Category Archives: Slice of Life

Slice of Life: The Long Tail Of The Daily Create

Date
Posted by
Comments1

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I start most of my mornings with two acts of art — I try to write a daily small poem and I try to create some kind of art with the DS106 Daily Create.

As my friend and Daily Create mechanic, Alan Levine, brings the new year into a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Daily Create (which started as part of an online digital storytelling class and then morphed into an open call for being creative), I realized that I have completed 2,170 works of art (a term I use roughly, some days) and how powerful it has been to be inspired and motivated to create something new every single day.

What does that number translate into? It is three hundred and ten weeks. Or nearly six years. Mostly, it’s daily, but at the start, it was sort of hit or miss for me.  I came and did a prompt when I was interested, and then at some point, it became my daily practice. Some mornings, I am making illustrations. Others, I am sharing some writing. Or remix, or music, or something, anything, loosely affiliated with the daily prompts that come on Twitter and at the Daily Create website.

I learned about the Daily Create from a friend, Karen F., who was a collaborator in the CLMOOC experience. Later, I even adapted the concept of the daily prompt to something called The Daily Connector that we used in CLMOOC and other connected learning experiences. Sometimes, a prompt at the Daily Create dovetails and connects with other projects. Others have done the same with replicating the experience of a daily invitation, and the Daily Create has a long tail of inspiration.

Meanwhile, contributors, like myself, feed back into the system — submitting ideas for Daily Creates, as the baton of administration of the site gets passed from one person to another over time (sometimes, it is a college professor who uses the Daily Creates for daily writing for their students, exposing them to the idea of making and sharing work in a social media experience).

I get a real sense of being curious and creative each morning by the Daily Creates, as I work on a quick prompt (they are designed to be no more than 10 or 15 minutes to complete) and that helps me situate myself for other writing activities or for thinking about teaching that day. It also invites me to try platforms and other tools that I might otherwise not have known about.

Peace (making art),
Kevin

Slice of Life: It’s Hard To Be An Optimist In A Pessimistic World

Date
Posted by
Comments5

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

Is it just me or are things seemingly sliding further and further off kilter? I think, or I hope, by nature, I am normally an optimist, seeing possibilities instead of barriers. That’s one reason why I am a teacher. The future always looks bright from the classrooms of today. But I am also a realist, and from this seat, it seems like the world at large has gone slant.

Politics. Economics. Environment. Pandemic. Will the new year be better? I hope so but I am not so certain, given the undercurrents of division and chaos that seems to be nearly everywhere. And 2022 has all the markings of another year of more political tumult (and Trump).

Comic: New Year 2022

Look, I’m not throwing my hands up and giving up on the world.

I’m going to continue to look small. I love my neighborhood, and all of the people here. We look after each other. We connect. I love my networks online where I make art and share writing and create things together, globally. I love my family and our dogs. I love the woods, the rivers, the quiet spaces. And I still love teaching, even though public education has become increasingly stressful and difficult, and politicized.

I’ll hold on to those other small things. Because when I look at the larger world … good lord … it’s hard to believe we’re heading in the right direction anymore.

(Then I remind myself: Covid vaccines are an engineering/medical miracle on a scale never seen before. So there’s that, for those of us in the developed world. And clean energy technology is developing at a rapid pace. That’s good, too. And young people are demanding a better world through collective action. Another good thing … hmmm … maybe I woke up too pessimistic this morning.)

Peace (shaking it off),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Wandering Around Inside Student Video Game Projects

Date
Posted by
Comments3

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

We’re nearing the finishing line of our Hero’s Journey Video Game Design project, in which my sixth graders have been working to create video games that represent story. As usual, their focus remains on design and building the game as I repeatedly force them to consider and work on the story aspect of the project. Somehow, they both balance out, mostly, by the time we reach the finishing line (this week, before break).

I shared out the following video yesterday, showing my own play inside some of the games that students have been designing, as a sort of video game design mentor text. I chose games that were made by writer/designers that effectively used the message areas to set a story into motion that the player/reader plays/reads. (I used a filter in Animoto to catch their attention with my video excursions).

Today, we will do some peer reviewing/feedback of games and then by tomorrow, most if not all games should be done and published inside the Gamestar Mechanic community for players around the world to engage with.

