Playing in the background as I write this: Michael Franti, Songs from the Front Porch
Blowing through the window as I write this: The first serious summer evening breeze of the year. It’s a perfect temperature and the wind is at just the right speed. I’m actually just killing time writing this while a friend is on his way over to sit on lawn chairs in my very small yard and catch up. It’s been too long since we’ve done that, even though we live near each other now and see each other in passing pretty often.
The school year ends, for all intents and purposes, tomorrow. It’s the last day before Memorial Day, which means it’s the last day before it seems more than a little foolish to keep up the charade. And I wish I could play along with that, but something’s happened.
The Odyssey project might be breaking down.
I don’t know. Maybe not. But this week has been pretty rough.
Am I egotistical enough to say that it’s because I’ve missed two of our three meeting days this week because of other commitments I couldn’t get out of? Of course I am, and I believe that that’s a big reason for what’s gone down. With a few exceptions, the sophomores just aren’t taking any initiative. There are actors with one or two lines who think that sitting around waiting for a shoot to be scheduled counts as contributing; there are music crew members who refuse to be flexible; there are costume/wardrobe people who keep forgetting to tell the actors what they’re supposed to wear. There are vision clashes and communication breakdowns and rampaging egos and trampled shy people who are just trying to get something, anything done.
There are, though, afewstudentswhoaregettingmorethantheirshareofcrunk on this project, and I commend each one. These are students who understand that when they signed up for an Honors English class, it was because the ratio of work to reward would be challenging, and they’d be called upon to think creatively. This isn’t an AP class, after all–these students need to be able to use 21st century skills to work together and produce new knowledge.
And the kicker is that I know they can do it. I’ve seen what they’ve produced earlier–satirical films, informative wikis, brochures about reform movements, a fully-realized production of Macbeth–which makes this feeling about a hundred times worse. Where’s the energy, the drive? When I tell a dozen of them on Tuesday that they’re currently rocking pretty fat Ds on this project, will that motivate them to figure out what needs to be done and do it?
DEAD PERSON: I think I'll go for a walk.
CUSTOMER: You're not fooling anyone you know. Look, isn't there something
you can do?
DEAD PERSON: [singing] I feel happy... I feel happy.
[whop]
CUSTOMER: Ah, thanks very much.
CART-MASTER: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
(Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been walking a lot when the weather’s permitted. By “walking a lot” I mean walking anywhere in the area that I normally would drive to, with the exception of work (I wake up too early as it is, and I really don’t relish the idea of walking in the predawn hours). Why am I walking so much? There are a few reasons. One is that I hate paying for gas, and my car’s been getting lousy mileage recently (hopefully some recent tire maintenance will help). Another is that I got my iPod to work again. Another is that I’ve been wistful for the time that I spent living in Manhattan when I was in grad school and walked everywhere (it was just after 9/11 and I tried to spend as little time in the subway system as possible).
But the main reason is that I’ve finally figured out what I’m going to do in Scotland this summer before my class starts. For those of you who haven’t been following the minutiae of my life with the devotion of post-Goth shut-ins deciphering the clues on the latest Nine Inch Nails album, I’ll be at the Scottish Universities International Summer School this August studying creative writing and postmodernism, all thanks to a fellowship from the ESU and Lillian Butler Davey. The kicker, though, is that I bought a plane ticket that gives me an extra week of travel before I move to Edinburgh for three weeks. After toying with a few ideas (a whirlwind tour of everything Scottish; a week in Orkney culminating in a pilgrimage to Skara Brae; a ferry to Belfast), I finally figured out what I want to do.
The West Highland Way seems like just the thing. I’ve never travelled entirely alone before, unless you count going to a wedding for a weekend. I’m not concerned about being bored or lonely, since I’m pretty outgoing, but I decided that I need to take advantage of that fact that I can travel at my own pace to do something that requires me to travel at my own pace. Walking/hiking/backpacking 10-18 miles a day through little villages, across mountains, and around lochs seems like a great idea. I can bring my camera and a notebook, record what I see, curl up at night with the copy of Waverley that I’ve been putting off reading, lose some weight, learn something about my limits, and be ready to sit in a classroom for three weeks afterward. It’ll either be the best or the worst idea of my recent life. I can’t wait.
