Out Of This World

The point of my students' first blog postings was to "sell" their favorite pop culture to unbelievers. The point of their second postings was to partake in their classmates' loves-- to see if they could be sold. For number three, I wanted them to take a step outside the comfortable sphere of our class (and our immediate culture) and try something new.

I mentioned to my class that I wanted them to experience something uncomfortable. We watched an episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days series, one that made some of them uncomfortable. The point, of course, was to expose them to the guiding principle of a show "that dares to ask the question "Do we really know what it's like to see the world through our neighbors' eyes?" (Amazon.com).

I wanted my students to simply walk in the world outside of Davidson County and then write about it. I asked them to be open and honest, as always, but I made sure to reiterate that I didn't want incendiary writing that showed no growth. There blogs were to be about expanding their cultural horizons.

From Blog to Blog

Once the students in my class set up their blogs, and then posted their first entries, I turned the tables on them: After reading and commenting on each others favorite pieces of popular culture, I had them swap and review! While their classmates may not have been unbelievers, they were a good test audience. So, for their second round of postings, they each picked one to "buy." Everyone picked (or was assigned :) !) one movie, television show, etc. and had to watch it, listen to it, read it, or experience it.

After they had a chance to take in the culture, they back and re-read their classmates' blogs and made note of things they agreed with, disagreed with, or thought needed to be added. Then they started drafting for their next postings.

I stressed the need to make sure that their blogs were appropriate and in good taste.