Is This Thing On?

Technology. Textoids. Video clips. Audio files. Voice threads. OMGs. What happened to the good ole fashioned book cracking and pencil sharpening? Seriously, throughout this entire program I swear the only thing I’ll ever remember is use technology! Please, I love technology, I am not opposed to it by any means. I remember how empowered I felt when my parents finally cracked and got call waiting…like two years ago. Better late than never right? Well..I’m a realist, God help me, and I truly believe that there is a time and place for everything. If one incorporates technology into their classroom because it truly is beneficial and lends itself to the learning process…fantastic! A+ But then again, since when is showing a movie in class really incorporating technology for learning’s sake? It’s not people, and many teachers use this excuse. Technology use should not replace anything, it should enhance. If you must default to showing a movie, you’re doing something wrong and a disservice to your students. Shame on you.

My experience? Glad you asked. Technology is too expensive, unavailable, inaccessible, and when it is available it’s not working…again making it unavailable. Okay, now what? What do you do when you’ve planned your whole lesson around using a mobile computer lab, or showing some YouTube clips in class but the server is down? Again, shame on you. A good teacher should know not to rely on this plan alone. You let your students down and then they hate whatever you must fall back on. What happens when your school just doesn’t have it? This is my school. 200+ students, 20 computers and a 30-minute time period allotted per class once a week. Awesome. As if this is even reasonable. You know what, it’s what we’ve got, and you gotta do what you can with what you’ve got right? Well, yeah, but when access is limited, so are your options. This is why we must not forget books, pencils and papers. These, among other things, need to be our backbone and we need to start thinking about technology as it really is: great when it works. There are multiple implications there.

My cooperating teacher has only fermented my apprehension with technology usage. Beware, he said. Many students do not have computer access at home, outside of school (during school for that matter), and the media center is almost always booked anytime of day. Now what? “Well lady, hoof it to the library.” I hope you’re faster than the daggers she just shot at you. Why would we set our students up to fail? I absolutely see the benefit of wiki and blog usage (ahem), and I love them both. But again, I think it’s a time and a place thing. Perhaps right now, is not the right time for some schools. Maybe when there is more money. Hahahaha. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m done. This proves my point. Incorporate when appropriate, but stick with what you know until the availability is there and is constant.

At times I feel as though we allow technology to do the work for us. Wait? Is that it’s purpose? We are looking for efficiency right, but sometimes doesn’t that take away the means to the end? Careful. It’s supposed to help us actually, not do the work for us. iRobot was just a movie. Do we use blogs as an excuse not to perform academic writing, or is blogging simply an alternative style/genre? Are wikis the new newsletter or syllabi? There are pros and cons folks. I’ve never found more pleasure and success with writing than I do right here, blogging. However, would I use this as an excuse not to be involved in class when I know I can just type it out here? Me? No. But someone else, maybe. As a teacher would I rather point my kid to the wiki than stop, take a minute and speak to them like a human being? I hope not. Of course this all goes back to whether or not it’s available and we have access naturally.

My point is, as with all things, the good comes with the bad. There are pros and cons and we as educated individuals educating individuals need to be smart about our choices. Technology is not to be solely relied on, and is not to replace, but to aid in our daily processes. I have found through my life experiences a love for English, language, literature, etc. This love developed with the help of passionate and talented teachers, without the use of blogs, wikis and textoids..whatever the hell those are anyway. Only now are these things becoming prevalent in my life and adding to my educational experience. We need to be aware of what it is that we are really teaching our children. What do we say when a student says, “but my printer ran out of ink?” Think about it.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Over 35,000 free books listed on the web. Happy reading.

Speaking of Vernacular

Which American accent do you have?

Apparently for the first time in my life I'm:

Neutral

I'm not Northern, Southern, or Western, I'm just plain -American-whatever that means. My national identity is more important than my local identity, because I don`t really have a local identity...apparently.

Or...maybe I was an English major and have an appreciation for linguistics? Who knows.


Which American accent do you have?

