Lessons Learned

Study: Teens See Disconnect Between Personal and School Writing

My favorite article of all of the was.... (look above for the bolded, big printed tittle). This article was right up my ally of English education. Really, I was amazed at the study's results. How is it that we are still teaching bad practicing habits... obviously these teen subjects in the study are not making the appropriate connections to writing in class and writing in the real world. We need to bridge the gap! I don't want to leave my student with this big black crack in their education, they need to know that both are fluid within the other. I think the biggest misconception among teens is that all writing is equal, that is not true. Some writing (scholarly, academic, etc) is above others (texting, communicating with yo hommies etc), therefore students should understand that different writing requires different qualities. If teachers are not teaching this simple fact, then all is lost!!! The American society should just start communicating however to whomever they please in whatever style they want... that is if we are to leave out the important part that requires authors to subjugate their written communication to the reasoned "audience."

TeacherTube

Amazingly, I did not know this site existed. I love it. For technology handicap teachers like myself, this is a godsend. The possiblities are endless (I hope!), just imagine one day I wanted to give a visual aid ... BOOM... easy (as long as it's on site)... got my create visual aid! As I explored the site, I found a lot of things I was really excited about. So much I could add to my curriculum and easy as pie to use. Although, I am sure there is not everything I want in the site, to which I will still have to make my own visual aids, movies, powerpoints etc. I am sure it is not the dream machine I imagine, but still great.