Beach-Regarding News, Documentaries, Genres in the Classroom

Yes, I firmly believe there are many teaching possibilities using news, doc.s in the english or any other classroom! I have seen it used and have used it myself and found it to be very effective, if done correctly.

When I completed my first Practicum at Arlington high school, one of the strategies for using news was modeled to me by my co-operating teacher. The St Paul Pioneer Press was providing us w/ free daily newspapers for the staff and students! "Joe" would direct his students to get a newspaper and locate one of the articles he had listed on the board (a good way to informally assess how well they can read and locate info in a written format)! He'd usually include a current sports article, a current event, a news story (all the diff. genres) so that most of the students could write and read about something interesting to them. Then he'd have them read the article they found, and answer a couple simple questions re: info from that article. A great way to utilize news in the english classroom.

Another way is to straight up teach journalism in the classroom, as in most schools having a school newspaper! By using news instead of say, some really old Lit., the students will have more of a personal connection to the material.

Documentaries are a favorite thing of mine! I think they can definately be useful in the classroom, and have long been used in this manner. What a better way to have students actually understand a concept, than to actually watch history unfold in front of their eyes! Instead of reading a MLK speech to your students, show them a doc. of the Real MLK actually giving the speech! No one can deliver like MLK anyway, so it is so much more profound to hear him do it!

Also, by using doc.s one can also become more proficient at using the many new technologies that are out there now. There are inumerable sites that have doc.s and clips available (ie YouTube, TeacherTube, History Ch.com, etc) for the use of teachers. In fact, Hist Ch has a regular program called "Hist. in the Classroom" which are all docs that are available free to teachers.

Yes, I do see many teaching possibilities in using news, doc.s etc in the classroom, and the above are only some of them!

Cool New Tools Just Added to my BlogSpot!

As you look to the right hand column, you will see I've also just added a really cool, calm and destressing photo slideshow!

And I added a new picture of myself with my Welcome!

This was done by simple going into the "Customize" menu and clicking on the tools you want to add!

I also just selected a new Template, new colors and a new look! Enjoy!

Thing 29 (Catching up on Morethings!)

Thing 29-This was probably the most fun I had on any of the "Things" we've done as a class! It also seems to have the most useful info. of all the Things!

On Thing 29, it enables one to learn about and use Google Tools that are awesome for notonly educatiobal purposes, but also to improve productivity and searching abilities, as well as many others that incl. gmail, g news, wiki, etc. I went to Google news through this Thing and monitored the national news streams.

What was really cool was this Thing also enabled me to upload Free Essential Software directly from Google! I uploaded many incl. Picasa, Firefox, Earth, spyware and it updated my Real Player!

The educational uses are obvious along with keeping your computer safe w/ updated software from a reputable source!

I like it...

Thing 34 (More catching up on Morethings!)

Thing 34 is about Online Answer Sites, and the fears and benefits that surround them!

These sites are praised by some, and condemned by others because, on one hand they allow the common man to have more voice than anytime before in history! People can go to these websites and expound their knowledge regarding questions posed by other folks! For example, one could go on and ask advise on how to treat a bee-sting, and many other folks can suggest the remedies they know of!

This can be however, a les-than-reliable means of obtaining important information as the people who write on these sites are not necessarily experts! One could easily given bad advice and pay the price for it!

I guess these sites are like anything else, take it with a grain of salt and, if it's very important, seek expert/ professional opinion over some "Joe-bag-o-donuts" you found on the Internet!

Thing 38-Screencasting (Catching up on morethings! More!)

Thing 38 is interesting indeed! Basically, this Thing enables one to turn anything that crosses their computer screen (ie photos, videos, audio, powerpoint etc.) into tutorials, photo and video laden power points, online clips for YouTube and many others.

Thing 38 offers these technical abilities by also enabling the user to easily upload the necessary software (ie Wink, Jing) needed to accomplish these features.

One can even record music or their voice to add as the sound track to their presentations, clips etc. Then, all the pieces can be edited together to formulate a hightech and impressive final product! Even a tutorial to teach people useful tools!

I can see how this Thing could be useful for these many educational purposes and more!

!!!!!! All CAUGHT UP ON MORETHINGS-FINALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ch. 7 English Teacher's Companion-Burke

There were indeed many intriguing ideas in this ch that I found could be helpful in the classroom! For example:

One idea I liked a lot was the Group Essay! This basically entails a group of students to write an essay together, rather than seperately. I think a great way to approach this would be to utilize a poetry exercise I have used. Each student could take turns writing a line of the essay, then passing it on to the next student who writes the next sent, relating it to the previous one! This would get all the students working together and ensure that all do their part!

