Happy almost Christmas...
I saw this offer for teachers on the web. Seems pretty cool. The folks at participate.net are giving away copies of An Incovenient Truth, the Al Gore, movie. I think they have something like 50,000 to give away. Check it out!!!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
My Final Multimedia Project
I ended up using googlepages to make my website rather than freewebs. I have to admit that the issue of ad banners was my only consideration. I just hate them. I feel that both programs are user-friendly and have good options. I chose to write about revision and editing on my website, because it is an area that I have done a lot of work with, and that I felt I could make the most comprehensive and useful contribution in. They say to write what you know, and this topic is something I have really learned about. I wanted to supply a resource that others might find useful, rather than a website that was for me personally. In retrospect, I wish I had dressed my site up a bit more. The topic of how to teach revision and editing is not terribly exciting, but some of the activities and strategies were actually exciting for me as a student teacher. I feel like I can help students with their writing with confidence now, and that's pretty exciting for English geeks like me (us). So I could definitely have given my website more of an exciting vibe. I think I will probably go back and tweek it a bit somewhere down the road
On my second go through googlepages, I felt really confident about the program. Making a website is far from the mysterious and technical process it once was for me. I do have alot to learn, but I feel like this class has given me a new perspective on access to the web. You can do just about everything you want to do on the web, as long as you look in the right places and have the motivation. Just the simple process of getting out there and making a website or two, making a blog, making and contributing to a wiki has really demystified the whole process. It makes it even harder to figure out the old school of teachers that are so afraid of the web. I feel like a couple of simple assignments for each of these teachers to do over the summer or something, would completely wipe away their apprehension toward cyberspace. Why don't administrators try that? I guess its because the administrators themselves usually don't feel it will be useful either.
On my second go through googlepages, I felt really confident about the program. Making a website is far from the mysterious and technical process it once was for me. I do have alot to learn, but I feel like this class has given me a new perspective on access to the web. You can do just about everything you want to do on the web, as long as you look in the right places and have the motivation. Just the simple process of getting out there and making a website or two, making a blog, making and contributing to a wiki has really demystified the whole process. It makes it even harder to figure out the old school of teachers that are so afraid of the web. I feel like a couple of simple assignments for each of these teachers to do over the summer or something, would completely wipe away their apprehension toward cyberspace. Why don't administrators try that? I guess its because the administrators themselves usually don't feel it will be useful either.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Map maker, map maker, make me a map...
506 has definitely redrawn my personal map of what is possible and practical in the classroom. I have always been a fan of the internet and of digital technology in general, but I had never given serious thought to the ways I could put this affinity to use in my classroom. Above all, 506 has forced me to address the issue of computers and their increasingly undeniable relationship to English teaching. Before this semester, I had never had a blog before, and I had never even been a regular contributor to or reader of someone else’s blog. My exposure to the blogosphere through 506 has been fantastic. I am officially in love with the read/write web. Even the class wiki, which I have only recently gotten into and primarily because it will help my grade, has the potential to be an excellent learning tool. I have become a major supporter of Wikipedia as well. I used to go to Wikipedia once in awhile as change of pace or as a last resort when I couldn’t find what I was looking for through more traditional web resources. Now, I view it as the absolute best way to access encyclopedia-friendly information. It is my go to, my first choice. (Digression: I particularly love going to Wikipedia for info about narrow or obscure bits of pop culture…because wiki pages for no name musicians and stuff are usually produced by the band’s biggest fan they are often more comprehensive than anything you could get otherwise, even from the bands own website in many cases) I think that wikis can work as a way to supercharge group activities and group learning. They offer flexibility (by allowing students who have computers at home to work on their own schedule) and freedom, two things that appeal to increasingly quick thinking and busy youngsters.
