hack to school learner-led conference script

Here are the questions:

1. What is the purpose of this course?
2. Describe something interesting that you have learned, read, and/or written during this course so far.
3. What is the easiest experience you've had so far?
4. What is the most challenging experience you've had so far?
5. What are your goals for the next grading period?  For the semester? For the year?
6. What is a Socratic Seminar?

family/community/mentorship

Whether you and/or your families can make it to Hack to School Night or not, everyone you know is an extension of our learning network. Any time they want to learn something from us or share an expertise with us they are welcome.

This concept may be new to you because high school traditionally emphasizes subject-by-subject specialization in closed classrooms.  However, this practice is the norm in a world where collaboration and interdependence are essential factors for success.  For example, my daughter's elementary school just sent home this notice:

See you tonight!

two dogs and the nature of story

Young Goodman Brown decides to go for a walk.  He thinks that the enemy is the devil.  But he ventures out at sunset to meet him.  He thinks his wife-- his Faith--is the force of good in his life.  But he leaves her at home.  He thinks he's in charge every time he chooses whether to go on or to stop.

This guy clearly doesn't have a handle on his situation.

Story isn't about action, or theme, or love, or death, or good and evil.  It's about conflict.  Young Goodman Brown's character is only interesting to us because of his strange circumstances and the choices he makes in dealing with them.  When was the last time anyone got interested or even heard of a story about a nice person who had a nice day, went to sleep, woke up the next day early and refreshed, and did it all over again?  Our lives are filled with obstacles, both real and perceived, and what makes stories compelling to us is how characters deal with the challenges they encounter.  For generations English teachers the world over have categorized those conflicts: man v. himself, man v. man, man v. nature, etc.  (Stunningly, we've managed to take the most interesting element of story and make it multiple-choice boring.)

Conflict is entertaining.  Every "Reality TV" show ever made depends on conflict for its success.  This is not an exaggeration: every single one of those shows, in every single genre, for every kind of audience, goes out of its way to manufacture conflict because that's what attracts viewers.

Marshall McLuhan was one of the most insightful commentators on media and communication in the 20th century.  He's the guy who famously observed that, "The medium is the message."  More importantly for us, he noted:

Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.

We have learned a great deal so far this semester.  Some of what we've learned has come from the traditional American Literature curriculum: diction, syntax, tone, mood, theme, allusion, symbol, genre, etc.  Most of what we've learned has to do with our individual styles and our learning community.  I've learned that some of you still think you're passive consumers of a teacher's curriculum, or worse, the entertaining conflict of "student v. school."

McLuhan also said: There are no passengers on spaceship Earth.  We are all crew.

Those of you who still operate under the illusion that the roles of "teacher" and "student" are separate are trapped in old ways of thinking and you're missing the point of Open Source Learning.  For all his talk of caring, poor Young Goodman Brown doesn't see the people in his life for who they really are as individuals.  He categorizes them according to simplistic labels like "good" and "evil."  As a result, he's heartbroken when their words and deeds don't fit his expectations.  When he sees the conversation between the devil and Goody Cloyse, Young Goodman Brown suffers a crisis of meaning-- but why should the private life of an old lady shake his own identity and everything he believes to be true?  In reality, people do both "good" and "bad" things in the world.  We hope they learn from the bad and use their learning to contribute to the good.  In fact, we hope that all of "them" eventually come to realize there really is no "them."  There is only us.  We want to be understood, and that begins with understanding ourselves.  The next time you want to know who's responsible for how you're feeling, grab a mirror.

The other day I had a conversation with Jesus about history.  Sometimes it's hard to connect the Founding Fathers or the Hawley-Smoot Tariff with what's happening today.  But whose job is it to connect the dots?  (Spoiler: it's yours.)  If you want to Learn, you have to stop settling for Being Taught.  I am not only giving you permission, I am demanding that you question the value of what we read and do.  Whenever it's not clear, ask me: WTF is the POINT?  I'll even go a step further: if what you find isn't motivating, let's talk about what else is out there, and let's do this now, because the world won't wait for you.  In fact, the more you read, the more you realize that other people have felt the same way as you and are waiting for you to show up and take your place in the conversation.  You also come to realize that the other 8 billion people on the planet have their own problems and they're not going to care very long if you sit on the sideline and sulk.  As Stephen Crane put it:

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”

       
Example: those of you who read "Earth on Turtle's Back" will be rewarded next week when we have an essay exam comparing the story with "Young Goodman Brown."  Since you were supposed to read it and take notes on it weeks ago, and since you're preparing for a life of independent learning, I'm not going to remind you again and I'm not going to review it in class-- unless you ask me to, in which case I'll drop everything after we finish "Young Goodman Brown" and do whatever it takes to make sure you understand the essentials.  If that causes you any sort of concern or negative feeling, consider how willing I am to help you and how hard I've worked so far to prove it.  Then consider this gem of Native American wisdom, from Sitting Bull:

Inside of me there are two dogs.  One is mean and evil and the other is good.  Which one wins?  Whichever I feed the most. 

