What to Make of Summer

A co-educator, co-learner, co-creator asked,

What do you want to make this summer?

I want to make intrigue

I want to make my focus tilt

I want to make lines blur blue across

my world

and 

find on a trail

a trail that leads. . .

I want to

walk to where the

summer bends back on

itself

in some most

defying

geometrical 

design.

I want to make possibility

out of the 

summer light.

I want to be

in a world

imbalanced,

uncertain and odd

with sound

And music.

This is what I want to make this summer.

Encouragement

Hip hop poet, educator, and artist Kevin Coval spoke to my students. 
The takeaways:

Find what you love and pursue it with passion.

Find what you love and learn all about it: dive deep!

Find what you love and create from it.
Find what you love and share it with whoever will listen.

Find what you love and make a world to appreciate it.

Find what you love: you are more than a test score.

Find what you love.

Here's a Haiku Deck with some of his specific statements. Do yourself a favor and view it with the music of Chicago DJ Jesse De La Pena.

Innovate in the Break - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Teach to Learn. Learn to Teach.

Right now, I am writing a blog post. Yes, I know. Statements do not get much more obvious. Actually, it would be more obvious to say "you are reading a blog post I recently wrote." After all, depending when you read this, I might be busy writing another post. Or I might be doing something else: making dinner, playing guitar, going for a walk. But this is the amazing thing about written language. We are connected here, in this moment. My words are intimately tangled up with your thinking. Right now, we are collaborating on making what I am writing meaningful. This is beautiful and powerful and made possible because of a few ideas upon which we most likely agree.

Idea #1: 
Producing work is important. These thoughts I am writing about have been banging around my brain for awhile. In some louder moments, like in the classroom or at dinner with my family, I have perceived them lurking around the edges of consciousness. In the quieter or more solitary ones, like while gardening or riding my bike, they have come storming to the forefront. But it is not enough to think about what I want to say. There comes a time when I must say it. Commit the words to the screen and see what they are made of. So exactly what are the thoughts in question, beyond this meta-analysis of writing and reading?

Idea #2:
Today, being an educator means constantly refining and experimenting with methods for being a learner and a creator. This idea has surfaced on Twitter and in Voxer chats, like #leadupchat; in conversations with colleagues; in blogs, articles, and books that I have read. I could not agree more. How can I possibly persuade my students that learning is vital, that they need to feed their curiosity and wonder, discover what they love to geek out about and then pursue it, if I do not engage in the same pursuit? Why would they listen to me? Why would I listen to me? 

This is a question of trust and authenticity. If I am unwilling or unable to illustrate how I have taken chances with my learning, then I should not be surprised by student reluctance. Learning entails failing, reflecting, trying again, and, quite possibly, failing yet again. We expect students to do this in public. Should we not expect the same of ourselves? This brings me back to my starting point. Here I am, writing a blog post. But it also leads to -->

Idea #3:
We grow by connecting and sharing. Clearly, this is my intent when I write a blog post as opposed to a something intended to be private. I make my thinking available to others who can engage with me by agreeing, disagreeing, offering challenges, re-mixing my work, or providing me with insights. Of course, I know that many people will choose to do none of these. But even then, I still benefit because I took the time to articulate my thoughts. By writing for an imagined public, I focused deeply in order to write in a clear and compelling way. I attempted to bring some order to the tumult in my mind. The chaos gets tamed, even for just a moment, and I can gather what I know and see what it looks like. 

Without a doubt, the internet facilitates this sharing in ways that were once unthinkable, and, as I consider this last point, a fourth idea introduces itself.

Idea #4:
Not only must an educator continue to learn about whatever area interests her, but she must also continue to learn about creating and connecting online. Our students have very little choice over whether, in the course of their lives, they will use digital technology and the internet to learn and collaborate. Unfortunately, many of them lack any understanding of how to do either of these successfully. Simply put, they need to experience how to formulate productive, purposeful and healthy digital routines. 

