So it is the end of another year; this one certainly better than the last. Still room for improvement though...
Reading about produsage and thinking about implications on literacy was a highlight. I'm still wondering how schools will address this fundamental change, but have some hope that Obama's focus on technology might prompt some rethinking. We'll see.
The ethnography is continuing although I'm less hopeful that the change initiative itself will go forward to make much impact. It seems like it's going the way of other projects in Rochester, especially with the loss of state funding. With New York State's budget woes, I doubt it will be reinstated.
The impact on the AMP'D youth project has been devastating. With no funding at all now, we continue to meet to talk about new ideas and ways to fund ourselves. The kids seem to like just getting together to talk and to work on the computers. We're down to 4 kids though, but do have lots of ideas. Our current focus is what they have called "hoodstock" (great name!). It will be a fundraiser for the network of safe houses for youth they want to put together. It's a "battle of the bands" type event where local emcees and performers will compete to be the best local artist. Unfortunately, our attempts to find a venue have been thwarted by folks who are afraid of the kids and of the genre of performance. One more testimony to how deep racism runs in this world. No one (no one in power at least) gives urban youth credit for their intelligence and passion; they just see violent stereotypes and close the door.
We're persistent though.
Maybe that'll be next year's theme.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wonder
Two conferences and a huge snowfall later...
Just sitting and wondering a bit about what's in store next year. My fall literacy class went really well and I learned a ton from my students once again. Keeping up with how much and how fast literacy is changing is keeping me breathless. I need to rethink my assignments yet again. Of the five groups who were doing research, only 1 turned in an actual paper. Between wikis and webpages the students really went to town. They definitely got the idea of exploring the affordances and constraints of communication technologies. I wish I could have Underkoffler's collaborative space to use for my class!
With Obama's priority on innovative technologies, maybe we'll see some of what we know about complex, collaborative technologies getting more attention in research and practice. I would love an opportunity to get the virtual project up and running to get some insight into what interaction looks like in immersive environments. We need to get busy doing this work instead of imagining it. Waiting and seeing is an unproductive and uninspired strategy.
Just sitting and wondering a bit about what's in store next year. My fall literacy class went really well and I learned a ton from my students once again. Keeping up with how much and how fast literacy is changing is keeping me breathless. I need to rethink my assignments yet again. Of the five groups who were doing research, only 1 turned in an actual paper. Between wikis and webpages the students really went to town. They definitely got the idea of exploring the affordances and constraints of communication technologies. I wish I could have Underkoffler's collaborative space to use for my class!
With Obama's priority on innovative technologies, maybe we'll see some of what we know about complex, collaborative technologies getting more attention in research and practice. I would love an opportunity to get the virtual project up and running to get some insight into what interaction looks like in immersive environments. We need to get busy doing this work instead of imagining it. Waiting and seeing is an unproductive and uninspired strategy.
Monday, November 17, 2008
What will they think of next?!
My friends at RIT sent me a link to an amazing interactive interface that just knocked my socks off. Just when I was trying to think about what might change in schools if we used the immersive technologies available, they go and some up with something even cooler. The tools just keep getting more interactive, collaborative, and just plain fun. What do we need to change to rethink what people need to know in order to make authentic and meaningful use of these things?
I put the video into the blog so go check it out and comment back about what you think and what you imagine doing with this stuff. Remember that it's not just about doing what we have always done more efficiently (Lankshear and Knobel's old wine in new bottles metaphor), but fundamentally redoing schools and imaging their new purpose.
I look forward to seeing what you have to say.
I put the video into the blog so go check it out and comment back about what you think and what you imagine doing with this stuff. Remember that it's not just about doing what we have always done more efficiently (Lankshear and Knobel's old wine in new bottles metaphor), but fundamentally redoing schools and imaging their new purpose.
I look forward to seeing what you have to say.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Having hope again
So we have a new president. Walking out of the office the day after the election, I crossed paths with someone who spontaneously said "so do you feel different?" I immediately said "yes I do!" I found myself walking taller (that's something given that I'm 6'3" barefoot). I'm not naive enough to think everything is fixed, but I actually have hope for the first time in what seems like forever.
Obama has already put together some great people for his education team so maybe we can actually get some of the changes needed accomplished: get rid of NCLB, focus on problem posing education where the focus is on learning instead of testing and where everyone counts. Maybe we can imagine again.
I realize I probably sound too idealistic, but it sure feels good to dream.
