I love to write. I’ve been scribbling since I was tiny.
And it hurts.
And heals.
Creating is a paradox. We read to become better writers and we write to become better readers, all in the service of moving and navigating through this space, this world.
And it hit me hard. I am not Mormon; I do not, and have not, had a community like this outside of my job, except for the rare occasions I worked with the now-defunct Puget Sound Writing Project (National Writing Project). But now I feel isolated, siloed, and micromanaged, and it’s not healthy. It’s not healthy for me or my students, which some folks don’t understand; it’s not healthy for them, either.
At this juncture, I am desperately seeking allies and community. I can count on many friends and family members who support me and my work and others who support the communities around us. Also, my anxiety and pattern recognition of danger is through the emotional cortisol roof. I remarked the other day that I do not understand my district’s culture, or perhaps I do, and I don’t want to see it or speak it out loud.
My ask: if you are interested in building a community with me, a community that supports inclusion, diversity, equity, knowledge, love, and action, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me privately, start your own WordPress blog, come make zines with me, let’s hang out and write our congresspeople, drink coffee and eat snacks. I am open to ideas.
I am promising now: I do not care who you voted for*; I only care about your actions. If your actions harm me and my ability to provide for my family and students, I will gather my community and work to make things right.
*I care, but I must compartmentalize that and focus on the current situation. Your vote for him is a massive obstacle to peace and love. Either help fix what you broke or get out of the way, please.
Sometimes I really wonder if how I spend some of my ‘teacher time’ is worthy/worthwhile. Admittedly, it is selfish. I enjoy making things. So why am I spending a few hours both curating things for the December bulletin board, tweaking this blog, and bouncing around like a nervous pingpong ball? I don’t know. And I am not sure I want to know.
Anyway, have a nice Sunday. It’s almost the Winter Solstice up here in the North, and days will begin to get brighter.
There are some teaching traditions I love to keep — and writing a ‘suite of drabbles’ is one. This year I put together prompts based on names of colors. You’re welcome to comment and ask for more ideas, or the structure of this; however, it’s simple. Students write nine drabbles, choose their favorite one, and “share it’ with others. They get credit for writing all ten.
Key phrases I learned from his video, ones I knew, and all of them I need to share with students:
Ideological fragment: Dr. Cruz explores how a piece of media can be an ideological fragment, meaning a piece or artifact that represents an larger ideology (belief system).
Yes, I did Venmo him some cash for his content. You should, too.
Now, next school year when I provide instruction on analyzing media (literature, poetry, videos, etc.) and through the lens of facts, opinions, and truth, as well as poetry instruction (revised from Mud & Ink) What an amazing #mentortext to discuss our purposes for analyzing and discussing the media we consume.
Thanks once again to Chanea Bond introduced to another brilliant educator, jwoz_teaches Josie | JWoz_Teaches·5h ago (TikTok) and while I dream of a world where I’m working side by side amazing ELA teachers like these women, alas, I will have to settle for digital hugs. Chanea alerted me to Josie’s Jenn’s “Soup, Salad, or Sandwich” question and during summer school last week we debated tacos. I’m leaning heavily toward sandwich, but can make a case for salad.
I’m going to take credit for the writing territories idea (even if she got it from multiple places)
And when paired with #writingterritories (no, I do not remember who gave me the idea, but I’ve tweaked it over the years, and pretty sure it came from a sessions with the Puget Sound Writing Project (National Writing Project). Kelly Love’s Writing Territories Graphic Organizer
Look, my friends, I miss being on Twitter, but I am never going back, especially now. I miss the conversations I had easily, and readily on that app, and @threads jumped onto my personal Instagram. I have no brand, no identity, and am all over the place. I share ideas all the time, but clearly never get a Kofi tip because my lemonade stand of awesome ideas was built using haunted lumber from a fungus-infested and used Dixie cups. The lemonade is delicious, but no one wants to take those chances in this chaos of a blog. I guess I’m just trying to say, I’m good at a lot of things, but packaging my ideas for market isn’t one of them. In the meantime, I’ll just share what I do, what I learn, mistakes and successes, and hope you stick with me.
