Mr. Kabodian’s Blog

I wanted to share Marianne Forman’s blog with you. She teaches 8th grade at MacDonald Middle School where I teach. She went through the RCWP Summer Institute several years ago. She’s currently traveling in Turkey with 15 other teachers as part of a Fulbright-Hays Program. They’ll be there for 4 1/2 weeks. She’s an effervescent woman and a gifted writer. Enjoy her travels via her blog or since that link doesn’t seem to want to work at this moment, go to the East Lansing Public School website — it links from one of the main articles at the top of the front page.

I’m taking a class through the Ingham Intermediate School District. It’s about how to facilitate online courses. I’m looking at ways to incorporate more online aspects to my 7th grade English class, as well as thinking down the road to when I may actually teach a class online.

The class overview caught my eye. I’m about half way done with the class and I’m feeling more competent all the time. I’m in a small group so I feel more connected than the other two times I have taken online classes. This one actually started out in a face-to-face classroom, but the majority of it is done online. We just finished our first group project and it was a collaborative wonder. I liked how each of us had a job (notetakers, timekeeper, coordinator). We each read a section of an online article and took notes. We came together and discussed three things in a chat room: the purpose of creating group projects in an online class; general strategies for creating the group projects; and the importance of creating community in online classes. During the chat, we used bits and pieces of what we had read and summarized, but it wasn’t a regurgitation of our summary by any means.

For an earlier project, I made a digital reflection on the notion of a facilitator having four pairs of shoes: the shoes of an instructor, a social director, a program manager, and a technical assistant. Check out my digital reflection on Teacher Tube.

Okay, I haven’t written on my blog, lately.
I’ve been busy.
Sometimes, life is more important than a blog.
(actually…it always is)

I’ve been..
…taking more walks, sometimes even with Judy.
…playing softball with my son on our church team.
…planning for lessons about the book we’re reading in class (The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963) that I haven’t taught before.
…attending band and choir concerts, a musical, and that cool reading Rachel was in about the cigar factory workers in Cuba
…writing blog entries in Word, but not finishing them.
…figuring out what computer to buy, buying it, and slowly forming a strong emotional attachment with my first MacBook (calling it “love” seems a bit overstated).

I even had a Mental Health day recently…and I didn’t get around to writing on my blogs — that’s just wrong.

So today, a Personal day, I put pen to paper to keys and clicked on Publish to get my thoughts out there.

Too much wind and rain —
Better to meet, eat, and walk
With a friend. Golf later.

I’m a bit out of practice with my haikus.
If you’ve read my entries, you know I’m trying to have more fun this year. Here’s one more example:
Tomorrow’s lesson — The Watsons are finally going to Birmingham, like it says in the title. A long car ride in an enclosed space with people you love…for the most part. So, tomorrow my class will read a bit of the book and then we’ll be playing car games in their book groups. I’ve made the book groups, so these are not necessarily people with which they prefer to be. I’ll need to teach them a couple of the games, but here’s my suggested list: I Spy (outside or indoors) or the Alphabet game, Dots, Add a Word Story, 21, 20 Questions, “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking…(something that starts with the letters of the alphabet).” It should be fun, connect with the book, and give them something to talk about at home. I think their homework will be to play one of the games in the car over the weekend.

I’ve made a conscious effort this year to make my teaching more fun, both for me and for my students. The reasons seem obvious (and yet I’ve listed them below), but it’s the consequences I hadn’t thought about when I made the choice.

Here’s the short list of why I’ve been choosing fun:
• to combat the depressing headlines
• to combat people’s preoccupation with GLCEs, MEAP, SAT, ACT/MME, SQRL CHYSZ, and other wacky acronyms
• to help students enjoy school instead of fear/hate it
• to help me enjoy more aspects of my job
• to improve the general mood of the school
• to increase students’ willingness to do what I ask

You’re probably wondering what sorts of fun things I’m talking about. Here’s a list of ‘things-fun’ I’ve added this year:
• I started a Chess Club after school; we meet every other Thursday and on the opposite Thursdays I’ve given some beginning juggling lessons.
• We have a class wiki and each student has his or her own page. Generally, students put their final drafts on their page, include photos and links relevant to what we’re studying, and are able to comment on each others’ pages. Students, however, can also add a few applications to personalize their page; a couple games, YouTube videos, and things like a ‘fish’ to feed have increased the fun factor.
• I love music, so I’m playing it more in my classroom. I play my favorite jazz, rock, blues, and folk music before school, during my planning hour, and as students come into class. I’ve had album covers decorating my walls for years, but I’m trying to share more of the actual music with my students. There’s also the fact that when I listen to music I can’t help but sing and dance, which students aren’t always sure I should be sharing.
• From time to time, we use the last 10-15 minutes of a class period to play a game together. We usually play an online game like Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Word games on the GameshowNetwork, and Traveler IQ Challenge, but we’ve also played Name a Country (each player names a country, you can’t name the same country twice, and when you can’t name one, you’re out).
• I’m walking to work more often, which puts me in a better mood all day.

