Sometimes, I have to be me. Childish. Silly. and Alive.

The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius.  ~Rebecca Pepper Sinkler


When things got crazy in a K-12 environment, I often brought out balloons to ease the minds of the students I taught. I found them to be therapeutic and up until Lauri Wade and her daughter, Jess, I never knew people who were totally petrified of balloons. They were the exception and I'm excluding them from this post.

The rest of the learning communities I've worked with have enjoyed time outs with balloons and that is what I brought to my undergraduates last night. They have been studying for Calculus examinations, dissecting eyeballs in their anatomy classes, and worried about Organic Chemistry. For a few weeks I've scolded them NOT to talk about studying for their other classes in my presence because they bring back all my angst of being a student myself. "In my class, we are to focus on writing about literature and making an argument that is original, thought-out, useful, and of interest to you."

They are working on revisions and folding in research. That is why I brought in the balloons.

I gave the students five minutes to play, but instructed them that while they kept the balloons in the air, they were also to discuss their worries about writing the second draft, reading Egger's What is the What, and pacing what has to be done to finish out their first year at Fairfield. I was very amused that they took this task seriously and spent five minutes bouncing balloons in the air while adjusting to my class goals. I wandered around and eavesdropped to get a grasp of who is struggling, who hasn't been reading (I had my suspicions and the balloon game made the suspects stand out), and who might need extra guidance. It went beautifully.

And for me...I was simply stoked to see the kids smiling and not stressing out. Yes, I'm a jerk and tough, but I'm also a big, whacky kid at heart. I simply want to play.

A Shout Out to Michael Serazio

Last week I had the pleasure of hearing Michael Serazio read from his new book, Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerilla Marketing, where he addressed the tactics often used by corporations in late capitalism to sell their products across the nation. I cannot claim this as territory that I'm familiar with, but
I loved the possibilities of transferring this work to youth and the informational reading they should be able to do as consumers in a time of college and career readiness. In this vain, Michael Serazio has detailed critical consumerism to the nth degree. His intellect, scholarship, savvy data sources and keen knowledge blew me away.

Michael is my office neighbor and sits most days two doors down from my administrative assistant. I see him almost daily and am always impressed with his funky style, student-centered office hours, and constant online activity. I've joked that Dr. Serazio looks like a high school student but his youthfulness is deceiving. This guy knows what he's doing and brings immense wisdom to our campus.

I bought the book and am looking forward to reading it thoroughly after this semester unwinds a bit and I have some R & R time (reading and reading).

What I brought away from his talk, however, is how creepy commercialism is when one considers the brain tactics, studies, strategies and purpose that corporations invest to selling goods to our country. As a cheap skate and, well, cheap skate, I can't say that advertisements hood me much. Still, I'm fascinated with them as an art form and ever since reading Susan Bordon's work, Unbearable Weight, I've been interested in the pop cultural side of commercialism and its effects on the human body. I also enjoyed reading Augustus Burrough's humorous (yet tragic) memoir in Running With Scissors.

Perhaps all of us are actually marketers and on a quest to sell our wares to others. Do note, however, my tactics are far from Guerrilla-like.

and then daylight returns

and so does the guilt.

How can I accomplish everything on a beautiful day when the sky is blue and the sun is out?
A yard full of branches that fell. Soil wanting my hands to dig into it. Roads hoping to withstand the pace of my orange Sauconys for both a walk and a run. A car to be washed.

Then the contrast. Papers to grade. Books to read. Conferences to organize. Grants to manage. Groceries to get. Laundry to do.

Yes, the tensions of spring are upon us and we are not quite yet at the dog days of summer when sitting, poolside, with a jug of Margaritas is a justified distraction (after all, sun is good for the skin).

And now it is Monday again. Personally, I think all of us can use a weekend community every day. It is more fun, more relaxed, and brings more sanity for the soul.

Yuck.

The work we begins again.

And another year goes by...

Dear Nikki,

At this time next year you will be a senior in high school (and if I begin saving, maybe Cynde, Mike, KC, and I will fly to see you in Dayton). Don't hold your breath.

