In preparation for next week's presentation, please answer the following questions.
THANKS!!!!
1) Hicks discussed creating digital portfolios (pp. 83-88), class anthologies (pp. 89-93), and audio anthologies (pp. 94-99). Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using each type of publishing tool in your classroom.
2) Log into Google Sites and create a webpage for a digital portfolio or class anthology.
(It is similar to logging into Goolge Reader. Just click on Sites instead of on Reader.)
Spending some time reviewing the tools available on your webpage.
Personalize two or three areas.
Hicks discussed using Google Sites for digital portfolios, as well as class anthologies.
Do you think it is appropriate for both?
How would you integrate digital portfolios and Goolge Sites (or other sites discussed in chapter 5) in your classroom?
How would you integrate creating a class anthology and Goolge Sites (or other sites discussed in chapter 5) in your classroom?
3) In creating audio anthologies for CD, also consider setting up a regular podcast for your classroom. In what ways might producing a weekly or monthly podcast featuring writers sharing their work (as compared to only creating a CD at the end) complement the types of publications and response that you are aiming for in your writing workshop?
In posting your responses to my questions, feel free to only deal with one question at a time. For example, you can title a comment "Liz's Response to Question 1." This will help you focus your thinking as you compose a post and will help the rest of us as we sort through the information.
Also, please try to post your answers to all questions by MIDNIGHT on MONDAY (11/8). This will give us at least 24 hours to read through the responses in preparation for class next Wednesday.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO CONTRIBUTE YOUR IDEAS TO THIS TOPIC.
Also, please try to post your answers to all questions by MIDNIGHT on MONDAY (11/8). This will give us at least 24 hours to read through the responses in preparation for class next Wednesday.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO CONTRIBUTE YOUR IDEAS TO THIS TOPIC.
I found this article about virtual schools from a 1993 issue of The Reading Teaching.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading it, I was thinking about all the progress we have made in technology. Some of the comments are funny-like when "electronic mail" is explained.
I think "The Writing Place" website discussed in this article was the "old school" blogger site!
Here is the link:
http://0-content.ebscohost.com.libra.nazlib.org/pdf14_16/pdf/1993/RET/01Oct93/9401061758.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=9401061758&S=R&D=afh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSeprc4zdnyOLCmr0iep7NSsa24SLKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGutlC2r7BRuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA
I know the address is really long?!?! Just cut and paste into your browser. Hope it works!!
Melissa N.'s Response to Question #1
ReplyDeleteDigital Portfolio: This provides a convenient place to compile students' work, rather than putting all drafts, prewriting, and final copies in a binder or a folder. Also, students can utilize links, images, and other features that can help to personalize their digital portfolio pages. Students have control over how they design their portfolio pages. Digital portfolios allow students to use other types of digital writing, not only text-based writing. Some potential problems with this publishing tool could involve technology glitches, time-constraints (such as not having enough class time for students to post to their portfolios), lacking enough computers for students to use, and privacy issues (parents may not want their students posting work online).
Class Anthologies: These allow for a compilation of all students' work in the class. Anthologies are cheaper and easier to put together than publishing an actual book. Also, images, videos, and hyperlinks can be added to the anthology to further enhance its contents. Students are also held more accountable when utilizing this form, since anthologies are more public than a class book. One drawback of using anthologies is that they are not the same as having a printed copy of students' work. Also, students have to create their individual links to their contributions one at a time, or else they can override others' edits on the wiki. Similar to digital portfolios, technology glitches and lack of resources can limit one's ability to utilize this form in the classroom.
Audio Anthologies: Writers can gain perspective on how to effectively emphasize what they write (as they will have to speak it) in order to engage their listeners. Also, students become more conscious of their decision-making process as writers, since they must remain constantly aware of their audience. This publishing tool has the ability to be shared with a broad audience, not merely the students in one classroom. Unfortunately, audio anthologies may be time-consuming to complete, since students must each record themselves and upload this recording, and then all of the recordings need to be put together. Teachers may experience difficulties with this form if they are unfamiliar with the technology. I know that personally, I am not very familiar with this technology, so I would be a bit apprehensive about using it in my classroom. There may also be privacy issues with audio anthologies, especially since this form utilizes students' voices.
Melissa N.'s Response to Question #2
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that Google Sites is appropriate for both digital portfolios and class anthologies. However, I'm sure there are some logistical issues when it comes to using Google Sites for class anthologies, since all students are posting on one webpage.
