102-14. Our Blogging Queen

The time has come, once again, to reveal what's in the virtual gift box!

It meant a lot to me that so many of you chose to blog with me this semester for extra credit. That takes real motivation and commitment in such a busy semester as this one has been.

I have no hesitation in crowning Ayşe as our Blogging Queen. Her blog meets royal standards and is everything a blog should be. I was delighted by each and every post, in which I saw evidence of creativity, analysis and attention to detail, self-exploration and a kind and generous spirit. I particularly loved her "hot vocabulary" list and "quote of the month" section as well as the picture of Benjamin and Elaine from The graduate. Right at the end of this semester she changed her template to mark the 'beginning' rather than the 'end' of blogging. Actually I just find this blog breathtaking and cannot find proper words to praise it - I would encourage you all to read it. Ayşe has been blogging with me since September, so this is a special award to me. I have seen her grow and develop immensely through her blog and this has made me feel closer to her. I know we will be blogging together for a long time to come. Thank you, Blogging Queen. ♥

I would of course not neglect to mention the other wonderful blogs - first Tümay, a newcomer to blogging, who posted 28 times, tying Ayşe in quantity! Tümay was a very enthusiastic blogger and I could look forward to at least one post after our morning class every Monday. So Ayşe and Tümay, you are the joint winners of the blog race! (So nice to duplicate that tied-for-first trend, which we saw last semester with Beri and Hasan).

I will now continue down the rankings, with comments on each blog:

Ezgi O. - 27 posts - Ezgi's blog took off in a major way this semester and pretty much blew everyone out of the water for some weeks.

Simge - 20 posts - Our returning 'Little Blogger', I especially love how she 'talked' to the characters in our stories on her blog. :)

Melek - 16 posts - We're happy to have this newcomer who made many sensitive interpretations of our course readings.

Hasan - 16 posts - Hasan's unique voice is back with us this semester, and I am proud of the changes I've witnessed in his thinking. ;)

Hazal - 15 posts - Hazal is such a wonderfully talented writer and an astute commentator on the human scene.

Nazlı - 15 posts - Another new blogger who showed incredible effort - don't miss her post on 'The rainbow coding in The bluest eye'.

Can - 14 posts - Can is a perfectionist, and it shows. His writing has gone from strength to strength.

Cemre Naz - 13 posts - Another returning blogger who incorporated so much of our class discussions and material into her blog.

Gamze - 11 posts - Gamze made a huge amount of effort on her blog and it is a delight to read - don't miss her wonderful African song/video, I guarantee it will make your soul sing.

Reşide - 11 posts - A new blogger who worked hard to create a permanent reminder of our wonderful novel.

Congratulations to all of you listed above, as you have met (and even exceeded) the criteria for extra credit, and your final grade will thereby be increased by one increment, for example from B+ to A-. As you know, I was looking for steady blogging over the semester as well as comments made on your blog and mine and on other students' blogs. Although I had 12 posts in mind as the cutoff, I must say that the effort and care that Gamze and Reşide put into their blogs convinced me that they had earned this honour as well - quality won out over quantity here!

A warm thank you goes to all of you who did some blogging, even if you could not meet the extra credit threshold:

Didem, Tuğçe K., Atalay, Ezgi Y., Elif, Bahar, Onur O., Zeynep, Mehmet Ali, Billur, Tuğçe Y., Ece, Merve, Deniz K., Sıla, Can Ç.

Finally, I cannot encourage you enough to *keep on/start/resume* writing on your blogs - that goes for all of you reading this, not just the people mentioned here. And I promise this:

I will be your ever-dedicated reader and commentator.

Thank you to ALL students who blogged with me in this academic year. Your blogs will be the outstanding models for my future students. I'm really very proud of you.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF MY BLOG, SO STAY TUNED... ;)

Sonja - out. ♥

'The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London' by Edgley Cesar, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0