It's easy to feed the dog that seems like an old friend, and we are most sensitive to negative information.  Change is hard.  Overcoming obstacles is hard. Sometimes the fight for happiness actually feels more rewarding than actually experiencing happiness.  So ask yourself whether you're really taking steps to overcome conflicts or just sitting with the same old tapes that say, "I can't," or "I'm just not good at ____," or "That teacher doesn't like me," or "[insert your favorite/s here]."

We are all under a great deal of pressure.  Monday we only had 30 minutes, Friday we'll only have 30 minutes, there are 34+ people in a class, we're all constantly worried that we suck at what we do or that we're not doing enough, and after a day of standing around in the sun we're hot and tired.  The obstacles are out there.  We may not be able to control those obstacles (which will be an interesting question when we study Naturalism and return to "Richard Cory") but we can control how we respond to them.  You have more power than you think you do, so use this course to flex your questioning muscles.  Stop being a victim of your education and start putting it to work for you.  Ask yourself what kind of environment you want for 50 minutes and push your colleagues (including me) to help you create it.  Whether I'm in the room or not, if someone upsets the balance by clinging to their hurt, or their old stereotypes, or their need to be the center of attention, or whatever, find a way--with empathy, compassion, and critical thinking-- to bring attention to his/her choices and remind him/her that no one is putting that person in that box except him/her.

After we finish this week and I give a final exam on the first month of class, we're going straight to another story about a guy who went for a walk.  Taking a walk is a small journey that begins with one step-- this is an important metaphor for the work we're doing right now.  Ray Bradbury wrote "The Pedestrian" after he went for a late-night stroll and police started questioning him just because he was out.  That experience and that story led Bradbury (who once asked my grandmother out when they sat next to each other at Los Angeles High School) to write Fahrenheit 451.  Lots of people think that book is about censorship.  Partly, but it's really about self-determination.  We live in a world where it's hard to imagine that one person can make up her own mind, make her own way in the world, and in the process make a difference for others.  If you feel this way, spend some time with these words from expert-on-the-subject Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  

We get to walk a path that Young Goodman Brown hasn't yet discovered, a path where people aren't just "good" or "evil" or "teacher" or "student," but complex individuals trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in the world. 

Again I realize that an author has put it best, so the last word goes to Robert Frost:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

august 31

JOURNAL TOPIC:  (today's tunes: "The End" by The Doors)

If you've read the rest of "Young Goodman Brown," summarize what happens when he goes deeper into the woods and describe his character at the end of the story.  If you haven't yet read it, use your imagination and do those same two things.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Two Dogs & the nature of story
3. Vocab prep
4. Individual work and conference/portfolio prep

HW:
1. Get right with your blog and prepare for individual performance evaluation next week
2. Finish reading "Young Goodman Brown" and answer questions if you haven't yet

hack to school night

(my t-shirt from OSCON)
 
To be clear: the word hack has been associated with definitions ("sharp cough, "cut with unskillful blows," & "illegal/unauthorized computer access," e.g.) that do not describe what we do.

We make connections and facilitate conversations that help people learn.   We build, evaluate and modify things to make them work better.

You know how they say, "[So'n'so] just can't hack it?" Well, we can.

So, at Back-- er, Hack to School night, we are at it again. Get here whenever you can. Bring whoever you want. Offer them the benefit of what you know and find a way to learn from them too. Share new ideas about technology and how you can use it to get ahead in life.

Here is the program:
1. Learner-led conference (see below)
2. Periodic "Intro to Digital Life" presentations
3. Sign-ups for "friend of the course" events and "digital drop-in" nights

Here is the process:
1. Think about these questions and your answers to them;
2. Bring an interested adult to Hack to School Night;
3. Have them ask you these questions, be suitably brilliant in your replies, and demand that they take notes so that you know they're paying attention;
4. Turn in their notes to me, get your extra credit, listen to me brag about you briefly;
5. Go home and finish your homework.

Here are the questions:

student led conference script

august 30

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Symbol in My Driveway" by Jack Johnson; "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones]

Describe three symbols in your life that give people a clue as to who you really are.

[AND/OR]

Describe the symbolic clues to the old man's real identity from yesterday's reading of "Young Goodman Brown."

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Young Goodman Brown" continued
3.  Review vocab definitions & usage

HW:
1. Study for vocab quiz tomorrow
2. Finish Literature Analysis #1 by Friday, September 2

are you one of the lucky 6?

If you're on the blog right now, comment to this post in the next ten minutes (by 9:00 PM PDT) with something insightful about how the symbolism in "Young Goodman Brown" adds to the meaning of the story-- and get an AUTOMATIC A on this week's vocabulary quiz.

vocabulary: fall list #2

Definitions & sentences due tomorrow (post to your blog or turn in hard copy).  Quiz on Friday, 9/2.

