Duly Noted

I think this kid would make a great president.

About a month ago, our capable media specialist weeded our high school library.  Basically, the weeding process entailed tearing through the shelves and removing copies of books that were deemed outdated or unusable. Now, for a high school student and for your average curious and occasionally up-to-no-good English teacher, this stack of "weeds" is not seen a pile of unwanted dandelions.  No sir!  This pile represents a treasure trove of real joy. The plot thickened on this particular weeding occasion because the weeding process aligned perfectly with Poetry Outloud, a student recitation poetry competition co-produced by yours truly.  As I have been known to do, I harnessed help from a dear and extremely witty Macalester friend.  To my pleasure, her reaction to the pile of "weeds" was precisely as I had hoped. Pulling out our smartphones, we selected two books in particular that we felt needed to be documented for prosperity. The whole month is encapsul...

  Things to think about this weekend.  What do you think about this message?  Does your life express your intrinsic values?  Do you advocate for well being policies in your community and American society?  Please share your comments! ***Thank you Kat for passing this along.

The following New York Times article caught my eye this morning: Out on the Town, Always Online by John Leland. ***It is probably crucial to note the the context from which I am reading and analyzing the article.  Currently, my tenth grade class is devouring (okay, I am devouring and eagerly promoting the relevance of the book to them) Orwell's classic, 1984.  I wish we had enough copies of M.T. Anderson's dystopian novel, Feed, to pair it with, but nonetheless, 1984 certainly stands alone in its creepy correlations with our present day.  In John Leland's article, smartphones are one step away from becoming an additional body part.  (For Feed non-readers , the characters in the novel have a computer chip in their brains that basically functions as a smartphone but they don't need to type; the chip can read their minds).  Please note the following quotes from the article: "Mr. Hunt and Ms. Beaudreault resumed their conversation seamlessly, as if the i...

Dad and I visited the Walker Art Museum   before he left town today.  After doing our best to appreciate some of the more controversial exhibitions (namely, Midnight Party (an investigation of our dreams and nightmares through art), we were about to make a break for the gift shop when a gallery on graphics caught our eye.  We decided we better check it out as we both like graphic art and I recently learned that "op" (as in op-art) is a word all by itself (thank you scrabble).  The exhibition was hands-on, relevant, and a reminder of all the inventive art that digital media has exposed to audiences.  So cool!  I jotted down a bunch of ideas for my classroom.   Here is one video that I've seen before but could always see again: I also really liked Doyle's Identity Guidelines.  He created a standard self.  Here, he is showing two variations on his standard outfit.  As a ni...

So in addition to the holiday bootie buster challenge (I know, what a name), I am also partaking in a blogging challenge organized by a couple of fellow teachers whom I spent some time with at NCTE. The challenge is described here if you feel like joining: http://alittleleeway.blogspot.com/2010/11/2010-blogging-challenge.html With that in mind, I received an email from my friendly media specialist, Patty (oh man, do I love her), with the following link: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/ The site is filled with ideas, directions, definitions, and tutorials for including media in the classroom. I definitely plan on using some of this material in the near future.