It is amazing that so much time has flown and that, well, you took after your mom and began to compete in Winterguard. I have vivid images of Papi Butch shedding tears of pride (and memory) for you back in the days of club, cadet, JV, and nowVarsity. I feel lucky that I was able to see most of these years of your competitions while I was working on my doctorate in Syracuse, and although I missed the year you did Bollywood, I was able to catch you this year in Central Square and Rhode Island. I like Starbucks coffee because it is acidic, but he show this year -- not so much. I'm still rooting for the Crappy show.

Either way, you need to know that whatever the judges say and however the girls interact we (the family unit who drives you nuts) are all proud of you. Perhaps one day you will be at the age of Cynde, KC and I and reflect in a similar way about youth, growing up, commitment and time. It flies (as will your senior year and the frustrations of being in high school and all the drama that it entails). With that said, I think all of us would say "Embrace it for every second you have it." Don't sweat the small stuff. Simply absorb the memories while they are made - even the girly gossip, backstabbing bitchiness that comes with the territory of your age.

Seriously, Congratulations on having a drop-less (better than topless) season and for persevering in a passion you have for your sport (of the arts). I am looking forward to how you step up your game during your last year of CNS.

Love ya,

Uncle B.

and today, I hope to rest....

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Scholarship Awards Dinner and A Weekend Ahead

I'm trying to keep my energy up on Friday, but after two 15-hour days, I'm ready to throw in the towel. With that said, the scholarship dinner for our graduate students that was held in Weston, Connecticut last night was a great evening of find food, playing dress up, and articulating appreciation for outstanding graduate students.

It was, however, on a Thursday night after an extremely busy workweek and I am very anxious for the weekend to come. I simply want to chill out in a pair of sweatpants and clean up my computer desktop, write the recommendations that are piling up, and begin to create a plan-of-action for the upcoming week which will be just as busy.

Of course, today will continue with more of the same: day trip to a few high schools and a meeting to get ready for Alabama next week. Things are flying by quickly.

I do wish, however, to give a shout out to Nikki and the Northstars who are competing for a spot at Dayton finals in the Scholastic Open category. They've been drinking a lot of Starbucks this season when the WGI judges prefer Dunkin Donuts. They should be proud, however - they've done the best with the show written for them and they can only carry a concept so far. Here's to the hard work of the year.

Maple Syrup, Duck Blinds, and Compost: Digital Tourists at Womogo H.S. @NWPDigital_Is @teachcmb56

Last Saturday at the Literacy Essentials Conference at CCSU, CWP-Fairfield 2012 teacher, Colette Bennett, presented a workshop called: "High Tech Reading Circles" with colleagues from her school. Colette stepped up  literacy leadership in the state partially through a small enhancement fund CWP-Fairfield made available to teachers through the NWP SEED Teacher Leadership grant). The presentation they made highlighted how they work digitally with varying grade levels in a school district that is becoming 'paperless'. Teachers have the power to create their own textbooks (ones that are student-centered) through the many environments that are available to them online.

After the presentation I returned home to re-read Sarah B. Kajder's work in Adolescent literacy and the discussion of "Unleashing Potential With Emerging Technologies" - a chapter assigned to my pre-service graduate students who will one day (soon) be teaching. As I re-read Kajder's exploration of digital tools, I realized that Womogo High School - part of an agricultural district in the northwest corridor of Connecticut - is living the power of technology via their English Department. I asked Colette if she minded SKYPING (it's a verb now -- I just made it official) my class to do the same presentation for my students.

This is a short aside: The young men from Sudan, Somalia and Liberia recently taught me the power of SKYPE after I moved from Syracuse. They continue to share their writing with me through SKYPE and taught me how to show desktops so we could workshop online. Here, students with limited and interrupted formal education (SIFEs) with only a few years of schooling in the U.S. already had knowledge of how to tap into the power of SKYPE to maintain a community for their writing. This is beautiful.

Their knowledge is what allowed me to suggest to Colette Bennett to visit my graduate students tonight (Yes, that is Colette leaning on the heads of graduate students at Fairfield University). She presented her conference talk to my graduate students digitally and, in this way, unleashed the enormous potential of the emerging technologies already in use by English teachers at Womogo Regional High School. She brought Kajder's chapter alive.

In terms of Connected Learning - her presentation modeled equitable, social and participatory learning across several environments where new knowledge was production centered on student interests and where youth openly network with a shared purpose to reach academic excellence. I totally felt connected and I can't help but be impressed by the collaboration and digital savviness of the teachers at Colette's school.

