Kendra's+Reading+Responses

August 1, 2011 -- Response to //Because Digital Writing Matters// pg. 1-53

Digital writing //does// matter! This book should be online, with a voiceover and moving pictures! Yes! We could //go// to the classroom examples and watch them with video! Ok, wait, I guess that’s the danger--getting too excited and finding ways for technology to enhance what you’re already doing for the sake of using the technology rather than for the betterment of the learning and thinking it facilitates. Hmmm.

Ideas that intrigued me most: -(pg. 2) “assessment will be conducted in a computer environment.” GRE, GWPE

-(pg. 4) “a student who will write 42 pages for her college classes in cone semester will also compose over 500 pages of e-mail in that same time frame.” Email is important! Email etiquette should be (agreed upon and) explicitly taught/practiced.

-(pg. 20) “because the revolution isn’t about the tools being used, but rather how the tools are used.” Word. This is a very important--and tricky to address--point.

-(pg. 23) “the nature of digital writing is such that it both invites and, in some sense, demands instant feedback.” But that feedback isn’t the same as an actual face-to-face dialogue (yet) where questions are asked and clarifications are made--the give and take is super important for the feedback to be relevant and the exchange mutual. Makes me think that a scheduled skype session might be better than “track changes”

-(pg 26) “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” I think I’m a native but I was raised by hippies in the middle of nowhere, so our technology lagged a bit, but my dad is more computer literate than me, so that makes me a native, no? My grandparents (on both sides of the family) use facebook.

-Also (pg. 26) I like how Vaidhyanathan points out that there is variation, and that generalizing the younger generation as “digital” is a myth. He says “he has witnessed a broad, highly variable degree of ‘comfort with, understanding of, and dexterity with digital technology.’” This is so true. Many are even resistant to it (for no apparent reason other than to be different and difficult). But it also suggests that we might all benefit from starting at the beginning, and collaborating to use all the strengths in the room.

-(pg. 31) “lack of local, contextual, relevant information.” literacy barriers, language barriers and **a lack of cultural diversity.** “A pretty homogenous group produces the majority of Web content.” This troubles me. First, it troubles me because it’s a problem that will allow the internet to perpetuate currently existing systems of privilege and disadvantage. Second, is this statement backed up by facts? Which kinds of Web content? What does that mean? What about political websites and indy news sources? Colorlines, Common Dreams, ACLU, RAWA, Al Jazeera, INCITE, Co-op America--isn’t it nearly impossible to statistically examine the demographics of Web content producers? Is the problem with where we are looking, and what sites are being privileged by search engines and academic standards? Isn’t this statement the same as saying “but there are so few black women writers, how could we possibly represent them equally in an American literature class?” Keep looking and creating, and question how your standards could be exclusionary.

-(pg. 35) “when young people engage in texting, IMing, blogging, and other tasks…they are not merely rehearsing digital writing. They are writing for real audiences and for real purposes.” Word! Regardless of how we may feel about the benefits or dangers of that--it’s inarguably true.

-(pg. 43) “knowing //how// to create a digital text is not the same as knowing //why//, and it is this intentional focus that a good writer must have in order to create engaging texts in //any// environment.” Totally. And this is also an important thing for a teacher to think about when considering and designing tasks that ask students to write digitally. What is the benefit to the student, and to the learning process? Is that necessarily better than the other method? Probably, yes. But a “definitely yes” would feel better.

Parts of my curriculum that I'd like to revise: Eng 100: TURNING IN DRAFTS AND PEER RESPONSE USING GOOGLE DOCS -how to save versions -how to track and compare changes -how to share, edit and comment on others’ papers

Eng 40: COLLABORATIVELY WRITING A 9 PARAGRAPH ESSAY USING GOOGLE DOCS -on the strengths and weaknesses of the 5 paragraph essay -3 groups brainstorming, planning/organizing, editing - Wed: brainstorming and planning -Th: writing, revising and editing in lab (focused paragraphs, topic sentences, thesis statement, intro and conclusion) These are also things I'd like to use in my 5th/6th grade class. Kaycee

Response to pages 54-114

-(pg. 56) "copyleft" is awesome! I've never heard of it before! What a fantastic subversive idea! I love how it "makes a resource free" AND "requires requires all modified, adapted, and remixed versions to be free as well." I bet I've broken copyright rules, but I really don't put much effort into worrying about it. I just try to make sure that I never use more than 10% of a book (usually less than or only one chapter) and keep assuring myself that it's for "educational use." It will be interesting to hear what we are going to talk about as far as the legality issues go. Creative Commons is really cool too (pg. 76)

-(pg. 57) "what is a draft, exactly?" This is a great question. I like how GoogleDocs will allow me to look at the changes that were made, so that I can be clear with students about how substantial I expect a revision to be. Neat.

-(pg. 58) I like how the book recommends to "invite students to participate in teaching." This is key with technology. It's important to not act like our understanding of the platform is the one way, 100% all knowing method. Chances are good that many students in the class will have proficiency to share with others, and that seems like it should be embraced as a good thing.

Honestly, the rest of this section was interesting, but largely unimportant for me teaching at the college level. It sure is more complicated to figure out technology in elementary and high schools than it is in college. I feel lucky to work with adults and without much control (like blocked websites and such). I've never had any problems with that.

16 August 2011 CONCERNS:

Are google docs ever public? Do they need to set it to private or is it private automatically and only public when shared? Answer: "All documents start out as private." http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=180199&topic=1360896 • GoogleDocs help site: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=1360900

I want to make them use their Humboldt email this time. If they want to have it forwarded to something else, then they need to get that all figured out themselves; not my problem.

MY TECH PROJECT:

Using GoogleDocs for English 40 and 100.

1. Collaborative Essay for English 40 to acclimate students to GoogleDocs and to also review prior knowledge (especially regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the 5 paragraph essay form) 2. Peer response using GoogleDocs for English 40 3. Portfolio due date over Thanksgiving Break using GoogleDocs for English 100