#walkmyworld - Learning Event Five - My Totem

My Totem

Learning Event Response - 

Reviewing the following video, Issue 1: Absaroka, which includes the poem Horse Bones by Jonathan Levitt. 

Consider the imagery, words, and allusions the authors of this text share with you. What places are they calling back to for the speaker? In what ways does the speaker identify with these places? In what ways is the place and space still a home for the speaker? What totems do the authors share of these spaces and places?

Play, create, and share a digital representation of your totem. This could be an image, video, text, audioclip, or mashup that reflects the place and space that you most strongly identify with. You may chose to link this totem to other links and maps to share more information.

My Response - 

This learning event wasn't one that I easily or quickly responded to.  I really had to take some time to digest the idea of finding a symbol that represented my "place."  So, I began by reflecting on a totem pole.  The natives of the Pacific Northwest built these monuments to represent the experiences of their ancestors.  As I watched Issue 1: Absaroka, I couldn't help but notice how the video and words reflected on the past, using the past tense intermixed with present. 

Yet, still when reflecting on my ancestors and the past, I wasn't moved to conjure one symbol, my totem.  But, what I realized was they were always there, a part of me guiding who I was and who I wish to become. They are a beacon.  And, voila! My totem.  I have always loved the sea and the best beacon to a sailor is a light house.  In rough waters, a light house marks a more treacherous path.  In calm waters, a light house marks home.
So my totem is a light house.  It is hidden among the seeming chaotic, yet rhythmic,  ocean waves.  In the turbulence of the unknown or the changes of "place" I may encounter, a light house will find a way to show itself.  Therefore, my totem is not one physical object but a metaphor for whatever shines light in the dark, guides me to safety, or marks the path back home. It may be concealed by the chaos of the moment, but determination will bring it into focus.
Original Pictures used for Mashup: 

Background - Abigail Edwards’s  Seascape wallpaper  
Lighthouse -  http://www.sodahead.com/question/4226373?link=ibaf&imgurl=http://blakemaybank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Peggys-Lighthouse-P1280192-B-22-10-2011-Peggys-Cove-HRM-Nova-Scotia-1024x768.jpg&q=YES

#walkmyworld -Learning Event Four - Dawn

Dawn 

Learning Event Response -

Read and annotate Dawn by Dorothea MacKellar. Read The Fierce Country by Douglas Stewart. The first poem, Dawn is an Australian poem that reflects a landscape, time, and place that was very important to the poet, Dorothea Mackellar. The New Zealand-born poet, Douglas Stewart, offers a harsher Australian landscape in The Fierce Country. Think about the imagery these two poems create. 

What kind of landscape represents you? Would your landscape be harsh, dry, and hot or cool, lush, and green? Do you have a favourite time of day? Does it contain despair, hope or joy? Is it the end or the beginning of a journey? Have you ever witnessed a ‘miracle’ whilst walking ‘the common way’? 

Create  a visual, written, and/or audio text which best captures the essence of your dawn. Try and incorporate features of your landscape. You may want to link to a poem, poet, or song that is unique to your country or culture. 

Share your response using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag on twitter.

My Response - 

Dawn

By Dorothea Mackellar

At the dawning of the day,
On the road to Gunnedah,
When the sky is pink and grey
As the wings of a wild galah,
And the last night-shadow ebbs

(The events of yesterday or last night are fading memories)

From the trees like a falling tide,
And the dew-hung spiderwebs
On the grass-blades spread far and wide -

(There is a new chance to grow like the blades of grass and the wings of the wild galah)

Each sharp spike loaded well,
Bent down low with the heavy dew -
Wait the daily miracle
When the world is all made anew:

(Each day is a fresh start; a new beginning)
When the sun's rim lifts beyond
The horizon turned crystal-white,
And a sea of diamond
Is the plain to the dazzled sight.

At the dawning of the day,
To my happiness thus it fell:
That I went the common way,
And I witnessed a miracle.

(Every day the sunrises and a new day begins, but do we take the time to stop and recognize this miracle?)

When thinking about the landscape that represents me, I can't help but recall summers as a young child.  Growing up in Georgia, most summer evenings were spent outside.  The smells, the sounds, and  the visual images come flooding back to me.  The time of day is dusk, but I never found the end of the day to be the end of anything.  It was always the point in the day when a new game was created or a new friendship formed.  So much happened in those hours before the sun set and we were called in for bath and bed time.  To this day, dusk is my favorite time of day because it is constrained by the hustle and bustle of work life, but is centered around being at home with family and loved ones.  The miracle in dusk for me is that everyone and everything is alive! Dawn can feel isolating as not everyone is awake to see the sunrise, but at dusk, the world is a buzz.  

