Suck on it, Bauerlein

A couple of Canadian millennials launched a Lego minifugre into the reaches of outer space. All for the fun of it.



This single event dispells so many myths that Mark Bauerlein spreads about the millennials. The two students were able to get off Facebook and Twitter long enough to devote four and a half months into this project. Not only did they handsew the parachute needed to return their cargo to earth, but they also constructed a styrofoam box to carry the minifigure, three cameras, a cell phone, and a GPS app.

Their ingenuity is wonderfully refreshing in the face of Bauerlein's insistence that millennials are dumb and anti-inellectuals: the boys bought a weather balloon online for $85. They used helium from a party supply store. They also put two mitten warmers inside the styrofoam box to keep everything warm and functioning properly on the way up. In all they spent $400 - just because they wanted to conduct an experiment, one they were inspired to after watching a video (no doubt on-line via that dastardly invention known as YouTube) of MIT students who sent a balloon to near space.

Bauerlein claims that his book, The Dumbest Generation, in part is designed to have millennials prove him wrong. The problem is that he is so biased that he will never admit to being proven wrong. He will no doubt assert that these two students and their uber-cool science experiment (done, by the way, completely out of school) is an incredibly rare example. He would argue that the run-of-the-mill millennial is not doing activities like this.

And he is probably correct. But we could level the same argument at him. The average baby-boomer is not busy needlessly bashing an entire generation when the bulk of his peers acknowledge that no one generation is smarter or dumber than any other. Just equipped with different skills and expectations.

In her element

In his classic book, The Element, Sir Ken Robinson talks about not only the importance of being able to do what you love and what you are passionate about, but he also stresses the importance of being in an environment that also engages you (Robinson calls this last part "finding your tribe"). When these two factors comes together, your life is changed and work become play.

Fortunately, this is how I spend every working day of my life.

Now, KoKo has found not only her element but also her tribe. And we have a different kid in the house because of it.

This has not always been the case for KoKo, but now that she has more success than she ever had previously, she is absolutely flourishing.

This is evident in so many ways.

Last semester she honestly looked forward to going to school almost as much as I did. That was because Expressive Connections - a Magnet Arts class with Mrs. Stock - started off her day. It tapped in to her creativity and she flourished.

For a good chunk of second quarter, KoKo and I were able to discuss the novel she was reading in her Lit & Lang 11 class, To Kill a Mockingbird. And I didn't even have to bring the topic up. This was topped off by an essay that Mrs. Groven assigned. KoKo actually came down from her loft and talked to me about how she planned it out and went about analyzing her subject in her essay. All I had to do was listen.

That eagerness continued into her Visual Art class where she poured a ton of effort into designing a sculpture for a contest to design a Prowler statue. Despite some trial and error, she finally submitted her design . . . and it won. Then came the hard part . . . building it. Her teacher, Mrs. Adams, really went out on a limb with this project and she put the kids through the ringer, this included teaching them how to weld with Mr. McGlyn. KoKo loved it all. And after a lot of hard work, with every student chipping in their unique talents to bring the sculpture to life, they unveiled at the most recent recognition assembly, and it blew us away. I couldn't have been prouder of KoKo.

Here is a link to the story the local paper did on it.

KoKo's next assignment was creating and painting a window pane sized painting. She labored long and hard on it. To show how much she cared about KoKo getting it done, Mrs. Adams went out of her way to allow KoKo to come in and work on it on a Saturday! Talk about feeling like teachers care about you.

This care and kindness was matched by Mr. Rogalla late in the semester. KoKo was working on her final assignment for his Web Design class when tragedy struck: her computer froze. She lost 45 minutes of work and had a mini-meltdown. When I saw him at lunch, Mr. Rogalla explained to me what happened and that she was close to tears so he told her to take it easy and learn from this. As he said, "Here's a life lesson. Always save and learn to deal with things that come up like this." He calmed her down, comforted her, and told her if she needed some extra time to work on it, she could.

Yesterday at lunch Mrs. Adams said, "I looked out the back of my classroom and I saw KoKo with her boyfriend and some of their friends standing there looking at her painting. She had a smile that stretched from year to year. I was so happy for her."

Even when KoKo doesn't have a teacher for a class, she feels welcomed and respected. This happened on the inservice day prior to the start of third quarter. We saw Mr. Froiland when we came in and he said to KoKo, "I was in the building this weekend and saw you working on your painting. You must have been in heaven to have the art room and all those supplies and the afternoon to yourself to just work."

Again, KoKo smiled ear to ear.

