What’s The Point Of It All?

This weekly wrap-up, I mean – the ‘Blue Serials’ compilations appearing here most weekends?

That’s a fair question. I don’t always know until I’ve been doing something for awhile.

Mostly this is a ‘Best Of’ for the prior week in edu-bloggery. From time to time, however, I simply can’t resist highlighting other sporadic marvels of the wonder-webs. My love for YOU, esteemed #11FF, is such that I’m willing to bend both title and format in order to enrich your online edu-experience. 

You’re so welcome. 

So while this is a crazy wild week in state edu-slation, let’s set that aside for a few glorious moments and bask in a few things you simply SHOULD NOT MISS from the past week.

The Significance of a Diamond-Studded Bicycle, c1890 – Isabella Bradford of Two Nerdy History Girls analyzes a brooch. (Yes, the kind a lady would pin on her lapel.) You know I already have a thing for chicks on two wheels; add some primary source analysis (yes, a brooch is a primary source) and I’m in edu-blog heaven. Go read this – it’s short and sexy and you’ll feel smarter for having done so.

While you’re there, check out this post on the first guy to suggest that germs – tiny things we can’t see – were the underlying cause of diseases, and the mockery and backlash which followed. Yes, it’s almost science, but the MARVELOUS use of LANGUAGE in the primary sources (textual this time) nearly gave me a special moment.

When you’ve recovered, be sure to follow @2nerdyhistgirls on the Twitters and enjoy the shenanigans. They are a trip and a half, I assure you. 

Benjamin Franklin’s Madness-Inducing Machine – Ben Miller, on Out of This Century, introduces us to one of Franklin’s lesser-known inventions – ‘the glass harmonica’ – and it’s ability to DESTROY YOUR BRAIN! For those of us who grew up listening to warnings about backward masking in rock’n’roll, and the dangers of syncopated percussion on our inner workings, this is particularly amusing.

If you don’t cotton much to that psycho-musical mumbo jumbo, you might wish to begin with this post instead about self-defense for Victorian gentlemen in the unfortunate event they find themselves “assaulted by ruffians!” Either way, you simply MUST follow @oothiscentury on the Twitters and either destroy your brain or defend your honor. Heck, maybe you can do both. 

The Strange Company Newspaper Clipping of the Day (February 17th, 2016) – The pseudonymous Undine, purveyor of Strange Company, has a fetish for odd or inexplicable stories sticking inconveniently through the veneer of history. I particularly enjoyed this one, about an ossified man turned to marble by efforts to cremate his body – or so the story goes. I can’t help but think there’s an unintended metaphor here as well, for those of you deep-thinky enough to denude such things. Your daily online journey will be richer and weirder if you follow @HorribleSanity on the Twitters. 

But Blue – Isn’t This An “Education” Blog?

Yes, of course – the most educationalistic, in fact! 

Applying Essential Questions in Workshop by Cyndi Faircloth – from Three Teachers Talk – Don’t be put off by the uber-serious title of this guest post by Faircloth; this is golden teacher talk. While the specifics are about literature and ‘workshop model’ instruction, this is first and foremost PLC-style sharing. 

“After almost twenty years of teaching, I’m starting to think I might be getting the hang of it. I’ve used essential questions over the past few years, but they weren’t producing the deep discussion and analysis that I’d hoped for…” So she tried this and then this other thing but then WHOAH the learning descended and there was much rejoicing.

I find this mindset towards collaboration SO much more engaging than the usual buy-my-book approach (“WHY ARE YOU DOING THINGS THE OLD STUPID WAY WHEN I HAVE ANECDOTES ABOUT HOW GREAT I AM?!” – available now wherever insecure educators gather!) This post makes me excited even about the stuff I’m trying that’s NOT working, and where it COULD go.

And as long as we’re on the site…

Choice Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Personal Connection: A Reflection for a Do-Over – Amy Rasmussen, Three Teachers Talk – “So all afternoon and into the evening I’ve thought about thinking. I’ve thought about my students’ thinking. And I’ve determined the problem: Many of my students are not doing it.”

Oh my glowing baby-in-a-manger. Can you be in love with two posts at once? (Did you just hear the pop song parodies sliding into readers’ minds all over the blogosphere?)

Every educator – especially ELA folks, but really everyone – should totally marry this blog. Subscribe, of course, and follow THE THREE on the Twitters – @amyrass, @litreader, and @jackiecatcher. You can thank me after you change the world even gooder as a result.

