South Africa

So - if you want to actually be able to read the text, you'll have to click the image. Even then, it's still small. My apologies...

A collage of images created in a caffeinated state while comfortably basking in the sun at Caffetto.

I intended for this to be a visual argument, but in essence, I think it's become an essay since it's not terribly persuasive. In composing this piece, I have to admit to frustration and confusion. Is Word my only option for constructing an artistic/visual work? I have no idea. And then, is taking a screen shot my only hope for publication? I used crude methods to get to this final destination and feel very limited in my ability to be creative considering my writing tools. All this technology, and I don't know what to do with it. When choosing images, I kept in mind emotional impact as well as coherence. I'm sure that I probably wasn't supposed to include any text in my visual assignment but I did anyway. I feel as if each of the characteristics (salience, organization, coherence, etc) were limited due to my composing in Word. The presentation would have been strengthened by larger images, perhaps a different format, pictoral graphics, as well as my own photography. I struggled with these issues in my media analysis post for Rick Beach as well.

As many of you know, I see my life drifting away from the intended path. While I believe passionately in education and know exactly what I'm capable of (i.e. giving 150% to the kids and surviving as an outstanding teacher), I don't think I want that for my life. I know what it takes to be one of those teachers that stands out from the crowd. I'm not a good balancer, as I have extremely high expectations for myself. What's the point in doing anything if you don't do it well? I don't want to be a mediocre teacher. There are enough of those out there. I don't doubt that I can do it - the question is - do I want to? In my dream world, I'm seeking growth, change, and connection.

If I get brave and go to Boikarabelo, perhaps I'll have another opportunity at creating a visual argument. Then I could showcase my own pictures.

There are 1.2 million AIDS orphans living in South Africa. Boikarabelo, founded by Marion and Con Cloete in 1990, is dedicated to improving the lives of the economically challenged, especially children who have been orphaned by or exposed to HIV/AIDS. Using the traditional African village (and its inherent ubuntu values of cooperation and joint responsibility) as a model, the community works together to break the cycle of poverty and bring hope, safety, education and sustainable growth to all residents. The community includes an orphanage, school, village, medical clinic and organic farm. Your donation will help Boikarabelo and its residents work together to feed themselves, educate themselves and to better themselves.

For more information go to www.boikarabelo.org

Take me to the BEACH.

The BEACH. Zihuatanejo. My favorite place in Mexico. A happy “hola” echoes from stranger to stranger on every street corner with a genuine friendliness unfound on a New York City subway or an LA boulevard. It’s a slower pace to life. Quieter. Simpler. A great escape. Bright sunshine warming my skin as I fall into a trance, mesmerized by the sound of the waves swishing on the sand. My mind blank. Relaxing. Resting. Daydreaming. A stray thought - Andy in Shawshank Redemption: ""Tell you where I'd go. Zihuatanejo. It's in Mexico. Little place on the Pacific. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I'd like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no memory... It's down there, and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying."

Forgot where I was for a moment. Beach - Rick Beach. What a guy! I find myself fascinated by Rick's fascination with media literacy. Digital writing is quickly becoming a coveted pasttime for young adults as they nimbly navigate the labrynths of myspace and facebook. Not only are these places to connect with friends and waste time, but they are also places to recreate yourself through words and images. They are destinations for expression and individuality. How do I know this? I confess. I have a myspace account. Be my friend? No facebook for me though. When it started getting popular, you needed to have a university e-mail address, and I had already graduated. So, I never jumped on that bandwagon. Back to what I was saying...

