Glossi is a new tool I discovered on Twitter one day. It allows you to create an online magazine. Unfortunately, it's still in beta, which means you have to ask to be invited to join Glossi. But I did and got in, so anyone can do it. I can't wait to turn my students loose with this tool.
I made a rudimentary Glossi for my College Comp II reading load. It was fun, but I know given more time, this could really be a great tool for teachers and students.
Here is the Big Picture idea at the heart of Where Good Ideas Come From. If you can, watch the video and then make one connection of your own to it from the introduction ("Reef, City, Web"). Then leave feedback to two of your classmates' posts.
Go on the wallwisher site below and leave a short video clip featuring Seth Godin. Be sure to succinctly state why you chose this video (exclude his TED Talks please). First come first serve. You won't get any credit for repeat videos, so make sure the video you post is an original to the wallwisher board.
As you begin this unit on Seth Godin's Linchpin, the first step is going to be studying the wonderful format of APA.
So instead of leaping right into the APA format, we'll just dip our toe in. Thus, here's the assignment.
Choose a famous person who you deem to be 'remarkable.' Then follow the steps below -
1. Research that person. Yes, for this intro assignment, you may search wikipedia if you wish. You only need to use one source.
2. Write a short, half page (that's for you Amit) summary of what you think is remarkable about this person.
3. Use one direct quote from the source in your summary. Be sure to cite it correctly. Go here for help.
4. Devise a proper APA reference page.
That's it.
Ultimately all you will turn in will be a cover page, a summary and the bibliography (APA's version of a works cited). You don't need to have an abstract. Be sure to have the proper running head and page formatting too.
So here is who I'm going to do mine on -- Cornell West
I'm going to write a short summary of what I find remarkable about him, which happens to be his wonderful take on life, namely the importance of thinking and questioning our world. Then I'll craft a reference page as the works cited.
Here is the summary (remember to use one direct quote and have it cited properly)
Summary for APA assignment
Here is the APA reference page. I chose to cite from the documentary Examined Life.
Reference Page
Remember this is due Wednesday. I'll also share these with you via Google Docs.
Here is my example. I start off discussing my topic, "time," and then I focus on a personal experience, written as a personal narrative, that seeks to illustrate my personal definition of "time."
Here is what your cell phone hiatus journal my look like (if you are up to the challenge, dear millennials). You may choose to create an infographic instead of keeping a traditional (even Gen Xers didn't like keeping journals) journal.
You can easily (hey, if I can do it . . .) create an infographic here. And do a great job because more than likely, I'll be sharing these with other teachers next week, so let me show off what my millennials can do!
You can download the infographic as a jpg and email it to me, post it on twitter, or pin it and share it with me. Just get it to me! And make it awesome!
A few weeks ago, as my College Comp II class was reading Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation, I found several dozen articles on the web discussing the millennials and their strengths and weaknesses.
So I matched up one article per student and had them summarize it and then explain how it related to Bauerlein's text.
As we discussed the articles, we really became interested in this one, which focused on the Ten Things Teachers Should Unlearn. It generated such a great discussion, that I thought I'd open it up to students on google docs and ask them to devise their own list. Then I decided to share it with our principal to see what he thought (to be fair, I thought the students generated a great list).
As we talked more about this, the thought struck me, what would teachers wish students would unlearn? So I created a google doc and shared that with many staff members. While I didn't get the response that I got from my students, I still got a good list.
Tomorrow in class, I'm going to share it with them and see what happens.
Here is the list of what students wish teachers would unlearn.
Using the wallwisher board below, please include two examples of popular culture that you believe proves some of Johnson's theories in Everything Bad is Good for You.
Find your name in the document below and use the url below your name to navigate to the online story. Then read the article. Please do two things - First, summarize the article in a short paragraph, and second, please write a short paragraph analyzing how it relates to the chapters of The Dumbest Generation that we have been reading.
For Monday, be sure to have your exploratory essay complete. Make sure it is in MLA format and includes a works cited of at least two sources.
Here is the official assignment -
Choose a topic you are interested in. Then choose a position on your topic. Using at least two sources, explore your position on that topic. You do not have to draw any firm conclusions, as this is an exploratory essay. Maybe you want to weigh both sides of an issue. Maybe you want to play devil’s advocate on an issue. Maybe you want to just learn more about a subject you have never had a chance to explore.
Here is one I wrote. Be careful for the sources you choose. I chose a podcast to cite, and I had a dickens of a time citing it correctly. It is always easier to cite books and magazine articles than it is more modern sources. You've been warned.
