tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11743414841237663112023-11-16T13:30:29.568-05:00Digital DissensionKelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-72461092878861955692015-03-08T19:35:00.001-04:002015-03-08T19:35:23.736-04:00Letting Go<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwY76dKpc6-2mqZhOlFuMAlmGhYm2N8WiFgGyxG7vFPGugq5DXmcGQIm4NItXy5QyqVyw6rbN47JbsyGfkbeT9eAsRSroyo0dqGCs4m-5mwKdBIYWWPgh6-j7Oa2G0Lk1kLcaQHFSKol6/s1600/why.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwY76dKpc6-2mqZhOlFuMAlmGhYm2N8WiFgGyxG7vFPGugq5DXmcGQIm4NItXy5QyqVyw6rbN47JbsyGfkbeT9eAsRSroyo0dqGCs4m-5mwKdBIYWWPgh6-j7Oa2G0Lk1kLcaQHFSKol6/s1600/why.jpeg" height="228" width="320" /></a>I've been thinking a lot recently about the purpose of ELA specifically the purpose of writing. Why do we write? Why do I want my students to write? What do I hope that they will take away from my writing instruction? You'd assume I'd have a go-to answer for this; I am after all an English teacher. But the more I wrestle with this question, the<br />
more complex and elusive the answer seems. <br />
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I want to say that the reason I teach writing is to empower students to express themselves in meaningful ways but if I'm honest that is not often what I find myself doing in the classroom. In reality much of my writing instruction centers around preparing my students to perform well on the myriad of standardized tests--MCAS/PARCC, PSATs, SATs, AP, etc.-- that they will be required to take before they receive a diploma. Now I know that one could argue that I don't really have to prepare my students for these tests, that good teaching should prepare them by default, but that would be to trivialize the very real consequences of my students' failure to perform on these aforementioned assessments.<br />
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Is it not my responsibility to make sure that by the time my sophomores sit down to take the ELA MCAS that they know how to dissect an MCAS-style prompt, have seen models of high scoring MCAS essays, are aware of the little tricks and pitfalls that can boost or reduce their overall score? And if our school's overall writing scores plateau somewhere in the middle of the long composition rubric, is it not my responsibility to figure out what's keeping our students' writing from reaching the top tier of that rubric, to crunch numbers and analyze writing samples in order to craft more effective writing instruction?<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">The rebel in me wants to shout: <i>No! It is not my job to pander to the absent overlords of high-stakes assessment. My job is to make students see the value/power in writing, to help make their voices heard.</i> But the realist in me, isn't so sure. </span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgWNYyDb6qUP6Ail0AiHshNbN97Ctf0x_r7N_rGXODp9HNBIyGyWJsLBnCt_8UXVcsW7Zgkb7Q_g5_9Clfd8yIBF7zMUpQGYSfOGYFD08APhyphenhyphenaynhXlU5yNjTHqg0mh8paIpejjfompGq/s1600/recite-11718-1739108993-saiq98.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgWNYyDb6qUP6Ail0AiHshNbN97Ctf0x_r7N_rGXODp9HNBIyGyWJsLBnCt_8UXVcsW7Zgkb7Q_g5_9Clfd8yIBF7zMUpQGYSfOGYFD08APhyphenhyphenaynhXlU5yNjTHqg0mh8paIpejjfompGq/s1600/recite-11718-1739108993-saiq98.png" height="400" width="309" /></a>What I am sure of is that my students don't get excited about writing MCAS essays. And not because the prompts themselves are without possibility. It's just that they don't offer students the opportunity to connect with the material or to write for a purpose other than a grade. You give them a prompt about overcoming hardship, something that far too many of our students know about first hand, and then tell them they aren't allowed to write about what really matters to them (their lives). Rather than capitalize on their initial enthusiasm, I tell them no--<i>No, you can't write about your own experiences. No, you can't write about that movie/video game you love</i>. And without fail, the assignment goes from possibility to obligation taking the students enthusiasm with it.</div>
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Gregory Shafer (2000) writes of how “students lose their will to write when their words are controlled and limited by the whims of their teachers” (p. 30). Essentially by prescribing what students can/cannot write about, by making students passive recipients of their learning, we are hobbling their sense of agency which in turn lowers their motivation and engagement. If students are to engage in the writing process, they need “ownership of topics, choice, extended opportunities to write, freedom to rewrite with a focus on sharpening and reseeding their content, engrossing models of writing, provocative pre-writing stimulation and productive timely feedback” (Thomas, 2000, p. 41). <br />
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At the high school level, ELA instruction forces almost exclusively on argumentative writing. Much of our writing PD is focused on how to help the students craft better arguments. The problem isn't really about argumentation, as I think most people would agree that critical thinking and argumentation are at the foundation of "college readiness," but rather with our refusal to relinquish control of our content. Instead of allowing students to choose issues they feel passionate about, we force them to write about prescribed topics. And we wonder why so many students hate to write.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0N8tH3E3dn0oOQFbM3OpUmrDNG7mNDsFFuuuw3GcU2YQPa90M-zvtEilKcarn2-PjRzqyMjCH_Q2Zyk9NWB-YzSU6dU82bJsNqtSzyJcyERIeNkvnEDtDvg59MZG5ZUIo1akcrs3Nckn/s1600/relevant+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0N8tH3E3dn0oOQFbM3OpUmrDNG7mNDsFFuuuw3GcU2YQPa90M-zvtEilKcarn2-PjRzqyMjCH_Q2Zyk9NWB-YzSU6dU82bJsNqtSzyJcyERIeNkvnEDtDvg59MZG5ZUIo1akcrs3Nckn/s1600/relevant+3.jpg" height="307" width="400" /></a></div>
One way educators can help increase student engagement is by providing them with more authentic, relevant writing experiences. Student desire for choice and relevance in their assignments is essentially a demand for agency (Lenters 2006). Authentic writing increases students agency because it allows for students to use their personal experiences and knowledge in a meaningful way. When students are given the opportunity to write about what they know, it increases their confidence and thus their engagement.<br />
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In his book <i>Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones</i>, Thomas Newkirk (2009) emphasizes the importance of validating student interest arguing that "the surest way to alienate any group is to indicate that their allegiances and interest are not respected." (109). Just because you could care less about Assassins Creed or Asking Alexandria (ugh) doesn't mean that your students' interests aren't worth exploring. Interest fosters engagement.<br />
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If we forget this, we alienate students from their own learning. <br />
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Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-21934375076742281182014-03-19T22:10:00.001-04:002014-03-28T06:15:52.300-04:00On the Loss of a Mentor<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmK4319deGwErczvIxf7RsxQAnSmbTbwI8gJT8nkoNGXYbf0VCPBhOciCQJVrCCrqAz8-H0rjwL3Eu5ipR1BNj1B8VHXk9ZqSeBy8yLa5aVMdy1ygMWqyP78fc1nnfSv8qjAypIc8trtr/s1600/Screenshot+2014-03-17+at+8.39.36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmK4319deGwErczvIxf7RsxQAnSmbTbwI8gJT8nkoNGXYbf0VCPBhOciCQJVrCCrqAz8-H0rjwL3Eu5ipR1BNj1B8VHXk9ZqSeBy8yLa5aVMdy1ygMWqyP78fc1nnfSv8qjAypIc8trtr/s1600/Screenshot+2014-03-17+at+8.39.36+PM.png" height="308" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My practicum cohort and our fearless leader (May 2002)</td></tr>
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I met Jenn Cook in the spring of 2002 while doing my teaching practicum at UMass Amherst. A doctoral student herself, Jenn had stepped in to help guide our haphazard group of pre-service teachers because the professor assigned to our cohort had to take an emergency leave of absence. Little did I know then just how profound an impact this amazing woman would have on my life.<br>
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During our time together that semester, Jenn helped to forge the very core of my educational philosophy. One rooted in compassion, innovation, and more than a little bit of mischief. She pushed me to see passed perceived limitations, to resist the pull of the status quo. Most importantly she taught me the importance of figuring out what I believed in and staying true to it no matter what. <br>
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Midway through my practicum, I was having difficulty getting my sophomores to read <i>Lord of the Flies </i>for homework. After listening to me lament their lack of investment and responsibility, Jenn gently asked me whether I thought it was more important for my students to learn to do their homework or to read <i>Lord of the Flies</i>. There was no judgement in her question. No right answer that she was hoping for. She just wanted me to think about it. To figure out what <i>I,</i> as a soon to be educator, believed was most important. And it was by this process of gentle nudging and encouragement that Jenn helped me establish my beliefs about teaching and learning. </div>
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Years later as I left Dr. Carolyn Panofsky's office having just established my plan of study for getting my M. Ed at RIC, I noticed Jenn's name on a placard in the hallway and decided to see if she was in. I was a bit nervous that she wouldn't remember me right away as we'd not seen each other in more than seven years. But those fears were immediately put to rest when Jenn looked up from her work, saw me and literally jumped out of her seat to give me a bear hug exclaiming "Kelly Visconti! How the hell are you?!" She then proceeded to ask me all kinds of questions about my family and work. I couldn't believe she remembered all of these details about my life. </div>
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But that was Jenn. She had this incredible knack for making you feel like you were the most important person in the room. She was one the most genuine, kind spirited people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://storify.com/kellyjvreed/my-experience-with-riwp" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7J4fp1e742fIV18-FqOXHZcz0GBOxfPvSSHLStE9j65edHlxADKZ7TWyjEi5djxg0sWaoVgF2dPk1nt24yZ56N-jkfHgkGhFHOUs0DlCy13sA0c1ek61sGtb-0Hzq2qnTo8a3VH085DPK/s1600/resize.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storify.com/kellyjvreed/my-experience-with-riwp" target="_blank">RIWP Summer Institute (July 2013)</a></td></tr>
