To say that the literacy narrative was both a challange and fun is not a contradiction. It is also not hyperbole. The assignment forced me to take an introspective look at my own education and growth. That was the challenge. Once I had managed to sift through the madness, I was able to flex my creative muscles: the fun part.

The iSearch threw me for a loop. I was determined to write about jazz, and instead fell victim to 16th century lore:







Through it all, week in and week out, were the blogs. At first, I limited myself to surface analysis of the readings. Gradually, I was able to slay my airfreshener vampire. Farting and Batman were the result:



While all of the exercises were unique, fun, and challenging, the greatest utility was gleaned from the insight each provided into how to structure a productive writing class that not only gets student writing, but perhaps more importantly, gets students interested in the craft of writing.

Posted for Mark

Mark Johnson
Blog 11

First, I must comment on something of which I am all too aware: I picked a really bad time to become a teacher. Imagine—for all of you young, inspiring, future teachers reading this—growing up in a time when computer s were, in existence, yes, but huge and scary and almost something from science fiction books. Now imagine starting teaching career years later and trying to play catch up. I mean it is not that I have no aptitude for today’s technological wave. I am carried along the artery of perpetual advancement into the future with the rest of you. My only disadvantage is having come from one very different era and ending up in this cyber-techno world; your advantage is that you do not know the comparison between the two eras.
Herrington’s and Moran’s tour, through the blindingly fast “evolution” of our writing systems, has forced upon us--however reluctantly for many older folks —the need for a newer pedagogy. I mean, imagine how educators used one system for long periods of time. Now it seems the beginning of a perpetual need for a changing pedagogy at a rapid rate and smaller intervals of time between newer systems. This, my friend, is the negative to all of the presupposed virtues of the great wizard, the great “Apollonius” of our time, technology (Keats). And this, this, would prove the division between the relic teachers of print composition and the windfall of technology.
We are fortunate, though, to witness writing in a multi-dimensional way. What tools we have with classroom equipped with computer labs, networking ideas across the once seemingly unbridgeable chasms of distance, culture, time. Everything is at the writers fingers. But do the basics of composition even have a place today? I am alleging that they should. Are we witnessing “better” or more capable writers today, even with all of the tools out there?
For all you perspective teachers, consider Vitgotsky’s “cultural tools”. I think we can consider the technology we are using and beginning to use in writing education as some of these tools. The question as to whether or not these “tools” have a place in a child’s cognitive development or not does not so much concern my thinking on this subject as does how much of these tools should make up the greater portion of a child’s cognitive development. Well, like it or not—as far as you “older” educators are concerned—these tools have a definite place.
The social aspect of writing, the seemingly limitless meaning of expressing meaning—as with the hyperlink access of students which the chapter describes, most certainly leaves little room for lack of imagination for the student writer. Or does it?

Herrington

I chose to work with chapter 6 because of the relevancy, I feel, it has to my position in an urban school. "To teach reading and writing in a global world, we need to follow our students' lead into a new understanding of media as text," (Herringon 93). My initial impression of working in an urban setting had me thinking that many of these kids would not have access to technology (camera phones, personal computers, etc.), but boy, was I wrong. I realized that they may not OWN all of these gadgets, but they certainly are resourceful enough to find access. I discovered this the day after an out-of-school fight was being investigated and it came out that a few of the students recorded it on their phones and uploaded it to the internet via YouTube.
This got me thinking about a way in which my students can be reached. I'll be going down a tiny rabit-hole with this tangent, but bear with me. Many students are either late or absent, causing their parents to pay heavy fines due to truancy laws within the district. By using technology, why not give the students an option to log into a webinar or some type of online medium (YouTube, etc.) where they can still view the lesson and at least reduce the amount of fine for their parents. There should be lots of verifications regarding the student's participation (quizzes, writing an essay, etc.), but it is sad to me when a child doesn't care if their parent goes to jail because of their truancy. I'm done.
Now, in dealing with poetry, I have a unique niche because many of my students love rap music, which is really poetry set to a beat. By using rap as a gateway to other forms of poetry, hopefully students will be able to see the connection between the two and understand that without poetry, there would really be no rap. The following objectives Herrington listed can be applied to my setting:
Appreciation of the art, as well as the pleasure of poetry: What do they enjoy about poetry (or rap music)? How does it make them feel? Does it make things easy to memorized if used as a test-preparation strategy?
Understanding of how sound, image, and words are integrated in poems and videos: How do the images used in rap videos affect them? Do they inspire? Do they offend? How do they represent their culture? Is it accurate? How have these images influence their cultures?
Ability to interpret and analyze poetry: What does this song mean to you? Could it mean something different to someone else? Symbolism?
Ability to write and talk about poetry: Students may write their own raps and use software to create a beat. They can then present them to the class for extra credit.
Confidence as writers and readers of poetry: Discuss their insecurities. Brainstorm what we can do to help them build from that.
I hope that regardless of my age, I can always stay relevant with and to my students. I think that once teachers float into that out-of-touch atmosphere, it becomes dangerous and the possibily of "losing" students can become a reality. By allowing them to learn from mediums that interest them can only benefit both teacher and student by making teaching easier and learning less intimidating.