When #OklaEd Blogger Anthony Purcell issued his 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Challenge a few weeks ago, I’m not sure he anticipated the response. I certainly didn’t, but I loved the idea, so I compiled those of which I was aware two weeks ago right here on the weekend update. But good ones just kept coming in, so I kept adding them to the list. I’m pretty sure I’ve missed several along the way – please let me know if so! In the meantime…

Challenge Answered… – In this post on One Good Thing, Lisa Witcher tackles the #12345 Challenge and both reminds me how fortunate I am to know her and makes me wish I’d been half so poignant in my own response. Oh well, we can’t all be that good. Follow @MzWitch11 on the Twitters yourself – but be careful, she’s way insightful and it’s hard to get away with much around her. #OklaEd 

Five – This response by Rebecka Peterson of EPSILON-DELTA is one of my favorites – especially in regards to #4. Peterson is one of those teachers that makes me love the entire profession, despite knowing in my mind that few are of quite her caliber. But some are – and the possibilities that creates… well, heck – maybe we can change the world, kinda? Follow @RebeckaMozdeh on the Twitters, and ask her about her new little person.  #OklaEd 

Alright, my children – Illegitimi Non Carborundum!

We’ll be back to #OklaEd and #OKElections16 inanity and periodic glimmers of forward momentum soon, darlings. You’ve got this. You may not feel like it every day, but you’ve GOT THIS.  

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Happy Forced Affection Day! 

Yet another faux consumerist holiday built on male terror of ‘getting it wrong’ (or is that just me?) To be fair, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to belittle those without a ‘significant other’ and suggest they’re in some way inadequate or doing life badly based on our cultural need to demand reproductive rituals of all 320 million of our neighbors right damn now!

I’m rather blessed to have found a really good one and trapped her early. It’s been long enough now that it’s not worth the trouble of sheddin’ me, so she stays. I don’t usually do personal nods here, but since I’ve been exposed to the world as a vitriolic issue-blurrer, I might as well say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day.

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Sorry you’re stuck with someone ruining the children, honey. Oh – and can you pick up cilantro on the way home? The bunnies are out. 

But Let’s Talk About Love and Commitment, and Voices and Power. 

They’re not so unrelated, are they?

Identity, Power, and Education’s Algorithms – Audrey Watters, writing on Medium.com, starts off talking about changes to Twitter and ends up wrestling with the many ways power and the dominant narrative force and reinforce themselves in education and other realms. This one made my brain and my soul hurt at the same time – usually a good sign I need to pay closer attention. Follow Watters on the newer, more capitalistic Twitter at @audreywatters. 

Burn It Down – Tom Rademacher, of Mr. Rad”s Neighborhood, tackles a similar theme much closer to home. “Whiteness is f***ing up schools. Whiteness is creating failure. Whiteness is blaming the victims of racism and genocide for being victims of racism and genocide, and suggesting what they really need is to be around a lot more white people… Yes, the system is failing them. Because it is supposed to.”

I know, right? The thing is, if it makes you mad just reading that bit, he’s already hit a nerve. So read it all. Several times. I triple-dog-dare you. *makeschickennoises* Follow Mr. Rad on the Twitters at @MrTomRad.

Risk and Rules – It’s not every week that we turn to Curmudgucation to LIGHTEN the mood, and this one isn’t exactly a knee-slapper, but Peter Greene has written a great post about the tricky and ever-shifting balancing act between rigid expectations / mandated outcomes and all of the instinctive, seat-of-the-pants, people-serving guesswork we do with it, through it, or instead of it.

Beauty, the Rip, and Expectations – While we’re at it, a more recent post also from Curmudgucation about expectations and messages. IF YOU SKIP EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS WEEKLY WRAP-UP, READ/WATCH THIS ONE. Later, of course, you’ll have to deal with the shame and self-loathing which naturally result from missing the other amazing things shared this week – but at least you’ll have this one. Follow Greene on the new, more Facebooky Twitter at @palan57.

And Now I Simply Must Talk #OklaEd.

The House Edu-Committee hears the first of the eleventeen or so Vouchers/ESA/Tax-Supported-White-Flight bills put forth this session on Monday (2/15/16). 

As you call, or write, or visit, please remember – we’re trying to convince them we’re professionals and stuff like that. Be clear, concise, polite, and precise. They’re busy this time of year – the good ones, the bad ones, the useless ones, and the ones with tons of potential. Modify your strategies accordingly. 

