I was checking facebook and had a news feed posting (terminology?) from NCTE about this article. Of course, any article that encourages teaching naked: 1. piques my interest and 2. makes me very happy to be a verbal not a visual person.
Having listened to Dr. Pelligrino's presentation last week (was it only a week ago?), nothing in the article is surprising. Did he not decry the same boring PPt lectures? Still, it was validation to read the struggle from another learned person's POV. I also enjoyed the comments at the end.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Twitter lawsuit - really?
I expect by now you've all heard of the lawsuit wrangling surrounding twitter, Horizon Realty, and an apartment tenant. If not, here is one source for some details. I like it as a teachable moment and good fodder for discussion of where is the line between expressing one's opinion and slander.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Gotta Love the Irony
About Battle for Facebook
You have to love all the irony in this story, whatever the truth is about the founding of Facebook.
Quotes to prove that point:
One of the world's most popular networking tool was launched by a brilliant but ostracized nerd sitting alone in a dorm room. (Almost archetypal underdog story?)
They didn't care about money. They cared about code. (All the lawsuits are just about who gets to be the correct answer to the trivia question, “Who invented Facebook?” Yeah.)
Zuckerberg found himself ….just another face in the crowd. (Try searching a common name on Facebook...)
Despite his virtuoso ability at coding, Zuckerberg didn't choose to study computer science. Instead, he majored in psychology. (Smart move, I'd say. Why study what he already knew?)
The guy who first created an online facebook for Harvard couldn't even get a job at Facebook. (Well, his track record wasn't very good.)
The student who had once been threatened with expulsion for posting pirated photos of fellow students had succeeded in altering Harvard's entire culture. (Actually, why haven't we learned after all these years of watching people who are unsuccessful in school becoming wildly successful, inventive, revolutionary in life...)
On his Facebook page, Tyler Winklevoss has written that he is about to settle the lawsuit against Zuckerberg,… (my favorite)
You have to love all the irony in this story, whatever the truth is about the founding of Facebook.
Quotes to prove that point:
One of the world's most popular networking tool was launched by a brilliant but ostracized nerd sitting alone in a dorm room. (Almost archetypal underdog story?)
They didn't care about money. They cared about code. (All the lawsuits are just about who gets to be the correct answer to the trivia question, “Who invented Facebook?” Yeah.)
Zuckerberg found himself ….just another face in the crowd. (Try searching a common name on Facebook...)
Despite his virtuoso ability at coding, Zuckerberg didn't choose to study computer science. Instead, he majored in psychology. (Smart move, I'd say. Why study what he already knew?)
The guy who first created an online facebook for Harvard couldn't even get a job at Facebook. (Well, his track record wasn't very good.)
The student who had once been threatened with expulsion for posting pirated photos of fellow students had succeeded in altering Harvard's entire culture. (Actually, why haven't we learned after all these years of watching people who are unsuccessful in school becoming wildly successful, inventive, revolutionary in life...)
On his Facebook page, Tyler Winklevoss has written that he is about to settle the lawsuit against Zuckerberg,… (my favorite)
Building Books Online
On Karen M.'s recommendation, I visited and explored the UDL Book Builder site. What was most interesting or helpful to me were the Model Books. Since it initially appeared as if the primary target was elementary students, I wondered about applications for the high school level. The models for high school level were all in the "models created by teachers" section. I particularly liked A Depression So Great, A Young Father Reflects, and Adolescent Sleep Times and Academic Performance. Notice that I didn't even get out of the A's before I could see many, many applications at the high school level.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Blogging out- Day 4
Sad to have ended on a frustrating note when the day had been so wonderful up to that point. I never did get my MLA to save on a jump drive. Created some huge and un-removable .tmp files in the process as well. Oh to have the wonderful techie resources of KSU at my beck and call. That said, the rest of the day was fun.
Dr. Pellegrino has me wanting to sign up for his class in the spring semester. How depressing is it that at the end of my Masters program I want to return to a class called Intro to Learning? (Doesn't matter. My daughter would kill me - or find some other horrible teenage way to take it out on me. ) I think what made him different from the typical presenters that you get with technology was his clear dedication to not just introducing bells and whistles for the sake of having bells and whistles.
