Hickory, Dickory, Dock: Of Mice, Vocabulary, and Tik-Tok (In Support of the Literate Learner)

Another week of quaran-teaching, and last night I pulled out several of the hats, masks, and puppets that used to be part of my classroom in Kentucky. Why? Well, I can't be Jane Jetson, but I can bring out Frog, and that's what I did as we followed Bears and Probst recommendations for supporting comprehension with reluctant readers.

Also was a great night to celebrate Binghamton University's Bromley, as we read her vocabulary chapter in Best Practices in Literacy Instruction.

Now I know many are saying not to do synchronous teaching, and that we should rethink the ways we normally offer instruction. In my other courses, this has been somewhat true, but in my Literate Learner, we simply have too much fun not to go the entire time. Last night, too, I was able to use ZOOM features and breakout rooms to achieve remarkable results, which I didn't imagine possible.

To develop teachers of literate learners, we simply applied Beers & Probst's Notice and Note - Nonfiction with something my graduate students have been talking about a lot this semester - Tik Tok. It is taking over the lives of their students, so I found several articles offering controversies, advocacy, and history about the digital obsession. That's what we read and analyzed. That's how we added to our own literate lives.

You can check out the fast-paced, somewhat distracting, highly silly, but usually dancing videos here:
Livestream with Tik Tok.

I am not to be blamed for what you see, as the stream is always changing. We watched several of the videos while I kept the chatroom open in ZOOM and everyone recorded their comments. I was able to take those comments and paste them into a Keynote slide as a digital poster, too. It was shareable and became part of the presentation. It was also funny. First digital poster I've ever created (and thanks Bob & Kylene for triggering my question, "Is it possible to take this suggestion into a digital space?" We learned it is.

What impressed me most, however, was when I broke every one into separate rooms with individual readings and offered the instruction that they had 20 minutes to repurpose the articles they read into another genre, preferably a Tik Tok vide,  themselves. The articles were everything from teenage fanaticism, to bills proposed to congress, to collegiate fame. When we returned to the mainframe, everyone was able to present.

It was probably better than what would have occurred (and been produced) face-to-face, because my students made fast videos and slides to summarize the articles they read. I was beyond impressed, too. When we returned to a whole group, we simply presented what we created in the breakout rooms (actually, they did...I just popped in and out)

Teaching online takes a little getting used-to, but it is no different than being in a room with a white board. The trick is spacial because it's all behind a screen. The content for the course (as well as its objectives) are still met, and I am still able bring Crandall nonsense and humor to the class (which is so important to me).

This morning is Wednesday, however, and I'm looking forward to having a less rigorous pace to my day. Preparing for online teaching requires a more ingenuity and run-through so I know it will work. I may try to do an asynchronous classroom next week, simply to model variety and choice to the graduate students.

I'm now wondering if we can possibly offer our summer institute this way. I imagine we'll still be online. I'm going with science and rationality at this point. Following the experts with caution. Not loving what I'm reading, but following the recommendations of those who know more.