The Polliwog Journal

The main idea presented in this video is not new. For me, Miles Maguire, associate journalism professor at UW-Oshkosh, first made the connection between blogging and the first American journalists. But this video says it very well. I am a journalist at heart (though never actually), and the fact that newspapers (metropolitan dailies) as we know them are dying worries me.  I hope there is power and not just noise and discord in the voices of many.

The other thing I like about this little video is that it is a great exercise in compare/contrast, a skill my students have difficulty with.

Watch CBS Videos Online

One of my AP students is also my yearbook editor and there are times we need to communicate, so we have each other’s cell phone numbers. Today, he and three of his classmates missed our class for a genetics conference, so I had set them up with the assignment: read Donne’s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning and complete the questions. Of course his group missed my classic demonstration of Donne’s famous metaphysical conceit with my big, wooden compass, the retro kind used on chalkboards (remember those)?

But he called. He and his group were on the bus coming back to school from the conference and they had some questions. What does “sublunary” mean? How about laity? I had forgotten to suggest they take along a dictionary. You can’t send everything along on a field trip. So I defined the words for him, and as his partners wrote things down, he relayed other questions, and I realized, wow, we’re using technology to extend our teaching realm.

This is why I love technology. If teaching is helping students learn, then why are there any rules at all about how to do that? Why can’t students phone in their questions?

I’ll admit that a text message at 9:30 p.m. asking “can I have an extension on my essay” isn’t exactly what I have in mind when I suggest we should consider extending our teaching realm, it’s not that far off, not really.

When we need our teachers we need them, whether it be during our class time or not. I know that it is unlikely that all 125 of my students will need me at once (can you imagine???), so I just like to be there, by phone, by text, by whatever means technology allows us to break down our communication barriers.

If the terms “Blog,” “Ning,” and “Social Networking” are still nebulous to you, but you’re intrigued all the same about how you can engage both yourself and your students in these Web 2.0 tools, you may be interested in joining a new ning (online community of like-minded people, in this case, teachers or other affiliated with schools) called Blogs, Nings and Social Networking.

I created the ning as an extension of my presentation on the same topic at the Wisconsin State Reading Association in Milwaukee, February 6.  It’s a small group now, but please join us and help us learn together.

There is a Google meme game where you search your first name followed by “needs” and take the first ten logical responses and make a list. On facebook, you tag friends to do the same and perpetuate the challenge.

What if we took that idea and turned it into an analysis activity for literary characters. Instead of just listing the search returns, students would need to qualify each list item based on their understanding of the character.

For example, here’s my list for Scout Finch (the qualifiers follow in italics):

1. Scout needs community support to combat racism in Maycomb.

2. Scout needs to review with [her] parents or guardian the reasons why school is important after all.

3. Scout needs to understand that it is important to stand in someone else’s shoes, to see things from his or her point of view.

4. Scout needs help with [the] project she is working on for the fall pageant. Her ham costume is too constricting.

5. Scout needs a-bath! She is too much a tomboy, according to her Aunt Alexandra.

6. Scout needs communication with her cousin Francis; fighting never solves anything.

7. Scout needs division between herself and the Radleys. She needs to let them live in peace, without pestering them.

8. Scout needs to give Arthur gentle reminders that she has not forgotten him. She could bring him flowers on May Day or send him notes in the mail.

9. Scout needs help remembering that there is good in everyone, even Mrs. Dubose who called her ugly and Mr. Cunningham, who, as a member of the jury, held out for Tom as long as he could.

10. Scout needs to reach out on [her] own to become the strong, independent woman she has the potential to be.

Then of course, there is the 25 random things about me meme/tag game. This activity can also be used as a sort of character sketch. I love the randomness of the order, the quality of each list item. Just 25 things, randomly posted.

Here are 25 things about Atticus Finch:

