changelog @ tengrrl.com: Another busy day

Today, despite Duck's interruptions, I managed to get some reading done. Okay, so it was just a magazine. I went over to campus and found Cindy. It's important to get your Cindy hug as soon as possible.

One of the problems with Houghton this year is that they're getting a SuperWalmart. I don't really like Walmart, but options aren't very wide up in these parts. The problem with the forthcoming SuperWalmart is that they are still greatly in construction mode. The parking lot is a mess, and the store is worse. Even the employees can't figure out where things are. And some departments are spread around in three different places. I never did find some of the stuff I was looking for. I finally decided that there was no price the EconoFoods store would charge for an air freshener that would be so high that I would spend another moment in Wal*Mart.

EconoFoods is a little mixed up too, but it's boatloads easier than Wal*Mart. I'm still befuddled on some of the items they do or do not stock. Like canned fruit in juice--good luck. It's all in syrup. Oh well, they have romaine lettuce and fresh fruit. That will have to do.

When I got back, the "Deluxe Suite" was blazing hot. I was totally confused. I had left fans on and windows open. I didn't have time to investigate though because there was DSL to deal with. See arranging for DSL in advance here apparently just means that someone takes your money and puts it in some (presumably interest-bearing) account of their own. After multiple phone calls and e-mails, I was assured on May 5th that DSL would be hooked up and ready when I arrived on the 29th. I got here to find nothing but a phone. No DSL.

So I shot off another e-mail and late this afternoon got a response that said, "oh, you have to come to EERC B24 and pick up the equipment." They closed in 20 minutes, and I had no idea where I was going. I ran and rushed, and ultimately, pantingly, managed to get there minutes before they closed. They handed me a DSL modem, told me to sign something, and said, "She still has to turn it on but she'll do it before she goes." So much for the "on or before May 29th" that they promised.

When I returned, it was still blazing in the "Deluxe Suite." The thermometer read 87. I decided to try to put a fan actually in the window—ah, there's the problem. This morning there was a great deal of annoying loud mowing. I've never known it to take so long to mow such a small amount of grass. Well, they closed the windows when they were out there, presumably for access. I must have been in the shower, because I never heard them. The M in MTU may sometimes stand for Monkeys. I finally had to close the windows and blast the window A/C again. And I stripped and took a very cold shower. I think it was that or heat stroke. After things cooled off, I opened the windows again.

I still had to figure out how to make the DSL work. They provide no cables and no instructions. Where are the instructions? Oh, they're online. Sort of a chicken and egg setup. You can't get online to get the instructions because you need the instructions to get online. So using my own cables and a modem connection to find the instructions, I finally got things set up. They have a strange system where you can't use a wireless setup, which is not making me very happy; but I'm online for now and it's no longer dial-up.

Duck did ask me to post his pictures from yesterday. Well, actually only one of the pictures. There is another that he's trying to bribe me to lose. I'm stubborn though. That picture will eventually go online, my little Duckie.

I also posted a new ReadWriteThink lesson: Naming in a Digital World: Creating a Safe Persona on the Internet. Still a lot of work that I need to do. I'm behind on e-mail and other things; but I'm tired and going to bed. Breakfast tomorrow morning is at 7:30, and I'm so not a morning person.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog | English language arts | K12 instruction | ReadWriteThink | technological literacy

Earlier in the frustration process, be sure to check whether the media card has been formatted as a Mac disk rather than a Windows disk.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Back where we started

I think furniture rearrangement is now complete. The sad thing is that I've ended up putting everything essentially back where it started. It's still not an ideal set-up, but I think it's the best I can do without the crew from Changing Rooms.

Once I got the room rearranged, I finished unpacking the writing supplies, which consist mostly of books and other technologies. I managed to get the pictures off of my cell phone, since I can't seem to mail them from Houghton. I decided that I might as well switch to the real camera, since I have to hook it up to the computer to download the images whether I use the cell phone or not. Problem is that I have spent the better part of 8 or so hours trying to get the darned pictures off the camera. I hadn't ever tried to attach the camera to this particular laptop, so I didn't realize that the cables are all serial. But this machine doesn't have a serial port. It only has USB. No problem, I figure. I'll just use the card reader. But the computer will not recognize the little smart card. I have installed and uninstalled and reinstalled and shopped online for other options. The thing is that I have a perfectly fine card reader. I just can't get it to read. Windows sees the reader, just not the card. I am not amused.

