FIlters

Mary - Your comment about filters brings up a good point. If you have students writing on a wiki or a thread or whatever, they learn the importance of filtering what they say. We all have times when out filters aren't working, but I think as adults we realize that there is a time and a place to let your guard and/or filter down. I had one student who made a somewhat inappropriate remark on my thread and when I responded he was rather embarassed that not only could all of his classmates read what he wrote, but so could I! This led to a great dicussion about putting comments and information "out there."

Google Docs

I keep forgetting that not many schools have an email system for their students. So yes I set up the thread under my account, but they each have their own email so they logged on with their own school email. That way it was easy for me to see who was saying what. I set it up that only my students could view and participate in the thread. I feel that it was safe. Their profiles have no information and no one should be able to even look at our discussion.

Google.doc

Cindy,  Did you set them up under your own account?  I guess I'm not understanding how you did this.  It sounds great.  Google.docs are probably what I have gotten the most use out of since I learned about them through this program.  I really like using them. I did a wiki for my practicum, and I think I would like to try the same type of thing with a Google.doc instead.   

Discussion thoughts

Mary - I set a threaded discussion through Google for my class to discuss answers to word problems. I set up accounts for them just using their first names and no other information. When they logged on some of them wanted to update their profile, but I wouldn't let them. They really enjoyed the discsussion, reading each others comments... So I think you could set up accounts that would be safe. That project sounds great. Learning to work collaboratively is a great skill to have.

Just thinking

It always amazes me as I read about a new technology, website, blog, etc to see how far we've come. Many (many) years ago when I was in school the technology that we had was a manual typewriter or pen and paper. When I got to high school electric typewriters were all the rage (am I dating myself). By college the beginnings of computers were starting to emerge. From then on technology burst onto the world. Now it is commonplace and we see technology becoming outdated before it can even be installed. Our students use the technology in ways we could never imagine. They found new innovative ways to use fanfiction, anime. Educators need to think of the possibilities and explore with open minds.

Culture versus writing

I've been told that because I teach math that my brain functions differently than most other people's (maybe not so different from Barb's) but when I read this week's reading what I took from it was the fact that kids are writing on their own and using techniques that they use in school - peer review, revising and editing and that it often gives students that don't write very well an outlet. Also that it is good for students who first language is not English. I didn't pick up on the cultural aspect and using it as a Social Studies unit. I guess that's why we share our thoughts

I have to be honest.  Although I had heard of Anime, I really never payed too much attention to fanfiction.  I didn't really know what it was before investigating it further after this week's readings.  I didn't realize it, but I can definitely connect fanfiction to my personal experience.  One of our unit's this past year was on Tales of the Strange and Mysterious.  At the end of the unit the culminating project was for students to write their own strange and mysterious tale, incorporating the themes that we learned about and utilizing appropriate plot structure.  Many of the girls wrote their own versions of Twilight with their own characters and twists.  I also had a boy write a story based on parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I feel like the readings this week have really caused me to think about this type of student writing in a different way.  Now that I have a greater understanding of it, I am definitely more accepting of it.  I actually think it's a great way to create interest and get students (especially those reluctant to reading and writing) to become more interested in reading and writing.   This was a great site on explaining fanfiction: What is Fanfiction?