Comments for Bridging Literacies http://mcgrail.edublogs.org Another excellent Edublogs.org blog Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:45:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Commenting by Newer Literacies & Technologies » Blog Archive » Welcome to EDRD 8550! http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/commenting/#comment-58 Newer Literacies & Technologies » Blog Archive » Welcome to EDRD 8550! Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:03:13 +0000 http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/commenting/#comment-58 [...] Congratulations, you’ve logged in successfully. This web log is a home page for EDRD 8550: Newer Literacies and Newer Technologies. It will serve as a clearinghouse for our dialogue in the blogosphere. This is where you will share with larger audiences interesting ideas from research and readings in our course and beyond, thought-provoking questions, and helpful resources for practice. Your blog entries may utilize a variety of media (images, links, film clips, etc.). You will also be asked to read and respond to at least one of your colleagues’ blog entries using the Comment feature on this blog. Please review the Commenting page on my professional blog before posting your first responses to others’ web log entries on the EDRD 8550 blog. Also, make sure to give each post or comment a title so that it can be associated easily with our discussion topics.You will post comments to students on their individual blogs. I will provide the links to these students’ blogs in the near future.Let us begin our journeys into the blogsphere that celebrates collaborative learning, reflection, and sharing of expertise and resources! [...] [...] Congratulations, you’ve logged in successfully. This web log is a home page for EDRD 8550: Newer Literacies and Newer Technologies. It will serve as a clearinghouse for our dialogue in the blogosphere. This is where you will share with larger audiences interesting ideas from research and readings in our course and beyond, thought-provoking questions, and helpful resources for practice. Your blog entries may utilize a variety of media (images, links, film clips, etc.). You will also be asked to read and respond to at least one of your colleagues’ blog entries using the Comment feature on this blog. Please review the Commenting page on my professional blog before posting your first responses to others’ web log entries on the EDRD 8550 blog. Also, make sure to give each post or comment a title so that it can be associated easily with our discussion topics.You will post comments to students on their individual blogs. I will provide the links to these students’ blogs in the near future.Let us begin our journeys into the blogsphere that celebrates collaborative learning, reflection, and sharing of expertise and resources! [...]

]]> Comment on Commenting by Technology and Literacy » Welcome to EDRD 7360! http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/commenting/#comment-56 Technology and Literacy » Welcome to EDRD 7360! Mon, 08 Jan 2007 10:30:57 +0000 http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/commenting/#comment-56 [...] Congratulations, you’ve logged in successfully. This web log is a home page for EDRD 7360: Literacy and Technology. It will serve as a clearinghouse for our dialogue in the blogosphere. This is where you will share with larger audiences interesting ideas from research and readings in our course and beyond, thought-provoking questions, and helpful resources for practice. Your blog entries may utilize a variety of media (images, links, film clips, etc.). You will also be asked to read and respond to at least one of your colleagues’ blog entries using the Comment feature on this blog. Please review the Commenting page on my professional blog before posting your first responses to others’ web log entries on the EDRD 7360 blog. Also, make sure to give each post or comment a title so that it can be associated easily with our discussion topics.You will post comments to students on their individual blogs. I will provide the links to these students’ blogs in the near future.Let us begin our journeys into the blogsphere that celebrates collaborative learning, reflection, and sharing of expertise and resources! [...] [...] Congratulations, you’ve logged in successfully. This web log is a home page for EDRD 7360: Literacy and Technology. It will serve as a clearinghouse for our dialogue in the blogosphere. This is where you will share with larger audiences interesting ideas from research and readings in our course and beyond, thought-provoking questions, and helpful resources for practice. Your blog entries may utilize a variety of media (images, links, film clips, etc.). You will also be asked to read and respond to at least one of your colleagues’ blog entries using the Comment feature on this blog. Please review the Commenting page on my professional blog before posting your first responses to others’ web log entries on the EDRD 7360 blog. Also, make sure to give each post or comment a title so that it can be associated easily with our discussion topics.You will post comments to students on their individual blogs. I will provide the links to these students’ blogs in the near future.Let us begin our journeys into the blogsphere that celebrates collaborative learning, reflection, and sharing of expertise and resources! [...]

]]> Comment on Welcome to Bridging Literacies! by EduBlog Insights » Blog Archive » A special welcome to EDLA 7550 Class Members http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/08/10/hello-world/#comment-54 EduBlog Insights » Blog Archive » A special welcome to EDLA 7550 Class Members Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:05:09 +0000 #comment-54 [...] I want to welcome you to the world of educational blogging. You are about to enter a journey that will take your learning to new heights. I am so impressed with your professor’s blog, Bridging Literacies. The objectives she has listed on her welcome post are excellent. I have to admit though that this one filled me with delight: To model to our students meaningful, respectful, and thought-provoking collaborative learning with modern technology tools; [...] [...] I want to welcome you to the world of educational blogging. You are about to enter a journey that will take your learning to new heights. I am so impressed with your professor’s blog, Bridging Literacies. The objectives she has listed on her welcome post are excellent. I have to admit though that this one filled me with delight: To model to our students meaningful, respectful, and thought-provoking collaborative learning with modern technology tools; [...]

