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?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chapter 8
My most recent addiction is podcasting. Or, to be more accurate, listening to podcasts. Without exaggerating, I typically listen to 3-4 hours worth a day. But, after perusing chapter 8, I now view podcasting in a completely different light. I do not podcast myself. I have thought about producing a few classic novels that do not have copyright issues, but have not taken the time to complete them. But what I have done is listen to myself record a chapter or two of a book. With this, I have been able to notice several things: the tone of my voice, the speed in which I read, my delivery, and my mood. I think in the classroom setting this is something worth noting. Remember the first time you heard yourself on a recording? Exactly! You thought you sounded hideous! With technological advantages, I have listened to my final papers time and time again with simple recordings. I can actually hear my mistakes. This works extremely well with oral presentations. Middle-college students should consider recording their presentations and posting them so other students can critique them.
Herrington
I picked chapter 5 because now that I am blogging for this class I know how helpful this can be. To get into the practice of writing once a week and to not have the fear of being graded constantly. I really enjoyed the blog "From Love to Social Pressures" in this chapter. I enjoyed the way Herrington describes how a blogging class looks for example helping students who are bored and discouraged. That is what I would want to be the most as a teacher or an instructor- to help the followers/students. Not just order and expect them to fulfill their "duties" To get involved with them would be priority.
According to this chapter, students grow their blogs over the semester and they publish their work. This seems like an interesting idea because that way there is a higher chance that the student improves or increases his expectation level from the blogs he posts.
Encouraging students to post videos, pictures art or anything that they find interesting and exciting is a great way to make their writing more personal or become more attached to these blogs, hence get in the habit of writing more and more.
The most important thing is to get the students accustomed to writing regularly and not see it as something so challenging and boring all the time. And blogging allows the writer to get feedbacks from several other writers and viewers, they almost form a relationship and then the writers feel like they have a "reason" to write better.
Overall if I were to become a teacher someday I would be more than willing to introduce the idea of social networking in the classroom. I know for one , I would be a much better and willing writer if I had such technologically advanced and fun activities in the "classroom."
I thought chapter 3 was extremely interesting too. I guess the word MacBook Pro caught my attention! I am sucker for technology for sure, no surprise there. The collaborative digital writing seemed like division of labor to me in economics, which is basically dividing a task into several tasks and letting a group or an individual focus on a specific task to increase efficiency. Engaging students in “leap frogging” seems like an excellent idea, I myself have experienced this with my other friends in different class projects we did. And usually we started off with a simple idea and as others got more into it we ended up with a complex and interesting idea. Imagine working alone to form a complex idea. I think the author does a very good job with explaining the roles of a teacher starting from encouraging revision to wrapping up. These are the steps that I would write down somewhere to help me in the future. I love what it says in the conclusion that students not only improve their technology skills but also their communication and organizational skills. Seriously the more I am reading these chapters the more I am getting jealous. I wish I had more teachers back home who would take such initiative to get us more involved as opposed always “lecturing” us for two straight hours with most people not even listening to what they were saying. I am really enjoying this book simply because it has so many ideas on how to get students in this generation more excited and interested about writing.
4 and 6
I enjoy writing stories, so I was immediately drawn to Chapter 4- Digital Picture Books. BAM! Immediately there is mention of The Magic School Bus books and I read on no matter what comes next. I loved those books and the cartoons as a child, and this article explains how the series could be a forefather for today's educational computer games.
The process of creating a digital picture book is intriguing to me. Although most of the activity will be completed on the computer, the students have to have a solid understanding of the basics of writing to start out with. Therefore, this keeps the importance of language arts always prevalent.
Another thing i really like about this activity is that it can fit easily into a learning focused school, which is what most schools (at least in this area) are these days. From what I've seen, LFS's like to use cross curriculum projects, so the fact that in an English class the students can be making books about math, science, or social studies is a great idea. Also, in an age where technology rules everyone's lives, this could be an activity in which the students could truly succeed at and take true pride in.
Chapter 6- Integrating video,verbal, and audio texts is about another topic which holds interest to me. I enjoy poetry a lot. When I was younger (and much more dramatic) I would dabble in writing poetry and read aloud to my parents and friends. However, I realized a few weeks ago when the students in the 8th grade classroom where I am observing were listening to the teacher read a poem, that they were not interested. So, this article on placing poetry in creative videos, this strikes me as something that is defiantly useful in the classroom. The author recognizes the whole process and discusses how the students must understand the writing process in order to understand the filming process, as well.
