Five years ago, I began teaching a digital poetry unit in my 10th grade English classes, in collaboration with my school’s library media specialist, Lora Cowell.  With iPoetry, students engaged in a process of multimodal composition where they integrated still images or video with music, voiceovers, text, and transitions.

In the recent issue of the International Journal of Learning and Media, Damiana Gibbons and I worked together to analyze one student’s digital poem.  Drawing on the work of Glynda Hull, Andrew Burn, and others, Damiana explains (and shows) the process of multimodal microanalysis.  As a graduate student, I’ve come to appreciate when authors explicitly present their methodology and walk the reader through their analytical process.  (In the field of literacy education, Karen Wohlwend’s work is an excellent example!)  In this paper, we tried to do the same.

I’m really grateful that my former student, Tommy Nouansacksy, gave us permission to analyze his work and to use his real name.  Tommy is in college now and an avid consumer and producer of social media.  Intentionally or not, he’s a comedian, an activist, and a role model.  (Case in point: a recent YouTube video where Tommy’s promoting the Trevor Project).

I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who gave us critical, formative, and insightful feedback.  Their comments led to an substantial revision of the theoretical framework and prompted us to draw on more work related to race and sexuality.  I know that reviewing journal articles can be a time-consuming process, but I think that it is an invaluable one.

Tommy’s digital poem is available on the IJLM website, but it skips sometimes.  I’ll share it here too.  In this poem, Tommy is responding to the work of Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes to describe his America.

I, Too, Sing America by Tommy Nouansacksy from Jen Scott Curwood on Vimeo.

I’m really happy to share the latest news about the second annual Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium, which will be held on Saturday, June 12th.  Not only does this day-long event only cost $10, but we’re also offering one University of Wisconsin – Madison graduate credit for an additional $100.

The GLS Educator Symposium features panel presentations and roundtables from noted scholars in videogames and digital media as well as hands-on workshops in game design, mobile media learning, digital storytelling, and educational videogames. It follows the fabulous Games+Learning+Society conference, which you should definitely check out!

The Symposium runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Memorial Union in Madison, Wisconsin.   All participants must register online by May 30th. If you’re interested in the graduate credit, please see the course registration form and the syllabus. Space is limited, so register early.

In the meantime, you’re also welcome to join us on the GLS Educators Network. Questions? Get in touch with me.  See you in June!

Photo Credit: Matt Gaydos from the GLS Photostream.  This was taken during last year’s rapid game prototyping workshop at the GLS Educator Symposium.

The call for papers is now out for the Games+Learning+Society 6.0 Conference, which will be held June 9-11, 2010, in Madison, Wisconsin.  The three conference themes this year are formal and informal science literacy, media production and identity, and game design and learning.  All proposals for papers and posters are due by February 1, 2010.

From June 2009 to June 2010, I am collecting qualitative data for my dissertation research.  I have been fortunate to find two incredible research sites, and every week, I am excited to visit them and work with the secondary English teachers, library media specialists, and technology coordinators.  Here is a current dissertation abstract.  As I work to analyze the data, the focus may shift a bit.  But it gives you a good idea of where I’m at right now.

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The Nexus of Continuity and Change: Designing Professional Development to Foster New Literacy Practices in the Secondary Classroom

This dissertation seeks to understand how secondary English teachers express, acquire, and challenge their cultural models about literacy and technology. Drawing on sociocultural theory, the goal of this year-long multiple-case embedded research study is to investigate how teachers’ participation in professional learning communities may afford or constrain the process of implementing new literacy practices in the classroom. To that end, I take a microethnographic perspective and closely analyze teachers’ discourses within the learning community. This work is guided by two key questions: 1) What kinds of professional development contexts facilitate changes in teachers’ cultural models about literacy and technology? 2) How are teachers’ opportunities to integrate technology in their classroom enhanced or constrained by power relations? In order to address these questions, the data analysis focuses on language at a micro level to understand how school-based discourse is shaped by macro-concepts, social institutions, and power relations. By using field notes, observations, semi-structured interviews, and artifacts to augment microethnographic discourse analysis, I trace how participation within learning communities influences teachers’ cultural models about literacy and technology. Furthermore, I suggest that this qualitative analysis sheds light on how teachers’ professional learning operates within social, cultural, and ideological contexts.