Remember too, there are other examples in the post below this one to inspire you.
Have a great weekend and thanks for a wonderful first week. Text or Tweet me with any questions.My Exploratory Essay
Your second essay will be due next Monday. It will be an exploratory essay. Choose a topic that you have always wanted to learn more about. Do some research on the topic this week and explore it. Write about what you learn about the topic or how you explore your way around the topic. Here are some examples from past classes.
As always, remember to use MLA format and a minimum of two outside sources. Amit, that means you have to have a works cited (muuahhhha -- insert nefarious laughter).
Go to the wallwisher site below and leave two pieces of feedback.
First, listen to the Adam Corolla rant on spoiled and entitled millennials via the Glenn Beck show (Lord, have mercy on my soul). Be sure to listen to the first video and the last video on the link. Then summarize two of their main ideas regarding the problem with your generation.
Second, search the web and find a video or story detailing the problems with your millennial generation (or sometimes known as Gen Y) and post it on the site.
So to conclude: You should have two posts on the wallwisher site. One summarizing two main ideas from the Corolla rant. Another posting a story or video on the negative aspects of your generation.
Good morning. It would be just my luck that for the one assignment I have been looking forward to the most of the year I have to be absent. At least physically. But thanks to cyberspace and you millennials, maybe that won't be that big of deal.
(Thanks, by the way, for all of your comments and concern since the accident. I am getting better by the day and plan to be back to school by next week.)
In short, the adjacent possible, is Steven Johnson's term for the conditions that allow for innovation and creativity to occur.
Think of it this way:
You get home late and want to go to bed. But you can't do this by simply walking in the front door (unless you want to sleep in the entry way). You have to have knowledge of the house in order to find your way to your bedroom. Each room you walk in to is an example of Johnson's idea of the Adjacent Possible. Each new room you walk in to opens up new expectations and options for you. If all you ever do is stay in the entry way, well, your chances for innovation and discovery aren't very good.
Now you can’t get to the master suite upstairs until you explore the rooms leading up to it. Each room gets you closer and also opens up new opportunities (maybe you stop in the kitchen to have a snack or check your email on the computer in the office).
You cant just go from the front porch to the master suite; the house isn't designed like that. Johnson argues that the adjacent possible isn't like that either. Ideas just don't pop magically into our heads. Instead, they are the result of a series of trials and errors and discoveries over time. There is no connecting passage. You have to pass through a series of adjacent rooms and doorways in order to progress your way there.
The adjacent possible is just a series of events that allows lead us from one one new idea or experience to another new idea or experience. The more we explore and experience, the more we grow and learn. The more we grow and learn, the more we discover and innovate.
He argues that every innovation we use every day of our lives (cars, TV, iPods, cell phones, bottled water, designer clothes, Ereaders, books) all are examples of the adjacent possible.
Here is a classic example from the film Apollo 13. On their trip to the moon, Apollo 13 has a catastrophic failure. In order to survive, the astronauts head from their damaged spacecraft to the lunar module. They will use this to return to earth . . . possibly.
One of the many problems, as NASA soon discovers, is that the lunar module was not designed for so many astronauts, as CO2 levels are building up and threatening to poison the astronauts. They need 'scrubbers' to cleanse the air of the dangerous CO2 levels. The only problem is that these need to be invented from the materials aboard the lunar module.
The scientists back on earth know everything that is on the lunar module. So they know exactly what they have to work with. They just don't know if they can build the proper 'scrubbers.' So they have the adjacent possible outlined for them. They need to invent the scrubbers with nothing but spare junk on the lunar module.
Now the adjacent possible doesn't usually end up defining itself so clearly for scientists or inventors. It is usually a series of events that take a long time to develop. Still, this little clip helps illustrate what Johnson means by the adjacent possible.
Here is a modern example (I believe I shared this one in class previously) - youtube.
It had to develop the way it did because, for example, couldn’t have come into existence in the 1980’s, for example.
First, the internet was just a rudimentary concept, allowing computers to communicate. There is no platform for video.
Even when the web came into regular use (mid 1990’s), it was dial-up. Any images took minutes to download, not to mention video. As recent as when I was in grad school and we didn’t even have dial up, videos still took forever.
Another benefit - the creators of Youtube based their videos on flash. Flash came into being in 1996, but it didn’t support video until 2002.
Once flash supported video and faster internet services came into being, the adjacent possible was ready for youtube to flourish.