Sadly, enough classrooms in our area (though not in our district) have introduced clickers and not all teachers have used them in pedagogically responsible ways. As a result, some students have begun to resent them as much as the dreaded "take out a piece of paper for a pop quiz." I loved how Dr. Pellegrino showed us ways to use the clickers in ways to ENHANCE the actual depth and breadth of the learning of the students.
Thankfully, it's not an issue I think I'll be worrying about any time soon. My request is still in for an LCD projector.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the cocktail party (sometimes if I've used it to introduce a longer piece like a novel, I've called it a pre-premiere party) with "Grandmother Grace". I've even used that same poem in my classroom before, yet I didn't recognize it. Anything that helps create cognitive dissonance is a keeper in my book.
I also enjoyed KAT's co-opting of the classroom to describe cento poetry. I need to remember to look at the formatting in the books you brought if you still have them around tomorrow. Also, since I spent the time I was waiting on my computer to freeze up reading your article, I'd love to see some examples of the Illuminated Poetry. I know last year at Write Here, Write Now, people were raving about your session. I'm sure I could learn much from you about how to integrate more poetry into daily classroom life.
Finding Famous Friends and Family was a fun way to do grouping. You can never have enough ways to put kids in new groups. I use playing cards often myself (group by suit, by color, by number, etc.). The utensil passing activity was so much fun! That type of laughter is something I definitely try to induce in my classroom as much as is productive.
The Ellis Island Simulation made me very uncomfortable, too emotional for me. I don't think kids would necessarily have that same reaction, but I'd have to be prepared to handle some of the potential stereotyping or prejudicial behavior gently and helpfully. I mentioned cognitive dissonance earlier, and I'm experiencing it with this idea. I like that it could lead to great discussion and a wonderful exploration of beliefs, but I'd have to have my class in the right place before I could attempt that exact simulation. Elizabeth or Casey, whoever shared that your student has one that you use, could you - if it's not stealing - provide me/us with a copy of the nuclear fallout simulation.
As far as responding to the music and the art and the sketch-to-stretch, it was not really anything new to me. Does anyone else use QuickWrites? Linda Reif has a book about them with poetry, cartoon, and narrative prompts for SHORT writing moments. I use some of hers, but also try to find resources (art, photograph, news stories, music, ...) that relate to other parts of the content we might be working on that day.
Time to stop and get something to eat. Miles to link before I sleep.
Dr. Pellegrino has me wanting to sign up for his class in the spring semester. How depressing is it that at the end of my Masters program I want to return to a class called Intro to Learning? (Doesn't matter. My daughter would kill me - or find some other horrible teenage way to take it out on me. ) I think what made him different from the typical presenters that you get with technology was his clear dedication to not just introducing bells and whistles for the sake of having bells and whistles.
Sadly, enough classrooms in our area (though not in our district) have introduced clickers and not all teachers have used them in pedagogically responsible ways. As a result, some students have begun to resent them as much as the dreaded "take out a piece of paper for a pop quiz." I loved how Dr. Pellegrino showed us ways to use the clickers in ways to ENHANCE the actual depth and breadth of the learning of the students.
Thankfully, it's not an issue I think I'll be worrying about any time soon. My request is still in for an LCD projector.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the cocktail party (sometimes if I've used it to introduce a longer piece like a novel, I've called it a pre-premiere party) with "Grandmother Grace". I've even used that same poem in my classroom before, yet I didn't recognize it. Anything that helps create cognitive dissonance is a keeper in my book.
I also enjoyed KAT's co-opting of the classroom to describe cento poetry. I need to remember to look at the formatting in the books you brought if you still have them around tomorrow. Also, since I spent the time I was waiting on my computer to freeze up reading your article, I'd love to see some examples of the Illuminated Poetry. I know last year at Write Here, Write Now, people were raving about your session. I'm sure I could learn much from you about how to integrate more poetry into daily classroom life.
Finding Famous Friends and Family was a fun way to do grouping. You can never have enough ways to put kids in new groups. I use playing cards often myself (group by suit, by color, by number, etc.). The utensil passing activity was so much fun! That type of laughter is something I definitely try to induce in my classroom as much as is productive.
