A Digital World Needs Digital Creators

I have seen some pretty remarkable changes to technology in my day.  My family didn't have a lot of money, but my dad seemed to make it work so that we would have many of the new things that came out.

We even had Pong!  I can't tell you how exciting it was for us to twist a nob around to make a white rectangle go up and down for hours on end! This was followed shortly by an Atari gaming console, and a Comodore 64 PC, complete with a datasette!

I didn't really do much with them other than play games and program a few simple lines of code as I was young and my dad really didn't have any interest in technology.  He just wanted us to have it (He's the same way now: no computer, no smartphone, upset that he had to get an answering machine).  The schools I went to didn't use computers (transparency, slide, and film projectors were the height of their attempts at tech until you got to high school, where they had brand new electric typewriters!) and they certainly didn't have access to tech for the students to explore and with which to play and create.  

That kind of hands-on technology learning was reserved for select colleges during the 70s and 80s.

Not so today.  Today schools are itching to get at the latest technologies to either have their teachers use to enhance the educational experience, or to get their students to use to create projects that demonstrate understanding of targeted skills.  Sometimes those technologies are flashes in the pan that seem like the next big thing, but are outdated almost as soon as they are produced and consumed by schools.  I'm talking to you, laserdisc players!

Those discs were HUGE, but I used them and loved them (there was a particular set by National Geographic about the geography of each continent that was amazing)!  Many schools have a one to one data device system so that our students are never far from the ability to create and explore.  But what are we having them produce?  For years I would have students take data captured from sites and have them move the data to a digital format like MS PowerPoint or Prezi.  As much as it was good to see my students produce quality work while using a "new to them" technology, in my opinion, it really wasn't creating.  It was more like digital copying.

This trip down nostalgia lane was really just an intro into what my students have been working on in the past week.  A week ago, we learned about poetry and the use of figurative language.  The curriculum didn't call for it, but I felt like I needed my students to show me what they know through a digital format.  I wanted them to write a poem that used figurative language, and I wanted what they were going to create to matter to them, to others, so I tried something a little out of my wheelhouse.  We had a poetry slam.  A poetry slam is an event where poetry, acting, and stand-up all come together as a venue for emotionally powerful story telling.  I had my students watch this young girl as encouragement that they could do this!  The poetry starts at 1:58 in the video.

How hard could it be?  Well, in hindsight I could have done several things better.  I could have given them more time to craft their poem.  I could have given them more time to practice, offering coaching sessions before the slam began.  I could have had them make cue cards or made them dress up for the show.  But I didn't.  I wanted to see what they would do.  I wanted to them to see that they were capable of creating something of value... that their voice matters... right now.

The performances really ended up being more of a Poetry Whisper, but with practice and another opportunity, I am quite confident that they will evolve into web-producers instead of just web-consumers.  Just look at this one video of a student who was doing her best to use onomatopoeia to express how we can make a difference.  It may be a little rough around the edges, but it's a diamond nonetheless! 

My goal for videos like the one above is to upload them to a YouTube channel that will make my student's content accessible world-wide.  We're not quite there yet, but I think I can label this first attempt as a success.  One that can definitely be built upon, but that's kind of the point of my blog.  I want to stretch myself, my students, and anyone else that might read this.  I stretching didn't end there though!

This is the last day of Digital Citizenship week and I was not about to let a week like that go without my students providing some quality content about what we have learned.  Full disclosure, everything we have learned about digital citizenship this year we have learned from www.digitalpassport.org , a website produced by Common Sense Media Inc. that is targeted to elementary aged children.  I highly recommend it (ice breaker activities, full lesson plans, video games, extension worksheets, and apps that let you students work on tablets or PCs) to teachers and parents alike.  We went through the entire program a few weeks ago.  They know the material, but I was struggling to figure out a way to let them show me in a creative, digital way... then it hit me! Memes!  It teaches an economy of language, forcing them to summarize thoughts about Digital Citizenship in as few words as possible. *I used Memecart to create the meme, but that meant that I had to create a shared file on Google Drive that had images that were labeled for reuse.  It took a little time, but I think I will share the folder with the rest of the school and allow them to add pictures themselves to grow the bank of pics.  Below are a few that were made just yesterday!

Seriously funny student... he gets it.

Simple, straight forward, powerful: Everything a really good meme should be!

I think this meme was only made better with the misspelling.

OK, I had to do one, but this was the only one!