Peace (phew),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Poetry, Code and Creativity

Date
Posted by
Comments1

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

This week, I will set aside some time for my students to explore Hour of Code, connecting the creative play there with the work we are doing around storytelling and video game design.

Each year, I keep an eye on any new activities in the Hour of Code. This year, the newly added activity is all about poetry and art and design, and that connection between exploring verse and basic programming makes me happy to see.

The Poem Art activity — introduced via video by a high school poet and programmer — allows students to explore animation and text manipulation, as well as design and music and mood. There are options for using provided poems (such as Jabberwocky), but also a place to write your own poem and use your own words.

Cool.

I tried it out by writing a poem — Watch the Idea Dance — and thought it worked just fine.

Hour of Code Poetry

Take a peek at my poem.

Then, maybe make your own.Peace

I’ll be bringing this, along with some other activities, to my sixth graders tomorrow.

Peace (coded for the world),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Gearing Up for Video Game Design

Date
Posted by
Comments2

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

The weeks after Thanksgiving are often the time when I introduce a unit around “non-traditional writing” where my sixth graders explore Interactive Fiction texts and writing (just wrapping up) and move into Video Game Design with Gamestar Mechanic.

Librarian's Quest: Let The Gaming Begin!

Alas, Gamestar pulled the plug on its online site due to the end of Flash software in browsers but, phew, launched a stand-alone app for Macs and PCs (but not Chromebooks) that remains a robust place for learning about game design and an opportunity for young people to tell stories through design principles.

Today, I am going to walk my students through the various steps of accessing the app on their school Mac laptops, launching the app, registering an account within my special classroom space in Gamestar, and begin exploring the site before I start to introduce the “story” they will be “writing” as a video game project.

Gamestar Mechanic - Educational Game Review

This particular cohort of kids is tricky. They get antsy. They focus on other things. They jump ahead. I’m going to remind myself to be patient today as I work to get 60-ish sixth graders up and running, and playing games.

Wish me luck.

🙂

Peace (playing it forward),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Let’s Not Go There

Date
Posted by
Comments9

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I teach in a fairly conservative town in the midst of a very progressive part of Massachusetts. Sometimes, that tension becomes visible. Like yesterday …

My sixth graders are working on Interactive Fiction stories and one student, louder than they needed to sound, asked if it was OK if one of the characters in their stories shouts out: Let’s Go, Brandon. (If you don’t know what that is, you need to look it up).

To which I not only shook my head in an exasperated “no,” but then launched into a response about how I know exactly what they are trying to do by asking the question, and no, that would not be allowable in their story. (Although part me wonders about free speech and all that …)

Later, as we were walking from our class to the next, outside for fresh air, this same student shouted that phrase out loud.

Sigh.

I took them aside, and now went into my full speech about respecting the presidency, whomever is in office and whatever your political views, and I reminded them of how I served in the military myself and I believe in level of respect and expect them to, as well, and we left it at that.

I know they are using the term because it seems furtive and a way to get a reaction out of friends, and probably, it’s something they are hearing at home from either family or the conservative news channels that the family is watching, or it’s something they are seeing on YouTube or other social media, or perhaps it’s some mix of all those things.

It’s another reminder how words matter, and how the level of discourse in our country has reached yet another low point, and how sad that is that echoes of it has come into our sixth grade classrooms.

Peace (respectfully),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Lending Leaves and Making Connections

Date
Posted by
Comments2

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I’m not sure how we first got connected with Stan the Fix It Man, or Margie the Leaf Lady, or Henry, or a few others whom we connect with only once a year, during Autumn Leaf Season. To be fair, it was probably my wife who made first contact with all of these folks.

You see, we have leaves. Lots of leaves. And they need leaves, for gardens and trees and more. So once a year, either we reach out to them or they reach out to us, and we make a connection. We also check in with other – making sure all is well — so the transaction  becomes more personal, if transitory, and then we’ll get to the business of arranging delivery or pick-up of the two or three dozen or so bags that we will have from the front and back yards of our home.

I visited with Stan the other day, and he was out in his garden, digging up some rhubarb for a neighbor who stood there with him, listening to his instructions on planting and eating the plant, and then he told me, and his neighbor, all about how he wants to use my leaves to protect his Fig tree, and how wonderful fresh figs are off the tree, and how next time I came around, he’d be sure to give me a few fresh figs. He’s doing fine.

