Nancy Miller Day 2004

Thursday, April 26 is Nancy Miller Day. Here's a link to an enhanced podcast of a previous Nancy Miller Day at Judge in 2004.

Wiki in the English class

Here's a short video about how I use wikispaces in my English classroom.


If you're not sure what a wiki is, here's a helpful resource.

are they really different?

I hear a lot about how today's students are so much different than preceding generations. For instance, I heard David Warlick speak this morning at the UCET conference. Among other things he said that kids today are more competitive, risk-taking, sociable and self-confident than the preceding generation. I've heard him, Marc Prensky and others say similar things, but I'm not completely convinced.

They often cite examples of kids who multitask as evidence of the trend, replete with pictures of a teen plugged into an iPod and a laptop, chatting and playing video games all at the same time. These kids are bored with school because teachers no longer know how to hold their attention, they say. But then I think about how bored I was through much of high school, and how I multitasked by listening to a transistor radio with one earpiece, how I daydreamed, wrote song lyrics in notebooks that my teachers never saw, how kids passed notes (a precursor of "chatting"), and I wonder – are today's kids really that different than kids were back in the day? Have the students changed or are they just using different tools?

I'm no technophobe and I understand that we need to change much of how we teach, so don't get me wrong. I find myself agreeing with a lot of what's said by Warlick, Prensky, et al. I'm just looking for some proof (not anecdotal evidence) that the students I teach now are that much different than when I started twenty-some years ago. Can anyone cite any research?

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.