Now youtube has continued to expand along the adjacent possible: channels, apps, youtube for education . . . that is the real key to longevity: keep exploring the adjacent possible and keep adapting.
What I want you guys to do to explore the adjacent possible is think of a piece of technology that you use in your lives every day (other than your cell phones). See if you can chart or map or write about its innovation through various stages of the adjacent possible, (as I did with the youtube example).
Thanks and hope to see you guys soon.
Here is an example of the adjacent possible:
In any case, this recently published TED video (below) was inspiring on many levels, partly due to this context of the adjacent possible. These two guys, and I’m sure members of a team they work with, found a way (and a marketable way!) to continuously explore the adjacent possible, so that messing around with food led to making a desert that looks like nachos which led to replacing tuna with protein-cured watermelon which led to making extremely useful and tasty creations with local ingredients that are almost never used for food. One door led to another, which led to another, which led to another, and the opening of the new doors was as much the point as getting to another room, so they kept on (and presumably will keep on) innovating.
So we are all on the same page (I have deviated from the March calendar I distributed a few weeks ago . . . imagine that!), here are the essays for The Element.
4.1 - write about an epiphany moment
4.2 - interview someone in their element (due March 30).
Choose three of these quotes and questions from the book to respond to from Ch. 5 & 6 of The Element:
Chapter Five -
P. 102 - "If left to my own devices -- if I didn't have to worry about making a living or what others thought of me -- what am I most drawn to doing?" Answer this.
P. 111 - What domain and field fit you best? Explain.
P. 113 - "Often breakthrough ideas come about when someone makes a connection between different ways of thinking, sometimes across different domains." Can you think of an example? (include a link if you can).
P. 116 - "Finding your tribe brings the luxury of talking shop, of bouncing ideas around, of sharing and comparing techniques, and of indulging your enthusiasms or hostilities for the same things." Where do you find your tribe? Who is in it? Explain what it's like when you're with them.
P. 128 - "Tribe membership as I define it here helps people become more themselves, leading them toward a greater sense of personal identity." Has this ever happened to you? Explain briefly.
Chapter Six -
What are the various 'barriers' that Robinson claims keeps us from finding our elements?
What barriers are keeping you from your element right now? Explain.
P. 139 - "When people close to you discourage you from taking a particular path, they usually believe they are doing it for your own good. There are some with less noble reasons, but most believe they know what's best. And the fact is that the average office worker probably does have more financial security than the average jazz trumpeter. But it is difficult to feel accomplished when you're not accomplishing something that matters to you." Thoughts?
What is the danger of 'group think'?
Part 2:
See if you can apply some of the main ideas discussed so far in The Element to people out there in the real world. List one or two examples and then briefly explain what concept from The Element they illustrate.
So far, Ken Robinson has urged us to follow our passions and discover our elements. He believes that when you love what you do, especially when it is for a living, you are completely in your element. He urges everyone to do this.
However, not everyone buys this advice. Read the following links to two articles that disagree with this type of thinking. By the way, Robinson isn't the only one to offer this advice either: Steve Jobs did the same thing in his graduation speech at Stanford several years ago.
After reading the two articles, leave a post stating what you agree or disagree with in each article. Use direct quotes and fully support why you either agree or disagree.
Finally, respond to two other posts left by your classmates.
Here is my example. I start off discussing my topic, "time," and then I focus on a personal experience, written as a personal narrative, that seeks to illustrate my personal definition of "time."
With a partner (or alone if you wish), please generate your own blog dedicated to your definition of beauty. On this blog I want you to create your own wikipedia article illustrating your personal definition of beauty (obviously, this is a fictitious wikipedia article. I don't expect you to actually log on and create your own wikipedia article. You may mimic the format of wikipedia though).
Part 2 -
Include the things from the beauty scavenger hunt on your blog. You may upload the pictures, imbed the music and video. You may insert links, embed a prezi . . . whatever you wish. This will be due on Friday.
Since we've been working on our Dumbest Generation projects in our own little silos, I thought I'd give an overview of upcoming projects and due dates, especially since most of you are without your cell phones right now.
Watch Crash (2/15 and 2/16)and apply Steven Johnson's theory of multi threads of narratives (this will be a short daily essay response, much like your telescoping / probing papers, and I will include an example of a particularly effective one) due (2/20).
Have the article "Pearls Before Breakfast" read by Friday 2/17 and be ready to discuss it. There will be a short essay on the concept of beauty due shortly too (not certain about the due date yet. I'll let you have some input on that). This article is a lead in to our next theme, a definition essay which we will really get into next week.
