Voltaire's voice

This quote by Voltaire is a fine metaphor for the writing voice (sent to me by Marilyn Olander).

"L'écriture est la peinture de la voix; plus elle est ressemblante, meilleure elle est."
"Writing is the painting of the voice; the closer the resemblance, the better it is."

- from Voltaire's "Orthography," in his Philosophical Dictionary

finding your voice

I'm interested in how writers find their voice. Here's an excerpt from a Critique magazine interview with Peter Elbow that I just came across:

"I want to emphasize something enormously simple about voice that in a sense I've only figured out in the last few years. If there's one activity that I think is the most helpful thing about writing, apart from just writing and writing, it is reading your writing out loud and also reading the writing of others out loud. Saying the words in your voice, with your mouth: I think that's the most powerful way to help one’s writing and to help one’s voice."
— Peter Elbow

dirty work

I just learned that teaching is the dirtiest job. The findings come from the Clorox Company. Here are some of the highlights:

Teachers’ phones, keyboards, and computer mice had the most germs.

Accountants' desks had the most germs of any desks sampled.

Lawyers had the least germy desks.

Publicists had the least germy phones.

Bankers had the least germy keyboards.

TV producers had the least germy computer mice.

"Surfaces regularly used by teachers, accountants, and bankers harbored nearly two to 20 times more bacteria per square inch when compared to other professions," the report states.

Sources: The Clorox Company, “Office Germs Research 2006 Results.” News release, The Clorox Company.

educational blogging

A lot of teachers are using blogging in their classrooms now. Here's a link to a useful Educause article advocating educational blogging. It's a little dated, but still valid.

Then today I came across an article from the Jan. 30, 2007 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education called Blog Overload. It's a good reminder not only about blogging, but about all writing. Good writing is purposeful and authentic.

AP audit

The folks at College Board are conducting an audit to make sure that's what being labeled as AP in high schools meets their criteria. Here's a link to a Google Doc of my AP English Language and Composition curriculum. Feel free to give me any input.

Google Apps in my classroom

A quick overview of some of the Google applications I've been using in my classroom this semester.

Dogboy dating video

Since Dogboy Goo is a good friend of mine, I told him I'd post his dating video for him.

Google's Student Speakout

We recently completed the Global Warming Student Speakout in my English classes. It makes me wonder about the differences between digital writing and traditional writing. Here are four things I've noticed:

• Revision is becoming more visible. It used to be a black box. Among other things this is significant for writing teachers (e.g. a writing conference with more evidence) as well as for the writer.
• Linkage. It feels different reading a document that can link to the source material rather than just cite it.
• Web surfing for information during collaborative projects is more conductive to the ebb and flow of conversation, and is better suited to the psychological connections our brains make.
• Audience matters. Nothing new here. Audience influenced the choices we make in traditional writing too. But a potential immediate worldwide audience that allows others to interact with the content? That seems different. Maybe Marshall McLuhan's predictions about a global tribe aren't so far off.

Google Docs in the classroom

Is anyone else working on Google's "Global Warming Student Speakout"? Here are some thoughts on the first couple of days with Google Docs in the classroom.

Sound and Story

Jenny Brundin, a radio journalist from KUER in Salt Lake City, Utah visited my classroom recently. Here's what she said about sound and story.

confidence in voice

A great writer has a strong voice. "Voice" is one of the 6 Traits of Writing, but a lot of teachers don't see it as one of the more important traits.

On June 24, 2006 I saw Garrison Keillor perform an episode of Prairie Home Companion in Salt Lake City, and I again wondered about voice. How does a writer come by a strong voice -- where does that confidence come from? I remember the first time I heard my voice through the sound system of a big auditorium; it was unnerving. But now when I hear myself like that, it's not a big deal. Speaking from experience, I got better as a writer once I got used to my voice, and that included actually listening to my recorded voice, becoming accustomed to it, "hearing" my voice as I composed, and then making editorial decisions based this awareness of voice.

