Do you have any ideas for topics I could teach? There are so many elements of journalling, that I'd like a bunch of suggestions that I might not have thought of. Then I can look over all of them and decide the syllabus.

What do you think is the most interesting part of journalling? What questions did you have when you started writing or reading them?

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

Answers

After my third year in college, I realized that the best classes had the teachers that made you create constantly. The worst classes made you creatively constipated. To me, that was the first rule in the best classes. If you can look at your students, and figure out what it takes to get them, first, to complete an entry, second, to complete an entry for each class, then, third, to write something down every day, you will have shown them what they need to know. And, of course, if you can't get them there, you let them know that that is the goal they should head for.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

You know, as a teenager myself (or a 60 year old man pretending to be one; I guess you'll never know for certain) I feel qualified to suggest this to you.

I can't think of any catchy names offhand, but one of the major gripes of teenagers is that apparently, no one listens to them. You know, they go to schools and do cirriculum in which they have very little input in, and (probably) go home to parents, who, as is their nature, tend to ignore them sometimes. Even if these times are infrequent, the most coveted thing of a teenager is to be taken seriously.

So, you might mention that this is a chance for them to have a voice out there that people are interested in. I think that would attract a boatload of students.

Oh, and remember to be patient.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

Well, for a title: I was going to suggest "Outing Yourself Online" but I decided that sounded like "how to tell everyone that you're coming out of the closet" or something. So I'll just shut up about the title. ;)

As for things to cover, most kids would probably ask "What can I write about?" or "What *can't* I write about?" You might also want to cover how to deal with using people's real names in the journal, and whether they want to be anonymous/use a psudonym.

And, of course, there's the HTML bit and all that.

she's acutal size

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

I just wanted to add a bunch of sites that might be helpful for your class:

http://www.freewebspace.net/ This lists a bunch of servers that offer free webspace.

http://www.thefreesite.com/ List free stuff like guestbooks, counters, chat program, e-mail address, webspace, ect.

http://www.fullmoongraphics.com/ Free homepage graphic sets. These are sometimes a little complicated to set up.

http://www.justkissme.com/ More free graphics

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/7597/ Another free graphics site, with a country craft look, and free homepage "pet" adoption.

Lastly, if you want a good journal of a teen to show them how about ditgital ink by Katie? http://misanthrope.org/katie/

Hope you can use these.

Nicole Hollowood

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1999

Your class sounds awesome! I'm a teacher, and in my limited experience I've found that kids really listen if you first give them a chance to tell you what they already know about what you're teaching them. Of course you'll have your guidelines and an idea of what you need to cover, but it's great to let information come from them as much as possible. It might be good to do this in some way during the first class. It also might be a good idea to highlight the differences in journaling notebookstyle (offline), and journaling in the public arena of the web.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

The thing about online journalling that I find most interesting -- from a reader's view, since I have yet to develope the 'intestinal fortitude' necessary to post my own -- is the journaller's ability to give a reader insight into their life that somehow opens that reader's eyes. When it all comes down to it, everyone in life experiences the same sort of things, just through different interactions. So what makes this journaller's experiences or lessons more interesting than my own or this *other* journaller's? It's the fact that each journaller -- each *good* journaller -- lets his or her own personality *make* his or her experiences unique... not the other way around.

It's early and I'm not entirely certain that I'm making sense, but it made good sense in my head (yeah, right *before* I started typing.)

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

Oh, I did forget to mention:

I have sites on www.angelfire.com, and I think they're great (angelfire, not necessarily my sites). You can increase the amount of space you have, edit your HTML online, all sorts o' neat stuff.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

an couple more sites that may be useful are www.pitas.com and www.diaryland.com, which will give you free, ad-free sites as weblogs and journals respectively. i use crosswinds for my journal since it has no ads or pop-ups and it has both FTP and on-screen uploading and all that good stuff.

jocelyn

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

I would recommend http://beverly.gemz.net for a journal site to show them. It isn't at its best right at the moment, but she has done some fabulous things, the aquarium look being my fav, and she is a teenager to boot.

I think the most interesting thing is that online journaling offers people the chance to recreate themselves, by giving the writers the opportunity to to reflect on the the events they are writing about. I think it makes some people more conscious of their actions.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

A word about the "free" graphic sites: Make sure you stress the importance of respecting the artist's copyrights. Most require linkbacks on the *same* pages you use their work. If you don't abide by this, you can be open to very real legal consequences. Several of the sites mentioned are members of the Digital Divas, and there are a lot of other sites similar on the Diva website. For more about copyright, visit Grey Day

For free webspace, I highly recommend Tripod. I've helped some friends get set up there, and the site management tools are among the best.

Good luck Pamie! It sounds really exciting! :)

Thetis

The Clockworks

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1999

Pamie, Metajournals has some could 'beginner' guides. They ahve an area giving resources, FAQ, especially free webspace. So far I'm finding angelfire great - plus I loved the name. Mete. also had a review of 3 teenage journallers in the latest edition - I haven't read it but it could have something in it. I guess anyone who attends is going to be interested in the subject so maybe have some sample entries of some of your tamer stuff to give them a starting point. But really I think everyone has to find their own reason for journalling - to express themselves, to talk about them seleves or to keep a daily record. So once you get them started on HTML it should pretty much all fall together. Have fun though, I definately reckon you learn more from teaching then you teach. It always fascinates me the way different people find different ways to arrive at the same point. Sorry way too long!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999