Week 5 Blog 3

So this post is going to be a Dream/Gripe (creative confidence) of the blogging/storytelling/whatever I've been doing in the past few weeks. It's my last blog for the class, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Blogging has been the best part of the class (for me) so far.
I would REALLY like to have a non-classroom blog, but I'm not sure I have the motivation to do it. It takes me a long time to articulate what I want to say and an even longer time to feel like I have something important to say.

I like the idea of a bi-weekly challenge. A "try this tool and share what you come up with via your blog" but (again) it's about motivation. I'm motivated by grades. I'm motivated by comments. Having something just "there" doesn't work for me. I also would have to come up with my own ideas/tools/whatever, and (maybe I'm just feeling whiney) I don't have the time to do it.

Maybe it's because my blogging is limited to evenings (after 7:00) when the kids are in bed and the hubs is watching tv. This is only so when he is watching Netflix. Watching ACTUAL tv in my house at the same time someone is on the internet interferes with the antenna signal. The signal on which we get to watch what we fondly refer to as "the channel" (cbs if you were wondering).

Maybe it's because after 7:00 (when the kids are in bed) is actually after 8:00 (when the kids are actually asleep).

So...
I hate mindmaps, but I like #5 in "tips from the field" (Creative Confidence). It's about guiding people on a mental journey. I feel like blogging makes this possible for me.

I like the creativity challenges in the end of the book (in general) and will likely try many of them in my classes. Maybe I could do something with these? I'm not sure yet, but I'll let you know.

Week 5 Blog 2 Artifact 3

So I made storystones.
They're cool. Not as cool as I want them to be, but they're cool.
My idea is to have students find stones and create their own storystone for class.
I like the idea of having the tangible stones. All (yes all) of the tools I tried to use worked, and would probably work REALLY well, if I knew all of the ins and outs. I don't.

I'll share the Realtime one with you Dan Ryder.
I'll use the actual stones, but something is lost once they're uploaded. It took a long time to do and isn't worth it in the end.

Padlet:

Pros:

• It looks good.
• It's easy to share.

Cons:

• Slow uploading (my computer?)
• When I moved images it would make a copy of the image.
• When I deleted the copy, both images would be deleted.
• The space is too small to fit all of  the images I would like to use

Realtime Board

Pros:

• lots of features
• easy to share
• huge board

Cons:

• harder to figure out (too many features)
• no "working" or "uploading" status...you just need to wait.

By the way these are my artifact 3. I wanted the whole thing to be better. It wasn't. I feel like when I have students create them the stones will work better. (I'm actually proud of them now).

Here are a couple of earlier "drafts" that clearly weren't working when getting everything to jive with blogger and getting on one page, and...let's just say I'm glad blogs are editable. The above lines that are crossed out referred to these examples.

Week 5 Blog 1

I hope this works. It's being wonky. There are so many sweet uses for this site. I picture amazing video montages. This is not one of them (just in case you were wondering). The lesson idea I have should show up on the video. Let's see if it loads properly.

Round up the usual suspects. Casablanca

Here's Johnny! The Shining

Yo Adrian! Rocky

Stella! hey Stella! A Streetcar Named Desire

Hello gorgeous. Funny Girl

Mrs. Robinson, You're trying to seduce me. Aren't you? The Graduate

Say hello to my little friend! Scarface

You had me at hello. Jerry Maguire

Note: I originally had Yo Adrian before the Funny Girl line, but I just couldn't have that lovely line come after Stallone. A young Brando on the other hand...

Pluses about PopcornMaker:

1. super user friendly
2. intuitive
3. straightforward

Issues with it:

1. the name 
2. the wonkyness of uploading from youtube (video works sometimes, but not all of the time)
3. saving was weird and the "did I do all of this work just to have it not work now" is a real thought. Maybe my internet is just slow? It was totally my internet.

Week 4 Blog 3

In a nutshell I really like Steal Like an Artist. How to be creative! YES! He quotes David Bowie! Double YES! Jay Z and Patti Smith and Vonnegut are also noted. Yup. He likes cool stuff AND he creates cool stuff (hello blackout poetry).

Show Your Work was fine, but not as powerful/thought provoking for me. I love art and having a voice, but I hate the "self promotion" aspect of it. I just felt like it was more difficult for me to connect with personally.

As I read Steal, I kept thinking "I could use this in my classroom" and "this is a fantastic idea." With Show I read and chuckled a few times (his voice is super engaging), but there were very few "ah ha" moments for me. The book is still really engaging and fun, don't get me wrong, but it just wasn't as good.

FYI...sorry for the short posts. I literally have no internet, no wi-fi, no cell service. How the hell do we share without these things? It would be so relaxing if I didn't feel a bit stressed about work. I tried posting/blogging from an ipad. How do people do it?

