New Media Literacy

The Jenkins article points out three main problems that arise in schools with regards to media literacy. The first problem is the participation gap. Not all students have the same amount of access to new forms of media, and when they do have access, it is not always the same quality. The second problem identified by the article is known as the transparency problem. The transparency problem basically assumes that youth actively reflect on their media usage while they are creating and distributing what they have produced (Jenkins 12). In order to fix this problem, students need adult influence to consider what they are doing in an academic sense, and to learn from their experiences creating new media. The third and final problem discussed in depth by the article is the ethics challenge. This problem deals with the difficulty many youth experience in developing ethical norms and behaviors needed to participate in such a diverse and complex social environment such as the internet. This is another category where adult intervention and carefully planned lessons could teach kids how to properly navigate their way through cyberspace and to build those ethical norms that will allow them to have the most positive experience with technology.

While I agree with these three core problems and the solutions suggested for the transparency problem and the ethics challenge, I find it problematic that there is no solution suggested or in place for the participation gap. In other classes we have discussed addition access opportunitites provided by after school and public library programs. Even places like internet cafes afford students the opportunity to hook up with forms of new media. However, this article posits that these are not equal conditions for the have nots. While I agree that these are not equal conditions, I do believe they are better than the alternative, where there is no access at all provided for these kids. Jenkins, therefore, presents a dark and glum view of the access problem as he says that limited access breeds limited opportunity and in turn, limited knowledge. He says that the have nots fall further and further behind their more well to do classmates. I feel that it is our job as educators to tackle this problem. We cannot shy away from assigning new media projects out of a fear of access problems. Kids are eager to learn about media especially if it is what all their friends know and use frequently. They will find a means to catch up and to stay in the loop, as their social identities at school depend in many cases on their technological know how. I can recall many cases in high school where a few of my friends who did not have computers with the internet who would come over to my house to talk on instant messenger and to burn music CDs. Kids have a way of leveling the playing field for themselves, and I think that Jenkins does not really account for this. While I concede that there is a wide participation gap, I do not believe that the situation is as dire as Jenkins makes it out to be. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

This is kind of a lazy post for a website, but since it is the last week of class and many of us are authors on this site...and our readings for the week deal with this wiki page...I have decided to post the wiki from Beach's class.
http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/?doneLogin=1

Since I was lazy, here's another internet publication that I wrote an article for, it would serve as a good example of a media literacy project that could be completed in a future classroom.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/schoolcraft_jane_johnston.html

A New Approach to Grammar

I really liked Deborah Dean's article entitled Grammar without Grammar. The article specifically outlines some new and fresh ways of teaching old and worn out material with a creative spin. Dean starts off by telling the reader how she more or less rejoiced when daily language and grammar requirements were lifted at her school. She thought that this would give her more time to spend on writing with the students, but she soon found out that there was no common language with which to discuss student writing without the grammar lessons. Not wanting to go back to the way she had previously taught grammar Dean decided to use an old technique, sentence immitation. In reviving this strategy in her classroom, I think that Dean's success in getting it to work with the kids was that she used modern methods of delivery in getting the kids to immitate sentences.

The first modern strategy that Dean used in getting her students to appropriately model sentences was modeling the technique herself. In addition to pulling sentences from other publications to attempt to duplicate, Dean offered sentences of her own for students to match as well as working with students to immitate some of the examples that she used from other authors. In short, Dean showed the kids how to complete the required task by doing that task with them. Another modern technique that she used was to allow the kids to write on any topic which they desired as long as it was classroom appropriate. This kept the material engaging and personal for the students, and in my opinion, it probably yeilded positive results much more quickly. Third technique that Dean used was to scaffold student learning through the immitation activities. She eventually had the kids combining two, three, and even four immitated sentences in a row, and even began to put occassional content stipulations on the sentences forcing the kids to write about one focused topic. In this way, Dean was able to prepare kids to face specific writing prompts by getting them used to writing on predecided content and material. Lastly, she kept the activities gamelike and fun for the kids. During many classperiods the sentence writing turned into a competition or contest which further enticed the kids to participate at their highest level.

Overall, I loved this article. I think it was a fabulous synthesis of many of the skills that we are being taught in the program. This is a great example of how a little teacher ingenuity with the proper techniques can produce some fantastic results. The only concern that I have with the piece is that she noted at the end that the kids would not be able to name or recognize the rules and usage patterns that they had been learning if they had to. This makes me worry about them not being exposed to the common language of standard english grammar that they might need to posses as their schooling progresses. Sure, she has gotten the kids to write better, but how will they be able to explain their writing choices and practices when go through college processes of editing and revising. What if they get into linguistics courses and other fields where some base knowledge is required. Would this type of teaching be a problem?

