Digital Mapping

I think tools like Inspiration can be helpful with prewriting across the board. We do a lot with thinking maps (NUA) at my school, and inspiration can help students create thinking maps digitally. When we compare/contrast different literary characters, for example, we do not use Venn diagrams anymore--instead we use the NUA double bubble. Inspiration already has a template for a double bubble! My students just finished double-bubbling Holden from Catcher in the Rye, and Jim Starks from Rebel Without a Cause. This could have been done digitally with the use of a digital tool like inspirations. The great thing about this is that with inspiration, students can then post their maps to their blogs. This is a problem I've already noticed with my students and their blogs. We do quite a bit of mapping, but then we don't have the opportunity to post it to our blogs because we create the maps on paper only. As more and more of my class becomes digital, I want to find ways to digitize the writing that we already do.

Web Search Methods

Any writing I have done in the last several years did not make good use of all that the internet has to offer because I didn't know how to make full use of web features to help me find information. I am really just learning about web features like bloglines, delicious, etc. I use databases quite a bit when I am collecting information. I also encourage my students to make use of databases. For me, the U of M provides me access to excellent databases. For my students, our high school provides subscriptions to many databases that prove helpful in their collection of information. In terms of credibility, I try to stick to scholarly writing which has been peer-evaluated. I am also able to determine the validity of a basic website pretty easily. Whether it is a .org or .com site, there is usually somewhere to access information about the creator of the site. By going to one or two other sites about the creator, it is usually pretty evident whether the creator is credible or not. I have never really used any online sites for help with categorizing or organizing the information that I have. This summer I had my first experience with bloglines. My students are just now setting up their blogs and once they feel comfortable with them, I want to introduce them to bloglines. The web is so full of information that I think it can be intimidating. Also, as mentioned in the course text, students often stop researching too early, or get too much information. Subscribing to sites and blogs on bloglines will help students bring the information to them so they can spend more time making decisions about validity and usefulness. If I can get them to the point where they can tag their sites and collaborate with each other in that process, then I think they will be able to make better use of the information that comes to them. I am starting early this year with my sophomores talking about credible sources. I'm hoping that by the time we get to writing the major research paper of the year, that my students have a good understanding of the need to validate information so they will make use of internet resources.

My First Vlog Visits

I very much enjoy the vlog, Minnesota Stories. This vlog is clearly intended for the Minnesota audience. The vlog posts speak to specific aspects of life in Minnesota. The vlog appeals to Minnesotans because it includes videos of places that many of us have been, and places/situations that we have some experience with. My best friend and I have a blog about our childhood neighborhood. I think video posts would be an interesting addition to our blog. As far as a more professional use, I think Dr. Beach's tutorials are a good example of possible vlog uses in the classroom. I could create a vlog to walk my students through online evaluation of a peer's writing. There is something about watching a video that is appealing. With a vlog, students can stop and start the video as they wish. Currently, in my classroom I am working with my juniors to help them see the value of writing in their texts--annotating and marking up their books. I could create a vlog that walks them through some helpful ways to annotate as they read. This vlog could be available on the sidebar of my class blog so they could refer to it whenever they want. There are many procedural vlogs that I could create as references for my students. Of course, these are just my initial thoughts on possible vlog use in my classroom.