tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27340731561748094942024-03-17T01:01:36.809-07:00Literacy JournalFocusing on ELA/Literacy topics and texts in the middle school, with a deep interest in technologies that support and transform learning.Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-19848190427075713722014-11-15T07:24:00.000-08:002015-02-25T08:38:48.432-08:0010 More Reasons to Expand Your Use of Multicultural Literature<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaohbYTiNHCI97Xy7L-J4lr9Tc0DReOXkHj6Ufod-2qZC7CtaCZTrcVE6-gFbQiBZV2EdygYy92dEGGZ1RGe1NplSKX-KshA639cdCV6XLSXXTcTcawGQuTzFM4RZk36wQToHMncckkTMK/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-21+at+3.16.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaohbYTiNHCI97Xy7L-J4lr9Tc0DReOXkHj6Ufod-2qZC7CtaCZTrcVE6-gFbQiBZV2EdygYy92dEGGZ1RGe1NplSKX-KshA639cdCV6XLSXXTcTcawGQuTzFM4RZk36wQToHMncckkTMK/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-21+at+3.16.08+PM.png" height="92" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/" target="_blank">We Need Diverse Books</a> - follow the blog!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are at least 13 good reasons K12 students should read literature about many and diverse cultures and communities. The first three reasons are, or should be, obvious:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Kids are engaged and validated when they read about people like themselves - familiar faces, familiar experiences, familiar cultures. They are curious about their histories. All kids.</li>
<li>Global citizenship is unavoidable. Connected students view and engage in global conversations; the more they know about other cultures, the better the conversation. It is important for us to expose our students to different conditions and perspectives so that they develop cross-cultural understanding, not disrespect – so that they do not judge others based solely upon their own, perhaps dominant, cultural point of view (thank you to Willa Sky Freer for this phrasing).</li>
<li>Literature is a powerful medium for gaining a deeper understanding of one's own worldview through a negotiation of sameness and difference.</li>
</ul>
<div>
You may already include diverse, multicultural readings in your curriculum based on these points. Kudos! Many do not. The CCSS list of "story" exemplars is inadequate in terms of multicultural texts. Why is this?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The common definition of multiculturalism is narrow. Multicultural<i> </i>means much more than race. The definition I like best is this: Multicultural literature is <i>a representation of any non-dominant or underprivileged group. </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's face it. The dominant group in this country is competent white Christian men and their (less important) stable families. That does not mean this group represents the largest percentage of our population; it means that in our reality and its representations (media, literature, dreams) this group expects to and is allowed to overwhelm other groups as opinion-shapers, policy-makers, doers, users, protectors - as lead actors on the stage. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Multicultural literature is written by a member of the wide <b>non- </b>pool that makes for the cultural, racial, sexual, medical, demographic, economic, familial, class and other diversities found in today's classrooms and communities. It puts <b>non-</b> group members and non-dominant cultures on the stage as independent, lead actors. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More of it should be read in our schools. Why? In addition to the three reasons stated at the top of this post: </div>
<br />
<ol>
<li>Because although <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States" style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;" target="_blank">Whites [currently] constitute the majority of the U.S. population, with a total of about 245,532,000 or 77.7% of the population</a>, 93% of the population <b>growth</b> in the United States now comes from the non white populations. <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States" target="_blank">50.4% of American children under the age of 1 belong to minority groups</a>. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because the US population is over 50% female. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;">Because we are increasingly urban, with </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States" style="color: #252525; font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;" target="_blank">81% residing in cities and suburbs as of 2014</a><span style="color: #252525; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;">. </span></span></span></li>
<li>Because there is a new Captain America, and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/showbiz/all-new-captain-america/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn" target="_blank">he is not white</a>, we have a new Muslim <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Ms-Marvel-Vol-Willow-Wison/dp/0785198288/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424549044&sr=1-4&keywords=ms.+marvel" target="_blank">Ms. Marvel</a>, we have <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/harley-quinn-dc-comics-suicide-squad.html" target="_blank">Harley Quinn</a>, and soon we will have <a href="http://news.mpbn.net/post/marvels-black-panther-isnt-just-another-black-superhero" target="_blank">Black Panther</a>. Watch out World for the new impact of diversity in the film, comic, and (or not) gaming and toy industries. <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/11/14/363793023/director-gina-prince-bythewood-its-time-to-obliterate-the-term-black-film?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news" target="_blank">It's time to 'Obliterate the Term Black Film'</a>, moving us slowly toward a new cultural normal.</li>
<li>Because <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/13/363796620/reports-obama-will-approve-immigrant-work-permits-for-millions?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news" target="_blank">Obama Will Approve Immigrant Work Permits for Millions</a>. Or not. But Immigration (Reform) will be a battle to follow.</li>
<li>Because <a href="http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/" target="_blank">15% of Americans live in poverty</a>. Of this, 10% are white. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html" target="_blank">22% of children in the U.S. live in families that are considered officially poor and child poverty rates are highest among black, Latino, and American Indian children.</a> T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;">he </span></span><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;" target="_blank">gap between rich and poor</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;"> is at its highest and is getting larger. And by the way, the perception that <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/" target="_blank">the rich are smarter and harder working</a> is at an </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;">all-time</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 17.9200000762939px;"> high.</span></span></li>
<li>Because <a href="http://groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/thatfamily/taf_statistics" target="_blank">s</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/thatfamily/taf_statistics" target="_blank">ingle parents account for 27 percent of family households with children under 18</a>. Some of the trending family diversity might surprise you. Read more about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/health/families.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">The Changing American Family</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country." <a href="http://religions.pewforum.org/reports" target="_blank">Find out more about religious diversity</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because 10% of the youth population is LGBT. <a href="http://www.hrc.org/youth/view-statistics/#.VGY-3VPF8fk" target="_blank">LGBT youth are twice as likely as their peers to say they have been physically assaulted, kicked or shoved at school</a>, and 92% report that they hear negative messages about being LGBT - in school. Read more about the profile and needs of our <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm" target="_blank">LGBT Youth</a>.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">Because about 13% of public school students are receiving special education services. Learn more about <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp" target="_blank">Children and Youth With Disabilities</a>.</span></li>
</ol>
<a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/where-to-find-diverse-books/" target="_blank">We Need Diverse Books</a> is one good place to find multicultural titles. Bear in mind that multicultural literature is <b>best</b> when it is authentic - written by an author from the culture or very closely connected (parent, child, etc.) to the diverse community or character(s) central to the text. Most of the resources at <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/where-to-find-diverse-books/" target="_blank">We Need Diverse Books</a>, at Debbie Reese's <a href="http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">American Indians in Children's Literature</a> (Best Books) and at <i>SLJ</i>'s updated <a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/05/books-media/an-expanded-cultural-diversity-booklist-slj-readers-respond/" target="_blank">An Expanded Cultural Diversity Booklist</a> do hold to this standard. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/multicultural-literature" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> has quite a good multicultural literature shelf. There are many lists that don't hold to this standard of authorship or to a high standard of literary value. Do your homework.<br />
<br />
And a last note. <i>SLJ</i> makes the essential point that multicultural literature reading means <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/11/reviews/series-made-simple/we-need-diverse-series-nonfiction-series-made-simple-fall-2014/#_" target="_blank">not only giving kids novels [poems, drama] and picture books featuring a varied cast of characters but also ensuring a nuanced, multicultural view of our whole society: in other words, bringing diversity to nonfiction series titles.</a> So take a good hard look at your informational text selections. Are they promoting multiculturalism as well? </span></span>Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-1463139256033309642014-08-04T13:02:00.003-07:002015-04-01T06:41:02.595-07:00Cii-fi and (some) other Earth-Collapse Fiction and Information<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8awzO82JO_0FiS3hqxESEG76Q3-bEQKV1L3_6XxcgTfgWhyb6LtKCDmzS1RVOt2JJETlobuTnUVZu7ggfkHaXAeFaOFnE42JhUXbwAc0f-ozCdWOevJcd_XssBArxYyYCgJ6oTsCHCESd/s1600/dandelion-7214_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8awzO82JO_0FiS3hqxESEG76Q3-bEQKV1L3_6XxcgTfgWhyb6LtKCDmzS1RVOt2JJETlobuTnUVZu7ggfkHaXAeFaOFnE42JhUXbwAc0f-ozCdWOevJcd_XssBArxYyYCgJ6oTsCHCESd/s1600/dandelion-7214_640.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pixabay.com/en/dandelion-seeds-flower-meadow-7214/" target="_blank">Pixabay image 7214</a>: Dandelion seeds, from Hans</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Cli-fi is trending. A subset of the general category <i>earth-collapse fiction</i> within the realm of <i>speculative fiction</i>, cli-fi concerns itself with the collapse of earth-based systems due to climate change. While generally this change is man-made (<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.9389991760254px;">anthropogenic climate disruption or ACD)</span>, especially in more recent fictions, it is not always. Climate change in fiction may be caused by random or unexplained catastrophe, intelligent extraterrestrial forces, or even by the natural evolution of the Earth or the universe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">By and large, however, contemporary interpretations of the genre focus upon the man-made environmental changes resulting from global warming or war. Husna Haq writes in the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0426/Climate-change-inspires-a-new-literary-genre-cli-fi" target="_blank">Christian Science Monitor</a> of "a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future," and it is, in fact, the immediacy and urgency of the social, personal, governmental, and cultural predicaments found in cli-fi, compounded by the cautionary nature of the stories, that drive the genre's popularity. Survival at its most basic is on the line in cli-fi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Luckily for educators, this fascinating genre is not solely in the domain of literary fiction. In fact, even little children are not <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23px;">unexposed to cli-fi and earth-collapse fiction, often sugar-coated by anthropomorphic metaphor. Consider, for example, the children's films <i>Frozen</i>, </span><i style="line-height: 23px;">Ice Age, Once Upon a Forest</i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23px;"> and </span><i style="line-height: 23px;">The Land Before Time</i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23px;">. Even the picture books </span><i style="line-height: 23px;">Two Bad Ants</i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23px;"> (Chris Van Allsburg) and <i>Lost and Found</i> (Shaun Tan), and the YA classics <i>Watership Down</i> and <i>The Time Machine </i>embed an environmental message in the text. By thinking a little differently about many of the texts already in the curriculum, you are able to engage students of any age in cli-fi discussions.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">Additionally, there is quite large body of good fiction, print and media, accessible to today's students. Those of you who teach Earth-collapse-due-to-war dystopian fiction (such as <i>How I Live Now </i>or <i>The Hunger Games</i>)<i> </i>might consider branching out to cli-fi. The conversations are no less relevant and may prove to be more appropriate for the classroom.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">Teaching this material can be dicey, which is why it is probably a neglected genre. Religion, belief, politics, economics, social structure, global inequities... all of these surface in the upper middle school and high school readings. Teachers should open up discussions and analysis that address:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"factual" and scientific content</span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">belief-based content</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">sensational elements</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">emotional appeals (which point to the author/creator's message)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">logical appeals (ditto)</span></li>
</span></ul>
<b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lists:</span> </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">Spoiler: No zombie, war, or plague fiction is included here, unless it also carries an environmental message.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="line-height: 23px;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<b>Film for MS and HS </b>- You will also find a list with short summary annotations on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_popular_culture" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>. For younger ages, I suggest <i>The Land Before Time</i>, also available in many print formats, and perhaps a discussion of how the life of the townspeople in <i>Frozen</i> was (and was not) changed by the freeze. Thinking forward, it would be a good idea to also ask students who see the film, What caused the freeze? What undid the freeze? <br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1962)</span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Waterworld (1995)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Twister (1996) - I am throwing this in because it appears that increasingly violent, large and frequent twisters are a result of climate change (stay tuned to late summer news) - don't bother with current remake</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - full version available on YouTube</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the End (2013</span><b style="font-family: inherit;">)</b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Snowpiercer (</span><a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/snowpiercer-2014" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">review</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">) (2014)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interstellar (2014)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVyuh-vjZTE" target="_blank">What's Possible: The U.N. Climate Summit Film</a> (2014) - docu-fiction?</span></li>
</span></ul>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><b style="line-height: normal;">TV</b><span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="line-height: normal;">media</b><span style="line-height: normal;"> - Search YouTube for "Climate Change Documentary" to find current made-for-TV videos. You will find a comprehensive list, including cartoons and spoofs, on </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_popular_culture" style="line-height: normal;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><span style="line-height: normal;">, but here are two shorts that I want to highlight:</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Showtime global warming documentary film series </span><a href="http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Years of Living Dangerously</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> can be viewed by following the link</span></span></li>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Twilight Zone</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> Episode #75 (Season 3, Episode 10), "The Midnight Sun" - </span><a href="http://twitchfilm.com/2011/09/exploring-the-twilight-zone-episode-75-the-midnight-sun.html" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">discussion</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> - is available at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Midnight-Sun/dp/B005HQPZBG" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Amazon</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> and on </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Twilight-Zone-Season-3/dp/B00092ZLC6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1406819105&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=the+midnight+sun+twilight+zone+anthology" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">DVD</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">. I think this is a powerful introduction to the genre for MS and HS. The story</span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is available from Amazon.com in other formats as well: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">graphic novel from the classic TV episode</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">story form in </span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">New Stories from the Twilight Zone</i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">radio drama</span></li>
</ul>
</span></ul>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><b style="font-style: normal;">picture books & children's books </b><span style="font-style: normal;">- I always suggest some picture books as a great way to introduce a topical reading unit at levels above elementary. Discussion can be engendered with humor and without the emotional baggage that accompanies a compelling work of fiction. While picture books and early readers with direct climate change warnings exist, middle and upper school readers find metaphorical and allegorical reads more compelling. I suggest:</span></span></i></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">
</i></span>
<br />
<ul><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">The Lorax </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Dr. Seuss)</span></li>
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">The Wump World </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Bill Peet)</span></li>
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Farewell to Shady Glade </i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (Bill Peet)</span></li>
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Varmints</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (Helen Ward)</span></li>
<li><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Woolvs in the Sitee</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (Margaret Wild)</span></li>
</i></span></ul>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">
</i></span>
<br />
<div style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><b style="font-style: normal;">middle school</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: normal;"> - Not all of these are directly cli-fi. Most are concerned with survival in post-collapse Earth rather than with its causation, which is more appropriate for many middle schoolers. Some upper middle school titles appear in the next lists.</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">Ship Breaker</i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">(</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Paolo Bacigalupi)<i> </i>and<i> its sequel </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Drowned Cities</i></span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">Green Boy</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Susan Cooper)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">Empty</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Suzanne Weyn)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Boy at the End of the World</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (</span><a class="a-link-normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Greg+van+Eekhout&search-alias=books&text=Greg+van+Eekhout&sort=relevancerank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;">Greg van Eekhout</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">The City of Ember</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (Jeanne DuPrau) - 1st in series </span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">Pod</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>(Stephen Wallenfels) - a quirky short novel about earth-collapse caused not by man directly, but by an alien life form that can not abide the actions of Man</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">Life as We Knew It </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Susan Beth Pfeffer) - Earth-collapse caused by a relocation of the moon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">An interesting take on the genre is found in Bradbury's </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Martian Chronicles</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">, particularly the last two stories: "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "The Million-Year Picnic" - we learn of the collapse of Mars, of human-made Mars, and of Earth. </span></li>
</span></ul>
<div style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: normal;"><b>high school & adult </b>- </span><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;">The </span><i style="line-height: normal;">Dying Earth subgenre</i><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"> is well covered by both </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth_subgenre" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/" style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;">BestScienceFictionBooks.com</a><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: normal;">. </span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Drowned World</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>(J.G. Ballard) - SF classic that may have started it all, although in this case the disaster is not man-made</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">The Massive</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"> (Brian Wood) - 5 volume </span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">graphic novel</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"> of post-water </span></span><span style="line-height: 23px;">apocalypse</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"> world</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Parable of the Sower</i> (Octavia Butler) - one of our great non-white SF writers delivers the genre with power and acumen</span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Stand on Zanzibar</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (John Brunner) - 1968 classic Earth-collapse fiction</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>The Windup Girl </i> (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Paolo Bacigalupi)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Arctic Rising</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Tobia Buckell)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Forty Signs of Rain</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Kim Stanley Robinson) - 1st in the Science in the Capital trilogy</span></li>
<li><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The Admiral</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (James Gilbert) - 1st in a series</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>The Carbon Diaries 2015 </i>(</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Saci Lloyd) - suitable for upper middle school</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Other Side of the Island</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Allegra Goodman)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Odds Against Tomorrow</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Nathaniel Rich)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Naomi Oreskes, Eric Conway)</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Out of the Depths</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Noel Hodson) - The Future series - Kindle only</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>California</i> (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">Edan Lepucki</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">) - </span><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/California-by-Edan-Lepucki-5596861.php" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">review</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Finitude</i> (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Hamish MacDonald)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Flight Behavior</i> (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Barbara Kingsolver)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Waiting for the Flood</i> (Margaret Atwood) - prequel/simultaneous/sequel story to <i>Oryx and Crake </i>and part of the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.799999237060547px;">Maddaddam trilogy - although man-made plague is the key SF element, this middle book has a strong environmental message</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Hot Mess: Speculative Fiction About Climate Change</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Brody et all) - stories</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Inferno</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Dan Brown) - included here not because of its pandemic theme, but for its discussions of Why a pandemic is necessary, the answer to which makes the novel cli-fi</span></li>
</span></ul>
<div style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-style: normal;">mythical/fantasy elements in YA/Adult fiction</b></i></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-style: italic;">Love in the Time of Global Warming</i> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Francesca Lia Block) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">- not for MS</span></span></li>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Solstice</i> (P.J. Hoover) - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">suitable for upper middle school</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: inherit;">Caretaker Trilogy</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (David Klass) - suitable for upper middle school</span></li>
</span></ul>
<b>Non-fiction and background reading </b><span style="background-color: white;">- Climate Change is a hot topic. Students in many cities are using it as a focus of project-based learning and research. The following list is a good one for teachers who wish some more background on the issue and its fiction. Some of the texts, and some yet to be written, are appropriate informational fiction for upper middle and high school.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><i><a href="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/29963-when-is-the-next-ice-age-it-may-come-sooner-than-we-think" target="_blank">When is the Next Ice Age?</a></i></li>