And that's what I have to say this Thursday morning.

A Break Up Letter @NCAA

Dear NCAA,

I don't know how we keep getting ourselves into this situation. I'm not sure if the two of us are in lust with one another or in love. Maybe it's just hate. Besides, those semantics are for Greek philosophers and I'm just a schlep currently living in Connecticut.

I know. I know. It It seems to happen every year between us. When the teams announce their schedules and I begin to align my calendar for the Louisville and Syracuse games, I grow dizzy with excitement. I become a school boy with a crush on the girl with pony-tails and freckles. I get all sappy silly. Suddenly I want to watch the spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp and I get goo-goo eyes for the court. The flirting intensifies in December and January when you always come after me while I am always looking for ways to come after you. We're worse than some of those mating scenes on Animal Planet. My blood pumps harder and in February, I can't get you out of my mind. You obsess me. By tournament time I lose more and more and more of myself to you. By the Big East tournament I realize I am whipped once again (and this year, you had to destroy a conference I've loved for so, so long). I feel like the play toy of Aphrodite - like you are Eurydice and I'm Orpheus year after year after year.

But you were more aggressive on me this year with Syracuse and Louisville. Then you hooked me into UCONN with Breanna Stewart, a star athlete from my alma mater in Central, New York. Sometimes I think you get a kick out of seeing how obedient I will be to your whims and fancies. It kills me that you can never just settle down with me . You have a crazy business of toying with my everything.

Jesus.

Syracuse. Louisville. Connecticut. This year was too much. I've had enough.

Our relationship is not healthy. Actually, I think it is kind of abusive and sometimes it really, really hurts how you do me. I love you to death and I will never regret a second of what we've created together, but I need more space. I need to take time to  think about who we are together and if we have a chance to work things out again. Yes. Of course. You're right. You have me a Championship this year with Louisville on the men's side and UCONN on the Women's side. Yet, you've invaded my life and taken all my free time away. You've cost me more money than ever before and an incredible amount of stress. Worst of all, the beer, pizza, and chicken wings have given me heartburn and caused me to gain weight. I have heard of lovesick relationships, but this year it went too far. You made me a couch potato.

Please. Please. Don't cry. It's not all your fault. I take some of the blame.

I love you and we will always have a very special relationship, but I have to bring it to an end for now. Our thing - whatever this relationship is - has caused too much gossip with my Kentucky fans, especially those who grew bitter after an uneventful season. They talk badly about my us. They can't understand the twisted way you get into my head and cause me to act like a fool.

I need a break. I need to do some reflection and reconsider what is most important in my life right now. Although you are near the top, I need space. I need to work more on me. I have to find me again - not as a fanatic moron obsessed with your every move, but as a man who has many interests and responsibilities. The co-dependency is over.

And quite frankly, I'm simply tired. I have no more to give you. You took too much from me this season.

Good. I'm glad that made you smile. You like to see your power over me. It's all good. Everything will be alright. You'll be just fine without me until next year. You can go play with Tiger Woods on the golf courses or fool around with those in the world of MLB.

But for the next 8 months, I need it to be just me. I need to heal some...process what we just went through.

I know you understand.

I'll be in touch soon.

Bry

A Behind-the-Scenes Community - Sitomer's Influence on Working with Urban Writers @alansitomer

It seems appropriate that I had the fortune of hearing Alan Sitomer talk with Connecticut teachers this past Saturday at the Literacy Essentials Conference at Central Connecticut State University. His energy and fluid discussion of Common Core State Standards motivated me, as a researcher, teacher, and Director of a National Writing Project site, to see the potential the core standards have for research, inquiry, and student-centered instruction. I knew what my students were capable of in Kentucky and I've witnessed similar potential in classrooms of New York and Connecticut. I hope that administrators and policy makers get the opportunity to see excellence through these standards as Sitomer suggests.

This post, too, comes with total admiration to Louisville's win last night in the 2013 NCAA championship. The memories of attending CARDS basketball games - and taking students, at times, with me has me even more stoked about Sitomer's mission as an educator. Louisville is a great city and I'm proud of the degrees I earned from the university there.

