Reflection of Class

To start out with what was most usefully found from this class was Read, Write, Think.org.  This website, its lessons, and its philosophy really set the standard for everything else that I scrutinized in this course.  I found myself reverting back to this website to see what it offered in comparison to other lesson plans on different websites.  And, because it is associated with NCTE, the professional organization for teachers of English, I became aware of the professionalism that goes into designing and analyzing lesson plans.

This class has allowed me to become aware of the possibilities of incorporating the internet and technology into the classroom.  Since the majority of this class is internet based, a lot of the lesson plans I found utilized the internet and its potential in the classroom (i.e. blogging, Wordle.net, SAS Curriculum Pathways, and Discovery Education United Streaming)  Also, from these and other websites I was led to programs  and resources such as The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) and SchoolsMovingUp a WestEd Initiative.

All of the academic articles in this class I found most useful and inspiring and I saved them on Furl (which is now Diigo), which I also found to be a previously unheard of tool.

However, I do have some complaints  and concerns about this course as an online course.  Well, I should reiterate.  I have complaints about online courses in general, this being my first one.  Having to stare at a computer screen for hours at a time and having all my resources (links, websites, multimedia) online is a tedious and boring process.  I constantly found myself tired of looking at the computer screen and reading text–often I think I just starting skimming through text.  I most definitely had to print out, otherwise I don’t comprehend the material.

From this course, I realized how much I value paper, paper books, and writing with ink.  Even though we are entering the 21st century and lots of our reading materials are entering the world of the web, I don’t see it improving my ability to read–it is actually the opposite.  There is something organic about the interaction between the hands, eyesight, and paper and ink that makes online reading too sterile, too dull, and too irksome.  I am really concerned about technologies such as Amazon’s Kindle.  Synthesizing this information, I have realized that I want to achieve a healthy balance between online and paper material in the classroom.  Personally, I want students to analyze the difference.

As far as my blog goes, I think I will continue to use one for my personal use.  I don’t know about using this actual one again, but this summer I might document my learning using a blog during a nonacademic internship.  For classroom purposes, I think there is a time and a place for class blog and personal blogs, and I hope to make this time at some point in the future.

Section IV: Lesson #2: Wordle: Using Word Clouds in a Lesson

Name: Kevin Webster

Title: Wordle: Using Word Clouds in a Lesson

Link: Technology and Education: Box of tricks

http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=103

(found on a Google search)

Summary:

Earlier in this blog, I found a tool, Wordle.net, that makes word clouds out of text that you put into the word box. The tool arranges words based on the parameters selected by the user. For example, to analyze the word choice of a particular author, all his or her works could be inserted and a word cloud could display the frequency of each word (higher frequency words would display larger than the others).

For this section, I wanted to see how teachers were using this tool, and I found an example of a way it could be used in the classroom.

The lesson went very well and I found Wordle to be an useful and interesting tool to use to engage my pupils in text analysis, looking at language and vocabulary in detail. My pupils liked the way Wordle automatically picked up the gist of any given text so much that they asked me about how to use Wordle to help them revise in other subjects.

1. What content would you be teaching with the lesson?

What’s great about this is that the content here can be varied. It can be text analysis, vocabulary, word choice or data representation. It could also be used with multiple content areas. I myself, like in the link, would use it to show how correlative two separate pieces can be. It shows relationships between texts and when used backwards (when the word cloud is showed before the original text) it stimulates the higher order thinking of the student; their conclusions will have to have some sort of reasoning, and they will enjoy it.

2. What group of students would you be teaching–grade level, content area?

I would use this with any grade level. From elementary on up to 12th grade. The lesson is very versatile and can be fostered to about any group. It also introduces technology into the classroom. Also, other content areas
such as history and math would benefit from this tool.

3. What do you like about the lesson?

I most like the interactivity of using this tool in the classroom. It breaks down literature and textual analysis in a way that has never been thought of before and it is easy to set up. When looking at word clouds in attempt to interpret the original meaning, we have to put on our thinking caps and dig through the meaning of words and the significance of word choice.

4. What would you modify in the lesson?

The only way I would modify this lesson is to make it another lesson. I would have students create their own word clouds after having used them to analyze texts. It could be a introspection into their own ability as writers. They could examine their own word choice, whether they like their word choice or not, and they can shift their own focus. It’s is useful that students can not only analyze other writing but also their own.