We need to woo them, not earn spots on Maury Povich with them. Oh, and read these before you begin:

10th Amendment & #OklaEd – David Burton of Idealistically Realistic explains why “states’ rights” implies and intends “states’ obligations.” This one should be celebrated across the edu-nation, especially in states who – like ours – proudly seek an ignorant, incarcerated, and impregnated populace with all their lofty might, because… federalism! Follow Burton on the Twittering at @psalmofdavid. #oklaed 

Please Stop Digging! – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge. The public at large may not realize that while some are still calling for teacher raises or better support or whatever, most of us at this point are simply in fetal positions wrapped around as many of our kids as we can shield, begging power to put the whip down for awhile. We get it! You gave all the money to your wealthy donors! You hate us because… equity is communism, or something! Put down the shovel and step away from the bloodied remains of what was already a broken system…

Miller puts it more professionally, of course – he’s not as unreasonable as I am. Just between you and me, I don’t think he even deserved to be slandered in that MiddleGround piece. I’m WAY more destructive to the youth of America than he could be on HIS BEST DAY. If you don’t believe me, follow Rob on Twitter at @edgeblogger and see for yourself.  #oklaed 

Two Things: Call Me A (Civil) Naysayer – Rick Cobb, aka OKEducationTruths, the third member of the #OklaEd issue-blurring, vitriolic trifecta of hurtful commentary, brashly and unprofessionally uses partisan political ideology like facts, quotes, figures, and a hair metal video from the 80’s, to question the sincerity and practicality of all these faux calls for ‘teacher raises’ and this sudden ‘support’ for public education in Oklahoma. And he’s doing it on a forum to which CHILDREN have access! The rest of the internet is so pure, and he has to go ruin it for everyone. Be corrupted by Cobb on the Twittering at @okeducation and decide for yourself which of us is the MOST evil. (Hint: ME.)  #oklaed 

The Blaine Game, Part One (Information) – by Me, The Unbearable Blueness of Cereal. I don’t normally link to myself here, but this is my best shot at explaining the background issues to the ESA/Voucher debate starting up again on Monday (2/15/16). I’ll also keep updating the #OKElections16 page related to ESAs/Vouchers, which reminds me that I have a few things to add even today.  #oklaed 

Meaning I Gotta Go!

Happy V.D. The day is what you make it – choose to love someone in some way, or yourself better than you have been. Then go teach the %#&* out of those little @#%$ for the same %#$*{“|= reason – stubborn, reality-free, idealistic, chosen love. They need you now more than ever – that’s not feel good motivation-talk; it’s simply so. 

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RELATED POST: For far more updates to the #12345 challenge than I ever anticipated, check out last week’s Blue Serials (2/7/16). They just keep coming in – and they make me feel SO much better to read. 

Sometimes lyrics just speak to you…

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I can’t stand it I know you planned it – I’m gonna set it straight, this watergate

I can’t stand rocking when I’m in here, because your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear

You’re scheming on a thing that’s a mirage – I’m trying to tell you now it’s sabotage…

Excuse me – I need a tissue, and not just for this rather touching moment. The 2016 legislative season started this week as well. It’s not the ONLY reason to cry these days, but it’s certainly one of the biggest. 

Keep tabs on the issues and inform yourself this election year with #OKElections16, brought to you by Blue Cereal – because I care enough to ruin your day.

Nevertheless, there are SO MANY GOOD THINGS you simply shouldn’t miss in…

Essential Edubloggery This Week

On The Turning Away – Rick Cobb of OKEducationTruths figures that as long as our state legis don’t believe we need no education, he might as well explore the issues they’re creating using Pink Floyd lyrics (hence my inspiration for the title above). #oklaed

Alice’s Adventures in Public Ed – Jennifer Williams as JennWillTeach explores a day in the life of the average student through the eyes of a famous literary character. I’ll let you guess which one. This one is a bit dark – but it hurts so brilliantly. #oklaed

2-Minute Zen: Just One Thing – Dan Tricarico as The Zen Teacher has a gift for lowering your blood pressure and decluttering your world in simple ways that seem so obvious once pointed out, but you’d completely miss otherwise. He could probably do this with song lyrics or literary references, but why complicate things, right?

And this week, we all learned how to count to five…

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Anthony Purcell on Random Teacher Thoughts started something he maybe didn’t quite mean to when he issued an edu-blogger challenge built around a simple series of five questions. His timing couldn’t have been better – to be honest, I think we all really needed it this week. #oklaed

Here (in no particular order) are some of the responses so far. I’M POSITIVE I’VE MISSED A FEW GOOD ONES – please email me or call me out on the Twitters as you discover them and I’ll add them here. There’s not one of these that doesn’t make me feel better about teaching in this sorry state.

