YA and “the rigors of navigation”

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Mentioned by Peter more than a year ago, I’ve just started reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. M.T. Anderson’s prose is consistently impressive. Check out these two sentences as an example of the consistent gymanistics he pulls off throughout:

He worked with me word by word, leaning over my shoulder as I parsed my way through Tacitus and Homer; which instruction must have seemed to him not unlike the sea-captain, who having braved the catastrophic blasts and giddy precipices of the maelstrom, and but skated to their side; having passed with expert haste through the clashing Simplegades; having sat in the green eye of the hurricane, sounded by the hulking wrecks of other, less fortunate, fleets; now wades through with a little nephew in the warm shallows, collecting trash and pretty bits of shell. He must have looked out to sea with his glass sometimes, and wished for the spray, and men with whom he could truly speak of the rigors of navigation.

Looking at another of his books, Feed, I’m really enjoying the way M. T. Anderson’s playful flare in utilizing language demonstrates YA as a legitimate, “serious” form of literature.

Notes and Disclaimer about being a Department of Education Teaching Ambassador

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Two weeks ago I was announced as one of the Department of Education’s Teaching Ambassadors. I spent a week in Washington D.C. with an impressive cohort of other Fellows and I can’t be more excited for what I think this national collective can accomplish.

As a Classroom Fellow, I’ll still continue to teach at Manual Arts and I am still in the midst of my graduate work as well. So what does this mean? While the job itself helps bring me closer to policy discussions about education, I’m also interested in delving into ways to represent youth voice in the policy decisions being made on their behalf. The position itself is open ended in that I am actively looking to connect my local networks of educators, researchers, students, and parents with these larger discussions. To this end, I am explicitly asking you to reach out if you want to discuss current education initiatives, provide feedback, or simply ask questions. The big emphasis, right now, is on the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – I am happy to help provide more information or guide conversation around the Blueprint if you, your school, or your local group is interested.

I also need to make it clear here, on my various social networks, and in person that anything I am writing here – unless explicitly stated – does not represent the views of the Department of Education. This blog will still maintain the unclear musings I’ve been focused on for the past few years. The Department of Education is not paying me to maintain this blog, rant elsewhere, or make inane comments in faculty meetings. At the same time, I am still going to be critical of national legislation if it doesn’t seem to meet the needs of my students. Again, though I will often represent the Department of Education or present current legislation, I will make it clear when I am representing their views versus when I am not.

I see a tremendous potential for the local urban communities I’ve been working within to extend their voices and agency through this yearlong position. I am really looking for other interested educators to reach out and share ideas on how to utilize the positive resources this position can provide. While I am wary of some of the things the Department of Education is working on, I’d like your help in voicing these concerns, in suggesting alternative pathways, and in proposing new initiatives. Let’s get to work.

Life Turned into a Database

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Information systems need to have information in order to run, but information underrepresents reality. Demand more from information than it can give, and you end up with monstrous designs. Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, for example, U.S. teachers are forced to choose between teaching general knowledge and “teaching to the test.” The best teachers are thus often disenfranchised by the improper use of educational information systems.

What computerized analysis of all the country’s school tests has done to education is exactly what Facebook has done to friendships. In both cases, life is turned into a database. Both degradations are based on the same philosophical mistake, which is the belief that computers presently represent human thought or human relationships. These are things computers cannot do.

– From Jaron Lanier’s manifesto, You Are Not A Gadget, a problematic text I’m still ruminating upon.

Letter

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Sent Friday, July 9, 2010:

Dear Smucker’s,

Please put less peanut butter in your Uncrustables. Please put in more jelly than peanut butter. It would also be nice if you made them bigger.

As a class at Manual Arts High School, we think it’s unfair that the Uncrustable was not what we expected. Because it is called an Uncrustable we didn’t think it would have crust. However, as you can see in this picture it has crust! We call this false advertising. Smuckers, you are a liar. Bring us more food.

We would like other flavors. What if you took out the peanut butter and put in honey or strawberry instead?

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Mr. Garcia’s Advisory Class

[Any response will be posted here. Real updates also coming soon]

“Consequent Confidence” And The Books Our Kids Read

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“Social hegemony [as] … spontaneous’ consent given by the great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this consent is ‘historically’ caused by the prestige (and consequent confidence) which the dominant group enjoys because of its position and function in the world of production.” – Antonio Gramsci

Paulo Freire Institute Conference

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Just a quick note that I’ll be co-presenting at the California Association of Freirian Educators conference this saturday.

Our session on Saturday is called “Action, Interaction, and Reflection: Meaningful Insight Through Participatory Interventions.” Kate Beaudet, Cyrene St. Amant and I will be sharing our initial work around utilizing Freire’s codifications in K-12 classrooms.

More information about the conference can be found here.

Thinking about Wabi-Sabi and Digital Youth Participation

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First he raked until the grounds were spotless. Then, in a gesture pregnant with wabi-sabi overtones, he shook a tree trunk, causing a few leaves to fall. Wabi-sabi, as evidenced here, is clean but never too clean or sterile. (from here)

Not a lot to add here, yet, other than the fact that I’m wondering if a pedagogy of wabi-sabi can be implemented in thinking spatially about classroom design and instruction.

[Somewhat related, I’m wondering if I can use a wabi sabi aethetic as an excuse to continue postponing the cleaning of my house. No? I guess you’re, right.]