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This past July I signed up to participate in the Rhode Island Writing Project's Summer Institute. As luck would have it, Jenn had taken over as the co-director of the program and thus was slated to be the facilitator for that summer's institute along with the incomparable Madonna Thompson. I had heard nothing but good things about the program and was excited to be a part of what was sure to be an amazing summer of professional development. But my experience far exceeded those expectations.<br>
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Those three weeks during the SI were magical. How could you not love an experience that Jenn would later describe as a "<a href="http://rhodeislandwp.blogspot.com/2013/07/teachers-and-students-as-makers.html" target="_blank">fantastic creative free-for-all</a>"? Jenn's willingness to take risks, to push the envelope was infectious. It inspired me to try things I'd never had the time or the confidence to attempt. That summer changed me profoundly not only as a teacher of writing but as a human being. I rediscovered the joy of creating. I redefined myself as a creator, a person with something of worth to offer.<br>
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Jenn did that. She inspired us to be our best selves. </div>
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If there is any solace to be found in this awful situation, it is that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by Jenn--by her kindness, her passion, and her general bad-assery. Her spirit shines through every time we see things not only as they are but for what they could be, every time we take flying leaps of faith, or throw away all that is safe in favor of what is right.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCJwB2dE23xuXwlEJW4z80h7gBmS9HvMkA0xGr5SGRkS4w5vN604ylrtsDvYbjyGKV8muMdn3AVb-ILNZOO7BElPlSrfsiWFrZ0ascfzeF1UDQD22Tvfxrq63_hzFykRM3Ke544n92UNJ/s640/blogger-image-2037767618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCJwB2dE23xuXwlEJW4z80h7gBmS9HvMkA0xGr5SGRkS4w5vN604ylrtsDvYbjyGKV8muMdn3AVb-ILNZOO7BElPlSrfsiWFrZ0ascfzeF1UDQD22Tvfxrq63_hzFykRM3Ke544n92UNJ/s400/blogger-image-2037767618.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RIWP Renewal RISD Museum Field Trip (November 2013)</td></tr>
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I will miss this woman terribly but I feel her presence every time I meet up with my RIWP friends or read tweets from #digitink31, #teachouse or #actofhope. We may not all know each other personally but we are all connected by our love for this amazing woman. And it is this legacy, this beautiful community that Jenn pieced together, that gives me comfort.<br>
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Rest in peace my friend.</div>
Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-14188643898172742382013-10-19T22:45:00.001-04:002013-10-19T22:47:19.854-04:00What I Have to Say MattersI recently wrote my first #25WordStory.<br />
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Into the den runs a crazy-haired gremlin princess w/ a gap tooth grin. Mischievous and wild, the world is hers for the taking. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%2325wordstory&src=hash">#25wordstory</a><br />
— Kelly J. Reed (@kellyjvreed) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyjvreed/statuses/359020703506378753">July 21, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><a href="http://eet-everevolvingteacher.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Anne Barnhart,</a> an amazing English teacher in my Writing Project cohort, first introduced me to the concept of the #25WordStory. The <a href="http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/tag/25wordstory/" target="_blank">#25WordStory</a> challenge, pioneered by the great <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dogtrax" target="_blank">Kevin Hodgson</a>, is to write a story in exactly 25 words--no cheating--and then share it on Twitter.<br />
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The actual writing of the story was a lot of fun (even if I did miscount and create a <a href="http://digitaldissension.blogspot.com/2013/07/25-ahhh-make-that-24-word-story.html#comment-form" target="_blank">#24WordStory</a> which I embarrassingly shared with the world). The word limit forced me to be more deliberate with with my diction and creative with my syntax--two places that I can get lazy when writing longer prose. Keeping my story within the bounds of the 25 word limit was tricky enough but couple that restriction with Twitter's 140 character limit and now you've got a real challenge. Goodbye empty modifiers! I can afford you no longer.<br />
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Now the sharing of my piece was another story altogether. Up until this point I had used Twitter primarily as a means to find and share professional resources. I had yet to take the next step of creating original content. I felt vulnerable putting my work on display for strangers. And yet there is something exhilarating about a person who you have never met liking your stuff. It's different than the feedback you get from trusted peers/colleagues. This person who chanced upon your work does not owe you their attention, they are not obligated to validate your work because familial, social, or business ties. Thus when they favorite or share your material, it is a encouraging reminder that what you have to say matters (at least to the two people who retweeted your stuff). <br />
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And so I took a risk, shared my story, and loved it. When my time at the Writing Project came to the close, I didn't want to squander the creative energy I'd built up. I wanted to immediately set to work on my blog, to create lessons based on the incredible stuff we'd just done. Yet on our last day, I headed to the Cape for a week long family vacation. On our way there, <a href="https://vine.co/v/hq0h1QteAhv">sitting in an endless sea of traffic</a>, I came up with an idea to keep up the energy flowing. . .#25WordPostcards!<br />
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I quickly put out an offer to my Writing Project peeps and Twitter friends to send them a postcard from the Cape. To my excitement several people took me up on the offer. Off to the gift shops I went in search of funky postcards to use (FYI: <a href="http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm" target="_blank">The National Seashore Visitor Center</a> in Eastham, MA had the best ones). I decided at the start to use our real life vacation exploits as inspiration for the #25WordPostcards. I also wanted to make each one unique (no repeats). Boiling down our outings at the Cape to 25 words gave them a sort of magical quality. Little things like reading the information board at Coast Guard Beach morphed into dramatic scenes of joy, wonder, disappointment, even conflict. <br />
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Below is a photo of my son Malcolm getting ready to turn in for his first night of camping and on the right is the postcard inspired by this adventure:<br />
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He did really make it to 11 p.m. and he did suddenly stop crying when he noticed the stars. It was a special moment that may have only lived in my memory if not for the #25WordPostcard.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;">So what does this all mean for teaching?</span></span> </span></blockquote>
Since participating in the Rhode Island Writing Project: Summer Institute, I've been more committed than ever to daily writing. The #25WordStory is a clever alternative to the free write. It's word limit forces the writer to think more carefully about his/her word choice and syntax. And unlike longer pieces we can be daunting to revise, the pithiness of the #25WordStory encourages multiple attempts at perfection. <br />
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This school year, my co-teacher and I have instituted Free Write Fridays. We challenged our sophomores to create and share a #25WordStory every week. Our students were intrigued. So much so, that before I could finish explaining the concept of the #25WordStory, my student, Patrick, interrupted me to inquire when I'd be done talking because he had a great idea for a story and he wanted to write it down before he forgot. Here was a student who had barely passed English his freshman year, clamoring for a chance to write.<br />
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Inspired by his love of the <i>Walking Dead</i>, Patrick wrote the following story:<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">The end-</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I woke up at 12 pm and everyone was dead.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">All I could see was walkers everywhere so it was time to kill!!</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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It's not quite Shakespeare but it is beautiful. It represents a "in" for a young man who for so much of his school career has been on the outs. You should have seen him when I asked for his permission to share his work on our class website and in my blog. He was at first flabbergasted then bashfully proud. By asking to share his piece, I was validating his work, his voice like those wonderful strangers on Twitter had validated my own work. And just like me, Patrick got a boost of confidence in his ability to create meaningful pieces of writing.<br />
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Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the #25WordStory changed Patrick's life. Honestly Patrick continues to struggle to find the meaning/purpose in school. But regardless of how the rest of the week has played out for him, every Friday without fail, Patrick is the first to write his #25WordStory. <br />