My efforts are paying off. Students tell me they enjoy the music (usually), look forward to playing the games (especially when Jolly Ranchers are involved), love to spend time on our wiki, and relish the challenges of chess. It really is fun seeing them get something out of school that they weren’t expecting — a laugh, a bit of trivia, a feeling of success, a talent, a place to feel connected, a new appreciation for a song or artist.

“At what cost?” you may ask. The biggest downside is that a few students equate more fun with less work. They think English class is all fun and games if we do some fun and games. It’s that all-or-nothing thinking sneaking in. “Mr. Kabodian’s class is more casual at times, so I’ll act casual all the time.” And as long as it isn’t infectious — doesn’t spread to the whole class — I can take a bit of that reaction. Enough students are buying in, staying focused, and producing more to continue this radical fun philosophy for a long time. You can’t please all of the people all of the time and, frankly, I never planned to do that; Mr. Kabodian is pleased and that sets the tone for the room.

One of my favorite dreams that I can remember is flying around MSU’s campus. I associate it with a freeing feeling though I know if I ever did it that there would be some fear involved too.

Aaron and I were watching Modern Marvels on the History channel today when this piece on Wing Suits came on. It seems like one step from Science Fiction, but it seems to work. They actually “fly” for awhile when dropped from a plane. The clip online even says that it’s quiet enough up there to talk to each other.

So, I’m left with the dilemma…would I, could I, should I fly? It appears to be real and the summer is pretty long. I have a credit card. Hmm. Now that it’s a possibility, I’m in that excited, confused, scared, excited phase. I’ll get back to you on this one.

{Recently, I asked my students what they learned in English class first semester and what their goals were for the upcoming semester. What follows is my attempt to ‘write with my students.’ I realize that my assignment is in late…I guess I’ll just mark myself down 10%.}

In the evening, I like to ask my son what he did at school that day. I ask my daughter what she’s learning in her college classes. And I ask my students what they are doing in their other classes. I do this partially because I’m a curious person, but mostly because I like to get all these people reflecting on their lives. Most of these people do not journal. They go from one event to another, giving each one their attention, but never really looking back at it all and seeing how it all fits together.

I’ve been journaling since I was 18. It’s not that I have tons of profound things to say. It’s not that I want to change the world through my words. I just happen to believe very strongly in the power of words. It also helps me remember what went on years ago because I am not one of those people who can tell you what they were wearing when they had lunch with you four years ago at Panera. Mostly I journal because the world goes by too fast; I can’t make sense of it at the speed it’s traveling, so I stop every once in awhile and think about what’s happened. I need the extra time to process what’s happening around me. And it helps. I feel more healthy when I’ve been writing regularly.

The past semester has been a success in so many ways. Possibly the most important reason was completely out of my hands: I had an amazing intern from MSU. On the first day of school, Annie was asking to be involved; her confidence and competence shown through right away. She had the names of all the students memorized before I did — and I’m no slouch. Countless times in the four months she was in my classes I would begin to do something (get a student on track, get an assignment for a student who had been absent, take the attendance, address those students in the back who talk too much…) and she already had begun to do it. An intern can be so much extra work, but an organized, go-getter who knows her stuff is a real blessing and Annie Bernacki was just that.

Then there are the students. I’ve been impressed by, among other things, their willingness to try new things. I’m pretty sure most of them had not created a wiki page before this year and they took to it enthusiastically. Most of them followed my directions in creating their wiki pages and I’ve noticed that some of them use hours of their free time to update their wiki pages. I’ve had very few problems with them making negative comments on each other’s pages or putting up inappropriate videos or anything like that; they seem to understand that having this page is a privilege and they treat is as such. And the same can be said for our time using Windows Movie Maker in groups — I’ve seen young people working well together, doing their best, asking intelligent questions, open to learning new tools.

My goals for this coming semester:
• We’ve worked on grammar and sentence structure somewhat, but I see many students who need to write more clearly, so we’ll work more on those skills.
• I want to put our Research Reports up on our class wiki in an organized manner; I’ve already had several students help create pages and links for what we’re calling “MacDonaldpedia” — like Wikipedia, but about the things we are interested in here at MacDonald Middle School.
• I want to continue to expose students to technology that can be used to improve their communication skills; we’ll be looking at Voice Thread soon and I hope to incorporate it on the wiki also.
• This week, I will be presenting a session at our district’s professional development day; I hope to keep informing other teachers of the technology options they have and helping my colleagues see ways they can use those options in their classrooms. I’m also the Technology Liaison at Red Cedar Writing Project and I hope to share some of those options more freely with my RCWP Teacher Consultant friends.
• One of my goals this year is to make learning more fun for my students. I hope to continue that in a variety of ways.

