Memo continued.

If you were going to assign this again next semester I would suggest that the group work is more structured. There were a lot of days when we were in groups that we would finish talking about the topic and there would still be tons of time left over. I also think that it would be a good idea to space out the readings a little bit more. Especially, when some of the articles are very long as it is hard to get the important information out of 50 pages that need to be read in a two day time. I feel that the rubric for the assignment was helpful but that it could have also been more structured so that it provided a clear statement of what was going to be looked for in the assignment. I think that the point values for each of the requirements should be listed so the student is aware of how much each aspect of the assignment is going to be worth. Overall, I think this assignment was very helpful as it will definately be something that we will need toknow how to do once we are teachers. I know that I personally had experience writing memos before but they were just short things that were for inter-office discussion. It was very interesting to learn the research that needs to be involved in writing an academic memo because that was something that had yet to be addressed by any of our other classes.

Memorandum Reflection

I think that this assignment was really interesting and challenging. There was a lot of informtion in the articles that had to be read. At times it was hard to try to find all of the salient points in the articles. There are so many different approaches to teaching writing. Oddly enough I found that most of these methods could be implemented together. For example it would be easy for a teacher to model the writing process for her class with their help while including other methods such as brainstorming, revision, and social interaction. Trying to write the memo itself was a little more difficult. I have had experience writing memos before but not to this degree of information or professionalism. It also made me a little nervous because I know that doing something like this is going to be a regular thing once I begin to teach in a classroom. I am happy that we did this assignment because it gives me practice on writing a memo and the amazing amount of content that needs to be included. It was difficult to try to pick the most important methods that we discussed on the teaching of writing. There were a lot of things that I felt should be covered and seemed to be something that would be very easy to implement in a classroom. I definately have a better understanding of the different methods that I would like to use in my classroom and the benefits that these methods will have for my students. I also realized that it is very important for teachers to use a multitude of these methods because just using one method is not going to work for everyone in the class. By using different methods students will gain the experience of working with different writing modalities that will help prepare them for high school, college, and their careers.

Correctness..

In way I have always considered myself to be some what of a grammar Nazi. Growing up with my family I would always correct everyone's sentences. My mom and brother usually get irritated because I will stop and correct them mid-sentence. Well, after reading these pages I don't think that I was that over the edge in the search for correctness. There was a lot of information in this book that I didn't know or just plain could not remember. I really enjoyed the style of the book because all the topics listed are in a nice bulleted list. The book provides quick examples that are both correct and incorrect. I was really suprised at the amount of material that was covered in these pages. All the content that is listed is very relevant and helpful in understanding the correct forms of grammar. I can definately understand how students would become disenchanted with writing after constantly being corrected over little things. In my opinion any negative criticism should be complimented by a positive reinforcement. It is important for teachers to find the right balance of correctness and content of the material. It is in this range that teachers will help students formulate their best written and oral pieces. I really think that this book by Silverman will be something that will be useful not just for teachers but should be used by everyone. By doing this people would gain a better understanding of the use of the various forms of grammar.

Extra Credit

Hello this is Kyle Imlach and i was so thrilled to watch the video that Angela made about her learning to wakeboard. It was also nice to watch because there were clips of me doing my flips and I got to see what they really look like to other people who are in the boat. I was really happy for Ang because she picked a topic that she really enjoys because being on the boat at the lake is our absolute favorite thing to do during the summer. Angela has really progressed in wakeboarding since she first got in the water to try it. I think that the main reason that she has not been able to get up on the board and stay up is because the board she uses is not to the exact specifications for her body. Right now the board she uses is mine, i tired to get her to buy one but she wants to wait till she can actually get out of the water and stay out. I know that Ang was very excited and happy to make this movie because she would always talk about. It also gave her a reason to go through all her pictures and videos to find material to put in it. I though that the video was great and wish that my teachers would give us something like this to do instead of a paper.

Wiki Articles...

Well, the article have been at times very interesting and at other time very ardous and difficult. I think overall though the working in groups has provided us with a great advantage as we do not have to read all the articles and can rely on our fellow students. Just by reading the annotated bibliographies provides us with the bulk of the article and a response from a fellow student. I think that this memo assignment is going to be difficult just for the fact that I personally have yet to have the experience of having to write a professional memo that will impact decision making. I am concerned that with all the readings that I have done that I will not be able to find the most salient points, in my opinion, that are able to be backed up by hard evidence. Even though this assignment is "fake" it still seems daunting..... There are a million different opinions and approaches to teaching writing and I really do not think that any one approach is the best. I have sort of come to the conclusion that there would need to be an amalgamtion of most of them to provide a writing program to the students that is versatile, helpful, and will work with a multitude of learning styles. The difficult part is going to be in deciding which features of the various writing programs to choose. Some things will obviously stand out more than others but how do I choose from the styles that are similar or even a little harder to understand. Another challenge in trying to choose which writing process would work best is that for the most part I have not seen these practices implemented in the classroom or how the students respond to the various processes.
In the first article the main points were that a student's life would affect the positions that they would put themselves into in both conversation as well as in their writing. Even though they may start in one position they do change through out time and even within the same context

