A lot of us need advice every now and again - I get mine from Kermit the Frog, thank you very much.

Ellen Israel, my administrative assistant, held a social on Saturday evening for the high school seniors she's been tutoring throughout the year with advice for getting into college and for crafting the exceptional college essay. As party goers departed, she handed everyone a special gift picked out just for them and I received Wisdom from It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider by Jim Henson. This, of course, was the perfect gift for amphibians in 2014. Some of my favorite nuggets are,

[Kids] don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. 

Simple is good. 

Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling. 

I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best.

I know I drive some people crazy with what seems to be ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked out for me.

When I was a tadpole there was really only one thing I collected. I had a file of newspaper and magazine articles on Frogs in Show Business. It was a small collection, but I think it influenced me a lot (Kermit).

And,

Kermit's function on this show is very much like my own in that he's trying to hold together this group of crazies. And that's not unlike what I do. ~ Jim Henson

All we need in our lives is a few muppets and lot of imagination. Everything else will fall into place... 

Nikki's Senior Varsity Year: Jitterbugging and Waltzing as a Northstar towards the WGI

It's hard to believe that it's been 26 years since Cynde's American Bandstand with Barry Manilow and, now, 26 years later, Nikki is in her senior year of high school beginning her last season with the CNS winter guard. It's even stranger to think that the Northstar tradition has put forth as many years it has in the MidYork/WGI circuit. That's a lot floor dads, moms, (and uncles).

Either way, it seems appropriate to give a shout out to my niece (and her fellow seniors) the morning after her (their) last home show. She (they) spends (spend) a lot of time arguing on whether her (their) rifle (saber/banner) and dance is a sport or not, but one thing is for sure...when it's done right, it is creative and innovative.

Here's to a great season for the varsity team and their weekly advancement with the show. I hope I'm able to make it to at least one this year, but if not, I have the music below to write the show in my head.

Ha! I just noticed something - Larry (their coach) totally made the uniforms this year based on Cécile McLorin Salvant's eye glasses, lipstick and hair color  (I think the team all needs the white glasses too, and the looped earrings!). Seriously - Google her!

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out! Out! Brief candle.

For a brief moment, I spent time with first year students in an English as a second language classroom with a teacher, Edna Garcia, a 2013 summer institute fellow through the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield. Ms. Garcia teaches at a school with 99% of the students on free and reduced lunch and a  47% graduation rate. Although she was feeling under the weather, an instant, momentary cure came to her as she grew excited to share with me the visual representation a S. American student did as she coached them through the junior year reading of Macbeth. Yes, the young man was literate in Spanish, but his English was limited when he moved to the United States and his first American school had him reading, well, Shakespeare. Ms. Garcia said that he studies the Elizabethan English to make sense of the story and (re)presented the tale through this art project built from wood, hinges and toys he had lying around the house. Outside the "castle" were parties of soldiers fighting before the door. Yet, when you lifted the top of the castle, the young man built a Leggo table where several soldiers and royals were seated. Not only am I amazed at the creativity, but I'm always fascinated by the class of tradition with developmentally appropriate texts in school. Here, however, the young man proved me wrong. Who cares that his first book to tackle in high school was Macbeth? Who needs beginning readers in English when one has a drive to tackle a piece of great literature.

Although I didn't get to meet this young man, Ms. Garcia explained that hearing him offer his artistic choices in the project for retelling the story was rather remarkable; she didn't know if he understood the difficult text or language that was mandated of readers. Alas, the ingenuity of youth outshines all expectations. With clever insight, interpretation, and critical thinking, he explained that the fair if foul, foul is fair theme was at the heart of his replicated model.

Something wicked this way comes when we don't have high expectations for what young people can accomplish. We should always view them innovative and brilliant. A few months in a new country, English as his second language, and in a school where the new culture is strange, he successfully portrayed his knowledge of a difficult text through art!

I am inspired.

Silver is the New Gold: Reflecting on Creativity Through the Example of Kathy Silver, BHS Art Teacher

A day in any school reveals the classrooms where the energy of youth is nurtured by teachers and where the pride of student success exists as a matter of habit rather than a condition of rhetoric. That is why I am always invigorated when I have opportunities to work with colleagues who captivate the creativity, support the tremendous dreams, an assist all excellence of youth no matter the cost.

