encounters with digital writing

I really like the idea of portfolios. The first (and maybe only) real portfolio I ever created was my junior year of highschool. My teacher had us keep a huge spiral bound notebook, where we stored all of our notes, stapled in papers, provided and received feedback–it was basically our life for the year. It was a great visual accumulation of all we accomplished and achieved, and provided space for reflection as well as critical and creative work.

Looking back on this blog as an example of a portfolio, that’s what stands out to me the most–the mixing of reflection, critique, and creativity. I love the idea of having one central space–now with web 2.0 technology, a digital space–where all my work is stored and displayed. But I also was able to process and think about each project and activity we did, which I know is very helpful for me and essential for student learning.

Blogs and wikis make it so easy to create portfolios, with ease of posting video, images, adding links, even just uploading papers. I think if I wanted students to create individual portfolios I might have them use a blog site, as I still see them as being more of an individual endeavor (as opposed to wikis, which I feel are highly collaborative). But I can see also a great potential for a whole-class portfolio, displaying examples, or even all student work, on a class wiki or site like moodle or ning. What I do like about the blogs though is the ability to reflect and critique with each entry, not just post the project.

In terms of my own classroom, I love the idea of portfolios as a summative assessment–it seems much more authentic to me than a test. You can see how students improve over time, read their thoughts, and allow them to attempt different kinds of projects and push themselves creatively and academically. I know it’s a bit more controversial in terms of difficulty and subjectivity in grading, etc., but I don’t think that should take away from its potential.

My final project is a unit on digital poetry. I haven’t gotten down to the details of planning, but I know that in terms of technology I’ll be using image search tools like Flickr or Google Images and iMovie. Beyond the choice of poem, an important factor will be how the students “tell” the poem–whether it be through voice or using text, or both. I want this unit to be very practical and applicable to my future; in the spring I’ll be student teaching at South and will be incorporating a regular study of poetry into the 11th grade AP class.

My host teacher and I decided that for these students, it will be more relevant to the class as it’s already designed, and more beneficial for them in general in terms of analysis and poetry comprehension, for them to choose an already published poem instead of writing one of their own. That would be a very different unit, but I’m excited to see what students might do with more “traditional” poems when paired with images and voice, when technology is a part of the picture. We talked about offering the students a choice of poems, possibly ones they’ve studied over the year or new ones, or a mix of both.

In my evaluations, I’ll be looking for quality of images, number of images, and how these images work to interpret the poem. Each student will also be reading the poem, so I’ll be evaluating their voice in terms of expressiveness and interpretive quality. I haven’t yet decided if they should have the words of the poems on the images as well–that’s something I’ll have to experiment with, or might leave up to the students. But I do think that adding voice is important and will challenge the students.

I’ll also be asking the students to do a written reflection after the project is complete–both of how their images served to interpret the poem, and how the project went in general. This will be a way for them to explain their choices and also for me to know their opinions about the project, as it will be one of the first times technology is incorporated into this course.

I need to get started on a rubric for these evaluations, which I’ll try and post when I’m done.

I experienced first-hand the frustrations of living in a world (and being in a program) so dependent on technology these past few weeks when the internet in my house failed. I found out today that a tree snagged the wires, and a man had to spend a few hours climbing on my roof to fix it, but finally–and after four visits by cable people–it’s fixed. I’ve had to try and get work done at coffee shops, but it’s put me behind. Between that and focusing on teaching Intersession at Crosswinds, creating a powerpoint wasn’t exactly my main priority, but I tried to put something together that was at least a tiny bit interactive and interesting.

But going back to last week’s video–I was a little frustrated by that experience, maybe because I was unclear about the expectations and what exactly we were doing. I did bring in both some short videos and some pictures, but the presenter (I can’t remember her name now) seemed to want us to work only with pictures. But we’d already done that, right? So then, if the focus was indeed videos, I felt that I needed more direction and time in order to make a quality video. A week just isn’t enough to plan out a story, shoot it, put it into iMovie, and edit it. Students spend whole semesters working on projects like that. So in reflection, I think I came away knowing iMovie pretty well, which is good, but not having a great product to show for my time. For the future I know that I will need to give my students–and myself–much more time, scaffolding, and direction for something as big as shooting a video.

And my powerpoint–I have to admit that I’m not a fan of powerpoint presentations, but I do understand that it’s a good challenge to try and make them interactive. Since I didn’t have internet I created mine on powerpoint and uploaded to sliderocket, and I think if I had begun on sliderocket it would have been more interactive to start. But I wonder, what makes a powerpoint interactive that isn’t gimmicky? What is there besides linking to web sites and adding sound and video? I tried to incorporate some questions and things for my “audience” to think about, and started out with a series of images, but I think it’s far from perfect. Maybe powerpoint is indeed a higher-level skill, whereas I’ve always just written it off…

…And, after reviewing this I realized that none of the html links I added at the end of the presentation work. If anyone is dying to know those resources, just ask me.