The Ellis Island Simulation made me very uncomfortable, too emotional for me. I don't think kids would necessarily have that same reaction, but I'd have to be prepared to handle some of the potential stereotyping or prejudicial behavior gently and helpfully. I mentioned cognitive dissonance earlier, and I'm experiencing it with this idea. I like that it could lead to great discussion and a wonderful exploration of beliefs, but I'd have to have my class in the right place before I could attempt that exact simulation. Elizabeth or Casey, whoever shared that your student has one that you use, could you - if it's not stealing - provide me/us with a copy of the nuclear fallout simulation.
As far as responding to the music and the art and the sketch-to-stretch, it was not really anything new to me. Does anyone else use QuickWrites? Linda Reif has a book about them with poetry, cartoon, and narrative prompts for SHORT writing moments. I use some of hers, but also try to find resources (art, photograph, news stories, music, ...) that relate to other parts of the content we might be working on that day.Time to stop and get something to eat. Miles to link before I sleep.
If I mess with it tomorrow, break my fingers!
I'm done. I am so amazed at how much doing the Multigenre Literacy Autobiography has taught me about myself. Forget that it might be an interesting tool for my students to do. It was worth doing just for the realizations I've had into my own development as a reader/writer! (Imagine what I might have learned if I had the time to do it as well as I would have liked - as in with music, etc.) SPOILER ALERT: Here are some of my insights:
1. I was pretty sheltered as a younger child. I don't see that as all bad; for one thing, I had so much time to read!
2. Obviously, print has dominated my life. It was MUCH easier for me to come up with lists of books than any other genre, and I have deeper emotional reactions and a better recall of the details (where the book came from - library, purchase, gift; where I was when I read the book; how I felt about the characters; approximately how many times I read the book; who recommended it/to whom I recommended it), and there are far more books left OUT than any other genre.
3. I really was a victim of the DWEMs prior to college.
4. I read as much, if not more, classic lit in high school as in college. Partly, it was self-motivated.
5. Few, if any, of my Honors students have anywhere NEAR the print experience I had going into high school.
6. At a variety of points, I was surprised at the divergence in my choices. I remember liking the two examples, but they seem mutually exclusive almost. Good thing I never felt pigeonholed, but do I ever make assumptions about students that way?
7. Until late elementary I can't really remember actively rejecting any genre.
8. Thankfully (I've spent too much money and time for this to be otherwise), I teach much differently from how I was taught. I was going to give up near the end, but I decided to look for a couple of photographs. While it was a horrible choice sleep-wise (please excuse my snoring during the guest speaker tomorrow), I felt very good about some of the cool learning activities I actually had EVIDENCE of in my My Pictures folders.
9. My daughter's experience has been so different from mine, but she has had so much more opportunity to create a variety of texts - and not just digitally, also through art, dance, music, and old-fashioned pencil-to-paper.
10. I'm going to be really bummed if I don't get to share this, but I also know that I definitely MUST come up with an abridged version before I show my students. I like it, but it IS a draft!
Good night.
1. I was pretty sheltered as a younger child. I don't see that as all bad; for one thing, I had so much time to read!
2. Obviously, print has dominated my life. It was MUCH easier for me to come up with lists of books than any other genre, and I have deeper emotional reactions and a better recall of the details (where the book came from - library, purchase, gift; where I was when I read the book; how I felt about the characters; approximately how many times I read the book; who recommended it/to whom I recommended it), and there are far more books left OUT than any other genre.
3. I really was a victim of the DWEMs prior to college.
4. I read as much, if not more, classic lit in high school as in college. Partly, it was self-motivated.
5. Few, if any, of my Honors students have anywhere NEAR the print experience I had going into high school.
6. At a variety of points, I was surprised at the divergence in my choices. I remember liking the two examples, but they seem mutually exclusive almost. Good thing I never felt pigeonholed, but do I ever make assumptions about students that way?
7. Until late elementary I can't really remember actively rejecting any genre.
8. Thankfully (I've spent too much money and time for this to be otherwise), I teach much differently from how I was taught. I was going to give up near the end, but I decided to look for a couple of photographs. While it was a horrible choice sleep-wise (please excuse my snoring during the guest speaker tomorrow), I felt very good about some of the cool learning activities I actually had EVIDENCE of in my My Pictures folders.