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-90837464673927198932013-10-19T22:06:00.004-04:002013-10-19T22:06:53.638-04:00No Excuses<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUVFR8nIeAvm3DOAtOVE3BT8L8oVuJn03V9A3c9WhVHFrKcdxUot-I0kEqEPNXsktd-KT6Zqi2D-O4gzDfm3lOkR-BxmED2CiT1P6M7FVFegTZ08AS-fmhSgocQoG4waB9YTXIOA1Nnvd/s1600/ohanian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUVFR8nIeAvm3DOAtOVE3BT8L8oVuJn03V9A3c9WhVHFrKcdxUot-I0kEqEPNXsktd-KT6Zqi2D-O4gzDfm3lOkR-BxmED2CiT1P6M7FVFegTZ08AS-fmhSgocQoG4waB9YTXIOA1Nnvd/s320/ohanian.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We must hold our students to high standards. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Unfortunately in my experience this sometimes translates into a "no excuses" approach to education. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's not about giving Jimmy a pass because his home life is a wreck. But we often contextualize situations through our own experiences, our own stories. Most teachers at my school are middle-class Caucasians like myself. And while I cannot speak for my colleagues, I know that my own childhood was idyllic when compared to those of some of my students. I could never have imagined the kids of things my students have gone through--homelessness, abuse, foster care, rape, etc. And this ignorance, this reliance on an incomplete story, has dangerous consequences in the classroom. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When we hold kids to high standards without doing the hard work of building appropriate scaffolds to help them live up to those expectations, we send the message that our curriculum is more important than they are. It's lazy teaching disguised as rigor. We can be both mindful of our students stories AND support them in accessing the skills they need to be successful. But to do so, we must first be willing to listen.</span>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-19086848446606421862013-07-26T13:35:00.001-04:002013-07-26T13:37:12.588-04:00Opening The Door A Bit Wider<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The chaos of my learning</td></tr>
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Premises I believe in: People are messy. Learning is messy. And people learning stuff is super messy. <br />
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I kind of fell in love with <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/authors/902.aspx" target="_blank">Thomas Newkirk</a> (shhh, don't tell Tobey) while reading the first chapter of his book, <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/products/E02123.aspx" target="_blank"><i>Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones</i>.</a> I really liked how he described expression as "too individual and idiosyncratic to be evaluated by a machine" (4). And then he started dropping expressions like "mechanized literacy" and "totalitarian logic" and I was hooked.</div>
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And while I could go on at length about the ideas I found interesting and applicable in this book, I am going to focus on two--depth over breath people! My first "Ah ha!" moment in the reading was in Chapter Five "Popular Culture as a Literacy Tool" when Newkirk describes the use of movies as a "scaffold" for writing. Mind blown. Seriously. I'd never thought of it that way. Allowing/encouraging students to create a new writing piece based on a pre-existing story is the equivalent of using sentence starters to help them transition to a new idea or refute a claim. Students don't have to worry about being overwhelmed by the possibilities, the paralysis that sometimes overtakes us when we must build from scratch.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Unconstrained choice can be as disabling, as paralyzing as unconstrained direction (147).</span></blockquote>
The characters, conflict, props, setting, etc. have all been established allowing students to build upon or remix the basic elements of the story. It's a way in for students who are overwhelmed by writing. Training wheels for would-be storytellers. Genius! <br />
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Newkirk also emphasizes the importance of validating student interest arguing that "the surest way to alienate any group is to indicate that their allegiances and interest are not respected." (109). Just because you could care less about dragons or Asking Alexandria (ugh) doesn't mean that your students interests aren't worth exploring. Interest fosters engagement. If we forget this, we alienate students from their own learning. At the high school level, the emphasis is on analytic writing. All of our writing PD is focused on how to help the students craft better arguments. Yet instead of allowing them to choose issues they feel passionate about, we force students to write about prescribed MCAS driven topics. And we wonder why so many students hate to write.<br />
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I loved how Newkirk challenged the artificial dichotomy between "serious" writing and pleasure:<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Any effort to teach analytic or reflective literacy skills [. . .] is built on the premise of engagement, for analysis is an unpacking of our reactions and involvement. Without that engagement, there is nothing to unpack--indeed, no reason to read or write in the first place (129).</span></blockquote>
So that's my goal this year. To provide students with more opportunities to play, to explore, to create. I still want them to learn to construct powerful arguments but I'm going to take a cue from Gary McPail and open the door a little wider when it comes to what kids write about. <br />
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-4592676927550629652013-07-25T22:11:00.004-04:002013-07-25T22:12:36.695-04:00What the Hack?<b>Confession</b><i>: I hate the use of the word "hack" in educational context--Hack Jam, Toy Hack, what have you. It just feels gimmicky. But I </i>love<i>, repeat </i>love<i>, the concept of hacking (ugh. I feel dirty writing it). So I've opted to use the words tinker, remix, reimagine, redefine in its place.</i><br />
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I thought about my toy remix the entire drive home from RIC. I even forced my husband to help me brainstorm some ideas. The best we could come up with was to melt down some of Malcolm's toy soliders and recreate them into something innocuous like a bunny. I nixed this concept because I felt like a true remix should leave some trace of the original toy. If we'd melted down the soldiers, at some point they would cease being soldiers and just revert to liquidified plastic. While I'm sure there's some fancy way to explain that transformation--Who are we really? Are we all just liquidified plastic at the core waiting for society to mold us into being?--I didn't want to go there. I was more interested in the notion of relooking at something whose purpose/function you have taken for granted and trying to figure out what else it could be.<br />
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This is what I love about the concept of tinkering. It forces you to not only think outside the box but to reimagine the box althogether. (It's not a box, dammit! It's a portal to the Xeres quadrant in the Flotsum galaxy!) Just because Toy R Us says this thing is a sandtoy doesn't mean that it's the <i>only</i> thing it can be. It gives you the creator control, puts you in the driver seat. <br />
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Little kids are good at this kind of thinking. That's not a bucket, it's a hat. <br />
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That's shovel? See that shovel there? Yes, the one as big as my head. That'd make an awesome spoon. Hand it over.<br />
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But as the opportunities to tinker, discover, and create are slowly replaced by more passive forms of learning, our ability to see possibilities atrophies. And so we begin to accept the version of the world that is presented to us. It is, what it is.<br />
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There is a danger to this kind of thinking. It breeds cynicism and hopelessness; it makes you feel powerless. Tinkering helps to remind us of the complexity of things and empowers us by giving us license to explore, to fail, to try again in pursuit of a it self-determined objective.<br />
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And on that hefty note, let me present to a quick overview of my toy remix. After abandoing the toy soldier idea, I decided to turn an old sand toy into a post-apocalyptic survival garden. I chose the sand toy because I liked how the sand made the wheels move. I thought it would be neat to water plants this way so I cut off the strainer at the bottom of the toy and replaced it with a plastic frying pan to make a container garden. <br />
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In the end, my creation was only a partial success. For while the garden actually came out quite lovely, the water stream is a bit too forceful (not to mention messy) to be a great watering mechanism. I'm still thinking of ways to modify my creation to make it truly functional. Even though it's kind of jacked up, I'm ridiculously proud of it. So much so, that I created a backstory to explain the concept behind the toy.</div>
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Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-73234459135539679152013-07-21T18:26:00.000-04:002013-07-21T18:28:17.389-04:0025 (ahhh make that 24) Word StoryWhen I checked my phone today, in the car on the way home from Mystic Aquarium, I noticed a tweet from <a href="http://eet-everevolvingteacher.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Anne</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%2325wordstory&src=hash">#25wordstory</a> challenge..you in? <a href="https://twitter.com/mthompson0703">@mthompson0703</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/cookout70">@cookout70</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyjvreed">@kellyjvreed</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NMastroluca">@NMastroluca</a><br />
— Ms. Barnhart (@Ms_Barnhart) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ms_Barnhart/statuses/358960859130757121">July 21, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Hmmm. . .was I? Creative writing has never come as easily to me as other forms of writing. I fall into the "It was a dark and stormy night" category of would be authors. Did I really want thousands of strangers to bear witness to my feeble attempt at creativity? After thinking it over for the rest of the car ride, I decided to go for it. Why not? What did I really have to lose? And taking risks is what we, writing workshop people, are all about, right?
