Week 8

Dr. Kemp’s last email about how we are all numbering our parts has made me wonder how conditioned most of us are to the idea that academic life is still to a certain extent “a game.” Even though we know that Dr. Kemp is interested in our thoughts and only wants us to show the knowledge we have gained we still feel the need to make sure that we all meet the basic requirements and emphasize that by the use of numbering. So how do we break this natural reflex? I am not sure there is a correct answer. You never know what kind of teacher you are going to get and part of the “game” is figuring out exactly what the teacher wants to see in order to pass. Graduate school has been more open to the development of personal thoughts and theories, but I still ran into one professor who only gave A’s to students who quoted her and reinforced her own personal research. I almost flunked that class, but fortunately after asking around I figured out what she wanted to see and managed to salvage my grade. Although I have chosen to number my posts through 4 I think that I will discontinue numbering them now that I have met the basic requirements, which I suppose means I am still trying to make sure that I can win the “game” by attempting to receive full credit for my participation. Is this sad or just a part of survival in the real world?

New Media/Composition project continued

There are lots of types of new media available to use these days. I think the hardest part is figuring out what to use to do what. I have not heard of Camtasia or vodcasting until Joseph mentioned it in his comment which makes me wonder if I am so behind in technology that I do not have a solid foundation to attempt to use new media in technology. Perhaps that should be part of the assignments that I come up with, research new media. Have the students figure out what new programs and technology are out there and then as a class find ways to incorporate it in to our composition class. I also just learned about the program Prezi and I think that it is a cool program to do presentations with instead of the plan old power point. I also came across a program at the May seminar, which I for some reason cannot remember the name of at this time (going to have to talk to a friend about that). Anyway, it allows you to choose characters and input a script to create your own Southpark style cartoon. As much as these kids like drawing and making movies I think this might also be an interesting way to teach script writing or plays.
There are so many possibilities for what new media is and the media is always changing; probably why it is called NEW media and not just media. I came across a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdH1-L39Dh4) for a book called Writing New Media while I was researching using new media to teach composition classes. First off I have to say like most things on TV it looked bigger than it actually is in person. I thought I was getting a 600 page book, but it is a lot of information packed in to 260 or so pages. I have just started scratching the surface of this book, but I am excited to see what ideas it has for pedagogy and other uses for new media in the classroom. Who knew there was also a bunch of books on composition/ media in the TTU library (nothing compared to Dr. Rice, but not too shabby considering). I am still looking in to ideas and possibilities so any suggestions for where or what to try next is greatly appreciated. (If you can get the comment thing to work on blogger; I still haven’t gotten that glitch figured out.)

New Media nd Composition

For my final project I am going to try and prove that New Media is an effective way to teach composition. In the past I have used videos to as a resource for teaching research skills and also to try and help my students become more aware of the controversial issues going on in the world around them. Usually I have them write a formal research paper to turn in with the video as the composition part of the assignment. When I was talking with Dr. Rice during the May seminar we began discussing how New Media could be used to teach narrative as well and it occurred to me with this class that it could also be a useful way to teach persuasive and analysis as well. The students we are working with in today’s world are expert users of technology and the writing of formal essays is slowly becoming a dying art form. So, my question is how can we take these experts in technology and show them how to use formal composition skills with the technology? Obviously grammar is an important part of any composition whether in new media or formal writing. A missed spelled word on a paper is just as glaring as a misspelled word in a power point or video.
I have located a variety of resources for using media as a teaching tool and so far I have located a new media program at Columbia University that is intended to help educators incorporate new media in to their classroom. If programs like this one become a part of higher level education and continue to assist professors with incorporating new media the students will begin using new media technology in more creative and interesting ways. I am attaching a link to a video that one of my former students created as an assignment for a videography class. (Please excuse the obvious errors. It was not made for English class and he was 18yrs old and had serious case of Senioritis :))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeOogtF3ivo

After looking at the way in which he incorporated the text it occurred to Dr. Rice and me that this might be a great way to teach narrative and also grammar in context. Videos are obviously an effective way of informing an audience, but I think that as composition teacher we could also teach our students how to use rhetoric and technology to persuade and analyze as well. This is a lot to think about and I am hoping that it will help me to add more creativity and technology into my classroom.