I put together a little iMovie of some images (and some short videos) of the bookstore where I work, Wild Rumpus Books. It’s a unique place to say the least. It’s hard to say if the video even begins to capture the zanyness, the energy, the creativity, the mass of books, the kids, the animals that reign. If I had a lot more time I’d be able to do the store–and my feelings towards it–much more justice. This store is home to me, in so many ways. I love the people that work there–they are more like family than coworkers. I care for the creatures like they’re my own. I’ve spent so many hours there over the years, but it’s more than that. Everyone has the places and people that helped them discover more about themselves, that helped them become who they are. This is that place for me.

In a testimony to the frustrations of technology, Molly and I spent about and hour and a half putting together our 10 minute skype podcast. First the recorder catcher thing I downloaded ran out of free time before we even began, then Molly tried to record it three times and her software kept skipping. By the time I re-downloaded and we managed to do a clean recording, I think we were so tired of hearing each other talk about technology that the whole thing felt a little silly.

But, we learned how to do it, which I guess might be useful someday. So here it is, after much anticipation…

For our podcast assignment, Molly and I decided to pair up and have a conversation about…wait for it…technology! There’s just a lot of issues, thoughts, questions, that have come up over this course that we thought might be a good topic for a podcast. What exactly are the pros and cons of technology use in the classroom? What are our own personal experiences and thoughts about technology, in both school and personal life? Molly’s example is her computer crashing recently, and how frustrating it is to be so dependent on that resource, and then have it not available. I’ve been reading, off an on, a book called Last Child In The Woods, which makes the claim that children and adolescents are beginning to suffer from what the author coins “nature deficit disorder.” What is our responsibility to balance nature and technology? Do our personal thoughts about technology conflict or agree with our thoughts about it as educators? I know that I constantly feel pulled in many directions.

I’m glad to be doing the podcast with another person–I thought it might be a little awkward to talk by myself for an extended period of time, and it will be nice to have someone feed my thoughts. I prefer working in dialogue.

I’ve never done a podcast, and don’t actually listen to them that often (my iPod is ancient and the battery lasts about 10 minutes). I’ve tried listening at home but my attention wanders. BUT, I can see using them in the class, if technology is available for such a thing. I think it would be cool for students to interview each other, to use them to record Literature Circles, or to talk about aspects of research projects. If I ever did a more extended unit with groups of students becoming “experts” on a topic, this would be another way for them to display their knowledge, a change from writing. They would still have to plan, outline, prepare, and edit, of course, which are all skills that I think are useful and important.

In an effort to keep this post a little shorter than last week, I’m going to get to the point–I’m not a fan of online role-playing. In my opinion, this is one of those instances when technology is being used simply for the novelty, for the sake of technology and not for a real pedagogical reason. Why couldn’t we have done this entire debate face-to-face, with real conversation? One of my big fears of integrating too much technology into the classroom is that it will limit the community, the interaction, and all the skills students need to develop that don’t involve technology. One of those skills that I think it incredibly important is the ability to converse, discuss, argue a point, and see both sides of an issue.

In this online setting, discussion is false and unnatural. It takes time to read each post, and instead of being able to use rhetorical skills to persuade our listeners, we have to simply read the facts to decide which side is “right.” To be honest, I’m dubious on the benefits of debate itself, and prefer more of a the constructive controversy activities where students get to argue both sides–I see this as being much more useful in an educational setting, and helps to provide perspective.

As for the argument that online role-play allows shy students to speak their voice, I wonder if we still have a responsibility to teach them how to actually speak it–out loud and in front of their peers. Surely not all controversial discussions in life and the workplace will be online. Don’t students need to learn how to talk and defend themselves out loud, even if it’s difficult at first?

In an attempt to answer at least one of Beach’s questions, I don’t think the subject of the role-play was far enough removed from our own lives for us to develop convincing alter egos. I found myself thinking that each person’s statements were their own beliefs. Mine were, at least to an extent. I guess I exaggerated for the sake of argument, and intentionally put on a certain character, but since there was no “bio” to go along with my statement, I doubt anyone picked up on that character (especially since it’s not too far from what I really believe )

I’m not going to be in class tomorrow, so maybe my opinions about this whole activity would change once I were in class and had a chance to see this at work. But the way I envision it, everyone will be at their computers, typing away to each other, trying to read and respond and basically getting confused. Why not just turn around, look each other in the face, and have a discussion? I’ve participated in many debates, and argued sides I don’t believe, and find that students are able to separate ideas from people, even in face-to-face conversations.

I can see role-playing as more useful when students take on characters of a novel, maybe, and have a more extended debate. But I feel like momentum and engagement would wane. So at this point, I’ll need more convincing if I’m ever going to use this in my classroom.

a little too much fun…I uploaded some pictures from a theme party some friends and I hosted a year or so ago and without any effort on my part, instant music video.

welcome to the 80s

I have to admit, the nerd that I am was pretty excited for this week’s theme. Although I’m not as experienced at the digital part (which, I realize, is the most part) I do love stories. Stories, poetry, identity and place, what we as individuals and communities think and believe–all of these issues are explored by digital literature in new and very interesting ways.

