Where I'm From (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCUgN2V8hvI&feature=youtu.be

Stressin'

This isn’t the image I had in mind, but the one I wanted to use is a comic strip from a newspaper in the 90s and I don’t really have access to that right now so this’ll do. But! I’m going to explain to you the comic from the 90s because it’s really important to my thought process.  My dad posted it on my brother’s door when it was first in the paper.  It’s a drawing of these parents looking into their kid’s room and he’s got lines of cocaine and jars of weed and all of these other drugs overtaking his room.  His dad’s speech bubble simply says, “At least he’s not downloading music”.  This is how I view most adults’ stances on technology, which is why I suppose I chose the current visual. 

So why is this important?  I’m going to be honest.  I’ve been having a lot of trouble synthesizing all of the ideas from these various articles into one blog post.  It would be simple for me to write on just Atwell’s piece, but that’s not the assignment, is it? No. It is not.  The thing that drew all of these texts together for me was 1) the emphasis on organization and 2) the emphasis on new literacies as an ethos.  In Digital Writing Workshop, Hicks points out that “teachers could invite students to use a blog to post comments on a teacher-initiated discussion. Yet this would not be new, as it is simply using a traditional pedagogy (teacher-led discussion) with a new technology” (page 16).  So back to my thought process.  I chose the visuals because it seems to me that even when teachers understand how to work technology, they are still not understanding the culture of a new literacies stance; they are still not understanding how such a stance could benefit their kids.  All of these texts did a good job of including examples of a new literacies curriculum. 

Atwell describes the purposes of her writing workshop and goes into detail about the criteria.  She mentions one very important criterion in my mind:

Publication in a writing workshop must be a given: student writers need access to readers beyond the teacher if they're to understand what writing is good for, and if they're to write with care and conviction.

Smagorinsky chimes in:

When possible, teachers provide additional readerships for students’ writing, such as having students send their arguments about local policy issues to key stakeholders, enter their writing in competitions, send letters and other writing to newspapers, post their writing on the Internet, and otherwise use their writing for authentic communicative purposes (page 23).

I know that we have already discussed this qualification of a new literacies stance, but it has recently become much more important to me.  You see, as I’ve been researching this stance for this course, I’ve become paranoid that I’m not doing it correctly.  Technically, I haven’t done anything yet, but our discussion in Michelle’s class about the difference between a traditional classroom and a non-traditional classroom and how some of us have plans for our November Units that resemble a traditional classroom got me all worried.  This qualification of a new literacies stance makes me think that at least my students can get something out of the experience even if the feedback is not from me. Is this making any sense? I feel like this is the most disconnected blog post I’ve done.  Oh well…

Another of my concerns is the organization. When Atwell went into detail about the organization of her classroom, I’m quite sure I had approximately 40 heart attacks.  Her organization was so meticulous that it made me nervous.  I know that the reason she included such detail is so that other teachers could model her example, but dear lord! I am not an organized person…not like that, anyway.  Is it possible to have a successful writing workshop without that much organization? Is a writing workshop even something I would consider with my class?  I’m not sure.  Time will tell.

Geeking Out

I love all of this information on digital literacy.  I think that the most important lesson, still, that I’ve learned is that digital literacy is a completely new kind of curriculum.  There is a difference between incorporating technology and incorporating technology in a meaningful way. That being said, I particularly like the idea of implementing hanging out, messing around, and geeking out into the classroom.  I also love that most or all of the ideas from The Digital Writing Workshop can translate into these three categories.

The concentration on student interaction with technology in “Living and Learning With New Media” seems really important to the new media literacy curriculum.  Because the emphasis is based on how technology shapes students’ ways of thinking, we should be examining the ways in which they interact with technology.  One quote I found especially poignant from this study is found on page 25:

Although some view these activities as dead-ends or a waste of time, we see them as a necessary part of self-directed exploration in order to experiment with something that might eventually become a longer-term, abiding interest in creative production.

