William Kist

New Book

2009-11-05T10:41:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to announce that my new book, The Socially Networked Classroom, is now available. The book is filled with the successes and struggles of teachers, including myself, who are trying to incorporate new media into their classrooms. There are ideas for any level of technical experience, from novice to techno-wizard. And, as the book points out, it's not about the stuff (hardware/software) anyway. These teachers are pioneering a whole new mindset and, I believe, will lead the way to transform the way we do school.
The book is available through Amazon, but I notice that it says it will take 2-3 weeks to get the book to you, so you may want to order it from the publisher if you want to get it more quickly. If you do, please let me know what you think of it!

Core Standards

2009-09-23T10:33:00.003-04:00

The Common Core Standards draft was just released yesterday (for math and language arts.) Given that we are apparently moving toward a national curriculum and that these standards will probably shape our curricula for the next 5-7 years, we probably want to look at them and give feedback. You only can give feedback until October 21, 2009.
Go to this link to provide feedback:
http://www.corestandards.org/
From what I’ve heard, states will only have about 15 percent leeway to deviate from these Core Standards.

For some background, here is the NCTE page that discusses the new Core standards, including a letter from Kylene Beers:
http://www.ncte.org/standards/commoncore

Julie and Julia and Blogging

2009-08-10T07:02:00.002-04:00

Stephanie and I saw Julie and Julia on Friday. I was surprised to see how much blogging was in the film, complete with a recreation of the interface that existed on screen when Julie Powell started blogging in 2002. It provided an interesting contrast to what Julia Child (as portrayed in the film) went through to get her first cookbook published, complete with using carbon paper to type hundreds of pages of manuscript, and sending off these manuscripts to publishers. Cutting back to Julie's story, it didn't seem to take her as long--just several months (as opposed to Child's years of toil)--before she was getting several comments a day on her blog. It seemed that Julia's path to getting a readership was much more arduous and time-consuming, but finally paid off in the publishing of her opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In the bookstore over the weekend, I saw it on display in its original cover and using the same original paper almost as a museum piece. There was kind of a comfort in seeing it in its original form. Meanwhile, we learn from yesterday's New York Times that textbooks are going out of style. Given the display I saw of the original cookbook presented in its original form, one can see books themselves as becoming "retro." Good thing I can blog about this!

Blogs from the Past

2009-07-23T20:05:00.002-04:00

I love the trend of creating blogs from past documents and photos. One of the most well known is the Shorpy blog that posts pictures from the 1800s and early 20th century. And who would want to miss the daily entry from Samuel Pepys's diary of 1666? Or the blog from the WWI soldier? It makes me feel the same way I feel when I see portraits at the Cleveland Museum of Art. These people stare out at us and come back to life. I wonder which (if any) of our current blog entries will be as well remembered?

Everything Old is New Again

2009-07-20T21:35:00.004-04:00

Enjoyed working with outstanding educators today in my New Literacies in Practice class at Kent State. These are educators of all levels of students and there was a common refrain that we need to be trying these new/old ideas. I was thinking later of John Dewey's book Art as Experience and how, in it, he talks about how the ancient civilizations had a much closer tie between their art and their daily lives. Instead of art being cordoned off in a museum, art could be on the cup they used for their daily drinking or on some utilitarian tool. If anything, post-modernism has led us (perhaps) to a return to a less hierarchical view of forms of representation. A comic strip may be viewed on the same level as a great novel, and a Brillo soap box can be immortalized. Will schools ever catch up to this/return to this?

