Thinking about teaching English when it seems the world will surely end...w/ Dr. Richard Miller

The Apocalypse

That was the subject, in sorts, of Dr. Richard Miller's talk last night at Fairfield University as he contemplated the role of the humanities in a conversation he entitled: Cultivating Curiosity in These Our Distracted, Polarized, Irate, Ill-informed, Dysfunctional, Fractured, Broken Times

Dr. Miller made his case by asking the audience to detach for 60 minutes while he overviewed his thoughts on raising children, teaching, exploring apocalypse in literature, and questioning the unbudging traditions of scholarship in higher education.

Why teach English when it seems the world will surely end?

The betrayal of technology, he requested, was to allow temporary focus - the ability to be present in an ever-changing landscape that is chaotic and informationally overloaded. The enduring question was, How do educators ask difficult questions that don’t have real answers in a world where finding answers is at the fingertips of everyone wanting to immediately know more?

A student can't be interesting unless they're interested. The educator's quest is to help students find interest in everything around them.

To make his case, Miller overviewed several talks hosted across Fairfield's campus this week: scholars from multiple angles of expertise held lectures for a generation of undergraduates and academics - it's all right here, happening now. Knowledge. I couldn't help but wonder, though, "Perhaps we've failed society by hoarding opportunities and knowledge within small communities. What about the ones beyond ivory tower walls? Who hosts such conversations and dialogue with them?" This is my service / scholarship in action belief.

Education is Stuck in the Past.

We are a nation where virtually all carry distracting devices that keep us from focusing on any one thing for a very long time. This, it was argued, might be robbing children of the benefits that come from being profoundly bored - the confrontation of discovery that comes when you aren't totally interested in the subject at hand, but you can't do anything about it.

Information superabundance + loss of focus = shallowness 

The pre-Internet age fantasized the isolated writer, composing for an audience at a distance, seeking the proverbial publication to be distributed to regions of their imagination where information was controlled by him or her and access to knowledge was scarce. Mastery arrived with those who proved they had control of content.

The Internet Age creates an environment where everyone is connected, present and embodied, Information is immediate, dialogue is global, knowledge is ubiquitous, and resourcefulness is the key to moving forward.

Educators need to teach resourcefulness. Resourcefulness = Mastery.

Dr. Miller made his case by drawing on dissertation processes imagined in libraries where only a few are parading the aisles to collect information that others rarely read. Now, he explained through an example of his daughter learning soliloquy in a high school classroom, the information is available in her room: Wikipedia, YouTube, Google Searches, etc. A new generation - with digital tools - are writers who can get instant readership depending on their mastery of collecting information quickly and rearranging it in new, innovative ways.

Data storage in a single brain is the past. We all have digital brains carried in our pockets. This changes the way we learn.

Our institutions are preparing young people for a world that no longer exists.

The 21st century classroom should encourage students to compose in graphs, images, text, maps, animation, data, sound, video, etc. Students should show they can think through self-generated information, recordings, online archives, production, etc. They must be producers and consumers. Knowledge is no longer created by individuals  constrained by the traditions of institutions and academics are falling behind if they don't embrace this. It remains that scholars have ethical and moral obligations to the world, but how can any have control of all the information available to them?

This, perhaps, is what causes the apocalyptic vision rampant in American society - the end of the world - because no one can quite manage the future any longer. Video games, movies, the Zombie craze (see my nephew, Dylan) are examples of a younger generation trying to make sense of the bombardment of knowledge coming at them - it's easier to imagine death. Death is a simple hope.

My critique? I think it is a 1st world, western dilemma to be pre-occupied with apocalypse because of the multiple privileges we're afforded. While Chicken Little visits doomsday-ists, those who have less are quicker to see the privileges that come with new tools. I think about the 2 to 3 hours of digital composing I witnessed relocated refugee youth engaging with outside of school, but the mere 10 minutes they were expected to write in school: institutional restraints caused by measurements of knowledge, traditions, and old paradigms for intelligence restricted knowledge because of bureaucracy. These young men were smarter than our schools. 

The Hunger Games helped me realize how most with power in the United States are replications of the plastic and excess found in the Capitol under President Snow's reign. Here, the privileged can watch death in the arena because they are so far removed from it in the nature of their superficial lives. Meanwhile, in the districts where tragedy occurs daily, there's no time for dreaming of the apocalypse. Rather, there are only hopes for a better world.

The apocalypse, then, is born out of guilt. That's my thinking.