Section IV: Lesson #1: Latino Poetry Blog

Name: Kevin Webster

Title of Lesson: Latino Poetry Blog: Blogging as a Forum for Open Discussion

Link to Lesson: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1160

Summary of Lesson from Website:

In this lesson, which is most appropriate for eighth and ninth grades, students use critical thinking skills to analyze Latino poetry. Students then refine their writing skills as they respond meaningfully to their peers’ poetry analyses on a class blog. The act of blogging encourages students to think carefully about their responses and to use good writing techniques. Students have the option of making the blog public, thus encouraging good Internet etiquette and further analysis with people outside of school.

1. What content would you be teaching with the lesson?

This lesson consolidates multiple topics: Using technology, such as an online blog, as a communication and writing tool, learning how to analyze poetry, and learning how research affects interpretation. In my methods class I am creating a unit on Latino American Literature, and in this class (RE 4620) my focus is on writing. Here, students would be writing in a unique way, on a blog, and critiquing and analyzing literature using that method.

2. What group of students would you be teaching–grade level, content area?

This lesson would apply to ninth grade English I students. I think it would work well with a majority Hispanic demographic but it could also work well with a Caucasian demographic as well. Students would be introduced to poetry, its forms, and its analysis which focuses on the genre concetration of ninth grade English.

3. What do you like about the lesson?

What I like about this lesson, and every other lesson on Read, Write, Think, is the amount of resources provided. There are links to reading lists, worksheets that organize the students effort (from creating the blog to checklists that facilitate research). The lesson does not have the teacher transmit information but allows the student to construct their own meaning from poetry and also allows them to publish the work in a unique way. Blogs are hands on, they are a quick and easy way for teachers to assess student work, and they are an engaging strategy to make meaning out of a subject.

4. What would you modify in the lesson?

If doing this, I think I would add a creative aspect to the writing section. If students wanted to write their own poetry in response to the literature, students could post this onto their blog. “I poems” would work well here if they were to create one in the perspective the author that they are required to research. I truly believe one way to teach poetry is to write poetry.

Although blogs are a great way to consolidate, publish, and show data and collected writing, it is a fabulous method to display art, pictures, and video. I would possibly want to add more multimedia to this lesson since it is a focus of the possibilities of the internet.

Article #3: “A Professional Development Initiative for Developing Approaches to Vocabulary Instruction With Secondary Mathematics, Art, Science, and English Teachers”

This article was enlightening on the topic of strengthening vocabulary skills in content areas to help students comprehend the material better.  Knowing words, their parts, and their history is fine method into any study.  The history of a word shows the evolution of it over time and also puts into perspective the subject being discussed.  Studying vocabulary the right way (word-definition matching being the wrong way) focuses less on transmitting information to students and allows them to research and find meaning on their own rather than interpreting meaning from their teachers.

Writing, whether it be writing  “I” poems, multigenres, or using writing as a tool to create  multiple representations of words, is a surefire way to stimulate the mind the right way.

Also, the literature circle strategy employed in the article by Ms. Miller is an unconventional way to use the literature circle; she adapted the strategy to fit the need of vocabulary.

This article was useful because it set the idea straight that we can return to our roots (words) to process, transmit, and create literacy.  Many of the strategies presented in the article may also be adapted to technology forms.

Article #2: “‘I’ Poems: Invitations for students to deepen literary understanding”

Apart from the disturbing story “Out of the Dust,” this article was quite enlightening regarding the use of creative writing to deepen the understanding of reading.

“‘I’ Poems: Invitations for students to deepen literary understanding” by Linda Kucan shows the implications and benefits of using the “I” poem, a poem written in the first person perspective of a literary character, place, or object, as a literary strategy to engage students in reading and writing. An example used by the author is to use “I” poems to focus on a particular element of the literature like the setting or a particular character. “I” poems also require students to assume the perspective another person or element and imagine the experiences and forces that come with that territory. It requires that students break out of the self and imagine an existence in another’s shoes.

3 Thinking Questions:

1. Although, “I” poems deepen the understanding and strengthen the connection between the text and the reader, and since it focuses on one particular element, will it not hinder the reader’s future reading experiences if that particular piece of literature does not emphasize that specific element previously studied?
2. Is it possible that the “I” poems and the “I am” poems provide too much formatting?
3. How would one assess the poems for grading purposes? Would it be based on the quality of the poem’s or the ability of the student to “understand and remember ideas better” (p. 519)? Is this about the poem or the text? Or both?

