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Just going to see if this works 
In “Process Writing and the Secondary School Reality” by Barbara Carney, she explains she effectively made students participate in the writing process through a series of events that were creative, yet also followed the formal English curriculum of composition. She felt this was achieved through student ownership of their writing. This created a relaxed atmosphere because students can pick their own topic and have peer groups to discuss their papers. Multiple drafts were a key element in the writing process. According to Carney, writing is a hierarchy process with High Order Concerns and Low Order Concerns. The HOCs are the focus, organization, tone, and development of the paper. The LOCs are sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. She felt LOCs were more effective if saved for the last draft.
How can we fit the writing process approach into our large and regimented classrooms?
Carney’s writing process involves prewriting, three drafts, editing, and a final draft. Prewriting involved giving a couple of general prompts for the students where they can choose the topic they want to write. This creates ownership because they can choose what they want to focus on. Students have to turn in a formal thesis which gets feedback, but will not be graded until the final draft. Then, once their thesis is returned, they begin the first draft. It is important to give credit for drafts as well as the final product to place value on the assignment. The second draft always involved peer groups. Once the second draft is done, students get together in conferences to share their writings. If a student is unmotivated and does not have a paper, they will be asked to write quietly while conferences are going on. The third draft must be turned in to the teacher for feedback not corrections. If there are errors, it is best to circle or underline them so the teacher is not just viewed as an error-corrector. There is the editing draft which is different form the final draft to focus on the LOC’s at the end. This is most helpful if read out loud with peer group conferences. The final draft will be the reflection of all these stages. Students feel pride they achieved their goal and be proud of their works.
I definitely agree with the author that we live in a consumption oriented society. I think that many parents give in to buying their kids products because of the nag factor. Many parents don’t have time to take their children clothes shopping; as a result, they give their child money, and another family member or friend will take them. Also, there are ads everywhere we go, especially aimed toward children. There are pepsi and coca cola ads at schools, even I remember seeing these ads when I was in high school. Although, I think younger children have been advertising numerous brands without even knowing it; for instance, wearing Disney shirts that has there favorite characters on it.
Additionally, I like the statement that Sternheimer wrote, “show people love by getting them gifts.” I think this is true for our society because there are usually gift gifting activities around the holidays. Children get this idea in their mind that it is mandatory to show people they care about by buying them presents, even though that may not be true.
Engaging faculty in a conversation about the principles of online and blended learning is something I do on a regular basis. However, this week I had the unique opportunity to present (“on the wall”) to a group of students on this topic. The students I spoke with (pictured above) are preparing to be student leaders in […]
Hello and good afternoon, this week we are focusing on how the classroom of today needs to change with the different types of technology. We have tools today that were not available thirty years ago. Heck, if you think back to what was available just ten years ago, the information available and the methods of how to retrieve it are far better than before. We were given an article to read, and a TED talk to watch, which are both ideas about how powerful the internet is and how do we bring it to the classroom to better the education of tomorrow.
The internet is more powerful than most of us realize. How Powerful? Little over a year ago there was a trend that went viral for all the right reasons, and that was the “Ice Bucket Challenge“. If you are not familiar with it, I will explain it briefly. Via Facebook, a person would announce that they were donating $100.00 to ALS, dump a bucket of ice water over their head, then challenge three of their friends to do the same. This internet trend raised over one hundred million dollars and led to the biggest breakthrough in ALS research. The leading research company stated that if it were not for the money raised by the challenge they probably would have never made the break-though. That is how powerful the internet has become. If we can get that power into the classroom, then the future has gotten a bit more exciting.
Both the article and video spoke of using this power for better material and broadening the horizon of the student. The idea that instead of just a textbook, the class revolves around specific topics and evolves with the current information as it is published or documented. Everyone has the power to access the internet and any given time, may it be a phone, tablet or laptop, so why not use this for the classroom? The classroom is more interactive now than ever before so the tools used to teach should be just as interactive.
I am looking forward to see some of these changes to the classroom, and i am excited for the future that lies in front of all of us that are trying to bring a better tomorrow. The planet is in bad place at the moment and we are the future that plans to clean it up. We have all the tools that we need, and it is time to start using them.
Remember everyone to smile, make someone else laugh out loud, and have a fantastic day.
CDR
Let me start by saying that this assignment has left me mind blown. The content is enough to leave you pondering in what it is we are really doing, if we really are progressing. A new way has been called on by experts who say we must halt our curriculum, and transform it into a let’s say a more effective way of going about our lives.
There is no doubt that technology has immensely progressed in this past decade and quite honestly has shaped the way we think, the things we do and most importantly who we all are becoming. These two pieces of insight provided by our Transfer Year class have two very distinct similarities that have resounded as the most impacting.
The first similarity is particularly interesting is that us, as humans should not only live our lives with technological advancements being just a tool we can use to know what’s already known, but to use it and understand the changes it is making in our everyday lives and how we can use it to our advantage to permanently perfect an advantage to live in a better world.
The second similarity is how both pieces advocate the realization of how powerful technology is. The digital world and how easy it is now a days to use it as your form of rebellion you could say. Your new way of thinking that can possibly be embraced by 2 billion active participators.
The first example of two is the Paris attack. Facebook provided a way to keep in contact on Paris about the situation. This was an accomplishment for many since this would have never been possible even 10 years ago. This here is an example of Digital Progress
and how we can guide it to help us live easier.
The second example would be GPS.
Never have we become so intricately familiar with our location than we are now. This tool allows us to travel in the right direction without actually knowing where we are going. It is an accomplishment in the digital world that has allowed us to not only travel, but travel with ease. It is a tool of trust that revolutionizes and allows us to become faster at what we want to accomplish with our life. #UNIV349DC
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