Interesting Book just out from ASCD

I am reading the new book by Yong Zhao, Catching Up or Leading the Way. It talks about how our educational system is being ruined by NCLB and that while we're trying to be more like other systems (China), they're trying to be more like what we were-- a country that promoted innovation and creativity. Really interesting stuff!

My Focus Keeps Changing

Not only does my life keep taking new twists and turns, but so does the focus of my inquiry. I thought I was going to study New Literacies, but that turned into Collaborative Classrooms. Now I've discovered that it's student engagement and empowerment that will affect learning, regardless of the medium used. At least, that's what I'm seeing in my classroom thus far. My students are excited about using the Wiki as the forum for their research, but they are MOST excited about making their handmade Zines.

Who knew?

School Convocation Day

Well, what do you know? Deb Delisle was the keynote speaker today at our opening convocation, and what do you think she focused on? 21st Century Skills, working in COLLABORATIVE GROUPS, and Informational Technology. Talk about twists and turns! She also emphasized the importance of the teacher-student relationship and building that rapport (of course!).

I was just thrilled that my classroom plan fits right in with that of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Ohio. I sat there listening to her and I must've had a stupid grin on my face, although I hope not. Just was a true affirmation for me today and I feel good about the direction I've chosen.

New Start

Well, I began this blog as a place to muse about life in general and about unexpected twists that life takes. Once class began, the posts reflected my learning regarding New Literacies. I had never heard of a ning and didn't really know what a wiki was, but all that's changed.

I have a feeling that my whole world has changed because of this class and the fact that I have so much more ahead of me as I embark on my quest for my PhD. Life does take unexpected twists and turns and I can't wait to see what waits just around the corner.

I do want to thank Dr. Kist and my classmates for all I have learned from them, and hope we continue to meet in cyberspace (and in realtime, too).

YFYNOA!

That's Yay For Yahoo Newsfeed Once Again! That's my textspeak for coming across another appropriate article while logging in to my email. The article is all about how adults need to keep up with all the text abbreviations that are becoming part of the lingo and it outlines a few instances that caused some embarrassment. If you're interested, you can read the article here.

The Flickering Mind

I've been reading parts of an interesting book by Todd Oppenheimer. The title is The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved. I almost passed it by in the library, but decided to have one resource that I felt was probably in opposition with what we'd been doing in class.

I haven't read the entire book, but basically he's warning school systems to use technology (and spend money) wisely because at the end of the day, it's less about the technology, and more about what you do with it. He also warns against losing the personal touch and helping students enhance their ability to relate to one another.

So it really is in line with thinking about what 'new literacies' really are and, as Bill said, it's not always about technology.

Wikis Here, Wikis There

Wikis, wikis, everywhere!!! Who knew? I started out investigating e-Zines (which I'm still doing), but I've fallen in love with wikis. I can see so much potential with them and am bound and determined to incorporate them into my classroom, too. 

Just so you know,  offers free, unlimited k-12 wikis for educational purposes. I'm also finding that the process of writing this paper isn't so different from what I experienced putting together the multi-literacy autobiography and therefore, it's taking  FOREVER! I read one thing, which leads me to investigate something else, and on and on. I don't even need hyperlinks to do that :-) It's happening with print, too, so reading actual printed books and articles is becoming a non-linear activity for me.

Reading as Fast as I Can

It's taken me days to compile all the articles and books for my Inquiry Paper and now I'm faced with the task of reading them all.  I am excited to investigate my chosen topic, but it's still a daunting task. 

Reading for pleasure? What's that? I did manage to read an interesting book while on vacation just prior to this class. The book, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, was a fascinating journey from page 1 to page 560. I read very little non-fiction, yet this book whet my appetite for more. I guess I'll be getting my fill of non-fiction for the next week.

In case anyone needs another resource, readingonline that Dr. Kist used as an example is really a good one. I found some articles there I couldn't find elsewhere.

Wow, this entry is all over the place, kind of like my brain right now. Must continue reading...

What a Week!

It's only been two days, but it seems like I haven't blogged in a year. Being so focused on completing my wiki and my multi-genre autobiography projects, I just didn't feel I could even stop long enough to blog yesterday. It did give me an opportunity to let a few things sink in, though, so reflective time is good.