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=9827&take_again=yes

Making The Grade

Now maybe I’m a little bit bitter (noooo), but I seemed to find some contradictions within Dornan tonight. She states right off the bat that grading “is labor-intensive work without much of a payoff other than one more grade in a grade-book.” Now who’s the bitter one? If you ask me, although I know no one did, that means you’re doing it all wrong my friend. Now I can’t imagine that any teacher truly has a simply outstanding time grading papers, unless of course you’ve been hanging out with Jago at one of her grading parties, but I do think that once you’ve reached that final page you should have more than a grade to jot down; you should have a better understanding of your students as writers. You should be able to determine student strengths and weaknesses, you should be able to decipher a plan as to how to become a better writing instructor based upon what your students just taught you with that paper you just had an awesome time grading…at the very least. I thought it was our goal to help students become better writers Ms. Dornan? If you look at your job, your chosen profession, as labor-intensive work without much pay off…I bet the Gap down the street is hiring…there’s fulfillment. Are we going to like everything about our job? Absolutely not. But I also guarantee, with all my educational expertise (ha), that if you take on the grading task with that type of boourns attitude, your students are going to be the ones that take the fall..and then you’ll just be a jerk that no one likes. Ever. Jerk.

Whatever happened to the means to the end? What about the process, how ya got there? The long strange trip, if you will.

I am sincerely becoming a colossal fan of the writing workshop notion. While some people honestly like surprises, I on the other hand, enjoy that work shopping manipulates the “surprise ending” of our student’s writing. We know what we are getting for the most part. With a writing workshop we are there guiding, supporting, coaching, etc. the whole way through. Now for you party poopers…the surprise is still there, not to worry, it’s just not “this is it..this is your final paper? Ugh.” You’ve seen the progress, the hard work. Honestly, even if the final paper SUCKS (whatever that means), you at least know that growth, development, thought and God help us critical thinking has taken place.

Surprise!

Amen.

Rubrics. I have mixed feelings about rubrics. While I completely understand, acknowledge, and appreciate their helpfulness, I also cannot help but feel a little 5-4-3-2-1 boxed in. They are hard to create, their contents are tricky, they are difficult to master. However, I know I must also acknowledge that this is not essentially about me (damn), it’s about my students. They are potentially helpful to me because they are potentially helpful to my students. I know as a student I perform better at tasks when I know exactly what is at stake. Funny huh. Perhaps practice is not only how you get to Carnegie Hall, but it also makes perfect.


I heart portfolio assessment. I agree with Dornan here, the portfolio assessment can be a much more meaningful assessment of a student’s achievements than simply calculating the average of papers written. However, I can also see the downfall if simply anything and everything is contained in one’s portfolio. Then it’s less like a portfolio and more like a garbage can. This defeats the purpose. A portfolio should be a place for students to put their most prized work. Here’s your intrinsic motivation ladies and gentlemen. Not only do you as the teacher get to see your students evolve as writers, but so do your students. This could be a very powerful and undeniable tool. Who doesn’t like to see physical proof that they grew two inches over the summer? Who wouldn’t own that?

Prepositions

Another List

Teacher friends, here is a brief list of genres of the multi type.

http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/multigenre/genrelist.html

Storyman

Just for fun. This is classic novels wheel of fortune style.


http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/go_daily_game.pl?game_id=Storyman&id=2

Take Two

If you could do it over again, what would you do?

Would you change something, do another thing differently, modify nothing at all? How does that go…hindsight is 20/20? After every experience we have in our daily lives, whether it went well or it was unspeakably terrible, we have a tendency to occupy an inner dialogue, look back, and think such things. Oh I know what I could have done to make that better, what I meant to say, or in my case, I know what I should have said instead.

Revision.

It’s something I try and do on a daily basis as to not make the same “mistakes” again. It’s true that we learn from our mistakes although some of us (guilty) inevitably repeat them. Once a document, a piece of writing, has been spell checked (hopefully) and printed, it’s extremely hard to make changes. White out and black ink are an ugly combination. Revision, although I do not always practice what I now preach, needs to occur.

In my writing studies I have learned that once a draft has been written, printed, and handed in, does not mean this is the end. However, for most students, myself included, it is the end. In reading Fulwiler I understand that a draft, whether it honestly be the first, or the final, can really be just the beginning. I have been saying to myself for four weeks now that writing is a process. It’s not simply the process that one goes through to get to the printing stage; it should be a multiple draft affair. To attempt multiple drafts, one must revise. Just as in “what I should have said” is, revising our written work is where we actually begin to understand, find, and ultimately tell our story. I am reminded of what my cooperating teacher told his students: “Reread the literature. This doesn’t mean read it once, it means read it more than once, by not doing so means you are not fully understanding what you are reading.” Reading and writing go hand in hand; just as we reread words for comprehension we must revise our writing for the same.

