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Apr
30
Embuing kids with the craft of storytelling
Filed Under storytelling, teaching moments | View Comments
Children are natural storytellers. They tell us about their day, their imaginary friends. They explore what-ifs. They love the art of the story.
I remember when I was little, I had these cards that had sentence bits on them. Some of the cards contained nouns, some verbs. I used to love shuffling them and reading a new story. Sometimes, I’d even string together my own story. By the time I’d left elementary school, I was writing down my own stories, and to this day I still have a notebook in my bag dedicated to writing whenever I feel inspiration strike.
It’s important to encourage the development of storytelling in children because the basic building blocks of just about any story are the foundation of writing in general. It grounds the student in the beginning-middle-end formula that can elude people. They learn to weave a point in to their stories. They develop characters. They create and resolve problems.
Erika Dreifus has a great method for developing storytelling with her niece that I think is just wonderful! Her niece tells her a story, and Erika writes it into a special notebook. I’m sure as time goes on, this toddler will fill many such notebooks, and will be able to watch her storytelling develop as she learns and grows.
Perhaps more children should be encouraged to keep stories in a special notebook, too.
Apr
29
Still working through competency-based resumes (I only get a small bit of time each week to work on this, so it’s taking me a while.), I’ve run into something I’d like to talk through here. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments, because this is one of those things where I think multiple viewpoints would really help clarify the matter.
I’ve run into a section of the core competencies that talks about “technical proficiencies”, and I nearly ignored the section. When I hear the word “technical”, my mind just automatically defaults to anything electronic, most often the computer. I’m fairly handy with my computer. I help other people understand how to complete basic tasks on their computer. I’ve helped a number of my coworkers set up their computers with tools to help them keep their computers safe. I surf. I research. I blog. I write. I occasionally write a bit of HTML or CSS code (and am relearning bits and pieces of LaTeX. I can’t take apart a computer and mess with its innards, but my friends who do that for a living tell me it’s okay, and doesn’t impair my status as a geek.
I’ve realized, though, that my definition of “technical” is pretty short-sighted. For example, I was a good ballerina from a technical standpoint. I was just missing the polish that separates a technically proficient dancer from a great dancer. From a technical standpoint, I’m a great writer. I have a good command of the English language, and my grammar is nearly flawless. I can even determine the correct format and tone to use depending on if I’m writing how-tos, nonfiction, or fiction.
One could even say I’m proficient from a technical standpoint in my teaching. I understand wait times 1 and 2, and implement them in my teaching. I employ questioning, redirecting, and reframing strategies well. I can even complete technically proficient lesson plans in three different styles on command.
So, the question of technical proficiency isn’t one of how well I can wield technology. It’s how well I understand and implement the nuts and bolts of what I’m doing.
Now it’s your turn. What do you think of when you hear the term “technical proficiency”? Do you agree that it’s having a firm grasp of the underlying basics of your field, or is it something else?
Apr
26
Dealing with rejection
Filed Under personal development, teaching moments | View Comments
In light of recent events, I’m compelled to think of a comic I’ve seen around work. The comic features a teacher talking to a couple of parents, and she says something to the effect of her classroom develops children’s self-esteem while doing absolutely nothing to prepare them for the real world.
Most of us just politely chuckle at that and acknowledge that there is a bit of that in the school system, but we stop there. We don’t think about what that really means. These kids have these inflated self-images because they’ve all but been handed their promotions through school. They’ve been told what’s great about them. Everyone’s had to be included.
That’s great for P.E. and the playground, but academically, what are these kids learning? It’s okay to have no clue what you’re doing, or to do it badly, because someone will be right there to stroke your ego and tell you how great you are and your work will be accepted anyway? It might help a child who is struggling find their way to succeeding for a little bit, but when we keep doing it, it reinforces for the student that life will always be this way.
Don’t believe me? Pick up a newspaper.
Yes, we need to help kids find their ability to learn, to find what they shine at, to help them develop in a space where they’re free to explore and make mistakes. But we also need to show them that mistakes are a good thing. That mistakes do not equal failure. That criticism isn’t meant to insult or destroy the person (if given correctly…but we also have to teach them how to give constructive feedback). We also need to teach them that bad work has consequences. So does mediocre work.