<li style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/25283-does-nasa%E2%80%99s-data-show-doomsday-for-new-york-city" target="_blank">Does NASA's Data Show Doomsday for New York City?</a></i></span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/29/will-fiction-influence-how-we-react-to-climate-change" target="_blank">Will Fiction Influence How We React to Climate Change?</a></i></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/04/20/176713022/so-hot-right-now-has-climate-change-created-a-new-literary-genre" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;" target="_blank">So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created a New Literary Genre?</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>- NPR</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0426/Climate-change-inspires-a-new-literary-genre-cli-fi" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Climate Change Inspires a New Literary Genre</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - Christian Science Monitor (Husna Haq)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/magazine/should-you-fear-the-pizzly-bear.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0" target="_blank"><i>Should You Fear the Pizzly Bear?</i></a> - science-based piece from the NYTimes Magazine looks at hybridization caused by climate change</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/02/world/ipcc-climate-change-report/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn" target="_blank">10 Ways Climate Change Affects the World</a> - the visual (slide) piece within "Invest now or face '</span>Irreversible<span style="font-family: inherit;">" affects of climate change, UN panel warns" - from CNN - nice inspirations for cli-fi short pieces, also nice fodder for discussion of how pix will impact the discussion</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26524-don-t-blame-climate-change-deniers" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Don't Blame Climate Change Deniers</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - personal op ed piece will help students to understand that confusion about climate change is OK</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/sunday-review/building-an-ark-for-the-anthropocene.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0" target="_blank">Building an Ark for the Anthropocene</a></i> - NYTimes article examines the question of saving disappearing species (plant and animal) in the face of climate and habitat change</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Three different book-length opinions from which good informational/persuasive texts can be extracted:</span></li>
<ul style="font-family: inherit;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ackerman - <i>The Human Age</i> (generally positive)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oreskes and Conway - <i>The Collapse of Western Civilization</i> - the title says it all, dire predictions written as fiction (making it a great exercise in style and voice)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Klein - <i>This Changes Everything</i> proposes economic/policy changes to prevent the predicted consequences of climate change</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Storms of My Grandchildren</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (James Hansen)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Field Notes From a Catastrophe</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> (Elizabeth Kolbert)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://io9.com/all-the-reasons-we-leave-earth-for-dead-in-science-fict-476297688" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">"All the Reasons We Leave Earth for Dead in Science Fiction"</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the Dying Earth genre from the blog </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">io9.com</b></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129324791" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">"Atwood on Science, Fiction, and 'The Flood'</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> - NPR interview with Margaret Atwood about the role of science in her fiction - she points readers to Hoban's </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Riddley Walker</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">, which is one of my post-Earth-collapse favorites</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/25409-lakota-women-work-to-fend-off-south-dakotas-epic-drought" target="_blank">"Lakota Women Work to Fend Off South Dakota's Epic Drought"</a> - I like this as an example of a contemporary action plan that focuses on the results, rather than the causes, of climate change</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://news.mpbn.net/post/past-september-ranks-hottest-record-noaa-says" target="_blank">"This Past September the Warmest on Record"</a> - visual literacy! climate data maps from NOAA</span></li>
<li style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25576-fracking-success-shut-down-us-climate-change-policy" target="_blank">"Fracking Success Shut Down US Climate Change Policy"</a> - an interview with activist Christopher Williams, arguing the POV expressed in the title of the piece. But, more interestingly, ties coal and energy policies directly to the negative impacts of climate change that appear generally in cli-fi. Worth a read even though evidence is sparse.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Suggestions and additions always welcome.</span></div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-18158711401762883682014-05-12T12:53:00.002-07:002015-03-03T08:10:39.344-08:0052 Short Books for 11-CCR Students: TLDR and What HS Students Are Reading (and NOT)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbh24Yu56-p6v6000xkGWa3JKPEi22wcUzMvrwWqkzcEyEqD1NO4S4am-E-LDh0i9iuY6Mrl6O9P1UcvHMKvpLbZ9OF1aFv5WxcDcShcA2P1i_koLMpX_hn4R6iqBOFVmZcZRkpXg1r4A/s1600/BigBook.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbh24Yu56-p6v6000xkGWa3JKPEi22wcUzMvrwWqkzcEyEqD1NO4S4am-E-LDh0i9iuY6Mrl6O9P1UcvHMKvpLbZ9OF1aFv5WxcDcShcA2P1i_koLMpX_hn4R6iqBOFVmZcZRkpXg1r4A/s1600/BigBook.png" height="191" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image: from OpenClips on <a href="http://pixabay.com/en/book-brown-read-library-knowledge-147330/?oq=book" target="_blank">Pixabay</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>TLDR: T</b>oo<b> L</b>ong,<b> D</b>idn't<b> R</b>ead. Scroll down if you want to skip this short read and go directly to <b>The List</b>.<br />
<br />
A recently released <a href="http://www.renaissance.com/whatkidsarereading" target="_blank">study</a> by Renaissance Learning finds that HS seniors read on average 5.2 books a year, down from 55.4 in grade 2 and 16.2 in grade 6. There is also a decline in the number of words contained in the reading, from a high in grade 6 (419,121) to 304,252 in grade 12. <br />
<br />
Wait a minute. Do the math. The books read by HS students must be longer. That must explain the decline in the number of books read. <br />
<br />
Nope. My quick study of the Top 20 lists for 6th and 12th grades provided in the report suggests that 6th graders are actually reading longer books, on average, than their HS counterparts, who are overwhelmingly reading fiction under 250 pages (must have small print). With the exception of <i>The Hunger Games</i> (which first appears on the <b>grade 5</b> list, 810L) and another light read titled <i>Safe Haven </i>(830L)<i>,</i> the longer texts read are found in the bottom (least read) 10. These include some zingers: <i>Twilight (</i>another light read but 544p 770L), <i>Kite Runner </i>(402p 840L), and <i>Divergent</i> (501p HL700L). Hardly a sterling list in terms of challenge.<br />
<br />
Supporting my contention that 12th grade students are selecting books well below what they should be reading is the report's finding that the average ATOS book level (similar to the lexile scale) in grade 12 is 7.1 (one month into 7th grade). The average ATOS in grade 6 is 5.3, which is not great, but at least it's not embarrassing. <br />
<br />
I don't think too much should be made of this report, although it purports to be important (it's important for Renaissance Learning). How many of these titles are assigned and how many are choice independent reading? The titles are all Accelerated Reader quizzed titles, which certainly directs choice and limits what titles are entered into the data. The identity of the cohort is unclear; the HS students in the sample may not - probably do not - represent the full top-bottom range of student readers.<br />
<br />
<b>On the other hand</b>, today's NPR post <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/05/12/311111701/why-arent-teens-reading-like-they-used-to?ft=1&f=1001" target="_blank">Why Aren't Teens Reading Like They Used T</a><u>o?</u> reiterates the Renaissance report's finding that HS students are reading well below the level recommended by CCSS and other standards. It is possible to chalk the Renaissance report up as <i>representative</i> of the American public school student reading population. OK through 5th grade in terms of fiction reading quality and quantity, but downhill from there. Too far downhill in the 11-12 grades.<br />
<br />
The essays which "pepper" the Renaissance report stress the importance of e-reading in today's classroom, suggesting perhaps that digital texts will spur students to read more. I believe it is valid that e-reading is engaging and, for readers who use the tools, supportive of deeper reading. But a page-turner is a page-turner and a plod is a plod and long is long and a tool can not change that. What needs to change is access to better reading choices. <br />
<br />
<b>If</b> we want our HS students to read more than 5.2 fiction titles a year (I am not mentioning nonfiction because the report finds it amounts to no more than 15% of their reading, despite recommendations to the contrary), we need to consider the fact that, in their/our culture of e-communication and e-research, <b>TLDR</b> (Too Long Didn't Read) is a message HS students send out every day. By not reading. By selecting short rather than longer titles. By selecting easy reads with ATOS reading level 5-6.<br />
<br />
This is not helping/challenging/growing our students. What we need to offer HS students are high quality, high challenge, high engagement <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">short books</span></b>. <br />
<br />
I have spent some time with lexile.com and with good lists over the last few days. It is possible to mine the classics and good contemporary fiction for excellent <span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold;">short books. </span>Alas, many of these probably are not in the Accelerated Reader quiz bank. You may not have read or heard of many of them. But it's high time HS readers were encouraged to make better reading choices, so gather up as many of these titles as you can. <br />
<br />
<b>My arbitrary <span style="font-size: x-small;">short book</span> cutoff is 250 pages. </b>Where possible, lengths are from <a href="http://lexile.com/">lexile.com</a>. <a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> is the backup.<br />
<br />
Here is my list of 52 <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">short fiction books</span></b> (and one or two nonfiction titles) for 11-12 grade readers, generated by mining lexile.com (for pages and lexile ranges) and other lists. They are in lexile order, something a bit questionable, but at least this is a consistent measure in line with Common Core standards. More about that later. Only two titles have been carried over from the Renaissance report's grade 12 top 10. <b>It adds up to one book a week for a year</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>Note</b>: We can not really rely on lexiles to determine suitability and challenge. Examples: most of Gary Paulsen measures well over 1100L and ditto with the best of Zindel (e.g. <i>The Undertaker's Gone Bananas </i>measures 1050). Both novelists are great for MS, but with only a few exceptions are not suitable for HS. Ray Bradbury and Steinbeck, on the other hand, score much lower on the lexile scale than this reader would expect and <b>are </b>suitably complex for HS. <i>Of Mice and Men</i> belongs on this list, but since it is often read in grade 9 or 10 anyway, I have omitted it.<br />
<br />
Moreover, many non-Western titles and short story collections have not been lexiled. Surprise! <b>My list is more multicultural than most lists</b>.<br />
<br />
The Common Core, by the way, has <a href="http://www.lexile.com/using-lexile/lexile-measures-and-the-ccssi/text-complexity-grade-bands-and-lexile-ranges/" target="_blank">realigned lexile bands</a> with grade levels to make "stretch" reading the norm. Only the last 2 books on my list fall within the 11-CCR band. That's absurd. A book does not have to have a lexile over 1200 in order to be great or to be an intellectual challenge for a 16 year old. I stand by all of these <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">short books</span></b> for 11-CCR.<br />
<br />
The List, in lexile order (do you notice a pattern in the titles not lexiled?):<br />
<ol>
<li><i>Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue</i> - Lester - not lexiled</li>
<li><i>I See You</i> - Shukri - not lexiled (fictional contemporary African country) - a Best Book of 2014, <a href="http://africasacountry.com/africa-is-a-country-recommends-books-of-2014/" target="_blank">Africa is a Country</a></li>
<li><i>Every Day is for the Thief</i> - Cole - not lexiled - selected for many Best of 2014 lists (Nigeria)</li>
<li><i>Citizen: An American Lyric</i> - Rankine - not lexiled - America Book Award 2014 shortlist - poems and short pieces</li>
<li><i>The Thunder that Roars</i> - Garda - not lexiled (South Africa, Muslim)</li>
<li><i>How to Escape from a Leper Colony</i> (stories) - Yanique - not lexiled </li>
<li><i>The Strange Library</i> - Murakami - not lexiled</li>
<li><i>The Dead Lake</i> - Ismailov - not lexiled (trans. from Russian)</li>
<li><i>Family Life</i> - Sharma - not lexiled - India/America - <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2014 by the <span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>New York Times Book Review</em> and <em>New York Magazine</em></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i style="color: #333333;">Things We Found During the Autopsy</i><span style="color: #333333;"> - Manickavel - not lexiled - South Indian short fiction - </span></span>a Best Book of 2014, <a href="http://africasacountry.com/africa-is-a-country-recommends-books-of-2014/" target="_blank">Africa is a Country</a></li>
<li><i>Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood</i> - Satrapi GN380 (Iran) or <i>American Born Chinese</i> - Yang GN580</li>
<li><i>The Metamorphosis</i> - Kafka 670 or <i>The Room</i> - Karlsson - not lexiled - find a great short film of the Kafka <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/the-metamorphosis-of-mr-samsa.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li><i>When the Emperor Was Devine - </i>Otsuka 810</li>
<li><i>Snow Country</i> - Kawabata 820</li>
<li><i>Drown</i> - Diaz 830 (stories, Dominican Republic immigrants)</li>
<li><i>If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home</i> - O'Brien 830 or <i>How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America</i> - Laymon - non-lexiled (NF)</li>
<li><i>Slaughterhouse-Five</i> - Vonnegut 850</li>
<li><i>Things Fall Apart</i> - Achebe 890</li>
<li><i>Ceremony</i> - Silko 890 (Laguna Pueblo)</li>
<li><i>Grendel</i> - Gardner 920</li>
<li><i>The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith</i> - Keneally - 920</li>
<li><i>The Thing Around Your Neck</i> (stories) - Adichie 920 (estimated) (Africa and United States)</li>
<li><i>Montana 1948</i> - Watson 940</li>
<li><i>Life and Times of Michael K: A Novel</i> - Coetzee 940</li>
<li><i>The Bluest Eye</i> - Morrison 960</li>
<li><i>July's People</i> - Gordimer 970</li>
<li><i>Being There</i> - Kosinski - 980</li>
<li><i>Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids</i> - Oe 1000</li>
<li><i>Nothing</i> - Teller 1000</li>
<li><i>The Pearl</i> - Steinbeck 1010</li>
<li><i>Snapshots: 20th Century Mother-Daughter Fiction</i> - Oates, ed 1020</li>
<li><i>The Secret Agent</i> - Conrad 1030</li>
<li><i>Frankenstein</i> - Shelly 1040 </li>
<li><i>The First Fast Draw</i> - L'Amour 1040</li>
<li><i>Interpreter of Maladies</i> (stories) - Lahiri 1050 (India, United States)</li>
<li><i>The Heart of Darkness</i> - Conrad 1050</li>
<li><i>The Crying of Lot 49</i> - Pynchon 1060</li>
<li><i>The Great Gatsby</i> - Fitzgerald 1070</li>
<li><i>The Time Machine</i> - Wells 1070</li>
<li><i>Bridge of San Luis Rey</i> - Wilder 1080 (or perhaps <i>The Scatter Here is Too Great</i> - Tanweer, set in Karachi - not lexiled)</li>
<li><i>The Bad Seed</i> - March 1100</li>
<li><i>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i> - Spark 1120</li>
<li><i>Picnic at Hanging Rock - </i>Lindsay 1140</li>
<li><i>The Bridges of Toko-Ri </i>- Michener 1140</li>
<li><i>My Life in Dog Years</i> - Paulsen 1150 (NF)</li>
<li><i>Animal Farm </i>- Orwell 1170</li>
<li><i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time</i> - Haddon 1180</li>
<li><i>Hiroshima</i> - Hersey 1190</li>
<li><i>Ransom</i> - Malouf 1200 (estimated lexile)</li>
<li><i>Forrest Gump</i> - Groom 1210</li>
<li><i>Eighteen Best Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe</i> - Poe 1220</li>
<li><i>Chronicle of a Death Foretold</i> - Marquez 1270</li>
</ol>
It goes without saying that most of these books will require more effort to read than <i>The Hunger Games</i> trilogy. That effort is one of the reasons that readers find <i>Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men</i> and <i>Gatsby </i>turn-offs and <i>Percy Jackson </i>so captivating, and it is probably the real motivation behind TLDR. Educators can give in to this, or they can combat it with titles like those above. One approach builds lists of easy, long, page-turners; the other approach builds better and better-educated readers. Your choice.<br />
<br />
This is, of course, just one solution to our national non-reading dilemma. There are others:<br />
<ul>
<li>If you really want students to be stretched, assign books and articles <b>about fiction and authors</b>. That's the best place for students to meet those higher lexile texts. Some might find these essays lead them to great novels.</li>
<li>Allow/encourage your students to read multi-culturally and diversely.</li>
<li>Celebrate the humanities as well as STEM.</li>
<li>Write and read. Introduce students to living writers and their works.</li>
<li>Encourage collaborative reading in 11-12 grades. What? This means groups encouraged to read like a book club reads. </li>
<li>Invest in great audio books for your students. Time well spent.</li>
<li>PBL: Oral histories of the reading memories of parents and seniors; Twitter reading selfies and campaigns.</li>
</ul>
Want to add a book or an idea? Write a comment or email me directly. Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-27123234045134391202014-03-12T14:12:00.001-07:002014-05-09T06:03:58.523-07:0010 Ways to Use 10: The Rule of 10 in the Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVP5EzFkvRDMUeAv58EFswTNPjymzru44Bhq1hCw7OWH2F00bzSV3INBXvv8w-jOU9CyshcjcmELNeU4P1MyI_W2VhmpydGJaG_zJ_w7AZ5jah-n7mzZN6i4UuUUq9tlQzu8WXUzLu3jjY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-12+at+3.47.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVP5EzFkvRDMUeAv58EFswTNPjymzru44Bhq1hCw7OWH2F00bzSV3INBXvv8w-jOU9CyshcjcmELNeU4P1MyI_W2VhmpydGJaG_zJ_w7AZ5jah-n7mzZN6i4UuUUq9tlQzu8WXUzLu3jjY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-12+at+3.47.26+PM.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">A recent piece in the Huffington Post, </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cris-rowan/10-reasons-why-handheld-devices-should-be-banned_b_4899218.html" style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" target="_blank">10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned For Children Under the Age of 12</a><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">, has gone viral. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The post (column, piece) has spawned intelligent criticism from many fronts, very good ones found in </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kleeman/10-reasons-why-we-need-re_b_4940987.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" target="_blank">the Huffington Post</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> and in </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/03/huffington_post_blogger_s_case_for_banning_hand_held_devices_for_children.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" target="_blank">Slate</a> (r<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">ead together, these are a terrific example of how the written word can make both argument and opinion.)</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Undoubtedly this is largely because of the </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">provocative</span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> nature of Rowan's proposition, but I suspect an additional reason is the piece's construction: any post with a title beginning "</span><b style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">10 Reasons"</b><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> will be read. There are currently 601,000,000 results for a Google search on this phrase.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Why is this? Maybe because we are a decimal culture. Maybe because 10 is stronger than 5 or 3, but not overwhelming like 50 or underwhelming like "a dozen." The power of 10 is as great as, but very different from, the power of 3. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I teach both The Rule of 3 and The Rule of 10 as essential elements of literacy. "3" is concise. </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It is a comfortable number of </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">repetitions that can be changed incrementally without the reader becoming lost or bored.</span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">It is symmetrical but also edgy. </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">In almost any array of 3, no matter how presented or communicated, one element will come first, one will be in the middle, and one will be at the end, which is both satisfying and suspenseful (variations on this are more interesting). "3" is the foundation of the standardly taught paragraph and the 5-paragraph essay (BOO to both). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span> <span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">However satisfying, </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Rule of 3 is also childlike in its simplicity. It is the stuff of tales that wrap up neatly and of short-lived arguments. It is about keeping within the frame.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">On the other hand, "10" begs for busting out. Any list of 10 is really just a tenth of a list of 100. Any list of 10 can easily be expanded. Readers intuitively understand this. A list of 10 is affirming, authoritative, solid, and, potentially, endlessly entertaining. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Rule of 10 is about growth and possibility, change and conflict, energy and age. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I have also always found something compellingly chilly in the combination of the loneliness digit and the emptiness digit. Flipping them creates a neat reduction, repeating them results in a confusion of binary code streaming across a pale green monitor... 10 is the stuff of the digital age as well as The Age of Kings.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The Rule of 10 is a rule for today's students. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">So how can we make it work for us in the classroom? Here are <b>10 Ways to Use of 10 </b>at any grade level:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I think lists are basically boring, but if you must make lists, require 10 items. 10 favorite... 10 examples of... 10 expressions... 10 adjectives... 10 poems... 10 novels... Where once you stopped at 3 or 5, to make it easy, make it challenging with 10. Work with ordering or sorting the list in various ways. 4 + 6 is calming. 5 + 5 is a study in antithesis. 3 + 3 + 3 + 1 is a powerful structure for making meaning and conveying emotion. Write about choices made.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">10 letter words are wonderful. There are many collections online. Study them, record them rolling off your tongue, play vocabulary games with them. Require them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">A great middle school exercise to improve listening and communication is pair-drawing. Allow only 10 lines. On partner draws (allow 10 seconds) behind a screen. He then gives oral directions for his partner(s) to create the same drawing. Practice!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Read 10 (blog posts, articles, opinions, analyses, summaries, novels, poems). This can also be applied to visual literacy. Draw 10 connections. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Write (draw, illustrate, record) 10 different/connected/overlapping... </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Memorize in groups of 10. Old school, yes, but it worked then and it works now. Use the same groupings from #1 to create mental collections. Very powerful skill.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Model <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsanmateohigh.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fpdfs%2F10-sentence_format.pdf" target="_blank">the 10-sentence paragraph</a> (most students will quickly see how this can be expanded). In fiction study, have students seek out 10 sentence passages that convey meaning, theme, etc. Share them and use them as models.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Study <a href="http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/lincoln-gettysburg-address-speech-text/" target="_blank">The Gettysburg Address</a>. It has 10 sentences. Why? How is it organized? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Apply The Rule of 10 to a longer text as a framework for analysis. Where is the Rule found? How does it improve or effect the overall construction? (characters, chapters, settings, conflicts...)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Expand or contract something 10 times. This is a ripple or pattern exercise that can be used for multiple outcomes: a slippery slope argument (or the reverse, which I call "up the ladder"), brain storming, visual thinking, story-telling, creative narrative, description, development of arguments, coding... I like to start with <i>If You Give a Dog a Donut </i>and also to use a simple paper-chain group activity to demonstrate how 10-step growth can create a complex or straightforward product. The math link is obvious (multiplication, division, permutation - and what is a fraction anyway?). </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">And why stop at 10? If you remember playing Crack the Whip as a kid, on the field or on the ice, you know that the longer the whip the more forceful the lash. 3 is simply not much fun. Sometimes it hurts to be at the end of the whip, but it's worth it. </span></div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-32515181724833764372013-12-20T08:45:00.001-08:002013-12-20T08:51:26.205-08:00On Listening to Poetry<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIp_mXDHaBIYAzxs2K4tBLpPwimhItde6b2ENb8sbRb-1LO0wb2h1UC0LvjOEGs7EBZeiiYbuLaH9ud9pzrIoRWG3XpPb8BZgg-b4hr_uwiWlB9ImAVcPbouNsQbXHNjZ_IFhM8ybkZ-U/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-12-20+at+10.40.22+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIp_mXDHaBIYAzxs2K4tBLpPwimhItde6b2ENb8sbRb-1LO0wb2h1UC0LvjOEGs7EBZeiiYbuLaH9ud9pzrIoRWG3XpPb8BZgg-b4hr_uwiWlB9ImAVcPbouNsQbXHNjZ_IFhM8ybkZ-U/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-12-20+at+10.40.22+AM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>The New Yorker</i> has launched a new free podcast series, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/12/introducing-the-new-yorkers-poetry-podcast.html" target="_blank">The Poetry Podcast</a>. Each episode, hosted by <a href="http://www.paulmuldoon.net/" target="_blank">Paul Muldoon</a>, contains a <i>New Yorker</i> poet reading a poem that he/she has selected from the magazine, followed by a conversation about that poem. The poet then introduces and reads one of his/her own pieces. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What a powerful tool for the study of poetry! In this age of poetry minimized as <i>paired text, </i>often read only thematically, it is important for teachers to locate and use tools that support the reading of poetry as essential, elemental, text - deserving of both a leisurely and a personal reading. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I quote from my own Scoop of this announcement:</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
