TLDR 138

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 138

Published: 2018-02-24 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Issue #138. The kids are going to be alright.

Over the past week, I've been thinking a lot about the work I present each week in this newsletter. Good friend Bill Kist reached out and suggested that I consolidated much of my digging into this mixture of algorithms, bots, and trolls into a publication to make it easier to follow. I brought some of these ideas to an address I gave yesterday at the South Carolina International Reading Association Conference. I'm also going to flesh out more of these ideas in an upcoming keynote at the Virginia State Reading Association Conference. I'm hoping to sound the alarm about the challenges of being literate in current times. Dear readers of TL;DR, you've been following me as I try to make sense of all of these elements. I am thankful for your support and feedback.

This week I posted the following:

• TLT Survey in French - As part of the Digitally Literate Research Project, we're surveying the globe to better understand the ways in which educators integrate digital technologies in instruction. Please share in global audiences.
• "Tell me about yourself" in a critical auto-ethnography - In this post I share my guidance on a research and writing project I have students complete in my language and literacy courses.
• Living in agreement with your personal nature - This post shares some guidance about identify and following your values.
• Lo que necesitan los alumnos del siglo 21 (What 21st century students need) - I've been working with good friend and colleague Carolina Orgnero on bringing the screentime debate to Spanish speaking audiences. This post in the media source La Voz shares our thinking. The post also includes two linked articles here and here.
• Four questions for Tracey Hunter-Doniger about STEAM - This video shares quick advice about STEAM integration into educational settings.
• Miracle in the mundane - This week in my slam poetry class we focused on the hum of life in the quiet times.

Please subscribe to make sure this comes to your inbox each week. You can review archives of the newsletter or on Medium.

Say hey with a note at hello@wiobyrne.com or on the socials at wiobyrne.

🔖 Key Takeaways

• Sunday Routine Boosts Type-B Productivity: Financial Diet YouTube channel host Chelsea Fagan talks through Sunday routine that's helped her become more productive despite naturally lazy type-B personality—channel usually offers financial advice but this video provides practical productivity framework showing how intentional weekly preparation can overcome personality tendencies toward procrastination and disorganization.
• Parkland Students Refuse to Be Silenced: After network of bots, trolls, and pro-Trump media push to label Parkland youth survivors not as grief-ridden survivors but as crisis actors, pawns, and conspiracists intent on exploiting tragedy to undermine nation's laws, what is terribly fascinating is that these young adults don't care—they're not being silenced, they're not afraid, and they're using very same digital texts and tools to push back, showing interesting thread where these students know system is broken and they're using it to their advantage while we need to learn from children and amplify their voices.
• Let Teachers Teach Not Arm Them: Teachers across country are grappling with how their roles have expanded from educator and counselor to bodyguard and protector as teaching profession changes with educators coming to terms with impact on classrooms while teachers have once again been shown to be heroes—instead of talking about common sense gun reforms, politicians and lobbyists trotting out series of stupid possible solutions with NRA touting plan to "harden" school campuses that would turn schools into prisons plus discussion about arming teachers to engage school shooters, with Kevin Hodgson explaining why this idea is equally insane while NY Times Editorial Board notes sensible gun laws would give people, especially children, better chance to enjoy first of inalienable rights mentioned in Declaration of Independence: life.
• Internet Research Agency Weaponized Social Networks: Over past couple weeks becoming more direct in assessment that social networks and tools have been weaponized against us—Southern Poverty Law Center piece gives excellent overview of everything you need to know about Internet Research Agency, one of groups that used Facebook's own tools to make sure their propaganda was as effective as possible, with attacks that may have not been that sophisticated but made huge impact on 2016 elections.
• Hyperlinks as Key to Resisting Disinformation: Kris Shaffer in Hybrid Pedagogy provides super smart and super simple analysis unpacking current challenges in teaching and learning in current climate—perhaps our research and pedagogy should focus on simple vehicle that connects informational space: the hyperlink, drilling down into minutiae of examining this ubiquitous piece of underlined text while positing that we resist not only with better information and better interpretation but in recovering language of internet—the language of digital scholarship itself.
• Positive Attitude Makes Brain Work Better: Stanford brain scan research reveals ways in which positivity affects brain with research team analyzing math skills and attitudes of 240 kids aged seven to ten plus running 47 through fMRI machine while doing basic arithmetic—results suggest kids who did well in math liked math more according to self reports and parents while kids who hated subject did poorly, with brain scans revealing hippocampus (brain area linked with memory and learning) was significantly more active in kids with positive attitude towards math, suggesting not only do children like subjects they're good at but "liking" subject helps students' brains actually work better.

