Digital Persistence

Back when the Internet was much less used in general English classes, I had my ESL students complete a writing that they knew would be destined for a public webpage. The students were generally at an Intermediate level, yet I thought writing something public might make a difference. I assumed that they would use extra time to polish them. That idea probably worked with a majority, but not all.

As, in those days, my school did not provide web server space, I put the writings on my own. Things on the Net can be quite temporary or stubbornly persistent. In this case some of the keystrokes the students made are still online after 14 years.

A dozen or more years can be quite a substantial chunk of someone's life. We all change a lot in that amount of time. So, it is not surprising that I sometimes get special requests from former students. They ask that I take down something that they no longer wish to have available. Of course, I'm always more than happy to oblige and pleased to hear from them again!


Writings from a class nearly 10 years ago.