Even though I am going to talk a little bit more about the
demos from today in a bit, my biggest revelation for today is that I LOVE MY
WRITING GROUP!!! I have to thank Lacy and Steve for picking out a group of some
awesome partners-in-crime AND really good colleagues as well. I’ve really had a
lot of fun getting to know everyone and I have learned so much from them. So
Grouping Gods, you did a great job!
I know you can't read this, but our Skype conversations are hilarious. Even as I am typing this at home, we are still talking to each other on Skype. |
As far as the demos, I really enjoyed Kim’s demo this
morning on what is a hero and I think that it would be a great way for me to
introduce the concept of inquiry in my own class. I think the demo did a
fantastic job of showing how to take a big idea question (which most inquiry
questions begin as), locate the conversation, respond to the conversation, and
find a place to stand among it. I also really enjoyed Ben’s demo even though he
made me do creative writing, which I am TERRIBLE at! (If you want proof, my
best/most creative work from today is the caption underneath the picture).
"Nice to meet you too. You can call me, Ishmael." (Terrible, I know!) |
I think that I will use something very similar to his demo
along with the one that I did on good writing to complicate this notion or
narrative of what writing is at the beginning of the semester. I think that I
may change their first thought piece to be what their definition of writing is
based on what they learned from our discussions/activities and then also what
they find out from other people’s definitions. It could be a little
mini-inquiry on the nature of writing and I think it would be really cool.
Maybe have them record people’s ideas, incorporate quotes, etc. SORRY!!! I was
just writing through my ideas here.
Back to Ben’s demo: I LOVED the part where
we intentionally made our writing bad, but when we shared it around the circle,
we starting valuing it more. It’s funny how the worst ultimately became the
best, which gives credence to the notion that all of these definitions of what
is “good writing” or “bad writing” are completely arbitrary. If any of you are interested in writing badly, there is a
contest I talked about in one of my earlier posts. It’s the one that inspired
Snoopy’s “It was a dark and stormy night” and you can find the information here
or check out the photo below:
Overall, I think that today went extremely well because it
was over before I knew it. I can’t wait to see what’s to come tomorrow J
FOR MY GROUP: Secret Skype Emoticons
Our writing group pretty much is the bomb. (Yea...I went there) I mean what other writing group gets their posters pulled down from the wall with a sticky note saying "Show Offs?" ;)
ReplyDeleteI really liked both demos today too! I think Ben's really made me think back to yours. Because if we are writing bad..then aren't we really thinking about what good writing is and then doing the opposite? Or knowingly breaking some "rules" for good writing? Because there can't be a sense of bad unless there is first a sense of good right? Or was it the chicken or the egg? That's where I feel like I'm going here..so I'll stop. Until tomorrow groupie...
Ka-Kaw
Do you think the groups were intentional or random? Aside from our awesomeness, why were we grouped up?
ReplyDeleteI loved the activity that Ben opened with, because it was so quick and you had no time to think, this is bad/good, before you moved on. Your whale picture probably gave you a good chuckle; but then you had to move on to the next picture. I think it really opens you up to just write.
I like the way you ramble and interrupt yourself in your blog. Writing groups are always the coolest part of the institute.
ReplyDeleteThe Ishmael quote was hilarious. I am jealous you found these emoticons without my knowledge. My dancing guy is old hat. I agree that the bad writing inverse Ben forced us to do was intriguing. Writing for a purpose is always a sign of good writing, so in this example it inverts the whole convention writing bad= good? Loved that.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection with Kim's demo and our FYW inquiry projects. Yes, i can definitely see using this activity for our inquiry projects My writing group is awesome also. Diverse yet very helpful with comments and insights.
ReplyDelete