Umbrella Category - MERLOT Voices2024-03-29T13:14:32Zhttp://voices.merlot.org/forum/topics/2093140:Topic:1263?groupUrl=english&commentId=2093140%3AComment%3A1813&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noYou are all the content exper…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-23:2093140:Comment:18132008-09-23T15:13:06.432ZCathy Swifthttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/Cathy
You are all the content experts, but I agree with your comments about journalism and speech communication. In fact, a professional organization in speech communication has approached us about forming a task force. I can imagine that journalism may also be appropriate for a separate task force. I'll leave that all up to you, though.
You are all the content experts, but I agree with your comments about journalism and speech communication. In fact, a professional organization in speech communication has approached us about forming a task force. I can imagine that journalism may also be appropriate for a separate task force. I'll leave that all up to you, though. Good questions, Becky. Our em…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-23:2093140:Comment:18122008-09-23T15:11:23.290ZCathy Swifthttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/Cathy
Good questions, Becky. Our emphasis is on Higher Education and those are the materials we review. However, many of our institutional partners also have K-12 initiatives and many high school teachers add materials. We "peer review" the higher ed materials. We're still trying to figure out how to handle those at the primary/secondary level. We only need to worry about post secondary right now.<br />
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As I mentioned on our call, we do have a Theater group that probably should handle drama. However, we…
Good questions, Becky. Our emphasis is on Higher Education and those are the materials we review. However, many of our institutional partners also have K-12 initiatives and many high school teachers add materials. We "peer review" the higher ed materials. We're still trying to figure out how to handle those at the primary/secondary level. We only need to worry about post secondary right now.<br />
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As I mentioned on our call, we do have a Theater group that probably should handle drama. However, we could cross-reference some items.<br />
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We have a Teacher Education Editorial Board that reviews materials that prepare teachers for teaching a variety of disciplines. In fact, they have 53 materials in the Teaching English area: <a href="http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2287&&&">http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2287&&&</a>; Since the "About Us" page say…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-22:2093140:Comment:17932008-09-22T22:22:12.944ZRebecca (Becky) Wallhttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/BeckyWall
Since the "About Us" page says "MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered, searchable collection of peer reviewed and selected <b>higher education,</b> online learning materials" (emphasis added) I'm assuming that we don't need to worry too much about K-12 teachers, though they may actually find MERLOT useful.<br />
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Cross-referencing seems like a good idea to me, particularly for ESL. Actually, my department includes speech communication, drama, foreign language, and ESL in addition to English, but we…
Since the "About Us" page says "MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered, searchable collection of peer reviewed and selected <b>higher education,</b> online learning materials" (emphasis added) I'm assuming that we don't need to worry too much about K-12 teachers, though they may actually find MERLOT useful.<br />
<br />
Cross-referencing seems like a good idea to me, particularly for ESL. Actually, my department includes speech communication, drama, foreign language, and ESL in addition to English, but we don't think of ourselves as representing a single discipline.<br />
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The idea of not including drama bothers me, though. Stagecraft isn't our area, of course, but surely we don't want to create a definition of "English" (or "English Language and Literature," which I like) that doesn't include Shakespeare!<br />
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Yet another question--what about English education? English departments at schools and colleges all over the country are responsible for preparing English majors who want to teach English, and often we also cooperate with departments of education in preparing middle grades and elementary-ed majors to teach language arts. I feel as if English Language…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-16:2093140:Comment:14542008-09-16T17:53:28.343ZNancy Veigahttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/NancyVeiga
I feel as if English Language and Literature is a fine umbrella heading for many of the subcategories we've been discussing. I have to laugh just a little: never ask a roomful of English teachers (even a virtual one) to agree on taxonomy! I think we're remarkably in agreement on this one.<br />
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The subheadings may be more challenging, but even for K-12, I think the ELL heading works.<br />
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In the olden days, journalism and speech communication were often dumped in with English, but I think they have…
I feel as if English Language and Literature is a fine umbrella heading for many of the subcategories we've been discussing. I have to laugh just a little: never ask a roomful of English teachers (even a virtual one) to agree on taxonomy! I think we're remarkably in agreement on this one.<br />
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The subheadings may be more challenging, but even for K-12, I think the ELL heading works.<br />
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In the olden days, journalism and speech communication were often dumped in with English, but I think they have become such clear disciplines that they may need, perhaps, their own umbrella headings. I don't know about others, but at all of the institutions I've worked in, journalism and speech communication were different departments rather far removed (literally and figuratively) from English studies. These are some of the subcate…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-11:2093140:Comment:13432008-09-11T12:50:07.217ZKim Grewehttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/KimGrewe
These are some of the subcategories in NCTE, illustrating one possible approach to organizing our material.<br />
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Diversity<br />
Matters relating to: people of color, cultural studies, feminist studies, gender studies, holocaust studies, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered, popular culture, and urban education.<br />
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Language<br />
Matters relating to: esol/esl/ell, grammar/usage, history of english, language variation, linguistics, and stylistics.<br />
