Thanks to all in C&I 630...

As we all prepare for the last day with our eager PEOPLE students, I just wanted to thank everyone from this summer's C&I 630 for a great experience. Personally, I think that this year's readings and activities were extremely beneficial, and the knowledge gained will directly affect many aspects of my teaching. I know that I am not alone in this regard.
Thanks again to Don, Jeff, Elissa, Joyce, Tom, Amy and Amylia for the enlightening comments and candid discussions. Above all, thanks to Scot for organizing and facilitating another great class. Have an awesome summer!

New-Old Rubric

While reading this article, I wasn't aware that there was such a crisis regarding the ability to assess multimedia projects. On the first page, Sorapure refers to the three articles (Takayoshi, Zoetewey & Staggers, Yancey) and states that in all three we see a "balancing act between old and new, as the authors detail suggestions for adapting current approaches and inventing new ones to help us assess writing in new media." This doesn't seem too difficult of a task for us to bite off and chew.
This spring I was involved in an Intel course that integrated the new writing with the old curriculum. The end products consisted of technology-focused units utilizing wikis, blogs, etc. as part of the learning process. While developing these units, we had to develop assessments for different aspects of each one. Seemingly simple, we adapted traditional rubrics slightly to use in the assessment of the students' projects. As I think back to the spring, this rubric adaptation really wasn't a challenge and didn't seem to be a hurdle for any of the participants in the course.

Now, regarding the multi-modal form that the compositions take, I think that this is phenomenal. This is something that was unheard of even ten years ago, something only that could be seen on television and in the movies. I have seen some of these compositions turn out so well and right-on, and some that have crashed and burned. Just as we as educators must learn to embrace new technologies and integrate them into our curriculum, we must teach the children to embrace them and use them appropriately.
As a precursor to the larger assignments, Sorapure assigned "several shorter exercises that invited students to explore relations between text and image." Some students will "get it" right away, others (most) will need these types of activities to avoid the "crash-and-burn" scenes that could result from their misunderstanding. Furthermore, Sorapure hopes that these exercises allow "for exploration between modes," and show the students "that the modes should not simply repeat each other." This is something I feel that I need to work on when I present technologically-infused units. Right now, I am still digesting all of the metaphorical and metonymic relations between the visual and verbal modes of all of the collages represented in the article.

Plagiarism

While reading both of the chapters by Howard and the article by Robillard, I started to think back to my years as an undergrad and the papers that I would write. I was always careful to credit all of the lines that I would borrow from others, always for fear of this thing called plagiarism. I didn't really understand that there were different degrees of this p-word, just that I knew that I didn't want to be the one who was caught using an author's words without giving the credit that was due to him or her. Oh, and I also "knew" that as long as I rewrote what was said by someone else, that was usually okay. Following these "guidelines," I felt that I wouldn't be sent packing from this great institution.
This rewriting of words and direct quoting with credit was the way of the undergraduate world. None of what I wrote was ever really original. I was learning and showing that I was learning by what I put on the paper. What I put on the paper came from the course reader, the professor, or the book that was written by the professor.
I think back to times when I worked on large-scale projects in my business classes, where we collaborated by each writing different sections and coming together to edit all of the 50-100 pages. These were always a blast to edit and revise. If ever I had doubts about my writing, these were put to rest after reading some of my group mates' work. I am sure that some sort of p-word violation must have occurred somewhere in those "original" works.
During my Master's studies, I know that I must have matured and was more vigilant about using others' words. At least my research was original, or was it? Had I taken those ideas about teaching a non-white centric curriculum of U.S. history from someone else? Was that illegal without giving due credit?
Even as we blog for these classes and comment on what we've read, I ponder the p-word. It seemed so cut and dry during my undergrad years, but I feel more than a little naive when I think of how we as a society are "unconsciously" committing degrees of the p-word more than we think.

FanFic

I will admit that I personally am not a fan of Harry Potter, but I am a fan how it has excited so many children (and adults!) to read challenging and intellectually (?) stimulating material. If one were to break down the complexity of the story line, Steven Johnson would be quite content that the readers of Rowling were engaging their adolescent brains in such complex works. The Hardy Boys have nothing on Harry Potter.
The FanFic genre of writing that has been inspired by the works of Rowling and the like have had such a monumental effect on the the literacy of the fans. The readers are able to discuss the works in a nonthreatening environment, where they are able to analyze texts at a very deep level. Jenkins claims, "When they discuss such stories, teen and adult fans talk openly about their life experiences, offering each other advice on more than just plot or characterization." It's analysis at a level not often seen in the traditional "brick and mortar" classroom.
Furthermore, so many classrooms are stuck in the book and chalkboard mentality. Sometimes this is due to a fear of integrating new technology or a lack of access to technology. We all see it in our school. Some are embracing technology, but face the pitfalls of the limited availability to the resources; some clutch to the way it's always been done, possibly because they see the challenges that the new technology can bring, but also because that's how it's been done for years. Jenkins discusses how "Schools are locked into a model of autonomous learning that contrasts sharply with the kinds of learning that are needed as students are entering the new knowledge cultures." He goes on to suggest that students possibly are being deskilled in the traditional classroom. It's no wonder why so many students appear to display apathy in class; they're possibly being deskilled! :)
Personally, I believe that there is a solution to this disconnect. Somewhere between the pen and pencil and the blog, we can find a happy medium where the students aren't being robbed of their skills; where they can analyze literary works at a deep level. If we treat the blog as the publication step of the writing process, the students are able to apply their formal writing skills and reach an audience larger than the teacher and the students in the class.