Rifting on something I feel needs to be written and brainstorming a little here: Schools

I'm connected to a lot of Twitter Feeds, email list servs, Facebook communities, and snail-mail organizations. I feel, like most educators, I'm at the epicenter of schooling and hearing from everyone what they think needs to happen next. I agree with many, dispute more, and ask questions abundantly. I feel, at times, it is not either/or, but both/and. I began to think about this after watching several videos of parents in Staten Island effectively articulating their resistance to charter schools in their community. They wanted a voice and, under Bloomberg, they argued, they weren't heard. The charters came anyway.

I'm not sure I'm the enemy of charter schools because they were borne from the very place - the passion - that made me a teacher. Believing in excellence and looking at career options, I chose the life of an educator. Perhaps unique to my decisions, however, was that I became committed to urban education. As I went through my undergraduate degree, my Masters in teaching degree, a Masters in Science, Bread Loaf School of English, University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, and then my doctorate, it was always with the drive to make K-12, public schools better, especially for young people living in marginalized communities.

That is why I've been thinking about the following:

Politicians can do better:

Those we vote into office need to listen to parents and teachers about the dreams they have for their children. They need to be cautious of snake salesman who promise golden roads. They should look into how money is being spent and whether or not it reaches schools, teachers and students in effective ways. They also need to hold themselves accountable to the demands they make on schools through today's testing empire. It is a waste of resources, time, $, and energy, especially when the testing measures little. They also need to begin investing more into public schools. The last two decades has seen a drastic decline in the support given to school systems. It is, as Kozol pointed out, The Shame of the Nation.

Teachers can do better:

A student I loved teaching, who is now a teacher, sent me a message after I Tweeted a cartoon that was pro-teachers that "Some teachers should be fired." I actually agreed with him and it is one of the reasons I belonged to a union, but disliked them immensely. They protect the wrong kinds of teachers. To me, a good teacher should embrace their students, their school, and the parents of the kids they're working with. They should also have one foot in the door of local universities and national teacher movements so they remain fresh, motivated, and inspired. If teachers aren't reading, complain incessantly, and aren't seeking ways to make whatever situation that gripes them better, then they are part of the problem and should move out of the way.

Parents can do better:

Another student I taught once reminded me that I only influenced her 5 hours a week and that I was a blip on her radar for success. She said this out of spite, but I listened to her and she was right. A vast majority of a child's life in their first 18 years is out of school, but the only location governments can control how they behave is in school. The results of local and national examinations are usually not positioned as the fault of parents, but they host the majority of a child's life beyond school. They need to collaborate with teachers and expect administrators to establish learning communities of appreciation, respect, and motivation. They needn't be helicopters - but they should recognize that it is not easy raising a child and no one has the absolute solution. They should stay in touch with their child's teachers AND talk to them about books they're reading, work they do, and conundrums they face. If they are not acting in ways that affirm their child's well-being (contributing to the world in positive ways), then they should reevaluate their position as primary caregivers. They should think deeply about why they brought a kid into the world...and begin evaluating their own lives.

Students can do better:

The one thing that frustrated me more than anything else when in the classroom, is when I witnessed a child doing nothing, turning to friends who also did nothing, manipulating their parents who accepted their doing nothing, and argued against any accountability at all. Kids know what is right. Yes, school is ridiculous at times, but there's a job that must be done. Wandering hallways, talking back to adults, disrespecting their classmates and themselves, and totally wasting everyone's time is inexcusable. They need to step it up, too. If they aren't coming to school to attempt personal growth on a daily basis, then they are wasting everyone's time. Yes, growing up is about figuring lots of things out and that is forgivable. Yet, if a kid enters school without a plan of action for their own well-being then they simply should stop coming. A teacher can do little with a kid who is unwilling to participate. They can poke, prod, and beg, but it wastes time that could be spent working with kids who desire to grow. The world moves fast...there's not much time for the apathetic. It's simply pathetic when they act this way.

I can do better:

I always thought that the successes I had as a teacher were because I seldom blamed anyone but myself. When a politician, colleague, parent, or student bothered me, I either worked professionally to fix the problem or I kept my mouth shut. Complaining, I found, turned to whining, and whining wastes time. I went to libraries to read more. I consulted professional friends. It was rare for me to give up on a kid or a fellow teacher. There had to be a solution and, I felt, it was my professional obligation to find one. I went to a doctoral program, I suppose, because I needed new answers of how to do better (only to come to additional revelations that higher education is part of the problem - and now I'm amongst them). I expected more of myself so that I could provide more to others who are also looking for solutions. I try to listen, network, read, reflect, and write so that tomorrow I can be that much better. I also feel that the privileges I have as a University professor are many and it is my social responsibility to leave the tower and learn with the majority of people who do not think like academics.