So I’ve been walking, trying to get used to the idea of going long distances. If the weather lifts a bit more today I’ll take a walk down to the beach and back, which’ll give me about 6.5 miles without walking around at the park. I figure if I do that a couple of times and build up a little bit of strength and willpower, I’ll be able to walk from my place to my parents’ house, which is about 15 miles, or an average day on the Way.
Meanwhile, Ed and I have been overseeing/facilitating/cowering in fear from the 81-writers-strong Odyssey Movie Project. Thanks to a remarkably easy-to-use Web 2.0 tool called Plotbot, and some great support from Brad Bouse and Star Rosencrans, our students have written a complete screenplay for a modern adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. Shooting will start this week.
At this point, it doesn’t much matter to me if the film gets made. That’s not true, of course–I want to see it as much as anyone else does. But this experience has been remarkable so far. 81 Honors-level sophomores, usually the most competitive and grade-concerned constituency in the high school, have figured out a way to work together to produce something brand new. There have been some arguments and disputes, yes–everything from whether to set part of the film in a prison to music choices for the final scenes–but they’ve been worked out civilly without anyone losing too much face.
And I’ve thought a lot about Plotbot in particular and how it’s a great example of how these new Web 2.0 tools can be used effectively in education. Plotbot is very easy to use–it took about 10 minutes to get most of my students up and running, and about 10 more minutes for them to be able to show each other very cool tricks and tips that they figured out without reading any of the online documentation–and is visually appealing. More importantly, it provides instant gratification (any changes made are applied instantly) and accountability (your username is attached to every change or comment your make, and everyone, including the teacher, can see who’s been doing what and when). There’s a cool social component to it as well, which should be even better when there’s a private messaging system.
While all this Plotbottery was taking place, a couple of my students told me that they set up a Facebook group about the project. I have no idea how that’s going–I’ve not been invited to the group, nor do I know if I want to be–but I think it’s great that the students have taken it upon themselves to bring this project into the space where they live. New technology allows us to break down some of the walls between the classroom space and the out-of-classroom experience. If you don’t believe that, teachers, check your work email from home.
When I’m home and reading, the first thing my roommate always asks me is if the book is for work or for fun. At this point, it’s hard to say. I’ve got a lot of books going right now:
Slaughterhouse-Five, which is for the Am Lit II class I’m teaching, but which is also one of my all-time favorite books, and which I reread even when I don’t have to teach the course
Jews, God, and History, which I’m using to set up a baseline for when I start working as the Youth Director/Hebrew High teacher at my synagogue in the fall and will be leading discussions about how Jewish teenagers can work ancient ethics into modern lives
Lanark, which is for the SUISS course
I like all of these books way too much to start to make the distinction between “for fun” and “for work.” Everything I read, everything I experience, becomes fodder for school, and vice versa. New technology lets that happen for students, too.
At some point, when I have some time, I need to dig out my Dewey and Rosenblatt books and see if I can find a way to make them fit, too. In about a month I’ll be through my fifth year of teaching, and I think it’ll be high time to reexamine some of my older beliefs and see what can be done about them. Until then, though, the sun’s beginning to come out, and I think it’s time to go on a walk.
So Eric Hoefler tagged me for the Successful Life meme. While I’m not sure many others would consider my life to be successful, I have to say that I’m pretty happy and definitely content.
A while ago, I wrote about things that helped get me through the day. I stand by them still, and I think they are a major contributing factor to my success. But there are a couple of more things, things which come to mind this morning.
