Write on! So I wonder how long I can go on with these modified Shakespearean quotes. Guess that'll be my quirky little thing, like the cat lady, only . . . ummm. . . not.
Last night we explored some cool little gadgets in Web 2.0, including Google reader and Google gadgets. I've used the reader to subscribe to all my colleagues' blogs, which is a pretty cool thing. I explained it to my wife about the reader and she was like whatever but I don't care I still like it (student blog writing impersonation). The gadgets are cool for websites and wikis and whatnot, but I don't know if there's any practical educational application to them, other than to enhance design.
I can tell I'm beginning to loosen up in here. Hope my readers can withstand my colloquialisms.
We also spent a chunk of class time working on our advocacy wiki. I started to realize that this is going to be a major undertaking, probably when I realized that I would have to research my topic and that there are heaps of articles out there on student motivation. No problem finding the material--it's sorting through it all that will be a task. Fortunately I have some clever partners who seem to be on top of things.
No ideas yet for the lesson plan. It seems like I could use blogs to replace or as an alternative to weekly journal entries, but is that really a lesson? Here's an idea--perhaps I'll explore the possibility of a Multiple Media narrative where students tell a story through narrative, emails, diary entries, even telephone conversations. The whole thing could be arranged on a blog. But is that a really authentic way to use a blog? Just brainstorming. More in a bit. . .
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7 comments:
Joe I agree with trying to find an authentic use for blogs as being difficult. Throughout the cohort everything we did always centered around an authentic problem. I am having a hard time seeing what authentic problem I could come up with for this. It should be interesting.
I, too, am struggling with an idea for using blogs with my students; it's the whole authentic problem thing. Perhaps a blog could be used as a collaborative tool. Would real scientists use them? Hmmm....
Here is an idea: you are in a country in which free speech is forbidden. You find a proxy site to navigate to a blog. You comment on conditions within your totalitarian state.
You are well received by blog readers. You win the Pulitzer.
You could be interest in the weather report from a remote area which is un-newsworthy. How authentic can it get?
Careful, careful, we are the visionaries here. We boldly go into the unknown to create meaning, reveal content, and push our own understandings. Noone said it was easy.
On the upside, I love the quirky Shakespearean thing - slight is the head with no Shakespeare in it! So, go, teach the torches to burn bright, and bit your thumb, sir, at the unknown>:)
Hey maybe you could create an wuthentic situation from the story or novel you are reading...maybe their is something there...I agree the authentic problem is where I get stuck.I think we are probably making it too hard.
Ok, I meant Authentic nOT wuthentic...it's late...
May be that is the point. To shake a spear before. Not after. Action in action has its own re ...
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