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(Image credit: MaxCarnage, Printed Circuit)

In a few short days, the fall semester will begin.  I’m really excited to teach a graduate course, Curriculum and Instruction 632: Literature and Literacy.  It’s a required course for the Wisconsin K-12 reading license, and we’ll focus on how to foster adolescent literacy development and critical engagement through the use of young adult literature.

Everyone in class will read the follow YA lit:
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown.
Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic.
Jaramillo, A. (2008). La linea. New York: Square Fish.
McCormick, P. (2008). Sold. New York: Hyperion.
Peters, J.A. (2006). Luna. New York: Little, Brown.
Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. New York: Scholastic.
Trueman, T. (2001). Stuck in neutral. New York: Harper.
Yang, G.L. (2006). American-born Chinese. New York: First Second.

I taught many of these books this spring in C&I 431: Young Adult Literature for Schools, but I added in three new books: La Linea, Hunger Games, and Hugo Cabret.  I had a really hard time choosing between the fabulous book Red Glass by Lisa Resau and La Linea; in the end, I went with La Linea but I think that it would be fascinating to teach both to a middle or high school class.

I’ve already blogged about my love for the Hunger Games, but I’m equally enamored with The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which is where the image above is taken from). It alternates between being only-images or only-print, and it’s fascinating to think about how to teach such a text. I’ve asked Danielle Kleijwegt, a UW graduate student and artist who is creating her own graphic novel, to talk to our class about deconstructing images, teaching visual literacy, and strategies for using picture books and graphic novels in the classroom.

Throughout the semester, we’ll have a couple other guest speakers, too. Loren Glasbrenner is a teacher at a middle school in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and he will share his experiences with using literature circles. Also, Kim Stieber-White, a teacher at Evansville Middle School, will talk about her first-hand experience with book challenges and (attempted) censorship with Terry Trueman’s Stuck in Neutral. She also visited C&I 431 class this spring, and my students felt her visit was invaluable. Not only did she share key resources in justifying a book choice – including through the National Council of Teachers of English and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center – she also talked about how the challenge impacted her students and her pedagogy.

In addition to the eight books listed above, students will also participate in literature circles about the Holocaust by reading either the autobiography I Have Lived a Thousand Years or the historical fiction The Book Thief.  We’ll read part of Simone Schweber’s book Making Sense of the Holocaust, and talk about how to approach the Holocaust and other genocides though literature.  Finally, students will give a book talk on a recently published, award-winning book of their choice.

Each week’s young adult literature and required chapters or articles will either focus on a literary theme (such as immigration, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and so on) or a topic (including multiliteracies, new literacies, cultural authenticity, and more).  I really believe that undergraduate and graduate students need hands-on experience in engaging with these texts in innovative ways – and I’ve built in time to participate in literature circles, engage in small group activities, use web 2.0 tools, and much more into the class time.

I used to teach a science fiction course for high school students, and I’m always looking for great young adult science fiction.  My son Cole is now 10, and sci fi and fantasy are genres that really appeal to him too.  He’s worked his way through Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief series, the Chronicles of Narnia, and many more.

Over the winter, I read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.  It’s the first in a trilogy, and the second book, Catching Fire is due out in September.  I couldn’t put it down, and finished it in a couple days – I then handed it off to Cole and he did the same.  (We also managed to get our hands on Catching Fire before its release, but we promised not to reveal anything!)  The book is narrated by 16 year old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apopcalytic United States.  Following a series of uprisings and disasters, the Capitol seized control.  Originally, there were 13 districts, but when the thirteenth district rebelled and was obliterated, the Capitol designed the Hunger Games as punishment for the remaining 12 districts.