Good teachers need a voice that promotes best practices in teaching and, during Sitomer's keynote, it became obvious why he was named California teacher of the year. He is a writer. He understands composing processes. He is an advocate for youth and he recognizes the flaws in top down management and political quick fixes that don't necessarily have young people (or their teachers) in mind. Seeing him in action last weekend provided an inspiration for listening to youth and a model for what can be accomplished when stellar educators embrace the Common Core with the individuality of every student in mind.

2013 is about community for me and when I returned to Fairfield University on Monday I had to smile. Alan Lawrence Sitomer has been a surrogate mentor for my classrooms, although I did not make the connection of his name with the books  (including The Hoopster pictured to the right) until I looked up to my bookshelves. With my relation to Hoops4Hope and the knowledge I have gained from working with relocated refugee youth (most who play sports), I know firsthand the power of sports stories. Books, such as The Hoopster, resonate with  any kid who balances athletics and academics. Such books are an intellectual genre deserving greater attention.

On my shelf also sits Hip Hop Poetry and the Classics which I've used in discussions about language, verse, popular culture, and academic literacies. Similar to his presentation skills, Sitomer brings spunk, creativity, humor, rhythm, and insight to the field. His writing impacts the communities that matter to me the most. Having the opportunity to hear him live and in person on Saturday was a true honor. The wisdom was a source of inspiration to fight for instruction that has the greatest impact on students.

A dream course for me to teach is Sports Literacy - Reading Athletics To Promote Academic Excellence. Yep, I need to make that happen.

It's Monday and I Don't See My Self Getting Through The Week

But I will get there somehow.

Last night, while watching the Louisville/California and UCONN/Notre Dame games on mute, I reviewed six research proposals for a conference, caught up on course reading, updated a few blogs on agenda items, mailed state legislators, finally worked through emails I neglected last week (those I could get to - most I could not), and aligned my calendar, Monday-Friday. I'm not kidding when I say every second is scheduled.

When I first was hired I wondered why I had an administrative assistant. Now I know why - she keeps me sane and, if I had more time, I'd be able to work with her more to keep track of my schedule and to deal with the work the two of us must accomplish together. Sad as it is, I went in yesterday to prepare a pile of items that I must talk with her about this morning.

I remembering watching my advisor with awe while at Syracuse and remembered when a fellow Doc student said, "She is awesome because she is efficient." I am trying to be that way, too, but am feeling rather soaked at the moment.

But this, too, shall pass and I will appreciate the down time when it comes (like it did on Saturday when I chilled out for the NCAA tournament).

ah, Monday. It's all good.

Teachers - the real CHAMPIONS of March Madness @teachcmb56

I'm a basketball fiend. I admit it. I watch it and I live it. I breathe, hold my breath, scream, and exhale. But, it is a game.
A sport. A slight competition in a manic world with its hard-to-solve issues that are much more complicated, severe, and exhilarating.

And that is why I shout out to teachers like Colette Bennett. Yesterday, she presented with her team from Womogo High School on ways to be wireless in the 21st century in the promotion for excellence with reading, composing, thinking, and speaking. They are the real athletes. They persevere through inane testing, top-down mandates that are not pro-kid, insufficient funding, low pay, and intense stress. Still, they score. They bring it to the net. They conduct small miracles each and every day with teamwork, coaching, cheerleading, and planning.

NCAA coaches make astronomical salaries and only host two 20-minute halves twice a week. Teachers, however, work at a minimum of 10 hour days and, more than likely, 7 days a week. They carry with them social inequities, the pressures kids feel, worries, and hard-to-believe stories. They do this with integrity.

Yes, although I'm in awe of the sport, I'm more proud of educators and what they do with very little recognition. Teachers, like Colette and her team (who I was fortunate to learn from at the Literacy Essentials Conference hosted by Central Connecticut State University), deserve the accolades for the real March madness. They endur much and do their best to prepare kids for the world. They're in the real game to win it and the applause should go to them.

Deconstructing Violence Workshop at CCSU, then BASKETBALL

I'm off to the Literacy Essentials conference in New Britain, Connecticut, to present on the No More Violence project's influence on teaching literature - a workshop in response to December 14th. No, I'm not wearing my colors, although this is what I wore to work yesterday. I got many strange looks on campus, but that's okay - students are used to seeing turkeys on their campus.

