I show this video to a content area literacy course that I teach at the university each semester. I think it's important to hear what Sir Ken Robinson (a leading researcher from England on Drama and Theater in Education) has to say about creativity in education and how the hierarchy of the educational system globally crushes creativity.
I've been thinking on and off about the legacy left behind by pop legend Michael Jackson. Now, even though this is an educational blog that focuses mainly on literacy, it's my blog, and as such, I wanted to share a few of my memories of Michael.
There weren't too many individuals in the world who were scrutinized as closely as Michael Jackson was, but I don't want to get into that here. Simply put, I have been a big fan of his music, and his message of making the world a better place. I think he was a misunderstood individual who really viewed the world through the eyes of a child, a man who really wanted to see the world as a peaceful and happy place, and I wanted to give my small, insignificant tribute to the man here on my pages.
I grew up in the 80's, so of course I adored Michael Jackson. I loved "Thriller," I thought his music was the greatest (still do actually), and think he changed the face of pop music forever. My favorite Michael Jackson moment comes from the 1993 Super Bowl in Pasadena, California at Rose Bowl Stadium. It was Super Bowl XXVII, and the Dallas Cowboys (who also happen to be my team) defeated the Buffalo Bills to win their first Super Bowl since 1977, and their first in my lifetime.
Michael Jackson did the halftime show to that Super Bowl. It was a show that, in my biased mind ranks as the best ever. Jackson did many of his great songs, including "Billie Jean" and "Black or White." He ended this with the song "Heal the World," one of my favorite songs. It has a great message of hope and love for your fellow man. He really was a show man, and he will be missed. So here's his performance from that halftime show:
No Child Left Behind continues to loom over public education here in the United States. I think about the law a lot, I have written numerous (unpublished) papers on the topic, and am definitely an advocate against it. I have talked with President Obama's Administration twice on the matter (not that they really listened to me), once at a conference and once through an e-mail exchange. As a parent, I think No Child Left Behind hurts because it means that my son has to sit in the classroom and have the pressure of the law put on his shoulders. As a teacher, it puts the wrong focus on my job and forces me to do things that do not teach students, they teach them to test.
I've discussed this many times, so today, for those of you who are interested in hearing a little more, I'm going to throw a Youtube video titled "No Child Left Behind: Truths and Consequences." It's around 9 minutes long, but has some interesting information that I think most teachers could agree with. So here it is:
I am facilitating a group of teachers learning science content this week, and today, while I was presenting, I was actually a little surprised at my passion when discussion the usage of technology and innovative, or at least interesting, techniques in teaching literacy (science as well, but I went off on a tangent). I actually went as far as to tell the group of elementary school teachers I was presenting to that they need to stop teaching out of textbooks, they need to stop using worksheets, and they need to pick up the innovation, even if that means more work for them in terms of preparation and set up time.
The actual words I used were "stop doing those things, just stop it, or it's time to retire." I actually got some head nods and thumbs up. These teachers knew that I wasn't criticizing their methods, but I was reacting to the need for innovative methods to reach innovative minds.
I could actually go on here for a long time, but I think the need is obvious. We have students that will be living and working in a world that doesn't exist, even in theory, right now. I am in the late stages of the creation of a reading program for my class that integrates technology and authentic literature (books, graphic novels, magazines, newspapers, NOT textbooks, NOT basals, NOT those little lame made up books, NOT worksheets). I will explain my program in full once I'm done with it, and I'll update the readers of this blog on its progress once school starts. Of course, I'll throw that out there for free, I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to teach kids they way they deserve to be taught, and hopefully others out there are doing the same.
In the meantime, here is the video that I was actually reacting to today when I had this discussion at this conference. It's called Did You Know?, and is rapidly making the rounds in the field of education. Enjoy.
I remember getting in trouble a few times in high school because I was simply bored. My dad was a teacher at the high school, so sometimes he'd let me take some of those daily attendance pads. Well, I'd sit in the back of my boring social studies or literature class and turn the pad into a stick man animation. I'll tell you, it was the best of times. I'd draw epic cartoons on the corners of those pads and pass them around the classroom for everyone to see. I never told my dad this, but I would sometimes sell those for a few bucks so I could tell the teacher I was going to the restroom and go buy a coke at one of the coke machines on campus.
The point here is, school can really suck. Most of my memories of school aren't necessarily positive ones. I have many extended memories of being bored and disconnected in the classroom, where teachers knew nothing more than showing films and doing the textbooks chapter by chapter. Even when we would go beyond the textbook, nine times out of ten, it would be to do a project that was tedious and ultimately lame.
I graduated high school in 1999. That doesn't sound like a long time does it? Well let me tell you, it's an eternity. The year I graduated high school, iPods hadn't been invented yet, the internet was still 99% dial up connections, and cell phones were just beginning to enter wide use. Internet 2.0 hadn't really started up yet, because blogging wasn't mainstream, Google didn't exist, and internet video was still a pipe dream.
I will have my 10 year class reunion next year. Still doesn't sound like a very long time does it? Well, if you were teaching then, and are still teaching now, if you're still doing the same things, your students are as bored as I was to the tenth power. It's true. I grew up playing Nintendo (yes, THE Nintendo). I grew up with a DOS computer (pre-Windows), got the internet when I was in 8th grade, got a satellite dish in the house when I was in 8th grade, and used a cell phone for the first time when I was in 8th grade. I remember when the internet first hit, it's a strong memory of mine.
Students today take these things for granted. They don't really know what Nintendo was, they live in a world of instant information, photo realistic gaming, cell phones for the masses, and computers that are small enough to fit in your ear. It's time to change, that's for sure.
What does this have to do with literacy? EVERYTHING. Watch this video and decide if you are an effective teacher.
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
1970's as being one of the hardest hitting graphic novels ever written. Art Spiegelman wrote Maus as a biography of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, and did it through very straightforward but well drawn and written metaphor.
The metaphors I'm talking about are Spiegelman's portrayal of the Jewish as mice, the Nazi's as dangerous looking cats, of Russians as noble looking dogs, and of the Polish as pigs. Spiegelman himself described this metaphor as stupid but necessary, which you can see by watching the 1 minute and 5 second clip at the end of this review.
You have to be cautious when teaching this book in class, cautious to make sure you approach it correctly. Right now, I am using this book in my 5th grade class, and feel that my students are getting quite a lot out of it. We're using the book as a discussion on the holocaust, something that we studied in depth a little over a month ago, and we're also using it as a discussion on literary and visual devices, and how they work together to make a graphic novel. Students are working on their own autobiographical graphic novel as well, attempting to use the same visual cell types and word play used in Maus.
Graphic novels are still considered fringe in terms of their value in the classroom. Many teachers, parents, and literacy experts argue that graphic novels do nothing more than give students something they want (comic books) other than something they need (a valuable, learning literacy experience). I have found graphic novels to be valuable, when considering that, on top of the words on the page, students have to understand the immediate connection between words and pictures.
Maus is a great story, it's one of my all-time favorite reads, and considering that I didn't read it for the first time until earlier this year, that means that, as an adult, it's one of my favorite reads. I am currently doing research on the book, and am teaching it in my class. I will provide updates on both of those things as they move along over the next few weeks. But for now, I would consider reading Maus I (and II), and seeing if you think it would be a valuable classroom experience.
