The Tattooed Teacher Tackles the Act of Thinking

The Tattooed Teacher Tackles the Act of Thinking

My days are starting to become filled with "fights" about why thinking is not a bad thing. My students this year all seem to have an aversion to it. They want me to tell them EXACTLY what to write, what to say, what to read. I've only been teaching ten years, but over those ten years, I've seen a drastic change in the way my students think (well, and even in their ability to think deeply...and their desire...).

My first three years of teaching, I had students who not only did the assigned work, but they also wanted to TALK about it! We would sit in circles and have intelligent discussions. I have watched students' abilities to have discussions dwindle since then. Can you imagine? We're having a tough time TALKING to each other?!? I've really felt it in the past three years - I'm having to "train" juniors in high school how to carry on a conversation face-to-face. We've been in school three weeks now, and I'm STILL trying to drag conversation out of my college prep juniors. It's painful. It hurts to watch them sit there, not even knowing where to start. It hurts to have to figure out how to get young adults to socialize. And I blame the Internet.

My younger sister likes to act like I'm an ancient relic. (Last week, while trying on clothes, she said, "That dress makes you look old - like you're in your mid-thirties." Well, I AM 32...) But I am part of the first generation of home Internet users. I've been in my fair share of chat rooms, I spent high school surfing the Internet for information. But I also used books. I was taught to navigate a library. I know how to use a card catalogue, and I understand the Dewey Decimal system. My students now don't even know what Dewey Decimal is! It's amazing how quickly the Internet changed our lives.

And, yes, it's made gathering information faster, but, as Nicholas Carr asks in his article, "Is Google Making us Stupid?" He states that even though "we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970's or 1980's," the quality of how we read might be in decline: "...[we] may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace." We've become a culture of skimmers - I skim over at least six blogs each day. I skim through the news. I even skim Google when doing research. (If my students don't find what they're looking for in the first two hits that Google gives them, they lament that "There's nothing about my topic!" It simply takes too long to go to the second Google page or to retry the search.)

Now, we don't have to talk face-to-face. We can text. We can email. We can use Facebook. I have my students starting blogs this week - even I am contributing to it!! And my students, by and large, are not readers. They're simply consumers of information. They don't think about it unless they are required to, and even then, I've caught students Googling answers to questions that are based on their own opinions. Even the New York Times has given in, creating a page of article abstracts! Are you kidding me, New York Times???

So where does this leave me and my students? Well, I guess my days are going to continue with me "fighting the good fight." We'll still read books, I'll still ask my students to think, and we will talk, face-to-face. Is Google making us stupid? Maybe the question should be, "Are we making ourselves stupid?"

The Tattooed Teacher Makes her Students Blog, too...

My father always said, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." Well, this goose has decided that her gaggle of goslings is going to blog.

I introduced the assignment to my students (juniors) today. The assignment is a compilation of assignments that I found online (so, I didn't actually create this one, rather, pieced it together and then added some of my own ideas).

Once the assignment to blog was introduced, we started with an assignment to find two blogs (one they like and one they don't like) and write a review of each. I wanted students to see what kinds of blogs are out "there" - since they actually have limited knowledge of blogs. (I remember reading an article about how our students are "Digital Natives," and how schools and teachers must adjust to how they learn best - digitally. While the idea is good, I still don't completely agree. Most of my juniors didn't know what a blog is! And we have one-to-one laptops, so they all have SEEN the internet. In fact, many of my students don't even like to use their laptops. Go figure.)

I led them to The World's 50 Most Powerful Blogs as a place to start. They were pretty amazed. It was fun for me watching them surf around and see what was out there. Then, they started throwing around ideas, "Could I write a blog about my cat?" "Could I write a blog about skateboarding?" "ANYONE can read this?" The excitement built until the bell rang - I could feel it. They're excited and nervous. (Suddenly, it's not just "Ms. Meyer's reading my paper, so I don't care if it's not that good." but it's "Oh my goodness, EVERYONE can see this!") It certainly upped the ante in the Tattooed Teacher's class...

