My assigned teacher was Russ Goerend, his post was about how his students were writing poems. First they were writing a poem for just a few minutes and they were done. After seeing this he would talk to the students and begin critiquing the poem they had just written, and go over the process of first drafts and whittling down the content to reduce redundancy. Then on the next class meeting he had the students write in silence for thirty minutes and use the techniques of first drafts and cutting down. Later he went on to ask if there was a better process for teaching poetic writing.
I then went to introduce myself and edm310. As far as his question went I felt that I was unqualified to respond with advice. I did however comment that the process he was teaching would be of immense help to his students as they continue their academic careers.
In my second comment for Mr. Goerend his post was about a new way he was going to get his students to get excited about reading, and book reports. His idea was to have a way to have other student write about what they thought of the book, so that students would have a virtual peer review of the book, and then be able to see if this book is one that would interest them.
I posted that I thought that this was an excellent idea, stating that I can't get my kids excited about a book, but if their friends like it, they MUST read that book. I went on to say if there was a way to get my kids friends to review the books that i grew up with so that my kids would be able to enjoy those as well.
Hi, Jordan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I was thinking out loud on Twitter the other day about how blogs are used. I asked the question "do any of you have peers look over drafts of your blog posts before you hit publish?" I had been thinking about how I have my students use their blogs are a place to "publish final copies" of their writing they work on in class. As I was reflecting on that, I realized that's not how I use my blog.
So, am I "doing wrong" by my students? Are they really "blogging" or are they just using a blog to publish?
I asked someone I respect about it, Bud Hunt, and he reminded me that while blogging is a genre to itself (the idea of connective writing, much like what you're doing) a blog is also "just a tool."
When we use blogs as a mean to get our thoughts out into the public consciousness, it can be tough when it feels like no one is reading, let alone responding. So, thanks for taking the time to leave me some feedback. What Dr. Strange is having you do is valuable for you guys and those of us that are the recipients of your time and thoughts.
-Russ
Hi Jordan-
ReplyDeleteI am in EDM310 this semester and just finished reading your blog post. I think the idea of a website for a young student book review is great!! I can imagine it to be very user friendly; similar to something like what we college students use in ratemyprofessor.com.
The reason I think it would be so successful is because I have had an experience similar to your with my own twelve year old son. He read a "Warriors" book at school and really enjoyed it. As a result, he started reading the entire series. He went on to tell his classmates how awesome the series was, and then his entire class started reading the books. In my teacher conference, the teacher attributed the entire class's new zeal for reading to my son and these books. The librarian also told my son that she was about to send the "Warriors" books back before my son and his class started reading them. Before then, she said, "They were just sitting idle on the shelves!"
Good luck in EDM310!!