My AH HA moments!

So I know it has been awhile since my last post, but like everyone else in the faculty, I have been quite busy! I have also been working on a side project which in in accordance with my T2P - check it out! :D YAY for shameless advertising!

On to multiliteracies! As my post title states, I had an "AH HA!" moment during our last lecture. It seems that I was caught up in the use of technology with this class and did not look at the big picture: that multiliteracies is simply teaching and evaluating English course work in a manner that is not just reading a book or writing an essay. To others, this may be their "DUH!" moment, but as someone whose high school English experience was as far from differentiated as possible, and about as old school as it can get, this is a novel idea to me (no pun intended); so just let me go with it.

 As I begin to prepare for my second placement, in an English classroom, I am beyond eager to apply all that I have learned and see how the students react! After meeting my new Associate yesterday (who is AMAZING!), I have come to realize that what I would like to have them do may be too far out of their comfort zone. So, how do I plan on dealing with this issue you ask? Why a survey, of course! (AH HA moment #2!) By asking my students during my observation week how easy it is for them to access the internet, how familiar they are with blogs, their level of comfort with things like group work, class presentation, dramatic presentations, reading aloud, and Web 2.0 sites like Animoto and Glogster, I can create units that will enable them to succeed (while giving them a break from the chapter questions coma!).

Given that English is the one course in high school that is mandatory for all four years, I feel it is extremely important to make the students want to attend and actually enjoy their time there! When first faced with the daunting task of combining curriculum expectations with fun at the beginning of the year I would have said "Impossible!" but now I can confidently say "Definitely possible!"

Lesson Re-Design: Ancient Civ Take Two

With my other teachable being history, and having studied history throughout high school, I was thrilled to discover that I would be teaching Ancient Civilizations during my first practicum. I arrived as the Egyptian unit was coming to a close, meaning I was going to teach the entire Greek unit: daunting and exciting. I tried to bring in as much media and DI as possible, since the topic of studying civilizations that existed thousands and thousands of years ago is very abstract for high school students. BUT! If only I knew then what I know now...

As I racked my brain for a way to include the concept of multiliteracies in my history lesson plans, I went through all of the topics I covered and landed on the Persian Wars. More specifically, the Battle of Thermopylae (this is the one where King Leonidas and a group of Greek city-states faced off against pretty much the entire Persian empire, under the rule of Xerxes, took place at a narrow coastal pass...made into a bulging-muscles, scandalously-clad movie recently). I gave my lecture, which was broken down into various sections (what each force did to prepare, what the topography of the battlefield was like) then asked the students to come to certain conclusions based on the information provided. We then got into the details of the battle, the aftermath, and the significance. I showed pictures, maps, movie clips, etc but I could have done it completely different - and now I'm left wondering if they would have preferred my new version (probably!).

The movie, in case you haven't figured it out yet, is 300, and it was actually based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Frank Miller in 1998. Although I do not have a hard copy of this text, you can purchase one for relatively cheap, or view it online. Simply book the computer lab, and have your students teach themselves while being entertained (or you could show it in class for all to see and read through it together). The graphics are amazing, and the text is very powerful. I propose doing a short lecture on the battle prior to doing this reading, just to make sure the facts are taken in and the students do not get too caught up in the visual appeal of the text; alternatively, you could have the students take notes from it or have them look for certain things and then mark for accuracy. This is also a great way to (hopefully) stop them from begging you to show the movie!

As mentioned previously, considering the students are often disconnected from the information in this class, simply because it is hard to relate to, utilizing a text like this in the lesson or as a  supplementary teaching aid would definitely be useful in my opinion. This would have also shifted the focus of the lesson from what I can teach them to what they can teach themselves. I am coming to the realization that students seem to get more out of their lessons if they are guided towards the expectations and outcomes desired, as opposed to having the information handed to them. In conjunction with the graphic novel, I feel it may be useful to provide the students with a graphic organizer that would assist them in their self-directed learning; perhaps a Time-Order Chart, or a Spider Map. This would make it easier for students to collect, organize, and record their thoughts and the information as they study the graphic novel for historical information. This method would also make it easier for the teacher to check for accuracy. Next time, this text will definitely be making an appearance in my classroom!

"Play, Experiment, and Make Mistakes"

In Multiliteracies class this past week, we were exposed to numerous sites that fall under the category of "Web 2.0". If you're like I was when introduced to this term, you are probably wondering what this means. Well, simply put, it sums up our new, more active way of being involved with the internet, as opposed to the passive way in which we used to take part. We used to read websites for information, but we can now be the experts and share our knowledge with the world. Sites now exist that are similar to programs that needed to be individually installed/downloaded onto your computer, enhancing the possibility (and probability) of sharing and learning from one another. Essentially, the internet has turned into one big giant communication tool. This is applicable to the classroom in many ways, as I realized this past Wednesday. Through the various sites that I investigated, a teacher can communicate with their students, assess their students, and allow their students to be creative through alternative mediums. Students may be more comfortable with these mediums than the traditional classroom methods, since, let's face it, most of them are experts in this arena.