Week 4 Blog 2

Anders says that the best thing about Auntie Alicia is the way she always buys him things when she visits. While he loves receiving gifts from anyone, hers are special in that she always seems to select the book (it’s almost always a book) that is just right for him at the moment. She has an eye for illustration and an ear for poetry. Alicia understands literacy and the power of words. From trains, to trucks and farming to firefighting, Alicia always listens to what Anders loves and selects titles that are important to him at specific moments in his life. 

What is the best about all of this is the way they snuggle up on the couch and read the newest purchases. Alicia uses different voices for different characters and makes books lively and inviting. She pauses at opportune moments to ask Anders questions about what they are reading and to allow him time to process and ask questions as well. He can't read, but the the stories come alive for him because of the way they are told.

This weekend my just-turned-six-year-old nephew read a book to my son. It was a cold read as he'd never seen the text before. He didn't just read the words, he read them with emotion. When he noticed punctuation after the fact, the would go back and reread a sentence just to make sure he got it right. I was astounded at his ability. He's clearly a gifted young man, because he just "gets it" when it comes to reading. 

What makes storytellers great? What makes us perk up our ears and listen?

Week 4 Blog 1

We went camping this week with my family. I followed my StoryCorps steps and such, but when I went to record my mom she clammed up and told me she was on vacation and didn't want to answer "heavy" questions. I grumbled, but didn't say much. She's turning sixty this week. I'll pester her (guilt her) next week I hope.

That being said, I did have lots of time to listen to her stories. After a few glasses of wine, she pulled lots of oldies but goodies out of her repertoire. The thing about it is, I wonder if they're only nice to listen to over and over again because of nostalgia? I also wonder if they're only good if you know the people involved?

The kids make me think that they're good for everyone. They sit and listen intently to stories about my dad and about my childhood.

A list of stories I heard this weekend (in no particular order):

1. The one about the pet bears.
2. The one about Jane Fonda's workout.
3. The one about the pet raccoon.
4. The one about tanning (with a new line that my Papa uses about baby oil being his sunscreen).
5. The one about the hearing aids
6. The one about the radioactive checks (no it's retroactive, not radioactive).
7. The one about how my parents met.
8. The one about Grampa Lister.
9. The one about Uncle Jack's batting.
10. The one about the grapes (yup).
11. The one about the spaghetti sauce on the curtains, the custard pie, and Uriah's first swear word.

Is this a thing for most families or is it just my family (or should I say my fantastic mother)?

Week 3 Blog 3

I bought a cassette tape in the 4th grade that technically counts as my first (Kids Incorporated...Martika and Fergie... and looking for it brought me to this gem of a video with Mr. T. Gawd the 80's were so bad and so fantastic). It was a group of kids who performed and maybe worked at a malt shoppe (I didn't even know what that was). The songs were all covers, but I remember two more than the others. One is the theme song. It's not good. I'm not going to link to it because I already captured the 80's in the Mr. T video.The other was this.  Cruel Summer had been on the film the Karate Kid and it played while Ralph Macchio (Daniel) bounced a soccer ball around a bit and showed off for the ladies. I had no idea he was 23. I just knew that he was amazing.

In the 6th grade I bought the first cassettes really wanted.  Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever and Led Zeppelin IV (When the Levee Breaks still gives me chills...the drums). Music was instantly my "thing." My dad bought me a subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine and I all but memorized every page. When asked to write about an influential artist (when I was in the seventh grade) I selected Jimi Hendrix. I had taped his Star Spangled Banner that summer and was captivated. It was messy and perfect and I loved it. I loved it more because it was a song I already recognized that he was clearly making his own.

And along came hip-hop. I didn't love rap. I just didn't. And then I did. The more I listened to music, the more I liked rap. I first loved the beats and samples the artists used.  I loved that hip hop artists were using music I loved to create something that was uniquely their own. I miss that in music today. I think our musicians are still influenced by others, but there is a real fear of litigation that scares people away from transforming something into something else. Sure, credit should be given, and probably some money, but it feels like we've lost something. Maybe I'm just getting older.

The same year I bought my first Zeppelin album, my music teacher told me why country songs stayed on the charts for so long. He said it told a story. I thought that was a load of garbage. I now think he was on to something with the comment about storytelling, but I'm still not sold on what he considered good music. I don't love jazz (I know...I love music and I detest jazz), and country music (at least much of it) isn't really my thing unless it tells a story or brings me back to a memory.

So what is my point? Why am I rambling about music and storytelling and whatever? Again, it's about connections. Artists are inspired by others. 

Week 3 Blog 2

When I was a child my aunt used to make up rules for us. You read that right. My mother was too busy being a mom to five of us to create arbitrary rules. My aunt only had two kids which meant she had a clean house, ironed clothes, and weird rules.