These words are all from "Young Goodman Brown" -- knowing them will help you better understand the story.

faith
threshold
tarry
resolve
discern
martyr
mirth
catechism
pious
frenzy  

august 29

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: radio silence]

What song do you sing when there's nothing on the radio? What thoughts do you think when it's quiet and you have the chance to think about whatever you want?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Head to the library and check out books
3. Work on this week's schtuff (if there's time)

HW (a.k.a. "this week's schtuff):
1. Ask a friend to read your answers to "Young Goodman Brown" questions and comment (on your blog) and make at least one constructive edit offline (can be an idea, or an edit to spelling/ grammar/ punctuation/ capitalization)
2. Literature Analysis #1 (due Friday, 9/2)
3. Post definitions and sentences for vocab list #2 (quiz Friday, 9/2)

wowee check this out

As we talked about yesterday in class, a great way to add value for other people is to share how you solved a problem.  Some of us had challenges uploading videos to blogs, so I asked if anyone was willing to share a solution.

Leydi went above and beyond the call of duty and made THIS.  Check it out.  If it helps you, please visit her blog and say thanks.

august 26

JOURNAL TOPIC: ["Walking in LA" by Missing Persons; "These Boots Are Made for Walkin" by Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra]

On your walk home a dog starts talking to you.  As soon as someone else walks by, the dog stops.  He only talks when you're alone.  And he tells you a secret that can save the world.  But to share it, you'll have to divulge your source, and that might make you sound crazy.  What will you do?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Vocab quiz
3. "Young Goodman Brown" (continued)

HW:
1. Finish reading "Young Goodman Brown" (for real) and answer the "Young Goodman Brown Questions" in a post entitled YGB QUESTIONS)

young goodman brown questions

1. What do you think Hawthorne's purpose was for writing this story?
2. Hawthorne states that Brown's wife is "aptly named" Faith.  After reading the story, do you agree?  Does Faith's name fit her personality?  Does Brown have true faith in her?
3. What do you think the pink ribbons signify?
4. Was everything Brown witnessed real, a figment of his imagination, something conjured by evil, or a dream?  Support your answer with passages from the text.
5. Who do you think the old man really is?  What textual clues tell you this?
6. What does the staff represent?  Do you think the staff leads Brown onward or is the primary motivator Brown's own conscience/mind?
7. If Brown had not ventured into the forest, how would his life be different?  If he'd stayed home, would Brown still have Faith?  Would he still trust his wife and his fellow townspeople

how do i post videos to my blog?

There are a variety of ways to embed videos on your blog, and-- since I am an expert in none of them-- here are two strategies I hope will help:

1. Find a blogger in the Member Blogs who has figured it out and ask him/her how;
or
2. If you are one of those people who has succeeded, please share your method in a comment below.

a 7 year-old can do this course

Today I'm home with my daughter.  So what am I up to?

Playing Legos and making chili con carne.

I have also been posting to the course blogs and answering emails from students.  Earlier my daughter was looking over my shoulder and saw the picture of her fish.  She read the post and cracked up (I already told her the story at dinner, but she didn't know it was online: "Daddy, you TWEETED that?")

When she saw the post my daughter noticed something else on the blog.  "Daddy," she said, "Why did you type that you never learned to read?"  I explained the reading assessment idea and showed her the video of me reading Fox in Sox. We had just finished a conversation about how learning should always be fun, even in school.  "Hey," she said.  "I can do that."

I answered with a smile: "Yeah? Prove it."

So she did.  And check out the look she gives me when she pronounces Dr. Seuss' name correctly.






Do your homework. For the grading period I may just make it simple: can you do what a 7 year-old can do? And the most important thing in this video and this post is what she DOESN'T do.

She doesn't get distracted by the dishwasher. She doesn't even look up when the timer goes off. And she never, ever, EVER gives up.

august 25

I'm posting this the day before because I can't WAIT to get back!!! Hope everyone is doing well and where they want/need to be in the course. If you need anything please email. See you tomorrow :) _______________________________________

This should be interesting.

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley)
This is a quick write: Describe what you learned in this course so far this week.  If you need inspiration, listen to the song and/or consider the picture.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. REBOOT
3. We are born learners
3. Next steps: essay topics, portfolios, & hack to school night

HW:
1. On a PIECE OF PAPER, please answer the following questions: a) What work have you produced so far in this course? b) What grade would you give yourself at this point? c) What do you need to succeed?
2. Post vocab definitions & sentences to your blog or write them on paper. Due by 8 AM on Friday, August 26

august 24

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Please reflect on your independent work process.  Are you getting stuff done?  What about your working environment is helping you achieve?  What's holding you back?  What are you going to do next in order to succeed?

*OR*

A Native American elder described his conflicting emotions as two dogs, one good and one evil, fighting all the time. When someone asked which dog wins, the elder replied, "The one I feed the most." Describe a time you were ambivalent (*look that up if you don't know what it means) and explain which dog you fed.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Same deal as yesterday. We reconvene tomorrow (Thursday)

HW:
Q: What did the mama tomato say to the baby tomato when they were out walking and the baby tomato lagged behind?
A: Catsup!

