Thursday, May 7, 2009

Annotation and Book Review Grammar Check

Hey, everyone. Below is the key for the symbols you should use to mark each other's writing.

Please go to a colleague's blog, and comment on their annotation. Copy and paste their annotation into your comment, and then add the grammar symbols.

Then choose a different classmate's blog and do the same thing for the book review.

**Everyone should check a different text!! No doubling up, because then someone will be left out!***


Symbol Meaning Example

S Incorrect Spelling *I recieved your letter.
W.O Wrong Word Order *We know well this city.
T Wrong Tense *If he will come it will be to late.
C Concord - Subject and Verb do not agree *Two policemen has come.
WF Wrong Form *That table is our.
S/P Singular or plural problem *We need more informations.
λ or SM Something Missing *They said λ was wrong.
( ) Something is not necessary *It was too much difficult.
?M Meaning is not clear *Come and rest with us for a week.
NA Use not appropriate *He requested me to sit down.
P Punctuation *Whats your name.
WE Wrong expression * For one side
WW Wrong word * Where do you guard the dishes?
SS Sentence Structure * (See your class notes!)
L Capitalization * i was in santiago.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Good Online Sources for Research in Education

There are many professional journals published online that address education-related topics, but how do you find them?

I just googled "best free education journals" and found that AERA SIG (American Education Research Association Special Interest Group) has a decent list of open access journals in the field of education. Try something similar and see what you come up with.

However, it is much more expedient to search a database of journals to find articles that relate to your research topic. Usually, these databases charge for their services, but universities will subscribe to such databases so that their students can do research for free.

Unfortunately that is not the case here. You might find some full-text articles for free, but even if you don't using such databases can at least tell you which journals you can reference to find articles relevant to your topic. Take a look at ERIC, a professional database of academic journals relating to education.

Today, search the web for credible journals and useful databases that you and your peers can use as you perform research.

1. List 5 online, academic or professional journals. Provide a link for each one. Beside each link, write a brief description of the journal and note why it is credible.

2. List 3 online databases that reference education-related journals. Again, provide links and brief descriptions/justifications for your selections.

3. Visit at least 2 colleagues' blogs, look at a few of their recommended sites, and comment on their selections. You might consider the following: Does the journal seem truly relevant to research you are doing? Is the journal still in publication? Are full-text articles available?
Leave a comment stating your analysis.

MLA Style Reviewed

Ok. So, what exactly is MLA?

from the Modern Language Association website:

"All fields of research agree on the need to document scholarly borrowings, but documentation conventions vary because of the different needs of scholarly disciplines. MLA style for documentation is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature. Generally simpler and more concise than other styles, MLA style features brief parenthetical citations in the text keyed to an alphabetical list of works cited that appears at the end of the work.

MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for over half a century. The association's guidelines are also used by over 1,100 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines and by many university and commercial presses. The MLA's guidelines are followed throughout North America and in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries around the world.

The MLA publishes two authoritative explanations of MLA style: the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing."

It would be great if we all had copies of the style guide, but since we don't, we can avail ourselves of legitimate online explanations of the guidelines. Please use some of the links provided in the list of MLA style guidelines on the right.

Today, we are going to reinforce our knowledge of MLA citation.

The first half of the class: Editing and Revision (40 min)
1. Get with a partner--someone you have not worked with before--and read each other's last post. If your partner did not introduce her quotes, help her do so. If she did not cite all of the required articles, help her do so. Everyone should edit their blogs to make them correct rather than inserting formatting symbols.

2. Look at the website of the source your partner chose to include in her essay. What do you think about the credibility of that source? Together with your partner, write a brief analysis of the source at the end of the blog post.

3. Check your partner's bibliographic citations. Are they in the correct form? Do they accurately reflect the information used in the blog essay? Again, help each other make all necessary corrections.

The rest of class: MLA works cited practice (40 min.)

Below is a list of various sources a student plans on using for a research paper. Help him by putting the information for each source into an MLA works cited entry. Use the links to MLA style guidelines provided on the right.
NOTE: You might not need to use all the information provided.


