It's Monday: What R U Rdg? STEAMPUNK

    It is Monday! What Are You Reading is originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
 Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts host a kidlit and YA version as well. 

The word steampunk might be unfamiliar to you.  Maybe you already know and love that genre. It is one of my discoveries at ALAN 2012 conference this year culminating in my completion of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy this past week.  Steampunk blends the world of steam-age industrialization plus fantasy to yield an alternative history or world.  If you have read Westerfeld's Uglies series, you already know that he  masterfully crafts a world in the future, but the Leviathan series takes you to the beginning of WWI, a world of Clankers vs. Darwinists.

The narrative switches back and forth between Midshipman "Dylan" Sharp and the young Austrian-Hungarian Empire heir on the run, Alek. Both of whom carry secrets. Their paths intertwine and the adventure never seems to stop as the Leviathan travels across Europe, into the Ottoman Empire, over Russian and Japan and finally to America. You will recognize characters such as Tesla, Randolph Hurst, Pancho Villa, and Winston Churchill who have stepped out of your history books.  Both the Darwinist fabricated beasts such as Leviathan, Borvil, and Imperial Eagles, and Clanker's machines such as the Walkers, Hercules and Beowulf, will amaze you. {That link contains spoilers.}Westerfeld also deftly handles women's issues as well as embeds the language of the time takes you back to 1914. If you can get your students past the length of the books, perhaps by reading aloud, you will hook them.

When I think about historical fiction, the 20th century and YA, I can bring up several titles set during WWII, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights movement, but few about WW I, which is one reason why the Leviathan series stands out for me. I would describe it as an action-packed guy book, but female students would like it as well since it has a strong female central character. Obviously, you might pick it for a social studies class, but the description of Leviathan and its inner-workings of the ship and fabricated animals might fit well with a biology class. As an English teacher, I might use it a lit circle set with The Odyssey.  It is one of the books that I like to put in kids' hands.  They read the first and then have two more on their "Reading Next" list.  It is also one of those series that I hate to get to the end. I've certainly grown fond of Mr. Sharp, Alex, and Borvil.

I even recommend this series for adults.  I passed it along to an adult who had read the entire Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brian. He enjoys historical fiction about naval battles, but he also enjoys young adult fantasy novels.  I thought that the Leviathan series married the two well.  I am also thinking about handing it off to our ROTC teachers at our school since it combines war-fare, leadership, and problem-solving.

To learn more about the origins of steam punk, check out this blog. Steampunkscholar

Wordless Wednesday!

One Word: Brave

Perhaps you have heard of One Little Word, a writing, creative and\or spiritual process of focusing on one little word for a year.  When Lee Ann asked me to consider doing Ali Edwards One Little Word workshop, I readily accepted the idea.  Its focus on writing and creativity would push me outside of my comfort zone. I have learned so much from the challenges I have embraced this year, both self-inflicted and presented to me.

 I started Camp Gladiator, a physical challenge, and continue to surprise myself at each workout. I have dropped six minutes off my 5K time and can do real push-ups, at least 20.  The Slice of Life Writing Challenge pushed me personally and professionally as a writer.  I don't aspire to write; I'd always rather read than do anything else. To grow as a teacher, I needed to dig deep where I felt uncomfortable to be better for my students. It worked! I felt the power of my words, publishing, and getting genuine feedback.  I was able to bring this experience to my students in our own slice challenge.  I acted out politically by working on a task force that made an impact on a local and state level.  As a teacher, I often felt disenfranchised by the political process, but working with a community of people--parents, teachers, students and school board members-- around an issue reminded me that my experience and actions matter to the community at-large. I saw why my voice mattered.  I opened my identity as a TI and began to work as an advocate by participating in the Big Blue Test and took other actions which reminded me that my work mattered to a community beyond my reach.

In hindsight, these steps were brave, but they weren't intentionally brave.  My focus this year is to act intentionally around one word, 12 intentions that will inspire action, and see what happens. My word is brave.  Each month I have a brave intention and this month I will be brainstorming my actions to attach to each.

 I intend to:

• Brave the possibilities!
• Brave the heart!
• Brave the silence!
• Brave the storm!
• Brave the challenge!
• Brave the world!
• Brave the wild!
• Brave the unknown! 
• Brave the adventure!
• Brave the impossible! 
• Brave the limits! 
• Brave the reflection! 