As nice all those comments and actions were, Coach Mumm pulled off the ultimate praise for KoKo. She was quite ecstatic that she earned a 4.0 this semester. But that accomplishment pales in comparison (for KoKo anyway) to these fifteen words Coach Mumm offered up for his teacher comments on KoKo's report card: "You are truly the best of the best. We are lucky to have you here!"

Imagine being in a school where you are so loved and cared for and inspired.

Yes, KoKo is totally in her element. I am so proud to work with this people. I am so inspired by them. Coach Mumm has a mantra about LHS: "We do it better."

There is no question about that. At all.

John Lennon

Here is KoKo's finished painting of John Lennon. She completed it as part of the Magnet Arts program.

I know I've said this before, but I'm saying it again: because of LHS and the teachers, and especially Mrs. Adams and the Magnet Arts program, we have a different kid in our house now.

KoKo has found her element and is totally absorbed in it. As a result, she is almost glowing with happiness and confidence in her abilities.

Oh the horror!

Yesterday I brought Kenz to school with me since we had an inservice day before the start of the second semester.

Since I spent five hours in my room on Sunday, I didn't have to do a whole lot other than read some papers and finish up grades and maybe make a few copies.

With a three and a half year old, that was a lot!

So after being a good girl and sitting through a 90 minute department meeting, then helping me in my room, and a trip to McDonald's playland, she was tired. I couldn't stop though, so I made her make shift little bed on the floor.

I had no idea she'd actually fall asleep though.

Sure enough, after making some copies I came back to my room and didn't hear anything.

"Kenz?" I asked. "Are you in here hon?"

Then I peeked around the corner of my desk and saw this:

Now, I know I've put other people's kids to sleep in class before but never my own!

End of the Season

Two weeks ago the Bengals season came to an end when the Houston Texans spanked them in the first round of the playoffs.

Still, the fact they were even in the playoffs was a miracle. I mean there was no one in the world giving them a shot at the playoffs in August, especially after their miserable pre-season. Not when they were starting a rookie quarterback (usually the kiss of death for franchises) and a rookie wide receiver and were coming off a four win season the year before with a lot more talent (Terrell Owens was not going to be resigned, Ochocinco was traded to the Pats for a late round draft pick, and Carson Palmer, who would later be dealt in a Herschel Walker type trade in a few months, was threatening to retire rather than play for the Bengals). Oh yeah, they were breaking in a new offensive coordinator who last coached in the arena league.

Yet, the Bengals righted themselves after a 1-2 start and reeled off five straight wins before struggling against a very difficult late schedule. The eventually made the playoffs as the last wild card in the AFC with a 9-7 record.

And that rookie quarterback? He was outstanding. He showed more leadership than Palmer ever did. And that rookie wide receiver? He was even more outstanding. No rookie receiver since Randy Moss had as many big plays as AJ Green did.

Green was so good that he was voted to the Pro Bowl. Now this week we just learned that three more of his teammates would be joining him: Andy Dalton (who was voted a first alternate and will play in place of Tom Brady, who will be practicing for the Pro Bowl), DT Geno Atkins (who was a first alternate behind Vince Wolfork, who will also be in the Super Bowl), and their second year tight end Jermaine Gresham (who was a third alternate behind Rob Gronkowsi, who will be in the SB, and Aaron Henderson (Gronkowski's back up who also will be in the SB) and Owen Daniels, who is hurt). Now, if we can just get our superb LT, Andrew Whitworth, somehow, it would be awesome.

No one would have ever in their wildest dreams have dared guess the Bengals - in one short season - would go from an awful team who seemed destined to draft Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft, to being on the verge of taking a good run at the AFC North title for years to come.

They are a very young team (Dalton and AJ are the first rookie qb and wr combo ever voted to the Pro Bowl). They don't have much in terms of star power to resign in free agency. Now that new rules force owners to spend up to the salary cap limit, maybe the Bengals will be more aggressive in going after serious free agents (or at least resigning their own, losing Pro Bowl corner Jonathan Joseph really hurt their secondary this year). On top of all of that, the Bengals shipped disgruntled Palmer to the hapless Oakland Raiders for their first round pick this year (#17 overall) and a second rounder next year (which turns to a first rounder if the Raiders play in the AFC Championship game, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen).

A quick look at the talent the Bengals have been able to stockpile in the last few drafts: Andrew Whitworth, Dometa Peko, Leon Hall, Andre Smith, Ray Malualuga, Jermain Gresham, Carlos Dunlap, Jordan Shipley, Geno Atkins, and now Dalton and AJ Green. If the Bengals can land more impact players with those two first round picks (they have four picks in the first three rounds), they should be that much more stout.

