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.

Bloglines test

For some reason, the two posts I made two days ago are not showing up on bloglines. I'm posting again to see if this one will show.

Web Site Update

Continuing to work on my site through the weekend. Enjoy a few photos and a special effect courtesy of my husband's web magic. Thanks for the feedback - it is much appreciated.

Project Abstract

Fences: A Read/Write Web Unit Plan by Sarah Ostrom

I will be presenting a unit plan for teaching Fences by August Wilson using some of the applications we have worked with, strategies and suggestions from our guest speakers, and the guidance of Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms . The final product will be a website contrasting traditional lessons with lessons that reflect the technology of our world today.

Professional Web Site

Well, here's my site so far.

I am working in Dreamweaver (with technical support from my husband).

I'd appreciate feedback on what you'd like to see more of (okay, besides the missing teaching philosophy). What would be eye-catching, interesting, and professionally appropriate?

Naive or idealistic

It's been a little while since I posted, so here I am to try and remedy that in spite of feeling like I've come down with a case of blogger's block.

I've been thinking a lot about our class with Will. I feel very lucky to have had that experience. My brain gets such a work out from trying to manage all this new information. When I reflect back on our conversation, something that I keep coming back to is Joe saying, "Maybe I'm naive, but...". I've been thinking about the difference between naive and idealistic. Is it naive to have high expectations of yourself and your students? Is it naive to think that you can bring about the changes that we are talking about? Is it naive to think that your students will find meaning in their work in your class? I hope not.

In a somewhat related story, I have been struggling to get my students to attend class. Most times, this means me either going outside or to the cafeteria to find them and bring them to class. What has been frustrating me about this endeavor is the apathy of some of the security guards, teachers, and administrators (NOTE: not ALL are apathetic). As I walk outside and debate going off to the creek to search for my students, I wonder, "Am I being naive to think that this will help anything?" One thing that I know for sure is that whether or not they come to class and do their work, these students know that someone is paying attention to them (and aren't we in an attention economy after all?). I really believe that they know that I care about them on some level. Is this naive or idealistic or both?

Web 2.0 Solutions

My friend sent me this link of a huge list of applications for teachers and students. Not only are there a lot of applications/programs/tools out there, but clearly there are a lot of people out there who are moving towards using these kinds of technology in their classrooms. Exciting stuff.

iMovie Reflection

I feel like I've said most of this on other people's blogs, but I thought I should post about my iMovie here, too.

So, I pretty pleased with my iMovie. As always, I immediately see things that could be improved upon, but it's okay. The best part of this project was finding a computer to work on that could handle the job. I got yelled at by a librarian (who mistook me for a student) for eating in the computer lab, but that was the only snag.

My movie is about Socratic Seminars - which I'm a big fan of. I hope that when it plays next week, the sound will be loud and clear. Working with the external mic is something I'll have to try next time.

Smack your Mac

Also from last night's conversation...

Hitting the side of the computer changes the application you're working in (as opposed to clicking between them). Check out the video and the blog post that explains it.

Inspired by Chrissy's post.

The Mac vs. PC debate was raging at my house last night. I have done my share (maybe more than my share) of Mac bashing, so I'd like to try to clear up my stance on this issue.

Basically, I don't have a problem with Macs, I have a problem with Mac access. My biggest complaint about Macs is that they are awkward to use, but that's only because I'm more familiar with PCs (my Mac-using friends reminded me). I am glad to be working with Macs because I think that - ultimately - some experience with Macs will help me to help more of my students. Along these lines, I think it might be beneficial to work with both in order to give students (in this class) a broader knowledge base of these multi-media applications (for example, a podcast using GarageBand and a movie using WindowsMovieMaker).

In other news, last night's conversation turned to a "statistic" about how every ten years something revolutionizes computer technology. This led to trying to come up with what we'll need to get my son when he goes off to college in 17 years... what will the average college student need - technology-wise?

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali

I mentioned this poem to Rachel last week which made me go check it out again. I originally saw/heard it on a Def Poetry Jam. Since taking this class, I have to admit, there are some things that I question more than I originally did. However, I still love the heart of it which I think goes along with some of the current discussions on our class blog (Alex's post and Karen's post).

When I went to check out Taylor Mali's site, there was a specific post about this poem and how it has made the "Inspirational CyberSpam" rounds. Ironically, this poem was used by Thomas Friedman in a speech he gave at Yale graduation 2003. Check out the post and the poem.

iMovie Update

Well, I continue to struggle with the Mac aspect of this class, and the iMovie project is no different. I'm doing my movie on Socratic Seminars. I have taped one Socratic Seminar and hope to get at least three more on Monday. The problem is that the computer that I'm using (my friend's Powerbook G4 - about 3 years old, I think) doesn't have nearly enough memory for me to work with. I was able to get 10 minutes of footage in. I edited it down to a minute and wasn't able to save the project. I unistalled some of the iLife '06 applications, deleted the unused footage and my podcast; I tried to save to a 1GB Flash Drive, but there wasn't enough space there either. I feel like instead of spending my time working with the application, I'm trying to work around the constraints of the application and the computer I'm using. In addition, I purchased a mic that didn't work with the camera I used and a fire-wire that didn't work with Mac. I really want to work on this project, but I can't.

Poetry Unit

Okay, I'm going to give the wiki another try. I've started a page for a poetry unit. I know already that I will need help organizing it. I was hoping for the unit to be something that we could all contribute to and eventually use. I've started with "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou, but I've left it open. Anyone interested?

Paperless school

Check out this article about the School of the Future - it was on NPR this morning -a paperless school in Philadelphia. Here's proof that all these things we're reading about and learning about are happening... and we could make them happen in our schools and classrooms too.