Reflection

In looking back on this course, I think I have moved to a new continent on the map of English. Part of where I originated was where I think a lot of people in this class are coming from - a love of reading and writing. The other part, was a real sense of disappointment in my experiences as a student in English classrooms. Why couldn't my teachers lead me to appreciate To Kill A Mockingbird or Jane Eyre for example? Why did what I wrote outside of the classroom never seem to have a place in the classroom? I have always wanted to create a classroom where students were interested and challenged.

That goal has stayed the same, but I feel like I am leaving this class with a gigantic tool belt of new ways to help my students find meaning in their work. Many of the tools in my belt came from the work of other people in the class. The range of projects we saw over this semester really impressed upon me the versatility of the applications we were working with. I think the most exciting thing happened when people started trying out different applications. We didn't all work with iMovie, but we were able to hear from people who worked with Window Movie Maker, digital cameras, video cameras, microphones, etc. Sharing these experiences just made for a more informed perspective. Thanks to our professors for being flexible and our classmates for testing things out.

I've said this before, but this class has really been an amazing experience for me. It has challenged my beliefs about how we teach English in such a way that allows for constant careful thought and analysis of my teaching practices. As I said to Alex on Tuesday, "This class just totally twisted my ideas." I love that. The issues that we discussed in class, through the readings, on the blogs, with guest speakers permeated my life on more than a technology level.

Some of the things I'm taking away are the importance of meaning and the value of audience. We've talked about these in a technological context, but I think that regardless of application, good teachers should be asking themselves if these are truly aspects of their classrooms. This class affected my philosophy of teaching as well as my teaching practices.

The articles reiterate a lot of what we've discussed. Two points of particular interest to me were the discussion of access and the need to help students shift their own paradigm of the English classroom. Access is an issue that frequently came up in our class discussions, and is also the point that friends of mine kept coming back to when I brought up this class in our conversations. I think I've moved on this point. I have seen how incredibly limiting lack of computer skills can be, and while a teacher can be "understanding" by making allowances, the bottom line is that these are required skills for success in our flat world. Is it unethical to allow students to benefit from the access they have? Does it widen the gap? I guess my philosophy is to try to close the gap whenever possible. I did this when I taught in Brooklyn by inviting students to work on the computers in my home to search for scholarships, work on college applications and write personal statements. Did I make a huge difference? Well, to three young women I did. I guess my idealism shines through once again.

Clearly, most (if not all) of us in this class have adjusted or change the way we see technology and the way we see English classrooms. Reflecting back on where many of us originally stood on the map, we've come a long way. But we've gotten to this point with a lot of patience and gentle reminders. Students need to be encouraged to and supported in making this paradigm shift. Chris' student's post about English class is really a valuable resource. We can see how ingrained the system is and even though they may hate it, they are also comfortable with it. In general, they complained about how English has been the same every year, but also complained that the "new stuff" was harder, but more interesting. I'm curious to see how they would respond to some of those posts as the year comes to a close.

My final project, I think, shows some of the growth that I've experienced. My unit plan for Fences showed how vibrant even an imaginary classroom could be with the integration of the technology applications and the philosophy behind using them. As I've said many times, an exceptional learning experience. Thank you.

Final Project

Here's the web site I created as my final project. In reflecting on the project, I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I like that I am leaving this class with practical ways to implement the use of the applications we used/read about, and I feel like I challenged myself to try to avoid "tacking on" technology to a lesson. I used freewebs to make my site, PowerPoint, Word and MovieMaker. Everything went smoothly (for the first time!). As I said in my presentation, I would probably revise the amount of text on the site. I would try to switch to bullets and lists where I could. Other than that, it was fun and hopefully practical. At least my imaginary students really seemed to enjoy it.

Who is reading my blog? - OR - An obvious ploy for comments...

I'm pregnant! The bean-shaped object is my baby. Due date: July 2, 2007. So, I'm putting my Masters on hold (again). I won't be taking classes next semester. This may explain why I've been looking so exhausted in class recently.

Mad Editing Skills

Check this amatuer drummer out.

My Project

Obligatory disclaimer: This is a work in progress. Here is my web site for my unit on Fences.

I am looking for feedback in terms of a few things:
--Do my explanations make sense (audience is students and other teachers who may be unfamiliar with these application)?
--Should I also post traditional plans to contrast, or is it safe to assume that people understand the gist of "traditional lessons"?
--Do you think the blog posts invite comments?
--I'm concerned about students understanding what I write, but also afraid that too much writing could be a turn off. At the same time, I wouldn't bombard them with all this at once as it's presented on the site.
--How do you think these lessons are in terms of integrating some what we've learned and discussed in this course?
--Specifically, I'm think I should take out the collage. What do you think?
--Any other suggestions and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Sarah's read aloud history:

Inspired by Joe's post:

My mother and read aloud together nightly up until middle school. We read the Narnia books, everything by E.B. White, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, lots of Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume and other YA from the '80s. After we read Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck, we discussed the book (about rape), and I wrote to the author.

Mrs. Donner, my fifth grade teacher read aloud to us every day. The two I remember more are The Westing Game and The Cay. She made different voices for all the characters, and brought the story to life. Wonderful...

Much later on, in a Children's Lit. class at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Professor McLaughlin read us Charlotte's Web. Again, I was absorbed by the story and the reading aloud - even though he didn't do the voices. However, I found that I was the only one of my classmates who seemed to enjoy this time. I don't know why, but people just didn't seem that into it.

Don't laugh - but when I was pregnant with my son, I read to him nightly. I have been reading aloud to him ever since, and I plan to keep reading as long as he'll listen. He loves The Lorax, and I love reading it aloud to him.

So, does this history mean that my mother started me on the path to becoming an English teacher? How do you think being read to impacts a person at different ages? Why does reading aloud happen less and less (and seem to be enjoyed less and less) in middle and high school?

Where do we go from here?

I'm sad to see this course coming to a close. For me, this has really been a provocative class. It's challenged my beliefs in such a way that encouraged me to revise my views on how to best teach English, what meaningful work looks like, and how to bring classrooms, schools and districts into the world our students already live in.

What happens to these blogs we've been working on? I know that I will miss reading our course blog and my classmates' blogs. When Will visited our class, Larissa asked him how he learns about the best new technology out there. He said he has a network of "teachers." These blogs are my network of teachers. People are constantly posting links to interesting articles, helpful resources and amusing song parodies. Equally valuable has been the experiences of people in terms of bringing some of what we discuss into their classrooms. I will definitely continue to visit Chris' blog to hear how his students are doing and how his colleagues react to his letter suggesting a revamping of the English program. I hope to hear how student teaching goes, and how what we've done in this course becomes a part of that experience. I think most of us have felt the effects of this course when talking to our families and friends. It's been a powerful experience.

I realize this post is a little "link-happy," but I wanted to try to show how valuable these blogs are. I haven't even mentioned the books we've read, and the thoughtful discussions they have encouraged. What I'm trying to say is, please keep posting. I love the learning that continually happens in and out of the classroom as a result of this class. Thank you, teachers, for making this semester such a meaningful one.