Nothing propels the need to belt out some REO Speedwagon like the final days of school . . .
Teachers are grinning ear to ear, students are giddy, we all want out. As I stroll the halls I see unusually active classrooms, mostly filling the time until we are all free this Thursday . . .
In science class upstairs they are watching Twister . . . which I am sure holds TONS of actual scientific facts (yeah, right) . . . I look to my right into the math class and I see what looks like 30 Freshman talking about Lord knows what - certainly not math . . .
Oh, it may be a bit brisk for a June day - but we are almost done baby - and I am loving it.
Isn't life interesting? I thought these final day would never come. I was certain I would turn into Slimer from Ghostbusters and ooze into the crevices and cracks into the floor . . . and here I sit, grading my final quiz for my 11th graders . . . oh, how time flies when you are working your ass off.
I should probably wait to write this until next Friday when I am "actually" done, I think I just see my colleagues finishing up and I want to preemptively join in on the celebration . . . soon!
Two days down, an interminable number left to go. I am exhausted. I am flabbergasted. I am living moment to moment. So much is said every single day. There is so much to remember, so much to think about, so much to say.
The first day I went hoarse from talking too much and thought I was going to pass out.
Today, I was getting a little faint after second hour (AFTER SECOND HOUR) and ate an apple to cool the nerves (which helped). Forcing myself to eat is very helpful. Oh, I have been drinking SO much water (from talking) that I have to go to the restroom constantly. The restroom is upstairs, and you get 5 minutes between classes to run through the literal herd of teenagers to use the bathroom. Then get back in time and collect your thoughts enough to actually say something meaningful to the kids.
If you do not know anything about modernism, giving a 50 minute presentation on modernism is not your best bet.
Someone threw a paper Chinese Star at the board today while I was talking. I did not see who so I just picked it up and went in the direction it came and gave my best scowl: "WHO... THREW....THIS" I asked . . . and waited until I could see them sweat.
There is one girl in my 11th grade class who acts like everything (EVERYTHING) that happens is the BIGGEST DEAL EVER. She sighs and groans and mopes and says "GOD!" and "UGH!" to just about everything. Seriously, wow.
It is past 5pm and I really don't want to think about this anymore, so sayonara.
Okay, so I could not help but think back to my Montessori days (side note, is it not odd that something that was once my entire life is now almost forgotten because I am so immersed in this program?) when I spent time EVERY DAY reading to little ones. Picture books: is it even possible to state their significance. I read a book about a little penguin named Pete to this adorable little girl named Emma. At one point in the story Pete is called "Pint Sized Pete," so I said to Emme: "Emma, you are Pint Sized Pete!" Not only did she love this, she called me "Pint Sized Pete" everyday after that and asked me to read the book to her quite often. When other children would come up and listen in and perhaps get scared when Pete loses his way, she would say: "Don't worry, he will be okay. . ." or inform the scared child that in the end, Pete makes it just fine.
What Emma learned from this story, what all the children learned from the stories I read to them, what every child learns from anyone who reads anything to them—even if they only look at the pictures—is immeasurable.
Selfe (2004) in Toward New Media Texts: Taking Up the Challenges of Visual Literacy that teachers in the past have "typically presented [new media text] as second-class texts: either as 'dumbed down' communications that serveas 'stimuli for writing by [...] no substitute for the complexity of language' or as texts related to, but certainly not on an equal footing with, the 'real' work of the course'"(71). To me, this is as absurd as it is super bogus (thanks Rick). As I
write this, all I want to do is go read The Watchmen (thanks Danger!) which is pretty much the coolest book I have read in forever. However, it is a graphic novel and therefore no where near as sacred as Crime and Punishmentor The Crucible. Selfe adds that we continue to do non-visual texts because they are familiar. So, while the graphic novel sections of libraries and books shelves edge the musty classics into corners, we teachers keep denying areas of literacy because we are afraid of it or simple don't "get it." So, instead of taking the things youths are looking at head on (MTV, YouTube, MySpace) and integrating positive, educational and constructive aspects. . . we shy away in fear as the unmonitored shit storm grows.I really hope that the above picture expands for all to see as it took me longer to figure out how to upload a Comic Life picture than it did to make said picture . . .
