oh...now i get it. they like working on the computer.

i took my oil painting class to the computer lab today to set up their blogs.

first of all, they were flying ahead of my verbal how-to instructions because accessing things online comes so easily to them.

but here's the thing...at the beginning of every class i give my students a questionnaire to fill out. it serves as a way for me to get to know them better and to pre-assess their knowledge before we get started. they rarely write very much on those things and i never feel like i'm getting the whole picture. but today...they were writing and writing...and good stuff. now i should disclose that, yes, students taking an oil painting class are the cream of the crop...serious, dedicated, creative. but i think there was something else going on here. there was an audience beyond my filing cabinet for what they were writing. typing is quicker for them than writing (especially for kids with any learning issues). and it feels like they're on facebook. what used to look like a test now looks like a story on a cool website. when i showed them how they could comment on each other's posts they were actually ooing and ahhing.

i'm excited. they're excited. i plan to comment on some of their posts this weekend. how fun it would be if some of you (out there in the world) commented too. you can find them on my oil painting class blog by clicking HERE. they're listed on the left side. some of them are still very much in progress.