Comments by Emily Staudt

In responding to our peers' comments, I appreciated when Jesse shared the challenges he faces introducing multimodal digital learning to a music classroom. As I pondered Jesse's dilemma, I wanted to help him authentically integrate these new skills.

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:28:06 -0400

I provided a suggestion of tasking students to present a biography of their favorite composer (complete with recordings of the student's favorite pieces they wrote), perhaps at the end of the school year, after the final concert. I hope my suggestion was helpful!

Even though I was essentially remixing Marina's lesson idea for a story about Persistence intended for 3rd graders into a story about Questioning and Posing Problems for 10th graders, tweaking Marina's ideas into my own became something brand new!

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 19:44:08 -0400

While watching the video "Multimodality, Literacy, and Picture Books," I realized quite quickly that this video was simply audio, most likely from a longer lecture. I began to comment that this video was not multimodal, as it was only audio.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:42:33 -0400

However, I paused to reconsider whether my statement was accurate, and realized that the visual element of the moving audio image did, in fact make the video more than one mode. I had enabled captions as well, and in that way had provided an additional mode. It almost seems less likely that something is one mode and more likely that what we encounter is multimodal.

Here is a Scratch Project I created called It's Alive! When you press the green flag, the balloons move and the ballerina jumps around. Each element you see has a separate code telling it what to do, but it all starts by pressing the green flag.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:36:19 -0400

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/703464852/

Incorporating audio and visuals is a great way to engage your audience. That's how I prefer to read books, with a paper copy in my hand and an audiobook playing!

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 23:52:09 -0400

via GIPHY

Have you seen this video, Marlen? It's a bit long, but the creator runs a not-very-scientific experiment with a small sample group to debunk Gardner's Multiple Intelligences: https://youtu.be/rhgwIhB58PA

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:23:08 -0400

I think it may be worth consideration for educators, despite the obvious flaws in the experiment. I wonder if, in our classrooms, we can make some reasonable assumptions about how the majority of students learn.

The teacher wanted to use the iPads for more than "just retention or discovery or games" - I like that she identified the typical uses of technology like iPads in a classroom. Technology can be used as a tool to create as well!

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:36:19 -0400

We have already learned how to use Scratch to help students create and share their ideas, but there are many other possibilities, such as video or audio programs. Even a "basic" program like Microsoft Paint is one way that students can create and share their work.

I agree, Nymarie! I had never heard such a clear definition of what "multimodal literacy" means prior to that video.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:49:34 -0400

Great project, Destiny, and an amusing use of cloning in Scratch! I laughed out loud.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:48:32 -0400

It's interesting that so many people think of writing as just essays, but most media we consume is scripted! I recently developed a lesson plan for a Rant video as an introduction to writing an argument essay.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:44:06 -0400

There is just as much preparation for a video as there is for an essay, and just as much writing, with additional steps of recording, editing, and uploading the video! However, a rant video usually feels more accessible to students than an essay.

Interesting observation, Destiny! I tend to lean towards watching a video to learn anything I need to know, if a seemingly reputable source exists. "Just YouTube it" is a common suggestion at my house!

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:38:03 -0400

Whether it's installing a car seat (even though I have the manual) or getting a quick synopsis of a book, I go for a video format whenever it is available.

For the description of a child, I think the strategy of noticing, or writing down observations to be particularly useful. Then, when appropriate, one could allow these observations to give way to curiosity, and I could wonder about causes of behavior.

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 15:35:32 -0400

Dr. Fayne did an exceptional job of describing a Kindergarten emerging reader named Edwin and included questions wondering about his behavior and how best to assist him in his journey. I found myself wondering additional questions about this student as well. The Notice/Wonder strategy proved a great method for this task.

In my Descriptive Review of Amelia, I wanted to paint as clear a picture of this student as possible without casting judgment on her. She is a young child who is learning and growing, and has tremendous strengths as well as some weaknesses.

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 14:06:12 -0400

It was important to me as I wrote my review of her to be as impartial as possible, and to simply be factual. This can be an incredibly difficult task to accomplish! Importantly, it has been a while since I last saw Amelia, and I did not spend time with her in a traditional classroom setting, but she was in the cast of actors I was directing at a theatre camp. As happens too often in education of any kind, teachers are *warned* about students before we meet them. Sometimes this is helpful, but it also can cause us to meet a student with negative expectations, and not to anticipate their growth as a person from one year to the next. In my descriptive review, I didn't want to cause harm to Amelia's reputation (though her identity would be hard to pin down for anyone who doesn't know her), but to clearly mark my observations.

In commenting and responding to others' comments on Pat Carini's Descriptive Review of a Child protocol, I found it important to include examples of the language use one might use in such a process.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 18:38:47 -0400

Labeling a child "a bad kid" is not only too broad of a statement, it is tremendously harmful to the student and provides no avenues for success. Saying, "I notice that this child screams and throws any items within reach at approximately 11 AM every day" is a clearer picture of what is occurring in the classroom. If we see behavior as an expression of needs, we can better help children.

Children who are "gifted" or are working at a level of greater mastery than their peers are not challenged and can easily get bored. This boredom can lead to some behavior that may have a child labelled as "bad," when, really, they need more engagement.