The Tattooed Teacher's Favorite Blogs

I LOVE the internet. Just about everything about it. And I LOVE that I can find information about ANYTHING out there. Right now, I'm obsessed with quilting. I just started quilting one year ago and am already addicted. I'm almost done with my third quilt - it's on my "design wall" right now just waiting to be finished. My mother's a master quilter - she's so happy that I FINALLY picked up quilting.

So, most of the blogs I read are dedicated to sewing...

Sew, Mama, Sew - this is the first "crafty" blog that I ever found - and it's a good one! There are themes for each month (Children's clothes, quilting, pattern reviews), a shop with great fabric at great prices, and forums. There's so many helpful tutorials. I look at this blog at least every other day, and still haven't seen everything that this blog has to offer!


Ruffles and Stuff - If I could put a ruffle on anything that doesn't move, I totally would. I can't get enough. And neither can this blogger! Unfortunately, she decided to stop blogging, so, this site isn't changing any more, but there's still so much fun to be had!

365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs - It's exactly what it sounds like - 365 FMQ designs!!! It's amazing. When I first found this blog, I was dedicated to doing one a day. So far I've done....um....zero. But, at least I know where to go when I want to start!

How About Orange - another crafty site. I visit this blog for its pictures and colors - some bloggers really have a knack for photography. I actually think that by looking at blogs that have great photos, my photography is improving!


I do follow other blogs....

Perez Hilton - Don't judge. Some people read People Magazine, I read Perez. It's pure trash and I love it.

Cake Wrecks - This blog brings out the English teacher in me with all its misspelled cake messages!

Ravenous Couple: Cooking up Life - When I returned from Vietnam I found myself craving certain Vietnamese dishes. Of course, I went right to the internet and found this site. I dig through this site at least twice each week.

Fashion for Nerds - I love this blogger's style! I check in occasionally and see what outfits she's putting together. This blog is the reason I wear belts with my sweaters now... She just did an entry on Burning Man - it looks wild!

The Tattooed Teacher Shares Technology

I know of a few websites out there that make my students' jobs easier. As a teacher, I have had internal struggles about whether or not I should share these types of sites with my students. SHOULD I make their jobs easier or should I keep dragging them through the challenges of MLA format?

I am currently working with a class of 11 boys in a class called "American Experience." Basically, this class is junior English, but workshop style. Sometimes we read some of the same books as their college prep counterparts, and sometimes we don't. Half of "my boys" attend HCTC (the technical school in Ellsworth) all morning, and just come to the high school for my class. We're working on our first research project - they are creating a Keynote presentation on a topic of their choice (from a list of topics I've given them) as a way to learn the background information for the play we're about to read.

E. was just staring at his screen, when he turned to me and said, "What's the point of Wikipedia if I have to click on every other word to see what it means?" (Hypertext) To his defense, he was reading about a couple of court cases, so the language was difficult. So, I broke down and showed the class "Again but Slower," a website that "boils down" Wikipedia articles to the main points - quick and dirty. Their eyes lit up, and all of a sudden, my boys were plugging in articles and "getting to the point." Score one for the tattooed teacher (don't worry, they also had to find two other sources that weren't Wikipedia...).

So, since the boys were so excited about that, I showed them "Easy Bib." This is a site where students can type in basic information from a text and it will create a Works Cited in MLA format (or any other format). They were blown away. I was happy that I'd be getting Works Cited pages in MLA format. Yes, it does do the work for them, but I need to pick my battles. These boys are not going to be English majors (the only people who, I think, need to have MLA format memorized. Everyone else can look it up...). They are going to do other great things that probably won't ever involve a Works Cited: Marines, mechanics, chefs, lobstermen, heating techs. They know what a Works Cited is and why they should use one - what more will they need?

