Zen and the Art of Cherry Picking.

Road trip to dad's to help out on the farm got me thinking about the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, and how picking cherries relates to teaching and learning writing.

1. The tendency for novice writers to "cherry pick" their data. It doesn't strengthen a writer's position to ignore data that may not agree with your a priori position (what you thought before you learned anything). Teachers want you to look around, become an expert and present a balanced look at the situation, then clearly define and articulate your position. Besides, rejecting too many choices shuts you off to possibilities and limits your experience.

2) "Bruised fruit can sometimes turn out to be the sweetest" (Grandma Dixon). It takes some experience to know what is and isn't useful, so don't be too picky and don't be afraid to benefit from collaboration and judgement of others. Someone else will be washing and pitting - they can help you when you have doubts - better to pick than to leave it on the tree. Just because an article doesn't look like it supports what you think your thesis will be - reading the article may provide ideas that will - or maybe your position will change to something easier to defend - which isn't necessarily bad. Some positions deserve to be changed. That's learning.

3) Going after low-hanging fruit is easy - but less rewarding than you might think. It's harder to find anything original that hasn't been consumed by anyone walking by if it's really easy to access. Like using wikipedia. It's low-hanging fruit: easy to access and generally thought to be up for grabs by anyone - but technically it does belong to the owners of the tree and or land it grows on. If it's community property then it isn't worth quoting. A little work will improve your experience exponentially. (needs work).

4) You think you've picked a spot clean - leave and come back and discover by looking at it from a different angle there's a lot you missed. Revisiting places you've been can be rewarding. Reread research - and search again using different terms and word choices.

5) It isn't about the cherries. My young son helped pick this year. He picked some bad cherries, he provided many distractions and kept my dad and I from being productive, and he on several occasions dumped perfectly good cherries into the grass for reasons that don't make sense to anyone over 3. But it wasn't just about the cherries. We could have bought the fruit at the market for less than what we spent on gas if that was it. He was learning. I was maybe teaching. Three generations of family were spending time together.

What can you learn thru Read/Write web; what skills are needed (research notes)

Luckin et al. (2009) asks how the read/write web interacts with learning and what sort of skills support the kind of learning that happens in this environment, and notes that researchers (Buckingham, 2007; Green and Hannon, 2007; Jenkins, 2006) have identified "learner criticality" as a constellation of essential cognitive skills. I'll have to read up on these sources to be sure of how the term is used, but it seems to be a more specific subset of meta-cognitive skills - which is an awareness and knowledge of self and learning - learning to learn.

Luckin et al's study of 11-16 year old British students found low use of wiki's (save for Wikipedia), blogs and podcasts by students, and high use of social networking sites, such as Facebook. The tremendous potential of the former applications are not as embraced by youth as we might have thought. Indeed, they found,

The types of activity revealed by the data illustrated little evidence of critical enquiry or analytical awareness, few examples of collaborative knowledge construction, and little production or publishing outside social networking sites. We also confirm the low level of computer activity at school when compared to use at home and also illustrate the difference in the type of activity being undertaken inside and outside school (100).

Luckin et al. also note a lack of sophistication in research and a lack of higher order thinking skills. We should remember that the population studied were only 11-16 years old, but elsewhere Carr (2010) argues that modern technology creates consumers of information who are less equipped to think deeply or construct meaning from that information.

Works Cited

• Buckingham, D. 2007. Beyond technology: Children’s learning in the age of digital culture. Cambridge: Polity.
• Carr, N. 2010. The Shallows Norton & Co.
  
• Green, H., and C. Hannon. 2007. Their space: Education for a digital generation. London: Demos.
• Jenkins, H., K. Clinton, R. Purushotma, A. Robison, and M. Weigel. 2006. Confronting the
  challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago:
  MacArthur Foundation.
  
