Midterm

Over the past week, I've been trying to unpack why I am so upset and obsessed with the Kavanaugh confirmation. My obsession began when we took Mama to Washington, D.C. 

for her first time. On the drive up, we listened to the senate hearing on the radio. 

While we toured the Capitol, protests took place across the street. We were close to history 

in the making. As a family, we listened together talked about the hearings, and watched

the SNL opening skit, experiences punctuated by our immersion in the 

national symbols of our democracy.

What truly upsets me, has kept me up at night, has distracted me from work, is deception perpetrated and perpetuated across my social media feed. Memes that attacked Dr. Ford and other Democrats, insinuating that they were part of a part of a vast conspiracy or perpetrators of sexual assault.  Good people engaging in the very behavior that they indignantly accuse Dr. Ford of--spreading a lie--punctuating their posts with laughing emojis. The derisive laughter echoed across the airwaves as our President mocked Dr. Ford's testimony. How has someone's trauma become the source of derision? How do we not see the lies are hurtful to not only those involved, but also to those who have suffered at the hands of another, swallowing their pain to avoid being retraumatized by being called a liar, a pawn. Dr. Ford's public testimony took courage. I am discouraged by the response. 

Friday after the cloture, I spoke with a young woman my son's age who expressed anger because she had grown up believing that our country was making strides towards equity and now feels deceived.  I think my mother would tell her that she's been trying for her entire life to break through the glass ceiling and isn't sure she will see it broken. I'm thinking I will not see it shattered either. At the end of our conversation, there was nothing left to do but hug and acknowledge our shared feelings.

Today, I do not see much hope for our country.  We have a win-at-all-costs mentality.  If you disagree with me, watch out.  I'll attack and take no prisoners.  If you disagree with me, it's your problem; you're a snowflake.  If you disagree with me, you are "fake news."  America will never be great as long as we are unwilling to use our energy to approach one another in a genuine effort to understand. As Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus 150 years ago, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Our political tribalism dangerously divides us. 

But I am an optimist at heart.  Perhaps tomorrow I will experience something that encourages and gives me hope. Maybe my young friend and women like her will continue hammering at the crack in glass ceiling. Maybe we will start listening to understand each other. Maybe we'll work together to unite us again. Wouldn't that be great?

Liberty and Justice for All...

Teaching is my life’s work. I have been blessed beyond measure to know literally thousands of young people.

Young people who lived in homes filled with books, and others who read five grade levels behind.

Young people dismissed early for medical appointments, while others squinted at the board because the family couldn’t afford an eye exam, much less glasses.

Young people whose parents and grandparents filled the stands cheering their athletic feats, while others felt no one present to watch them play.

Young people who brought lunches lovingly packed with sandwiches and fruit, while others felt too ashamed to fill out the paperwork for free and reduced lunch.

Young people who were accepted to the college of their dreams, while others never considered post-secondary study within their reach.

Young people who slept at night safe, warm, and loved, while others lay awake to the sounds of sirens and gunshots.

Young people who enjoyed homecoming festivities, while other isolated themselves as a result of sexual assault.  

Young people who were labeled: Learning Disabled, Gifted, Jock, Geek, Goth, Immigrant, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Poor, Wealthy, Good Ole’ Boy, Preppie, Gangster, Gay, Transgendered, Overachiever, Lazy.

We explored in my class the dangers of stereotyping--how it leads to dehumanization and creation of the others. And about how bystanders, through their inaction, allow evil to happen. We "Fac[ed] History and Ourselves."

For each of the labels, I see individual faces of good people, each a child of God created in His image. Good people who made me furious, frustrated, sad.  They made me laugh. Everyday. But most of all, they made me a better teacher, parent, and human being.

Young people, friends, family, I see each of you.

I will not be a bystander.

I am a teacher who believes as Robert Maynard Hutchins, “the best education for one is the best education for all.”

I am an upstander.

I will stand up for liberty and justice for you.   

13-Second Story: Genji Wants to Ride

The past two weeks I've been trying to decide what tools to use for my digital storytelling assignment.  I've had experience with Animoto and Xtranormal; both are really fun.  I was intrigued about the possibilitities of Popcorn Maker, which gave me an idea of a task.

I looked through the videos on my cell phone--I have quite a few of my adorable dog, Genji. (He is quite the animated talker.) I discovered that I needed to upload the video to a web-based host, so I created a Vimeo account. Uploading a 13-second video through Explorer took more than a day--a very frustrating task. When I checked the next day, the video was still processing, so I deleted it and tried again using Safari, and within the hour, I had and email stating the video was ready.