I would integrate digital portfolios in my classroom by having each student create a webpage on Google Sites. Students will be responsible for posting as much of their work as possible on this site. However, there may be some prewriting graphic organizers or outlines that students create on paper that they may have difficulty uploading or recreating on their portfolio site. For the most part, though, I like the idea of having one site where a student can put all of her work in an organized manner.
While I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of using Google Sites for a class anthology, I think that it would be a useful place for students to each post a writing piece that they are most proud of or maybe a poem they have written for the poetry unit. The class anthology could be a great way for students to showcase their own work while also viewing their classmates' writing pieces. Being able to comment on each others' work could engage students and hold them each accountable for their portion of the anthology. As long as the comments remain positive and constructive, the ability to comment on other students' work would be a great feature for my students to use.
Melissa N.'s Response to Question #3
ReplyDeleteI think that students' responses would be more authentic when producing a weekly or monthly podcast rather than only creating a CD. A CD only allows users to listen to the complete and final product at the end of the writing process. However, a weekly or monthly podcast can allow students to give updates as to their progress with a particular writing piece over time. These podcasts can also become a way for students to view their own progress over the course of the year, as well as the progress of the other students in the class. Students would most likely be more engaged in creating a weekly or monthly podcast than in creating a CD, since the podcast is a publication that they can revisit and (potentially) share with others outside of the classroom more easily than a single CD. This method allows students to take more ownership in the process of creating a podcast and allows for an increased awareness of the audience that will be listening to the publication.
Responding to Liz's Question 1
ReplyDeleteHicks discussed creating digital portfolios (pp. 83-88), class anthologies (pp. 89-93), and audio anthologies (pp. 94-99). Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using each type of publishing tool in your classroom?
Over this past week, I have thought a lot about the potential benefits and drawback of using each type of publishing tool in my classroom and I believe that my answer comes back to the phrase "form follows function." If the writer's 'function' or purpose for creating a composition (i.e., creating a meaningful text for an audience) could be enhanced by using these digital tools for publication (or as a part of the publication process) -- then they should be utilized.
What I am still wondering about is how to help students determine when the "right" time is in their composing process to begin to fully consider the form as well as the function.
Am I making sense?
What I do not want is for my student-writers to be overly influenced by the fact that their final products will be published in a particular way. I want the writers to FIRST have a clear understanding of what they want to say and why (content/purpose), what they know about their topic (content/stance), and who they want to speak to (audience).
Of course, this is always the problem in schools -- and perhaps in life beyond school as well. People rarely engage in epistemic/transactional writing because they have decided to independently. The writing we do in schools as well as in our adult lives (no matter what the careers) rarely support one's freedom to write because "the desire strikes."
Responding to Liz's Question 2
ReplyDeleteHicks discussed using Google Sites for digital portfolios, as well as class anthologies. Do you think it is appropriate for both? How would you integrate digital portfolios and Goolge Sites (or other sites discussed in chapter 5) in your classroom? How would you integrate creating a class anthology and Goolge Sites (or other sites discussed in chapter 5) in your classroom?
Liz, I have to thank you for asking us to create these digital portfolio drafts. I am very curious to know if you, Melissa G. and Melissa N. want to consider creating a digital portfolio as a place to publish all of the work you completed here in LTED 618 this semester. I will be very interested to hear what everyone thinks could be the advantages to using this format to collect and showcase the semester's work rather than using the traditional 8-pocket, spiral-bound portfolio.
In my opinion I think this digital portfolio has the potential to be much easier for you to store and showcase evidence of the writing process as well as final drafts. What it won't have though is evidence of the conferences ..... I'm wondering if you would get different feedback if you used MSWord's track changes/comment option and responded to each other's drafts this way, rather than in the face to face?
Would it be worth it to have the final editing conference using MSWord, rather than face to face?
Again, I apologize as I seem to be drifting from your original questions, but I think I already answered your questions about how would I consider using digital portfolios and anthologies as a part of my response to question 1....?
In my LTED 625 class this semester we have been creating something like a digital portfolio, although we have been using blogger as the site to collect and showcase all the students' work. I am wondering whether Google sites would be a better tool to use for the SCAT Project.
Another question that I have about this particular program is how easy is it for students to embed links to other sites in the digital portfolio? (I am going to try and figure this out as a part of personalizing my site..as Liz directed.)
Responding to Liz's Question 3
ReplyDeleteIn creating audio anthologies for CD, also consider setting up a regular podcast for your classroom. In what ways might producing a weekly or monthly podcast featuring writers sharing their work (as compared to only creating a CD at the end) complement the types of publications and response that you are aiming for in your writing workshop?
