Author Archives: dogtrax

Interviews Force Reflection on Teaching

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This suddenly has become a week of getting interviewed or at least, scheduling interviews.

First, on Sunday, I had a great chat with Franki Sibberson (of A Year of Reading) for the wonderful site, Choice Literacy, about digital writing. The first part of the interview focused on how I use tools of digital media, personally, as a writer, and why, and how the National Writing Project helped nurture me in that direction (which it surely did!). Franki asked some great questions about how a teacher explores possibilities before bringing those ideas into the classroom, and how one goes about doing that. Her inquiry really had me thinking and reflecting. The second part of the interview was about student learning and how a teacher can consider the possibilities for digital composition, particularly around the gains that I see when we use technology for learning. Again, her questions allowed me to reflect, and consider what I do with my students from a different angle. The podcasts will be published at Choice Literacy sometime in the coming months. (There are some great podcasts at the site’s itunes home already.)

game interview

Then, yesterday, I sat down with a student of mine and we both got interviewed by some students in George Mayo’s class down in Maryland. They are working on a video project with the central question of “Are video games bad for you?” My student and I discussed our video game design project, and the interviews asked some really great questions about the value of gaming in the classroom. It was interesting and a great opportunity to highlight one of my students, who really dove into our game design project. The interviews are going to be playing his game and working that experience into their video project. It should be interesting to see, when it is done.

And, I am working on scheduling a Google Hangout with a college class being taught by a friend who was a leader of the Massachusetts New Literacies Initiative. He wants to have his students chat with a teacher who uses digital media.

While there is a lot of scheduling that has to happen for these kind of interviews, I realize that I get a lot out of it. Questions from outsiders force us to reflect on just what it is that we are doing, and why. It forces you to move beyond a certain comfort zone and think through the rationale of why technology can enhance a learning space, or not. So, I appreciate the opportunity to engage in these kinds of forums, and I will share out the links from various interviews as they become public.

Peace (in the Q&A),
Kevin

 

Slice of Life: The Valentine Day Dilemma

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(This is part of the reflective Slice of Life feature at Two Writing Teachers. Next month, the entire month is reflective Slices of Life, with prizes and support from other writers. You should join in.)

I was watching my youngest son finish up his class Valentine Day cards. He looked a bit like Michael Jordan, driving to the hoop. His tongue was out; his eyes were narrow; his fingers held the marker as he scribbled more to his picture. He was putting a lot of effort into what he was doing … for what? So that he would have some cards to give out to his classmates, who would have cards to give to him, and all because of a greeting card holiday.

It didn’t help that his teacher sent home a class list last week. If that is not pressure, what is. And my wife and I felt the pressure, too, and urged him to finish up those cards.

I don’t know. Why push Valentine’s Day on schoolchildren? It’s not love. It’s the candy that they want. I would rather have had my son outside, practicing some basketball dribbling (he needs it, believe me) or creating an imaginary world in his tree fort, or reading a book (or having me read him a book) than making cards that will get tossed into a backpack, forgotten by tonight.

Or maybe this is just me.

I had a student in my class ask if she could bring in cupcakes today. I almost told her “no” but then felt like a Grinch or something, so I stilfled that negative impulse, and told her “yes” and she was all happy to be able to do something special for the class.  And they do love their cupcakes. Now that, I can understand and support. But the cards? Eh, leave them at home.

Peace (in the flip side),
Kevin

 

My Pile of Books to Be Read

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Kevin's Books
Over at the Nerdy Book Club, there was a call recently for photos of our piles of books “to be read.” Here is mine. Some of these have been there for a few months, but most are fairly new to the pile. I am currently reading Larry McMurty’s The Berrybender Narratives and may wander into I Walked with Giants or the William Gibson essays next. Not sure.

Peace (in the piles of books),
Kevin
PS — and the video compilation of all of the Nerdy Book Club TBR books was released yesterday, too.

 

Student Short Story Shards

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I spent a lot of time yesterday, reading through my students’ adventure short  stories. Some were fantastic; some were just OK. But all of the stories had some interesting nuggets that I wanted to be able to share out with the rest of the classes. So, as I was reading, I began to “capture” a line from every story — something interesting, intriguing. Some hint of the larger story. Then, I went into our Glogster site and created this Story Shard poster. Actually, this is the first of two that I am going to be creating (I am not quite done with all the stories.)

I like how it looks like a wall of stories, and there is something quite interesting about seeing all of these story shards together in a single place — sort of like a graffiti wall of ideas.

Peace (in the stories),
Kevin

 

Potential Massachusetts Ballot Issue: Teacher Evaluation

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I’m trying to learn more about a proposed ballot issue put forth by a group called Stand for Children (which is a national group that seeks to influence teacher evaluations) in my state of Massachusetts. The ballot initiative — entitled An Act to Promote Excellence in Public Schools — has apparently gained enough signatures to be considered by our state Legislature to be put to voters. The Legislature has not yet taken up the measure.

The ballot initiative came to my attention because two colleagues and former Massachusetts teachers-of-the-year — Michael Flynn, who teaches at my school, and Wilma Ortiz, who is part of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project — have joined a lawsuit with other state educators, seeking to block the ballot initiative. Flynn has been part of a state effort by our governor to create a new teacher merit system that has a balance of test scores, administrative evaluation and more, and that system has barely begun to get put into place.

