thursday 9/23 at the ctl (rainy day!)

Today I worked on learning Diigo a bit--it's a bookmarking system that people can use online.  Apparently it has classroom applications, too, but I need to learn more about these.  I applied for "educator status" for using Diigo; we shall see if they give it to me.

I also worked with Lynda today on my Group Technology Project assignment.  She give me some very helpful suggestions.  These included narrowing the purpose of the topic for students a bit---for example, don't just have them write on Lady Gaga, but on something controversial Lady Gaga did within the last week or so.  She also suggested that I refine by text and e-mail assignments a bit to make them not so much about the technologies themselves.  I can see this point.  But then again, it's difficult because the books that I've been reading don't offer that many suggestions about how texting and e-mail can be used in writing classrooms.  Lynda also suggested that I clarify my purpose of the assignment; I think this well help. 

I will be in Monday of next week, but not Thursday--I will be going to TYCA then.  I plan to explore Diigo more, Delicious, RSS, and Google stuff in the near future.

last week or so--working on the tech. project assignment

Here's where I'm at with things: about a week ago, I decided not to work technology by technology, but instead focus more on my "Group Technology Assignment" as a whole.  I plan to do this assignment in all my composition courses, with some variations.  I think I'm going to have the students do TWO "Group Technology" assignments and then revise the best one (with their group) for their term-end portfolio.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to get all the group members to decide to revise the same project, but I will leave that for later.

Lately I have been reading Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Tools by Richard Beach et al. and Lesson Plans for Creating Media-Rich Classrooms by Christel and Sullivan.  Both books are helpful in terms of giving me ideas of what to do with my students.  They're really quite inspiring.  After looking over both, I have decided to create a separate "Explanations and Ideas" sheet for my students talking a bit more about what blogs, wikis, etc. ARE.  The original assignment sheet that I constructed doesn't really do this.  So what I've been doing is explaining the different possibilities that students can choose from a bit more.  I've been making an effort to (1) define the technology, (2) give students guidelines as to what to do with it, and (3) give examples on ways to use it.

Here's some of what I have so far:

TECHNOLOGY PROJECT: EXPLANATIONS AND IDEAS

·         BLOGGING PROJECT.  A blog is an online journal that enables students to engage in conversation with each other.  Students need to create a blog at a blogging site (such as www.blogger.com), make postings, and comment on each other’s work. Blogs may (and should) also include other means of visual appeal, such as links, colors, and even videos.  Examples of blogging projects could include the following:

o   Carry on a conversation in your group about a social/cultural/political topic.

o   Create a fictional blog in which your group members adopt different characters’ voices and construct an ongoing story. 

·         WIKI PROJECT.  The purpose of a wiki is to create a collaborative space where everyone may contribute and change the text.   As with blogs, you may comment on each other’s work, add links, colors, and even videos.  (For a short explanation of wikis and how they can be used, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY and view the YouTube video called “Wikis in Plain English.”)  Examples of wiki projects could include the following:

o   Create your own wiki (for a purpose and audience of your choice) using http://pbworks.com.  This website contains directions—and even videos—for how to create an effective wiki.

o   Create your own new wiki entry on Wikipedia (it must be on a person, place, or thing NOT previously mentioned in Wikipedia).

·         VIDEO PROJECT.  Video allows people “to dramatize people’s verbal perceptions” (Beach 152).  Create a video script, film a ten-minute video on a topic and purpose of your choice, and then post the video on YouTube.  (1021—12-13 mins., 1022—15 mins.)  These may include the following:

o   A music video.

o   A short film.

o   A public service announcement.

o   An interview and/or panel on a particular topic.

·         SOCIAL NETWORKING PROJECT. Use either Facebook or Twitter to…...

·         PRESENTATION PROJECT.  Create a brief presentation using either PowerPoint or Prezi (www.prezi.com), and include no more than twenty slides. (1021 and 1022—include voice-over).  Be sure to define a specific purpose and audience for your presentation, and include effective use of colors, links, and even videos.  Examples could include the following:

o   A presentation to parents explaining why current MPAA movie ratings need to be more harsh on animated films.

o   A presentation to fast-food consumers on the dangers of eating at McDonald’s.

o   A presentation to your student organization on how to use social networking to promote its mission.

·         TEXTING PROJECT.  According to a recent study of first-year composition students, students do texting more than any other type of writing.  This result points to “the importance of hand-held devices like mobile phones as a writing platform” in the 21^st century.  Discuss a particular popular cultural topic with your group using texting for at least one hour.  Then write a paper in which you consider this question: How does the texting medium itself affect how you communicate? 

·         E-MAIL PROJECT.  Discuss a particular popular cultural topic using e-mail.  Consider this: does the e-mail medium itself play a role in your message and how you convey it?

·         PODCASTING PROJECT. (1021 AND 1022 ONLY)

·         GAMING PROJECT. (1021 AND 1022 ONLY)  Create and define the parameters of a particular game for others to play online.

I will continue to work on this on Thursday.  I meet with Lynda on Thursday at 4 pm, too.

my 4th day at the ctl--a (semi) epiphany

Today when I woke up I thought that I'd focus my CTL work today on Facebooking. After some consideration, though, I realized that I think I need to spend some time looking at "the bigger picture." I can't just go about my work here by looking at one technology at a time and playing with it. Really, it's not about the technology, ultimately. Technology is a means to an end; technology will help me and my students fulfill our objectives for our composition courses, but technology in and of itself will not make my students better writers.