Working towards my final project idea, I decided to put together a digital poem with flickr images on iMovie. I chose my second favorite e.e. cummings poem (this is my favorite)–I thought his style and semantics work well for digital poetry.

(this might be hard to see…maybe try following the YouTube link?)

I realize now, after reading the chapter, that my own digital poetry composition is decidedly linear, as opposed to hyperlinked, multimodal, etc. Actually, reading about hyperlinked texts with many possible tangents and outcomes kept reminding me of the “choose your own adventure” books that were popular when I was younger (and actually, they’re republishing them again now). I never liked those books because I always wanted to know all the endings–I’d go back until I’d read them all, and felt dissatisfied that there wasn’t one “right” choice. So I wonder if I’d actually like reading a hyperlinked story, right now it doesn’t sound very appealing. How would you ever know when you’re done?

Oddly enough, I can see the benefits of writing, or composing, these sorts of narratives. It forces us to be criitical thinkers and consumers, to pick and chose and put together a sort of digital collage. I liked many of the activities suggested in the text, especially when students examined images from their neighborhoods, looked at them from different angles, chose “hotspots,” and then wrote poems or narratives that linked all of these together. I think the digital tools we’ve been using so far having great affordance for identity exploration. Even my little digital poem, which I didn’t write and is made from pictures I didn’t take, says something about me. I’m excited to expirement with incorporating these tools into the classroom and curriculum.

I liked the postmodern challenge that work doesn’t need to be completely “original”, that instead education needs to shift focus to one of “playing with, juxtaposing, manipulating, altering, and rearranging existing texts to create new texts” (Beach, p. 75). I love the idea of taking different lines from poetry to create a new poem, or breaking apart a story to create a new story. The act of choosing what to take and then forming the new creation is writing. I don’t think it should necessarily replace the basic skills that we want our students to acquire, but this is undoubtedly the kind of writing that takes place in the real world, much more so than the 5 paragraph essay.

One last thought–the idea of language being changed by all of this digitizing is still something that’s on my mind but that we haven’t really discussed. When talking about interactive digital poems, Beach says: “Readers of new media poems are often challenged to make sense of synthesis, but it’s an opportunity to broaden our own interpretations and to look critically at how language is shaped by media” (p. 84).

I think two important points are made here–that language is a fluid, changing construct that we must pay attention to, criticize, and actively participate in; and also, that we shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to broaden our interpretations. I walk that line, as we all do, between resisting and jumping right in, but I do really try to keep an open mind about things–”things” being lots of things, most things in general–because I do love to learn. I think we owe it to ourselves as people and especially as educators to always be willing to change and grow, even when it’s weird and involves whispering digital aliens.

Wow, sorry that got so long!

Wiki. Hawaiian for quick. After using wikis a few times in various classes and for the post-bac program, my first impression is that they are indeed quick, easy tools for collaborative writing and information gathering. I like the idea that, when working in groups, I no longer have to email copies of a project back-and-forth to other members, keeping track of edits, and invariably losing something along the way. Wikis provide a great space for students to work together on projects, post comments on a forum, check in on a syllabus…the possibilities are really endless.

I like the idea of a class wiki as opposed to a class blog as the “home space” for the class, the place where students have access to the syllabus, project guidelines, where they can turn in papers or work together, etc. Since wikis function more like an actual web page, I just find them more easy to navigate when looking for specific items, and they seem more “official” than blogs, which I might use as more of a personal writer’s notebook. I also wonder–is there a different association for style of writing between blogs and wikis? Do students automatically think that blog writing is more informal, but not have the same idea about wiki writing? It would be interesting to see.

Many of the wikis I looked at are year-long home pages for classes, and these seemed the best way to organize the site, with different pages available for different projects or units throughout the year. I was impressed by how different and unique some of them looked, and realized I am by no means skilled enough at this point to know anything beyond how to change the color of my wiki. Hmm.

I think in my own teaching I would like to set up a wiki as a year-long course page for my classes, including syllabus, projects, questions page, student forum page, etc. Within the wiki would be space available for any projects we take on. For the purposes of this course, I’ve created a digital poetry wiki, but even now I’m thinking of changing my idea for the final project, so all of this might change. Until then, here it is.

So far the most important idea to come out of digital writing, for me, is the idea of audience. I think it’s incredibly important for students to know that their words are being read, heard, valued. I can’t think of all the times in my education I wondered what was the point of writing this essay when my teacher was the only one to ever see it–and I was, or at least I considered myself, a motivated student. I know I write differently, or at least think a little bit differently, when I know I have an audience for my voice, and I think that is the greatest power of wikis and blogs. When students write on wikis, even if they simply turn in their essays and know that other students have the ability to look at what they’ve written, the dynamic has changed. It’s no longer student–>teacher, it’s student–>audience, an audience that might be few, but might be many.