I am saddened to hear the news that Jit Mongar, a refugee from Nepal, was shot and killed on Lake Ave over the weekend ( http://on.rocne.ws/1MFtOsz ). There has been increasing tension between the African American and Nepali communities in Rochester, and I fear this will further escalate the situation. I know many of my Nepali students say they are being preyed upon on Rochester's streets, and have developed a racial fear. It would be valuable to hear the situation from both sides... Does anyone have a recommendation of how to begin a dialogue within our schools and communities?

Check out this story (from last year but still relevant): http://on.rocne.ws/1poCZD2

Though about Portland, OR - this article is interesting and provides links to images from Bhutanese / Nepali refugee camps that our Rochester area students came from.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/6/19/bhutanese-refugeessuicide.html

Domestic violence is an epidemic, especially in the US.  Also, sex trafficking is a multi-million dollar industry.  On top of that, women still do not quite make as much as men across the board, however they are climbing fast.

Good to read a nice passage that speaks to these issues.

"What Would We Create?" by Patricia F. Carini

This reading is quite profound. It examines the infinite value of what it means to be human--a precious being and contributor to the spaces and places of life. It is very compelling to note that denial of the status of self is to separate the person from humanness. The author reminds us that it takes vigilance to keep alive the awareness of human complexity for if we turn away we deny the fullness of the person. "What isn't looked at ceases to be seen. What isn't seen is easily dismissed...What has no importance, what sinks from view, can be trampled and discarded." This has serious implications on our work with students and even colleagues. I think we must see one another, to recognize we each have a story and a perspective that is unique yet part of the collective experience of being human. The author goes on to describe how writing can be a medium of expression of the joy and pain of this life. It is so important to have an outlet for emotions and experiences, to validate and transform.

eLearning

Link to ELearning.

Nice article.  I love Adrienne Rich's book of poetry "Diving into the Wreck"; says a lot about subjectivity, identity, phenomenology, feminism and a certain universal sense of being the "other" in a predominantly patriarchal, materialist world.

The way we view ours students has a great impact on the efficacy of our teaching and on their overall success in school and life.  Social justice starts in the classroom.  Also, I like the idea of providing more arts education.  That would really help society.  It would be nice it is was free to the public, too.

https://www.facebook.com/djuebbing

Check out my poetry reading and my blog:

thewritinglifedju.wordpress.com

(was absent today due to personal illness)

As you all are aware, I've been spending these past two weeks writing a poetry module. One of the main poems of the unit is "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams. It is a poem that focused directly on the objective representation of objects. Williams said "no ideas but in things," meaning that with precise imagery and sharp, clear language, ideas are more firmly grounded and therefore more easily accessible. As you read the poem, notice the pattern (three words, one word), the lack of punctuation, the direct adjectives (red, white), and the focus on describing / representing a singular scene.

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens

As part of my unit, I attempt to have students write a lot of poetry! In order to teach authentically, I've had to challenge myself with the same task. So I have tried to write my own version of "The Red Wheelbarrow," focusing on a singular scene and mimicking the pared down yet descriptive style of the original.

so much depends
upon
a gray tomb
stone
blanketed with snow
fall
beside the striped
flags

This exercise was much more difficult than I had anticipated and though the poem only contains sixteen words, took me nearly two hours to write! I would be curious to see what other fellows from the writing project could do, using "The Red Wheelbarrow" as a mentor poem piece.

Thanks!

Excellent job with the surveys Ms. Davis!  They tell a lot about where your kids are at.  I don't think they need any improvements.  Also, the college survey did a nice job inspiring kids.  Sometimes just getting them thinking about the future will do this and I particularly enjoyed the well-written response you elicited via the survey from one of your students: "...I know what I can do and what I can't.  But I am willing to try what I can't."  Clearly, this student is engaged and inspired -- a state you want your students to be in, especially at the beginning of the year!  Nice work.

Daniel

How might we connect with and motivate our students?

From the first day of school in September until our last day together in June, I endeavor to connect with and inspire the students in my care. Engaging them in the affective and cognitive realm are equally vital to me. Recently I have added Carol Dweck's work on growth mindset vs. fixed mindset and Ready, Willing, and Able: A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success by Mandy Savitz-Romer and Suzanne M. Bouffard (Harvard Education Press) to my teaching repertoire. Today, I'm sharing some activities I've done with students to get to know them as individuals, build classroom community, and inspire college and career readiness!

The School of Life

The School of Life: A YouTube channel that can be used with students as an introduction to key and important ideas in our curriculum (Common Core) to enhance critical thinking.