1. I am a widower. My wife died when our son, Jeremy, was six and our daughter Jean Louise (Scout) was only two. I miss her.
2. I realize that being in one’s fifties means I can’t do everything I used to, like play touch football with Jem.
3. I have the most wonderful children who bring me joy even if they think I’m old. They don’t think I know what they’re up to half the time. Strip poker? Hmmm.
4. For the past three summers, a little guy named Dill has been a constant companion of our family. I think that boy is an imaginative little guy, and I like him quite a lot.
5. Our neighbors are wonderful, kind people. Although some seem intolerant.
6. I can shoot a gun, really, really well, but I have such an unfair advantage that I choose not to hunt.
7. I have no strong religious feelings one way or the other. My religion is that we should treat everyone fairly and justly, no matter their race.
8. I love roast beef and collards, but no syrup, please.
9. My family has lived in this area for a long time. Our oldest ancestor was Simon Finch, who came from England. Unfortunately, he owned slaves, something I’m not at all proud of.
10. I served the Alabama legislature for a time. I like working one on one with people more than trying to convince politicians to do the right thing.
11. My friend Judge Taylor and I play cards on the porch on summer evenings and talk about our concerns. We are worried about racism. It’s just not right and keeps people from being their best.
12. I read every night and love having Scout perched on my lap, though she’s getting a bit big for that.
13. My sister Alexandra still lives on our family homestead, though her husband doesn’t seem to care to keep it up. But I am so busy that I can’t complain.
14. I have an old, old watch that I am saving to hand down to my son Jeremy. He is my pride, so fierce, so inventive. He made a snowman once out of very little snow by building a dirt base first.
15. I rarely drive a car anywhere. My town is so small I can walk just about everywhere.
16. I don’t like criminal law, but prefer to help people with things like wills and entailments.
17. I have fond feelings for a neighbor woman whom I should ask out to dinner, but I am too shy.
18. I am so proud of my brother who is a doctor. He’s going to do important things with his life.
19. My job keeps me busy, but I am able to come home each noon for dinner and each night for supper.
20. I have a hard time teaching my daughter how to settle disputes with words instead of fists.
21. I believe in justice. The courts are the great levelers of our time.
22. I worry about my kids. They fight for my honor even when it is confusing for them.
23. I have a tough job ahead of me, to defend a negro who is clearly innocent of the absurd charges against him. I don’t know if a Maycomb jury can be blind to their prejudices.
24. I think change is coming. I’m not sure why, but I feel it coming soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if great things happen yet in my lifetime.
25. I am tired. I can’t think of one more thing interesting about me. I’m just not that special.

[The list in itself is interesting. There are various levels of understanding here: literal, inferential, even ironic].

Just before Christmas we disconnected our land line phone (still not used to that term) in favor of a cell phone for each of us. This small act has had several effects: we’ve become part of the texting generation (which is not defined by age but perhaps by opportunity and need) and we’ve had to remember to take our phones with us always. While we have voice mail, neither of us wants to miss an emergency call from our kids. We’re still old like that, expecting the worst, hoping for the best.

But also, that’s what people with cell phones do: they carry them with them (even, believe it or not, into public toilets). So, we are becoming “always connected.”

I sometimes wonder if this is a good thing or not. When we go to northern Minnesota in the summer, one of the things I like best is that we are essentially cut off from “civilization.” The world goes on and we are oblivious to its passing. Instead we pass time sitting by the campfire–day or night, fishing, playing cards, snoozing in the afternoon sun, or taking a walk in the woods. We care not who might be trying to call.

Back in civilization, the reality is that not many are really trying to call us. We may get one call a day or less. We’re not like some we see in commercials, in movies, or in public who seem literally connected to their phones, always talking, messaging. Still we are aware that our phones are an extention of us now.

For me, this idea of being connected goes beyond having a cell phone. I am connected via blogs, nings, and discussion lists to people all over the world.

The other day one of my freshmen asked, “do you have a lot of friends, Ms Hogue?” The answer is that locally I have about four good friends with whom we go out to dinner, to events and even on vacations. But I also have professional colleagues via the Web who really are friends. I have met some of them, but others I know only from avatars or posted pictures. Nonetheless, we share a passion for English education, for technology integration, for journalism, or poetry, or whatever it is.

In this way, the Web allows us to be connected to people we would never have met otherwise. The Web brings our world–as telephones originally did–closer together. It connects us, links us, empowers us.

As a proponent of blogs for teachers and students, I am adamant that teachers must use the tools they hope to bring to the classroom. Teachers must blog, but what about friending people on facebook?

There were a variety of factors that propelled me to open my own facebook account this summer. The strongest was that I knew I could not talk intelligently about something I personally knew nothing about. Joining the vast social network has been an enlightening experience.

My friends include NCTE colleagues, a few colleagues from my school, a few family members, former students, a few current students, and a couple of actual friends. It’s kind of fun when someone writes on my wall or sends me “flair.” What I have learned in only a few weeks is that facebook is a huge deal to the young people of my school community. It’s where they socialize when not face to face. It’s where they stay connected with each other.

Recently a teacher at school who knew I had a facebook account asked me if I ever “talk to” students on facebook. It was not a question I expected.

Two things crossed my mind.

One, well, as a matter of fact, yes. Just recently I had a nice little real-time chat with a current student about a book we were reading in class. It seemed like a conversation we might have had just before the bell rang or in the hall as we were heading home for the day. It was not too formal, but not too casual, and it was definitely teacher-student. He was polite, sincere, and we had a nice, short chat.

