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?