A Digital Immigrant Teaching Digital Natives

Once again it was a great day in English class. Today I introduced a new presentation program to the students. I showed them an example and told them to Google the name. They jumped right in! They created presentations in which they embedded text, pictures, and video, and then they embedded those presentations into the class Wiki. This whole process took less than 90 minutes. The presentations are admittedly brief, but I can say that it took me WAY more than 90 minutes to create a comparable presentation the first time I used the program.

These kids are immersed in technology and familiar with the apps and processes—a definite advantage! All I do is tell the students what I’d like for them to create, and they just find a way to do it. Quite an amount of critical thinking is involved.

So, I’m attempting to leave my immigrant status behind. Wish me luck!

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor EARTHQUAKE..."

I've seen my share of dedicated students, but Friday's events displayed a dedication I did not think I would ever witness.

We had our mandatory routine earthquake drill Friday. I knew it was coming and expected the announcement at precisely 10:00. Then I would give the students their vocabulary quizzes and we could get on with all our important learning for the day. As the minutes ticked by, I was helping them review--I could not stand that students were being cheated out of their educational time. After about six minutes, I could no longer stand it, and I passed out the tests. A few minutes later, the announcement came, and the students dutifully climbed under their desks to await fake destruction. After the initial excitement of the new seating arrangement wore off, students became bored, and I noticed a few of them reaching above them to their desk tops and pulling their tests to the floor. They were so motivated to learn that they could wait no longer! I commented on their dedication, and upon hearing my amazement, all the students followed suit and were taking their quizzes on the floor.

Some more cynical readers may comment that students were in a hurry to finish their quizzes before they forgot the information; however, I choose to believe they were prepared to work, even through a natural disaster, because they know how important their education is :).

Wow! This is going to be an INCREDIBLE semester!

The beginning of a new semester is generally an exciting time--at least for me. I am the type of person who LOVES the first day of school. Shopping for supplies makes me happy :)  I also like meeting new groups of students and outlining all the books we're going to read, the projects we're going to do, and the writing we're going to tackle. The best part is the sigh of relief I hear from the students when I tell them that is all doable and that we are going to get through this semester together.

On the first day of school I told the students about our blogging project. I provided very general information about the purpose--composing a thematic, purposeful, and creative set of postings that would interest readers and last throughout the semester. I asked them to begin thinking about what their themes might be and intended to provide specific directions next week so they could begin.

But guess what happened.

On the next day, I had one student show me her blog. She had already decided on her topic and could not wait to begin. I found that another student had already begun posting to the blog on our Ning site--without threats (ha ha). Could any gift be any better than that one for an English teacher? Students who could not wait to begin writing! I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

So, with this much enthusiasm, I am anticipating some great blogs and hope you enjoy experiencing this group's writing exploits.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my whole life!"

The title of this blog entry is a quote delivered by one of my students today when asked to create AP style multiple-choice questions for a text. It was music to my ears because I knew both how seriously she was taking the assignment and how much she understood her goal. It IS one of the most difficult activities they complete, but it provides insight into the test creation process and teaches them how to anticipate what questions may be asked as they read texts.

With the AP test right around the corner, I know how lucky I am to have kids who take their academic success seriously. And whether their motivation to learn critical reading is an A in the class or a 5 on the AP exam is not as important to me than the fact that they ARE learning to read critically. Days like today make me LOVE my job!

Only the Starting Point

Yesterday I received the following email from one of my students:

Just wanted to let you know I finished And Then There Were None, and it was probably one of my favorite books ever! For two nights in a row I was up until 1:30 a.m. pushing myself to read until at least the next murder because I was so curious. I just couldn't put the book down. I'm so glad you offered us to read that book and it was optional. I love the class!

Well, needless to say, that student COMPLETELY made my day! I have always had some reservation about offering an easy read such as And Then, but I keep coming back to the issue of engagement and motivation to read. Now what that student must do is analyze the book, which provides the depth in thought that simply discerning vocabulary in more difficult reads requires. He will have to select an analytical angle, a lens from which to view the writing, the writer, the themes, the topics--the possibilities are endless. In my mind, the text is only the starting point; where the student goes from there is where my interests lie.

Student Choice of Format: Preparing Them for the College Experience

Recently I read some research that described an issue that college writing teachers have been dealing with in teaching first-year students how to write, and it has made me more cognizant of how much I instruct the students versus how much I let them learn. In an effort to prepare them for what they will likely experience in mere months, I have been trying to provide general direction and letting them decide specifics for themselves. The latest project, a banned book project, was left wide open for students to write in any format they chose, and I fear the students were somewhat confused by the lack of direction. My goal is to get them to the point that they can find their own ways without much direction. My fear is that when they encounter college professors from several different courses, disciplines, ages, schools of thought, they will be unprepared to think for themselves. This is my goal--to teach them where to go to find what they need and feel confident in their decisions. We'll see how it goes!!!

General Consensus Among the Students: We Should Ban Banning Books

Today I learned how articulate my students can be. Their Banned Book Projects were due today and they presented a brief synopsis to the class. I was SO PROUD of how they expressed their thoughts, how much research they did in regard to the topic, and the overall interest they demonstrated with their individual books and the process of banning in general.

Their maturity was evident, and because of students like these, such classics as were present on the list certainly are of merit and should not be banned. The students agreed that most of the listed books should be presented as choices and only to upper classmen who are capable of understanding the contexts that surround them.