I began by looking at BitStrips: an avatar/cartoon-creating site. The tagline itself says it all: "unlock the educational power of comics." The teacher sets up a class account, in which all students can see each other's avatars and comics created can be shared. It fosters a sense of community, sharing, and creativity, which make for a much better learning environment.

Ning is a website that can be used for multiple things; and I am very intrigued! The practicality of  this site is remarkable, as it allows all students to communicate with each other in many fashions, combining aspects of Facebook, blogs, and web-forums (for a fee, which is disappointing). It can be used as a literature circle (as my instructor does for her ENG 4U class), where students can share thoughts/answer questions about a piece being studied in class, and it can also be used as a site where forums can be started by the teacher with specific topics up for discussion. Finally, students can blog in open discussion, sharing thoughts and offering assistance to one another. There's that sense of community again...I feel a theme arising.

Prezi  is awesome. I just recently became familiar with it, but I love it. It is definitely one of those things where you either love it or hate it. But as a presentation tool, I think it's great: think of it as PowerPoint on a sugar high, all jazzed up and spunky. It takes some getting used to, but it allows for a great deal of creativity in your presentation, and it's free! :D

Google Docs is also awesome..now. Now that I know how to use it, and can see how useful it can be. A program you need to be patient with and troubleshoot your own way through.

Finally, Animoto. Definitely interesting. This site allows you to combine pictures and music and make it into a video: "Making awesome easier." Well, I'm only interested in what awesome-ness I can get for free, so although this site has two other "upgraded" options, I'm going to see what the lite version has to offer (this is the version I would use with my students as well). You have lots to choose from with the free version, the only real difference is the length of the video (30 second max). I feel that the process may take quite a while from start to finish, so this may be good for a culminating activity: students could choose photos to represent a character and their development,  then write a short paper describing the reasoning for their choices, for example. All in all, cool site, but a bit time consuming and may be too advanced for those who are not as tech-savy.

This ends my review of Web 2.0: the active approach to the internet. I am definitely excited to see how I am able to blend the traditional world with the techno-world in my classroom.

Survey for Social Studies Class

Hello friends!! For a social studies class, a few of us are performing a research experiment on the relationship between news exposure and personal anxiety. We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes and fill out this survey to the best of your ability. Thank you, Kristine, Kelsey, and Melanie

Multimodal Text?

"In the 21st century, the definition of literacy has expanded to refer to a flexible, sustainable command of a set of capabilities in the use and production of traditional texts and new communications technologies, using spoken language, print and multimedia."

Curriculum Leadership Journal

So, I'm a keener, and I've been trying to get a head start on my lesson redesign assignment. In doing so, I came across an article that I found particularly helpful, so I thought I would share with my wonderful classmates! :D Enjoy, and share your thoughts!

Multiliteracies Assignment

This post is an assignment for my Pedagogy of Multiliteracies class, which is a supplemental English course at the Intermediate/Senior level. I feel that my survey is a mix between questions borrowed from my instructor's survey (Danika Barker) and ones I have come up with on my own. I intentionally made portions of my survey reflective in nature, hoping that students will look at their previous experience in the English classroom and work towards making a change. I also chose to refer to the class as "ours" quite often, with the hope of setting a specific tone right away: we are both experience this class for 75 minutes everyday, I want to enjoy it as much as you do, so what can we do to make it so? Given the fact that English is the only compulsory course throughout all four years of high school, you know right away that not everyone wants to be there. It's a fact that needs to be acknowledged. Therefore, with my survey, I would strive to begin the school year by learning about my students as individuals, with the hopes of reaching them as a student through the use of this information: guiding them to a successful school year.

Oh the irony...

In my many musings to think of a witty name for my beloved blog, “Pen to Paper” popped into my mind. The irony did not escape me, and the obvious choice was made. As someone who only recently started using her laptop instead of a notebook for taking lecture notes, this concept of the electronic pen and paper is seeming to creep into my life from all angles now. Instead of letters, we e-mail. Instead of invites, it’s now e-vites. Instead of the good ol’loose leaf and ink, it’s power cords and keyboards. So! Seeing as I am writing this blog for a course which has the intention of exemplifying the ever changing techno-realm in which we are to educate our students, I saw this namesake as a chance to pay homage to the way things were. And it made me giggle :)