The Value of Love

I had never given much thought to the existence or the benefits of the collaboration of professionals and amateurs.  Leadbeater and Miller said that "amateurs work like pros with a sense of obligation and necessity, but create intense experiences of creativity and self expression."  After reading the examples of pro-am collaborations, it occurred to me that I participate in at least one of these communities.  The Jacksonville Symphony Chorus is comprised of approximately 125 members who are active in the arts community, some paid public school choral directors and church choir directors, and some (former) paid soloists.  Participation in the chorus is voluntary but requires an audition, a commitment to many rehearsals, a rigorous concert schedule, and a love for music.  The collaboration of many paid professionals, the choral director, a chorus manager, paid orchestral musicians, and a maestro, and many, many hours of private practice and group rehearsals, the concerts come together beautifully.  Without a doubt the group having the most fun, are the volunteers, the chorus.

 

Expertise on the Web and otherwise...

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web?  Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings?  Why or why not?

Sometimes it’s easier to judge expertise when researching on the Web.  For example, about a year ago two people in their early 20’s came to my door and asked me to “invest” in them by purchasing very expensive magazine subscriptions.  I’m not sure who would buy subscriptions that are ten times the cost of purchasing the magazine at the grocery store, but these young people had takers or they wouldn’t continue to walk door to door to sell subscriptions.  This young man and young woman were charismatic and a little bit anxious so I listened to their stories.  I made excuses to run back into the house to research their program on the Web.  I discovered that they worked for an organization that exploits desperate people by promising them a big income with some strings attached.  The strings are taking them out of their hometowns, “paying” their hotel and food expenses, and then putting them on the street to “sell” these subscriptions.  If they don’t get the orders then they must pay back the cost of living expenses.  It’s not a good life.  I promised them that I wasn’t going to buy any subscriptions and offered to make them lunch instead.  They took me up on my offer and left an hour or so later.

Last week at the Common Core workshop, the presenter was making erroneous statements about the standards.  Since I had my laptop and Duval County has a BYOD program, I was able to look up the research to show the presenter that she was wrong.  I wasn’t rude and typically don’t try to prove someone wrong (except my husband), but she insisted that it wasn’t possible for her to be wrong because she had had dinner with the man who wrote the original Common Core Standards and had heard him say…blah, blah, blah.  I despise name dropping so I was forced to prove her wrong, and it wasn’t difficult since the Common Core Standards are readily available on the Web and an IPhone app.  So much for paid expertise.

I rely on my intuition to make final judgments about most things.  Certainly, before I ever researched the Web, I knew the kids at my door were not offering me a good deal, but being able to do quick research helped.  But intuition doesn’t cut it when you only have the Web.  To judge the quality of a website and its information, I check the web address and look for information about the staff or whoever is posting the information.  Sometimes I cross reference information on the site by a copy and paste of pieces of the narrative in the Google bar.   Loaded language is sometimes a clue that the author has an agenda different from the stated purpose of the website.  Snopes is also a reliable place to check out stories and “speeches” that seem too good to be true.

Train the Trainers

I attended a two-day workshop last week developed by Florida DOE and held on multiple dates throughout the state.  Most of the presenters were classroom educators who were tasked and paid to pass along to representatives of K-12 schools the major points and some example lessons from the Common Core Standards.  Prior to the workshop, we received an email requesting that participants download two days of PowerPoint presentations and all of the handouts and to bring a laptop to the workshop.

Before I go on, it’s important to point out two principles of Common Core.

• According to corestandards.org, Common Core encourages inter-disciplinary collaboration and the integration of technology in a way that is “designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success.” 
• Common Core Standards dictate that by 12th grade, students will be reading 70 percent nonfiction and 30 percent fiction. The idea behind a 70-30 split is that most nonfiction will be read in science, history, and social studies classes, where students would be using primary sources and learning to decipher scientific research.  English classes will retain their focus on literature.

Despite the push for interdisciplinary collaboration, hundreds of participants were divided into small groups based on subject area and grade level.  Although a few lesson examples were presented and practiced, most of the two days was spent listening to the presenters read the PowerPoint slides.  And since we had all downloaded the PowerPoint slides, we could see presenters’ notes like the following:

Presenters should take the time to create a Norms chart.  This may seem an unnecessary step but will help provide a frame for discussions and interactions.  It is just always a good way to start and helps build a focus and the beginnings of a sense of community. 
Throughout your two days together you will be providing opportunities for your participants to work together in different group configurations.  This often is uncomfortable for many adults so we want to agree upon how we will work together.
Label a sheet of chart paper:  CCSS Institute Group Norms.  As a group agree and write three to four, “We will ___________statements that reflect how the group wants to interact.  You may want to start the chart . . . We will be open to change our minds.  We will try to keep a sense of humor.  We will bring chocolate for the presenter each day :)”
 

In addition to the lousy presentation, some of the information presented was incorrect.  Anyone who listeners or reads the news has heard at least some of the stink surrounding the implementation of Common Core and the fear that the classics will disappear from the curriculum. Some administrators might be directing English teachers to eliminate poetry and even Shakespeare so that students can read instruction manuals and other dry non-fiction.  I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that this misconception exists in the rants of conservative talk-show hosts when my presenters incorrectly applied the 70/30 standard to the English classroom.  The literacy problem in Florida is deeper than one might think!