The key, as I understand it, to Stand for Children’s initiative would be to mostly remove collective bargaining from the equation, and eliminate the aspect of seniority, too. This would ostensibly free up principals to evaluate, and then rehire or freely fire, teachers who don’t meet the standards. A dismissal could be arbitrated, but (according to the Massachusetts Attorney General summary of the initiative), “In deciding whether the grounds for dismissal had been proven, the arbitrator would not consider a teacher’s seniority or length of service. ”

I can’t help but admire the use of rhetoric by Stand for Children. Who wouldn’t want to Stand for Children? Who wouldn’t want to “promote excellence in public school”? The accompanying website for Massachusetts is entitled “Great Teachers: Great Schools” and who wouldn’t want that?

I did a little research about Stand for Children. I don’t know who is backing the movement financially other than donations from the public, but the organization does seem to spring up as a PAC in various states, with similar themes as the one they are working on here in Massachusetts. (A 2010 article in the Illinois Times noted that Stand for Children had contributed more than $600,000 to political candidates, so it must have some deep pockets somewhere). According to Wikipedia, the organization emerged from a rally in Washington DC and was founded by Jonah Edelman (son of civil rights pioneer Marian Wright Edelman) and Eliza Leighton as a means to improve the lives of young people.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the developments here in my state. You might want to do the same, too.

Peace (in the news),
Kevin

 

 

Book Review: Horton Halfpott

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I’ll be the first to admit that it took me about halfway through Tom Angleberger’s humorous novel to really get the flow of it. But I didn’t give up — partially because my son (whom I was reading it to) needed to know what would happen to Horton Halfpott and partially because, well, I was having fun reading it out loud (even though the Old English inflections and difficult vocabularly at times made me stop to explain a few things to my son). I should probably pause here, dear reader, to give the full title of this book, since it says so much about the tone of the book:

Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset

Horton Halfpott himself is a kitchen boy in a castle who falls in love with an heiress, and all sorts of mischief abounds — from the above-mentioned “loosening of the corset” to a world famous detective come to find some missing objects to shipless pirates caught up in a kidnapping, and more and more craziness. But the story is told in a very formal tone, with addresses to the reader at times, and other odd narrative twists that take some getting used to.

But stick with it.

The book kicks into full gear about halfway through and steams right to the end, complete with a scene involving pickle eclairs that will do doubt have you laughing as hard we were. What more can you ask of a book than that?

Peace (in the mire),
Kevin
PS — this is an odd book trailer.

 

Multimedia Companions to Student Short Stories

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I’m getting ready to dive into the adventure short stories that my students have written but I want to share out their use of Glogster.edu for creating “companion pieces” to their stories. This assignment was to learn about how to use the digital poster site and how to create a multimedia project that is an extension of their stories. I guided them on summary writing, setting, and protagonist/antagonist, and on the elements of design.

It’s been interesting to see their posters come together, particularly since I have not yet read most of the stories. Of course, I know a little of each story from our work in class, but not everything. The posters give intriguing hints. Now, I am thinking: what if the stories began on paper but then finished on a digital poster? (sort of like what Patrick Carmen has been doing with connecting his novels to media). The glog would be a final chapter of their short story, or the story might leave off in a cliffhanger to be resolved online?

Intriguing possibilities for next time ..

Here are some of the projects that have come to be completed. A fair number are almost done.
You need Flash plugin!

Peace (in the posters),
Kevin

PS — They also completed a bridge engineering project with Glogster, which I will share out tomorrow or Monday. They did a fine job on that assignment, too.

 

Book Review: Best Music Writing of 2011

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Alex Ross is the guest editor for the 2011 version of Best Music Writing, which collects and highlights some of the most interesting magazine and journal articles about the music scene. The Best Music Writing of 2011 is a fantastic look at music from multiple angles, and (give Ross’s involvement and his role in writing about classical music for the New Yorker) the focus shifts from classical to jazz to heavy metal and beyond. Topics from Lady Gaga to the use of the vocoder device in music (from its origins in the spy services) to the plight of making a living as a wedding singer in the days of the DJ are like touchstones of the music world. These pieces move beyond our expectations of what music is and how music affects us. Ross has done a nice job of culling out intriguing topics.

This genre-jumping is right up my alley, and although I find some articles I just skim, I am always apt to stumble into interesting pieces that I would have otherwise missed. The article in here that remains fresh in my mind is one that explores one night at the Fillmore when Miles Davis and Neil Young performed on the same stage, on the same night (not together, though, but Davis opened for Young). Both artist were in the midst of change, and exploration, and I just had that “wow” reaction to thinking what it must have been like to hear Davis just as Bitches Brew was to be released and Young with the original incarnation of Crazy Horse on the same stage.

If you like music, and if you like reading about music, this collection is a keeper.

Peace (in the music),
Kevin

PS — I am reading now that the publisher of the series has pulled the plug. But series editor Daphne Carr is pushing ahead with a plan to raise money and publish next year’s collection independently. I’m in!