When not being frustrated by technology, I have pretty much just been lying about. The thing about the UP is that the sunlight lasts so much longer in the summer. Between the sun and the fact that I'm really still on the Central timezone, I have no idea what time it is. My body is totally confused, and I'm not helping by being in a semi-depressed napping place. Sometimes there are just too many echoes. Sometimes it's a sappy commercial. Other times I'll happen on a news story or something. I think of all the things I didn't do soon enough—and the things I'll never be able to do. Sometimes it doesn't seem worth trying, and technology is not helping my mood today.

I have so much that I need to get done, and I'm not really accomplishing anything. I feel like I need to make this massive list and somehow figure out how to get it all done. I have essentially 20 days to create a 125-page manuscript. 6.5 pages a day--plus the other things that I need to accomplish. Like I apparently need to fight with the MTU telecom people because there is no DSL in this Deluxe Suite, and I paid for it on May 5. It was supposed to be here on my arrival. Cable options are horrid. I never knew how truly depressing basic cable could be. If you have any questions about the area, the cable line-up will help you figure it out. There are four ESPNs and Fox Sports. There's an MTV channel that today seemed to be offering a tribute to 50 Cent. No Turner Classic Movies. No Penn & Teller tonight because I don't have Showtime. At least I have Comedy Central, though with my luck it will be all repeats in a special celebration of summer. I think it would cost me $20 to get them to turn on HBO and Showtime. When faced with the fact that I just finished watching Small Soldiers on TNT for the second time, giving up $20 seems a minor sacrifice. My brain cells will be burned out if this keeps up.

I know. You're thinking something like why doesn't she just turn the darned tv off. It's my habit. I write best with the TV on in the background and my diet brown soda within a few inches of the mouse. There's no way I have enough music loaded up on the iPod to last 20 days, so that's not really an option. I think 1/3 of the files are audiobooks anyway—and I'm certain that I can't listen to a book being read while writing. Odd really. My literacy skills let me watch tv while I write, but I don't think that I can listen to a book while I write. Somehow, that requires more concentration.

I guess I should taken another of my many naps. Who knows what time it is. I'm sure it's at least an hour later than I think. Maybe tomorrow I'll finally figure out how to get today's papparazzi photo of Duck online.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Monday, May 30, 2005

So here I am in Houghton. Sure, I could cross the bridge and be in Hancock. But maybe later. Right now I'm in Houghton and that will have to do. I think I've rearranged the furniture in this Deluxe Suite a dozen times, and I still can't get in a comfortable writing position. Really, it's a lovely room. I just seem to have extreme writing needs. The big problem is that I need to write a book—plus about a half dozen other things while I'm here. I just can't imagine that happening at the uncomfy desk. It's a fine desk and all, just not a desk that I think I can write at.

So I think I need to rearrange again. There seems to be a pack of 3-year-olds outside the door. Um. let me check on this unexpected high-pitched loudness.

Okay, children have gone outside now. At least it was happy children noise. I'm a lot more tolerant of happy children noises than I am of the screaming-loud bang-crying of a child with a boo-boo sound that happened upstairs last night. It went on just 3 seconds sort of my going upstairs to make sure the kids were okay. This morning's happy, chirpy, bouncy noises suggests that they survived.

I guess it's time for me to rearrange the furniture again. It seems impossible to find a position I can write in—and even more impossible to find a position that doesn't block the windows. There's so little circulation in this apartment in the first place. Blocking the windows too seems lieke a bad thing (especially since that makes opening and closing the windows impossible). The best thing would be if I could just toss several pieces of furniture out. I'm guessing that the residential services people wouldn't appreciate that. They probably don't appreciate that I ripped the stupid plastic off the window air conditioner. It was blazing in here and I needed to turn on the fan to try to pull some extra air in here.

I guess I have now crossed over into the land of procrastination. Time to post this and get to rearranging the furniture.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Definite Challenges

There seem to be definite challenges to traveling with a duck, even one who is a presidential candidate. If you've seen Shrek 2, recall the little roadtrip to visit Fiona's parents. Just replace Donkey with a duck, and you have a good idea what my day has been like. He has a slightly different story, so let me show you.

"No. I do not care that that road was named Duck Lake Road. We are not driving down it."

"No. You may not pose with that Rhinelander green monster thingie."

"No. You may not ride with your head out of the sunroof."

