I’ve planned a digital photo story unit, and I’m looking forward to my students creating stories that will blow mine way (and I know this will happen without a doubt!). I’ve already been talking about this unit in class because I wanted the students to have some sort of a heads up about since it is quite different than anything we’ve done in class before. So far, my students have expressed appreciation at the fact that I’m willing to try out something new and fun—we’ll see how they feel when they’re shaking their fist at their computer screen at 2:00 a.m.
The first day of this unit will be spent introducing the students to Photo Story and what the goals of the unit are. One of the main goals for this day is to introduce my students to the digital story resource page that I have posted on our wiki. This page contains a link to where students can download the Photo Story software, so if they do want to work at it at home they don’t have the extra worry of locating the software. I’ve also posted a video that is demonstration of how to create a story, and I am going to show this in class—it’s about six minutes and covers almost all of the necessary steps. This wiki page also has a copy of Studio D’s quick start guide, which I also intend on handing out, but it’s always nice to have a back up location. The rest of this first day will be spent letting the students play around with the program. Photo Story is the kind of program that one can learn just by playing around with. By the end of the period they should feel confident of how to at least get started on this project.
The next step of this unit is the first exploration activity. Students will write a proposal of what they want to focus their story on. They will draw some seed out of one of our prior units, and they will look to find the story that they want to tell using images, sound, and movement that they weren’t able to do in the other units. In this proposal, they will write about what kind of story they intend on telling, including which units they are drawing from. On this day I will also show two examples of photo stories, so the students can get an idea of what kind of things other students have done with an assignment like this. (The examples are from a few of Heidi’s students.) We will also discuss exploration two: a storyboard of their story. I will direct the students to the digital story resource wiki page where there are two kinds of storyboards that they can use. I borrowed/stole/appropriated this idea from Heidi, but it feels like an activity that I would do—we did a comic strip activity earlier in the semester that seems to be the cousin of this storyboard activity. I found two storyboards and posted them on the wiki for the students to use, and I also gave them to Heidi (a little reciprocation couldn’t hurt, right?). I really like these storyboards because they allow the students to visually see and plan each frame of their stories, including transitions, voice overs, and sound. It was super helpful when I made my story!
Once students turn in their storyboards, the next two days of this unit will be working days. For students who feel they need a little more professional assistance than I may be able to offer, I’m going to allow a few students each day to go to Studio D. (I also have a link to Studio D’s website from my wiki, so students know where to go when they’re on their own.)
One difficulty I ran into when planning this unit is that Thanksgiving break runs into the middle of it. I hope that this will work to my advantage—and theirs. I’m requiring that the students bring a full draft of their story to class the day that we return from break. They are going to get in groups of three and review each other’s stories. I think this will help students catch any glitches that aren’t working quite right in their stories, and then they would have a little more time to work on them before they were due. This activity is taking the place of our regular response workshops that we do.
My original goal was to have all of the students upload their stories to Youtube or Google Videos, and to link them to our wiki. I want to make sure that I am able to do this before I require them to do it! I’ve included videos of how to upload videos to both of these sites on our wiki, but there still seems to be some glitch that I haven’t quite figured out just yet. If I can’t manage to work this out, I’m just going to have the students turn in their stories on discs.
The culminating activity for this unit is the presentation of the story. Each student will present their story to the class—and so will I. I think one of the most important things that one can do in a composition class is to share, whether it be traditional writing or not. My students did one other presentation this semester, and I was really planning for that to be a warm up to this activity. As part of their presentation, students will have to explain a few of the rhetorical choices they made in the creation of their story.
I think it was a great exercise for me to create a photo story of my own—that way I can relate to the bumps in the road that they might come across. This also works to support my own theory of teaching: never ask a student to do something you haven’t done. I think students respect this—I know I do.
Without further ado...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Mid-Semester(ish) Reflection
After leaving Gregg Olsen’s presentation yesterday, I couldn’t help but think about how much my life has changed since August. For me the TA position has carried so much more with than just the opportunity to teach—I have had the opportunity to truly be a member of this community. I have been going to BSU since 1999, but I only managed to live in Boise my first two years (which are such a whirl wind to begin with!). By the time I was used to living in Boise and being on campus regularly, it was time for me to back to Parma, where I’m from. My undergraduate experience was a rushed one—I worked two to three jobs, managed to have all of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (I would start at 7:40 and would finish with a night class), and drove an hour each way. Needless to say, there wasn’t much time for me to actually just be on campus with other students. I had very little interaction with my instructors, and I felt completely intimidated by them (this is why one of my personal teaching goals is to be accessible to my students). There is much that I regret about my undergrad experience.
