The Bloggy Awards

Despite the fact that we're here, at the Bloggies, I have to confess that blogging has - for me - been less red carpet and more yellow brick road. Now, on to the accolades.

People's Choice Awards
(I know we were supposed to choose just one person to recognize, but I couldn't. Ah, irrepressible socialist tendencies...)

1. --- Voice
I always check in on Kelsey's blog, specifically because I enjoy her voice. I am quite impressed with the way that she manages to weave mildly saucy opinion with textual reference, while remaining on topic throughout. Here's a great example of this.

2. --- Multimedia Multimodal component
Really, who wasn't impressed with Debi's Voicethread? It made me feel bold enough to say coxswain in polite conversation. (Not to mention the fact that Debi has a subliminal smiley face in the upper right-hand corner of her blog...)

3. --- Thoughtfulness
I am not sure that JoAnn could be more thoughtful. I read her blogs (with snack and bathroom breaks *wink*), and am always impressed with how meticulously she has unpacked her own thought processes. Here's a great example of the Blatchley thought train.

...and on the personal end of things...

1. --- Professionalism
So, um, here's the thing: My writing just isn't very professional. Engaging? I hope so. Interesting? Sometimes. Professional? Nope. If I had to choose, I guess I'd go with the entry that has the least sass and personal allegory...four demerits for me.

2. --- Creativity
I've long fancied myself the double-secret creative type. As I looked through the blogs I've posted for this class, I was most proud of this entry. Specifically, I was (easily) impressed with the moebius strip/internet analogy.


3. --- Design
Design wasn't something that I gave much thought too. The stylistic constraints of a neophyte blogger are, well, constraining. That said, Sneaky Cora, was the sea-level pinnacle of my design abilities...and only because I'm so enamored with dendroica cerulea's photo.

CPR

cartoon courtesy of jonny goldstein

During my freshman year of college, while enduring an uninspiring trimester of Comparative Political Regimes, collaborative writing was my lifeline. My professor, one year from retirement and not aiming to impress anyone, spoke in a numbing mono-drone, often derailing his own train of thought.

Despite the fact that I was an admitted nerd, I took to sitting with other disappointed frosh in the third row from the back of the lecture hall. A bold group, we third-row-from-the-back types, took to creating two-line stories. In case you're unfamiliar, here's how they work: The first person writes two lines, folds the paper so that only the last line is visible, and then passes the paper along to the next person, whooooo...writes two lines, folds the paper so that only the last line is visible, and then passes the paper along to the next person...ad infinitum...or at least until the paper and desire have been exhausted. Suffice to say that many a giggle was suppressed, and we all opted for the final essay in place of the multiple choice test.

The whole process was a mild analog to the Mad Lib...which is another of my favorite forms of collaborative writing, especially with primary students.

When I reflect on the collaborative digital compositions that my students have created, I realize that we haven't ventured much beyond the threshold of Kidspiration. Granted, we are second graders, but after poking around the internet, I realize that we could be doing (and will do!) a whole lot more. (In fact, I see no reason not to digitize the two-liner and let the kids have a great time with it.)

Am I ready to jump into second grade wikis full tilt? There's a question. I have never been very fond of pbwiki, but perhaps I could give it another look. This would be a great opportunity to reinforce the idea that social etiquette (and collaborative social goals, for that matter) are as important in cyberspace as they are in the physical world.

As a second grade teaching team, we now do a lot of collaborative writing, thanks in large part to the dynamic Google doc. As members of this class, I would also consider the blogging we do - complete with links to other blogs, documents, and sites - to be collaborative digital writing, if conceptualized more obliquely....aaand, wait, now that I'm all fired up, isn't a multimedia digital project which remixes images, sounds, and words the pinnacle of collaborative (if not exactly contemporaneous) writing? Okay, I'm getting down from my tiny soapbox now.


P.S. I also came across this posting about the "10 Best Practices for Using Wikis in Education", and had to include it because 1) It's useful....and 2) It's written by yet another tech savvy Schroeder.

Dessa, Eligh, and The Grouch

Dessa is one of my favorite oral storytellers...underrated writer, overrated rapper.
The Grouch and Eligh aren't too bad either...who else can write quality conscious hip-hop about global warming?

Using Schema To Make Inferences

Check out this SlideShare Presentation created by Emily Kissner:

Using Schema To Make Inferences

View more presentations from Emily Kissner.

I thought twice.

Allen Ginsberg says, "First thought, best thought," but I'm not sure...
I kind of prefer the second one.

I. Digital Storytelling as a means of activating multiple schema.

Static words on a page are made more dynamic by the faculties of those who read them. Here's my (mildly empirical) evidence:

What do we do before we read each week's selection from the Houghton anthology? We activate schema. We prime the pump. We bring the texts to life.

Multimodal digital stories -- those that actively engage us visually with text and images while also stimulating us aurally with verbal text and music -- are so captivating because they involve us more completely.

Think about how wonderful it is to hear an author read aloud from their own work.
Right.
Now, consider the prvilege of hearing the author's voice while also seeing the images that inspired their words.
Profound.
(...if you ask me, which most people cleverly decide not to...)

II. Digital Storytelling as a modern analog to the Oral Tradition

Kofi and Harry may not back me completely on this one, but I mentally categorize multimodal digital storytelling (mds) as a modern analog to the the oral tradition. Oral storytelling, like mds, is incredibly personal. In both cases, the storyteller invites his or her audience deeply into a thought or experience. (I'm thinking, again, of the small difference between reading a text and hearing the author read it aloud...the same words, but a wholly different experience.)

Additionally, the experience of telling a story digitally is more akin to telling it orally, than to formally (or informally) writing it. Aside from the code-switching many do on an environmental basis, students' voices tend to ring true in conversation. In static writing, however, their voices can easily become lost. This is less the case when they are asked to explain themselves multimodally. It is more difficult to hide behind words when there are also images and sound involved.