BOOK

1.
Contemporary Theories and Practice in Education (Paperback)
by Yves Bertrand
# Paperback: 464 pages
# Publisher: Atwood Publications; Madison, WI
2 edition (March 2003)
# Language: English

2.
Making Sense of Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Theory of Education (Hardcover)
by David Carr
# Publisher: RoutledgeFalmer
(January 6, 2003)
London


ARTICLE FROM A PROFESSIONAL JOURNAL

3.
Group Projects: Student Perceptions of the Relationship between Social Tasks and a Sense of Community in Online Group Work
Author(s): Cameron, Bruce A.; Morgan, Kari; Williams, Karen C.; Kostelecky, Kyle L.
Source: American Journal of Distance Education
Volume 23 Number 1
p20-33
Jan 2009

ARTICLE FROM ONLINE JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE

4.
The New Yorker
March 30, 2009
Annals of Human Rights
Hellhole
by Atul Gawande
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande
date accessed: April 1, 2009

5.
Student-Initiated Attention to Form in Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing
Journal: Language Learning and Technology
http://llt.msu.edu/
Volume 13 Number 1
February 2009
Greg Kessler, Ohio University
pp. 79-95
Accessed April 5, 2009

6.
Jesús Nieto and Suzanne Valery
Creating a Sense of Community in the Classroom
The Journal of Pedagogy Pluralism & Practice
A Publication of Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Issue 11: Fall 2006
http://www.lesley.edu/journals/jppp/11/nieto.htm
accessed December 30, 2001


PROFESSIONAL ARTICLE FROM JOURNAL DATABASE

7.
Developing Students' Emotional Competency Using the Classroom-as-Organization Approach
Author(s):Sheehan, Beth J.; McDonald, Mark A.; Spence, Kirsty K.
Source: Journal of Management Education, v33 n1 p77-98 2009
Pub Date: 2009-00-00
Pub Type(s): Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Peer-Reviewed: Yes
ERIC database
Accessed February 5, 2007
ED454301.
.

8.
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Vol. 8, No. 3
Will I do as well on the final exam as I expect? An examination of students’ expectations
pp. 1 – 19.
David J. Burns
October 2008
Academic Search Premier
EBSCOhost
accessed September 4, 2006
.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Religion in the Classroom

Having listened to critiques made of religion by the makers of "Religulous," consider how volatile a subject religion can be and how your future students' various feelings about religion might affect your experiences as a teacher someday.

In the United States, the principle of separation between church and state set out in the First Amendment of the national constitution prohibits public school educators from propagating their religious views in the classroom, and there is currently wide debate concerning the extent to which the history of religion or religious cosmology should be allowed to enter class curricula. What is the law in Chile concerning this subject? If you teach in public schools, how will you negotiate your role as a model and mentor, balancing your personal beliefs with your desire to promote autonomy and critical thinking in your students?

Using the New York Times article and the NPR interview we reviewed in class, plus one other source you find online yourself, write a 350-word essay on acceptable and unacceptable forms of dealing with differences of opinion regarding religion. Say how you believe the topic should be handled if it arises in class, and explain how teachers should respond to students' whose views differ radically from their own.

Consider all the features of academic style we discussed previously as you write this post. Include a brief works cited at the end of your essay, and use parenthetical documentation when appropriate.


Citing Sources in a Text
Review these guidelines for in-text citation.


Review: Creating a Works Cited Using MLA Style
General guidelines for MLA style
Citing an online newspaper.
Citing an interview. (Don't forget to add citation information for the website, if the interview was posted on a website.)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Intro and 1st Task: Defining Academic Style

Hello, All!
Welcome to our class blog. We will use this page to publish assignments and tips for blogging in English. I suspect many of you already have experience blogging, and if you would like to add your own tips to this page, just comment below.

Should I comment on others' blogs? Yes!
Once you have completed your own blog post, take several minutes to look at the posts your classmates have made. Link to each other's blogs for easy access.

First Blog Assignment:

1. First, get into pairs and go to http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
2. Click on the link relevant to the feature of academic writing you have been assigned to present (complex, formal, etc.)
3. With your partner, take notes about your topic. Pay attention to good examples. Do the exercises.
4. On one of your blogs, write a brief description of your topic (150 words) and publish any helpful examples.
5. Open the document "Art and Technology" and find examples of your assigned feature of academic writing in the first few paragraphs.


Once everyone has critically studied their assigned topic and found examples of it in the sample text, each group will present its findings to the class. Feel free to direct your classmates to your blog to read your explanation and see good examples of your topic during your presentation.