Common Core standards are superior to and more intuitive than the Sunshine State Standards.  There’s also the opportunity to join other states in the pursuit of these more rigorous standards so that America does not fall behind in the global economy. 

The implementation of Common Core Standards in Florida is costing the taxpayer millions of dollars.  Why is it that with all of the expense of this initiative, we educators can’t pull off a decent training seminar?

 http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards

Facebook for Sweaty People

Suunto is a Finnish company that makes sports instruments--compasses, watches, altimeters, heart rate monitors, dive computers, etc.  In an effort to build community, Suunto created an interactive, global website called MovesCount.com.  Members can create an exercise program for any sporting activity, then count calories, track mileage or laps, and monitor progress.  Serious athletes can measure, track, and analyze VO2 max, peak training effect, excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption, and other advanced exercise factors.   Members can participate in groups or teams that are member-created, post high-fives in a shoutbox, and message other members of the community. 

MovesCount is open to all athletes, is customer based, and can be accessed on the Web or via a free IPhone app.  Suunto developed a new G.P.S.-based wristtop computer, the Ambit, which allowed users to download apps from MovesCount.  Instead of creating the apps themselves, Sunnto, following the Apple model, released the source code for the Ambit.  Expecting about 1,000 apps by a year’s end, Suunto was surprised that in six months, customers had created more than 7,000 apps.   Customer-created apps range from the serious—Percent of Cardiac Drift—to the whimsical, but popular, Beers Burned Off.  The apps were so popular that Suunto had to develop a new wristtop computer, the Ambit 2, with 400 times the memory of its predecessor. Although anyone can participate in the MovesCount community, Ambit apps are exclusive for Suunto Ambit owners only.  The creation of the Ambit 2 is an example of the power of community and consumer-driven free market. 

I’m at MovesCount.com, FAROCKAFELLA10.  Join me!

You should have been there, man...

Call me boring, but I’ve never understood the desire to attend concert after concert of the same artist.  In fact, scoring $80 tickets in the nose-bleed section for a concert of a popular band always seemed like a waste of money.  I’m not criticizing, it’s just not important to me.  Despite my lack of interest in even attending concerts, much less habitually paying to see the concert and then watching the concert through a “tiny little rectangular digital box” to record it, I found Jessa Lingel and Mor Naaman’s article, You should have been there, man: Live music, DIY content and online communities very interesting.  While I initially found the recording practice strange, it did cause me to do a little of my own research.  I have a good friend who is crazy for the English band, James.  Since I have known her, she has traveled to concerts all over the United States, and even to London, just to see this band.  Besides knowing every word to every song, she knows the full names of all of the band members and the names of their spouses and children.  She even knows their hobbies.  For example, she knows one guitarist is also a carpenter, and another one is an amateur photographer.  So I called her and asked her if she had ever video recorded a concert.  She has recorded a portion of every concert she’s attended.  One interesting fact about my friend is that she is paranoid about the internet, so she doesn’t have a Facebook, much less a YouTube account.  It’s a conspiracy thing in her mind.  Anyway, she says she does make recordings to keep them as a “scrapbook” of concerts as Isaac does.  Additionally, she searches YouTube for videos taken at concerts she has attended so that she can watch the concert again and look for herself in the crowd.  She always watches the concerts she was unable to attend, which is most of them because they’re somewhere other than the U.S.  And despite her distrust of social media in general, my friend did open a Twitter account so that she could see the panoramic photos that one of the band members takes of the audience at every concert.   In the study, Heidi said she created her videos, “…for myself, but I also wanted to do it so everyone else who was at the show … could still remember it.”  And Frances said she recorded and posted the concerts for people who couldn’t afford to attend them.  Well, the recipient of these videos is my friend, who is a committed lurker of pop culture.  And although she refuses to collaborate, my friend does know how to sort and find what she considers the most reliable recorder of these concerts in England.

All in all, after reading the study, I gained a greater appreciation for the community of people who volunteer to document and share (for the joy of sharing) these moments in our culture