Cafe CBone

Worked most of the time I had today – which was interrupted with babysitting, Justin leaving, getting ready for VIA, and dinner prep – on the big picture. What’s interesting here is that I’m thinking about the neero paper, thinking about the primer, and rethinking now about the spn book. After today, the spn book looms large. In trying to get a handle on the neero paper, I drew a web flow why cycle of all these connections. Turns out, with my writing during the Fall and my thinking the last two weeks, the life cycle has kind of come together at least from my current perspective. I think today, with a good chunk of time for writing, I’ll start the neero paper and see where it takes me. I’m drawn to use a really big sheet of paper to do the real web but that would be a birdwalk at this point. I need a day for writing. I wish there were some way to capture the web here. But with present technology, I’m not able. Not to worry.

Thank you Martin.

Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

Still. And probably

forever.

Amen.

This is all pretty interesting. Finally spent some time finding my way around this place.

Last meeting for me with the eled faculty for a while happened today. Thirteen or so of us there. At one point we split up into two groups. Those who saw themselves here after five years and those who thought they’d be gone after five years. The younger folk all expressed “work is killing me” concerns despite the fact that their question was something like “what kind of program would you like to have when it is yours?” They couldn’t get out of their overpowered feelings of being just too driven and overworked. The other folk could create a wish list for the newer faculty – I wish this for you. The difference between the two groups was amazing. That younger group is going to burn out if something doesn’t change. They are running scared of tenure and all that they have to do (and can’t do because of all the other work they have to do). I think they finally got it when I said, “Hey. Look around. In five years the people in this room will be gone. The program has to be yours, not ours, and that process has to start now.” It was kind of a sobering moment. Then we ate more brownies and cheesecake.

over and out…

Reading Bird By Bird. The narrator in my book. Friendly. Guide. Get to know me will open the text to them. Need for humor. One of Lamont’s great skills is her use of humor as she writes. It constantly brings me up short, amuses me, and always gets me thinking. CI could sure use a little humor, all serving the end point of disconnected kids learning more. My students get to see the humor in it all after they’ve reached the point in their teaching where they are more or less at ease. The kids whose outrageousness is just so predictable that they smile at its approach. Or the nose pickers. Or the hands on hips tell ’em off style. Or the boys who just can’t sit still or look you in the eye but still wants so bad to be in the thick of it that he couldn’t help he wet his pants. And on and on. Humor. Not quite PC humor. Poking fun and that which needs to be made human by a little chuckle now and then. That kind of humor.

Now here I am, in these last several entries, claiming to want to write in a way that captures young adults. Using the voices of my students as one way to do that. Well, duhhhh. Why not have them read some of what I’ve written and comment on it. Give me some more real stories, the ones they shake their heads at, the funny stuff. They way they really see it as opposed to worrying about how they show it because I AM TEACHER and you can only show certain things to the one who’s going to grade you.

lots going on here.

Today i spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to perfect a really simple photoshop venn diagram. The point was I wanted the background for the diagram to be a shot of kids learning so the sparceness of the diagram was backgrounded by a visual of what the diagram was all about. Finally worked my way throught the program and got it. I liked how it came out, for a change. I’ll see if I can upload it here. Probably not tonight.

I think part of what might really help communicate this book is this additional use of multiple voices. In previous entries I’ve thought about multiple voices as being just that; words written or spoken by different people about a point of text. But multiple voices can also take the form of different kinds of representations, all trying to unpack a given idea. That’s the way I’m looking at making this book communicate.

finished cover letter and prospectus. courtney got my resume ready. a few things to add on Monday and bingo, off to mr. dragin. I’m feeling happy to get this out and a bit afraid they are going to buy it! then what? I’ll have to write a book???

reviewed more of the competition and this process has really got me psyched for doing a more general course on collaborative strategies in the classroom. group investigations, jigsaws, tournaments, group work, cooperative work groups…they all sound pretty interesting and I could use all the small group theory I know to support this work as well as the differentiation strategies.

key to this book is the idea of student voice. using those student papers. now whether that will be a strength (targetting successfully an audience that teachers like myself really want to be spoken to) or a weakness (limits the potential audience) remains to be seen

key also is the heart that I think this book will put back into the dialogue. what it means to an undergraduate to be successful. what it means to a kid in a classroom to be seen as competent (both + and – … the moses honor story). interesting stuff.