It's so frustrating to hear that students can't reach their full technological potential in school.  But I can't use blogs or You Tube at South High School in Minneapolis.  I'm completely supportive of integrating technology into my classroom, but I not allowed to!

Furthermore, my current cooperating teacher in 73 years old and she hardly uses any technology that's available in her classroom, let alone venture out into the Media Lab and complete a more technologically-based assignment.  Yesterday, she handed out questions for all groups on a piece of paper to every student in the class:120 copies.  The student worked on a project and each group handed in one piece of paper at the end of the period.  I overheard one student saying, "Why didn't she just project the questions on the board, it would've saved a ton of paper."  Exactly.  

I purposely took two technology classes last semester because I was feeling inadequate with technology.  I learned so much and I don't feel like I can apply any of it!  I'm beginning to feel just as frustrated as many of my students.  She really discourages any use of technology because sometimes it doesn't work. 

Well,  here is a SmartBoard website!  I heard a rumor that my coop teacher actually turned down a SmartBoard in her classroom!  This website shows the benefits of SmartBoards!

Awesome, dude!

As I said in my previous post, I am attempting to create a writing seminar while student teaching this spring, despite my coop teacher's advice.  She has had bad luck with seminars in the past.  With all of these recent articles we are reading, I feel confident that I will be able to properly construct a decent writing workshop.  Luckily, I will attempt my first one while she's still leading the classroom so I can change things as needed the second time around. 

I thought this article's title was awesome, dude.  "Awesome, dude!" is an empty feedback quote teachers often overhear during poor peer reviews.  VanDeWeghe, along with the excerpt from "After the End" that Dan gave us, gives us real strategies to use in scaffolding students for productive peer reviews.  

I also really appreciated Atwell's message; empower students to help themselves.  There's also a reward for you - a shorter line at your desk.  Even today at the Young Writer's Project, I found myself struggling to give young writers useful feedback all of the time.  I wish I would've read this article last night instead of tonight!  The very useful list of encouraging, useful, and student-oriented prompts would've surely helped me out today.   

Over all, I'm really appreciating all of the real-life, tangible advice these readings have given us as we venture off on our own.  I am downloading and filing a lot of articles this semester!

Resource link:  There is a lot of bad editing stuff out there on the web! I had a lot of trouble locating something useful!  So, I reverted back to something here at the U of MN: the Minnesota Writing Project.  I know all of you know what it is but I just wanted to remind people that it's not just for University of Minnesota students, but for K-college students all over MN.  It's worth remembering.

Week Three!!!!

I really liked all of the real-life tips Harper left me with this week.  Despite my co-op teacher's advise, I am planning on trying a writing workshop this spring.  Writing workshops have only left her with slightly better papers and many days wasted in the past.  She thinks that workshops just give high school students time to socialize with their friends.  I think that with the right scaffolding, a writing workshop can be very beneficial to high school students. 

I especially liked the "snapshot" technique.  With the proper training, I can say to a student, "take a snapshot" of this scene, rather than "be more specific" and they would know what I mean.  Giving a student a strategy instead of an abstract comment, they can elaborate more easily on physical sensations.  Students often lose sensation in their writing and it sometimes takes prompts to get them back. 

My mother is a fifth grade teacher and she uses a Mr. Potato Head for more descriptive details in student writing.  She plugs in the eyes when she wants a vivid visual description, the ears for a vivid audio description, etc.  What a great idea!  I think it is also important to use yourself as a model.  Write your own creative piece and ask students to use new feedback tools to critique your own writing. 

 Here is my resource link.  It's the National Writing Project.  It's a great and credible resource for tips on writing revision, prompts, etc. 

Argumentation

My tenth-grade nephew is enrolled in debate.  And, man, is he good at it.  He has always taken the role of devil's advocate, counter-arguing, and formulating a standpoint about something that he hadn't thought about ten minutes beforehand.  Of course he would sign up for debate!  What makes it worse is that he's WINNING COMPETITIONS!  I'm proud of him but he can become very annoying quickly. He now seems to formulate a stance on every issue that comes up and defends it like he's in a debate, but just to win.   

As I was reading Dickson, I thought about my nephew: he is truly learning some vital skills through his involvement in debate.  Dickson says that, "sometimes students have to be on a side they do not personally agree with, but they learn that the skills involved are still the same and investigating the other position is a way to explore one's personal view" (39).  And, of course, you learn exponentially when you feverishly research the topic.  I think debate should be REQUIRED in high school.  I never took debate but now see the importance of it.

I always knew that I wanted to incorporate debate into my classroom.  And as Dornan suggests, using the write-to-learn approach wouldn't make the process seem so intimidating (like it did for me) for first-time debaters.  Dornan suggests to take a personal experience starting approach; giving the students the option to write about what they want encourages the process of their previous knowledge expanding into knowledge sought on a topic they are interested in (121).