Please make sure your portfolio is up to date.  See you in class Thursday!

august 23

The first couple weeks of this course were a mad dash.  Since I'm off campus this week, it's a good time to slow down a little and cross some things off our lists.  Please take a moment to reflect on those things you started but haven't finished, and those things you haven't started yet, and make a list of what you need to accomplish this week in order to get caught up.  Feel free to comment to this post with your list.  Your exit ticket today, which you are required to hand to the substitute before you leave, is your list with a status report on each item.  In other words, once you figured out what you needed to do, did you use the 50 minutes to do it?

JOURNAL TOPIC:
What do you need to do in order to catch up and/or get ahead?  What will you do first and why?  What's better to do in class with your colleagues, and what do you feel better about doing at home?

AGENDA:
Here are the possibilities we talked about; if you can think of something else please add it in the comments):

• Add design elements to your blog
• Catch up on assignments/posts (Welcome post, "Richard Cory" recital, "Right to Your Opinion" response, etc. etc.)
• Complete/add to your journal topics
• Define & study vocab
• Video reading assessment 
• Read "Young Goodman Brown" & "Conscience of a Hacker" and respond on your blog
• Read your Literature Analysis book
• Begin answering Literature Analysis Questions #1

the art of the essay

Please read "The Conscience of the Hacker" for us to discuss on Thursday.  Between now and Thursday please post a response to the essay on your blog.  Mahalo.

august 22

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Don't You Remember" by Adele; "Memory" by Barbra Streisand]
When we read we make connections between the text and what we already know.  Sometimes we find ourselves surprised when a book calls to mind an old memory we haven't thought about in a long time.  What are your earliest memories?  What makes some things impossible to remember and other things impossible to forget?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Old Business: catching up, blogs etc.
3. New Business: the art of the essay
4. New Business: "Young Goodman Brown"


HW:
1. Read "Conscience of a Hacker" and respond with first impressions on your blog
2. Finish reading "Young Goodman Brown" and respond with first impressions in a post to your blog (title: YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN)
3. Spend time with vocab (nightly/ quiz Friday)

***If Preston's off-campus today for your period, please use your time to catch up.  

Here's a list of possibilities.***

• Journal topics
• Course blog/email Preston URL/Twitter
• Comment to "Will this blog see tomorrow?" and "Big Question" posts on course blog
• Comment to "Literature Analysis #1 sign-up" 
• Read your Literature Analysis #1 book if you have it
• Read the text from last night's homework and comment to August 20 post
• Post to your course blog with Reflections from Week 1
• Post to your course blog about the "Right to Your Opinion"
• Design and post to your course blog to make it awesome/r
• [What am I forgetting? If you can think of something please comment to this post.]

literature analysis questions #1

Here are the initial questions for your literature analysis.  We will refine this list and add to it after reading the first round of each others' analyses.

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.  Avoid cliches.  
3. Based on the author's tone, describe how you imagine the author's morning routine.  Does s/he get up early or sleep late?  Coffee, tea, or no caffeine?  Yoga/meditation/exercise?  Groggily stumble to the toilet and wish s/he wasn't so hungover?  Breakfast?  If so, what kind of food?  No, I am not kidding.  There is no shortcut for this, only your own imaginative thinking based on how you read his/her work and interpret his/her tone.  Include no fewer than three (3) excerpts from the text that illustrate your points.
4. Describe five (5) literary techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  These techniques may include characterization, figurative language, or anything else you've ever studied.  If you can't come up with five, do your best to remember and then look up "literary techniques" online and see if something rings a bell.  Include three (3) excerpts for each technique that will help your reader understand the technique and how it helped you gain insight.

make this blog work for you

Are you still clicking back here multiple times a day to see if I've posted something new?  Unless you're checking at 1:07 P.M. on a Sunday afternoon, it's gonna be a while until you see this post.

Suggestion: follow the blog.  Use the widget on the right side of this page (web version) to sign up.  That way, whenever I post you will get a message in your email Inbox letting you know.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! 

this fish is smarter than i am

I will never understand this.  Yesterday I cleaned my daughter's fish tank.  I caught all the fish in a small net to put them in a baggie while I siphoned out a third of the tank, cleaned all the algae off the glass, and put in new water with a couple chemicals.  Simple.

Not simple.

One fish eluded the net.  This one.

"OK," I thought as I came back to the tank, "Fine.  Be too quick for me.  I'll just clean the tank with you in it."

But when I returned from putting the other fish in the bathroom, he was nowhere to be found.  It's a small tank.  With glass sides.  Multi-colored rocks, a bubbler, a shell and a fake coral-looking thing on the bottom.  That's it.  As you can see, this fish is the color of emergency crew jackets.  Shouldn't be hard to find.

Gone.

I was totally confused for the entire 45 minutes it took me to clean the tank, replace the filter, change the water, and wait for the chemicals to filter through.  Then I put the other fish back in.

And had my mind blown.

The fish is back in the tank.

Sure, I could joke about fish magic, or that dimension where the other sock sometimes goes, or Hamlet's will-puzzling undiscovered country, but this is for real. 