Obama has already put together some great people for his education team so maybe we can actually get some of the changes needed accomplished: get rid of NCLB, focus on problem posing education where the focus is on learning instead of testing and where everyone counts. Maybe we can imagine again.
I realize I probably sound too idealistic, but it sure feels good to dream.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Keeping an eye out
It never ceases to amaze me how deep racism goes in this country. Listening to News and Notes on NPR the other day I heard a story about a voter suppression tactic that surfaced in low income neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Check out the story in the Daily Pennsylvanian (10/9/08), but in short, "someone" posted a flyer that incorrectly stated that anyone with an outstanding warrant would be arrested when they went to vote. That they targeted low income neighborhoods is a clear instance of the kind of endemic racism critical race theorists talk about.
After digging into it a bit, I found a great wiki that reports and tracks instances of voter suppression for the 2008 election. We've got to keep an eye out! They can't succeed if everyone is watching.
After digging into it a bit, I found a great wiki that reports and tracks instances of voter suppression for the 2008 election. We've got to keep an eye out! They can't succeed if everyone is watching.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The rich get richer
Well, New York State has taken back $2,000,000 from the promised money for the Rochester Surround Care Community (formerly RCZ). In a matter of weeks, the state turned around and gave $4,000,000 to a local, wealthy private college to remodel their performing arts center!
One more time this community has been put to the side for the purposes of profit and the rich. One more time, the youth I have been working with have the rug pulled out from under them. They were crushed. They were especially angry when they read the comments their "neighbors" wrote on the local newspapers online comment space after the article broke. A few comments in particular helped to spur them to take action. One person wrote that he "wasn't the one having all those 'chirrun'" and shouldn't have to pay for them. What?! In the other one, the person said that if "these people" don't want to work to pull themselves out of it, then they should go ahead and starve. Excuse me! It was heartbreaking for me to watch as the kids realized their worst fears were true. They couldn't believe people actually thought this, let alone would write it online. Then to learn that so much money went to the suburbs sent them over the edge. How may times do they have to be hit with the message that they don't count?
We are not sitting back though. They wrote the following letter and sent it to our assembly people, and Senators Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Joe Robach, and the new governor. They even sent one to Obama!
Dear Senator Clinton:
We are writing to you with the utmost respect to ask for a change. The current events are very discouraging to both us and other youth groups. We represent the youth of the Rochester Surround Care Community Corporation (RSC2). We are just one of many different groups of youth working to better our community through grants provided by the RSC2. We do outreach with the kids in our community by trying to do things that people would enjoy, reaching them through music and videos, and getting our friends involved in change. This grant isn’t just helping our friends, however. It’s helping us because we are given the opportunity to obtain and keep a job, helping us overcome our own issues with poverty. But since the funding for the RSC2 was cut, our chance to be a part of positive change is in danger. Look at it from our perspective: Do you know what it’s like to not have hot water running in your house, the electricity turned off, and an eviction notice on the door? In these circumstances, most people would crumble, but, with the help of the RSC2, we were using them as stepping-stones to make us stronger. But we feel like every time something safe or fun or really good for us gets cut, the government is telling us that we are supposed to crumble, that there must be an inferior class in society and that it is impossible for us to rise up and better ourselves. People tell us to go out and do positive things, but when the funding for those positive things is taken away, people assume it’s our fault. Without this opportunity, it would be very easy for us to “hustle” to make a living, but that’s just not safe, and it reinforces the negative views people have about us. The grant gave us a safe and productive way to earn an income. It also taught us about work ethic and prepared us for later on when we will need to get jobs, empowering youth for the future.
Since the budget cut happened, people are discouraged. We’ve lost membership; some members have been forced to find other ways to make money because they need it to survive. We feel like children whose parents gave us a bike for Christmas and told us the ground rules for riding our bike in the neighborhood. We followed all the rules and began to explore our newfound freedom. But then one day our parents took the wheels off the bike, and we couldn’t go anywhere. We are in danger of becoming so discouraged that we don’t even want to leave the house anymore. Restoring the funding to the RSC2 will allow us to continue to achieve our goals for community change. Please help us continue to help the youth of our community.
Sincerely yours,
The youth of AMP’D
We are circulating a petition and they are writing a response to the newspaper comments. We've been talking about how they will deal with the inevitably racist comments that will result. Of course they say they don't care, but I know they will get really angry and hurt. How do we work with youth to do this kind of activism and prepare them for the pain of response (or lack thereof)? On the one hand, this is critical literacy in action. On the other, it could be a painful lesson in the depths of human hatred. My heart hurts.