I truly enjoyed the articles. They give very detailed guidance on what to do and what is to be expected and avoided. I hope to utilize both of these ideas in my future classroom!
The process of creating a digital picture book is intriguing to me. Although most of the activity will be completed on the computer, the students have to have a solid understanding of the basics of writing to start out with. Therefore, this keeps the importance of language arts always prevalent.
Another thing i really like about this activity is that it can fit easily into a learning focused school, which is what most schools (at least in this area) are these days. From what I've seen, LFS's like to use cross curriculum projects, so the fact that in an English class the students can be making books about math, science, or social studies is a great idea. Also, in an age where technology rules everyone's lives, this could be an activity in which the students could truly succeed at and take true pride in.
Chapter 6- Integrating video,verbal, and audio texts is about another topic which holds interest to me. I enjoy poetry a lot. When I was younger (and much more dramatic) I would dabble in writing poetry and read aloud to my parents and friends. However, I realized a few weeks ago when the students in the 8th grade classroom where I am observing were listening to the teacher read a poem, that they were not interested. So, this article on placing poetry in creative videos, this strikes me as something that is defiantly useful in the classroom. The author recognizes the whole process and discusses how the students must understand the writing process in order to understand the filming process, as well.
I truly enjoyed the articles. They give very detailed guidance on what to do and what is to be expected and avoided. I hope to utilize both of these ideas in my future classroom!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
blog 11
I read chapters 3 and 8.
I thought chapter 3 was fantastic. I'd have to learn all the technology Bledsoe mentions, but I'd be willing to try it out. I loved loved loved the first part about revision. The technology is the exciting part for the kids, but the idea of writing a story TOGETHER is simply brilliant. Kids are revising and they probably don't even know it. I believe this method of teaching revision could really work. Learning to revise on your own can be difficult and it's hard to see the point. Why would you want to change what you think is a pretty good piece of writing? But when kids are writing and collaborating together, they point out what works and what doesn't. It gets them thinking out loud and practicing these skills together so that it doesn't seem so pointless or monotonous. Nice.
Chapter 8 was pretty interesting as well. I would have never considered podcasting as a way of presenting speeches, but this seemed to work for these people. It makes perfect sense that JUST listening to your voice instead of giving a traditional speech would make you more conscious of learning how to hear inflections and tone and the "voice" of your speech. And once that's hammered out, a student would most likely be more comfortable in front of people making a traditional speech (I have no idea; I'm just hypothesizing).
If the reported impact on the student community was guaranteed, I'd recommend this to EVERYONE. I mean, getting students to interact with one another's work? And talking about it? And posting comments? Well, learning is taking place, and gee wilikers...that's what we're hoping for! AND students are motivated to learn and engage outside the classroom. I'm floored. And excited.
I'd like to try both these in my classroom. The possibilities these articles pose are fantastic and could seriously benefit our kids. What could be better?
I thought chapter 3 was fantastic. I'd have to learn all the technology Bledsoe mentions, but I'd be willing to try it out. I loved loved loved the first part about revision. The technology is the exciting part for the kids, but the idea of writing a story TOGETHER is simply brilliant. Kids are revising and they probably don't even know it. I believe this method of teaching revision could really work. Learning to revise on your own can be difficult and it's hard to see the point. Why would you want to change what you think is a pretty good piece of writing? But when kids are writing and collaborating together, they point out what works and what doesn't. It gets them thinking out loud and practicing these skills together so that it doesn't seem so pointless or monotonous. Nice.
Chapter 8 was pretty interesting as well. I would have never considered podcasting as a way of presenting speeches, but this seemed to work for these people. It makes perfect sense that JUST listening to your voice instead of giving a traditional speech would make you more conscious of learning how to hear inflections and tone and the "voice" of your speech. And once that's hammered out, a student would most likely be more comfortable in front of people making a traditional speech (I have no idea; I'm just hypothesizing).
If the reported impact on the student community was guaranteed, I'd recommend this to EVERYONE. I mean, getting students to interact with one another's work? And talking about it? And posting comments? Well, learning is taking place, and gee wilikers...that's what we're hoping for! AND students are motivated to learn and engage outside the classroom. I'm floored. And excited.
I'd like to try both these in my classroom. The possibilities these articles pose are fantastic and could seriously benefit our kids. What could be better?
