http://paulrallison.livejournal.com/7352.html

The semester is winding down. Students are focused on final projects in their core courses, and preparing for state examinations. Blogging is feels harder and harder to care about. Still these young people seem to have enough sense of personal commitment to YouthVoices.net and their personal blog to put forward some effort.

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=88

It seems that when we talk about research we are all talking about different parts of the elephant. On this podcast Troy Hicks brings our attention to how and why we cite sources. Lee Barber showed us how here students are taking interactive and multimodal notes. Paul Allison talked about how he is integrating online research into blogging. (Because of technical difficulties, our discussion of the invisible web was limited. We’ll have to encourage Susan Ettenheim to share her thoughts about this another time. There are a lot of notes that go well beyond our podcast on this week’s Google Notebook.

Troy Hicks, who joined us on this podcast, writes on his own blog:

In this age of hypertext composing and plagiarism detection services, I have to ask whether or not our old means of citing sources is good enough. Clearly, there are cultural norms and rhetorical traditions that we have to meet here, so I am not suggesting that we ask students not to cite their sources. However, I do want to suggest that we begin thinking more about why we are asking them to site their sources and how to keep track of them. I have put some initial thinking in the “Citing our Sources - How and Why?” section of the notebook. And, as always, I would appreciate hearing what all of you think about this issue — what is happening in your classroom? How has the research process changed in the past few years with the emergence of read/write web tools?

Digital Writing, Digital Teaching » Blog Archive » Students Researching Online

In the notes that Troy posted for this podcast he left us with many good questions and links for further thought and practice:

“As the research process moves from 3×5 note-cards to tools like Google notebook, citing our sources remains a constant part of doing good research,” Troy writes, “But, why do we cite sources in the first place? Is it simply to avoid plagiarism? Or, as the quote in the next note illustrates, are there other purposes for making citations?”

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=89

This was the kind of conversation that needed more time. Listen as nine teachers from six states –

Paul Allison, NY

Lee Barber, VA

Glen Bledsoe, OR

Susan Ettenheim, NY

Kevin Hodgson, MA

Eric Hoefler, VA

Matt Makowetski, CA

Chris Sloan, UT

Ken Stein, NY

Plus a father from China –

who use blogs, discussion boards, and other Web-based communication tools in their classrooms tell stories about the first half of the academic year. We report on what  have been learning about blogging with students. We also begin to talk about what our plans are for the remainder of the year.

Take a look at our ever expanding Google Notebook for this show: Teachers Teaching Teachers  01.10.07

In the comments at the bottom of this post, please join us with your thoughts about what you’ve learned teaching students to communicate online. What are your stories? Let’s see how many more states — and countries — we can add to the list as we check in with colleagues from all over the globe.

We also want to talk about how to help students who will be ending their classes with us in January can find some closure with their blogs without closing off the possiblities of keeping an ongoing blog.

And please join us next week — and every Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern — in the text chat room at EdTechTalk.com.

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=91

In this podcast, we take some time to talk to a colleague from São Paulo, Brazil. Since 1997 Barbara Dieu has been using the Internet to connect her students with peers from different parts of the globe. Last year she was one of the first to volunteer her students to connect with Lee Barber’s students on the PersonalLearningSpace.com that had just been launched by Dave Cormier of World Bridges.

Recently, Bee has been teaching English as a foreign language to high school students preparing for the French baccalauréat at the Lycée Pasteur, the Franco-Brazilian school in São Paulo, where she also coordinates the Foreign Language Department and belongs to the ICT committee. At the beginning April 2005, Bee was invited to serve on the Tesol Advisory Committee (TAC), she became a judge for the GSN Cyber Fair Contest , and she collaborates in and co-runs Dekita.org. Barbara is presently leading the Blogstreams Salon at Tappedin and she has just opened the Braz-Tesol EduTech SIG.

We were glad that she fit us into her busy life. And we look forward to further collaborations. Thanks Bee!

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=92

From time to time, Susan Ettenheim and Paul Allison have felt the need to check in with one of their important collaborators, Chris Sloan, from Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. This week is one of those moments. Recently, Chris had his students write about their experiences as bloggers this semester, and he started quoting from that writing a couple of weeks ago on our webcast. This week on TeachersTeachingTeachers — which is webcast over EdTechTalk.com every Wednesday at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 1am GMT (global times) – we will have a more detailed conversation with Chris Sloan about his blogging work and other projects he is doing with students. Join us as we put Chris Sloan into the spotlight.

Keep track of our evolving notes for this show in this week’s Google Notebook.



And here’s some history that might be useful (even if you were there).

