Reading over my first post, I am struck by how "text" -y it is. Writing for a blog is not like writing for a typical "academic" situation. I guess I'll have to shift out of "boring" gear and into something fresher.
I definitely can see how a blog will elicit different texts and thoughts from students. What I would write in this blog would be really different from what I might offer in a class, and I'm sure the same is true for my students.
I love the idea that all of my thoughts and work and process on a particular topic would stay in one place rather than being jotted down and scattered throughout my papers.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Better late than never!
Hello fellow teachers!
I'm pleased to be here with you test-driving all these neat gadgets and apps. I must confess that at the moment, this being my first blog and first igoogle experience and first etc etc everything we're doing, I am dipping one toe in this ocean of technology and deciding whether I'm going to dive in.
Like I have a choice, right?
I came to this course as a function of being an adjunct English faculty, primarily ENG 102, research writing. I, like you, Shelley, and probably some of the rest of my classmates, am a great believer in social constructivist theories of learning and the power of the community of learners to produce the learning experience. So these tools make a lot of sense, especially if I'm going to be working with people who use them and value them.
In my world outside of teaching English, I am finishing my certification to become a yoga instructor this spring. In my training, we have spent a lot of time and effort to calm the "chatter of the mind" (Patanjali). As I learn about and begin to use these instructional tools, I see how they can become either a way to increase this chatter in our lives, or a way to organize and manage it.
I mean, I could spend hours just finding stuff to giggle at on YouTube or The Onion. I could spend hours debating different recipes for guacamole (no tomatoes!). Fortunately (or sometimes, unfortunately), my two little ones pull me off into their world of chatter before I spend too much time in the world of giggles.
Okay, I'm getting pulled away now, but I look forward to connecting with my students on their terms through these tools in this course.
I'm pleased to be here with you test-driving all these neat gadgets and apps. I must confess that at the moment, this being my first blog and first igoogle experience and first etc etc everything we're doing, I am dipping one toe in this ocean of technology and deciding whether I'm going to dive in.
Like I have a choice, right?
I came to this course as a function of being an adjunct English faculty, primarily ENG 102, research writing. I, like you, Shelley, and probably some of the rest of my classmates, am a great believer in social constructivist theories of learning and the power of the community of learners to produce the learning experience. So these tools make a lot of sense, especially if I'm going to be working with people who use them and value them.
In my world outside of teaching English, I am finishing my certification to become a yoga instructor this spring. In my training, we have spent a lot of time and effort to calm the "chatter of the mind" (Patanjali). As I learn about and begin to use these instructional tools, I see how they can become either a way to increase this chatter in our lives, or a way to organize and manage it.
I mean, I could spend hours just finding stuff to giggle at on YouTube or The Onion. I could spend hours debating different recipes for guacamole (no tomatoes!). Fortunately (or sometimes, unfortunately), my two little ones pull me off into their world of chatter before I spend too much time in the world of giggles.
Okay, I'm getting pulled away now, but I look forward to connecting with my students on their terms through these tools in this course.
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