What is Literature For?
Meaning of Life

The humor and animation style, I have found, works well with my creative writing students. One project we do in class is to make our own 3-minute philosophy video. Samples are linked below:

Ben: Niccolo Machiavelli
Ethan: John Locke
Gena: Jean Jacques Rousseau
Carly: Immanuel Kant
Nikki: Roland Barthes

The Bechdel Test:
The Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test: Oscars 2011
Analyzing the Bechdel Test in 21st Century Narratives

I never thought the meaning of life could be broken down to a 5 minute youtube video but apparently so.  After writing this I must confess there's somewhat of a sinking feeling to just leaving it at that.  Of course there's much more to it.  Your own experience and thoughts and dreams, for instance.  But the video succinctly broke down the answer to the meaning of life in a humorous way and I think that is important, but also in a clear pretty much bullet-pointed way that made perfect sense.  Nice video.

As for the other one, interesting response to what I thought was a pretty standard approach to a long dragged-out going-through-the-motions lesson on Black History Month.  I really don't think BHM should be taught just for the sake of the month.  The month is there to remind people that they do have a pretty significant history.  But a lesson should focus on some of the people that the student mentioned and their ideas in depth.

Not My Turn, But Another Morning Reflection

From "The Word on the Curb": another performance piece, entitled: "What I Wasn't Taught in School"--sorta hints at what I was trying to say this morning. See you all Wednesday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNfH41-LI4w&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Also if you get a chance, stop by St. John Fisher College Sunday for my featured reading at the Rochester Poets Group...

https://www.facebook.com/events/916042761766571/

https://twitter.com/DUebbing

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-readers-scientifically-are-the-best-people-to-fall-in-love-with-dg/

I enjoyed this article immensely.  Very true piece.

Morning Reflection 7/13/15

Pretty riveting slam poetry performance duet.  Sounds like they are really breaking down stereotypes and very ingrained prejudices that many people have about blacks and also women and feminists.  They seemed appropriately angry.

I liked how they flowed together and rhymed together here and there.  It was like they were hinged together in theme and passion.

I think people have a lot of misconceptions about what it truly is like to be black in America today.  Many whites takes things for granted.  But progress is still very slow across the country in attaining true equality.

"The problem with speaking up for each other is that everyone is left without a voice"  ? -- I agree with Dan, this is a little mind-boggling.  Some folks need to be spoken up for.  In my experience, I often have to advocate for my students and in the process I teach them to advocate for themselves by teaching them the language, mainly.

I think what they were going for was to show how important it is to put yourself in other's shoes.  And then they showed that sometimes when you are arguing only from your perspective, you miss out on a lot of stuff that the other perspective is going through or has to deal with.  For example, the girl had some privileges because she was white, and the guy had some because he was a guy, apparently, but they both told tales of being prejudiced against.  Interesting.  As a white male, I feel slightly bad.  But they're are all sorts of prejudices ingrained in American culture.  For instance as an Irish Italian American male I would be prejudiced agains in some circles, or as a Roman Catholic.  W/e.

Darius Simpson and Scout Bostley Spoken Word/Morning Reflection

Dynamic speech.  Most quotable takeaway for me was: How can we have civil rights if we don't even have human rights?  She put it more eloquently though.

I think minor offenses like having a bag of weed on you shouldn't ruin somebody's life forever but sadly this is the case for many young African Americans.

Also, very sad to realize the deeply rooted economic interests in perpetuating this massive underclass of incarcerated and virtually enslaved people in America.  It's something that needs to be talked about more and on more widely publicized platforms.  We really need an education President and a social justice President instead of a war president or someone who just wants to focus on the economy and "creating jobs".  Well, by continuing on our path with the massive incarceration, correction officers will have some decent jobs with pensions and benefits but I think we can all agree that we want a populace of a more nuanced variety shall we say than corrections officers and impoverished incarcerated folk who will probably never be able to break out of the system.

Daniel

So far I have selected two cold war presidential speeches to analyze as well as a quote from Nixon. It wouldn't be a complete cold war unit without a Nixon quote.  We will start with this, doing a 5 minute free write on the quote, then we will discuss the tasks and background knowledge of the unit.

The LCD does a good job outlining all the important parts of a module.  They allow space to start with the end in mind but also to scaffold the unit appropriately with good background knowledge building tasks and task analysis -- or making sure the students understand what they are doing and why.

I want them to understand how to break down complex texts and to formulate an argument.  Simply by interpreting a quote from a historical context, students will get a micro version of the whole module which they will work with in much more depth throughout the unit.