I don't know how he did it.

Thank goodness I had a witness or this would all sound nuts.  Ms. H was in the house and saw the mystery for herself.  He was really gone, and then he was really back.

That is one smart fish.

"i never learned to read!"

You know, as much as we talk about reading, it's easy to overlook the fact that some of us didn't grow up with books and occasionally have a hard time with the basics.

Consider poor Wayne:




So, how do you know how well you can sound out words and get through a text without mistakes?

Here's how:
1. Watch the video below;
2. Get a copy of Fox in Sox by Dr. Seuss;
3. Set up a phone or a camera (or get a friend to help);
4. Read the book as fast and as well as you can;
5. Record your time and the number of mistakes you make;
6. Compare your numbers with mine.  Don't forget to count my mistakes--I just learned that I've been mispronouncing the author's name my whole life!
7. Post your video and your stats on your blog under the heading I CAN READ!

UPDATE: In reply to questions from the email bag...

• If you're having trouble finding the book, here is the text without the pics. 
• My reading was a one-take job, but yours doesn't have to be.  You can practice all you want before posting your best effort.
• To earn course credit you must post I CAN READ! by 11:59 P.M. Wednesday, August 24. (Bonus for add'l. renditions with friends/relatives :)

literature analysis sign up period 6

literature analysis #1 sign-up (period 6)

Please comment to this post with the book and author you chose.  Mahalo.

literature analysis sign up period 5

literature analysis #1 sign-up (period 5)

Please comment to this post with the book and author you chose.  Mahalo.

literature analysis sign up period 4

literature analysis #1 sign-up (period 4)

Please comment to this post with the book and author you chose.  Mahalo.

literature analysis sign-up period 3

literature analysis #1 sign-up (period 3)

Please comment to this post with the book and author you chose.  Mahalo.

ways we can help each other

As we talked about in class this week, there are many ways for you to collaborate, such as: study partners/groups, online forums, even lists of features like journal topics, assignments, and vocabulary lists so that you don't have to comb through the blog. 

Here is a link to a tool past students created; if anyone does something like this, or anything else online, please let me know so I can include a page or a link to help others find it.  Mahalo.

vocabulary: fall list #1

theme
tone
mood
diction
syntax

stupid
adumbrate
apotheosis
ascetic
bauble
beguile
burgeon
complement
contumacious
curmudgeon
didactic

august 19

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Wankatakiya" and "It Is a Good Day" by Spirit Nation]

Since the words of these songs are unfamiliar, just listen to them as part of the music for now.  It's a good time to think about tone and mood.  Tone is the author's attitude toward the characters, the subject, and/or the audience.  Mood is the emotional state of the reader.  How would you describe the tone and mood of these songs?  How would you describe the tone and mood of Earth on Turtle's Back?

AGENDA:
1. Journal/collect ("Happy First Full Week Friday!" I was told 3x on the way to class)
2. Heads-up on calendar
3. Vocab #1

HW:
1. Study vocab
2. Select Literature Analysis book (fiction) and bring to class on Monday

what's your big question?

Our minds are naturally inclined toward associative and interdisciplinary thinking.  We connect the dots in all sorts of ways, often when we don't fully comprehend the experience (and sometimes when there aren't even any dots).  

We have questions about the nature of the world: our experience of it, our place in it, our relationship to it, what lies beyond it, and everything else.  When we're young we ask questions all the time.  We are insatiably curious.  It's like somehow we intuitively understand that the more we learn the better we get at everything--including learning.  We don't worry about curricular units or standards.  We have no test anxiety.  We test ourselves all the time.  We love risk and we don't care if we fail.  It's always somebody else who's saying, "Hey, come down from there, you're going to get hurt!"* [*Often, they're right.  In any case they're probably more experienced in estimating the odds of that was fun didn't hurt vs. itchy leg cast for a month outcomes.  But sometimes you just KNOW you can do it and it's frustrating to be told you can't.  Pushing the edge is what learning is all about.** {**As a teacher/responsible adult I must explicitly remind you to do this (i.e., learn/push the edge/create new neural pathways in your brain that actually change your mind) in ways that will not break laws or harm any sentient beings-- most especially you-- or offend, irritate, annoy, upset, or anger your parents.***} <***If you think this is a lot of footnotes, or whatever we're calling the blogger's equivalent, you should read David Foster Wallace (especially Infinite Jest).  In fact, this is the perfect time for you to consider his commencement speech (which doesn't contain footnotes, but does contain the sort of wisdom that more people should hear while there's still time to do something about it.).  At any rate, if you're still following this sentence you'll do fine in this course.>}]  Not only do we love climbing learning limbs when we're young, we know it's what we're best at.  Most of us learn whole languages best between the ages of 5-12.  Our amazing brains manage the torrential inflow by creating schema. 