Another idea I liked from ch 7 is journal entries! I feel journals can be beneficial in a lot of ways like, teacher can assign group journals where each student writes an entry into their own journal, then exchanges them w/ a partner. Each stud. reads other stud.s response then writes in a reply, comment re: original response. This can be done again w/a third stud. etc.

Or, journals can be done the traditional way by one student. A true benefit to journal writing is that, like poetry (always w/ the poetry!) it is a more casual, personal exercise where kids might be more relaxed and secure and feel they can communicate ideas, personal feelings, concerns etc more freely. This allows the teacher to better see what is on their stud.s minds, and how to best respond to that knowledge. Conversely, it is also a great way for teachers to respond back to a stud. by writing comments in their journals. Also more effective sometimes than confronting a kid w/ words!

A lot of good ideas in this ch, and these were the ones I related to best!

Another Blog Update!

I just again visited all my fellow students blogspots, and posted comments on their most recent writings. I was able to become a follower to the 6th student; only the 7th won't allow followers, seems to not been updated since 2007? Maybe they have a diff blogspot address that I'm not aware of? Anyway, they all look good!

Thing 39

I have found many of these "Things" very Frustrating! I go in and do what they tell me to do, but I still can't figure out how to accomplish the tasks. Oh well, at least I have been navigating the "Things" and becoming familiar w/ the technology. I'll tell you what I did on Thing 39 and what I learned anyway!

Thing 39 builds on the original Thing 23, working w/ digital photographs. 39 introduces 2 diff. ways to tell stories using photographs: scrapbooking and combining photos. This Thing can be used for educational purposes of all kinds ie having students create a word-less narrative using a progression of photos. It can also be used for simpler goals, like simply scrapbooking family photos of vacations, school pictures etc.

Thing 39 asked me to go back to my Flickr acct. and create a narrative story utilizing photos. Then it asked me to (somehow) transfer this photo story from Flickr to my Blogspot and post it there. EASIER SAID THAN DONE! This is how it went...

I was easily able to access my Flickr acct that I created earlier this semester (Thing 4 in Jan.). It is located at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehargarten/
I was also very easily able to upload photos from my H Drive onto Flicr, and arrange them w/ captions to tell a narrative, prgressive story. To view this, just click on my above link to Flickr.

Then it wanted me to upload this creation from Flickr to my Blogspot and post it there. I tried for over an hr and was unable to accomplish this. I need to manage my time and move on to other assignments/ blogs. Maybe someone can send me a comment on how to accomplish this?
Michael

Profile Update!

I also went in and added new personal info. to my profile!

I checked and made sure that my "comments" section is on and open for follower and visiter comments! It is indeed still on! I think all one has to do is click on "Comment" after the specific blog, and it will allow you to comment on my work!

Be Nice and
Peace to you!

Michael H.

Thing 31 - More Twitter!

After reviewing the original Twitter work I had done on Thing 27, I went to Thing 31 and spent over an hour getting to know more about Twitter, and becoming more proficient at it.
Now that I know much better how it works, I think it indeed could be used as a good educational tool, as well as a handy tool for everyday life!

I found out that Twitter's birthday was on March 20. It is already three years old and in that short time, has aquired 6,000,000 users! This site is a free site and can be used by anyone who knows how to use a computer. For educational purposes, one can use it for anything from blogging to broadcasting news, school events and school services! One could also use it at school to post school alerts or to share or find important academic links!

Students can even use it much like facebook, as a social site to keep up with friends, teachers and fellow classmates, but also to constructively post opinions and ideas pertaining to school business! Anyone can go on anytime to update their status and keep people posted with what's going on!

So, yes I do feel that Twitter could be used as a positive and usefool tool for educational purposes! However, I would caution teachers that, like any of the new technology out there, it can also be abused and should be monitored whenever possible.

I like it!

LAED 445 Blogspot Update!

This has been a busy week! I just finished judging Minnesota/ National History Day Finalists for Middle School (Jr. Division)! I was judging a category new this year-Student Websites! It has been really cool. I do it every year, judging also Hist. Exhibits and Hist. Research Papers.

I have now officially VISITED ALL MY FELLOW STUDENT'S SITES, AND BECAME A FOLLOWER ON ALL THOSE THAT WOULD ALLOW ME TO (a total of five sites). 2 other sites don't seem to be set up for followers yet. I also checked out Professor Thompson's site (Cool Avatar!).

Will blog more soon!

Michael H.

A Mode of Writing I Want to Teach!