This link takes you to a website that will send you daily grammar lessons and tips through your email. It might be helpful in conducting these types of lessons. You can also search the site for specific grammar topics.
http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.shtml

Tangential Writing and Assessment

Upon completing the readings for this week, I have gleaned two important ideas for my future teaching. The first is to be relaxed enough in my writing assignments and prompts to allow for the expression of student ideas and concerns. In other words, I need to be flexible in the sense that some of the best student writing may develop out of tangents or topics that are seemingly off topic. The second is that assessment needs to be pointed and purposeful with clear goals and expectations. As Spandel says, "Good assessment does not come about by accident. It is the result of clear vision and thoughtful planning" (97). Indeed, by implementing forms of backward design and other such lesson planning activities our writing assignments follow naturally and linearly from our methods of assessment. So, out of these two points the question then arises, how do we ensure that our students' writing meets certain standards and requirements set forth by the curriculum and state while at the same time allowing them the freedom to express themselves through their own unique voice and writing style?

To answer this question I lean heavily on Spandel's third right. In this right, Spandel makes it exceptionally clear that we must not be overly rigid in our prompts or assignments. As she says, "If we truly believe that writing is thinking then we must let our writers go where their thinking leads them - and as far as it will take them" (36). In essence, Spandel is saying that to get the most out of our young writers we must use prompts and other starting points for writing as simply starting points. We must encourage our writers to go beyond the initial ideas for writing that we present to them and force them to push themselves into new directions. I really agree with this practice. If we do not coax our students to branch out on their own in their writing topics and direction how will they ever write anything truly interesting. We will simply get formulaic dull writing by sticking to the prompts.

In order to assess these tangential endeavors that our students set out upon we must, as noted earlier, have a firm plan in line for assessment. We must not grade tangetially in order to match the somewhat tangetial ideas developed by students. Instead, we should lay out clear and concise expectations for how their writing should function. For example, instead of grading based on a formula we should take into account the strengths and weaknesses of a piece, in what way may the writer improve the most, and did a piece accomplish its overall goal. In this sense, we may allow our writers to improve and polish their craft without making their craft our own. We lend constructive criticism, make sure requirements are met, and encourage writing to tangentially move beyond those requirements. By doing this, we are allowing students to maintain their own voice and unique style of writing while at the same time helping them to find the best possible way to express their ideas. In closing then, through assessment and flexibility we are able to nuture the tangential tendencies that must be developed in all writers to truly be successful. Our teaching should reflect this philosophy, and if it does we should be allright.

Here is a link to the Writer's Digest website on which you will find helpful and unique writing prompts that can be used to stimulate a variety of students.
http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp?goto=closead

Editing, Drafts, and Failure

Upon completing the reading assignments for this week I couldn't help but think how more often than not my own teachers struggled to provide enough time for the revision process to take place. While I don't feel like I was cheated or short changed in terms of writing or producing drafts, it is important to realize that writing always came relatively easy for me. On most assignements I recall being given time to produce a rought draft, time to edit that rough draft, and then time to rework our drafts to produce a final copy. The whole process was fairly neat and organized, and I never felt that my rough drafts were all that different from my final copies. Even now as a college student, I find that time constraints and due dates afford me the opportunity to scan drafts for usage and punctuation mistakes along with changing a sentence here or there to clarify an idea that I am trying to present. Yet, there have been plenty of students that I known who find that this neat and tidy method of producing writing is not nearly enough. Either this method does not afford them the amount of time that they truely need to polish their work, or their concern with usage and punctuation inhibits the natural flow of their ideas to the point where no amount of revision can resesuitate their work. All of this caused me to question the best way of going about writing in a school setting. We have to be flexible enough in our grading to allow for the occassional failure of the students, yet we have devote enought time to writing in order to nuture the advancement of young writers.

Spandel's fifth right, "The Right to Write Badly" helped me to tackle some of these issues. At the beginning of the chapter she presents the metaphor of a writing teacher acting like a swimming coach, believing in his or her charges and encouraging small but noticable amounts of progress. After all, one can't learn to swim if one is not willing to get into the water (64). Similarly, writing is not a one shot deal, although it is often approached as such. As Spandel says, "identify the topic, think through the topic, write the piece" (65). Unfortunately, Spandel agrees that there is not nearly enough time for students to experience the true process of writing and revising their work in school, but she does suggest that through a substantial amount of practice, and through using short versions of revision consistently, kids can develop the tools necessary to producing good writing. She also adds that by encouraging your students to write in order to learn instead of for assessment you will be able to produce more competent writers.

