Here's a poem by Sherman Alexie, the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It was emailed to me from the poets.org site as part of National Poetry Month.

Dangerous Astronomy
by Sherman Alexie

I wanted to walk outside and praise the stars,
But David, my baby son, coughed and coughed.
His comfort was more important than the stars

So I comforted and kissed him in his dark
Bedroom, but my comfort was not enough.
His mother was more important than the stars

So he cried for her breast and milk. It's hard
For fathers to compete with mothers' love.
In the dark, mothers illuminate like the stars!

Dull and jealous, I was the smallest part
Of the whole. I know this is stupid stuff
But I felt less important than the farthest star

As my wife fed my son in the hungry dark.
How can a father resent his son and his son's love?
Was my comfort more important than the stars?

A selfish father, I wanted to pull apart
My comfortable wife and son. Forgive me, Rough
God, because I walked outside and praised the stars,
And thought I was more important than the stars.

The We Shall Remain series will be a great resource for the course we're teaching next year. It's awesome that PBS has posted the complete series in full on their website. This will be an easy-to-use resource for us when we want to show clips or entire segments from this series.

Collaboration w/ Colleague

Last week, my colleague and I met to discuss the course we're teaching next year. We discussed our unit as well, but we're really trying to nail down the structure of the combined course we're teaching. What's making this process difficult is that my colleague is struggling with the process of trying to convert a more linear approach to into a thematic one. We're trying to find some resources that talk specifically about creating a thematic approach to teaching history.

I've inserted a photo of a sort of brainstorm we had about how to best integrate all of the essential parts of what she needs to do with what I need to do. We're lucky that my curriculum is pretty process-oriented while hers is much more specific about content. We should be able to integrate our absolute must-haves in a pretty cohesive manner.

We're pretty excited about this process, though it's a bit daunting at this moment in time. Hopefully we'll have some time to meet soon and process this information even further. We did not talk about my stage three, but I feel like we made some headway into creating a sort of big picture vision that we have not yet had the chance to create.

TPACK Pics

TPACK (Physical Education Chapter)

Compared to all of the chapters I've read thus far in the TPACK book, this chapter seems to be the biggest stretch in terms of how technology factors into the teaching of this content. I truly do not understanding how much of what I read in this chapter would help a physical education teacher or physical education students.

One of the greatest aspects of physical education is that it is one of the only required courses where kids get to spend time moving, go outdoors, and push themselves in a physical way. I took gym every year of high school. though I was only required to take it two years. Now, kids at my school only need to take one year of gym. Do we really want to spend more time with technology during one of the only times when they actually get to move around and play and be kids? I would've hated a gym class where we had to analyze our swing while at bat. I just wanted to MOVE!

I can see where a deeper understanding of movement and form and motion and such would be more appropriately focused on in extracurricular sports. Here, students are pretty much all invested in becoming better players and in being more successful at whatever sport they're playing. Using any ort of technology within the realm of a typical gym class would take away from the purpose of the class, I feel. I want to know that my freshmen got to move and play during their day. If they choose not to participate in gym, then let's find out the reason behind that. I can guarantee that none of my students would pass gym more readily if their experience involved more technology. Maybe if they had separate changing rooms, but not if they had to use technology.

The one technology that I really feel could be of use in physical education would be a wii fit sort of program or some other sort of group exercise technology. I know of several girls who love to use the yoga portion of the wii fit. This technology could help to introduce and excite kids who may not be interested in traditional sports. And, it may be a way for other teachers to integrate concepts of physical fitness into their classrooms. Rainy days could be turned into time with the wii fitness.

TPACK (World Languages Chapter)

I chose to read this chapter because I thought that it might have some bearing on the teaching that I do every day. After all, English is a bit of a language class, right? Wrong. My thinking was way-off in this respect. This realization came to me in short order. Teaching a world language is nothing like teaching English!

First of all, these teachers are helping to create an entirely new schemata for students. They have to start with the very basics of language and move through aspects of language that we do not even explicitly teach, like culture and body language. As I read more and more of this chapter, I began to feel more and more overwhelmed for the world language teachers I know. How do they work toward such a daunting task?