The other site I encourage them to use is "Paper Rater." This site gives students some basic spelling and grammatical feedback on their writing. They simply cut and paste their writing into the box, and voila! They have basic feedback, including feedback on plagiarism! This doesn't replace instruction, but it is nice to get first drafts that are clear from these issues.

So, today, internet's working at our school, and the boys are plugging away on their Keynotes, happy to have some online support! It's a good day in the Tattooed Teacher's classroom...

Dear blog -

I have been avoiding you. You leave messages on my cell phone, I don't return them. You email me, I delete them. You are in my dreams every night - me, just staring at you, not sure what to do next.

But, you persisted, I completed some reading for my class, and I think we can make this work. All it's going to take is dedication on my part. So, dearest blog, here's what you can expect from me now on:

     1.) I will no longer avoid you. We will spend at least 15 minutes each day together. I expect my
          students to write for at least this long every day, I can certainly expect it for myself.

     2.) I will write without fearing judgement. I will stop worrying about whether or not people are
          reading what I write - I will write for myself.

So, blog, we're going to turn over a new leaf in our relationship. I will admit that I have harbored some resentment toward you, even though you never did anything wrong. So, it's not you, it's me - but I'm going to work on that!

Love,
The Tattooed Teacher

Tied to Technology?

We're lucky that, at our school, we have one to one laptops. Each and every student has his or her own laptop for the year, given to them by the school. And not any old laptop - MacBooks. Sometimes I just look out across my classroom and think about how lucky these students are to be given such a gift. When I was in high school, I did research from these little things called "books." Now, the world is at our fingertips. It can be overwhelming sometimes to think about how much we have at our disposal at any given moment of the day.

Today, I passed my laptops out to my advisees - freshmen - "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," excited to be getting "their" laptops. As I review the school's Laptop Policy, the complaints started coming - their screen's dirty, their cord has a mark on it, carrying it in the case is such a pain... That's when I think, "What have we done to these kids??" Unfortunately, many of the students do not realize how special they are to have been given these tools. In fact, they're not even looked at by the students as a tool for learning - many of them only use their laptops to store their music, watch YouTube, and surf Facebook.

My freshmen came into class today after getting their laptops - and wouldn't you know it, all the screens were open and they were furiously trying to figure out how to get around the filter and get on Facebook. Even after I asked them to shut their screens, they lingered on the Internet.

All of a sudden, I remembered that much of the semester with my students was about to become about shutting the laptops, or staying on task when researching or completing some other Internet-based school work. The laptops create new issues for teachers and students - students would rather be on Facebook than looking up the etymology of a vocabulary word - how do we monitor that? How do we teach our students how to use the laptop as a tool for learning, not just as a way to entertain themselves? How do we help them to see how lucky they are? Ah, the beginning of the school year...

I read a poll this morning that said 52% of Americans see Labor Day Weekend as the last "hoorah" of summer. I was shocked by this statistic - that means that 48% DON'T see the extended weekend as the last days of summer...so, what ARE the last days? August? There's always a sadness and a sense of urgency for me as Labor Day arrives - there are the usual questions (Where did the summer go??!!) and also the unusual (Who's going to bathe the dogs under the hose before it turns too cold?). There are the last minute "final" BBQs of the season, and the fall chores that need to get done before winter  comes and it's just too cold. But there's also some reflection - for me, the year doesn't start on Jan. 1 - it starts the day after Labor Day. Because, in my world - my classroom - that's when everything is fresh and new.

