Friday, July 17, 2009 ~ Finally Friday!

• At the end of a second intense week of writing, technology, and presentations, CAWPers filed into the room to discover a pleasant atmosphere of music, images, and quotes as Heather and Wendy prepared to open our day with their presentation. Promptly at 9am, they began and dazzled us with their topic- Stepping Into the Craft: A Workshop Approach. A research whiz, Heather shared numerous excellent resources, all conveniently listed on their handout. As an expert in teaching strategies for students with disabilities, she reminded us to always have a low-tech back-up for the high-tech strategies we use. Wendy then modeled the Writer's Workshop model for us using Angela Johnson's Joshua's Night Whispers and an anchor craft chart. They also shared the importance of Celebrations- a writer's moment to publish and share his work. We were all amused with her story of how parents fall short of finding the elements in a story that their children have the ability to find. They ended their presentation by asking us to work in groups to discuss ways the writer's workshop model could be used in elementary, middle, and high school content areas. All three groups found numerous ways the model could benefit our students' learning.

• Ruie then intimidated us with the assignment of the Class Position Paper. The purpose of the paper is to take a position on writing, find support for our position through authors, other teachers, and researchers, and defend our position against the anticipated skeptical arguments. Our class position paper should be multi-modal, so we've been encouraged to seek Donna and Megan's expertise in creating our portion of the final product. Some suggestions they gave us were using Youtube, Teachertube, or flip camera videos, voice threads, links, web pages, or blogs. We all contributed to a huge laundry list of topics to include in the paper and then chose two we felt we could expand upon with a partner. The topics' assignments are listed on the class wiki: http://cawp.pbworks.com/Position-Paper

• Donna presented a brief history and explanation of TPCK- Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Though Pedagogy and Content have always been merged, adding technology into the equation is necessary though tricky. Donna reminded us to note the affordances and constraints of integrating technology into our lessons. We should ask ourselves how technology has the ability to move us along in our goals. What can it do and not do for us? TPCK is the concept of all three components merged together, a successful accomplishment when it is achieved.

• After lunch, I presented my topic, "I Hope You Dance": Creative Expression of Poetry through Songs. I discussed Louise Rosenblatt's Reader-Response theory of making personal connections to literature, gave a brief explanation of the background of the project, and showed my own example. Then, we got to work making our own movies. We did encounter some technology mishaps, but I think most CAWPers were able to at least begin a movie. Hopefully, everyone began something she would like to finish at a later date. Maybe after CAWP when we have a little bit more time to ourselves. =) Wendy was able to finish her movie and share it with us at the end of the presentation. (Thanks Wendy!) We all chuckled over her kids' adorable pictures and quotes. It was a charming way to end the presentation. (Thanks, CAWPers for being patient with me and the technology! I appreciate it!)

• Ron ended the day with an intense diagram and discussion of the Rhetorical Paradigms for the Teaching of Writing. He talked Classicists, Current-Traditionalists, Expressionists, and New Rhetorics. He also included the Cognitive and Social Views. He was surprisingly upbeat for 4pm on a Friday afternoon, which helped us to digest the serious subject matter with our fried Friday brains!

• Happy weekend everyone! See ya Tuesday morning!