Here's a link to the International Debate Education Association.   I feel like Eve would be an expert on debate sources but I found this website credible and useful.  It is all things debate: blog, chat room, tracking site, and a news source for young debaters and educators. 

Creative Non-Fiction

As a prerequisite for this teacher education program, I took a non-fiction creative writing class at MCTC.  I was blown away by my professor, Kate Lynn Hibbard, and her ability to teach creative non-fiction.  She succeeded in everything that I want to recreate in my high school classroom: a safe space for all students, building confidence in students as writers,  and creating constructive peer critics out of all of her students. 

As I was reading Within and Beyond the Writing Process in the Secondary English Classroom, I was reminded of Hibbard's infallible instruction.  This book appears to had been her bible.  Many of Hibbard's in-class writing prompts were similar to the ones suggested in the book.  The techniques for positive reinforcement as well as rules and guidelines for responding to students and peer works are indispensable if you want your students to practice writing in a productive manner.  These prompts were very successful in a community college setting and could surely be in a high school setting as well.  Creative writing and, more specifically, creative non-fiction, is a great way for students to practice fun writing.  This book suggests that guided creative writing builds confidence in students and improves their scholastic writing as well.   

Kate Lynn Hibbard also used a book in her instruction called, Tell it Slant (Miller and Paula).  The title is taken from a Emily Dickinson quote:  "Tell all the truth but tell it slant."  This is such an important lesson as we teach students creative writing.  The quote suggests to indeed write about things you know but don't tell them as absolute facts.  Tell them with emotion and meaning.  Tell them through your own eyes.  Here is a link to Brenda Miller's website and more info on her book that is definitely worth checking out if you want to teach creative non-fiction:

Brenda Miller's Website!

Final Project

So, Brittany and I created a two week unit on Urban Renewal when looking at Radio Golf by August Wilson and selected chapters from House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Here it is!

We will look at the social implications of certain neighborhoods and how they are constructed, ignored, gentrified, or demolished within the two texts.  I have been trying to fit this unit somewhere along the way but haven't been able to.  So, Brittany and I decided to finally create it!

We are reading fiction, but the students will be expected to create non-fiction texts.  Pick a neighborhood: it could be your own neighborhood, the school's neighborhood, or your grandmother's, etc.  Would you want to live to live there?  Do you like living there? Do you like being there?  What do you like/dislike about it?  Pick ONE or TWO aspects of a neighborhood (or you can compare two neighborhoods) that you want to focus on. 

Do some research on that issue or those issues.  Search the databases listed on the WIKI for information or other credible sources as well as some ideas for final projects.  These are some example issues: sidewalks, registered sex offenders, good bike paths, parks, too much trash, grocery stores, what did it used to be like?  How was it the same?  How was it different?

Take some pictures or shoot a video of your research, retrieve old photos of the neighborhood from city databases and/or other credible resources, interview your grandmother who's lived there for 40 years, etc. 

Present your research findings in a media format.  You can do a VoiceThread, podcast, Comic Life, iMovie, photo collage (with information).  Please talk to your teacher if want to explore an alternative format for your final project.

I would really like to use this unit in my future teaching.  I think high school kids are familiar with typical themes in texts they read.  Urban Renewal and Gentrification are interesting new themes to explore.  Of course, the issue of race in a text like Radio Golf will surely be touched on.  I feel that race ties in very closely with issues of Urban Renewal.

Teaching Film Adaptations of "The Tempest"

I am taking a look at "The Tempest" because a new film version just came out this year.  It is a fantastical, science-fictional take on Shakespeare's comedy.  Although it has been numerous years since I've read this play, this new way in which to read "The Tempest" seems worthy of exploring.

Here is the trailer for the new futuristic version from 2010 (in HD, of course).



The decision to make a science fiction adaptation to a Shakespearean play is not surprising; with the popularity of Harry Potter and LOST, a fantastical world seems necessary for rating's (and money's) sake.  This illustrates a huge media literacy "teaching moment"; Is this science-fiction reading of Shakespeare valid, or merely a money-making tactic off of an already successful story line?  My argument, not having seen the movie mind you, that this is merely a money-making reading of "The Tempest."  I argue this, first of all, because the movie setting is Hawaii, not far from where LOST was filmed: a direct link to a recent success.  More importantly, "The Tempest" does not have any supernatural tendencies in the story.  Therefore, it does not warrant a supernatural reading.  I think that it is far-fetched and unjustified.  On the other hand, this version adheres closely with the play's plot and vernacular.  There are a significant number of Shakespearean adaptations that do not follow the storyline.  It would be really interesting for students to critique this reading of "The Tempest" as a post-reading activity.

There are, of course, a couple other adaptations of "The Tempest."  this 1982 version, strays far from the story line, to much criticism.  The other criticism is the acting.  This version takes place in New York City and Greece.




There is also a 1979 version, which is not readily available anymore and a 1900's silent film version.