Regarding our fabulous guest speakers, I truly appreciate the fact that each one was so different and offered such a wealth of information. I think Bill did an amazing job choosing people that were such a complement to his expertise, which made this environment so rich with content.

Although I had taken David Bruce's video class a couple years ago, I learned additional information from Dr. Dowdy that gave me more ideas to take back to my classroom and my colleagues. She is such an inspiration and I can see how she would be able to challenge her students to think in different ways. I need to learn more from her.

Gary Mote had so much to share and was so encouraging about using this technology. His daughter's powerpoint was a great example of what students are capable of doing with the right guidance.

Jeffrey Pellegrino was such fun and I was intrigued by his presentation on the response system. He has such a diverse background and his sense of adventure comes through, even when discussing something that seems far removed from the wilderness.

What can I say about the ATT Classroom of the Future? That was simply mind boggling. I can't even imagine the logistics of bringing a class there for such an extended period of time, but it sure would be an incredible experience. I'd love to figure out a way.

Looking back, I can't believe all that we learned and accomplished in one week. Granted, I didn't do much else all week, but it was certainly worth every hour in front of my computer. Now, on to the next projects. I hope these next two weeks don't go quite as quickly, though. For tonight, I think I need to sleep.

A Few Reflections on 'New Literacies in Action'

Even though I read the book a couple weeks ago, I decided to go back over my notes now that class is half over. Chapter One is a great overview and reenforces everything we've been discussing and many things I'm experiencing as I work on my projects. I can especially relate to a couple observations made in this chapter.

1. "Online reading has changed the act of reading since hyperlinks have changed sequence. Now it's an interactive/non-linear experience." Since working on both the Wiki and the Multi-Genre presentation,

I find that one link not only leads to another, but that I keep being reminded of more and more that I want to include. While this is a wonderful experience, it takes an enormous amount of time.

2. The Gee reference: "Literacy no longer seen as situated only in cognition...Literacy is deeply enmeshed in the culture, history, and everyday discourses of people's lives." Having read Gee's book , 'What Video Games Have to Teach us about Learning and Literacy,' during my 2005 National Writing Project experience, I remember being totally awed by it. Now, everything is resurfacing and becoming even more important than ever. I think I may need to review that book.

3. The idea that in school and out of school literacies must intersect. I totally agree and hope that my e-Zine idea will help give the students purpose and drive so they will be engaged and learn more than ever before. They will need to "read critically and write functionally" in order to have a successful e-Zine and that is at the heart of the matter.

Throughout the book, the idea of making sure the students feel that 'sense of community' is ever-present. Even though I always try to help students feel this, I think the e-Zine will work better  to help build a collaborative environment. 

To Blog, or Not to Blog?

This one's going to be short! It's almost midnight and I've been on this computer all day and night. I want to read everyone's blogs and all the articles (so glad I read most of Bill's book prior to class because I don't know when I'd do that!), but the Wiki and Multi-Lit Autobiography projects are so TIME CONSUMING that I haven't had any time.

Don't get me wrong... I am having a wonderful time in cyberspace, but one link leads to another and another, and before you know it, hours have passed. I am determined to get to my reading tomorrow. I hope. Right now, I must sleep......

Japanese Cell Phone Novels?

I had no idea this was even possible, let alone wildly popular in Japan. The article from The New Yorker, entitled I (heart) Novels, by Dana Goodyear, was an eye-opener for me. I have to admit that at first, I was a little disgusted that these novels go straight from cell phones to media-sharing sites and one young author states "...never looking over what she wrote or contemplating plot." She goes on to say, "I had no idea how to do that, and I did not have the energy to think about it."

As an aspiring novelist, I took great umbrage to this attitude expressed within the first paragraphs, and then I continued reading.  I was amazed by what I learned about the Japanese culture and the prevalence of anonymity. It seems that just one of these cell phone novel sites "carries more than a million titles" and that they are considered insightful to "how young women in Japan commonly feel." The culture enforces that pain and suffering is the lot in life they must bear and that most of the internet is laden with "false names and forged identities." The authors dare not reveal who they are, even though their novels are so popular, because they are critically thrashed, fearing that "the cell phone novel augured the end of Japanese literature."

