I want to follow up on how my Wiki discussions have been going in my College Literature 184 class.
First of all, I made a dumb error from which my students were unfazed and continued to post comments regardless. For example, I have a Home page and then separate pages for each novel that has been assigned in the course. When a person clicks on the novel, then clicks on the “Discussion” tab, that’s where they should post comments on the novel.
However, for The Joy Luck Club, I accidentally created my discussion subjects in my Home page Discussion tab, not The Joy Luck Club Discussion tab. Well, my academic (get-a-good-grade-motivated) students just created their own subjects in The Joy Luck Club Discussion page. Not one student said a word to me for two weeks about why I hadn’t created any subjects for them. I don’t know if it’s because it hadn’t occurred to anyone, or they are too polite to say something, or too scared of me to say something!! Probably a combination!
Anyway, they are due today at 11:59 pm, so I started reading them today. It has been fun. It’s interesting reading a lot of them in one sitting, because I get a definite sense of pattern from individuals’ posts. For example, it becomes quickly evident which students question and get a strand of conversation going. Likewise, it becomes obvious who is agreeing with all of the other comments by merely rewording what everyone else has already said.
I have a very basic system for evaluation thus far, and would love suggestions on how to better “grade” comments. So far, I put a tally mark on the gradesheet for every comment a student makes. I vary the height of the tally based on complexity of the comment: a very short tally for basic plot regurgitation; a longer tally for depth and complexity of thought. At the end I’ll give points based on averaging the size and numbers of tallies. Any other suggestions?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Vietnam Photo Essay
Since taking this course, I’ve made some changes in assignments. The first main change I made was with my English 12 Vietnam Photo Essay final project.
I originally borrowed the idea for this photo essay assignment from a teacher website on-line. I tailored it to fit the requirements for the Vietnam war books my students were reading. However, I had never really gone on-line to look at photo essays in general.
Well, last month my group of Jan, Jenn and myself spent time teaching photo essays. I spent more time perusing them on-line and seeing much better examples. Because of that experience, I reformatted my assignment sheet and have made more clearly outlined criteria.
The last two class days my students have been working on their Vietnam War Photo Essays in the computer lab. This sounds silly, but it’s been a joy in the lab watching them work. This group of students has taken this assignment much more seriously and has worked incredibly hard on it compared to the last two years’ of students. This is part due to my clearer guidelines.
This is the first assignment in which I’ve required students to cite images on their PowerPoint slides. The students didn’t complain once, and they seem to know what they are doing. It’s been a perfect example of raising the bar- when the bar is high, students will reach it. I just needed to set it higher, and make it clearer where the bar was!
The assignment is due Wed, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the results. I’ve also taken this assignment one step further with regards to meeting more of my “discussion” goals established in my Q-Comp and PLC groups. This semester, when my students present their Photo Essays, their classmates will be required to evaluate and make comments upon the PowerPoints that they view- and make connections between characters in their books.
I originally borrowed the idea for this photo essay assignment from a teacher website on-line. I tailored it to fit the requirements for the Vietnam war books my students were reading. However, I had never really gone on-line to look at photo essays in general.
Well, last month my group of Jan, Jenn and myself spent time teaching photo essays. I spent more time perusing them on-line and seeing much better examples. Because of that experience, I reformatted my assignment sheet and have made more clearly outlined criteria.
The last two class days my students have been working on their Vietnam War Photo Essays in the computer lab. This sounds silly, but it’s been a joy in the lab watching them work. This group of students has taken this assignment much more seriously and has worked incredibly hard on it compared to the last two years’ of students. This is part due to my clearer guidelines.
This is the first assignment in which I’ve required students to cite images on their PowerPoint slides. The students didn’t complain once, and they seem to know what they are doing. It’s been a perfect example of raising the bar- when the bar is high, students will reach it. I just needed to set it higher, and make it clearer where the bar was!
The assignment is due Wed, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the results. I’ve also taken this assignment one step further with regards to meeting more of my “discussion” goals established in my Q-Comp and PLC groups. This semester, when my students present their Photo Essays, their classmates will be required to evaluate and make comments upon the PowerPoints that they view- and make connections between characters in their books.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Benefits of English 652
When I left this morning I told my kids I wouldn’t be home until after they are in bed… again. They gave me the sad faces, and whined, “When are you going to be done with that class?” Total guilt feelings on my end. I reassured them it was for only three more weeks (“27 days” as my 1st grader calculated- which is then interpreted as “27 more sleeps” from my 5 year old!)
I’ve definitely given up family time for this class, but in the long run I believe it has been a good experience. I’ve already applied lessons that I’ve learned in Eng 652 in my high school classes. I’ve visualized how I can further incorporate more lessons. It has been a valuable experience thus far, I don’t doubt that. I’ve addressed many of my insecurities and have moved past some of them. If it weren’t for this class I may not have created a Facebook page and reconnected with many former friends. So there have been “side benefits” to having had taken this class as well.