I took two years off before I applied to the graduate program. I had also applied for a TA position, but did not get it. I contemplated even coming back after that; after all, my goal was to teach, and I didn’t know how it would affect my future that I did not receive the position. But after examining my situation at the time (I was managing a tire store—odd, right?), I figured I would still go and would see what happened. After my first semester I was glad to be back in school and was no longer afraid to speak up in class or talk to my instructors, but something didn’t feel quite right. The next semester I signed up for two rhet/comp classes to see what they were about (Mike’s research methods class and Michelle’s theories class). After the first day, I knew that was where I belonged. I again applied for the TA position, and again, was turned down. At that point I was completely discouraged—I figured it was my last shot to get my foot in the door. And although I’m still not sure why, I went and talked to Mike about it, and he offered me a spot in the Center—an opportunity I didn’t even know existed but has changed my life, how I view writing, and how I write. Mike, of course, was the one who helped me get into the TA position now, and although I knew it would be beneficial for my future, I had no clue that it would affect me as much as it has.
I am now on campus every day of the week—something I love. Because I’m on campus as much as I am, I have had the opportunity to actually get to know the people around me, and I’ve been able to participate in things like when Bartholomae was here and yesterday when Gregg Olsen was here. This would not have been possible for me last semester—I was only on campus on Monday and Tuesday night. There is just so much more that I’m getting out of my own education because of this TA position. And I, of course, am feeling so blessed because I’m enjoying teaching so much. (I thankfully have a terrific group of students!) I felt ashamed last week after I caught myself complaining about how much work I had to do that weekend, and I thought it would be a good idea to contemplate on how thankful I am to be where I am. I realized that I am thankful for so many reasons, one of which I hadn’t anticipated: I feel a sense of self-preservation by being here. This really is one of the few things left that I have that makes me still feel like myself; it has been so easy for me to slip off and get overwhelmed by my other responsibilities that I have with my family and the business. Having said all of that, I better get back to work…
I took two years off before I applied to the graduate program. I had also applied for a TA position, but did not get it. I contemplated even coming back after that; after all, my goal was to teach, and I didn’t know how it would affect my future that I did not receive the position. But after examining my situation at the time (I was managing a tire store—odd, right?), I figured I would still go and would see what happened. After my first semester I was glad to be back in school and was no longer afraid to speak up in class or talk to my instructors, but something didn’t feel quite right. The next semester I signed up for two rhet/comp classes to see what they were about (Mike’s research methods class and Michelle’s theories class). After the first day, I knew that was where I belonged. I again applied for the TA position, and again, was turned down. At that point I was completely discouraged—I figured it was my last shot to get my foot in the door. And although I’m still not sure why, I went and talked to Mike about it, and he offered me a spot in the Center—an opportunity I didn’t even know existed but has changed my life, how I view writing, and how I write. Mike, of course, was the one who helped me get into the TA position now, and although I knew it would be beneficial for my future, I had no clue that it would affect me as much as it has.
I am now on campus every day of the week—something I love. Because I’m on campus as much as I am, I have had the opportunity to actually get to know the people around me, and I’ve been able to participate in things like when Bartholomae was here and yesterday when Gregg Olsen was here. This would not have been possible for me last semester—I was only on campus on Monday and Tuesday night. There is just so much more that I’m getting out of my own education because of this TA position. And I, of course, am feeling so blessed because I’m enjoying teaching so much. (I thankfully have a terrific group of students!) I felt ashamed last week after I caught myself complaining about how much work I had to do that weekend, and I thought it would be a good idea to contemplate on how thankful I am to be where I am. I realized that I am thankful for so many reasons, one of which I hadn’t anticipated: I feel a sense of self-preservation by being here. This really is one of the few things left that I have that makes me still feel like myself; it has been so easy for me to slip off and get overwhelmed by my other responsibilities that I have with my family and the business. Having said all of that, I better get back to work…
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
First Individual Conferences
Today I had half of my first set of individual conferences, and I left feeling a bit puzzled over what happened compared to what I had expected. I figured that working in the Writing Center was going to give me a huge advantage when I went to work one-on-one with my students, but these conferences were certainly not the same as ones I have in the Center. I guess I had somewhat anticipated coming across the difference of authority as a teacher than as a consultant; this is an issue we talk about in the Center all of the time. I found myself being much more directive in these conferences today—and, rightly so—I would imagine. I have trained myself to not be this way at the Center—that’s not my job there, but as a teacher today, I found it a bit odd to have to switch directions. I certainly feel more responsibility for what my students produce as a teacher than I do as a consultant. Though I know it’s not ultimately up to me what students write, I do feel that I need to lead them in the right direction.