Stupidly enough, everything has a coincidence, and we‘re doing the kids a great disservice by not teaching them how to deal gracefully with those negative consequences. You might get a bad performance review. Use it as an opportunity to analyze your career and either step up your game, or find the game you would be happiest in. You get rejected from something you really wanted. Use it as a chance to review your work and see what you can do to make your work irresistible. Find a coach, tutor, or critique group to help foster your growth.
Rejection is nothing more than a “no” that, if used correctly, can be a stepping stone to “yes”.
Apr
25
On knowledge
Filed Under education | View Comments
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.- Samuel Johnson
I think too often our students are so focused on the first type of knowledge that they forget to cultivate knowledge of the second type. I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to teach a high school student how to use a book’s table of contents and index to find information they either don’t know or have forgotten. Part of that, though, is that even once I’ve convinced the student to use these two useful resources, they get hung up because they don’t know the proper names for what they’re looking up.
My poor students know neither a subject or where to find information on it. They go to Google, type in their own wording for the topic (which may be nowhere near what they actually are studying), and then follow the first Wikipedia link they see. Several minutes later, they’re frustrated because they can’t find what they need. When I then show them how to use their textbook to help them find their information, they decide that’s too much work, even if it gives them the information they need more quickly than their fruitless web search.
Our students need to learn subjects. It’s one thing to be able to do the work. It’s quite another to be able to describe the processes and concepts involved in that work in the correct terminology.
Our students need to learn how to research, how to identify resources. They need to understand what makes a resource worth using and how to frame their queries.
Without one or the other, these students are going to flounder once they’re left to their own devices in college and beyond.
Apr
25
Shortly after borrowing MarioKart DS from my roommate, I realized I wasn’t getting much work done. I set up a marquee screen saver that read: “No MarioKart until you’ve edited something.”
Not much got edited after that, but my interactive writing queue became emptier after that.
Once I got my MarioKart habit under control, I hit a “zone” period. To help keep myself going, the marquee was changed to read: “You’re on a roll! Keep it up!” I ended up accomplishing two weeks’ worth of work in three days.
It’s occurred to me that because I can see my computer from anywhere in my room, the marquee screen saver is a great means of creating a message I want myself to abide by. It’s fairly hard to ignore because it’s large, bright, and inescapable!
To set one up, go to your Control Panel, and click on “Display. Click the Screen Saver tab. Select Marquee out of the list, and then hit “Settings”. Here, you can create your text, change the background color, and format the font. Make sure your message is readable, and in a color scheme that will catch your attention. (For me, I avoid the bright colors because I naturally gravitate away from those colors. My current screen is maroon with silver writing because that will catch my eye.)
In case you’re curious, my current screen saver (a result of my frustration with not having enough hours in the day and trying to catch up on a big task) reads: “Some progress is better than no progress. Establish your priorities.” It’s helped reduce my stress, and I’ve accomplished more than I thought I could this week.
Apr
24
Walking through a video game
Filed Under gaming | View Comments
I can’t believe I forgot to share this one.
Last week, I met up with a former student for lunch, and we walked around the mall to find a birthday present for one of my coworkers while we chatted.
Near the children’s play area, we noticed a couple of little ones running around on a pad that looked like a koi pond. They would walk toward a koi, and the fish would swim away from them. They’d laugh and run after another fish.
At first, I really didn’t pay much attention to it, but when we walked past it again, I decided to try it out myself. The children were all back in the play area, so there didn’t seem to be any harm in it. Jessica and I chased koi for a couple of minutes, and then the pad changed. By the time we stopped, we’d played soccer, herded chicks into a nest, and wiped out an intergalactic fleet by stomping on them.
The pad was controlled by a projector above the pad. It was far enough up to be completely unobtrusive, but if you bent over to look at what was going on under your feet, the sensor controlling objects’ movement stopped reacting. Small problem for something meant to be controlled by your feet. Despite that, though, we had a great time running around and playing on the pad.
Naturally, I’ve already started thinking about ways the pad could be used in both education and writing.
