Search Engines: Process of Finding & Learning

"The difficulty is that the searcher does not always know precisely what she means; if she did, she would have little need of searching. The word 'search' suggests that a person is interested in finding something that has been lost. People do use search engines for this, particularly to 're-find' information often they are hoping not to 'find' but to 'learn,' or to 'discover.' Perhaps, then, the ideal search engine does not just understand what you desire, but knows what the user wants even when she does not know herself." (Halavais 35)

I never really took the time to ponder what search engines do to our world, to the education system, to my every day life. I can't even tell you how many times I've used a search engine. I can guarantee that, today alone, I have "Googled" a word or phrase AT LEAST a few dozen or so different times. Honestly, I do not know what life was like before search engines, specifically Google...because I am a Google-junkie.

As I was reflecting on this particular passage from the chapter, I immediately thought of one of the teachers I work with who teaches world history. This particular teacher has decided to implement a research project, as a way to introduce the beginnings of research writing. The students' task: search a topic and write about the findings.

The students think the project is monotonousness. However, what they have found is that by merely searching what they think is a common topic, they end up learning something they didn't know. As I have had the opportunity to watch them search and see the light bulb go on (since I work a few hours a week as a media specialist), I have been able to connect what Halavais means about the finding-learning/discovering connection.

Students do not realize that "the ideal search engine does not just understand what [they] desire, but knows what [they want] even when [they do] not know [themselves]" (Halavais 35). Since students do not always realize this truth, I believe that a part of the role as a teacher is to show students all the advantages of search engines. Many times, teachers assume students know everything about technology, but I have found that students only know what they use everyday (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or really just what they WANT to know. Teachers need to take the time to educate students on all the possibilities technology has. You never know, something might peak their interest. Although, isn't that the goal of teaching--to help the students find connections to their lives and interests?

Writing as Connection

"The connection paradigm...values the negotiation of contexts, the ability to 'write with fragments' ([Johnson-Eilola in "Negative Spaces: From Production to Connection in Composition"] 24). In this approach, writers focus on reorganizing and rerepresenting existing (and equally intertextualized) texts--their own included--in ways that are meaningful to specific audiences" (Selber 135).

Reading the entire first portion of "Rhetorical Literacy" in Multiliteracies for a Digital Age made me shout in agreement, "YES! YES! YES!" Okay, well I didn't do any of it out loud, but the inside of my head was going crazy in excitement agreeing with what Selber had to say. Being not only an English teacher but also a special education teacher, I am HUGE on connection to texts. Honestly, I feel without connection the student will fail. Maybe not necessarily receive a failing grade, but the students will fail in taking away something essential from the class. Also, I believe that if we, as teachers, don't give multiple opportunities for allowing students to connect to the text, we have failed in our role as an educator. 

If there is no connection, my question is: what becomes the point of teaching the topic? The connection paradigm allows the teacher and the students to reflect on why this is essential both now and in the future. So, let's go out there and teach students to connect to the text by reorganizing and rerepresenting existing text, along with adding original input. This will give students a motive for actually having to learn the material and work with the text.

Applying Wikis to Teaching

A great opportunity to collaborate. An ideal way to keep everything accessible in one area. A past fascination. These are all words I use to describe wikis. I used to LOVE wikis. When I first started the Written Communication program, I thought for sure I would be doing my final project on wikis. If you would have asked me a year and a half ago, I would have guaranteed that was the path I wanted to travel, and that wikis were my passion.

Obviously, things have changed, as I've been introduced to different (and dare I say, more exciting) things. Don't get me wrong, I still believe there is merit to wikis, but they have grown old to me...at this time, at least. However, I still like talking about all the different ways I've used wikis in the past.

How have I used them? Well, I'm glad you asked. It all began during my undergraduate years (fall semester of 2007, to be exact), while taking an assistive technology course for my special education degree. Just to give a little background, this was the class that made me realize how much I have a PASSION for technology in education. Anyway, this teacher had a class wiki, a PBwiki, that we dialogued on regarding  assistive technology devices, software, websites, etc. Finally, the sun was peaking through the downpour of rain. I never understood what collaboration, team building, class effort was like until the wiki. Okay, well I may be slightly exaggerating that fact, but the truth is, that day, I fell in love with wikis (really, this part I'm NOT exaggerating).

I ended up doing an honors project for this class, and take a guess what I did! Come on, I bet you'd never guess! Well, it was a wiki. Shocked?!?! Of course you're not because I just got through saying how much I loved wikis. So, I began to complete an online encyclopedia of assistive technology devices that described and reviewed all things related to assistive technology.

