Rebecca Lynn

Final multi-media project

2011-03-09T22:02:00.001-08:00

Writing for the real world.

2011-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

I think this kind of persuasive writing is a good way for students to become engaged. I could have students write a persuasive letter to me, the principle, an editor, or an organization that advocates their position on a subject matter that they feel passionately about. This could be in a form of a business letter concerning a neighborhood issue, proposal for a new skateboarding park, or a letter to the editor about the upcoming election. This real world application could really motivate students. Of course, teaching students that they might not get what they want, no matter how well the paper is written, is important. Teaching that there are a lot of politics that go into an idea that affects the community and there are a lot of things to consider. Nevertheless, being able to have your voice heard is an important life skill to obtain.

I think it all comes back to audience. Why write something that just a teacher is going to see? If a student has to write something to someone about something that matters to them, they have an important audience to consider. Herrington suggests to have some sort of screening process the student must have to go through in order to send out the letter, like the School Based Decision Making council he mentions in the article. (114)

Here is my link for the week. Here's a ReadWriteThink website that might be a good starting point to introduce writing for the real world.

2011-02-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2011-02-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

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"

2010-12-08T21:04:00.000-08:00

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.

5172 Course Reflection

2010-12-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've learned so much in this course. I was terrified of technology and never thought I would have a blog. I didn't know how to hyperlink or embed a You Tube video! In another technology class, I even made my very own Google website! I still want to add a few things, like a teaching philosophy some VoiceThread projects. One concern I have for the future is being able to stay on top of all of new writing technologies that surface. I'm afraid that I won't stay in touch with my groups I've formed on-line to stay current with new technologies.

If I were to have my future students use portfolios, I would use them as a collection of their drafts and final writing, research projects, and reflections. I guess I don't know what criteria I would use until I knew what specifics I want to assess. I am excited to build my own e-portfolio for future job searches.

Writing Assignment and Rubric

2010-12-03T23:34:00.000-08:00

My final project is going to be a unit on Urban Renewal and Gentrification when looking at "Radio Golf" by August Wilson and House on Mango Street. The final project in this unit will be a multi-media project of the student's choice depicting their research on a neighborhood of their choice. They may choose to complete this project in one of these mediums: a documentary, VoiceThread, written essay, or podcast.

Here is my preliminary rubric for evaluating this project. I used Rubistar because I haven't built that many rubrics before. I wanted to get my feet wet before I started creating my own. I edited quite a few of the generic boxes to better suite my expectations. As I complete a model for a student's final project, I will have a better understanding of what I am looking for and edit this rubric even further.

Student Name: _________________________

CATEGORY	Proficient 9-10	Exemplary 6-8	Satisfactory 3-5	Not Satisfactory 0-2
Content	Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Not enough essential information about the topic.	Content is minimal.
Originality	Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.	Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	There is little evidence of original thinking.	Uses other people's ideas OR no evidence of original thinking
Organization	Content is well organized using effective techniques to group related material.	Uses effective techniques to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.	Content is logically organized for the most part.	There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.
Mechanics	No misspellings or grammatical errors.	A few misspellings and/or mechanical errors.	Many misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Too many errors in spelling or grammar.
Presentation	Well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.	Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time.	Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.	Delivery not smooth and audience attention often lost.

Music and Language Arts

2010-12-01T09:41:00.001-08:00

I wanted to explore the ways in which I could incorporate music into a 5-12 classroom. Although rap is often considered a controversial topic in a classroom setting, educators are beginning to understand that the medium has its benefits. If an option for student's final project was to rap a poem and the process engages that student, then I would consider it a success. Here is an example of a recent high school graduate rapping "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe as well as the poem itself.

"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe

"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe rapped by Jim Lian

Another way to incorporate music into the classroom is to add depth and a deeper understanding of a poem or novel. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie deeply revolves around the myth of blues "grandfather," Robert Johnson. Alexie plays with Johnson's mysterious life and death and incorporates the myth into his story. Knowledge about Robert Johnson is essential for a deeper understanding of the novel. An introduction to Robert Johnson and the blues would be a great pre-reading activity for Reservation Blues.