I think this is a very interesting notion; however, if there is one part of the traditional writing workshop that I have a hard time letting go of it is the traditional author's chair -- the version of author's chair when the writer sits in front of the audience and reads his or her work aloud "live."
Although I do recognize the uniqueness of having students record their readings and then publishing them in a podcast...
And I do believe that when students hear themselves speak (and when there is no visual, only audio) they develop a more refined metacognitive awareness of the ways in which to use their voice to express their ideas as well as to think in a unique way about how they constructed the sentences...
However. I also believe strongly that there is something powerful, something transformative that happens to a reader when they read their work aloud to an audience in author's chair, which cannot be recreated with a podcast. There is a physical sense to the activity which creates an intimacy between the writer and his/her audience. This energy, this interaction, is a catalyst which helps students to understand that writing is not about creating a polished, perfect form for its own sake, but that writing is about creating a meaningful message which transforms an audience and the writer.
Response to Question #1
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Dr. Jones in regards to the benefits and drawbacks to digital portfolios. I don't know if I would necessarily classify a digital portfolio as a "publishing tool" either. Maybe that's the drawback. If we think of what a "regular" portfolio is used for in a classroom, we don't let the fact that a student's writing piece is going in their portfolio be their purpose in writing. Instead, we as the teacher, or the students, select what pieces of writing throughout the year are placed in the portfolio. I don't see why a digital portfolio could be used the same way.
I was happy to see that Hicks made it a point to say that we shouldn't completely abandon print anthologies, because I do think that putting an anthology on the computer loses that effect of having the writing in their hands. As Hicks said himself, the students "want to see their name in print," (2009, p. 89) and I would add to this that they want to hold their book in their hands. There is something about physically holding a piece of work that you've worked on that can't be replaced by putting it on a computer. I had this feeling when I printed out my final draft of my first writing piece last week. It felt good to hold it in my hands and see it.
That being said, using a wiki anthology can enhance the collaboration for the class, and help students improve their revising process. Another benefit is that the class anthology can really take on another life of its own with the addition of images and videos. For example, how cool would it be to write a poem inspired by another poem, and then have a link to a video of the original author reading the poem? The possibilities are endless! : )
I can definitely see myself creating an audio anthology in my classroom. I feel like after playing around with the tools a bit, I would be able to use it successfully, even with students as young as 1st grade. Obviously, the younger the grade level, the more guidance they will need, but I do think that creating an audio anthology would be worth it. It could even be used at a listening station during reading workshop once completed. This could be very motivating to students!
Reading this section reminded me of the This I Believe essays that were discussed in Chapter 4 of Hicks (2009). Having the ability to not only read but listen to the author of the essay adds another layer of meaning to the piece. Also, as I mentioned before, having the ability to enhance writing with music can be very powerful. I liked that Hicks mentioned on p. 95 that we shouldn't get caught up in the tools of the medium we are using, but should strive to still focus on the content.
Response to Question #2
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed creating my own Google site! I had already planned to upload my writing to this page before I saw Dr. Jones' comment, and then also decided to upload some artwork that I've done in the past. I also included a link under my "Artwork" page that goes to another art site that I have some artwork and photography on.
I think that using this space as a digital portfolio with students is a GREAT idea. Again, though, just as I did with my page, I think that it should be used as more of a way to display work rather than use it as a means of publishing work. It could be used maybe for a few specific pieces throughout the year as a medium for creating writing, or could strictly be used as a place for students and teachers to archive work. I like Melissa N.'s idea of having each student have their own page to keep their work, as well. This would really empower students to see how their writing has grown, and also to pick and choose what they want to put in/on? their portfolio.
This is a great place for class anthologies as well. The page could be a classroom page, and then each student's work could be placed into a subpage. By doing this, many people can view and comment on the work, including friends, family, or other classrooms.
Thanks for your responses! I look forward to discussing them tomorrow:)
ReplyDeleteResponse to Question #3
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of setting up a weekly or monthly podcast to coinside with the writing that's going on in the classroom. This could even turn into a weekly or monthly update on the progress of writing within the classroom...I'm picturing it as more like a news broadcast for some reason. A few students would be assigned to create the writing podcast for that week, and prepare questions to ask their peers about their writing. It would be a nice way to document the progress that students make over the course of the month/year. Depending on where students are in the writing process, students could share their writing and go back to listen to what they wrote. Again, this could be very beneficial in the writing process.