• Lenhart, A., and M. Madden. (2005). Teen content creators and consumers. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
• Luckin, R. et al. (2009)"Do Web 2.0 tools really open the door to learning? Practices, perceptions and profiles of 11–16-year-old students" Learning, Media and Technology. 34 ( 2) 87–104

Are students technology experts?

While there is no shortage of people with the view that today's young are fish, and social media and technology are the water through which they swim, that isn't the complete truth.

• Pew Reports note that young people are prolific creators and consumers of online content (Lenhart and Madden, 2005),
• O'Brien and Fitzgerald (2006) discuss their propensity to create and remix video and music,
• Lankshear and Knobel (2005) establish the popularity of writing blogs among the youth community

However, there is ample evidence that while this is true for some students, it is true of a minority of students and the majority are not especially tech savvy (Luckin et al., 2009; Green and Hannon, 2007). For most they can access content but do not create it.

Some of my students have written comments in their literacy narratives that echo this common assumption of universal technological skill, such as, "I was born in the technological age, so of course I'm good with all sorts of computer applications." [paraphrase]. But invariably I find that most students are unaware of many basic skills necessary for managing the online Learning Management System (ANGEL), and using and commenting on blogs, wikis and youtube. There are always many students who teach me things I didn't know, and a small few who seem to know more about the medium than I.

This has proven true at the 3 schools I've taught at since I started paying attention to the question - and includes both University and Community College students. A focus group I conducted back in 2008 indicated interest in a "technology boot camp" or intensive workshop in educational technology necessary for student success.

I have a feeling the responsibility for such learning-to-learn-with-technology will fall on teachers of gateway classes - in particular those of us who teach composition.

Works cited

Green, H., and C. Hannon. 2007. Their space: Education for a digital generation. London: Demos.
Lankshear, C., and M. Knobel. 2006. Weblog worlds and constructions of effective and powerful writing: Cross with care and only where signs permit. In Travel notes from the new literacy studies: Instances of practice, ed. K. Pahl and J. Roswell, 72–94. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Lenhart, A., and M. Madden. (2005). Teen content creators and consumers. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Luckin, R. et al. (2009)"Do Web 2.0 tools really open the door to learning? Practices, perceptions and profiles of 11–16-year-old students" Learning, Media and Technology. 34 ( 2) 87–104

Low tech solution: crowd sourced communication

Several groups of my comp 2 students chose campus communication as a key problem facing students. Last days to drop, deadlines for enrollment and other key dates pass and too many students remain oblivious. Email is an obvious solution - but leads us to a bigger problem: students don't check their school email account. Need to survey students as to why: is institutional spam an issue - or just inertia and habit? In NYC, some helpful and anonymous citizens have chalked/ spray painted useful info on the sidewalk in places it might do the most good. Don't know if that'd work in our situation - but it reaffirms the idea that people are inherently good.

The message board flat screens do OK - but they are limited in how much they can show and chances of timing. We need additional modes of communication for students. My classes suggested making posters a couple times a year - for only the most important info. TOO MUCH INFORMATION DROWNS THE CRUCIAL MESSAGES IN A SEA OF IRRELEVANT DATA.

The School website - default homepage on all campus computers - is not useful. It is designed for strangers to the school. Those enrolled are assumed to log on to a password encrypted page - but that's too much work when you aren't aware that you need information - and on shared computers .... no one does it. We need an public accessible message board / student oriented web page - with quick links to ANGEL, Billington Library, Student Engagement, etc. It should be updated with key up-to-date info.

THAT should be the default homepage on all instructor/ classroom / lab computers.

All the above suggestions come from my SP 2010 comp 2 classes.

Research on Peer Feedback and CMC.

Currently reading "Peer Feedback Through Blogs: Student and teacher perceptions in an advanced German class" by DORIS DIPPOLD found in European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 21 (1) : 18-36. Published in 2009.

