MAC Week 3 Reading - The Art of Possibility, Chapters 5-8

"A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for...."

The Art of Possibility - Chapter 6, pg. 82

by Flickr user Michael Sarver

This statement highlights an observation that I've made over the past three years.  Between the freshman and sophomore year, many students mature and come into my English II classes as a slightly different person than who they were in previous years. Each year I go to the freshman and middle school teachers to find out what I should expect from certain students, but I always keep an open mind to allow the students to mature and be different than they were in previous years. Thankfully, many of them do mature, especially the guys.

Last week I was talking with one of these students, I'll call him Alan (not his name, but I can't tell this story with only pronouns). I have Alan in three of my classes this semester -- English II, Intro to Journalism and Public Speaking.  He's a great kid who does well in all three classes, and he's a smart aleck who likes to keep me on my toes for the three hours he's with me each day.  Last week he and some of the other students were talking about his behavior in the past, which included getting suspended for fighting a student and using brass knuckles in middle school. The freshman teacher had warned me that he could be lazy and combative, but she also told me that he had potential. He was shocked when I told him that I knew about his previous behavior pattern. He had no clue that I knew because I gave him the space to change and only acknowledged his current behavior.  He's been a model student this year, and many of his previous teachers are shocked to learn this.

With each chapter I read, I find that it is clearly applicable to teaching or that it highlights something I've observed in my short time as a teacher.  I think I'm going to read the book again at the end of the summer before school starts again because I want to apply these principles in my classes more.  I would also love to give a copy to everyone I know who works with students.

MAC Week 3 - Think Out Loud Part 1: Publish or Present.

by Flickr user JKim1

When it comes to deciding if I want to present or publish, I've gone back and forth. I'm comfortable in my writing skills because I teach the practice of writing in my content.  I'm also equally comfortable presenting because I've done that before on a small scale within our education service district, which comprises 11 schools in over two counties. Since I'm secure in either situation, I have to look at my research and results to see which route would be best for conveying my findings.

Looking at the data in comparison to my intended outcomes, my research shows that my cycles were not successful at increasing the level of engagement in my classes. However, this does not mean that I didn't gain new insights into the nature of student motivation and engagement in regards to the situations that occurred during my cycles. 

Taking all this into consideration, I'm leaning towards publishing, and here's why: 

• I'm worried that since my original purpose was not achieved, explaining what I learned as a result of the technology and weather related issues in a presentation would come off as making excuses to an audience.
• Technology issues were part of what lead to a lack of engagement, and I pretty sure that tech conferences might not be interested in my work (I may be wrong there because it's important for teachers to know that technology is great to use to increase engagement, but if it doesn't work properly, students get frustrated and disheartened more than they might have been before you tried to increase their engagement.)
• I'm not really sure that my research is geared toward an audience interested solely in technology, but would be of greater interest to English/Language Arts (E/LA) teachers who are looking for ways to incorporate technology and group collaboration into their curriculum. I think I can reach this audience in an E/LA journal.
• This isn't the best reason, but when it comes down to the limited time that I've this month to create the project, I think that I'm better equipped to write a better paper in a short amount of time than I am to create a presentation. In the end, I have to go where my strengths lie, and I'll get the best result by writing for publication.  
• One of my goals is to one day have something I've written be published, and this would be the first step.

Even though I've chosen to publish, I would love to present at a national conference someday.  It seems like it would be a great experience.

MAC Week 2 Free Post - After EMDT

Some of my upcoming reading after finishing up next month.

Not that I'm looking to wish away the last month and a half of the EMDT program, but with only a few weeks left, it's time to start thinking about how I'm going to fill the time that I devoted to this endeavor over the past year. 

Right now I have one plan: reading.

If you look at my blog's sidebar, you can see some of the reading challenges I've chosen to engage in this year.  I've not really applied any time to these yet, but I don't think I'm down and out yet.

I'm an English teacher, so it's no big surprise that I like reading and collect books. The ones listed above are only a few of the ones that are in my I have yet to read.  I purchase most of the books I read because part of what I love about books is owning them. I do visit the library, but I'm a slow, and sometimes distracted, reader which means that having a brief time to interact with a book from the library really limits my enjoyment.

My wife keeps asking me if I'd be interested in a Kindle, Nook or other e-reader, and I'm not really interested yet. I really enjoy the physical interaction with the text on a page that I turn, not scroll.  I don't really enjoy the fact that most of the text books in this program have been in a digital format, but I see the value.  I do think that I might be persuaded to try e-books on an iPad because if I don't like the experience, I can still use the iPad for other uses. With a dedicated e-reader, if I don't like it, then there's not much I can do with it.

