Ignite Presentation

Final Project

Hey everyone! Check out my final project here, presented as a Google site. I did a classroom unit plan on memo and email formatting, with an accompanying workplace redesign. Looking forward to sharing it with you all next week!

Completed teaching philosophy

Text Philosophy:

As someone who has been a student for many years, I feel that I have a great working knowledge of what makes a successful classroom versus what makes an unsuccessful one. In my limited experience teaching workshops on writing, this knowledge has been reinforced in a lot of ways, but adapted in just as many ways.

To begin, I believe that students work best when they are entertained and kept interested to some degree. This spark of interest can come in many forms. I have had teachers take us outside to freewrite when the weather got warm, and teachers who simply stopped their lecture to ask us to get in groups and discuss our projects, or the lecture thus far. The practice of getting students out of their comfort zone, forcing them to become active participants in their learning has always, in my observations, made for a great classroom environment, and increased learning as a result.

Based on these feelings, I would consider myself a social constructivist. As Vygotsky found in his case studies, students simply perform better and can obtain more knowledge when they're engaging with someone, rather than just being told information by a superior. If making students move around and discuss with a classmate not only makes the classroom environment more fun, but also helps them learn more, how could I argue with that?

My commitment to student learning is perhaps the most important part of my teaching philosophy. It doesn't matter how much we cover in class, or how many readings we complete, or how many papers you end up writing throughout the course of the semester. If you don't come away from this course with the accomplishment of really gaining knowledge, I haven't done my job. It's for this reason that you can expect timely responses to emails regarding your questions about the course, ample availability in terms of office hours in order for us to meet, a willingness to discuss in detail anything you don't fully understand, and timely feedback on your assignments. I also am a firm believer in revision. If you do poorly on a paper or project, the best way to turn that bad grade into a learning experience is to be able to revisit that paper, and fix the problems therein. School is about learning, and I don't ever want to lose sight of that.

My courses will contain elements with which you are familiar, as well as things you might not be completely comfortable with. This means that there will be traditional assignments like papers, journals, and quizzes, but there will also be parts of this course that force you to use new technologies to aid in your overall learning. You will have the opportunity to play around with these technologies, discuss them with your classmates, and hopefully gain some great tools that will help you in the future.

I feel that the classroom setting should not be a high-anxiety place. We are here to learn, and will explore various methods that will help us do just that. I want all of us to be open, have discussions, and speak up when we're having issues. At the same time, however, I want you all to take this class seriously-- let's make the most of our time together by learning all we can, while having a great time doing it.

"It Wasn't Me, Was It?": Plagiarism and the Web

Sidler, Michelle, Elizabeth O. Smith, and Richard Morris. Computers in the Composition Classroom: a Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. Print.


In this piece, DeVoss and Rosati examine the issues with plagiarism and how much this confuses novice students, specifically in regards to the web and what is considered plagiarism versus what isn't.

I like the fact that this chapter addresses the main issues students have as far as plagiarism is concerned. Because I work in the writing center at College of the Albemarle, I encounter students all the time who simply don't know how to cite properly, and can't believe all of the extra work they have to do to cite. Therefore, the "You have to do all that?" section really jumped out at me. Yes, you really have to do all that!

What confuses me is the use of the international student, Danielle, as an example of someone who plagiarizes. This isn't just a problem for international students who may not be aware of the citation requirements at American institutions. Inadequate citation practices occur across the board, constantly.

I'd like to know more about the specific plagiarism policy of varied academic institutions. Most of these policies are so harsh, and I'd like to know if anyone adopts a more laissez-faire attitude.

Extra Blog 5: The Today Show

I watch the Today Show every single weekday morning of my life. Maybe I have a secret infatuation with Matt Lauer, and maybe I don't. Anyway, one day I was on their site entering to win Hoda and Kathie Lee's ambush makeover, and I noticed they had some archived video links... And I found this one that related to our class:

Hooray for Brain Rule #1!

Champing at the Bits: Computers, Copyright, and the Composition Classroom

Sidler, Michelle, Elizabeth O. Smith, and Richard Morris. Computers in the Composition Classroom: a Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. Print.

In this chapter, John Logie does a great job of explaining copyright law through the ages. Check out a TimeRime I made of this chapter:

I liked this chapter because it kind of explains the evolution of copyright law, and why it's necessary.

What confuses me about this principle is the concept of plagiarism and copyright infringement in general. I've always thought that the idea of plagiarism is academic. With copyright, the problem comes from a problem of monetary attribution going to the correct person. What, then, is the huge issue in the composition classroom with copyright law?

I'd like to know more about copyright cases through the ages. Have they become more severe? Less severe?

Teaching philosophy 2.0

Extra blog 4: Glamour Magazine

I was just flipping through the tablet edition of Glamour Magazine, and I stumbled upon this article about how more women are needed in the technological field. Check out these screen shots...

