Just like that, we’re into December. I’ve often wondered if the holiday seasons might get people away from their keyboards. That may be yet to come but, for now, there’s some great content from Ontario Edubloggers. Here’s a bit of what I read this week.
Our Kids’ Spelling is Atrocious.
As long as there have been schools and teachers, there have been red pens and circles surrounding spelling mistakes. Look it up. (well, you don’t have to really)
I found this post from Peter Cameron so interesting. It’s a transcript of a conversation between he and a parent who has a concern and was looking for an app or other solution to help the cause.
Peter does give some educational suggestions and guidance.
Upon further reflection, I looked at myself. I’ve always considered myself a fairly good speller. And yes, I suffered through those Friday morning dictation tests in elementary school. I hated them at the time but can now appreciate them for what they are worth. I’ve memorized the words, the rules, the exceptions to the rules, … I was not hooked on phonics.
And then I go onto Social Media and see misspellings and misuse so often, I start to question myself. Is this the beginning of the end of literacy for me?
In the meantime, thank goodness for the squiggly red line under the word misspellings above (actually at the time I typed it, it was mispellings) to keep me on the literacy straight and narrow.
Baby It’s Cold Outside: The Saga of a Song
There was no date on this post on the Association for Media Literacy website. I thought it might be recent and timely for the season but I reached out to one of the authors, Diana Maliszewski to be sure.
In fact, it was about a year old and part of a commitment to post 40 blog posts along with Neil Andersen. After a bit of a back and forth and encouragement with Diana, I decided to include it on the Wednesday podcast and on this post.
In reading, I learned so much more about the song besides the fact that it appeared in an old movie. Lots of media literacy implications (which explains why it’s on this blog) and a real comparison between society and media, then and now. There was a reminder that the song was banned on the CBC for a time and so much more. It’s a really good read and the authors encourage it to be used in the classroom.
I also found that Lady Gaga had covered the song.
And so many others. If the original was controversial, then how would the more modern covers be received?
From Compliance to Commitment Takes Personal Accountability: The Aspirational Nature of Equity Work
With a title like that, you just know that there’s going to be a long post to follow…
And Debbie Donsky doesn’t disappoint!
If you’re looking for something to challenge the way that we do things in education, this is a great motivator.
I mean, we’ve all done it. You get the memo that there will be an assembly on a topic or that homerooms will be held so that you can lead a special session with your students on a timely topic. I’m thinking bullying here.
As a dutiful educator, you do it. You’re accountable to do it. At what level of buy-in do you actually have though?
That’s where Debbie left me in the dust when she addresses rules and policies and applies the concept of aspiration to the situation. After a read, and you’ll read it way more than once, I think you’ll find yourself questioning a number of things. That’s a good thing and something that good writing should do.
The richness doesn’t stop with Debbie’s content. There are lots of connections made and links to external resources. She’s really done her homework in preparation for this post.
I almost didn’t read this post from Helen DeWaard because I made the assumption that it was going to be all about red pens, circle, and comments to students. Goodness knows that we’ve addressed that so many times.
But, no, that wasn’t the point here and why I felt so good about indeed reading the post.
Helen’s focus is on the other side of the coin.
What do YOU do when you receive feedback?
She embeds this graphic that will take a bit of time to really work through. But it’s worth it.
Think about how you receive feedback. We get it all the time. Sure, there’s the inspection piece from administrators but we get it from students with every lesson. It’s just a matter of really understanding it.
I remember a story attributed to B.F. Skinner from a Psychology of Teaching course where students ended up making a teacher work from a corner because of their actions. Every time the teacher moved towards the corner, the students all smiled and nodded like they were learning. Move away and the students dropped interest. The truth value of the story is in dispute but it is a good story nonetheless.
Feedback is indeed powerful. One of the best things I ever did for myself was to take a course on Peer Coaching and then found a partner who really understood and we worked together so well coaching each other. We still do today.
One-Hole Punch Puzzle Templates
I’m almost positive that I’ve done this mathematical activity described in this post from Mark Chubb. It involves paper and a paper punch. It might even have been as an ice breaker at a workshop. It might have been an online application that didn’t require physical paper or punch at all. It’s a really worthwhile challenge though.
If all you want is the activity, go to Mark’s post and skip to about halfway through it where he describes the activity.
But, if you do that, you’ll miss the important part at the beginning of the post and the why to the reason why you’d want to do this with your class. And, I would do it with everyone, either singly or in groups for the discussion value.
It’s a great activity to use those papers that are in your recycle box. There really is no need for brand new paper to do this activity.
History in the Making – Creating Digital History Techbooks
Paul McGuire had reached out to share with me this culminating project that he called “History in the Making”.
The last assignment we worked on was called History in the Making. I had this idea that it would be really cool for students to develop a digital textbook along the lines of what Discovery Education has created for math, science and social studies.
He was particularly proud of one project dealing with The Oka Crisis. He wanted me to take a look at it for my thoughts. In the post, he shares a couple of others that he thought were exemplary.
Everything seems to be created in a Google Site under the University of Ottawa’s umbrella. I hope that the students also make a copy in their own personal space for use when they graduate.
Some of the things that sprung to my mind while wandering around the resources here.
- are other Faculty of Education professors encouraging publishing like this?
- hopefully, they don’t land a job where Google Sites are blocked! (There are alternatives in that case…)
- particularly in social studies with our new learnings, digital techbooks have the chance of being more relevant and up to date than other resources that might be available
- certainly resources like this added to a digital professional portfolio would be impressive for a job interview
- the concept of open sharing of resources is so powerful. It makes school districts that hide behind login/passwords seem so dated
I’m impressed with Paul’s forward thinking and I hope that his students appreciate both the explicit and the not-so-explicit lessons that can be had from this activity.
Thirty one days – my social media detox
If you’ve been missing Sarah Lalonde online, this post explains it all. She has done a personal social media detox.
All the details of her process are found in this post. It wasn’t all just an easy exercise. There were challenges.
Under the category of TMI, she also shares how and where she cheated…
And to address boredom…
One thing I found the most difficult was the “dead time”. For example: waiting in car, in line at the grocery store, waiting for an appointment…). My brain felt like it needed to be entertained. Was I scared to face my thoughts? Why did I need to feel busy? Why couldn’t I just sit there waiting and doing nothing? This is something I had to work on.
She even extends the concept to students.
I think the big learning here is in perspective. Social Media is something that can be as big or as minimalist as you want it to be. I can’t see one answer that fits everything.
Regardless, it was interesting reliving the experience with her.
I hope that you enjoy these posts as much as I did. Please take a moment to click through and send some social media cred to these bloggers. If you’re a blogger and not in my Livebinder, please consider adding yourself so that I know about you.
Then, make sure you’re following these great bloggers on Twitter.
- @cherandpete
- @MzMollyTL
- @mediasee
- @A_M_L_
- @DebbieDonsky
- @hj_dewaard
- @MarkChubb3
- @mcguirp
- @sarahlalondee
This post originally appeared on…
https://dougpete.wordpress.com
If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.