Here are the lyrics for Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues." It was be useful to listen to the song as the students followed along with the printed lyrics.

Robert Johnson "Cross Road Blues"

This is a clip of the 80's movie, "The Crossroads." (the Ralph Macchio movie, not the Britney Spears one). I think showing the students a modern medium (in this case, film) containing the subject matter always validates the message for young adults. This is the opening scene of the movie that shows Macchio, who currently studies classical guitar, "discovers" Robert Johnson's music.

The Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website

As the Rock and Roll website suggests in one of their lesson plans, linking the Blues to Langston Hughes is important as well. An understanding of the form of the Blues enhances reading Hughes as well. Hughes' understanding and mimicking the blues in his poetry facilitates a study of the blues.

In "The Weary Blues," Hughes describes watching a blues piano player and the vividly describes the feeling he gets while watching this blues piano player.

Langston Hughes "The Weary Blues"

In "Po Boy Blues," Hughes mimics the blues' poetic and lyrical standards that the blues fosters.

Langston Hughes "Po Boy Blues"

Prezi Presentation

2010-11-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here is an outline of my final project on Urban Renewal in Prezi form.

I really liked working with Prezi. I want to continue to enhance this presentation and become more familiar with the tool.

Urban Renewal Project on Prezi

Podcast and Documentary

2010-11-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

I quickly finished my podcast that I started last week in class. I'm not quite sure if we were supposed to finish it or not, but here is it anyways! I simply read aloud a short chapter from a book that I want to include in my final project, House On Mango Street.

I recently viewed a documentary on a band, "The Gits," simply called, "The Gits." The band had emerged on the Seattle local music scene just before Nirvana put the city on the map. They had just signed with a major label in 1993 when the singer, 27-year-old Mia Zapata, was brutally raped and murdered.

There were no suspects and the crime went unsolved. Shortly thereafter, due to lack of results from the police department, Joan Jett filled in on vocals at a benefit concert to raise money for a private investigator, to no avail.

Filmmaker Kerri O'Kane started making a documentary nearly a decade after the murder of the singer to commemorate the band and Mia's life. During the filming of the documentary, the state of Florida arrested a man with matching DNA from Mia's murder. Nearly 11 years after the murder, they pinned the rape and murder on the perpetrator. It was the first conviction using DNA in Washington's history.

The documentary was nearly finished at the time of the news from Florida. That being said, the documentary intially focuses on the band, their do-it-yourself start, and Mia's rape and murder. O'Kane interviews from the former band members, Mia's father, friends and fans.

The death of Mia was obviously such a mysterious part of the band's history. The documentary becomes much more interesting and successful when the rape and murder suspect goes to court and is found guilty. The documentary ends on a relatively positive note and definitely changes the grim theme of the band's history. The documentary's audience expands from it's esoteric start to an almost Hollywood closure.

For a teaching idea integrating documentaries........For my final project I want to integrate a documentary option to a unit on "Radio Golf," House on Mango Street, and Urban Renewal. The major project during/after the reading the two texts, would be a neighborhood ethnography of the student's neighborhood. Based on their findings, the students could, amongst many other options, produce a documentary depicting issues in their neighborhood.

Comic Life Reflection

2010-11-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

I loved using Comic Life! I can see students REALLY getting into this as an alternative final unit project.

I guess, as an undergraduate fine arts minor, I used space as the biggest guiding force behind my comic. I recalled the few comics that I have read, like the "Bone" series and Maus. I used the pictures more as a painting already on a canvas and just designed the text bubbles withing the space of the pictures.

Comic Life looks so professional and I think that kids see the validity behind that. Other Language Arts technologies that we have used, like Voicethread, seem a bit clunky compared to this. I can see this as a real advantage for kids to express themselves through this comic medium. Graphic Novels are becoming a huge influence with students and I think comics could be a fun way to engage kids.

