Too Long; Didn’t Read (TL;DR) newsletter #62

Welcome to issue 62 of the TL;DR Newsletter. In TL;DR I’m synthesizing what I read and learned this week in literacy, technology, and education. If this is your first time here…welcome. :)

I’ve been thinking about possibly changing the name of this newsletter from TL;DR to “The Weekly Packet.” Please let me know what you think at this Twitter Poll…or send me an email.

This week is all about the little things that add up.

If you haven’t already, I’d recommend that you subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out next week’s issue. You can review archives of the newsletter here. Alternatively you can also check out TL;DR on Medium.

This week I worked on the following:

• Module One on Multimodal Tutorials — Over the past couple of months I’ve been researching and building mockups for a series of classes I’m developing to coach educators as they build their digital literacies. As part of this work, I’ve been revising a series of modules I’ve developed to teach web literacies to educators. Module One is complete and accessible up above. I’ll soon move this format over to a WordPress installation and a new domain…and series of digital badges. Please let me know if you like (or dislike) the structure.
• Episode Two of the Three Obnoxious Academics chat — This week we held the second episode of our informal…irreverent show. This week we were talking about multimodal literacies and their place in education.

Behind the scenes of Kubo and the Two Strings (16:58)

I frequently create stop-motion animation movies with my son, or with students in classes and workshops. Much of this work is simple and relatively basic.

Because of this work, I enjoy movies like The Boxtrolls and all of the creations from the Laika studios. I cannot wait for their next movie. The video is a bit long, but well worth the time witnessing the magic they create. There’s also tons of ideas as you create your own movies.

Pew Research Report on Libraries in 2016

Very interesting report from the Pew Research Center released just as TL;DR was being finalized this week.

I’m always interested in the great work that Pew compiles in their reports. Most specifically, I believe the reports on libraries provide insight into our relationships with literacy and technology.

Several interesting themes:

• Young adults are more likely to have visited a library in the past 12 months than those ages 65 and older.
• 24% of US adults back idea of moving books to make way for more community & tech-oriented spaces; 31% oppose
• Library users still use library to get online. 29% do, mostly young (45%), African American (42%)

How to create empowered readers — A beginning

Great post from Pernille Ripp on ways to help your students connect and fully experience content as they read. I came across this post (and Pernille’s blog) while skimming online…and added it to my Feedly subscriptions.

The post details different contexts to examine the potential integration of reading and texts into the classroom. She highlights book choice, book truths, book tasks, book selection, book access, and book time. I found these perspectives helpful as I reevaluate readings, and my expectations of readings as I start up a new school year.

Meet the parents who won’t let their children study literature

I’m surprised when I see the reaction that certain posts receive when I share them online. As an example, I shared this piece from Steven Pearlstein in The Washington Post about the possible intersection between student debt and choice of professional studies. I believed the subject matter to be relatively tame, but was interested to watch the responses from others online.

As an educator, and as an individual that prepares future educators, I have a special place in my heart for the field. As an English teacher, I also have a belief in the need to give learners opportunities to explore the humanities, literature, and all spaces in between. Not all of the people that responded to my initial share agreed with me. This was especially true for the people in education.

Perhaps we’re headed for a time when budgets and issues of student debt will indeed modify people’s decisions to head to these fields. It will be interesting to watch these possible trends.

A model for teacher development: Precursors to change

A post from Jackie Gerstein identifying seven precursors for change that could/should be folded into professional development opportunities. She modified this from a series of seven tips provided to guide experiences with counselors.

• A sense of necessity
• A willingness or readiness to experience anxiety or difficulty
• Awareness
• Looking directly at the problem
• Effort towards change
• Hope for change
• Social support for change

I help develop and facilitate a lot of professional development opportunities, and I think one of the key threads in Jackie’s post is the willingness of the group and individual participants to work from a place of honesty in the process.

This is how you revolutionize the way your team works together…and all it takes is 15 minutes

A post from David Politis shared on LinkedIN Pulse. The gist of the post is about detailing the ways in which you prefer to work and collaborate. In effect you would create a user manual that could be shared with potential colleagues, employers and clients.

I like this strategy because it makes learning, and personal work strategies granular. I have thought about putting a post like this up on my website to detail my expectations in terms of my own work process. I think it’s also important to spend time documenting what each one of us holds to be important in our philosophies on work. I could see this being a good activity in K-12 as well to help students develop their own metacognitive skills and as they collaborate with others.

Thanks to Stephen Downes for the share and the exemplar.

This fan-made Daft Punk helmet outdoes the real thing

Whether or not you’re a fan of Daft Punk, you have to respect the art, creativity, and skill put into this piece. More to the point, I’m amazed at the extent to which fan art can create some amazing things…primarily out of adoration by the masses.

Check out the full video of the making of the helmet.

There is no substitute for hard work.

- Thomas Edison

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