We have every incentive to accelerate and amplify our learning as we age.  Our future is increasingly complex and uncertain.  Our culture and economy favor those in the know.  Learning is increasingly your responsibility as individuals.  You're becoming more independent; in about a year you'll be heading off to college, where your professors may not know you exist and definitely won't care how you organize your binder.  As if all that isn't motivation enough for you to get your learning on, it turns out that not learning may actually be bad for you.  We form new neurons and connections in our brains when we learn.  Scientists are investigating whether the lack of new neuron formation is a cause for depression or an interfering factor in recovery.

When it comes to thinking for yourself in the traditional high school setting, though, there are constraints.  Inquiry that doesn't "fit" in the classroom is too often seen as insubordinate.   By definition, individualism and divergent thinking don't regress to the mean or conform to a one-size-fits-all syllabus.  We will have to find ways to gracefully lose arguments and compromise.  In addition, a culture of fear of punishment or embarrassment can lead the smartest and most successful learners to surrender and play the game.  When this happens, motivated learning in the presence of no opportunity dies the same death as a fire in the presence of no oxygen.  The authors of "The Creativity Crisis" say we ask about 100 questions a day as preschoolers-- and we quit asking altogether by middle school. 

In his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie describes visiting schools to show students how artists sculpt steel into animals:

“I always began with the same introduction: ‘Hi My name is Gordon MacKenzie and, among other things, I am an artist... How many of you are artists?’

The pattern of responses never failed.

First grade: En mass the children leapt from their chairs, arms waving wildly, eager hands trying to reach the ceiling.  Every child was an artist.

Second grade: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher.  The raised hands were still.

Third grade: At best, 10 kids out of 30 would raise a hand.  Tentatively.  Self-consciously. 

And so on up through the grades.  The higher the grade, the fewer children raised their hands.  By the time I reached sixth grade, no more than one or two did so and then only ever-so-slightly—guardedly—their eyes dancing from side to side uneasily, betraying a fear of being identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.’”  

Richard Saul Wurman (the man who created the TED conference) said, "In school we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question.”  School and the way it works was designed back when things were very different and oriented around mass production; that's not the way the world works any more.  You can't just prepare for a job that may not be around by the time you graduate.  And in the age of the search engine, there is no real point in learning facts for their own sake, especially since so many of them eventually turn out not to be facts after all.  You have to develop the critical thinking, problem-solving, oppurtunity-seeking, and collaborative skills that will enable you to CREATE a role for yourself in the new economy.  (And don't worry, if you're not an entrepreneur by nature, these abilities will help you do whatever else you want to do more effectively.)

So, our first mission is to reclaim the power of the question.  Everything you ask has an interdisciplinary answer.  Show me a cup of tea and I'll show you botany, ceramics, and the history of colonialism (for starters).  Wondering why your girlfriend doesn't love you any more?  Psychology, poetry, probability... you get the idea.  And no matter what the question or the answers, you're going to have to sort the signal from the noise and determine how best to share the sense you make.

What's your Big Question?  

What have you always wanted to know?  What are you thinking about now that you've been asked?  What answers would make a difference in your life, or in the community, or in the world?  What do you wish you could invent?  What problem do you want to solve?  This is not a trick and there are no limits.  Please comment to this post with your question and post it to your course blog (title: MY BIG QUESTION).  You can always change your question or ask another.  If you need some inspiration, check out this year's Eng 3 Big Questions here.

august 18

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "You Talk Too Much" by Run-D.M.C.; "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zeppelin]

So many phrases say the same thing: Talk is cheap. A picture's worth a thousand words. It's not what you said, it's how you said it. Since words are so easy to create we tend to mistrust them. We use our intuition to "read between the lines" and determine what someone really means.  Describe how we listen, read, and learn without depending on words.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Earth on Turtle's Back" discussions (take notes for your blog post)

HW:
1. Post your notes from today (title: SOCRATIC SEMINAR #1/ EARTH ON TURTLE'S BACK)
2. Post your first impression/offering as a comment to "What's Your Big Question?"
3. Put next week's vocab quiz in your calendar & start studying

august 17

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "The Logical Song" by Supertramp; "Argument" by Monty Python; "Think" by James Brown]

Why do people argue?  What factors should determine who wins an argument?  Describe a time when you won or lost an argument.  Did the experience change your mind?  If it did, why?  If it didn't, what would have?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Old Business:

• "The Right to Your Opinion"
• "Richard Cory"

3. New Business:

• Literature analysis
• Vocabulary
• Mini-Socratic seminar: "The Right to Your Opinion" & "Earth on Turtle's Back" (featuring an introduction to rhetoric & early American literature)

HW:
1. Recover: bring your blog up to date.
2. Reflect: post your notes from this week's class to your blog.
3. Prepare: for Friday's vocabulary test (>15 minutes each day).
4. "Earth on Turtle's Back"

• In a post to your blog entitled ANCIENT STORIES, answer the following questions:
  

• How is the language in this text similar to and/or different from the language you use in everyday conversation?
• Because it began as an oral story, "Earth on Turtle's Back" can be found in multiple text versions.  How important is it for a story to be repeated word for word?  Is meaning embellished, distorted, lost, or enhanced in the retelling?
• [BONUS] Find your own early (pre-writing/1492) American myth and compare it to "Earth on Turtle's Back"-- come to class Thursday prepared to discuss.