Muldoon writes, "the eye is not the only buyer into, and beneficiary of, the poem. The ear has been in the poetry business for much longer, given poetry’s origins in the oral tradition." What a model for classroom reading of poetry as text! Share this episode, in which Philip Levine reads and discusses "What did I love about killing the chickens" by Ellen Bass. <span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">A sure winner. Some students might want to just visualize, some to draw while listening. The text of the poem is in the New Yorker archive: </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2013/02/04/130204po_poem_bass" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2013/02/04/130204po_poem_bass</a>. <span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Connections are made to Whitman, Bishop, Harte Crane, Williams, Randall Jarrell and others during the discussion of the power of the poem's structure and diction. Levine also reads and discusses his own poem, "In another country" : </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2013/02/11/130211po_poem_levine" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2013/02/11/130211po_poem_levine</a>.<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> You might discuss how much - what, if anything - Levine's introduction adds to a reading of the poem. Perhaps some students should read the poem before listening to the poet.</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">I would add now that a careful listening to the discussion reveals not "close reading" but a very <i>personal closing in</i> on what makes this poem special. I discuss this a bit in a previous post called <i><a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2013/03/close-reading-and-poetry-why-poetry-and.html" target="_blank">Close Reading and Poetry</a></i>. Were Levine and Muldoon to methodically attack the poem's use of image or antithesis, the poem itself would lose its life. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">There are other apps for listening to poetry. The Poetry Foundation currently lists </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/browse/#filter_has_related_audio=1" target="_blank">1165 Poems</a> with "related content," which includes a reading of the poem by the poet. I am listening to/reading <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/246894" target="_blank">Douglas Kearney's "Every Hard Rapper's Father"</a> as I write this - a fascinating experience. His recording brings sense to the inventive presentation of the text as well an an emotional depth that can be missed without audio.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do" target="_blank">The Poetry Archive</a> of poets-reading-their-own-poetry is another great source. Students can create and share a <i>favorites</i> list and browse by theme, poetic element or form. Did you know Margaret Atwood wrote poetry? Try <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=96" target="_blank">"The Immigrants"</a> for a contemporary (and historical) connection every bit as powerful as most Holocaust YA novels. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.poetryoutloud.org/" target="_blank">Poetry Out Loud</a> is another good source of audio. Navigate to the <a href="http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/listen-to-poetry" target="_blank">Listen to Poetry</a> archive of readings. Additionally, and perhaps more powerfully for the student, are the videos of the Poetry Out Loud contest winners and finalists. This used to be housed on the web site, but is now found on a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/poetryoutloudvideos" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>. I have used this to engage middle schoolers in recitation, oral reading, and (for the feint of heart) choral reading. It often opens the door to a poet's work.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Student readers, as soon as they can read independently or memorize effectively, can create their own audio and video recordings and discussions of poetry. <a href="http://voicethread.com/" target="_blank">VoiceThread</a> is a great tool for this, but there are now many, many others. In fact, just about any "presentation" or whiteboard app will do the job. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One interesting tweak, and a useful one for many students, is to charge them to play the role of Paul Muldoon. Find an adult or older student reader who will select, read, and discuss a favorite poem. You are moving toward a PBL unit! </span></div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-50202509580394456182013-11-20T12:35:00.002-08:002015-02-25T08:51:40.892-08:00Why are so many novels about death? A PBL Unit for HS<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/AVvXsEhed_J2fM94fnsBv2QBoNnBXASgdnhjJnh0JPiYnz43Z2ZE1S9a96HS4k0iPb_l2VHPPyAESbsmPoO484uWRCQmgVdw-9riP8wb2YucwbQMT2teraiiIRgbbMnAbdhr-swlcb0suNXZBF9f/s1600/cutter-man-171638_150.jpg" 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/AVvXsEhed_J2fM94fnsBv2QBoNnBXASgdnhjJnh0JPiYnz43Z2ZE1S9a96HS4k0iPb_l2VHPPyAESbsmPoO484uWRCQmgVdw-9riP8wb2YucwbQMT2teraiiIRgbbMnAbdhr-swlcb0suNXZBF9f/s1600/cutter-man-171638_150.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1 id="photo_show_h1" style="background-color: #fbfbfb; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, arial, Tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin: 4px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px; text-transform: capitalize;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a data-go="/en/photos/cutter%20man/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Cutter Man</a> <a data-go="/en/photos/dead/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Dead</a> <a data-go="/en/photos/death/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Death</a> <a data-go="/en/photos/skeleton/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Skeleton</a> <a data-go="/en/photos/bony/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Bony</a> <a data-go="/en/photos/spirit/" href="http://pixabay.com/en/cutter-man-dead-death-skeleton-171638/#" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Spirit</a></span></h1>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I once taught a 6th grade English class in which a student complained loudly that we read too much about death. Reflecting on this comment served to broaden my curriculum significantly. But the fact of the matter is, much of great literature deals with death. <br />
<br />
In this month of death in the Philippines and remembrance of death in the veteran's cemeteries (including the one in which my dad lies), I find myself returning to the topic. <br />
<br />
Begin with this list from <a href="http://io9.com/5916946/childrens-books-that-look-death-in-the-eye" target="_blank">a blog comment by Shiny Red Robocalypse</a> (that blog post has the same topic as this one - some overlap):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwqIBB_WW9Yum3wvGf_9vMJOnUh8HmpEby3mY9JP9hhyoDhH8EoOJswuFeiDmrx26DP_fUEZzidoEwBJFc6xgc_w59fSP-aCW8wrseRqODHBCwjn13UvF3IGT39h2WB0CWsZjUmgOOX12/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-15+at+10.16.27+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwqIBB_WW9Yum3wvGf_9vMJOnUh8HmpEby3mY9JP9hhyoDhH8EoOJswuFeiDmrx26DP_fUEZzidoEwBJFc6xgc_w59fSP-aCW8wrseRqODHBCwjn13UvF3IGT39h2WB0CWsZjUmgOOX12/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-15+at+10.16.27+AM.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It is reassuring to know that I am not alone. Others commenting in the above stream recommend additional great middle school titles: <i>Bridge to Terebithia, Tuck Everlasting, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Bless Me Ultima, Charlotte's Web, The Graveyard Book... </i>As Zoomba comments, "Great children's books and death are practically synonymous." Ditto tween books and YA fiction. It seems to me that death is absolutely trending.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Why</b><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>is this so?<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>I can offer up my own theory, but it seems to me that high school students are the ones who should be addressing this question; the fact is that the synonymous relationship between death and fiction extends into pre-adult and adult book lists as well. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The challenge of answering my question - "<b>Why are so many novels about death?</b>" - would make an excellent PBL unit at the HS level. These students will have read a wide range of mid-level books for background and there are endless great YA and adult titles to extend understanding. Oh, and informational text as well. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Kickoff</b>: a speaker or better yet a panel: a religious, a psychologist or counselor, a survivor, perhaps a courageous terminal patient</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Product: </b>What might be an <b>authentic learning product</b>? Perhaps a student designed all-day event on the topic. A print product (graphic novel, poetry collection) for a younger audience would be useful. Perhaps a media product (interviews or i-Journalism would be my choice, but an original video or stage play would be fascinating). Perhaps a counter-death product, such as a comedy, or an investigation of "black comedy" and "dark" superhero movies. It is not, after all, just in novels that we find so much death. For the activist student, perhaps a Twitter-based "Read Something Funny Today" (#readsomethingfunny) would be interesting. Last, a look at death within a student's own culture would be important and relevant. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Assessment: </b>Use the BIE (Buck Institute for Education) free <a href="http://www.bie.org/tools/freebies" target="_blank">Critical Thinking Rubric for PBL</a> - follow the link to the appropriate rubric (grade level, CCSS aligned or not)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I give you below some of my <b>recommendations</b> for texts. It is a white-culturecentric list, I'm afraid, and I apologize for that; I am gradually expanding that lens. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have not included many films, but death and film seems to be a natural fit these days. Some students might want to look at the culture of violence in film and gaming, especially gun violence. I also have not included most graphic novels, but I have attached to this blog <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/p/graphic-novels-for-ms-and-hs.html" target="_blank">a page of recommendations in this genre</a>. Many of them are (no surprise) about death in some way. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b>Apps </b>- zombie apps, war apps - death is hard to avoid if you are a gamer who likes more than candy, but here are some interesting takes on the genre:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.piggsl.deathdate&hl=en" target="_blank">Day of Death</a> - Google download for Android devices - with your name and birthdate as input, tells you when and how you will die</li>
<li><a href="http://apps.mobilenationhq.com/deathapp/" target="_blank">The Death App</a> - you will need a QR reader to access the URL for this app, which looks promising but does not work on my IOS devices</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Quirky Fiction</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=MOD-MACHINEOFDEATH&Category_Code=BOOKS-PROSE" target="_blank"><i>The Machine of Death</i></a> - also available in <a href="http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=MOD-MACHINEOFDEATH&Category_Code=BOOKS-PROSE" target="_blank">a less expensive edition</a> - <i>This is How You Die</i> is the sequel - all available from Amazon - short story pieces, all with the premise that The Machine of Death has generated a slip of paper telling someone how he/she is going to die, but not when or where or any other important details - darkly delightful work from <a href="http://wondermark.com/" target="_blank">Wondermark's</a> David Malki and friends - a neat extra is the <a href="http://machineofdeath.net/about/games/gca" target="_blank">card game</a> that Malki produced after a Kickstarter campaign</li>
<li><a href="http://will.tip.dhappy.org/blog/Compression%20Trees/.../book/by/Margo%20Lanagan/Singing%20My%20Sister%20Down/Margo%20Lanagan%20-%20Singing%20My%20Sister%20Down.html" target="_blank">"Singing My Sister Down"</a> is a masterful short story about death in a tar pit - Margo Lanagan</li>
<li><i>A Monster Calls</i> - this moving gem from Patrick Ness does not neatly fit into a category</li>
<li>"<a href="http://kosmicki.com/234/NBTDYH.htm" target="_blank">Never Bet the Devil Your Head</a>" - a short story from Poe - who elsewhere writes darkly and horrifically about death, but who here is witty</li>
<li><i>Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty</i> - Neri's graphic novel reflects on the death of a Chicago youth</li>
<li><i>Nation</i> - Terry Pratchett - the recent horrific typhoon in the Philippines is a natural twin for this alternative history novel - death appears early in the story and never leaves it - much fodder for discussion, a different place to find deep loss and, perhaps, hope after disaster</li>
</ul>
<b>Children's Books </b>- the best children's books are for all audiences - rather than introducing cutesy picture books, I would begin here and perhaps some students will follow up with the cutesy<br />
<ul>
<li><i>The Giving Tree</i> - OK, so you can spin it positively, but this is really about death</li>
<li><i>Pierre</i> - Sendak's "cautionary tale" and his <i>Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life</i></li>
<li><i>Rose Blanche</i> - Innocenti's grim allegory of the Holocaust should pair with other Holocaust readings</li>
<li>Klassen's <i>This is Not My Hat</i> and <i>I Want My Hat Back</i> present death as a natural event, albeit resulting from dark motives</li>
</ul>
<b>Realistic Fiction</b> - not that these are totally realistic - students might consider why and how elements of imaginative fantasy appear in each<br />
<ul>
<li><i>As I Lay Dying</i> - Faulkner's glorious, difficult walkabout with the family of Addie Bundren</li>
<li><i>The Bridge of San Luis Rey </i>- Wilder's exploration of the randomness of death - a little read classic</li>
<li><i>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close</i> - Foer - not a difficult read, but like Foer's <i>Everything is Illuminated</i> this is a sensitive, somewhat magical, emotionally powerful novel</li>
<li><i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> - Green - a bit oozy for my taste, but many teens love it</li>
<li><i>Going Bovine</i> - Bray - running from death? running with death? wonderful Cervantes-style romp across America</li>
<li><i>The Orphan Master's Son</i> - Johnson - Pulitzer prize-winning novel of North Korea - I have been pummeled by this book; it should be read</li>
<li><i>Thirteen Reasons Why</i> - Asher - suicide</li>
<li><i>Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions</i> - Daniel Wallace - not really a novel, but also not totally true narrative - focused upon life and death of the father</li>
<li><i>Tinkers</i> - Paul Harding's novel about the life that came before the deathbed - haunting and mellow</li>
</ul>
A <b>Holocaust</b> book must also be read - I suggest Weisel's <i>Night</i> (not fiction, but grouped here as well as below), <i>Everything is Illuminated, Once</i>, <i>The Book Thief, </i>and <i>Milkweed - </i>be sure to discuss how style and narrative voice are used to effect in each title<br />
<br />
<b>Suicide</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>is another topic that should fall into this unit - <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3820.Suicide" target="_blank">this Goodreads listing</a> is a good one for HS (with the exception of <i>Gatsby</i>, which should not be on the list<i>)</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>School shootings</b> are well covered in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2573.School_Shooting_Fiction" target="_blank">this Goodreads listing</a><br />
<br />
And always there is <b>war</b>: <i>Atonement</i>, <i>Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Things They Carried</i> (to list a few great ones), and a tough graphic novel from Japan: <i>Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths</i><br />
<br />
<b>SF and Fantasy </b>- the dystopian and monster genres walk arm-and-arm with death, but a few titles rise to the top. Some of them:<br />
<ul>
<li><i>The Giver</i> - Lowry's classic about both giving death and escaping a deathly life - high schoolers who have not read it must read it</li>
<li><i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i> - Bradbury deals with death in just about all of his work, but this one takes it head on - I like to pair it with Morgenstern's <i>The Night Circus</i></li>
<li><i>Dualed</i> - Elsie Chapman outdoes Shusterman (who of not multicultural at all) in this take on twin-twin battles to the death</li>
<li><i>The Ocean at the End of the Lane </i>- death is both tired and noble in this little wonder from Neil Gaiman</li>
<li>Hoban's <i>Riddley Walker</i> treats with the death of not just characters, but cultures - ditto <i>A Canticle for Leibowitz</i>, which also has the undercurrent of religious salvation gone awry</li>
<li><i>Never Let Me Go</i> - powerful dystopian look at death in a high tech, low morality world - <i>The Adoration of Jenna Fox </i>and <i>Unwind </i>are easier on the same topic<i> - </i>any one of these will shock students deeply</li>
<li><i>The Book of Lost Things</i> - John Connolly's young protagonist enters a world of fractured fairy and knighthood tales, fraught as always with death, and confronts his own grief at a mother lost</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Mysteries, Detective Fiction</b><i> - </i>these genre almost always involve death - I list here my favorites, books that treat death not as curiosity or spectacle, but with sensitivity and cultural understanding<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Collin Cotterill's <i>Dr. Siri Paiboun</i> series - <i>The Coroner's Lunch</i> is the first of these magical mysteries set in Laos - read them in order</li>
<li>Charles Todd's <i>Inspector Ian Rutledge</i> series - <i>A Test of Wills</i> is the first in this series of a Scotland Yard inspector haunted by the ghost of a battlefield execution</li>
<li>Antonio Garrido's <i>The Corpse Reader</i> explores death, class and deception in 12th Century China.</li>
<li>Louise Penny's <i>Inspector Gamache</i> mysteries - death with a hint, always, of salvation</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Drama & Other Narratives </b>- I have included a few poems here just to remind you to include them - they are not hard to find<br />
<ul>
<li>Greek tragedies used to have a place in HS English and death figures in most of them - I prefer<i> Iphigenia at Aulis</i> by Euripides, or <i>Medea</i> - these treat death differently, but both are deeply concerned with life-taking - <i>The Oresteia </i>is another choice</li>
<li><i>The Death of a Salesman - </i>Miller seems to have disappeared from the classroom - a tragedy, as Willy Loman is a contemporary figure</li>
<li>Shakespearean tragedy - for the classroom, <i>MacBeth, R&J, Hamlet</i> and <i>Julius Caesar</i> - but obviously most will do, and what is more deeply felt than <i>Lear</i> or more horrific than <i>Richard III </i>- performances (viewed and done) are necessary</li>
<li><i>Beowulf</i> - it is not really that long and ranges from truly graphic monster-death to the poignant death of the hero - I suggest Ian Serraillier's <i>Beowulf the Warrior</i> - the western hero-warrior is one aspect of our death-centric culture</li>
<li><i>The Iliad</i> - pick and choose from many deaths and contemplations of death - I like the Fagles translation</li>
<li>Russ Kick's <i>Death Poems</i> anthology is a good place to start your search for poems, but don't miss: </li>
<ul>
<li>"Death of a Hired Man" - Frost's matter-of-factness is just the skin on the fruit</li>
<li> Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" </li>
<li>"The Raven" from Poe</li>
<li><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173960" target="_blank">"If We Must Die"</a> by Claude McKay</li>
<li>Emily Dickinson</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/spring-and-all-road-contagious-hospital" target="_blank">Spring and All (by the road to the contagious hospital)</a>" from Williams</li>
<li>Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est"</li>
</ul>
<li><i>Field of Dreams</i> just might be the uplifting film you <b>have</b> to show</li>
<li><i>The Seventh Seal </i>just might be the dark film you <b>have</b> to show</li>
</ul>
<b>Non-Fiction - </b>the daily news is an endless source of material for the classroom, but here are some print titles to consider<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/06/09/meghan-o-rourke-the-long-goodbye/" target="_blank">How We Grieve: Meghan O'Rourke on the Messiness of Mourning and Learning to Live with Loss</a> - a review, commentary from Brain Pickings - great companion piece to any other reading</li>
<li><i>Marley and Me</i> or <i>Marley</i> - it is important to include pieces about the deaths of our pets and other animal companions</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/ideastour/animals/white-full.html" target="_blank"><i>"</i>Death of a Pig"</a> - E.B. White's essay/memory piece about a real pig</li>
<li><i>Behind the Beautiful Forevers</i> - Katherine Boo - almost unbearably blunt recounting - not all of death, but it is the deaths that linger</li>
<li><i>Night</i></li>
<li><i>The Devil in the White City</i> - Larson's intertwined history of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and a horrific serial killer begins and ends with one of the most poignant contemplations of death's finality that I have ever read - it is worth sharing selections with students - soon to be a major film</li>
<li><i>In Cold Blood</i> is Capote's revolutionary documentary of a family's murder - just one of what is now a genre (including <i>The Devil...</i>)</li>
<li>May of the titles I listed in my <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-documentary-and-i-journalism.html" target="_blank">i-Journalism</a> post would fit into this unit</li>
</ul>
Is this really a good idea? <br />
<br />
I think that discussion has to be enjoined, especially in light of today's endless reporting of global death, teen suicides, gun violence, sports violence, and ubiquitous onscreen/movie death. <br />
<br />
Why as a <strike>culture</strike> species are we so fascinated by death? How do cultures differ in views and representations of death? Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-87258024193353716582013-09-10T07:08:00.000-07:002013-12-20T08:54:30.561-08:00Product and Process and Ferris' Wheel<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/AVvXsEif7SM_hGIm370_qyWudSChSqAayyFHn8sy_8TNryYtk-WMeZz6tVFk9iDBeq9G7hE_DLoGmugBM50Y0FGy6MQroOXmJRif8UH6YaFejMnBl_v7sGNEaN-QW2P5YN4Enggf3NQurz_y5Juq/s1600/year-market-66584_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7SM_hGIm370_qyWudSChSqAayyFHn8sy_8TNryYtk-WMeZz6tVFk9iDBeq9G7hE_DLoGmugBM50Y0FGy6MQroOXmJRif8UH6YaFejMnBl_v7sGNEaN-QW2P5YN4Enggf3NQurz_y5Juq/s320/year-market-66584_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: LoboStudioHamburg, <a href="http://pixabay.com/en/year-market-ferris-wheel-sky-rides-66584/" target="_blank">Pixabay</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This morning I read a post from John Spencer's Education Rethink, <i><a href="http://www.educationrethink.com/2013/09/product-or-process.html" target="_blank">Process or Product?</a></i> Reflecting on the sometimes poor quality of his classroom projects, and the contradition inherent in valuing Product in an environment that stresses the learning value of Process, John muses, "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;">What if the driving force is the product and the journey and learning are a part of the reflective process?" </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;"> "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;">I realize that school is more about conceptual development and skill mastery than about product creation...</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;">I'm wondering if we're accidentally making it artificial when we place the learning on the journey as the driving force."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What John means, of course, is <i>hypocritical</i>. There is nothing accidental or artificial about the decision to place learning importance on "the journey." It is, in my opinion, key to the educational philosophy that has been driving reform and change for quite a while. I share John's unease with this paradigm; I left the following comment on his post: </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 16.988636016845703px;"><b>"</b></span></span>Kids have always wanted a reachable standard for product. Every teacher has had the experience of students madly improving media (and other) products at the last minute to reach a standard set by another student. This is a good thing. It is "real world" stuff. The trick, I think, is the "reachable" part. The teacher's product - the assignment with rubric and model - is hugely important. It has to be doable by all (which in my experience means scaling down), but it also has to open up doors for creativity and learning outside of the information box. Bad teacher product = poor student products. Students are sensitive judges of themselves and of others - this extends to schoolwork too, something some teachers forget. Of course product is important!"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
But I realize that this is just one way of thinking about the relative values of Process and Product.<br />
<br />
I am thinking now about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair as recounted in Larson's fabulous book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378562209&sr=1-1&keywords=the+devil+in+the+white+city+by+erik+larson" target="_blank">The Devil in the White City</a>.</i> This is a book about the driving force of Product: the Fair was a point of national, personal, and local pride - shoddy work, failure to meet the highest standard, were not a choice in the eyes of the architects, the workers, the designers, the engineers, the politicians, the businessmen, and the society figures involved. This is true also of the parallel story, where the Product was the flawless manipulation of innocents with the end result of undetected murders. With a Product in mind, all of the players in the book engage in learning activities, whether it be collaborative or competitive, deep research or spontaneous response. With few exceptions, the learning driven by Product is not an end in itself; it is a necessary cog in the wheel driving toward Product. There is little sense of learning as a cultural, social or personal change-maker. Learning in any of its format - new knowledge, problem-solving, critical thinking, creative expression, understanding - is necessary to achieve a goal or overcome a challenge. This is real world stuff.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, <i>The Devil in the White City</i> is a book about the driving force of Process: the pride of its architects, workers, designers, engineers, politicians, businessmen, and society figures leads them to create new technologies and methodologies, to think critically for the first time about old problems, to invent, to adapt, to compromise, to broaden their thinking. In the background, national and global Depression propels the Processes of individual and national decision-making and of cultural change (labor unionism). This is also true of the parallel story, where the Process of designing and constructing a "murder hotel," and then of manipulating victims, drives H.H. Holmes. The Process of plodding, relentless detection drives the investigator who eventually finds the evidence. It is only because his Process is a little bit shoddy that Holmes is eventually caught. With few exceptions, the learning driven by Process does not happen in a vacuum; it is a technological change-maker with wide ramifications. With the possible exception of Holmes, the players are deeply aware of this. This is real world stuff.<br />
<br />
It is the story of Ferris's giant Wheel that provides the best analogy for the classroom. Here are the key comparisons:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpThxTqPUtQzSSlIXTEqAbHbaZNmVleS_DG9_14AHykI_6xAL5aDjeUl_USTh6JCYo5CBQf42pdpfadtF5954NUhWFpmLX41eOHLbk8AJ5wESFdAoCmMtg-7KEJgjS0Sv0fo0Fr0zsSRd/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-09-10+at+9.00.44+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpThxTqPUtQzSSlIXTEqAbHbaZNmVleS_DG9_14AHykI_6xAL5aDjeUl_USTh6JCYo5CBQf42pdpfadtF5954NUhWFpmLX41eOHLbk8AJ5wESFdAoCmMtg-7KEJgjS0Sv0fo0Fr0zsSRd/s400/Screen+shot+2013-09-10+at+9.00.44+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As you can see, there are many Challenges/Limitations and many (maybe) Advantages on the student side. I think that these are exactly the factors that forestall or impede Process and, as a result, negatively impact Product. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
With the exception of <b>Time</b> (and even that can generally be compromised in the classroom, although rarely in Real Life), each of these factors can be manipulated by the teacher to improve both the Process and the Product. In some cases, this means specificity in the Challenge (assignment). In the case of support from the teacher and communication with knowledgeable peers, time and opportunity for both need to be built into the Process (this may mean use of social networks, etc.). </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The factors involving access and availability will vary with school and student populations. In my experience, equalizing and maximizing these leads to the most successful Process time. If necessary, the Challenge needs to be adapted to ameliorate gross differences in access and availability. It is the teacher's job to make this determination, just as it was Burnham's job to understand that most bids for the Fair engineering challenge were not doable, whereas Ferris had the access and experience necessary to make his Wheel a reality. </div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjCywcvGMoZ3Btr4dMdYG-SCrvcUo2fpHJuyIGxru4iwl2OMEuGzy2wQfPAAWw3wW3WSxVpvlxwH-qYJ6GNHygGNuJbl2qWNeAbGXiA5YjPN1gSm89unomJV8EWG8dpbgu60VpFyrSxvM/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-09-10+at+9.57.15+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjCywcvGMoZ3Btr4dMdYG-SCrvcUo2fpHJuyIGxru4iwl2OMEuGzy2wQfPAAWw3wW3WSxVpvlxwH-qYJ6GNHygGNuJbl2qWNeAbGXiA5YjPN1gSm89unomJV8EWG8dpbgu60VpFyrSxvM/s200/Screen+shot+2013-09-10+at+9.57.15+AM.png" width="200" /></a>The remaining factors, the four *'d (maybe's), are the most critical. They are certainly the factors that John Spencer finds most worrisome. Dissonance arises from the fact that Process as driving force is aimed at developing these factors, while at the same time Process and any learning from it are only as successful as a student's ability to demonstrate each factor. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For most students, the expectation that they direct their own learning Process results in confusion and mediocrity. A Process is either wildly creative and original but without a disciplined structure of thought ("all over the place"), or it follows a model so strictly that there is little creativity or originality in the final product. In either case, a teacher is hard put to identify "learning" in the Product, despite the amount of information it contains.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There are five suggestions that I can offer:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>Rethink the concept of "what is learned" to separate information from skills from "learning traits" of the student. Design challenges that focus on success factors separately, scaffolding students up to a challenge that integrates all three. It is helpful if a grade level team is able to do this concurrently. In every case, score student performance on the learning factor that is being developed. If it is "communicates effectively with teacher/peers for support and guidance," score that (0-3 is generally effective). If the factor is "demonstrates ability to create a slide show in a tool of his choice," score that. If the factor is "demonstrates intellectual curiosity about subject," score that. Once the language for assessment is developed, it should be used and reused throughout the year (or better yet, the student's school career).</li>