So it begins with my father reading to me (or this father reading to his daughter), my love of the spoken word and the written word meshed in the best possible way as far back as I can recall. I then spent years mowing cereal and catching up on Duck Tails, Little House on the Prairie and other TV shows that fascinated me with their characters, arcs and stories. I soon became addicted to comic books and found the Batman graphic novels to be the ultimate in story and depth of artistry. It was not long before Matt Povlony and I were racing through Boxcar Children books in school at Nativiy of Mary. Those tales lead me to dig deep into action and adventure novels like Jurassic Park. Soon after that I was ready for the ultimate adventure to Middle Earth with Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship. My love for reading and story lead me to my college education at the University of Minnesota. Enrolled there I was able to travel throughout Ireland and learn more about the literary giants that lived there and changed literature with their beautiful language. All of these (albeit small) glimpses into my literary journey bring me to who I am today: a man with mere days standing before him and his first High School classroom.
Take a good hard look at Michael J., because that is how I feel right now. When did it come to this? Studying for today (an ongoing event for the last 8 hours) I have basically had to stare at this screen. Sure, I got up to go to the bathroom and to get dill pickle Pringles (why God?) and to go get my Gallagher book (thank you God!) and to plug my phone (also an Internet portal) into the wall... as much as I utilize this technology—I can't help but ask: is it really making anything easier? Is it making me a better teacher?
Like so many things, it depends on how you use it. Unfortunately, I am an impish, impulsive, adult-onset-ADD(probably due to this contraption)pop-culture-consumer so my ability to procrastinate or find other things to do just within this white demon is endless.
Okay: so schools "have been slow to react to the emergence of this new participatory culture" (Jenkins p.4), and I would tend to agree.
All of this "no cell phone" talk is absolute garbage. EVERY student has one. EVERY student pulls them out during class. The new teacher attitude is "pick your battles"—which is to say: "as long as I can get through class...then I won't even bother reprimanding anyone for cellphone use."
I'm sitting in the back of these rooms observing the students—many know that I am going to be their new teacher—and they are constantly pulling out some sort of device. In MORE THAN ONE class, the students were given time to "work" on their projects and they were allowed to pull out their contraptions. Two students (that I witnessed) were watching video media on their devices and all the teacher said when she saw it was "turn it down."
WTF!? I feel like a dinosaur. When I was in High School (here we go Grandpa...) the thought of WATCHING A MOVIE during class was literally science fiction. Sure, once you were in college you could watch films on your laptop during lectures, but what was the point? You could just as easily stay in your bed and watch movies and get the notes from someone else—why torture yourself in that uncomfortable chair?
Maybe I've seen too many techno-horror films (The Net, etc...)
Ok: so we need to close the gap, educate all in new literacy, digital media studies, yada yada enough already.
I completely agree with this article that just passing out the technology is not enough and that what is needed is an actual functioning knowledge to utilize technology to the best of its ability. I think that it is possible to bring out the best in some people but unfortunately there isn't enough of a filter in place where we need it most (YouTube, MySpace, etc.) to block out the worst in humanity (as the article suggests).
This article hits on a ton of the worries I have with technology and getting it into more hands and I really hope to look deeper into it when I have more time and am not having panic attacks over my teaching (IN TWO WEEKS)...anyway, I am going to integrate more differentiation and new literacies into my classroom than the students have had all year—but I'm going to be smart with it and hopefully show the students that they can accomplish something worthwhile and of quality without wasting a ton of time or integrity.
At this point—I believe that I am not working intensely with my 120 students on writing during my student teaching. Therefore it is ultimately difficult to apply the immediate pertinance of the Dornan et al. and Adger reading.
