Standard Goodbyes

I just realized this is the last blog I will be writing for this course. I am certain it will not be the last time I return to "Ye Olde English Ant" (not sure why we're British now) but at least in the context of this wonderful world of Digital Literacy, this is the last one I will be writing. So how to end it? Should I summarize all the crazy and innovative technologies we've covered over the course of 12 weeks? I could and believe me there have been many I have literally drooled over the prospect of using in a classroom. I could do that, but what purpose would that serve? My fellow colleagues had the same discussions and read the same articles and reviewed the same technology that I did. A recapitulation of this would be wasted air. So then synthesis! How has this course changed me as an educator? Surely that is the proper route to take right? And of course I have learned and grown from this course. To say otherwise would be at the very least a lie if not worse. I have always thought of myself as technologically savvy in my teaching and in my life. I will say this course beyond simply showing me shiny new tools and literacies has allowed me to see how others might use them. Here is where I feel I found great worth. How I would use an online class blog is different from how Corri or Nina might use one, but knowing these differences only expands my knowledge. And that I think is the keyword when it comes to how this course as changed me as an educator. I have expanded my knowledge and expanded my understanding and expanded my horizons for using digital literacies and tools in my classroom. Irrevocably changed? I cannot commit to that. Altered for the better? Most certainly. So what then shall be the shining prize I take from this experience? What is my climax? To be honest there is no climax, there is only a hunger. This class has been absolute torture. A torture of the best kind to be sure, but torture nonetheless. As the dozen or so individuals that peruse this blog know, I do not currently work with students. I work with check fraud. Slight difference. And while each day I, in a general sense as my soul and mind both yearn for more fulfilling work, clamor for a classroom of my own, no experience and no class since leaving my undergraduate experience has fueled that hunger more so then this one. The things we have discussed, the possibilities we have opened through these amazing tools, and the innovations we have witnessed is more exciting then anything I could fathom. And so this class has tortured me everyday to create, to dream, to think, and to wonder how amazing it will be to use these things in a classroom and not yet have that chance. I know it will come, but it cannot come sooner. To my fellow colleagues, I am sure I will see you in the coming semesters, although I have but two left so get your fill quick! Dr. Oldakowski, Tim, thank you for everything, it has been a pleasure learning from you. You mentioned you had some friends in Florida, keep me posted on anything happening for next fall, rest assured I will be ready and waiting.

Nervous.... Updated

So this is a second post in reference to the lesson I taught for one of my other grad classes. In this post I will talk about the digital tools and literacy I used to finally get this blog a little more on point. If you hadn't checked out the previous blog, basically I was both ecstatic and terrified that for 42 glorious minute I was going to be a teacher again. I was tasked with teacher a grammar lesson and recording myself for feedback. I was able to secure some time back up in Indiana where I went to IUP and where I did my student teaching at the local junior high. It was a wonderful experience to get to see my old cooperating teacher.

So first the lesson and the digital aspects. The classroom had a smart board that I was very well acquainted with from my time there. I was using a Prezi presentation; for those of you who do not know Prezi makes Power Point look like an overhead projector. It is free, web based so you can create them anywhere, and incredibly user friendly. If you've never used one I definitely recommend making one some time they can be endlessly entertaining and engaging.

Within my presentation, I was teaching a basic introduction to Points of View, I used various youtube clips that I had embedded into the prezi to introduce the various viewpoints. For example those funny slippery slope Direct TV commercials to illustrate second person.


Continuing on I used several movie trailers to further illustrate how point of view can be used in cinema (thanks Kist!) and other forms of media.That was about the extent of the digital aspects of my lesson. Not incredibly complicated but it worked for my purposes.

On an emotional note, I wont lie I was nervous right up until the very second I started teaching. I mean the situation was less then ideal. I didn't know this kids at all, I hadn't been in front of students since last January when I started grad school full time, and I was basically invading their classroom for my project. I can proudly say however that at least for me teaching is like riding a bike. The second I started talking and the hands started raising to answer my questions I felt right at home. I got a chance to chat with my coop, who knows about my struggles to find a job and how long it has been, and she told me "You look like you've been their teacher from day one."

So I have something to share with you all if your so inclined. It is a cut up ten minute version of my lesson. Just in case you wanted to see the man behind the whiny give me a job blog.

*For anyone concerned I have video releases from all the students and only people who physically have this link can see the video, so beyond my classmates here I doubt anyone will see it. I will remove the video embed in a few weeks once the class is over just to be cautious*

Nervous...

