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PUBLIC vs. PRIVATE: WHAT'S OKAY TO SHARE? Teaching Strategies Students use inquiry to explore the nature of public and private writing.
I teach this lesson about 1/3 of the way into a course where I am using ePortfolio. Students are already familiar with LaGuardia’s ePortfolio, the possibilities of ePortfolio, and some examples of ePortfolios. Through a guided exploration of student ePortfolios, digital stories and web pages, students are asked to evaluate and consider the role and importance of sharing private information in a public setting. The lesson ends with a case study on poet Demetria Martínez whose 1989 publication of a poem entitled “Nativity: For Two Salvadoran Women, 1986-1987” resulted in a federal indictment for smuggling two refugee women into the United States. The evidence used by the prosecutor was the text of the poem. In a 1997 essay in Breathing Between the Lines, Martínez writes “it was a poet’s nightmare, in which words, so full of liberating possibilities, were twisted and used against me and a movement dedicated to saving the lives of refugees.” This lesson works well in a series of lessons about ePortfolio and public writing. I take the stand in all of my writing courses—from ENG 099 to Creative Writing—that students are engaging in public writing by virtue of being in the class. If there is writing they feel uncomfortable sharing, they don’t have to—that material belongs in a journal or another kind of private writing space. At the same time, I also understand the intense power of narrative and the ways in which the digital medium can enhance narrative. I am interested in engaging students in informed inquiries around content and guiding them toward making responsible decisions they are comfortable with. Students enjoy this lesson as they explore the question of the public nature of writing from many different angles. Length of Activity One two-hour class
Technology Integration The web offers a unique opportunity for viewing ePortfolios by students from various schools. Blackboard enables me to give students easy access to the sites we’ll use. If the class is large, I also pre-assign small groups in Blackboard so each student participates in an online discussion of our topics. Media, Software, Technology Needed Internet-enabled Computer Lab Also, please see the Additional Information section at the end of this activity for the links we used as resources. Activity Design I prepare guiding questions for the inquiry including: What do you think an ePortfolio should “do”? What did the ePortfolios and digital stories you looked at today “do”? What did you learn about the authors of these sites? What kind of professional perception did you gain from looking at their work? What kind of personal perception did you gain from looking at their work? If you were an employer, would you be interested in hiring this person? Why or why not? If you were an admissions’ counselor for a four year school, would you be interested in admitting this person? Why or why not? If you were a family member or friend, what would interest you about this site? What are the differences between the ePortfolios and the digital stories? Which do you think is more effective? Do you think digital stories and ePortfolios could be combined? What kinds of information on these sites “disturbed” you? What kind of information interested you? What kind of information impressed you? You do not need to answer all of these questions, but use them as a guiding focus for your small group discussion of “public” vs. “private.” In addition to the Discussion Board Preparation, I give students printed copies of Martínez’s poem. This activity takes a two hour class period. Students meet in small groups for the first 45 minutes of class. They are instructed to view the sites together, answering some of the guiding questions listed above. They are asked to view a total of 3 of the 5 sites, spending 45 minutes looking at the sites and discussing them. They are asked to spend 15 minutes posting their reflections on Discussion Board. In a large group discussion (15 minutes), I divide the board into “public” and “private” and we make lists of the kinds of information students saw on the sites and the ways in which they would categorize them. I then ask students to consider the consequences of this information. Their responses range from evaluating the fact that many students from more rural environments put their addresses and phone numbers on their sites to discussions of personal revelations and the use of photographs. Next, using the LCD projector, I spend 15 minutes showing students the “Writing” portion of my faculty web site and discussing the kinds of personal information in my poems and the consequences, possibilities, and political activism involved in sharing this information. The class ends with a reading of the Martínez poem and a discussion of Martínez’s trial (30 minutes). For homework, students are asked to write a 1 page free write on “My Boundaries: What Kinds of Information I Want to Share in my ePortfolio and Why.” There is a follow-up discussion in the next class after students submit the assignment. Subsequently, students begin to plan their own ePortfolios. Assessment This is a low stakes assignment designed to critically engage students in the consequences of public vs. private writing and is the beginning of a semester-long discussion. The activity works in sequence with other staged ePortfolio assignments throughout the semester. For example, I begin the next class session with their free writes followed by a discussion of the kinds of materials they want to share in their ePortfolios. The next homework assignment is an ePortfolio planning sheet where students plan and explain their decisions. Through hands-on work in looking at ePortfolios, assessing the kinds of information students at other schools choose to share, I am interested in engaging students in thinking about the kind of public persona they would like to present. I further complicate that idea by also suggesting that there are consequences to making some information public, as demonstrated by the Martínez poem. Suggestions/Lessons Learned This lesson combines many of my areas of interest: political literature, personal writing, and Latina poets. Your own interests may vary considerably. What I think is useful about this activity is engaging students in an exploration of public writing available on the web. When students are confronted with the personal nature of other students’ photographs and confessions, in contrast to a sustained and focused project like Digital Storytelling, they begin to unwrap the complicated nature of creative non-fiction and autobiographical writing. I think it’s useful to design activities that help our students think of the public presentation of themselves in conjunction with their academic, professional and personal goals. Resources Used For This Activity Penn State ePortfolio Gallery Maricopa Community College ePortfolio Kalamazoo College “Outstanding Portfolios” The Dostal Project Creative Narrations J. Elizabeth Clark Faculty Web Page Demetria Martínez’s Home Page Martínez, Demetria. “Nativity: For Two Salvadoran Women,
1986-1987” |
J.
Elizabeth Clark, Ph.D. (lclark@lagcc.cuny.edu)
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Site Credits: This site was last updated on 13 May 2009. Site designed and maintained by J. Elizabeth Clark. Technical Assistance provided by Delwar Sayeed and Priscilla Stadler. |
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Sample Lessons: Statement of Teaching Philosophy Public vs. Private: What's Okay to Share? |