Each year, one boy and one girl from each district is selected for the Hunger Games, a televised event that is set in an outdoor arena.  The winner of the Hunger Games is the only one left alive at the end – it’s a fight to the death where speed and strength are as important as cunning and intelligence.  When Kat’s younger sister, Primrose, is called to be a tribute, Kat immediately volunteers in her place.  Along with the other tribute from her district, Peeta Mellark, Kat then journeys to the Capitol.  Each district is known for its produce or industry, and District 12, located in Appalachia, is known for its coal mining.  Given that background, their Capitol attendants outfit Kat and Peeta in gorgeous flaming costumes.

Soon, Kat and Peeta have caught the attention of the audience – and of the Gamemakers, who manipulate the arena to put them in harm’s way.  The plot is complicated by Peeta’s on-air confession of love for Kat, which leaves the reader (and Kat) wondering if it’s a strategic move or a desperate confession on his part.  But if the Hunger Games leaves only one winner, then either Kat or Peeta must die.  Or can these “star-crossed lovers” outsmart the Gamekeepers and defy the Capitol?  Read it and find out.

When I asked Cole what appealed to him about this book, he noted the alternate reality setting and the action.  For my part, I loved that the book featured a strong female protagonist and that it brought up issues of government control, media bias, and human rights.  But I also find it fascinating how reading a book no longer involves a simple exchange between text and reader.

For instance, he publisher, Scholastic, has created an interactive site that features message boards, videos, and games, and Lionsgate has already acquired the rights to the film.  But what I think is really interesting is how fans themselves have found ways to interact with the characters and plot lines – as well as other fans.  They’ve created unofficial fan forums with discussions, fan art, and much more.  They’ve used YouTube to create cast lists and seek others’ input.  They’ve written hundreds of stories on FanFiction.net, offered feedback on each other’s work, and extended the story in ways the author never imagined.

As an English teacher, I spent years trying to get students to interact with books in this way.  But I learned that books that are too difficult or irrelevant to students’ lives won’t work… worksheets, vocabulary drills, and multiple choice tests won’t work either.  Literacy doesn’t just involve rote memorization or the recall of minute details – it involves truly interacting with the text, the characters, and the themes.  It involves critical thinking, hands-on engagement, and collaboration.  As teachers, we need to create environments in the classroom which allow for this.  Not only does it involve adopting new texts – and The Hunger Games is a great example – it involves cultivating new literacies and designing new affinity spaces.

I’m happy to say that the inaugural Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium on June 13th was a success! (Of course, so was the main GLS conference that took place the preceding three days!)  We had over 50 educators, librarians, technology coordinators, administrators, industry experts, and higher education faculty attend the GLS Educator Symposium – which we offered for free and on a Saturday to allow for more local educators to attend.

We received so much positive feedback from participants and our committee (including myself, Moses Wolfenstein, and Damiana Gibbons) are working to make next year’s GLS Educator Symposium even better. In the meantime, please join us on the GLS Educators Network.  Here’s a run down of the 2009 schedule:

Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium
Memorial Union
Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday June 13, 2009

9:30-10:00
Registration and continental breakfast

10:00-11:00
Panel Discussion: Games, Media, and Learning in the 21st Century Classroom with GLS faculty members Erica Halverson, Rich Halverson, and Kurt Squire with Shannon Sullivan from Worldwide Workshop and Hank Duderstadt, a game design teacher in California’s Alameda Unified School District.

How are youth using games and media in in-school and out-of-school settings? This panel discussion will cover cutting-edge research and development in this area, and note highlights from the GLS conference. Panelists include internationally known GLS faculty members whose work has helped to shape the field of media and games, and they will discuss their ongoing research in online spaces, after school environments, and school settings. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in critical discussion with panelists on these issues.