I have to admit, I don't love the way this is presented... 

Women in technology shouldn't be presented as a fashion statement, but I digress. All I could think about was our class... We are all females, seeming to refute the fact that the technology world is suffering from a lack of women. However, we are also interested in technology partnered with education, a stereotypically female dominated field... Kind of makes you think.

Extra blog 3: Using ENG 665 skills in other classes!

Last Tuesday in my writing research course, Dr. Neff asked us to map out our research project thus far. I used a Popplet, because I thought it would be the perfect tool. It was! It worked so well, and Dr. Neff was asking me how she could use this tool in the future. Amanda is also in that class, and we felt super proud of ourselves for being masters of the Popplet.

Check it out!

Jigsaw Assignment

Brain Rules Chapter 11

This week, I used XtraNormal as my Brain Rules notetaking platform. We used XtraNormal in Dr. Moberly's class once for the purposes of notetaking, and it's sort of fun to work with. It definitely embeds the information into your brain, because each time you preview it, the info is read to you in this strange robotic voice!

The interface is easy to work with, plus it's free!

Brain Rules 10
by: betsyrice

Brain Rules: Chapter 10

For this Brain Rules chapter, I decided to revisit Prezi. This is due to the fact that Prezi is simply my favorite. It's easy to use, and churns out great results with minimal effort. It has a great layout and interface, and I like how video and picture friendly it is.

I had some difficulty remembering how to do some of the things within Prezi, but I kind of fumbled through instead of watching the tutorial. It all came back to me. So, in conclusion, Prezi is just like riding a bike. Well, sort of.

Enjoy!

Brain Rules: Chapter 10 on Prezi

Teaching philosophy in progress

As someone who has been a student for many years, I feel that I have a great working knowledge of what makes a successful classroom versus what makes an unsuccessful one. In my limited experience teaching workshops on writing, this knowledge has been reinforced in a lot of ways, but adapted in just as many ways.

To begin, I believe that students work best when they are entertained and kept interested to some degree. This spark of interest can come in many forms. I have had teachers take us outside to freewrite when the weather got warm, and teachers who simply stopped their lecture to ask us to get in groups and discuss our projects, or the lecture thus far. The practice of getting students out of their comfort zone, forcing them to become active participants in their learning has always, in my observations, made for a great classroom environment, and increased learning as a result.

Based on these feelings, I would consider myself a social constructivist. As Vygotsky found in his case studies, students simply perform better and can obtain more knowledge when they're engaging with someone, rather than just being told information by a superior. If making students move around and discuss with a classmate not only makes the classroom environment more fun, but also helps them learn more, how could I argue with that?

My commitment to student learning is perhaps the most important part of my teaching philosophy. It doesn't matter how much we cover in class, or how many readings we complete, or how many papers you end up writing throughout the course of the semester. If you don't come away from this course with the accomplishment of really gaining knowledge, I haven't done my job. It's for this reason that you can expect timely responses to emails regarding your questions about the course, ample availability in terms of office hours in order for us to meet, a willingness to discuss in detail anything you don't fully understand, and timely feedback on your assignments. I also am a firm believer in revision. If you do poorly on a paper or project, the best way to turn that bad grade into a learning experience is to be able to revisit that paper, and fix the problems therein. School is about learning, and I don't ever want to lose sight of that.

My courses will contain elements with which you are familiar, as well as things you might not be completely comfortable with. This means that there will be traditional assignments like papers, journals, and quizzes, but there will also be parts of this course that force you to use new technologies to aid in your overall learning. You will have the opportunity to play around with these technologies, discuss them with your classmates, and hopefully gain some great tools that will help you in the future.

I feel that the classroom setting should not be a high-anxiety place. We are here to learn, and will explore various methods that will help us do just that. I want all of us to be open, have discussions, and speak up when we're having issues. At the same time, however, I want you all to take this class seriously-- let's make the most of our time together by learning all we can, while having a great time doing it.

Extra Blog 2: Article review

Buck, A. "The Invisible Interface: MS Word in the Writing Center." Computers and Composition 25.4 (2008): 396-415. Print.

 

This article is one I actually found for my other class, ENGL 685. I'm doing a research paper about the disconnect among word processing skills and students in community college. This article is all about using MS Word in the writing center, which struck me because I work in a writing center.

 

The article basically says that writing centers should realize that technology is not a transparent tool that doesn't affect the writing that emerges from it. Therefore, instead of students bringing in printed off papers and having writing center employees mark all over them with pen, they should edit papers through word processing directly. This would be more relevant for students, because it reflects the ways in which they actually write.

 

This made me think of our class for many reasons. Technology is affecting everything that we do, but perhaps especially the way we write. Would this be successful in a writing center?