Fulwiler says, “Although writing gets better by rewriting, there are no guarantees. I know of no formula for revising that works ever time or for everyone-or every time for anyone. Revision is a chancy process: Therein lies both the excitement and the frustration.” There are no guarantees for anything in life, but what have you got to lose? Even in an attempt to revise you may find that the original draft suits you best. However, you may never have come to that conclusion without the revision process. Chancy? You bet. You may uncover some things that were not there when you first began. This just might be the ten bucks you didn’t know you had until you finally did your laundry. Who doesn’t appreciate that?

Speaking of appreciation, I’m truly mad about Harper’s toolbox. What a concept. A place in which to keep select devices, i.e. tools, to help one become a better writer. We all have a toolbox, no matter what profession or occupation. They are a necessity of life. Some may contain red pens and coffee, some Dewalts and flathead screws, others tiny pictures of cameras for snapshots and small volcanoes for exploding moments, of which are essential for one’s particular vocation.

I appreciate Harper’s honesty in originally just telling her students to revise their writing. I’m not going to lie; I’m guilty of that. Revise! What does that even mean? How? What? Educators assume that “revise” makes sense and says in just one word what we understand it to mean. Not so. That’s just like telling a student to merely brainstorm without scaffolding. Also guilty of that. Equivalently, we cannot expect a student to revise a paragraph and make it “better,” whatever that means, by saying show me what you mean, don’t tell me. We have all heard that show don’t tell expression in reference to writing, but exactly! Easier said than done right?

I am reminded of the excellent and infectious pedagogy of Mr. Tyler Livingston. He made his classroom into a very similar workshop (I love the pun). He explained to his students that writing is like making a scene. A complete scene is a balance of these tools: snapshots, thoughtshots, and dialogue, if it’s called for. Instead of writing, “use more detail here,” Tyler could draw a small camera-like picture next to the section that needed work, and this helped the students see he was looking for a zoom-in, a close up of detail. This is the difference between describing and really seeing. This is equally true of his little thought bubble and erupting volcano pictures.

We want our students to become better, good, excellent, talented, skilled writers yes? Then why not give them the tools they need to work with their words. This is so much more effective than “revise,” unless all you’re looking for is neater cursive. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Could you just imagine….

NWP

The National Writing Project (NWP) is a professional development network for teachers of writing in all subjects. NWP hopes to enhance student performance by improving how writing is taught, and how learning takes place in schools.


http://www.nwp.org/

Practicalities

Oh the beloved/hated five paragrapher. Raise your hand if you’ve ever concentrated more on the intros, bodies, and conclusions than you have on the content within. Guilty. While I agree that design and organization is paramount, the five paragraph essay its not for everyone, and may not even be necessary for some. Graphic organizers and outlines anyone? This is certainly not to negate the importance of teaching students how to write in specific styles, for a particular audience, or how to orchestrate information. However, I see structure like this potentially imprisoning the written word, which I do think negates the objective of writing. Where’s the idiosyncrasy in that?

I’d like to meet the person who can actually organize their thoughts and feelings. Speaking of feelings…

Poetry. That word fills me with anxiety without even beginning to think about its implications or the expectations of me. Wordsworth:

A slumber did my spirit seal,
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.


Is this slumber literal sleep, or a lack of mortal awareness? I’m stressed out already, and I haven’t even been asked to write my own poetry. This makes the five paragraph essay look pretty good right about now.

I find it terribly interesting that something that is to be so personal is so difficult for so many. Many of us (ahem, as current students) roll our eyes, shoot one another looks from across the room, groan and sink into our seats when poetry is mentioned. Not all of us though, I envy those on the flipside. Now this isn’t to say I do not enjoy poetry, it’s just easier to give up on things that are difficult, right? How does that go? Nothing worth doing is ever easy.

The poetic illustrations within Romano are invaluable. He makes poetry seem less untouchable. And God help me, it’s extraordinary. I love that the multigenre paper is essentially anything goes. There is something for everyone, whether five paragraphs or two voices. Differentiation?

School should be a place for practice, not perfection. The multigenre affords a "try-on" before purchase, and brings about many alternatives or modifications to “the norm.” My coop told me that we all too often try to create change for the sake of creating change without every questioning whether or not it’s meaningful. This is something different that has the power to be meaningful in more ways, to more people, than can be registered. Today at the Young Writers’ Workshop, photographer Wing Young Huie was asked whether he shot or preferred film over digital pictures. His response was that he used film as it always seemed more real to him. He stated, “Authenticity doesn’t exist anymore. Keep it real.” I believe a multigenre paper helps a student explore and find their personal authenticity, whether their choice of film is a five paragraph or prose.