So I wrote (or at least tried to write) a #25WordStory:
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Into the den runs a crazy-haired gremlin princess w/ a gap tooth grin. Mischievous and wild, the world is hers for the taking. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%2325wordstory&src=hash">#25wordstory</a><br />
— Kelly J. Reed (@kellyjvreed) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyjvreed/statuses/359020703506378753">July 21, 2013</a></blockquote>
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I know. I know. It's really a 24 word story. An embarrassing fact that I didn't noticed until <i>after</i> I tweeted it out to the masses. Sigh. I blame the aforementioned <a href="http://youtu.be/qT7hGexwY1Q" target="_blank">gremlin </a>who was trying desperately to stand on the kitchen table whilst I was composing. Still 25 words or 24, I feel pretty proud of my piece. <br />
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This is another reason I dig Twitter. There I was just going about my day trying to keep my kids from jumping into the belgua whale tank when out of the blue I get a message from Anne seeing if I want to write a story (albeit a very short story). Without Anne's gentle prodding and words of encouragement, I would never have written that piece, never have felt the satisfaction of creating it, sharing it. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are many things. I'm not just a mom or an educator; I'm also a writer, a creator. And I have things to say worth hearing. <br />
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Thanks for reminding me of that today Anne. You rock!<br />
<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-13171272853549263862013-07-19T14:03:00.000-04:002013-07-19T14:03:40.137-04:00Creating With IntentionIn the chapter on presentations from <a href="http://hickstro.org/about/">Troy Hicks</a>' <i><a href="http://digitalwritingworkshop.wikispaces.com/Crafting_Digital_Writing">Crafting Digital Writing</a></i>, he defines two essential characteristics of an effective presentation--"stickiness" and storytelling. I love this. Particularly the idea of "stickiness." It is a great way to start talking with our students about choice and intention in their own work and the work of others. <i>What stuck with you? How did the author/presenter achieve this stickitude? </i><br />
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Wouldn't it be cool after discussing the criteria of effective presentations and viewing models to have students "hack" a terrible presentation? To remix it, revamp it, reshoot it, to enhance its effectiveness? Kids could turn boring PowerPoint presentations into movies, interactive timelines, podcasts, infographics, etc. If the objective--to enhance a presentation's message using digital tools--is all we care about. The sky's the limit. Even if it was as simple as a student using a more interactive data visualization tool (like <a href="http://infogr.am/">Infogr.am</a>) to bring to life a static, two-dimensional graph, there would still be a valuable conversation to be had about choice and impact when it comes to representing data/information.</div>
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<a href="https://infogr.am/GDP-Comparison-Over-Time" style="color: #acacac; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">GDP Comparison Over Time</a> | <a href="https://infogr.am/" style="color: #acacac; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Infographics</a></div>
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These are the experiences and conversations which will hopefully increase the "stickiness" of our own instruction. I can tell my students that their presentations should be "simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and storylike" (Hicks 2013, p. 73). But if I really want them to internalize this message, I need them to play around with these concepts. To judge their work against the models that we've analyzed together in class. </span>To see for themselves what works and what doesn't work. <br />
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Personally, I've been guilty of denying my students the opportunity to get messy, to tinker. I've diligently gone over my expectations for the presentation of their work--and yes I've even required a set number of slides--only to be disappointed, angry even, when the students "failed" to live up to those expectations. Looking back, it's clear that I was the one who had failed. I just assumed they'd figure "it" out on their own. I mean I'd told them to use "powerful visuals," to "limit the amount of text" on each slide, right?<br />
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We have to do better than give students a checklist of criteria and hope that they'll figure it out. If we truly wish them to become powerful producers of digital content, then we have to teach them how to make purposeful decisions, to "think intentionally about creating meaning" in a digital medium (p. 13). Adults sometimes drink too much of the "<a href="http://www.nnstoy.org/download/technology/Digital%20Natives%20-%20Digital%20Immigrants.pdf">digital native</a>" kool aid. But Hicks reminds us that just because students are "tech comfortable" doesn't necessarily mean that they are "tech savvy" (p. 20). Just because a student knows what <a href="http://techland.time.com/2013/05/19/what-is-tumblr/">Tumblr</a> is or has made a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2013/vine-new-way-share-video">Vine</a>, doesn't necessarily mean that he/she is a producer of meaningful digital content. <br />
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The danger in forgetting this is that we sometimes fail to act as the guides/mentors students need to fully tap into the potential as learners and creators. To be truly creative, one needs to know so much more than how to operate a piece of technology. Technology isn't a tool until you figure out how to manipulate it to your fit your needs--not the other way around. A rock was just a rock until someone figured out it could also be a hammer. <br />
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Wrapping up, I encourage you to read my blog post, <a href="http://digitaldissension.blogspot.com/2012/07/youth-in-action.html">Youth in Action</a>, to see what kids are capable of creating with the guidance and support of their teachers.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-32831921581561997792012-07-23T21:36:00.000-04:002013-07-20T06:46:38.063-04:00Youth in Action<div style="text-align: left;">
On Friday my husband, <a href="http://flic.kr/p/cCAu5q" target="_blank">Tobey</a>, asked me if I'd every heard of the <a href="http://www.youthconvertsculture.com/#!home/mainPage" target="_blank">Perry County Project</a>. I had not. Apparently, Tobey had read a tweet about it from an educator in New Bedford, MA. No big deal, right? Well the Perry County referred to in the Perry County Project is in Alabama. And the project of the Perry County Project? It's a week long event held at <a href="http://www.judson.edu/" target="_blank">Judson College</a> where "25 students and 9 teachers in Perry County, AL will focus on togetherness, thinking big, getting creative, and creating a lasting and positive presence on the web" and it held its first ever conference this past week. Below is a video "letter" created by the Perry County Project's directors <a href="http://about.me/BethSanders" target="_blank">Beth Sanders</a> and <a href="http://about.me/daniel.whitt" target="_blank">Daniel Whitt</a>, two Alabama public educators which gives a little background about how this project got underway:</div>
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Now what amazes me is not that there are educators out there trying to use technology as a means to empower students, although I am certainly impressed by the scope of their vision, but rather that by Friday of last week I, a semi-tech literate Massachusetts educator, knew about it. That by Monday night, I'd explored their website (<a href="http://www.youthconvertsculture.com/#!home/mainPage" target="_blank">Youth Converts Culture</a>), watched their videos, blogged about it for class, and "liked" their Facebook page. The power of digital media to reach and inform/inspire a broad audience is flippin' amazing!<br />
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I've been looking for ways to give my students a voice. The population of students that I deal with have a difficult time finding relevance in what they are learning. This disconnect between what they care about and what we try to teach them has caused many of them to totally disengage from their education. Now before you get the wrong impression of me, I am not advocating some touchy-feely-let's-sit-around-the-campfire-and-sing-"<a href="http://youtu.be/xSpBtIhFO44?t=30s" target="_blank">Lesbian Seagul</a>l"-together-instead-of -learning-about-the Industrial-Revolution-or-reading-<i>Othello </i>attempt at relevance. What I want is to bridge the gap between say the Industrial Revolution, which seems ancient and irrelevant to my kids, and their everyday lives. I want them to take a critical look at capitalism and how it affects them negatively/positively, how they benefit/suffer under this system, how the people the world wide are affected by such systems and then. . . and this is the new part. . . I want them to take that information and do something with it, to share it with as many people as possible. I want to empower them, not depress them. So I need to do more than just expose them to new information/knowledge, I give them an outlet for their anger, frustration, confusion, wonderment, et. al. <br />
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I think we underestimate what kids are truly capable of when we give them the guidance, time, and resources they need to express themselves. I was exploring the internet looking for some examples of youth in action when, lo and behold, I came across <a href="http://www.youthinactionri.org/" target="_blank">Youth in Action</a>, a Providence, RI based organization that believes that "young people are at the forefront of creating postive social change." What's really impressive about this organization is that they have their own media team called <a href="http://youthmedia.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Next Generation Media</a> that produces videos "on issues related to social justice and equality and feeds the community and their peers with knowledge about situations that they would not normally be informed about in their schools or on the news." In the video below, Youth in Action members went out and interviewed not just their peers but members of the community about racial profiling in Providence:<br />
