Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you can’t blog

Bud the Teacher pointed out to me today how a fantastic educational idea can be right in front of your face and yet you still don’t see the potential. He as a post entitled: An Odd Couple: Darth Vader & Henry David Thoreau where he talks about those two icons each having their own blog. Some creative person has taken over there personalities and done a pretty decent amount of blogging. I read the Darth Vader one for several weeks. It really was extremely well written, pretty humorous and a great way to get rev’d up for the new movie. However, I never really made the connection between it and education.

Bud puts forth a few ideas:

Imagine the possibilities that such fictive blogs and bloggers can create in our classrooms. Who else can we or our students create blogs for? Is the re-publication of some of Thoreau’s highlights enough to move students into his books? What other authors are prime for this sort of thing? How interesting would it be to read the blogs of some of literature’s great characters?

Think about that one for a moment. Imagine a class reading some classic story together, such as Huckleberry Finn. Perhaps each student in the class can choose a character to blog as throughout the story. As they read each chapter, they have to write a journal entry as that character explaining their thoughts and feelings about the events in the story. I would imagine that Tom’s, Huck’s and Jim’s journals would be quite different to say the least!

It could bring these stories alive for the kids, turn them from passive readers to empathetic compatriots with a genuine stake in the events of the story. Personalize it in a way.

Educational, creative and fun. Definitely has the ingredients for a fantastic twist to the same old novel.