Simplifying has helped me a lot. See, I’m a bit of a pack rat–I spent enough time without being able to save money that I’m now inclined to hang on to anything and everything I buy. I also keep papers from years ago (I just found a stash of electric bills from when I lived in another state), agendas from meetings, etc. And I don’t just keep them–I shove them into file cabinet drawers and pretend they don’t exist. It’s a pathaology, I’m sure. But recently, with a move-out date looming, I’ve begun to appreciate the exquisite joy of contributing to the tons of garbage produced by Americans every year. Boxes of old papers have been recycled; bags of clothes have gone to Goodwill, and my trunk is full of books to bring to the used book shop at the local library. At work, too, my file cabinets full of extra copies of handouts I’ll probably never use again have been turned into a shelf of binders. It’s really great.
Taking the time to do things the old-fashioned way is another key for me. I love convenience–I became a technolovangelist because I firmly believe that technology, deployed properly, can help us do things more easily–but there’s something to be said for putting that stuff on hold and just spending time doing things the way they used to be done. I’m not talking about carding wool or churning butter, though those are, doubtless, fascinating, but I am talking about things like cooking my own dinner, rather than getting take-out. I’ve found that I sleep better when I’ve eaten a meal that I’ve made myself. I eat a lot, which is probably something I should cut back on, but when I cook, I use a ton of vegetables, organic meats, and fresh eggs–the fewer additives and synthetic chemicals the better. I’ll probably never live on a farm, as I wouldn’t know the first thing about what to do, but eating in a less modern way has done wonders for my disposition. Not to mention my wallet.
“Lane Euler“: meteoric growth in critical thinking and weblogging, and a person to trust to the grave–I can tell already.
“Fashion Freak“: a rare honesty and decency, a mind alive in this one. Somehow seems an “old soul” (in a good, mature way).
“Ace Husky Uno“: makes me think of Nestor’s injunction to the young in The Iliad: “Be a man of eloquence and action.” (He was telling Achilles not to be just a jock, but a literate man as well. If only our modern “he-men” valued the tongue as much as the bicep.) Husky Uno is an amazing basketball player and thinker. He handled Swift like he handles lay-ups. And macho peer pressure doesn’t keep him from talking in class. Too cool.
“Ha! Enjoy“: another one whose sincerity and ability to reflect and enjoy it makes me happy.
“Pick Man Track“: another athlete strong enough to lead instead of follow–a real role model who breaks the “thinking ain’t cool” mold for weaker young jocks around him.
And yes, there are plenty of my ENG223 students who have done some fine writing as well. But we haven’t, as a group, quite gotten to the stage that Clay’s students have. We’re not really bloggers yet–we use blogs to complete homework assignments, for the most part, not as a means of expression or connection to the world at large. This is something that Evan Olmstead and I’ll be working on a lot next year.
Maybe there was too much technology and not enough time to play–I’m thinking about the wikis, the PlotBot site, and all the rest–to let the blogs grow organically. Maybe the emphasis on blogs in the beginning of the year was a turn-off, or maybe a lot of students really don’t want to be met where they live, out in digital land. I just don’t know.
Props, though, are in order to these folks. I’ll use their site titles so’s to stay kind of consistent with Clay’s post.
Is There Life on Mars? After starting off as one of the more blog-skeptical students in the class, she’s recently announced her intention to use her blog a lot more. We’ll see if this is serious, or if she’s just tweaking her very gullible and optimistic teacher.
lol, internet: Not a lot of independent/unprovoked blogging, but great voice.
Dark Universe Version 2.0: Again, not really any unprovoked blogging, but this is a student who obviously thinks very deeply about what he reads and writes, and is not afraid to grapple with his thoughts in a public forum.
A Cogitative Consciousness: This student puts in a lot of time and effort to make sure his blog posts are well-crafted and readable, not to mention thought-provoking. Writing is a serious pursuit for him, which is evident to anyone who reads his blog.
There are plenty more of my students who have the potential to be great bloggers, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. I’ll try not to lose too much sleep over it–despite what I’ve read and written, there is far more to life than this.
So I’ve been walking, trying to get used to the idea of going long distances. If the weather lifts a bit more today I’ll take a walk down to the beach and back, which’ll give me about 6.5 miles without walking around at the park. I figure if I do that a couple of times and build up a little bit of strength and willpower, I’ll be able to walk from my place to my parents’ house, which is about 15 miles, or an average day on the Way.