However, there will be "informal" writing assignments in my 9th and 11th grade classes (according to the syllabus) and whatever else I conjure up in my time there (along with the 50+ years of teaching I will do post-student teaching), so this information will be critical to turn back to. Things I found to be super helpful: (1) Differentiating assessing, evaluating and grading. (2) Student Self-Evaluation template and guide on p. 184/5. (3) No Red Pen! (4) Higher Order Concerns and Lower Order Concerns p.187. (5) Simple advice of steps 1-6 on p. 191/2 (6) Sample Rubrics on p.193/4. Things that made me ponder: (1) I couldn't tell if I agreed with the assessment of the student paper on p. 195. (2) How much does Dornan et al.'s idea of a Portfolio (200-204) differ from Romano's Multigenre Paper? Could you utilize a multigenre assignment throughout the semester as a type of portfolio? (3) Continued outrage over the politics of assessment p. 206
The Adger piece felt much like a smaller retread of the Dornan et al. chapter, with one major difference: it focused heavily on vernacular in various dialects.
I remember dear Michael Dennis Brown teaching us to never fear the comma, the dash, the semicolon—"this is how we speak and we should write how we speak," he would say. When put up against Adger's piece however, it is safe to say that perhaps Brown wouldn't proclaim to certain classroom audiences to write how they speak. Indeed, we are looking for "proper English" are we not? The "student's dialect may interfere in writing"(115) Adger explains.
***Outside my window a red Chevy Blazer just drove by with a aqua couch strapped to the hood and—I kid you not—a man was standing on the back bumper grasping onto the couch and the hood of the car and yelled: "I'm king of the world!" Wow. I just had to share that.***
Where was I...oh yeah, I think that THIS reading would be appropriate for CI 5644. We are all entering the mainstream classroom so being able to spot and assist students with varying vernacular dialects would be more pertinent than what to do for a new ELL/ESL student.
In Lauren Cantent's new film The Class, written and starring François Bégaudeau, an unengaged student named Souleymane is asked to read his "self-portrait" aloud. Confidently he states to the class: "I have nothing to say about me because no one knows me but me."
Besides my obvious plug for this film (which everyone must see), Souleymane reminds me of the child in the Heath piece who tells his teacher: "Ain't nobody can talk about things being about theirselves" (105).
This seemingly simplistic dialog between white teacher and black student speaks volumes about the disconnect Heath sees between the in-group and the out-group.
Once the schools are desegregated (in Trackton—the town Heath researches), black parents complain that the "[white] teachers won't listen" because "nobody play by the rules [the black students] know" (107).
In the film and in the schools Heath visits, the white teachers seem to be merely wanting their students to be mundane "question-answerers" who can spout "formulaic responses to appropriate occasions" (110). Heath notes that often an adult will speak to a child through ruminations, expecting that child to be a "passive listener" giving the adult an excuse to speak to his or herself. While the Heath piece examines parents with their very young, I cannot help but find similarities in the classroom today.
In one room I observe in, the teacher rambles almost the entire hour (to his large 11th grade class), speaking about his childhood, his past, his history. He will throw in generic questions ("and what year was WWI?") to which the students will fill in the blank. He will then move on and cause the room to be one big passive ear.
I DO NOT want to condemn this experienced teacher from whom I am learning volumes, however it is worth noting that in his all-white AP class, there is intense discussion, profound questions ("are you justifying the hijackers of 9/11?") and enormous room for thought and debate. Why can't this same thing be happening in the the large—much more diverse—11th grade class? Aren't those students just as capable as the AP class? Do we—as white teachers—perpetuate the passive listener and ask only the generic questions that can only beg formulaic responses?
How do we remedy the idea of talking "at" students instead of "with" (115)?
If some students are deliberately raised to not share personal information with others (or strangers), how can we expect them to delve into our deeply personal projects (i.e. telling audiences about their community, their families, their lives)?
Rick and I were just talking about the many directions we are currently being pulled and it honestly is becoming increasingly difficult to even care about the three classes we are in right now.
I'm a little confused as to how this semester was set up for a variety of reasons, but mainly because now that I have been to my teaching school, met my teachers and seen my classroom(s) - all I want to do is focus on my student teaching.
So, here is the dilemma - do I plow through this weeks readings like last week - hoping to retain a shred of the information? Or do I simply skip all of it so that I can read what I will be teaching and keep on trying to create a bomb curriculum?
Well, lets give it a go.
Grammar? Oh man! Zzzzz.....