Sunday at work

Since I'm not really ready for the new semester (taking an overload of 31 freshmen will do that to you), I spent four hours in my classroom today.

It was just like the old days. I bet there was not more than a handful of weekends that I wasn't in my classroom at least Saturday or Sunday (and sometimes both days) my first three years teaching.

Now, I rarely stop in on the weekends.

But today it was a must.

So I got down to finally organizing my room. I'm a stacks person. When I'm done with copies of a story, I stack them on a table in my room and just keep adding to the stacks over the course of the semester. That leads to quite a pile up of copies of stories and assignments and articles and samples and books that I need to sort through and organize once again.

Yeah, I tell myself every once in awhile that I'll make a resolution to organize the stacks at the end of every week. Then Friday rolls around and I'm busy correcting, writing a recommendation, talking shop, or updating lessons . . . anything but organizing my stacks.

So I put an hour into that today and got everything finally filed away (or recycled).

I was also able to spend some time making copies of the first few weeks of readings for College Comp II.

I haven't taught Lit and Lang 9 since my first year at LHS, but I've got the teacher's text and love that the first story is "The Most Dangerous Game." I read that too, I think, as a freshman. It should be a lot of fun.

I think I'm going to stick pretty close to the textbook for this class. But, then again, I always say that and then start supplementing the readings in the book quite a bit.

I have two sections of College Comp I and am so well versed in that class that I could walk in right now and be off and running with my young scribes in a matter of minutes.

Now that the house cleaning stuff is all done, I can devote our inservice day tomorrow to finishing correcting (I still have my College Comp II MGRP and Career essays to grade) and a few things to clean up in Lit and Lang 9R and then I'll be set.

Still, as I was heading out the door, I couldn't help but pause to snap a quick picture of the calm before the storm.

But just wait until those 31 freshmen get a hold of this place!

wondersay

Today for common prep, we have some time to delve in more to the sites we learned about during the technology inservice on Monday.

I have discovered the site, wondersay. It allows you to animate a saying. A quick Google of Steven Jobs' quotes resulted in this:

made on Wondersay - Animate text with style

This is a shocker

I don't know much about the SOPA bill going through Congress right now.  But Wikipedia (a site I use dozens of times a day without even thinking about it) has made one hell of a statement about the dangers of the bill today.

Here it is:

I have to check to see if Youtube has a similar stance going today.  Trying to go a day without wikipedia and youtube in my classroom is like going a day without a computer or books.

Youtube is not protesting yet, but Google has an interesting response.

What a Discussion

In Lit & Lang 9R, we are finishing Mark Mathabane's Kaffir Boy. It is his autobiographical account of growing up in South Africa under the brutal apartheid system and finally escaping to American because of his outstanding grades and tennis ability.

We read chapters 46 and 47 aloud. Since these are freshmen, they are not ones to volunteer questions. So as we read the chapters, I paused and asked them for feedback. As it turned out, we had the best discussion of the year.

Now, my class is quite diverse, well diverse for NW MN. In a class of 15, I have three Hispanic students and two African American students. So reading a book about class warfare and racism is quite interesting.

Chapter 46 starts out with Mathabane meeting Adrew Zietsman, a white South African who has spent time in the United States. He informs Mathabane that in the U.S. there is no segregation (at least compared to the terrible conditions in South Africa).

This resulted in me asking them about why segregation no long exists in America. Soon we were talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and Jim Crowe and bus bombings and how if I showed them the pictures of southerners bombing buses coming down from the north for the freedom rides, they would never think that the picture was taken in America. Maybe in Iraq or Afghanistan but never in America.

This led us to talk about how tolerant our society is today. It is not taboo any longer for races to date and marry. I told them how generations ago, it was taboo for people of different religions or nationalities to marry. I recall how a friend told me how his grandmother, a Catholic, had married someone of a different faith, and his great-grandmother (her mother), never spoke to her husband after he refused to convert to Catholicism. Now that is in no way the standard reaction. Still it shows how far we've come in several generations when it comes tolerance and acceptance.

After a few more pages, Mathabane referenced the South African laws forbidding inter-marriage. This got us talking about genetics and skin color. Somehow we got on the topic of The Cosby Show. I related how big of a controversy it was that the Cosby kids seemed to be whiter than their parents and how many people got worked up over this. I recall reading an article stating that for the first time in TV history there are two very successful black lead characters (Bill was a doctor and Phylicia was a lawyer), yet their kids can't be full black, they have to come from bi-racial families. I loved the first few seasons of the show and didn't really notice anything about the skin color.