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This is what kids are capable of--this piece of serious cultural criticism. Yet we ask them to fill out worksheets, write canned essays that will score a 8/10 or higher on the MCAS, and bubble in answers to standardized tests. It is time to rethink everything we are doing in the classroom, to have the difficult conversations about the relevance of our curriculum, the effectiveness of our assessments. If a group of Alabama students and educators can produce a video that inspires a teacher in Massachusetts to redesign her curriculum to incorporate new technology in order to empower her students, what might my own students be capable of doing; who might they reach and inspire?<br />
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I'll leave you with The Perry County Projects slogan: "It's never about technology. It's about empowerment."<br />
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-70303043202633358972012-07-23T15:01:00.001-04:002013-07-19T14:35:32.296-04:00I Share Therefore I Am<a href="http://www.mit.edu/~sturkle/" target="_blank">Sherry Turkle</a>'s <a href="http://www.thoughtfullydigital.com/turkle/" target="_blank">TED talks</a> and her article "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all" target="_blank">The Flight from Conversation</a>" gave me pause. Over these last few days in Media Analysis, I became a believer in technology. It's potential as a resource for the classroom is vast. I am particularly excited about the possibilities of using technology to help my students become more active participants in their learning--creators/producers of knowledge rather than merely receptacles of it. Yet just as my newfound excitement rose to a fevor pitch, Sherry Turkle doused me with a gallon of caution. <br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">In both a TED talk and her </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/interviews/turkle.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">interview with Frontline</a><span style="background-color: white;">, Turkle discusses how we are too busy </span><span style="background-color: white;">"communicating" to talk, to create, to connect. </span><span style="background-color: white;">She relates how teenagers, particularly ones with divorced parents, complain about competing with technology for their parents' attention: </span><br />
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"The mom [who has not seen her child in four days] comes to pick them up at the soccer game; this is now their time with their mom, right? The mom is sitting there with the Blackberry, and until she finishes the Blackberry stuff, she doesn't look up to look at the kid. The kid's in the car, and they've driven off before the mom looks up from the Blackberry."</div>
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This story made me so sad. I never want my children to think they come second to my cell phone. After reading Turkle's article, I became hyper-vigilant about my own use of technology around my children. I was disturbed by how often I had to urge to check my Facebook page or blog while I was with them. Why did I care who "liked" or commented on the wedding photos that I'd posted? Was their recognition of my work really more important than constructing elaborate foam block "bird condos" with Malcolm? It's the "I share therefore I am" mentality. The feeling of validation (of our feelings, beliefs, effort, talents, etc.) we get when we share a part of ourselves online. Before the internet, if I took a bunch of pictures the only way that people would get to see them was if they came over my house or if I sent them copies via snail mail. Now I can take a great picture and people I have never met can tell me how beautiful it is. It is an intoxicating feeling.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Yet what do we sacrifice for this high? Turkle argues that the price for all this connectivity is our real world relationships and most importantly our very sense of self. </span><span style="background-color: white;">While she is quick to point out that she is not a Luddite, Turkle convincingly advocates for a critical approach to our relationship with technology. In her</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/371249/january-17-2011/sherry-turkle" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">interview with Stephen Colbert</a><span style="background-color: white;">, she jokes about wanting to "put technology in its place." She argues that technology has become so important to our way of life that it has changed "not what we do, but who we are." We use technology to carefully craft the person we want others to see--editing our virtual selves to mask our real life flaws and insecurities. It is an elaborate and often exhausting performance. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">We also use technology to "bail out of the physical real," to avoid/ignore that which we'd rather not deal with. </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Real life is messy; it's complicated. But life online can be as simple or as complicated as we allow it to be. It's about control. </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Unfortunately</span> technology is not a panacea for our troubles. In fact it often helps us hide from the very troubles we claim to want to solve. For if </span><span style="background-color: white;">we never allow ourselves to be vulnerable, how will we ever take risks. And if we don't take risks how will we grow, learn, develop? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I see this fear of risk all the time in the classroom. It has become almost impossible for most of my students to finish an essay in a class period. If I allowed them to, many of my students would literally ask me to read over every sentence to make sure what they had written was "right." Is this technology's fault? No, probably not. But does technology enable such insecurities? Definitely. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">We need to help our students overcome their dependence on simulated reality. Simulated reality doesn't involve the same kind of risk that reality does. We need to help them find a way to bridge the gap between the "I share therefore I am" mindset to the "I create therefore I am" reality. The internet does indeed allow for constant connectivity but it also provides unprecedented opportunity for the creation and dissemination of knowledge. It can help take education outside of the classroom and make it a global experience, transition it from a passive experience to an active experience, reignite the curiosity and enthusiasm for learning that has all but been driven out of today's student. The thrill of creation exists whether four people or forty-thousand people see/experience your product. But truthfully it is a bit sweeter when what you've created reaches a broader audience. And I don't think Turkle has a problem with that. Her issue lies in </span><i style="background-color: white;">how </i><span style="background-color: white;">we are using technology (or rather </span><i style="background-color: white;">how </i><span style="background-color: white;">we are allowing technology to use us) not in technology itself: "</span><span style="background-color: white;">Technology is a wonderful conversation opener because it's so seductive. That doesn't mean it's where the conversation should end. It's a wonderful means of collaboration. But the collaboration is between people who are excited about the ideas. The technology is not the product."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">As Turkle is herself fond of quoting Thoreau, I couldn't help but think of his quote "we do not ride on the railroad, it rides upon us" (</span><i><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm#W2" target="_blank">Walden: Where I Lived and What I Lived For</a>). </i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-14402041306490395912012-07-20T16:12:00.001-04:002014-06-30T21:54:01.374-04:00Infographics in the Classroom<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Infographic</span></b>: <span style="line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">visual image used to represent information or data</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Infographics are more than just a way to represent complex data. They tell a story. And as we've been discussing in Media Literacy these past few weeks, the media is the message. We do a great disservice to ourselves and our students if we do not first learn the language that message is being spoken in and then teach our students the grammar of it. </span><br />
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Look at the infographic below from <a href="http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Shocking-Education-Statistics" target="_blank">Oprah's website</a> and see if you can decipher its message:</div>
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<a href="http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Shocking-Education-Statistics" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHN0hQ_o7OwGkCsExfl7Agb3k8nkhEEqP5ODuK7eu2HjrMQKIFSfigDvhE5hjAJje6eRoFd1aiz9BhtD316b3VxAF0Tqtwx4cy3WsUXPcx4o3CKqrNnu5hqWFPDZ2WtA3Tmk9p9JivoUj/s1600/lessons-in-education.jpg" /></a></div>
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Did you notice how the creators of this infographic (who appear to want to remain nameless) drop Oprah's name to give their statistics a sense of legitimacy but do not cite any other sources? What about the pie chart that claims that student achievement and therefore by default non-achievement is driven by teacher quality? Homeless? No worries. If your teacher's good enough, you'll make honor roll. Underneath this infographic is a link to an <a href="http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Shocking-Education-Statistics" target="_blank">article</a> about <i>Waiting for Superman. </i><span style="background-color: white;">This infographic isn't just a representation of data. It has an agenda.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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The current state of education is such a complex issue yet as a medium the infographic's strength lies in its ability to simplify, to summarize. Take for instance the statistics used above regarding the U.S. rankings in math and science. <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/timss/" target="_blank"><i>Trends in International Math and Science Study</i> </a>(TIMSS) results have long been used to discredit public education in the United States. But these statistics fail to take into account that the United States is a far more diverse country than those that it is being compared to. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In 2007 Masschusetts entered itself in as a "country" on the TIMSS report to see how they stacked up to the rest of the world. The results? "Massachusetts 4th graders ranked second worldwide in science achievement and tied for third in mathematics; the state's 8th graders tied for first in science and ranked sixth in mathematics" (</span><a href="http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=4457" style="background-color: white;">Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education</a><span style="background-color: white;">). 