Yesterday I met with a small group of incoming freshmen at the brand new Frank McCourt High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to talk about blogging. As you can imagine it was a lot of fun.
For the past four weeks, the kids have been studying different forms of media and meeting with various journalists and communications specialists. At the end of the course, the brainchild of veteran journalist Leslie Seifert, they will write a report recommending the kind of student-driven news network that they determine will best serve their school community. “That will become a roadmap for beginning to create this news network,” Seifert told me in an email.
The group, three boys and three girls all age 14, met in the school’s library. They were smart, interesting and very polite. I was impressed that they’d signed on for this voluntary summer exploration of journalism and media.
Seifert asked me to talk about my blog and how and why I started it. I discussed the goose slaughter in Prospect Park story but the group seemed interested in the visual features on OTBKB like No Words Daily Pix and the picture of me and Hugh on our anniversary. Then the group looked at other blogs and discussed them.
Brooklyn Vegan: They didn’t understand the name when it’s all about music. Overall, they seemed to like it.
Popsci: This one seemed to engage the student who was looking at it.
Boing Boing: The student, who looked at this one, said it was funny and weird. “Very random information about technology and bizarre stuff,” he said.
City Room: The girl assigned to this one found it very boring “I don’t even have anything to say about it.”
The Local, Ft. Greene: Too local to be interesting to a 14-year-old who doesn’t live in Ft. Greene.
Jezebel: The girl who looked at this one said it didn’t cover gossip or celebrities that are interesting to a 14-year-old.
Overall, the kids seemed to like the blogs that had a personal voice, weren’t text heavy and featured large photographs and video.
The school, which will occupy part of a floor house in the very large Brandeis High School building on West 84th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue, will open in September. Named for the late Irish-American author of Angela’s Ashes, who was also beloved teacher at Stuyvesant High School, the school will emphasize writing and communications. According to the description in the High School Directory: “Every student will graduate from FMHS armed with the curiosity and intellect of a true life long learning. We are committed to helping our students become engaged citizens and thoughtful civic leaders who can communicate their vision with clarity and eloquence.”