After reading Blasingame and Bushman (Ch 4&5), I easily decided the Mode of Writing I would like to teach: POETRY!
I know at first glance,poetry doesn't seem to be the most important mode of writing one could teach. But I feel it is indeed at least important for students to learn to utilize this mode of writing for several reasons.
First, by practicing writing poetry, students may find their own voice through the written word! There's really no right or wrong way for students to create their poetry, so they can feel free to express themselves openly without being preoccupied with being wrong!
Creating poetry is like making a puzzle. It is an exercize that is good for developing the mind, exercizing patience, piecing together the individual parts in their correct places until the picture comes into view! It's a means of saying something figuratively and subtley, without coming right out and saying it, which is something many teenagers find difficult to do!
It is also a more casual and artistic mode of writing, which allows the students to express themselves without the responsibility of formality, as in a narrative or essay.
I feel that learning about this mode of writing will help my students later in the real world as, it will have helped them find their own voice and will give them another means of expressing it!

Writing/ Classroom Strucrtures...

I have already discussed some of this information in the following blog regarding preferred writing methods, so I will try to not reiterate. One of the classroom/ writing structures I remember I learned the most from and really enjoyed was Roger Mahn's journalism classroom! He had a laid back classroom, things were kept casual, but in order to suceed, students had to work hard and earn the ability to publish news stories, sports and editorial columns etc. He was tough but fair, and nice with a good sense of humor. All the kids liked him and the class and this is where I learned very much about writing methods.

There have been many other classroom scenarios I have witnessed over my secondary, undergrad. years! Some have worked better than others. Unfortunately, I have witnessed over the yrs some teachers who seem to want to work against the students, and be very hyper-critical of their students, rather than looking for the positive aspects of their performance and building on that. I will not make the mistake of carrying on this means. I will however, continue to develop my own way to build classroom structures and how to teach writing to my students!

The Writing Composition Method/s I Prefer to Use...

The methods I prefer to utilize when writing a composition vary greatly, depending on the type of writing I am preparing. When writing an academic work such as a research paper, I have been taught and developed methods that are quite effective in this endeavor.

First, I write an outline consisting of a topic sentence, a thesis statement and three subtopics w/i the thesis. Then, I write out an outline of the bodies of the following paragraphs. Last, I write the outline for the Conclusive paragraphs, restating thesis etc.

Next, I begin to perform my research and find my sources. Once this is accomplished I can begin the actual Pre-Writing of my paper. I don't necessarily follow any strict pattern here; sometimes I start at the beginning and go step by step, other times I might write my conclusion or supporting paragraphs first, then fill in other parts as I go.

Once I have a finished draft, the most important method comes to play-REVISION! I go through and revise my work by doing everything from editing grammar to moving or even deleting sentences and paragraphs, to tightening up thesis and subtopic statements. After doing all of this, I look to a completed piece ready to hand in!

These are the usual methods that I use to do my best to produce a completed writing composition!

My Autobiography as a Writer...

How have I learned to write? Well, I literally began to learn how to write back in early primary school, while I was also learning to read and do mathmatics. This was a difficult time for me, and my early learning experiences were a struggle. Around the same time when I was around 7 yrs old, I was diagnosed w/ learning disabilities and ADHD. I began taking Ritalin and it was during this time that I indeed learned reading, WRITING and math.

By the time I started junior high, I no longer had to take medication, and this is actually when I remember really beginning to blossom as a writer, especially in Creative Writing. I was a drummer for the school band, and was a guitarist, singer and writer for my own rock band with my buddies! Being inspired by lyricists like John Lennon, Glimour/ Waters from Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and others, I began to write my own poems and lyrics for my band's burgeoning original songs!

By high school I had progressed into a very profiencient writer. This is when I took my first Journalism class and meet one of my biggest writing mentors, Roger Mahn! He was my Journalism teacher, and overseer of the Trojan Tribune, our school newspaper. After writing several news articles I was given my own op/ed (editorial) column! This really boosted my confidence in not only my writing, but in myself self-esteem! After all, here I was once a kid w/ learning disabilities and little hope for the future, and now I had my own editorial column!

I would write about any and every subject that I felt touched teenagers specifically ie selective service, social cliques, the importance of friends etc. I had the column all 3 yrs in high school! Many other students, some of whom I didn't even know, would regularly approach me and express their connection to my writing, even thanking me sometimes! This experience inspired me to go to college to try and write professionally.

I applied and was accepted to the U of Minn, College of Liberal Arts, School of English. Over the years at the U I wrote copious amounts of academic writings incl. research papers, essays, reflections, journals and more! I also continued to play with various bands that developed around the U of M, and continued to write lyrics for many new songs. Over these yrs I progressed very much in almost all forms of writing, and have continued since then to write creatively.

Since I have started back to school at Metro State to get my english teaching license, I have once again written copious amounts of writing ie research papers, essays, reflections, unit plans, lesson plans, pedogogical philosophies, classroom management strategies, papers on hisroical foundations of education and more! I believe over these last 2 yrs, my level of writing has increased even more. I look forward to writing my unit and lesson plans for Teaching Writing, and I look forward to teaching writing in the future!