"No. I do not think there are semiotic implications to worry about if we do not rest at a rest stop."

"No. I do not know what waters meet at Watersmeet."

"No. I do know who Bruce is, and I do not know who he crossed."

"No. I do not think McDonald's is interested in your idea for a Snickers Sandwich."

"No. Not even if you suggest the snappy name McSnickers."

"No. We are NOT there yet."

"No. I do not know why."

"No. I do not know who thought that picture of a weasel in a white disco suit was a good idea."

"No. That is not what they meant by the name Wilderness Car Wash."

"No. I do not think it would be fun to open the windows in the car wash."

"No. You may not fly the rest of the way."

And people think it's FUN?!?!?! to go on these road trips?

Let me end with "pub" names—you can try to figure out which ones are real. And if you figure it out first, I'll send you* a postcard (*People who are now attending MTU, who are teaching at MTU, who have taught at MTU, or who graduated from MTU are ineligible for this offer). Here is the list. Do not believe anything that Duck says. He claims that he'll offer tips.

The Running Bear
The Chain Skimmer
Stinky Sam's
Uncle Weasel's Exotic Dance Emporium
Foxes Den
Existential Fred's
Gay Bar & Grill
The Alley Yooper
Nutini's Supper Club & Cocktail Lounge
Slim's
UP Pub
The Anatomically Correct Deer
Soft Nellie's Club Go-Go

No. He did not drive me to drink. I can drive myself, thank you very much.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Presidential Upgrade

There are newly-found benefits to traveling with a presidential candidate. Duck managed to talk the front desk into the "Presidential Upgrade." Yes, you're seeing that correctly. That's a Jacuzzi over in the corner, beyond the bed. And yes, if you really must know, those are my clothes on the bed. I'm no fool. I stripped and got in. It takes a lot of water to fill a Jacuzzi tub, but I'm working on not feeling guilty about it. Duck has presidential thinking and such to do, but I don't. I deserve to be in a Jacuzzi. I'm not sure why he thought we needed this room, but I won't complain. I'm not sure about Duck's ethics, but that's his problem—and he's claiming a different story.

The drive to this hotel resting place was fairly reasonable. Duck seems to be a much better traveling companion than the various bears and cows. Maybe he's just so busy planning his campaign that he didn't have time to interrupt constantly. Besides, I think he was enjoying The Wee Free Men—except for those few moments when he was confused by the massive Hormel Chili can. Still, we may need to spend a little less time with the book. It's influencing me without my permission. As I got out of the car here at the motel, I felt all achey from the drive. There are many exclamations of unhappiness that would be appropriate in such a situation. What word slipped from my mouth, unbidden, without any thought on my part? Shit? Damn? Hell? Poop? No....Crivens. I've only been listening to the book for 5 hours, and I've adopted its language?

Time for me to go do something appropriate for a spa-like room. I'm not sure whether I'll lounge or give myself a pedicure. Tomorrow's drive is a little longer. I hope Duck's good behavior holds. Hell. Who am I kidding? I'm not even worried about tomorrow yet. I'm just hoping he doesn't steal the blankets tonight.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Getting underway

The time has come. Nearly everything is in the car. The supply of diet brown soda is always the last thing to load. Stanley is watching the office and will take anyone down who dares even to consider messing about with my cubicle. KR will be at the house, tending the needy houseplants and generally doing whatever strikes her fancy. LH will be watching the grounds to ensure that there are no incursions of unfriendly flora or fauna.

Duck, of course, is still out in the car—and he better not be touching the three loaves of bread from Great Harvest (else I foresee some Peking Duck in his future). Terry Pratchett is out there too. So I suspect that there are other creatures hiding in the car as well. It's okay. I'm taking an iron skillet. Off to the wilds of Wisconsin, on the way to the CIWIC shores of Michigan.

Tags: tengrrl's travelblog

Friday, May 27, 2005

Silly duck. He's afraid that I'm going to leave him in Champaign, so he's spending the night in the car, in the dark. I tried to convince him to come along inside, but he was having none of it. He said he saw how I was leaving Stanley behind and he was not about to be next—though he's claiming that he has political intentions for his car-sitting. Oh well. At least it lessens the distractions in the house as I'm trying to pack.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Wrote the Ideas section for this week's Inbox on spelling, to take advantage of the National Spelling Bee, which will begin next week.

