... What Else?

Hear the Voices Awakened to the voices shouting history we then waved past and did not change Aware of the voices showing history we now weave forward and must now change Voices Subdued I believe all voices must be heard, but we have not heard them, though they have screamed. The Black people and people of color who daily walk and sleep in fear due to the systems of racism that creep into and steal the American dream for equality for all Americans. Although I have recently written about this here , I am aware how feeble this is, this attempt to help. But know this: whatever you can do and voice is better than the silence that has subdued the screams for help. Laura Gibbs, in her recent post, Twitter Highlights: June 4 , shared two resources I think will help-- because educators can not be silent: a podcast from Teaching Higher Ed,  Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies ,  that may help with both thinking about it, and in planning writing work to develop awareness, w

Shine a Light for Hope I've started a series of art illustrations to emphasize a hope I have that our country will join together as one again, as a United States of Americans-- where we are all treated equally. I recently read an article in The Guardian about art's impact on our world during difficult times. Hope is the precursor to change. Without it, no better world is possible.    ~  Feeling overwhelmed? How art can help in an emergency by Olivia Laing   The above illustration is about hope-- and shining light on the goodness of the world, to keep our vision for moving forward in these difficult times. My art is a small piece of hope for a better world. Last week, I shared a post on how I "curate" tweets and articles by emailing to a blog: Project: A Tweet Away Today, I found exactly what I needed for my new illustration on "building bridges." In the news again this week were more devastating problems with racism. I know we need to conn

As I've been reading the process of connecting blogs and using labels/tags and categories in Laura Gibb 's SummerBlogFest2020 , I finally realized I did begin such a process with my students the year we started with Blogger blogs. Laura's Process Laura's comment reminded me of our process when she pointed me to her " Biography Assignment ." Scroll down to the blue box to see how her students created their response in their blogs-- here's a screenshot : Middle School Process In our Slice of Life writing, where students loved writing about themselves every Tuesday,  I wrote about the process and project here: Slice of Life Writing , complete with links to examples and drafts. Briefly, we followed this process-- every Tuesday, and every day in March: Draft :  A Quick Write, then a Slow Write/Revision in GDocs Review Strategies : Add the writing strategies used with examples from your work Post with title SOL+your topic/title; label:

Puzzles Kim Douillard , a #clmooc friend, writes a fantastic photography/reflection/education blog called " Thinking Through My Lens ." Today, she wrote about Puzzles, something she doesn't usually do and to which she and her husband gravitated to as a time-filler during these covid times, which she addresses as Puzzling Times . The world is a puzzle in which we search for connections that help us make sense of the not just the big picture, but of each part adjacent to us. Childhood Memories So I began to wonder, "What childhood objects and activities are others reconnecting with during these times?" The above image of a puzzle , Izzi , would have been one I would have loved as a child, and one my grandchildren will remember fondly, as it was a favorite for them when they visited as youngsters. As I continued my thoughts, I remembered that I'd connected childhood toys and activities in prior posts: In Childhood Objects , I ramble throug

SummerBlogFest2020 Yesterday, I spent time catching up to the guidance for blogging and networking in our SummerBlogFest2020  course facilitated online through blogs by Laura Gibbs .  I already had a partially set up fee InoReader account, and I spent some time adding and revising it to be current with the things I follow: Notice, I have the Summer2020BlogFest InoReader feed by Laura at the top -- I can check it along with my other feeds. I probably won't get the premium version, although it sounds fantastic -- I just don't have the need--- yet. A Blast from the Past While setting up my InoReader for my own blogs and blog comments, - I found an old blog post from 2013 that referred to a Twitter friend's post about being contained within someone else's structure.  Her post no longer exists, but I had felt a connection to it, and a connection to the sentiment even today when I reread it since # remotelearning is being inundated with many &qu

Summer 2020 Blog Fest Laura , our mentor in our journey about networked blogging and the benefits of blogging, suggests we start a project, for which she shares two of hers: Twitter Highlights : blog posts with interesting, annotated Twitter highlights, tagged with "Twitter Highlights" -- check the bottom of a post to see the tag Dabbles: Stories in 100 Words [or less] : a collection of such stories My Project: Tweet Curation for Research I have a project already set up. It's called: So. Consider. I cannot believe I started it in 2012. But blogs have many purposes, and I think blogs are perfect places to gather and curate. I wanted a place to share bits of interesting blog posts or tweets-- and it became [along with Diigo ], a place to post tweets for things that: are interesting could be part of a current research project seem important for the times may be words of wisdom are usually about education, but now could be covid or democracy or socia

The thing about our closing schools and staying home is definitely a loss of social interaction face-to-face, a chance to sit beside our students to listen and provide feedback, but mostly to encourage. And classrooms which are communities of learners and learning are ones that focus on encouragement and support by teachers and students as well as continuous learning of content. Classrooms and hallways are filled with conversation and even shenanigans, and each person from school misses that. Yet, teachers have stepped up and provided lessons to meet the needs of students in different and new ways-- often with only a week's notice. We thank our teachers and staff for their steadfast dedication to their students and their learning. Today, Kevin Hodgson was able to return to school to gather up the possessions of students left from those days in March. His reflection shows the effect of silent emptiness echoing the hallways and classrooms, a loss felt deep within each teache

photo stamp created by Sheri Edwards, 2011 on Flickr Yesterday, I wandered through these difficult times and wondered: And now that we're "learning remotely, digitally," what will we keep and what will we throw away?  What could education look like as we move forward?  A Vision of Education It's a question that all of us are wondering-- What's working? What isn't? What would make "it" work? What will we do if we can't go back to "school?" We've been dodging this technology issue since the turn of the century-- an issue that is not about technology, but about the pedagogy of learning, minus the unfortunate misadventures of testing-- a pedagogy of learning enhanced by technology to insure student voice and choice with meaningful feedback to grow and learn together. Of course, this morning my Twitter feed provided some useful suggestions by some who understand education. From the @writingproject, suggestions for teachers b

What is your vision for education? That is a question on everyone's minds these days, and the times require us to think differently. Many of us have been thinking and planning for these times for many years. Today, Eric Sheninger shared a post that linked to a 2013 quote of his on just these ideas -- what could education look like -- to be true learning experiences for all learners? What educational leadership is needed to guide these changes? The Vital Role of Digital Leadership in Transforming Education https://t.co/H98P9QVM0I #aussieEd #ukedchat #intled #globaled #globaledchat #edchatMENA #africaEd #edchatNZ pic.twitter.com/NbINiI5JbY — Eric Sheninger (@E_Sheninger) May 13, 2020 Among many ideas, he says this: Innovative learning spaces and environments : How will the environment and conditions under which kids learn change to more adequately reflect the reality of the world they live in? Remote learning has brought to the forefront the need to develop pe