Monday, November 8, 2010
A Whole New World
I enjoyed this week’s book. I picked and read chapter 11 and 12 because both titles seemed appealing to me as I am preparing to make a switch from high school teaching to college instruction. I also read the foreword and preface to better acquaint myself with the overall theme of this book. The first item that really struck me was the opening quote found in the foreword which states: “As technology continues to alter societies and cultures, it has fostered and supported an unprecedented expansion of human communication. In 2005, 172,000 new books were published in the United States alone. One hundred million Websites now exist worldwide. One hundred and seventy-one billion e-mail messages are sent daily. To write in this world is to engage in a millennia-old act that is reinventing and regenerating itself in the modern age” (Herrington, Hodgson, and Moran vii). I was amazed at the figures and realized that we really are living in a whole new world. A world in which technology has become such a vital part of a person’s daily life. Yet, what is interesting is how many of these items are seen as personal activities and not educational. When e-mails and websites are utilized in the academic setting it is strictly limited to the communication of questions between students to their teachers and as a guide to important scholarly texts that one can use for a paper. In fact, schools spend time instructing students on what are appropriate internet resources. For example, I am always amazed that Youtube is constantly recognized as an appropriate site for personal entertainment but that it is not suitable for classrooms or academic purposes (even though many instructors and students utilize it. Hence making one question who creates or deems appropriateness, what is appropriate and how do academic communities define appropriate and inappropriate). Thus, this book’s authors believe that it is time for an educational overhaul so that technology can be better utilized and valued by both instructors and students alike. I was also intrigued to learn that “another group of educators and public representatives were hard at work on a new Writing Framework for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP is ‘the Nation’s Report Card’”) so that “By 2011, mass assessment in writing would need to accommodate new digital tools” (Herrington, Hodgson, and Moran vii). I was wondering if anyone had any more information on this process. I will try and do some more research and see if I can find out any interesting points or important dates.
Chapter eleven is really an amazing chapter. The three authors “who collectively have 48 years of experience teaching writing to high school and college students” discuss how they have found different ways to incorporate various medias within their English classrooms and department requirements (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 181). They write that “we have begun to understand, as Yancey (2004) articulates, that ‘never before has the proliferation of writings outside the academy so counterpointed the composition inside,’ and that ‘never before have the technologies of writing contributed so quickly to the creation of new genres’” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 181). In this chapter, the authors talk about a novel type of writing that they use in their classroom that facilitates the use of different medias. This new item is termed the hybrid essay because it is “an attempt to emphasize that these otherwise traditional essays should use word and image together with each playing an equal role in informing readers rather than rely on what Kress (1998) has identified as a less rhetorically effective use of illustration, in which ‘the written text carries all the information, and the image “repeats” that information’” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 186).
What is so important about this chapter’s whole point about utilizing different items and technologies and incorporating them in the classroom is that we need to remember that our students are “composing: and not “writing” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 182). The authors write that “moving away from the word writing allows us to stop privileging print and thus stop limiting our- and our students’-communicative abilities” and that composing allows them to “teach students… how to get their ideas across, to make meaning, to say what it is they want to say regardless of the medium they choose” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 182). Later in the chapter it becomes apparent that the difference in writing and composing also allows the student-teacher dynamic to be changed. The authors write that “Making a smack move like using the word compose instead of write can empower students to think of themselves as multimodal composers, as individuals who have a variety of rhetorical choices at their disposal” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 192). This terminology change allows the student to become the writer and author that we are always telling them that they are (or are suppose to be). Finally, the college curriculum is allowing for students to get passionate about their assignments (which are relevant to real life (and job) experiences). Not only are our students going to become interested in their project and hybrid essay but they are going to share this idea with others who will either accept or reject the idea. Either way, students are finally getting a chance to become authors and share their voice and vision with an increasingly global audience. In chapter twelve, which ended up being a conclusion and summary of the whole book, Herrington, Hodgson and Moran write that “our understanding of writing as the production of linear text is expanded to include the writing (or composing, or designing) of texts that might include words, images, sounds and hyperlinks that connect any and all of the above to other words, images, sounds and hyperlinks” which is “accessible to peers for editing- and now the term peers is not geographically constrained”(Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 199, 202). Thus, by broadening our traditional writing limits through the use of technological advances, like blogs, our student-writers will have their voices and opinions heard not only among their fellow classmates but also by others around the world who can offer different perspectives which will aid in their education and writing. Herrington, Hodgson and Moran agree stating “What the new technologies make possible, however, is freezing the discussion so that the participants can reflect and comment on it, keeping the composition in the moment” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 201-202).