The other thing I thought was, hmmm. Why? Shouldn’t I? Does it cross the line? Am I not supposed to?

I think the second response kicked in because I answered her that I mostly communicate with former students and we sort of left it at that. I didn’t really answer her honestly, and I wondered later why I lied.

My reaction nagged at me.

Lately I am more and more annoyed at the assumption that all things “social networking” are the tools of online predators or silly teens wasting their time. Blogs, nings, facebook, MySpace, etc. are blocked at most schools, I imagine, because their connotation in the media is so negative. There is the perception that they are dangerous and our students need to be protected from them. It would also not be productive for students to be posting to facebook profiles via their iPhones instead of paying attention to their science experiments to keep them from bubbling over onto the floor.

Facebook takes measures to protect its users , but even so, anytime we enter willingly into the Web, we take some risks. There are some really questionable groups on facebook, but I don’t join them. I know how to stay safe online. If we want our students to know how also, we must teach them to be responsible Netizens. They need to know that public communication is “public,” and posting to one’s facebook profile is not that different from making a public proclamation, except that what gets posted to the Internet is there “supposedly” forever.

When this teacher asked me about facebook, I wondered what she thought it was. I know I wasn’t quite sure until recently. I think too many people base their opinion of social networking sites on a few sensational stories in the media. How else are they to know what reality is unless they, like me, open a facebook door to find out. I found out that facebook is not a seedy, back-alley teen club where hoods in leather jackets smoking cigarettes hang out, waiting to harass unsuspecting passersby. It is more like an annotated address book with pictures. It is even a bit like a magical (think Hogwarts) newspaper featuring the latest headlines from everyone you know or care to check up on now and then. It’s a place where old college roommates can stay in touch even after their jobs have taken them miles away from each other. Even families can connect on facebook and share pictures.

Facebook, MySpace, blogs, nings and others are not evil by their nature, though some will subvert them for salacious use. At their best, they are tools for networking, social networking, professional networking, personal networking.

Now and then, even teachers use them for improving their practice. Professional development in the read write web can be amazing!

In this seventh iteration of CyberEnglish at Sheboygan Falls High School, it is again the students themselves who remind me why it is so important to keep insisting that we maintain our commitment to the concept of CyberEnglish itself. In addition, each year, teachers from all over the country write to me to ask me how they can start a class like ours. We’re still a novelty it seems, after all these years, and still an idea that people want to understand.

from Jessica A.

In all the classes I have ever had, we have never been able to have a great opportunity like this one. The only things we have ever created to reflect ourselves would just be posters or essays. I’m really looking forward to this class, partly because it isn’t the same English class I have every year.

There is a novelty involved when we put a computer in front of students each day in an English class, so there is, initially, excitement or expectation that the class will be fun. Ted, Pat, Nancy and I address this in our article, CyberEnglish. Even once we start really working on reading, writing, and thinking, and that fun turns into serious business, students are still more engaged in our work than they were in my traditional English classrooms.

The other thing I love about what Jessica writes is the idea that she’s able to create something that reflects who she is. In seven years of student webs (over 600 students in that time), no two were ever really alike. Each one reflected the personality of its author. We live in times where substance always trumps style and serious beats silly, hands down. And while I do want my students to be serious thinkers and writers, I also love that their websites allow them to be playful, creative, and expressive.

from Charlene W.

. . . we hardly ever write in this class. We type almost all of our assignments.

This is one of my favorite recurring comments. Several students say this every year. It proves to me that students don’t equate writing with typing. When students type, they are writing. Also, the act of typing improves the fluency of writing. I can get my thoughts down faster with a keyboard (even as slow as I am) than I can with a pencil. I still write with pen/pencil, but I can be more fluent with a keyboard. Think of how this may be even more true for someone who “grew up” with a keyboard.

Not only does the keyboard improve fluency, but it facilitates revision so well that revision becomes the natural companion of composition. With computers, we don’t compose first, revise second. We compose/revise, compose/revise, compose/revise–all at once. Just watch, without commenting, someone writing on a keyboard. There is a lot of backspacing and deleting going on just as the keys put words on the screen.

from Jeff B.

In my old English classes we worked with a lot of grammar, and spelling words. We also read stories from a literature book while using different reading strategies. But in CyberEnglish we will be writing a lot and publishing it on our own websites. In CyberEnglish we use computers pretty much all the time. It organizes our different pieces of writing rather than just writing an assignment on a sheet of paper and worrying about losing it. From my past experiences with English my classes did some group work and group discussions, but in this class it seems more like we do things individually. My other English teachers stood up in front of the room and talked and discussed points and hints. It seems to me that in CyberEnglish the teacher tells us what to do and where to find it on the CyberEnglish cite. So, it makes us have to work and find things independently for ourselves.