Cool

This article was intriguing in so many respects. I want to speak to a few of these issues this morning before my thoughts escape my groggy brain.
The discussion of what makes a cool city a desirable place to live was quite interesting to me. The "urban renewal" or regentrification of so many neighborhoods in cities nationwide, locally noticed especially in Milwaukee, has displaced so many residents. As people flock to the 5th Ward, Brewer's Hill (etc.) to the cool lofts and modern residences, I am baffled by the marketing ploys of the real estate developers. They come in and level the deteriorating structures that no one seems to want in an area that no one seems to want to live. The people who lived there may or may not have wanted to be there, and may or may not have wanted to leave. Where do they go? I don't assume that too many of the displaced are moving into the penthouse condos in the newly erected structures.
Furthermore, what makes these "new" places cool? The services provided by the city don't necessarily change. The schools stay the same. Maybe it's the addition of a Starbucks. I just don't "get it." I've visited some of these residences and some just don't seem that "cool", let alone warrant the steep price tags (no offense to people living in a regentrified neighborhood intended).
I loved the analysis of the sunglass-wearing Governor Granholm's attempt to decrease the flight from Michigan, or more accurately, the attempt to repopulate the burnt-out neighborhoods that remain south of 8 Mile Road. Just throw on the Raybans, pack up the Rover, and come on back to Motown. Such attempts to repopulate areas that are "less than desirable" fail to address the actual problems in Detroit: a double-digit unemployment rate and an embarrassingly high violent crime rate. To ignore the actual issues further exploits the already marginalized group of citizens. Where will they go? Will they be able to throw on a pair of Raybans and enjoy a jazz show or a cup at Caribou? I'm hopeful, but I think not.

21st Century Writing

Technology seems to be increasingly changing, remolding, reshaping, etc. the way in which we receive our news, talk to other people, and fare following an automobile accident (thanks airbags and ABS...we almost avoided the Subaru!). It is so much apart of our lives that we fail to stop and think of the changes that have taken place over the past century in the ways that we carry out so many daily, seemingly mundane tasks.
Today in class my students were asked to begin brainstorming the role of writing in the 21st Century. The students were asked to answer certain questions such as: "Why do people write?"; "What do people write?"; "Where do people write?"; "How do people write?"; etc. We discussed the changes in technology over the past 100 years, and how the answers to these questions would have been quite different in 1909.
The discussion became quite lively and entertaining. Listening to the students perceptions of what writing used to be, and what it is today, was quite intriguing. I discussed the controversy of the introduction of the "modern pencil" to the classroom. We also talked about the transformation of the written word from one that is transcribed manually to one that is transmitted to a digital format by the the slightest application of force from our fingertip.
The students realized that they are writing much more than they realized. We discussed the differences between formal and informal writing, and how they are doing much more writing as a whole than the students of 1909. They, and I more so, were impressed.
The readings and discussions pertaining to the evolution of writing have really gotten me thinking about how to better embrace technology in the classroom and to foster both the formal and informal writing in my students. I realize that I need to "take on" new technologies at school to better prepare my students to be writers, and citizens, of the 21st Century and beyond.

Thanks for a good summer!

I just wanted to thank everyone for making this year's class an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I feel like I personally learned a lot from the discussion of the articles, but I learned even more from the comments made by all of you during our three weeks.
Scot: Thanks for allowing us the freedom to openly discuss the topics and go off on various tangents. Good luck with your dissertation!
Don: As always, you never disappoint us with an absence of commentary. Thanks for all of your insight this year; I always find it useful.
Amy: Again, I am always interested in the comments that your diverse experience in education and business brings to the discussion. Thanks for the helpful information.
Joyce: Your wealth of experience in writing instruction is always helpful in guiding me when I have a question. Thanks for being such a great wealth of knowledge and keeping the humor going.
Jeff: Your insight is awesome, and the angles that you take with the articles are quite interesting to me. You allow me to look at the articles in a new light.
Alex: It was awesome to see you again and have the addition your comments to the class that have been shaped by your international experience. Have fun in el caribe and Panama, and good luck in the fall.
Amylia: Thanks for adding your commentary that has been shaped by your international experience. It is always insightful!
Janet: Thanks for keeping it real and sharing your wealth of knowledge from your many years of teaching.
Everyone: Have a great summer! Thanks!