We can do better:

We have to ... In my 18+ years in public education, I've never seen anything like what I'm seeing right now. Teachers have been cut at the knees. They've had their arms tied. There is duct tape on their mouths and the nation is throwing apples at them. Meanwhile, our government is saying, "RUN. SPRINT. FASTER. BETTER." It's abusive. At the same time, the investment is being reallocated to organizations that claim 'excellence,' but are nothing more than an Amway pyramid. Everyone is blaming everyone else when all of us should be held accountable to what we are doing to each other. Schools have a purpose and, I'm sorry, those purposes can never be common and at the core to all learners in every building. Yet, the objectives for young people to be better writers, readers, thinkers, and doers is achievable in every classroom....that is, only if we trust educators as the professionals they are. We all need to revisit Dewey and what it means to be in a democratic nation. We need to check our motives and interrogate them for what they really reveal about who we are.

I've never been to Baton Rouge, but LSU, here I come (with a responsibility to speak out)

Since completing my dissertation, I've had this tremendous weight on my shoulder to do as much as I possibly can to advocate for relocated youth in American Schools. As my dissertation was entitled (thanks Omar), there's a "Responsibility to Speak Out."

It has been a dream to design a course with the primary focus of reading, thinking about, and exploring refugee narratives in literature. When I saw LSU's call for a Young Adult Literature Conference in Baton Rouge, I couldn't help but chisel at my notes to design a seminar. All I had to do is look up at my library.

On Monday, I learned that my proposal was accepted and during the first week of June I will be working with several great minds, including Chris Crutcher, Joan Kaywell, Teri Lesesne, Chris Crowe, Kimberly Willis Holt, Steve Bickmore, and Matt de la Peña. 

It is only a weeklong seminar so I have to be precise and creative. The design, however, is to give academic writers (like me) an opportunity to compose with other writers (like them) together and to look for outlets for the work. My administrative, Ellen, suggested, "Bryan, You can write, but you also need to network. You need to bring these writers to Connecticut, too."

Phew. A tall order. I'm looking forward to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It will be a week of SKYPE as I want my boys with me during the seminar. Hmmm. I'm actually thinking a little more creative right now, even for me. I wonder about a long weekend in New Orleans with them to celebrate the experience (don't tell them I said that).

It's only Tuesday, but I'm flushed. Actually, I'm motivated by the creativity of blue...

It's official.

I AM COOKED.

It's only Tuesday, but over the weekend I had to do final touches to two LRA research proposals and also I had to prepare for classes (hence the Measure for Measure post yesterday). This month, I'm totally losing any sense of ME time.

That is why Monday arrived, I went to work early (minus the threat of a snow day without a single flake), and I instantly began getting on top of the week (so he thought). Alas, I forgot I had a day full of meetings, and when I came to campus to chisel away at the immediate emergencies, I realized I didn't have time to attend to them...I needed to be on my A game without the preparation to get there. Today was a hold-your-breath-and-survive day.

In other words, I had to wing any success I hoped to attain. Lucky for me, I did this and, in fact, I only had 30 minutes to prepare six hours of conversations before I was sucked into the vortex of responsibilities I neglected for my Monday morning.

My point? I need to be better with my calendar in order to see what lies ahead.

At 8 pm I returned home and knew I was fried. I stated to myself, "There's one goal you can accomplish - put away a month's worth of laundry." I did this and when I went to get ready for bed, I flushed the toilet. I forgot I bought  blue dye cleansers and the oceanic azure water made me smile.

Yes, I am losing most of my sanity, but I can recognize the small things in life that make me happy. Today, it was yellow + blue = green.

No. This is not meant to be one of my intellectual posts. It's simply meant to recognize the creative moments for whatever they mean.

Hmmm. What would I expect my sisters to do in order to save my life? Measuring the Measure of Personal Ethics.

Here's The Scenario

Let's say I knocked up a woman out of wedlock and, because President Obama wanted to make a case out of our oversexed nation, he had one of his leaders, Arne Duncan, punish me to death for the out-of-wedlock shenanigan (note: I'm calling on Arne Duncan for a reason).

Now, let's say that both my sisters were extremely chaste - no liquor, no sex, no drugs, no wine (Cynde) - and devoted their lives to the church (KC does this already, no?)

To make things more interesting, let's say Arne Duncan, who called for my death, became fond of both my sisters (stirrings) and propositioned them to sleep with him in order to save my life.

Let's speculate for a minute. I know this would never happen, but this is the nature of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Would I allow my sisters to screw Arne Duncan in order to keep me alive (Arne Duncan is the Secretary of Education and, like Angelo in the Bard's text, somewhat of a vile human being - that is, he says one thing about what's best for American students and teachers but is driven by another - $$$)?

I don't think I would ever be able to consent to my sisters making a sacrifice like that (not with Arne, anyway). Maybe it's my feminist undergraduate training or the fact that I was raised correctly, but whoring my sisters to keep me alive would never be justified. I'd rather be done with my life than know that they slept with Arne Duncan.

