Graphic Novels

As recently promised to a fellow teacher-scholar (Brent, teaching in Hopkins), here are a few of the graphic novels I'm considering for near-future literature classes. The first one is a collection of graphic short stories, all based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe:



I discovered another graphic novelist in a class I just completed at the University of Minnesota, Spring 2009: EngL 4722: From Alphabet to Internet: A History of Writing Technologies (Prof. Michael Hancher)--and I really recommend this class! The writer/artist's name is Adrian Tomine, and apparently he's done some really cool cover art work for The New Yorker magazine. Here's the book I'm considering:



A third novel under consideration is pretty obvious, I guess--obvious to those in the know, which doesn't always include me! Also, apparently, one of my nephews just did a presentation on this one for his Popular Literature class at University of Minnesota, Morris:



And finally, just because I love this comic strip. And, yes, I know that comic strips are not the same as graphic novels. But this cat is too funny:



That's all for now. Let me know your suggestions. I'm just getting into the groove ... or do I dare say it, Groovitude:

TagCloud for Bartleby

afternoon answer away bartleby behind business called certain chambers coat common copying days desk done door eyes ginger give indeed looking man mind morning nippers nothing nut office pale papers prefer present quit rather remained reply room round screen scrivener seemed sir something sort standing strange think thought towards turkey

created at TagCrowd.com

ARCC English Division Meeting 2009-04-08

Here are a few links I might be mentioning in my presentation at the English Division meeting today:

Video:

• YouTube Video: "A Vision of Students Today"

Wikis & Wikibooks:

• UMN Prof. Richard Beach's course/textbook resource wiki
• Matt Barton's Rhetoric and Composition wikibook

Tag/Text Clouds:

• Wordle
• TagCrowd

Podcasts:

• EdTechTalk
• Teachers Teaching Teachers
• EdTechWeekly
• Women of Web 2.0
• Digital Campus
• EdTechCrew
• The Tech Teachers

Let me know if you have any questions!

Book Recommendations & Practicing APA Style

Some people have been asking me what I've been reading in my UMN classes on my sabbatical, so here's a reading list for everyone, in APA style (for some reason, the preferred style in most education courses). I've just included the many books; there have been many, many more articles. If you're interested in the articles, let me know and I'll show them to you; I also have digital copies of nearly all of the articles, if you want one or more.

EngL 4722 / "Alphabet to Internet: History of Writing Technologies" (Spring 2009)

• Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
  
• Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy. London: Routledge.
• Tribble, E. B., & Trubek, A. (2003). Writing material: Readings from Plato to the digital age. New York: Longman.
• Zaid, G. (2003). So many books: Reading and publishing in an age of abundance. N. Wimmer (Trans.). Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books.

EdPA 5704 & EPsy 5451 / "College Students Today" (Spring 2009)

• Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2001). Making their own way: Narratives for transforming higher education to promote self-development. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
• Colby, A., Beaumont, E., et al. (2007). Educating for democracy: Preparing undergraduates for responsible political engagement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  
• Harper, S. R., & Quaye, S. J. (2009). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations. New York: Routledge.
• Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., et al. (2005). Student success in college: Creating conditions that matter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Levin, J. S. (2007). Nontraditional students and community colleges: The conflict of justice and neoliberalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

CI 5330 & CI 5475 / "Teaching Digital Writing: Blogs, Wikis, Online Talk, Podcasting, and E-portfolios to Teach Writing" (Fall 2008)

• Beach, R., Anson, C., et al. (2009). Teaching writing using blogs, wikis, and other digital tools. New York: Columbia Teachers College Press. (?)
• Gardner, S., & Birley, S. (2008). Blogging for dummies (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Hendron, J. G. (2008). RSS for educators: Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis in the classroom. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
  
• Morris, T., Tomasi, C., & Terra, E. (2008). Podcasting for dummies (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

CI 5410 / "Struggling Adolescent Readers" (Fall 2008)

• Schoenbach, R., Greenleaf, C., Cziko, C., & Hurwitz, L. (1999). Reading for understanding: A guide to improving reading in middle and high school classrooms: The Reading Apprenticeship guidebook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and WestEd.
  

EdPA 5704 Article Presentation

Citation:

Bartholomae, David. "Inventing the University." When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing Process Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford, 1985. 134-165. Rpt. in Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader. Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1997. 589-619.