So after my adventure in EMDT ends in April, you can find me with a book, either in a chair by a window or in a hammock in my back yard.

What are you looking forward to after we end our time in EMDT? And what are your thoughts on e-books versus physical books?

MAC Week 2 - Comment 2

Screen capture from Danielle Miles' post, "Leadership Project Continued"

Danielle's original post:

As I try to wrap my head further around the idea of presenting at a conference, I have been doing a bit of surfing and searching of the web.  My goal was to get a feel for what types of conferences are available, what sort of timeline I am working with in terms of applying and scheduling of details, and to see who these types of conferences are geared toward.  I came across some pretty valuable information and thought that I might share. 

I found a site http://www.theconferencecalendar.com/  that offered the following information:

Media Literacy, Greening the Classroom & Designing the 21^st C. Classroom

San Antonio Texas

June 20^th-24^th

http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Workshop_Schedule_Location.htm

The San Antonio Summer Institute is a five day event that combines our Media Literacy, Greening the Classroom and Designing the 21st Century Classroom workshops into a seamless, relevant and comprehensive learning experience.

Summer 2011 Teaching with Technology Workshops

Cambridge Massachusetts

June 23^rd-August 5

http://www.edtechteacher.org/workshops

Inspiring Technology Integration Ideas with Acclaimed Education Technology Leaders

Breakthrough Strategies to Teach and Counsel Troubled Youth

Lake Oswego, Oregon

October 13^th-14^th

http://www.youthchg.com

Learn how to involve troubled and challenged youth in learning. This class explains the challenges

that children can face, and how to effectively teach and assist those youngsters. Participants will discover how to best integrate challenged youth.

33^rd National Media Market

Las Vegas, Nevada

October 16^th- 20^th

http://www.nmm.net

The National Media Market (NMM) is a non-profit organization that brings together 
content providers and professionals involved in the use of media in teaching and 
learning. From K12, to public libraries, to colleges and universities, NMM and the 
participating companies support the development of all types of libraries as 
learning communities of the 21st Century.

So all in all I am off to a good start.  I am still a bit nervous about the process particularly with the actual proposal.  But as always, when I let go and let our very capable and informed professors guide us through the process, I do just fine.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My comment to Danielle:

Okay, Danielle, looking at your "Free Choice" blogs for the past two weeks makes me feel very, very behind on the Publishing/Leadership project.  But, thanks to your posts, especially this one, I now have some resources to start working with.

Thanks for sharing!

MAC Week 2 - Comment 1

Screen capture of Mark Dohn's blog post, "I Can't Drink the Punch."

Mark Dohn's original post:

It started today: Test Prep.

   On Monday, I received this monstrous, convoluted table of where I need to be and who’s class I need to cover while teachers work with groups of students. So today, at the appropriate time, I arrived at the gymnasium with 200 eighth graders. They were ushered in and sat down on the hardwood floor.

   For the next thirty minutes they were verbally assaulted by the chair of our Science Department about astronomy. They were told how he helped to write the test, and that they would do better if they listened to his endless list of astronomy facts. We don’t teach to the test...we just cram for it!

   A year ago I would have been positive. A team player telling the students how this was a necessary evil in education today. Twelve months later and one month from finishing my degree here at Full Sail, and I cannot stomach it any more.

I cannot live with it. I cannot condone it. Standardized testing is simply wrong. Judging kids according to their performance with a Number 2 pencil is a disservice, and it needs to end.


 --------------------------------------------------------------------
My comment to Mark:

Oh, Mark, you're singin' my song. Tomorrow, my sophomore students will begin taking the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) with the reading portion, and the other four core subject will follow one a day for the rest of the week.
I finished my previous unit on March 4th, so this past week we took some time to make-up tests and quizzes from that unit and then had a few days where I talked to them about the test.  I don't cram, I try to spread everything out over the first three quarters so that it's not a rush or a frenzy in the few weeks before the test, but I'm tired of even focusing on it. 
In the past three years, the kids are always nervous because of how little I talk about it, but I tell them at the beginning of the year that if they pay attention in class and do what I ask of them, they will do well on the test, and they generally do.  But in the end, I don't believe that standardized tests are the answer. 
When I was reading chapter 3 in  THE ART OF POSSIBILITY this week, I found myself wanting what the authors were describing.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized the only thing standing in the way in students apathy towards learning, which I believe is a result of the false learning that is generated by standardized testing. If we are failing our students, it's not a result of a lack of collecting data, but rather, I think the way we are collecting data is getting in the way of true, substantial and meaningful teaching and learning.

