ENGL 505B

Preparing a Teaching Portfolio

How to Produce a Teaching Portfolio

Example: Rik Hunter

Example: Amy E. Robillard

Example: Marc C. Santos

Today Lou was asking about the downside of anonymity in online communities. It seems that he was channeling the Washington Post as they have an article about whether or not anonymity might breed terrorism in virtual worlds.

Applicable?

Spies Battleground Turns Virtual

Here it is.

Syllabus

As we are getting ready to head out for Thanksgiving let's start thinking about what is going to happen after we get back The week after T-giving starts our multi-week stretch of syllabus prep. During the 1st week I want you to come to class with a draft of your reading schedule. Yes, we still be using the same books and I would like for us to be doing the same units at the same time so that we can have current pedagogical discussions during mentor group meetings. This means if you really think that a unit should be moved you will need to propose that to the group with a solid rationale for why so that we can make a group decision. While we do have to agree on these things we can have varying supplemental media. I think that we can plan to do that for 2 meetings in order to be sure that we get everything covered.

The third class period (as well as any time that may remain from the 2nd meeting) will be spent going over the assignment sheets for next semester. We are going to have to have all of the major assignment sheets done (with rationale and objectives) before we leave for Christmas break. We can also work on the smaller assignments (i.e. visual projects and in-class exercises) and share those with the group and borrow liberally from one another as time allows.

Yes, that is only 3 days of a two week period. That is because you will be meeting with Marc Santos on the 27th to talk more about Drupal and to get the instruction on Moviemaker that you requested (yes, Marc and I do communicate) as well as anything else that he can squeeze into that time. Marc has asked me to tell you that he is canceling tech mentoring next Tuesday (thus the meeting on the 27th). This means that you will have next Tuesday off. As usual if you have any questions please do email me or come and bug me in my office!

A new study, funded by Carnegie, just published it's results on a study on grammar drills and comprehension/retention. While we have known since the 60's that grammar drills don't work this new study has actually found that there is actually a negative correlation. Yet more of a reason to teach grammar and mechanics only in the context of larger pieces of writing. You can download the study report here.

A friend sent me this and I immediately thought of you guys Yes, I do realize...

Remember my earlier post about the library games? Well, there are 3 links to other games on that page that are equally addictive. One of the better ones is the Outbreak game out of ASU. You have to gather sources, talk to professors, and get help from other students to collect samples before you run out of time (30 mins) and die from the infection that is spreading on campus yourself. I highly recommend this one.

BTW I bet Kyle can attest to the fact that some of his kids found the library games pretty engaging :-) 

The Carnegie Mellon library system has released (in beta) two games meant to get at using the library system. The first game, Within Range, is not the most interesting but it asks students to re-shelve books based on LoC subjects and the Dewey Decimal System. Useful for helping them find books in the brick and mortar library but not riveting gaming. The second game, I'll Get It, is a much like Diner Dash (only in a library). You have to look up the patron's topic and choose from 2 books or 2 internet sources what you will bring back to the patron based upon their research question. This one is a bit more interesting especially since it goes in waves and gets more harried as time passes.

How effective is this? Can we teach students how to use a virtual library and expect them to extrapolate that out to the real world? Or will they simply google the topic and go from there?

via Dennis Jerz