why teachers don't like food and drink in class

mindfulness

So, my students are writing on the topic of mindfulness.  I'm taking attendance, answering email, signing an event form, and trying to listen to two students ask me questions at once.  Maybe this isn't the time to try and drink a smoothie out of a mason jar.

video upload challenge

Some of you have found unique challenges and solutions in uploading your video.  If you're having a problem, or if you have figured out a way forward, please comment to this post.  Mahalo.

august 16

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Freedom of Choice" by Devo; "Freewill" by Rush]

We use phrases like "pay attention" and "make a decision" all the time-- what do they mean to you? How would you teach a child to do either?  How might you improve your own abilities in these areas?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Richard Cory" theme and tone
3. "The Right to Your Opinion"
4. Self-determination

HW:
1. Read "The Earth on Turtle's Back" and post a 1-3 sentence response on your blog

quote of the day

Overheard in Period 6:

"Get on my level, Maira."

lost keys

Someone in period 4 left their keys behind.  If you think that person might be you, please see Dr. Preston. Mahalo.

how to create a blog post

1. Go to the Blogger Dashboard
2. Click on "Create New Post" (orange box with the pencil icon)
3. Give your post a title
4. Write your post & include any pictures, videos or links you want us to see
5. Proofread!
6. Publish your post and make sure you like the way it looks
7. Sit back, relax, and enjoy that sweet, sweet feeling of success

august 15

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Learning to Fly" performed by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and "Learning to Fly" performed by Pink Floyd)

What did you learn in this class last week?

(NOTE: this can be something about language, something about technology, something about learning, or even something about yourself...)


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Richard Cory" -- your recitals and analysis
3. Blog reviews
4. Do you have the Right to Your Opinion? -- discussion

HW:
1. Catch up on anything you're missing
2. Help a friend do the same

our online legacies

Just after 6th period today Jish showed me something from one of my former students.  Some of you may have known Breanna Rodriguez.  This was her version of "The Laughing Heart."  Somehow it seems even more compelling now.  Enjoy.

august 12

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: Fela Kuti's "Teacher Don't Teach Me No Nonsense"]

What is your favorite music? How would you describe it to a deaf person?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Richard Cory" LIVE: shift, voice, theme, genre
3. Treasure hunt

HW:
1. For Monday: "The Right to Your Opinion" and "Richard Cory" (cont'd.)
2. Blog posts: Welcome message and responses to readings
(UPDATE: your response to reading is up to you.  I just want to know you read each text enough to form a first impression, ask a question, express an opinion, and post to your blog.  I will use what I see to launch our conversations on Monday.)

august 11

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe your most memorable moment from class yesterday.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Blogging
3. "Richard Cory" & memorization

HW:
1. Email Dr. Preston with: a) confirmation of your name in the Member Blogs roster; your class period; and 3) your blog's URL.  If you run into any challenges please let me know.
2. Get your "Richard Cory" on

ted talk on open source learning

Because-- and ONLY because-- some of you asked:

it's official: we're an open source learning network

It was great to meet you all today!  We have a lot to do.  Tomorrow we will go live online, working with this blog and building yours.  This page will never look the same.  Please take a look and make sure your name looks the way it should.

don't take my word for it

august 10

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes: "Move on Up" by Curtis Mayfield)

Hunter S. Thompson observed, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."  How do you respond to challenges that arise from circumstances you didn't predict?

AGENDA:
1.  To be an Open Source Learning network or not to be an Open Source Learning network?
2. Journal
3. "Richard Cory"

HW:
1. Memorize "Richard Cory"-- due in class Friday, August 12
2. Why "Richard Cory" now, when most American Lit courses start in chronological order with creation myths and Colonial Literature?  Because the last time I taught this course, Robin Williams killed himself the day before school started.  And I'm not sure our culture is improving.  Please click the link & read the article by the beginning of class tomorrow (Thursday, August 11) and come prepared to discuss how literature reflects the versions of ourselves that only we know.

richard cory

Here is the text of the poem.  Please begin memorizing it (it's short, but Friday isn't that far away, and if you struggle tonight you can get help in class tomorrow).

For more on the author/background click here.

Richard Cory
by
Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

will this blog see tomorrow?

It's an open question.  Think about today's in-class discussion, ask yourself what you really want out of this semester, and then comment to this post with your decision and at least one reason for it.  (NOTE: As Benjamin Franklin famously observed, "We all hang together or we all hang separately." We won't move forward unless all of us participate.) 

I've created an approach to learning in which students use 2.0 tools to create their online identities, express themselves, and show the public what they can do. 

I call the model Open Source Learning and I define it with a mouthful: "A guided learning process that combines timeless best practices with today's tools in a way that empowers learners to create interdisciplinary paths of inquiry, communities of interest and critique, and a portfolio of knowledge capital that is directly transferable to the marketplace."