5 4 3 2 1 – Meghan Loyd, For The Love  

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… And We’re Off! – Scott Haselwoood, Teaching From Here

Challenge Answered… – Lisa Witcher, One Good Thing

5-4-3-2-1 or 1-2-3-4-5, or whatever… – Cory Williams, An Early Model Millenial

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Challenge – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Challenge – Kimberly Blodgett, KimBlodgett

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Kelly Husted, OklaEdFam

1… 2… 3… 4… 5… called out – T.M. Lunday, middleschoolstationconductor

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – A Bloggers Challenge – Erin Barnes, Educating Me

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Jason James, Thoughts on Oklahoma Education

Anthony’s Challenge – Eric Johnson, ‘YourKids’ Teacher

Purcell’s Challenge – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Zuzuz Petals, Keep The Wheat

1, 2, 3, 4, 5! – Jen Doty, Teaching CI Mandarin

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Blogger Challenge – Lady Mellot, Choosing the Road Not Taken

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 #OklaEd Blog Challenge – Jennifer Lea, The Tempered Teacher

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Guest Blogger: Matt Cone) – Matt Cone, who doesn’t have a blog, but if he did, I’d SO TOTALLY marry it every day. 

Five Questions – Peter Anderson, Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes

1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 – Marvel’s Agents of Ed

5 Questions – Katlyn Bennett, Reader, Teacher… Writer?

Challenging Thoughts & Culture – Andrew Kauffman, Curiosity, Exploration, Wonder

5, 4, 3, 2, One-derful! – Kas Nelson, A Principal’s Place

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Blogging Challenge – The Evolving Educator

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Response to Purcell’s Edu-Blogger Challenge – The Unbearable Blueness of Cereal, Blue Cereal Education

I can’t give you reasons to keep going this week, darlings – but these folks have. I can only thank you, and love you, and tell you that we must.

Illegitimum non carborundum; Domine salvum fac.

The 2016 Oklahoma Legislative Session starts Monday! 

Much like the Kardashians or any student group presentation, we can expect flaming dysfunction and awkwardly creative destruction – the sort from which you can’t quite look away, no matter how horrifying. Oh, good times.

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I’ve done my best to lay some groundwork for the casual #oklaed viewer here – but there’s so much more to teaching than being hated and abused by elected authority. There are good parts, too.

Like THESE bits you simply SHOULD NOT MISS from the past week. My god, they make me love my job…

Why It’s Important To Play The Recorder Badly – Ashley Shaw on Life in Converse, prodded by Bon Stewart (thank you Bon!), talks about that moment every parent fears – your child comes home from school with… a recorder. But then Shaw starts slinging truth and beauty everywhere, without warning. I’ve read this eleventeen times and had all the feelz, including several which don’t even exist. Follow Shaw on the Twittering at @ashleygshaw and see what else she does to us without warning.

What Do You Mean, Excessive Paperwork? / These Feet Will Drag (A Poem) – A double-shot of Jose Vilson – The JLV. The first is about the nonsense, the latter… about why we put up with the nonsense. And it’s a poem, no less. Follow @TheJLV on the Twittering. Be warned, though – he’ll rattle your comfort zone. Come on – it will be good for you.

Taking Back Your Name – The Pros and Cons of Political Correctness – Steven Singer, GadflyOnTheWallBlog, has some thoughts on the negative connotation we’ve given “political correctness.” He’s opinionated, but thoughtful – and might bruise your preconceptions while stretching your thinking. I don’t always agree with Singer, but that doesn’t make him wrong. Follow @StevenSinger3 on the Twittering – but don’t call him Stevey Weevey.

The Challenger and The Dream – Scott Haselwood, Teaching From Here – Dreams can be exciting, or scary, or both at the same time. Haselwood is probably not the first person to challenge you to confess your dream, but he’s one of the few willing to go first. Scott is all about the risk and getting real – I kinda envy that. Get naked (metaphorically) with @TeachFromHere on the Twittering, and take a few reality risks.  #oklaed 

Are We Teaching Students How To Swim, Or Handing Them Rocks As They Sink? – Mrs. Waters (who I assume HAS a first name?) on Mrs. Waters’ English, explains why she’s backed off of firm due dates and harsh classroom penalties. As someone who goes back and forth on this sort of thing and doesn’t like any of my own answers, I’m thankful when someone legit wrestles with similar concerns, then shares her thinking so effectively. Share with and be persuaded by @watersenglish on the Twittering.  #oklaed 

I leave you with this, from Button Poetry. 