Academics. Digital writing. Here's the part that got me thinking: "However, in participating in classroom or academic chat sites in an academic setting, students may need to adopt a different set of practices than in social networking sites related to discussing assigned readings, brainstorming ideas, or engaging in mutual problem solving" (Beach, et al., 11). He goes on to say that we, as teachers, need to help students construct voice, purpose, and audience, create and maintain online identities, and convey beliefs/attitudes through online written language. What a great tool this internet thing can be! My surprising concern (I surprise myself sometimes) relates to "teaching an old dog new tricks" so to speak. These kids have been online since they could walk. I recognize that they're amazingly resilient and flexible, but still...the generation of students that we will be teaching are not newbies in the world of technology (except maybe for 10th grader, Tony, who needed a detailed explanation today of what it means to double-space a paper - yikes). For the most part, they're already actively a part of something that we may not be - participatory cultures. How do we adapt their already adept skills to an academic standard without zapping the fun out of it? It's one thing to spend your free time perusing the web and writing blogs but quite another to teach kids how to purposefully utilize the available online tools.

This week, my resource has nothing to do with my blog post. I usually like to cleverly link the two, but I decided that I'd forget about this website if I waited until it fit perfectly into my little blog bubble. Check out www.teenreads.com - Authors! Reviews! The Ultimate Reading List! Podcasts/Videos (coming soon)! This is a very cool website devoted to teens and their reading interests. I think there are a lot of sub-par websites out there on just about any and every topic. This one is worth a few minutes of your time.

Clap, Clap, Clap!

"We do not recommend a red pen under any circumstances simply because of its negative connotations" (Dornan, 186). Eva anybody? I felt sort of special last semester when Eva gave us each our very own spankin' new green pen. It was symbolic of who we are to become - conscious, mindful teachers. In my opinion, there is too much red in a world that needs to reflect much more green. Life is full of mistakes. Watch out! Don't look around the corner. You're about to make another mistake. The moment of truth comes like two roads diverged in a wood. Do you choose the worn, yet comfortable path of regret where mistakes symbolize failure? Or do you embrace the road less traveled - shaping your own destiny laced with growth and enlightenment - learning from your many mistakes? Education empowers students. Their writing improves with guidance from teachers who spend time constructively commenting on their papers. As a young student, I can remember being devastated getting back papers (that I devoted 110% to writing) covered in red pen. "Woe is me. I can't do anything write/right." As a college student, I can remember the firey hot anger I felt getting a paper returned with a marginal grade at the top (for me, at least) and NO comments. I'd put many hours and a lot of heart into that beautiful piece of writing. "Professor Emeritus, my ass." Yikes. The two extremes must make peace somewhere in the middle. Too much or too little is too confusing. Praise and constructive criticism from a respected teacher are invaluable and give students the motivation, self-esteem, and sense of self-efficacy vital to improving writing. I'm glad that Dornan takes the time to share these kind of thoughtful ideas and experiences. I'm going to need all the help I can get!

That said, I think it's also important to praise those who spend all their time praising everybody else. Sometimes it's the littlest things that make the job worth it. And sometimes, it's the big things. For the last 43 years, Minnesota has elected a teacher of the year. It's the oldest and most prestigious award given in Minnesota education. Check out Mike Smart's blog. He's the current Minnesota Teacher of the Year.

DY-NA-MITE!

"Time to the writer is like play dough in the hands of a toddler."

The concept that writers control and shape time in their stories is new to me. If it's new to ME, oh studier of English, it's definitely new to kids. Such a simple thing, and yet I've never concentrated on it in my own writing. I've never given much thought to how powerful it can be to expand what was mere moments in real time to what becomes pages in literary land. Hence - exploding a moment! Ka-pow! (Think Adam West Batman). The image of stealthily putting a stick of dynamite between words, shattering a sentence or two into many pieces, then putting them back together again, not in the original way they were found but in a new way, glued together with complimentary sensory details and drama - astounded that there's more now than when one began... cool.

In my experience, students have the least practice with effective revision strategies. They don't like to do it and further, they don't know how to do it. This isn't the first time they've claimed to hate something they've never tried. Caviar anyone? They struggle when it comes to peer review. Constructive criticism from their buddies isn't enough to guide students on a mission toward successful revision. Instead they need concrete tools to utilize when they just can't figure out what to do next. Barry Lane has it figured out. Thoughtshots, Snapshots, Exploding a Moment, and well, don't we all just love Making a Scene? These are smart, sassy, simple ways for students to hone their craft and crank out a final product they can be proud of.