11:15–12:15
Panel Discussion: 21st Century Standards Meets 21st Century Teaching and Learning with Emilie Amundson, DPI English Language Arts Consultant; Erin Schwane, English Teacher at New Berlin High School; and Brian Sniff, Mathematics Program Coordinator for the Madison Metropolitan School District.

What does a 21st century classroom look, feel and sound like? How does the definition of “literacy” change to meet the demands of our fast-paced, 21st century world? How can technology become an embedded piece of all that we do, rather than a list of skills we teach in isolation? These are just a few of the questions the English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards design teams have asked while working to update the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. Come and get a sneak peak at the direction of the updated standards documents, and hear from educators from the writing teams about the possible applications for classroom level teaching and learning.

12:15-1:30
Lunch

1:30-3:30
Rapid Game Prototyping with University of Wisconsin graduate students Kevin Harris, Matt Gaydos, and Ryan Martinez.

Video games are just one way to integrate games into curriculum. Used within the video game industry, paper prototyping helps individuals explore content, think systemically, and iteratively develop game concepts – all using everyday supplies, such as dice, cards, pens and paper. In this workshop, participants will analyze a game in order to better understand how they work. Then, participants will develop playable games in small groups; afterwards, we will play the games created. The last portion of the session will be an open discussion between participants and the facilitators for feedback on how games and game design might be integrated into curriculum. Playful dispositions are a must, but no previous game design experience is required.

iPoetry in the Classroom with University of Wisconsin graduate students Jen Scott Curwood and Damiana Gibbons with Lora Cowell, Library Media Specialist at Hartford Union High School.

In this workshop, participants will create their own digital poems. The presenters will begin by examining the role that digital poetry can play in helping to foster identity development, critical thinking, and content area learning for students. They will cover the basics of how to create iPoetry; then, each participant will make their own digital poem by integrating visual images, music, and narration through the use of film editing software. The presenters will also touch on relevant issues of copyright, multimodal literacy, pedagogy, and engagement.

Demystifying Second Life for Education with Peggy Sheehy, Instructional Technology Facilitator and Media Specialist at Suffern Middle School in Rockland County, New York.

What is Second Life, and how does it support learning? In 2006, Peggy Sheehy established the first middle school campus in Second Life and will share what schools are already doing in this virtual world, what’s involved in establishing a virtual campus in Teen Second Life, and how increasing social interactions in an immersive 3-D platform can support learning. This workshop will address basic Second Life skills and provide an introduction to the educational possibilities. Sheehy will cover professional development opportunities, pedagogical uses and each participant will gain a sufficient level of skill to continue to explore independently. She will discuss support strategies, teacher and administrator buy-in, and policy issues. Participants will create their own avatars, alter appearance, and communicate via chat, IM, and voice; they will also learn how to navigate within Second Life, control the camera, manage inventory, and connect with like-minded professionals.

Games and Digital Tools for the Classroom with University of Wisconsin graduate students Moses Wolfenstein, Ben DeVane, and Suzanne Rhodes as well as Spencer Evans from Filament Games.

This workshop will offer educators hands on access to a selection of games and other digital tools for schools and classrooms. In addition to offering suggestions for how to deploy off the shelf games like Civilization and DDR, this session will also offer educators access to software designed by GLS researchers. Featured software will include: KidGrid, an application for collecting formative student data on the iPhone, and Game Star Mechanic, a web based game for learning game design. Innovative games for classroom learning from local developers Filament Games will also be available, including Resilient Planet, Coaster Creator, and Guardian of Law.

3:30-4:00
Debrief and discuss the day’s events

“I am afraid of this city where the lying-down people look like the dead. And the standing-up ones, like the walking dead” (p. 88). Thirteen year old Lakshmi has only known her home, deep in the mountains of Nepal. The harsh sounds of Calcutta disorient her as she tries to make sense of her new life.

