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TLDR 59

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 59

Published: 2016-08-19 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to issue 59 of the TL;DR Newsletter. In TL;DR we're documenting the news of the week in literacy, technology, and education. If this is your first time here...welcome. :)

This week is a "back to school" reality check.

You can review archives of the newsletter. Alternatively you can also check out TL;DR on Medium.

This week I worked on the following:

🔖 Key Takeaways

🎧 Listen

This TED-Ed video is a bit old (June 23, 2015), but it just came across my desk this week. I think the subject matter is terribly important, and I'll definitely include this in my classes this year.

The short video discusses the challenges and opportunities that exist as we communicate using a bilingual or multilingual brain. Definitely something to consider as we all get back into the start of a new school year.

📚 Read

Over the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about the challenges and opportunities that exist in social networks. On one hand, we can see incredible things that happen when attention is drawn to a hashtag like ferguson, or with the Arab Spring. On the other hand, we continue to see horrible things that happen around hashtags like with #gamergate and other topics.

This post comes from research conducted by the Pew Research Center and documents how social media users discuss, share, and talk about race in the light of hashtags like BlackLivesMatter. The complex, but suggest that (for the most part) these spaces help promote discussion about race in light of issues in current events. The research also identifies blacks as primarily discussing issues of race online, while whites rarely post about race in these spaces.

Post by Jessica Lahey in The Atlantic examining the challenges and pressure that we exert on our children with the need to achieve built in to our systems. The post provides a short case study of Marianna and her loss of love for learning.

One of my favorite lines from the post asks the question:

Is that what we want? Kids who get straight As but hate learning?

School started up this week in our area for students in Pre-K up through twelfth grade. I was talking with a neighbor while we were walking in our children to the first day of elementary school. He explained that their family was thrilled that their fifth grade teacher indicated that she wouldn't be giving much homework to their son this year.

I said that they should read this post that I just shared out on the social networks that corroborated some of what the teacher was planning on doing (or not doing) that year. What I think he missed is one of the key elements of the post:

What works better than traditional homework at the elementary level is simply reading at home. This can mean parents reading aloud to children as well as children reading. The key is to make sure it's joyous. If a child doesn't want to practice her reading skills after a long school day, let her listen instead.

This is one of those debates I frequently get into with colleagues at literacy conferences. We discuss whether reading online is considered "real reading." This often extends to a discussion about whether reading on an e-reader like a Kindle is considered "real reading." From there, I often ask whether listening to audiobooks is considered "real reading." Sometimes the response to all three of these prompts is a responding no.

This post from Ki Sung at MindShift shares an overview from the original post by Daniel Willingham that expands the discussion about audiobooks.

Dan's opinion on the debate about audiobooks:

Listening to an audio book might be considered cheating if the act of decoding were the point; audio books allow you to seem to have decoded without doing so. But if appreciating the language and the story is the point, it's not. Comparing audio books to cheating is like meeting a friend at Disneyland and saying "you took a bus here? I drove myself, you big cheater." The point is getting to and enjoying the destination. The point is not how you traveled.

I should note that I'm a devout listener of audio podcasts and audiobooks. If you're looking for a new audiobook (or book for that matter), Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is excellent.

Post from Katrina Schwartz looking at some guidance from Sir Ken as we start the school year.

He examines the systems that are in place in education and the problems that arise from this. Robinson examines the compliance that is built into the system thanks to the money being spent by the testing industry.

He indicates:

Robinson believes education is "to enable students to understand the world around them, and the talents within them, so that they can become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens." He doesn't deny that learning information about the world is important, but he says it's equally important for students to understand their own talents, motivations and passions if they are going to lead lives that satisfy them. The current system of conformity and compliance leaves no space for this type of self-exploration.

🔨 Do

The ultimate guide to Google Docs for writers

I'm in the process of weaning myself off of Evernote. For a number of reasons I'm pulling the plug and will soon blog about my new workflow.

Part of this workflow will involve using Google Docs for most of my writing. It's where most of my writing already happens...and this is just dedicating myself to the system.

Part of this includes testing out and using this Google Docs template that mimics the style of IA Writer for when I want to write in a minimalist environment.

If you review the post above it also indicates that the new outliner in Google Docs might mimic some of the organizational features found in Scrivener.

🤔 Consider

"Learning happens in the minds and souls, not in the databases of multiple-choice tests." — Sir Ken Robinson

This week: back to school reality check.

Digitally Literate Courses sixth project update on structure and scaffolding learners. Three reasons digitally agile researcher - I'm thinking next week I'll do three reasons why not. Bilingual brain TED-Ed video - I'll definitely include this in my classes this year. Pew Research on social media race conversations - BlackLivesMatter promoting discussion, blacks primarily discussing while whites rarely post. Jessica Lahey on success leading to failure - is that what we want, kids who get straight As but hate learning? Elementary homework research - what I think he missed is joyous reading at home instead. Daniel Willingham on audiobooks aren't cheating - this is one of those debates I frequently get into at conferences. I'm a devout listener, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is excellent. Sir Ken Robinson on testing compliance and self-exploration space. Weaning off Evernote - I'm in the process, will soon blog about new workflow with Google Docs.

Learning happens in the minds and souls, not in databases of multiple-choice tests.

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