]]> Comment on Writing on Educational Blogs by Jane Perzyk http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-26 Jane Perzyk Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:43:22 +0000 http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-26 Most digital natives seem to eschew any type of grammar barrier, preferring instead to honor celerity over correctness. In teaching online courses with active discussion boards, or hybridized courses (still using active discussion boards), I found that, at the community college level, students needed quite a bit of coaching as to what was appropriate. It was my feeling that postings in a class discussion forum should be scholarly in nature, and as such, should possess some degree of decorum. Remembering, however, that the discussion forums were accessibly only by password, there was no danger that students would embarrass themselves (or me!!) publicly. However, the rules change where blogging is concerned. Depending on the blogsite, students must remember that they are creating permanent records. This fact alone may encourage some to "clean up their act" as far as vocabulary and grammar go, but if they are not concerned about the exposure of their postings in MySpace accounts, then warnings about a permanent record will be for naught. It's all really a matter of audience--what is appropriate for a particular audience? To demonstrate this, I would pose the following questions (this works with middle schoolers as well as college students), and after some reflection on their part, the students would experience an ah ha! moment. Here are the questions: 1. Thinking about a recent party you attended with your friends, how would you describe the party to your pastor/minister/rabbi? What vocabulary would you use? What details would you relate? 2. Thinking again about that recent party, how would you describe the party to your parent(s)? Would your choice of words and content change? 3. How would you describe that same party to some friends who were not able to attend? When they hear the third question, students usually start chuckling, and suddenly, they "get it!" Most digital natives seem to eschew any type of grammar barrier, preferring instead to honor celerity over correctness. In teaching online courses with active discussion boards, or hybridized courses (still using active discussion boards), I found that, at the community college level, students needed quite a bit of coaching as to what was appropriate. It was my feeling that postings in a class discussion forum should be scholarly in nature, and as such, should possess some degree of decorum. Remembering, however, that the discussion forums were accessibly only by password, there was no danger that students would embarrass themselves (or me!!) publicly.

However, the rules change where blogging is concerned. Depending on the blogsite, students must remember that they are creating permanent records. This fact alone may encourage some to “clean up their act” as far as vocabulary and grammar go, but if they are not concerned about the exposure of their postings in MySpace accounts, then warnings about a permanent record will be for naught.

It’s all really a matter of audience–what is appropriate for a particular audience? To demonstrate this, I would pose the following questions (this works with middle schoolers as well as college students), and after some reflection on their part, the students would experience an ah ha! moment. Here are the questions:

1. Thinking about a recent party you attended with your friends, how would you describe the party to your pastor/minister/rabbi? What vocabulary would you use? What details would you relate?
2. Thinking again about that recent party, how would you describe the party to your parent(s)? Would your choice of words and content change?
3. How would you describe that same party to some friends who were not able to attend?

When they hear the third question, students usually start chuckling, and suddenly, they “get it!”

]]> Comment on Writing on Educational Blogs by Nancy http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-25 Nancy Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:11:04 +0000 http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-25 I think that blogging is a personal evolutionary process, in terms of content and function. When I first began blogging, it weighed heavily on the personal side, even as I was talking about teaching and my school. Over time, I began to treat my blog as a professional space, so I purposely began writing content that dealt only with my teaching practices and experiences in the classroom. I even avoided talking about "office politics" issues. I started another blog, expressly for personal content, in order to keep the two separate. Now, I have two education blogs--one that talks about my teaching in general, and another that specfically chronicles my inquiry into using blogging and Web 2.0 in the classroom. So, I think it takes time for new bloggers to find their niche and their voice, and figure out what audience they want to reach with their blog. There are plenty of bloggers out there, though, who purposefully mix everything together in one blog (http://tamaraeden.blogspot.com or http://mildlymelancholy.blogspot.com, for example) because it is not their intent to be known solely as an education blogger. Defining oneself as an education blogger requires self-editing, in terms of keeping the content consistent. I think the purpose of education blogging is to share practices, give/receieve feedback, and network with other teachers. I, as a teacher, find it interesting to read what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, but at the same time, I want to know who that teacher is, in their real life, so I like About pages that are healthily developed. (In your own About page, in fact, I find myself wondering what school/region you teach in, and wishing you had a CV of some sort, or an explanation of your background in teaching.) I think that blogging is a personal evolutionary process, in terms of content and function. When I first began blogging, it weighed heavily on the personal side, even as I was talking about teaching and my school. Over time, I began to treat my blog as a professional space, so I purposely began writing content that dealt only with my teaching practices and experiences in the classroom. I even avoided talking about “office politics” issues. I started another blog, expressly for personal content, in order to keep the two separate. Now, I have two education blogs–one that talks about my teaching in general, and another that specfically chronicles my inquiry into using blogging and Web 2.0 in the classroom.
So, I think it takes time for new bloggers to find their niche and their voice, and figure out what audience they want to reach with their blog. There are plenty of bloggers out there, though, who purposefully mix everything together in one blog (http://tamaraeden.blogspot.com or http://mildlymelancholy.blogspot.com, for example) because it is not their intent to be known solely as an education blogger. Defining oneself as an education blogger requires self-editing, in terms of keeping the content consistent. I think the purpose of education blogging is to share practices, give/receieve feedback, and network with other teachers. I, as a teacher, find it interesting to read what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, but at the same time, I want to know who that teacher is, in their real life, so I like About pages that are healthily developed. (In your own About page, in fact, I find myself wondering what school/region you teach in, and wishing you had a CV of some sort, or an explanation of your background in teaching.)