TV News Anaylsis and Lesson Plan

2010-11-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

I watched the WCCO news at 10:00 on Wednesday evening. First of all, I was surprised that the first commercial break didn't happen until 21 minutes into the program. But, there were also commercials at 27 min and 31 min and the program finally ended at 10:34. Here's the play-by-play:

2 min - Coon Rapids Shaken baby syndrome victim
1 min - Apple Valley computer hacking victim by a Cleveland Indian
3 min - Michelle Bachman and other election issues
1 min - more slots at Canterbury proposed
1 min - Daughter killed on Grand Ave
2 min - disturbing DVD sent by PETA to Middle School activist
30 sec - Amazon under scrutiny for selling controversial petaphile book
30 sec - record setting weather!
1 min - Gold prices hit another record
5 min - Gopher stadium and Gopher football
1 min - ad for "The Defender" on same network
30 sec - Fitzgerald shipwreck revisited
3 min - weather
30 sec - upcoming news
4 min - commercials
2 min - Vikings news
4 min - commercials
1 min - Timberwolves news
3 min - commercials
30 sec - weather

There were four commercial breaks but they all happened in the last 13 minutes of the news show. All of the news was local. There was no national or international news. Local news had 13 minutes of coverage. Local sports also dominated the news with 8 minutes of collected coverage. It was beneficial for the newscasters because there were a few records set, like the weather temperature and the price of gold.

I was really surprised at how much emphasis is put on the locality of each news segment. The victims and perpetrators are described solely on their locale and occupation.

Here is my lesson plan surrounding news:

The students have spent a week learning about different techniques that each station uses in order to dramatize their version of the news story. For instance, The Daily Show uses humor, sarcasm, fake news, interviews, and wit to report the news. CNN uses dramatic effect such as large graphs, location-oriented reporting, and multiple points of view to report their news. The evening local news uses personal stories to tell the news, like interviewing a local resident to comment how the national news story has affected them personally. FOX News explores the conservative base with opinion-based news talk shows and national news.

Divide the classroom into groups of four. Each group will be given the same news story to report (i.e. the mid-term election) but each group will be assigned a different point of view in which to tell the story. Each group will be assigned either CNN, The Daily Show, the local evening news, or FOX News as a point of view in which to report the oil spill. The group needs to choose on which aspect of the election they will report on (keeping in mind the target audience). They can choose any angle on the broad election topic as long as it’s geared towards their news channel.

The group will write a dialogue to report in the mock news show according to the point of view, target audience, and persuasive techniques in which they were given. They need to use effective persuasive techniques to express their point of view as well as engaging their assigned target audience in their video. One or two group members will act as news reporters while the other two or three group members work on camera operation and simple set design and props.

Digital Poem and Comic Strip

2010-11-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here is my digital poem, "Nelson, My Dog" by Gary Soto. It features, once again, my dog Sophie.

Also, here's my Comic Life comic strip about my trip to Gooseberry Falls.

Podcasting Reflection

2010-11-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

It was encouraging to learn that other teachers such as Rebecca Oberg have been integrating spoken word, rap, and songwriting into their curriculum. In Rebecca's case, her students made up their own rap lyrics in response to Cather in the Rye. I had my recent high school graduate recite lyrics to a poem for his rap.

First of all, it was really fun to do this project. But, It took me and the rapper a long time to create this podcast. He was kind of a perfectionist and really wanted to edit a lot and get it perfect. He did the first two or three stanzas and then "cut and pasted" his own chorus. That being said, I think it turned out exceptionally well. But, I had to send him home after three hours. I don't know how I would give this assignment as an option unless we had a multi-media room and a lot of time to complete the project.

I would also have to teach kids how to use royalty-free beats, much like royalty-free images. There is a lot to learn about copyright issues: it's hard to keep up.