Traditionally, the "silver" medal denotes a runner-up or a 2nd place finisher. This isn't always true, however.

I want to challenge the 'gold as greatest' symbolism, because the Silver I know, Kathy Silver - an art teaching extraordinaire - is as golden as any person can be. Her student-centered website, Team Silver, is a wonderful display of student achievement and it showcases the ingenuity, artistry, and clever composing a teacher can accomplish with students despite the obstacles they face. Silver is the new Gold, indeed. She is a coach and mentor, her team wins awards, and she captures student perspectives as they brainstorm together for ways to be heard (additional golden excellence can be viewed at BHS Got Art?).

Graduates from Bassick High School take notice, too. In fact, one - Daniel Trust, a Rwandan genocide survivor - recently created an award in her name:

The Kathy Silver Award was created in honor of high school Arts teacher Kathy Silver of Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut for her passion of teaching, caring for her students, and giving back to her school community. This $1000 award recognizes teachers like Mrs. Silver around the country (USA) who truly care for the success of their students and do great things that give back to the communities in which they serve. 

The award is deserving. Silver most recently solicited Christmas meals with her students to distribute to families in need at her school. The altruistic actions speak volumes of her humanitarian spirit. She is definitely someone I am privileged to know.

The focus too often in K-12 schools is misguided. Educators become policed over numbers, statistics, the negative constructions about youth, new curricular mandates, and 21st century policy shenanigans. Yet, as always, the actions of educators speak louder than any tool the nation creates to measure a teacher's effectiveness. The brilliance and excellence of teachers like Kathy Silver who view their students as more than test scores runs the risk of going unnoticed when we don't acknowledge the tireless contributions they make in school, for communities, and with students.

To be creative, a student must tap into all corners of their heart, soul, and mind. Everything about art calls on them to use higher order thinking skills and to be critical of the world around them. - Kathy Silver

Why art? Because art communicates.
Why art? Because art is emotive.
Why art? Well,

If you hear a voice within you say, "You cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced - Vincent Van Gogh 

Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home. -Gwendolyn Brooks 

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls - Pablo Picasso 

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance - Aristotle 

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for - Georgia O'Keeffe

Why art in school?

Because teachers like Kathy Silver, deserving of the award in her name, help young people to communicate beyond the voices that oppress them. These teachers provide visual maps for students to use on the journey of life with all its ups and downs. These teachers cleanse the debris students live with and share ways for for them to look within to find the greatest answers. In short, these teachers create opportunities for students to express themselves and to be heard.

There's much to be learned from those who master the art and profession of teaching. This, I argue, should be at the core of every state standard and evaluation system - a truth real educators know. If we want knowledge of how teachers perform in school, we should listen to youth and what they have to say about the teachers who work with them. The validity is more reliable, I've found, than any value-added tool we create to measure teacher effectiveness.

Imagine if you wake up one day and you are only a centimeter tall. First steps? Labor in the kitchen. @minimiam

Holy Lilliputions, Gulliver! What a wonderful find for 2014. Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle are brilliant. This is one of the greatest discoveries ever!

Yesterday, I was introduced to the artwork of Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle's Minimiam (translated, Mini Yum) - the creative collaboration of a wife and husband team in France. The two place miniature people together with random items of food and showcase whimsical characterization, labor, story, and  perspective. Interested in food and photography, their work has been a European celebration and spectacle....at least that is what I'm guessing from the numerous blog articles on them.

I can see why, too. For fun, I did a basic Google search and discovered several photographs that quickly threw my grumpiness out the window. (You can do the same by clicking here).

I now want to put all the tiny figurines in my own home to work (yes, I have several as Angela Lomax, class of 2006, initiated that trend). Already I imagine the Samurai warrior who cooks with me unionizing with the peanut hammerer (above) to create a revolution against Creative Crandall. They could be good friends and, for fun, ride the miniature turtles, frogs, and ladybugs I have as they war to bring rights to their world from the dictator that I am.

