The Undersigned, Appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, Have Examined The
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BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS: WRITING, READING, AND THINKING IN A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CLASSROOM __________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri-Columbia ____________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ____________________________________________________________ By Keri Franklin-Matkowski Dr. Roy F. Fox, Dissertation Supervisor December 2007 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS: WRITING, READING, AND THINKING IN A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CLASSROOM Presented by Keri Franklin-Matkowski, a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ______________________________ Dr. Roy F. Fox, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Donna Strickland ______________________________ Dr. Carol Gilles ______________________________ Dr. Richard Robinson ______________________________ Dr. Lloyd Barrows ii DEDICATION This dissertation study is dedicated to my husband and family. Aaron encouraged and supported me while I went back to school. I appreciate his sense of humor and his words of wisdom. My parents, Kelly and Louise, always had faith that I could accomplish anything I wanted to. I remember a fateful evening a few years ago in their family room as I discussed with them about going back to school. They told me that the four years would pass whatever I did. I knew from that conversation that I did not want to look back after four years and think, ―I should have gone back to school.‖ I am especially proud of this accomplishment when I think about my grandparents who lived a large part of their lives without running water and driving horses instead of cars. I think about my mother‘s parents who took their family in a Model A to California to pick fruit for the summers, and I think about my father‘s parents renting a farm and ploughing fields behind their horses. I think about my parents who grew up in a time where college was not automatic, and even the best students were not always encouraged to go to school. In these aspects, pursuing and obtaining this degree is important to, not only me, but to my family. I‘m the youngest, and I know that has influenced all of my accomplishments as well. My brother, Doug, and my sister, Lori, are my best friends. Since I was little, they let me tag along, and they still do. This is also dedicated to Amy and John Lannin who let me live in their basement for over a year. I can never repay such a generous gift of hospitality and friendship. I hope Justin and Elizabeth remember the many games of two-square we played in the iii morning before school. Thanks for letting me be a part of your family. I loved it, and I still miss all of you. Ever since I begin this I‘ve heard over and over the statistics of the people who finish the coursework and never finish the dissertation. I can see how it can happen. It would be so easy. Writing the dissertation is mostly lonely work. I thought that it was because I was in Springfield, but after talking to Amy I think feeling a bit isolated may be the nature of writing a dissertation. But, as I struggled and fought with this damn book, I knew that I was learning so much. There have been these moments in my life where I could feel my mind changing in some way. I think the first time I recall was working on my master‘s degree, and reading quite a bit of rhetorical theory. The second time was while I was teaching. I was reading a lot and trying to find new ways to make my classroom work, and I had this feeling of the whole world opening before my eyes. Everything seemed like potential. I felt that way as I completed the coursework. The coursework at Mizzou was wonderful. I loved my classes, and the people I took the classes with. I remember leaving Columbia, going back to school the next day, and trying something new. There was never enough time to try everything new I had learned. As I sat alone, searching for a place where I thought the writing would come, a few lessons stuck out for me. I just needed to write. It didn‘t matter what I wrote I just needed to write. And when I got to the meat of this project, when it became really important, the breaking point, I would just sit and freewrite for awhile. For some reason, at some point, this seemed like an extravagance, to write with no purpose, but that is the thing that pulled me through. Writing whether I felt like it or not, was important, but the only way I could do that is if I freewrote first. iv The dissertation made me feel like maybe I could be a professor. Now, as I read journal articles, and books, I see an entirely new perspective that was invisible to me before. I know what methodology means. I know what a qualitative study is. I think I could give advice on data analysis. The learning involved in the creation of this document was like none I experienced before. But, I could not have even dreamed four years ago that this could be accomplished. In fact, I wouldn‘t allow myself to think about writing a dissertation, and that was in part thanks to Dr. Fox‘s advice that I needed to take the course work and see what became of it. In four years, I have done things I never thought I could. Five years ago, I wanted to go to conferences, but I did not even know how to. No one else I knew was going, and I was not even sure how to get money from the school. Now, I get to help people write their proposals, and I am in a position to give them money through the writing project to support their work. Writing a dissertation was a consuming experience. It was constantly on my mind. I could not have finished it faster, but I could have taken longer. I am still processing what went on during the dissertation study. As I wrote the dissertation, I shared with Aaron that all of our classrooms should have this final component. Isn‘t this the ultimate authentic assessment? Students take a lot of classes and learn from a lot of great teachers, and then it‘s time to synthesize it in a manner that is relevant to the students‘ interests. Dr. Fox introduced me to Csikszentmihalyi‘s ideas on ―flow experiences.‖ There has to be the right balance of difficulty and the ability to succeed. In order for a flow experience to occur, there has to be feedback and goals, and people lose track of time. When I think of my time at Mizzou, the experience feels, simultaneously, like the longest v and shortest four years. The experience feels like a blur, and I, for much of that four years, was in a zone. I look back on it now, and I wonder how I did it. I know that I made the smart decision, and I remember that moment in my parents‘ living room, the fireplace warming the room, and their advice, and I am so glad I listened to them. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Four years ago, I could not have imagined where course work and the ensuing dissertation would lead. I remember thinking that I was supposed to know my dissertation topic from the beginning of my course work. Dr. Fox explained that I needed to take classes and see where they led, and he was right. I took that advice to heart, and I went into my course work open to the possibilities. Looking back, I never could have planned the inspiration and journey of this study. When I read this study, I see the influences of the professors that I took classes from. I wrote a paper tracing the influences of writing workshop in Dr. Robinson‘s History of Literacy class. Dr. Gilles‘s Talk in the Curriculum class influenced this study. I wrote about blogging because of experiences in Dr. Strickland‘s Theory and Practice of Composition and Rhetoric of Emotion. I was able to write the methodology section and plan the study because of Dr. Baker‘s Qualitative classes. I am fortunate to know and work with my advisor, Roy Fox. I learned so much through the books he asked me to read, and the papers he asked me to write, and through the conversations we had. I always felt very blessed to have Dr. Fox as an advisor. As I wrote the dissertation and as he provided me feedback, I continued learned even more about writing and about how I want to be as a professor of English Education. I feel blessed to have been a student of the people in this department. I am very proud to be a graduate of a doctoral program in the Learning, Teaching, & Curriculum department at the University of Missouri. I have worked with professors who are some of the best in their field, and who are kind people that care for their students. I learned so much from my time in Townsend Hall. iii In my life, I have fortunate to be surrounded by these very supportive people who are my friends. I have to thank Carolyn and Jack Hembree who supported me and encouraged me as I wrote the dissertation. Thanks to my friends, Julie Sheerman and Linda Trinh Moser, who read excerpts and responded and offered supportive words and feedback when I needed it most.