I’ve definitely given up family time for this class, but in the long run I believe it has been a good experience. I’ve already applied lessons that I’ve learned in Eng 652 in my high school classes. I’ve visualized how I can further incorporate more lessons. It has been a valuable experience thus far, I don’t doubt that. I’ve addressed many of my insecurities and have moved past some of them. If it weren’t for this class I may not have created a Facebook page and reconnected with many former friends. So there have been “side benefits” to having had taken this class as well.
Let Nature Take its Course
It’s interesting to me how as a culture we’ve come to depend on technology so much. We’ve forgotten that sometimes nature just has to take its course, because we expect technology to give us easy, quick answers- and to solve problems.
The main situation that has prompted this train of thought is my sister. Joelle is 32 weeks pregnant with triplets, and is really hoping for her doctors to tell her exactly what is happening and when it’s going to happen. She has been in the hospital now for over a week on a magnesium drip to stop the contractions so the babies can stay in and develop a little more in utero.
The good thing, obviously, is that because of technology/medicine- those three babies have stayed protected in her for weeks longer than they would have had medicine not intervened.
The down side, though, is that Joelle almost expects her doctors to give her a definitive answer regarding what’s going on inside of her. Each doctor that visits her has a different analysis and interpretation. In her mind, obviously one/some of those doctors are wrong- so who should she believe?
As a culture we’ve become so dependent on experts being able to interpret technology and give us answers. On a simplified level, this occurs everyday when I inevitably hear someone complain about the weather, “I thought the weather guy said it was supposed to be 70 and sunny. Well, it’s 62 and there are some clouds in the sky! When do they ever get it right?!?”
Can’t nature just take its course?!
The main situation that has prompted this train of thought is my sister. Joelle is 32 weeks pregnant with triplets, and is really hoping for her doctors to tell her exactly what is happening and when it’s going to happen. She has been in the hospital now for over a week on a magnesium drip to stop the contractions so the babies can stay in and develop a little more in utero.
The good thing, obviously, is that because of technology/medicine- those three babies have stayed protected in her for weeks longer than they would have had medicine not intervened.
The down side, though, is that Joelle almost expects her doctors to give her a definitive answer regarding what’s going on inside of her. Each doctor that visits her has a different analysis and interpretation. In her mind, obviously one/some of those doctors are wrong- so who should she believe?
As a culture we’ve become so dependent on experts being able to interpret technology and give us answers. On a simplified level, this occurs everyday when I inevitably hear someone complain about the weather, “I thought the weather guy said it was supposed to be 70 and sunny. Well, it’s 62 and there are some clouds in the sky! When do they ever get it right?!?”
Can’t nature just take its course?!
Monday, April 13, 2009
"Kids as Tech Savvy as Bill Gates, but as Gullible as Bambi"
In addition to the Facebook debate, Esme Murphy briefly touched upon sexting- but focused more generally on kids and social networking. On her show someone made this awesome comment, “Kids today are as tech savvy as Bill Gates, but as gullible as Bambi.” This is why it’s critical that parents and teachers make kids aware of the potential long-term ramifications of writing on-line.
One woman called in with a great story from 15 years ago. At that time, her daughter was 16. Apparently her teacher confiscated a note that she and a friend were passing back and forth in class. In the note were several expletives. That night was conferences, so the teacher showed the parents the note. After conferences, the mom and dad came home and complimented their daughter on how well she was doing academically. They talked about how over the years they’ve always made a point of displaying her exceptional work on the refrigerator. So the mom took out the confiscated note- showed the daughter- and told her they plan to hang it on the fridge, too. The daughter was mortified.
The parents went on with the lesson of how you should never write something down that you wouldn’t feel comfortable having published in the newspaper. Their point was well taken, as their daughter now speaks to companies about using computers at the work-place. She uses this story to emphasize how with computers, everything can be tracked, preserved and shared. She emphasized that today people need to be especially careful, because, “A dumb moment lasts forever in cyberspace.”
One woman called in with a great story from 15 years ago. At that time, her daughter was 16. Apparently her teacher confiscated a note that she and a friend were passing back and forth in class. In the note were several expletives. That night was conferences, so the teacher showed the parents the note. After conferences, the mom and dad came home and complimented their daughter on how well she was doing academically. They talked about how over the years they’ve always made a point of displaying her exceptional work on the refrigerator. So the mom took out the confiscated note- showed the daughter- and told her they plan to hang it on the fridge, too. The daughter was mortified.
The parents went on with the lesson of how you should never write something down that you wouldn’t feel comfortable having published in the newspaper. Their point was well taken, as their daughter now speaks to companies about using computers at the work-place. She uses this story to emphasize how with computers, everything can be tracked, preserved and shared. She emphasized that today people need to be especially careful, because, “A dumb moment lasts forever in cyberspace.”
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Talk Radio Discusses FB in Workplace
My husband likes to listen to talk radio, so since I was trapped with him in the car for five hours on our way to Mitchell, SD for Easter, I got to hear it too. But my hearing turned into listening when Esme Murphy from WCCO focused her show on Facebook in the workplace.