 I also think the artwork of Ida and Javelle will be extremely useful in writing workshops with students of all ages (including their teachers). I hope to begin this tradition very soon.

Looking through their photography, I grew the same smile as when I first saw the french film, Amelie and when I learned of Waking Life. I really wish more people were born with this brand of genius. For today anyway, I shout to them with a Kuumba! Kreativitet Award. Wonderful.

La vraie éloquence se moque de l'éloquence, la vraie morale se moque de la morale. True eloquence mocks eloquence, true morality mocks morality. Pascal.

Received a Sunshine Award And Am Spreading the Warmth to Others - The Influence of Others Who Blog Goes Out To....

Yesterday began with a surprise Tweet from my technological, English-loving literacy friend, Collette Bennet, who surprised me with a Sunshine Award for maintaining this year's creativity blog. 

Collette Bennette: UsedBooksinClass.com

Nominating or receiving a Sunshine Award is a way for bloggers to get to know each other. There are unlimited winners to this award because this operates much like the chain letters of old. Get an award from a fellow blogger, and then nominate 11 other bloggers to participate. I suspect that sooner or later, every blogger in the world will be nominated proving the blogging universe has no degrees of separation blogger to blogger.

I was honored, although I usually don't respond to such chain mail requests - in fact, I hate them. This, however, because it's new, intrigued me (and I'm not promising that participants will win the lottery or be executed by alien militants if they do). Instead, I thought it would be a perfect way to continue Kuumba in 2014 and to stop myself for a short while to write on my blogging influences. So, here it goes - my attempt to follow the five rules of the Sunshine Award, although I'm not the most rule-oriented fellow.

 RULE #1 Acknowledge the nominating blogger: Collette Bennett, UsedBooksInClass.com

 RULE #2 Share 11 random facts about yourself.                                 

1. I am the Director of the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University where I teach in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions.
2. I just got back from the gym where I work to fight genetics, age, and a lifelong dream of one day having a normal body.
3. The older I get, the more important my family becomes: sisters, parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.
4. My interest in technology began in Louisville, Kentucky, where I have fond memories of my first emails, the first classroom computer, and the promotion of digital tools with my students.
5. I currently live in Stratford, Connecticut where, at present, traffic is ubiquitous (that is the I-95 contribution to the world).
6. I read a wide variety of materials, but have always loved the work of Douglas Coupland most.
7. My passion in life is to promote best writing practices in K-12 schools and to help others to see that writing is abundant, multiple, clever, purposeful, and important - I write to think (hence seven years of blogging).
8. I have no pets at the present time, although my memories of Baby and Juliette Catherine are extremely important - they brought much joy to my life.
9. I belong to the Literacy Research Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Writing Project - this trio organizes the majority of my professional life.
10. I use two last names: Ripley and Crandall, even though Crandall is my real last name. Ripley is my mom's maiden name and it represents everything I've ever known about creativity and spunk.
11. I have a love/hate relationship with academic thinking, but understand that while in Rome.... 

RULE #3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.

1. What book would you want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?  an empty journal, so I could write about my experiences stranded on a deserted island.
2.  What did you learn from your mother? How to make my grandmother's creamed potatoes. This is a phenomenal contribution I'm able to make at gatherings in my life.

 3. Where do you write? Mostly in my living room seated in my overstuffed, tropical chair  
      purchased during a Pee-Wee Herman phase.

 4. Where do you find joy in your classroom or work?  I love writing conferences and 
     conversations, including walk-in-talks that I learned from my mentor, Sue McV. Writing is 
      a culmination of conversation and there's nothing like a good, fast paced stroll to get 
     the brain thinking about what it is we truly want to say.

 5. What do you do to recharge? Believe it or not, I go for a long run, usually five miles, 
     where I sweat out my insecurities and contemplate new ones.

 6. What was your favorite book as a child and why did you love it? Miss Twiggley's Tree. I 
     have always loved the eccentricity of Miss Twiggley and how no one valued her oddity '  
     until she saved everyone during a torrential rain. Sure she lived with dogs, cats, and 
     bears (and up in a tree) but she meant well and merely wanted to be who she was 
     without the need to justify it.