9. My daughter's experience has been so different from mine, but she has had so much more opportunity to create a variety of texts - and not just digitally, also through art, dance, music, and old-fashioned pencil-to-paper.
10. I'm going to be really bummed if I don't get to share this, but I also know that I definitely MUST come up with an abridged version before I show my students. I like it, but it IS a draft!
Good night.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Blogging Out - Day 3
Okay, if this class is theoretically halfway over, I'm in BIG, BIG trouble.
I thoroughly enjoy Gary Mote's presentation today. Like Tom McNeal yesterday, he was so helpful and so knowledgeable and so unassuming about it. I have a feeling, however, that it will be a while before I am able to completely assimilate much of what he showed us today. I was able to download and use DEBUT to do a screen capture to use in my autobiography which was cool. Knowing that SO MUCH information was collected in ONE place is in itself very helpful.
How lucky Kent State is to have such a valuable resource - thank you, Dr. Kist, for knowing about and taking advantage of his expertise. Both you and Dr. Dowdy have modeled well the practice of bringing in expert guest speakers to the classroom (and taking "short" field trips). Sometimes I forget how valuable it can be for the students to hear a variety of voices in learning. The novelty itself can be good, but it's a relief for me not to have to know everything and the students get to make valuable connections.
In some other blogs from this class, there have been questions about the use of PhotoStory, so I am going to try to attach/include/embed/insert correct verb here my little vacation movie. Well, I found a button that makes it easy (it's the "add video" button; imagine that).
I thoroughly enjoy Gary Mote's presentation today. Like Tom McNeal yesterday, he was so helpful and so knowledgeable and so unassuming about it. I have a feeling, however, that it will be a while before I am able to completely assimilate much of what he showed us today. I was able to download and use DEBUT to do a screen capture to use in my autobiography which was cool. Knowing that SO MUCH information was collected in ONE place is in itself very helpful.
How lucky Kent State is to have such a valuable resource - thank you, Dr. Kist, for knowing about and taking advantage of his expertise. Both you and Dr. Dowdy have modeled well the practice of bringing in expert guest speakers to the classroom (and taking "short" field trips). Sometimes I forget how valuable it can be for the students to hear a variety of voices in learning. The novelty itself can be good, but it's a relief for me not to have to know everything and the students get to make valuable connections.
In some other blogs from this class, there have been questions about the use of PhotoStory, so I am going to try to attach/include/embed/insert correct verb here my little vacation movie. Well, I found a button that makes it easy (it's the "add video" button; imagine that).
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Blogging Out - Day 2
I love learning from Dr. Dowdy because she always keeps me off kilter. Even though I have had two classes from her and seen her workshops in a variety of other settings, I always come away with a new insight or a reminder of something I've put on a back shelf for too long. That's how it was this morning. So much can be done with film in the classroom. A couple of thoughts I had in particular during her presentation were:
1. My Honors 10 students struggle with The Odyssey. I like the idea of talking about it as if the text were already a film. So little of the epic is written in "close-up" mode; much more of it is in "long, establishing shots." I wonder if making that distinction - and then maybe doing some scripting or process drama to get at what might have been experienced in the "missing close ups"- would help it come alive.
2. I need to think of using CLIPS more and full movies less. It'll be another thing to make my students crazy, but I'm not saying that I would never use a full movie, but that before I do, I want to do more and more with reading the clips. Two benefits: better critical viewers and an opportunity to introduce them to a greater variety of films.
After that, the time flew by. I enjoyed the circle activities. Definitely ones to add to my list of community building activities. The Singing Syllables activity will be a nice ways to review pronunciation. I'm saddened at how many of my high school students have poor decoding skills for multisyllabic words. This could be a fun way to review - using the excuse that we need to stretch our legs.
I'm avoiding the wiki issue because denial always works for me when I have a big project and I can't decide on a topic. (Making a decision is my goal for tonight.)
The classroom of the future was interesting. A friend of mine has a classroom full of technology similar to that set-up without the research component. She's working her way through it, but there is so much to learn and to integrate. Today it's feeling rather overwhelming.
