One of the big problems I think that the students in the first year writing program here at Tech have/ will have (either in their current assignments or in their drafts later) is the ability to accurately identify the audience and purpose of the article they read. So, I think my assignments would be trying to help students to learn how to easily recognize it. As a film and media studies specialization, much of this would be through the use of film and the internet.
In my first class, I would do a class workshop on it where I would show different types of mediums and we would work through it to get to the audience and purpose. The first would be a simple one where we would look at a tweet on twitter of someone famous. This would be a simple reading example that should be rather simple for most of the students. The second example would be a clip from Youtube of a speech from a movie or TV show. This would be a bit more in depth as you have to focus on the surroundings of the speaker as well as what he/she is saying. The speech that comes to mind for me from a TV series (and admittedly I am not sure which one) is one where three political candidates are being asked what makes America so great and the first two say the generic, "Freedom!" response while the third calls them out that and says that America really isn't that great when you look at the numbers and statistics. This would be an excellent piece for them to analyze while also introducing them to some higher level thinking. My third would be an audio podcast, something short and likely from a sports website. These would require the most focus (at least for me because auditory learning is my worst learning mode) and attention in order for the students to accurately gauge audience and purpose. Doing these three different styles, audio, visual and written, would also be useful as it gives me a chance to work toward covering all different styles of learning in the classroom.
I think a couple weeks later, say between BA 3 and 4 I would give the kids an assignment where I would send tweet, video and audio podcast links to my students that they would need to do outside of class and would then have them emailed to me a day or two ahead of time. I would then randomly pick from among them from which we would look at in class the next week. With having two classes, I would switch the classes responses so the kids would be reading the other classes. This anonymity would then allow them to critique the work without them having to worry too much about the grade and being embarrassed in the class if their works is particularly below the others. But, I think that this will also help them to see from our perspective and that may help them learn something they may not have otherwise.
This is a great combination of relevant topics for students and multiple communication media! I like the trajectory you set for your hypothetical students, especially in your reliance on small chunks of knowledge (starting simple and working up, for example). As a grader, I also appreciate your last paragraph about using anonymous critiques to turn the tables and "help them to see from our perspective." Maybe I'd just use your assignments instead of my half-formed ones :) Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteConnor! I think your ideas are really cool and current. Even though I use social media extensively, I don't connect with it the way my students do. I'm not as comfortable utilizing certain media as a tool for teaching because I'm such an old school, paper-and-binding kind of learner, where that might not be the case with my students. I especially like your idea of having them parse a podcast because they seem so off-the-cuff but are actually so well-planned and, often, meticulous.
ReplyDeleteI also like your idea of randomly selecting whose work you will review in class. I think the worry over being called on can be very motivating to students.
Conner, I can see that your assignments are very technologically focused. This is great! I'm sure that students will be quite engaged when dealing with these assignments.After reading your blog, I realize I didn't focus on using technology as a tool in the classroom, which is something that I think would be very useful.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I find it interesting that instead of analyzing texts for audience and purpose, you analyze electronic media. This is pretty important to do because most of the time, the stuff students are exposed to are not necessarily texts, but the very assignments you want to introduce to the classroom. Students, with your assignments, will be able to make connections and focus on the bigger picture more easily. Great idea!
Connor--I bet there are many short films or videos which could be used which really play with audience. I like "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Bierce's short story does some amazing things with perspective and tone. Check out the film version some time. Who is the narrator? I like your ideas about using different media to help show core composition concepts, like audience. We can transition students into the medium of text by first getting them to see what they don't see in text, through other media types.
ReplyDeleteConnor,
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of using muti-media is wonderful! It will hopefully hold the student's interest and be applicable to their lives. I also thought it was really cool how you laid out your plans chronologically; it showed a real understanding of their learning process and what you will do to support it.