Back from hiding

On Friday night, I experienced a mini-freakout over my rapidly approaching teaching debut. On Sunday, I glued myself to the computer, drafting the first outline of my syllabus and scouring the Internet for articles on related class topics. Later that evening I dreamt it was the first day of school and I had only just remembered my offer to teach entry-level Spanish. You know, because of my obvious affinity for foreign language.

My days since then have been spent tearing through books, finetuning assignments, and pondering how long it would take my students to find my blog and consequently gasp in horror at seeing a picture of their instructor donning Winnie the Pooh pajama shorts. That burden alone is worth tacking on at least two extra credit points to their overall grades.

Tomorrow is the Big Day, and I feel ready, except for one thing: I want to spend a little time showcasing some blogs to get everyone started, but I can't decide on which ones to include. My blogroll is pretty much limited to personal diaries, and I'd like to venture beyond that. Sure, I have books with pages and pages of suggested sites, and I'll refer to them if need be, but what do you think? If you were new to the blogosphere, which sites would strike you as best representing the genre?

I'll definitely let you know how class went (within reason, of course; privacy laws and my own comfort level prohibit me from discussing my students in any detail); I'll even post my syllabus for those who are interested, but since Friday equals the last TLF until 2008, I'm thinking Jenna, Michael, Kayla, Cassie, Kyle, and Katherine deserve to have the floor exclusively. We owe them that much.

Comments

[MLE]

How about some collaborative sites? Wedding Bee is a collaborative about weddings; post secret is a collaborative art project; go fug yourself is a collaborative (with only two authors, but still) regarding fashion etc. Instructables.com is kind of a collaborative "how-to" blog.

[MLE]

oh! and how about the found magazine blog, or passiveagressivenotes.com?

[Alexander Pavlovich Romanov, Autocrat of All the Russias]

All my best...as I prepare for another semester, I am going through the same thing.

Hey, how have you decided to grade participation? This is a big problem for me and I wanted your thoughts.

As for outside blogs, I actually don't read many, but the Hit and Run blog at reason.com is one that I think is great. It is mostly politics, but it is independent, contributed to by young, smart people with a real passion for public affairs. It is the collaborative nature and interest in disseminating knowledge that make it good.

I also like the blog at freakonomics.com. It may have started as a way to sell more books, but it has turned into much more...people from all over asking interesting questions and using innovative methods, developed through the community conversation, to answer them. It is also good.

And, as always, feel free to use my blog as an example of a cranky (young) coot who represents the vinegary ascerbity that make people in traditional media question the form.

Best of luck!

[Loralee]

I think that postsecret is an obvious one...

[Molly]

Off the top of my head, there are a few different types of blogs that I check in with fairly regularly. There are photography ones, such as 24-7-365.blogspot.com or www.gentsekoppen.be, there are financial blogs, such as www.pfblog.com (and Queen Know It All, Penelope Trunk, on Yahoo finance), weight loss blogs, such as Half Of Me, and tons and tons of cooking blogs and celebrity blogs like Perez. As I'm sure I don't need to tell you, blogs are popping up everywhere.

Good luck tonight!!

[Jessi]

Best of luck with class today - they'll love you!

A few blogs that might help get them started...

www.amalah.com (I think we all cut our teeth on her)
www.gofugyourself.com or Perez Hilton's site
www.dooce.com
www.volokh.com (legal/political blog)
www.fakesteve.blogspot.com (this has been in the news)
You might also want to talk about sites with lots of blogs, like ClubMom or Parents.com.
I agree - postsecret is a must! :)

Hope that helps!

[Court]

Here's a few that haven't been mentioned yet which are either genre-defining (imo), if you will, or go beyond the personal diary blog:
boingboing.net
kottke.org
www.pamie.com
mightygoods.com
apartmenttherapy.com
smittenkitchen.com

[Marriage-101]

I'm thinking you're a wee bit stressed.

Oh, and my advice, try to find a good representation of a corporate blog, or a company that has one of its execs blogging. Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems is a good example. So is the guy from GM, but I can't remember his name. Not much help, am I?

[VirginiaGal]

What about "I can has cheezeburger"?

Best of everything with your first class!

[Liz]

Best of luck to you, Frema.

I can only imagine the anxiety. I'm anxious for you. But I think you'll find, once you get there and DO IT, you'll be just fine. And you'll be a freakin' rockstar!