As I was searching for a resource, I came across a powerpoint that illustrates Exploding a Moment beautifully. Check it out here.


Okay, so I wanted a picture of dynamite, and well, I guess I found some. This is the best I could do... GOSH.

You say you wanna be a WHAT?!

That's right. I'm planning on being an English teacher (well, at least getting licensed) and I consistently have to look up words and concepts in the articles we read. What the hell is rhetorical analysis, anyway? My oh my - I feel stupid. Well, for all those others out there feeling as stupid as I do, here you go: website 1, website 2, website 3. Did you know that rhetoric is the study of potential misunderstanding? Where have I been? Living under a rock? This whole rhetorical analysis comes into play in the anti-5-paragraph-essay article by Kimberly Wesley. Long story short, she ends up arguing for teaching the 5 paragrah essay as a "rhetorical form" with three units. She says that the traditional form painfully limits the choice of purpose, audience, and topic (creativity), thus preventing students from thinking rhetorically (I think I know what that means now).

Surprise, surprise - guess who supports teaching the 5 paragraph essay? I feel that the 5 paragraph essay is an amazing jumping off point for beginning writers. Organization, as we know, is crucial to putting your thoughts together and writing an "essay." Teaching students to master this is setting them up for the baby steps to success. By following some specific guidelines, it helps them to begin to formulate ideas and analyze material. BUT, that being said, it isn't the end all, be all. It can't be taught in isolation. The only thing that does is crank out a student like me who panics when given free reign during creative writing class. It's a helpful guide when students are first learning to write, especially in regards to academic writing.

Check out the bulleted list of the things included in the Capstone Leadership Project. If you're a high school junior or senior wanting to apply for the "Minnesota Scholars of Distinction in Leadership" award, you better know your five paragraph essay. I just thought that was really interesting.

Oh - this is entertaining too.

Digging for Sapphires

Digging for Sapphires. I love this analogy. Buried in the Earth amidst imposters (pebbles and rocks) lie beautiful jewels. When cleaned and polished, these stones sparkle and take on value, especially to the one that discovered them. Not everyone can find them. Like panning for gold, it takes patience and determination. The work hardly seems worth it at first... until that little blue flash of light catches your eye. Ruth Culham likens this process to the challenge of choosing a topic to write about. What a daunting task! BUT, once you uncover that most intriguing topic, you must acquire the resources/skills (i.e. 5 other traits) necessary to crank out a quality product, perhaps something resembling a precious sapphire ring in a beautiful diamond setting.

As I was reflecting upon the the "6+1 Traits of Writing," my usual thoughts surfaced - "How practical is this? Are schools actually using it?" WELL... this time, I had the opportunity to find out. My cooperating teacher confirmed that teachers are in fact teaching these traits - some more than others. However, it's all still very subjective as teachers determine the rules and instruct students in the characteristics of "good writing." There wasn't a lot of time for a more in-depth conversation, as we then went into lockdown mode and entertained students for the next hour and fifteen minutes. I'm not quite sure how a chlorine spill occurs, but one certainly did today. Oh and did you know that a pro can build 36 stories or more in Jenga?

When I was searching for some type of resource to attach to my thoughts above, I ran across a list (compiled each year) of actual metaphors and analogies from high school essays submitted by teachers across the country. I don't know that I'm convinced that these are from real papers that kids have written, but nevertheless, they're great! I figured that lost among all of this academia, we sometimes forget our sense of humor. Okay, maybe that's just me.

Laugh. It's good for you.

Evaluation Criteria

If students were to create their own documentary, here are some of the things I would look for:

-Does this documentary convey a message to the audience?
-Is the topic choice appropriate?
-Does this documentary include research by the student? Did the student seek out interviewees, media sources (newspaper, internet, books), and other background information necessary for the validity/credibility of the claims being made?
-Does this documentary use varied editing techniques?
-Did the student write a reflection of the documentary creation process, focusing on difficulties, strengths, and weaknesses as self-evaluated by the student?