It didn't end there. While I was a student teacher in a high school English classroom 2 1/2 years ago, I helped my cooperating teacher incorporate a wiki in the Steinbeck unit. She had never used one, which gave me the opportunity to help her through the process of setting it up. Even though I left part way through the use of the wiki, I would check in periodically (as I was doing my special education student teaching in the same building) to see how everything was going. She enjoyed using the wiki. It was a great place for dialoguing. It was a great place for observing collaboration.

As you can probably tell, I still really enjoy the possibilities of wikis. I think they have a lot to offer, if used properly. However, my world has recently been opened to other pieces of technology that can be incorporated in the classroom, such as blogs and Google docs. So, currently, I'm focused on learning more about incorporating those, along with other up-and-coming technologies that will attract students to learn.

Literacy as a Metaphor

After reading "Why Are We Using Literacy as a Metaphor for Everything Else?" by Anne Wysocki and Johndan Johnson-Eilola, it continues to excite me to begin delving into my Master's project. I have a secret obsession with studying literacy and really looking at what it means. Here are some essential quotes I pulled from the text and will explain below why I see them as important:

• "[It] is possible to describe information not as something we send from place to place, in books or on paper, over time, but as something we move (and hence think) within" (363).
• "[Literacy] changes profoundly if we choose to prioritize space over time" (362).
• "The bundle of meanings and implications that comes with [the word, literacy] is...much denser and messier" (353).
• "No single term--such as 'literacy'--can support the weight of the shifting, contingent activities we have been describing" (366).

Honestly, I might as well reference the entire article, but I contained myself to these four quotes. For my project I will be studying literacy and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) - this is in a broad sense. Wysocki and Johnson-Eilola just reassured me that the way I define literacy is not out of the ordinary. I see literacy as MORE than just reading and writing. Yes, I believe that it is the base of literacy. However, society has advanced in technology, and literacy has and needs to advance with it.

This is why I decided to pull out the first two quotes. These quotes emphasize that literacy is something we are constantly using, and its changes do affect space over time. The third and fourth quotes reflect how I currently feel when dabbling with the term, literacy. To me, Jay L. Robinson in “Literacy in the Department of English” describes it best: “[literacy] is a wonderfully ambivalent term, its meaning dependent upon the contexts in which it is used” (483). Wysocki and Johnson-Eilola would support what Robinson says as they end the chapter by discussing that even though many new terms are given in relation to "literacy," the list may never be exhausted (368). That is the thing with literacy - it is creative.

I've realized what I enjoy most about studying literacy is that it is a challenge. I am never bored reading information on literacy because people view it differently and the ways of applying it to teaching changes every minute. It will be very interesting to see what "literacy" looks like 10, 20, or 50 years from now. My guess is that we would see remnants of the definitions from 2012, but it will probably be drastically different and much more complicated.

EtherPad + Teaching = Successful Classroom???

Being recently exposed to EtherPad, I have done a lot of thinking about how I might be able to use it for teaching. I'm familiar with Google Docs. I'm familiar with how it could be used in the classroom and allow for multiple editing. What I really like about EtherPad is that it allows all of that, but it seems to have a much easier platform to work with, especially for the purpose of having multiple people work on one document at the same time.

As I was thinking about my English classrooms in the past, the first thing that came to my mind was quickwrites. I love using them in my classroom. However, it's always a pain to get students to talk. It's like pulling teeth. Every-so-often I will have a student who will volunteer to speak, but my goal is to get a conversation going, not have them feel as if they are being put on the spot. If I were able to use the EtherPad for quickwrites, it would give such a different atmosphere in the classroom. So now, the students that didn't like talking or interacting have an opportunity to become a part of the class.

I can't wait to have the opportunity to actually use it with my students. I believe it can be used for multiple types of lessons, not just an English/writing classroom. When I do get the chance to implement it, I expect only to see positive results as I think students enjoy learning through technology.

Online Learning & Digital Literacy

Working in a high school that advocates digital learning and having (teaching) one class of credit recovery students through the E2020 program, I have a high regard for offering students alternative learning environments, particularly online/digital learning. Holly states in her post, "Intrator and Kunzman 'Who Are Adolescents Today? YouthVoices and What They Tells Us' from Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research," that "students are bored with school and they think [the teachers] don't care." Why do students find the curriculum boring? 