Chapter 5 got my attention, mostly because of our "lives" blogging in this class. I have to wonder, though- we have been blogging in a postsecondary setting, so how will this work in secondary settings? As I have mentioned, not all of my students have personal computers, so logistically-speaking, this may have to be an assignment they complete in computer class. Although, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea, considering writing across the curriculum (wac) is becoming a huge trend in schools. The way I may incorporate this assignment into my classroom would start with something less personal: perhaps allowing the students to choose prompts from our "Unjournaling" book. After they understand how bloggin works, we can move to more personal topics such as personal reactions to texts or discussions in class.
I believe there IS a place for blogging in the classroom, but it must be understood that certain ettiquete must be present and respect for others and self still apply. I hope that with more grants for urban schools to buy laptops, that this blogging assignment will become more realistic, because I think students would benefit from seeing others writing, as well as putting theirs out to their peers for feedback and reflection.

Technology and Blogging

Critical Warning

I'm not so sure I like the use newer technologies in the classroom or for use in general. Chapter 9 talks about the use of powerpoint slides. A picture or slideshow can be a nice visual tool or aid, but technology can easily become a crutch. Four-function calculators often take the place of actually doing simple arithmetic. Is using only newer technology the lesson? While learning about technology has some uses; the few jobs ever used what was taught in my classes. Different software is often the case.

Not only is technology a crutch a problem, but technology is also a big pain, especially with all the "newer" updates. Windows 7 seems way slower than Windows XP. The slow networks make it hard to use the internet to look up how to disable the new "snap" feature. Such a simple task should not have to take more than one hour . . . :(. Other problems quickly arise too. Uninstalling a trial version of Office 2007 also removed Office 2003 on my machine. Now opening a docx file is hard enough using a doc file, and near impossible with a rich text format (unless you can figure out how it is coded . . .). Why is my own docx file read only when I try to open it to make changes? Why save the file again just to change a punctuation mark? Why is copying and pasting from the internet to word (2010) so easy and posting from word 2010 to this blog so hard? Technology has become both a dependency as a crutch and has become a real pain to use. There is enough vested interest from recycled misinformation in text books, and the educational system really does not need more vested interests from failed newer software from the same corporations.

Despite all this, technology can be a powerful tool if implemented and used properly. The kitty sniper picture on page 30 is hilarious.

Blogging

Blogging is unique. (Chapter 5) Having personally experienced many blogs this semester, blogging seems very useful in teaching writing. Even after posting, modifying and editing blogs is simple. Blogs also help form connections and interactions between people. Even without comments, reading others' blogs is still interesting to see what others wrote and why. I think blogs are both interesting and useful as a writing teacher.

Blog 11, I think

5. Be a Blogger: Social Networking in the Classroom

I chose this chapter as my first article because blogging is something that has intertwined itself into the lives of most school-age individuals. It's a tool many people already know how to use, and I like that this article is about integrating this already well-used medium into a classroom setting.

In my view, classroom blogging is a hit-or-miss activity. I can think of three separate instances (not including this class) where my classmates and I have been assigned weekly blogs as part of the course. The first time I used blogs in the classroom was in high school in my American History course. If I remember correctly, it was open to the general public, but no one outside of our class ever commented. I'm not sure exactly why, but I was drawn immediately to this idea of blogging as part of the class. I remember checking the blogs repeatedly for new updates that I could comment on and new ideas to discuss with my peers. In hindsight, the only reason I can think of as to why I might have been so drawn to the idea was that the posts were informal and open-ended. We could post about any topic in the chapter, anything we discussed in class, or any questions we might have. The posts were only expected to be a few sentences long, too, which helped because we could say what we needed to say without having to fill space for the sake of filling space.

The second instance I remember was part of an education course. That one, at least for me anyway, flopped. I didn't care one bit about that blog. We were expected to comment on very narrow subjects that weren't really open for interpretation. Each week my posts were nothing more than me going through the motions. I got nothing but a weekly nettle in my side out of that assignment.

The third time it was used, my reaction was a mixture between my two previous experiences. It was a literature course, and each week, after reading the assigned book, we had to comment about what we thought of the work (what stood out to us, what we liked or didn't like, why we felt the way we did, etc.). I preferred this over my previous instance because it was more open-ended and we had more room to work with.

Looking at these three experiences together makes me realize that if I use this in the classroom, I have to give the students room to breathe. I can't limit the topics and I have to choose something that doesn't limit students' thinking processes. In the article, I like that the teacher lets the students choose their own topics. As is the case for our I Searches, most (if not all) of us prefer writing about topics that we choose, are interested in, and/or know a great deal about. If the blogging aspect itself is the aim, I see nothing wrong with letting students choose their own topics. If the aim of the blog is specifically content-based, then I can understand limiting the content to pre-chosen subjects.