Yes, I am an English teacher with obligations to my subject matter. But I am also an educator who ultimately cares for my students' overall well-being. If I lack a productive, purposeful digital routine, how can I assist my students in shaping theirs? It would be the equivalent of me teaching math instead. Nobody wants that--just ask my wife and kids.

Besides, I have learned incredible stuff from being connected. I have been motivated to create in ways I might not have. This includes (trying to) write songs and make videos:

Creating flash fiction

Remixing other people's work:

How could I not want to be online and a part of this adventure.

I am just about done. Or, to put it more aptly, those of you still with me are just about done. Thank you for reading this. But here is one more thought.

Idea #5:
Learning and creating needs time. This is as true for teachers as it is for students. When we discuss agency in the learning process, both groups must be included. Passion projects, Genius Hour, 20% time: call it what you will. A community of learners can be established only when learning becomes the focus. Everybody's learning. We all benefit from the time to pursue our curiosity, create, and share.

Peace.

QTM: Student? Teacher? Creator!

Austin Kleon is best known for his newspaper blackout poetry: using material completely uninterested in poetry to craft funny, irreverent, and poignant poems.

Austin Kleon

I have tried to make my own and find them endlessly challenging, enjoyable, and mentally stimulating. Sometimes they work out. Often times they do not. When a poem does not turn out well, that's okay. As Kleon says:

And the process is where growth happens and interesting ideas are born. What it really comes down to is the act of creation. Whether it is writing poetry, strumming a guitar, tinkering with electronics, pounding some nails, or taking some photographs, creating allows us time and space to penetrate deeper into who we are. In creating, we become thinkers, learners, and doers. 

So here is an important question: to what degree does school afford students (and teachers) opportunities to be creators? And here is a follow-up question: to what degree should the creative process be school's focus?

Creativity brings life. Rejoice!
Inside you'll find enough power.
You'll find ability
Good for a big heart.

Consider the Powssibilities: Genius Hour for Teachers

There is a great moment in The Sketches of Frank Gehry where the architect describes one of the dangers of the design process. We see shelves lined with models: paper, cardboard, and plastic miniatures of his boldly shaped buildings. As he takes model after model off the shelf, Gehry says that a hazard he sometimes encounters is getting too enamored with the model itself. It is easy to see why. The models are sculptural works, attractive to the eye and mind. Gehry's point is that if he is not careful, he could forget the point of the process: to create a building that people will inhabit. Instead, he can be swept up in making these breathtaking objects as an end in themselves.

I was reminded of this while participating in #leadupchat. We were asked by the moderators, Jeff Veal and Nathan Lang, to consider our "why." As educators, what is the purpose or cause that motivates us? Of course, this led to fantastic, inspiring answers from the group. However, they followed that question with a challenge: how do we put the "why" into action?

Now we are getting somewhere.

Sometimes I feel like Frank Gehry when it comes to conversations and twitter chats with other educators. We talk so much about challenges facing education, of potential solutions, of our individual and collective hopes for how to shift our thinking and practice. But I do not always (often?) see action. Like Gehry, I know how easy it is to become enamored by talk of disruption and subversion without putting it into play. After all, I am guilty of this far more than I care to acknowledge.

Back to #leadupchat. On Voxer the other day, I realized something. As I explained my "why" regarding the importance of being a learner and participant, I mused that it would be wonderful as a teacher to have my own "Genius Hour." This has become a popular instructional practice. But what about outside of the classroom? I was pretty sure other teachers would find this interesting, so I tweeted it:

What if Ts had genious hour/20% time as part of their PD plan. Anybody doing this? @ryanbretag @askaouris #edjoy #leadupchat
— scott glass (@sglass771) March 31, 2015

Eight retweets and 11 favorites. Not to mention the people who reached out from schools where they are experimenting with this idea. Not bad for a tweet. 

Now the #leadupchat group wants to move from "why" to action. Perfect. I do not want to talk about ways to adapt Genius Hour. I want to make it happen. I do not want to talk about what could be possible. I want to make the possible happen now. 