<li>Ditch lock-step or 1-tool projects and focus upon open-ended challenges that truly require students to demonstrate an integration of success factors. Save the word Project for these challenges and develop small, discrete challenges for each factor. Students who have demonstrated facility with the factors necessary for success should not be asked to complete the same level of project. Some educators design A-level, B-level, etc. challenges to deal with this reality. Others use conferencing. It is tricky when assessment time comes, so...</li>
<li>Consider grading Process but not overall Product. By nature, Murder Hotels aside, Products are conspicuous in their mediocrity, success, or failure. If they are displayed to a wide, authentic audience, no culminating "grade" should be necessary. Instead, assess the individual steps and learning factors - everything needs to be submitted (notes, outlines, drafts...).</li>
<li>The traditional Science Fair contains an <b>interview</b> element that serves to measure learning, often beyond what the physical product demonstrates. Embed this in all Projects. I always included a peer interview phase, averaged peer assessments with my own, and handed out peer response sheets along with assessment results.</li>
<li>Make <b>time</b> a factor in Product focused projects. This is tough, but absolute deadlines are not only real life stuff, they serve to force the student to refine Process, greatly improving learning. "Chunking" with deadlines is often necessary. Consider what I call the "Favreau requirement": Students who do not meet a deadline stay in school until the task is completed.</li>
</ol>
<div>
It is a lesson of <i>The Devil in the White City</i> that Product is ephemeral. Nothing remained of Ferris' grand wheel two years after the Fair. Process, on the other hand, is a stepping stone. The technological inventions and adaptations that made the wheel possible were lessons well learned; many are still being built upon. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In fact, most students will, when surveyed, remember with pride and pleasure the smaller learning challenges at which they succeeded, but not mention big Projects. Does this mean we should eliminate Product focused projects? No, I don't think so, much as I dislike them generally. Without an occasional Ferris Wheel (or Google or Facebook or iPod or <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>...) there is little to inspire the student to continue learning and trying. That deepest and most intrinsic of motivations comes with time.</div>
<br />Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-83048927454995393552013-05-13T16:57:00.000-07:002013-09-07T06:40:48.773-07:00From Apple to HP in Maine<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfXURx1CdxuJQLENrU-jeZEPkxdwDzYDs0hLtf9c9atG-0g8sLdxuPYzEwkvo3WWOqE0raZyKIfx-L0MZyB5E3miv_LTLGBZEsBvDme3FKkQ6zya0l34TFGh7Sh3lFERrAXlFYKSmiu5b/s1600/kid_on_computer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfXURx1CdxuJQLENrU-jeZEPkxdwDzYDs0hLtf9c9atG-0g8sLdxuPYzEwkvo3WWOqE0raZyKIfx-L0MZyB5E3miv_LTLGBZEsBvDme3FKkQ6zya0l34TFGh7Sh3lFERrAXlFYKSmiu5b/s200/kid_on_computer.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.morethanmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/kid_on_computer.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have moved back and forth between the Apple and PC platforms regularly, both for home and for school use. I don't see platform as a big issue. Yet my teeth grated when two weeks ago Maine's governor Paul LePage announced that the 1:1 contract that has been placing Apple devices (laptops and iPads) in the hands of students for 10 years is basically defunct. A new contract has been awarded to HP for as-yet-to-be-announced (for absolute certain) laptops and tablets. <br />
<br />
<br />
Reasons:<br />
<ul>
<li>HP's bid was lower by about $33 per seat per year for laptops </li>
<li>According to the governor, the PC is the tool our students must use because it is what they will "see and use in the workplace"</li>
<li>HP convinced the governor that the PC is the tool our students must use because it is what they will see and use in the workplace</li>
<li>An Apple tool is an elitist tool which most students will not encounter in "real adult life"</li>
</ul>
<b>[update</b> 4/14/13] Since this post, the governor and his DOE commissioner have worked hard to sell the concept of choice. In today's announcement of the purchasing decisions made by Maine's schools, the following data is given:<br />
<div>
"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">This fall, 39,457 students and educators will start using Apple’s iPad tablet ($266 per year, per seat with network), followed by 24,128 using Apple’s MacBook Air laptop ($319 per year, per seat with network) and 5,474 using the HP ProBook 4440 laptop which runs Microsoft Windows 7 ($286 per year, per seat with network)...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Teachers in schools that went with Apple’s iPad will additionally receive a MacBook Air to use over the four-year contract..."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 21.988636016845703px;"><br /></span></span>
<div>
<b>It seems that the vast majority of Maine's schools have rejected the HP choice, </b>made because "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Governor Paul R. LePage and Department of Education leaders wanted to ensure schools had options, including equipping students with the PC and Microsoft technology they are most likely to find in the workplace." (<a href="http://mainedoenews.net/2013/06/14/schools-embrace-first-chance-for-choice-of-learning-technology/#more-20042" target="_blank">source</a>). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps this is because of the arguments I made, and still make, against the switch:]</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
- The cost of retraining Maine's teachers and IT personnel was not part of the announcement. </div>
<div>
- The cost of replacing/re-contracting for apps successfully used in Maine's classrooms was not part of the announcement. (But today, coincidentally, there is an announcement that Google is launching an Android app store, Google Play for Education, so it will be easy to spend the money districts don't have for apps. Considering that the announcement contained this sentence, <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">And, as long as each student has their own Google account, teachers can deploy their app selections to the tablets for an entire class or grade from their own account",</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span> it might not be as easy to use as the announcement announces.)</div>
<div>
- The cost of replacing Apple machines and apps purchased for district and school administrative use was not part of the announcement.</div>
<div>
- The cost in time of (some) IT staff for reinstalling/reconfiguring server-side software was not part of the announcement.</div>
<div>
- The cost of virus and malware prevention/detection/management apps and implementation was not part of the announcement (yes, I know few viruses are written for Macs...).</div>
<div>
- The cost of new laptop cases/tablet covers (as needed) was not part of the announcement (it may be part of the contract, I don't know).</div>
<div>
- The cost in time for transfer of student portfolio and teacher instructional materials from OSX or iOS-specific file formats to Windows 8 (or 7 - this has just changed and may change again) document formats was not part of the announcement (for schools not using Office for Mac).</div>
<div>
- The cost to teachers in time lost for addressing the important areas of curricular expansion and adjustment due to new CCSS and Next Generation Science Standards was not part of the announcement.</div>
<div>
- The additional cost to low-performing (D or F) schools and their districts, already shouldering higher budget demands in the name of test score improvement, was not part of the announcement.</div>
<div>
- The cost to parents replacing Apple devices purchased for home with PC devices - was not part of the announcement. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The additional cost to districts and schools wishing to maintain the Apple platform as a choice was part of the announcement. This could range from relatively small to the equivalent of a teaching position, or more.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Districts will come out even or lose, depending on local vote, which might be by the school board or town meeting. Most will lose economically. Or make changes in the classrooms that will directly impact student learning and educational programs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
MacDaily News had this to say: </div>
<div>
"<span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Only iPad has a meaningful library of apps. Only iPad can access school textbooks via iBookstore created by iBooks Author. Only Mac can run iBooks Author. In fact, only Apple Mac can run all of the world’s OSes and </span><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook4p" style="border: 0px; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap !important;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook4w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; height: auto; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal;">software</span></span><span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">. Only Mac. Only iPad."</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border: 0px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Read more at <a href="http://macdailynews.com/2013/04/30/state-of-maine-tells-schools-to-buy-hp-notebooks-running-windows-8-instead-of-apple-macs/comment-page-3/#hf3ry8iJ1FhgjXmX.99" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #003399; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://macdailynews.com/2013/04/30/state-of-maine-tells-schools-to-buy-hp-notebooks-running-windows-8-instead-of-apple-macs/comment-page-3/#hf3ry8iJ1FhgjXmX.99</a> ")</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The most important points to be made about this decision (as of today, a done-deal) are these:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Industry does not widely use the buggy Windows 8 (probably the reason HP switched the offer to Windows 7 after the Maine announcement).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">By the time a Maine 7th grader is "in the workplace" - let's assume he/she has at least 1 year of post-secondary education or training - no operating system will look like Windows 7 (or 8) and no laptop PC (if they even exist) will look like the HP </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;">ProBook 4400. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maine is, also according to the governor, concerned that not enough HS graduates complete secondary education before entering the workplace. This adds 2 - 4+ more years of technological change between graduation and workplace. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The academic world of today (post k-12 even in Maine) is platform independent. Need a PC to study science? We got it covered.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not all work is STEM-centered or business-centered. Even assuming that the PC platform is currently more visible in these arenas, a significant portion of Maine's graduates will enter the arts and humanities, and small or home business arenas, where Apple is a top player because it is reliable and family-friendly. Maybe Maine's governor does not care about these kids -> adults, but I do. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kids are not workers - they are kids. Apple products are, at this time, more consistent, secure, and app-rich (educationally speaking -> engaging) than the competition. This is not elitism - it is the truth that comes from my long years of experience with both platforms in the classroom, with my adult children, and with grandchildren. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Apple and Maine together have created a digital environment that supports k-12 learning. Undoing this in order to meet the questionable needs of a workplace future is just plain short-sighted. HP does <b>not</b> [I can not tell you my source, but he/she is highly placed] have a great track record with follow-through or quality control in this arena.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even in today's workplace, most <b>used-for-work</b> apps and software are proprietary - tweaked or designed for the specific use in the specific industry. Think auto mechanics. Think hair dressers. Think Maine government. Think industrial engineering. Think medicine. Think food-supply inventory. Think payroll. Think Best Buy and AT&T geeks. Think office cubicle. Think your local graphic artist or writer. Think lobsterman. Kids need to learn to be adaptable and creative with apps - hardware platform does not matter. (This is not an argument for change when the total cost-of-change is considered). From my point of view, today's most creative and creation-making apps (that are not web-based) are iPad or Apple apps.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">iTunes is not supported in the Windows 8 environment. What will happen to music and podcast libraries as the HP contract goes forward? Oh - unless HP for ME stalls out at Windows 7.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">On the other hand, I know that PCs are powerful tools. Access is so much fun that I used to play with it every day (sorry - it is not in the basic Office plan for Maine's schools). Numbers does not hold a candle to Excel. Hacking Windows is really fun for hackers. Powerpoint <strike>is</strike> used to be more powerful than Keynote, and it <strike>is</strike> used to be ubiquitous in the educational and business worlds. <strike>Many programming language compilers are built only for the Windows platform</strike>. <strike>The new Smarter Balanced digital tests are designed to run better on PCs.</strike> I don't know specifically about Windows 7 or 8 (except what I read), but app integration on PC laptops has always been good on the PCs I have used and taught with. That's a plus. Same for the quality of graphical and video apps. OK for kids at least, even though all of the pros I know use Macs (shouldn't our artistic, musical and publication creating kids be using Apple tools?). And viruses can definitely be contained if users are vigilant (and the right apps are installed and updated on all machines and on the new servers). </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">My take on this? Maine can </span></span><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">be forward-thinking, </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">save money, and get more bang for the buck in the long run by addressing a few specific weaknesses in the HP-exclusive k-12 contract. For example:</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Invest in successful curricula and programs by using contract savings to support requests for desktop and laptop Apple hardware and apps, and mobile devices and apps, <b>that teachers want because they will be</b> <b>used</b> in classrooms and have no equal in the Windows environment. The state should not be open to accusations of limiting educational growth on the student level. Especially not in the arts.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Put state money into giving educational IT staff complete training in both platforms (including licensed repair of PC and Apple machines). This will prepare the state for a platform-independent system by the time the next contract rolls around.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Design MLTI and DOE training sessions with <b>three and only three goals</b>. Let all other app-specific PD be handled by in-house and local discipline-specific workshops (e.g. transitioning from iMovie or Keynote, from Numbers to Excel). <b>My big three goals for MLTI:</b></span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Teacher comfort and expertise in Google for Education apps and extensions/add-ons</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Teacher comfort and expertise with web-based apps that support the new CCSS goals (the 4 C's, textual analysis, communication of mathematical thinking, authentic publishing)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">Teacher comfort and expertise with management of cloud storage for educational use (Google Drive and Dropbox would be my choices, but there are many others).</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.99147605895996px;">... can't think of another good idea.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
End of rant. If you want to visit the dichotomous, often vitriolic, environment this decision has spawned, visit <a href="http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/mdoe-chooses-hp-school-laptop-program-next-school-year" target="_blank">As Maine Goes</a>. Let's hope "so goes the Nation" is a NOT. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My next post will cross-evaluate the most highly evaluated apps for education.</div>
</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-52138090658695008592013-04-21T09:07:00.002-07:002013-04-21T09:09:43.292-07:00Why NOT to Read Using an Interactive App<i style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Interactive</i><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> is a buzzword. Be careful, fellow teachers, how you employ it in the ELA classroom. </span><br />
<br />
It sounds like a great idea: apps that take on <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">the challenge of ensuring that every student is meaningfully moving forward in a given reading assignment—and not just faking it."</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">(</span></span><a href="http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/04/ebooks/gobstopper-and-subtext-rev-up-reading-test-drive/" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">SLJ Reviews Gobstopper and Subtext</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">). The two <i>interactive</i> ebook reading apps reviewed by <i>SLJ</i> work like the Kindle app on fire, or better yet, </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Kindle</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"> mated with <a href="http://www.nearpod.com/" target="_blank">Nearpod</a>. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxSk3wro8nch9X3728TESu-7VRXdzpraYvrKdQ9hlVHgrWs4IufJp55sGPvbVc_pBr4QJV7J4ZgeEXxANHmPsXNvuSmh_9Wmwt-mI1tQvevZ7woXK0s3rm52QslWMD8oXAzrtt7l0t9lr/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-20+at+5.54.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxSk3wro8nch9X3728TESu-7VRXdzpraYvrKdQ9hlVHgrWs4IufJp55sGPvbVc_pBr4QJV7J4ZgeEXxANHmPsXNvuSmh_9Wmwt-mI1tQvevZ7woXK0s3rm52QslWMD8oXAzrtt7l0t9lr/s200/Screen+shot+2013-04-20+at+5.54.47+PM.png" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.subtext.com/" target="_blank">Subtext</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">As shown in the screen shots, teachers can embed annotations, quizzes, blog-type discussions, tags, links (to rich media/video and web pages), underlining, <b>and</b> highlighting into the text the students read. The purposes are to keep the students focused on the task of reading, to direct and enrich their reading with materials provided by the teacher, and to align these to the CCSS - all by <i>layering</i> discussions, tags, links, rich-media, annotations, and highlighting on top of the text. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcuO8I2qM7dsrnV5ApwEBMDU1GUXWclxLTWsqmwQygzs0xsMCx0fu4_O8_PffnpV8I-YkGZlcScoCBIDW37C1fLeAYg8S_lBwhQDIsQxnu0RT4yBnBzY5Fv0T9R81oyl2sF2LDS4hvVIN/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-20+at+5.37.24+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcuO8I2qM7dsrnV5ApwEBMDU1GUXWclxLTWsqmwQygzs0xsMCx0fu4_O8_PffnpV8I-YkGZlcScoCBIDW37C1fLeAYg8S_lBwhQDIsQxnu0RT4yBnBzY5Fv0T9R81oyl2sF2LDS4hvVIN/s320/Screen+shot+2013-04-20+at+5.37.24+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gobstopper.com/" target="_blank">Gobstopper</a> - showing video of teacher embedded</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe it's just me, but this seems to fly in the face of current trends to make students responsible for their own learning. It seems, in fact, to be exactly the same teaching philosophy that resulted in the reading packets and book-based websites much criticized now as the core of poor ELA teaching. Gobstopper unabashedly offers "Curriculets" for the titles they provide for download (not too many titles yet, by the way, but many CCSS classics are there) which are really "fully baked" curriculum packets for the teacher, and Subtext allows the teacher to access embedded materials provided by other teachers. Both will save teacher-generated media for the life of the app. It's a filing cabinet or laptop folder of printables in a 21st Century costume. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">The difference is that there is an attempt here, at least in Subtext, to engage students in a social media type discussion of text, which can now happen online or in-app rather than in the classroom. Given this difference, and the wider text selection, I would vote for Subtext over Gobstopper. Actually, I would never send serious students to a web app named after a revolting form of candy. It leads me to wonder about the seriousness of the app's creators. It certainly says something about their low opinion of the American student.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">For the student, using either app is much easier than independent or worksheet-guided reading - one-stop shopping and no original thought needed. When you enter your classroom, you will know exactly what the teacher wants you to think about - or think. No need to open a blog or wiki or webpage or Edmodo. No need to speak up in class. No real reason for class.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">For the teacher, using either app is much easier, </span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">after the initial effort to create or select embeddable content,</span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"> than duplicating reading guides, making a website, or turning personal annotations into discussion guides to use in class. Gobstopper users can simply use the canned Curriculet. Subtext users can, if they wish, use the embedded questions and annotations of others - or lurk and copy these. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">The quizzes in both apps are self-graded reading checks (we used to call these "checks for understanding," but now they are just checks for reading) and the discussions are digital and archived, so the teacher can review them or just check off a participation grade.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> I would guess that not too many teachers will take part in the discussions - that would be too much like grading. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">It used to be that a student had ultimate reading choice; she could choose NOT to read or NOT to read deeply or NOT to think about the reading. Grades probably were effected, but that student survived ELA, often by listening, sometimes by using cheat notes, and usually with an understanding that NOT doing had a negative consequence (which she may or may not have cared about...). Her teacher had to work harder to <strike>engage</strike> teach that child (I am assuming that he does care, although that is surely not always true). Both student and teacher profited from this extra effort. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Unless higher education has changed dramatically since my days, the college student still has the choice NOT to read or NOT to read deeply </span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">or NOT to think about the reading</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">We used to prepare students for the consequences of those critical decisions. That was part of teaching independently responsible learning. These interactive apps take away the opportunity to make reading choices. In fact, I think they make it possible for a student to <b>believe</b> she is reading just because she responds to all of the layered-in objects. In fact, I read p. 3 of <i>Gatsby</i> entirely by clicking the icons. I would, I think, have been a star in the class the next day.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">And for what gain? Surely not for increasing a love of literature. Take another look at the screen shots above. Would you be able to really <b>read</b> <i>Gatsby </i>with all of that highlighting, underlining, iconography and pop-ups on your screen? This may be the single worst way imaginable of guiding students into a love of literature and language. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Not to mention the <b>time</b> it will take students to complete an assignment (Gobstopper recommends two chapters of <i>Gatsby </i>as an assignment length). Reading as a student, I got through about four interactive pages before I had enough. Tired of interruptions. Tired of taking part in discussions. Tired of pointless quiz questions. And I wasn't even reading with 25 other students. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">What I ended up doing was selecting two neglected sentences and writing disruptive annotations for others to discuss. And I had no idea what was going on in the novel - a novel I love and have read non-interactively at least four times. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><i>Interactive</i> is a buzzword. Be careful, fellow teachers, how you employ it in the ELA classroom.</span></span>Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-60298602787204042882013-04-09T14:01:00.001-07:002013-04-09T14:01:19.110-07:00Close Commenting: An Essential Skill<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ml9LXZgzo3NApq-pK9BuoaXLmoheP8qdazaVW6Rx-HYfNyXdiLMYnlQ6_iw_pzYU8F2tcKHM9o9Jy8QcHWXDOjNGzEmPQ8YyB2e2jUfovzrswbpO2fnQ5cj9MqAyNmwMcSZVg35qZYFS/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-03-31+at+7.15.09+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="2" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ml9LXZgzo3NApq-pK9BuoaXLmoheP8qdazaVW6Rx-HYfNyXdiLMYnlQ6_iw_pzYU8F2tcKHM9o9Jy8QcHWXDOjNGzEmPQ8YyB2e2jUfovzrswbpO2fnQ5cj9MqAyNmwMcSZVg35qZYFS/s320/Screen+shot+2013-03-31+at+7.15.09+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conversation snippit: see 2nd paragraph</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Have you ever read a blog post, Facebook update, or online news article then scrolled casually down, only to find CONTROVERSY? These are not only the liveliest but also often the most thought-provoking scenarios in my web-day. <br />
<br />
Consider this post by John Spenser at <a href="http://www.educationrethink.com/" target="_blank">Education Rethink</a>, a blog which I follow with a critical eye. John is gutsy and writes exactly what he means to say. But do you think he thought that <a href="http://www.educationrethink.com/2013/03/do-we-still-need-schools-and-teachers.html" target="_blank">Do We Still Need Schools and Teachers (A Thought on Holes in the Wall)</a> would elicit a series of responses from Sugata Mitra? I have met with Mitra (in a living room in Maine...) and I am not surprised. I am a bit disappointed that John did not extend the conversation more. <br />
<br />
Another of John's posts (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=328900483880389&set=a.228024317301340.32801.226765060760599&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Facebook</a>), resulted in a long discussion about the content of a math test question. Although I agree with John on this one (he continues his own thoughts in a <a href="http://www.educationrethink.com/2013/04/five-ideas-on-fixing-bad-problem.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JohnSpencersBlog+%28Education+Rethink%29" target="_blank">2nd blog post</a>), I have to admit that many of the comments gave me pause. I have not yet done so, but it seems to me that by stepping back and re-reading these comments, I might be able to isolate a significant problem within k-4 math education. <br />
<br />
We are talking about small pieces of text in a list, yet the above are examples of the type of discussion that we should require our students to engage in. In fact, standards ARE requiring students to have these discussions.<br />
<br />
<b>Close Comments</b> are comments that extend, critique, further support, refine or otherwise analyze a specific argument or element in a text (yes, this could be a media text). <br />
<br />
Consider your local online newspaper - it doesn't have to be the <i>Times</i>. On a good day, literate and intelligent readers extend the conversation begun in an editorial, letter or article. On a bad day (at least in Maine), after reading the comments you might consider moving to another state. Either way, close comments from readers propel you, the reader, to more closely consider the issues and information, and they might propel you to reread the original text or follow a link suggested by a comment writer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1tcWvDyWGx9lS5leTgVR9D_Dun4WotAa214YDsI_PbAcQmvjBbXlDi9V2bYyH1a2qAj-hqgEQc8KoR_WfpPQW9Ojut7WSWe-KSrsjS-X7GHLc4uKzZrWhq10FgnqAyRAxFwtwPW0nmszu/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-09+at+2.35.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1tcWvDyWGx9lS5leTgVR9D_Dun4WotAa214YDsI_PbAcQmvjBbXlDi9V2bYyH1a2qAj-hqgEQc8KoR_WfpPQW9Ojut7WSWe-KSrsjS-X7GHLc4uKzZrWhq10FgnqAyRAxFwtwPW0nmszu/s320/Screen+shot+2013-04-09+at+2.35.18+PM.png" width="52" /></a></div>
Think about this: If we expect - require - students to write not just 120 characters but full paragraphs about ideas - as we now must do beginning in grade 3 - why do we <b>not</b> require students to fully comment on the online texts they read, review, or edit? <br />
<br />
I have taken to closely commenting on Scoop.it content that does not merit wide dispersal <i>without</i> comment. More often than not, someone responds to my criticism, often multiple people, and a conversation is engaged. Were I simply to rescoop a scoop, post, or tweet, I would not be entering a conversation. By and large, sharing tools lead to a scatterplot instead of a conversation. This has its place, surely, in trend detection and trend creation, which are critical thinking elements, but it is not an action that develops an essential thinking skill for learning.<br />
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">In contrast, <b>Close Commenting is itself a critical thinking skill. </b></span><br />
<br />
