A last minute heads up:

I will be presenting as part of a panel on Digital Pedagogy tomorrow at the MLA Conference. Details:

MLA Presentation: 639. Where’s the Pedagogy in Digital Pedagogy?
5:15-6:30, Platinum Salon F, J. W. Marriott

This session will share the great number of practical and philosophical questions surrounding what it means to “teach digitally” today. We want to focus attention away from “toolism”—a preoccupation with new technologies for the sake of newness and technical power—and direct attention toward the pedagogy that technology and collaboration can unveil.

If you’re in LA and attending the conference, please come by and say hello. I will post my slides for this presentation here … soonish.

Also, if you are a teacher and you hate sleeping in on Saturdays, please come check out the FREE Writing Project workshop I will be leading with Clifford Lee:

UCLA Writing Project Advanced Institute
January 8, 2011 from 9 am to noon.
Moore Hall, room 2120.

No charge for this seminar!

Suggested parking is Pay By Places in Lot 2, located at Hilgard & Westholme, for $10.00.

Clifford Lee and Antero Garcia will focus on the immediacy of technology as a part of the contemporary writing process for youth. Read about the workshop below and then email us that you are coming!

In May 2010, the Pew Research Center noticed a continuing trend of Black and Latino youth far outpacing Whites in the use of the Internet on mobile devices. More and more of our urban students are utilizing the Internet and related technologies for myriad forms of communication—though not always via channels appreciated in school—including but not limited to social networking, blogging, and multimedia production. What does all this mean for the educators of these students?

This workshop will illustrate how digital literacy skills in a multitude of forms are critical in helping teachers address the challenges of the opportunity gap while helping students produce powerful texts that serve to recognize, value, and incorporate their knowledge and experiences. Building on the existing tools you’re already familiar with, this workshop is not about simply learning how to use technology as it is using technology to augment critical literacy within the classroom.

Please bring any tools (digital recorders, digital cameras, FlipCams, laptops, microphones, etc.) and/or a lesson plan or project you’re interested in exploring further in our workshop.

We may be using some of the following tools during this workshop: Podcasting, Prezi, Edmodo, digital storytelling, Wordle, VoiceThread, Tumblr/blogs, Flipcams/video.