Social Media Mania

2009-07-06T21:06:00.005-04:00

It seems every week I'm seeing more evidence of social media's increased influence outside of the social media themselves. The Sunday New York Times contains several articles each week on uses of social media; this week these included uses of Twitter in churches and synagogues, promoting start-ups in Silicon Valley, Sarah Palin's uses of Facebook, and ethical dilemmas for teachers surrounding social networking sites. Also yesterday, Stephanie and I went to Joseph-Beth Bookstore at Legacy Village and saw a sign for a Twitter book club. Just follow @PicadorUSA and read Apples and Oranges and be ready to discuss it on Twitter on July 24. The new MTV talk show, It's On with Alexa Chung, features audience members tweeting comments that roll across the bottom of the screen. And in the mail today, I received a solicitation for a one-year subscription to poor old Time magazine: 56 issues for $15. I threw it away, because I'm already following Time on Twitter. What are they worried about? They've got a million followers!

Looking For Home Schoolers

2009-06-09T09:28:00.002-04:00

I'm looking for home schoolers who are interested in being interviewed (and perhaps observed) for a research project I'm working on. I'm especially looking for home schoolers who use at least a moderate amount of technology in their home schools. If you know a home schooler or are one yourself, please email me at: wkist@kent.edu

Plinky and Other Stuff

2009-06-03T10:56:00.002-04:00

This is probably old hat to many in the blogosphere, but I had never heard of Plinky until I read this article in Sunday's New York Times. I have been a bad blogger in the last few months, and part of my problem is I feel I don't have anything to blog about, so this site would help me. Plinky gives you a topic to write about each day. Today's topic is: When was the last time you went 'woo hoo' and meant it?

Well, I have two answers to that question from recent times: One was when I found out on May 29 that my latest book has gone into production! And before that, on May 4 when I found out that our offer on a new home had been accepted. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!

Needless to say, we've been a little busy over the last few months. But never too busy to blog. What was I thinking? I know from my stats that there are many people looking at my web site, so I need to be a better blogger. One thing that I need to remember is that blog posts don't have to be long; I don't need to compose some kind of masterpiece (each time.) So, with that, I will sign off!

Elmo, Me, and Captain Kangaroo

2009-02-23T21:00:00.003-05:00

I am really excited to be on the same bill with Kevin Clash (Elmo) during the first weekend in April at Teachers College, thanks to my friend Ryan Goble. (Check out Ryan's neat Ning Making Curriculum Pop.) If you're in the New York neighborhood, I hope you'll plan to stay the entire weekend at what is shaping up to be a fascinating time.

I've been thinking a lot about children's television lately, not only because of Elmo. My students have been creating their Multigenre Autobiographies, and I've been struck by how powerful such kids' television programming as what they call "Old School" Nickelodeon and Pokemon have been in their lives, not to mention such stand-bys as Barney and Sesame Street.

It occurred to me that Elmo will be the second major kids' celebrity I will have met (not counting Cleveland's Captain Penny). Around 1990, I was playing the piano at the old Cascade Club in downtown Akron, and Bob Keeshan who played Captain Kangaroo was there one evening for an event with Akron Children's Hospital. I heard that he was going to be coming into the room where I was playing, so I started trying to remember the theme from the old show. After about an hour of trying it out, interspersing it with "Memory" from Cats and "As Time Goes By," Mr. Keeshan appeared at the door. I stumbled through his theme at the piano as he entered the room. He came over to me after a few minutes and practically dwarfed me as he shook my hand hard--he was as big as a linebacker. "You've almost got it!" he smiled. "You've almost got it!"

Film About Bloggers who Blog About Film

2009-01-23T09:51:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Luge, I found this blog which is designed to support a film about bloggers (Indie Film Blogger Road Trip) who blog about independent filmmakers. This blog, then, is a film about blogs about film. Someone needs to blog about that. Actually, I'm doing that now! And I'm going to set up my camera and film myself typing this. Then I will have a film about blogging about a film about blogs about film. I will need to set up a blog to support that project. More soon!

Immortal Literacies?

2008-12-23T11:16:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, Stephanie and I saw a performance of Handel's Messiah done by the group Apollo's Fire. They perform on period instruments and attempt to recreate the Messiah as it would have been performed when it was first written in the 1740s. It was fascinating to hear the familiar oratorio performed in a very dramatic fashion. I thought the tenor, Ian Honeyman, who did the aria based on Psalm 2:9 ("Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel") was going to come over the podium right at us, he seemed so angry.