📺 Watch

My sunday routine that makes every week a good one

The YouTube channel The Financial Diet usually offers financial advice. In this video, host Chelsea Fagan talks through the Sunday routine that's helped her become more productive despite her naturally lazy, type-B personality.

📚 Read

The Pro-Trump media has met its match in the Parkland students

Last week in TL;DR #137 we spent a lot of time talking about bots, trolls, and propaganda. Much of this was centered around the survivors of the Parkland Shooting in Florida. These young adults were speaking out online and on the media against the lobbyists and politicians that are advancing pro-gun initiatives.

As a response to their protests, a network of bots, trolls, & media are pushing to label youth "not as grief-ridden survivors but as pawns & conspiracists intent on exploiting a tragedy to undermine the nation's laws."

What is terribly fascinating is that these young adults don't care. They're not being silenced. They're not afraid. And...they're using the very same digital texts and tools to push back. I usually throw out discussions about "digital natives", but I think we're seeing this interesting thread where these students know the system is broken...and they're using it to their advantage.

Once again...we need to learn from the children. We need to amplify their voices.

Let the teachers teach

There has been a lot of talk, but not a lot of action, following the Parkland Shooting over the past week.

Across the country, teachers are grappling with how their roles have expanded, from educator & counselor to bodyguard & protector. Little by little, the teaching profession changes as educators come to terms with the impact on our classrooms. Along with the students...teachers have once again been shown to be heroes.

Instead of talking about common sense gun reforms, politicians and lobbyists are trotting out a series of (stupid) possible solutions. The National Rifle Association (NRA) touts a plan to "harden" school campuses that would turn schools into prisons. There is also a discussion about arming teachers to allow them to engage school shooters. Kevin Hodgson explains why this idea is equally as insane.

I'll close with the last sentence of the piece above from the NY Times Editorial Board:

In fact, sensible gun laws would give people, especially children, a better chance to enjoy the first of the inalienable rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence: life.

The Internet Research Agency: behind the shadowy network that meddled in the 2016 elections

Over the past couple of weeks, I'm now more direct in my assessment that our social networks and tools have been weaponized against us.

One of the groups that has been actively conducting this work is the Internet Research Agency. This piece by the Southern Poverty Law Center gives an excellent overview of everything you need to know about this entity.

The Internet Research Agency was one of the groups that used Facebook's own tools to make sure their propaganda was as effective as possible. This may have not been that sophisticated, but it made a huge impact.

Education in the (dis)information age

A great piece in Hybrid Pedagogy by Kris Shaffer unpacking the current challenges in teaching and learning in the current climate. Shaffer's analysis is super smart, and super simple.

Kris indicates that perhaps our research and pedagogy should focus on the simple vehicle that connects the informational space...the hyperlink.

In the post, he drills down into the minutiae of examining this ubiquitous piece of underlined text. I suggest taking some time to read and drink it in. Kris posits that "we resist not only with better information, and better interpretation, but in recovering the language of the internet — the language of (digital) scholarship."

A positive attitude literally makes your brain work better

New brain scan research from Stanford reveals the ways in which positivity affects the brain.

The Stanford research team analyzed the math skills and attitudes of 240 kids aged seven to ten, as well as running 47 of them through an fMRI machine while asking them to do some basic arithmetic.

Results suggest that kids who did well in math liked math more, both according to self reports and their parents, and kids who hated the subject did poorly. The brain scans also turned up something much more fascinating. The images revealed that the hippocampus, a brain area linked with memory and learning, was significantly more active in kids with a positive attitude towards math.

The research suggests that not only do children like subjects they're good at, but "liking" a subject helps students' brain actually work better.

🔨 Do

Announce why you're looking at your phone

Screentime has been a big focus in my circles over the last couple of months. I'll have more on this over the coming weeks.