Tomorrow I will be a teacher. For 42 glorious moments I will get to be a teacher. I will be teaching a lesson for one of my other graduate classes and recording it. I have to hike all the way out to IUP to do it, but it will be worth it to see my cooperating teacher again, see the school that I took my first steps as a real teacher in, and most importantly, be with students for the first time in over nine months. It has been too long.

So just one question... why am I nervous?

Is it the situation? Yes it could be. I am basically abducting this class for one period and using it for my own purposes. The lesson is approximately grade level appropriate so it is not a total waste, but god bless my cooperating teacher for letting me abduct her classroom. The students do not know me, and I don't know them. Hopefully my lessons is at least somewhat engaging.

I teaching basic point of view, first, second, and third person. I have some funny you tube videos and commercials, some funny passages the students will rewrite, point of view charades which should hopefully be fairly fun to watch, and then a good culminating assessment where the students rewrite a journal entry in a different perspective.

And yet, I am nervous.

I know I shouldn't be. It kills me everyday to read all your blogs about the exciting things you're doing with the content of this class. I should be chomping at the bit!

Either way tomorrow by 8 am this will all have transpired. I will be in my car hopefully both reinvigorated by my brief 42 minutes and crushed by the realization that I am driving back to my cubicle. For right now, I just wish I wasn't... nervous.

In Flux

This is a weird week for me. My focus has been shot. My confidence is see-sawing between King of the World and Tiny Ant. It's taking a toll on both my personal and professional life. Sorry up front this post may not be relevant and/or interesting. I have always been a opposed to using a blog as a possible outlet for personal thoughts and feelings as well as a fuel for some small narcissistic urge to vent your problems on the world. Every now and again though I just need to indulge. Tune me out know if needed.

So I had an interview for a long term sub position at a school relatively close to Pittsburgh. It was about an hour drive from my apartment, but since my desperation for finding a job has grown I could handle nearly twice that. I spent the first half of this past week preparing myself and my materials. Unfortunately in a recent move I lost my teacher portfolio that I usually brought. This was more an annoyance then anything as it was in dire need of updating as my skill as an educator has grown immensely since I started studying at Pitt. I spent two solid days creating what I think is, to be frank, a kick ass unit plan outlining the use of a digital text Inanimate Alice (see previous post) as well as a classroom blog and a podcast project. I created about half a dozen lessons as well.

The interview went about as amazing as it possibly could. I can always tell how well I do in an interview by how much the interviewer writes down. The more they write the less interesting I seem. The principal of the school was interviewing me and she didn't write a single thing down on her little questionnaire. We were basically just having a conversation. When she asked about what I had brought I whipped out some awesome digital literacies pedagogy, (Thanks Dr. O) and thoroughly impressed her. I'm serious. She actually said "I'm very impressed" and "This is so impressive." So confidence level King of the World.

Then the waiting. Unfortunately the interviewer is never the hirer. I am convinced if I EVER get interviewed by someone who can also hire I would have the job. I have never been turned down by someone I have met. It is always someone higher up. School Board, Superintendents, people who HAVE NEVER MET ME! ALL THEY HAVE IS A PIECE OF PAPER! HOW CAN YOU JUDGE A PIECE OF PAPER!

Every job I apply for goes like this. I just manage to get an interview because the school I am applying for is far enough away or small enough that not every teacher in the tri-county area is applying for it (I actually stopped applying to North Allegheny after a friend of mine told me they had over 200 applicants for one job). My resume usually manages to get me an interview which I destroy. I am sorry, I do. I won't be modest. I have spent hours practicing. Ask my fiance! She could pretty much work for a school as an interviewer now with all the time she has put in preparing me. And it pays off. I have never left an interview feeling like anything less than a champion. The interviewer tells me that they will be making recommendations from there to the board.

And then I wait. And it's deadly. Like a knife blade slipping out of my stomach an inch per day. I don't know why it hurts the same every time. You'd think I would be used to it. So far though without fail I get that phone call a week or two weeks later saying the same thing. "You were an impressive candidate but we've decided to go with someone more local." That's code for sorry you can't tie a relation to someone on the board.

I WAS TOLD BY MY HIGH SCHOOL THEY WANTED SOMEONE MORE LOCAL!!!! I literally responded by saying "I graduated here." She apologized and thanked me for my interest.

So thats my world. I am currently still waiting to hear from California School District, but I don't have my hopes up. How can I? If I don't get this job that will make 10 interviews, 0 jobs.

0-10. Ironically that was my high school football team's record my senior year. I knew because I was at every game... you know being LOCAL and all.

