Blogging for cultural retention

In this 21st century, so much of our culture is being eroded by globalization and its attendants that we need to start codifying many aspects before they are lost in entirety. As part of my curriculum for Caribbean Studies, culture features heavily and we look at natural medicine as part of it. My students often spend time with the elders of their community trying to source invaluable information on types of herbs used, dosages, preparations etc. This process is symbiotic as the elders are engaged with the young people, the young get their information and produce artifacts, their social skills are developed, as is their self confidence.

We can use other topics for engaging the elders, but whatever we do, we need to do it soon before the passage of time means the passage of the elders and all that they embody. How many of us know all the old time fruits or local sweets, or how your village was back in the day or what interactions locals had with the U.S. soldiers stationed here in WW 11? Our elders have a lot to tell and to teach and blogging might be one way of getting and keeping the information.

Just in case you are interested here is a link you can visit to see where students in the US can publish their interviews of the elders generationscanconnect.ic.gc.ca. We can get ideas, tweak it and possibly create our own. So let's blog for cultural retention. I give myself that challenge.

Shutter Bug

Pictures really do speak volumes if you tune in to them. In that one piece of celluloid are captured all the emotions that quintessentially represent the image of that moment in time. Some images make you wonder what the photographer went through to get them as you interpret the subject. I love taking photos and I am more comfortable behind the shutter than as the subject. This is shared by my 10 year old son who is as rambunctious as 10 year olds come. But this same 10 year old was able to capture the image of a hummingbird at Crown Point last November. I marvelled at how he critically thought his way through the process of trying to snap the bird without frightening it away. He was able to solve the problem on his own and come away with what I think is a decent image.

Imagine using pictures as assessment in our content/literacy areas at school. Some research suggests that in the context of the classroom the application of " assessment as a photo album is most feasible and natural" .... and ... "may be used to gather evidence of learning" ... as a "performance assessment task, yielding a visual product." ( Tomlinson, G., & McTighe, J. (2006) ASCD. (www.ascd.org.)

With a proper rubric, students could submit photo books with attendant captions, explanatory notes and an introduction. They would have to critically think to justify the inclusion of the photos in the portfolio.

So happy blogging and keep those shutters snapping!

Let's hear it for the blogs.... Let's give the boys a hand...

Those of us who grew up in the 80's might recognize the lyrics of that song (minus blogs as it should read boys). Great song. Brings back fond party memories, but on a more serious note, Blogging may actually hold the key to engaging our students, and in particular our boys. Goodness knows, (as do their parents) that they could use a hand, a helping one at that in their literacy development as so much hinges on it.

I know I might be preaching to the choir but the real benefit of blogging lies in the plethora of topics that they could personally select from. Imagine if someone's interest lies in something such as aquarium fish rearing, they could set up a blog that they would have to make posts to and comment on. And all this done in words! How more literacy accommodating could it be?

A study out of Jamaica done by Warrican, entitled 'Hard Words', revealed that student engagement in reading at the school under study was significantly reduced when their choice of reading material was discarded in entirety by the librarian who thought adventure stories, fantasy and horror genres like 'Goosebumps" were inappropriate. Shelves were then restocked with what the librarian thought was proper reading material. Thus unempowerment(?) in choice of reading material has significant impact on time spent in reading. Blogs allow students to choose topics. If they have empowerment in choice then they will be motivated. If they are motivated, they will be engaged. And the benefits are endless. So let's hear it for the blogs and let's give the boys (and girls) a chance.

Welcome from a lady blogger to the Lady Blog

Welcome to my blog and my first ever post! I chose the title Lady Blog as a play on the lady bug. Whilst I do have the girly squeamish approach to most bugs, I find the lady bug to be happy and cheerful if a bug may be thought of in such a way. It makes you want to hold the little creature in your hand for closer scrutiny, let it walk around your palm without you trying to splat it. I am told that lady bugs are assets for any garden since they consume mealy bugs, aephids and other pests. Who wouldn't want a healthy fertile piece of ground to mold and work with. I hope you see where I am going with this metaphor thing.
For most of my teaching life, I have schooled boys. And for some reason on God's green earth, boys like bugs. Imagine if you will boys (and girls) huddled around a glass jar absorbed by the bugs in a jar. They are engaged, they are collaborating and they are motivated. What more could we ask for in our students' learning experiences? (Actually there is more but we're talking about my blog here). In short, I am actually talking about the conceptualization of my blog, one that I hope will be a healthy garden of thoughts, with happy, cheerful and intellectually enriching posts. Seems a lot to ask of a small blog/bug, but this lady is willing to try. Happy blogging everybody.

How cool is this everybody?

Wow! Whoever thought we'd be living the day when PowerPoint would do more than deliver info.? Imagine using the software (is that the right term?) for the creation of e books for our kids where they can interact to some extent with the material, have fun, be motivated as a result and improve their literacy in the long run. Why didn't we think of this sooner? Reflect on our first intercourse with computers, PowerPoint was one of the first thing we were taught and at the time, it seemed so laborious. Now we have so many toys to play with to 'trick up' our presentations. I have been so motivated that I have started working on several for my students and I anticipate getting from them in return as assessments. I have been excitedly exploring the voice over, the fly ins, the whooshes and clicks, importing clip art, images and making links and everything that the technology offers. In short I am having fun and I realize that if I am motivated then I would be infectious. Effective leadership is the key! I can get my students and co-workers excited about the technology to help us work smart with improved results, and not necessarily hard the old way with minimal results. Power to the Point!