Extra Blog 1: Personal experience

Today, I went to a real estate office to get some brochures and realty magazines for a friend's mother. She's thinking of moving back to North Carolina from Illinois, and therefore wanted some information. She doesn't have internet at home, so it's a real hassle for her to go all the way to her local library to get online. Therefore, I was happy to oblige and snail mail her some information that she could use.

When I got to the realty office, the lady looked at me like she was extremely confused when I asked for some realty magazines. She gave me the ones that she had in the office, and then said "you'd be much better off searching online." I said, "Well, these are for someone else, and she doesn't really get online that often." The lady gave me a knowing look, and said, "Oh, is she old?"

Well, my friend's mom isn't old. She's the same age as my mom, and my mom could definitely get online and search real estate listings if she wanted to. It just so happens that she doesn't have internet, so this is an issue of access, not of age. It was interesting to me, because we talk so much about access and those who are more inclined to use technology than others. It just shows how much this stereotype is perpetuated-- if someone doesn't use a computer, they must be old.

Chapter 8: Responding and Assessing

Selfe, Cynthia L. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2007. Print.


This chapter is all about assessing composition assignments. I was really interested in reading this, because in the writing center where I work, I have found that a lot of teachers grades are very subjective. Most of the time, no rubrics are used, and their own personal whims have a lot to do with the ways in which they grade papers. Students know which teachers are tough graders, versus which ones aren't. It makes me beg the question of how exactly teachers can achieve more consistency?


What I like about this chapter is the fact that it addresses the importance of instruction lining up consistently with evaluation. I hear students all the time saying that their teachers are easygoing, laid back, and seem to want them to succeed. When they get their graded papers back, however, they are extremely harsh graders. The tone for the course, as well as the expectations therein, need to be consistent. 


What confuses me is the concept that appears on page 103: "How do teachers know when they have acquired sufficient experience composing and understanding multimodal texts to help students?" I don't really like this idea, because I feel that if teachers always think they're not experienced enough to use technology with their students, they might shy away from evolving their classrooms toward the 21st century in general. Isn't it better to dive right in than to be afraid to try?


I would like to know more about instructive evaluation. This brings to mind the process of teachers going through already graded tests and discussing each answer with students. I remember this being an excruciating process when I had to do it as a younger student, so I wonder how it could be made to be more effective. 

Yancey: looking for sources of coherence in a fragmented world

Sidler, Michelle, Elizabeth O. Smith, and Richard Morris. Computers in the Composition Classroom: a Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. Print.




Kathleen Yancey, in this piece, discusses the issue of intertextuality. We have so many mediums with which to produce writing in our modern era. It could be potentially changing the way we write, but it has largely been found that it isn't. What some worry about is that some mediums may be abandoned in favor of others. Instead of this happening, intertextuality occurs.

What I like about this piece is the section on digital compositions and coherence. A lot of times, people feel that coherence is implied within digital compositions, as it is in the form of email. "We have email, where coherence is created, in part through repetition..." this idea is perpetuated even more within templates, like those used in Microsoft PowerPoint, or in digital portfolios. I'm confused by this, also, because there isn't as much focus on coherence in content within this section. I feel that people get so caught up with coherence in design, that theybforget the importance of coherent content.

I would like to know more about the assessment of coherence. As we saw with the ee cummings piece, it can be a little arbitrary. How can we agree on true coherence and judge it in a quantitative way?

Rethinking validity and reliability in the age of convergence

Sidler, Michelle, Elizabeth O. Smith, and Richard Morris. Computers in the Composition Classroom: a Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008.

This article focuses on the fact that teachers need assessment strategies within their classrooms in order to achieve the goals of reliability and validity.

What I like about this piece is the fact that the author thinks that networked writing is a good thing. The author says this in spite of the fact that she thinks writing must be orderly, regulated, knowable, and natural. I like that she makes this distinction, because many teachers, I know, are afraid of letting their students open up to technological practices because some relinquishment of teacher control is implied. Penrod states that this isn't so. Writing can be equally successful when collaborative and networked, versus when it isn't.

I am confused by Penrod's preference for qualitative assessment versus a quantitative assessment for grading. This is great in theory, but how can teachers with tons of students ever grade all of the papers they're responsible for without using a points system and rubric? I'd like to know more about instances in which this model was successful in classrooms.

My Time with ToonDoo

By betsyrice | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

I must say, I am not a huge fan of ToonDoo. It's not very user-friendly; it was hard to insert text, and make this text fit within my frames. There seemed to be nowhere to resize text, which I found very inconvenient. In addition, the backgrounds were limited, and all of the functions didn't work on my iPad... This was inconvenient, because I brought my iPad with me out of town to do some homework, and I ended up having to use my family's tonk tonk pc in the end!

That being said, I liked the Brain Rules chapter this week (as always). Sense of smell really is tied to long-term memory. Something that's always amazed me is that you can recall a memory, and actually imagine the smells tied to this memory. How can you imagine a smell??

My reflective video

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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