This article explores the question of how blogs can facilitate peer feedback in a second language acquisition environment. It concludes that blogs can be useful tools for collaboration and student feedback on peer writing in second language classrooms, but warns of dangers and need for training by both teachers and students. I appreciated the literature review which expressed ideas I take for granted that may not be common knowledge - and it exposed me to articles I need to track down. Dippold also notes that in educational writing "feedback" and "assessment," when used in discussions of formative assessment - are used almost interchangeably. The importance of this insight might be more important that she realizes.

Blogs allow student writers to reach a far larger audience than just a teacher and/or tutor, and help in the easier sharing or resources and ideas (Goodwin-Jones, 2003; Williams & Jacobs, 2004).

Because of the need to imagine and predict the possible reactions of their readers blogging promotes critical thinking (Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Oravec, 2003; Ducate & Lomika, 2005). Ducate & Lomika strove to build intercultural awareness in their research, which involved exchanges (travel as well as communication) between French and American students. Blogging uniquely enables peer feedback, which is essential to meeting objectives of audience analysis, tone, purpose, and the recognition of one's place in a discourse community united by an intellectual goal. Baggetun and Wasson (2006:460) explain:

We see that in order to generate feedback one needs certain skills, in particular, participation skills. As a student, you need to learn how to frame an issue you want to raise, relate it to a current issue, and know how to invite or ask questions so that someone feels tempted to reply. [y] SRL [self-regulated learning] also encompasses participation in learning communities and how to develop skills to engage in productive interactions with your peers.

There are several issues that make using peer feedback with ESL learners a tremendous challenge. Hyland and Hyland (2006) note that foreign language students prefer feedback from teachers to peers. This likely has something to do with the non-native speaking ability in English of their peers. If their "peer" were another comp. 1 or 2 student whose native language was English, then these results might be different. Also, ESL students resist having power over their peers and resist their peers having power over them (Liu & Carless, 2006).

Works Cited

Baggetun, R. and Wasson, B. (2006) Self-regulated learning and open writing. European Journal of Education, 41(3–4): 453–472.
Ducate, L. and Lomicka, L. (2005) Exploring the blogosphere: Use of blogs in the foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 38(3): 410–421.
Goodwin-Jones, R. (2003) "Blogs and wikis: Environments for on-line collaboration." Language Learning and Technology, 7(2): 12–16.
Hyland, F. and Hyland, K. (2006) State of the art article: Feedback on second language students’ writing. Language Teaching, 39: 83–101.
Liu, N. and Carless, D. (2006) Peer feedback: The learning element of peer assessment. Teaching in Higher Education, 11(3): 279–290.
Oravec, J. A. (2003) Blogs as an emerging genre in higher education. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 14(2): 21–44.
Williams, J. and Jacobs, J. (2004) Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2): 232–247.

what I'm reading - for fun

I'm reading Chinese Americans by Kwong and Miscevic. I'm barely into it and I've learned:

• America's favorite cherry - the large, sweet and succulent Bing - was developed by Ah Bing, a Chinese immigrant horticulturalist, in 1875.
• Lue Gim Gong, the father of the Florida citrus industry, developed the frost resistant orange tree in 1888.
  
• The best doctors in the old west were Chinese traditional herbalists (btw: the Chinese knew how to prevent scurvy by at least the 1400's).
• The Chinese American community had it's share of gunfighters.
  
• Keno was brought to America by Chinese immigrants - originally called "pak kop piu" (white pigeon ticket).
  
• 25% of miners by 1850 were Chinese.
• it was no coincidence the large #'s of Chinese laborers came to the US during the heat of the slavery debate that lead up to the civil war. And plantations in the south sought to replace African American slaves with Chinese indentured workers (who didn't get the vote until the 20th century?) That didn't work out.
  

There's so much from this book I don't want to forget. I will post again on it ASAP, but I only get to read it during my son's nap and sometimes before bed.

Secrets of other teachers.

