Blog Post 8

Before I start, I can't help but notice the exclusionary nature of the Bloscars. As stated, a winner must be a "Representative of 2019/2020 cohort." This unnecessary and exclusionary practice is unfair to those who don't fit into this exclusive group. These hurtful practices drag down the legitimacy of the Bloscars as an institution and the entire blogging community at large. I hope a new board can be created to ensure fairness and equity in future Bloscars going forward.

My vote for people's choice awards goes to:

Grace Armstrong's Teacher in Training. Grace's blog is well designed, has creative images, and speaks ideas clearly and effectively. It is a model blog that others should follow.

Civic Engagement

I believe my work most civically engaging post was my Digital Composition post. In this post, I traced similar movements between the Rodney King movement and the George Floyd movement. I think what really elevates this from a normal blog post is its look at history. It's important that we look as past trends, as they can help us identify longstanding problems that exist, and what strategies to pursue and avoid as we demand change.

Creative

I would have to say my most creative post was my Digital Production post. In this post, I presented a creations that represent a house from Not a Drop to Drink. I think all my posts are creative, but each commenter spoke praises of its creativity, and it's important to take other perspectives into consideration, even when reflecting. I think here I have no choice but to agree.

Best Design. 

I think my best design would have to go to Writing Processes. In this post, I explored how writing is done, from the beginning to the end. While my prior posts are exceptional, I think this one stands out because it doesn't look bad. While looking at my old posts, I noticed a lot had either long paragraphs or awkwardly placed images, or both. This one has neither. Sometimes the bar is that low.

Thanks for all the comments from others. I wish you the best of luck when you get into teaching,

Max Thiede

Blog Post 7-Digital Production

Explore various online platforms for composing multimodal texts (see list of links on session agenda). Create a mini multimodal composition using one of the platforms and post it to your professional blog. (NOTE: this does not need to be a large production, just a small experimental piece to “play” around with the software.) Reflect on your own process of appropriation, and combining of multiple modalities (image, text, sound, video, etc.)  In what ways did the image drive the narrative?  In what ways did the audio or print influence the text?  How might these visual practices be used to amplify learning? To promote civic engagement? 

While looking for ways to create a multimedia representation of my book. I really digged the idea of creating a house. Almost every major event happens at Lynn's house, and it is described in depth, so I decided to make a recreation of it.  I found a bunch of programs. Floor Plan Creator , Smart Draw , Floor Planner, and Blender. I decided to use floor plan creator because I was feeling lazy and it was the first one to pop up. It was fun to play around on the software, but the more I used it, the more limitations I noticed. difficult to make ceilings, walls and stairs would clip through, and sometimes the dimensions just wouldn't line up. I ended up making a really awful home, as you can see. I couldn't put items in, like the bath or kitchen. I couldn't make a nice porch, and obviously, I couldn't make Lynn's little lake. I would say I succeeded only in finding a program to never use ever again. 

I think the other programs could be more effective than this, particularly Minecraft. You can build anything you want in it. I even found an small little house that could look great as Lynn's.

It needs a lake and another level, but the inside could hold many things. I crate with supplies found in the book. A fake water purifier, chairs. Literally all the things that make Lynn's house so interesting. If I wanted to spend a few hours, I probably could make a replica of Lynn's house in Minecraft, maybe even have students work in groups and make houses and write a little description of the house using page numbers, but I'm not willing to spend money on minecraft again. The only thing that worries me about using minecraft in education is kids relate it to fun. Sure kids could make the house, but if they just made a house for fun instead of a recreation, are they really showing learning or are they just goofing off on a minecraft server. Regardless, I think there's a possibility for something interesting here.