RRC's

The most challenging part of doing the RRC's was the fact that they required me to break out of my schooling mold. I was so used to writing the traditional summary that it was hard to not write a traditional summary of an article. It still is a challenge and that is why I am doing my final reflective essay as a blog. I think that by using a blog it will prevent me from falling back into the traditional summary style final paper. A blog, to me, was more of a way of having a conversation and telling what I have learned and what I will take with me. I chose a blog because writing papers can be really intimidating. I become obsessive with the way my writing sounds and that becomes a huge distractant which prevents me from getting critical and reflective. For one of my RRC's I did a blog, for the other I made a puzzle and for the another I made a Zine. None of them were really that easy because when I first made my blog about supporting the troops it took forever because I had not idead what I was doing. I was frustrated and so badly just would have rahter done something else. It was annoying as I struggled to work with technology and a different kind of text. But by the end of it, I was having so much fun and I wanted to add more but I ran out of time. I was like wow this is really cool I can use pictures, movies, practically anything to get my point across. I was so excited that I even showed my dad when he came home for lunch and the next day the young boy I watch wanted to make a superhero blog so we did together because he is Batman. I even showed people in the armed forces in Afghanistan my blogs and they were happy to see something positive about the war- so I actually used the blog I created for this class, outside of class! It was applicable to the real-world!

I totally see blogs as being something that students would be interested in making and using in the classroom. I would totally use blogs to help me teach as well. Now, they are pretty easy to do and I'm sure I will get better at it as I make more. I think that having students create a blog on a specific topic would also be a valuable means of assessment and a way for them to bring their out-of-school literacies and cultures into the classroom. What young child would not love creating a blog all about dancing if dancing is what they love to do? Like I said, the 4 year old boy I watch wanted to make a blog all about Superheros and he took control of the situation and he is 4!

The zines were really useful too, but they were difficult to make in the beginning. I was like what is she talking about, why are we doing this, it is so stupid. But I quickly learned it was just an alternative way of showing what you know or what you have learned and an alternative way of expressing yourself. My zine was kind of bad and if I had to do it over I know how I could make it better. I would design it differently and use words. I was afraid to go too crazy because I did not want to offend anyone so I played it safe by just using images. When I looked at the comments people wrote upon completion of the gallery walk, I noticed that some people were unclear as to what I was trying to say, so I think words may have been more useful. I would use zines in the classroom and I am glad that we have that compliation of everyone's zines to use a models or examples for students. Examples always help clarify what it is you are trying to have them do. I do not see why you wouldn't use zines in the classroom. They have a purpose and they are meaningful so why not?

The two most difficult RRC's were creating the blog and the zine. They were difficult because I had never done either one before. I was at the frustrational level in trying to complete each assignment, but it was a healthy frustration, a learning frustration. I am glad that I went through with the assignments and completed them because I learned a lot. It definitely took a lot of pushing to get through it but in the end, it was well worth it because now I have a better understanding of two more tools I can use in the classroom.

Creating the multimdal response was probably the easiest just because I typically plan lessons using different modes, I just didn't know they were called "different modes" before. Creating an artifcat that was multimodal was by far the easiest assignment for the whole class.

If I were to write an RRC assignment I would ask my students to make zines and blogs but I would also have them make like a imovie or something of that nature. I orginally wanted to make a "True Life" episode called "True Life: Class with Dr. T" and document my experiences for my final reflective essay,like they do on True Life but I don't have a video camera and I have no idea how to edit and make things into a cohesive video (but I would have forced myself to learn for as assignment). My students made a video during student teaching and they absolutely loved it. The kids, even though they were in 5th grade, loved using the video camera to record and they knew how to edit things and make a somewhat professional looking video. It was so awesome and EVERY student was involved and wanted to be involved. I would have loved to have made our own Salem Witch Trials video where we acted out the Tituba part with Betty and Abigail! I definitely see myself having my students make a lot of videos when I have my own classroom. We could pretend we are experts and make "educational videos" to teach others. I had a teacher in undergrad who was all into technology and her husband was a teacher at a Montessori school and his students always made videos- like they actually wrote the scripts and designed the stage and video taped each other, and he got tons of grants and had digital cameras donated. He came in and showed us the videos his K students had made and they were awesome. Then he used to sell the videos to parts as a way of raising money for the class and he actually raised a lot of money because every parent wants a video with their child on it. So I would definitely make an RRC assignment of making a movie or some sort.