 7.  If you could have dinner (or coffee or drinks) with anyone living or dead, who would it 
      be and what would you want to ask him or her? Anyone who has ever known me will 
      understand I've always been partial to Oprah Winfrey. I'd invite her, Robin Williams, Carol 
      Burnett, and Jim Carey to play Charades with me.

 8.  Do you have a quote that you keep (in your mind, a notebook, a pocket, your desk, etc.) 
      that captures something that seems important to you? If so, what is it? For every 60 
      seconds you spend angry, you lose one minute of happiness - Emerson

 9.  What are you afraid of?  Closed spaces, suffocating, and not being able to move.

 10. How do you feel about being the age you currently are?  I like that I'm about to be 42 
       because it was the # Jackie Robinson wore. With that noted, 18-21 was an exceptional 
       time. Why? Priorities: studying, partying, learning, wondering, and life with few financial 
       responsibilities and little knowledge of the 'real world.'

11.  If you could go back to one moment in time, when & where would that be & why? 
      Seriously, I cherish every  second I had as a teacher at the J. Graham Brown School in 
      Louisville, Kentucky, especially under the leadership of Ron Freeman and the era of 
      portfolio assessments. His vision, coupled with a quirky school to celebrate the unique 
      potential of every individual in a culture of diversity, and the outstanding colleagues, especially 
      Alice Stevenson, made for educational/professional Utopia.                                                    

RULE #4. List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!

1. Collette Bennet's UsedBooksinClass has been a site I've appreciated since I met her in 2012. Her energy, commitment to 21st century literacies, and clever insight is amazing. She's also extremely SMART. That, coupled with the fact that she is the oldest child of multiple siblings and the mother of two Marines makes her a writer in command. She commands my attention!
2. I've been following one of my academic sages, Marcelle Haddix, as she commits to online writing through her new blog, ZENG: Everyday Living Well, Zen Gangsta Style. Marcelle is an extraordinary thinker, activist, academic, and doer and the title of her blog describes her work beautifully. She's tough, but at the core is a spiritual serenity that I've always admired. With her, I've been able to make Writing Our Lives-Bridgeport a possibility - she gave birth to the community activism in Syracuse and I was proud to be with her along the way.
3. I try not to be political, but the 3rd and 4th blogger-influences have taught me that I must be. Jonathan Pelto at Wait What? writes daily about educational issues in Connecticut that lead me to more understanding about the complicated nature of working the State.
4. At a more national level (but also somewhat local) is Diane Ravitch, whose expertise on educational policy continues to educate me on her site to discuss better education for all.
5. My next blogging influence encompasses multiple bloggers because it is a hub for National Writing Project-like minded folks like me and, when relevant, I repost my thinking onto their platform in Digital Is. It is a remarkable collection of others who promote writing in K-16 schools.
6. Another academic all-star who has made a tremendous impact on my thinking as a researcher of writing in our schools is Troy Hicks and his blog, Digital Writing, Digital Teaching: Integrating New Literacies into the Teaching of Writing. He, to me, is the Papa Smurf of this genre.
7. In the same vein, and more locally, are the dynamic team (friends from their doctoral program and Connecticut scholars, Ian O'Byrne (Digitally Literate) and Greg McVerry (INTERTEXTrEVOLUTION). Those who are members of LRA know they are the go-to guys for digital composition (although Greg's site isn't working today, even though it was a week ago....hmmm)
8. While in the classroom (and continued today), Victor Davis Hanson has continued to impress me with his historical knowledge, willingness to challenge the status quo, and remarkable insight to politics, throwbacks to repetitive mistakes by governments, and prolific writing at VDH's Private Papers (are they as private as they should be....another hmmmm)
9. Father, colleague, friend, and fellow CWP Director, Jason Courtmanche, also writes about educational issues in Conecticut on The Write Space: a blog for teachers and writers. In my three years in Connecticut, his mentorship has meant the world to me and I know few who have done more for writing in the state of Connecticut.
10. Sherman Alexie is the intellectual genius of our time and what I appreciate about his writing, thinking, poignancy, and wit the most is he stays true to himself, his thinking, his beliefs, and his humor. He blogs on his website, Sherman Alexie, and like Douglas Coupland, I can't get enough of his writing.
11. Wow. I made it to eleven! That was easier than I thought it would be. Following Alexie as a mind-to-know while I have life, is not necessarily a blogger, but a tweeter. Everything about @VeryShortStory by Sean Hill is remarkable.                                                                                  

