I decided to take another attempt at using twine, it was a great opportunity, in my opinion to gauge how much growth I as able to achieve in a short week. I was able to show the connections between short paragraph stories, that can be both connected and stand alone at the same time. I think that twine was able to flush these elements out. As I writer I enjoyed the opportunity to plot out my writings in a virtual space. From this perspective I can see twine being used to aid people in the process of how people create their work. Twine is a great way to show creative writing students about the process of putting work together and the importance of flow and cohesion.

As a tool used for teaching, some of the same concepts can be transferred over. As a professor, I can teach my students how to use twine and they can plot their sentences, showing me their work. In both the composition and creative writing classrooms I will use twine to aid the students in learning from me and one another.

Visualizing Millions of Words

In this article or post, whatever you want to call it, I found something that I needed and wanted every day, but especially today, we are all connected. This idea that words, ideas, and books are connected or making connections, having a much larger conversation is what literature is all about. My connection to literature is what I needed here today, because now I remember why I am here, what I want to do, and hopefully what we all want and will do as teachers and scholars.

The fact that I saw and understood this knowledge as I read it on a blog post (a relatively new medium ), was not lost on me. I am beginning to see that the value of this new medium is intriguing. I never truly considered that the study of English in this current moment is ultimately the study of five languages: English, scholar, one foreign language (minimum), teacher, and technology.

The days of “those that can do, those that can’t teach,” no longer exists.

Visualization for Humanities Scholars

This article, much “Visualizing Millions of Words” discusses the many of the same issues. However, this article talks more directly to the necessity of communal production. Communal production to me, especially in the beginning stages of my maturation as a professor, will need to include someone who is more technically savvy then I am at the moment.

Introduction 1A

This introduction perfectly encapsulates the fears I have with technology and I know I am not alone, and sound like an old man in thinking this way. None of this however stops me from first writing my post in a word document and saving after almost every sentence, before I go over to my blog post and copy and paste it. Now I understand that I can save myself a few extra steps and go over to the right hand side of this blog and hit the save draft button, but it is not the same. You crazy kids and your new-fangled technology, give me a leather bound notebook and a pen (black or blue ink only) and I am one happy, cantankerous, old man.

Introduction 1B

I was hoping the second introduction would assist me in becoming more comfortable with the digital platforms. Unfortunately, this section just made me more confused. It seems like we actually need to learn yet another language to be relevant in the profession in this current moment. In reading both of this introductions I had two thoughts: what are they talking about? And for my students I will do anything, even learn a third language.

Gold Essay

I will keep this essay with me as I get closer and closer to entering the profession. Which is not to say that I liked it more or less than the introductions,but I found some helpful information in there.

The opportunity to take another bite of the proverbial apple was to tempting for me not to go directly to as soon as I arrived home. Two familiar things happened in this latest attempt, because just like my first attempts, I did not cheat. First, I struggled with the interactive text, because my mind assumes that because the game is interactive, that it is also capable of human interactions. I want to play this game not as a program with limited possibilities, but as a game that is being played by two people simultaneously (me and someone else out in the world). The second thing that happened was that the struggle became less so because of my prior knowledge of this game and my experiences learned from them, which made this experience with Galatea more enjoyable, not because the game changed, because my expectations shifted.

This I will be attempting to acquire and expand on my previous knowledge while learning to use electronic media as an aid and a guide for my future endeavors as a scholar and teacher> I understand that as a new teacher I will be challenged and excited by my students and colleagues. I will also try to remember to ask for help and give myself breaks as I will inevitable make mistakes and continue to learn. This blog is testament to this attitude, today I was able to take something new (this blog) and frame it into something (familiar) looking just like a notebook, this familiarity gives me comfort and joy.

The promise of Digital Humanities for me over the next five days, I hope to be able to familiarize myself with new tools of communication as a writer and scholar. This is both exciting and more than a little intimidating. I understand the need and usefulness of these tools and am becoming more and more comfortable with them as I use them. I want to become more familiar with utilizing the many functions of the blog, as it corresponds with the information I want to be out in the world.

As I become more familiar and comfortable with the blog as an educational tool of communication, I will begin to tailor it to my experiences and teaching philosophy and pursuits.