Some quick ways to encourage students to find, create, and use #fanart to demonstrate love of literature and reading.
The other day I saw a wonderful IG post by the author Neal Shusterman displaying some of the #fanart he receives from some very talented artists. I am a huge fan of his writing myself. A little background: I earned a BFA in 1982, and when I became a teacher in the mid-2000s my BFA earned me an endorsement in teaching art, too. This past school year, during the building closure, was the first year I was able to add teaching a Drawing class to my schedule. My schedule included Drawing, ELA/ELL, ELL Study Skills, and a Check/Connect time (which, by all metrics, was a collaborative disaster, but that’s a story for another day).
Incorporating visual arts into my English/Language Arts design is embedded in my work. And the ‘skills’ of drawing are something, the fear of “I can’t draw a straight line” is addressed swiftly and soundly. Guess what? I can’t draw a straight line, either. I use a ruler. I use digital tools. My stick figures are quirky. Oh well. Art and writing are closely connected to telling a story. And when we ELA teachers have asked our students to shut their eyes and visualize a story*, to see the movie in their minds, we’re asking a daunting task for many students now. Consumption of audio/visual content is a full-time pursuit for many students (and ourselves) so being able to imagine characters and scenes in a book feels impossible to some.
Reminder: always give credit to the original author, too.
We English teachers have asked students to create movie posters and one-pagers for a long time. Adding #fanart to the mix supports inclusion for multi-modal approaches to texts. Please comment with questions and ideas, and “dog food” this — create your own FanArt!
In a Facebook group whose mission is to discuss anti-racism and equity issues (one of about a thousand of these groups) a member asked if it’s “okay to compliment an accent.”
My short answer was “no.” She was not satisfied with this. I told her I would research it further, but my first response comes from being an ELA/ELL teacher, and complimenting someone’s accent or dialect may make them feel singled out, “other” ness. It may discourage students who speak one or more languages other than English, and while they’re working on English will feel self-conscious.
And I am wondering why I am still so irked. Why wasn’t it enough for me to say “no?” The reason is because when a white person doesn’t get the answer they want, it takes a trajectory of time (confirmation bias strength) and friction (cognitive dissonance). She wanted to continue her behavior. I get it. I still like to tell students they’re amazing, beautiful, smart, loyal friends, courageous, and creative. When we’ve done pop-up toasts as a class and they need to speak to/about other students, it’s my honor to help them find ways to compliment one another that’s healthy, loving and profound.
Further Reading:
Note: even the word “microaggression” sounds like “small racism.” They’re aggressions.
“And maybe, just maybe I don’t want to tell you where I’m from because I might look at this country as being my home. I’ve worked hard to become part of your world. And I love it here.”
I’ve just signed a petition about this bridge to dignity as seen in SELMA. It is named after a KKK grand wizard and confederate warlord. Edmund Pettus Bridge should be the John Lewis Bridge. Named for a hero. Not a murderer. Join this call. It’s past due. https://t.co/EZqu7ic0bU
Bree Newsome climbed up a flagpole and took down the racist, Confederate flag of South Carolina in 2015. I was teaching 7th grade Humanities that year, and her actions were shared with my students.
Newsome’s move, for many, was nothing short of cathartic. Weeks before, white supremacist Dylann Roof gunned down nine parishioners and injured three more during Bible study at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The day before Newsome climbed the flagpole, former President Barack Obama gave a moving eulogy for South Carolina state senator Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the shooting’s victims, in which he called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds, describing it as “a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation.”
The debate over whether or not to take down statues of the Confederacy began to heat up, and information and background history of when and why those statues were erected shared, but still the debate waged on. And nothing was done. We forgot about this work.