I was somewhat hesitant on the timing of these conferences today. I didn’t really expect any of my students to have drafts of their projects yet, and I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a productive use of time. But after my first few conferences, I realized that this time was super helpful in making sure my students were heading in the right direction for this project—mostly because some of them were not on the right track. I think for the most part they understood about writing each review towards a different audience and how to do so, yet a few of them seemed unsure about the analytical essay. I spent most of the time for each conference discussing the goals of this essay, and by the end, all of the students (who were unsure) now felt they had an understanding of what to do. So in the end, I was glad this time was spent reiterating the goals of this assignment because I think I would have been disappointed if the students would have turned in an assignment on Monday that was off the mark.
Another thing that I focused on in these conferences was how the students felt the course was going. I was really surprised at the responses—actually, I was worried at first. Most of the students seemed to mimic each other: the class felt easy and comfortable. I certainly met this sentiment with uncertainty. When I questioned the students further about why the class was “easy” (which is what made me nervous—I want to be seen as a challenging instructor), it seemed that the students felt I was easy going and spent a lot of time reiterating what was expected of them for each assignment. (After further conversations, it seems that my students feel like they’ve been thrown to the wolves in some of their other classes. They don’t know what’s expected of them, making it difficult for them to meet these unknown expectations.) By the time the conferences were over, I felt somewhat reassured that the concept of “easiness” wasn’t viewed the same way by me as it was for my students. They seemed to agree that we were doing a lot of writing, but this writing was easy for them because we did a lot of different kinds of activities in class that helped them understand what they were supposed to do. (One of my students told me about the difficulty she was having writing a 7 page paper for another class—about the same length as what we’re doing for this unit. The difficulty came because she didn’t know what to do, but she thought it was because of how long it was supposed to do.)
I must also admit how drained I felt after today. I didn’t think I would feel any different than I do after a three hour stretch in the Center, but geeze, I did. I’m not sure why. I’m sure part of it was probably nerves and the realization that I only made it through half today—Friday is a whole new day! I gained a new-found respect for all of my teachers of the past that made time for conferences and were teaching more than one section. I just don’t know how they’ve done it! For Friday I will make sure to have a caffeine and chocolate stash handy to make sure I’m pumped up.
In my next round of conferences in Unit three, I would like to make sure my students have a draft ready for me to review with them. Although I do think the time today was an effective use of time, I would like to try another avenue as well. I would also like to do mini-conferences in class on a day when we’re working on stuff. I think this would work well when we’re revising stuff for the portfolio. I mostly just want to try many different kinds of conferences to see what works best for me (and for them).
I was somewhat hesitant on the timing of these conferences today. I didn’t really expect any of my students to have drafts of their projects yet, and I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a productive use of time. But after my first few conferences, I realized that this time was super helpful in making sure my students were heading in the right direction for this project—mostly because some of them were not on the right track. I think for the most part they understood about writing each review towards a different audience and how to do so, yet a few of them seemed unsure about the analytical essay. I spent most of the time for each conference discussing the goals of this essay, and by the end, all of the students (who were unsure) now felt they had an understanding of what to do. So in the end, I was glad this time was spent reiterating the goals of this assignment because I think I would have been disappointed if the students would have turned in an assignment on Monday that was off the mark.
Another thing that I focused on in these conferences was how the students felt the course was going. I was really surprised at the responses—actually, I was worried at first. Most of the students seemed to mimic each other: the class felt easy and comfortable. I certainly met this sentiment with uncertainty. When I questioned the students further about why the class was “easy” (which is what made me nervous—I want to be seen as a challenging instructor), it seemed that the students felt I was easy going and spent a lot of time reiterating what was expected of them for each assignment. (After further conversations, it seems that my students feel like they’ve been thrown to the wolves in some of their other classes. They don’t know what’s expected of them, making it difficult for them to meet these unknown expectations.) By the time the conferences were over, I felt somewhat reassured that the concept of “easiness” wasn’t viewed the same way by me as it was for my students. They seemed to agree that we were doing a lot of writing, but this writing was easy for them because we did a lot of different kinds of activities in class that helped them understand what they were supposed to do. (One of my students told me about the difficulty she was having writing a 7 page paper for another class—about the same length as what we’re doing for this unit. The difficulty came because she didn’t know what to do, but she thought it was because of how long it was supposed to do.)
I must also admit how drained I felt after today. I didn’t think I would feel any different than I do after a three hour stretch in the Center, but geeze, I did. I’m not sure why. I’m sure part of it was probably nerves and the realization that I only made it through half today—Friday is a whole new day! I gained a new-found respect for all of my teachers of the past that made time for conferences and were teaching more than one section. I just don’t know how they’ve done it! For Friday I will make sure to have a caffeine and chocolate stash handy to make sure I’m pumped up.