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | NCTE Inbox | spelling

Labels: Inbox

Monday, May 16, 2005

Encouraging Guys to Read

Wrote the Ideas section for this week's Inbox on encouraging guys to read, which ties to Jon Scieszka's "Guys Read" interview on NPR.

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | NCTE Inbox | reading | ReadWriteThink

Labels: Inbox

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Another lesson plan

Finished a lesson plan that I began Friday night. Cooking Up Descriptive Language: Designing Restaurant Menus is now published on ReadWriteThink. I have several other lesson ideas, but can't seem to focus on any of them. Tomorrow will be a full day—content report is due and an Ideas section for Inbox.

Finished a book review for Feed, a young adult science-fiction novel that explores the feed, a technology that is implanted in children's heads, affects the various characters and the greater society.

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | lesson plan | ReadWriteThink

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Blogopoly & Other Bad Technology Metaphors

Friends from #blogshares shared the link for blogpoly. We're all a little confused about the groupings there, but it's interesting nonetheless. Blog research folks might want to look at what's represented and what's not, and etc.

I took the cute little Saturn to the garage today and had its oil changed. It's all happy now. Also changed Stanley's water and then watered the pouty purple plant.

While I was waiting for the oil change, I finished reading Click Here, but haven't had a chance to write up a review yet. I did type up a list of the world's worst technology metaphors. I can't believe that no one cut those from that book!

Comparatively speaking though, the book's stock rose when I picked up my next technology read: The E-Mail Mystery: Nancy Drew Digest #144. Oh. my. goodness. I had such pleasant memories of Nancy Drew from childhood. I read every Nancy Drew mystery I could get my hands on. I sat down to begin this Nancy Drew-meets-technology novel, and was ready to put it down on page one. I've never seen so much tedious exposition. The technology in the book is fairly predictable. We hear of floppy disks, dialup modems, and booting up. And of course, there is e-mail, given the books title. I may give up on this one. I'll give it a bit more time to grow on me, and then I may put Nancy Drew back on the nostalgic shelves.

Tags: blogshares | young adult literature

Friday, May 13, 2005

Wily cheaters exploit popular gadgets

xposted to Kairosnews

From ASCD SmartBrief:
Wily cheaters exploit popular gadgets
"As cheaper cell phones, cameras and other gadgets become more widespread with students, some fear that "technocheating" could grow. Districts are taking steps to thwart clever students, who ingeniously replace the ingredient labels of candy wrappers with tiny scanned crib sheets or load low-cost USB flash drives with hundreds of megabytes of notes." The Kansas City Star (Mo.) (free registration)

Tags: cheating | plagiarism | technology

photoblogging :)

The last couple of days have been littered with whatnot that needed done. Fixing little booboos and such. I had my meeting with the Senior Editor about my proposal. Now I guess I'm supposed to be writing a manuscript or something.

Last night I realized that I could use go@blogger.com to post with my cell phone while I'm up at Michigan Tech next month. I'm not going to write entries obviously, but I am imagining a bit of photo publishing.

A few more books arrived, but I'm still reading Click Here. Can't wait to write up the review, or more accurately the list of quotations, from that book. :)

Tags: photoblogging | young adult literature

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Where I'll be in 17 days

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Gift wrapping makes a great day

Today began happily with a package from LiteratiCat, which held my gift-wrapped winnings from the contest on teenliterature. An excellent way to begin the day.

I wrote my Ideas section for this week's Inbox, this week on reflection as a part of assessment. Then I moved on to edit a new ReadWriteThink lesson plan: Questions and Answer Books—From Genre Study to Report Writing.

We also published a new Flash interactive today, the Flip Book, which helps students create those a staggered length book--page one is the shortest and page ten the longest. I can only take credit for helping with the design, but it's taken almost a year to get it from design to reality, so I'm happy that it's finally done. We're planning spin-offs on the tool, interactives that use the same idea of templates and drawing tools to publish other artifacts (e.g., book covers, CD covers). Ideally, those won't take as long.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Books Team about my series proposal. I hope all goes well.

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | NCTE Inbox | ReadWriteThink | writing assessment

Literary Parodies and more...

Finished writing and published a ReadWriteThink lesson, Literary Parodies: Exploring a Writer’s Style through Imitation. It's a pretty typical assignment, but I had nice links, including to the Guy Noir episode, that I wanted to put together.