Nothing fires me up like "The Developmental Nature of Syntactic Complexity"! Okay, I will ease up. I'm sure that all I written thus far is riddled with grammatical errors because I simply am not a pro. This reading is a good "review" for me, being that I am basically at square one on grammar.
I'm Done With My Rant:
I am thankful for the line: "it may be neither desirable nor possible to hasten syntactic growth, which is more often a matter of maturation and writing experience than something that can be induced artificially through writing exercises" (84). Like so many things, I believe, we cannot just jam words and grammar into students' minds. It takes experience, maturity and practice.
I want badly to scribe poetry akin to Blake, Frost and Shakespeare - but my ability to even begin that goal starts with reading and analyzing their work.
OKAY - so this chapter is SUPER helpful - albeit, very dry for my tastes. That is the thing, you simply can't (in my opinion) spice up grammar. These are the rules (FIGURE 4.2, etc.) and regulations of writing - which I must teach to my students! However, light bulbs in my head really only light up when I see something breaking form.
I will need to re-visit this chapter - thoroughly - when I am teaching writing, because it has so many good examples of what to do and what not to do.
I like the peer editing diamond as well as the blunt reasoning. YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS BECAUSE: [fill in awesome reason I can give to my students here].
I may try and return with something more profound to say, for this Sunday night however, I'm saying "ciao."
I simply cannot go on until I mention Wing Young Huie. This wonderful artist from Duluth shared profound images with the Junior High students at the Young Writers' Conference today at the Weisman Art Museum.
This man profoundly brought the core of the multigenre paper to brilliant life.
Juxtaposing image with quotes by the subjects in the pictures, he told fascinating stories about our world, our cities, our humanity and our cultures. In placing his art throughout the city for anyone to see, he created an open dialogue about what it means to truly be alive in our world.
I live near Frogtown and I know Sam lives in Frogtown and the stereotypes and attitudes that swirl through the air about that area of St. Paul are varied and usually quite negative. What Huie was able to do in his artwork - which involved poignant and powerful images of Frogtown residents - was expand "our knowing beyond factual exposition to include narrative thinking and emotional content" (Romano p. 131).
As Huie spoke about his work and the context from which the images sprang, you become enveloped in the photo. Although they were taken just blocks away from my house, I felt like there were worlds exposed that I had never seen before, never appreciated as much.
The city can be and ugly place. Waiting at bus stops I tire of the litter, McDonald's trash, depressed faces, dirty-snowy streets...but in these photos, you were able to stop and look at the people. The beautiful people. We make up our world. We are beautiful. It was incredible to look at Midway and other spots that I have lived around for the last decade in such a different light.
He then tied all of this into looking at each other in different lights. To never assume we know everything about someone based on their outside appearance. He talked about how he is judged as a foreigner - even though he was born and raised in Duluth,MN.
We can all relate to this. I am judged as a very young man. One older tour guide at the Walker today told me that I looked like a "12-year-old." It is difficult and altogether odd in our ageist society that I would be taken less seriously because I look young. It sounds like a pathetic hardship in retrospect but it is part of what Huie was talking about.
I think utilizing his work in conjunction with any multigenre works we will do in our classrooms is an excellent way to tie into the photography aspect Romano is passionate about. Even that simple photo of his father behind the bar at the bowling alley added a ton (for me) to his story about his father. I go back to that photo when he later receives the letter from his 83-year-old mother who pleads with him to understand his father's unspoken love.
A picture says a thousand words and when you help give it context, or let the persons in the picture speak their piece, well, I think the picture can talk forever.
[The picture I have added here is a one from Huie's project "9 Months in America" in which he was commissioned to travel the US and snap photos of whatever struck him. This one was at a demolition derby in which Huie noticed the one Asian man (who had consequently lived in that southern town for 15 years). Huie noted that he felt like the man had been "photo-shopped" into the picture and questioned whether that's what people thought about him. I encourage you to look at more of his work. He has an outside installation coming in 2010 on University Ave. so hopefully we can all take our classes there on a field trip!]
All at once it is though I should feel everything and nothing for the passing of this man. He was published in The New Yorker at 22 (I turn 27 this Friday) so I have to resent him a little bit for being more of a "go-getter-genius" than I am.