Excellent comments generate conversation.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But wait - there is more. As noted in <a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/can-comment-blitzes-influence-climate-views-or-policy/?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank">this Dot Earth post by Andrew Revkin</a>, commenting can serve a social, political, and even an ethical purpose. This is all educational, for the reader as well as for the writer. We can view "crowd-commenting" as a mechanism for issue groups to "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">build their online presence through more engagement in comments on articles or blog posts" (<a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/can-comment-blitzes-influence-climate-views-or-policy/?partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank">source</a>). What is a student analyst if not an issue group of 1? Through the mechanism of a commenting conversation, that student will develop, refine, and adapt his ideas and their evidence. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Imagine if student "crowd-commenting" (or <i>comment blitzing</i>, to use Revkin's phrase) were used to:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">analyze a film's use of visual imagery to develop meaning (sample: respond to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0hOiasRsrA#!" target="_blank">The Shining Code 2.0</a>)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">debate, using textual evidence, questions such as "Who is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?" (respond to anchor paragraph or essay)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">present evidence supporting a poet's use of imagery to develop meaning (respond to anchor essay)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">trace an author's development of character or POV using textual evidence (respond to a passage or short story)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">explain the use of fairy tale patterns in <i>The Hunger Games </i>(respond to film of <i>HG</i> or to an animated video of "Hansel and Gretel"...)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">And so on. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">But this will only work if the comments are factually and logically accurate, precise, and complete. Emotional, unsupported, or vapid commentary, which often crowd the Comment field, can be effectively drowned out by extensive and documented discussion pertinent to the issue at hand (not necessarily in support of the initial assertion, either). </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">The educational value of Close Commenting goes beyond the value of blogging. When we require deep, critical, commenting, and assess it, we build the skills of both writing and close reading. It is an essential skill.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">At any age or school year or subject, a Close Comment should have these elements:</span></div>
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">a specific reference to a key element of the text (the original text or a comment to which the student is replying), quoted and introduced correctly: __________ [or You] states/asserts/proposes/criticizes X/assumes/identifies X, "______________________.") - this demonstrates that student has done a close reading of the source text</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">a transitional or introductory word or phrase, which should avoid using "I" (Another argument/example/interpretation - On the other hand - The opposite is true - etc.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">a discussion or logical explanation of the validity of the point being made</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">(optional) a concise summary of what has been said</span></span></li>
</ul>
Sound familiar? <br />
<br />
<b style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.99431800842285px;">How to? </b>Do not just ask a question. You must provide analytical or informational or argumentative text to which students will respond (not creative text). I personally like provacative science texts, cartoons, short videos (include ads) and "out there" interpretations of events or texts. Make yourself a collection of these appropriate to your students and your school.<br />
<br />
The space (real or digital) to which you post this text must have a <b>reply</b> feature. The space must be <b>visual</b> in that all Comments and the reply thread are visible to readers. Some suggestions:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Safe: </li>
<ul>
<li>digital classroom - using a blogging platform to which students have been given accounts (such as Google's Blogger through Google Education, <a href="http://kidblog.org/home/" target="_blank">Kidblog</a> or <a href="http://edublogs.org/" target="_blank">edublogs</a>), use a private post to post a text - invite students and begin the conversation </li>
<li>digital classroom - using an <a href="http://ed.voicethread/">ed.Voicethread</a> account to which students have accounts, post a text - invite students and begin the conversation</li>
<li>ditto <a href="http://www.thinglink.com/" target="_blank">Thinglink</a></li>
<li>post text on large paper or paste onto poster board - student can respond on index cards and attach responses, maintaining the vertical alignment of online comments and with horizontal space for branching (replies)</li>
<li>digital use a "brainstorming" platform (such as to create a web</li>
</ul>
<li>Less safe:</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.scoop.it/" target="_blank">Scoop</a> an article (after you have created an account and a Topic for yourself), send students to the URL or embed your Topic elsewhere online, and let the conversation begin</li>
<li>use any blogging platform that can be accessed through your school, post a text, etc.</li>
<li>embed Close Comments in YouTube videos that have been posted to YouTube</li>
</ul>
<li>Badges:</li>
<ul>
<li>recognize the best student Close Comments by making them source texts or by posting them in some way - in <i>your</i> comment, point out what makes this an excellent example</li>
</ul>
</ul>
There are other tools for Close Commenting. If you have a favorite, let me know. Other ideas?</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-89379421120829846742013-03-31T13:49:00.002-07:002013-04-05T15:59:18.851-07:00The New Face of Plagiarism<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8omgoTVLW8GO-K5O1JkzCsh2SCUWrvY2vE9q4P5Sc1KwsyUB8BOf67uecQ7KAvf9NbafZfeyARggnqYJohHck0W7dvBmbZrB04SHtvBZ0s9GEHoLkVlFJvt4M3Py9JX53aHaOhKTEO02/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-03-31+at+3.44.55+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="2" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8omgoTVLW8GO-K5O1JkzCsh2SCUWrvY2vE9q4P5Sc1KwsyUB8BOf67uecQ7KAvf9NbafZfeyARggnqYJohHck0W7dvBmbZrB04SHtvBZ0s9GEHoLkVlFJvt4M3Py9JX53aHaOhKTEO02/s400/Screen+shot+2013-03-31+at+3.44.55+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">screen shot from .jpg image of poster, embedded in <a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/a-must-have-poster-on-copyright.html" target="_blank">Educational Technology and Mobile Learning</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I recently ran across a link to an embedded <a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/a-must-have-poster-on-copyright.html" target="_blank">Must Have Poster on Copyright Guidelines for Teachers</a>. I put a posted copy of this poster up in the teacher's work room at least 8 years ago. I have traced the poster's creator to the <a href="http://www.techlearning.com/index" target="_blank">Technology & Learning</a> site, but have not been able to find the source of the .jpg that has been embedded at this link. The poster, it turns out, is all over the net, often on academic sites. Somewhat odd, because internet distribution is not part of the granted use license (see above). Moreover, the chart itself is woefully out of date; its distribution as a "must have" guide to copyright is not academically sound. Filmstrips? And what of freely posting projects that include sound and video downloaded from the Internet? Bad, bad, bad.<br />
<br />
Or else the rules have changed, are changing. I think we have to consider some rule changers. For the time, I am limiting discussion to text.<br />
<br />
Jonah Lehrer resigned his postion as staff writer for <i>The New Yorker</i> over a question of cheating. It seems that he made up quotations that he attributed to Bob Dylan in his best-selling book <i>Imagine</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-the-new-yorker-over-fabricated-bob-dylan-quotes/" target="_blank"><i>Forbes</i> is tough on Lehrer</a> but does not condem him. His work, in their words, was "not outright plagiarism," merely the "misdemeanor" of "fabrication." <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/" target="_blank"><i>The</i> </a><i><a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/" target="_blank">Times</a> </i>is subtly tougher on Lehrer, ending the article with a quote from an interview that appears to demean Lehrer himself as a self-created, trending, shallow persona. Just the type of person who would fabricate.<br />
<br />
But hold on. I always thought that <i>fabrication</i> was a creative activity. Plenty of great creative writers have fabricated dialogue - entire scenarios - for living, breathing actual people, my fav being the Queen in Bennett's <i>The Uncommon Reader, </i>and often for dead people too, as in Farmer's wonderful <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Riverworld-Including-Scattered-Fabulous-Riverboat/dp/0765326523" target="_blank">Riverworld</a> </i>and many current hit films<i>.</i><br />
<br />
And then there is Jane Goodall, who stands guilty as accused of plagiarising whole passages of her new book from Wikipedia and other sources (read about it <a href="http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/jane-goodall-apparently-guilty-of-plagiarism-and-sloppy-science-writing/" target="_blank">here</a> and more damningly in <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/26/jane-goodall-s-troubling-error-filled-new-book-seeds-of-hope.html" target="_blank">The Daily Beast</a>). Goodall has not yet been drawn, quartered and otherwise humiliated, as was Doris Kearns Goodwin (read the first story <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/793ihurw.asp" target="_blank">here</a>), but she may yet be. Of course Goodwin bounced back, after a rather short hiatus and a few interviews with Imus, to become the expert behind <i>Lincoln</i>. Maybe it's something about "good" names, but we seem to be a little light on plagiarism now-a-days. It is easily explained away as merely a "problematic" "situation" - surely neither expert meant to suggest that the uncited text was passing off another's idea as her own. In fact, it was not idea-text at all - it was informational text.<br />
<br />
Then there are the persistent, frequent instances of news and other informational texts appearing under multiple mastheads. Have you seen this yet today? In the Lehrer case, many other articles state "he made it up" and then go on to recycling or remix the <i>Forbes</i> and <i>Times</i> articles. Of course, the writers of these pieces aren't guilty of <i>fabrication</i> because the text they are using was not fabricated. It was simply paraphrased or, in some instance, copied whole hog, without attribution. I guess that's not plagiarism either.<br />
<br />
Nor is MoMA's poet laureate Kenneth Goldsmith plagiarizing when he practices what he terms "copyleft" and "manages" text produced by another into a different form. He states in an interview with Mark Allen for The AWL, <i>"</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #171717; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The new creativity is pointing, not making. Likewise, in the future, the best writers will be the best information managers"</i> (<a href="http://www.theawl.com/2013/02/an-interview-with-avant-garde-poet-kenneth-goldsmith" target="_blank">Proudly Fraudulent</a>). </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #171717; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #171717; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last, what about "editing for hire"? Parents and peers - even many teachers - heavily edit for free. But new services like </span></span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/essay-editor/id572416298?mt=8" target="_blank">Essay Editor for iPhone</a> take this to another level. A bare-bones text can, for a fee, be totally smoothed and reconstructed by anonymous "experts." Who's to know? Who's to stop it?<br />
<br />
So it seems that there are some new rules students need to know about.<br />
<i><br />
</i> <b>Rule #1: </b><i>M</i><i>aking up </i>"sounds true"<i> </i>textual evidence is OK if the context into which the fabrication is placed is fictional narrative. But don't make it up if you are framing your text as informational non-fiction. Unless of course you are writing creative informational non-fiction, in which case you are free to create. When in doubt, make a film.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Rule #2: </b><i>Recycling</i> text from a source is OK if you are creating your own text in the same<b> </b>format (tweet to tweet, blog to blog, digital article to digital article, print book to print book, etc.), which is just moving words around, not really claiming they are your own original ideas. It is also OK if you are using a text to create a fictional text in a different genre (Wikipedia to fiction or poetry - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/U-S-Parallel-Money-Library-America/dp/1883011140" target="_blank">Dos Passos</a> did it too!). But don't think you can get away with recycling text if you move it from one format to another (digital encyclopedia to print book or student essay, for example) in a scholarly, informational context. When in doubt, sound clever, never serious. Or make a Google Presentation.<br />
<br />
<b>Rule #3: </b><i>Paying for Text Editing/Total Revision</i> is OK if you are lucky enough to find an expert editor who writes perfect English and who can decode your original ideas and embed your recycled information. When in doubt, have your parents hire a tutor.</div>
<br />
I'm sorry, Maggie Messitt, but your thorough <a href="http://learni.st/users/maggiemessitt/boards/17689-helping-students-avoid-plagiarism" target="_blank">board of resources</a> to help students avoid plagiarism is a waste of time. All we need to teach a student is that anyone else's text is really just information to be managed, or remanaged, unless the student's product is not fictional print text, in which case he can not under any circumstances fabricate; in any case he is free to purchase the remanaging of his sketchy text and submit it as his own work. At the very worst, he will get a B or an eventual reprieve. <br />
<br />
"Oh how the mighty have fallen" (unclear citation and derivation - I refuse to accept a rock band as a source). In case you are still not clear on my position, I am not happy with the rampant plagiarism and lack of citation that I see everywhere. But is this the lesson of the Internet that we can not unteach? Is it worth the effort for <b>every</b> student?Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-28033294990720094492013-03-17T08:43:00.000-07:002013-12-20T08:47:35.381-08:00Close Reading and Poetry: Why Poetry and the Common Core Don't Mix[<b>update</b>: In case you disagree totally with my premise, you can stop reading and click here to find three titles recommended for <a href="http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/" target="_blank">Meeting the CCSS Through Poetry</a>. Or perhaps head over to The OWL and follow their close reading of a Shakespeare sonnet. I have continued this idea in a post called <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2013/12/on-listening-to-poetry.html" target="_blank">On Listening to Poetry</a>.]<br />
<br />
There are times when a passionate and highly qualified ELA teacher needs to disregard the advice of experts. The teaching of poetry is one of these times.<br />
<br />
To be blunt: Poetry should not be read using a Close Reading Method. This will destroy for students both its beauty and its power. <br />
<br />
As you know, The Method recommended and now being modeled for teachers all over the country and in numerous videos requires a 3-step read:<br />
<ol>
<li>What does the text say? (may include teacher read-aloud - some recommend marginal and in-text notation, although these are generally discouraged)</li>
<li>How does it say it? (reread, focus on structure and language, tone, mood, symbol, POV, etc.)</li>
<li>What does the text mean? (relate to other texts, to me and my life maybe, author's purpose, support ideas or thesis with textual quotations)</li>
</ol>
<div>
<a href="http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/06/what-is-close-reading.html" target="_blank">Shanahan</a> argues that not all texts require a close reading, because they are not deserving of it. I would hate to have poetry lumped into this category and therefore disregarded in ELA classrooms. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I argue that no poetry requires a close reading because poetry deserves something else. What? My thoughts are captured (and better expressed) by poet James Dickey. His (selected) thoughts can be found in this piece from <i>Brain Pickings</i>, "<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/11/how-to-enjoy-poetry/" target="_blank">How to Enjoy Poetry</a>." In sum, he is saying that poetry must be made intensely personal from the first reading. A poem does not <b>mean</b> in the same sense as a narrative, argument, or informational text. That is not to say that any meaning is OK. A reader can be totally wrong about a poem. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, Frost's wonderful poem "<a href="http://www.online-literature.com/donne/760/" target="_blank">Spring Pools</a>":</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">These pools that, though in forests, still reflect</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The total sky almost without defect,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">And yet not out by any brook or river,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The trees that have it in their pent-up buds</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To darken nature and be summer woods---</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Let them think twice before they use their powers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To blot out and drink up and sweep away</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">These flowery waters and these watery flowers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">From snow that melted only yesterday. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The poem can be grossly over-read (as it is <a href="http://www.shvoong.com/books/poetry/2070446-abstract-spring-pools-robert-frost/" target="_blank">here</a>), over-simplified (as it is <a href="http://lit11isterika.blogspot.com/2008/10/spring-pools.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and definitely it can be confounding (as it is <a href="http://expertscolumn.hubpages.com/hub/Common-Theme-in-Robert-Frosts-Writings" target="_blank">here</a>). As is true of much of Frost, dichotomy obscures meaning; dichotomy often, in fact, <i>is</i> the meaning. Not at all simple. Not at all impersonal. All of the images are open to a dichotomous interpretation. Students asked to parse this poem will find it easy to support a simple meaning (nature is violent, for example) without grappling with the deeper questions embedded in the poem. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Should students be asked for meaning when the poet does not offer it? </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;">Many poems require <i>feeling deeply -</i> in the sense of using all of the senses as a reader rather than emotion - rather than <i>finding meaning</i>. That is Dickey's point. To teach poetry, then, it is important to examine the text itself (How does it work? What is the effect of...) for the purpose of understanding and translating the feelings aroused in the reader. In Dickey's words, "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You will come to understand the world as it interacts with words, as it can be re-created by words, by rhythms and by images.</span>" </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: fenwick-1, fenwick-2, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: fenwick-1, fenwick-2, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 21px;">The reading of poetry can not reduced to a formula with accompanying organizer. I am afraid this will mean that fewer and fewer ELA teachers will teach poems that do not have a clear thematic relationship to another text - less complex poems that Shanahan and I would agree do not merit a close reading. What will be lost is the joy of the single word, the moment of clarity when a reader makes a personal and deeply realized connection to...something. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: fenwick-1, fenwick-2, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: fenwick-1, fenwick-2, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 21px;">ELA teachers need to fight to keep great poetry in the classrooms.</span></div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-46466123533806620682013-03-03T15:47:00.000-08:002013-03-03T15:47:26.909-08:00Think Critically About: Aligned to the Common CoreWhat does <i>Aligned to the CCSS</i> mean? Those of us who work/worked hard on backward design, curriculum mapping, or other serious school-wide alignment of ELA writing skills, core texts (sometimes), and reading assessments (eg: expectations) to local or state standards are/were already <i>aligning</i>.<br />
<br />
Many of those lessons, units and activities mesh very well with the CCSS. Many don't. <br />
<br />
What you will find when you investigate units, programs, lessons, curricula that are billed as <i>aligned </i>to the CCSS is either itemized CCSS standards attached to republished lessons or activities OR activities/lessons/units generated to support specific CCSS lines [I like the word <i>lines</i> because that is really what they are].<br />
<br />
<b>The CCSS is not a curriculum</b>. At any level. School curricula and packaged/purchased curricula can therefore not be aligned to it. <br />
<br />
So please doubt and evaluate the credibility and value of any advertisement for <b><i>CCSS Aligned</i> </b>curricular content. <br />
<br />
Purchase or download IDEAS, not curriculum. Better yet, create your own. This is how we do an end run around the <i>common. </i>And yes, creating your own curriculum, using your own texts, is fully supported by the CCSS.Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-37473363348512956232013-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:002013-03-02T11:25:14.197-08:00Robin Sloan speaks for me: FISH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4s0F03IozO7FEeGSVOTZl4ko3gdhTX_LF50rqOQ3W0PBQ8v5fIsMpZ3nz5JpvcQaXlutsnPFjFJNSKixoDXOXLr0Ukb164MbKjvugR3HIvRQhXxKUv6afmspCwSdCUaEc_JZA1a8gz471/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-03-02+at+2.10.22+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4s0F03IozO7FEeGSVOTZl4ko3gdhTX_LF50rqOQ3W0PBQ8v5fIsMpZ3nz5JpvcQaXlutsnPFjFJNSKixoDXOXLr0Ukb164MbKjvugR3HIvRQhXxKUv6afmspCwSdCUaEc_JZA1a8gz471/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-03-02+at+2.10.22+PM.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Today I learned about <a href="http://tapestry.is/" target="_blank"><b>Tapestry</b></a>, an online "one-way" story/essay creator with accompanying app (iPhone or iPad). Free. I downloaded it and began with an essay called "Fish" by Robin Sloan. <br />
<br />
You HAVE TO get this essay. Not a story - a musing statement about the Internet, digital learning, thinking in the digital age. I LOVE this essay. When you have viewed it, you will understand what that love means.<br />
<br />
Sloan has messaged brilliantly about something for which I have lacked the words. I believe and agree with him. Show the essay to your students. Lots to talk about here, including voice, tone, persuasive structure, idea flow (might be fun to map it). It's also a meta-essay (form and content intertwined). <br />
<br />
The power is also that students can message this way as well. <a href="http://tapestry.is/" target="_blank"><b>Tapestry</b></a> is a new tool for creativity, analysis, and demonstration of learning. Try it. If you use <a href="http://www.haikudeck.com/" target="_blank">Haiku Deck</a>, you will appreciate its elegance.<br />
<br />
Also, play Robin Sloan's game and follow the directions on the last page of "Fish." I did, and it lead me to two (or more) great works of short fiction and to a short novel that I am about to begin. <br />
<br />
This is what I mean by the linear nature of the Internet - clinks lead you to an end - but the goal is to have this be a startling linearity. <br />
<br />
This dead "Fish" may be the best metaphor yet for the Internet's role in learning. Read Robin Sloan.Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-68382013777989876732013-03-01T13:24:00.003-08:002013-03-01T13:34:36.397-08:00Markup for iPad: Paperless Feedback on WritingOne role of the ELA teacher that will probably not change any time soon is the "marker-up" of writing. I learned long ago that there is little profit gained from close editing of student work, pre or post grading; students may or may not make the indicated changes, but they will definitely make the same errors over and over again if the teacher indicates the fix every time (as shown in the sample below).<br />
<br />
On the other hand, students do learn from close editing the work of another, be this a fellow student's or a "bad model" text. And teacher or peer comments on the ideas, text structures, arguments, evidence and discussions in student work - both good and needing improvement - definitely do result in improved writing. A quick, fluent feedback stream is essential. <br />
<br />
In the early days of a laptop program I used <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noteshare/id428850465?mt=12" target="_blank">NoteShare</a> extensively to these ends. This versatile Mac app (we used NoteShare Server) was the mainstay of my literacy program. In today's iPad classrooms, teachers have to work a little harder to achieve a paperless feedback stream. There are, however, some useful tools to consider.<br />
<br />
First, consider adding $1.00 or more to the KickStart of <a href="http://markuponipad.com/" target="_blank"><b>Markup for iPad</b></a>. Created by the smart folk that brought us ShowMe, this is an app with a single purpose. 19 days to go, and counting, as of March 1, 2013. It would be a shame if this development were stalled. 1000 teacher pledges would go a long way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="380" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1834203895/markup-paperless-grading-for-teachers/widget/card.html" width="220"></iframe></center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
</center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
How will the app work? Student essays or other text is uploaded to a cloud space (DropBox would be perfect for this but email is also a possibility to be considered), annotated or marked up using a stylus right on the teacher iPad, then returned to the student the way it came. Short and sweet. It does not require that student and teacher be on the same wifi. And it can also be used for student-to-student and distance collaborations on any text. </center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
</center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
This is probably as simple as it is going to get for a while. Here are a few more complex solutions:</center>
<center style="text-align: left;">
<ul>
<li><b>Pages</b> itself does a good job of allowing for in-text markup, including a track changes function. Not my favorite method, but it would work. Use Share and Print, then Open in Another App to save as a .pdf file. Your school may also have a Mac OS X Server with a WebDAV server, make transfer of files through the network easy. </li>
<li><b>GoodReader</b> does a great job with .pdf files, allowing multiple types of markup both with and without a stylus. Hints:</li>
<ul>
<li>Have students write in Pages, Word, or other editor then convert (export or share) to .pdf before uploading to DropBox, etc. Student retains the original to compare with the annotated version.</li>
<li>Do NOT save annotations on a page until you are done!</li>
<li>Using GoodReader in connection with a class Google Docs / Drive (with or without Blog Docs app) account will allow students to quickly view the marked up copy sent from Google Docs</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Google Docs or Google Drive</b> can be used to annotate as well, but not with a stylus. I don't know about you, but I find quick editing much easier with a stylus than with the iPad keyboard. Good tutorials for this can be found all over the web, but start with this guide to <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/02/a-short-guide-to-using-google-drive-on.html" target="_blank">Google Drive for the iPad</a>.</li>
<li><b>Penultimate</b> is a neat tool for student hand-written work, perhaps practice for SA questions on a local or state test. "Notes" can be titles then mailed to a DropBox, <a href="http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/12/24/godocs-review-google-docs-tool-for-ipad-and-iphone/" target="_blank">GoDocs</a>, Evernote or Google Docs folder.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Final word: Support <b><a href="http://markuponipad.com/" target="_blank">Markup for iPad</a></b> so that the best tool will be available before the end of this school year (and you might get a free t-shirt too).</div>
</center>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-79379608125968468402013-02-07T15:38:00.000-08:002013-02-07T16:07:01.039-08:00Myth #8: The Teacher's Role is New and Different <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/09/8-myths-about-digital-learning.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6600; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.25px;" target="_blank">8 Myths About Digital Learning</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Technology has even changed that old and traditional notion of the