Like I said in my previous post on podcasting, I think my rapping project turned out well and could really engage some unengaged students. Oh, here is The Raven once again.

Genre Analysis: Cable Access

2010-11-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

At certain times, I love watching cable access. It's always so random, amateur, and esoteric. I enjoy being confused and disoriented compared to regular TV shows, where you are spoon-fed the direction of the show.

The protocol for releasing a cable access show is quite easy. All you have to so is attend a class or two and you have access to rentable camera equipment and the ability to air your show on TV. Of course, one major downfall with cable access television is the limited financial capacity to hire professional actors, professional film crews, and major editing software critical for a professional-looking TV shows.

Perhaps my favorite cable access show is "Viva and Jerry's Country Videos." According to the Minneapolis Television Networks website, the show show can be seen at 4:00 AM, 4:30 AM, 9:00 AM, and 9:30 AM, on channel 17. The show has been around for a number of years now (since 1989) and I've seen quite a few episodes. The premise is one of a traditional music television show but Viva and Jerry only show about two country music videos per half-hour episode and have a kind-of talk show for the rest of the episode. This is an exceptional example of the cable access genre because Viva and Jerry have had much "success" with their show. They've appeared on "The Daily Show" as well as many local news channels.

Viva and Jerry always have a "theme" for each of their shows. For instance, the most recent episode that I saw was Halloween themed. They also do a yearly show at the State Fair. There is a large green screen behind them that shows a large photo of something pertaining to that theme. Viva and Jerry usually spend the rest of their episode showing trinkets, masks, greeting cards, and anything else that fits into their theme of the day. When Viva gets done showing each of her items, she often rings a bell that sits to the right of her. Jerry blows a bike horn after many items as well. Jerry often times puts his thumb out and, in a circular motion, rotates his thumb around and says, "two bucks, two bucks." I have no idea what this means, but he does it about twenty times a show.

Viva does most of the talking but Jerry is an intriguing character too. He has a character named "Cliff" that is, simply a face drawn on his thumb. He often puts hats on Cliff and makes him talk. Furthermore, I've seen Jerry do his own country songs on the show. He is a talented singer/songwriter and often times hosts the annual Johnny Cash tribute show at the Cabooze.

I think cable access is a great thing to teach kids. Many public access shows broadcast community organization meetings and other important community events. Because public access is so easy to access, kids could broadcast their own movies made in school and show them to the public. I think this would be highly encouraging to young film enthusiasts. In turn, their audience could expand from the classroom and You Tube, to general people in their community. "Viva and Jerry" would be a great example of a successful cable access show for the kids.

Perhaps a lesson plan idea would be to have students, in a multi-media course, to apply for access to the Minneapolis public access channels. Perhaps they could get around taking the courses because of their classes in high school. The students could create a video pertaining to a community event and broadcast it for the public. The students could also just air their videos made for class, but I think public access is best utilized serving the community. Just exposing them to public access and the opportunity it lends, is important. I could teach about the importance of free speech and freedom of expression as well.

Here is VoiceThread presentation of "Viva and Jerry's County Videos" public access show.

Podcasting

2010-10-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

In a few of my other methods classes, we are talking about how to effectively engage disengaged students. When audio production came up in this class, I thought about using GarageBand to engage those unengaged students that wouldn't typically want anything to do with a unit like poetry. Using GarageBand, I thought students could either read the poem with some background music (spoken word style), rap the lyrics, or sing the lyrics to a song of their own. In my example below, I had a recent high school graduate rap Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" to a beat that I simply created using royalty-free beats from a collection of local drummers. I asked him to take the poem home, read the poem, and figure out which stanzas he wanted to rap (because the poem is so long). He was excited about the project and called me only two days after I gave him the poem. He told me excitedly that, "he was ready."