6. Poetry Fusion: Integrating Video, Verbal, and Audio Texts

Interpreting poetry in the form of a video. I like this. I agree with the author when he puts forth the assertion that a reader gets a more holistic view of a poem when it's read aloud. On a personal level, even though poems are easier for me to understand when I'm reading them myself, poems that are read aloud have much more depth to them. For example, in the first link I've posted, the poet's work incorporates gestures. If I was reading this poem, I wouldn't get the whole meaning of the ending because without seeing the gestures I wouldn't know what he means by "this." By viewing it, I do see what "this" means. I also like that the inflection and tone in his voice adds to the meaning of the poem as well. That effect would not be obtained simply by reading it on a page.

Def Poetry - Taylor Mali - "What Teachers Make" (I chose this poem because it is written about teaching by a teacher, which directly relates to many of us. I also chose it because Taylor often speaks with his hands. If anyone is interested, second example of him frequently using gestures to get his point across can be found in the poem called "Like, You Know." Tone and inflection, too, are crucial to the understanding this poem.)

A second topic that the chapter explains is the idea of creating a visual representation of a poem by using video. In the video below, read by E. E. Cummings himself, the creator of the video incorporates visual images into the reading of the poem to add to it's significance, to show the youtuber's own interpretation of the poem, and to visually enhance the meaning expressed in the audio of the work.

"anyone lived in a pretty how town" by E. E. Cummings

It seems to me that students would enjoy this type of video-centered poetry lesson. In high school I did a project similar to this in my photography class, but I used still images instead of video. Back then, before I had any real appreciation for poetry, I would have gotten quite a bit out of making a poetry video like the ones explained in this chapter. I think this idea could be a fun addition to an English class.

blog 11

This week’s reading: Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change and Assessment in the 21st century classroom
I generally like to begin at the beginning so I read chapter one first. For someone as old as me to be called a “newcomer” is exciting even if it is referring to one new to technological writing. The evolution of writing does seem frightening at first. Newspapers disappearing and the internet as mode of research does seem strange, but I enjoy new things and still have a sense of adventure. This outlook helps to keep me young and requires me to continue learning and challenging myself. I must admit, I am somewhat of a dinosaur as I still love the feeling of a page in my hands when I read. I have yet to part with books adorning my shelves at home. Although I appreciate a rapid cut and paste editing session, or a high speed highlighting session of downloaded materials while reading, I repeatedly long to write in and on the text. Welcoming the conveniences of technology, I still feel attached to the older ways and wonder if they will become obsolete.
Next I wondered about the so called “social worlds” of "email, cell phone, text messaging, on line gaming, blogging, etc.” As much as I enjoy the convenience of these worlds, none of them can compare to being with those people face to face. I like that as a teacher these forms of communicating and writing are available, and do believe they will help to encourage many new and interesting writing assignments and will help peer relations, but the part of the chapter about the difficulties monitoring behaviors using these methods, was disconcerting. It seems with every positive for technology, there are drawbacks as well.
Most troublesome was the discussion of how out of sync standardized testing seems to be with how students need to be assessed. There seems no end in sight, but voices against these standard forms of assessment do seem to be getting stronger and that is encouraging.
Also promising are the many original teachers’ ideas about how to make technology useful and meaningful in students’ writing, and I look forward to the projects that they will be able to create with technologies available to them. With that thought in mind, I looked to chapter seven about Multimedia Presentations from Yearlong Research and Community Based Culminating Projects. Since I have been involved I many programs like this with original theater troupes and school projects in the past, I was really looking forward to getting better ideas about how to effectively run these types of programs. I enjoyed reading about the student’s projects and am always surprised by what students produce when they are given the chance to spread their wings in these ways.
In the conclusions section, I was reminded how necessary teaching these skills are to the lives of our students and to learn them ourselves.

Chapter 3: Collaborative Digital Writing

It is too easy and ingrained in most of us when we are revising papers to dive right into corrections of diction, grammar, usage, etc.  The students I am currently tutoring struggle hard to eek out typed words on their current essays.  To offset this anxiety, I have conversations with them before writing to talk out their essays.  What really has struck me is how fluently they can convey their arguments but the absolute brick wall that confronts them on the assignment.  "Don't worry about grammar," I advise them, "let's just get your ideas down and then we can go back and polish."  As easy as this sounds, it is really difficult for them to convey ideas without trying to make them perfect. 
For this reason, I really enjoy this idea of technologically savvy peer editing.  If students need to meet deadlines for their peers and not for teachers, they will begin typing.  In a students' mind their peers have suggestions, while their teacher has the right answers.

Chapter 12: Technology, Change, and Assessment

Tuesday's class fit right into this chapter for me.  My grandmother has been penning book reviews for me recently, and now we will be using Dr. Kearney's new revisionary methods to assess my grandmother's current work as an experiment for assessing the papers of my future writing students.   If it works for an 85 year old, I figure it will work for a high school student.  I worry about using computers in the classroom and how to properly back up a lesson plan that relies heavily on usability.  Yet, this is all part of the needed flexibitly of the teaching profession.  In any lesson, if students begin falling asleep one needs to be able to fix the problem immediately.