The surprising thing for me was that the article continues to reveal that once the cell phone novels come out, a fan base is built and they buy the book to "reaffirm their relationship to it in the first place." This is also leading to the release of Japanese literature in cell phone style!

The article is full of information regarding various styles of Japanese writing and that it is easier to create text on a cell phone since it is difficult to create Japanese characters on the computer. Why this is so was a little confusing for me and it's getting late.

The quote that was a true reflection of something that came up in class today, though, dealt with the legitimacy of these cell phone novels. Although the current popular authors are young women, it was actually a man in his mid-thirties that invented this phenomenon. The publisher questioned him and this man pulled a stack of e-mails from his readers. "Nobody was saying that he was a great writer, or that his grammar was good," he recalled. "And yet his young fans were all writing about how his book had affected their lives and moved them."

So, after all, is it about the text, or the reader's involvement with the text, that matters? Hmmm...

Do the Benefits Outweigh the Dangers?

Here it is, 9:00 PM and I can just start my homework. Before diving back in to this blogging stuff, I wanted to check my Yahoo account, and what did I find on the Yahoo homepage? Something very scary in reference to our New Literacies:  READ THE ARTICLE

We are treading dangerous waters these days and it's vital that we also help students understand the ramifications of these new skills. Not only do they need to be careful what they post about themselves, they need to understand what crosses the line into the privacy of others.

With that said, I just discovered something equally amazing for the good. Having learned how to insert a hyperlink  today in class on a PC, I didn't have the first idea how to do so on my beloved Mac. Since my daughter's boyfriend is a computer whiz (thank goodness!), I went to ichat to see if he was online (thank goodness, again!), and asked if he could help me.

He asked a couple questions and suddenly a little box popped onto my screen and asked if I would allow him to 'screen share' with me. I accepted, and he was talking to me in real time AND moving my mouse around all the way from Athens, Ohio! He showed me on my screen how to make the hyperlink and it all took minutes. Unbelievable.

 I thought I was pretty computer savvy and discovered that I sure have A LOT to learn :-)

Whew!

Wow! My head is reeling with all that was presented today in class. I want to do it all, but know that it would probably be best to start slowly and build.

I've been working on the idea of 'class community' for most of my 28 year career, but I love to find new ways to do it. Many of the activities presented in class, from collaborative poems to cue card closure, would work well with fourth graders. I love the idea of implementing various modes of learning and communication in these simple lessons, but the impact is really quite powerful. I think blogging will be a useful tool, here. Taking the lead from Kelly (thanks!), I know my fourth graders can handle it if her first graders can.

One idea I had for my project was to turn my class into an e-zine community that would serve as our vehicle for much of our language arts curriculum. I think this gives real purpose to what we do in the classroom and would allow for team building in an authentic way. I have to do more thinking about it, but I'm leaning in that direction.

One thing I thought would be an obstacle is looking less so after today's class. I lamented the fact that we have to share a laptop cart with several other classes, but now I realize it's not all about the "techie" stuff. We can easily use paper-pencil for brainstorming/prewriting activities and utilize computers when necessary. We always have my computer that can be hooked up to a projector if we absolutely need it when a lab is not available.

There's always a way!

New Literacies?

So, here I am at Kent State learning about New Literacies. The first question posed is about what I want to get out of this class. That's a good question. What do I hope to learn?

When I entered this classroom, I was hoping to improve my skills in certain technological areas and return to my classroom with fresh ideas that will engage the students even more. I want to use technology more than I do, especially blogging and video/audio. That's actually funny because I'm one of the oldest teachers in the building, yet I do more to change my teaching year to year than most. I have one particular multi-media project that the kids love, but I want to infuse my classroom with these new literacies, rather than doing disjointed 'projects.'

After this morning's discussion, I realize that all 'New Literacies' are not necessarily technology based. I already have a myriad of ideas and hope I can figure out a way to create a New Literacies classroom. I'm not quite sure what that will look like, yet, but am encouraged that it is actually possible. I hope my last two years in the classroom will be the best ones yet!

Of Hawks and Squirrels

Nature sure is funny. Unexpected things crop up everywhere, and my backyard was the recent site for something truly fascinating.