One more time this community has been put to the side for the purposes of profit and the rich. One more time, the youth I have been working with have the rug pulled out from under them. They were crushed. They were especially angry when they read the comments their "neighbors" wrote on the local newspapers online comment space after the article broke. A few comments in particular helped to spur them to take action. One person wrote that he "wasn't the one having all those 'chirrun'" and shouldn't have to pay for them. What?! In the other one, the person said that if "these people" don't want to work to pull themselves out of it, then they should go ahead and starve. Excuse me! It was heartbreaking for me to watch as the kids realized their worst fears were true. They couldn't believe people actually thought this, let alone would write it online. Then to learn that so much money went to the suburbs sent them over the edge. How may times do they have to be hit with the message that they don't count?
We are not sitting back though. They wrote the following letter and sent it to our assembly people, and Senators Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Joe Robach, and the new governor. They even sent one to Obama!
Dear Senator Clinton:
We are writing to you with the utmost respect to ask for a change. The current events are very discouraging to both us and other youth groups. We represent the youth of the Rochester Surround Care Community Corporation (RSC2). We are just one of many different groups of youth working to better our community through grants provided by the RSC2. We do outreach with the kids in our community by trying to do things that people would enjoy, reaching them through music and videos, and getting our friends involved in change. This grant isn’t just helping our friends, however. It’s helping us because we are given the opportunity to obtain and keep a job, helping us overcome our own issues with poverty. But since the funding for the RSC2 was cut, our chance to be a part of positive change is in danger. Look at it from our perspective: Do you know what it’s like to not have hot water running in your house, the electricity turned off, and an eviction notice on the door? In these circumstances, most people would crumble, but, with the help of the RSC2, we were using them as stepping-stones to make us stronger. But we feel like every time something safe or fun or really good for us gets cut, the government is telling us that we are supposed to crumble, that there must be an inferior class in society and that it is impossible for us to rise up and better ourselves. People tell us to go out and do positive things, but when the funding for those positive things is taken away, people assume it’s our fault. Without this opportunity, it would be very easy for us to “hustle” to make a living, but that’s just not safe, and it reinforces the negative views people have about us. The grant gave us a safe and productive way to earn an income. It also taught us about work ethic and prepared us for later on when we will need to get jobs, empowering youth for the future.
Since the budget cut happened, people are discouraged. We’ve lost membership; some members have been forced to find other ways to make money because they need it to survive. We feel like children whose parents gave us a bike for Christmas and told us the ground rules for riding our bike in the neighborhood. We followed all the rules and began to explore our newfound freedom. But then one day our parents took the wheels off the bike, and we couldn’t go anywhere. We are in danger of becoming so discouraged that we don’t even want to leave the house anymore. Restoring the funding to the RSC2 will allow us to continue to achieve our goals for community change. Please help us continue to help the youth of our community.
Sincerely yours,
The youth of AMP’D
We are circulating a petition and they are writing a response to the newspaper comments. We've been talking about how they will deal with the inevitably racist comments that will result. Of course they say they don't care, but I know they will get really angry and hurt. How do we work with youth to do this kind of activism and prepare them for the pain of response (or lack thereof)? On the one hand, this is critical literacy in action. On the other, it could be a painful lesson in the depths of human hatred. My heart hurts.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
In plain sight
I've needed a few days before I could write about my last AMP'D meeting. I always thought I "knew" some things. I know how devastating poverty is. I know the depth of racism in this country and I know that schools are in what Bruns calls a casual collapse. I know the lives of children and youth in urban contexts like Rochester is difficult in the extreme. Truth is, I didn't know at all.
Poverty, physical and emotional abuse, terminal illness, rape, abortion, abandonment, fear, murder, hunger...and all in the past six months. And all before the age of 18. And to be successful, amazing, smart, determined, loving, political, dedicated, artistic, savvy young people in spite of devastating circumstances that would crumble most adults I know. I'm sure I'm sounding naive. It's not like I haven't had my own share of trauma. Alcoholic parents, emotional abuse, a child with severe disabilities...and more I'd rather not say. It's not the same. I'm white, middle class, and educated. And I'm 51.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here. I return to outrage that things like this happen to youth in this world. These kids are under the radar at school because they are successful in playing the game for the most part. There is no one to help them. How has this happened? What on earth are we doing?
