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.