What do you intend to brave this year?

Just write about one word today: http://oneword.com/

Read about it http://myoneword.org/

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

      It is Monday! What Are You Reading is originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts host a kidlit and YA version as well. 


       DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE?
Seven days after New Year's resolutions have been made and\or broken is a perfect time to share what I am reading! Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath is the book you need today when resolution and goal setting abounds, not just personally, but for us, professionally, with our students.  I would declare it to be the book that had the most profound impact on me in 2012, as a teacher, leader, and learner.  Is this a book for teens? Absolutely! When I think about engaging nonfiction such as Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers or Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation that I have enjoyed with students, I would add this title. I see this book fitting well into a physical education course or psychology course too.

My big aha was that teachers are change agents! We ask kids to make changes every day as readers, writers, and learners.  Often we feel frustrated when they don't.  You won't, however, find this book under areas traditionally classified educational professional reading.  Although Switch is classified under business management, it provides insight to help you be a better agent of change in not only your classroom, but also in your life.  According to Heath and Heath, the big idea related to change that sticks, is that you have to influence not only the environment, but the hearts and the minds by directing the rider, motivating the elephant and sharing the path.

The Heaths shares Jonathan Haidts' analogy of two sides that work concurrently in people, the emotional side, the Elephant, and the rationale side, the Rider.   For change to happen, the Rider is in need of planning and direction and that is what a leader or teacher can bring to students.  The Rider is the thinker or planner who can help you plot a course, but is also in danger of getting caught up in what I describe as "paralysis by analysis" or over-thinking. The Rider carefully supervises the change. To avoid exhausting the Rider, the Rider needs to understand why it matters.  In my classroom, I share the research with kids about my instructional choices.  It lets them know the logic of my decisions. The Rider also needs to be connected. Perhaps in teaching, the personal learning network (PLN) or the Professional Learning Community (PLC) are the supports that help the Rider enact change. That is only one part of the process as the Elephant must be nurtured as well.

When I think about teaching, the heart or the Elephant signifies the power of relationships in our classrooms.  That adage that kids have to care before they will learn, applies here.  The teacher must inspire the Elephant The Heaths believe that the Elephant supplies the crucial energy needed to negotiate the ambiguity that change often brings. Elephants lead the charge.

As you consider Haidts' analogy and the Heaths' interpretation, ask yourself who are your riders and elephants? As individuals, we don't act with balance here. Listen to your students and listen to yourself. What are you?  Are you providing enough support for changes to happen in your students?  Are you getting the support for the Rider and Elephant within needed to make change. Of course, you don't stop here! Where are you going?

Sharing the path is a crucial step.  Where you want to go and how you aim to get there matter.  To share the path, people need a specific goal and an understanding of why it matters. When people set goals, the most successful set behavioral goals. The Heaths believe that the key here is to change your big ideas into specific behaviors that will point to a destination. To figure it out, you must ask yourself questions. How will you know when the change is happening or has happened? What are the tangible signs? This visioning is an important step in the process. If you don't know where you are going and what it might look like when you get there, you will have a hard time establishing the path.  Time spent developing timelines and planning for milestones work here.  You will spend more time upfront building it, but it is a template or a path to follow that can be revisited and re-visioned and your success may hinge upon it.

Remember knowledge alone doesn't change behavior.  So just reading my response or the book itself, won't help you make the changes.  Practice matters too, which a read of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers will reinforce. But you and your students must have ample opportunities to approximate or practice without punishment according to Brian Cambourne's Conditions for Learning.  Making change is exhausting.  I don't offer this as a reason to give up, but more so as a reason to be more gentle or forgiving with yourself  and more patient with your students as you work together to make changes this year.

P.S. I have more to share about this book, but am saving it for another posting!

October DSMA Blog Post

I love the DOC. I spend 20-30 minutes once every three months with my amazing HCP, but the DOC is a community that supports me daily. I question, I listen, and I learn. I have learned more in the past 6 months participating in the DOC than I have in the three and half years pre-DOC. Here are the top three things that I have learned and think my HCP could learn as well..

