Reflection

Part of the reason I took this class is because I was a complete neophyte at digital writing technology. After finishing this course, I would no longer say I am a complete beginner and I am excited about using what I've learned with my classes. I did not really know what vlogs were and I would like to incorporate those in my classroom. I also liked learning about podcasts and how to actually make them. This is a great way to get students writing scripts. Digital poetry is also exciting to me. Students either love or hate poetry and I think incorporating digital poetry would get more students to love poetry.

Because of this class, I've been reminded that there are multiple ways to teach writing besides just the essay format. Sometimes I get too focused on the curriculum I'm supposed to teach and the standards I'm supposed to follow that I forget there are other ways of meeting these standards. I think that's what I took away most from this class. I've been so influenced by various teachers over the years that the essay is the end all in the English class and that is just not true any more. Of course it's important and actually digital writing can help with writing essays as well, but there is so much more out there for students (and teachers) to experience and experiment with. Ultimately I want my students to be engaged in what they're learning and digital writing really does this. I know I've been engaged this semester with all I've been learning.

In students' portfolios I would have them include multiple drafts of their writing. I think it's important for students to see their first stages of writing up to the finished product. Portfolios can be extremely beneficial for students to see that they have made progress in their writing. When I have students look back at their writing from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, they are amazed at what they had written and how they've improved. Even if they haven't improved that much, I think often they forget about their writing once it's turned in. When they look back on it, they can pick out more mistakes and skills they still need to work on.

I think wikis can be helpful with editing and reflecting on writing. Students can look back on the specific changes they've made to their writing. Also, blogs can be helpful as well. It gives them a place to post their writing and see how they've progressed throughout a semester or a school year.

Website Readability

I decided to look at aol.com versus yahoo.com. The reason I chose these were because I must view these two websites dozens of times a day. For some reason AOL is my homepage. I've tried changing it before but it always seems to come back to aol.com. I'm embarrassed because I should be a little bit more computer savvy with this than I am. I use yahoo as my primary email address.

I think aol.com is designed very effectively, at least it is for me. I never intend to go to aol.com except to open my internet. However, almost every time I do go to the site, one of the revolving stories with pictures captures my interest and I end up clicking on that story. The revolving story idea is very effective. It changes about every 5-10 seconds and so I exposed to multiple stories while I'm just trying to connect to the internet. Also, aol.com separates their news stories in an effective way. I just need to scroll down to read "Top News" or "Entertainment News" etc.

I am not a fan of yahoo.com. I only use the site for email. Yahoo rarely catches my attention with stories. There is no revolving news story with graphics. There is only one main story with a graphic. Also, the webiste is very cluttered with headings that are difficult to pick out at first glance.

I do think aol.com is very cluttered as well but it has more prominent headings and graphics that change continuously. But as far as grabbing my attention when I have no intention of looking at the website, aol is much more effective.

Online Feedback

Giving students feedback on their writing is an area where I really need to improve. It takes me awhile to grade essays thoroughly and so often my feedback is not immediate. I like that with digital writing I can give feedback more quickly.

Since it's difficult to edit for mechanics, grammar, spelling mistakes without a paper copy, I think the best way to give online feedback is to focus solely on content. Which I need to work on anyway. Sometimes I focus too much on minor details in students' essays.

I think the best way to give feedback is to ask questions. This is what I usually do when reading drafts of students' essays anyway. I think this is very helpful for students peer editing writing as well. They need a guide and need to know what to look for. Answering the questions allows for them to look at their peers' writing critically.

With other disciplines it's more important that students answer a specific question or set of questions in writing. With language arts, there are multiple components that I look for in students' writing. For example, I try to work on developing students' voices in their writing. This is something that I assume math and science writing is not as concerned about.

Podcasts

I've been a fan of podcasts since I began commuting a long distance two and a half years ago. I download a lot of books read on podcasts. It's so helpful because books on CD are incredibly expensive and free book podcasts are plentiful on iTunes. Although sometimes I do sacrifice the quality for the quantity. There is definitely a wide array of readers out there. I've had to delete many podcasts because I can't stand to listen to some of the readers' voices. Since I am not an auditory listener myself, I need to listen to someone with some expression in his or her voice.

I read Seabiscuit with some of my ninth grade classes. Often this book is a hit or miss with students. They don't always relate to the horse racing. I think podcasting would work well with this unit. The radio was such a big part of Seabiscuit's success in the 1930s and 1940s. His races were broadcast all over the nation and his popularity sky-rocketed because of it. I don't think students quite grasp how popular Seabiscuit was at the time. It's hard for them to believe that he drew bigger crowds than the Super Bowl does today. Anyway, I think if students created their own "radio" shows to mirror the popularity of radio in the 1930s-1940s, it may increase their engagement with Seabiscuit. I'm not sure the type of format I would have them use. I could go a couple different ways with it, I suppose. I could have them emulate radio shows that were popular in the 1930s or have them create their own shows that would be popular today and have them incorporate Seabiscuit in them somehow.

I do really like the idea of writing and editing that goes along with creating a podcast. I think this is a great way for students to reflect on their writing and how it actually sounds when it's read aloud. Also, I think emphasizing editing with the podcast scripts is very important. I find that students often don't like to edit their writing but since these scripts will be broadcast, this might encourage students to be a bit more polished with their writing.

Digital Writing Teaching Ideas and My Final Project

There are many ways I would use digital technology in my classroom. Taking this class has really helped me see all the different technology options that are out there. Unfortunately I feel like the technology at my school is severely lacking. (I suppose I should probably start writing those grants...).

So at the moment with the current technology I have available at my school, there are a couple options as to how I can use digital writing in my classroom. I like the idea of individual blogs for each student. Instead of reflecting in daily journals as I have my students do now, I would have them reflect online. I like this idea because students can read their peers' work. But then again I'm not really sure if they would read their peers' work unless it was assigned.

I also like the idea of having a class wiki, or a wiki relating to a novel we're reading. I like the idea of collaboration. I think for my final project I will probably do a wiki for a novel. I'm leaning towards doing one for Lord of the Flies. I usually have students journal as one of the characters, but instead I may have them write wiki pages in groups as the characters. It would great to have them create vlogs as the characters as well. With the current technology at my school I don't think this is an option but maybe in the future.

I like the idea of place-based writing as well. Red Wing is an interesting town rich in history and although I'm not a history teacher, I think it would be interesting for students to gather photos of their town, stories, history, etc. and post it on a wiki. This may work well in American Literature and we could tie it in with authors who have lived or visited Red Wing, like Thoreau for example.

Vegetarian in a Box

Here is my box logic on vegetarianism.

Fun with Flickr

Abbey Road

I'm finding Flickr to be very addicting. As I've been working with it the last couple days, I've been searching through hundreds of photos. Today alone I spent almost two hours (I am ashamed to admit) looking at photos from various places like London, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Hastings (where I grew up), Red Wing (where I teach), and other places I've traveled.

I finally chose London for my slideshow. I studied abroad in London during college and have been back twice since then. All of these photos were taken by my sister, my friends or myself. Although there are lovely pictures of London that I found on Flickr I decided to use photos that I have taken. I am by no means a photographer, but these photos bring back specific memories. I must admit, some of these photos are incredibly cliched, most being common attractions in London. Flickr is nice for organizing my photos together, something I can't seem to do myself.

Flickr would be helpful for creative writing. I could give students a slideshow and make up a story. Also, while studying the setting of a work of literature, it would be helpful to create a slideshow of the setting of the story. Students could use photos to create imagery or poetic writing as well.