I am not even sure I explicitly made the point that I expected individual responsibility from students, but that is one thing I am hoping for. This student seems to intuitively know that CE = independent learning. Not that I’m not there for them, but CE is designed with so many choices and variables that the teacher cannot possibly direct every single aspect of learning. It has to be individual. Self directed learners know how to find what they need to know. My CyberEnglish site empowers students because I publish everything I can to help them learn.

from Kaitlyn L.

Never before have I had a class that specializes on writing more than grammar.

Maybe this is perception is attributable to a high school model (over a middle school model) and not simply CyberEnglish, but I like it anyway, because, I really do think we focus on writing. We write all the time: fun creative pieces on Fridays where we play with genres and perspectives, expository paragraphs, literary analysis essays, multigenre research papers, self reflective cyber journals, and more.

When we need to address conventions errors, we do. But grammar worksheets are not going to help students write better. Writing for a real audience will.

from Kelsey T

… in CyberEnglish9 we are learning new ways to use the computer by making our very own website. We even publish our work on this website. This pushes me to do better work on my assignments and really put time and effort into them, because I know my peers can see my work and what my peers think about how I write means a lot to me.

Yes! Make it Public. Changing the audience changes everything. Others have written/studied how publishing makes writing authentic, but only web publishing is really authentic. A class anthology is great, and peers do see it, but on the web anyone could see it. Now, in reality, do our students have a huge following for their school assignments? No, but more of their peers see their work than otherwise. Teachers peek in. Administrators sometimes have a look. And so do parents. The audience is vastly different when we publish on the web, and because of this, students stop writing just for the teacher and start writing for themselves.

Please visit the students’ websites and their cyberjournals and send them an email if you’re inclined to comment on their work. They’ve been told they have a global audience, but that is only real if they have contact with people who are interested in what they’re doing/saying.

One of our inservice days this year was dedicated to technology. In one session we learned about netTrekker, a subscription search tool for schools. It seems to be worth the money we paid to subscribe. I want our students to know how to use it, so I came up with a lesson to teach them about netTrekker.

But, of course, it’s so much more than that. I revised an old assignment, something I had been using since 2001, called Intro to the Internet. It relied on Ted Nellen’s assignment as a starting point. The new lesson has some of the same objectives as the old, but the new one is more relevant and, I think, a better springboard to 9th grade CyberEnglish.

One thing missing from the new lesson? True collaborative writing, which we could do at Google docs IF we were permitted. Everything in its own time, though, right?

Oh, and there’s a cool wordle in this lesson, too. I love that tool.

If you read The Polliwog Journal, you know I am a huge fan of blogs in the classroom, but especially for teachers as a means to reflect, share, and communicate with the broader teaching community. Not only that, but teachers who blog are more likely to engage their students in the interactive realm that blogs provide.

So it is with great pride (and a good deal of prejudice) that I make this link to my former student’s new blog: A New Ecology. It will be obvious to anyone who takes to reading Kimberly’s blog regularly, that I am proud of her for much, much more than a little blog. She is an amazing young woman who has taken on “a new ecology” for herself in Honduras, teaching AP English to students whose native language is not English. And this is her first job.

And yet, she welcomes the challenges that lie before her. She will struggle as we all did in our first year, as we all do even in our 20th or 30th year. Teaching is an ever-changing consumption of our abilities and intellect, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Neither would Kimberly.

She was my student and now we are hers. The best thing about blogging is that we can learn from each others’ rich experiences. If you have a moment, or the inclination, please join me in welcoming Kimberly to the blogosphere by leaving a comment for her.

AP students are often asked to analyze the diction of a passage. Diction means to some degree the author’s style, such as formal diction, but more technically diction means the author’s choice of words. I sometimes have students highlight words and phrases that have a similar tone or meaning. They may use more than one color per passage (or simply list in categories if highlighting is out of the question).

What students begin to see are patterns and repetitions, which are, of course, (theoretically) clues to the meaning of the passage. I ask students to consider dominant patterns. Ask them to discuss what they might mean.

I copied the url for Google News into Wordle because I wanted to see if any dominant patterns would emerge.

I don’t know about you, but to me, the news seems to be filled with violence. Just “wordling” the news daily would be a great springboard for discussion.

But it would also be a good tool for finding dominant word patterns in a literary passage.