Do you ever come across hateful, idiotic, bigoted comments as you peruse news stories or YouTube videos, for example? Do you ever notice how often these same comments are full of grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and usage errors?
Here's a delightfully hilarious song about this phenomenon (sung to the tune of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back"):
You're gonna love this.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Teaching 9/11: Why? How?
Pamela Moran and Ira David Socol present a compelling argument in favor of teaching 9/11 in school, and in so doing make a convincing case for helping students consider multiple perspectives (one of the six facets of understanding) and engaging in inquiry.
You can check it out on the New York Times Learning Network by clicking here. Scroll down.
You can check it out on the New York Times Learning Network by clicking here. Scroll down.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Helpful Tips and Exemplars
Dear Pre-Student Teachers,
I just finished reading your blog postings and your comments/replies to one another, and I AM IMPRESSED!
Thank you for your engaging narratives of your first days of pre-student teaching. Thank you for your insightful questions and early inquiry. Thank you for your thoughtful planning and goal-setting. You’ve knocked my socks off with your witty, intelligent writing and your professionalism. Really. My socks are in the hallway outside my office door.
Since I won’t see you face-to-face until after your second blog posting (online reflection) is due next Wednesday, Sept. 7, I wanted to give you a few pointers for making the most of this blogging experience and for earning full credit on each post:
Title
Shoot for a creative, relevant title. If you plan to post more frequently than required (as several of you are doing), just include “Online Reflection #___” in your title for the post you want me to evaluate. For example, check out Sianna’s blog post: Online Reflection #1: The Hardest Part of Any Journey is Taking that First Step. See? Simple as pie.
Engaging (even experimental) Blog Posts
If you’re still wondering what’s possible with your blog posts, check out innovative posts by these authors for inspiration (just click the name, and you’ll connect to the post):
Replies/Comments: Continuing the Conversation (and earning full points)
Check your blog postings for replies (you should receive an e-mail notification on your Google account e-mail when someone replies on your blog), and then respond to them. The best way to grow an audience is to respond to that audience. If someone has posted a question or made a connection to your experience, respond—if only to thank them for sharing an idea, experience, or advice.
In addition, when you reply to someone else’s post, you can click the “Subscribe by E-mail” link after the comments in order to receive notification when the blog’s author (or someone else) responds to your post.
Here are some examples of strong replies that continue the conversation:
Productive Discussions
And here are some examples of productive discussions that resulted from an engaging post, a thoughtful comment, and the author’s response to those comments:
The Importance Posting On Time
As you’ve probably noticed, I have waited until after your comments/replies were due to begin my assessment of your online reflection performance. This means, of course, that if you have updated your blog or posted comments on someone’s blog at some point today, I most likely have not read it (and you have not earned credit for it).
If you post a blog entry or a reply/comment after the deadline, send me the link via e-mail, so I can assess your work. For online reflections 2, 3, and 4, you will earn reduced credit for late postings of any sort. For online reflection 1, however, I am being lenient because this is a new experience for most of you, and I understand that technical difficulties have been a challenge. Please let me know how I can help.
Thanks again for your stimulating online conversations! I hope you will review one another’s postings on our class blog regularly (the blogs are listed according to most recent updates). Use this as an opportunity to connect with your fellow pre-student teachers, sharing your successes and frustrations, and seeking out advice and resources.
Thank you!
Monday, August 29, 2011
An argument against teaching to students' learning styles?
Scientists are questioning the value of teaching to students' learning styles and are now simply advocating "mixing things up" and spreading learning out over a longer period of time to help students understand and retain information/concepts. Check out this article from NPR.org and decide for yourself.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Professionalism and Blogging
Audience Consideration
Please keep in mind that your audience extends beyond our class. As you compose your posts, imagine that your cooperating teacher, principal, students, grandmother, and future employer are going to read them. This doesn’t mean that you can’t articulate challenges you’re facing or questions you have. It doesn’t mean that you can’t use humor or even sarcasm to create engaging, witty, memorable posts. It just means that you need to consider your (potentially very large) audience.
Please keep in mind that your audience extends beyond our class. As you compose your posts, imagine that your cooperating teacher, principal, students, grandmother, and future employer are going to read them. This doesn’t mean that you can’t articulate challenges you’re facing or questions you have. It doesn’t mean that you can’t use humor or even sarcasm to create engaging, witty, memorable posts. It just means that you need to consider your (potentially very large) audience.
Maintaining Professionalism and Privacy on your Public Blog
1. Do not use the names (or other identifiable information) of your school, cooperating teacher, students, or other field placement employees in your blog posts. Ever.
a. You may use pseudonyms, which will allow you to maintain a more conversational tone in your posts. I recommend that you write a brief note for each post in which you use pseudonyms (e.g., “all names are pseudonyms”), so your audience does not assume lack of professionalism on your part.
b. I also recommend that you avoid referring to your school district, city, and state when possible.
2. Do not post photos in which students are identifiable on your blog. Ever. Photos of you teaching are acceptable. Photos of materials that you’ve created are acceptable. Photos of you and your CT (with your CT’s permission, of course) are acceptable. Photos in which students are identifiable are not (i.e., photos taken from the back of the classroom that show backs of students’ heads and you teaching are generally okay).
3. Do not turn your blog into a venting/ranting/whining space. This is a professional blog, a space for you to reflect on your teaching, pose questions, share experiences and resources, offer advice, and solicit feedback. If you need to vent/complain, talk to your friends or family members – though not in a public place where you might be overheard – and try to keep it to a minimum. Negativity breeds negativity. If you have a serious issue/concern, you may visit with me privately.
Composing Engaging Posts (a.k.a. Inspiring Audience Commentary)
1. Use writing techniques that you would use in any text: dialogue, character development, action, anecdotes, questions, quotations (with citations), etc.
2. Engage in your own inquiry by sharing questions that you have regarding teaching, classroom management, and content. But don’t stop there! Review your class texts and online resources (go, Google!) and seek out and share answers to your professional inquiry. Use the “Link” feature in Blogger to cite your online resources and allow your audience to visit the site as well.
3. Create an intriguing title for each post, and limit your entries to 500-800 words, and delete any extraneous information so your post is as clear and concise as possible.
4. Double space between paragraphs. Otherwise, you will just have one huge, unreadable chunk of text that just hurts your audience’s eyes.
Secrets for Writing Good Blog Posts – Please review these tips.
Examples of professional blogs by current teachers:
Gaetan Pappalardo’s Blog on EdutopiaFriday, August 19, 2011
Welcome to Pre-Student Teaching!
I'm looking forward to helping you set-up and use a professional blog for your online reflections (we'll discuss this on the first day of CI 454E). We'll use this class blog as a common link among your professional blogs, which I will add to the blog list to the right. You'll post reflections throughout this semester and continue your blog postings during student teaching. Your blog will be a space for you to share your successes, challenges, questions, and answers and demonstrate professional growth . See you soon! - Dr. Mason
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