Rant over. Sorry everyone. Had to be done.

Transmedia Literacies

I came across this almost by divine chance. I was just saying this morning that I was unsure of what to blog about as I exhausted a lot of my usual topic choices when it my mind thinks about Digital Literacy. However I was pleasantly surprised on my bus ride into the city this morning when I opened my iphone and read the title of the new episode for a certain podcast I follow. The podcast is the NCTE Language Arts Podcast. I picked it up at the start of this course and powered through the 20 some episodes in a short month. Now I most wait an agonizing month in between each episode. There is some really amazing stuff, and I will advocate for them now by showing you. This months podcast is entitled "Digital Storyworld: Transmedia Literature in the ELA Classoom."

Here is a pretty good definition of Transmedia Literacy.

 

For more information, see this article that I will be referencing throughout the post.

So in essence transmedia literacy is an interactive narrative that spans across multiple platforms. It's easy enough to say that but just the podcast speakers suggested it really is difficult to understand this unless you see. Lucky for you we are going to do just that. If you have a moment, take a transmedia journey with me.

If you don't have a few minutes, about five, just have a look at this trailer. Below is a video promoting one of the most prominent Transmedia Novels. It is entitled "Inanimate Alice" by Kate Pullinger. 

Interested yet? If so take it one step further and watch the first episode. Also note that I use the word "watch" very loosely. Simple follow this link and click on Episode One. It takes about five minutes. Go on, do it. Ill be here when you get back.

So, what do you think? As the episodes progress the interactivity becomes bigger and requires students to branch out beyond the scope of the interactive video, asking them to go to outside sources, other websites, even to submit their own material to help the protagonist in her journey. The best part is the website offers a full guide on how to integrate it into the classroom. In fact this "Inanimate Alice" and the website surrounding it was awarded the AASL award for best teaching website of 2012.

This type of Digital Storytelling, as it can also be called, is an amazing new frontier that opens up realms of possibilities for collaboration, classroom extension, and so much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg, if you'd like some more resources check out this awesome Prezi that maps out the different narrative types available to us through Transmedia Literacies as well as some amazing examples of Digital Stories.

The Trend Emerges

It seems I am noticing a trend in my blog posts. My other peers are doing some wonderful work responding to their uses of digital literacy in their classroom. I unfortunately do not have the pool of wealth to draw from. So I spend my time cursing the internet for cool new technology to talk about. This week I have come across something that I found after witnessing a rather strange phenomena earlier in the week.

I came home from work to find my fiance on the bed with her lap top with headphones. She is currently a junior at Pitt studying Spanish as well as in the Pre-Physicians Assistant track. I was surprised to see her as she normally is at class during this time. I asked her what she was doing, she removed her headphones and said.

"I didn't feel well so I am live streaming my physiology lecture." Turns out her professor actually live streams all his lectures, as well as records them for further review, and makes that resources available to the students. My fiance explains she would rather be there in person but she has friends in the class that only show up on days when they are required to take tests or turn in paperwork and simply live stream or watch the recorded versions after.

This got me thinking about the trend education could be taking. Cyber schools are already on the rise and causing budget crisis for numbers of public schools across the country. Many schools as well utilize their own online form of a classroom to extend their reach into the schools. This very course were in right now is entirely contained online. Where will we be in 10 years?

To re-focus this post however, I was very intrigued about the possibility of bringing this idea of streaming instruction into the secondary level. To begin I pose a question.

Has anyone ever seen this done? Have you heard of teachers recording or streaming lessons? The red tape would likely be miles long when it comes to this, but I see many benefits. Combating Absenteeism for one. Student sick for extended periods of time? Make recordings of their lessons or live streams available to them to extend the classroom into their own home. They can comfortably attend in their PJs.

Parents could become more involved in their students learning by being able to actually see what goes on in the teachers classroom.

Something slightly more controversial, but teacher accountability could become a much bigger focus when teachers are actually on record. This may not be a door some want to open, but accountability exists in so many other realms of this world, why should the education of our children be any different?

Moving beyond just purely theorizing I  do have some new services to share with you. This one might be a little bit beyond our available pay grade, but if your school is looking into streaming this company is, from what I can tell, one of the leading providers.

http://www.vbrick.com/industries/education.asp

Vbrick is an online streaming company that provides schools, along with businesses and other clients, with support, bandwidth, technology, and guidance to take their skills into the digital world. Everything from live morning announcements to streaming classrooms for absent students.

It is a world of possibilities, and dangers, but an interesting one regardless.