Thus, my take away from this whole reading and writing experience with Spandel is that we need to be compassionate educators. Do not place students in fear of the read pen as this will only limit what they feel like they can truely say, or as Ballenger notes, "driving their voices into silence" (76). Prevent there from being hang ups on writing grades, and do this by nuturing kids through the process. I am reminded of how Aaron Doering coached us through our technology course. He taught flexibly and passionately. He encouraged us to spend time learning the programs and becoming familiar with each of them, and ultimately he was more concerned with what we learned and took away from this process than by our abilities to produce perfect work. Writing is much the same way, and I hope that I am able to find a way to emulate these practices in my own teaching.

At the website below you will find a message board for students who are 16 or older which encourages them to write about their English studies. This might be a helpful tool in getting kids to write as they might identify with some of the common problems other students are having. Also, it's a low risk form of writing that encourages them to simply thow out ideas without being too concerned about usage, punctuation, and all that other stuff associated with well polished writing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/16/site/english.shtml

The Shelf Life of the FPT

For this week's reading I found the Wesley and the Wiley articles to be the most useful and stimulating. While the other four writers provided some good insights and reasoning in explaining their views on the five paragraph essay or theme, I thought that Wesley and Wiley were very convincing in their comments. For example, I first read Nunnally who posited that while the FPT may teach students unity, coherence, and development of their ideas, it is a constraining form that does not encourage much growth. Furthermore, at the end of his essay he says that while secondary teachers should seek to teach beyond the FPT he would rather have incoming college students know its form and advantages rather than having them come to college clueless about how to write a well organized paper. Wesley actually calls Nunnally out on this when she says that such a frame of mind only encourages the status quo. In other words, encouraging teachers to go beyond the FPT and then saying that it is probably ok if students don't know much beyond the FPT, as long as they know the FPT inside and out, is dangerous. Wesley calls for a break from the format of the FPT which limits the potential of students' writing. She says that by teaching kids to break from the form you are teaching them to voice their concerns, communicate, and think for themselves. I find this very helpful because, after all, aren't these the real world applications that we want students to have? Sticking to a form makes the acquisition of these skills very difficult.

Wiley, echoes these sentiments as he suggests that we first teach kids the formula, and then allow kids to deviate from that formula as they see fit. Wiley says that formulaic writing serves a purpose in the sense that it allows low achieving and struggling students a place to begin when faced with a blank page. It provides a guide for how general writing should look to those who don't really know how to go about producing this type of writing. However, formulaic writing "stiffles ongoing exploration, and encourages premature closure of complicated issues." Thus, in order to get higher level thinking from our students we must encourage them to move beyond a form and explore their own ideas and discoveries. I personally agree strongly with these statements. Once we give kids a starting point for writing it is up to us to encourage them to take their writing as far as it may go. This means breaking the constrictive form of the FPT. After all, how much can really be said in five paragraphs, and after a certain point how good can that writing really get. The FPT has a shelf life for students. Once they have opened the container the FPT tends to spoil very quickly, as they find other ingredients with which to write.

Here is a website with some helpful teaching suggests for how to begin to move beyond the conventional five paragraph essay. Although the suggestions represent small steps, this site provides a starting point for doing more with the FPT.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/beyond.html

Multigenre Papers

I don't know that I am one hundred percent convinced that multigenre writing is an activity that must be included in the classroom. I like the notion of being able to target students with more artistic personalities through the freedom provided by the multigenre project, yet I wonder if this is necessarily a good thing. While I admit that giving students a breather from writting academically can extremely beneficial to the attitude and environment of the classroom, I do not believe that as teachers we should assign a great deal of multigenre projects. There is a strong level of value and merit placed upon formal writting and the skills that go along with being able to communicate effectively through writing. As such, we as future English educators need to be able to teach students how to produce high quality formal writting since that is what students will be required to use once they have entered the work place.

However, I am going to contradict myself right now by saying that multigenre writing is an excellent way of getting kids to find meaning in their writing and to be creative with their writing. In this way, writing becomes an authentic yet enjoyable task that most students would glean a great deal from. It is a more relaxed form where students can worry more about expressing themselves rather than about exact punctuation and usage. In creative writing classes I think a multigenre project would be highly beneficial as it would expose kids to a wide range of writing styles and various methods of expressing oneself through writing. In this sense, kids woud be forced to expand their knowledge of what it means to be a writer into areas of writing that they have never before considered. In using such a project, the chances of lighting a spark within a particular student are very high as there are many different types of material that might attract interest. Once interest in writing is gained and a certain confidence level has been gained a teacher may then be able to convince a young writer of the merits and necessity of more formal writing. Thus, this could be a great way of drawing kids into writing as a whole.