Apr
23
I’ve started keeping a file of lines I remove from my stories. The idea is that I can add them back in if I find that I really can use them, but for the novel I’m currently editing, it’s been more of a trend analysis. I’m amazed at how much my characters laughed, giggled, or sighed over the first third of this novel!
In my files for the two novels I’ve been editing over the past two months, though, I’ve found some lines that killed me to remove. I was reading over the notes file for A Night in the Lonesome November over the weekend, and amidst all the removed laughter and sighs, there are some lines that didn’t work in this story, but would make great jumping-off points for other stories.
I’m now thinking about adding a section in EverNote for lines discarded from all of my stories that would be viable writing prompts or first lines somewhere else. Then when I need a little inspiration, or I just want to write something, I can go to that section and pick a line that jumps out of me!
How about you? Do you have any lines on your cutting room floor that would be perfect somewhere else?
Apr
22
Helping others
Filed Under personal development | View Comments
I finally found some time this weekend to sit down with Competency-Based Resumes. I read through it fairly quickly, and then decided to work through the list of core competencies as if they were an exercise.
The idea has been to think of examples in my life that demonstrate that I have certain competencies. So far, I’ve decided that I might actually be a better communicator than I am a leader, although I know many (myself among them) who would beg to differ.
One of the skills, though, really worried me. It turns out I’m not really into building relationships that depend on reciprocity. Okay, anyone who knows me is going to agree with that one, too. The skill involved doing work for someone else to form a foundation for reciprocity, but I’ve long been of the belief (and practice) that if I can do something that helps out someone else, then I should just do it. It shouldn’t depend on what I can get from the other person.
I can’t even make myself try to discuss my own opinion in the frame of building authentic relationships, because I don’t believe authenticity and expected reciprocity can exist peacefully in the same paradigm.
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. Maybe someone can explain to me how this works without making me feel like I’m giving up a rather important part of who I am.
Apr
20
Girls like a little action, too!
Filed Under animation, gaming, reading | View Comments
An interesting survey of Japanese girls has uncovered something I think is fairly obvious- girls like action stories.
Manga is divided into two classifications- shounen (boys’ manga) and shoujo (girls’ manga). Shounen is typically characterized by a lot of action and fighting. Shoujo is marked by touchy-feely moments driving the story.
While I tend to go more for shounen anime, I’m realizing my own manga collection is rather decidedly shoujo. I think I own a grand total of two shounen titles (of the eight titles I collect). The series I’m reading through the library is also shounen. The majority of my collection is shoujo (although I think one of them could just as easily be shounen). I even read a shoujo manga magazine (which is directly responsible for three of the shoujo titles I collect).
In all fairness, though, Shounen Jump is apparently home to two of the shounen titles I enjoy (and I watch the dubbed anime for two other titles they feature). So, I guess I’m a girl who walks the line between shounen and shoujo.
Apr
20
My PLE
Filed Under personal development | View Comments
For a while now, I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around the PLE and trying to determine how to set one up for myself that will be of some use to me. It turns out I just needed to have my head straightened out.
A good PLE allows the learner to do three critical things:
- Gathering Information
- Processing Information
- Acting on the Learning
Well, I read my Google Reader off and on throughout the day. Any feed I think is worth reading is in there. It covers not only my professional interests, but also my hobbies (with a few fun blogs thrown in because everyone should have blogs they read for fun). I maintain both a del.icio.us and a Furl account to keep track of links I want to refer back to (I also use the star feature in Reader for posts I’m not quite ready to add to del.icio.us, but don’t want to lose track of). I have a well-used library account (I have my number memorized because I log into my account way too frequently). I even have a long log of e-books linked in my EverNote so I can read them when I have time.
I then blog what I read. Or it comes out in one of my writing notebooks. Or it comes out in my EverNote. I might discuss what I read with colleagues or students or friends. It’s rare for me to read or watch something and not do something with what I learned from it. I guess I process and act on my learning together, because honestly, that’s how I work. I have to work things out in order to fully process them. (Unsurprisingly, I’m a haptic learner.)
Ultimately, your PLE consists of what you’re taking in and how you’re working with that new knowledge to make it part of your knowledge base.