1. You can't swear until you are 18. Swear words are the ones we all know (and the ones she uses often), but also including fricking, frigging, and suck.  Jeezum was the only word approaching foul that we could get away with, and it usually got us a "don't push it" look.
2. You need to wait until you are 27 to get married, especially if you are a woman. You need to make sure you can make it on your own before you marry someone. Once you're married, you don't want to have to stay in an awful relationship just because you don't think you can make it on your own.
3. You can't sit at the kitchen table for gossip until you are in the fourth grade. This can be revoked if you 
1. interrupt
2. share their secrets with others
3. complain
4. disagree (you could do this within reason)

This final rule was my least favorite. The tradition of oral storytelling in my household took place at the kitchen table. It was here that my mom and her friends (usually my aunt, but maybe another of my mom's friends as well) would sit with coffee and talk. They talked about day to day life and gossiped about whatever seemed important at the time, while I patiently waited for the days they would talk about their childhood. The stories would be filtered by whomever was telling them. Thus, my mother's version of stories usually involved some jab at Auntie being her dad's favorite. Auntie's versions always had a line about how Mom was always glued to her mother, leaving no one but their father for Auntie to go to when she had hurt feelings or cuts and bruises. 

Before I was in the fourth grade I would try to hide under the table, or huddle down in the livingroom chair. They always found me. I would go upstairs and hide in my brothers bedroom. In the sweltering heat the upstairs was even more humid than usual, but I would try to wait it out. Usually I couldn't wait it out and tried to interject some sort of comment from above. I was ejected from the room and sent outside. Not under the window outside (which I tried every time) but outside. Far away from the stories. Stories of watching the Beatles on tv for the first time, of sibling rivalry, of the best ways to get a great tan, and of failed marriages. I would hear the stories over and over again (I still do) and never get sick of them. I know that their other sister pulled her hair when Paul McCartney came on the screen. I know that her ex-husband married a woman who looked like the blonde from the B52's. I know that she was Wiccan in high school and slept on a board, ironed her hair, and hated my grandfather. I know that she wasn't anyones favorite except her own. I know that they used tanning blankets to avoid light sides when they were laying out (apparently this is a thing). They were in awe of their mother who always had a deep tan just from working in the garden (this one is really popular now that they are older and apparently tan within an hour of being outside).

My favorite stories were about my dad, who grew up dirt poor but with so much freedom. His stories were of seeing Jimi Hendrix play on the street, of jumping on trains to New York City when he was twelve, and of raising bear cubs named Hokey and Pokey until they ransacked the kitchen. When I was a kid, we used to go to the Rumford Zoo (yup) and pretend the bear there was Hokey. He had the best of both worlds, a wild city life and an even more wild country life. When my dad passed away these stories were still here.

I used to be really sad about my dad's death, and had a hard time talking about it. While it is still difficult for me, I feel like I keep a piece of him alive as I share his stories with my children. I am so thankful that I had my dad for 24 years of my life and that he shared his stories with us. Mom and Auntie still bicker and laugh at the table whenever they're together. I don't want this to be lost to me, so I'm going to try to get a recording of it. We'll see how it goes :)

I talk about the tradition of oral storytelling with my students. I talk about the loss of my dad and how it's hard for me to remember what he sounded like, but his stories are still here. 

So what does all of this mean for my classroom and for a tradition of oral storytelling? We listen to stories on This American Life that connect to units we are working on. I have some of my students create their own episodes. When my students first got their computers they loved this assignment. Now many of them wait until the night before and throw something together. I wonder what is changing for them? Do they have things in their lives recorded already now that grandmas all around us have facebook? I'm uncertain. I am sure that I'm not ready to let go of the assignment yet.

I'm going to try to get a recording of my mom next week. Stay tuned to the blog for the recording. How do you upload audio to blogger? Dan?

Week 3 Blog 1

One of my first memories is of my brother biting me. He opened his mouth and bit me on my back. Hard. I wasn't a meaty child. I was the definition of waif. My ribs stuck out despite the fact that at least a teaspoon of butter went on each helping of steamed veggies in our house. I didn't break 40 pounds until the first grade. That being said, he found his mark and bit hard with his new teeth. He was angry because he thought I was getting more grapes than he was. I wasn't. He'd actually eaten so much that he later vomited barely chewed pieces of green grapes. He did not use his teeth for their intended purpose. He used them to bite me.

I remember the bite. I remember the puke. But that's where the actual memory ends. What I remember after that is there because my mother recorded it. That's right, she pulled out her tape recorder and made an audiotape of the little demon's voice. My brother napped for a bit and I (a true artist when it came to whining) got to go to the store with my dad. A trip to the store with my dad usually meant we would get any or all of the following:

1. chocolate milk (full fat deliciousness that this milk hating/sugar detesting girl LOVED)
2. Rolos (I kind of liked them, but preferred Paydays. What kind of kid likes Payday bars? The kind of kid who hates sharing with her brother because he ALWAYS wanted more)
3. Slim-jims (I loved them. I haven't eaten one it at least 18 years, but I probably would still like them.)