Dumbest Generation projects will be due and presented on Monday (2/20). This will give some of you the weekend to finish it.
Cell phone hiatus journals will be due Wednesday (2/23).
Look at all that wonderful multi-tasking going on! Steven Johnson would be quite proud of you guys (as am I).
Here is an example of a very good response to Crash. We are watching this film, which juggles several narrative threads in non-linear order, to test Johnson's theory that these complex stories are really cognitively challenging.
So I want you to watch the film, and as you do, keep track of two narrative threads or strands and then analyze how they are cognitively challenging as they intersect with other plot lines and demand more out of the viewer.
Well, three of you will done with your 48 hour cell phone hiatus in a little over two hours. The rest of you still have a grueling 24 hours without your precious cellular device.
Please take a look at this test. It is often used to illustrate the 'quality' of an 8th grade education from 1895. By 'quality' what most who post this or email it around mean is really how terrible our education system is today. I would like to get your thoughts on this test and how it compares to the knowledge our students acquire in schools today.
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.
On page 42, Bauerlein argues: "To prosper in the hard-and-fast cliques in the schoolyard, the fraternities, and the food court, teens and 20-year-olds must track the latest films, fads, gadgets, YouTube videos, and television shows." He says this as if there is nothing intellectually satisfying in any of these.
Use the wallwisher site (embedded below) to find one intellectually rewarding video from YouTube and post it on there. Be sure to state briefly why you find the video rewarding.
For Wednesday's assignment, read the article from the Boston Globe, entitled "8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation" and leave comments on the article. State one reaction and then look at the other comments and respond to at least two other comments.
It works best if you leave comments under your myprowler.org google address.
* Choose a topic you are interested in. Then begin finding sources that allow you to explore the issue or topic in greater depth. As you learn more about your topic, chronicle what you learn about it. Using at least one source, explore your that topic.
You do not have to draw any firm conclusions, as this is an exploratory essay. Maybe you want to weigh both sides of an issue. Maybe you want to play devil’s advocate on an issue. Maybe you want to just learn more about a subject you have never had a chance to explore. Maybe you want to convince yourself that you have selected the right major or college. Maybe you want to research a subject in order to prove someone you know wrong.
Be sure to use your print source to help you explore your essay. Don't simply find a source and cite it in order to get them out of the way. Instead, use the source to help inform or guide the exploration of your position.
My example from last year -
Like many, I've been watching the tragedies in Japan. I'm particularly worried about the damaged nuclear reactors. I would have to see a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster.
So for my essay, I plan to explore nuclear power plants. Now that is pretty broad. To help narrow that down, I'm going to develop a specific position on nuclear power plants. My position will be how to best prevent them from melting down and unleashing massive amounts of radiation. I will let that position drive my exploration of the topic.
Another example from past classes -
I recall one student who was fascinated by the new iPad. They took the perspective of wanting to know if it could replace their laptop. They used that perspective to drive their exploration of the the iPad.
Another student wanted to explore the reasons behind school internet filters. They took the perspective of arguing against school content filters. Again, they let this perspective drive their research. However, because of their exploration, they actually realized that they were in favor of the content filter and wished for it to remain in place.
A final example, a student wanted to convince their parents to let her attend a college far away from home. She researched the university and the program she wished to major in and used that research to help try and convince her parents.
Go to the wallwisher site below and leave two pieces of feedback.
First, listen to the Adam Corolla rant on spoiled and entitled millennials via the Glenn Beck show (Lord, have mercy on my soul). Be sure to listen to the first video and the last video on the link. Then summarize two of their main ideas regarding the problem with your generation.
Second, search the web and find a video or story detailing the problems with your millennial generation (or sometimes known as Gen Y) and post it on the site.
So to conclude: You should have two posts on the wallwisher site. One summarizing two main ideas from the Corolla rant. Another posting a story or video on the negative aspects of your generation.
I'd like to get some feedback from you regarding these two questions: first, what are your thoughts on our class blog (things you like about it, limitations, and any suggestions) and second, what are your thoughts on the beauty blogs (and any other blogs) you created for this class (things you enjoyed about the process, limitations of the process, and any suggestions for teachers who might be thinking of using blogs in their classes).
You can either leave the feedback in the comments below (if that doesn't work, just email me your responses and I'll post them) or leave feedback on the wallwisher site below.
Thanks.
You guys are the best and I'm going to miss you after this week.
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