She thought that she would work as a maid in the city in order to send money back to her family. Instead, she is sold into prostitution, where she is regularly beaten, drugged, and raped. Lakshmi soon realizes that “you are safe here only if you do not show how frightened you are” (p. 116).

Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a National Book Award finalist, is written in poetic vignettes. Each scene is beautifully crafted – the stark differences between Lakshmi’s quiet life of poverty in Nepal and her forced servitude in the brothel are revealed through McCormick’s rich use of imagery and metaphors.  The language is accessible (and indeed, Hyperion recommends the book for ages 12 and up), but the content is heavy.

In the author’s notes, McCormick writes that, “Each year, nearly 12,000 Nepali girls are sold by their families — intentionally or unwittingly — to a life of sexual slavery in the brothels of India. Worldwide, the U.S. State Department estimates that nearly half a million children are trafficked into the sex trade each year.” While some teachers and administrators may be hesitant to include this book in the curriculum due to the focus on child prostitution, an article in Time Magazine astutely noted that, “While the book is blunt, it is never sensational.”  Instead, Lakshmi narrates her experiences in poetic (yet forceful terms): “Men come. They crush my bones with their weight. They split me open.”

So, how could this book be integrated into the language arts curriculum?  I think that it could be readily used in 8th to 12th grade classes.  While the language is accessible for 5th to 7th graders, I do think that older adolescents could engage in more in-depth discussion and research on this (and other) human rights issues.  Patricia McCormick’s website has ideas for various content teachers, including links to articles in the New York Times and websites that deal with sex trafficking – for any teacher, I think it’s essential to have that background information.  Here are two ideas that came to me as I read through the book for how to integrate this into the classroom:

First, pair Sold with the (incredible) documentary Born into Brothels, also set in the slums of Calcutta.  I think that it would be fascinating to juxtapose McCormick’s rich imagery with the real-life images captured by children.  As a final project, students could take a section of Sold and create a digital story.  Not only would they have to match text with images, they would then read Lakshmi’s words – what better way to engage in perspective taking and multimodal thinking?

Second, use Sold in conjunction with other books (like Kaffir Boy or First They Killed My Father) as a way to talk about human rights issues, including genocide, apartheid, sex trafficking, torture, and slavery.  Most of my middle and high school students could recount details of the Civil War and the Holocaust – but far fewer could identify who Pol Pot was or why we should be concerned about Sudan.  After the second World War, we said “never again” – but human rights violations are happening again and again, around the world.  After reading Sold and other books, students could work through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – and then choose a human rights issue to focus on in a research paper.

In a couple days, I’ll discuss this book with my Young Adult Lit class – I’m really excited to hear about their ideas for how to teach Sold and how to integrate (contemporary yet potentially problematic) issues like sex trafficking into the language arts curriculum.

This is a wonderful talk by David Carson, author/designer of The End of Print, The Book of Probes, and Trek.  With ample humor, he offers his take on his work in graphic design, the role of visual images and print, and images found in media and public places.

It reminded me of our road trip to Upper Peninsula during the summer of 2007.  I was in the process of training for the Marine Corps Marathon, and since I love trail running, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the inaugural 25K Tahqua Trail Run.  One August day, we gamely packed up our car, and spent eight hours driving from our home in Madison to Paradise, Michigan.

Despite the fact that it was the peak of summer, it was only 34 degrees when the race started.  The run itself was absolutely gorgeous, if technically challenging (it gets a bit hard to hopscotch over tree roots and climb steep hills after you’ve been running for hours!)  And through a sheer fluke, I ended up winning my age category (lest you think I’m actually good at this, let me note that there were only two other women in my age bracket).

The run finished here, at the Upper Tahquamenon Falls (the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi):

But anyway, back to found images.  My husband and I are both avid photographers, and we love capturing images of what we encounter on our travels.  So, inspired by David Carson’s talk, here’s what we discovered in the U.P.

We decided that the hip hop horses would be friends with the rhymenocerous and the hiphopopotamus.