    
    

    At this point, I'm supposed to acknowledge my personal Sunshine Award recipients that they've received the award (albeit from moi - the big names don't know who I am nor should they) and request for them (if they want) to pass on this chain blogging prompt (it was worthwhile once) and to answer any or all of the 11 questions listed below. I'm sticking with Collette's questions (because I'm exhausted from this much thinking and can't think of others:

1. What book would you want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?
2. What did you learn from your mother?
3. Where do you write?
4. Where do you find joy in your classroom or work?
5. What do you do to recharge?
6. What was your favorite book as a child and why did you love it?
7. If you could have dinner (or coffee or drinks) with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you want to ask him or her?
8. Do you have a quote that you keep (in your mind, a notebook, a pocket, your desk, etc.) that captures something that seems important to you? If so, what is it?
9. What are you afraid of?
10. How do you feel about being the age you currently are?
11. If you could go back to one moment in time, when & where would that be & why?             

Kreativitet & Kuumba! Ubuntu!

What's Your Thinking Cap? For Me, I Have To Have Something Tied To My Head Before I Write to Contain the Thoughts

Last night, my colleagues (a Louisville connection) had me over for dinner and for a pre-semester gathering before the madness of teaching begins once again. Of course, they have two young boys under five, so they have few gaps from the madness. Madness is what they know in southern Connecticut.

While we were eating, Shannon asked her son a question and he responded, "I'm thinking."  She replied, "Do you need your thinking cap?" and, within seconds, her son ran to the kitchen to fetch one. It was instinctual and beautiful. He returned with a colander from a drawer and placed it on his head. It was then he remembered what he wanted to say.

I laughed and admitted I, too, put things on my head when I'm trying to write (although a colander is a novel idea). At times, objects on my head are unnecessary, but when I REALLY REALLY need to concentrate, I have to contain my thoughts by wrapping them up.

Why? It's a superstitious, metaphorical thing. My brain is active, whacky, fast, and alive creature and it is very hard for me to concentrate on one thing for a designated amount of time. Had I been born in the 1990s I'm sure I would have been prescribed Ritalin, but as an 70s-80s kid, I was merely known as creative and/or eccentric. It works for me.

Sometimes I use scarves. Other times, I sport a series of hats I keep around the house. I've made turbans out of bathroom towels, head robes out of blankets, and box toboggans out of, well, cardboard boxes. I've been tying things to my head while I write for as long as I can remember. Whether it's a tie, a belt, or even a series of grocery bags, they must be worn when I really have to write. In my office at Fairfield, in fact, I have a drawer full of items for emergency writing. When I was working on my second Masters degree, Environmental English: Sustaining the Environment through the Marriage of Earth and Words, my roommate screamed at me, "Seriously? You're wearing a couch cushion on your head!" I was 25 or 26 years old, but I got the thesis done.

A Louisville Connection

Even while working voraciously on my dissertation, "A Responsibility to Speak Out": Perspectives on Writing from Black African-Male English Language Learners with Limited or Disrupted Formal Education, I contained my brain symbolically with medical bandages, toilet paper, or even my dog's leash. It's simply a cure.

My brain has always been excessively creative - sometimes to a point beyond control - so the headgear thing works as a panacea. When I go off on a random rants of silly wackiness while teaching my students will often stop and say, "um, that was interesting." I admit to them, " I only unleash, vocally, 1/100th of what goes through my mind in a second."

I wear things on my head to contain what comes out of my mouth (or fingertips). I wear the title of World's Most Random Man with pride.

When things are tied to my head I am focused.  I am productive. That is why I I hope this kid wears his colander for the rest of his life.