1. My Honors 10 students struggle with The Odyssey. I like the idea of talking about it as if the text were already a film. So little of the epic is written in "close-up" mode; much more of it is in "long, establishing shots." I wonder if making that distinction - and then maybe doing some scripting or process drama to get at what might have been experienced in the "missing close ups"- would help it come alive.
2. I need to think of using CLIPS more and full movies less. It'll be another thing to make my students crazy, but I'm not saying that I would never use a full movie, but that before I do, I want to do more and more with reading the clips. Two benefits: better critical viewers and an opportunity to introduce them to a greater variety of films.
After that, the time flew by. I enjoyed the circle activities. Definitely ones to add to my list of community building activities. The Singing Syllables activity will be a nice ways to review pronunciation. I'm saddened at how many of my high school students have poor decoding skills for multisyllabic words. This could be a fun way to review - using the excuse that we need to stretch our legs.
I'm avoiding the wiki issue because denial always works for me when I have a big project and I can't decide on a topic. (Making a decision is my goal for tonight.)
The classroom of the future was interesting. A friend of mine has a classroom full of technology similar to that set-up without the research component. She's working her way through it, but there is so much to learn and to integrate. Today it's feeling rather overwhelming.
Monday, July 20, 2009
First Day's Learnings (Top Seven)
7. First class I've attended at Kent where other students come from farther away than I do. I wonder what that says about the appeal of this class, this topic, etc.
6. Surprised to find so many who teach/work with students who seem so very young, but that was just the beginning of the surprises. I keep hearing how it could work, and seeing examples, but I guess my learning curve is steep here. (Is is steep? I struggle with the learning curve metaphor even though I just attempted to use it.)
5. Notwithstanding #9, no other mention in our group of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"?
4. Easy to see how one could find oneself behind one's computer all day long should one want to know EVERYTHING that is out there. Already today in my brief, brief, brief exploration, I have found people doing and/or thinking about the issues that I am interested in, implementing ideas I've contemplated, etc.
3. (Perhaps KAT can weigh in on this.) I'm finding an odd synchronicity happening with what I'm reading in The Art of Teaching Writing and what Dr. Kist is saying. As I read and think about an idea to explore for TATW (currently: using writers' workshop concepts with my seniors), I've been thinking about how to build community, how to incorporate the freedom of the workshop and yet still address 21st century and world-of-work competencies, ...
2. The hours between 9 and 4 can actually go faster than I've ever known. While I appreciate the variety of activities (thank you, thank you), I'm still already feeling overwhelmed by all that I am learning. How to bring this all together? Grateful for the "think time" that the Aug. 10th reunion encourages. Also, as a high school teacher, I am used to thinking in 41-minute increments. My students already find my instruction disjointed (okay, this post won't get anywhere disproving that idea). What can I do to help them (and myself) see the glue that holds it all together (perhaps the web that connects it all would be a more apt image)?
1. Getting used to my new laptop in a huge hurry. The availability of technology does remain an issue. I am glad it's not all about the technology; specifically, I found Dr. Kist's comment about helping our students get along in a f2f community as a step to being better able to get along in the global community to be insightful. I feel as if that point gets ignored by some people who emphasize the need to think on a global scale and who forget that our students may not even be able to cooperate with the student who sits in the next desk. Again, what is the big picture that brings it all together? What is critical for all students regardless of their affinity for or access to technology?
6. Surprised to find so many who teach/work with students who seem so very young, but that was just the beginning of the surprises. I keep hearing how it could work, and seeing examples, but I guess my learning curve is steep here. (Is is steep? I struggle with the learning curve metaphor even though I just attempted to use it.)
5. Notwithstanding #9, no other mention in our group of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"?
4. Easy to see how one could find oneself behind one's computer all day long should one want to know EVERYTHING that is out there. Already today in my brief, brief, brief exploration, I have found people doing and/or thinking about the issues that I am interested in, implementing ideas I've contemplated, etc.
3. (Perhaps KAT can weigh in on this.) I'm finding an odd synchronicity happening with what I'm reading in The Art of Teaching Writing and what Dr. Kist is saying. As I read and think about an idea to explore for TATW (currently: using writers' workshop concepts with my seniors), I've been thinking about how to build community, how to incorporate the freedom of the workshop and yet still address 21st century and world-of-work competencies, ...
