Searching for the Holy Grail of Analytical Writing (or just a shard will do)
More than teaching history my job is to teach writing. In order to learn history, a written discipline, students must learn how to read and think critically and then translate those thinking skills into written expression to share with one another. This is no small potatoes for anyone, let alone students with as many pressures as my students seem to have. In my experience my best teachers were those who taught me something without me knowing, sometimes, so deftly that I thought I did it all myself. They they just set up the room in a way that I had to learn something new before I left. So how do I teach writing history in a way that might put students more at ease, make them more inclined to write with more depth and try out new skills, in an environment that they feel at home in? I'm thinking that social media might be the logical place to expand what I already do in the classroom and help deepen my evolving online course. How can the confines of 140 characters make for succinct, clear writing? How can blog posts fit in to encourage students to pre-write their essays? How might timelines help students organize their thoughts before writing? How can bookmarking tools help students with research? How can informal writing help to introduce students to academic inquiry, help instill curiosity, make students take their thoughts to a new place?
For the next four weeks, as a member of an online class of community college faculty looking at the pedagogical uses of social media, I'll evaluate how well-established web-based tools that connect people in various ways, might be used to help students learn how to analyze and write history.
Before I begin, I want to say that I'm skeptical. The technology that supports social media does not create analytical thinkers. It's a "garbage in, garbage out" kind of situation, but my skepticism does not keep me from getting pretty excited about the potential. I'm looking forward to taking a look at the structures of writing and connecting that social media tools offer and applying them directly into the teaching of historical writing. We'll see what we get!
Hi Elizabeth
ReplyDeleteExcellent topic for your blog and what a great way to kick things off. I look forward to reading your posts as you explore the possible use of social media in your class. Many of you are looking at how (if at all) social media can stimulate student thinking and whether the brief nature will do your subjects justice. I look forward to reading your posts in our class. Keep up the great blogging!
- Jon
Hi Elizabeth.
ReplyDeleteI agree, an excellent topic. My blog is focused on the veracity of economics blogs. I will be exploring how that topic might help students think through the potential bias in editorials guised as facts. I liked what you wrote here. Made me think! Cheers, Steve
Hi Elizabeth, I think you are prejudging social media a bit too harshly. You may not agree or like what you read but it seems quite unfounded to say "garbage in, garbage out." I believe that 100 years from now, historians will be able to glean volumes of information about our times from what they find on social media. We have to look beyond the form of the language to be able to see the real content. Thank you for sharing your point of view with us. It provides much for us to consider. Richard
ReplyDeleteHi Richard,
ReplyDeleteMy concerns with social media is not a matter of what is useful to future historians, a separate question (and I agree with you wholeheartedly that all social media is a goldmine!). My criticism is only in that social media, by itself, does not make analytical writers with its regular use. If you start with a lack of analysis, a blog will not make it analytical. That's what I meant by "garbage in, garbage out." And I agree the phrase is a bit harsh for an MPC audience.