The Tattooed Teacher Shares Technology

I know of a few websites out there that make my students' jobs easier. As a teacher, I have had internal struggles about whether or not I should share these types of sites with my students. SHOULD I make their jobs easier or should I keep dragging them through the challenges of MLA format?

I am currently working with a class of 11 boys in a class called "American Experience." Basically, this class is junior English, but workshop style. Sometimes we read some of the same books as their college prep counterparts, and sometimes we don't. Half of "my boys" attend HCTC (the technical school in Ellsworth) all morning, and just come to the high school for my class. We're working on our first research project - they are creating a Keynote presentation on a topic of their choice (from a list of topics I've given them) as a way to learn the background information for the play we're about to read.

E. was just staring at his screen, when he turned to me and said, "What's the point of Wikipedia if I have to click on every other word to see what it means?" (Hypertext) To his defense, he was reading about a couple of court cases, so the language was difficult. So, I broke down and showed the class "Again but Slower," a website that "boils down" Wikipedia articles to the main points - quick and dirty. Their eyes lit up, and all of a sudden, my boys were plugging in articles and "getting to the point." Score one for the tattooed teacher (don't worry, they also had to find two other sources that weren't Wikipedia...).

So, since the boys were so excited about that, I showed them "Easy Bib." This is a site where students can type in basic information from a text and it will create a Works Cited in MLA format (or any other format). They were blown away. I was happy that I'd be getting Works Cited pages in MLA format. Yes, it does do the work for them, but I need to pick my battles. These boys are not going to be English majors (the only people who, I think, need to have MLA format memorized. Everyone else can look it up...). They are going to do other great things that probably won't ever involve a Works Cited: Marines, mechanics, chefs, lobstermen, heating techs. They know what a Works Cited is and why they should use one - what more will they need?

The other site I encourage them to use is "Paper Rater." This site gives students some basic spelling and grammatical feedback on their writing. They simply cut and paste their writing into the box, and voila! They have basic feedback, including feedback on plagiarism! This doesn't replace instruction, but it is nice to get first drafts that are clear from these issues.

So, today, internet's working at our school, and the boys are plugging away on their Keynotes, happy to have some online support! It's a good day in the Tattooed Teacher's classroom...