Is that a simile... yes, it is!  And did I just teach that... yes I did!

I love that Twalkers is a part of their vocabulary now!

Make it personal, make your point!

I love the character projection here.  And the affirmation statement.  Priceless!

The word "nasty" and the picture match perfectly.

This last one was produced by a newcomer.  He hails from India and has been in the states for 3 months.  The language isn't perfect, but he understands the importance of protecting his password.

So what avenues are you using to help your student or child create online content?  Are there apps or websites that you have found that are particularly helpful to your students/children?  Post them in a comment below!  And thanks for reading!

Read Aloud: A Classroom Shared Experience

I'm in my 3rd year of teaching reading, we won't count that year in 8th grade *shudders*, and I think I'm getting the hang of it.  Our school follows the Lucy Caulkins game plan... pretty much to the letter.  When I read the books and watched the videos, I'll admit, I was hooked.  It just seemed to be the way reading was supposed to be taught.  I've seen remarkable things happen in the last 3 years, but I'd like to focus this blog entry on an experience that happened during the first week of school, this year.

You need to know, first, that I take "Read Aloud" time very seriously.  I have discovered that I am a storyteller.  I don't read, I enact.  Every character has his and her own voice.  The decibel level of the reading depends on what is happening in the story.  If the story calls for a whisper, my students have to lean forward in order to hear.  And there are times that I need to give my students time to recover from a bombastic moment of excitement.  When I read aloud, my students are in the palm of my hand, and I find that extraordinarily satisfying.  Though my moments of greatest joy come when my students have me in the palm of their hand as they make a connection to the text that was purely of their making and profound enough to change my life.  That happens more than you might think.

We started the lesson out by talking about shared experiences.  I asked my students to think about why we love watching a movie so much more when we are with someone else than when we watch it alone.  We talked about how we like laughing at the same things, and sharing what we loved about it the most.  These moments, I shared, are what tightens the bonds of friendship.  What I want most, when watching that movie with a friend, is to know that we share likes and dislikes... that they are... like me in some respects.  I informed them that reading a story together can have the same effect, if we let it.  

We were reading the second chapter of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate D. Camillo, an author who has written a number of books that were made to be read aloud.  In it, Camillo intentionally makes us have feelings towards Edward, who was being poorly treated by a dog and a maid, and for Abilene, his loving owner who found him when he had been misplaced by the maid.  We felt bad for Edward, and anger at the maid, but we mostly felt the joy that was so clearly evident in Abilene as she embraced him to the point that he could feel her heartbeat.  We all knew what that feeling was like: The moment something that was loved and lost was found!  But then Camillo puts in a paragraph.  It immediately followed Abilene's fervent expression of love for him and her want to never again be parted from him.  The book mentioned that Edward was felling a strong emotion as well, but that it was not love, but annoyance at his mistreatment.  I read the paragraph again and asked my students to turn and talk with each other about what feelings they now felt, after hearing the paragraph a second time.  It was universal.  They did not like the way that Edward, seemingly dismissed her love, and did not return it.

I was happy that they recognized the emotional twist that Camillo orchestrated, but I was touched deeply by a comment that another student made.  A young girl, who we'll call Ella, recounted an interaction that she had with a father with whom she had been separated through a divorce.  She recalled some emails she had received from him and how he wanted to see her and wanted to get to know her better.  The day came that they were brought together.  Ella had readied herself to get to know this stranger who was her father.  The meeting occurred, but the moment never happened.  He came, but made no attempt to embrace her or talk to her about who she was or what she liked.  Ella wanted a connection that he was not, in reality, ready to make.  It crushed her.  It crushed us.  I didn't talk for a few moments, allowing what she had shared to sink in.

In the end I told her that I appreciated sharing a connection that was so deeply personal.  I told her that I was grateful to get to know her better and in a way that most of her teachers ever will.  But this moment wasn't just for me.  Her classmates all shared this experience, all made the connection to this only too real-world moment, all became strengthened by joining in empathy for a brave young lady.

These moments happen each and every year I have had a read aloud in class.  Whether it was while reading Almost Home by Joan Bauer with a boy who had spent the better part of a year homeless, or Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr with the students who had relatives who had fought the fight against one type of cancer or another.  But they will only happen if we let it.  Purposefully.

I can't imagine starting this year of reading off in a better way than that.  I hope your beginnings are met with such successes!