<br />
Literacy<br />
Matters relating to: adult literacy, critical literacy,…
These are some of the subcategories in NCTE, illustrating one possible approach to organizing our material.<br />
<br />
Diversity<br />
Matters relating to: people of color, cultural studies, feminist studies, gender studies, holocaust studies, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered, popular culture, and urban education.<br />
<br />
Language<br />
Matters relating to: esol/esl/ell, grammar/usage, history of english, language variation, linguistics, and stylistics.<br />
<br />
Literacy<br />
Matters relating to: adult literacy, critical literacy, early literacy, family literacy, literacy across the curriculum, reading-writing connection, and whole language.<br />
<br />
Literature<br />
Matters relating to: children's literature, folklore/storytelling, global literatures, literary genres, literary periods, literary study, literary theory, literatures in english, literatures of the americas, multicultural literatures, nonfiction, poetry, whole language, and young adult literature.<br />
<br />
Media Studies/Journalism<br />
Matters relating to: audio, film, periodicals, theory, visual literacy, and video/television.<br />
<br />
Reading<br />
Matters relating to: books lists, content area reading, fluency, phonics, read-aloud, reading comprehension, reading process, reading programs, reading strategies, reading/writing connection, struggling readers, and theory.<br />
<br />
Research<br />
Matters relating to: classroom, reading, teacher as researcher, teaching of english, and writing.<br />
<br />
Technology<br />
Matters relating to: computers/writing, desktop publishing, distance education/learning, online writing, and web page design/critique.<br />
<br />
Writing<br />
Matters relating to: advanced placement courses, basic/developmental writing, creative writing, journals, portfolios, reading/writing connection, responding to student writing, response logs, technical/professional writing, writing across the curriculum, writing centers, writing process, writing programs, and writing theory. Andrea, cross-referencing was…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-11:2093140:Comment:13422008-09-11T04:33:39.858ZMarion Heynhttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/MarionHeyn
Andrea, cross-referencing was passing through my mind, too, as I was writing my comment earlier about being surprised at how much ESL was lurking in World Languages. We may want to take a look at the Library of Congress Subject Index, since that seems to be the standard that we in higher eduction are all used to.<br />
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But wait! Do we need to worry about K-12 teachers and librarians as well? I am thinking out loud here and need to leave it there for now--office hour calls.
Andrea, cross-referencing was passing through my mind, too, as I was writing my comment earlier about being surprised at how much ESL was lurking in World Languages. We may want to take a look at the Library of Congress Subject Index, since that seems to be the standard that we in higher eduction are all used to.<br />
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But wait! Do we need to worry about K-12 teachers and librarians as well? I am thinking out loud here and need to leave it there for now--office hour calls. Cathy,
No wonder I've had tro…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-11:2093140:Comment:13412008-09-11T04:29:11.270ZMarion Heynhttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/MarionHeyn
Cathy,<br />
No wonder I've had trouble finding materials on MERLOT! I would never think to look for ESL under World Languages. WL suggests all the languages other than English to me. This clearly is an important job we need to be doing here.<br />
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I'm beginning to feel a bit like Marian, the Librarian, who I wanted to be as a school kid. Interesting turn of events.
Cathy,<br />
No wonder I've had trouble finding materials on MERLOT! I would never think to look for ESL under World Languages. WL suggests all the languages other than English to me. This clearly is an important job we need to be doing here.<br />
<br />
I'm beginning to feel a bit like Marian, the Librarian, who I wanted to be as a school kid. Interesting turn of events. Why don't you share whay you…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-10:2093140:Comment:13052008-09-10T14:41:29.390ZCathy Swifthttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/Cathy
Why don't you share whay you found at NCTE, Kim?
Why don't you share whay you found at NCTE, Kim? I hear you about journalism a…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-10:2093140:Comment:13042008-09-10T11:45:56.176ZKim Grewehttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/KimGrewe
I hear you about journalism and media studies. I think at some colleges, if courses in these areas are not offered with the prefix ENG, they are at least cross-referenced that way.<br />
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I agree that language arts includes composition, but our term is English Language, which has a different feel to me. Of course language arts sounds kind of middle-school-ish, which might turn off higher ed people searching the MERLOT site.<br />
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I had never really thought so deeply about the taxonomy of our discipline;…
I hear you about journalism and media studies. I think at some colleges, if courses in these areas are not offered with the prefix ENG, they are at least cross-referenced that way.<br />
<br />
I agree that language arts includes composition, but our term is English Language, which has a different feel to me. Of course language arts sounds kind of middle-school-ish, which might turn off higher ed people searching the MERLOT site.<br />
<br />
I had never really thought so deeply about the taxonomy of our discipline; that's why I perused the NCTE site to see how they organize all the subcategories under the term "English." Actually, World Languages has…tag:voices.merlot.org,2008-09-10:2093140:Comment:12932008-09-10T02:00:09.277ZCathy Swifthttp://voices.merlot.org/profile/Cathy
Actually, World Languages has quite a collection of ESL materials,(see: <a href="http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2451&&">http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2451&&</a>;)<br />
282 of them and they have even subdivided ESL into the following categories: Business ESL (5), Culture (5), Language (143), Teacher Resources (75), and culture (34)<br />
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We probably don't need to worry about the ESL category as it is already covered.
Actually, World Languages has quite a collection of ESL materials,(see: <a href="http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2451&&">http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2451&&</a>;)<br />
282 of them and they have even subdivided ESL into the following categories: Business ESL (5), Culture (5), Language (143), Teacher Resources (75), and culture (34)<br />
<br />
We probably don't need to worry about the ESL category as it is already covered.