MAC Week 2 Reading - The Art of Possibility, Chapters 1-4

Image by Flickr user TommyGUNZ

I found this week's reading material to very intriguing.  At first glance, the practices in to book read as if the authors are purporting that if you put on the rose colored glasses and drink the Kool-Aid, your outlook on life will change and you can think away your problems and stress.  As you read on, the writers address this simplification of their argument and point out that they are not proposing we all ignore the harsher realities in life. From my reading, I feel that they are saying when faced with an aspect or outlook on life that has an obvious negative and positive viewpoint, why not choose the positive one.  This would not work in every situation, but in most non-lifethreatening situations, it would.  I can choose to view my students as lazy, disaffected, apathetic slugs and leave it at that; or, I can choose to take the next step, recognize that they are choosing this academic lifestyle for a reason, try to find out why they are, and work with them to over come these issues and help them be successful.

I loved the parts in chapter 3, "Giving an A," where the authors described teachers moving from the role of assessors who measure students against the standards into the role of mentors who help students strive to achieve the standards.  I don't feel that how I just wrote that clearly articulates the principle from the book, but if I could get my students to buy into the fact that my desired role as their teacher is to help them improve as a reader and a writer over the 9 months they are in my class, that I'm not the enemy giving them busy work but rather on their side guiding them, I think it would really improve the performance and the climate in my classes.

This is not to say that my classes are hostile and my students are making gains everyday, but I can feel them fighting against me, even as they do what I ask of them.

I love the idea of writing letters at the beginning of the course in which the students tell themselves what they will have accomplished by the end of the course.  It is a backwards way of goal setting that really never sets a goal, but gives context and purpose for why they are taking the courses I teach.  I've never really asked students what they expect to gain from taking my English II course, partly because it's a state requirement and they have no choice in the matter.  I have the feeling that if I were to ask them, they would have difficulty articulating anything beyond "to pass the Ohio Graduation Test in March" because they probably haven't ever thought about what they expect or don't feel that it even matters.

I'm planning on incorporating both writing assignments described in chapters 3 and 4 into my course next year.  I think that the letter would force both the students and me to really consider what we expect out of the year and build a constructive dialogue.  The second assignment, focused on the contributions that they make, can go a long way to help students see that they can have positive influence in their environment.  I know of students who do not make positive contributions in school because they are so focused on taking care of themselves and their siblings while their parents are either working or absent.  If they can have those contributions, and others similar situations,  validated in school, then maybe they will gain some confidence that will enable them to attempt making positive contributions in the school academically and socially.

Maybe I'm dreaming right now, but as John Lennon said, I'm not the only one, and hopefully some others will join me someday.

MAC_Week1_Comment2

Screen capture of Paul DeVoto's Blog Post

Paul's Text:

After watching the myriad of videos on copyright, I still have questions, and that’s just not right, man!

As an educator in today’s digital age, I want my students to engage in digital content in a way that inspires them to bring their best to the world. I want them to able to reuse, remix, and add onto inspiring media that they connect with without having to worry about legal trouble.

Watching the videos about copyright, it is clear that there needs to be a balance between remix-freedom and copyright violation. A personal example I can relate to has to do with music. My friend's band, Alma Desnuda, has music for sale through iTunes, Amazon, and other online sites. If somebody were to put one of their songs online, it would take away from valuable revenue that they need to make it. So where is the balance?

That's hard to determine, especially since some unwarranted usage can actually increase exposure and therefore awareness of your brand. An example that comes to mind is the Chris Brown song that was played for this wedding video. The wedding video actually generated a lot of buzz for that song! So by having his copy-righted music used in this way, he actually benefitted.

As many of my peers have said, it's a fascinating debate and I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're right, Paul.  This week has provided me with the most comprehensive overview of issues related to copyright, and I'm still not completely comfortable. But, I think everyone needs to be in search of the sweet spot that lies between the extremes.  This year our school newspaper staff chose to begin using images with Creative Commons licenses in the publication because we don't have the man power to get all the diverse images we need. It's been a great solution.

It's interesting that you posted that wedding march video.  Based on our "reading" this week, I think that the music in that video could be defended as fair use because it might qualify as incidental music and, more importantly, without the song, the video could not have the same effect.  The music is integral to the purpose of the video.  But, the fact is we'll never know for sure unless someone takes the video creature to court.  Until then, we'll sit in the grey area and wait it out.