The National Writing Project is a federation of local sites. What this usually means is that teachers’ professional relationships are deeply rooted in local initiatives and meetings. Perhaps this is changing, as the Internet makes other networks available to individuals, networks that are not limited by geography. Sometimes our closest Writing Project colleagues can be from other states. One example of this is the collegiality shared by Paul Allison from the New York City Writing Project and Chris Sloan from the Utah Writing Project.

Paul and Chris started planning together — along with a couple of other teachers from other states — in the Technology Matters Institute in July 2005. That summer, they decided to create a blog that would allow for “bi-coastal audio collaboration” between their students:

Birth of this concept occurred at the Tech Matters 2005 institute in West Virginia. All 4 TLs involved (Dave Boardman, Chris Sloan, Paul Allison, and Natalie Bernasconi) were participants. Each of us brought an aspect of inquiry / interest / and experience into the institute. Chris was interested in pursuing the impact of audio technology (e.g. sound editing, podcasting) on students’ writing. Natalie was seeking ways to use communication technology to support her English Language Learners. Paul was fascinated by the organic nature of podcasting, and Dave had participated in a powerful collaboration entitled “From Maine to California” this past year and was interested in pursuing another collaboration project using the new component of podcasting. The idea for the “Bi-coastal Audio Collaboration” was born.

Utah Project 2005 Tech Matters Minigrant

In September 2005, Paul and Chris were joined by Susan Ettenheim, a teacher who is also from New York City, and the three of them launched a blog and podcast Youth Voices Coast to Coast: New York City and Utah. This project grew when Paul, Chris, and Susan began connecting — and webcasting — with the World Bridges community in the Spring of 2006, and now there are several Writing Project teachers from high schools in New Jersey and California as well as New York City and Utah who have introduced their students to a community of youth bloggers at YouthVoices.net. Although Youth Voices is not an official site of the National Writing Project — and in fact it it sponsored by WorldBridges and maintained by Dave Cormier, all of the teachers who are participating so far are Writing Project teachers from different local sites. Collaborations have given birth to more collaborations. It’s exciting to see our little community of bloggers grow!

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=93

Writing like the post that we’ve copied here makes it easy to listen to what our students think about our work with them. Here’s what a 9th grader in Chris Sloan’s class thinks about blogging at YouthVoices.net:

What makes a good blog post, by Parker at Judge Memorial High School, Salt Lake City

To create a really good blog post, I really think that people need to open up to the readers. Honesty is most effective, because the actual emotion that others put down is probably something that others have experienced, or can relate to. For example, i just read a letter a girl wrote to her father, but he passed away four years ago. It was the most personal, morose, true example of sadness that i have ever read, let alone on youthvoices. I don’t know anything like that personally, but the raw openness made it something that i felt, not just read. I’ve also published some poems on the site, and i’ve gotten some varied, but positive, responses to those, and that’s encouraging.

When I look for a blog post to read, i will go through recent additions to the site, because not knowing what i want to read, i don’t exactly think i should focus on one writer in particular unless i already know i like their work–i try to be openminded in my selections. Length usually doesn’t have too much to do with writing for me, it’s the quality work, not the qauntity of the work that catches my eye. As far as quotations go, in detailed stories that are by the moment, they definitely help, but aren’t exactly necessary as long as the story flows and is relatable. Quotations–i actually jsut read a short 3 sentence work with a quotation–are excellent subject for publishing. They allow a quick glimpse into an issue that might be random, or have some instant meaning to me, but the quick tidbit moistens my tastebuds for more.A few days ago i wrote a poem about some inner conflict, and how it sometimes seems like i’m stuck behind something that i can see past, but can’t be in. This feeling can be applied to other areas of life, but its specifically applicable to me in relationships. I was surprised at how many people commented on this, especially a girl from an other school who also commented on another piece i did. That astounded me that she would have thought my work worth looking at twice. I like my work, sometimes i’m amazed at what i can put onto paper, but i never thought i would get somewhat of that reaction from other students! my posts lately have been about the same thing, in different views, both poems. To me, they were really good, something i would have an interest in reading if it weren’t mine. I’ve commented probably around ten times, a few that haven’t been for school, too. As i mentioned earlier, others have been commenting on my stuff and seemed to have taken a liking to what i wrote.

There’s not too much that i wish i could do, i just like having a forum where i can put a piece of myself into a place and feel like people will value it, and even if they don’t, the emotions or stories need to be let out anyways. I liked doing the thing with the RSS feeds and being able to “subscribe” to work on this site, i thought that was way cool because i had no idea that process existed.

I’ve learned a few things about myself, others and writing on Youth voices. The first is that i think i have a future in writing, or it feels like that to me anyways. The second is that people have liked what i’ve written, and i’ve learned that i can put something down that others will read. I’ve also learned that in this world, there are people with some serious writing talen, and others that have some serious courage in publishing what they wrote for others to read, even if they don’t think it’s that great.

