term paper with what they think the prof wants.
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