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Article Review: Scaffolds vs. New Literacies (week 5)

      An issue that I have always had as an arts educator is that we are now and forever, constantly and always, endlessly and ceaselessly being told that our content is great fodder for scaffolds. Now...this is quite true. For example, a student who might not be able to write a three-paragraph story could potentially draw a beautiful illustration that conveys a brilliant tale. A different student might not be able to recount the arc of a character with words alone, but they could act it out with gusto in a drama class. Still another student might not be able to get every formula straight, but they could find the ways that rhythm and melody tie math together, making answers easier to hear. That feeling of your content always being in service to something that is deemed more important is also felt with regards to digital tools, as argued by Jodi Pilgrim and Sheri Vasinda in their article, Technology supports in the UDL framework: Removable scaffolds or permanent new litera...
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Reluctantly Towards A.I

I am approaching this blog a bit differently than I typically would, which is normally research-forward and planned in advance. Instead, I thought it might be interesting to give a bit of a play-by-play with my first go-round with A.I. software. Full disclosure: I am wildly reluctant to use A.I. in any form for the myriad of reasons that are all over the news these days. It's terrible for the environment, it's stealing arts-based jobs from writers, animators, and more...I am going to make every attempt to open my mind to the potential uses that A.I. can hold in the classroom and see where we land!  Many colleagues are already using Gemini on a regular basis for text scaffolds and adaptations, so there has to be more here than meets the eye... Part One: Lesson Plan Generation & Evaluation 1-2) Pro's, Con's and Improvements      Do I have to eat my shoe now? Can the Tech Literacy & Engineering teacher on the other side of my classroom wall hear my astonishment?...
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Week 3 - Knowledge & Netflix?

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Another week gone by and... POOF! Just like that, May is nearly spent. We have officially entered the "I am crawling on my tummy, through the mud, with thorns in my hoodie and Taki dust in my eyes" phase of the year and I have to say, it's been a heavier lift than usual.  Still, we press on!   This week's reading is one that I will be bookmarking for future reference, focused on the how's and why's of learning. I was tasked with summarising the major points of Chapter 5 in How People Learn II , noted below.      Knowledge and how we come by it is not something that immediately flies to the forefront of a student's mind...at least not a middle school student in 2026, when TikTok, Takis and Netflix have a stranglehold on the day-to-day. This chapter sought to break down the actual process of learning, covering the basic foundations of how we acquire, develop and deepen knowledge. The text suggests that learning is built upon experiences that accumulate over ...
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Week 2: AIW, Technology & Kolb's Triple E's

It was a balmy 91 degrees on the 8th grade floor today at school, which I'd say is unseasonable here in Boston but...it's really not anymore!  The scent of Axe Body Spray (mango) is in the air, chairs are being set up for spring concerts and the teachers are (somewhat) patiently counting the days while alternately cursing the photocopiers.  All of that is to say...I am grateful for a quiet moment or two to get this blog out into the world!   I was surprised this week by just how much I was able to see the presence of Authentic Intellectual Work within my own classroom, though I had never heard of it before. I've enjoyed taking a mini dive into this area and hope to integrate the frameworks and principles behind this methodology more intentionally into my curriculum as a result.  Part One: Authentic Intellectual Work/Authentic Instruction & Assessment Authentic Intellectual Work is striking in its near-insistence on deepening and transforming knowledge so tha...
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And so we begin...

I have to say, it's been a minute since I dabbled in the world of blogs! My only experience here was born of necessity. In other words, my friends and I had just wrapped up undergrad and were in dire need of a way to keep in touch that wouldn't break the bank. Long distance phone calls were simply too expensive (remember those?) and social media wasn't a thing yet, but there was LIVEJOURNAL. It was a sounding board and a place for rambling thoughts, but it was also a gathering space that kept our little band of theatre nerds together as we made our way out of undergrad and into the world. All of that is to say...hi, I'm Carolyn. I'm not great with technology unless it's on a stage, so I'm pretty excited to see what this course will bring! What else can I tell you...the short list will have to do! I am... born and raised in Massachusetts. I probably fulfill every stereotype you can think of, right down to the Dunkin' coffee that is always in my hand; in m...
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