Earlier this year, I asked my students to create new words to describe themselves as second semester seniors. I suspected that "senioritis" lacked the nuance and depth necessary to define where they are at in their lives. Sure, we might have over 1 million words in the English language, but we still come across those moments when the right one does not exist. This was my problem earlier this week. Other contributors to #leadupchat were sharing the one word that defined their "why." I was struggling until I remembered, I will just make up what I need. So, here it is: Powssibility, a combination of "now" and "possibility." Or, working to make the potential present. 

Time to get busy. 

Using Twitter in Class-That Was My Hope

At the beginning of the school year, I made some goals. One was to "be an advocate for connected learning." Recently, I did an experiment with my students towards this end: I asked them to participate in a Twitter chat using #noquogbs.

My rationale:

Let students hear from a broader range of their peers. This includes not only the typically silent voices in a particular class, but students in the other classes, as well. I teach three sections of Humanities, so I thought they could respond across classes. And maybe even to others not in Humanities. Or, at least this was my hope.

Let students control the direction of the conversation. I gave them the broad topic: status quo thinking. But, because this is such an expansive subject, they had an opportunity to use this as a springboard to move in any direction they chose. Unlike in class, where a small group of students intent on probing a specific thread might dictate the direction of a conversation, on Twitter, each student could choose to build off of what somebody else said or introduce a new area to consider. Or, at least this was my hope.

Let students use time to their advantage. This seems like a big advantage. Typical conversations are limited to the times that classes meet. If a student is absent during that time, oh well. If a student is feeling tired, unmotivated, stressed during that time, oh well. Classroom discussions demand performance regardless of extenuating circumstances. Because this was an asynchronous chat, students could join in when ready. Or, at least this was my hope.

Let students experiment with using social media for an academic purpose. This is a biggie. I implore them constantly to think about how social media platforms can and should be used to establish an academic and even professional persona. But I had done little to help them move in this direction. This chat could be an initial way to experiment with this possibility. Or, at least this was my hope.

Finally, I wanted them to enjoy connecting with each other in a different way. While many of them tried to fashion 140 character tweets that sounded similar to the voice they use in class, I did see some informality sneak in. Of course, we all know that speaking with an authentic voice is critical for feeling connected to an idea. Similarly, the ability to shape the way language gets used builds a sense of agency. To this end, I thought Twitter would allow students inventive ways to respond with energy, humor, and personality. This way my hope.

With the tweets written, I asked students to turn their attention to their blogs and write in more depth about a question, issue, or idea regarding status quo thinking--the topic of the chat and the 3rd quarter material. This step cannot be deemphasized. By moving from micro-blogging to a long form response, students hopefully experience for themselves the benefits and uses of both. 

I have read the criticism of social media platforms like Twitter: they erode attention and reward shallow thinking; in a culture lacking deliberation and thoughtfulness, Twitter exemplifies the desire for narcissism, summary and speed. Sure. This happens. But is it the fault of the tool? Or is the real issue that we have a penchant for embracing technology without taking time to see its possibilities and pitfalls, without learning how to use it in refined, powerful ways? I am going with the latter.

In any case, as a teacher, I must do what I can to help my students become confident, creative thinkers. This includes helping them navigate their culture and know how to best leverage the tools available to them. Within this context, understanding how to use social media for professional and academic purposes becomes central, not superfluous. 

As you can see, I had a lot of hopes going into this experiment. Of course, I am not about to argue that all were achieved. But when is that ever the case? To be sure, it proved successful (and popular) enough to try again, which I will do. The risk was well worth it. Besides, if our technological and cultural status quo favors superficiality, small bites, and inattention, then sign me up as a disruptor. I, with my students, will do what I can. And learn something along the way.

Creating a Network

If I was to create a network, it would look something like this:

While this network would have a number of priorities, for certain it would strive to be thought-provoking. Television has gotten better in recent years regarding content meant to make people wonder and ask questions. There is enough mindless programming already. 

It would also be edgy. Sometimes it is good to be uncomfortable and confused. As much as people might not appreciate feeling these ways, it is only in these situations that true learning can take place. 

As for profitability, obviously it would be a concern. But not to the degree that it would completely determine content choices.