Thing 3: Photo Fun

I'm using an Audrey Hepburn speech she gave to the United Nations in my English class and I want the kids to know that she is more than a poster in a bathroom or bedroom. I really like the attribution aspect of Photos for Class. The idea of giving credit to someone else's work is foreign to many of my students. I get them senior year and most have never been taught about plagiarism. They are astounded that a bibliography or works cited page is required in college (and most high schools). It is simply not taught in favor of rigorous test prep! When discussing a research paper assignment a teacher once said to me on the subject of a works cited page, "Oh, I can't be bothered with that! I'll just send them to Google." OK...

I love the "Day in the Life" project. However, I want each student to create that for themselves. I want it to include their home life: getting up in the morning, getting ready, the bus ride in, breakfast, classes, lunch after school stuff- all of it. The good, the bad, and especially the ugly. I might make it a "A Week in the Life." That way we get a better picture of who they are and what is important to them. I did a similar project at my old high school and the kids loved it. At East we are required to stick to the New York State Modules, but I believe I can squeeze something in near the end in June.

BTW: I'm hitting "save" every few minutes or so. Boy, did I learn my lesson last week!

Oh man. I just discovered Spine Poetry! That's got my name all over it! I have a few heavy readers who will love it also. Who knows, maybe if I make it a required assignment some of the weaker readers just might check a book out. I'm in!


Well, it's too small and  I can't figure out how to make it bigger and clear; it gets fuzzy if I make it bigger. I found my wife's books worked better than my John Grishams and my adventure non-fiction titles!

It reads: The Secret Life of Bees
               Summer Sisters
             An Invisible Thread
              I'll Steal You Away
               Red Tails In Love   

Not bad, Huh?!!  :)

I'm not too sure about Bookface, but if I see an old guy on the cover of a book (good luck) I'll give it a shot. So will my students after I hip them to the concept.
I did love the NY Times article it came from, "Oh Those Clever Librarians and Their #Bookface," and I clicked on the links. I liked the dual books idea and the lining up of several of the same books to create a visual effect. I was once on the cover of the daily paper here in Rochester (truth) and when we went out for dinner later that night my 9 year old daughter got a kick out of seeing half of my face over and over on a tiered news stand! "Hey, Dad! Look, there you are over and over and over!"

See you all on the flip flop!  Cool Tools rule!

Hey, look! I tried one more save option and it worked! Yea, me!

Thing 1: Getting Started

 Hi all,

This is Charlie A. I teach English at East High School in Rochester, New York. This is my 28th year teaching and my 26th in the Rochester City School District. Before teaching I worked as a technical writer, features writer, shipping manager, cook, delivery driver and musician in California.

I would have posted earlier but I have been spending much time viewing all the amazing options on Cool Tools. I start clicking and I look up and an hour is gone- poof!  It still amazes me how far technology has come in my lifetime and how slow some have been in its adoption. When I first started teaching at Charlotte Middle School in 1993 my room did not even have a phone. You used an intercom to the main office where everyone in the office heard your message: "There's a fight on the second floor! Help!!" Crazy. In the early 1980's I worked at a small software/firmware hub that was busy working on voice recognition and I have owned a desktop computer since 1983 and there is no phone in my room!  Now here I am sitting at the kitchen island my interior designer wife just installed, drinking coffee and completing a PD. Now that's crazy!

Cool Tools is what it is all about- learning on your time in your place. No more trudging off for "sit and get" in some strange classroom in a strange building. You city teachers know what I'm referencing. I wish I had been on this PD years ago, but here I am. I work with a wonderful woman, Jessica,  who wasn't even born when I started teaching and she essentially holds my hand when I can't figure something out technically or she hips me to something cool like Smores and Netflix: "Oh...that's what streaming is!" Who knew?!!! (I recently cut the cord and installed Roku and Hulu!) And I can't forget my friend, Karen, the East Librarian who hipped me to Cool Tools...so a big shout out to Karen, thanks!!

And finally this Polly character, the ultra-uber, techy- guru, librarian's librarian I have one big question for you: "Where do you find the time to research, read, vet and organize all this stuff?!!" Seriously, I am overwhelmed by the variety and quality of the web sites and information you have found and shared. So...thanks!! 

See you all out there!

One final thought: This is the second time I wrote this particular blog. I lost the first one by being a spoiled brat Google drone... "You mean Blogger doesn't save automatically?!! What is this, 2012?!!"
Live and learn. :)

Cool Tools Thing 12- News Literacy

Yikes! According to the video “How To Help Students Identify Fake News through the 5 C’s of Consuming” only 25% of students can identify fake news, that’s awful and dangerous or, as the video says- dismaying. The biggest takeaways for me are the last two: corroboration and compare- which makes the students search for similar information on reputable websites. I still have students use the New York Times website for a weekly read and I used to use the The Wall Street Journal for balance until the site was blocked. However, fake news has proliferated to such an extent that teachers must provide students with some tools and skills to delineate truth from falsehoods. This system gives them a fighting chance. Too many students are lulled into believing fake news by extremely conniving and talented fake news purveyors that know how to lure people in. As the video states that getting kids to think critically is the key.

The Steve Inskeep article is of serious interest. It’s funny, many conservatives love to slander NPR for it's bias, and it does have one as all media outlets do, however, I can always count on NPR to at least present “the facts” as they see them. By reading the Wall Street Journal or CNN I can usually corroborate the story if I have my doubts. I have had my students read the same story from different news sources for just this reason. Inskeep even suggest you look up severely biased websites just to stay informed on what they’re peddling...er… thinking! Lonsberry and WHAM radio anyone?!!!  I love his suggestion that falsehoods are sincerely held- hoo boy! Is that ever true! Just ask the gun lobby!