The Raven

I interviewed the rapper after the recording session and asked him about the process. He immediately touched on some of the major themes in the poem: depression, death, and insanity. He was surprised that he could rap such an old poem - he thought the language would be harder than it actually was. He wanted to know more about Lenore and commented on the easily rapped rhyme and meter. Having practiced rapping much of the poem, he said that he would probably remember this poem for a long time and could recognize it easily.

I believe that I effectively engaged this student and could use GarageBand as a pre-reading activity for a poetry unit. The students would be forced to get to know the in's and out's of poem and become personally invested in it. I believe I could use GarageBand to enhance some student's learning.

Media Ethnography of casinos

2010-10-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

I ended up doing my media ethnography on casino gambling. I despise gambling and rarely bet anything more than $20 (over the course of the entire night!). I once lost about $100, I once won $107, and I've been to Las Vegas once, very reluctantly. These events are the entire extent of my gambling career. Why then, would I ever do my media ethnography on gambling? Well, I ended up at Grand Casino in Hinkley, MN, because of drummer Steve Moore, who was recently made hugely popular by You-Tube for his fantastical drumming style.

So, I found myself at a casino, which I think are incredibly interesting places. First of all, the biggest thing I always notice at casinos is the large proportion of people alone. Gambling is not a social event for most serious gamblers. Is it that when people begin gambling, they do so socially, but as they become addicted, it no longer a social event, as with alcohol addiction and many other addictions? Another thing I noticed is that most are in their fifties or older.

I put in $27 into a penny slot machine and bet a single penny on every line (60 cents) until I was down to about $5. There was one woman who came and sat beside me but didn't say anything - just smoked. Then, in one miraculous push of a button, I gained about $15 back! My boyfriend wanted to go to watch the band for a bit, so I hit the "redemption" button. I admit, it felt good when I saw the screen increase my money ever so slowly back up to about $20. I actually wanted to keep going and probably would have. I was glad that somebody was there to stop me. Maybe that's why serious gamblers prefer to gamble alone, there is no one to sway you off those machines.

There is smoking allowed in the casino. I have not been used to this in years, and I didn't miss it. I guess the casino is a Native Americian Reservation and is exempt from the smoking ban. Although there were effective smoke-eating machines, there was still pungent smoke filling the air.

Camera are not allowed in casinos so I couldn't take pictures. I also felt like talking is "off limits" on the gambling floor. So, I did some interacting with gamblers in the buffet (we HAD to eat at the buffet at a casino!) and in the cash redemption line. As I waiting in line with my boyfriend to redeem my $18.76, there was a woman in line that I started talking to. I showed her my large redemption ticket and told her I was down $7. She replied, "Well, at least you know when to stop. I wish I could do that."

At the buffet, many people were eating alone, but not nearly as many as on the gambling floor. Maybe people do carpool here together but respect that gambling is a solitude event. They might meet up to eat as well. This hypothesis was reinforced when I talked to my married neighbors about gambling. They said that they often times go to a casino together but separate upon arrival because they both like to gamble, but on different medias.

Role-Playing afterthoughts

2010-10-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

1. What were some things that you did to create your role through use of language, information in/images used for your bio?
First of all, I knew that my own thoughts were bound to leak out, so I picked a perspective that I could relate to, a public school student's parent opposed to the proposed dismantle of the public school system.

2. What arguments were you making to convince other roles to support your position?
My main arguments were that I didn't have the time or money to homeschool my child, or send them to a charter or private school. I believe in the government's role of providing tax-paying families with educating their children.
3. What evidence or reasons were your employing to support your positions? Do you think that this evidence or reasons were effective in convincing others to adopt your positions?

I cited other countries and their stance on educating their youth. On the other hand, I disagreed with countries like Germany that administer tests that either send students to the work force, technical school, or University, depending on their scores. Given this logic, students wouldn't be able to enjoy their extra curricular activities or social lives because they are so worried about passing a test that will predict their future. My character in this role-play didn't well in high school and barely made it to college. Once enrolled in college, she excelled and graduated wit ha good GPA. She wouldn't want her child to take a test that determines their future based on their academic level at grade 10.