Now, in the summer, I am lucky enough to be able to write sitting in my beautiful sunroom, overlooking a park-like yard. It isn't huge, but large enough to be sectioned into a yard my husband mows, and then a split rail fence separates the second half that we have let go wild. My husband, Mark, has set up various bird and squirrel feeders and we enjoy observing the animal activity throughout each season. My cats are quite amused by it all, too, if not a bit frustrated.

Periodically, we have other visitors that partake of the treats they can find. Deer are often seen wandering and nibbling as they pass through our little piece of wild suburbia, but in the last few days, two hawks have taken up residence, and it is this occurrence that has captured my attention recently.

Looking up from my writing the other day, I noticed my three cats all clustered around the sliding door that leads into the yard. When I followed their gaze, I saw the object of their attention. A large hawk had come to rest on the top of the split rail fence and was hunched over, studying something on the ground below him. A squirrel, quite oblivious to the spectre that loomed above her, was busily snatching up the fallen seeds from the bird feeder high on a pole.

I was afraid I would witness a kidnapping and murder as the hawk would undoubtedly swoop in, grab the tasty morsel and fly off with his meal, or attack and devour it right in front of me. I didn't really want to witness that, but my curiosity got the better of me. I waited, but the hawk just kept watch. At one point, the squirrel looked up, jumped up to the lowest rail and then to the top, inching closer and closer to the bird. Thinking that surely the hawk would strike at that point, I braced myself for what I thought would play out in front of me, but...nothing. The hawk simply stared at the squirrel and I laughed. Incredible!

The squirrel jumped back down and resumed her meal. Eventually, the hawk spread his wings and took off. When he turned mid flight, I thought that he just needed to gather speed to swoop in to make the grab, but he simply passed over the squirrel and sailed up and over our small tool shed and was gone.

I thought about that all day and was puzzled. Today, as I was preparing to write, I saw my friend the hawk sitting atop the rail again, watching a squirrel nibble the fallen seeds. Nature sure is funny sometimes.

April 16, 2009: The day that changed my life

After going through menopause, surviving the hot flashes and night sweats, I thought I was in the clear, even though I did put on a little extra weight, which I never had to worry about before. Peri-menopause had caused all kinds of new health problems, or at least brought them to light and I was glad to be done with some of them. I developed allergies and was being treated for those when I was told my blood pressure was too high. Now, I have never had a problem with blood pressure, in fact, it's always been on the low side. 

The first medication worked, but the side effects were not acceptable to me, so my doctor found another that was better. Having taken Prevacid for acid reflux for six years, and being on allergy meds for over a year, I was just tired of taking prescription medication, so at my next blood pressure check up with my family doctor, I told her how fed up I was.

She stopped writing in my file, put her pen down, and looked at me with an odd smile. She said, "Well, you can try what I did."
It seems the same thing happened to her as she got older and was needing the same medications and more. She adopted a vegan diet and is now off all medication. I was intrigued and asked her all kinds of questions. I decided that I could do anything if it meant getting off meds.

I am now 10 weeks into my vegan lifestyle change and couldn't be happier. I've lost 14 pounds and am now off both my blood pressure and acid reflux medications. Makes you think about the stuff we put in our bodies! I can honestly say I haven't missed meat, cheese, eggs, butter, or milk at all. There are really lots of food options out there. Now, if only restaurants would catch up!

Back to school at 50?

Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking. I have two more years and then I can retire from public school education. Someone much wiser than I once said that you shouldn't retire 'from' something, but rather 'to' something. That was really my plan all along; I just didn't think it would be going back to school for a Ph.D.

My husband was a little surprised, not because of the academic pursuits, but because all I've talked about forever was how excited I was to be nearing the time when I could write full-time. You see, I'm an aspiring novelist and have been dabbling for many years with the excuse that I never had the time to do it seriously.

I've considered earning my Ph.D. for about 25 years now, but the time was just never right. Raising  two marvelous kids and working full-time, while trying to maintain several hobbies, seemed to be enough. And it was, until now.

So, the title of this blog came from my strange life path, one that has me heading back to school at 50 years old and almost retired. Wish me luck, because I still have to take the GRE. Please keep in mind that I haven't taken a math class since 1976. This should be interesting!