Hoenstly, i have difficulty writing on paper. I have trouble seeing the final product and overall idea behind what i jsut wrote unless i write on computers, which is kind of a strange quirk, but true nonetheless. Usually when i have to write on paper, it’s for a quickie assignment. I usually don’t like those as much, because i feel it’s too rough, not polished enought to be something that has my name on it. If i’m going for a particular vibe on an assignment, it may not come through just right on paper. my mistakes also seem too permanent on paper. I misspell something or write a sentence that doesn’t flow and need to cross it out, and that scar on my work won’t go away mentally, and is always there as a physical reminder. My handwriting, too, when i write on paper is messy and quick because i’m trying to get my ideas down before they leave my mind, so sometimes all that comes out is a scribble that only right then means something and then only to me. Blogging is a whole new expereience for me, and i don’t know if that’s why i like it so much or if it’s just because i have a place to jot my thoughts down so they don’t bottle up inside. And on a blog, the work is there for people to read, and i like comments on my work–it makes me a better and stronger writer; i learn what i need to keep or change in my pieces. With paper there is always that easy way out of letting stuff out, that i could crumple the paper or rewrite it, but on a blog i feel more open to letting feelings out–i like to share with others. If i feel i have a strong piece, i want to know what others’ opinions on it are, and get praise or criticism for what i’ve put down in words. Blogging is just a better way to be heard, to have my thoughts organized, and to get published, than paper has been or ever could be.I really have no knowledge of myspace, but it really seems like it’s overrated. The only adavantage to it is that it seems more personal, that you can have a different “space” than anyone else because of all the options for building your page. For publishing works, i don’t know what it would be like, except that it seems unless there are other writers online, my work would just be lost in the jumble of curse words, x rated material, and unintelligent teen comments that are out there for shock value only. I really approve of the school support youth voices has–it ensures there are writing students on the site and not some trashy mouth punks playing jokes. This atmosphere is more formal to me than it seems myspace would be, and i enjoy having my work taken seriously, and being able to take others’ work seriously as well.

Some Links to other sites Chris mentioned:

palo alto high school (will add)

virginia allan weintrap (will add)

http://youthvoices.net/elgg/xcrunner/weblog/2280.html

http://youthvoices.net/elgg/xcrunner/weblog/2683.html

http://judgemedia.blogspot.com/index.html

http://paulrallison.livejournal.com/7493.html

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=94

As the Spring semester starts rolling, it’s natural to be thinking big thoughts. What do we want students to take from the classes we teach? How does what we teach fit with the other courses being taught in our schools? Where does blogging fit? This week on Teachers Teaching Teachers, several Writing Project teachers — from two coasts — plan to talk about their plans for YouthVoices.net in this Spring semester. As always we want to keep this conversation real. “What are you going to ask your students to do?” Yet we would also like to keep it framed in a larger lens of why we are blogging in the first place.

Some of us who are using Youth Voices (and the Personal Learning Space) have begun to teach blogging as a course of study, and on the webcast/podcast, we will describe what we teach in these courses. (Also see this week’s Google Notebook.) But let’s take a further step back and ask whether we need courses per se. Recently Clarence Fisher has been asking about this, and perhaps he is right when he argues that that “courses need to die.”

Remote Access: Courses Need to Die

With Clarence’s words in mind, let’s take a look at blogging as a course. Do we need a separate class for blogging? For some of us blogging has become a central to our courses.

Yet if we think about it, isn’t blogging one example of something that could be divided into components and re-assembled by a team of teachers at different times? Wouldn’t it be smart for a school to take the set of skills and habits of work that blogging requires/inspires and teach these alongside other curricula, instead of teaching them in isolation like many of us do now in New Media/New Journalism/Computer Technology elective courses? What if the teachers and administrators in a school were to treat blogging as a basic skill that needed to be taught in every grade, every semester. Can we imagine a scope and sequence for blogging that would stretch across the grade levels? This is exactly what some of us are beginning to be able to envision.

We are growing in our confidence to describe exactly what it means to teach blogging — and how it is different from what is taught now in even the best writing, media, and research classes. Those of us who have been teaching blogging as a course are beginning to be specific about what needs to be in a blogging curriculum. At the same time, many of us are not ready to go to the whole school and recommend this curriculum. We realize how much time, effort and thought must be devoted to blogging to see it become a truly meaningful and student-owned activity in school.

Perhaps it sounds contradictory, but it’s the vision of blogging going across the curriculum and into every grade that motivates some of us to be developing this curriculum in our own courses. We can imagine blogging being integrated into every teacher’s classroom, the way independent reading or vocabulary study is shared by teachers in many secondary schools. But we need a bit more time to develop the questions and exact components that seem important to blogging.

Join us on this journey! This — and every — Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern (6pm PDT / 1am GMT — global times) EdTechTalk.