Reading Click Here, which has some scary imagery and dialogue that I'll have to type up tomorrow. I did go ahead and update my list of what I'm reading and new books that arrived. Tomorrow morning, I'll finish writing an Inbox Ideas entry on reflection and writing assessment.

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | lesson plan | ReadWriteThink | parody |

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Just found that not only is my plan to use technorati to track different technologies in the book reivews okay—it's even got a name: meblogging! The practice that site describes is slightly different, but it's the same idea really, so I feel a bit less guilty about perverting technorati to fit my needs :)

Tags: meblogging | tagging | technorati

Took time today to read the technorati documentation and begin tagging my changelog entries. I've finished all of May, which sounds impressive unless you realize that it's only the 7th. Still, I think I have a system set up, and I like the idea that even if people don't use the technorati links, the keywords will help with generic search engines.

I decided it was also time to figure out how to handle book reviews. I want to post details on the books I read, both those that have a technology connection and those that don't. I like the idea of building a library of reviews that I can return to when I need to remember something about a book. I did a bit of research on the available tools. There's a drupal book review module, for instance. Ultimately, I decided that just adding another plain, old blogger account was enough—and I can get underway much more quickly than would be the case if I had to learn and configure a new tool.

So I've added reviews @ tengrrl.com to manage the project. I think I've allowed for everything that I want to list, and I've created a basic template that automatically pops up whenever I create a new post. I decided to try using the technorati keywords for my own purposes to get things started. In addition to the basic keywords, I want to tag the technologies that are mentioned in a particular book. The goal is not only to have the info for anyone reading the review but also to help with sorting and finding (e.g., if you want to locate the books that refer to chatrooms). Until I figure out a better way, I have created custom technorati tags, which work out generally to [technology in the book] + tengrrlreview. For instance, chatrooms + tengrrlreview should get you a list of books about chatrooms that I have reviewed. There's only one right now, so it's not very exciting to clickthrough. I think the strategy can work for the short term. It's not quite what technorati had in mind, I'm sure; but it's a good compromise for now.

Tags: book reviews | tagging | technorati

Saturday, May 07, 2005

From The Little Red Computer to The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

xposted to Kairosnews.org

Quick—how would you say children first learn about and experience technologies? My typical answer used to point to television and movie depictions, commercials and advertisements, video games, access to computers in the home. As I've spent more and more time reading and exploring children's and young adult literature for my work with ReadWriteThink, I've found that computers and other technologies are more and more frequently integrated in the books that students read. Students without computer access may first experience the format of instant messages and e-mail in a novel, and students' experiences with the many netiquette and social issues surrounding technology issues may stem just as often from picture books and novels as it does from what they see on television or at the movies.

Over the last 3 years or so, I've been gathering fiction (and some nonfiction) that is directly aimed at pre-K to 12th grade readers to try to determine how the books that students read shape their attitudes about technology. The earliest picture book, The Little Red Computer, published in 1969, entertains listeners with the tale of a computer that doesn't understand numbers but ultimately succeeds because it is "a computer with a mind of its own" (27). Over the intervening years, children could choose from such picture books as Kermit Learns How Computers Work, Franklin and the Computer, Patrick's Dinosaurs on the Internet, and A House with No Mouse. Chapter books over the years have included The Computer That Ate My Brother, The Boggart, and Doing Time Online. Books published most recently not only include computer technologies as part of the setting, but they also include faux computer-mediated messages and texts as part of the story. M.T. Anderson's Feed shows readers a sci-fi vision where computers feed directly into the characters' heads, feeding these characters just-in-time facts and information. Lauren Myracle's TTYL and Ellen Wittlinger's Heart on My Sleeve are told through IMs and e-mails (and some letters). Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade by Denise Vega and The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt tell their stories through blog entries and Web pages.

I'd like to propose a conversation about the resources that students are likely to encounter, how they are likely to think about technologies as a result, and how we can tap these experiences in the classroom. It's unlikely that participants in the conversations will know (let alone, have read) the various texts that will contribute to this conversation. As a result, I'm thinking of this discussion as a highly hypertextual series of book talks that provide summaries and key issues from several of the books and then invite discussion about these texts. Rather than a polished piece, I am thinking of this presentation as an extended opportunity to make online resources that share the information that I have been gathering on my bookshelves. My goal is to begin and develop a project on technologies in children's literature that will be an ongoing source of information for K12 teachers as well as college teachers who are exploring how students' literacy skills are shaped before they reach the college classroom.