teacher as the main source of knowledge and turned him/her into a simple
facilitator, organizer, and collaborator."</i> (<a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/08/25-techy-tips-every-teacher-should-know.html" target="_blank">25 Techy Tips Every Teacher Should Know About</a>).<br />
<br />
We have read this so many times in the last 5 years that we all assume it is true. It is a myth.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="color: #990000;">Unfortunately, digital is not yet human.</i></div>
<br />
At its core is the belief that technology will create heightened student information seeking, gathering, and curating, followed by the collaborative building of understanding. <i>"Teachers can be with students as they learn and give feedback as they go" </i>(<a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/5-ways-technology-enhances-education.html" target="_blank">Five Ways Technology Enhances Education</a>). <br />
<br />
I have written previously about <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/12/myth-5-digital-learning-is-collaborative.html" target="_blank">Myth #5: Collaboration</a>. Let's look now at the changing role of the teacher. I think that over the last five or so years this role did move toward a new paradigm in some 1:1 classrooms, but also in expeditionary classrooms, PBL and experiential learning environments, and lit circle classrooms. <br />
<br />
However, for the most part, the role of the teacher as content curator and deliverer has not, by and large, changed. Take a look at this piece of information from a new <a href="http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/teacher-tech-survey/" target="_blank">PBS LearningMedia survey</a> of teachers:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPSCtZJyVdV07TrQQuLPIHLJkkX0xiGQ7n7Na4ehDCS3DWTOCN5qZZ7bxkzhZBa6dlIc6NGec_4KtPGcIQE1-mo1m8kLjD1Y6ZARAFfvUCbaWj2uXM-6TF2OM9hgDi9Z1ctRdbmij3ied/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-02-07+at+2.20.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPSCtZJyVdV07TrQQuLPIHLJkkX0xiGQ7n7Na4ehDCS3DWTOCN5qZZ7bxkzhZBa6dlIc6NGec_4KtPGcIQE1-mo1m8kLjD1Y6ZARAFfvUCbaWj2uXM-6TF2OM9hgDi9Z1ctRdbmij3ied/s320/Screen+shot+2013-02-07+at+2.20.18+PM.png" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/02/teachers-embrace-digital-learning-strategies/" target="_blank">Teachers Embrace Digital Learning Strategies</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Does this data suggest in any way that teacher's perceive their role in the classroom to be changing as a benefit of educational technology? Does it suggest a shift of content management from teacher to student? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
To me the survey data suggest that technology in the classroom has not changed the teacher's role at all, and may in fact be returning it to that of the pre-digital educational timeline. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Why would this be? Many reasons come to my mind, including lack of adequate teacher preparation, professional resistance at all levels, the primacy of "motivation" or "engagement" over deep learning, and the conservative ELA methodologies many believe are proscribed by the new Common Core Standards (Consider this from <a href="http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/" target="_blank">Learning Unlimited</a>'s <a href="http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CCSS-Cheat-Sheet-Learning-Unlimited-by-Kimberly-Tyson.pdf" target="_blank">Common Core Cheat Sheet</a>: <i>"The standards define what students should know and be able to do, not how teachers teacher. Decades of literacy research should provide the framework for instructional best practices in reading, writing, speaking and listening." </i>If anything, the recommended strategies for close reading and writing instruction put the teacher more than ever front and center). </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Combined, these create a powerful blockade to changing the teacher's role in the classroom. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
But wait, there is more. Placing one adult in a room with a passel of students creates an imbalance. There was a time when Teacher Power was expected in the classroom. This power came from Knowledge + Technique, and Technique contained many elements that have disappeared from our school culture (Discipline is a big one, Failure is another). </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Technology is perceived by many today as a way to solve that imbalance by turning student attention from teacher to tool, geting the teacher not off of the podium, but off of the classroom see saw. This would be terrific, but it doesn't generally happen. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Most of the time, technology is expected to be a middleman - a deliverer, a diffuser or filter (as needed), a communicator. On one end is the teacher, whose goals and roles remain the same (define & clarify content, design activities, units and assessments, address the needs of individuals as well as the group as a whole). At the other end is the student, who has a body of new skills and content (Standards) to master in a given time and to communicate clearly back to the teacher. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It would fall to the middleman - technology - to be the true Guide on the Side. But, unfortunately, digital is not yet human. The quality of what goes in still determines the quality of what comes out. Technology is not a teacher; the Knowledge and Techniques of the teacher in the classroom are still of utmost importance. </div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-80027296162752296272013-02-07T15:36:00.003-08:002013-02-07T15:36:43.195-08:00Myth #7: Digital Learning Develops Problem-Solving<a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/09/8-myths-about-digital-learning.html" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6600; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.25px;" target="_blank">8 Myths About Digital Learning</a><br />
<br />
OK - I have to compromise on this one. I do believe that using digital tools develops the problem-solving skills necessary to use "new" digital tools. In fact, I suspect that the thinking that leads children to succeed in any problem-solving digital game becomes a habit of mind that helps in solving similar non-digital, real-life problems. Students who can, for example, advance steadily in <i>Cut the Rope</i> are more likely to be able make suggestions to get a team over a wall challenge or are more likely to contribute key language to a class constitution.<br />
<br />
Here are some problem-solving basics (this is my own list):<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I have to understand the problem and what makes it hard</li>
<li>I have to think about what I already "know" about the problem topic</li>
<li>I have to take a deep breath and think critically about what I read, see, think, feel, hear, and already "know" - throw out the unimportant, wrong, false, exaggerated, emotional, and biased</li>
<li>If I don't see a solution, I have to take a risk and try something different</li>
<li>If I do nothing, there will be no solution</li>
<li>I have to accept and learn from my mistakes, missteps, and failures</li>
<li>I have to give this <b>time</b></li>
<li>If I find a solution right away, this doesn't mean I have the best solution</li>
<li>Some problems are too hard for just me</li>
<li>Being in a team has advantages, so listen to team members</li>
<li>Finding, keeping, and evaluating evidence and experience as I work for a solution is important</li>
<li>I have to test my solution (unless it obviously works)</li>
<li>Solving a hard problem gets me ready for an even harder problem and makes me better at similar problems</li>
</ul>
<div>
Problem-solving requires Critical Thinking. In education, Critical Thinking is today thought of as, well, critical. As expressed in <a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/09/critical-thinking-learning.html" target="_blank">this post from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning</a>, it has these elements:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtfD8guiGMlP9-1XzOlGTf1SSMfQbYBXoLo-Rdrpkkcvpoz5rYZBYdddKBBjsQcN1XMvQZ9jrBbCKzUQJ7Ixas2bizMjj-qJ2f3khw5mDyD83Ck9ceZyrFECDAU0Legieden6Cobxg0VC/s1600/critical+thinking.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtfD8guiGMlP9-1XzOlGTf1SSMfQbYBXoLo-Rdrpkkcvpoz5rYZBYdddKBBjsQcN1XMvQZ9jrBbCKzUQJ7Ixas2bizMjj-qJ2f3khw5mDyD83Ck9ceZyrFECDAU0Legieden6Cobxg0VC/s320/critical+thinking.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Other researchers use different terminology for critical thinking skills:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7GyhB5nD_PqKeoKp9ooQZf9e_pLyu-PekWx_u6O8yLkLiPG_VqyM7UJkDd0qnWUWeBmsMWML5C3IAV-yWsWKNNMz4SuRssyCU06Yqsdk__JVNm2RWZcx-B1uBXGvtpxJ55HUuwN7Jc2y/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-02-07+at+4.33.03+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7GyhB5nD_PqKeoKp9ooQZf9e_pLyu-PekWx_u6O8yLkLiPG_VqyM7UJkDd0qnWUWeBmsMWML5C3IAV-yWsWKNNMz4SuRssyCU06Yqsdk__JVNm2RWZcx-B1uBXGvtpxJ55HUuwN7Jc2y/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-02-07+at+4.33.03+PM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jae-online.org%2Fattachments%2Farticle%2F94%2FFriedel_etal_49_4_25-37.pdf" target="_blank">It's In the Genes</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whichever language you choose, notice that individual judgment and opinion are embedded in these research models of Critical Thinking<i> (</i>on this point I quibble with critical thinking as applied by the Common Core to reading. Personal response and previous knowledge matter. Enough said). Note also that research supports that critical thinking skills can be taught, but also that once learned, they are not applied with automaticity by any individual. Their optimum application in the classroom should, therefore, be monitored, and must be required. <br />
<br />
The above research article (<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jae-online.org%2Fattachments%2Farticle%2F94%2FFriedel_etal_49_4_25-37.pdf" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">It's In the Genes</a>) also states that problem-solving style preferences are innate (adaptive/narrow solution focused or innovative/wide solution focused). This suggests to me that the design of an educational problem is, for many students, directly related to its outcomes - for an individual student and for a problem-solving team. This requires a teacher or teaching team.<br />
<br />
[<b>Aside</b>: the relationship between Problem-solving and Critical Thinking is a complex one, characterized by overlap and interdependence. I have found <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcasnr.unl.edu%2Fc%2Fdocument_library%2Fget_file%3FfolderId%3D264805%26name%3DDLFE-3533.doc&ei=NCAUUeCuMYrp0QH9joH4Aw&usg=AFQjCNEFVvkjPBht9bqewEGEM6aUE-O1GA&bvm=bv.42080656,d.dmQ" target="_blank">this article</a> to be very helpful in understanding the components of both as they related to education.]<br />
<br />
<b>So what?</b> It is clear to me that the skills of critical thinking can be assisted by digital tools, and to this degree digital learning does develop them. Multiple cases have been made for the use of technology to enhance and develop each of the elements of critical thinking identified above. Tools such as blogging and backchanneling can even develop the student's ability to self-examine and self-correct.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, problem-solving is not developed, but supported, by technology. Ready access to information, including that previously explored and that converted to knowledge, and the communication of solutions and their analysis, are more easily done with facile use of technology than without. But it only through solving problems that we get better at solving problems. Ready access to multiple challenging problems may be better for students than extended access to one large, hard technology-rich problem.<br />
<br />
So, when we speak of learning, we do better to speak of Critical Thinking. When we speak of gathering and demonstrating learning - of the processes of learning (writing, reading, researching) - we do better to speak of solving problems. <br />
<br />
I have touched on this previously:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2010/07/writing-as-problem-solving.html" target="_blank">Writing as Problem Solving</a></li>
<li><a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/02/literacy-of-failure-failing-and-failing.html" target="_blank">The Literacy of Failure</a></li>
<li><a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/01/literacy-of-critical-evaluation-why.html" target="_blank">The Literacy of Critical Evaluation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2011/11/writingthinking-smarter-tools-beyond.html" target="_blank">Writing/Thinking Smarter Tools</a></li>
</ul>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-72104752691093270862013-01-15T15:13:00.002-08:002013-04-14T13:23:13.762-07:00Computational Thinking in ELA - Absolutely[<b>update:</b> If you are a teacher of elementary level children, read <a href="http://www.eimacs.com/blog/2012/04/computational-thinking-for-kids/" target="_blank">Computational Thinking for Kids</a> also.]<br />
<br />
I am deeply reading Hoban's brilliant <i>Riddley Walker</i>. That is a key to my frame of mind. As I looked today at images of elementary school reading Anchor Maps - totally independent of <i>Riddley</i> - it occurred to me that every single one of those visual charts was applying basic principles of <b>computational thinking</b> (<b>CT</b>) to the reading task, whether it be of fiction or nonfiction. In fact, I was applying the CT principles to my reading of my very complex novel.<br />
<br />
It turns out that the same principles also apply to writing tasks. Not surprising - the human brain is, after all, a computer that outputs (or prints out) 24/7.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNqYo34-MPjt4Q3Gnj2BPM4whOLGbn4uUc6fSrs9k1_xQljHFAfl-75jUgKfB86tfHcGFTiUhmlcrjVZxl6RNwWL5EhUSIWQkJbx-5jTspFlLs6eOnAvYTMTlUmTt2IKnckmkgHFym2I1/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+4.33.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNqYo34-MPjt4Q3Gnj2BPM4whOLGbn4uUc6fSrs9k1_xQljHFAfl-75jUgKfB86tfHcGFTiUhmlcrjVZxl6RNwWL5EhUSIWQkJbx-5jTspFlLs6eOnAvYTMTlUmTt2IKnckmkgHFym2I1/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+4.33.53+PM.png" /></a></div>
<b>What is CT?</b> The best, simple working definition for literacy purposes is this: "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Computational thinking is taking an approach to solving problems, designing systems and understanding human behaviour that draws on concepts fundamental to computing" (Jeanette M. Wing, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2696102/" target="_blank">Computational thinking and thinking about computing</a>). </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><b>A simple overview</b> of CT for education is provided by <a href="http://www.iste.org/docs/ct-documents/computational-thinking-operational-definition-flyer.pdf?sfvrsn=2" target="_blank">iste</a>. Other resources can be found at </span>Google's <a href="http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/index.html" target="_blank">Exploring Computational Thinking</a> site.<br />
<br />
An overview of the <b>CT problem-solving method</b> (adapted from Jeanette M. Wing's <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3RmGx9saAf4J:www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wing/www/publications/Wing06.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgfNjI0xyks_0CeqhEBQsgKZducyq2dA2w_J31VvMByjJaGGEXfK-nKiXaTBYkXZqGUu8BUW7b69dvVp6s0jsOtAjoUWKZaEH7I5a4BvI5lcXK9nKzZI7okD5Z0s-BFrHJQH1hT&sig=AHIEtbQT0ETMl59L-Gcqbk5MAIFfaiijcg" target="_blank">Viewpoint: Computational Thinking</a>) is important. As you read the steps, think about your lessons and activities:<br />
<ul>
<li>What is the difficult problem?</li>
<li>How is it difficult to solve? </li>
<ul>
<li>Consider the character's situation, background, resources, constraints</li>
<li>Consider the text - vocabulary, sentence structure, voice</li>
</ul>
<li>Search, search, search - collect large amounts of data</li>
<li>Reformulate the problem into one we know how to solve, preferably by using computers (see chart below)</li>
<ul>
<li>Reduction </li>
<li>Decomposition</li>
<li>Embedding</li>
<li>Transformation / modeling</li>
<li>Simulation</li>
</ul>
<li>Design a system to solve the reformulated problem</li>
<ul>
<li>Be curious</li>
<li>Conceptualize, Abstract</li>
<li>Imagine</li>
<li>Think virtually, not realistically (daydream)</li>
<li>Use invariants - elements that will not change no matter what solution is applied (e.g. spelling, paragraph elements, the restrictions of the prompt, the list of known literary terms)</li>
</ul>
<li>Ask: Is the solution good enough?</li>
<ul>
<li>Is it aesthetically pleasing?</li>
<li>Is it correct?</li>
<li>Is it efficient?</li>
<li>Is it simple and/or straightforward in its design?</li>
<li>Can it be automated or expressed in algorithms? </li>
</ul>
<li>Apply the solution to other problems</li>
</ul>
<b>Key points</b> made by Wing about CT [my notes are to place this in a literacy setting]:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">"The essence of computational thinking is </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">abstraction</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">." (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2696102/" target="_blank">Wing</a>)</span></li>
<li>"Computational thinking is thinking in terms of prevention, protection, and recovery from worst-case scenarios [illiteracy, low test scores] through redundancy [repetition of same and increasingly complex texts and writing], damage containment [knowledge of individual student's progress, holding students to high standards], and error correction [learning]." (<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3RmGx9saAf4J:www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wing/www/publications/Wing06.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgfNjI0xyks_0CeqhEBQsgKZducyq2dA2w_J31VvMByjJaGGEXfK-nKiXaTBYkXZqGUu8BUW7b69dvVp6s0jsOtAjoUWKZaEH7I5a4BvI5lcXK9nKzZI7okD5Z0s-BFrHJQH1hT&sig=AHIEtbQT0ETMl59L-Gcqbk5MAIFfaiijcg" target="_blank">Wing</a>)</li>
<li>"Computational thinking is using heuristic reasoning to discover a solution [seeking a quick, workable solution to the problem at hand]." (<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3RmGx9saAf4J:www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wing/www/publications/Wing06.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgfNjI0xyks_0CeqhEBQsgKZducyq2dA2w_J31VvMByjJaGGEXfK-nKiXaTBYkXZqGUu8BUW7b69dvVp6s0jsOtAjoUWKZaEH7I5a4BvI5lcXK9nKzZI7okD5Z0s-BFrHJQH1hT&sig=AHIEtbQT0ETMl59L-Gcqbk5MAIFfaiijcg" target="_blank">Wing</a>)</li>
<li>Computational thinking is "having the confidence we can safely use, modify, and influence a large complex system [a text, a body of literature, a concept discussed in literature, how to write an essay] without understanding its every detail." (<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3RmGx9saAf4J:www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wing/www/publications/Wing06.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgfNjI0xyks_0CeqhEBQsgKZducyq2dA2w_J31VvMByjJaGGEXfK-nKiXaTBYkXZqGUu8BUW7b69dvVp6s0jsOtAjoUWKZaEH7I5a4BvI5lcXK9nKzZI7okD5Z0s-BFrHJQH1hT&sig=AHIEtbQT0ETMl59L-Gcqbk5MAIFfaiijcg" target="_blank">Wing</a>)</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI51P2UPXd_fraM0ISExL1nYuCT432shY8BwdOXZPweoach065eIPeD_gYp_zp4Hz0-ALiomvsFcpSWtqUUl2OZk2oaFmhjwIfmFMYzXYPwIKH6K2WXGYq-xXJ_Ln5P6E1KJHrz11bZ6Po/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+4.49.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI51P2UPXd_fraM0ISExL1nYuCT432shY8BwdOXZPweoach065eIPeD_gYp_zp4Hz0-ALiomvsFcpSWtqUUl2OZk2oaFmhjwIfmFMYzXYPwIKH6K2WXGYq-xXJ_Ln5P6E1KJHrz11bZ6Po/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+4.49.14+PM.png" /></a></div>
Hey - the best, the most successful ELA teachers do this without the Common Core. I have always known this (that is a heuristic statement, by the way, which would have to be supported by data and evidence in order to be part of a strong argument). The more ideas, the better - the deepest CT comes from the interweaving, or layering, of ideas. It requires experimentation with algorithms that can be used to inter-relate ideas. <br />
<br />
Isn't this what deep learning is all about? I don't find it at all odd or ironic that a concept that comes from the world of computer science has been applied in (not <i>to</i>) ELA since literature study began. If anything, ELA is the field most closely tied to the "human behavior" elements of CT. Textual analysis may be the root of CT thinking (I like to think so).<br />
<br />
So it is logical that, for ELA teachers, this 21st century toolkit is largely already embedded in what we do - no matter what tools we use. You don't have to change anything to use CT.<br />
<br />
Oh, and remember that the brain is a tool.<br />
<br />
<b>What exactly does computational thinking look like</b> in the world of ELA? Some suggestions are in the tables below, but there are hundreds more. By conscientiously applying these Elements and Concepts to teaching, we teach better. Learning is harder for all, but better. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hqR0nhsvTxXK5pdl2OqVI7RsBNMT8eJer9doDLIFjiw0ShzWXW9Y90RJs0Q6U-gzDYHxXDDmcWZrn7jU5DyVMNl4ruyr339RdYz1c15_Qb7v3uzsqP5YBF6ka6Db4a9ZHJVdKZhuBpNW/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+5.12.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hqR0nhsvTxXK5pdl2OqVI7RsBNMT8eJer9doDLIFjiw0ShzWXW9Y90RJs0Q6U-gzDYHxXDDmcWZrn7jU5DyVMNl4ruyr339RdYz1c15_Qb7v3uzsqP5YBF6ka6Db4a9ZHJVdKZhuBpNW/s640/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+5.12.54+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-nyqGvetJzTcyQAlYxOMbyWIOK5xphM0IUDsYG9scyRe1-xhh4PhuKRKEWJQq8nDLZmGWy6AZZdp50zdWpKG2PfpY7zIdAjC3XqeESsD_bQQZ865bVVMXrz_lOWemtoad9TzCGJHLzf_/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+5.19.32+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-nyqGvetJzTcyQAlYxOMbyWIOK5xphM0IUDsYG9scyRe1-xhh4PhuKRKEWJQq8nDLZmGWy6AZZdp50zdWpKG2PfpY7zIdAjC3XqeESsD_bQQZ865bVVMXrz_lOWemtoad9TzCGJHLzf_/s640/Screen+shot+2013-01-15+at+5.19.32+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I repeat:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Ask: Is the solution good enough?</li>
<ul>
<li>Is it aesthetically pleasing?</li>
<li>Is it correct?</li>
<li>Is it efficient?</li>
<li>Is it simple and/or straightforward in its design?</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Are we trying too hard to be 21st Century?</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-1003264755981023562013-01-07T10:21:00.001-08:002013-02-17T11:31:21.566-08:00Myth #6: Digital Learning is Creative<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqu-E0AqffryVMqYoHatq8quP-JC1qUNAG2u_UXfBiQU1_CRbjRSCK2LPwudQyfxyNvEU3vKfqmtOUAYd4p0Mz8iyF3NoHRKGWh5RxqJVrWvLM4nmD7OaGpc_aiIjdyCY91sbKqCakJedU/s1600/Drop+It!+Image+2013-01-07+at+11.28.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqu-E0AqffryVMqYoHatq8quP-JC1qUNAG2u_UXfBiQU1_CRbjRSCK2LPwudQyfxyNvEU3vKfqmtOUAYd4p0Mz8iyF3NoHRKGWh5RxqJVrWvLM4nmD7OaGpc_aiIjdyCY91sbKqCakJedU/s200/Drop+It!+Image+2013-01-07+at+11.28.53.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">made on iPad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/09/8-myths-about-digital-learning.html" target="_blank">8 Myths About Digital Learning</a><br />
<br />
The myth is not that digital tools can be used creatively or to create. The myth is that digital creativity is essential in the k12 classroom. <br />
<br />
As long as Creativity is one of the 3 C's or 4 C's of 21st century learning, the myth will persist. When it became a C-word, creativity was raised to mythic level in the k12 world. It sits there now as a goal of digital learning. But what does that involve?<br />
<br />
Creative thought and innovation do not require a digital environment, re. Bruce Mau's <a href="http://www.brucemaudesign.com/4817/112450/work/incomplete-manifesto-for-growth" target="_blank">Manifesto #29</a>: "Think with your mind...Creativity is not device-dependent". My thinking leads me to believe that creativity and innovation require, in order:<br />
<ol>
<li>the ability to access the whole of one's experiences and learning (obviously the more of both the better)</li>
<li>the inclination to <i>think about</i> the whole of one's experiences and learning</li>
<li>intuition - the ability to recognize the right combination of these experiences and learning to apply to the project or problem at hand</li>
<li>introspection - time for ideas to percolate, collect, and coalesce - time for intuition to happen</li>
</ol>
<div>
Ron Berger of Expeditionary Schools would argue that <b>persistence </b>is also a necessary part of creativity. I agree, having taken it off of my list because persistence transcends the digital world. Read Ron's excellent post about <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-student-work-ron-berger" target="_blank">Deeper Learning</a>.<br />
<br />
I would argue that, in most k12 classrooms, digital learning is - should be - more about <b>developing</b> than <b>creating</b>, and in this I suspect that Ron and I agree. Each item on the above list is a skill, or mind-set, than can be developed and enhanced by digital tools. Without the skills, innovation and creativity will not happen in the student's post-HS world. We need to alter the digital focus - let students go about the business of developing and take the focus off of creative product.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The digital environment certainly applies to #1 - the ability to access the whole of one's experiences and learning. It enables a curious or diligent student to expand experiences and learning through the internet. The digital environment is not the only way, perhaps not even the best way, as the movement toward PBL and experience-based learning suggests. Realistically, however, it is trending.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Additionally, digital tools used to catalog, collect and share learning or information objects can certainly enhance a student's access to what has been digitally explored. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinterest/id429047995?mt=8" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>, <a href="http://wallwisher.com/" target="_blank">Wallwisher</a>, <a href="http://www.scoop.it/" target="_blank">Scoop.it</a>, <a href="http://www.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">Wikispaces</a> and similar sites and apps are widely used for this purpose. What makes these especially cool tools is the crowdsourcing of ideas and experiences that they allow. Students are no longer limited to their own catalog. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The best case scenario is that students will move from collecting/accessing to #2 - thinking about the ideas. Listen also to NPR's mashup of three different TED talks that relate to the relationship of groups to ideas, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154448804/where-ideas-come-from" target="_blank">Where Ideas Come From</a>. Matt Ridley and Steven Johnson (they have their own TED talks) talk to the need for access to ideas from a diversity of others.<br />
<br />
Often enough, however, the apps used to provide this access, and the assignments made, encourage a superficial sense of accomplishment, not unlike an adult might feel after pinning 20 web images of crystal ice buckets. Using the tools effectively in education, on the other hand, makes them about <b>developing</b> <b>ideas</b>, whether the topic be vocabulary, characterization, or close literary analysis. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
[There is hope. Check out this list of <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/27-ways-to-publish-student-thinking/" style="line-height: 17.999998092651367px;" target="_blank">27 Ways to publish student <b>thinking</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #898989; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">[my emphasis].</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #898989; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">Making the process more important than a (creative) product is the right road for k12 learning.]</span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The digital environment applies also to #3 - intuition, the ability to recognize the right combination of these experiences and learning for the project or problem at hand. Viewing "creation" tools as a means of exploring combinations of experiences and understandings/learning, rather than as platforms for final expression, is important.<br />
<br />
Students need to learn the depth and value and uses of multiple tools so that they will be able to best employ tools of the future. Tools for mashing up collected information and media in visual, audio and multimedia environments are readily available for any 1:1 platform (see, for example, this review of <a href="http://www.technologywithintention.com/2011/09/screencasting-apps-for-the-ipad/" target="_blank">Screencasting Apps for the iPad</a>, and other excellent apps, such as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prezi-for-ipad/id407759942?mt=8" target="_blank">Prizi</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haiku-deck/id536328724?mt=8" target="_blank">Haiku Deck</a>, <a href="http://www.tech4learning.com/wixie" target="_blank">Wixie</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doodlecast-pro/id469486202?mt=8" target="_blank">DoodleCast</a> (Pro and for Kids), <a href="http://animoto.com/" target="_blank">Animoto</a>, iMovie and <a href="http://dropnroll.tv/" target="_blank">Drop'n'Roll</a>/<a href="http://www.viktortherobot.com/index-plain.php" target="_blank">V.I.K.T.O.R</a>). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPO7ANpR_kbH9QPpzhlPO2GVTL13-cIG-2ByrThUDpribbtqI95tVuE-3VKejBQ3xhjATvHpPVbJwkMmSNQjf7b4FKNLGqzMQmr3-S_iVMIW1YmALmMPz5C-RvmyghYS7fWmadT1XT5tMz/s1600/Drop+It!+Image+2013-01-07+at+11.57.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPO7ANpR_kbH9QPpzhlPO2GVTL13-cIG-2ByrThUDpribbtqI95tVuE-3VKejBQ3xhjATvHpPVbJwkMmSNQjf7b4FKNLGqzMQmr3-S_iVMIW1YmALmMPz5C-RvmyghYS7fWmadT1XT5tMz/s200/Drop+It!+Image+2013-01-07+at+11.57.29.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">made in ShowMe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Teachers, however, often mistake engaging presentations full of original artwork and music for creative and innovative thinking. Myth #6 encourages this. The fact is that many students excel at media bells and whistles. Since most digital <i>projects</i> assigned are about <i>content, </i>not about the growth of learning, it is easy for student to do use the "fun" work of media-making rather than the hard work of thinking. <br />