Poverty, physical and emotional abuse, terminal illness, rape, abortion, abandonment, fear, murder, hunger...and all in the past six months. And all before the age of 18. And to be successful, amazing, smart, determined, loving, political, dedicated, artistic, savvy young people in spite of devastating circumstances that would crumble most adults I know. I'm sure I'm sounding naive. It's not like I haven't had my own share of trauma. Alcoholic parents, emotional abuse, a child with severe disabilities...and more I'd rather not say. It's not the same. I'm white, middle class, and educated. And I'm 51.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here. I return to outrage that things like this happen to youth in this world. These kids are under the radar at school because they are successful in playing the game for the most part. There is no one to help them. How has this happened? What on earth are we doing?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Podcast hell
So I finally got the AMP'D podcast up and running...why does Vivian say this is so easy? Maybe I'm just dense, but it took forever to figure out. The kids did a beautiful job of recording the first episode. It's a wonderful discussion of what it's like growing up Black in Rochester. Anyway, first we had to figure out how to convert a wav file to something we could upload into GarageBand and/or iTunes, and then edit. Once we figured that out, we then had to figure out how to upload it onto a podcast hosting site. We tried gcast to no avail. We found podbean which also has video capability so signed up. But the problem of getting our file into the right format remained. Podbean takes zip files so...eureka! All this has taken much longer than expected. Check it out now that we finally did it. Subscribe, comment, become our friend!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Pondering
I finished the Shirky book and started another one on produsage. It's particularly interesting to think about what it means to claim that we are in the midst of a change at the magnitude of the invention of the printing press or the industrial revolution. This must be what Colin and Michele mean when they say ontological change. With the shift to communication (many to many) and immediate social action (flash mobs), the speed and level of these practices, I am wondering whether school has completely missed the boat and it's already too late. Schools are so busy transmitting static knowledge and putting increasingly severe boundaries around what is allowed that I fear irrelevance has already set in. Publishing is global and free, social action and political change is possible without formal organizations and infrastructures, knowledge and information are generated at lightening speed by everyone...schools haven't paid attention. Gee makes the point that schools are bad for everyone, white kids just get A's for it and he argues they will be irrelevant if they don't account for these ontological changes. I'm just thinking that it's too late already. Problem is... now what do I do? I mean, I'm in education!
Working with the youth group has deepened my questions. These kids are incredible and they completely know school is pointless for them. They play the game for the most part, but their lives outside of school are rich and engaging. Maybe it's always been like this and I just now figured it out.
Working with the youth group has deepened my questions. These kids are incredible and they completely know school is pointless for them. They play the game for the most part, but their lives outside of school are rich and engaging. Maybe it's always been like this and I just now figured it out.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Reading in different spaces
Hooray for summer! It's interesting to read in different disciplines and fields (spaces). For summer I plan to read the pile of books that have been waiting for me on my desk at home. I started reading Shirky's new book, Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. He writes on information technology and how human relations are changing dramatically. There's a book on wikinomics, one on produsage...how much of a geek am I?
The youth project is going strong. We have 10 young people building a cool website, planning a video, podcasts, a YouTube series about their lives, and who knows what else...I can't believe how lucky I am to get to work with them. The website is still under construction, but check it out as it develops. We set up a Google site, bought a domain name (hoodbytes) and have been trying to figure out how to post our videos and link to everyone's bio pages. It's not as easy as it looks, but these guys are pretty savvy at this stuff.
Life is good today.
The youth project is going strong. We have 10 young people building a cool website, planning a video, podcasts, a YouTube series about their lives, and who knows what else...I can't believe how lucky I am to get to work with them. The website is still under construction, but check it out as it develops. We set up a Google site, bought a domain name (hoodbytes) and have been trying to figure out how to post our videos and link to everyone's bio pages. It's not as easy as it looks, but these guys are pretty savvy at this stuff.
Life is good today.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Fun in the Zone
Finished the first weekend on the new youth project and had a blast. We played and did "lessons" with the Adobe Creative suite and came up with a couple of names: AMP'D for Arts Music Poetry Development and HoodBytes for the domain name and YouTube series they are going to produce. It was interesting to see the teenagers envision how they will teach how to do this during the school year. They have a part school/part play kind of idea. I was surprised a bit why they seemed to want how they teach to be like school. I suppose it's not that surprising given that's what most of my preservice teachers come with. This time, though, the kids are in charge so I'll just be following. Fun indeed.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Eyes Wide Open
Been really busy lately!