Tags: children's literature | computers in fiction | juvenile fiction | technological literacy | technology

Friday, May 06, 2005

More on NCTE's SAT/ACT Report in the News

Chicago Tribune
The Beauty of Brevity (editorial)

USATODAY.com
English Teachers Group Says New SAT Test Could Backfire

Minneapolis Star Tribune
Verbosity Over Eloquence Is New Worry on SAT Test

HindustanTimes.com
New SAT Attacked as Test of Stamina

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | SAT | standardized testing | writing assessment

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Puppy with a Dead Bird

I finally finished the technology profile lesson plan. It became Paying Attention to Technology: Reviewing a Technology. It doesn't feel like a stellar lesson, but it's done. I can't decide what to write next. I have several ideas written down, but I can't seem to focus. I should do something with all the YA lit that I've been reading, but I can't quite decide what. I especially don't want to come up with something that is so tied to a single book that it has limited usefulness.

I like this idea of adding keywords to entries. It would be even handier if I were to do it for my Lists of Ten. I should convert them or something. I never really know if they're in the best setup. Actually, I guess they probably never are in the best setup because I'm never using the cutting edge stuff.

I'm feeling very puppy proudly bringing an excellent gift to my owner who looks down at a dead bird. My writing isn't great. No one could be excited about that lesson plan. I don't seem able to come up with anything new that I can write. I'm just not having a great week.

On the plus side, I think that I finally have DSL setup for my trip to Houghton. It's taken the effort of five people, and I don't really have any confirmation on the payment. Maybe I should just give up and stay home. Things seem very messy right now. Or maybe scattered is the better word.

Tags: rambling | ReadWriteThink | tagging | technorati | technological literacy

Technology Counts 2005

x-posted to kairosnews.org

EDWeek's Eighth Annual Report on School Technology:
Technology Counts 2005: Electronic Transfer: Moving Technology Dollars in New Directions
"The report includes in-depth articles on issues surrounding technology spending, state profiles, and the first-ever ranking of state technology leaders."

Tags: computers | English language arts | K12 instruction | technology

Tags: humor | silliness | too much time on my hands

More on NCTE's SAT/ACT Report in the News

Washington Post
Tom Toles: SAT Test: Essay (editorial cartoon)

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Don't forget the facts: Adjust the new SAT writing section to give accuracy more weight (editorial)

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | SAT | standardized testing | writing assessment

It's 1:30 AM. I am not in bed. Perhaps a random picture of a duck dressed as a pig will help.

No. That didn't fix anything. It's still 1:30. It's even later really, and I'm still not in bed. This is a stupid thing to admit. I feel like time is slipping away from me. I don't know what happened to it all. Suddenly it was later and I can't really account for what I did during any of it. I wasn't asleep. I wasn't checking bloglines. I wasn't even buying and selling on blogshares. (We won't talk about this afternoon when I acquired some blogger and bought up more of the Notes from the Walter J. Ong Archives.)

I guess that it doesn't help that I was working on my technology review lesson plan till 7 and didn't get home till after 8. That would chew up a good portion of the evening. Maybe I have been numbly lost in thought and confusion. It's a good story anyway.

I tried to go shopping, but nothing I tried on looked good. I felt like the circus fat lady in everything. I want to believe that it was the lighting in the store, but I'm sure that's just wishful thinking. So when I finally did get home, I guess I just sat around and did nothing. There's something to be proud of.

Sometimes I feel like I don't even know myself anymore, let alone know the people I care about. I seem to make all the wrong decisions these days, and I forget to do the things that matter. Like going to bed... why aren't I going to bed? Everything feels like it's spinning and chaotic and beyond my control right now. :( Writing about it isn't helping though, so I guess I shall try to sleep.

Tags: duck | Duck for President | rambling

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

NCTE's SAT/ACT Report in the News

The report: Good Writing Instruction, Not Testing, Is the Best Preparation for College

NYT, May 3
SAT Essay Test Rewards Length and Ignores Errors

Washington Post, May 3
Teachers Give New SAT Essay Low Marks

Bloomberg.com, May 3
SAT Essay Has Schools Buffing Rusted Writing Skills

Chronicle of Higher Ed, May 4
New Writing Section on SAT Draws Sharp Criticism From Association of English Teachers

Inside Higher Ed, May 4
Failing Grade

Tags: English language arts | K12 instruction | SAT | standardized testing | writing assessment

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Everything Bad Is Good for You reviewed in Time

TIME.com: Children, Eat Your Trash! -- May. 09, 2005

"In Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (Riverhead Books; 238 pages), the social critic and technologist (Mind Wide Open) makes a thought-provoking argument that today's allegedly vacuous media are, well, thought provoking."—who woulda thought???