Tweed, a blog by the Chronicle of Education, has an interesting example of teachers who should know better having no privacy settings and posting inappropriate (?) comments on Facebook.

This isn't how I grade because a) I don't drink beer when I grade (tho I abuse coffee), and b) every paper gets read about 3 times; however, what the third comment down says about how - by the last 10 papers - if students use the right format and write coherently - they get an "A" does resonate. I suspect it's true of MANY teachers - and that's why up to 10% of a paper grade goes for MLA format INCLUDING/ ESPECIALLY THE HEADING and page #'s.

If you get an "A" in my class you learn to work the academic system - how to play the college game. And format is part of the objectives for all comp classes. AND it is SO EASY!

Research on Facebook: statistics.

Near the end of 2009, Facebook had over 300 million users and it's common stock value was about $9.5 billion (Womack, 2009). By the beginning of 2010 it had become the "most popular social network in eight of the 10 top internet markets in the world" an by June 2010 membership had grown to "upwards of 400 million members" (Weeks). Recent research conducted by the University of New Hampshire found that 96% of their students had Facebook accounts and that there was no correlation between Facebook use and student success. Chuck Martin, whose class conducted the study, says, "college students have grown up with social networks, and the study shows they are now simply part of how students interact with each other with no apparent impact on grades" (cited in Wright). We shouldn't just take him at his word though. Earlier research has gone back and forth - there is much debate on the impact of Facebook.

I'm looking for for info on whether 96% student usage of Facebook is typical.

Bibliography (note this is in an approximation of APA format - not MLA)

Wright, L. (2009) "Student grades not affected b social networking, new research finds" www.unh.edu/news/ accessed June 10,2010
Weeks, L. (June 9, 2010) "In your Facebook: social sites are everywhere" www.npr.org retrieved June 10, 2010
Womack, B. (November 19 2009) "Facebook Common Stock Valuation Jumps 42% to 9.5 Billion," Bloomberg.com retrieved June 10, 2010

Grammar matters (?): #9 farther vs. further.

Farther is distance and further is for an abstract concept - matter of time or degree usually. Click on cartoon for full treatment (it won't fit here and be legible).

Grammar matters (?)

Oddly enough - non-standard grammar / spelling bother most people even more than it bothers English teachers. English teachers just see so much of it; however, nothing makes people feel more superior than reading someone else's mistakes.

Failure to proofread is anti-social and indicates a lack of respect for the reader and whoever wrote it.

Book Report: Brothers

Brothers, by Yu Hua is available in Chinese or English, and in Audiobook form at the Lawrence Public Library. It's long - but I loved it.

The New York Times says

“Brothers” is, in fact, very much a social novel of the late 20th century. It deals with the emergence of China as a capitalist market state, a story familiar to anyone who reads the newspapers, and it’s as blunt, puerile, libidinous and trashily sentimental as any 24 hours of American reality TV. All that ought to make it a blockbuster in the West, as it has been in China, where on its release in 2005 and 2006 (in two volumes) it sold more than a million copies....Imagine a novel written by William Dean Howells together with D. H. Lawrence, updated by Tom Wolfe and then filmed by Baz Luhrmann, and you’ll have some idea of what “Brothers” would be like, had it originated in the West.

It has been criticized as low-brow and crass (especially at home in China), but I doubt anyone who actually read The Faire Queene or Ubu Roi would say that. The author also wrote To Live, which became an amazing movie that China banned - which of course made it a monumental best seller there and abroad.

Book Report: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

This novel by Dai Sijie, is available in Chinese or English - and can be found in audio format in English. Set during the cultural revolution, it treats the it's protagonists with warmth and humor - and the book has been well received critically. It has love, illicit sex, betrayal, and references to western literature. It's set where I've traveled - and I've included some personal pictures - and I may need to tell my story of the young toughs, the stick of dynamite and the Red Chinese Army soldiers. Synopsis: I was clever, something very bad happened, and it wasn't my fault; but this post is about someone else's story.