]]> Comment on Writing on Educational Blogs by Clarence Fisher http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-12 Clarence Fisher Fri, 06 Oct 2006 22:55:21 +0000 http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/writing-on-educational-blogs/#comment-12 My professional blog has served as a powerful reflective space that is contained within a critically informative international network.I have wanted to focus my writing on my classroom, but in ways that resepct the privacy and autonomy of the learners within that space, and with a proper degree of respect for my employer. It has been a fine line to walk at times, but it has driven my practice forward like no other learning experience. Once the connections begin and the creativity of the network begins informing your practice, the space becomes alive with possibilities. My professional blog has served as a powerful reflective space that is contained within a critically informative international network.I have wanted to focus my writing on my classroom, but in ways that resepct the privacy and autonomy of the learners within that space, and with a proper degree of respect for my employer. It has been a fine line to walk at times, but it has driven my practice forward like no other learning experience. Once the connections begin and the creativity of the network begins informing your practice, the space becomes alive with possibilities.

]]> Comment on Welcome to Bridging Literacies! by Vicki Davis http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/08/10/hello-world/#comment-8 Vicki Davis Mon, 18 Sep 2006 02:10:19 +0000 #comment-8 What a great course! Best wishes as you enter the new web and the engagement that it creates. It is truly exciting to participate in this new media and engage with a global audience. Best wishes! What a great course! Best wishes as you enter the new web and the engagement that it creates. It is truly exciting to participate in this new media and engage with a global audience. Best wishes!

]]> Comment on Welcome to Bridging Literacies! by Jo McLeay http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/08/10/hello-world/#comment-7 Jo McLeay Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:53:12 +0000 #comment-7 I am so excited that teachers are getting into all this and I see that students in the future will have lots of opportunities to make links and have conversations without the barriers of time and distance. Go bloggers!!! I am so excited that teachers are getting into all this and I see that students in the future will have lots of opportunities to make links and have conversations without the barriers of time and distance. Go bloggers!!!

]]> Comment on Welcome to Bridging Literacies! by Pat Aroune http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/08/10/hello-world/#comment-6 Pat Aroune Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:40:47 +0000 #comment-6 I can remember sixteen years ago, starting out as a classroom teacher, a senior member of our department stated, "you do not begin to teach effectively until your fifth year." After five years I began to agree and understand what he meant. However, as technologies change, and students become much more diversified, I have come to the conclusion that our craft is in a perpetual state of instructional and learning flux. We educators continuously strive for innovation while attempting to construct an engaging environment for our students. Teaches must therefore reengineer their craft year-after-year. The difficulty that many of us face, is recognizing this process and accept its inevitability. Failure to do so, will maintain the status quo. Long gone are the days of pulling out last years planner, and copying the curriculum. I only wish I had available these technologies sixteen years ago, when I first became a high school teacher. My students would have benefited greatly. I can remember sixteen years ago, starting out as a classroom teacher, a senior member of our department stated, “you do not begin to teach effectively until your fifth year.” After five years I began to agree and understand what he meant. However, as technologies change, and students become much more diversified, I have come to the conclusion that our craft is in a perpetual state of instructional and learning flux. We educators continuously strive for innovation while attempting to construct an engaging environment for our students. Teaches must therefore reengineer their craft year-after-year. The difficulty that many of us face, is recognizing this process and accept its inevitability. Failure to do so, will maintain the status quo. Long gone are the days of pulling out last years planner, and copying the curriculum. I only wish I had available these technologies sixteen years ago, when I first became a high school teacher. My students would have benefited greatly.

]]> Comment on Welcome to Bridging Literacies! by chris http://mcgrail.edublogs.org/2006/08/10/hello-world/#comment-5 chris Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:19:07 +0000 #comment-5 A great statement of aims - your students are fortunate! A great statement of aims - your students are fortunate!

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