I saw a paperback in the wild today

I did. In fact I saw two of them. Together. Like some odd mating ritual. Two paperback books in the hands of two teenagers. I almost missed my stop as I gawked at them. I am not sure why I found this such an amazing site. I think it's possibly says something about the state of the world now, especially for our young members of it.

It is a growing trend that more and more Americans are reading less and less. According to Gallop polls reported in the New York Times and Boston Globe, there are a staggering number of growing statistics that cast a gloomy light on reading in the 21st century. Here are a few of them.

This was an article from 2007, and in the past six years this divide has only grown as digital entertainment becomes even more immerse and accessible. The question now becomes if digital entertainment is so rampant, why hasn't digital literacy risen with the revolution as well. Surely it must have had a positive effect? Perhaps taking a look at how reading has evolved will help answer the question.

E-Readers are no longer a revolutionary tool. They are in affluent and middle class families a house hold item. Most American households own at least one device that can be used as an E-Reader. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to use. The data coming about them is also encouraging. According to an article on CNN, Avid readers read about 40% more books per year on an E-Reader then paperback due to the availability and ease of use. Also a third of readers say they know spend more time reading  on their E-Reader then paperback. The article also predicted a bright future as the price of E-Readers continues to drop to entice more buyers to invest in the content available.

So this means reading is back on right! Not quite.

While there is still some debate, partially because it is very hard to get accurate reports of readership across the country, how many people will willingly claim they haven't read a book since highschool?, but many sources, including some in that very same article, point out that E-Readers only entice and advance the readership of current Readers. To a non reader there is little to entice them to go out and pick up an 80 dollar kindle especially when if they really wanted to read the book is likely right in that very same store for 1/10 of the price.

Okay so E-Readers may or may not be a positive effect for reading in the 21st century. I personally enjoy both, I have a handful of books on my kindle but also buy about 3,4 books for pleasure each year. And it seems most readers enjoy them. A portion are stalwart hold outs for the printed medium and I can see the appeal. There is something tangible about holding the book in your hand, feeling the ink so to speak. There is also something very nice about saying the phrase, "I think I'd like to read the Hunger Games" and then 10 minutes and 9 dollars later you are.What do you think? Hit the Poll!

Which do you prefer? E-Readers, Paperback, Both?
	My Kindle-Fire and I are getting married.
	I would cut down The Giving Tree to make one last paperback.
	I use both but prefer the E-Reader.
	I use both but prefer paperback.
	Does Facebook count?
pollcode.com free polls

Hollywood Literacy

We can all relate to that childhood dream in school, one which visually will never be the same as more and more school classrooms become equipped with smart boards and projectors, of walking into a classroom and seeing that traveling TV stand from the AV room. To the average high school kid it meant taking a period resting your head on your desk while a movie played. Sure there may have been a guided notes you needed to follow along with or a journal response you needed to complete, but it was nothing you couldn't turn to your buddy in the hallway after class to get the required information. This is often a high school students response to watching a video.



If the audio still isn't working, I was having tremendous difficulty with it, the teacher begins by saying "Today class we're going to be watching a movie.." and the class rejoices until she finishes her sentence by saying "And we're going to be taking notes." The class immediate deflates and the student in red finishes the video by proclaiming "What?"

So how can using a movie in the classroom be more then just an excuse for teachers, and students, to mentally check out for a time being. Film can be an amazing resource if used correctly. There is a book I would love to bring to everyone's attention. I have read excerpts of it during my own studies and will very likely be purchasing it in the future as the few chapters I have read give some amazing insight into how to effectively use film. Here is the text.

One of the biggest things I have taken away is this; using a film is useless if the teacher simply presses play and walks away for the period. Even if there is some kind of exit slip or guided notes sessions students will lose focus. They will fall into two categories. They will either zone out and lose all focus of the film and the content involved or fall to deeply into the film to focus on the instructional content. Rather the teacher needs to implement intervals to allow the students enough time to absorb the film but not too long so they lose the instructional goals. Golden suggests using skills like predicting, creating inferences, and activities like 60 second quick writes to inject learning and instruction into the film.

For example when teaching S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" and using the wonderful movie adaptation have the students pause right afters Johnny's final words "Stay Gold Pony Boy." and complete a sixty second quick write about the significance of those words within the context of the movie.

There are so many more resources in this book including 25 fully drawn out unit plans about popular movie adaptations. That alone is worth the cover price.