The next step was uploading the Vimeo into Popcorn Maker--a snap.  I also found it rather easy to add the speech bubbles as pop ups.  I invite you to take a look at my story (I couldn't embed because I haven't created a YouTube account.)  The sound quality is bad--probably because I used my phone to record.  However, I'm pleased with the bubbles; Genji said that I translated his barks correctly.

I'm interested in how digital storytelling tools can be used to go beyond narrative.  It might be interesting to explore ways to use Popcorn Maker as an analysis tool.  For example, students could perhaps upload a speech and use the pop-ups to analyze the rhetorical strategies.  Or perhaps they could upload a music video or movie clip and add historical context details.  Please leave a comment with your ideas!

It isn't crabgrass after all #etmooc

This is my mother's spider plant that has lived for years in her sunroom.  Born with a green thumb, my mom gives it care, but it pretty much is self-sustaining, despite the occasional nibbles from Lily the cat.

Before starting my blog on "rhizomatic learning," I wanted to find the perfect pic to accompany my blog.  I googled "spider plant" to see if it was a rhizome; to my delight it is.

The spider plant reminds me of my experience so far with #etmooc.  When I look at the global map of connections,  I see our instructors as the home plant and all the "spiders" represent the learning generated by all of the participants.

I'll admit that sitting in on Dave Cormier's webinar on rhizomatic learning set my wheels to spinning.  While I could grasp the general concept of introducing an idea and letting people run with it,  I had a difficult time seeing the application in K-12 classrooms.  I envisioned the Bing commercial about information overload--haphazard searches that are loosely connected, straying from the original focus.  Part of the webinar discussion included the tension between "going wide versus going deep,"  which made me jump to the idea of crabgrass.  Yes, I know it's not a rhisome, (I googled it) but if you have ever had the experience of trying to pull up this infernal weed, it seems to go on forever.  Back-breaking work. I could just see students headed off in all directions learning as weeds rather than as rhisomes.

Fortunately, I participated in the Twitter chat.  Dave provided a sample syllabus, which clarified how this type of learning works with adults.  I still wasn't sold.  How can we balance this form of personalized learning with the demands of curriculum standards such as the Common Core State Standards? I then meet Heidi Siwak in the chat, and she provides me with an example from her 7th graders in her blog post, "X-Box and the War of 1812."  (I'll admit that I went off on a crabgrass moment, asking colleagues who won the War of 1812.) When I read about how Siwak directed her students to a LiveBinder with a multitude of resources on the war, I began to see the connection to personalized learning.  Students could choose the way they wanted to learn about the war--through articles, docmentaries, and various websites.  I also came to see how personalized learning contributes to collaborative learning when students came back together to share what they learned and generated an authentic question for discussion and study: "How come the Americans and the British both believe they won the war?" My spider plantlet has sprung thanks to Dave and Heidi.

Rhizomatic learning is just like anything else when we are teaching.  We need to scaffold the opportunities for students to explore like the assignmet Heidi describes and gradually release them to explore in the world that Dave illustrates.

Jumping in the Open Water--#ETMOOC

My dad said that he learned to swim when my grandfather threw him in the Cape Fear River.  No life jacket. No walking in a little at the time.  Sink or swim.  That's certainly the opposite of how I learned to swim.  I remember clinging to my dad in the pool, screaming at him not to let me go.  I wanted to swim so I could play with my friends, but I was also very afraid.  Finally, my mom enrolled me in lessons at the Y.  I didn't dare scream.  I methodically learned to swim--at least well enough to pass the required swim test at UNC.

There's something to be said for the sink or swim method.  Cautious tip-toeing can consume a lot of time that could be spent on the deep end.  It also allows more time for you to consider all the things that could go wrong.  Being thrown into the water puts survival in your control--certainly terrifying at first, but empowering when you realize you control the speed and direction.  When you get tired, float.

I've joined the #etmooc, a massive open online course about educational technology.  I feel like I've been thrown in the middle of a lake, basically treading water.  I feel pretty comfortable in the webinars and following along on Twitter.  But connecting with others is proving to be the challenge.  For example, at the time of this writing, there are 1,469 blog entries on the #etmooc blog hub.  But I'm starting to swim.

Here's what I hope to learn from participating in this MOOC:

• Tools to empower students to take charge of their learning
• How technology can be an effective tool for personalized learning
• How to address/teach digital citizenship

Here's to staying afloat!