Watching these artists passionately recreate an artwork almost three hundred years old made me wonder what will be recreated from 2008 in the year 2308. What literacies will people want to preserve just as they were created now, at the beginning of this current century?

It's so hard to predict what will be immortalized and perhaps attempted to be recreated. While seeing some of the familiar television specials repeated over and over again at this time of year, it's occurred to me that such great performers as Fred Astaire, Jimmy Durante, Burl Ives, Boris Karloff, Greer Garson, Shirley Booth, and Billy De Wolfe would probably be surprised to know that they are primarily "re-created" each year only through their voice performances in some holiday animated cartoons. Did they ever imagine these kids' shows would be what would bring them back so many years after their deaths? The same goes for the number of recording artists we only hear on the radio this time of year: Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Mahalia Jackson, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Johnny Mathis, Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, the Norman Luboff Choir, and the Harry Simeone Chorale, to name a few.

Even Charles Dickens was only trying to get a bestseller at a low point in his career, not necessarily reaching for immortality when he struck paydirt with A Christmas Carol, and he tried several times after to make that kind of holiday impact again, but was never quite successful. He was influenced by the portraits of Christmas by Washington Irving that go back even further to a nostalgia for a medieval Christmas that probably never existed, except in people's fantasies, and Irving would be amazed at how much of an impact his nostaligic portraits have had on our modern Christmas. Of course, speaking of immortality, we celebrate the birth of someone this time of year whose mainly oral literacies still profoundly influence millions.

Which of our literacies will last till future Christmases? Happy holidays to all!

Cheating is Wrong!

2008-12-03T17:36:00.002-05:00

This Associated Press story has gotten a lot of publicity in the last few days. It's suggesting that there is a lot of cheating and plagiarizing going on in our schools. That's certainly sad. I want it understood that I think cheating is wrong! But I'm sure I'm not the first one to think that maybe if we were more thoughtful in our assignments, the kids wouldn't think that school was just so much of a big game that has to be gotten through to get to do the important stuff. I'm thinking of teachers who attempt to "cover" the Brit lit canon in 180 days, and are convinced they are being "rigorous" and preparing the kids for college. I think all these teachers are doing is helping the kids get in touch with their inner SparkNotes.

San Antonio

2008-11-23T11:02:00.002-05:00

I'm writing this from my hotel room in San Antonio where I'm attending the annual NCTE conference. To the left, you'll see the view from my window.

Apart from the weather (which has actually been a little cold for this city) and the great food (I enjoyed La Fogata with my cousin Jim from San Antonio), what stuck out were the number of new media sessions at this conference designed for English teachers. This might as well be a "new media conference." It was interesting to hear all of the discussions surrounding the future of the English classroom. This topic always seems to stir strong opinions, and I overheard one heated discussion between two participants arguing over whether print is dead. How can it be dead, I wondered, when so much of new media contains print?

But there didn't seem to be any lack of interest in new media here. Even though attendance was down this year, sessions that involved new media seemed to be popular and there were so many of them that at any one session time, one could probably see three-five sessions revolving around new media during any one hour. The Commission on Media sponsored a New Media Gallery, and below you'll see some pictures of some of the great activities we were able to feature. We also gave out the Media Literacy Award to Jim Brooks. Edubloggers such as Karl Fisch and Bud Hunt were heavily prominent. There was an NCTE Ning that was set up, although I don't know how much it was really used.

It was interesting, though, that there was still a high level of interest in "traditional" sessions. I walked past a packed session that was entitled "Grammar in the Heart of the Writing Session," and well known authors continue to be popular. And, of course, there were always people in the Exhibit Hall, although it didn't seem to be as crammed as in years past.

But compared with just a few years ago, when there were perhaps three-five sessions per day dealing with new media at NCTE, there has been a tidal wave of change. It remains to be seen whether this kind of transformation will lead to a tidal wave in our classrooms.

Obama Coins?

2008-11-09T22:27:00.003-05:00

I was at the mall this weekend, and saw a kid who looked to be about 16 years old wearing an Obama t-shirt. I've been working with kids for a long time, and I don't remember ever seeing one wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a U.S. politician on it (unless it was being derogatory.) But this guy was wearing the shirt unironically. I just can't remember ever seeing one of my students' wearing a Reagan, Bush (I or II), or Clinton t-shirt. The New York Times is today calling this "Generation O."

(Also, over the weekend, I saw a television commercial for "official" Obama coins. It reminds me of the kinds of merchandising you see in Europe that feature members of a royal family or in Memphis for Elvis. I guess it doesn't take long for the kitsch to come along.)

But one wonders how this kind of admiration for a president will transform not only the media's longstanding satirizing of the powerful, but an entire construct of "teenage" that has developed over the last century.

National Technology Assessment?

2008-10-30T05:18:00.002-04:00

I guess I have massive mixed feelings about the potential for national assessment of technology as described in this recent Business Week article. I'm glad to see that technology "skills" aren't marginalized, but I'm also worried about a future in which new literacies are forced into the old school paradigm. Still, maybe the technology assessment might push states into creating more screen-based assessments in other subject areas and to do away with the paper/pencil assessments.

World Dairy Expo

2008-10-03T15:29:00.003-04:00

I'm writing this from beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, where I've just presented at the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English. The first thing the cab driver said when I got into the cab yesterday at the airport was, "Are you here for the World Dairy Expo?" Unfortunately, I had to say no, and unfortunately I haven't had time to visit the expo. But I did walk up and down State Street yesterday, and went in all the used book stores and think I even got a book that I've wanted that is no longer in print. And a novelizaton from the old Ben Casey TV series. I had to stop, because I only have a tiny suitcase with me and a laptop bag. I also found all kinds of posters and prints and calendars and even a refrigerator magnet with Harry Langdon. I also found some buttons that said "Jesus was a community organizer. Pilate was a governor." Every time I went anywhere on campus, there were people asking passersby if they were registered to vote "at the address where you are currently living." I got back to my room last night early enough to watch some of the vice presidential debate, but I soon fell asleep and was only awakened about 2:00 a.m. when apparently the bars were closing, and a steady (or actually unsteady) parade of young men and women went down the street. What awakened me was their singing. It seemed like they frequently broke into song as they went down the street. When I went to the window, I also saw a couple in the midst of what appeared to be a heated argument. She came to a complete stop, and he came back to talk to her, putting his arms on her shoulders. After a few moments, she unfolded her arms, and they walked off together, huddling together to keep warm.

Amazing Back-to-School Speech

2008-08-26T16:54:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Darren Draper, Ed Tech Solutions, and Kevin Jarrett, here's the most amazing back-to-school in-service for teachers you'll ever see. Given that it's being delivered to 20,000 people, does the response seem a little lukewarm?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAMLOnSNwzA

Back-to-School Isn't Denim Anymore

2008-08-15T13:45:00.001-04:00

"Back-to-school doesn't mean denims and tops any more. It means iPhones and laptops." This is a quote from Craig R. Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting group, quoted in an article about how Macy’s earnings are below expectations this year. Coming off some time spent offline (in the mainly offline world of the Hocking Hills region of southern Ohio), I’m struck by how divided and passionate we seem to be in our opinions about new media. Stephanie and I stayed in a cabin in the woods that’s about 20 years old, and one of the advertised attractions of the place is that there is not a phone or a television in the cabin. Interestingly, we found in the cabin a stack of journals dating to the inception of the cabin in which the proprietors wanted people to write about their experiences. It was like a time capsule reading about people who had honeymooned in the cabin or had celebrated anniversaries or who were trying to overcome some loss. I became hooked on these mini-stories, and laughed at some of the romantic exploits that were bragged about and some of the poetry that was quoted (The Desiderata seemed to be a favorite.) I wondered what ever happened to the people and how their stories turned out. One of the common threads, often stated with great anger, was that the cabin residents were so happy that there was NO TV and NO INTERNET! These sentiments were often stated in all caps with multiple exclamation points. Even the “old” medium of the telephone was railed against and described as an enemy of inner peace. When Stephanie and I saw the innkeeper (a graduate of Kent State) at breakfast, we asked her about the journals, and she said she started providing journals early on, because some early visitors were on spiritual journeys and that journaling was a part of that.