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 22:32:35 -0400

Absolutely, but even very young children can code-switch, or behave differently when their parent is not around. I agree that in most cases, the parent has the best understanding of their child as a whole, but they're still missing part of the day.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 18:11:34 -0400

Notice/Wonder

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 18:05:40 -0400

The exercise of observing a child can be linked to a method I learned for encountering works of fine art, such as a painting. First, one should simply take a substantial amount of time to note what you notice. As that process continues, the mind starts to shift to curiosity... one may wonder, "why did Van Gogh put a big cypress tree in the foreground of Starry Night?" When it comes to observing a child, you might notice the child getting agitated and throwing nearby items at around the same time every day, and then wonder what the reason for that behavior is, and work from there to deduce and address the situation.

It's unlikely that any one person has the full picture.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 17:59:03 -0400

People, even and maybe especially children, are complex creatures! We need to accept that there may be complimentary or competing information about an individual being studied, and not to assume that the manner in which a child behaves in one scenario is how they behave in all scenarios.

Thinking like an anthropologist

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 17:56:43 -0400

I like how Carini's protocol is so rooted in what is observable, not in labels.

Love this.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 17:54:30 -0400

I have read Pat Carini's work in various education classes over the past four years or so, and every time I reread this protocol, I have to appreciate how rooted in observation it is. We are so used to hearing things like, "Johnny's a bad kid" or "Riley is so smart", but what does that really mean? This process seeks to address some need a student has by gaining a better understanding of that child through observation. We become scientists looking for evidence, and our own biases should hopefully be left at the door.

While working on my bio, I referred often to a thesaurus to be sure the words I was choosing most accurately and clearly represented my thinking. I used the word "wonderful" and worried others might dismiss it as hyperbole, so I added a footnote.

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:13:42 -0400

In the bio project, I initially struggled to form a cohesive product with the comments I had made previously as my building blocks. It felt a bit hodge-podge initially, but I was surprised by how cohesively it turned out.

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 23:38:36 -0400

The paragraph about the Dunning-Kruger effect felt particularly out of place when I was first looking at my comment/building blocks. I decided to keep it and to tie it in more personally to my life experiences than it had been originally, and now it makes me smile! I hope anyone else who happens to read it will enjoy it as well.

Intelligence through writing

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 18:20:35 -0400

Thank you for asking these questions! I can't agree that sloppy writing necessarily equates to sloppy thinking. Writing is a wonderful way to express one's ideas because of the opportunity one has to carefully consider their words and to revise. In speech, once the words are out, there is no retrieving them! I half-joke that I am much smarter on paper than I appear in person, but I think that might be accurate for many people.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 18:04:46 -0400

Have you heard of the Dunning-Kruger Effect? It shows that the most confident people are not the experts, but the ones with only a slight understanding about a given topic. Experts know they always have more to learn.

Learning to work cooperatively through video games

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 17:58:31 -0400

This is one of my favorite TED Talks. The speaker, Jane McGonigal, strongly believes that we can learn and reinforce many of the skills listed here by playing video games with others. I'm not a gamer myself, but she helped me see the potential value in gaming.

Defining Creativity

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 17:43:53 -0400

I think it's important to reconsider our understanding of creativity. Creativity isn't limited to fine arts or performing arts. Creativity can be an essay on Beowulf (constructing sentences in a way one has not done previously), or approaching a math problem in a new way, or finding a faster way to load the dishwasher, or finding a faster way to get to work.

Not just for students.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 21:41:08 -0400

It baffles me that in my journey to become an ELA teacher, we are constantly being preached to about how we need to change education from rote memorization into a way to develop critical thinkers and life-long learners, yet this is not typically reflected in how we, the educators, are assessed. I recently took the CST for ELA and was dumbfounded at the number of questions that relied upon whether I had read this author or that author. Everyone has specialty knowledge and also knowledge gaps, and I was stunned that one might be denied the opportunity to become an English teacher if they had not read Salman Rushdie or Dostoyevsky, even if they were extremely knowledgeable in other works. Yes, of course we need to work to fix this idolization of Jeopardy-style knowledge for our students, but can we fix the way we evaluate our teachers as well? Can we practice what we teach?

When you ask someone you are having a conversation with a probing question, it shows them you are interested in their thoughts. Instead of mentally dismissing information we don't understand, we should ask deeper questions. This shows the speaker we care.

Sat, 09 Jul 2022 14:40:03 -0400

This is a skill that, for many people, requires practice. We are often so wrapped up in our own lives and our own thoughts that we don't stop to inquire more deeply into what we don't understand in conversation. When we stop to do so, we learn more about issues, our peers/loved ones, and the world around us.

Goal-setting is a skill that it seems people talk about generally, but many people do not break it down into its steps. Sometimes, the goal is simple: "write a journal entry," but other tasks require greater investigation before one can accomplish them.

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 12:42:40 -0400

I think getting "stuck" can be one of the best opportunities for innovation. I didn't like the original headshot pic I had uploaded, so I found a tiger to screenshot instead for my profile picture. It was more fun than just a nice shot of my face!

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 12:42:39 -0400

Just because it's called a "profile picture" doesn't mean it has to be a photo of a person. I think sharing an image other than my face says more about me than a headshot does - though it might make it more difficult for people to pick me out of a crowd.