PechaKucha

This is shared through iCloud  K. Rocco PechaKucha

This is shared through my Google Drive  PechaKucha K.Rocco

The link through Google Drive 👆 appears to be the best format for sharing on this platform.

* Please forgive the fact that my very first slide includes the wrong Course ID Number.  I inadvertently titled this project for CURR 550 in stead of the correct CURR501.   

Bringing It ALL Together - A Comprehensive Final(ish) Look

    

THE FINAL PROJECT

 

My Personal Narrative:

My teaching journey has taken a very nontraditional path.  However, there have been a few threads, or connections, that have been consistent throughout my life, and I think the two most prominent ones are my natural affinity for teaching, and my love of languages.  Rather than continue this story in the traditional way of a written reflection, I'd like to share this part of my personal narrative with a link to a digital story that I recently created:

The fact that I know how to create my own digital story and have actually just shared that here with you, is the best possible segue I can think of to lead me to my next section...

My TECH Identity:

Thinking about Noon's classifications, I would have considered myself a techno-traditionalist (or maybe even - gasp - 😳 - closer aligned with a technocrat - sigh - 😔) up until only a few months ago. However, my recent graduate coursework has thrust me forward into the realm of a true techno-constructivist.  💪😀

I now find myself actively considering ways to incorporate opportunities for using technology within both curriculum specified content and other differentiated learning units that I have designed to supplement and support curriculum for my middle school ELA students.  Additionally, whereas I would have previously kept my head in the sand so to speak about AI, I am now much more open to the potential benefits of using it to support my teaching practice, and I'm thinking critically about ways to guide my students to develop an understanding of how to use AI as a supportive tool and an educational resource.  I recognize that it is an important part of my job as a teacher to help my students develop digital fluency just as much as they need support in their English language and home language fluency skills.  TECHNOLOGY IS ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

An AI generated image of ME (haha) as a techno-constructivist!
...I think I still need to work on my prompts.

Our special guest Molly Bogad (Why does that name sound so familiar? 🤔😉) did a great job walking us through all the ways to construct an effective AI prompt in her thoughtful and comprehensive AI Presentation.  The better the prompt, the better the outcome...

Here's the first image I got from AI - keep in mind I wanted the teacher to look like me!

Maybe AI didn't quite capture my face and fashion sense, but because I had given pretty specific prompts, I was able to get a diverse, multilingual, tech-infused classroom environment that even includes a little bit of humor which is exactly me.  Nailed it!  🔨   So overall, not bad.

My WHY and connections to our TEXTS:

In my English language classroom, I am passionate about a few key things.

• AUTHENTIC VOICE

            This idea has been at the forefront of my goals as a teacher even before stepping foot into this digital media literacy class. Since I am currently studying for my TESOL Master's, I'm actively looking for ways to not only strengthen and support English language development but also literacy in students' home languages.  

I believe in additive bilingualism and want to support my students literacy in ALL languages - including home languages and digital ones.

• BUILDING TRUST AND COMMUNITY WITHIN THE CLASSROOM

            Regardless of the content, finding ways to develop a sense of trust and community within the classroom is essential. Pierson spoke about this idea and Dr. Michael Wesch also highlighted both confidence and connection as key factors in Baby George's quest to conquer that stair. Personally, one of the ways that I curate a positive environment in my classroom is through integrating my own authentic voice of humor as often as possible (🙄). I'm also looking to transition professionally into a position where I am supporting and teaching predominantly English language learners, and as one who has learned another language myself, I can attest to the fact that understanding the nuance and humor behind a joke or pun in another language means that you have a deep understanding of that language. 

I believe that my classroom should be a place of trust and community - a place where students can feel confident to express themselves in their authentic voices and feel heard when they do so.

In Education's Death Valley, Sir Ken Robinson encourages 

• DIVERSITY, CURIOSITY, and CREATIVITY as key elements of an effective and successful classroom.  Rather than conform to standardization, I'm actively looking for ways to embrace, celebrate and harness the unique diversity of each of my students and curate an atmosphere in my classroom that shows evidence of just that. 


I believe that the cultural and linguistic diversity of my students and their families is an asset and a strength.

• DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS NEED TO BE TAUGHT AND PRACTICED

“In the English classroom, teachers have the potential to help students navigate the world using new technologies to their advantage. Boyd explains that 'technical skills, media literacy, and even basic English literacy all shape how teens experience new technologies.' (2014, p. 23).” Spiegel, Prensky Revisited (p.14)

“Despite their perceived fluency in the language of technology, students should be encouraged to learn other “languages” as well by asking them to learn in multiple modes. For example, the digital worker must be asked to learn the ways of the digital creator and in traditional ways, as well.” Spiegel, Prensky Revisited (p.15)

“Most formal educational settings do not prioritize digital competency, in part because of the assumption that teens natively understand anything connected to technology and in part because existing educational assessments do not require this prioritization. Although youth are always learning as they navigate these systems, adults — including parents, educators, and librarians — can support them further by helping turn their experience into knowledge.” Danah Boyd, Ch.7 It's Complicated (p.180)

I believe that it is my job to get to know my students, learn what they already know (not make assumptions based on age or grade level), and help them to develop skills in technological and digital platforms.

What Will I DO or CHANGE:

Up until last week, the only thing I kew about PODCASTS is that they exist, and some people do them. That's it. I had never done a podcast of my own, and I certainly had never considered using it as a tool within my ELA classroom. And then Brittany Richer Ahnrud shared her presentation. This got my wheels turning. I had found my "thing." Because I have already spent several years developing and implementing a year-long thematic unit with my middle school ELA students, it seemed natural to build a digital component into this. Adding some type of technological piece to this unit was an unrealized goal this past year, but this class has given me the time, support, and inspiration to really develop it. Yay! 🎉

Here's a little background on the whole unit. At the beginning of the year, middle school ELA students choose a historical figure that they want to learn about and eventually "become." I encourage students to choose carefully as they will be deeply focusing on this person in different projects throughout the entire year.

• Term 1 - Become an EXPERT about a Historical Figure
• Choose Historical Figure
• Research (multiple credible sources that will be cited in a bibliography)
• Write a Research Paper using academic language and standard formats
• Term 2 - Take expert knowledge and present it in a new way to a different audience
• Summarize information about Historical Figure
• Choose most important and relevant details
• Write a biographical Children's Book using appropriate language for target audience
• Illustrate Children's Book and decide layout to send to "publisher"
• Write an Author Bio about self but in the 3rd person - Voice and Perspective
• Term 3 - BECOME the Historical Figure
• Write a Summary or Short Bio AS the Historical Figure in the 1st person
• Memorize the summary
• Become the Historical Figure in a Wax Museum Presentation (families and lower elementary grades visit in a school-wide event)
• Term 4
• Choose elementary grade to present Children's Book to (target audience)
• Practice reading Children's Book
• Read Children's Book to chosen elementary audience

This project is something that I have developed, implemented, reflected on and refined over the last several years. It hits ELA targets in READING, WRITING, SPEAKING, and LISTENING, and it allows for students to demonstrate knowledge and literacy skills in multiple modalities. It also is collaborative with other content areas and grade levels. BUT it is missing a good technology component. This is what I intend to improve.

I'm going to add a PODCAST to the beginning of term 3. Since at this point in the year students are "becoming" the historical figure that they spent the first half of the year becoming an expert on, I will give them an opportunity to work with a partner to develop a podcast interview.  I'll teach my students how to use the podcast platform, AdobePodcast, using this tutorial that I have found to be very helpful, even for a beginner. One student will be the interviewer, and the other will be the interviewee. Partner teams will be given these  guidelines as they work through this part of the assignment.  Using a podcast in this way connects to my key beliefs by asking students to literally use their own voices and work with a partner to continue to develop trust and community in our classroom.  By having the opportunity to practice becoming the historical figure with a peer before our bigger school-wide wax museum event, it allows for trust and confidence to grow.  Also the podcast format can be done and redone as many times as the students would like until they are comfortable with their final product that they will present.  Students will be encouraged to ask questions that they are curious about in their interview, and they will be able to show creativity in how they choose to develop and present their interview.  Lastly, I'll be actively teaching and allowing student to practice with digital tools, creating an environment of digital literacy in my classroom.

I created this grading rubric for both the interviewer and the interviewee to be used for assessment of the podcast component of the unit.