Soon students were sharing other stories and most everyone was engaged and taking part. Or at least listening in to the conversation.

Ch. 46 is also where Andre explains to Mathabane that while attending white schools, not only do the whites receive an elite education from the best teachers, but they are also educated (I mean brainwashed) to think that God has chosen them to rule over the blacks, who are a subservient race because of the Biblical figure of Ham.

This was news to me. I did tell them that I've read accounts of racists using Cain as a reason to think blacks were a tainted species. Supposedly, God marked Cain. Some interpret that mark as a darkening of his skin. Thus, that made anyone with dark skin an easy target for white supremacists.

I did tell them, though, that when I read the book Black Like Me, in which the author, a white man, has his skin blackened and then tours the south to see what racism is really like, the one place he consistently finds shelter and meals is from the southern Catholic churches.

Then this led us on a discussion of whether or not the Bible is to be taken literally. I shared my opinion, but let all voice theirs. We never judged or made fun of. We just shared and entertained a wide array of ideas and interpretations.

The chapter also focuses on Mathabane's tennis skills. This led us into talking about why blacks dominate at some sports (basketball being one) and why whites dominate at others (hockey being one). Then a student asked, "Why are African Americans better athletes?"

One of my African American students - to my surprise - totally disagreed. He thought whites and blacks are equal.

I shared with them what little knowledge I have on the topic and then asked my football players if they knew who holds the record for the fastest 40 time ever at the NFL combine, which happens to be just a month or two away. The record, as best as I could recall, was set by Deion Sanders in 1989 with a 4.21 40 yard dash. Then I asked them if they had ever heard of the receiver Don Beebe.

No one had.

I said that he ran the same time at the combine a few years later. And Don Beebe was white.

Again, students shared their views and chimed in when they wanted to get back to the book.

Finally, one of the students, Trevor, smiled and said, "I wish we could keep talking like this every day."

Alas, we have to meet standards and get them ready for the BST in reading.

But it was so much fun while it lasted. I think it's fair to say most of us learned more in that day of sharing and discussion than we have in three weeks of reading the book and focusing on reading and comprehension skills.

Who Knew North Dakota was so full of Puritans

This ad was pulled for being salacious? Really?

Trust me North Dakota, you don't have a lot going for you. You may very well be poisoning your environment with your new form of oil drilling, they have finally landed their mythical Olive Garden after years of speculation and proposals, the Alerus Center is money sucking pit (the best thing we've ever been to was last week when the YMCA and Altru set up a kids playland in there and Kenz had a blast, compare that with how much money Britney Spears or Bette Midler lost them), one of your leading universities is embroiled in a controversy over its racist logo (it has begun to be known simply as North Dakota, gone are the Fighting Sioux), and if young people do go to GF or Fargo, guess what? This add hits it on the head: dinner and drinks and night life. It's simply an ad aimed at the young.

Go on to any campus in North Dakota on a weekend and you'll find FAR, FAR worse behavior, yet those institutions have young people flock to them.

What Was There

Remember this place?

Glogster

This weekend

Ah, parenthood.  Kristie and I often laugh about the early days when we were dating and we'd just be ready to go out for the night around 9 pm.

How things have changed.

I rocked Cash to sleep around 7 pm while Kristie, KoKo, and Kenzie snuggled up on the couch.

Kristie, who had her turn with the flu, went upstairs to lie down (she also twisted her back during the day and was in a lot of pain).  KoKo, who had to work in the morning, went up to her room.

That left Kenz and I to snuggle on the couch.  Soon I was out and she was waking me up when one TiVo'd Scooby Doo episode was over so I could play another one.

I couldn't take it on the couch anymore, so I hauled Kenz upstairs to our room where she snuggled in with Kristie and me.

Around 11:30 I hauled Kenz to her own bed and crawled back in our bed for a couple hours of sleep.

I always hold out hope that Cash will sleep the whole way through the night (he supposedly does at his grandmother's house, but I think she loses track of time).  He made it to 1 am.

Thankfully, after he has 6 ounces of milk, he nods back off and I usually have no trouble laying him back in his crib.

That is until two hours later when he wakes up again.  I didn't have any trouble putting him back to bed at 3 either.

But he was up again at 5.  Of course, we happened to be out of formula, so I had to make due with some sugar water.  That worked for about an hour.  Then Kenz was up and headed downstairs.  This, of course, woke cash up and at 6:30 my Saturday morning was well underway!

Oh, the days of coming home at 3 and then sleeping in until 1 are long gone.

But every time Cash snuggles into my neck or Kenz smiles so politely as she asks for a Backyardigans video in the morning or I watch as Kristie tickles Cash and he giggles wildly, it's so worth it.