This quote is especially significant because it questions the views of adults.  Adults, the people who control what these kids do for seven hours a day, many times do not see worth in how their students chose to spend their days.  If adults do not see the meaning in their students’ interests, they are less likely to embrace them, which is a huge set back for education.  It is therefore important to examine the meaning in technology in order to embrace the benefits of technology, and there are many benefits.

            Once the adult or teacher has decided to questions her views, she must then implement them, which is where the research done in Ito’s study and the lesson plans provided in The Digital Writing Workshop come in handy.

            The “hanging out” aspect of new literacy has changed the way students interact with one another.  Online is a place where everyone has a valid view and all peers are categorized as “friends”.  In the classroom, we can implement this new community with discussions, small group activities, and other interactions with peers.  Because students are in basically constant contact, it seems counterintuitive to try to isolate them for a large chunk of the day.

            The “messing around” aspect of new literacy is where a little bit more classroom instruction comes into play.  As the quote above shows, there are various benefits of the messing around stage that translate directly into the classroom.  Giving creative assignments such as photo-essays, podcasts, and video production allow students a chance for “unique opportunities for expression” (Hicks, 65).  If a student is individually interested in the topic or the means of presentation of the topic, they are more likely to have continued interest.

            “Geeking out” provides so many benefits—interaction with others, self-taught learning.  Having one project a semester when a student can choose any medium to present on a book or topic would tap into that geeking out side. 

            All in all, these three kinds of interactions with technology are ones that I have experienced myself and would love to have had implemented more in my classroom.  Although the Digital Writing Workshop provides many examples of lesson plans and ideas, I’m excited to get to a more topic specific version of these lesson plans.

As I publish this, I see that I've forgotten to examine the ideas presented in the readings as seen in my classroom at Clarke Central.  On a daily basis, my MT allows the advanced students to interact with one another in small groups, the on-level class as a large group.  Although he uses youtube clips every once in a while and assigns students drawing assignments, I haven't seen much evidence of him attempting a new literacy education.  I will continue to critically observe though, and see if I've missed anything after reading these pieces.

New Media, New Rules

I would like to start off this post by saying that I love Ken Robinson.  His TED Talk is my favorite of all time.  Of. All. Time. Here’s a link: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

            If you took the time to actually watch this twenty-minute video or if you’ve seen it already, you’re likely to infer that I’m all about creative lesson plans.  I have always believed in using technology in the classroom, but I’ve never experienced a teacher who’s done it correctly.  Most teachers were more like Carol from Bailey’s article when she was first starting out with a multimodal curriculum.  Teachers would use a multimodal curriculum as an addendum to a traditional curriculum.  These teachers were always easily my favorites, but if I had a teacher who implemented an entirely multimodal curriculum, I don’t think I would be able to contain my enthusiasm about school.  These articles have therefore already changed my view on multimodal education.  I always thought that what my teachers were doing was the beginning and the end of using technology in the classroom, but if I can become an effective enough educator to use a multimodal model at all times, I’ll not only be adding to a basic curriculum, but changing it into a new, better (in my opinion) media one.

            As mentioned in the video on Henry Jenkins’s post and in Bailey’s post, “students engage in far more sophisticated literacy practices outside of schools than inside”.  I think this is one of the most important statements from the articles.  Just because students don’t want to learn in school doesn’t mean they don’t want to learn in other areas of life.  In fact, they are learning in other areas.  That’s why it’s our job as teachers to make learning interesting for these modern-day readers.

            In the same stream, it is touched upon in the Jenkins interview that in today’s world, writers of media are expected to be not renaissance men, but experts in one or a few areas with everyone contributing to a common, shared knowledge.  This basis is supported in the Herrington and Moran piece when they talk about using blogs as an alternate form of writing.  This method seems a sustainable way to modify a classic essay, as it allows for interaction with others.  If we are going to teach a multimodal curriculum as a social curriculum, we must allow students to interact with varying viewpoints and opinions.  If each student believes in the power of their knowledge, they will gain confidence in their knowledge. 