Finally, I'll encourage student pairs to come up with a name for their podcast.  Depending on who the historical figure is, it may be a fun way to add a little humor to the project.  I will sign off with a few potential ideas that might be able to be turned into a Punny Podcast Program Title...

Article Review

 As I skimmed through our course text, I found myself stopping at several different articles that piqued my curiosity and felt relevant to me personally as both a teacher and a parent.  The book is a collection of "bite-sized" opportunities for further critical thinking about ideologies and bias that exists within popular culture and media which we might otherwise simply overlook - the fish never notices the water in which it lives. 

I think because there were so many relevant articles and I have a hard time focusing, I have struggled to choose just one to share with you here.  In an effort to meet the requirements of this assignment I will choose one to share a detailed reflection of, but will also include the titles of several others that warrant mentioning in hopes that others might be inspired to read on as I did.  

This was the first article that had caught my attention while skimming the book.  I was drawn in by the idea of using "street art" to enhance history lessons.  I do an annual thematic unit with my own middle school ELA students.  My project first requires research. Afterwards, students are given multiple ways to synthesize the information that they have learned and then further demonstrate their learning - becoming "experts" on the historical figures that they have learned about.  This article got me thinking about ways to also incorporate a very visible art wall with my own students' projects.  

In Stenciling Dissent (pp. 266-271), Andrew Reed describes the process that he developed to help his high school students become actively engaged in the ideas of dissent and protests for social justice.  Reed describes his students in a Kansas high school History class as actively participating in a project that involves first research, then writing a research paper, creating a stencil and a summarizing paragraph, and finally spray painting their work on a large canvas with classmates.  Throughout the article,  Reed's WHY is evident as is his passion for helping to create an atmosphere of students that can think critically - and not just about the big, well-known names that are examples of political activism like MLK.  He purposely asks students to research lesser known historical figures and in doing so further instills the idea that anyone can and should be allowed to use their own voice.   I would have loved to see the canvas that was created by his students but the book does offer this glimpse at some of the stencils:

 

  

The article does a good job also bringing up potential critiques of this lesson, but thoughtfully rebuts the naysayers  by revealing the positive outcomes and anecdotes from implementation.  One such story discussed how a newcomer in Reed's class, who was previously timid and quiet, had the opportunity to become an expert when they were spray painting their stencils since this student also worked in an auto body shop.  Connecting domains of learning can be a powerful tool in creating a positive social and educational atmosphere within the classroom.  

Some other articles that I considered sharing in detail here are as follows:

Marketing American Girlhood by Elizabeth Marshall (pp.131-135). 

This article really brought up memories about my daughter and caused me to question the intention behind even the books, which I had always thought were a reason to LOVE the American Girl franchise.

Marshall doesn't mince words when she says, "American Girl is less about strong girls, diversity, or history than about marketing girlhood, about hooking girls, their parents, and grandparents into buying the American Girl products and experiences."  I added the bold type as it gets to the heart of the article.

  

The Truth About Helen Keller - Children's books distort her life by Ruth Shagoury (pp. 89-97)

This article stood out to me as I recognized the biographical children's books pictured as ones in our own school library.  This article challenges one to consider what is being included or excluded in books - and why.  

Fiction Posing as Truth - A critical review of Ann Rinaldi's My Heart Is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl by Debbie Reese et al. (pp. 111-117)

This article again challenges one to consider what is being included or excluded in books - and why.  

I am oversimplifying a powerful article but I strongly suggest reading this one.  

Digital Tool Tutorial

 Let's learn about SUNO

SUNO is an AI   🎶 Music 🎶  Generating Platform.

I first learned about SUNO only recently, but was able to effectively incorporate it into my middle school ELA vocabulary lessons towards the end of this past school year.  The curriculum that I teach includes advanced academic vocabulary, and my 6th grader's curriculum specifically has a strong emphasis on roots and their meaning.  Throughout the year they are required to memorize a long list of roots, and I thought this digital tool might help them study in fun and memorable way.  I was right.  Not only did it help my students memorize these specific roots, but it also inspired them to try using SUNO themselves to create some of their own songs and further develop digital literacy skills in the process.  