Also, I've researched some articles for my research on teaching content to ELLs.  I'm not sure if I can get data myself at this point but I think I can write a summary or reflection of the articles and then posit my own take and experience.

For my personal narrative, I think it is really good but a few things might need to be tweaked.  Not 100 percent sure yet.

Daniel

Excellent video.  Seems like this young man is from England -- how cool.  Or maybe Australia.  Not sure.  Probably England.  Anyway, he really has perfected his voice in this performance poetry piece. The rhythm and flow mixed with the true-to-life vernacular of a young man educated mainly in the university of life charged with the determination to succeed no matter the odds.  What a great inspirational monologue or performance poem for all kinds of people to watch, not just young.  Anybody can have a positive revelation from this.
Daniel

Morning Reflection

I recently came across the spoken word work of Suli Breaks from England. The young man reflects the general opinion of his generation, culture, and time. While the Millennials have transformed into the next generation (generation Z), understanding the Millennials (and Generation Z) can be helpful to those of us who are older teachers.

The Millennial Generation Manifesto Article from the Huffington Post (Suli Breaks).

10 Point Manifesto 

1. Allow us to educate ourselves. Nurture our independent thought.

2. Have faith in our decision making, no matter how radical or crazy the ideas sound.

3. Our love doesn’t see colour or religion.

4. Let us make mistakes

5. Allow us to be who we want to be, even if it is a profession in which there is traditionally [little/next to no] money.

6. Give us the opportunity to see the world.

7. Social media  is a tool, not just a “distraction”.

8. Don’t expect us to be you.

9. Don’t let us pay for your mistakes; we want to form our own view of the world.

10.We are the politics and the politicians.

Along with these points, take a look at Suli's spoken word video on education, and reflect.

If you have 8 seconds, here's a link to a website by Anne Boysen about the Z Generation.

Michelle Alexander, The Future of Race in America (TED Talk)

I first saw this video during a professional learning experience called Teaching Children of Color: Engaging with the Seven Constructs of Effective Teaching in Urban Schools offered through the Rochester Teacher Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ6H-Mz6hgw

I enjoyed the video.  Very well done.  Bravo.  Excellent cinematography, lighting and graphic effects. And of course a sincere, well-thought out, complex message on identity and integrity and being true to who you are -- all things that are very important to teenagers especially.  Unfortunately, there are very few classes that successfully teach stuff like this in a formal setting.  It seems the students have discovered themselves over a long course of healthy, natural education.

Morning Reflection--Maria Popova, Brainpickings

Here is a link to Tuesday's morning reflection:

http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/07/dissolve-7-things/

I discovered Maria Popova after listening to Krista Tippett's wonderful weekly podcast interview and web site: On Being

So far I have read and skimmed several articles on the role of culture in English language learning and the importance of content-based instruction.  This will help me design my unit and teach it to ENL students and native-speakers alike.

The TESOL Journal has coined a new acronym: SCLT: Sustained-Content Language Teaching.  It's important to distinguish this from CBI or content-based instruction.  Basically, it takes CBI further and also scaffolds academic language as well as the key content vocabulary.  This is good because it teaches academic skills and metacognitive critical thinking skills necessary to be successful learning English in content-area classes.

Also, I have been looking at several articles on the role of culture as I know culture can be difficult to teach authentically; moreover, it is wrapped up in identity and language so when it is properly addressed in an educational setting there is a lot to be unraveled during the learning experience.

So far, based on my readings, students need to engage with authentic content in meaningful interactions.  A grammar-based or speech based curriculum, which often makes up much learning for English language learners, ignores research that contextualized content-based instruction is where language is truly learned.

If you think about it, it all makes sense.

From the first utterances of language, humans were trying to communicate to each other in meaningful contexts.  I heard the Germans have a lot of "--tch" and "-schitz" like sounds because they would make these awful thrusts of language to keep back invaders and wandering nomads in their land.  I suppose it worked for them as they were never conquered by Rome and now stand out linguistically against the Romantic languages.  English of course made the ultimate rebellion from its German grandfather by playing around with fanciful syntax and a more lightsome opportunity for rhyme and various informal vernaculars.


I look forward to continue my exploration into the roles of culture and teaching language through content via the SCLT model.  My own experience lends me multiple cultural perspectives on learning.  Basically, the ELL students are usually much more traditional than us Americans, but they receive little to no help at home of course, so it is important to teach them American culture and how to use language in various cultural contexts appropriately, while valuing and drawing from theirs, in order to truly engage the learner and get them to really own their language learning.

2015 Summer Institute underway

Today we began our 2015 summer institute and, of course, took a selfie! Here we are: