The Current of Learning and Teaching Today

How do you teach to, teach for, embody, inspire, or facilitate discussions about civic engagement in your context, subject area, or space?

That’s the question I posed to a group of 10 Writing Project teachers and site leaders seated around the table from me at an interpretive circle in Denver, Colorado at a multi-program research design retreat. If that sounds like a mouthful, the long and short of it is that Writing Project folk from across the network recently came together for a week to create and collaborate with the aim of leaving Denver with a set of resources that would serve educators into the future.

At the retreat, I worked on curating a collection of civic engagement resources, but I quickly realized I didn’t know much about how, in these especially fraught times, educators were talking to their learners about civic engagement.

“I need someone to be the victim.” Laughter echoes through the elementary STEM lab on a frosty Saturday morning in Grand Haven, Michigan. Two girls giggle, surrounded by wrinkly chart paper full of messy writing, as they attempt to recruit actors for their anti-bullying video. A third girl rushes over, and the trio huddles around an iPad. The space is fairly noisy, maybe more so than a typical classroom, with pockets of kids spread out around the room. Looking beyond the mess and the noise, you might notice ten third and fourth grade students all highly engaged in learning. You might also notice a few adults coaching kids and asking questions. What you would have a hard time seeing is who is in charge.

I’m a science teacher.  I didn’t immediately embrace this identity, as I began my career a passionate English teacher.  It didn’t take long before I was bouncing back and forth between English and science classrooms, and I quickly grew to love both equally.  ... I am always looking for opportunities to incorporate new literacy skills into my science classroom.

A funny thing happened on my way to the Rhizome sometimes last year ... the hashtag got switched. Now, normally, this would not be a big issue. But I have come to realize more and more how much I rely on the columns of my Tweetdeck app (sorted by hashtags) as a place to keep connected to various projects. So, when someone switches a conversation from one hashtag (say, #rhizo16) to another (say, #resilience16), I suddenly feel disorientated. Lost. And I depend on the kindness of strangers. A few rhizo folks had made some initial tweets with both hashtags (which is quite generous because together, they take up a good portion of the 140 characters to begin with, you know?).

Starting something new is perpetually a complex endeavor: exciting and challenging; confusing and frustrating; fun and eye-opening; and important and mysterious --- think first day as a freshman, think mid-week of the first week of the Summer Institute (as part of the National Writing Project), think first day on the job. Being a member of this team of teachers (see links, below) working on creating curriculum for Youth Voices was just as amazing.

This past summer I attended our local chapter of the National Writing Project, Red Cedar Writing Project, leadership meeting. During the meeting, we were given the opportunity to join projects that were either in progress or just starting up. I found myself intrigued by the description of both YouthVoices.live and LRNG.org. I decided that these two projects sounded interesting and fulfilled my need to combine learning with technology. 

Little did I know what an awesome team I would join. There are seven of us, and our leader has taken to calling us the Magnificent Seven (but without all the violence, of course). I have to admit that never in my wildest dreams did I expect this team to be as productive and driven as it has proven to be. So what has it been like for me?

Sometimes innovation is about having a sense of the big idea, then paving the way one step at a time. Creativity and exploration certainly is part of the learning process.

As an engaged digital literacy educator, I invite my students into powerful opportunities to engage in conversation with other learners across the country through the Youth Voices Community. Through this professional learning space, several dedicated teachers, including National Writing Project teachers, engage students in conversation through written discussion and video conferences, as well as support with guides for writing and learning with shared curriculum.