Starting next week my seniors will be studying poverty from a variety of sources- liberal, conservative and some in between It is what the Inskeep article suggests...anyway, trust me!

The article “Why Elections Like This Prove That Info Literacy Matters” by librarian Carolyn Foote is fascinating if only you look at the date it was written: November 6, 2016, two days before Trump was elected.  She nailed it for all the right (wrong?) reasons. Foote writes, “The polarization and way people are getting siloed online is why it is so extremely important that teachers work with students on using many diverse and quality sources(beyond Google).” People getting siloed, ouch! And that’s exactly what happened before and after the election: many of the people who voted Trump in were “siloed” last year with the new tax laws. How did they like that? Sorry, working stiff, but we need to tax you at a higher rate so the 1% can make even more money! Look who’s getting burned right now by Trump, 800,000 government workers. You have to wonder how many of them voted for Trump because his promise of a wall? (that Mexico was supposed to pay for)

I love Foote’s last concept: Bottom line–information literacy isn’t this hip phrase — it is a real need for our students who need to, and deserve to be, savvy consumers. Amen, Carolyn.

The Snopes.com  article is spot on “Snopes" Field Guide to Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors” by Kim Lacapria will be a required read for my seniors. Exposing The National Report, Huzlers, Stuppid and the World News Daily Report as garbage is critical. People believe this stuff, not only because it looks real, but because they want to believe it. I have used the Onion to teach satire, but these fake news sites are just out of control. Teach kids to be savvy! No sleepwalking through life!!

Thing 5

Thing 5: Audio Tools

The first thing that I thought of when reading the NY Times article on student podcasts was how much I use the podcast “This I Believe” once heard on NPR. Teaching high school seniors presents some unique opportunities for student writers; as part of English IV they are required to write a personal statement for the Common Application. After the usual initial resistance, the students dive into the assignment. However, this doesn’t happen until they have heard some actual personal statements from “This I Believe” read by the actual student writers. These recordings always have a huge impact upon the students as they listen to a black teen recount that being just himself isn’t always acceptable to some of his fellow students and even some teachers. This year the personal statements were so powerful that we spent a class period reading them outloud. There was laughing, tears and spontaneous applause. I thought to myself, “I wish I had recorded this.” The idea of a podcast of student personal statements would be, I think, a great motivator. This is an idea that holds great promise for the future.

Wow, I just finished practicing with Google’s voice typing app and I am impressed and excited! This is a powerful tool that makes up for the inexcusable fact that many of my students were never taught how to type. Preparing seniors for college and careers is the backbone of my English IV classes and this feature will really speed things up for many students. I believe ENL students can also benefit from this tool in many ways, one of which is practicing English; if they seen a “redline” word after speaking into the document they can try to correct it themselves or simply click on the word to find the correct spelling- fantastic!

Thing 2 Student Blogging

Thing 2- Student Blogging

I can’t agree more with the Teach Through Tech guy; giving the students a “free post” is a great idea. I have a few tricks that get students to open up about themselves and you really learn all about them- the good, the bad and the ugly. But, you really get to know them and I always use that information carefully and judiciously. Having students blog really reaches them in their comfort zone- online and fast!

I have had my teaching partner, Jessica Bates,  set up blogs for our students and I am pleased with the results. I am looking forward to setting up my own student blogs for other classes I teach alone. It really is amazing- if I ask students to answer a question on Google Classroom I get the usual griping and a bit of non-compliance. I have yet to here a complaint about a blog post.   

I love this poem from Shelley Wright’s article, “Blogging the New Persuasive Essay,”:

I love writing essays.

There’s something satisfying about rendering the chaos of thoughts into an elegant form.

But I love blogging more.

It feels like playing. (KQED News)

That says it all!

Also, according to Wright,

“Part of the problem is that our current school systems — and not just in Canada — aren’t great at producing independent thinkers. Without this ability, it’s hard to create a great thesis statement, anticipate the arguments against it, and then compose your own argument in light of what you understand about the pros and cons of an issue.” (KQED News)

My huge issue with the entire Common Core is that it stifles nearly all creativity- it’s get in line, follow the protocol, regurgitate and move on. I’ve seen the willingness to take chances, to attempt new skills and dive into something new disappear over the 28 years I have been teaching. The kids have learned that it’s strictly about passing the test. When I finally get them as seniors it is a huge task to get them to to take risks, to think for themselves, to synthesize what they know into new ideas.  Blogging is one key that gets them open up and I want to do much more with it. Next year, I want to start on day one and then continue either daily or at least weekly. The best part is that they don’t even realize they are opening up about themselves, but it works and I want more.

I like what Aaron Hogan wrote in “Top 10 Tips For Student Blogging”  (guest post by @mrodz308)

“What happened in my classroom those next few months of school was nothing short of amazing.  My classroom shifted. We went from a classroom to a community, from students to guides, from rule-followers to leaders… independent problem solvers, collaborators, creators, innovators, and explorers.  Learning became contagious. Students kept a “Blogger’s Notebook” and worked hard to find reasons to write, and they wrote often.”  

This is what I want in my room. I am preparing kids for life after high school and although we are strapped to the New York State ELA Modules I can still get students to think for themselves through their writing and, hopefully, blogging. College professors demand that students are able to express themselves freely in their analysis of every subject imaginable, blogging will help get them there.