Reading Log 1

Okay. Now to the important stuff. Reading logs for my MAT in Secondary English. This thread is for my class:

Digital Media and Technology in English/ Language Arts

First up: my response to the first three chapters of Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 

I am new to digital technology in education. It seems like scary challenging stuff until I start to think about practical applications. I currently teach ESOL ninth grade literature and because a lot of my students are relative newcomers, I already rely on technology to help me give them opportunities for independent learning in the classroom, so I can focus on areas and students of greatest need, as needed, or create opportunities for them to develop independence from me. Always a good thing, when I step out of the play and the students have to tools and the means to get on with learning and learning how to learn in English!

I hadn't thought about digital technology as a tool that I could easily employ to motivate my students and create opportunities for them to learn to write in their new language. Because they are limited English proficient, I thought that they might balk at the idea of sharing their "mistakes." But I liked what Richardson had to say about the process of blogging as a means to create a dialogue between my students and various interested and encouraging audiences. The idea that my role is to help prepare my students "for life online" is very compelling; in itself it is reason enough to engage students in this kind of learning experience.

I never thought of the web as a place that could be used to actively engage ESOL students in learning, to create content and language that was completely meaningful to them as opposed to their passively receiving information they didn't understand well. Perhaps weblogs are the most appropriate platform for students to respond to the world they find online. It's a new idea for me and an exciting one. And Richardson does make it sound so very easy!

I am not a digital native. Nor am I a Luddite. But prior to this posting I have had experience with following only two blogs; one the ESOL blog for my school district, and the other a cancer blog for a friend I made in Japan. The latter just ended one day.... I felt that blogging was not something frivolous and never was tempted to start myself. But teaching is all about assuming roles, right, and this is a new one for me to consider: the digital guide for publishing writing and engaging with an audience.

I think Richardson makes an important distinction between journaling and blogging. Being able to distinguish the two will help me keep the focus on where it should be: interacting with content, ideas and meaning for a serious purpose: learning English and learning to respond to literature in a new language. Richardson also made some good contrasts between writing and blogging which are nice for me: I'm also a writer as well as a teacher and sometimes I bring the wrong kind of expectations to school. Writing is about me and my audience. Teaching is about my students and their audiences. Not. About. Me.

Richardson makes some links between blogging and standards that are so useful that it is almost like having my homework done for me. And as I was getting set to figure out how to post my first reading responses, I read chapter three of his book which is why I'm here blogging on Google. I decided I didn't want to deal with potential advertising if I blogged for free on Wordpress, or at least, not yet anyway.

I also had to read an article by Nancy Allen, called Seeing Rhetoric. I read it. I understood it. Gosh! What else can I say. A lot of my writing experience has involved writing and producing things like capital campaign brochures and targeted "marketing" to potential or prospective donors and stakeholders and use of visual rhetoric was integral to how my clients appealed successfully for gifts. Layout, heading choice, pull quote position, imagery, color, fonts and integrated content were all things that had to be considered. I'm not saying that Allen's article was something I didn't need to read: I'm just glad that for my next class I have something cool to share when we discuss our reading responses. I think it would be valuable to share a couple of really cool pieces.... We'll see.