So when I had my classes write about their thoughts on 9/11 and played their recorded voice back to them, I asked them what they thought about their voice.

Do you think seniors in AP English would have more confidence in their voice than my 9th graders do? I did. But I was wrong. 63% of the seniors responded negatively (e.g. "I sound weird"), while 65% of the 9th graders felt the same (e.g. "I sound like a freak").

Do you think girls or boys have more confidence in their voice? Out of the five seniors who responded positively to the experience (e.g. "my voice sounds more professional, cool") 4 of them were boys. All six 9th graders who responded positively were boys.

I think that if I get them more accustomed to their voice, they'll be better writers. That's why I include podcasting in my curriulum.

Seniors reflect on 9/11

Listen to it here.

My freshmen reflect on 9/11

Listen to it here.

First day, new school

I asked my freshmen students how their first day went. Here's what they said.

I Saw It

I just saw my oldest son off to college this morning. He'll drive across Nevada to the Bay Area for his senior year. My daughter just started her first year in college and is living away from home for the first time. At first I was in a bit of a funk; I admit it, I'm sad about it all, especially when I run across old snapshots of them or their baby blankets. But then there's the part of me that recognizes the inevitable and celebrates the fact that despite their parents they turned out reasonably well-adjusted. It's a heartache that brings joy. Here's a song that my band Cicada just recorded about what's left when we all move on.

Create a feed

Here's a link to instructions about how to put a chicklet on your page. That will allow users to subscribe to your blog.

Google Mashups

I've been working with some Google mashups lately -- Quikmaps and Wikimapia. Soon I'll try MapBuilder. Here's a Quikmaps collaboration with some teachers from EducationBridges.



Here's an example of a wikimapia addition I made. I labeled Gilgal Garden in Salt Lake, which is definitely a one-of-a-kind.

I'll never be too old for this

The start of school is just around the corner, and there's a lot I need to do before then. Still, that doesn't stop me from recording a new song this morning while everyone else in the house is at work. I wrote this one after I got home for Chico, CA. I had a lot on my mind. Ultimately Too Old? is a song about never losing the passion for living and loving.

Recorded on my PowerBook G4 laptop with a inexpensive Logitech USB microphone using GarageBand's helium voice for the background vocal effect. The quality will be better when I record this with Ben and Zack on better equipment. But for now at least, I've entertained myself (something I can do pretty easily).

Podcast examples

Postscript: The Communiqué from the 2013 Future of Education Summit identified five wicked problems facing education. One of those was how to preserve the digital expressions of our culture and knowledge. I've seen that first hand as the server no longer exists that hosted some of the earliest podcasts my students had done in 2005. That's too bad because they were excellent audio pieces. To remedy that I'll start collecting some recent ones from my students.

• Abbie and Jackie on gun control (2013)
• David's interview of Aidan McDonald, a student who's a guitarist for the band The Departure

Communiqué from the 2013 Future of Education Summit

Original post (the server that hosted these files crashed, so they no longer exist. Sorry)
Here are some examples of podcasts the students did this year in my 9th grade Journalistic Writing class. They represent a wide variety of writing modes. The students were highly engaged in the process of composing for online audio.

• Iraqi journalist speaks to our class (news story)
• Harp (column writing)
• Christmas memories (whole class mix)
• Author Dana Reinhardt visits our school (news & review)
• Football (sports)
• MySpace (opinion)

Who talks most in class?

If you're a teacher, let me know if this sounds right. When it comes to the types of talkers in class, I've noticed three different types: quiet/reserved students, chatty students, and students who dominate class discussions. So in my class blog project this year, which students do you think "talked" most online? Who had to most responses to other students' writings?

Turns out the students who tend to contribute most to whole group discussions responded most online. The students who responded least were the chatty ones (students whose in-class interaction was usually off-task and with their neighbor). Anybody have any thoughts on that?