 

So I decided to think more about my use of technology in the context of my course syllabus for English 0090 and decided that, instead of having several different technology assignments, have a couple "Group Technology Projects" in the class and give students some choice about which ones they want to do. I would allow them to choose their purpose and audience for the projects, as they did this summer. That seemed to work well.

So here's how I readjusted the grading portion of my English 0090 syllabus:

Final Portfolio—140 points—35% of course grade
The grading on the Final Portfolio is broken down as follows:

• Two Revised Formal Essays AND One Revised Group Technology Project 100 points (33 points each +1 at least 500 words per person) point for completion of all 3)
• Overall E-folio (500 word minimum) 20 point
• Reflective Letter (300 word minimum) 20 points

Six Major Writing Tasks (Paragraphs and Projects)--120 points--30% of course grade. Six paragraphs/projects, about 250 words per person (20 points each; best 6/8 count)

• Individual Paragraphs: Narrative, Descriptive, Comparison/Contrast, Process, Visual Analysis, Definition. (best 5/6 count in grade)
• Two Group Technology Projects (best 1/2 counts in grade)

And here's how I readjusted my "Group Technology Project" assignment:

Group Technology Project(s) on Popular Culture
(must complete two; best one will count—x points)


Directions: In groups of three, I want you to complete a project on some aspect of popular culture. Genres of "popular culture" include television, the Internet, music, videos, games/gaming, sports, computers, fast food, toys, comics, films, and/or DVDs. Try to be specific in your focus (exs: Lady Gaga instead of "music," or the film Avatar instead of "films").

You and your group will define the main PURPOSE and AUDIENCE for this project. The audience may vary greatly: it may be children, mothers, fathers, professionals, co-workers, academics, teenagers, the elderly, people outside the U.S., etc. (Somewhere in/on your project, you will need to state clearly its purpose and audience.) Once you choose an audience, you should be better able to think about your major purpose--what, exactly, are you trying to accomplish with this project?

After your purpose and audience are settled, choose ONE of the following to work on:

• BLOGGING PROJECT. Take turns blogging on a particular topic.
• WIKI PROJECT. Create your own wiki using pbworks.com and/or your own wiki entry on Wikipedia.
• VIDEO PROJECT. Create a ten-minute video. (1021—12-13 mins., 1022—15 mins.)
• SOCIAL NETWORKING PROJECT. Use either Facebook or Twitter.
• PRESENTATION PROJECT. Use either PowerPoint or Prezi, and include no more than twenty slides. (1021 and 1022—include voice-over)
• PODCASTING PROJECT. (1021 AND 1022 ONLY)
• GAMING PROJECT. (1021 AND 1022 ONLY) Create and define the parameters of a particular game for others to play online.

NOTE: FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE FOR THESE TECHNOLOGY CHOICES. NO MORE THAN ONE GROUP CAN DO ANY ONE OF THESE CHOICES.

 

I also thought I'd order some books about classroom techniques and social networking. Here are the ones I ordered off Amazon.com today:

 

• Teaching With Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts & More: Dozens of Easy Ideas for Using Technology to Get Kids Excited About Learning  Kathleen Fitzgibbon; Paperback; $7.91
• The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age.  William R. Kist; Paperback; $24.01
• Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  Willard (Will) Richardson; Paperback; $26.20.

I also ordered the following from NCTE:

• What Works in Writing Instruction, Dean (not ready until October)
• Lesson Plans for Developing Digital Literacies, Christel and Sullivan (not ready until November)
• Lesson Plans for Developing Media-Rich Classrooms, Christel and Sullivan (ready now!)

So what do you all think of all this?

 

my third day at the ctl

Okay, today I finally finished what I think is a viable Prezi for my English 0090 class on "Writing a Paragraph."  I'm not completely satisfied with it, but here it is:

Writing an Effective Paragraph on Prezi

Here's what I like about Prezi:

• I like the idea of working with a whole canvas, not just "slides."
• I like being able to move the slide order easily, and even move the position of the slides up and down, or in and out.
• It seems to me that one can fit more on a Prezi "grouping" than one can on a PowerPoint slide.
• I think Prezi would be good for a presentation with videos and/or a lot of images.  (The one I'm working on just happened not to require any; it seemed to me that the information was pretty straight forward.)

Here's what I don't like as much about Prezi:

• I really loathe the limited font and color options.  For example, Prezi lets you change fonts and colors ONLY from their limited style options (fewer than ten).  In this respect, PowerPoint is much, much better.
• On the whole, I think PowerPoint is more user-friendly.  It's really easier to develop a PowerPoint than it is to work with Prezi, in my view.

I am still thinking of the possibility of doing a PowerPoint instead for this class--perhaps one with a voice over?  I think more color options might be more appealing to the viewers (in this case, the students).  But then again, perhaps it really doesn't matter.  What matters most is their mastery of the content, and would a PowerPoint make THAT big a difference.  Truthfully, I still prefer PowerPoint, but I don't think it's THAT superior to Prezi.

One thing I want to investigate in the near future is how to insert quizzes into Power Points--Mike Mendez from Century sent me some info about this, so I want to look into it in the near future.