The conference ends at 4 p.m. and my mind is already on the two game's this evening. I know enough about the sport to realize it can end at any time and when it does, it is PTSD. I don't know how to pace my weeks or schedule television time. I don't know what to do with the hours where I'm not multitasking in front of the games.

There will be 500 teachers attending tomorrow and I'm hoping my session gets a few participants. You never know about these things and although I prepared for 40, I may have 100 or 0. It will also be great to see Sue Das and Colette Bennett who are also presenting (participants from the 2012 ISI at Fairfield). I will also get to reunite with Nick Chanese, Steve Ostrowski, and Lynda Valerie from Central Connecticut State University. 50 miles away and many decisions to make: do I watch the games at home or go to a bar with friends? I'm superstitious. I don't think I should leave my living room for the games. AND I hope KC is NOT watching. I repeat, little sister, I hope KC is NOT watching. We all know what happens when KC watches basketball. KC is NOT allowed to turn on a television until after Monday.

Here's to Progress...

...and patience. Freshmyn English and College Composition.

I admit, I was spoiled with my students in Kentucky. They came to me with voice, quirky personalities, opinions, and a willingness to be creative. I took it for granted. I thought all schools were like mine and that kids would be prepared to write in college. I was wrong.

Last year, I began assigning a piece of writing inspired by Alex Schulz, class of 2005, who once said to me, "Wouldn't it be cool if you assigned us all to write on the same word to see what we would write?" I wasn't sold on the idea, but in 2007 I thought it would be cool to assign kids a task of deconstructing one word for its denotation and its connotations. I wanted to know what 'the word' meant to the world, but also to the stories in their lives. Since then, I've had students write several variations of this task, but this year, I'm following Jason Courtmanche's writing technique of having kids fold-in layers to a longer piece of writing. They begin with personal writing on a word and what it means to their world. From there, we read literature in many forms and they begin to explore whether or not their word has meaning in the text we read. This has turned into research papers where they explore the meaning of a word and its relation to literature.

With the first drafts of the research part I grew nervous. Yet, through conferencing with students, I'm starting to see that they get it and it is a process. They truly are growing and moving arguments in some interesting ways. For instance, I have one student exploring what it means to have heart and another working on how sleep and rest, in relation to death, makes meaning for characters. Another students is looking at culture and one is interrogating athleticism. What has been neat is to see how they've applied the research, the word, and personal story to make meaning of poetry, short stories and novels. Perhaps this is unique to our small community at Fairfield, but I'm growing pleased with the progress I'm seeing - especially the intellectual lightbulbs and zest for writing that the assignment has created. They have choice. They have originality. And slowly, they are getting the voice that I hoped they would have when they arrived. Too many have bought into generic writing to please a teacher and have no quirkiness in their own styles This is coming...one student at a time.

Developing Reading Through Multiple Intelligences and Global Awareness

 Last night in a graduate course, I experimented with a "station" exercise I sometimes used in my high school classrooms. Drawing from Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and a reading we did for this week, I created nine stations to reflect various learning styles: linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, emotional, musical, environmental, etc. At each station were activities created to help pre-service teachers to think about tapping into the multiple ways students learn. In addition, the questions and activities revolved around John Dau's and Martha Akech's Lost Boy, Lost Girl text I selected for a model text.

I wrote the activities before I went to the store to buy items to accompany activities and, lo and behold, I found a puzzle of the globe which required space for students to piece together separate items while talking about global issues. Little did I know, however, that the puzzle actually created a miniature globe. It was way cool and viewing my graduate students completely involved with the task (all tasks actually) made me smile. They didn't want to move on to new stations because they became engrossed in each one.
 
I also found time-hardening clay so each student had a chance to sculpt a cow in the tradition of the Sudanese boys they read about. They also perused non-informational text to accompany their understanding of teaching students to read context for comprehending literature.

At the end of the night (2.5 hours) I pointed out that if they noticed, they learned a tremendous amount from each other and with having fun. I simply walked around the room and guided questions and thinking about teaching, reading, and how multiple intelligences should be tapped in a classroom. In other words, the evening was full of a lot of learning and I didn't have to lecture from a Powerpoint or have them take notes about what they needed to know. Instead, they moved the theory into practice - subversive if I say so myself. Their work reminded me of the phenomenal classroom, room 301, in Louisville, Kentucky - the community of Brown I will never forget.