Summary:

"Inventing the University" means learning to speak the language of higher education--more specifically, having to speak (and write) the discourses of the various communities (usually, academic disciplines) of college. This skill is asked of students quite quickly, usually before the skill is "learned," and this can cause problems. Most college freshman do not yet know the conventions, they do not yet know the jargon, and they cannot yet create (or sustain) a voice of authority, particularly when the audience is their professors; the students may be aware of this "privileged" language, but they cannot yet control it. In section II, Bartholomae reviews the general theory of audience awareness, the cognitive theorists’ view of the composing process compared to the social theorists’ view, and contemporary rhetorical theory’s concept of “’codes’ that constitute discourse” and applies them to the idea of "inventing the university." In section III, Bartholomae provides and then analyzes five representative samples of student writing (out of 500 placement essays reviewed), eventually ranking them based on how the writers’ "ability to imagine privilege enabled writing" (607). Ultimately, educators must accept that as our students struggle with a difficult and unfamiliar language, their papers will not be error-free nor have elegant syntax.

Why It Was Important to Me:

• "Discourse communities"--also, "interpretive communities" (Fish)
• Definition(s) of "basic writers"
• Definition(s) of "commonplace"
• "Writer-based prose" vs. "reader-based prose"
• Cognitive vs. social-epistemic composing theories
• Types or frequencies of error

Why I Find It Professionally Useful:

• "Much of the written work that students do is test-taking, report, or summary--work that places them outside the official discourse of the academic community, where they are expected to admire and report on what we do, rather than inside that discourse, where they can do its work and participate in a common enterprise" (599).
• "One response to the problems of basic writers, then, would be to determine just what the community’s conventions are, so that those conventions could be written out, 'demystified' and taught in our classrooms" (601).
• "In fact, one of the problems with curricula designed to aid basic writers is that they too often begin with the assumption that the key distinguishing feature of a basic writer is the presence of sentence-level error" (612).

Recommended Reading:

• Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "They Say/I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. New York: Norton, 2006.

Google Docs Presentation Link

Google Docs Presentation:

Final Project Links

There are two parts to my final project:

1. An informal survey (using SurveyMonkey) of students at my college
2. A wiki

A "summary report" (a brief version of the survey and results) is available here: a Google Docs Presentation.

Embedded:



The full version of the survey (including results for each question) is available here: a Google Docs Presentation.

Embedded:



The wiki is a revision of the WritingMinnesota wiki I started on weeks ago.

I'm glad we had the freedom to do what we wanted to do for our final project. I think both parts have been and will be very helpful to me in planning my courses for next year.

Final "Portfolio" Reflection #4

Of everything we've covered in class, what are two examples of things that I will definitely use in my teaching?

My final project, which I will probably post next, should answer this question clearly, but I can summarize that here.

First, I will definitely be assigning an "interactive presentation" of some sort, but for which assignment, or using what topic, I am not yet sure. For this, students will need to use PowerPoint, KeyNote, Google Docs, SlideRocket, SlideBoom, SlideShare, VoiceThread, or something similar. They will not be able to "talk at us," and the criteria for slide composition will be strict -- slides will definitely not be "text dumps." And I think my colleagues in the Speech Department will love me for teaching this unit; I think they already require the use of PowerPoint in student speeches.

Wait, Here's An Assignment Idea:

I could have groups of students (3-4 per group) do "research" to look for and analyze images or portrayals of contemporary college students in the media--print media (books, newspapers, magazines) and online media (websites, podcasts, blogs, video, etc.). The groups could then present their "media" (and their "remixes"?) and their analyses using one of the presentation applications mentioned above. Ooo, I think I like this idea!

O.K., Now I'm Back:

Second, I will definitely be rethinking "peer review" in my courses. I might do one, the first one of the term, the "traditional" way, in class, face-to-face, in pairs, trios, or groups of four. Let them experience it, and then really talk about it afterwards--"deconstruct" it and evaluate it. After that, I'll probably have them try Google Docs, since Professor Beach mentioned in his midterm evaluation of my blog that it will be the easiest, as opposed to using a wiki or a blog. And "training" students for peer review is always important--training and modeling--so I will need to rethink how I will present and have them carry out the peer review.

An "Aside":

(Is peer review going the way of citing sources ... in the digital world? It seems like citing sources has become a lot more informal ... "hey, just create a link, that's good enough." Is peer review merging with collaborative writing? Instead of just responding to a "text," or inserting comments into a "text," are students going to start just "playing around" with the text themselves, in an attempt to help out the writer? Is this bad? But what if the assignment is not a collaborative writing assignment? Or is all writing becoming collaborative? And do we need to start re-envisioning peer review to be something else?)

O.K., Now I'm Back:

Third, I will definitely introduce "Bubbl.us" as a prewriting and an organizational tool!

Fourth, I will definitely have a class wiki, but as you've read in other posts, I'm not sure yet what I'll have students contribute to that.

In Conclusion:

I am excited about all this! I'm interested to see how my students will react to all this. I'm interested to know how many have already done things like this. (And that's kind of what my final project was getting at. So I suppose I should end here and embed that project in the next post.)