Bella-Monster

So one of my seniors this week wrote a post about her dog.  I think it's pretty cool everything that you can do with these blogs so I'm going to jump on that idea and add a little bit to it.  First, let me give you a little background on her.  I rescued her this summer from an animal shelter.  My vet says she is a Shepherd-Lab mix.  Her name is Bella.  However, she has quickly earned the more accurate title of Bella-Monster.  She requires ridiculous amounts of attention and takes being a puppy to another level.  Anyway, here is a picture of the devil:

I know.  She looks cute.  Don't let her fool you.  She's sneaky.  I gave her a little attention and a home and she is now dominating my life. 

For my sophomores out there, I did think about naming her Tim Johnson.  However, I don't ever want to have Ol' One Shot take my girl down, so rather than risk that outcome I went a different route.  Alright...I have some more grading to do for you guys so I'm gonna get going.

Wait, one last thing...define Irony: Ne-Yo's song "Beautiful Monster" coming up on my iTunes mix as I finish this post?  I think so. 

It's too much, stupid.

Technically, I'm not late.  However, if any of you would like to claim that my post is late, you can now take off five points from my grade. 

My seniors this morning (no names shall be given) thought that a blog post and response each week was "too much" and "stupid."  I'm glad that this week we are going to work on description because I would have loved to hear a more articulate argument opposing the blog assignments.  For example, by "too much" did my students mean that 15 minutes is too much time to be sitting at a computer?  By "stupid" did my students mean that it lacks any intelligence whatsoever to complete the assignment?  I'm not sure.  Maybe they can expound on their meaning in a response or blog post this week.

Personally, I spend more than 15 minutes a week wasting time on the computer in many ways: looking at status updates on The Book, checking scores on ESPN, reading the latests headlines on Yahoo, etc.  The first two of which, I would say, lack more intelligence to do than completing a blog.

However, I am probably misinterpreting what my students meant when they said it was "too much."  They probably meant that they have lives outside of my class.  They have way too many outside responsibilities to add on a weekly post and response for their blogs.  Perhaps they play football, volleyball, or another sport.  Maybe they have a job.  I'm certain they have copious amounts of assignments from the many other classes they are taking this semester.  We all know how seniors love to load up their schedule their senior year to challenge themselves so they feel prepared heading into their Freshman year of college.

Likewise, I have a life outside of my Senior Composition class (shocking, I know).  I am involved in sports here at the high school; basketball has already started with conditioning.  I have a job outside of school...it's called grading papers.  And yes, I teach and grade papers for other classes beyond Senior Composition.  I am even in the middle of my Grad school program in which I have papers due every week.

The bottom line?  We all have busy lives, but we can make time for what we want to make time for.  Perhaps my students simply do not "want" to do their blog.  Could it be that the blog is neither "too much" or "stupid" and they just don't have any interest in completing the assignment?  I'll have to put some more thought into that one. 

For now, I'll leave you with this: keeping a blog could be a fairly cathartic experience if you allow it to be.  I didn't have the 20 minutes to respond to this morning's criticisim of the blog assignment (that may or may not have come from students who forgot to do their post last night).  Consider this my formal response.

I have volunteered to take part in the assignment each week to show that the blog isn't "too much" and it's not "stupid" either.  I rather enjoyed going on a 20 minute rant without being interrupted.  Try it out...it's cathartic and fun all at once.  Coming soon...my treatise on Sunday due dates as opposed to Monday due dates...or maybe we can just agree to disagree on that one and I can talk about how sweet The Town was.