Squirrel and Other Distractions or Picking a PD Topic

Much like Dug, I have an attention problem.  “I have just met you and I love you” is definitely a problem that I have when it comes to pedagogical ideas. There is always another squirrel handy to catch my attention and make me want to change my whole class to focus on the most recent squirrel.

And so over time, my classes have embraced various trends including moving online (in 2003) and utilizing a variety of tools (from Blackboard to Twitter to Google+) to do so (and doing it well if I say so myself), incorporating writing workshop, focusing on community, embracing writing about writing, transitioning to WAC/WID, incorporating writing studio, celebrating blogging and low-stakes writing (hurrah for six word stories and memes), and most recently harnessing the power of project/passion based learning (PBL) and gamification – and let’s not forget comics! This semester I am using PBL, low-stakes writing, gamification, and BYOD (bring your own device) for both of my First Year Seminar comic book classes as well as my professional writing class – plus my FYS class will include writing studio and service learning. Apparently I am the acronym queen – Squirrel!

Read the full “Squirrel and Other Distractions or Picking a PD Topic” post on my Metawriting blog at: http://metawriting.deannamascle.com/