I simply love a good provocation – stirring up emotions and reactions, saying as much about us as they do anything about the piece doing the stirring…

“All Lives Matter: 1800s Edition” (Anthony McPherson)

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Be amazing this week, my #11FF. You’re better than you think you are – care harder than you think you can. 

I think the metaphor is obvious. 

Most of #oklaed are currently focused on budget cuts, rhetorical shenanigans from our elected leaders, and the upcoming legislative session. Any recent contributions to such discussions are compiled on #OKElections16, along with pithy commentary and analysis from yours truly. 

Somehow the rest of the interwebs carries on, however – including…

Stuff you simply SHOULD NOT MISS from this past week in edu-bloggery:

Making Room For Uncertainty In The Required Curriculum – Bill Ferriter of The Tempered Radical writes this brief-but-essential piece in reponse to an Mindshift post you should also consider perusing. “There’s a constant tension between what we SAY we want our students to know and be able to do and what we LIST as priorities in our mandated pacing guides…” Isn’t THAT the truth? Make following @plugusin on the Twitters a stated priority – then follow through. 

Addressing Teacher Quality Post-NCLB – P.L. Thomas of The Becoming Radical tackles the myth of ‘teacher effectiveness trumps all’. Teacher quality absolutely matters, he argues, but he can in the same class period be a great teacher for lil’ Bobo and a completely inadequate teacher for Mary Lou Kaputney. And while “we must address teacher experience and qualifications/expertise at high-poverty, majority-minority schools,” Thomas reminds us, “without social reform that alleviates the burdens of poverty on the lives of students and their families, we are unlikely to see the sorts of changes in data that would justify any in-school only reforms.”

Follow @plthomasEdD on the Twitters for more face-slapping reality and the occasional comic book character analysis. 

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Removing Grades – Peter Anderson on Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes shares some of his experiences as he moves away from using grades as fish to be dangled in front of dolphin-children so they’ll perform our litle hoop-jumping tricks, and towards… what, exactly? 

“And this is when the real work comes in. And the fear. How will I get children to work? How will I manage a classroom? How will I communicate with parents in an age of grade-surveillance and instant communication? Will I give homework? What skills will I focus on? How can I convince children to embark with me on an unknown path bereft of signposts and cardinal directions? Will they trust me? Will I trust myself? What starts out as a quiet act of revolution quickly metastasizes into real existential-occupational dilemmas. These dilemmas force you to make choices with actual consequences. You will find yourself, perhaps for the first time in your professional career, fully in charge of your classroom…”

Follow @MrAndersonELA on the Twitters and let him not give you a letter grade. 

Drowning Bunnies to Raise Graduation Rates – Peter Greene of Curmudgucation highlights a modest university in Maryland trying to reduce its ‘dropout’ rates in a somewhat horrifying way. The situation is specific, but the lessons are many – When you put non-educators in charge, you get non-education results. When you judge an institution by magic numbers, its purpose tends to mutate in order to serve those numbers. On the other hand, when you give a few students freedom and a pen, they sometimes write truth to power and change the course of bigger things than themselves. Boo-yah. Follow @palan57 on the Twitters and ensure no animals are harmed in the writing of his posts. 

Finally, this piece in the Tulsa World from Blue Cereal favorite Nour Habib…

Area high schoolers among protestors booted from Trump rally – While I certainly try to maintain the same sort of neutrality towards Trump that I do towards, say, genocide, lynching, rape, or the Kardashians, this tale warms my cynical, bitter little heart. We talk a good game about young people getting involved and following their convictions – who knew they’d sometimes take us seriously and do it? 

“King-Sellars said he thinks the protest went well and that the group accomplished its goal — having its message seen by both Trump and the cameras before being kicked out. ‘We didn’t get beat up, so that was great,’ he said…”

Indeed. 

Follow @nourhb on the Twitters and subscribe to the Tulsa World whether you live in this half of the state or not. Come on – I’ve seen what you’ve got to work with in that other paper. Yech. 

OK, Listen To Me –

Don’t let facts get in the way of truth this week. Teach as if there’s hope, push as if there’s strength, and love as if that were enough. Reality is way, way overrated.

I choose to believe. 

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