How’s My Driving?

I almost got into a car accident yesterday.

Despite a spotless driving record, faithful adherence to the law and an almost neurotic observance to the speed limit just about wherever I go, I almost got into an accident.

After my thoughts finally moved on from “Holy crap!” to “Thank goodness no one was hurt” and “Good thing there wasn’t a cop around to see that,” it hit me: even good drivers can make bad decisions.

So what if the driver is a teenager, behind the wheel not of a car, but of their own education?

New Librarian on the Block

Hey, remember when I used to blog? Yeah, me neither.

Things I’ve learned since starting my new job:

Wait and See Pudding

When I was in library school, there were a few things I heard over and over again in the school library teacher program. Some of them actually led to a serious student identity crisis about halfway through my time there–I was incredibly frustrated by what I saw as constant emphasis on how difficult administrators, parents, and students themselves can be.

But as I sit in my new library, among the printer carts and trophy cases stored here for the summer, staring at another stack of books telling me all about those wacky West Germans and the rise of modern America (copyright 1935), it’s a different refrain that keeps ringing in my head: Don’t try to get anything done in your first year.

Upcoming HGSE Event

(Copied directly from the email I just received)

From The Dress-Up Corner to the Senior Prom: Navigating Gender and Sexual Identity Development in the K-12 Setting

Sponsored by QueerEd (Harvard Graduate School of Education LGBTQ organization) and the Office of Student Affairs at HGSE

Do you have questions about how to address issues of gender and sexuality in the classroom? In schools? In districts? How do you respond when first graders start a debate about “boy” colors and “girl” colors? What happens when 3rd graders start using “that’s so gay” as a put-down? How do you help your gender variant 5th grader navigate the complex social world in school? Gender Identity and Sexual Identity are aspects of everyday life in K-12 schools, whether these issues are part of the formal curriculum or not. School age children develop their own personal identities- and learn about culturally sanctioned identities- all the time. By middle school and beyond, the stakes get higher.  According to the 2007 GLSEN National School Climate Survey, 86% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 44% reported being physically harassed and 22% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation or gender expression. LGBT students are at risk; students who are perceived to be LGBT are at risk. And all students, regardless of their identity, need accurate information and appropriate guidance regarding these issues.  On April 9, 2009, an 11- year-old 6th grade boy who attended a charter school in Springfield, Massachusetts hanged himself after enduring chronic bullying from classmates, including daily taunts of being gay. This kind of tragedy can be prevented.

QueerEd and the Office of Student Affairs are sponsoring a workshop dedicated to starting the dialogue about LGBT issues in K-12 classrooms, featuring clips from the the award-winning documentary,
It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School.  (http://groundspark.org/)  The workshop will be facilitated by Jennifer Bryan, Ph.D.  Dr. Bryan is a psychologist and consultant who specializes in helping
educators consider gender and sexuality, as these issues relate to K-12 school life. (www.jenniferbryanphd.com)  We encourage educators with all backgrounds, identities, and experiences to bring their questions and join us for this important and interactive learning opportunity.

RSVP (not necessary) on Facebook

Light refreshments will be provided starting at 7:00 p.m.

When: Thursday, April 30, 7:15- 9:00 p.m.

Where: Larsen G08 (Harvard Graduate School of Education campus, 14
Appian Way, Cambridge)

Although I’ve seen It’s Elementary several times already, I’m excited about the workshop. Will I see any of you there?

What’s a Picture Worth?

Text citation is one of the fundamentals of good research skills. From the painstaking index card notes I took starting in middle school to any of the various citation generators you can now find online, schools and libraries generally do a great job when it comes to drilling home the dangers of plagiarism and the importance of proper citation. Not everyone gets it, of course, and it can be tricky to expect a perfect MLA citation every time if these skills aren’t taught early and often and as part of a holistic approach to the research process.  But we at least all agree on the principles of intellectual honesty and the importance of attribution when it comes to text.

But what about images?

Engagement Through Gaming: Part One

I just had an interesting conversation with the headmaster at my school about ways that we might use games to engage kids who just aren’t reaching their academic potential. Games certainly aren’t unique in these situations–plenty of teens who excel in an extracurricular area (from more socially acceptable ones like team sports to more marginalized activities like skating or hacking) have trouble excelling at school.

From that conversation, I’ve decided to start a new series on engagement through gaming. This is part one: the philosophical basis.

So how do we turn a highly accomplished gamer into a highly accomplished student?

MySpace vs. Facebook

I’ve been thinking lately (again) about the class implications of the way we view Facebook versus MySpace. I think one potential explanation of why the networks themselves might be made up of two pretty distinct populations is fairly obvious–Facebook started out as a college-only medium, and initially an Ivy-only one at that. When access trickled down, first to “less prestigious” colleges and then to high schools, new members mostly found out about the service through friends and relatives from the original circles of access. Even now that anyone can join Facebook–with or without an educational or regional network–I’d bet money that a good chunk of users still tend toward the formally educated and upwardly mobile.

None of this is meant to say that MySpace is somehow inferior or that the people who use it are necessarily lower-class. But just among my friends who use it (yes, I have profiles on both, though I use Facebook much more regularly), I’ve noticed that many chose paths other than college or were more likely to go to a state or vocational school.

Where the media focuses on social networking, though, is where things really get interesting.

Sex::Tech 2009

Hey, guess what? I’m presenting at Sex::Tech 2009! It’s a conference focusing on youth, technology and sexual health, with an emphasis on HIV/STD prevention. I was excited (and a little nervous, honestly) to see my topic plugged here.

I’ll be talking about YA services and sexual health info, but I could use your help.

What I’ve Been Reading

You know what’s less than awesome? Spending three hours every day commuting. You know what’s even less awesome? When the reason for that commute is going back and forth between The Perfect Job and The Lousy Job That Pays Less. The only good part about all this commuting is that I’m getting a lot of reading done.

(Oh, and also? The Boston Public Schools Superintendent has called for at least 900 jobs to be cut, included 403 teacher positions. What a great time to be looking for work!)

Hero Journey

Lately I’ve been reading Lies My Teaher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. I highly recommend it, and I’ll have more thorough coverage in my next What I’ve Been Reading Post. For now, though, I’d like to focus on just the first chapter–Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-Making.