            One issue that I grappled most with was the connection that students have to text.  We’ve talked about the Common Core standards limiting the amount of self to text reflection.  Although I understand that this does not mean the end of material students can connect to, I think it’s important to analyze this standard within the confines of a multimodal curriculum.  It can’t be all about an individual student’s connections to a certain song and why that is important to them, they must be able to draw important criticisms from the music, as stated in Bailey.  Obviously, higher forms of learning need that support from the text, but how do different texts affect the strength of the evidence? How do I get students to draw support from movies, television shows, and magazines when I’ve never had this experience myself and how do students keep their connections with such texts out of the conversation?

I Am From

I am from books, books, rows of books
(new but dusty,
smelling of must).
I am from my dad's rock-hounding spoils
    amethyst
    quartz
    agate,
The smell of polishing dust,
I am from the tree house
   and my mother's daffodils
   which seemed so good for picking
   but which earned me a spanking.
I am from the paper-trunk tree, its layers never ending.
I am from "friends come and go, but family lasts forever"
I am from "tell your brother you're sorry" and "let's all calm down".
I am from Anthony and Anne,
   tales of grandma from when mom was young.
I am from her lasagna and real spaghetti sauce.
I am from Miriam's lily paintings and the Lennox pattern kilt.
I am from precious memories--
   rings and pictures stored in a green, Italian music box
   playing "Come Back to Sicily".

GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL

Okay, sorry that I may or may not be the corniest person ever, but any time I hear or see the word goal, I think of soccer announcers— hence the title of this post. But this is a serious topic so I digress.

When I first set out to begin my career in the English Education program (a feat decided upon my freshman year), I had vague realizations of my aspirations. I wasn't sure exactly what kind of teacher I wanted to be, only that I wanted to be a good one.  If I'm being honest, I still don't know exactly what kind of teacher I'd like to be, but I have a starting point in this student teaching experience.  I guess, then, that is my ultimate goal—to find out what kind of teacher I would like to be.  To find out how strict or lax to be, how traditional or innovative (not one or the other, but where on the scale).

I have so many other goals, however, essential to my end goal.  For instance, my initial goal is to find out how to interact with students in this new environment.  I’m used to working with different types of learners after three semesters of tutoring at Classic City High School, but the dynamic of a classroom is completely different.  I feel awkward and out of place in the classroom so far, some of this perhaps due to my awkward relationship with my mentor teacher.  I don’t know my place in the classroom and need to have a conversation with my mentor teacher about that.  I’m not sure how much I should discipline the students or why he’s not, but I hope to get clarification on this subject.  In order to actively interact with the students, my very first goal was to learn every name of every student in my classes and I have done just that.  Hopefully I’m on my way to becoming a confident teacher!  In an ideal world, I would be comfortable in front of a full class by the end of this semester and most definitely by the end of my student teaching experience.

The topic of student teaching next semester brings me to my next goal—to learn how to properly write a lesson plan and how to prepare worthwhile lessons.  Again, many goals fit into this one.  How do I benefit different types of learners? How do I make sure the content is not too difficult or easy for students in the same classroom?  How do I best teach writing to different learners? How do I best teach reading to different learners?  I must learn to teach to different learning styles.  I must learn to scaffold and differentiate.  I must be able to tailor this knowledge to benefit my lesson plans.  I believe this goal encompasses several important classroom components, which is why it itself is important.  However, at this point, I don’t even know where to start when writing a lesson plan.  My mentor teacher calls his lesson plans “filling in boxes” and what he writes is rarely what we do.  This flexibility and ability to change lesson plans based on the needs of the students is certainly beneficial, but I need to learn the rules before I can break them.  Therefore, I wish to write effective lesson plans.

I hope these classes will work, as stated, as cohesive units.  I believe all of the courses are important to becoming the best teacher I can be, which is, after all, my true goal.