Students use Open Source Learning to create a wild variety of personal goals, Big Questions, Collaborative Working Groups, and online portfolios of work that they can use for personal curiosity, self-improvement, or as a competitive advantage in applying for jobs, scholarships, and admission to colleges and universities.  You can see a sample course blog here, some member blogs here, and sample masterpieces here and here. 

Several members of the first Open Source Learning cohort made this video about the experience:



In an era when it seems like all you hear about school is how much it sucks, it's nice to see student achievement make positive waves.  Check out this Open Source Learning interview with students and Howard Rheingold, the man who literally wrote the book on The Virtual Community 20 years ago. 

The defining characteristic of Open Source Learning is that there is no chief; all of us are members of a network that is constantly evolving.  Another key element is transparency.  What we learn and how well we learn it, how we respond to setbacks, and even some of our favorite inspirations and habits of mind are right out there in public for everyone to see.  Readers will rightly perceive what we curate as the best we have to offer.

And all this is Open.  In thermodynamics, an open system exchanges substance, not just light and heat.  To us, the important idea is that the network can change in composition and purpose.  Every time you meet someone new and exchange ideas, you're not only enriching each other, you're changing your minds and contributing opportunities for others to do the same.  In other words, you're learning and teaching* (*one of the most effective ways to learn).

We're not limited to one source for curriculum or instruction.  We have a full slate of online conferences scheduled this year including authors, authorities on the Internet and social media, entrepreneurs, and others.  Last year a mother/daughter team presented a lesson on class distinctions in Dickens & Dr. Seuss online (I'd post & link if I hadn't forgotten to click 'Record').  Ricky Luna invited a champion drummer to talk with students online about music and its connections to literature and life.  If we read something that makes an impression we can reach out to the author.    As you get the hang of this you'll come up with your own ideas.  Testing them will give you a better sense of how to use the experience to your greatest advantage.

No one knows how learning actually works--what IS that little voice that tells you what you should've said 15 minutes after you should've said it?  How does a subneuronal lightning storm somehow account for our experience of being conscious?  We are not sure how to account for the individual experience and demonstration of learning.  We are also not sure what exactly the individual should be learning about at a time when factoids are a search click away and the economy, the environment, and the future are all increasingly complex and uncertain.

Maybe this is why learning still seems magical.  Maybe it shouldn't be.  Maybe if we learned more about how we think we'd be better off.  After all, how we think is a powerful influence on how we act.  If you think of your blog work as a list of traditional school assignments/chores, you will treat it that way and it will show.   Your friends will miss your posts and worry that you've moved to The House Beyond the Internet-- or that you're still at your place but trapped under something heavy.  At any rate you'll be missing the whole point.  This work should help you connect the dots between the interests that drive you, an academic course that derives its title from words hardly anyone uses in casual conversation, and practical tasks like applying for scholarships and college admissions.  The general idea is for you to: do your best at something personally meaningful; learn about how you and others learn while you're in the act; and fine-tune your life accordingly.  In addition to mastering the core curriculum, improving your own mind is the highest form of success in this course of study.

As you well know (Put that phone away or I'll confiscate it!), many people are worried about the use of technology in education.  They are rightly concerned about safety, propriety, and focus: will learners benefit or will they put themselves at risk?  The only way to conclusively prove that the benefits far outweigh the risks is to establish your identities and show yourselves great, both online and in meatspace.  As we move forward you will learn how the Internet works, how you can be an effective online citizen, and how you can use 2.0 and 3.0 tools to achieve your personal and professional goals.  You'll also learn a lot about writing and the habits of mind that make readers and writers successful communicators. 

Because Open Source Learning is a team sport, this is all your call.  You have to decide if you want to pursue this new direction, or if you want to invent another possibility with or without social media, or if you prefer the familiarity of the traditional approach.  There is admittedly something comforting about the smell of an old book, even if it's a thirty-pound textbook that spent the summer in a pile of lost-and-found P.E. clothes.  My perspective may be obvious but I'm just one voice.  Please add yours with a comment below. 

this classroom sucks

When I arrived at the classroom where I'll be teaching this year I was excited. New students, new campus, great to roll my sleeves back up and get my learning on.

Not even the [insert adjective here] painting on wall outside the door threw me.

 

The thing is, I like choice. I like making a place my own. Even if it's a musty trailer on someone else's lawn. But instead of an empty room, a blank canvas waiting for me to paint, this is what I found when I unlocked the door and walked in:

None of this crap is mine. I don't want it. Now I have to fill out forms and talk to nine different people just to throw it away.

So, dear friends, our first job is to hack our learning environment.  I'd like to know in what kinds of places you learn best, and I'd like to know what you'd like to see in here.  Sure, I could bring in my old posters or make this look like my old room (we had a graffiti wall and about 300 mounted CD jewel cases) but my idea of cool or creative may not look like yours.

We will start this conversation in class tomorrow, and then-- unless you want to use that stack of crappy old textbooks-- we will post our ideas online and start designing for learning.