March Madness! Bits Flashback for March 20

It’s the time of year for basketball and brackets, underdogs and dream teams, last-second miracles and heartbreaking losses.

In the classroom, why not try a March Madness Poetry Tournament? It’s an activity you can easily customize for your class. Don’t have time for all 64 participants? Just move down a level or two to the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight. Not teaching poetry? Focus your tournament on whatever you’re reading, viewing, or talking about in class (or out). How about a Final Four showdown among four authors you’ve studied?

Even if you aren’t following basketball, we have some slam-dunk strategies for you, all posted on Bedford Bits in the last week:

• Holly Pappas considers the challenge of student diversity in the composition classroom in One Size Does Not Fit All.
   
• High School Bits blogger MG Gannon focuses on occasion, argument, and research using Internet news sources with Rhetorical Context: Rhetoric in the Wake of the Arizona Shootings (Part 2). Read Part 1 of the series for an activity that analyzes political speeches.
   
• Andrea Lunsford explores The Importance of the Writing Center and their impact upon students’ abilities to think and write critically.
   
• Dan Martin shares his experiences with Writing About Writing pedagogy in WAW: Increasing Credibility and Course Personalization.
   
• Barclay Barrios talks about electronic tools and feedback on student work in Commenting with Word: The Basics.
   
• Traci Gardner has a solution that takes the torture out of poetry analysis in Using Pop Culture to Hook Students on Poetry.
   
• High School Bits blogger Jodi Rice suggests some strategies teachers can use them with Cool Google Tools.
   
• Susan Naomi Bernstein explains how the familiar music people love can help learners to connect to unfamiliar material in Listening to Learn.

A Few Extra Reminders!

• Start planning now to participate in Collaborvention 2011: A Computers & Writing Unconference. (It’s all online, so it fits your travel budget!)
   
• If you’re heading to CCCC, make sure you check out C’s the Day! CCCC – the Game? Level up through a series of quests, earn special prizes and titles, and more. Follow the game on Twitter: @csthedaygame
   
• Be sure to check out Bedford/St. Martins’ brand-new website. It has a cleaner look and feel, new navigation elements, and helpful resources that make your search for course materials quick and easy.
   
• Bedford/St. Martins’ online reference Writer’s Help has a Facebook page! Become a fan!

[Photo: March Madness by toddwickersty, on Flickr]