<br /></div>
<div>
The myth-breaking fact is that most student <i>content-</i>products lack depth of thought, instead relaying surface knowledge that could as easily be conveyed on posterboard or a short stack of notecards. This is also true of the polished adult products which serve as models for students. Compare, for example, this <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/17/167188333/herbs-and-empires-a-brief-animated-history-of-malaria-drugs" target="_blank">Animated History of Malaria</a> to your student products. Aside from the slickness of the animation, it does little more to demonstrate creative understanding of the topic than would a picture book. <br />
<br />
A simple student audio file attached to a project, digital notes, or an oral presentation is always a better measure of thought and learning than is the project itself. <br />
<br />
Or, better yet, have students truly create products from <b><a href="http://scratch.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Scratch</a></b>, as discussed in <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/02/programming-is-not-just-for-programmers.html" target="_blank">this guest blog</a> post by Rob Ackerman. This applies to HyperStudio and other Logo media products as well, staples of many defunct computer labs. <br />
<br />
Which brings us to the importance of #4 - introspection, or time for ideas to percolate, collect, and coalesce.<br />
<br />
If you have not already done so, listen to Susan Cain's TED Talk <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html" target="_blank">The Power of Introverts</a>. Cain, the author of best seller and Best Nonfiction title <a href="http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/" target="_blank">Quiet</a>, is passionate about the need of individuals - and she directly addresses both education the workplace - for isolated quiet time. In this time, ideas happen. In this time, creativity brews. She attacks the myth that "the new creativity comes from a .... gregarious place." An extrapolation of her talk is the suggestion that the digital learning environment, although it plays a role in the development of creative ideas, is not ideal for nurturing them. <br />
<br />
Many of my students would argue that the digital world serves as "background" for thinking, much as music helps many to read. When we accept this as true, we also accept the vacuity of much of the digital student experience. Learning how to disconnect, then, is a skill for our students to develop. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/how-to-turn-your-classroom-into-an-idea-factory/" target="_blank">How to turn your classroom into an idea factory</a>, from Mindshift, provides eight solid suggestions - not one of which includes the word "digital." The pedagogy of reaching out to a larger-than-classroom world is, however, embedded in "the idea factory" concept. Of course, this pedagogy does not require digital devices beyond the phone. (In fact, it can be argued that a face-to-face conversation with a real person is more powerful than a tweet stream in terms of input from an authentic contributor to a thought stream.) <br />
<br />
Creative thought just might come most often, most successfully, post-digitally. Or altogether non-digitally.</div>
<br />
<div>
[<b>Note: </b>An additional dimension of creative possibility is found in digital tools that are ONLY for creative expression. The art-focused apps found in <a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Drawing-Apps-26231121" target="_blank">10 Essential Apps for the Digital Artist</a> and <a href="http://drydenart.weebly.com/creating-on-ipads.html" target="_blank">Creating on the iPads</a>, and serious apps for music (see <a href="http://ipadmusiced.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/creating-music-with-ipads/" target="_blank">Creating music with iPads</a>, which could but does not mention Garageband or other basic apps), are tools with which students can, in fact, create original artworks. Students have always been able to write creatively, but digital tools (such as the screencast and movie-making tools mentioned above) open up a new dimension of digital storytelling. However, not many ELA or history students will use these same tools creatively to demonstrate content learning. Using them productively requires a level of competency and (dare I say it) talent that is outside of the mainstream in the ELA classroom, and therefore not considered in this post.]</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-2757245262972598262013-01-07T07:58:00.005-08:002013-01-08T06:15:28.493-08:006 Ways to Get an iAuthentic iAudience<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_CZs7pjMQSD55oLpuzVQIfuIyM8vkxHAsczlcAQ3BhmLvaNBmQcWfJX7WAY6XBtuRwYxpxwrH3UpmJOUkAEP_SIXxpAfMyqi2bfyIu7lacV5AHiIfQkn4LrwVj21yEfy-I91eRnSZepAw/s1600/Audience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_CZs7pjMQSD55oLpuzVQIfuIyM8vkxHAsczlcAQ3BhmLvaNBmQcWfJX7WAY6XBtuRwYxpxwrH3UpmJOUkAEP_SIXxpAfMyqi2bfyIu7lacV5AHiIfQkn4LrwVj21yEfy-I91eRnSZepAw/s320/Audience.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: Creative Commons license for <i>Audience? </i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/orkomedix/3675825944/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/orkomedix/3675825944/</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Demystifying jargon: <br />
<ul>
<li>An iAuthentic iAudience accesses an archived digital ("shared" or "posted") product.</li>
<li>An iAuthentic iAudience is sustainable (made of "friends" or "followers").</li>
<li>An iAuthentic iAudience is involved in a 2-way or many-way conversation.</li>
<li>An iAuthentic iAudience includes knowledgeable stakeholders (educators, teachers, professionals, active students).</li>
<li>An iAuthentic iAudience is larger than the student's school or class cohort.</li>
</ul>
Writing for an authentic audience is one focus of standards-based ELA and (more certainly) literacy curricula. There are good reasons for this focus. Here are a few quick links to ideas:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.tolerance.org/blog/creating-authentic-audiences-writing-students" target="_blank">Creating Authentic Audiences for Writing Students</a></li>
<li><a href="http://edtechworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/09/wheres-authentic-audience.html" target="_blank">Where's the authentic audience?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/The-Power-of-Audience.aspx" target="_blank">The Power of Audience</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Student blogging is iAuthentic only if it is read. By and large, student work, unless sent directly to a specific, identified recipient (e.g. a congressman, a corporate leader), does not reach an audience of any kind. So what digital tools and methods will help students to find that elusive <i>iAuthentic iAudience? </i></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">It is important to b</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">egin with a visually engaging "adult" blog or wiki site. Select one that will support widgets and html coding. This leaves out some "safe" educational hosting services, so check carefully! A test run (several false sites created by the teacher or a student that can be deleted) is a good idea.</span></b></li>
<li><b>Titles</b> are important. Put <b>a number</b> in the title of every piece of writing (not <i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symbolism in </span></i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">lnnocent Eréndira</span><i style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">but</span> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">3 Key Symbols in Innocent Erendira Demystified</span><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">). </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well over half of the reposted and rescooped posts written by educators begin with a number. Also, use <b>superlatives</b> and <b>shout-outs</b> (your students must have amazing insights and excellent ideas).</span></span></li>
<li>Create a series of <a href="http://www.scoopit.com/" target="_blank">Scoop.it</a> accounts, perhaps even one for every student 13 and over. Give these names that will attract adult and student readers (The Deep Analyst, Literature Lovers, Literary Detectives, A Problem in the Community). <b>Scoop</b> every student post. Read the scooped posts and <b>edit</b> to add <b>tags</b> (book titles, authors, "literary analysis", "persuasive writing", etc. - use terms from standards). Rescoop posts to other student scoop.its. Make sure to add <b>Comments </b>and to <b>reply</b> to all comments. The more views the better. Finally, embed each Scoop.it used by the student or class into the blog sidebar, as I have done. You will need a little .html coding to do this, but it is easy.</li>
<li>Work the <b>RSS</b> feed. Blogging services are so vast that the chances of student work being noticed are slight. That is the reason for the Scoop.it connection. The larger and more obvious the RSS feed link is, the more readers will use it. Students should, by the way, set up a <b>feedreader</b></li>
<li><b>Tweet</b> each post. This can be done via a widget on most blogging platforms. If there is not already a #hashtag under which student writing logically falls, create one. Make sure students know how this works! You can even suggest hashtags on the blog sidebar (Check out <a href="http://www.twylah.com/TDOttawa/tweets/279269828433412096" target="_blank">A Great Twitter Cheat Sheet for Teachers</a>, which, by the way, has been reposted...). Students should have Twitter accounts (13 and over).</li>
<li>Teachers need to <b>publicize student work</b>. There is nothing wrong with reaching out to other teachers. Use your own blog, your own Scoop.it account, your own Twitter account (tweet a link to <b>#comments4kids</b>), a good professional community like English Companion Ning. Put your writing projects out into the local community also - school websites, district news pages, local papers. People like me get into the habit of responding to these requests for audience. Teachers can use the Search function at most online communities to target specific readers (students can also do this). </li>
</ol>
<div>
<b>Don't want to blog?<span style="font-weight: normal;"> <a href="http://voicethread.com/products/k12/" target="_blank">ed.VoiceThread</a> (or <a href="http://voicethread.com/" target="_blank">VoiceThread</a>) and Google Docs are alternatives. Or publish student work to ePub or .pdf and make it available for download via a website. Or use <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">GoodReads</a>, <a href="http://www.shelfari.com/" target="_blank">Shelfari</a>, or Amazon to post student reviews. It is also highly successful to email student work to targeted readers. Many working professionals will respond. Others prefer links sent in a text. </span></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Writing creatively? </b> Upload student work to one of the many reliable sites for student publication. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Whatever platform you choose, remember that an iAuthentic iAudience requires a conversation - students must read and respond to the works of other students and they must respond to the comments and critiques of their readers. </div>
</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-40197863115346319152013-01-02T15:12:00.001-08:002013-01-11T05:58:35.970-08:00The Silent Classroom: 14 Tools for Loud Silence<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0j41Ddu3YvjcCdo7f_9TSqZ4uuz2_u-rBXItoqebJwWwcsYRt3OxBoXvfIUTADQMo6ZyLw9DniSHvbtA9SGFCWOHdHPrPLrD4rbVlcmwc3_7hGW2L4qXQGIQXKHGMfB5axfn0E1FoEnPW/s1600/silentclassroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0j41Ddu3YvjcCdo7f_9TSqZ4uuz2_u-rBXItoqebJwWwcsYRt3OxBoXvfIUTADQMo6ZyLw9DniSHvbtA9SGFCWOHdHPrPLrD4rbVlcmwc3_7hGW2L4qXQGIQXKHGMfB5axfn0E1FoEnPW/s1600/silentclassroom.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Laptop 012</i> - Jeff Whipple<br />
(Creative Commons license)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"T<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">he classroom is the one place where we are supposed to notice things," writes Douglas Rushkoff in an interesting recent post</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> (</span><a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/computers-mindful-lens-on-technology-douglas-rushkoff" target="_blank">Computers in the Classroom: A Mindful Lens on Technology</a>). He goes on to remind educators that face-to-face time is lost when technology runs a lesson. He warns educators that transparent integration of technology <i>is still using technology in place of people</i>. Students and teachers alike need to be aware of the role that digital media is playing in the learning experience. <br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<br />
Add to this the research implications of research studies of learning environments reported in <a href="http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/12/28/classrooms-cages-vs-classrooms-everywhere-jason-flom/" target="_blank">Classrooms as cages vs. classrooms as everywhere</a>. Jason Flom wonders if our technology rich classrooms do not cage our children more than ever, despite our intentions.<br />
<br />
There is to me nothing more unsettling and oxymoronic than a room of students, each deeply and silently engaged in a digital learning experience. <b>The silent classroom</b>. <br />
<br />
In fact, it has always struck me as bizarre that teachers would want to use digital communication tools within a classroom, within a class period. It is quicker, easier, often more fluent, more flexible, and much less expensive to use speech. It strikes me as odd that educators would want students to make a "group drawing" in digital space when poster paper and markers are quicker and serve just as well (and the product is quickly displayed for all to see). It makes little sense to me that a goal of education is to have students create a credible Google stream or identity, or to value others for these streams (read <a href="http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/12/what-are-you-doing-to-make-sure-your-students-are-well-googled-1.html" target="_blank">What are YOU doing to make sure that your students are "well-Googled"</a> - I hope this is tongue in cheek). That, it seems to me, is a path to future intellectual mediocrity.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, there are tools for digital communication that lend themselves to classroom use in a <b>loud silence</b> sort of way. That is to say, they require more than passive clicking through options, they can be monitored in some way to guarantee involvement by individual students, and multiple digital voices are heard in each conversation (or else, why use any tool?). In addition, each of these tools encourages thought and reflection before a student responds.<br />
<br />
Here are my top 10 picks, <b>in reverse order</b>, with suggestions for using each sensibly in the ELA classroom.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doceri/id412443803?mt=8" target="_blank">Doceri</a> is an app + desktop application (PC or Mac) that makes it possible to control and annotate the desktop display from the iPad, very handy in a classroom with AirPlay or other projection - <a href="http://infoandlit.blogspot.com/2012/03/doceri-interactive-whiteboard-ipad-app.html" target="_blank">review</a> - This would be a great tool for modeling, saving file transfer time, especially when used with eBooks and archived test anchor papers. It is a teacher-centered tool, by and large, at best a student-input tool. Not the top of my list, but a type of digital classroom interface that is getting a great deal of press. Pricing is unclear to me - $30 sounds awfully high.</li>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learnist/id522850398?mt=8" target="_blank">Learnist</a> - "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Learnist is like a collaborative, multimedia and interactive ebook from the future." - which is to say, it is a <a href="http://pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>-type or <a href="http://www.scoop.it/" target="_blank">Scoop.It</a>-type space (deceptively called a Learnboard) for collecting and (maybe) curating content - new for education is the ability to create a group for a class or several groups within a class, making this a safe private space OR a space supporting long-distance collaboration, rather than a space in which anyone can post anything related to a topic (eg. a teacher can curate student Learnboards) - <a href="http://ipad.appstorm.net/reviews/lifestyle-reviews/learnist-introduces-a-multimedia-educational-experience/" target="_blank">review</a> of an earlier version - I am not a supporter of do-it-yourself, random learning paths, nor am I a supporter of students using student-created materials. So I can not in all honesty say I would ever use Learnist. For those who believe that simply locating resources is a path to learning for the learner, however, I might say give this a try. Create LearningBoards for poetry study, for example, focusing on a single poet, a theme, or a movement. There will be many more apps like Learnist in the future, which is to say that one direction "textbooks" are going is internet media collection. At least it is a step above filling the desktop or Home screen with funny kittens.</span></li>
<li><a href="http://kickoffapp.com/" target="_blank">Kickoff</a> is a promising new tool for <b>teamwork - </b>available in beta (as a Mac only app) at this time - an <b>app</b> for iPhone/iPad will soon be available - there will be a 1-time purchase fee - has the advantage of enabling small teams (think 3 students) to upload files and for teams to work both synchronously and asynchronously - includes todo lists and shared notebooks, making it function much like NoteShare, which I found to be invaluable in my classroom - r<a href="http://mac.appstorm.net/general/kickoff-a-native-collaboration-app-for-small-groups/" target="_blank">eview of 2011 release</a> - This is an app for projects. As one review notes, all of what Kickoff does can be done in Google Drive, but this fast, all-in-one-place app makes sense for the MS or HS 1:1 classroom. I used similar tools for reading groups to plan projects, which generally took the form of performances or video. Kickoff could be the tool that makes it possible for the teacher to easily monitor contributions of group members, progress toward task, etc. See similar tools for web-based brainstorming <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/01/three-tools-students-can-use-for.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Richard Byrne</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/togethertalks/id535577311" target="_blank">TogetherTalks</a> is a free iPad (only) app designed for shared viewing/responding to TED talks, but it is more than that - "powered by Spin" means that the tool can be used for much more online content, and the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/togetherlearn/id548411521" target="_blank">TogetherLearn</a> app (iPad) expands the tool beyond TED - <a href="http://getspin.com/experiences/togetherlearn/" target="_blank">read about it </a>. The app plays upon the concept of the Gathering, which is nothing more than individual users (with Spin ID's) who are viewing the same thing at the same time. What is refreshing and exciting is that the Gathering members can be anywhere, making this a great tool for inter-class learning. Further features include the viewers' ability to pause content (think a video of <i>Macbeth</i>), to annotate, and to control the video. Facebook accounts are helpful, but not required. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.socrative.com/" target="_blank">Socrative</a> is a free and easy student response system - students need internet access (desktop, laptop, smartphone, iPad), but do NOT have to be in the same room to take part in a lesson, quiz, assessment, etc. Best used in ELA for checks of understanding. For example, to quiz a key literary term or vocabulary word at the end of class period. The teacher can create the exercise/question while students are engaged in the last part of the lesson itself. Other interesting uses: assign scores to writing samples (for discussion), student "fill-in" responses to blanks left in displayed writing (from single words to complex sentences), opinion surveys pre and post persuasive writing exercises, "Do you predict..." questions for all-class reading (upper elementary especially).</li>
<li>[review quoted from <a href="http://jonathanwylie.com/2013/01/06/5-ipad-apps-to-help-students-and-teachers-collaborate/" target="_blank">5 iPad Apps to Help Students and Teachers Collaborate</a>] "<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/subtext/id457556753?mt=8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #026acb; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Subtext</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; line-height: 19px;"> – Ok, so what if you wanted to collaborate and share a story or longer piece of text? Take a look at Subtext. It allows you to search Google Books for free or paid books, and the teacher can create small study groups for students working on a given book. Students, and teachers, can highlight sections, leave comments, and create conversations about the text. You can link out to the web and provide additional online content to add to the narrative or put things in a better context. It also integrates well with Edmodo and will import all your groups if you use your Edmodo login. Subtext will even let you share any ePub documents you have, or have converted to that format. Subtext is free and well worth checking out."</span></span></i></li>
<li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nearpod/id523540409?mt=8" target="_blank">Nearpod</a> - much more complex than Socrative, this app (Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod) can be used for an in-class flipped-style lesson - in a class, students view a lesson as presentation, responding directly onto slides in a method and at a pace dictated by the teacher - student-created Nearpods are possible too (with Nearpod Teacher) - <a href="http://craigsworld37.blogspot.com/2012/05/nearpod-review.html" target="_blank">review</a> - <a href="http://rjacquez.com/learning-mobile-app-review-nearpod-podcast-interview/" target="_blank">commentary with video</a>. I would use this in an ELA classroom for close analysis lessons. There are times when thoughtful silence is important, and using this tool would support that, as well as ensuring that every student responds. It could be used in this way as soon as students are able to read and write independently (or with read-aloud support). </li>
<li><a href="http://www.thinglink.com/learn" style="line-height: 17.999998092651367px;" target="_blank">Thinglink</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> is one of those tools that makes kids say WOW - begin with an image and add (tag) links (they appear as dots on the image) to annotated web-based content - since this is web-hosted, students can access and comment upon each other's images - free - </span><a href="http://edshelf.com/tool/thinglink" style="line-height: 17.999998092651367px;" target="_blank">review</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> - interesting sample: </span><a href="http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-created-interactive-learning.html" style="line-height: 17.999998092651367px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Avatar Adventures</span></a><span style="color: #898989; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">- a Digital Citizenship lesson in a ThingLink (upper elementary, middle).</span><span style="color: #898989; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;"> I recommend viewing the <a href="http://thinglinktoolkit.wikispaces.com/Home" target="_blank">ThingLinkTookkit</a> and samples at ThingLink's page. I can see applications for ELA in elementary and middle grades: using an image to support setting in novel study, figurative language in poetry or fiction study, creative writing (using a student's own photo), using a central thematic or setting image to frame essential quotations from a text. Think of this as a tool for those "reflect and gather" times, to be followed by sharing (digital, in this case). Not an essential tool, however. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.chatzy.com/" style="line-height: normal;" target="_blank">Chatzy</a><span style="line-height: normal;"> - a web-based, free, chatroom - options for teachers include hosted private rooms (chats can be ongoing here) and embedding chats into a webpage - student groups can also have more-or-less instant chats (registration is not required for use) - </span><a href="http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/site-reviews/chatzy.shtml" style="line-height: normal;" target="_blank">review</a><span style="line-height: normal;">. </span><span style="line-height: normal;">I used NoteShare in a similar way in my classroom. Projecting an all-class chat onto a board is a good way to encourage fruitful posts as well as energetic discussions. Chats that are passage-based can be assigned and transcripts distributed to all students. Caution: setting benchmarks for sentencing, grammar, spelling, etc. increases the value of the chat. I graded chats 1,2,3 (0 not being an option) with a simple rubric that included only appropriate content and mechanics.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.scoop.it.com/" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;" target="_blank">Scoop.It</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="goog_1842928686"></span><span id="goog_1842928687"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a> is a web-based tool with support for mobile browsers - I use this to "scoop" web pages in the learning categories that interest me (see the right sidebar) - has the powerful feature of allowing page annotation both in the description field and in a Comment field, inviting student conversation about web-based content. In ELA, this is a tool for compare and contrast (video v. text, poems, criticisms, oral readings) and for any tightly controlled analytical task. Scoop, for example, a theme-based poetry anthology or discussion of the n-word in TKM or Huck Finn. Students can "share" and friend their scoops. The app will suggest related sites (many search criteria possible) based upon keywords. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a> - you know about Twitter - bookmark <a href="http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/a-great-twitter-cheat-sheet-for-teachers.html" target="_blank">A Great Twitter Cheatsheat for Teachers</a> - Have some fun in ELA by creating tweet streams around vocabulary, film v. text criticism, writing 6 - 50 word stories, writing 1st and last sentences for model paragraphs... </span></span></li>
<li><a href="http://voicethread.com/products/k12/school/" target="_blank">VoiceThread</a> remains one of my favorites - creates an audio or text conversation around a collection of artifacts (image, text, video) - check out this <a href="http://wallwisher.com/wall/voicethreadfored/wish/1824775" target="_blank">Wall of Samples</a> for education - I recommend a school account</li>
<li><b>Blogs and Wikis</b> - of course you use them, but do you use them well? In MS, students need practice and guidance in using them well, in HS, they can hold student-created curriculum</li>
<li><a href="http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/12/students-in-the-cloud-how-google-drive-has-nullified-missing-homework-excuses/" target="_blank">Google Drive and Google's cloud</a> will do all of the above in some way, with the added advantage of being private. Here is a very little something to get you interested: <a href="http://gettingsmart.com/cms/blog/2012/09/google_docs_for_collaborative_writing/" target="_blank">6 Powerful Google Docs Features...</a> </li>
</ol>
<b>email </b>remains the best way to communicate silently - archived, easily monitored (see note about this below), asynchronous, no limit to length, document attachments, platform and tool independent, easily organized. Don't ignore its value for any aspect of ELA. I know business leaders who ONLY use email, despite advances in other digital communication platforms. <br />
<ol>
</ol>
<div>
<b>If you jump in to silence:</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Also check out the apps posted in <a href="http://jonathanwylie.com/2013/01/06/5-ipad-apps-to-help-students-and-teachers-collaborate/" target="_blank">5 iPad Apps to Help Students and Teachers Collaborate</a> - I have recommended only one of them until I have a chance to review them.</li>
<li>Remember that most school networks are conservative in terms of allowed social media. You may need to unblock.</li>
<li>Many of these apps and tools integrate with Facebook and Twitter, several encouraging users to use an existing login (which means that work leaves the classroom space). I recommend against allowing this.</li>
<li>Generally, email is required for use. Please, please think about Google for Education email accounts!</li>
<li>Media-rich student conversations take <b>time</b>, especially if you set a high standard (which you should). Allow twice what you think they will take, especially if students are learning the tool.</li>
<li>In fact, the more teachers using these tools the better. Talk them up with teaching peers in other grade levels and content areas.</li>
<li>Access to the technology is a must. Not all students have access outside of the classroom. Can you provide for this?</li>