Margie let us know that she was battling some infestation of some kind in her garden, where our leaves provide protective cover over the winter, and so she needed a little time to let the frost settle in before prepping her space for our delivery of bags. Our leaves — particularly the maple — are coveted for their richness, I guess. She’s doing fine.

I suppose this is how community is — the small connections that are part of a larger network or fabric, and how even the simple chatter of connection — even only yearly — makes for something worth writing about. It’s easy to cocoon — particularly in a pandemic — but it’s so important to be part of something larger, too.

Yes, I could make connections from this piece to online writing spaces like Slice of Life, too. I hope you are well.

Peace (falling and then, collecting),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Random Thoughts On The Rain

Date
Posted by
Comments3

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

The storm has flow — slowing down to catch its breath, before surging again.

The living room has the scent of wet dogs from the first walk of the day.

Forecast of an entire day of rain will end our impressive streak of nearly every single day of “outdoor snack” at school. Darn.

Patches of lawn where our young dog rips through the yard to play with her toys are particularly mushy mushy mushy this morning.

Contradiction: we need the rain to recharge the water, but we don’t want the rain.

All of the Autumn beautiful leaves, turning to brilliance, will probably now be on the ground, going brown.

Raking and dealing with wet leaves stinks.

I enjoy listening to the rhythm of raindrops as I write.

It sure is darker than usual at this hour, with the storm hiding the sunrise this morning.

This rain inspired a poem.

Have patience – the storm will end and the sun will shine.

Peace (listening in),
Kevin

Slice of Life: Noise In The Sky

Date
Posted by
Comments2

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

Our young rescue dog is still baffled by the geese. In the yard or on a walk, when the flock of geese are overhead — noisy as heck, to be sure — Rayna (our dog) pulls to a stop, takes a seat and stares up at the sky. This is her second Autumn with us, so it’s not as if she hasn’t seen the migrating birds, but I suspect it’s the combination of the noise and the formation and the slow-moving flock across the skyline that captures her attention.

Or maybe she thinks they’re a toy to be chased, just out of reach.

The thing is, her stopping and looking makes me stop and look, too, and, in that paying closer attention, I notice the patterns in the flocks, and track the way things are always in motion, as different leaders take the front and different stragglers rush to catch up. I hear their song start, gather volume, and fade. The sound of migrating geese is part of the soundtrack of Fall in New England, but is something I all too often take for granted.

It’s not beautiful music that the birds make but it is the soundtrack of seasonal transition, and if you listen carefully, the collective calls of the geese in each flock does have its own cadence and its own beat, a slow rhythm just off-kilter from the flapping of the wings.

Even as we keep walking, Rayna will often turn her head back to the horizon, to glimpse back to where the geese have gone over the treeline or horizon, as if trying to discover the magic of the skies. It’s the only time I really notice her noticing what’s above her, so attuned is she to the world at her feet, and noticing the world through another’s eyes — even a dog — is refreshing.

My morning’s small poem is inspired by the geese:

Flock (1)

Birds, in flight,
above us

below us,
our boots
trample decay

We hesitate:
a season’s songs,
a long pause;

the flying
echo calls
of voices, chaos;
then calm,

draw a line
from cloud to star;
we gawk, before
it’s gone

Peace (flying),
Kevin

Slice of Life: On The Ropes – Up In The Trees

Date
Posted by
Comments4

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I almost didn’t do it. Now I am glad I joined my teenage son and niece on an aerial adventure with a high ropes and zip-lining course this weekend as we had a family weekend of apple picking, viewing an outdoor art gallery and then the ropes course.

Which was challenging as the difficulty levels got increasing more .. difficult.

But we were outside, in the woods, at the start of the WriteOut project, and being up in the trees for a challenge seemed quite appropriate for the Write Out experience. And while my back and shoulders still feel the strain of twisting and turning and balancing and muscling my way through, the sense of accomplishment is strong.

Ropes Course Collage

Peace (outside and on the wires),
Kevin

PS: Write Out 2021 kicked off this weekend and runs for two weeks (through Sunday, October 24). It’s a free, place-based, online activity for teachers, students and the public. Write Out is a partnership between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service. More info: https://writeout.nwp.org/