Being in special education, I believe not all students learn the same way. The bonus of technology and digital learning/digital literacy is that it offers students with a different way to learn because not all students obtain information the same way. Think about it. Are you more of an auditory learner? Maybe you're a visual learner or even a kinesthetic learner. Or, maybe you're a combination of these learning styles. 

For example, the E2020 program allows students to access their education online. The students listen to lectures, complete projects, write papers, take tests...essentially, they do school completely online. Pretty cool, right? I've seen students who don't do well, socially, in classes be able to excel with flying colors. Sometimes students are bored with the curriculum because they are literally geniuses and the information they are learning is really boring. These type of students need something that is self-paced. Their life can change from hating school to actually enjoying it. Below is a screenshot of the website. If you want to find out more information, you can click the picture and it will link you to the site.

However, being in education, I've recently learned that the online credit recovery classes, such as E2020, are not the only ways to offer students a digital learning environment. In Because Digital Writing Matters by Danielle De-Voss, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, and Troy Hicks, it addresses how educators have higher standards that they have to reach with technology and these "emerging technology standards present educators with an ever-expanding list of what students should know and be able to do with computers and the read/write Web" (94). Wouldn't it be nice to have a program that incorporates and addresses all things technology, yet gives students a unique access to education? 

Well, being based from a European model, there is now this program that is popping up all around Michigan called the WAY program. WAY stands for Widening Advancement for Youth. This is exactly what the program's goal is. As part of the program they supply each student with an iMAC and Internet connection. Upon successful completion of the program, students get to keep the iMAC. How cool is that?! So, technology and digital literacy is a major focus of the program. Below you will find a screen shot of the website that links to the website when clicking on the picture and screen shots of the brochure, which give more detailed information about this unique, digital literacy-focused program. If you click on the pictures of the brochure, they enlarge and become readable.

I love digital literacy because it is such a broad field. What I love most about it is the fact that I'm learning it along with my students. I also appreciate that it is such a creative field. This gives students the opportunity to strengthen and explore their unique abilities. Literacy is no longer just reading and writing by pen and paper. It becomes something so much more. It becomes complicated and ever-expanding.

CCSS & Technology

Being a high school teacher and as we, high school teachers, are preparing to implement the Common Core State Standards, I have realized how disappointed I am in the lack of emphasis on technology. In each grade level there is only one small strand in regards to technology. For example, in the 11-12 grade area on both the writing standards and literacy standards for the other core-academic areas, the technology strand states the following: "Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information" (www.corestandards.org). This standard is extremely vague. Look at what the current grade level content expectations have to say regarding technology (www.michigan.gov/mde):

• CE 1.5.2  Prepare spoken and multimedia presentations that effectively address audiences by careful use of voice, pacing, gestures, eye contact, visual aids, audio and video technology.
• CE 1.5.4 Use technology tools (e.g, word processing, presentation and multimedia software) to produce polished written and multimedia work (e.g., literary and expository works, proposals, business presentations, advertisements).

Not only are there two standards instead of one, but the standards from the grade level content expectations are a little more extensive and in-depth. So, are schools going to lose their focus on technology as a form of introducing literacy when they switch from content expectations to state standards? Also, what really is "technology"?

I did not realize how much this lack of detail as to what students need to master before graduating high school bothered me until reading Because Digital Writing Matters by Danielle DeVoss, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, and Troy Hicks. I have a secret passion for technology. I love incorporating technology because I truly believe that students, more specifically high school students, rely on technology, whether they really know it or not. From cell phones to laptops to iPod touches, students are constantly enveloped in the world of technology. If students do not have the opportunity to be exposed to how technology can be used for the purposes of learning and improve their writing, I fear that students will go through their high school lifetime being illiterate in writing and technology.

In Because Digital Writing Matters, DeVoss, Eidman-Aadahl, and Hicks state that writing instruction for today's students "requires [the teachers] to consider what new skills and dispositions students might need for the digital age" (11). However, if there are no specific guidelines for teachers, how are teachers expected to know what type of technologies should be introduced into the classroom?

This is what frustrates me with the Common Core State Standards. The standard on technology seems unclear to me as to what the expectations are for the both the teachers and students. Being that I love technology, I would constantly be using it. However, would a teacher who is not as acquainted and comfortable with technology use it less often or maybe not even at all? How would this impact the students' education in regards to digital literacy and the fact that digital writing is currently the new way of learning? I really enjoy the input from DeVoss, Eidman-Aadahl, and Hicks, but how can it be stressed to all teachers that they should have this same mindset on technology and digital writing?