I’m an early riser.

I woke up at 5:30 (without my alarm) and began to crawl out of bed to go jogging on our treadmill. That’s when the phone rang and I received the glorious news that it was way too cold for human children to go to school. Snow day! Actually, Incredibly Cold Day.

I tried to go back to sleep, but after a few minutes I decided to burn off those calories from last night’s meal with a 15 minute jog; I enjoyed listening to a few chapters of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time on playaway digital audio book while I ran. That time could almost be called professional development with all the insights that book shares, through story, about the mind of an Autistic child.

Then I pasted some of the calories back on with a breakfast of one hard egg, hash browns, a couple smokey links, and a muffin with peanut butter and honey. Our general pattern is take advantage of special days by starting them off with an extra-yummy meal.

The next few hours included…
…reading the Lansing State Journal more thoroughly than usual
…several games of Sudoku on facebook against my son
…two games of chess against my son (in person)
…one handheld Yahtzee game
…correcting and commenting on many book reviews written by 7th graders
…layering significantly and going to the grocery store for a few items
…writing a draft of this post and a few emails to a parent, a student, and a colleague
…getting lost exploring a very comprehensive Inauguration website
…making dinner (yes, I can cook)

It’s true, I played many games on my surprise day off. And, of course, I won some and lost some. But I find that I always win when I do some correcting. That’s partially because I get a bit of work done. If I put off my correcting for too long it piles up, but a little correcting (interspersed with gaming) gets the job done in due time. Mostly, though, I enjoy reading what my students write. There are many gems along the way; Molly commented in her book review that “if you can’t read, you need to learn how so that you can read this book.” That’s classic stuff. It shows a genuine love of reading, as well as a thorough enjoyment of that story. Sterling’s amazing wiki page that incorporated photos, a map, and decorations in with her review was so good I plan to suggest she contact the author of the book so she can see it. And even the fact that over seven students chose to read Twilight (or some other book in the series) made me happy; they can then read each other’s reviews and comment on the subtle differences in what each saw as important and worthy of mentioning.

Teaching can be stressful. There’s no doubt about it. But a class of excellent students can make all the difference. When they want to learn, seem interested in books, have a sense of humor, take feedback well, ask great questions, share what’s going on in their lives outside school, help each other out, and smile at you in the morning…you know you picked the right profession.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie

The title of this book intrigued me. How can someone be a part-time Indian? And then I wondered about the “absolutely true” diary part — what complete truths would I hear and how would I really know they were true?

Even though this is a fiction, the story is based on the teen years of the author, Sherman Alexie. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. The main character in the story is Arnold “Junior” Spirit. Junior was born with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, and survived a life-threatening brain surgery as a young child. His enlarged head, as well as over-sized feet, odd eyes, stutter, and other issues made him the brunt of jokes on the “rez.” One day, he finds his mother’s name in one of his schoolbooks and, fed up with the lack of new supplies and his poor existence in general, he flings the book; it hits his teacher and gets him suspended.

Ironically, Junior’s teacher ends up having a heart-to-heart talk with him that convinces him that to have a full life he needs to leave the rez and go to the wealthier, white school in Reardon. So he ends up splitting his time between living on the rez where he’s shunned further and going to the white school where he has trouble fitting in at first — that’s where the part-time Indian phrase comes from in the title. It’s one of those “I don’t feel at home anywhere” stories…done well. Junior ends up finding his niche on the Reardon basketball team, but that proves to hold more conflict than he expects.

The “absolutely true” part of the title comes through in Alexie’s genuine characters. Junior speaks with an authentic teen voice that includes a wide range of feelings: anger, joy, frustration, hope, confusion, disappointment, love, and more. Junior’s main outlet is drawing — he makes cartoons of the people and situations in his life; those drawings seem to help him deal with his own feelings, as well as the anger of his best Indian friend, Rowdy, and the racism he finds in the white school. Another ‘real’ part of this story is the frankness with which it is told: teens swear sometimes, teens have oddly brutal ways of showing respect, and teens think about their own sexuality more often than most adults probably realize.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to teens and adults alike, especially those teens and adults that can handle honest sharing of thoughts on some delicate topics. This book reminded me both of how tough and how joyous it is to be a teen. There were many ‘laugh-out loud’ moments and more than a few tragic events along the way. I listened to this book as a Playaway digital audiobook and felt honored to hear the author reading it; on the other hand, though, I had to go find a hard copy of the book in order to truly appreciate the fantastic cartoons and other drawings by Junior. Alexie’s writing was fresh and engaging. I appreciated both the reminder that Indian life is hard on reservations and that we are in control of our choices and are largely responsible for our destinies — both important messages from a must-read novel.