My November Obsession

As we move our way into the last inkling of September and the last few hot days pass away to be replaced by a more chilly variety, I find it hard to temper my excitement for one thing in particular that I love about the fall. October is a month of preparation. Brainstorming, Outlining, Free writing, and many other small exercises to get me prepared for what I have dubbed, My November Obsession. Another name for it is this clever little acronym:

NaNoWriMo

 

This is the crest under which I stand. The viking hat is a symbol of glory given only to the strongest of us. We spend the month of November fighting impossible odds, shaking off responsibilities to our social life and general health, skipping unnecessary activities like going to the gym and showering (kidding), all in the pursuit of being able to do something that millions will never even attempt.

The time frame: 30 Days

The Target: 50,000 Words

The Goal: Write A Novel

Na(tional)No(vel)Wri(ting)Mo(nth)

Hopefully everyone reading this has heard of NaNoWriMo. If you haven't how about the movie "Water For Elephants" with  Robert Pattinson andReese Witherspoond 

 

 This little movie is based of a novel of the same title that was written as a NaNoWriMo submission!

NaNoWriMo has been apart of my life for 8 years now. I started my first one as a side project in highschool. I hit 30k by the end of November. I was furious with myself and swore to never do this again. And yet every year since then I am back. Some years go better then others (we wont talk about the 12k 2012....) but all in all thanks to NaNoWriMo I have 3 finished novels sitting on a shelf next to me, and a grand total nearly 250,000 words written.

Why am I talking about this? Because this little competition has driven me to do some amazing things with not just my writing, but my students as well. During my clinical I happened to be teaching during the fall and I, with the administrations permission, started the NaNoWriMo project. I hung up flyers, gave talks in all the English classes, and when time came to have our first club meeting in late October I had nearly 40 student writers ready and raring to go. We meet weekly, talked about our stories, brainstormed ideas, keep a running tally of how many words we'd written. I was even able to coordinate 2 afters chool writing sessions where almost half of the participants stayed after school to simply work on their novels (and eat the pizza I bought them). By the end of November not one, not two, but three of my students had hit the goal. One student wrote 78,000 words. Unbelievable. I delivered them printed and bound copies complete with a cover as a prize for winning.

I did this all on my own, but The Office of Letters and Light, the NP organization behind NaNoWriMo has a program called the Young Writers Program that is geared towards using the contest in schools. They have everything from classroom kits, to lesson plans, to expanding the reach of your classroom by setting up a virtual classroom to help organize your writers.

Using this contest with my students was one of the most rewarding experiences in my short career as an educator. I will absolutely be doing it again, and again, and again. I urge everyone to take a look at the website, the Young Writers Program, and see if this is something you and your students would enjoy.

http://nanowrimo.org/

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/

  Oh and by the way....

 

 

Responding to NCTE and the Evolution of Education

So perhaps I am missing the actual area in which I should be responding too, perhaps there is none and the weekly screencasts we will be doing are just for us to watch and absorb, but either way Dr. Oldakowski's first screen cast on NCTE got me thinking so I decided to do a quick blog about it. NCTE is a treasure trove of information and one I have been a part of since undergrad. I do admit my membership fell off a year or so ago when I didn't receive a placement, but in honor of this little screencast I have renewed my membership ( Dr. O you may need to verify I'm a student.... so... yeah...)

 One thing I was not aware of however was the depth of the back issues we had access to. I thought it would be a really cool idea to have a look at a journal from today and one of the earliest ones they had. So I have chosen two journals one from 2010 and one from 1963. Looking through a few articles I definitely noticed some differences.

 

This is a screen grab of an article in the 1963 journal. I skimmed through three separate ones and all three without fail followed this same pattern. No figures, no charts or graphs or data. no pictures, just words. Words, Words, Words. Words are nice and all, but I found these articles very hard to get through. Why is that? Is it because I am a of a generation that cannot focus without visual stimuli? I hope that's not the case, and I know its not entirely as I love to read, but it is interesting to compare this to a a screen grab of the an article in 2010.

 

Here we have pictures, just a few lines above this was a diagram and a chart, but here's the best part... still plenty of words! Loads of em! Long ones, short ones, etc.  I enjoyed actually reading this article. Was it because I was engaged by not only the content but the digital and visual aspects of the article? Perhaps. This little experiment is not entirely pure as the writing style and content of are five decades apart making the recent journals much easier to relate too, but I wonder how I would handle the older articles with a few more images or diagrams?

One other observation I had before I wrap this up, is while the format and media within the article is evolving, albeit at an agonizingly slow pace, the content is the same. Educators 50 years ago face the same problems we face today. Student engagement, social class disparity, student proficiency levels, etc. Very interesting indeed if you ask me.