But the thing I am most excited about is the use of blogs. I strongly believe that blogging can be a great way to extend class discussions, and have new discussions that might otherwise be impossible in the classroom. Anyone, who still has doubts about using blogs with your classes need only check out the stuff Chris is doing with his classes. Those blogs are fantastic, educational and really fun. In fact, the confluence of education and fun may be the mostly unsung benefit of these read/write technologies. It is a great answer for teachers who are having trouble connecting with or engaging their students. Not to mention the street cred you can get from having a really sweet class blog!!! I love the individual freedom to express that characterizes the blogs, and I think freedom can be a wonderful thing in an English class. I think the lack of freedom to interpret and invent that marks traditional English pedagogy has probably been the discipline’s biggest mistake all these years. The writing James did on his personal website has inspired me to rediscover the basics of English teaching. We need to think about what it is about literature that we love and impart these things to our students. People didn’t start writing and reading because they had to for class, or because they knew it would help them get a job. They did it because of the universal human desire to express, to interact and to share in life’s beautiful struggle with other people. It sounds funny, but in this sense, the internet might be able to help us get back to basics. If we can find ways to produce eager readers and writers all the other BS- Regents et al -will take care of itself.
Now the one thing I have to admit I am not yet excited about, is the Multimedia Apps and their usefulness in the classroom. My experience to this point indicates that the relationship between multimedia projects and teaching English is vague at best. And the time they require is almost prohibitive. Even the stuff we saw from Shade Gomez’s classes was less than inspiring. The videos and stuff were cool, some displayed a lot of talent and creativity, but I still can’t see devoting weeks and weeks of class time to it. Maybe once a year or something. I’m not even that excited about their benefit for us in 506. I think a class that focused on the power of the internet and emerging read/write technologies could be just as useful. Now it is true that I was trumping up the idea of “fun” a mere paragraph ago, and the multimedia apps can certainly be that. But we have to be able to marry the fun to learning. We have to be producing better readers and writers and critical thinkers and I am not sure I have seen a strong case for that to this point with making an IMovie. That being said I am glad for the experience. And I am inspired to use these kinds of apps in my private life after 506. I just can’t see their value in the classroom as clearly as I would like to. In the sense that any new technology requires one to think critically and problem-solve, multimedia apps are useful. But to me this isn’t a compelling argument for their use in an English classroom.
I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite people, Sarah Ostrom. Her "link happy" post inspired me to get a little link happy with this one. Thanks Sarah!!
But the thing I am most excited about is the use of blogs. I strongly believe that blogging can be a great way to extend class discussions, and have new discussions that might otherwise be impossible in the classroom. Anyone, who still has doubts about using blogs with your classes need only check out the stuff Chris is doing with his classes. Those blogs are fantastic, educational and really fun. In fact, the confluence of education and fun may be the mostly unsung benefit of these read/write technologies. It is a great answer for teachers who are having trouble connecting with or engaging their students. Not to mention the street cred you can get from having a really sweet class blog!!! I love the individual freedom to express that characterizes the blogs, and I think freedom can be a wonderful thing in an English class. I think the lack of freedom to interpret and invent that marks traditional English pedagogy has probably been the discipline’s biggest mistake all these years. The writing James did on his personal website has inspired me to rediscover the basics of English teaching. We need to think about what it is about literature that we love and impart these things to our students. People didn’t start writing and reading because they had to for class, or because they knew it would help them get a job. They did it because of the universal human desire to express, to interact and to share in life’s beautiful struggle with other people. It sounds funny, but in this sense, the internet might be able to help us get back to basics. If we can find ways to produce eager readers and writers all the other BS- Regents et al -will take care of itself.
Now the one thing I have to admit I am not yet excited about, is the Multimedia Apps and their usefulness in the classroom. My experience to this point indicates that the relationship between multimedia projects and teaching English is vague at best. And the time they require is almost prohibitive. Even the stuff we saw from Shade Gomez’s classes was less than inspiring. The videos and stuff were cool, some displayed a lot of talent and creativity, but I still can’t see devoting weeks and weeks of class time to it. Maybe once a year or something. I’m not even that excited about their benefit for us in 506. I think a class that focused on the power of the internet and emerging read/write technologies could be just as useful. Now it is true that I was trumping up the idea of “fun” a mere paragraph ago, and the multimedia apps can certainly be that. But we have to be able to marry the fun to learning. We have to be producing better readers and writers and critical thinkers and I am not sure I have seen a strong case for that to this point with making an IMovie. That being said I am glad for the experience. And I am inspired to use these kinds of apps in my private life after 506. I just can’t see their value in the classroom as clearly as I would like to. In the sense that any new technology requires one to think critically and problem-solve, multimedia apps are useful. But to me this isn’t a compelling argument for their use in an English classroom.
I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite people, Sarah Ostrom. Her "link happy" post inspired me to get a little link happy with this one. Thanks Sarah!!
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