Using Emerging Technologies to Promote the Authenticity of Composition

Angela Gunter, NBCTDaviess County High School

The Goals: Engagement and Authenticity

Engaged Readers wide and frequent readers who often

explore new territory through text and who are intrinsically motivated to read for the knowledge and enjoyment it provides (Guthrie & Cox, 2001)

Authentic Writers“a sense of audience—the knowledge that

someone will read what is written—is crucial to young writers” (Atwell, 1998)

Obstacles

Students are not recognized for bringing valuable, multiple-literacy practices to school, potentially creating students who are resistant to

school-based literacy. (Lenters, 2006)

The proliferation of high-stakes tests can complicate the literacy learning of adolescents, particularly if test preparation takes priority over content-specific literacy instruction across the disciplines. Teachers can devalue, ignore, or censor adolescents’ extracurricular literacies, assuming that these literacies are morally suspect, raise controversial issues, or distract adolescents from more “important” work. This means some adolescents’ literacy abilities remain largely invisible in the classroom.(Kim and Monique, 2004)

Research Demonstrates:

Adolescents need bridges between everyday literacy practices and classroom communities, including online, non-book-based communities. (Moje,2007)

Effective teachers understand the importance of adolescents finding enjoyable texts and do not always try to shift students to “better” books. Literacy has come to include, but not be restricted to academic learning. (Alvermann, 2001)

Research-Based Solutions

 To address this issue, instructors should

depend less on text-bound modes of teaching that place adolescents in passive roles and more on inquiry-based instruction that allows students to be active learners. (Bean et al. 1999)

Teach for understanding, define learning as an inquiry-based process, and collaborative learning which builds on constructivist principles of learning as a social activity that is embedded in socio-cultural systems. (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998)

The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing EducationCurtis J. Bonk (2009)

“Young learners currently are members of a participatory learning

culture who can and should be contributing to the knowledge-

building process rather than merely passively consuming prepackaged

information.”

ForumsChatsBlogs

Attachment of DocumentsLink to Webpages

Post PhotosPost Videos

Individual/Personal PagesEvents

ActivitiesGroupsMusic

BirthdaysNotes

WidgetsRSS

The List

American Library Association Young Adult Library Services 2009 Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners

Advanced Placement Summer InstitutesCollege Summer Reading ListsFormer Students (in college)

Categories

Autobiography/MemoirBiographyNature/Adventure/ScienceSportsHistory/Politics/WarTrue CrimeTravelogue

Authentic Consumers of Information

What types of podcasts have you listened to? Dave Ramsey show, Mugglecast, Behind the Music, Books on Tape, The Onion, Car Talk (NPR), Pardon the Interruption (ESPN), Advanced Spanish, Oprah’s Book Club, Bungie (video games)

What blogs do you read? Iamboycrazy.com, espn.com, himynameismark.com (bass player for Blink182), church youth group blog, My Live is Average, Rick Reilly (ESPN), Perez Hilton Hollywood 411, Katie Davis (young missionary)

The Students’ Project

Titles on the Podbean

Angela’s Ashes (1) Bridge to Terabithia

(1) Catch-22 (1) Catcher in the Rye (1) Devil in the White City

(1) Fahrenheit 451 (2) Flowers for Algernon

(1) In Cold Blood (1) Lone Survivor (1) Scar Tissue (1)

Slaughterhouse-five (3) The Bluest Eye (2) The Color Purple (1) The Da Vinci Code (1) The Handmaid’s Tale (1) The Last Lecture (1) The Outsiders (1) The Poisonwood Bible (2) The Time Traveler’s Wife

(1) Tuesdays With Morrie (2)

Latest Activity

Podcast Stats (Last 30 days)

Episode hits 311 Subscribers 24 Site visitors 551 Comments 146

Constructive Comments

I thought your voice pacing was fine. I remember teaching this book in class when I was a student teacher, and the issue of “loss” was pretty dramatic and touching, and emotional for a lot of students.

Did you know that Katherine Patterson is the new Ambassador to Children’s Literature? Just a fact.

Thanks for your podcast. Mr. Hodgson, Sixth grade teacher

Comment by Mr. Hodgson — January 18, 2010 @ 6:05 am

Hi! I was particularly interested in listening to your podcast because I read Angela’s Ashes and loved the book, despite its sadness. Also, I had Frank McCourt as a teacher years ago. Thank you for capturing your thoughts about the book - hearing you speak about the book made me think about the parts I enjoyed most. I think I liked best Frank McCourt’s ability to find humor in what seemed like the bleakest of circumstances. It made him, as a character, seem resilient and not sad. Did you have a favorite moment or moments? Thanks again for your work on this and making it public to the world for all of us to enjoy!

Paul Oh, National Writing Project (former teacher) Comment by Paul Oh — January 19, 2010 @

12:15 pm

Last year, I re-read Catch-22 several times for a class, and realized that the recurring motif of the tail-gunner episode turns the plot-line into something like a spiral, with each successive loop giving more information about the episode. Otherwise, the “novel” seems to be impressionistic, giving a series of character sketches loosely arranged around Yossarian’s military career, as you mentioned. I like your comparison of Catch-22 to The Office–clever!

Comment by Larry Barton — January 17, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

Suggestions for Revision

Allow more timeEliminate background noiseMore reaction/recommendation

than summaryAdd a common rating (out of 5 stars)Speak clearlyAdd rich details, adjectivesAdd quotes from the novelAttach them to card catalog in media centerAdd a brief music clip or appropriate background

musicInterview format