I honestly don't know if I have read any John Updike. I feel like I have always known his name. Them man published something like 50 books in his lifetime. That is astounding to me. I continue to wind through my days like a spinning ballerina on an antique musical toy - perhaps I will publish one day - perhaps I will teach like a pro - perhaps I will be respected, revered, read.
How was this man so prolific? What drove him? What did he have that I don't? Obviously all these ruminations are quite useless, I'm sure he would chastise me for sitting here thinking about him when all he wanted was for me to read his words. I think I will search for some of them right now.
There was only one John Updike. I'm sad that he has left this mortal coil.
One of my favorite aspects of the Dornan et al. reading is how it zooms in on practical strategies, time-proven activities and truthful accounts of where teachers can go astray. When the text speaks to me earnestly about how a possible activity can fail, I appreciate the candor. Often these textbooks write case study after case study of idealized situations where each child prances through the aisles of desks with rosy cheeks and polished writing in their hands. This text seems to offer truthful tips about what works now and how it is different from what failed in the past.
Being “in” on this “new” type of teaching is exciting. On the one hand, we are recipients of years of trial and error research. On the other hand, we are acknowledging that we are entering a changing field. There is new research out almost everyday suggesting one or more ways teachers can modify their classrooms and or teaching styles to benefit students learning. This also eases my trepidation and assures me that I will not be the first to have an activity fail nor will I be the first to have a strategy succeed. I am learning, as the writers of this text had to learn, through reading, experience and modification.
Suggestions like: “write with your students as a practicing member of the classroom community. Share your struggles and successes so they can see that all writers go through the same difficult but rewarding process of drafting and redrafting a piece until it is just right” (70) are invaluable. Tom Romano, Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers
I’m not sure what I am more excited to do: teach the multigenre paper or listen to Count Basie. This type of writing is so exciting and alive. I LOVE the idea of switching genres. The first example in the book proves how fast-paced and gripping it can be. In the case of a sales woman at Nyman’s, it is much more interesting (to me) to take a varied look at all aspects - customer, salesperson, pressures, performance, consumerism, etc. – and work through them with poetry, prose and dialogue. I think it is easy to see why students and teachers alike would enjoy this type of writing.
Are you a writer? What situations tell you that you are or are not a writer? Describe your experiences with writing that have shaped your self-perceptions as a writer.
The answer to this question, as of late, is rather bittersweet.
Most of my writing - lately (for the last year) - has been all about, regarding, for or in school. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it didn't leave a type of gaping hole in my heart. You see, I love to write songs and poetry. I love to write stories and letters and reviews and ramblings. Some of the more open ended writing I have done throughout this program has likely been 2AM blathering on the internet to someone I disagreed with (or agreed with).
It seemed to be so much easier early on. I usually get to the 2 or 3 page mark and begin wondering if what I am writing is any good or worth my time. This is a horrible thing to do and I really must stop. It is always a good thing to write. I think that the more you practice, the more you flex your muscle, the better.
I love this quote: "We not only learn to write, but we write to learn" (Dornan, et al. p.7).
This makes me think of times when I was so furious with someone I would write a long letter to them - detailing the minutiae that bothered me and often flying off the handle - really letting them have it. The act of writing that letter (as we all likely understand) was therapeutic in itself. Writing through your emotions can help you develop a better understanding of where you or someone else is coming from. Sometimes you crumple up that bitter sheet and feel like your problems have alleviated. Other times you don't get through it and realize that you do, in fact, need to talk to the other person to work out your issue. Either way, the writing took you to the new level.
I am immersed in the Wiggins and McTighe reading for CI 5481 at the moment (nestled into my spot at Nina's on Grand sipping a warm caramel latte), so I should probably wait to delve into my CI 5461 blog...
That said, I think UbD and backward design is crucial in teaching writing and will be a good partner for our CI 5461 class!
Just thinking about enduring understandings surrounding writing as opposed to facts or trite memorization is very helpful.
I think back to my 12 years of 5 paragraph essay being drilled into my skull. Through the years it became evident that the 5 paragraph essay really could be turned into anything as long as you grasp the Intro/Body/Conclusion aspect, etc.
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