• study questions
  
• Map available - large.
• Wikipedia on the book by Dai Sijie
• Wikipedia on author (semi-autobiographical?)
  
• Poster images found at Stefan Landsberger's sight.
• history of Chinese Communist Party
  

Characters:

1. Ma - our narrator most of the time. Dr's kid. 18 ?
   
2. Luo - Dentist's kid. 19
   
3. The Little Seamstress (aka: ) age? Innocent or sex kitten?
   
4. Tailor
5. Village chief - ex opium grower.
   

Setting
Phoenix mountain near ChengDu, Yunnan? Year (?)

Books worth reading.

• Nien Cheng, Life and Death in ShiangHi
• Kristoff and WuDunn, China Wakes
• Yu Hua, Brothers
  

Pictures from my travel in the area

Feedback: teacher clarity and millennials

About every semester lately I get a request from a couple students for greater clarity in what is expected in a writing assignment. I expect this because the course goals and objectives of composition classes call for abstract thinking and problem solving. The course calls for me to challenge students with assignments that require them to find solutions, make decisions and discover and determine their own point of view.

But is this a facilitative tension required of any learning, or is it something else? A business publication asserts:

Unlike new hires of previous generations, who may have benefited from training in diversity or technical matters, experts say, millennials need other types of training--in professional behavior, for example, or in basic writing, confidentiality issues, critical thinking, or how to give and receive constructive criticism (emphasis mine).

The publication - and business leaders in general - targets writing as a key skill that young people lack - and further lists some of the top objectives in composition classes. For further articles see my bookmarks on millennials. Not all research agrees. Is conventional wisdom correct that youth are less prepared in these skills than past students?

Furthermore, the issue of professional behavior came up in a recent NPR piece. The story quoted Laura Wand, a director of Marketing at Johnson Controls:

"Dude, dress up. This isn't the mall," she tells the crowd.

With her PowerPoint slides, Wand tries to impart some helpful advice from the real world.

"Multitasking is a myth," she says. "You got a great job. Turn off the cell phone. Stop texting."

The cell phone issue is a frequent topic among teachers.

Students who have never gotten constructive criticism - or who have never been allowed to fail - are less persistent, but there have always been students like that. I remember a student in 2009 who couldn't figure out the metaphor paper and then dropped out of class for a few weeks. He came back and explained that when he gets frustrated, he simply quits.

I feel like if any of my students aren't frustrated by an assignment - then it isn't challenging enough. Optimizing student learning may make me less popular. Higher Ed Morning reports that 45% of students are using online professor rating web sites - and that these sites say whether teachers are "easy grading." If this is a criteria by which students select teachers - how will it affect learning and how will it affect my evaluations?

advice to myself - what I'll do differently next semester

We will

1. establish the role of wikipedia (ie. anything there should be considered common knowledge, so it doesn't make an effective quote in a real research paper - but can make useful footnotes for electronic discussions).
   
2. likewise: queries to ask.com or about.com can be a useful place to start a personal journey of discovery - but are ineffective citations in a respectable essay. These sources function more as an appeal to an authority than legitimate research - and the authority is a search engine.
   
3. dedicate more class time earlier to the iSearch, and discuss cognitive biases and credibility earlier - making ourselves accountable. We still see too much cherry picking and insubstantial research.
4. restrict ourselves to documents and data available through the Billington Library or through the internet without fee or registration - so anyone can track down other people's data.
5. increase the penalty for papers that fall short of minimum length requirements.
6. consider increasing the amount of points given/ received by peers. Classmates are amazingly accurate in peer assessments.
   

I also need to share more learning styles/ life skills content early on. NEED TO COVER IN CLASS "How college is different from High School."

Also, here's an interesting and counter-intuitive video from Stephen Fry on "what I wish I'd known when I was 18." Not sure I agree with all of it - but he makes some good points.