[eva]

Scott Adams's blog. The guy that created Dilbert. Funny and smart and clever and just plain interesting.
Also, http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/ which is a blog called "what does a vegan eat?" I salivate over this regularly on my way out the door to get take-out because I'm lazy and disorganized. This guy's genius though, pure genius.
Also www.2pinklines.blogspot.com ... yet another mom blog, but her writing is so earnest and sweet and down to earth that you gotta love it.
I check amalah.com, dooce.com, the above blogs, dooce.com, and various blogs linked to the above daily - along with FREMA of course! Break a leg with the teaching, I'm sure with all that prep you'll do a great job. Plus, you're pregnant, so even if you SUCK, the students will be fascinated and sympathetic :)

[Isabel]

Bree, you're gonna rock. And rock it hard. Of course the first 5 minutes might be a little over whelming, but once you get going you'll be just fine. I know it.

Think about blog suggestions I realized I usually once read diary-type blogs. Except for postsecret. Oh, one that I LOVE and have loved long before I knew what a "blog" was is www.ikeepadiary.com. AWESOME.

[Silly Hily]

I don't think I can say anything that hasn't already been said. I actually haven't had the time lately to live in the blog world so I'm a bit out of it.
So, I'm leaving this comment to wish you luck....even though I don't think you'll need any because I'm sure you will be fabulous!

[Rachel]

I wish you the best of luck with your class today!! You are gonna be awesome!! They will love you, just like we do!

I don't really have any suggestions for blogs to mention. The big ones have already been mentioned, of course.

[Audrey]

Good luck tonight -- you are going to rock their socks off!

The only suggestion I have to add to the many wonderful ones above would maybe be Miss Zoot. She's got the personal blog, but then she also has a TV blog, and the website with her blog designs, and she writes for MamaPop. Plus she avidly updates her twitter and flickr and even switched careers to work for Wordpress as a result of her love for blogging. I think she's a really great example of the variety of paths a person can go down in the blogging world.

[Lindsey]

I don't have any suggestions because most of what I read are diary blogs. However, I just want to wish you the best of luck! You are going to do an awesome job! I have a feeling that you will feel right at home by the end of the first class!

[Jilt]

You're class is gonna be da bomb! You're going to be awesome and the little Pumas will be dumbstruck at how cool you are (and, of course, totally knowledgable on the subject matter!) Can't wait until October 11 to see your class in action!

[TasterSpoon]

One of my favorite foodie-type blogs is http://foodandpaper.blogspot.com. I find it clever because the author has used clever categorization that speaks to the way a lot of us plan menus - slotting entries by color, and texture.

Ethicurian.com is a philosophy-driven collaborative blog that has a number of rotating elements: there's a digest of news articles (lots of links), there are individual contributed editorials, and there appears to be a collection of story-driven reporters who go out and get news themselves. It's a nice mix that stays fresh.

The crafty/knitting/whatever blog appears to be a substantial genre. Notmartha.org makes a wide range of cool stuff for her own home, but also links to a whole lot of products one can buy. She appears to be popular enough that she's getting free product from companies. Might be an interesting study.

No Impact Man is interesting (I think) less for his personal content (which is largely a diary of a guy in NYC trying to go green) than for a) how it came about and b) the vigor of the debate and cynicism in the comments. It sounds like he worked up this plan to roll out a blog about his experience that would ultimately culminate in a book and movie. He got a whole lot of exposure at the outset - Colbert Report, etc. (arranged by whom? his publisher?). No question he's walking the walk, but given that a lot of people are trying to go green *without* the hype, the way he seems to be "milking" his experience has generated significant animosity in readers - but also fascination, clearly - the same detractors seemingly can't stay away. It's kind of fascinating for that constant tussle. (But also there are some handy go-green ideas in the commentary.)

I like design blogs, too, but there are so many good ones. www.inhabitat.com covers the domestic end.

There must be a million topic categories - maybe travel? sports? community calendar type?

Maybe you could have your students come in on Day 1 with a list of their 3 favorites...and why. (That'll buy you some time to get your feet under you!)

[daddy d]

The start of the school year on any grade level always takes a lot of effort on everyone's part. It takes energy to over come the lack of activity. Older teacher have the same getting started problems as newer teachers. The work is good work and you will have a great time.

[Fraulein N]

Oh, I hope everything went well! I know you're going to be an awesome teacher.