</ul>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-44510312174844760072013-01-01T15:35:00.001-08:002013-01-01T15:35:59.766-08:00Repost: Crowdsourcing VocabularyIn reviewing my old posts, I came across this one, posted in 12/09. At the time, 1:1 classrooms were not in the mainstream, as they are in many places today. Mine was Mac laptop class. There are new tools to support the concept, but the basic idea is sound. And <i>crowdsourcing</i> is one of those buzz-words now... So I am reposting. Updates are enclosed in brackets [ ].<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmTtcJVJQmu7pFotXbaHaEC2xhVeJw8vFjJtCKXLs9KTOvNpXLfu_ZPMcQWTLeAkjIBGdJGXZJ8-8llpf-z6Jn38I6WNfIAw7nCTKHB5yoPFM05c2di-B4qRA-A68aRQnw3V4czgibuAF/s1600-h/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmTtcJVJQmu7pFotXbaHaEC2xhVeJw8vFjJtCKXLs9KTOvNpXLfu_ZPMcQWTLeAkjIBGdJGXZJ8-8llpf-z6Jn38I6WNfIAw7nCTKHB5yoPFM05c2di-B4qRA-A68aRQnw3V4czgibuAF/s320/Picture+1.png" /></a></div>
Panicked by the inflated importance of affixes (prefix, suffix, root words) in our new implementation of testing (the <a href="http://www.maine.gov/education/lsalt/index.htm">NECAP</a> [CCSS testing to come]), and faced with surly 7th graders who have very little knowledge of the same, I raced to Google and to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Teachers-Book-Lists-5th/dp/0787982571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260224489&sr=8-1">The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists</a>. What I found is daunting. List after list. Many fascinating (<i>philias</i> and <i>phobias</i> are really cool), but most simply overwhelming. That's <i>over</i>- = <i>excessively</i> + <i>hwelfan</i> = <i>surge</i> + <i>ing<b> </b>forming the present participle</i>. Just about every word over one syllable has or is an affix. Where to start?<br />
<br />
Hey - we are digital (<i>digitus = finger, toe</i>). Why should learning be all about me and my choices? Inspiration (<i>in- = into + spirare = breath </i>[gosh - what a great metaphor to point out!]) when I read about <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/genghis-khan/">the hunt for Genghis Khan's tomb</a>. Scientists are using, among other things, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crowdsourcing">crowdsourcing</a> in an attempt to pinpoint the location of a tomb hidden for almost a thousand years. GeoEye satellite images of the probable burial range are being made available digitally to "people" who are willing to scan them, searching for small details that might indicate human activity all those years ago.<br />
<br />
It will be crowd that is the source of information, from which each member of the community will learn. [is this <i>collaboration</i> if the individual is not aware of the <i>big picture</i>? Nonetheless, it is a fascinating concept that can translate to ELA text analysis...]<br />
<br />
I don't expect to make any money from my lesson plan, so here it is summary form.<br />
<br />
I make available to my students two appropriate online lists, one of <a href="https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/roots/gre_rts_afx1.htm">prefixes</a> and one of <a href="https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/roots/gre_rts_afx2.htm">root</a> words. Each student chooses one item from either list and "claims" it by writing the <i>affix</i> on the whiteboard [would use Google Docs today]. No duplications are allowed. That night's HW is the creation of a digital product that teaches other 7th graders the affix, its meaning, and one good new vocabulary word formed from the affix. [flip: might provide several good examples for HW and have work done in class with option of extra day at home].<br />
<br />
Most students used Keynote for this, a good choice because it exports to QuickTime. But I also have some ComicLife pages, some podcasts, and an iMovie. We use NoteShare voicememo for quick voice recording (Send to iTunes script then right into Keynote), sound effects from GarageBand, and music from iTunes. [multiple free 30 second voice recording apps are available now for iPads, smartphones, and laptops].<br />
<br />
All projects [were] be uploaded to one of our secure web spaces for viewing and learning by 82 7th graders - and 6th and 8th graders as well. I [assigned] these <i>on your own</i> files as HW [flipped classroom] over the next month or so, then we [produced] another round.<br />
<br />
So instead of <b>me</b> teaching from a list, students are doing the teaching <b>and</b> making decisions about what content is interesting. Any surprise that <i>homo</i> was one of the first claimed? During each core class we are looking at two or three of these very mini projects (30 seconds is an average length). I take the time to include a visual literacy/presentation critique, to talk about new vocabulary, and to do a post-check for understanding. Every presenter can make changes before final submission (that's <i>sub- = under + mittere = send or put</i>).<br />
<br />
I can't tell you how many aha! moments we have had this week! Some concrete thinkers have made abstract word connections for the first time. Most students are picking up on the image -> color -> sound -> size -> design -> meaning connections. Rather than rushing to finish, they are rushing to do well. And the time commitment for students is about 20 minutes. In class, the presentations are silent (as if viewed online), so presentation plus follow-up comments take five minutes max for each affix. [flipped classroom would have viewing at home, with commenting required. The downside of that is the loss of immediate oral feedback from classmates, which had a huge impact on projects].<br />
<br />
How cool is that! I can instantly assess student understanding of word meanings, of the concept of <i>affix</i>, and of the relative difficulty of the new vocabulary. One boy, for example, chose the <i>root</i> <i><b>acid</b></i>, but did not understand how it operates to make new words (<i>acerbic, acrimony </i>are way too hard so he stopped with <i>acidic</i>). He got a new root and we will revisit <i>acid<b> </b></i>later in the year.<br />
<br />
And I have gotten to tell the story of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde (that's <b>not</b> <i>hoard</i>, although in this case the homophones are somewhat <i>ironically</i> connected), one of the great grabbers of all time, and often overlooked by today's middle school curriculum. Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-66346449029085923702012-12-19T10:01:00.001-08:002012-12-20T16:16:47.162-08:00The CCSS Dilemma: Comment #2 on the CCSS for ELA<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3vxgKA5Ex-Fb725za5JoTSpO0dF77bpM_1jNtcUnvhadft2Qzaa3bJgVGQDjBWQXbAV1NWNQCTrMUAaXXpQOP2srXL-WVLFrmNsVpi8_lwVLGsjpNTvPxcp2vu7k0wTHzRXcunJ3TkLA/s1600/ReadingLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3vxgKA5Ex-Fb725za5JoTSpO0dF77bpM_1jNtcUnvhadft2Qzaa3bJgVGQDjBWQXbAV1NWNQCTrMUAaXXpQOP2srXL-WVLFrmNsVpi8_lwVLGsjpNTvPxcp2vu7k0wTHzRXcunJ3TkLA/s320/ReadingLogo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">student artwork used with permission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><b>Comment #2 </b>[see also <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/12/dont-buy-split-1-comment-on-common-core.html" target="_blank">Comment #1: Don't Buy the Split</a> and my companion post <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/11/two-literate-responses-to-common-core.html" target="_blank">Two Literate Responses to the Common Core</a>]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.25px;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">"New standards do not require new methods, just new takes on old methods. A little technology helps as well, but is not required." </span></span></span><br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.25px;"></ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">The CCSS for ELA (well, not really for ELA are they?) add one thing to the reading curricula, k-12, that I celebrate: <b>rigor</b>. We can measure this in lexiles, the grade level equivalents of which have jumped up almost two grade levels. We can measure this by reading assessment indices. Or we can measure it in terms of <i>classics that have been in the curriculum</i> for as long as any successful ELA/English teacher can remember <b>plus</b> new-classic and contemporary texts that deserve the label "literary." It comes down to the same list. We are talking about <b>rigorous text</b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">By this I mean: print text that is <i>not</i> "just right," friendly, safe, transparent, or easily recognizable. For the most part, these are what we used to call <i>literature</i> and now call <i>literary fiction texts</i>. Students often label rigorous fiction "boring books." They have been dropped from many classrooms because "students don't read them." They don't appear in literary circles or book groups because they are not "a best fit" for the measured reading level. They have been replaced by books that are not rigorous - readable, but not rigorous. Worst case scenario - they have been replaced by "literary" nonfiction that approaches the same themes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">In better words than mine</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">, Scott G.F. Bailey describes rigorous fiction texts in </span><i style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><a href="http://scottgfbailey.blogspot.com/2012/12/and-there-are-sword-fights.html" target="_blank">And there are sword fights</a>: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">"I'm going to claim that the works in question aren't "boring," so much as they are in some way </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">difficult</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">. What's difficult about the works in question is merely that reading and understanding them requires an active reader who is willing to pay attention and examine the ideas put forth in the works, to be willing to work within narratives that differ formally from other narratives they've read, to read books that might defy their expectations as readers. In other words, the difficulty is that there is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">work</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i>--action--required of the reader, rather than passive reading. This can be, for readers not used to the activity, fatiguing, and I claim that particular fatigue is often mistaken for boredom. (This does not rule out the soporific effects of some books.)"</i> </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Which brings us to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><b>The CCSS Dilemma: </b>How to lead/teach students to read rigorous text at the grade level proficiency standard (do well on the test) if they will not, or can not, read the rigorous texts? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">ELA teachers, you need to meet this question head on. I ask you:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Have you recently read a legal document, a prospectus, a grant proposal, an R&D report, a scientific journal, an explanation of turbodrive or Medicare Part B, an action plan, a credit report, a terms of service agreement? Would you say this is </span><i style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">easy</i><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> reading? </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Have you read from the Printz, Booker, National Book Award, or Best Books of 2012 list? Would you read Proust? If you have, would you say this is <i>easy</i> reading? </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">My guess is that you, a college educated adult, have been fatigued by much of this text. You may not have finished it. With so much comfortable, easy reading available to you, it is easy to close the page, file it away and forget about it, and seek a summary (if necessary) from another reader. </span></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.787878036499023px;">Not reading is an option, but does it get you anywhere? Does it gain you anything new?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">You are no different in this respect from many of your students. Yet if you were to read such text frequently, you would get better at it. Reading exercise shares this with body exercise. </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">It is NOT only true of "just right" reading that practice makes better. That is a myth that has overtaken much of ELA curriculum in the last 7 or so years. Rigorous texts, fiction (especially) and literary nonfiction, belong in the ELA curriculum at all grade levels. Teachers who are daunted by them need to get over it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">So here are some concrete ideas, most of which you have probably heard or read before. New standards do not require new methods, just new takes on old methods. A little technology helps as well, but is not required. </span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Clue students in to the difficulty of their reading. Talk with each about what makes the text rigorous. This is where testing data can be your ally, along with knowledge of the reader as a person. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Differentiate by reading </span><i style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">down</i><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> and </span><i style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">up</i><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> the standards as necessary and by being sensitive in terms of reading "activities." Less able readers should read as many rigorous texts below grade level as possible (short is good), increasing complexity and length as the child is ready. I have had students grow as much as two years this way. More able readers should be turned loose to read. </span><i style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">GoodRead</a></i><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">s</a> or similar online social reading network is very helpful here, but daunting and often </span><span style="line-height: 20.787878036499023px;">embarrassing</span><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> for the less able readers. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Differentiate by content. I have found that many frustrated, bored, or "lower level" (by assessment) readers make great strides when they are reading a challenging text that is a fit in terms of genre and point of view. Many middle schoolers, for example, prefer to read an "adult-centered" text because their lives and responsibilities are already more adult than we would like to think. Other students continue to love the "child hero," "child adventure," or the "child problem" genre. Take the time to talk about life with each student - before reading. I found it helpful to begin each year with literary nonfiction in the form of memoir - short essays like <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/ideastour/animals/white-full.html" target="_blank">"Death of a Pig"</a> for example, or chapters from a longer texts like <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Boy-Walter-Dean-Myers/dp/0064472884/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355936411&sr=1-6&keywords=dean+myers" target="_blank">Bad Boy</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Carried-Tim-OBrien/dp/0618706410/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355936522&sr=1-1&keywords=the+things+they+carried+by+tim+o%27brien" target="_blank">The Things They Carried</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Know-Why-Caged-Bird-Sings/dp/0345514408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355936664&sr=1-1&keywords=caged+bird+sings" target="_blank">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</a>. </i>These are avenues not just for reading-to-standard, but for you learning about students and students learning about themselves. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Cover the UR classics (<i>Alice, Wizard of Oz</i>, <i>Arabian Nights</i>, fairy tales, etc.) before grade 7. Surprise! many of these lexile over 1000, so be aware of their rigor! Because you are reading more for story (patterns, stock characters, symbolic settings, core themes) with these texts, you can spend more time with vocabulary and related writing. It is important to make the books fun so that they will be memorable.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Reading partners - not groups, but trusted and liked partners in the same class with whom a student can discuss hard text. I use my husband now, but have also used my teaching peers or a book group pal. The partner can be an iPartner (email, chat, wiki, blog, etc.), but there is nothing like the immediacy of oral f2f sharing. I have been lucky about half of the time to be able to build trust groups of 3-5 around a shared text, but when this does not work, reading becomes a waste of time, literally. And this is not pair-reading, by the way. Sometimes the partner will have to be you (: )</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Read with media support - in many posts (and in my <a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/classics-in-the-classroom" target="_blank">Classics in the Classroom</a> Scoop.It) I make a case for graphical, video, audio and performance interpretations of classical and difficult texts. Making these presentations is one way to meet CCSS standards. Viewing them, experiencing them, is a powerful way to gain an appreciation and understanding of rigorous print text. This is also, by the way, the only rationale I can accept for read-alouds after grade 5.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Don't read the entire text. OMG ! A rigorous text is a complex story with complex, diverse characters, settings, moods, tones, symbols... The strongest readers, and often the fastest readers, will complete the whole text. For others, a smattering, experienced fully and closely, will do. Check out <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935639137/ref=gno_cart_title_2" target="_blank">Moby Dick in Pictures</a> </i>or <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609803760/ref=gno_cart_title_5" target="_blank">The Graphic Canon</a> </i>(any volume will do) if you want to see the power of careful selection. The advantage of this, of course, is that selections are what students will be asked to respond to on tests. Having students select the passages for their peers to read is also always successful.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Don't over-teach the text. Reading questions, vocabulary lists, plot lines, character charts, Cornell notes, trifold organizers... all of these interrupt the reading of any text. Remind yourself of <i>best practices</i> that might well be reexamined for the Common Core by reading this post from Julie Adams: <a href="http://www.effectiveteachingpd.com/blog/2012/10/4/what-makes-a-teacher-effective-in-the-common-core-age.html/" target="_blank">What Makes a Teacher Effective...</a> I could not disagree more. For the most part, instead of engaging students, these practices disengage. Let the kids <b>read</b>. We used to teach one novel during each quarter of the year - overkill! and boring to all. I despair when I read requests for "lessons and activities" to accompany a classic text. Throw them out, stop sharing. <a href="http://schmoop.com/">Schmoop.com</a> is about as complex as most readers will ever need, and students can access it on their own. Your job is build in students appreciation, understanding, and facility and the ability to communicate these to others (orally, digitally, in writing). Many a bad poster, bad video and boring presentation result for student failure to actively engage in a text.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Require some form of "marginalia" response of all readers (I would not do this for purely choice reading done mostly outside of class). Pre and post-reading discussions and journaling are helpful if you follow the 5-minute rule (each student </span><b style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">must</b><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> read/discuss for 5 minutes... - and grade this 0 or 1 every class), but providing texts that can be annotated (with a pen, post-its, or digitally) is the most useful preparation for analysis and the most helpful overall rigorous-reading skill for college. Students need to know that responding is a expectation for much school-based reading. Let the kids design their own short-hand for annotation (adult models are often not sensible or </span><span style="line-height: 20.787878036499023px;">palatable</span><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> for kids). Some kids have an almost photographic memory for the passages that grab them and need only to "turn the page down". Some kids take in-text notes. Some kids like copious paper notes. Some kids do best with highlighting. Some kids like symbolic marginalia, other like words, others make lists and indexes (on paper, in the back of the book, using digital tools...). Give them space to explore - but require active responses. Provide basic categories if necessary. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Build appreciation and skills for reading a specific text before beginning it, not while it is being read! For example:</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Multiple narrators can flip a upper elementary or MS reader sideways the first time - do dramatic exercises until all students understand what it means to have multiple narrators (including omniscience, of course) - this ties in nicely with a creative/interpretive writing piece (iJournalism, I-essay)</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Complex sentence structures will lose readers until they get the hang of reading the author's rhythms. Begin with random sentences for students (again in pairs perhaps) to simplify and restate, to read aloud (recorded readings if possible), to talk about (punctuation, perhaps other grammar), use good audio recordings and (if available) textually accurate video </span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Shakespeare and other dramas are vastly more teachable if they are acted (yes, memorized) and viewed (acting by professionals)</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Cover any necessary historical /biographical background before reading - don't let it interrupt the narrative! If possible, take advantage of literate informational text and media to address some of those other pesky standards.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.787878036499023px;">Reading a truly daunting author (e.g. Bradbury, Faulkner, Hawthorne, Joyce)? Use a story instead of a novel. Readers who are intrigued will read more on their own. Your lesson materials will still be useful, by and large. Read, for example, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Gabriel García Márquez's "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Accept</span> the fact that hard text is hard work. It will be hard work for you too. If you fall back on pat lesson plans gleaned from the net, you will fail and so will your students.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Steer students to texts that <b>you</b> like and appreciate. </li>
<li>Expand the options. This means accessing more than is available in the classroom library you may have inherited. Use eBooks, use digital freebies, borrow, swap... </li>
<li>Remind yourself and your leadership of this: You are NOT teaching college students. Don't accept the fact that you have to pretend you are.</li>
</ul>
<div>
This will probably be my last long comment on CCSS for ELA, at least until testing begins. This is a challenge for ELA teachers, a sort of gauntlet thrown down. Whether or not you agree with the CCSS, the reading bar has got to be raised. A throw-back task? Partly. But as the teacher leaves the front of the room, as digital tools are embedded in the reading experience, it is a task that is eminently more doable than it was just 10 years ago. </div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-12775102623555435672012-12-18T13:52:00.004-08:002012-12-18T13:52:53.673-08:00Don't Buy the Split: #1 Comment on the Common Core for ELA Teachers<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3vxgKA5Ex-Fb725za5JoTSpO0dF77bpM_1jNtcUnvhadft2Qzaa3bJgVGQDjBWQXbAV1NWNQCTrMUAaXXpQOP2srXL-WVLFrmNsVpi8_lwVLGsjpNTvPxcp2vu7k0wTHzRXcunJ3TkLA/s1600/ReadingLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3vxgKA5Ex-Fb725za5JoTSpO0dF77bpM_1jNtcUnvhadft2Qzaa3bJgVGQDjBWQXbAV1NWNQCTrMUAaXXpQOP2srXL-WVLFrmNsVpi8_lwVLGsjpNTvPxcp2vu7k0wTHzRXcunJ3TkLA/s320/ReadingLogo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">student sketch, used with permission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Comment #1:</b><br />
<br />
ELA and reading teachers who find it painful to put aside literary texts (either classic or contemporary literary or even just YA <i>fan-fiction</i>) in favor of informational texts:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I am tired of reading about compromises you have made to CCSS trainers.</li>
<li>I am tired of reading requests for lessons and parallel informational texts.</li>
<li>I am tired of reading requests for ideas for good research paper topics.</li>
</ul>
ELA teachers: You need to energize. The CCSS do not, at any level, say you <i>have to </i>do this. Go to your principals and literacy leaders. Have a dialogue about what it means that: <i>"The Standards set requirements not only for English language arts (ELA) but also for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Just as students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Therefore - you must convince leadership that as soon as subject-specific education begins in your district (the CC assumes this is grade 6, but it is not always) the 50-50 or 30-70 rule applies to ALL reading done by a student in a grade level. <br />
<br />
If ELA teachers were to teach only literary texts, the other subject areas could easily cover 70% of the reading - the informational part. <br />
<br />
Teachers - you need to be proactive about meeting with subject teachers. You need to get them to take on the role of teachers of the informational texts their disciplines require. Add this reading to the <i>whole reading pie</i> at each grade level. <br />
<br />
It may well be, probably should be, that you will include some literary nonfiction (creative nonfiction) and some informational texts (background readings, images, media) in each of your units. Great! Many students, especially reluctant boy readers, respond better to fiction and other literary texts if they have a very concrete frame of reference. Doing that is nothing new.<br />
<br />
But don't give up the texts that have proven to make life-long readers of our children simply to satisfy a misunderstood standard.<br />
<br />
PS: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/catalog/browse/?sa=3&js=0" target="_blank">PBS Teacherline</a> has some excellent, inexpensive, short(er) "teach reading" courses to for science and history teachers. Maine has similar offerings in the state university system. Check to see what is out there! You can also find basic basic, oft-repeated informational reading strategies in many reliable places online and also (OMG) in many good books. Avoid talking with them about lit circles, though!<br />
Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734073156174809494.post-89863312432931173632012-12-06T15:59:00.000-08:002012-12-06T15:59:15.634-08:00Ballads Anyone? Try Dylan Thomas<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTmqPl008-LnCNCTBKqTObMCWD-e0r8FgQAU7G2a4-dG-CKa3UmUqTxP4LDW4OylpE_MvN6Xj43bkMkiJDBCI_VB0GL9CLCX2SBxuGn4XHAEKz3igWsX1pMVLF0jgMDPua-H8At-fK4XA/s1600/anrysea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTmqPl008-LnCNCTBKqTObMCWD-e0r8FgQAU7G2a4-dG-CKa3UmUqTxP4LDW4OylpE_MvN6Xj43bkMkiJDBCI_VB0GL9CLCX2SBxuGn4XHAEKz3igWsX1pMVLF0jgMDPua-H8At-fK4XA/s320/anrysea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1851160" target="_blank">Angry Sea</a> (Creative Commons license to reuse)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
OMG! What a wonder the digital world is for re-learning! I am an avid reader of <a href="http://www.openculture.com/" target="_blank">Open Culture</a>, a fabulous site conserving, curating, distributing and indexing free materials that are more useful to ELA middle and high school teachers than YouTube. Subscribe to the feed.<br />
<br />
Today my feed reader brought me <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2012/12/richard_burton_reads_ballad_of_the_long-legged_bait_and_14_other_poems_by_dylan_thomas.html" target="_blank">Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas "Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait."</a> <br />
<br />
I have included many online audio ballads in my <a href="http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-to-do-with-those-old-instructional.html" target="_blank">Calameo ebook</a>. This will link be included in the next version. What a fabulous way to explore figurative language, compare/contrast of subject matter in literature, compare/contrast the experience of experiencing literature. It is the perfect raw material for a flipped lesson about either ballads or figurative language (metaphor, symbolism, allusion...). Or just plain have students listen to the reading. <br />
<br />
I have revisited my own ebook with this ballad in mind, leading me to reread many old friends and to find more Dylan Thomas. Alas, I have lost contact with the vinyl <i>Dylan Thomas Reads...</i> I carted around for over 30 years. But several editions of this recording and <i>Richard Burton Reads Dylan Thomas</i> (CD) are still available from Amazon. <br />
<br />
Or try YouTube. You will find some mediocre student productions, but also some probably illegal video that includes biographical information about Thomas, readings by other British readers (Anthony Hopkins is no Burton, but he is good), and an amusing reading by Rodney Dangerfield (not of a ballad - the ballads are too long). <br />
<br />
My advice? Go with Burton and let your students explore YouTube on their own. And have a discussion with students about the ethics and legality of posting to YouTube a cut from a purchased or borrowed copyright-protected video...Elizabeth Sky-McIlvainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105914642224644679noreply@blogger.com0