For this learning event, I chose to create a Word Cloud to represent what dusk looks and feels like to me.  The link allows you to magnetize certain words but in case it doesn't work for everyone, I have included the image below.  Regardless of how you view my "dawn" please enjoy the sweet sounds of Ray Charles and Georgia on my Mind. 

#walkmyworld - Learning Event Three - Identity

Reflect on Your Identity 

Learning Event Response -

Read and annotate Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco. Read and annotate The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur. Think about how the authors describe their identities and wishes in the text.

Share a surprising side of yourself that tells something about your world. Be creative and use the poems to drive your response using images, video, text, and/or audio. You may want to combine them all. 

In a tweet to the #WalkMyWorld hashtag, share out a link to this work that you've created. You might chose to share this work on a blog post, or using a page on the digital front door many of you created previously. We urge you to play and be creative in your expression. Go to the Maker Menu if needed for ideas and tutorials on how to present your response. 

My Response - 

Identity

 by Julio Noboa Polanco

 Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

(People are beautiful creatures but bound to containment)

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

(A weed may not be as appealing but has freedom like a soaring eagle)

To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed,
beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

(A weed in a rock has had to struggle to make it.  But because of that fight it is open to new experiences and what the world has to offer)

I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

(I don't care if anyone notices me or praises my surface beauty because I my future is not directed by others )

I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

(Independence is better than being controlled or cultivated)

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

  By Tupac Shakur

Did you hear about the rose that grew

from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk with out having feet.

(Like salmon that swim against the current, this rose defied odds to get where it wanted to)

Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams,

it learned to breathe fresh air.

(Never give up on your dreams regardless of the struggle)

Long live the rose that grew from concrete

when no one else ever cared.

(Praise yourself; do it for you)

                                               

Both poems speak to the importance of being independent and not bound by how society sees you.  Working with students who have been labeled non-readers, this message really spoke to the struggles they face but also overcome just like the weed in the rock and the rose in the concrete.  My digital identity isn't as rebellious or daring, but more like the daffodil that chooses to grow in the middle of my yard rather than with the others under the tree.  It has the same yellow cup and green leaves, but it grows on its own.  This is like my digital identity because this identity doesn't look different from the real me, but allows me to stand out as an independent - a traditional reading tutoring who uses New Literacies to develop the independence of my students.  

For this learning event, I wanted to create a similar poem that touches on this theme - being different in big ways or small ways identifies you as independent. Enjoy! 

Independent

By Josie Calamari

Go against the grain. 

Fight the urge to be bound by the restrain.

Embrace the challenges that will arise.

For they will not define you,

but be the tools that dreams come to realize.   

#walkmyworld - Learning Event Two - Virtual High Five

Virtual High Five

Learning Event Response - 

Share a photo or a representation of you. This could be a photo, video, avatar, symbol, graphic, gif, etc. In a tweet to #WalkMyWorld, share the representation of your identity to the community. Say hello and introduce yourself to the group. Ask someone to reach out and say hello back.

After you have sent out your tweet, take a day or two and look at the others that are reaching out and sharing representations of their identity. Find and respond to someone else who is sharing content using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag. Connect with that user. Give them a virtual high five!!!

My Response -

For this week's learning event, I wanted to share this photo which represents how I identify with my community.  I am a reading tutor.  I work with students of all ages for short or extended period of time.  As long as they need me, I am there.  This has lead me to work with over 40 students for over 700 hours.  My favorite part, the first students I worked with are headed off to college this fall!

#walkmyworld - Learning Event One - Opening Doors

Opening New Doors

Learning Event Response - 

Take a photo of your door in your current space, through a doorway you travel daily, or out the front door of your home. In a tweet to #WalkMyWorld, share your photo and the Twitter handle and/or URL to indicate where you’re tweeting from. 

You can decide to just share this content as a link in a tweet, or publish your share to a blog. You might share a Facebook page, Google+ page, Weebly page, Wix page, Wiki, etc.

If possible, add a geotag to your post to link to the shared #WalkMyWorld map. Keep mind that you might choose to not share your location. That is absolutely fine. We'll review and revise the tags you share to the map over time.

