Wordle Meme

TJ Shay just tagged me for a Meme. Participants are required to create a Wordle using their blog and/or Del.icio.us account.

There were some technical issues on my end, so Terry was kind enough to plug my blog address into the proper box on the Wordle site, then email me the result, shown above.

Taken out of context, some of the words might give a slightly skewed impression of the "mission" of my blog: Salvation and Army appeared in my posting on that worthy organization; "Angels" refers to the tragic fire at Our Lady of the Angels School, which I remembered here.

My affiliation with CyberSmart! and preoccupation with "students" "school" "Internet" "sites" are evident.

Yet, since the majority of my postings center on education, I decided to produce an additional, more focused Wordle, shown below. I highlighted two groupings of words which I found significant, the "society/success" grouping and the "students" cluster. Due to firewall issues at school, I was only able to copy and edit a thumbnail version. You can link to the original here.

The postings used to create this second Wordle were:

• Connections
• Beyond the Wall
• Today, My Job Was to Listen
• Applause
• Success
  

Memes are meant to be shared, so I'm inviting any who visit here to try their hand at creating a Wordle. It's a handy tool for both analysis and creative endeavors.


Wordle images created at http://www.wordle.net/. Images of Wordles are licensed .

Today, My Job Was to Listen

“Adolescents sometimes say...'My friends listen to me, but my parents only hear me talk.' Often they are right. Familiarity breeds inattention.” -Laurence Steinberg, U.S. professor of psychology

Dr. Steinberg's words might equally be applied to teachers. We hear our students' voices, but do we ever stop to consider what they are saying?

Today, my job was to listen.

Our Current Events class is made up of teens in grades 9-12. Since the juniors were taking a test today, I gave the remaining 7 students time to finish up assignments, discuss upcoming projects, and just socialize.

One boy started complaining that he wished he were part of our in-house GED program rather than taking regular classes. A few of his friends jumped in to tell him that the course is a lot of work, the exam is difficult, and he'd be crazy not to just stick out school for a few more years. They discussed it for a while, and I believe - I hope - they convinced him to stay put and try to make it work.

None of these young men have been particularly successful academically. They are they same group who shared their anger about a NHS speech that seemed (in their eyes) to disparage them.

Today they used their leadership qualities to help a friend who's in danger of making a bad decision. It was a teachable moment, but I was not the teacher, my students were.

It was one of the best days I've had all year.



"One who cares is one who listens." -Richard Clarke




"listen to me..." by keela84

Once Upon a Time Lasts Forever

"Joyous Space" by Orin Optiglot

“‘Thou shalt not’ is soon forgotten, but ‘Once upon a time’ lasts forever.” -Philip Pullman
(1996 Carnegie Medal acceptance speech)

Even though school has been in session now for more than 5 months, some of our youngest students are still finding it difficult to settle down in one spot and focus on a story. The colorful cushions we purchased to carve out a dedicated area for reading time have not been an unqualified success. There are moments when I feel like I'm trying to manage a wiggling tangle of puppies!

Yesterday, I decided to share with my younger grades a beautifully illustrated version of a classic fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. For contrast, I grabbed a shabby old copy by another author. The pictures in the second book were clumsy, at best, but they clearly showed all the basic elements of the story: characters, setting, plot, etc.

For all the glory of the new book, the students were most captivated by the older version, not because of any virtues of the volume itself, but because I used different voices and gestures to "tell" rather than "read" the story. Some of the children obviously had heard the tale before, but not all of them. They didn't care that my narrative had a few bumpy spots: for the length of that re-telling, the entire class was engaged, quiet, and as good as gold.

What lessons did I learn from my totally unanticipated success?

• determine what your audience responds to and utilize it
  
• don't assume that "new and improved" is necessarily better
• children haven't changed and storytelling as an art retains its magic
• step back from technology for a bit and remember the power of traditional "tools"

I'll be dusting off my flannelboard and browsing our collection for old favorites. The little ones have taught me well.

“Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.” -Eudora Welty

Illusions

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -Albert Einstein

I had an interesting conversation with a second grade student (7 or 8 years old) yesterday. "Mrs. Cordell," he told me very seriously, "I've lost my illusions."

Intrigued, I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen, and let myself be drawn into a conversation.

Me: What do you mean by "illusions".
Child: Sometimes I can make things happen. I made the lights in my house flicker, but my illusions weren't strong and they went away. I need more practice.

Me: How did you get your illusions?
Child: I didn't know I had any illusions, but when my cousin came from Nevada, he squeezed my shoulder and then I had illusions. He has illusions all the time.

Me: Tell me more about your illusions.
Child: When my cousin is here, we have battles on our bikes and we make each other fall off with our illusions. I know I'll have illusions back when he comes to visit again.

We finished our discussion and I and thanked him for sharing a bit of his world with me. I wonder what he's seen that moves just beyond my field of vision.



"It's life's illusions I recall, I really don't know life at all." –Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now


"17illusion" by Nobik Attila