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry

A friend of mine shared the following YouTube video posted by 8th grade teacher R. N. Gutierrez:

I hooted and cackled. We've all probably heard (if not actually said), "When in doubt, choose C."  Use the process of elimination to select between A, B, C, and D.  And how many times have we had our students write about school uniforms and cell phone use? Guilty as charged. 

And as satire is supposed to do, it got me to thinking. Just this week, I received a request for a test-prep book for the new End-of-Course test aligned with the CCSS. How did we get here?  Some like Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman in Pathways to the Common Core, assert that high-stakes testing as part of NCLB has led to flatlined NAEP scores because we have dissected reading into discrete skills, with comprehension taking a hit. Writing instruction became formulaic with a focus on writing for a test rather than writing to think and share.

Then come the Common Core State Standards with its "promise" to prepare all students for college and career.  I like the ELA standards with their clear learning progressions from kindergarten to the College and Career Anchor standards.  But as the Brookings Institute concludes in "The 2012 Brown Center Report on Education":

Despite all the money and effort devoted to developing the Common Core State Standards--not to mention the simmering controversy over their adoption in several states--the study foresees little to no impact on student learning.  That conclusion is based on analyzing  states' past experience with standards and examining several years of scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). p. 5
 

This conclusion is not at all surprising.  Standards and curriculum alone will not impact student learning, rather how the two are enacted does. Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to accountability and testing. I find the sample test items from Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium much better than what we've been using the last decade. I am opposed to tests being the be-all end-all of education. If our focus remains on test preparation rather than college and career preparation, (and likely it will as scores are now tied to teacher evaluation), we will stay mired in the process of teaching students how to "choose C" rather than how to think, communicate, collaborate, create.

The teacher creates the conditions for student learning, not policy makers. I am an educator because I am hopeful.  I believe in the power of public education to help students learn to live a good life.  I choose teachers and their students.  I just hope policy makers choose them, too.

Building the plane while flying it: Reflections on CCSS implementation

For almost two years now, my colleagues and I have been immersed in learning about the Common Core State Standards.  We have crosswalked, unwrapped, powered, and planned.  We've conducted professional development, discussed assessments, and written and vetted units.  And yes, the cliche applies, we've been building this plane as we're flying it.  Isn't everyone?

As we bring our first semester to a close, our district conducted a survey of teachers and administrators to gauge how things are going.  Yikes! Crash and burn.  Scathing comments about lack of preparation, faulty unit designs, and lack of resources.  Even a comment about building a plane while flying it.  If it weren't for emails and conversations with teachers who are excited about student engagement, I would probably retire my wings and quit flying altogether.

After feeling burned subsided, I started reflecting:  You are bound to hit some turbulance if you are building the plane as you fly it.   

Here's some lessons learned from our flight so far:

1.  Flight Plan: Of course you have to consider your point of departure and destination.  Our destination is for students to arrive at College and Career Readiness--not at performance on a high-stakes assessment. We had a pretty solid implementation plan that included all stakeholders.  We used a train-the-trainer model with teacher leaders who helped with pacing and unit designs.  They, in theory, took what they learned back to their colleagues and shared.  We had a feedback loop every step of the way.  But just as airlines experience weather conditions causing flight cancellations, things didn't always go as planned. We need to be flexible with our plans and willing to take an alternate route to our destination, if necessary.

2.  Air Traffic Control:  Clear, multiple-way communication is crucial.  District leaders must share (repeatedly) a unified message about expectations for reaching our destination as well as any changes to the flight plan. School leaders must buy-in to the message and communicate it to school personnel.  Teachers and administrators need to communicate problems encountered so that they can be addressed in a timely manner.  And it doesn't hurt to communicate what is going well, also.

3.  Carry-On Luggage:  Tight budgets don't allow for checked baggage, so we must make do with what can fit in our carry-on.  Vendors abound with products labeled "Common Core,"  and the choices can be overwhelming. We've also discovered that a Common Core label doesn't guarantee that the resource is aligned with the standards.  Before making a purchase, I ask myself, "How will this resource help me teach the standards?"

4. Oxygen Mask:  I've heard many times over from overwhelmed veteran teachers, "I feel like a first-year teacher."  When we feel like this work is getting out of our control, we need to grab our oxygen masks (i.e. our content knowledge and pedagogical skills) and breathe deeply.  We also need to help our colleagues with their masks now and again.  Collaboration is necessary for our success.

There is no direct flight to Common Core Implementation.  There's going to be turbulence along the way.  But the destination's worth arriving to together.