Digital Document Blog

This whole digital document experience has been fun, interesting, and agitating. I really liked the idea of being able to create something instead of just doing another test or paper. This document gives us student's a chance to show things that we are interested in and that relate to our lives. I think that this project relates to the book by Gee because student's that play video games are interested in what they are doing and are always wanting to learn new things to help them get better at the game they are playing. This project allowed us to work in a new media form and to research more in depth the things that we were interested in. It also allowed us to put a bit of ourselves into the project which is just what gamers do when they are playing because their "real identity" is always going to impact the decisions that they make regarding their "virtual identity". I know that for me personally I had never worked with Windows movie maker so it was definately a learning experience as I was definately in my regime of confidence or ZPD because working in this program was slightly beyond my capabilities at the time and still kid of is as I have not yet mastered using the program. It was very interesting to see the type of semiotic domain that is found around your topic. For me it was very interesting to learn more in depth things about wakeboarding, people in the sport, terminology, monetary costs, and the cost it can physically take on your body. When working on this project I got an opportunity to learn more about the sport, the people involved in it, and how i view myself in the scheme of wakeboarders. In wakeboarding it is interesting because there is a lot of distributed knowledge of the sport as well as a lot of distributed knowledge for people who are learning. I also got to learn about the divisions that are found in the wakeboarding affinity group. These differences can be over style, technique, ability level, or even the equipment that is used. I think overall that reading Gee, even though it focused on videogames, can be applied and found in most things of life. I also think that reading the book before and during working on this project was of a great benefit as it allowed us to relate it to other topics and interests.

Digital Document

Okay so this whole process has been very interesting. I like this assignment because it is fun and incorporates something about my life that people typically don't get to see in my academic efforts. The downfalls with this project is that I am not the most technologically gifted person. I have definately had technological issues while working on this thing. I have already lost all my pics and clips once and had to put them all back together again. That was fustrating. Anyway I think over all this is going to be a project that I really enjoy because it is not a "traditional" college project such as a paper, power point presentation, or a test that needs to be taken. I am worried that I will not be able to get my project to the time mark but as of right now I am still working on my narration and layout. I think for me the hardest part is going to be completing my narration as I have already set all the pictures and clips into the places that I want them... Hopefully, I will be able to get my narration to line up perfectly with the pics and clips that are already in their designated areas. I think that i am going to use the gabcast site to do my narration that way I can access it and edit it if needed. Right now I am also in the process of tracking down the specefic songs that I want to use with the show. I have a few in mind but I am not set in stone on those songs yet so we will see how that goes. Hopefully the music that I use with provide an enhanced feeling for what everyone is going to be watching.

Learning & Action

I personally do really well when learning something if I am given the opportunity to put "it" into action. The best examples that i have of this is when I am in a math class. Learning a new formula means nothing to me unless i am given a) where I will use his in the real world or how I can link it to my life b) when I am given the opportunity to try multiple problems with the formula and screw it up a few times (lord knows i will...it's math!!) Another are that is higly important to use learning and activity is science as it provides the hands on experience to keep people interested in the topics and understanding how they effect our daily lives. In schools learning and action is very important. Kids have energy, they are after all kids. Being able to learn while being active will allow them to exert some of their endless energy and it will allow them more practice with the topics that they are learning. It is important that ALL teachers keep in mind that they need to have topics that they can incorporate with activities to hold student interest and promote the amount of knowledge of the topic that is going to be retained.

Situated learning

Okay I already wrote this post and the stupid thing did not post and erased all that I had written!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR! Anway here is a short recap because I am not going to try to re-write that whole damn thing. Situated learning is beneficial for both teachers and students. Students have the opportunity to master topics that are related to things they enjoy and the experiences that they have had. When topics are not being related to the student's in some way they will not have the interest to stay focused on the topic that they are to learn. For example I saw n use for algebra or chemistry in high school and I never really learned anything... I was not willing to put forth the effort because I saw it as having no benefit in my life. Each teacher should always find a way to keep her student's interested in what they are learning and help them to see how these topics are important for later on in life.

Video Games

When I was a kid I loved to play video games. Anthing Super Mario or Zelda and I was ready to go for hours. Now that i have gotten older I do own a PS2 system but I rarely ever play it. There just isn't enough time anymore. Going to work, going to school, and doing homework takes up all the time and anything that isn't being used I prefer to sleep. I find it funny because in the last few years my grandmother has become an avid gamer. Her and my little brother spend hours talking about video games and playing them. I think that as far as education goes it is important for schools to begin incorporating newer technologies into the classrooms. We now live in a technicical world and there is no escaping it. Technology is also something that most students are interested in so it allows them to better link the subject material they are learning because it involves an interest of theirs. At this time I am not advocating a complete shift in the classrooms to technology but an increase in the use of it. I also think that it is important that more students have free access to the new technologies that are on the market.

Learning Something New

Outside of school I am trying to learn how to wakeboard. Every summer my friends and I go out on the lake and there are always too many people for me to bring the intertube (which is what I love to ride on). So this summer I decided to try to wakeboard. I have not been able to make it past more than just a few seconds of being upright after getting my butt out of the water. My goal is that by the end of this next summer I will be able to stay up and possibly get to the point where I can start jumping wakes and doing tricks. With plenty of practice this summer I should have no problem getting to my goal.

First posting

I have never used a blog before...This could get interesting....