My reflection today, strangely enough, leads me to ponder my next tattoo(s). Much to my mother's horror (she cries and says, "You've ruined the beautiful skin we've given you!"), I document my observations and learnings about myself and the world around me on my skin. I have eight tattoos total:

1. Crown - on the inside of my left arm. I got this one a few years ago as a symbol of being comfortable with who I am inside. Kind of like "crowning" myself as Queen of Me.
2. Key - on the outside of my left arm. This one is for all my secrets (and the secrets of others that I carry with me, sometimes unwillingly). I'm the best secret keeper. Seriously. Sometimes I feel like Nick in The Great Gatsby - I carry people's secrets even if I don't want to. And you'll NEVER find out mine!
3. Chinese symbol for "teacher" on the back of my neck - this one's actually covered up now, after I remembered that I don't actually speak Chinese, nor AM I Chinese...so why did I go with a Chinese symbol? I started to feel like a cliche (this is certainly no judgement on those who DO have Chinese symbols, it just wasn't for me). 
4. The cover up - I don't know what to call this one. It's SUPPOSED to be reminiscent of some scrollwork on Cinderella's Castle at Disney World, in honor of my husband (because Disney is something that we share together). However, it looks like a big, black blob. I'm glad it's on the back of my neck, because, truth-be-told, I don't really like it. The artist I chose to do this one was chosen on a whim, and it wasn't a good choice.
5. Scrollwork beneath the cover up - So, after the Blob, I went back to my "regular" tattoo artist in Portland. He helped soften it up a bit and added some delicate work to it, although I now think it looks disjointed. I was going to have a whole back piece done to help tie it all together, but I'm now just thinking I should leave it all alone. I get compliments on it (so it's not as bad as I might think) all the time. I probably shouldn't keep adding to it for fear that it will just get out of hand.
6. The word "Beloved" between my shoulder blades- I got this one in California. It's for my husband. No way will I be getting anyone's name tattooed on my body - this is as close as it comes to that. 
7. A pixie on my lower back - ah, the obligatory tattoo when one turns 18. Yep, a pixie. I got it because at that moment I was feeling magical - you know, like, the invincibility that 18 year olds feel. I'm glad it's there, because even though I don't feel that way anymore, it's a reminder to me where some of my seniors are coming from when I think about some of the stupid choices I have to watch them make.
8. The word "Laugh" on the inside of my right arm - I love to laugh. I laugh all the time. My students often say to me, "I could hear you laughing all the way from the other end of the hall." I think that's a good thing. I'm all for it. People don't laugh nearly as much as they should. I get a kick out of life (and out of myself). Plus, in those REALLY difficult times, it's a good reminder.
9. Ooops, forgot I actually have NINE! I have the phrase "One of Two" on my left wrist - my sister and I got these at the beginning of this summer (we each have the same one).  We grew up hating each other, but all that changed as we got older (and I went away to college). We're tied together forever, whether we like it or not (and most of the time now, we like it!). She's my best friend and confidant.

So, WHAT, might you ask, am I thinking about doing next? Well, I have a bunch of ideas that have been swirling around - some for quite some time.

1. My next tattoo will be a lotus flower on my right shoulder. Not on the back of my shoulder, but right on top (on the ball and socket) and will go down my arm a bit. I recently returned from volunteering for a month in Vietnam, and it is to commemorate what I learned about myself and the world while I was there (more about that in later blogs, I'm sure). I already have an appointment for this one in Portland in October.
2. "It's always ourselves we find in the sea" - a line from ee cummings' "Maggie and Milly and Molly and May." I live in Ellsworth and teach in Bar Harbor, so it speaks to how I am connected to my "setting," if you will. I'm also going to have a starfish done with this one - there's a story about starfish that I love and that I think about when I'm having a tough day at school that this will remind me to think about.
3. "i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)" - another ee cummings gem - before I got the tattoo with my sister, this was going to go on my wrists (split between left and right). I'm not sure where it will go now...

I wear these tattoos with pride, as a way of telling the world about who I am - seemed like the perfect introductory blog entry, and a nice way to reflect on life experiences that I've had thus far as the last days of summer slip slowly between my fingers. And I can look forward to Tuesday, when I start fresh with new students, new pens, and new learning. The only question left is, Who IS going to wash the dogs???