Of course, this is only my perspective. The question for my sisters in this quagmire would be if they suggested going through with the hanky-panky in order to keep me alive. Why would they want to do this? Easy. So I could be the husband to the woman I knocked up and help raise the child that resulted from the love-fest. Maybe they would say, "A quickie to keep our only brother alive? We'll do it." To them, it might be a matter of how much they love me. I wouldn't want to subject them to the 'CEO' of McEducation, however, and if they did this for me, I would never be able to forgive myself. I would have to live with the fact that I am alive because my sisters gave in to the awful ideologies and corrupt mind games of Arne Duncan. I couldn't do that.

Yes, Measure for Measure does have me thinking about To Blend or Not To Blend as I previously wrote. If it was reversed, and I had to sleep with Arne Duncan to keep my sisters alive, I'd most like send my brother-in-law, Mike, instead. He could bring his hand puppet with him. That would be okay and everyone would live happily ever after.

Finding Creative Moments in the Everyday - a life well lived. @kwamealexander

Part One:

I went for a run at 2:40, right before the Syracuse game, as a way to unwind from my laptop and to get fresh air before whatever winter mess arrives tomorrow. After, I got Chitunga because I promised him that we'd watch the Syracuse game together, but trying to kill two birds with one stone, and finding the game on the radio, we chose to practice driving from tip-off to UVA slaughter (is this good for 'Cuse as they find themselves so late in the season? I dunno. It's  only a game) 

Chitunga and I also went to dinner for Chimichangas because I decided Chimichangas with Chitunga was hilarious sounding. At dinner, we had a remarkable talk about time and chronology.  We played a game where we laid out major events of our lives from 1996 until 2014 (the year he was born and I began teaching). We realized that we have a book in us, depicting globalization, urban school experiences, mess-ups in 9th grade, learning, and dreaming. We could use Kwame Alexander's expertise. Investing in this young man is easy; he's someone to watch out for.

Part Two

Vision.  I came home to see that my sister, Cynderballz, was serious about buying white frames for my niece and her friends for their Cecile McLorin Salvant Winter Guard performance to Jitterbug Waltz. They sent me this photograph and it is exactly what I envisioned it would be. Perfect. 

Although campy and probably not part of the vision of their director's program, there's something uniting about these frames that, at least, creates sisterhood and family amongst the wearers. This and the others sent made me feel like I could be with them when I'm a five hour drive away. I am very much looking forward to seeing them in Albany in a couple of weeks.

And, being who I am, too, I also wrote Cecile McLorin Salvant and sent photographs (Now, I wonder if she will respond). Lord, I hope she's not offended, but flattered by the karma these replicas bring to the world (I also told her she needed to order Kwame Alexander's Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. Perhaps my favorite 'Say Yes' man, cough cough, already sent a copy. I know how much he loves good music, too, especially Jazz, and if the book is ever made into a movie, I know who I'd want on the soundtrack).

And so, yesterday was a good day. I'm feeling creatively inspired.

Education is the most powerful lesson, indeed, to change the world; first we must do something with it.

He wakes up. He drives to University of New Haven and purchases a sweatshirt for a friend's daughter who was accepted there next year.

He drives to Hill Central. He works with literacy leaders and plans two months worth of professional development, digital literacy work, and SLAM poetry events (while delivering 40 copies of Troy Hick's book and a few iPads).

He drives to Bassick in Bridgeport to meet with the administrative team to celebrate the partnership work that led to the New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award and picks up dual enrollment student, Anmol Tabassum.

He arrives to the press conference where Mayor Bill Finch and Fairfield University President, Jeffery P. von Arx announce the award and gives a shout out to the Connecticut Writing Project, several colleagues, Upward Bound, Gear Up, and student, Anmol Tabassum.

He drives Anmol to her father's store and heads to his office to get work done. He calls Daniel Trust, Rwandan genocide survivor and collaborates an evening for him to visit camp.

He learns that 7 young men have signed up to attend a Fairfield University home game against Marist with his EN 12 class, but doesn't know how to get them there. He rents a van. He uses the van and picks up the young men who have been in the United States for only a few months.

He attends the game and watch the Stags win on their Senior night. He drives the kids home, but realizes their English is limited and many of them do not know where they live. He thanks the Great Whatever that he has enough cellphone battery to plug in makeshift addresses to navigate city streets at 10 pm.

He arrives home at 11 pm.

I agree with Mandela...Education is the solution and I will do everything in my power to make as much knowledge accessible to all students, especially those who are often overlooked. #proteacher #prokid #lovingtobelieveinhope