This post contains guidance from the TiLT Parenting Podcast, Anya Kamenetz, NPR's lead education blogger and author of the new book The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life. She gives this tip for parents who want to be more conscious about looking at their phones in front of their kids. Specifically she notes that you should announce why you're looking at your phone in that moment.

I'm going to try this out over the coming month to see what impact it may have. I believe it'll make me self-conscious and not want to always check my news feeds. Perhaps...that is the reason.

🤔 Consider

"Students should not only be trained to live in a democracy when they grow up; they should have the chance to live in one today." — Alfie Kohn

🔗 Navigation

Previous: TLDR 137 • Next: TLDR 139 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

• Sunday Routine Productivity Financial Diet — Financial Diet YouTube channel usually offers financial advice but in this video host Chelsea Fagan talks through Sunday routine that's helped her become more productive despite naturally lazy type-B personality—provides practical productivity framework showing how intentional weekly preparation can overcome personality tendencies toward procrastination and disorganization.
• Parkland Students Match Pro-Trump Media — Following TL;DR #137 discussion about bots, trolls, and propaganda centered around Parkland shooting survivors in Florida speaking out online and on media against lobbyists and politicians advancing pro-gun initiatives, network of bots, trolls, and media push to label youth not as grief-ridden survivors but as pawns and conspiracists intent on exploiting tragedy to undermine nation's laws—what is terribly fascinating is these young adults don't care, they're not being silenced, they're not afraid, and they're using very same digital texts and tools to push back, showing interesting thread where these students know system is broken and they're using it to their advantage while we need to learn from children and amplify their voices.
• Let Teachers Teach Not Arm — Following Parkland shooting with lot of talk but not lot of action, teachers across country grappling with how roles have expanded from educator and counselor to bodyguard and protector as teaching profession changes with educators coming to terms with impact on classrooms while teachers have once again been shown to be heroes—instead of talking about common sense gun reforms, politicians and lobbyists trotting out series of stupid possible solutions with NRA touting plan to "harden" school campuses that would turn schools into prisons plus discussion about arming teachers to engage school shooters, with Kevin Hodgson explaining why this idea is equally insane while NY Times Editorial Board notes sensible gun laws would give people, especially children, better chance to enjoy first of inalienable rights mentioned in Declaration of Independence: life.
• Internet Research Agency SPLC — Over past couple weeks becoming more direct in assessment that social networks and tools have been weaponized against us—Internet Research Agency has been actively conducting this work with Southern Poverty Law Center piece giving excellent overview of everything you need to know about this entity, with Internet Research Agency being one of groups that used Facebook's own tools to make sure their propaganda was as effective as possible in attacks that may have not been that sophisticated but made huge impact on 2016 elections.
• Education Disinformation Age Shaffer — Kris Shaffer in Hybrid Pedagogy provides super smart and super simple analysis unpacking current challenges in teaching and learning in current climate—Kris indicates that perhaps our research and pedagogy should focus on simple vehicle that connects informational space: the hyperlink, drilling down into minutiae of examining this ubiquitous piece of underlined text while positing that we resist not only with better information and better interpretation but in recovering language of internet—the language of digital scholarship.
• Positive Attitude Brain Math Stanford — Stanford brain scan research reveals ways in which positivity affects brain with research team analyzing math skills and attitudes of 240 kids aged seven to ten plus running 47 through fMRI machine while doing basic arithmetic—results suggest kids who did well in math liked math more according to self reports and parents while kids who hated subject did poorly, with brain scans revealing that hippocampus (brain area linked with memory and learning) was significantly more active in kids with positive attitude towards math, suggesting not only do children like subjects they're good at but "liking" subject helps students' brains actually work better.
• Screentime Announce Phone Use Kamenetz — Screentime has been big focus in circles over last couple months with more coming in weeks ahead—post contains guidance from TiLT Parenting Podcast featuring Anya Kamenetz, NPR's lead education blogger and author of new book "The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life," giving tip for parents who want to be more conscious about looking at phones in front of kids by announcing why you're looking at your phone in that moment, with plan to try this out over coming month to see what impact it may have believing it'll create self-consciousness and reduce constant news feed checking—perhaps that is the reason.

Part of the 📧 Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.