Much of the dialogue centered on the ethics of employers accessing employee social networks. Of course most callers argued that employers have no right to look at personal information. However, others commented that if a person is working on FB on a work computer during the work day, then yes, it becomes the employers’ business.
I thought it was interesting that only one caller mentioned that her employer blocked FB from the work computers. My school district has done the same thing. I never gave it much thought until I started taking this class. At the time we didn’t have internet at home, so I was doing my homework at school. I had asked our computer tech if we could add FB to just my computer (as I know blocks can be removed from specified computers). She brought the request to our outside of district computer technician guru, and he refused. He said that he will not add FB to any district computer.
At first I was put-out by this. I’m a professional adult, and my request was made because of graduate course purposes. However, now that I am a Facebooker, I’m kind of glad I don’t have access. I’m not a complete FB junkie- but I enjoy checking out friends’ status’, and seeing who’s on-line for a chat. I’m afraid my temptation to check it at work could not be entirely resisted, so I probably would use FB at work. I’m glad it’s blocked- there’s no temptation.
One professional in this area was being interview, and she expressed many concerns about technology and the workplace. She talked quite a bit about with computers, anything one writes can be watched and tracked. She made a poignant comment regarding how ethics have changed over the years, and people need to be more careful, “the verbal message can be denied. The written word can be claimed as forgery. But there’s not much of an out for technology.”
Much of the dialogue centered on the ethics of employers accessing employee social networks. Of course most callers argued that employers have no right to look at personal information. However, others commented that if a person is working on FB on a work computer during the work day, then yes, it becomes the employers’ business.
I thought it was interesting that only one caller mentioned that her employer blocked FB from the work computers. My school district has done the same thing. I never gave it much thought until I started taking this class. At the time we didn’t have internet at home, so I was doing my homework at school. I had asked our computer tech if we could add FB to just my computer (as I know blocks can be removed from specified computers). She brought the request to our outside of district computer technician guru, and he refused. He said that he will not add FB to any district computer.
At first I was put-out by this. I’m a professional adult, and my request was made because of graduate course purposes. However, now that I am a Facebooker, I’m kind of glad I don’t have access. I’m not a complete FB junkie- but I enjoy checking out friends’ status’, and seeing who’s on-line for a chat. I’m afraid my temptation to check it at work could not be entirely resisted, so I probably would use FB at work. I’m glad it’s blocked- there’s no temptation.
One professional in this area was being interview, and she expressed many concerns about technology and the workplace. She talked quite a bit about with computers, anything one writes can be watched and tracked. She made a poignant comment regarding how ethics have changed over the years, and people need to be more careful, “the verbal message can be denied. The written word can be claimed as forgery. But there’s not much of an out for technology.”
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Speech Meet Technology
I am ashamed to realize that I haven’t blogged for two weeks! Oops! But one of the activities that has been consuming much of my time these past two weeks is my speech team. During that time span I judged three sub-section or invitational meets, have coached weekdays after school, and participated with my team at sub-section and section. And I’m very excited to report that I had three students qualify for the State Speech meet on April 18th (it’s bittersweet: we had great success- but now I’m not done for another few weeks!!).
With that said, there is a connection to technology and its side-effects (as I see it, anyway). During speech meets, a handful of the head coaches gather in the “tab room” to tabulate the results throughout the meet. We pair up and write down scores and do the math with paper and pencil. We trade results and have someone else double check our findings.
There are computer programs out there in which you can simply type in the scores and instant results are given (But even these technology programs are imperfect- so one still needs to be careful). Some argue that it’s ridiculous that we’re not using the computer technology more regularly. But our strongest argument for continuing with the pencil and paper- is the group camaraderie.
I thoroughly enjoy going to speech meets because I have my “friends in the tab room”. We have years of rapport, family stories and inside jokes that have been established because of this tab room. When we are at our separate computers typing, this camaraderie is lost.
In general, this is one of my fears with the increased use of technology. It’s easier to hide behind the keyboard than to speak with people face to face. Yeah, I’m into texting and FBing- and it’s definitely fun! However, the interactions between people directly cannot be replaced with technology- or we are going to be in trouble. I truly believe this.
With that said, there is a connection to technology and its side-effects (as I see it, anyway). During speech meets, a handful of the head coaches gather in the “tab room” to tabulate the results throughout the meet. We pair up and write down scores and do the math with paper and pencil. We trade results and have someone else double check our findings.
There are computer programs out there in which you can simply type in the scores and instant results are given (But even these technology programs are imperfect- so one still needs to be careful). Some argue that it’s ridiculous that we’re not using the computer technology more regularly. But our strongest argument for continuing with the pencil and paper- is the group camaraderie.
I thoroughly enjoy going to speech meets because I have my “friends in the tab room”. We have years of rapport, family stories and inside jokes that have been established because of this tab room. When we are at our separate computers typing, this camaraderie is lost.
In general, this is one of my fears with the increased use of technology. It’s easier to hide behind the keyboard than to speak with people face to face. Yeah, I’m into texting and FBing- and it’s definitely fun! However, the interactions between people directly cannot be replaced with technology- or we are going to be in trouble. I truly believe this.
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