My brother ran faster than I did, so he normally got to go with my dad on these excursions. My dad would try to sneak away, and we would hear the truck start. My bro never took his shoes off and never shut a door. He would be in the truck before I was even standing up. He always won. Almost always. 

The day of the bite he fell asleep and my mom knew that her three year old was going to throw a fit when he woke up. What was initially a crying fit was quickly followed by a conversation about the grapes and him singing the theme song to the "Dukes of Hazard" or The Duke Boys (as we called it). She caught it on tape and used to bring it out to play it for us at random times. I say random because it really was. Sometimes my grandmother would be visiting. Other times we'd just be hanging out on a rainy day.  

This was before we had a camcorder (remember those beasts?). It was clearly before we had computers. My mom used the technology she had to make recordings of our little voices. At the time I didn't understand why. I found the recordings stupid and embarrassing. My brother was a ham, therefor he loved the fact that he was the center of attention (in the recording AND again every time we listened to it). I need to try to find that tape. My guess is that it's gone. It's likely disappeared into the hole that is my old bedroom aka storage. I don't even think her stereo has a tape deck that works. It does have a tape deck though.

I try to record my kiddos a few times a year. I don't normally go for the "special" unless they're learning to walk or something. I know the mundane will be special one day, but it's not like I try to focus on it. I just don't think of recording when I should. When the older one is bored I sometimes haul out the computer and let him muck about with the gem that is photobooth (especially the special effects).  Just last week I recorded him singing "Locked out of Heaven" (Bruno Mars) because he's starting to learn the real words and it's kind of sad to me that he won't be singing "I'll be locked up nevah" for much longer. It's like when he stopped singing "Baa baa black sheep henny henny wool," but I digress (big shocker).

He had no idea I was recording this. I actually spent so much time on his makeup right after this (see Spiderman below) that tonight  (ten months later) was the first time I watched this video.

Just in case you were wondering, my dad and I came home while my mom was in the middle of recording My brother. I got Rolos and shared them with him. Guess who got more?

End note:
This is an example of a blog post I would share with my students. I might give them a prompt about an early memory and see where they went with it. I might also tell them this story first, and then give the prompt. It's all about making connections. That's what we do when we tell stories. We connect with our audience; I connect with my students (hopefully).

Week 2 Blog 3 Artifact #2

Here are my two infographics.
The early one started as a mindmap that I created while watching this video. It was all over the place and way too huge for the little space I was allotted. I took what I had and it somehow morphed into this mess. I wanted to start clean and fresh, but it didn't quite work. I didn't know how to use the program AT ALL.

So I practiced, and it helped. This infographic was inspired by the hipster one I posted in Week 2 Blog 2. I'm still not super happy with it. I tried to use only what was available to me on Easel.ly. I also tried uploading images (Creative Commons images connected to story...a Story Road sign and such). Uploading the images worked, but I wasn't pleased with the way it looked AT ALL. I'm not sure I have an eye for design. I guess I know what looks good in the end, but getting it to look good is a different story. This is why stealing like an artist works for me I guess. I can bring the content and revise a template to get it to look the way I want it to (for the most part). I'll tweak this more as I continue. I feel like it needs more images. The color behind the font makes it pop a bit, but...
Anyway, StoryCorps is awesome and is not mine (by the way).

My Infographic

I added some images to the piece. I think because it was mindmapish (originally), it also had (and still has) lots of text. I like it though. It's a way of making a mindmap (I hate them...sorry) like a list (which makes more sense to me).

Week 2 Blog 2

I'll use easel.ly lots.
I think the first way I'll use it is to do what I did today. For students to get used to the app, I'll have them select a template and create a fun and made up story or infographic with that.
This is me modeling what I would like them to do.

Hipster How To

Things to note.
If you update/make changes and save them, then your link will go to the new updated piece.
I can't get it to embed (probably b/c I have it set to private).
Some of my best friends are hipsters. I love them. All teasing is in good fun. Seriously, all of the people images you are given as choice are silhouettes except for this dude. I thought it was too funny not to go there.

I'm trying to create my own, but using a template helped me learn some of the ins and outs of the website. I'll post my own when I feel like it's understandable. First I was going for a mindmap a la Creative Confidence. I like that it helped me "gain some clarity" (212), but it ended up being just too wonky for this program (and for my brain). Just how much information should I put on this? What is the intent? I don't want it to be something that I could just put on a handout, but it seems like that's what might happen.

I'm starting fresh. We'll see what happens. Actually, that might be my next blog post. I'll save (and share) my first disaster...then fix it. These things take a long time to make.