Of course, I understand why people equate phones with their hectic daily lives, including work. But I’m wondering why television and the Internet were treated so harshly in the journals. Why do we have such a love-hate relationship with these media that we feel more peaceful without them during vacations, but that we are overwhelmingly drawn to back to them at back-to-school time and back-to-work time? I can hear some people saying that it’s mainly the young people who are drawn to this new media, that they wouldn’t find an unwired cabin in the woods to be that desirable. Still, I had another summertime experience that caused me to problematize that old binary of young/old. Stephanie and I were at Blossom about 10 days ago to see the Cleveland Orchestra perform. One of the numbers they were performing was Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. We enjoyed a picnic on the lawn with some friends, and were enjoying the music when I noticed a few feet from us, a boy of about 15 with close cropped hair and the retro eyeglasses that some of the young kids wear. He was staring intently at what looked like a book in front of him. Then, I realized that it was a music score to the Gershwin piece, and he was lost in listening to what the orchestra was doing and comparing it to what was in the printed score. He was really into it, as he nodded and smiled at various points in the performance. In this case, the “old” media became new again, and really it became kind of pointless to even think of them in that way.

Techno-Free Zone

2008-07-22T13:14:00.002-04:00

I really enjoyed presenting today at the Indy conference. What was interesting to me in the session and afterward at lunch was that so many of the comments related to a couple of ideas that I did that involved no technology. And I was glad to meet an art teacher from Indianapolis who was in my session who talked about how the arts are often neglected at new literacies conferences, perhaps ones that come at this more from a technological determinist standpoint. (Some of my presentation focused on the arts.) As one woman at my table said, "You could spend a half day session learning about some new toy, and by the time you walk out the door, it's outdated!" What will never be outdated is the kind of energy I felt from teachers I met today who are beyond ready to "do" English (and other subjects) in a completely new way. How can these kinds of teachers be best supported? Yes, they can use help in getting hardware they need, but what can we who are more on the sidelines of the K-12 classroom do to help them with the more fundamental process of revolutionizing the way we do school?

Memorabilia

2008-07-21T20:31:00.001-04:00

I’m continuing to meet teachers from across the U.S. at NCTE’s Institute for 21st Century Literacies in beautiful downtown Indianapolis. Something that struck me today is the guilt factor surrounding new literacies. Of course, there has always been guilt around reading and writing. Kids in primary grades are already status conscious about their reading. I was deep into my 20s before I realized that it is OK to abandon a book. I was forcing myself to finish any book I started, and my reading life really suffered for it.

There is no doubt that teachers are continuing to struggle with the technical aspects of all this. But I was struck today by another trend: the teachers who are guilt stricken, and are really agonizing about this. Some express that they are going to have to give up something when they start a blogging project or a wiki. Whether it’s an analytic essay assignment or a Lord of the Flies simulation, there is the feeling among some teachers that something is going to have to go when they add these new forms of communicating. Although I’m feeling an intense hunger from teachers for new ideas this week, I’m also getting the feeling that the new media are threatening the proverbial baby’s being thrown out with the bath water, which was an idiom I heard used today. It made me wonder what things should endure. It’s like the teachers are mourning a former relationship as they begin to enter a new one, and feeling guilty about keeping any mementos from a former love.