1st is a lot different than 21st. Just saying. (FYI: </span><span style="background-color: white;">The </span><a href="http://www.ncwit.org/resources/comparing-us-k-12-students-math-and-science-performance-internationally-what-are-facts-1" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">National Center for Women and Informational Technology</a><span style="background-color: white;"> does a decent job of summing up the problem with relying on TIMSS scores alone to assess the state of U.S. education.) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I'm not trying to say that everything is sunshine and butterflies in our public schools but statistics can be wielded as tools or as weapons. </span>Humorist Evan Esar defined statistics as "the science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.<span style="font-size: small;">" </span><span style="background-color: white;">That's why I think it is vital to help our students become more critical when confronting information presented in this format. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">But infographics are also a way for students to understand, to create and to inform. They are free, relatively easy to create, digestible and dispensable. Used correctly they have the potential to help students "reposition themselves, from cogs in the machine to social actions intent on jamming, resisting, and/or rewiritng the status quo" (Marshall and Sensoy, Rethinking Popular Culture and Media 11). For example this infographic regarding the lack of diversity in Congress just popped up on my Facebook newsfeed:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/04/24/does-congress-look-america-infographic" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmLYlBBzkZvaRhDN4inmDVRgBSATL1Ks4rK_AQADLHXoQ8m8B6VX47D08Km7ZkX9h2GYY0GjZNyCb7ok3AvMG82VXPo-xrSoT9Ot3xAKArY9-1jPPnopqEOrexGM_9ludPQnUihkHc8hm/s640/Congress+Info+Graphic.png" height="640" width="431" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Using publicly available data, the designer of this infographic is able to tell a powerful story about inequality and representation while simultaneously giving viewers an outlet for action--the link to register to vote at the bottom of the infographic. This is the "outlet for [ . . .] despair" for which Linda Christensen advocates. It isn't enough to expose them to the injustice inherent in the system; we must also give our students a way to deal with it.</span></div>
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This is where my desire to learn how to create an infographic came from. I wanted a medium that students could create and share with one another digitally. I don't know about you but I am sick to death of watching poorly designed PowerPoint presentations. I don't like them, the kids aren't proud of them, so why am I still doing them? It was time to explore something new and Media Analysis gave me the kick in the rear I needed to start.</div>
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I began by looking into two of the major infographic sites:<a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank"> Piktochart</a> and <a href="http://infogr.am/">Infogr.am</a> (both free). I ended up using <a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank">Piktochart</a> because it allowed for more autonomy and was less glitchy than Infogr.am (though in <a href="http://infogr.am/">Infogr.am</a>'s defense they make sharing your final product much easier than <a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank">Piktochart</a>). Once I decided upon the site, I got to work creating an infographic. I chose to use the data I'd collected during my teacher research (shout out to Dr. Johnson) because I hoped to use it as a vehicle to present my findings to the administration. </div>
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After hours of trial and error, I created the infographic below:</div>
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Unfortunately, the only way (at least that I can figure out) how to share this in a way that you can read it is to email it as a .png file. That's my big beef with <a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank">Piktochart</a>. Otherwise, I'm pretty proud of my creation.</div>
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However, this infographic took me <i>hours</i> to create. There is just so much that you can do on <a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank">Piktochart</a>. I worry that if I have my students create their own infographics, they will be so fixated on making it look cool, they won't be able to finish the product in a reasonable time. This is where the little voice inside my head questions whether this is really helping my students. But then I think about all that you have to do in order to create an infographic--work with statistics, understand persuasive appeal, make an argument, tell a story, etc.--and I reconsider.</div>
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Really the only way to tell if this is going to work is to do it. So I'm going to do it. My plan is to show my students a version of the<a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1y9C_r6a8mPzMLMbqrKuSJUhPbuvM-styJT6LHwzc4Q4/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> presentation on infographics</a> that I made for our class.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Then have them analyze a few infographics and discuss them as a class. Before we make our own infographics, I'd like to emphasize the idea that infographics have a point of view. It is so easy for people to assume that because it is "published", that it looks nice, than it must be true/accurate. After discussing infographics in general, I am going to have them sign up for <a href="http://www.piktochart.com/" target="_blank">Piktochart</a>. My first assignment will be for them to create an infographic about something they care about--Justin Bieber, motocross, animal rights, whatever tickles their fancy. When they're finished I'd like them to publish their work by sharing it in some way--uploading it to Facebook, Twitter, their blog, etc. I'm hoping that by sharing their schoolwork with a larger audience they will a) take it more seriously and b) feel pride in what they have created. </span><span style="background-color: white;">It all goes well then I will use infographics as a way for my students to analyze and digest more content driven topics like slavery, capitalism, war, etc. </span><br />
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Stay tuned. . . </div>
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Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-21193075437667021182012-07-16T21:25:00.002-04:002012-07-16T21:25:38.008-04:00Sesame Street: Women Can Be. . .After reading all of our blogs, I thought we could use a break from all the misogny, corporate greed, and racism. So here's a clip from Sesame Street which aired in the 1970s. Watch it, feel good, and try not to think about the implications of Abby Cadabby until tomorrow:<br />
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<br /></div>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-46483152868122237912012-07-16T20:47:00.003-04:002012-07-16T20:49:37.580-04:00Turning Pain Into PowerI have been thinking a lot about what Linda Christensen had to say about making room for our students' lives in the classroom, turning their pain into power It is not enough to make our students aware of the injustice in the world for "without giving [our] students an outline for their despair, [we create] what Wayne Au et al. call 'factories of cynicism'" (Christensen 198). We must provide our students the opportunity to act, to create, to teach so that they feel empowered by knowledge not burdened by it. <br />
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While I was perusing the <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/" target="_blank">Media Education Foundation</a> site, I came upon two videos that were about youth in action. The first <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=157" target="_blank">Mic Check</a> is about the <a href="http://occupywallst.org/" target="_blank">Occupy Movement</a>. My students were very interested in the Occupy Movement when it was happening. They asked a lot of questions about the economy and capitalism. I think watching all of these young people stand up for something, even if it is something they may not totally understand or agree with, would inspire my students. They are so convinced that nothing will ever change. The world is what it is and you just have to deal with it the best you can. A video like this is a conversation starter.<br />
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The other video, <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=155" target="_blank">How to Start a Revolution</a>, revolves around <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/23/world/gene-sharp-revolutionary/index.html" target="_blank">Gene Sharp</a> and "how an obscure list of nonviolent actions authored by Sharp in 1973 has served as a blueprint for anti-authoritarian revolts everywhere from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia." Civil disobience is my jam! I can't wait to show this clip. I'm always trying to explain to my students that civil disobience is anything but passive. It's so bad ass. I want the idea that people not that much older than them have overthrown vicious dictatorships to grab ahold of my students and not let go. Perhaps this clip has the teeth I need:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Vk1XbyFv51k" width="560"></iframe>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-35924113576085514422012-07-13T14:55:00.001-04:002012-07-20T15:12:04.034-04:00Super Cool Free Infographic Sites<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRiSBIjv0nUlrJPYS0i-woJiHIhi57VvwheyJY-saagXslFudmw87zxbXJp3Nfrrz201x2crLNq_uayBRSGG_VG1UZO1OH28-vWjzp62sHPhn-wo3pmqry6iqyDnyL5iDilNGM1TpSro0/s1600/what-is-an-infographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRiSBIjv0nUlrJPYS0i-woJiHIhi57VvwheyJY-saagXslFudmw87zxbXJp3Nfrrz201x2crLNq_uayBRSGG_VG1UZO1OH28-vWjzp62sHPhn-wo3pmqry6iqyDnyL5iDilNGM1TpSro0/s1600/what-is-an-infographic.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">For those of you interested in making your own (free) infographics, check out the following sites:</span><br />
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<a href="http://piktochart.com/" style="background-color: white; text-align: right;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Piktochart</span></a>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.easel.ly/" target="_blank">Easel.ly</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: right;"><a href="http://infogr.am/" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank">infogr.am</a></span></div>
