Guiding questions for the week of 10/27-11/3

1. During last class we discussed the first half of Jenkins' report, focusing on why we should teach media literacy and looked at two of the skills, play and simulation. In the second half of the report, he describes the remaining skills and provides examples of how they can be implemented. Comment on some of these skills. Are there other ways you can see them being implemented in the classroom? What might be some of the challenges of implementing them into the classroom?

2. In his article "Why Heather Can Write," Jenkins states:

Teachers sometimes complain that popular culture competes for the attention of
their students, a claim that starts from the assumption that what kids learn from
media is less valuable than what schools teach. Here, however, much of what is
being mastered are things that schools try—and too often fail—to teach their
students. (It has been said that if schools taught sex education the same way they
taught writing, the human race would die out in a generation.)

Do you agree/disagree with this claim? What are some ways that you think the classroom can engage students to the same extent that Heather Lawver was engaged to create The Daily Prophet (note: The publication has not been operational since 2008)?

3. How could a concept like fan fiction be used on a smaller scale to engage students in a writing classroom? What might be some of the advantages/disadvantages of such an approach?

Guiding questions for the week of 10/13

What is your reaction to Beach’s suggestions for using digital tools to provide both summative and formative feedback to students? What experience have you had with formative or summative feedback as either an instructor or a student?

Do you imagine other ways that digital tools could be used effectively as a means for providing feedback to student work? How would this method differ from more traditional ways of providing feedback?

Comment on the ideas the authors present for formative assessment, which they also argue could be used for summative assessment, in chapter 8 of the Selfe book.

Review the rubrics the authors present in chapter 8. Could you see using these in a classroom? Would you modify or add to them in some way?

What do you think of the idea of studio sessions and progress journals? Do you think these could be effectively structured?

Chapter 9 of the Selfe text presents a rather detailed plan for engaging peer review of multimodal texts. Spend some time reviewing the various tips and strategies presented throughout. What do you find to be most valuable about the advice presented here? What specific strategies would you want to employ if you were constructing a peer-review studio session for a multimodal project?

Guiding questions for the week of 10/6

Continue your blogging on the readings from last week and reactions you might have to chapter 7 in the Beach text.