My Response - 

This is the door I enter every morning to go to work.  Believe it or not, I love this door! It is a side entrance to the school and only accessible to those of us who work in the building. Everyone else must enter through the front office.  Sometimes, I may leave through another door, but I start every work day walking through this literal door.  

But in thinking about physical versus digital space, my digital door isn't a door at all.  It is Instagram. Before I cross the threshold above, I will have checked my feed and liked pictures of babies, friends, and/or landscapes.  Instagram is the platform I choose to share my own pictures and thoughts, and, therefore, it is the opening into my digital presence on line.  So, for this first learning event, I merged the two by posting this picture on Instagram. (Link)

#walkmyworld - Learning Event Eight - The Journey

The Journey 

Learning Event Response - 

Watch the following video from Matthew Winkler discussing what makes a hero.

Watch the following video by Tim Adams on what makes an anti-hero. 

Think about the journey that you are about to complete. You might think of this journey in the #WalkMyWorld project, or you might consider an alternate journey in your life. What journey speaks the most to you? What journey would you like to share with others? What challenges and opportunities have you experienced along the journey? What skills and expertise will you share with others after your journey?

Create a hero or heroine, and share their journey in this learning event. Think of a name for your hero, or heroine in your response...or use your own name. Consider the following steps involved in the pattern of events involved in the epic hero monomyth. You might chose to include these steps in the journey in your response.

1. Call To Adventure
2. Assistance
3. Departure
4. Trials
5. Approach
6. Crisis
7. Treasure
8. Result
9. Return
10. New Life
11. Resolution

Create a visual, audio, or written account of your journey using the elements identified above. Share your response using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag on twitter.

My Response -

The classic monomyth defined by Joseph Campbell tells of a hero's journey through the Call to Adventure, Crisis, Results and Resolution with a number of steps in between.  For this learning event for the #walkmyworld project asked us to identify our own journey.  I have outlined my journey using ThingLink.  Please review My Monomyth as you would a clock.  Starting at 12:00 and moving around clockwise.  

Enjoy!

ThingLink: http://www.thinglink.com/scene/633777326621982720 

#walkmyworld Learning Event Seven - The Mirror - 2015

The Mirror

Learning Event Response - 

Read and annotate Two Fusiliers by Robert Graves. 

Review the following video by Michael Jackson.

Consider the meaning and aspects of reflection in the two texts. What common threads and elements are found across the texts? What truth do the two authors of these texts share about reflection? What is our role in this events? What role should our own reflections play as motivated by these texts? What truths and possible futures are only known in the reflection?

Play, create, and share a text of your own in which you capture what you see in your reflection. You might consider the reflection you see in the mirror as you brush your teeth, or a reflection of your digital identity. Consider the mystery, mythology, magic inherent in the mirror, and looking at our own reflections. Consider the power that is assumed as the mirror may possibly be able to take us to a new place.

You might choose to use Soundcloud to record and or annotate a version of the Michael Jackson song shared above. You might also choose to remix the video using a mockup in Mozilla Popcorn.

My Response - 

When I think of mirrors and reflections, I usually do it with vanity in mind. Call me Narcissus, but mirrors have always been about beauty or the lack of it. Did I get all of the toothpaste off my mouth in the morning? Does my hair look okay? Does this shirt really match these pants?  I never used a mirror to reflect on my life, who I was, or who I have become. But, recently I have no choice.  When I look into a mirror, I expect to see me 5 months ago. But, the present me is months pregnant with twins; a big difference literally.  And while my past and present don't align in the anticipated reflection, neither does my future.  

As I watched the video for Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" I couldn't help but think of the man himself.  He was never once in the video yet his image is iconic. He chose to use the images in the video to reflect the issues important to him - The Kennedy's, Martin Luther King, Jr., starving children in Africa, and so many others.  I can't help but think of my mirror now in a similar fashion.  It may not reflect the exact image I want, but it reflects what is important - the growth of my family.  Continued in Robert Graves's "Two Fusiliers," I couldn't help but think of how the mirror shows what we are bound to.  As he says "Show me the two so closely bound." Just as I will be bound to these babies, they will always be bound to each other by the fact they are identical twins.  They will be different humans with differing personalities, but when they look into a mirror, the reflection will show an unbreakable bond.  

My vanity still keeps me from posting pictures of my pregnant belly.  So my picture is not one from a mirror but it is the best I can do for another 4 (hopefully, 5 months).