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-57699341961310097942012-07-12T21:11:00.001-04:002012-07-12T21:14:30.299-04:00The Independent Princess (and a Swamp Creature)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amightygirl.com/skin/frontend/gravdept/acumen/media/logo/logo-300x135.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="A Mighty Girl" border="0" src="http://www.amightygirl.com/skin/frontend/gravdept/acumen/media/logo/logo-300x135.png" /></a><span style="background-color: white;">In light of princess conversation today, I thought I'd share a website called </span><a href="http://www.amightygirl.com/" style="background-color: white;">A Mighty Girl</a><span style="background-color: white;"> which describes itself as "the world's largest collection of books and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls." Check out their "<a href="http://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl-picks/independent-princess-1">Ultimate Guide to the Independent Princess.</a>"</span></div>
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And on a personal note, I found a cute book on this site called <i><a href="http://www.amightygirl.com/sally-and-the-some-thing">Sally and the Some-Thing</a></i> about a scrappy little girl who befriends a swamp creature. Those with small children should definitely check it out.<br />
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-16190704062069839932012-07-12T20:06:00.000-04:002012-07-12T20:11:00.416-04:00Authentic ExpressionI want to start by blaming Megan for giving me the case of the weepies today. I cried at <i>Brave</i> and I cried when I read my chosen article "Knock, Knock: Turning Pain into Power" by Linda Christensen, and I cried when I watched the video from which this article takes its name. That's a lot of crying in one day. I should have stocked up on tissues.<br />
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In all seriousness, Christensen's piece, which is reminiscent of Gerald Campano's work, advocates creating opportunities for our students to bring their lives into the classroom, to bridge the gap between school and home, academic and personal, to "[open] their veins, so they [can] write with the blood of their lives" (317). It is a message that I have swallowed wholeheartedly but sadly one I am just now, 11 years into my career as an educator, hoping to enact in my classroom. <br />
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Christensen writes of how the emphasis on standards and common curriculum too often become the focus of our teaching much to the detriment of our students' motivation and engagement. She warns that unless we consciously build "curriculum that allows room for students' lives. . .there is little hope of getting authenticity from students" (312). She then goes on to describe using the poet/playwright, Daniel Beatty's <i>Def Poetry Jam</i> performance of his piece "Knock, Knock" to inspire the work of her own students.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">After watching Beatty's performance, Christensen and her students discussed the poem. She specifically asked them to connect his experiences to their own lives which sparked a rich conversation about the very real struggles her students face every day. Christensen observed how "When one student opens the door for an honest conversation, others follow, especially if I create space by responding to the student's remark instead of rushing past it" (314). That last part about responding to students' remarks is so important.</span><br />
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We need to do a better job of sending the message to all our students, but particularly our most marginalized ones, that they matter, that we care, that there is a place for them in school even if there doesn’t seem to be one anywhere else. But it’s not easy. For my teacher research project, I gave the students in School Within a School (SWS) a survey. While 72% of the SWS students reported feeling that their teachers respected them (something I take a great deal of pride in), only 28% agreed that teachers understood what their life outside of school was like and a full 50% said that their teachers never ask them about their worries or their problems. In order to really engage marginalized children, we, as educators, need to acknowledge the struggles they face and validate the experiences/knowledge they bring to the classroom. How can we hope to encourage students to take ownership of their academic lives if we know nothing about what goes on in their lives outside of school or worse yet send the message that the very real struggles they face mean nothing?<br />
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One of my students, K.K., started off the year with a bang. She was focused, positive, and self-aware. She even made the honor roll quarter one, for the first time in her life, something she was incredibly proud of. Yet somewhere around Christmas time, K.K. started missing school, getting into petty fights with her teachers and other students, and her grades began to plummet. When I finally got her alone one day, I asked her what was going on and she told me that her parents were going through a bitter separation. They’d make up, have a nasty fight (sometimes physical), and break up again. She then revealed that she’d had to call the police on her father the night before because he was harassing her and her mother only to have him then threaten to take K.K. away from her mother by revealing to DCFS that K.K’s mother tried to commit suicide in 2010. K.K. was terrified that she was going to be taken away from her mother.<br />
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I can’t imagine how a person compartmentalizes this type of trauma in order to focus in school. I also can’t imagine hearing a story like this and seeing the fear in a child’s eyes and not wanting to help or at the very least not wanting to add to that stress. But it happens, all the time. <span style="background-color: white;">That's why it is so important to draw from the vast well of experiences that our students bring to the classroom, to validate both their struggles and their humanity. Christensen argues that by creating opportunities for students to reflect upon their own experiences, we help turn their pain, frustration, insecurity, confusion, etc. into power. </span><br />
<br /></div>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-21448134896767211312012-07-12T09:17:00.001-04:002012-07-12T10:30:01.903-04:00Pink Dresses and Plastic Surgery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's the article from <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/">Smithsonian.com</a> about the history of the gender associations we make with color: <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1" target="_blank">"When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?"</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">And Ursula's makeover written about in Psychology Today: "</span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-view-venus/201207/under-the-sea-under-the-knife" style="background-color: white;">Under the Sea, Under the Knife</a><span style="background-color: white;">"</span><br />
<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-84736350335230458792012-07-11T20:21:00.000-04:002012-07-11T20:21:01.591-04:00The Princess Wore SweatpantsI was a huge tomboy for much of my young life and pretty geeky thereafter. While other girls were experimenting with make-up, I was still wearing sweatpants and T-shirts with cartoon animals on them (I could really rock a panda jumpsuit). I blame much of my lameness on my mother who is herself a bit of a tomboy preferring Sears to Neiman Marcus for all her fashion needs. <span style="background-color: white;">I was also really active in such uncool activities as Girls Scouts, softball, and church choir. And while these activities probably thwarted any hope I had of being a cool kid they also empowered me and gave me the confidence needed to tackle an awkward adolescence. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4th Grade Field Day 1990 (that's me on the far right)</td></tr>
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While I have few conscious memories of Disney's impact upon my sense of style or self worth, I do distinctly remember its impact upon my little tween heart. 1992, Lowes Theater, Brookfield, CT, double-feature: <i>Newsies </i>and <i>Aladdin</i>. For those of you who haven't heard of <i>Newsies, </i>recently revived on Broadway, it is the story of the 1899 newsboy strike against the papers owned by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst set to music (of course). More importantly it stars <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/" target="_blank">Christian Bale</a> (complete with ridiculous NY accent) and a slew of other cute adolescent boys. The character that stole my heart was the leader of the Brooklyn Boys, Spot, played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0198925/" target="_blank">Gabriel Damon</a>. I used to fantasize that I was a Bowery girl and Spot would strut into my life and sweep me off my feet. <br />
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I mention this rather embarrassing tidbit because I recently learned there is something of a Spot subculture. Women my age romanticizing about the characters that they use to harbor crushes on when they were tweens. Harmless, right? Well only if you don't take into consideration that Spot is one of the most violent characters in the whole film. In the clip below the Newsies are fighting the thugs hired by the newspapers to put an end to the strike. Jack, Christian Bale's character and the most experienced fighter, is in over his head until Spot and his crew show up to save the day. Notice that Spot and his band of Brooklyn newsies are the only newsboys brandishing weapons.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">What does it say that grown women are still fantasizing about a violent man-child? Gabriel Damon was and probably still is attractive but so is Christian Bale. Yet much of the fan fiction and YouTube comments about this film revolve around Spot. Why? He's not even a major character. But he is the "coolest" character--he is a domineering presence (all 5'7" of him), violent, and assertive. It speaks to the power of Dorfman's "secret education" ( 189) that this character has yet to fade into the ether. Spot's aggressive characteristics seems to resonate with Lila Johnson's observations about her brothers who "tossed aside their piles of books and tubs of clay: Heroes didn't read or create--they fought!" (202). These aggressive, volatile, men are suppose to be our princes. Not creators but destroyers. It's frightening to think about. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br />As a parent, I am very concerned about the messages being carefully aimed at my children. I am especially worried about the effects on the "Princess Culture" upon my daughter something </span><span style="background-color: white;">Peggy Orenstein writes about in her book </span><a href="http://peggyorenstein.com/books/cinderella.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Cinderella Ate My Daughter</a><span style="background-color: white;"> (her original NY Times article "</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.html?_r=1" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">What's Wrong with Cinderella?"</a><span style="background-color: white;"> is worth a read). Just walking into Toy R Us gives me the hee bee gee bees. They have organized their toys around franchises--<i>Cars</i>, <i>Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer</i>, etc.--and whole isles are dedicated to princess merchandise. I remembering trying to buy invitations to my son's 1st birthday party and not being able to find a single one without some T.V. or movie character on it. How do you fight this indoctrination? </span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7OrMT8Wv9mI" width="420"></iframe>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-22289500015466558722012-07-11T00:11:00.000-04:002012-07-11T08:58:43.806-04:00Wesch and the MachineSorry I'm so late with this. Cranky babies don't respect deadlines. Jerks.<br />
