The New York Times section called "Vows" has a weekly wedding video. This week, it's a great video of a same-sex couple. Enjoy!
If need (or needs) be?
2 days ago
Showing posts with label websites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label websites. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Why has it taken so long for me to find this?
Part of my last-year sabbatical project was to catch up on pedagogy scholarship in three areas: feminist, online, and critical pedagogies.
My dean had heard of the first two, but not the third. I asked, "Maybe you've heard of Paulo Freire? Henry Giroux?" Nope. I was surprised. But one can't know everything, can one?
Now I've discovered an entire website that *I* should have know about last year: The Paulo and Nita Freire Project for Critical Pedagogy. Its home is McGill University, and here's a website excerpt that applies especially to community colleges:
"Housed in the project are the papers of seminal scholars who have contributed to the evolution of Critical Pedagogy. In addition, the project will promote research in Critical Pedagogy and bring together both local and international educators and continue its development globally while highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples" (emphasis added).
If our students and our teaching isn't "marginalized," then I don't know what is. I'm just beginning to explore the site -- I invite others to do so, too.
My dean had heard of the first two, but not the third. I asked, "Maybe you've heard of Paulo Freire? Henry Giroux?" Nope. I was surprised. But one can't know everything, can one?
Now I've discovered an entire website that *I* should have know about last year: The Paulo and Nita Freire Project for Critical Pedagogy. Its home is McGill University, and here's a website excerpt that applies especially to community colleges:
"Housed in the project are the papers of seminal scholars who have contributed to the evolution of Critical Pedagogy. In addition, the project will promote research in Critical Pedagogy and bring together both local and international educators and continue its development globally while highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples" (emphasis added).
If our students and our teaching isn't "marginalized," then I don't know what is. I'm just beginning to explore the site -- I invite others to do so, too.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Online tools for writing
In the wake of my reading the Pew Internet and American Life study called "Writing, Technology, and Teens" (press release is here; PDF of the whole report is here), I've been thinking about what kind of online tools could help students write. I've learned about a few -- I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to tell students about them.
Dr. Paper: not free and originally developed for high school students, supposedly formats APA style correctly
Paper Calendar: free, will make a schedule for your paper-writing tasks
Late Night Writer: free, will ask questions to take you from topic to thesis to supporting paragraphs to finished (if disjointed) essay
yWriter4: free, writes a novel for/with you
Google Docs: free, create, collaborate, share documents online (I'm thinking of using this for class)
Buzzword: free (for now?), like Google Docs but an Adobe product
More to come, perhaps.
Dr. Paper: not free and originally developed for high school students, supposedly formats APA style correctly
Paper Calendar: free, will make a schedule for your paper-writing tasks
Late Night Writer: free, will ask questions to take you from topic to thesis to supporting paragraphs to finished (if disjointed) essay
yWriter4: free, writes a novel for/with you
Google Docs: free, create, collaborate, share documents online (I'm thinking of using this for class)
Buzzword: free (for now?), like Google Docs but an Adobe product
More to come, perhaps.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Period Trick
I found this trick on Steven Krause's teaching blog (found to the right on my higher ed. blogs), entry for April 8, 2008.
http://view.break.com/232903 - Watch more free videos
Perhaps this lesson will be a "public service" to my colleagues and a reason NOT to specify page-lengths with essays/papers. Word counts might be a better way to let students know how much depth you want them to go into.
http://view.break.com/232903 - Watch more free videos
Perhaps this lesson will be a "public service" to my colleagues and a reason NOT to specify page-lengths with essays/papers. Word counts might be a better way to let students know how much depth you want them to go into.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Budget Analysis
My son pointed me to this website, The Budget Graph: A Visual Guide to Your Federal Taxes, which contains a poster representing the U.S. federal budget.
As a technical writing teacher, I'm fascinated by the visual design of this poster. I'm reminded of Edward Tufte's work, especially The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information. (Equally important is his critique of PowerPoint, a version of it here:"PowerPoint is Evil" reprinted at Wired online.)
The graphic designer who created this poster, Jess Bachman, is a 26-year-old who invites folks to "spread the word" about his creation. Please do!
As a technical writing teacher, I'm fascinated by the visual design of this poster. I'm reminded of Edward Tufte's work, especially The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information. (Equally important is his critique of PowerPoint, a version of it here:"PowerPoint is Evil" reprinted at Wired online.)
The graphic designer who created this poster, Jess Bachman, is a 26-year-old who invites folks to "spread the word" about his creation. Please do!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Considering logic
In this political season (aren't they all?), we're bombarded with arguments by analogy. Most of these arguments contain the logical fallacy called a "weak [or false, faulty, questionable] analogy." It takes work to uncover the weak analogy, but perhaps this little story (stolen from here) will provide a bit of fun:
Consider: How is a raven like a writing desk? (In other words, how are these two analogous?) Most people might say they're not; they share no compelling characteristics.
Consider this answer: Poe wrote on both of them.
It's a joke, right? We know it's a weak analogy because the answer depends upon wordplay, the two meanings of "on" used simultaneously. (The ancient Greeks called this particular figure of speech or trope a "syllepsis.")
In other words: study logic and rhetoric today so you can become a better argument analyzer. Visit these sites:
Silva Rhetoricae
Gorgias's Weblog: "The Daily Trope"
CriticalThinking.org
Language Log
Electric Rhetoric
Consider: How is a raven like a writing desk? (In other words, how are these two analogous?) Most people might say they're not; they share no compelling characteristics.
Consider this answer: Poe wrote on both of them.
It's a joke, right? We know it's a weak analogy because the answer depends upon wordplay, the two meanings of "on" used simultaneously. (The ancient Greeks called this particular figure of speech or trope a "syllepsis.")
In other words: study logic and rhetoric today so you can become a better argument analyzer. Visit these sites:
Silva Rhetoricae
Gorgias's Weblog: "The Daily Trope"
CriticalThinking.org
Language Log
Electric Rhetoric