Tags: media literacy | popular culture | social criticism | technology

Monday, May 02, 2005

Despite the fact that today is Lisa's birthday and there was much celebration including 3 bouquets of flowers, I managed to get my draft ready for this week's Ideas Section of the Inbox, which will be published tomorrow's afternoon. This week's focus is authentic writing instruction. Plus I turned in the May 1 Content Report for ReadWriteThink. In the last 15 days, we added 5 lesson plans, published the June calendar, and revised a lesson to include an interactive (82% of NCTE's lessons now include an interactive—woohoo!).

With all that work work done, I figured it was time for play work. I fiddled around on BlogShares. I still don't fully understand, but I managed to buy some of Sordid Blog just the same. Nothing like owning a piece of the Rhetboi.

Once I spent most of my money, I decided it was time to set up a blogroll, even though I hate the word blog. I started using the list that BlogLines sets up, but I wasn't happy with the layout and I wanted a little more control over the names and such. I ended up starting with their list and then copying it over into an include file. Yeah, I have to do upkeep by hand, but I'm happier with it.

I think I've given up on the Technology Profile lesson plan. Perhaps it can be a complex tech writing assignment where students write a technical description. Maybe not. For now, which is really only defined as the next 8 or 9 hours, I'm not going to try to figure it out. I have a lesson I'd like to create about naming. Tons of texts available, and I think I have a cool idea for it. I need to work on a revision of a lesson on Because of Winn-Dixie too, but the book is at the office, so I can get out of that to-do for now.

Tags: BlogShares | NCTE Inbox | ReadWriteThink | writing assessment

STLtoday.com - Teachers look to computers to critique student essays

x-posted to kairosnews.org

Teachers look to computers to critique student essays presents another example of folks ignoring what we know about writing and authentic assessment. For the other side of this argument, see "Automated Scoring Technologies and the Rising Influence of Error" by Julie Cheville, from the March 2004 English Journal.

Tags: automated scoring | English language arts | K12 instruction | writing assessment

Sunday, May 01, 2005

To Ellen Wittlinger, where ever she is

Darn you, Ellen. You made me cry. I don't even know how you managed it, but this evening as I was reading the last 30 or so pages of Hard Love (yes, I'm that far behind on reading YA Lit), little tears kept weeping out. There was no reason for me to cry over that book, young lady. Hell, I don't cry when I read novels and such. Maybe the emotions on the page were a little too raw, or maybe it was the situation. Whatever it was, you got to me, darn you. I expect a full apology. :)

Tags: children's literature | Ellen Wittlinger

"It's the people you are close to, the ones who love you, the ones who have seen your heart, who have touched your soul—to them, it is obvious that something is wrong or missing. Your heart and soul are missing. They feel it. It hurts them. It kills them."

Tags: depression | movies

from Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

I guess I wasn't hopeless enough. I searched around for a movie and found Prozac Nation, which is apparently not considered a great movie. Nonetheless, it's on TV now. I searched around for something the main character said, and found that Wurtzel doesn't like the movie. I ended up doing a quotation hunt, to read more of the book since I can't trust the movie. I don't know if any of this is in the movie, or if like the first one the idea is in the movie but the words are different. It doesn't really matter. I don't know what order they should be in. I just needed to write them down.

"...if you ask anyone in the throes of depression how he got there, to pin down the turning point, he'll never know. There is a classic moment in The Sun Also Rises when someone asks Mike Campbell how he went bankrupt, and all he can say in response is, 'Gradually and then suddenly.' When someone asks how I lost my mind, that is all I can say too."

"That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key."

"I wonder if any of them can tell from just looking at me that all I am is the sum total of my pain, a raw woundedness so extreme that it might be terminal. It might be terminal velocity, the speed of the sound of a girl falling down to a place from where she can't be retrieved. What if I am stuck down here for good?"

"No one will ever love me, I will live and die alone, I will go nowhere fast, I will be nothing at all. Nothing will work out. The promise that on the other side of depression lies a beautiful life, one worth surviving suicide for, will have turned out wrong. It will all be a big dupe."

Tags: depression | movies

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