Just this past week, a mother of one of my favorite people, and she is a loving, Christian woman who is on his side, loves his bravery and voice, and shares his convictions, stepped out in one way –she believes the taking down of the statues is a form of censorship. Now, I am sensitive to the word ‘censorship.’ (This morning a colleague said, unequivocally, that “racist texts need and should be burned.” She didn’t cite specific works. She said it would be an anti-fa act. I said it is also a fascist act. One of the paradoxes of our times. But the book burning post is for another day.)
Instead of debating or making a case whether or not taking down statues is censorship, I had this epiphany this morning, and I am going to explore further. It came to me while listening to the news about Britain putting barricades around statues to protect them from protestors:
I do not know everything about history. I know quite little, actually, and this lack of knowledge affords me this opportunity to think about the statues and monuments I’ve encountered. If I see a statue of a man on horseback dressed in military gear, I assume he’s a famous person who has performed some act of bravery. The statue is shorthand and communicates an agreed-upon statement. If there is a statue of someone that means they did something worth getting a statue for. Right? I mean, we don’t honor horrible people, do we? We honor brave, kind, intelligent, worthy people who save lives, heal others, tell stories, or share a greater gift with the rest of humanity, right? There are statues that are works of art, fountains, monuments, that bring beauty and joy. But think: when looking at them, what assumptions do we make?
When we see Confederate military statues, or statues such as James Marion Sims, we assume heroic deeds. And that is where the true censorship happens. It happens when the voices of those enslaved, tortured, harmed, killed and exploited are silenced. The censorship happens when we don’t know whose land we’re on. And in the cruel legacy of Sims, medical students still think BIPOC don’t feel pain the same way white people do. Still. To THIS DAY. Or what treacherous and heinous acts they performed. If we do keep colonizers, slave owners, and religious zealots statues present, why not put up a huge sign that tells the whole story? Would you have known what Sims did if you just walked through the park, saw his statue, and went about your merry way? Or Columbus? Would you have known about the Taino he slaughtered? If we’re going to keep Christopher Columbus status should we put the hands of the slaughtered around his neck? And how is Georgia planning on blasting off Stone Mountain? (Look it up.) Because that one is large and horrifying.
Now, of course, I would prefer that the statues just come down. Go in a museum basement somewhere. Or melted down and made into beautiful bells and chimes. For every statue that’s taken down, if we need to replace them we have thousands waiting who truly did do wonderful things. Brave things. Acts of courage and generosity. People half-joke about putting up statues of Dolly Parton. What about Harriet Tubman? What about Ida B. Wells?
And I wouldn’t mind seeing his work in every city across this nation:
Some of my favorite digital tools, and some I’d like to try.
One of my favorite digital tools and also most frustrating is Thinglink.com. Favorite because it enriches and uses imagery and media to create an interactive experience; frustrating because I’ve haven’t seem attract many students to its wonders. I am not sure why. Before our building closed, things and digital instructional methods that I was “going to do” came to an abrupt halt.
I’ve determined a few things: for the next seven weeks of school, I’m going to ask only one essential question a week, but leave the last week for a wrap-up.
Six Questions
Each question will have one to two short texts to read, a short film, and a discussion question. My goal today is to curate the short film for each question. For the first one regarding beauty was a simple and clear choice:
I’ve been enjoying Google Sites, and learning more about how to use Google Docs, etc., for instruction. Screencast-O-Matic has updated its features and is wonderful, and I am going to dig back into VideoScribe and Prezi, too.
But with all of these gorgeous digital tools, ready and kindly waiting for me to create, one thing that has reached all but one of my students: letters sent in the mail.
I am facing the hard truth that these next seven weeks may be filled with me yelling down the wishing well, and getting few echoes back. I’ll have created six mini units with no clear knowledge if my students used them, learned from them, or helped them. I’m not concerned about their grades–that’s the last thing we’re worried about. I only want them and their families to stay healthy, and bluntly: alive.
While I sit motionless, working from a keyboard and pen to continue to reach out to students, working on these mini units keeps me busy. I will provide my content curation over this next week. If you have something you think would be appropriate for my units, please pass it along.