When I think about the world language teachers in my building, I think of all of the recent technology-based projects I've seen them use in the recent past. For instance, I've watched our ASL teacher use imovie to send directions to her students. She's also used youtube in innovative ways to help students think about creating signing videos of their favorite songs. Another example comes from a Spanish and German teacher in our building who uses garageband to create podcast quizzes and homework instructions for her students. She also showed me some imovies that students created from areas around town, like "Supermarket!" These visual and auditory devices/ applications seem to be extremely useful helping to immerse students in language in ways other than outright memorization. As the authors of our book point out, students need to experience world languages in ways that mimic the way they learned their first language.

Because language learning needs to start with the basics, it seems appropriate for elementary through secondary educators to make use of web-based resources that are marketed to young readers and listeners.

I have a friend who teaches Spanish in New Hampshire. He told me a few weeks ago that he uses tella novella episodes to teach his students because students really get into the plot and the overly dramatic acting leads to some very obvious body language and facial cues. The Costa Amor interactive cartoon site developed by the BBC World Languages site could be a great tool for use with middle or secondary students. It's kinda like a Choose Your Own Adventure story in that those who viewed the BBC page voted for the phrases Carmen and Dave would say next. The end result is pretty funny. While the text, photos, and humor may be appropriate for older students, this idea could be adapted to any classroom.

Another idea that could be adapted to any grade level comes from an organization called the Asia Society. This site has a wealth of teacher and student resources. I would say that the site itself is not user-friendly for younger grades, but ideas contained in this site could help to support an elementary language teacher or an elementary teacher looking to include some world language or world culture into their classroom. I quickly found a powerful video under a section called Student Video: At the Dinner Table. This idea could easily be replicated in any age classroom.

If you're looking for a website with a HUGE amount of information, free downloads, a word of the day program, free software, and cool eCards for over seventy languages then Byki is it! The foreign language teachers at Mt. Blue use it with their students and recommend it as a great site.

At Mt. Blue, there are a variety of world language options for our students. To meet their foreign language requirement, students can choose from Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and American Sign Language. Our ASL program is awesome. Kids love it because it is different from languages that they might've struggled with in the past. Also, our ASL instructor has come into this subject because she has a passion for it. In finding links and resources for this blog post, I've spoken with her a great deal and have loved the links she's given me. Some of the great ones are Deaf-Tube, D-Pan (the Deaf Performing Artists Network), and a database full of great information about ASL from baby signs to adult resources. One of the most interesting finds are the CODA brothers, who are super funny and lovable!


The best resource I discovered was one that came to me through an English journal I subscribe to. It's called Google Lit Trips and it holds a wide array of resources for language teachers of all grade levels. Basically, this site combines book reviews with Google Earth images to map the adventures and/or plot of a story. Using this technology, teachers and/or students can map out the places where a character travels or lives, include photos of animals, locations, or people mentioned in the text, insert historical photos, and primary documents. Narration and soundtracks can be added to a lit trip to make it that much more rich and effective.

TPACK Art Chapter 8

Of all of the content areas that would use technology as a basic foundation for exploration and learning, it would seem that the arts would be at the top of the list. In my school, I have seen technology used in creative ways to help students explore new mediums and ideas. When I first read this chapter, my mind went immediately to the tech programs at Foster Tech. I've had several students who've learned all about digital and graphic technology in the Digital Media and Commercial Art and Photography programs at the Foster tech center. In these programs, students are encouraged to explore photojournalism, advertising, lettering on autos and on signs, television production, music videos, and public service announcements (among many others).

In the regular high school, we do have quite a few art and music options for students. The only school-based dance opportunity I am aware of for students is a dance club that meets after school. As for theater and drama, oh my. We have TONS of options for students who're interested in dramatics. Some of these programs occur outside of school, but we also have several courses offered through the English department that would allow a student interested in theater to pursue dramatics during the school day.

More than any other chapter, I thought that this one offered ideas that could be applied in the regular classroom/ content area. I know that in my classroom, history and arts are the content areas that I integrate into my lesson and unit planning most frequently. I am excited to have the links and the ideas that the author of this chapter made available for exploration. I also liked the way that she separated out the various areas related to the arts. This makes this chapter more user-friendly as a reference.

I think that the difficult aspect of teaching the arts and using technology is that technologies are changing so rapidly, as is art, and it could be a difficult task to try and keep up with both of these worlds. A solution that I've seen work in our schools is for teachers to work together to allow students access to a variety of experts who may have more knowledge in technology to work with students. The art teachers in our building have been very open to this method. After all, there is really no way that the two art teachers could become experts on every new program, every new technique, and every cutting-edge artist.