To Infinity and...meh

The one thing that has surprised me since I have started reading teen fiction is the number of series books that keep coming out. It seems like I cannot read a book and be done with the story; I have to buy the next book and then the next. This would not bother me except for the fact that many times I think there is a lot of editing that could have be done to condense the book to one or two books. I end up feeling like I am being strung along and trapped into buying another book.

Last year I was on a committee to choose books for a county "reader's rally." One of the books that I was assigned to read was "Infinity Ring." As I started to read the book, I was quite unimpressed by what seemed like a contrived plot and silly dialogue. I felt it was almost insulting to my students to read such a condescending book. So I started researching the book and I learned that the author, James Dashner, also authored the book "The Maze Runner," which I absolutely loved. I wondered how he went from writing that book to this new one? Then I read that the following books in the "Infinity Ring" series would have different authors. I found this peculiar. It wasn't until the committee meeting was held that I understood the big picture. Another media specialist was also assigned to read "Infinity Ring." She looked upon it more kindly, however she noted that the series would indeed be written by different authors and she shared her suspicions that the series was simply a money-making venture. Her remarks about what seems to be a common practice in the literature world certainly left me troubled.

Perhaps it is my background in art that makes me view the act of writing in more artistic terms. I consider books to be the expression of an author's thoughts and ideas. I naively had the notion that an idea or story would come to a writer and they would then put words on paper as an artist paints on a canvas. I guess the act of writing is now more about business than the art of storytelling. Although I would never throw a book series out the window--there are MANY WONDERFUL ones out there--I am now mindful of this trend in writing. An inspired, well-written and thought provoking story that is told in one book may not provide great wealth to an author, but I certainly admire the talent of a great storyteller and I believe that talent and creativity are worth much more than money.

Quirkiness is moving on...

I will be starting a new job this fall as the media specialist at a middle school. I am excited to get back to my middle school roots. I know it is where I belong simply because I get middle school kids. In fact, I'm a lot like those nutso kids...full of insecurities and weird ideas. The media center that I will be moving too is pretty brown and blah at the moment. I have spent most of my time taking down some script letters that have been hot glued all over the walls above the bookshelves. The letters spell out names of authors and although I'm sure at one time it was cool, the faded construction paper letters just aren't doing it for me. I bought some canvases and I am in the process of making some "fiction" and "nonfiction" signs to put in their place. I need a lot more color though. The county that I am working for plans to have a new school built in two years, but that means two more years of brown and blah. Surely, I will be able to counter it with something. I better get to scouring Pinterest for some ideas!

Engagement Over

Or not...

Last week was Dr. Seuss' birthday. What an imaginative dude he was! But WHY did he make his books so long?!  Gee--you have a group of little ones and you are trying desperately to keep hold of their attention and you are doing it with a novel of complete wackiness! So my strategy going into my read alouds using Dr. Seuss' books was to read them with as much drama and enthusiasm as I could muster. And let me tell you it was quite a show. I had to start taking my hernia medication again just to get through the week. Seriously. Well one day I was kicked out of my own media center because testing was going on, so I took a group of first graders upstairs to a classroom to do a lesson centered around Seuss. Since we had our own room with the doors shut, I put on my best performance to date. I got to the part where this kid was singing in the shower with a Ying and I belted out the words like it was a song.. a crazy, nails-on-the-chalkboard type song. Suddenly, an AP opened the door and asked if I could be a quieter since mid-term testing was going on in another hall (I had to laugh because it was a funny moment to be caught singing like a Ying...perhaps I should call it Yinging). So I obliged and I finished with a much quieter performance.

Later, I began to ponder the situation and I started thinking about it in a more symbolic way. Education has turned into TESTING, TESTING, TESTING. The act of learning has strangely taken a backseat to testing. In my situation, I had a group of kids who were totally engaged in the read aloud. And all week the students have been checking out Dr. Seuss books after my read alouds, hoping to experience again all of that silliness that I had brought to the books. So we have an engaging lesson with students eager to learn more and it had to be squelched because it was interrupting the test taking. So many times I have seen meaningful learning opportunities be nixed because students have to be prepared for some upcoming test. As a media specialist I have been turned down time and time again when I have offered project based lessons, that fully support the curriculum, because there simply isn't time to do lessons such as these when tests are looming. It seems we must make our students be the best test takers possible so they will be prepared for the future...a future filled with test taking, I assume?

So I sing with my Ying
not over-thinking this education thing
Why stop to learn?
just test non-stop
Don't understand? Go ask your pop!

The Second Layer for the Other Half

When I was in grad school I did some research on the digital divide and the consequences students face when they have not been given equal access to technology. It was then that I first heard to the term "second layer." It refers to instances where schools have adequate technology resources, yet the resources are used for repetitive drills and point and click tasks rather then for instructional support. At the time, I bought into the argument that the second layer exists partially because there are teachers who have little or no experience with technology. Now that I am working in education, I have a front row seat to observe the second layer, and I have learned that I was wrong in my assumption. From my post-grad viewpoint, the second layer exists not because of technologically inexperienced teachers, but because of an environment that wants a quick fix to "cure" the ails of our underachieving students. Rather than addressing the needs of our learners and working with teachers to address those needs, money is thrown at the latest educational software and hardware with the belief that with money, comes success--let the computer do the instructing, assessing, and reporting and our students will learn like the little robots that we know they are!

It is quite painful to watch and it makes me glad that I grew up during a time that computers were not a part of education. I cannot believe that I am saying this considering how much I love technology! The truth is, I love meaningful teaching and learning experiences more. I am a believer in project-based learning. I love creative thinking and group discussions. And I love it when students use technology to conduct research, to learn new information and skills, and to complete classroom assignments. It makes me giddy.

As one might suspect, the second layer is found predominantly in areas where the "other half" live, with the majority of students being minorities from low-income homes. These students need personal attention and sound instruction, not gimmicks. Technology provides much needed instructional tools, yet it must be used correctly for students to benefit.