A Penchant for Eclectic Titles

For the first post on my blog I want to share a realization I've had today about my entire life. 

I love titles.

Titles are my jam because they can add so much personality to a boring essay, or they can help lend credibility to your argument from the start. They're useful, and I feel people should be more creative and purposeful about their titles. You don't know how depressing boring titles can be, especially when you have 47 more essays to read and they offer you nothing inspiring to encourage you to turn that page.

Titles say a lot - that's the point - but personally, I like to be a little more purposeful, creative, kooky, or odd with how I title things. Creative titles spice up my life!

While creating this blog, I rediscovered some of my old blog posts required by my Medieval Literature professor in college. The assignment was to read a collection of medieval literature, create a discussion post analyzing or reflecting the stories, and respond to several other classmates' posts. I remember being excited about this assignment until I opened up Blogger and read through the titles of my classmates' posts.

Endless lists of "Love and Monsters" "Reflecting on the Reading" and "Gawain the Green Night" appeared on my browser. I thought, "How is my post going to be noticed if every one else is writing about the same things?" So, my first medieval literature blog post was created - new and improved with a creative title.

"Looking for Work: 17 Foot Tall Bull Herder"

Did I win any awards for this silly title? Nope. But I feel better about my work knowing I've put a little extra effort in which hopefully lead to more classmates reading my reflection.

Today, I continue this habit as an educator. I have creative titles for each trimester of the 3 different classes I teach. It seems like the students don't care all that much, but I certainly do. Having a good title just makes me feel like I'm working on a good project. It's a little bit of intrinsic motivation that I enjoy (probably too much!)

I think I'll make it a goal to have a creative, punchy title for each blog post I create. I'll cross my fingers that I draw some inspiration to spark my creativity!

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 19, 2017 at 2:54 PM

    I loved our posts that we had to do for that class. I wouldn't have understood half of what we read if it wasn't for other people blogging. Old school languages and texts make my brain hurt, so I loved looking at what others said. Plus there were those two people in class who were super "smart" and started dating each other after they met in that class. I remember he always wore TOMS and she seemed to wear "cool" shirts and had Lady Gwen-like hair.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 14, 2018 at 2:46 PM

    Note to self - pay attention to titles both big and small. I bet it makes more of a difference to your students than you think. Thinking of your class set up do they get a hint at these titles in a syllabus, agenda, or is their an unveiling process to gain suspense?

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