****

Kristie's older brother, Brian, is in the area for some training.  This afternoon we will meet him and his daughter, Chelsea, and her boyfriend, Derek, as well as Gail and some others at Paradiso (Brian's favorite restaurant) for lunch.

Kristie saw that there the Altru Family YMCA Grand Forks Kid's Show was also happening.  So Kenz should have an absolute blast there.  Maybe she and Cash will even be able to burn off enough energy that they actually sleep all the way through the night.  Yeah, right.  Even if they did, I'm so conditioned now that I'd probably be wide awake by 6 am anyway.

What the Creative Process looks like

This is awesome.

And it's so true.  I have close to 30 College Comp I students going through this process right now as they compose their final research papers.

What does it mean to be "educated"?

How would you answer this question?  How would teachers?  Students?


Being Educated Means... from ed sackson on Vimeo.


I've got to make this an assignment and post the results.

Curriculum Advisory Committee

Had a blast presenting on the technology that I use in my class to the Curriculum Advisory Board.  A lot of parents, administrators, and school board members.  Really enjoyed it.

Grown up Digital

Here is one of my favorite excerpts from an iTunes U podcast featuring Don Tapscott, author of the text Grown up Digital.

Thoughts?

Ways to Use Technology

What is a great about a blog, and why educators should be using them right a long with their students, is that they are a great platform for distributing and sharing content. Here is an example.

Here is a Keynote presentation I developed on using Cell Phones in class.

Sure, I can do the old fashioned approach and go through it in class. I've embedded videos to make it entertaining for students and to drive home my points. But how many of us have been bored to death by a slideshow where the presenter chooses to read every word? Exactly.

Instead of going over it in class, I can embed it in a variety of ways on a blog and offer students a number of ways to view it and to interact.

Here is one way to share it with slideshare:

Cell phones for kb(short)

View more presentations from Kurt Reynolds

Here students can go through the content at their own pace. They also have the option of downloading it onto their computers and watching it whenever they wish.

In addition to those benefits, Slideshare also allows students to like it via Facebook, Tweet it, and email it.

Here is yet another way to share it using youtube:



This allows students to view it as an actual video, from their phones, iPods, or computers.

Distributing content is good.  But allowing students to engage and interact with it is vital.  This is something my generation never had the opportunity to.  We were simply treated as empty vessels and the teacher was the sage on the stage who was expected to fill us all with knowledge.

There was often little interaction.  That's now how the millennials learn.

They expect (or crave) to interact.

Here are two ways we do this in class.

wallwisher:



wiffiti:

The power of parents and the media

This is a great example of a parent using technology and social media to call out shameful and harmful play in a high school basketball game.

More power to using technology to put the public eye on problems.



Just watch all five fouls and you will see some of the dirtiest play you've ever seen. The body language of these two players (not to mention their lack of hustle) speaks volumes. It also illustrates the horrendous officiating.

Sure, the 'thug' in question might be a teddy bear off the court, but we aren't judging him off the court. We are simply judging him by his thuggery and his pathetic attempt to hide his glee at committing the fouls. Such play should not be tolerated. Watch the five minutes of video and judge for yourself.

This reminds me of this story from earlier in the year, where a bullied student used his phone to expose his teacher for threatening and bullying him.

More power to technology and those who know how to use it.

Geek vs. Nerd

I'm torn by this. I'm not sure where I fit. Maybe I'm a hybrid, like that new specie of shark that was discovered recently.


From: MastersInIt.org

Talk about being in your element

Last summer my mother in law took this picture of our kids.  For some time we've talked about doing the traditional 'family picture,' but we have not gotten to it.

So I was wowed by this rather spontaneous picture that she took when I finally saw it.  I think it's better than any formal picture we could have planned.

This Christmas I thought how original it would be to have one of my former students, the remarkably talented Tracy Mehrkens, do a drawing of the picture and then frame it.

I know Tracey is talented.  But the final product was far more amazing than I ever hoped for.

Talk about a student who has found their element.

What Teaching Means table of contents

Just got an email from the publisher of What Teaching Means to Me. He included the table of contents. It looks like we are still on for a spring release date. Can't wait.


The document is protected, so I can't post it on here.  But I was able to take a screen capture of my section in the table.

I am pleased that they put my essay in the section entitled "Realizing Potential."

I am also pleased to learn that one of the professional readers of the manuscript is going to be Penny Kittle, who is on my bookshelf right now with her excellent Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing.  I came across her book when it was recommended in the September issue of The English Journal by one of my favorites, Tom Romano.