Day One Indy

2008-07-20T21:40:00.000-04:00

I’m writing this from Indianapolis, where I’m taking part in NCTE’s Institute for 21st Century Literacies. Around 275 educators are here to think about, learn about, and talk about 21st Century Literacies. In preparation for the Institute, we surveyed participants, and there was some interesting data that came out of it. Of the participants who responded to the survey (over half), 52 percent are classroom teachers. Almost two thirds of respondents are over 40 years of age. (Interesting statistic that I’ll comment on in another post.) Regarding the uses of Web 2.0 tools in their classrooms, 44 percent (the largest category) said they had thought about using Web 2.0 tools, but haven’t yet. When asked about barriers, the largest group (48 percent) said that it is “sufficient time to learn, practice, and plan.” The runner-up reason was “inadequate knowledge” (26 percent.) I’m looking forward to meeting many of these teachers over the next few days.

Hefalumps but no Woozles?

2008-07-09T06:47:00.002-04:00

Here is a sad video fable about new literacies I found. It doesn't seem to have much of an ending, but maybe that's the point?

New Literacies in a One-Room Schoolhouse

2008-07-01T11:04:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all the ideas for “New Literacies in 120 Seconds.” If you click on this link, you’ll see the result, which I’m afraid is rather a talking head video, but has the interesting twist of being shot in a one-room schoolhouse. It serves the purpose of introducing one of the strands of the upcoming NCTE Pathways project devoted to 21st century literacies. It really whetted my interest and enthusiasm for shooting a full-length documentary on this topic.

New Literacies in 120 Seconds

2008-06-12T12:49:00.000-04:00

I’m one of the co-writers of an online staff development project sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English Pathways Program devoted to 21st Century Literacies. They are asking me to produce a two-minute (maximum) video clip to introduce the concept: What are 21st Century Literacies? I have a June 30 deadline to get it to them. I’d welcome any ideas on how to describe what exactly new literacies are in a visually compelling way. If I use your idea, you’ll receive credit!

Also, I think there may be some funding to go out early this fall and tape innovative teachers who are using Web 2.0 in their classrooms. Any nominations of worthy classrooms would be welcome! If you don’t want to leave a comment here, please email me at: wkist@kent.edu

Watching Lost or Lost Watching Me?

2008-05-30T11:58:00.003-04:00

I realized last night that I spent almost five hours on Lost. First, I watched the one-hour repeat episode that has the pop-up subtitles. They help you understand the show and even give you details about the production such as location information. I've found I prefer watching the episodes with the pop-ups. And that leads me to my main point. About midway through the season finale, when Jack tells Kate about Jeremy Bentham's funeral, I started getting itchy for my laptop. I wanted to go to Lostpedia so that I could remember who Jeremy Bentham is. But my digital self was having an argument with my analog self. "Can't I just enjoy the film/program without having to read the sub-text of the text simultaneously?" my analog self asked. My analog self won out and I confined my surfing to the commercials (when all I could find was that Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher who invented the panopticon, a form of prisons that has often been used as a metaphor for surveillance in everything from philosophical texts to pop culture. I had to wait until later in the show to find it was just an alias. I had to tell you that.)

After the show, I spent about 90 minutes on Lostpedia, amazed at the level of detail in this fan- based web site. Has there ever been this level of fan-created material in support of a piece of art? I think the first fan sites I remember hearing about were devoted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of course, I suppose the uber-fans were those of Star Trek who did the impossible--brought back a canceled show. (Why couldn't they have done that for Batman, starring Adam West?) The only parallel I can think of is in the sports world where fans have obsessed for years over box scores and fantasy football statistics.

Finally, around 12:45 a.m., I tore myself away from Lostpedia. And now I'm writing this blog entry. I've got to stop. But first, I have to check some rumors I've heard about Lost Season 5 on Dark UFO. Thank goodness Dark UFO is on Twitter, so I can keep up with the latest updates throughout the day.