Here's the song I wrote:

Roots: Lyrics by Kari-Ann Rocco, Music generated by SUNO 

When I created this song, I did write all of the lyrics myself because I wanted to target very specific roots and vocabulary words.  However, you can also use the simple format and the site will even generate the lyrics for you if you give a detailed prompt.  Just like we discussed in class, the better the prompt, the better the outcome when using AI.

Want to know how to use this digital tool yourself?????

Great!  Here's how it works...

Step 1:    Go to suno.com and create a free account.  Here's the link: SUNO

As you are setting up your account you can specify musical styles and genres that you prefer or you can just skip this step and get right to creating.  The workspace is very user friendly.

Step 2:    Click the Create Button on the left side of the workspace:

Step 3:    Decide if you would like to have the platform generate the lyrics for you [Simple] or if you would like to write your own lyrics [Custom].

Step 4:    If you have chosen SIMPLE, just give as specific of a prompt as you can (remember our thorough lesson on this from class).  You can add specific vocabulary or content, and you can give a sense of the intended audience and objectives.

If you have chosen CUSTOM, just insert only your lyrics into the box.

Step 5:    After you give the lyrics prompts, just choose some musical styles from the vast list that's provided and then submit.

Step 6:    Wait for SUNO to generate 2 options for you to listen to.  If you like it you can publish and if it's not quite right you can always go back and refine. 

Step 7:    PUBLISH what you like and SHARE the link with friends or students.  😀

This much of the site was all free, and they give 100 credits to use for free when you join.  I was able to create 4 different songs so far (I only published 2 that I liked),  and still have a balance of 50 credits.  I cannot speak to the added features of a premium subscription, but I'm sure if you like it you could easily figure that part out.  

Overall, I have found this tool to be very user friendly and intuitive.  I believe that including MUSIC in the classroom is a great way to differentiate learning, and that music transcends language boundaries.  Music can be used to help develop routines, support study of content, or be a creative outlet for students to demonstrate learning.  

The BIG "To Do"

1. Sit in ridiculous traffic while singing along loudly with PINK. ✔
2. Decompress by having a meaningful one-way conversation with the dog. ✔
3. Eat a snack. ✔
4. Share aforementioned snack with dog. ✔
5. Nap. ✔
6. Procrastinate. ✔
7. Write "To Do List."  [in progress]  ✔
8. Use Paper checklist to jot down basic project structure. 
9. Write guidelines for  podcast peer work
10. Develop a targeted and specific prompt for the podcast grading rubric using today's example of effective ways to utilize AI as a classroom support tool.
11. Treat self with snack - maybe ice cream.
12. Write reflection paper.
13. Insert paper into blog with accompanying attachments.
14. Soothe dog while fireworks are being exploded all around - maybe share another snack. 

    

    Atticus being thankful for snack sharing

    
    
    
    
    
    
15. Create storyboard narrative.
16. Choose 20 accompanying slides.
17. Create Pecha Kucha.
18. Share Pecha Kucha.
19. Celebrate.  🥳

THE PROJECT

I've been running through potential project ideas in my head on and off the last two days. Since beginning this class on Monday, I've started to notice some overarching themes that my mind keeps circling back to.

• AUTHENTIC VOICE

            This idea has been at the forefront of my goals as a teacher even before stepping foot into this digital media literacy class. Since I am currently studying for my TESOL Master's, I'm actively looking for ways to not only strengthen and support English language development but also literacy in students' home languages. I believe in additive bilingualism and want to support my students literacy in ALL languages - including home languages and digital ones.     

• BUILDING TRUST AND COMMUNITY WITHIN THE CLASSROOM

            Regardless of the content, finding ways to develop a sense of trust and community within the classroom is essential. Pierson spoke about this idea and Wesch also highlighted both confidence and connection as key factors in Baby George's quest to conquer that step. Personally, one of the ways that I curate a positive environment in my classroom is through integrating my own authentic voice of humor as often as possible (🙄). I'm also looking to transition professionally into a position where I am supporting and teaching predominantly English language learners, and as one who has learned another language myself, I can attest to the fact that understanding the nuance and humor behind a joke or pun in another language means that you have a deep understanding of that language.

So, today I expanded my own digital literacy a little more and learned brand new tool...

