More Thoughts on Little Brother

I was thinking about adding this book to my unit plan and what this book could teach students.

I realized that this text would be a great way to teach students about audience and purpose.  The technical aspects in the book can be dizzying, but they are presented in such a way that anyone can follow what is happening and why.  The author recognizes that young adults, some of which may be very familiar with the technical jargon of the book, are the ones who are reading this text.  At the same time, it is explained in a way that those who are not that technically savvy can follow as well.  There is a deliberate and useful way that the two are combined leaving any kind of reader able to follow the story. 

In a classroom, I think it would be valuable to point out this fact and discuss why it was written the way it was.  It would also be useful to show them an excerpt of something from a source such as a scientific journal to show how it is difficult for them to understand because they are not the intended audience.

I also think this book could lead to some amazing research papers.  In the final two chapters, there is a list of sources to help students have a jumping-off point to begin research into some very interesting topics in the world of technology.  It might be interesting to have them write two very short research papers on the same topic with two different audiences in mind to help students see how important audience is when writing and discover how their papers and wording would change when considering audience.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I want to do a plot summary of “Romeo and Juliet.”  I will be using moviemaker.  I’m not sure, but I am visualizing the stick figure idea with a map of the town as a backdrop to show how the action moves.  I am thinking of taking a very cynical approach to this project pointing out that Romeo begins the play in love with someone else and playing up the idea that Juliet is the rebound girl.  I also wanted to point out how young they are and that their love happened in just one evening.

Storyboards and Final Project Examples

After hearing Jessica and Heather speak in class and viewing some examples of final projects, I am scared to death.  This project seems monumental to me.  The storyboarding will definitely help me pull me thoughts together.  I have presented this in terms of a written assignment, but had never considered its uses for a project like this.  I was thinking this would be a good thing to use in so many ways.  From creating visual projects, plays, or written work, I can how storyboarding would help pull the project together and focus what you were working on.  I also think this would work well in group projects.  Having something tangible to work with could help students “get on the same page” and could give them a visual reference to clarify who was responsible for which areas of the assignment. 

As for my own project, I am still brainstorming, but I am leaning towards doing a plot summary of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  This text is taught so often, and can seem so confusing to students, I think giving them the basic plot in a pre-reading activity would help them relax some and really enjoy the text.

Little Brother

I did not want to read this book !!!  I am influenced greatly by cover art, and this …..

… was not appealing.  Two days before we were to have finished reading it, I finally stopped pouting and read the book.  I love this book !!!  I am trying very hard to expand what I call my “boy book library,”  that is great books that I think will appeal to males in my classroom.  This one certainly fits that bill, but I believe females would like it as well.  The technology in the book was way over my head, but Doctorow does such a good job explaining things in terms I could understand that I di not feel I was missing any of the story by not understanding the technology.  I grabbed some images and put together a Powerpoint on this book to get at the heart of it.  Also, the last couple of slides are about how this book could easily cross disciplines and suggestions on how to do that.  Check it out.

Little brother

What’s in a Picture

When I first looked at this picture, I could not help but think what a happy family it portrayed.  As I started reviewing the questions Dr. Dail provided to help as really look deeper into the picture, I started to notice why.  The lighting is a very bright white light from behind this family making them seem almost angelic.  They are all dresses in white t-shirts adding to the “cleanliness”  of the look.  The only person looking directly at the camera is the mother, making her seem the center of the family surrounded by all the ones she loves and takes care of.  I realized that this is one of the reasons I liked this photo so much.  Being a mom, I often feel that I am the glue or backbone of my family.  I do all the behind the scenes work, and this photo brings that out for me.  Also, everyone is smiling and even laughing.  Even though you cannot see everyone’s face clearly, you know they are so happy, they cannot just sit and pose for the camera.  I love this picture!

Crovitz’s article

I have to admit that before reading this article, I was one of those hardcore wanna be teachers who thought that no research should be done on wikipedia.  I thought that since anyone could edit it and post anything they wanted to, it had to be unreliable.  After reading this article and going through the wikipedia tutorial, I have had a change of heart.  I did not realize how much work went into keeping this website as accurate as possible.  I also was unaware at the number of links and references available on wikipedia.  Now that I have a better understanding of how this all works, I think wikipedia is a wonderful way to start a research project.  It can give you general information and allows you to find where that information comes from so that it can be examined further.  I always smile to myself when a teacher discusses plagiarism and how that “they know that we have all gone to wikipedia at 2:00 in the morning to finish a paper.”  I have never done that because I have boycotted wikipedia due to what I assumed to be its inaccuracies.  Now I am in trouble because I fully intend to use wikipedia as the beginning of any research projects in the future.

Web 2.o

I still don’t think I completely understand web 2.0.  What I can gather so far is that I am going to be bombarded with all the information at once instead of going on a mad search for it for hours to find the specific piece of information I need.  This sounds great in theory, and I love it in practice.  Still, I hate being assaulted with pop-ups and windows and messages and so many things on one screen that I don’t know what is what.  Deep Breath.  I am trying very hard not to kick my feet and wine and cry that technology is taking over.  My husband just purchased a Kendal, and I screamed at him that he was killing libraries.  I do not text unless I have to.  I have an “old” phone that only has numbers, no keyboard.  I have never even seen twitter.  I have a Facebook account, but only because I was required to for one class, and I look at it about once a month, really.  I want to understand technology, I really do.

Survey Monkey Thoughts and Ideas

Survey Monkey Thoughts and Ideas

I had a thought as I was going through the first day of class syllabus game about how I could use survey monkey in the classroom.  You could use a survey after going over the syllabus to drive home key points in the syllabus to ensure that everyone was aware of policies that are crucial to their success.  For example, in this class it is possible to acquire enough points to earn an A in the class before the last assignment.  According to the syllabus, you must complete all assignments to earn the grade regardless of how many points you have.  Also, you could include questions about late work etc.  In addition to making sure that students are aware of policies in the syllabus that you want to make sure are understood, you could also ask if there was anything they found unclear or confusing as a way for you, as a teacher, to see where you might need to revisit and explain things more thoroughly.  On the following day, you could analyze the results with them and not only answer any questions they had, but also to reiterate, again, important points on the syllabus.

Another thought I had was to do a survey on the types of books they have read and/or enjoyed or did not enjoy.  One of the things I have been thinking about was how to assign books to students that they have not read.  If you plan to give students a choice, for example, of four different books, how do you make sure they are reading something new?  If you gave students a survey of what books they have read and how they felt about them, making sure that you included the four books you plan to give them choices from, you could later say that their choice could not be one they have already read and you would have a list of those students who had read which books.  Of course, one of your questions would have to be their name so you could match the student with the response.