In my next round of conferences in Unit three, I would like to make sure my students have a draft ready for me to review with them. Although I do think the time today was an effective use of time, I would like to try another avenue as well. I would also like to do mini-conferences in class on a day when we’re working on stuff. I think this would work well when we’re revising stuff for the portfolio. I mostly just want to try many different kinds of conferences to see what works best for me (and for them).
Thursday, September 20, 2007
First Week in the Computer Lab
This week was the first opportunity that my class had to be in the computer lab. I was surprised how it changed the atmosphere of the room. I was anticipating that the computer lab would feel uncomfortable (mostly because I’m not entirely comfortable with computers yet, and I thought my uneasiness would rub off on the rest of the class). It didn’t even really occur to me until just now that I think my class went better in the computer lab. I’m not really sure why.
In our regular classroom I always have the students circle up because rows make me nervous—I hate not being able to see everyone’s faces clearly. I thought the way the labs are structured with students in small groups around tables would be awkward at best. I would have guessed that students would have been more prone to stay in their cliques and not interact with students at the other tables. The odd thing is that everyone seemed more open to enter the discussion; and again, I’m not sure why.
When I was thinking about teaching in the lab (because I wasn’t originally planning on ever being in a lab) I began to feel obligated to use the computers—after all, they’re there! At first I was really uncomfortable about this because I didn’t want to use the computers in an arbitrary way; I really want everything we do to be connected to what we’re doing in the unit.
One way that I eased us into getting used to the computers was that I had students use them for exploration one of unit two. When I told the class that we would be using the computers, I could see right away that there were two students who looked concerned. I asked the class if they had any questions or concerns about using the computers, and one student raised his hand and asked if he could hand write his exploration. He said that he was an extremely slow typer and was concerned about getting the exploration done in the time allowed. I felt this was a reasonable request, and I offered it up to the class. Three students decided to hand write their explorations. I would rather students concentrate on what they have to say in their writing instead of being worried the entire time about the computer. I do intend to use the computers more in class, and I bet in the end these few students will feel more confident and would be more likely to want to type their explorations in class.
The next day when we were in the lab I was really concerned about how the activity would go. I had students do a website audience analysis while working in pairs. I thought the activity was a good idea, but this was the day that Greg was coming in to observe the class, and that made me nervous. I was waiting to fall on my face! But I really think things went well. The students worked the entire time; the computers cooperated; and the atmosphere was really relaxed. This was a great activity to use the computers for, and I felt that it really related to what we’re doing for our unit as far as helping students learn how to analyze audience. (And it was fun!)
I really feel that being in the computer lab helped my class click. I can’t explain why, but the environment just works for us. I’m totally stoked about this because I was really hesitant going in to it!
In our regular classroom I always have the students circle up because rows make me nervous—I hate not being able to see everyone’s faces clearly. I thought the way the labs are structured with students in small groups around tables would be awkward at best. I would have guessed that students would have been more prone to stay in their cliques and not interact with students at the other tables. The odd thing is that everyone seemed more open to enter the discussion; and again, I’m not sure why.
When I was thinking about teaching in the lab (because I wasn’t originally planning on ever being in a lab) I began to feel obligated to use the computers—after all, they’re there! At first I was really uncomfortable about this because I didn’t want to use the computers in an arbitrary way; I really want everything we do to be connected to what we’re doing in the unit.
One way that I eased us into getting used to the computers was that I had students use them for exploration one of unit two. When I told the class that we would be using the computers, I could see right away that there were two students who looked concerned. I asked the class if they had any questions or concerns about using the computers, and one student raised his hand and asked if he could hand write his exploration. He said that he was an extremely slow typer and was concerned about getting the exploration done in the time allowed. I felt this was a reasonable request, and I offered it up to the class. Three students decided to hand write their explorations. I would rather students concentrate on what they have to say in their writing instead of being worried the entire time about the computer. I do intend to use the computers more in class, and I bet in the end these few students will feel more confident and would be more likely to want to type their explorations in class.
The next day when we were in the lab I was really concerned about how the activity would go. I had students do a website audience analysis while working in pairs. I thought the activity was a good idea, but this was the day that Greg was coming in to observe the class, and that made me nervous. I was waiting to fall on my face! But I really think things went well. The students worked the entire time; the computers cooperated; and the atmosphere was really relaxed. This was a great activity to use the computers for, and I felt that it really related to what we’re doing for our unit as far as helping students learn how to analyze audience. (And it was fun!)
I really feel that being in the computer lab helped my class click. I can’t explain why, but the environment just works for us. I’m totally stoked about this because I was really hesitant going in to it!
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