Connections

I am currently taking Eng. 349 which is an African American Literature class. Last Wednesday both my Eng. 349 class and my TE 448 classes tied in well together. Martins article titled "Ain't I fine" referenced one of the books that I am reading for my Eng. 349 class. This topic that I have been studying, looking at, and reading about is how black writers had to include a white persons written "statement of authentication" at the beginning of their writing in order to appeal to more people and have a broader audience. The book that Martin refers to is Incidents in the Like of a Slave Girl where Harriet Jacobs included a "statement of authentication" at the beginning of her book so that her Northern white audience would read and take her work seriously. Therefore, black writers had to censor their work, because they didn't want to offend their white reader, however still wanting to preserve black culture. After learning this from our reading and our lectures in Eng. 349 I was amazed to read that this same thing is happening in some black children's picture books.
Martin explains how "the same dual audience awareness exists in some black children's picture books, and I believe this to be true only of those books written by black children's authors." I think its crazy how even in more recent times black authors had to face this idea of dual audience awareness. One way that black authors speak directly to their black readers is through using black modes of discourse within children's narratives (Martin). By using this tactic black author are able to sometimes go over the heads of white and children readers.
If anyone has anything to add or comments to make about this subject I would love to hear more!

Blogging

There are many things that I find valuable about blogging. The first is that I am able to share my thoughts about class with my classmates in an informal way. Being able to post a response rather than turning in a paper is nice. Another positive thing is that it doesn't limit your responses and things that you write about. The venue is more open so that as a student I can write about what comes to mind.
In the future I would possibly like to use this venue in my classroom. I think that the openness of it will allow students the freedom to write about what they would like. I also like the thought of using technology in the classroom that the students are probably already familiar and comfortable with. Another idea that I had was to use blogs as a classroom newsletter. If you were teaching in a area where parents had computers you could blog about a student or your classrooms progress. This would allow the parents to easily see what is happening in the classroom.
I am also moving to California and getting married soon. I could use a blog as a way to communicate with my family and friends. It would allow me to update with numerous people at once instead of individual emails. I have enjoyed getting to use and learn about blogging and look forward to using it more in the future.