Article #1 Response: “The Multigenre paper: Increasing interest, motivation, and functionality in research”

“The Multigenre paper: Increasing interest, motivation, and functionality in research” by Margaret R. “Cookie” Moulton introduces new and alternative ways to produce research in classrooms by addressing the problems and shortcomings of “traditional research papers.” The argument was that the use of the conventional research paper in the classroom is only used to imitate (“a pale carticature” p 528) academic research and is, essentially, boring and unexciting for English students.

The article makes the point that the use of the Multigenre (or the “I-search,” “We-search,” and other alternative research based projects) is more fun, more creative, and even has the potential to produce better research from the student. By crafting and manipulating genres based on the research material, students not only synthesize the research in an interesting way but also they are gaining writing skills that require different perspectives, assume different audiences, and use a different part of the brain (the creative side).

3 Thinking Questions?

1. If teachers are only assigning the traditional research paper for the purpose of imitation, then why are they assigning it at all? And also, do teachers or researchers expect students to get it right the first time? Does it not take practice?
2. Let’s be hypothetical and assume that all teachers rejected traditional research papers and replaced them with the Multigenre (or the alternative) because A.) They apply the theory of multiple intelligences B.) They create a stimulating school environment and C.) They produce more thorough work from students. What happens when some of them get to college and research papers are meant to be serious academic endeavors and they don’t know how to write one or perform proper MLA (insert other paper format here) formatting  ?
3. For this question I was thinking could the Multigenre alienate those that either wish to perfect and practice the traditional or just simply aren’t creative?

Instructional Strategy #5: Publishing Student Writing

REVIEWER:

Kevin Webster

TITLE:

Publishing Student Writing / WRITING CAFE’S

SOURCE:

Encourage Student Writing — Publish on the Web!

Student Online Publishing

DESCRIPTION:

This is less of a strategy of writing but an assessment and a technique that provides students with a realistic audience to motivates writing and gives students a bigger sense of purpose for their writing. Letting students know that they will have the chance to have their writing published for the entire world to see gives writing assignments a higher degree of seriousness.

Publishing is a post-writing strategy that can improve pre-writing and in-process writing.

Students love to share their work with others. Most teachers post student work in their class or around the school or send work home for parents to post the work on the refrigerator. The Internet provides students a chance to share their work with a worldwide audience which can be a very powerful and motivating opportunity for students. However, we need to make sure to protect our children as they work in this arena. Be sure to have parental permission from parents before posting students’ work and never reveal personal information about a student.

Student Online Publishing

Publishing student writing encourages the reluctant writer, strengthens kids’ self-confidence, rewards interest, and promotes a positive attitude toward literature. If your school is like most, however, you lack an easy and effective way of publishing your students’ work. Now, help is as close as a mouse click away! Today, Education World writer Glori Chaika explores opportunities to publish student writing — and teacher writing — on the Web.

Education World

“Writing Cafes” is probably a post-writing strategy or event that is already in existence somewhere out there, but I am going to put it in my own words. Writing Cafes gives students a chance to read the writing to the class and receive immediate feedback from other students and whoever else is present. Here students can gain feedback and receive assessment on style and voice and the impact of their writing on the audience. If a students writing something boring, then they’ll see the audience’s reaction; vice versa for a an exciting piece.

EXPLANATION & ELABORATION OF STRATEGY:

As mentioned previously, announcing ahead of time that the student’s writing is going to have deeper meaning and that it might see other eyes than just the teacher’s, then the writing serves a different purpose. Publishing student work is also a way to bridge the gap between the classroom and the community, the classroom and the Internet, or the classroom and the outside world.

Writing Cafes can and should include community members, other teachers, and other students. They work much like Poetry Readings/Lounges and should not be only required for students.

“By publishing student work, teachers increase the authenticity of student learning and increase the possibility of wider audience response beyond the local classroom community.” As noted in Woodrow Trathen’s article, “Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing: Meeting Student (and Teacher) Learning Needs to Achieve Best Practice in the 21^st Century,”

Some websites that Publish Student Writing:

• KidsBookshelf
• The Starlite Café
• White Barn Press
• Young Writer
• Writing with Writers