Sometimes I get quite distracted. I focus on some shiny, sparkly thing instead of what I actually want to focus on. It could be any shiny sparkly thing, but I have a specific one in mind. Let’s just call it my vice. You can substitute in your vice if it makes you happy, but I’d rather keep my vice mysterious.

My vice makes me happy for a couple reasons. First of all, I get a break from that thing I’m supposed to be doing. We all know that too much of any one thing is bad for you — even if, maybe especially if, it’s work. It seems like there is always some work I could do, whether it’s related to my job, to our house, to our cars, whatever.

Secondly, my vice temporarily feeds my soul. It makes me happy. That’s why I chose it. Enough said.

People like to talk about virtues this time of the year. I’ve been preoccupied with my vices, maybe partially from the books I’ve been reading (The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin and (on Playaway mp3) The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie). (I’ll be writing book reviews on both of them soon)

Vices can teach. Mine have taught me. I’ve learned moderation and balance from them. Too much of a distraction can wreck my whole life. It can take the focus off those I love, the work I do, the foundation of my beliefs. I learn humility from my vices, too. Of course, I never thought I was perfect, so sin is just a part of life. But we present a fairly perfect picture of ourselves to the world and, if we’re honest with ourselves, we need to look and deal with our imperfections more often. Humility is under-rated in our society; humility could use an agent. I’m reminded not to be so selfish by humility. Between my vices and my beliefs, there’s an interplay of selfishness and selflessness. Journaling gives me time to remember that I need to be more about others and find balance when things starts to get out of whack. Maybe you need that reminder, too. If so, you’re welcome. If not….never mind.

Some people just write well. I enjoy reading writing that speaks the truth or makes me laugh or teaches me something. Lately, I’ve been reading some amazing writing and I feel the need to share.

I’ve been making myself read a war novel since we are at war. It’s my way of connecting in a very small way with what’s going on over in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m almost done with Of Uncommon Birth: Dakota Sons in Vietnam by Mark St. Pierre. I’ve been reading it in such fits and starts since late summer, I think, because I can’t stand reading war novels. The characters become semi-real to me when I read a book. I hate knowing that they (like some completely-real people) chose to be in the war, put their lives on the line, and died. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a well-written, important novel — especially if you have a tie to South Dakota as I do — but the Armed Forces mentality, which St. Pierre captures well, varies between worrying me and infuriating me.

One of my best friends also happens to be an insightful, prolific writer. Troy Hicks is currently an English professor at Central Michigan University. His blog constantly amazes me. He thinks about things deeply. By that I mean that he takes a subject (integrating technology into the classroom in meaningful ways, for example) and explores it on many levels. He can switch back and forth between theoretical reasons and practical applications like flipping a switch. I especially appreciated his reflections on our recent trip to San Antonio for the NCTE/NWP Annual Conferences (see his November 26, 2008 entry); I had to share those thoughts with my colleagues in my building. He addresses the ins and outs of how teaching with technology affects the writing process (and doesn’t affect it), as well as the added responsibilities that come with the tech, both for teachers and student writers. I could go on and on. He inspires me and I’m pretty sure you’ll find something there that interests you, too.

This one is just a link I learned about at NCTE. It’s called Newseum and it’s the front page of hundreds of newspapers from around the world — 629 front pages from 59 countries to be exact. No guarantees, but every day your bound to find some well-written pieces if you frequent Newseum.

One certain good read is the New York Times. I get it delivered to my email daily with the afternoon update (a condensed version, but it’s free and it’s most always high quality stuff). Another way to get it is to subscribe to it on Google Reader. Recently I read/watched How to Increase Your IQ, a video story by Nicholas Kristoff. NYT consistently teaches me things that I just don’t learn anywhere else. And they do it with intelligence and even a bit of humor sometimes.

And now for something completely different — Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar. It’s the most enjoyable way I’ve ever seen to learn about philosophy. The theories are presented briefly and humorously. Then the fun really begins. They find jokes that illuminate the theories. Read the book for the jokes. Learning is optional.

Finally, I have to share the book I have just begun reading. It’s Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning. Waitzkin is best known as the subject of the movie, Searching for Bobby Fisher from 1993. So far, I’m finding Waitzkin’s ideas fresh and though provoking: recollections of his early days playing chess, his straightforward writing style, and his insights into teaching and learning. His foundation is also giving the book free to educators (though I paid $3 for shipping). Of course, like any reader, I have some text connections with this book: I love to play chess (and lead the Chess Club at our school), I enjoyed the movie (which we showed to our 7th graders last year), I sat in some of the same spots he played chess in at Washington Park in New York City, and, oh yeah, I’m a teacher.

It’s all about the connections. Thanks for taking time to read this…and I hope you follow through, check out some of these leads, and make some connections of your own.