CSLP Blog, Spring 2006
Final Blog Post
This experiment has benefited me greatly as it has been the first time that I could get an informal window into my students' volunteering experience. We never have class time to devote to these experiences, and I do enjoy reading the essays--but they come at the very end. I usually volunteer alongside my students in the spring semester, but this semester I've had too many administrative duties to do so. Even when I volunteered, however, I only got to hear the stories of the students with whom I traveled to the site, so the blog has given me great insights.
I'd like your frank opinion of this blog experiment as your final post. To me, it certainly beats the "journals" that students used to be required to keep, both in that its easier to blog than journal--and you get to read everyone else's and use the blog as a way to respond--as Meaghan did to Lindsay's comments. So, what do you think? Should I use it next year? Should I change anything about the structure or the prompts? Your response will be greatly appreciated. And if you want to argue among yourselves about it on the blog, that would be fine too.

CSLP Blog, Spring 2006
The posts by Lindsay and Ross show that this latest prompt might yeild the most interesting comments so far. When we move out of our "comfort zone" and into unfamiliar territory, it can be unsettling, to say the least. Not only do we question our abilities and motives, but sometimes we question some of our basic assumptions about the world. Bravo to the two bloggers!

CSLP Blog, Spring 2006: April 2006
Here is the fourth prompt for the CSLP Blog. Please try to respond to this prompt by Sunday, April 23. Now that you've nearly finished your service work, what the most difficult moment you faced when working with your community partner? Did you manage to get past that moment? Did it change the way you saw the partner or yourself? Anything else you'd care to add would be great.

CSLP Blog, Spring 2006
Thanks to those who posted about how their CSLP work affected their essays--the range of responses was facinating, though I had hoped more than five people would post. Anyway, these posts also help me see what you're doing, so thanks for being good students and doing this extra little exercise. It will help when you write your CSLP essay later this month.

Thanks to David, Meghan, Issel, Daniel, and Nigel for their provocative and cogent posts on the second blog question. I had hoped all the rest of the CSLPers would join these folks--and the ones who posted before break--but I know all of us are feeling the pinch of the semester's work.
However, I do have another question--and remember, these questions and your brief responses will give you the idea for your reflective essay that will be due at the semester's end: How has doing the CSLP work informed the analysis/argument essay on which you've spent the past two months working? Any specific examples of information/arguments/examples you've gleaned from your service work?

CSLP Blog, Spring 2006

The four students--Katie, Tage, Julie, and Lindsay--who have posted so far on the question of national curricula impressed me with the depth of their thinking on the topic. I'm sure that your work at your community partner has given you a view of the american education system that most citizens would never have the opportunity to see. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the CSLP group has to say on the matter.

I enjoyed reading ALL of the posts. I wish I could respond individually, but since so many came in last night, I won't have the chance. Now that we've got the blog up and running, perhaps the posts will come in during the week.
You may respond to each other's posts if you'd like. Some cross-commentary might be interesting.
However, you should be aware that anything you post on this blog can be read by anyone else at anytime. Your discrection is advised.
Here is the prompt for this week. (There will be no prompt for the week of spring break.) The due date will be Sunday night, March 12, 11:59 p.m.
Many of you contrasted the classrooms you visited with your memories of how the secondary schools you once attended operated. That brings up this question: should education be fitted to a particular student population or can a curriculum be universal for all students? Most European countries, Japan, and South Korea, for example, have national curricula. We may be the only nation among our nation-peers that doesn't have a national curricula or standards. Playing on the previous question, is our lack of a national curricula ultimately a good idea?