THE PODCAST

I shared this in class earlier but I'm attaching it here in case you'd like to roll on the floor laughing once more. This was my first try ever at a podcast.

What a great tool for allowing multilingual learners an opportunity to use their authentic voices in the classroom! The potential applications and benefits are endless. And I have been wanting to find a way to incorporate a technological component to a a year-long, middle school, collaborative, differentiated learning project that I do with my students each year. I think this might be the tool I choose.

I'll save more details for my final presentation but this is where my head is on the project at this point. I can see this tying into my goals of authentic voice, literacy support and development, and partner work to promote collaborative trust building and community.

Disillusioned by Disney

I was born in 1977.  Saturday morning cartoons and ✨ The Wonderful World of Disney" ✨ Sunday evening movies were staples of my childhood.  I believed the fairytales...  Not specifically the magical elements per se, but the ideologies that were reinforced over and over again with each new Disney princess on her journey to her own happily ever after.  I fell in love with shiny and sparkly and pretty and thin.  I too wanted my own Prince Charming and happily ever after someday.  I received the messages loud and clear.  I also played over and over again with the few Barbies that I called mine.  I did not have Barbie's  dream house, camper, or car, but I imagined so many lavish accessories and mansions for her in the stories that I created in my play.  I would fashion beautiful ball gowns for Barbie out of small scraps of fabric or even old socks in an effort to be her own Fairy Godmother.  

A glimpse of the sparkly blue Cinderella ballgown fabric would make my heart flutter as a child, and I wonder if Disney was intentional about Cinderella's dress color and perhaps chose a similar blue as the one associated with  the famous jewelry maker Tiffany & Company and their trademark "Tiffany Blue."

  

   In my mind the trademark blue and Cinderella's luxurious ballgown are the exact same shade.

Once upon a time, I had the opportunity to portray Cinderella myself as a guest at Princess Aurora's wedding in the 2nd Act of the ballet Sleeping Beauty.

I was grown up by this point (pun intended), but I was still holding close to the same idealized dreams of happily ever after and Prince Charming showing up at the exact right moment to sweep me off my feet!  If anything, those dreams now seemed even more real and attainable as I was no longer a little girl playing with dolls, but a young woman ready to commence this chapter of my own narrative. 

For a while it seemed as though my fairytale had come true.  And then it didn't.  And when real life no longer fits the narrative that we have been fed our entire lives, we begin to doubt everyone and everything.  We start to look back at those princesses and maybe even question if we are instead more like the "ugly stepsisters" who, in the Grimm version of the story, actually mutilated their own feet to try and squeeze them into the tiny glass slipper and satisfy the ridiculous prince who can't even remember what his chosen future wife even looks like after meeting her for only a few hours.  👀  

In her article Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, Linda Christensen describes similar examples of the stereotypes and ideological conditioning that is interwoven into the very fabric of many cartoons and movies.  At one point she directly pushes back against two of the big myths that exist in Cinderella - that true happiness is only achieved when getting a man, and that we can only achieve that happiness through transformation that involves material and physical changes.  I would add a third big one here in that Cinderella also falsely teaches that transformation can't happen simply through hard work, effort and positive attitudes but rather a magical intervention.  With or without my own addition, Christensen argues that as a teacher she is "uncomfortable with those messages."  She states:  "I don't want students to believe that change can be bought at the mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle of a woman's life is an 'I do' that supposedly leads them to a 'happily ever after'." (Christensen, 2016, p. 182)

For me, the disillusionment happened when I realized I was living in a nightmare, not a fairytale.  The fear of admitting that I was not in a fairytale was terrifying.  I felt like I had in some way failed.  The realizations of the disconnect between fairytale and reality can lead to all kinds of dangerous emotional situations.  As was discussed in class with Beauty and the Beast, essentially the underlying message may be that if we wait in a dangerous and abusive situation long enough, then we will eventually meet our Prince and enjoy our "happily ever  after."  This is dangerous.  As both a teacher and a parent, this discourse is incredibly important.  We need to be cognizant of underlying messages that exist in "harmless" entertainment.

Lastly, below I'm sharing a link to a humorous video portraying what it might be like to be dating a modern day Disney Prince.  Enjoy!

If Disney Princes Were Real