Since yesterday was the World Listening Day and another day in Write Out, I decided to head into the woods to a local protected greenway space to listen to nature.
First, I captured my walk in sound and video.
And then, I stopped in another spot and composed a poem on the fly (no paper) as I put my audio recorder app right near the bubbling stream, so that the water became both the inspiration and the soundtrack.
What are you working on?
Peace (in the listening world),
Kevin
Last night, we gathered together for the first live event for Write Out, an open learning experience that comes from the partnership between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service with a focus on place-based learning and writing.
In the Map with Me hangout, we talked about the partnership between NPS and NWP, the value of making maps as a literacy device for storytelling, why and how place can inform learning and writing, and what we have been up with Write Out.
We also did a mapping activity in the chat, asking folks to map out an organization they are part of. We then shared our maps during the course of the session (mine is above, showing the bridges between our Western Massachusetts Writing Project at the University of Massachusetts with the Springfield Armory Historic Site and the urban school system and the specific social justice middle school we work with.)
You can find more information about Write Out at the website.
Peace (mapping it),
Kevin
PS — there is a WriteOut Twitter Chat tomorrow (Thurs) at 7 p.m. est, using the #writeout hashtag. If you have never done a chat, we have a tutorial with helpful tips and information.
One of the hopes for Write Out — an open learning experience now underway by National Writing Project and the National Park Service — is to use mapping as a way to surface stories, and make connections. I’ve worked with the Springfield Armory now for a few years through our Western Massachusetts Writing Project. I’ve led professional development for teachers and facilitated summer camps for inner city youths at the Armory.
What often surfaces during our dives into primary sources and themes of social justice is the immigrant worker experience, and how many of the workers during the heyday of the Armory arrived in Springfield, Massachusetts, from other parts of the world, and that immigration wave changed the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts forever.
The map I created, using Google’s My Maps, is designed to visually show the country of origin of a number of Springfield Armory workers, complete with a short biography, and connections from their home countries to the Armory itself. Using primary source material, I found short bios and photographs of seventeen workers and I asked some of the other teachers and rangers involved with me at the Springfield Armory to record readings of the text.
Each pin of each immigrant worker has an image and a voice narration as a video.
What comes to visibility are the stories of these workers, with snippets of their home countries, their families here, the work they did at the Armory, and other odd facts. It’s not much but it’s enough to give a flavor of the immigrant experience, and the map makes those stories more visible than ever.
Here are all the videos, gathered together into one video:
How can maps help tell your stories? (There is a helpful guide to various maps at Write Out, if you need inspiration)
Peace (coordinate it),
Kevin
We have a map theme going for the Write Out project, an open learning invitation now underway from the National Writing Project and the National Park Service designed to support place-based writing. Teachers, park rangers and writers are invited to play with media and writing, and the theme this week is Mapping Possibilities.
Thus, the open and editable Google map.
If you are not sure how to add a pin of your location (and hopefully a video or an image or some text, too) to the Write Out GeoLocate Yourself Map, we’ve created a tutorial to help with step-by-step instructions. You do need a Google account (unfortunately) and Chrome browser seems to work the best. And you need to be at the map in Google (you can’t add a pin here, in this embeddable version, which is a read-only version)
We’ve got 40 pins and counting …
You also can read the first newsletter to get a sense of some of the many different mapping-style activities you might want to consider with Write Out. There are also a ton of resources around place-based learning and around the use of mapping to tell stories in many ways.
Peace (coordinate it),
Kevin
Today (July 15) is the official launch day of the Write Out project, an open learning partnership between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service to connect educators with NPS and other park spaces for project-based learning opportunities.
You can read the first newsletter of the two-week project here. You’ll see a variety of different activities, depending on your time frame, and all built around the concept of mapping out the world, your connections and potential partnership possibilities. We’ll also be hosting a Map with Me Google Hangout on Tuesday and a Twitter Chat on Thursday (both take place at 7 p.m. eastern standard time).
As with many Connected Learning/Open Learning projects, you engage when you can, and how it makes sense for you.
It’s always fine to follow your own path or to wander into the wild.
Peace (writing out),
Kevin
I want to invite you to join in for the upcoming Write Out project, an open learning adventure sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service and built off the concepts of the Connected Learning MOOC (CLMOOC) experiences of the past few years. I am one of the facilitators of this new experience.
Write Out is being designed to connect educators to open and public spaces, such as the National Parks network (but not limited to those places), and we will be working on mapping as a central theme this summer. We aim to have teachers and park rangers and other explorers in the mix.
Write Out officially begins on July 15 and will run for two weeks. There will be invitations for making maps and making connections, for making media and writing stories, and more.
If you have five to ten minutes, we’ll have some suggestions. An hour? We’ll have suggestions. A day or two? We’ve got you covered. As with CLMOOC, you engage where it interests you, with no pressure other than a sense of connection and community.
Our aim is to open more doors for teachers, and their students, to the outside world. If you go to the Write Out site, you can sign up for newsletters and information.
Take a listen to the overview via NWP Radio from some of the facilitators:
I hope to see you in the mix this summer.
Peace (inside and outside),
Kevin
PS — By the way, CLMOOC is still happening, too, in a sort of parallel and connected path as Write Out, with CLMOOC-inspired daily doodle prompts on map and open space themes, and art swap sharing activities happening. See more at the CLMOOC website.
I’ll be sharing more about a project called Write Out as the summer progresses, but I am a co-facilitator for an open learning adventure this summer that connects the National Writing Project and the National Park Service together, helping teachers make connections with park sites and historic sites, and vice versa.
It’s going to be fun.
Read a quick blurb at Educator Innovator
Then, listen to some of my fellow colleagues chat about the summer project at NWP Radio.
Finally, the Write Out website is up, but still being developed. You can take a peek, if you want.
The Write Out project will take place in mid-July.
Peace (outside and inside),
Kevin