Once again, though, I wonder about the practicalities of using such a project. In teaching multigenre will kids be able to seriously develop their own style of writing with the genre, or will they simply mimick that of the writers that they study? What if meaningful multigenre writing does not translate into successful formal writing? Basically, I am wondering what constitutes an appropriate balance of multigenre and formal writing within a classroom? I guess I would like to know more about the subject of multigenre writing before I make a definite decision. Although Romano gives multiple examples of multigenre writing and the impitus for using it, I have never actually used or seen such a method used. I think once I am able to actually do some hands on things with multigenre stuff, I will have a much better idea of how I feel about this type of project overall. Anyone else have thoughts or suggestions about this?

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/multigenre.html
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/middlewriting/prog5.html
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=774

These three sites deal with the subject of multigenre teaching. The first and third sites list several possibilities for lesson plans and subjects using multigenre writing techniques. The second site offers comprehensive downloadable materials that further explain and illustrate the multigenre technique. All together these sites provide a pretty comprehensive look at the subject of multigenre writing.

The Writing Process

After reading Williams, Carney, and, I confess, some of Atwell, I have decided to concern my first posting with the writing process and specifically, what makes meaningful writing? Throughout the first semester we were constantly dealing with ways to make reading assignments meaningful, engaging, and worthwhile for students. We studied various reading strategies, study guides, and processes for teaching reading in a way that both enriched and interested students. In short, we discovered ways to intrinsically motivate students to do their work, and the question of how to do so with teaching writing has interested me.

As far as I can tell Williams suggests three main ways of creating meaningful writing experiences. In his section on meaningful writing he specifically focuses on the strategies of using pen pals and of simulation. By using pen pals, Williams says that writing becomes a form of easy communication familiar to students where the freedom of creativity and curiosity take over the writing form. This communicative writing can then be refined into other forms of academic writing through the proper techniques. Simulation creates an interest in writing among the students by allowing them to take on the mind set of a particular character or figure that they are studying. In this way, the student's desire to embody the life and times of that character becomes the driving force for writing.

While I found these to be two good ways of creating meaningful writing, I couldn't help but feel that teaching the technique of using process writing could also develop meaningful writing techniques. Williams wrote early on in chapter three that student-centered classrooms were beneficial as they allowed student talk, decision making, and choice. I believe that in writing using a student-centered approach is one of the keys to success in helping kids engage in a meaningful writing assignment. By learning from their peers and by exercising choice, as discussed by Carney, students are allowed to participate in the most personally interesting and challenging writing activities. In particular, Carney says that students should be presented with a variety of potential writing topics and options that may fulfill one specific writing requirement. In this way, the students my pick a topic that they feel they can write passionately and effectively about. As such, student desire to complete a certain assignment, and to complete it to the best of their abilities, is maximized out of a feeling of confidence that comes along with selecting their own direction in writing.

Finally, the process itself, in terms of invention, planning, drafting, pausing, etc., along with specific goals for writing such as HOCs and LOCs, provides additional support in creating a meaningful writing experience. By slowly teaching kids the step by step techniques needed to produce a final piece of writing, a monumental task is broken into a series of attainable goals. By having kids follow the process the emphasis is not on producing a final paper but on producing the best possible personal ideas and statements. When kids latch on to the statements and ideas that they have generated as a result of the process it is fair to assume that they have discovered a reason for writing, and in so doing, have created meaning for themselves. Thus, I gleaned a great deal from this collection of articles and look forward to putting the ideas contained in them to practical use.

In following up on the writing process I discovered the following website: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/specificgos.html

At this site you will find step by step instructions and ideas for using the writing process, which will in turn engage kids. There are many ideas contained under various subheadings such as; editing, revising, etc. that break down the writing process into managable activities for teachers and students alike. This site brings many fresh ideas and outside links into the discussion on meaningful writing, and will be a great asset in helping kids tackle a daunting task!

Letter From the Editor...

Well, it's a new semester with new classes. As such, the types of postings that you are used to seeing, a la Rick Beach, are no more. Instead, this blog is being rededicated to the art of writing. Yes, I will be using my niche here on the internet to respond to texts concerning writing, responding to comments made on these same texts by some of my peers, and posting helpful links to teaching material that comliments each entries subject. With this in mind, enjoy the next eight weeks of whitty banter, intellectual conversation, and disection of the pressing issues of writing! I can't wait, can you? Until then, play the wind and don't take any stupid penalties.

Editor and Chief,

Buck