4. Which roles had the most versus least power in this role-play? What are some reasons that these roles did or did not have power? What were some strategies that the roles with power employed?

I felt like the business owners and principles had the most power and the students and parent had the least because these people make the decisions and have the money and power to change. The parents and students have to fight in large numbers to get the results that one administrator can make in an instant.

5. Were there differences between your personal beliefs and those of your role? Did your own personal beliefs on this issue change at all due to the role-play?

I guess I became more open to a change in the system when it was proposed that it could still be a public school system, just a different one. But them again, why don't we just reform rather than dismantle?

6. How might you use an online role-play in your teacher to address certain issues or teacher about an event or text?
I think it would be great to use to get to know a character in a book better. Also, students learn that they have to defend their arguments rather than just host them. Furthermore, students can learn a lot by choosing another point of view, like being a devil's advocate. Their opinions may change after assuming another role.

Media Ethnography

2010-10-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

For the project on Media Ethnography, I think I will do my project on cell phones, and more specifically, the new "smartphones," which make being unconnected nearly impossible.

I remember when cell phones just came out. I distinctly remember in 1997 when I first saw and used a cell phone. At first, our culture had a huge issue with people being rude on their cell phones. It was a huge debate; whether or not it was rude to stop mid-conversation and say, "excuse me, I have to take this call." It was considered rude to talk on a cell phone in a restaurant, on the bus, or sometimes, in somebody's house. Nowadays, people answer phone calls in the middle of face-to-face conversations, in restaurants, and in lines at the grocery store. It is only now considered semi-rude when you don't hang up when you're interacting with the cashier. People even text, Facebook, email, or look things up on the internet while talking face-to-face with somebody.

Now, with smartphones. you are expected to pick up the phone or call back within a few hours - at the most. You are to respond to a text message within minutes, email back within the day, as well as keep your Facebook status "updated" as you move about your day and tweet about relevant information. As a result, when I forget my phone at home, I feel completely naked and out of touch. It is absolutely amazing that I feel uncomfortable without my cell phone, like I forgot to put on socks that morning or something.

I have found that older people still find it acceptable to not answer the phone or take a couple of days to return phone calls, but even with my twenty-something age group this is simply unacceptable for us. I can't imagine keeping up with the social immediacy that adolescents participate in these days. My 14 year-old nephew updates his Facebook status three times a day and switches his dating status about once a week. He must send and receive 100 texts a day. Whenever I text him, he usually responds in seconds. Even if he's at school, he'll write, "txt latr in scl." What?

The new smartphones combine every bit of connectedness that we subscribe to: phone, music, social networking, email, and text messaging. Once in a while, if I forget my cell phone and get over the initial uncomfortableness, I relish in the fact that I am absolutely unreachable.

Class Analysis

2010-10-13T22:13:00.001-07:00

I think this would be a good teaching idea for middle/high school kids to do as well. Have them search for images pertaining to a specific "lens" and have them do exactly what we did for this assignment: comment on the images through the lens and allow other students to comment/write on their voicethread. I like voicethread (when it's working properly). It's easy to use and I think teenagers would get a kick out of hearing their own voice on an assignment.

WIKI

2010-10-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

So here is my preliminary wiki that I created. After creating and interacting with wikis, I see the range of possibilities they have. I can envision many ways in which to use a wiki in my classroom.

As of right now, I am using mine as a resource page for myself as I move along through the M.Ed program. This will be my resource page for compiling my lesson plans, my classmates' website annotations, as well working with my Crosswinds Intersession partner to work on daily lessons. Wikis seem vital for co-teaching. In-person meetings can be nearly eliminated with the collaborating nature of wikis.

As far as student writing is concerned, there is no accountability with wikis. The instructor does not know which students have edited the page and how much they actually contributed. This seems like a possible downfall of wikis.