After reading this week’s readings, I felt that the term writing is restrictive and outdated since it keeps the student-writer as a student who writes perfect or imperfect five paragraph essays for only one person, the teacher, who will provide the student with a grade and freely edit a paper that will never be seen or read again. On the other hand, I felt that the term composing allows the student to become the student-writer who works on creating a unique perspective on how an illustration and sound or illustration and texts work together. The student-writer then will present this idea in various demonstrations, like blogs, website, movie, song, and hybrid essay, that will be frequently seen and freely commented on by various audience members. In other words, writing stops discussion, while composing thrives on discussion.
Really enjoyed this chapter. I think I might have a modern day example of this book’s message. Basically, a blogger held a contest and he selected other writers to work on a book that focus on simple stories which now are published. I will bring the article to class on Tuesday so that we can try to discuss it since my blog is already long and the article is interesting.
Chapter eleven is really an amazing chapter. The three authors “who collectively have 48 years of experience teaching writing to high school and college students” discuss how they have found different ways to incorporate various medias within their English classrooms and department requirements (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 181). They write that “we have begun to understand, as Yancey (2004) articulates, that ‘never before has the proliferation of writings outside the academy so counterpointed the composition inside,’ and that ‘never before have the technologies of writing contributed so quickly to the creation of new genres’” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 181). In this chapter, the authors talk about a novel type of writing that they use in their classroom that facilitates the use of different medias. This new item is termed the hybrid essay because it is “an attempt to emphasize that these otherwise traditional essays should use word and image together with each playing an equal role in informing readers rather than rely on what Kress (1998) has identified as a less rhetorically effective use of illustration, in which ‘the written text carries all the information, and the image “repeats” that information’” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 186).
What is so important about this chapter’s whole point about utilizing different items and technologies and incorporating them in the classroom is that we need to remember that our students are “composing: and not “writing” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 182). The authors write that “moving away from the word writing allows us to stop privileging print and thus stop limiting our- and our students’-communicative abilities” and that composing allows them to “teach students… how to get their ideas across, to make meaning, to say what it is they want to say regardless of the medium they choose” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 182). Later in the chapter it becomes apparent that the difference in writing and composing also allows the student-teacher dynamic to be changed. The authors write that “Making a smack move like using the word compose instead of write can empower students to think of themselves as multimodal composers, as individuals who have a variety of rhetorical choices at their disposal” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 192). This terminology change allows the student to become the writer and author that we are always telling them that they are (or are suppose to be). Finally, the college curriculum is allowing for students to get passionate about their assignments (which are relevant to real life (and job) experiences). Not only are our students going to become interested in their project and hybrid essay but they are going to share this idea with others who will either accept or reject the idea. Either way, students are finally getting a chance to become authors and share their voice and vision with an increasingly global audience. In chapter twelve, which ended up being a conclusion and summary of the whole book, Herrington, Hodgson and Moran write that “our understanding of writing as the production of linear text is expanded to include the writing (or composing, or designing) of texts that might include words, images, sounds and hyperlinks that connect any and all of the above to other words, images, sounds and hyperlinks” which is “accessible to peers for editing- and now the term peers is not geographically constrained”(Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 199, 202). Thus, by broadening our traditional writing limits through the use of technological advances, like blogs, our student-writers will have their voices and opinions heard not only among their fellow classmates but also by others around the world who can offer different perspectives which will aid in their education and writing. Herrington, Hodgson and Moran agree stating “What the new technologies make possible, however, is freezing the discussion so that the participants can reflect and comment on it, keeping the composition in the moment” (Herrington, Hodgson and Moran 201-202).
After reading this week’s readings, I felt that the term writing is restrictive and outdated since it keeps the student-writer as a student who writes perfect or imperfect five paragraph essays for only one person, the teacher, who will provide the student with a grade and freely edit a paper that will never be seen or read again. On the other hand, I felt that the term composing allows the student to become the student-writer who works on creating a unique perspective on how an illustration and sound or illustration and texts work together. The student-writer then will present this idea in various demonstrations, like blogs, website, movie, song, and hybrid essay, that will be frequently seen and freely commented on by various audience members. In other words, writing stops discussion, while composing thrives on discussion.
Really enjoyed this chapter. I think I might have a modern day example of this book’s message. Basically, a blogger held a contest and he selected other writers to work on a book that focus on simple stories which now are published. I will bring the article to class on Tuesday so that we can try to discuss it since my blog is already long and the article is interesting.
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