I'm teaching my summer class, Literacy Learning as Social Practice, again and am totally loving it. I really enjoy it as my students open their eyes and their minds. We have a great class with lots of honest and provocative discussions. My students always amaze me.
I received a letter from Geoffrey Canada notifying me that any use of the phrase "children's zone" is a violation of his copyright. Wow. So, I've had to go in and change some of my blog entries. Who knew. I have to admit I find this a bit over the top. Isn't the point to change lives, not to draw lines around words?
I worked with an amazing group of youth in the "community zone" (note the phrase change) last week on a proposal for a program they designed. If funded, we will design and implement a youth designed and taught literacy program that brings together artistic and "tech" kids to produce podcasts, music videos, a website...you name it. It will be so exciting.
Lots to do indeed.
I'm teaching my summer class, Literacy Learning as Social Practice, again and am totally loving it. I really enjoy it as my students open their eyes and their minds. We have a great class with lots of honest and provocative discussions. My students always amaze me.
I received a letter from Geoffrey Canada notifying me that any use of the phrase "children's zone" is a violation of his copyright. Wow. So, I've had to go in and change some of my blog entries. Who knew. I have to admit I find this a bit over the top. Isn't the point to change lives, not to draw lines around words?
I worked with an amazing group of youth in the "community zone" (note the phrase change) last week on a proposal for a program they designed. If funded, we will design and implement a youth designed and taught literacy program that brings together artistic and "tech" kids to produce podcasts, music videos, a website...you name it. It will be so exciting.
Lots to do indeed.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Letting go
Feels like a strange time these days. On the one hand I feel like I haven't been focusing on my work that much. On the other hand, we (Nancy and I with the RIT folks) just sent in a 1.5 million dollar grant, and I finished up a great semester teaching doctoral students. I always learn important things when I teach and this semester was no exception. Two students in my qualitative research methods course went for it in terms of understanding the level of personal commitment involved and taught all of us about honesty in inquiry.
So I'm not sure why I feel like I haven't done much lately. Dealing with my son this past year has really taken a toll on me so that might be part of it. I'm just beginning to let go of the trauma of it all. We are doing our end of year evaluations for the dean and I can see on paper that I actually have done some stuff, but I feel detached from it. I know I usually use this blog space for "work/literacy" posting, but today it feels too connected to my sense of self and well-being.
I need to spend some time reading the pile of books I have collected for "pleasure" reading. Found a couple of great ones in fields I know nothing about (Ranciere would be proud): Wikinomics and stuff on prosumption. Frankly, this stuff is pleasure reading for me; how crazy is that?
So I'm not sure why I feel like I haven't done much lately. Dealing with my son this past year has really taken a toll on me so that might be part of it. I'm just beginning to let go of the trauma of it all. We are doing our end of year evaluations for the dean and I can see on paper that I actually have done some stuff, but I feel detached from it. I know I usually use this blog space for "work/literacy" posting, but today it feels too connected to my sense of self and well-being.
I need to spend some time reading the pile of books I have collected for "pleasure" reading. Found a couple of great ones in fields I know nothing about (Ranciere would be proud): Wikinomics and stuff on prosumption. Frankly, this stuff is pleasure reading for me; how crazy is that?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Prosumer Musings
I know the word "prosumer" has been around for a while, but I just learned about it yesterday while working on an NSF grant with my colleague Nancy Ares and our new partners at RIT. We're were invited to submit a full proposal for our Virtual Community Zone project and have been working like crazy to get it finished. Jon Schull, one of the professors we are working with, used the word to capture the kind of innovative technologies we are working on and it fit so nicely with the Web 2.0 practices Michele and Colin and others have been writing about. It's always exciting to learn new things, even if they are only new to me.
Reading the literature out of my field has also been exciting. I can get so focused on literacy practices and the local Rochester context that I forget how amazing scholarship across disciplines can be. It's funny because I complain a lot that we don't read across fields enough but ended up doing it myself, even though I thought I did. Education literature can get pretty narrow. Carol Lee made this same point at AERA a few weeks ago in the Wallace lecture. She was certainly right. Who knew all this inspiring immersive technology work was going on?
Reading the literature out of my field has also been exciting. I can get so focused on literacy practices and the local Rochester context that I forget how amazing scholarship across disciplines can be. It's funny because I complain a lot that we don't read across fields enough but ended up doing it myself, even though I thought I did. Education literature can get pretty narrow. Carol Lee made this same point at AERA a few weeks ago in the Wallace lecture. She was certainly right. Who knew all this inspiring immersive technology work was going on?
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