1. Living with this disease each day is not as black and white as you make it out to be.
The DOC helps me with the day-to-day work that living with this disease takes. You can treat me medically by changing my dosage during my visits, but my visits should be more than a three month data check-in. Listen to my concerns and help me figure out a path. I have been working on re-integrating exercise into my life for two years now. I still don't have a clear plan for dealing with lows and timing. I've even read Colberg's Diabetic Athlete Handbook. It's frustrating to negotiate these challenges on my own. When I tell you that every time I play ultimate, my blood sugar rises, it does. You have to help me figure that out, not dismiss it like it doesn't happen. That is what the DOC does, it validates my every day experiences.

2. Everyone has a story and it is as important as their numbers.
 Don't judge me by my A1C. A number doesn't define who I am as a diabetic. What I love and learn from the DOC are the stories. People in the DOC have varying levels of experience and expertise. We share a common goal, to live a rich healthy long life despite the obstacles of managing our disease. Our stories shared in 140 micro-bites on Twitter or longer in blog posts reveal the uniqueness of our journey and provide guide points toward the steps we choose to take each day. I hope you learn to take time to hear my story too. The data points that I share with you are superfluous without my story.

3. I am a work-in-progress managing my disease. 
 We all are works-in-progress to quote my mentor, Dr. Janet Allen. You, as an HCP, are a work-in-progress helping me managing my disease. What you knew yesterday may not help me today. The DOC opens up a world larger than textbooks. I can sit side-by-side with people when they are at professional conferences and we can link into research that would be inaccessible 10 years ago. The DOC provides efficient timely access to information that matters most to me. Some of it might matter to you too.

National Day on Writing

Gallery of Student Writing

What do you write?  As an English teacher and a teacher of teachers, I write every day.  I don't always write for myself, unfortunately, and when I write,  I don't always publish it on my blog.  I write, however, knowing that I am a model, a model for my student writers and for future teachers of writers. I write, knowing, my daughter is often looking over my shoulder and I am her model too.

6/2011-6/2012 Work Journals

I don't always share my work. Publishing is a tricky process for me.  My work journals leave a road map of the decisions made and ideas shared.  It often becomes an important reference tool over time.  No one needs to see these notes, but they help me keep the destination in sight.  Depending on my time and state of mind, I share my writing in virtual spaces. I micro-write---lines on Twitter or Facebook with the expectation that someone will read it and respond.  Time permitting or thoughts burning, I write longer and publish it here.  People don't always comment on a blog, but I see their tracks.  I like to think that my words moved people, personally or professionally.  

My husband writes and draws to entertain. I write about my life to reveal my "life as it happens." (a line stolen from NPR today)  I write to process my work with teaching and learning, reading and writing, and teens. I write to document and think through my every day challenges of managing a chronic disease. I write mostly to provide hope.  Hope for myself and maybe for others on their journey.  Wherever or whatever, I write, my words are fingerprints that mark who I am or where I was on my journey.As I look back, I can see that the work doesn't get easier, but I get better, which is why "What I Write" matters.

Book Fairy Invasion

If you work in a high school, you know that Halloween is not the only day of the year that you can continue to dress up as an adult.  There is always Homecoming week.  What I love about Homecoming week is planning a surprise for students.  We started a few years ago with a Super Teacher shirt that my husband made for us on our back porch single color screen press.  (Umm, yes, we have a single color T-shirt press on  my back porch, one of the benefits of marrying an artist, I suppose!)  I just give him a concept and he fleshes it out.   We resurrected our shirts and silver sequined capes this year for twin day.  But this year we added the book fairy a costume inspired by pin on Pinterest as our surprise for "Out of this World" day.

My husband the artist designed a prototype wing after I showed him the pictures.  Each teacher built their set of wings using a book cover, dictionary pages, double-stick tape, and  designed duct tape.  We had a team building aka costume design session after school on Tuesday.  Most of us should have been grading papers and uploading them for progress reports.  In fact, I told my college students that I didn't quite finish grading all of their papers this week because I needed to work on my book fairy costume. They agreed with me, that my time was well-spent making the costume.

 After walking around the halls and delivering books to classrooms today, I wholeheartedly agree. My mentor, Janet Allen, would always share Margaret Mooney's quote, "Books that we share with students should always have charm, magic, impact, and appeal."  Today reading and English teachers reminded students of the charm and magic of reading brings as evident by the joy and smiles the students' faces when the book fairies invaded the Creek.  A day filled with impact and appeal.