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When Dr. Bogad first introduced us to Mike Wesch in SED 552 by reading his article "<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/6358393/AntiTeaching-Confronting-the-Crisis-of-Significance" target="_blank">Anti-teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance.</a>" I must say that I was more than a bit skeptical of the whole idea of "anti-teaching:" <br />
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<i>As I was shaking my head in agreement with Wesch, a little voice from the far reaches of my brain, keep asking how does Wesch knows that his students are really learning anything? He is vague on how he assesses his students' knowledge. Now I realize that Wesch's goal is to inspire students to ask questions but I'm not sure that making a documentary or creating a simulation of world history really proves that all of his students are learning. He seems to be implying that if we hand the reigns over to students that learning will just happen. Still he admits in this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwyCAtyNYHw&feature=relmfu">TED talk</a>(13:39 min) that the world simulation game he has his students create "almost always fails" but that it "fails in the best possible way" because students leave his class asking the questions that will help them pass the test of life. While that sound amazing, I'm left a bit uneasy. Wesch either downplays his role as "manager" while discussing his innovative anti-teaching or he puts way more trust in his students ability to find, analyze, and present real information than I am comfortable with.</i><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></i></span></span></span><br />
I was uncomfortable with notion of handing over control to my students. How would they be held accountable? Was there some sort of summative assessment which gauged his students' understanding of the courses' key concepts? I just wasn't ready to make the leap of faith necessary to even consider doing this in my own classroom. <br />
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Given my initial reservations about such student-centered pedagogy, I was surprised by how much Wesch's ideas resonated with me today while reading "<a href="http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2011/03/23/The-Old-Revolution.aspx?Page=1" target="_blank">The Old Revolution</a>." It was kind of like what Seth was talking about today when you haven't realized how far you've come until someone or something brings it to your attention. I still think that it is important to make sure all of one's students are being challenged and participating in their learning but I realize that I was obsessing about the wrong thing. If students aren't motivated, if they don't see the value in what we are trying to teach them, than I'm not doing my job regardless of how well my students do on MCAS.<br />
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Wesch argues that progressive, student-centered pedagogical movements have gone in and out of fashion for a long time. But whereas in years past, there were only small pockets of revolutionary thinkers, Wesch argues that technological and cultural changes that have taken place in the last 20 years are so vast that "educators everywhere cannot help but see a disconnect between their traditional modes of teaching and the world in which we all now live"(2). <br />
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This disconnect is a reality we live everyday--kids bored, disillusioned ,and disengaged. We can choose either to hide behind the idea that kids today are just lazy or we can start figuring out ways to recapture their attention and spark their imagination. Stepping outside of our comfort zone isn't easy but taking risks is the only way to grow. I think Wesch framed our situation beautifully:<br />
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In the pursuit of these new learning environments we find ourselves asking those wonderfully fundamental questions: What are “the basics” and “basic literacy skills” today? How might our students best learn them How are schools/classrooms/desks/subjects/schedules/teachers necessary to this learning process, and how are they not? And these are the best kinds of questions, because their best answers are just more questions. And so we find ourselves exactly where any great learner would want to be, on a quest, asking question after question after question (3).<br />
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<br />Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-43741529462933160532012-07-10T23:40:00.002-04:002012-07-11T18:54:06.045-04:00Thinking Beyond Word<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIOyXE5KrUgjDfS48baS4vk8SZpeEHtO46xV42sAB-FYxBsIkPjPdD3AwwmOf3KJd7pUaMELE9FwiATYt8-4-Iommgpk9xhYxqBK-wU9S061DcIQ7zVcvmWJQjv9eTIOWtxAxE-EtxAgx/s1600/new_luddite.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIOyXE5KrUgjDfS48baS4vk8SZpeEHtO46xV42sAB-FYxBsIkPjPdD3AwwmOf3KJd7pUaMELE9FwiATYt8-4-Iommgpk9xhYxqBK-wU9S061DcIQ7zVcvmWJQjv9eTIOWtxAxE-EtxAgx/s320/new_luddite.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">I don't automatically think in terms of technology. It's </span><span style="background-color: white;">not yet woven into my DNA. I can go days without looking at my cellphone, much to the chagrin of my friends and family who despite knowing of my casual attitude towards cellphones will text away in vain before giving up and actually calling my house phone (yes, I have a land-line).</span><br />
<br />My ambivalent attitude towards my less-than-smart-phone may make it seem as if I am totally lost in the digital frontier but I not a total Luddite. I'm just not sure how I'd categorize myself in terms of my digital literacy. I would have thought that I was as much an immigrant as any adult my age but when Dr. Bogad was going over the characteristics of the digital immigrant accent described in Marc Prensky's essay <a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf">"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,"</a> I found that many of those descriptors weren't applicable to me. I have a Facebook account, I own a Kindle, I am constantly uploading pictures to the internet, I even started my own blog (<a href="http://malcolmreed.blogspot.com/">The Adventures of Worm</a>) when my son was born. I don't know if it's because I'm married to a man who believes in the importance of using technology in the classroom or just being around 15 year-olds all day but I haven't printed out an email in years and have adopted much of the verbiage of the digital age (although admittedly I have participated in grammatical debates regarding the appropriate usage of the word "<a href="http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-texted-vs-texed.html">text" in the past tense</a>). Still when I compare myself to my husband or my students, I feel very much like an immigrant. <br /><br />When designing lessons that utilize technology, I tend to think small. We have a mobile laptop cart with wi-fi capability available to us in the School Within in a School program (SWS), a privilege bestowed on no one else in the whole school (despite the fact that a good number of kids have phones with 3/4G internet capabilities, wi-fi access is tightly controlled by our OIT department who seem to think Al Qaeda is trying to infiltrate the Attleboro High School server) . Yet despite this incredible resource what we most often used the laptops for was word processing, typing essays. All that technology available and all I could think of was using Word? To be fair, my students are proficient in using Google Docs and know how to properly upload documents and files. The basics are important but I know that it's not enough. <br /><br /><div>
Ideally I'd like to create a more authentic, engaging experience for my students. This is a particularly urgent goal given that the students in the SWS have been identified as the 9th graders most likely to drop-out of school I know that technology is a key component to achieving this goal and thus I am hoping that this class gives me kick in the pants I need to overcome my digital shortsightedness.<br /><br />I will end this blog with one of the first videos I ever uploaded to Blogger. It is of my son hopping around in his jumpy to House of Pain's "Jump Around":<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qLYYocgd428" width="560"></iframe></div>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1174341484123766311.post-18584288808550858852012-07-10T10:56:00.000-04:002012-07-10T19:40:42.664-04:00Greetings and Salutations<div>
Greetings! My name is Kelly Reed and I am an English teacher going into my eleventh year at <a href="http://www.attleboroschools.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Attleboro</span> High School</a>. Last year working in our new School Within a School Program (designed at helping at-risk 9th graders successfully transition to high school) was one of the most challenging and rewarding years that I've had as an educator and I am excited to get back into the mix.</div>
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On a more personal note, I spend most of my time outside of the classroom cuddling with my 3 month old daughter, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67414061@N05/7546361564/in/photostream" target="_blank">Zoe</a>, while simultaneously attempting to keep my 2 year old son, Malcolm,
from plummeting down the stairs, smothering his baby sister with kisses, and brandishing his nether regions at strangers. When <a href="http://youtu.be/t5bWC6Arwk0" target="_blank">Malcolm</a> is safely
asleep, I enjoy having some adult non-school related conversation with
my husband (who coincidentally is also a teacher at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">AHS</span>), reading a good zombie story or two, and watching nerdy shows like <a href="http://www.history.com/shows/the-universe">The Universe</a> (Did you know there are giant alcohol clouds in space?) and <a href="http://www.history.com/shows/monsterquest"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">MonsterQuest</span></a> (I believe in you, Nessie!).</div>
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</div>Kelly J. Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456222305258561451noreply@blogger.com1