2. The hours between 9 and 4 can actually go faster than I've ever known. While I appreciate the variety of activities (thank you, thank you), I'm still already feeling overwhelmed by all that I am learning. How to bring this all together? Grateful for the "think time" that the Aug. 10th reunion encourages. Also, as a high school teacher, I am used to thinking in 41-minute increments. My students already find my instruction disjointed (okay, this post won't get anywhere disproving that idea). What can I do to help them (and myself) see the glue that holds it all together (perhaps the web that connects it all would be a more apt image)?
1. Getting used to my new laptop in a huge hurry. The availability of technology does remain an issue. I am glad it's not all about the technology; specifically, I found Dr. Kist's comment about helping our students get along in a f2f community as a step to being better able to get along in the global community to be insightful. I feel as if that point gets ignored by some people who emphasize the need to think on a global scale and who forget that our students may not even be able to cooperate with the student who sits in the next desk. Again, what is the big picture that brings it all together? What is critical for all students regardless of their affinity for or access to technology?
Blog Exploration #1
An example of how to use it in the classroom, seems very similar to what I would like to do with some of my classes:
http://smith9h0708.blogspot.com/
I am curious about a variety of things that happened in her classroom, such as fishbowls and the Wikified Research project. I guess the next thing to do is to look to see if the teacher has a webpage where I might find these details, or, gasp, I suppose I could actually try to contact her! (OK, figured out that I couldn't figure out how to do that.)
Another neat thing that I found in this blog was the use of a daily scribe, who posted the happenings of the day on the blog each day, including homework.
One of the most interesting things I found in this blog was that the kids seemed to be real and honest and it was even rather scary. I like my teacher evaluations for the information that I get, but having them out there in the world for ANYONE to read. Wow. That takes more courage than I’m sure I could find.
It was great to get to read the students’ entries though because they really seemed to feel free to express their personalities. Also, they were full of the idiosyncrasies of actual student writing (lack of paragraphing being my particular issue).
http://smith9h0708.blogspot.com/
I am curious about a variety of things that happened in her classroom, such as fishbowls and the Wikified Research project. I guess the next thing to do is to look to see if the teacher has a webpage where I might find these details, or, gasp, I suppose I could actually try to contact her! (OK, figured out that I couldn't figure out how to do that.)
Another neat thing that I found in this blog was the use of a daily scribe, who posted the happenings of the day on the blog each day, including homework.
One of the most interesting things I found in this blog was that the kids seemed to be real and honest and it was even rather scary. I like my teacher evaluations for the information that I get, but having them out there in the world for ANYONE to read. Wow. That takes more courage than I’m sure I could find.
It was great to get to read the students’ entries though because they really seemed to feel free to express their personalities. Also, they were full of the idiosyncrasies of actual student writing (lack of paragraphing being my particular issue).
Class Begins!
During the course of this week and this course, I would like to discover how I can make the digital world (and the larger, non-print world) of my students more a part of my English classes. How can I both tap into and can I help students become more aware of and more adept at using/consuming the variety of texts available in their worlds?
I am excited to see that we will be doing a balance of analog and digital work, some of which is familiar and some of which is going to be more challenging. I look forward to digging in.
I am excited to see that we will be doing a balance of analog and digital work, some of which is familiar and some of which is going to be more challenging. I look forward to digging in.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Ah...so that's it.
Quoted in The Art of Teaching Writing (Calkins 1994): "Stories happen to those who tell them," Thucydides said.
I've always been in awe of people who are good storytellers and who have such interesting lives. I sit on the sidelines and envy them. The implication of the quote, which I believe to be true, is that I join them by joining them. If I begin looking for and telling the stories in my own life, I will find that mine is also an interesting life.
Hmm...
I've always been in awe of people who are good storytellers and who have such interesting lives. I sit on the sidelines and envy them. The implication of the quote, which I believe to be true, is that I join them by joining them. If I begin looking for and telling the stories in my own life, I will find that mine is also an interesting life.
Hmm...
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