Nelson asserts that “we must learn more about how particular tasks and writing situations influence studentsʼ efforts. By examining when and how studentsʼ interpretations of writing assignments converge or diverge from their teachersʼ intentions, we can increase our understanding of how certain classroom practices and studentsʼ assumptions affect student writing” (p. 363). Nelsonʼs case study exemplifies the ways in which individual students respond to such an inquiry (as stated above). Our groupʼs assignment is designed to do exactly this type of inquiry in the context of our specific classrooms.
The students will be instructed on how to create a bubbl.us account (free and easy). They will either have the three questions on a separate sheet and will need to create bubbles for each question; or I will figure out a way for the students to access a prepared template, complete with the three questions (this is ideal). They will be required to fill out the bubble map for at least three assignments throughout the semester.
This assignment is designed to help students engage in self-reflective and detailed thinking, planning, and engagement with the three assignments. It also acts as a way for me (or any other teacher) to have a deeper understanding of the studentsʼ thought, planning, and writing processes. There may be exceptions to our expectations with this assignment (i.e. students who fill out the bubble map after actually writing a draft or final paper, or making everything up), but Iʼm assuming these will be exactly that: rare exceptions. Iʼm trying to think of my future students as actually trying to learn something, because if I assume they are lazy, unmotivated, etc., then those assumptions will have a negative impact on the studentsʼ learning (i.e. as seen in the “Remediation” text). So letʼs assume this assignment will be received by students in the way our group envisioned. :)
As noted in the explanation next to the graphic of the bubble map, the map we devised is an example of what could be done with this technology. The user has the freedom to create bubbles, connected or floating, change their size and color, play with font choices, etc. Therefore, it will allow students to create connections between their ideas and responses that might now be possible in a simple word processing program. It also allows a visual aspect that is not present in word processors: visual layers, spatial proximity, etc. (all things that could be accomplished in word with extensive practice, but bubbl.us allows this in a more simple format). This web applicationʼs primary purpose is to create visual maps, and I think it might be an effective learning tool.
The yellow bubbles with questions are paraphrased from Nelsonʼs article, and thus may need further paraphrasing due to their complexity of language. I might try to simplify the questions so that students donʼt get too bogged down in the language and not fully understand the goals of the assignment. Anyway, itʼs a prototype, but one that seems full of possibility.
1 comment:
The things that I was most taken with in the Nelson article was how wildly divergent a student and a teacher's interpretation of the same assignment could be. This troubled me a little bit. I was particularly interested in how the Sociology assignment was too prescriptive and the Literature assignment might have given a bit too much latitude. Not that that's bad, but the students didn't seem to understand precisely what was being asked of them.
So in considering this, and talking about it in the group, I thought that it would be a good idea to go straight to the source to deal with this problem. Why not just ask the students what they think is being asked of them, and how they make their decisions to fulfill the requirements of the assignment. This was the really important question for me.
So when Lindsay suggested the "bubble assignment," I thought this was a great idea. Not only would it give the teacher input on where the students are, as far as understanding the assignment and about how they go about working through it. I think this would be immensely helpful. We also discussed how a rubric should really accompany assignments. I've only experienced this a few times as a student, and I wish I would've more. There's nothing wrong with giving students freedom to be creative, I would hope that I will do that, but at the same time, it seems that if what you want them to accomplish is mysterious to them, it's going to be difficult to get them to benefit from the process, or to create a good product. (Although I think the process might almost be more important.)
So anyway, I agreed with Lindsay that this would be a great idea for a teacher to gauge how his or her students are understanding and reacting to their assignments, by having them do this exercise for several assignments throughout the semester, and to give the teacher a way to compare the students' expectations and understanding with his or her own. Maybe this would make a step toward bridging the gaps.
Post a Comment