Category Archives: literacy

Teasting your Knowledge of Semiotic Linguists

July 10, 2015education, literacy, Literacy teacher educators, Teacher education, teacher educatorsCourse in General Linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure, graphic representation, semiotic represenation multiliteracies, semiotics, sign, signified, signifier, symbolicDr. Cathy Miyata

My (Cathy’s) research focus is on multiliteracies. Understanding the history and conceptual development of multiliteracies demanded I grasp a basic understanding of semiotics, or semiology. Semiotics is a branch of linguistics that studies signs, symbols, and signification. However, it is the study of how meaning is created, not what it is.

Ferdinand de Saussure is generally credited as the father of semiotics. His book Course in General Linguistics, was published posthumously by his former students Bally and Sechehaye. It was through this work that Saussure’s Semiology Theory was made public. His theory was based on the study of signs; a sign being anything that represented something else. Saussure proposed that communication is a system of signs that convey meaning, but limited his work to the use of words, spoken and written. Sassure’s most recognized semiotic terms are signifier, signified, sign and symbolic. (Glossary at bottom of page)

To test our knowledge of these terms, I share the following three graphics. Does their signifier representation signify anything symbolic to you?

Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image.

Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to.

Together, the signifier and signified make up the:

Sign: the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate.

Symbolic (arbitrary) signs: signs where the relation between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific, e.g., most words.

http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/terminology.html

Cyber -Seniors

July 3, 2015academics, classroom teachers, curriculum; teachers, education, literacy, Literacy teacher educators, teacher educatorscyber-seniors, digital immigrants, seniors, wwwDr. Cathy Miyata

“A humorous and heartwarming documentary feature, Cyber-Seniors chronicles the extraordinary journey of a group of senior citizens as they discover the world of the internet through the guidance of teenage mentors.” Business Insider

Directed by Saffron Cassady, the idea for the Cyber-Seniors documentary began with a high school project that was launched by two sisters. The sisters had the support of their mom, Brenda Rusnak, who had worked her entire career with seniors. After a successful first year, Brenda helped continue the Cyber-Seniors program, expanding it to a second retirement home and helping to engage more youth mentors. Over the next ten months, Saffron and her film crew captured over 120 hours of footage and many memorable moments. Of this film, the Washington Post reports:

Kerstin Wolgers made it through almost 82 years on this Earth without ever once checking an e-mail, watching a YouTube clip or sending a tweet. But last week, as part of a crash course that introduced her to the Internet for the first time, the former Swedish actress did all three — plus Googled, Instagrammed, Wikipedia-ed, shopped, video-gamed … even online-dated, eventually. “Lots going on here,” she says of Tinder. “It’s really exciting, if you asked me.”

Understanding how significant this program is to the lives of seniors was captured for me (Cathy) in a single moment when I watched one senior weep while he viewed his grandson play the piano via Skype. The differences technology makes in their lives, is remarkable.

Under the Getting Started heading of the web page for this documentary (link below) you can learn how to begin such a project in your community. It also will let you know when the documentary is coming to a theatre near you. Personally, I (Cathy) can’t wait to see it.

http://cyberseniorsdocumentary.com/

A delightful trailer for this film can be viewed at:

www.cyberseniorsdocumentary.com.

What counts as a “Canadian” word?

July 1, 2015celebrations, literacyCanada, Canadian words, dictionary, Oxford dictionary, wordslmmenna

With today being Canada Day it seems fitting to share the news that some uniquely Canadian words, such as dépanneur and inukshuk, were recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Link to CBC news: http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/canadian-words-d%C3%A9panneur-inukshuk-among-500-new-oxford-dictionary-entries-1.3127277

Happy Canada Day!!

A Message to Graduates: Choose Love or Choose Fear

June 26, 2015academics, classroom teachers, education, literacy, teacher educatorsbe positive, convocation, Graduate address, Jim Carey, paint to relax, trust your futureDr. Cathy Miyata

I (Cathy) was deeply moved by a key note address presented at Maharishi University in Iowa that was captured on Youtube (link below). The convocation address was delivered by funny man Jim Carey who, quite unexpectedly, revealed a rarely witnessed serious and profound side of his personality. During the speech, Carey unveiled a compelling 20 foot-high painting that he claimed took him thousands of hours to complete. He said he was “weeks and weeks alone on the scaffolding” painting the picture. The painting depicted the metaphoric players in our lives (and in our minds) that drag us down or keep us from reaching our dreams (e.g. misery, the party host, the clinger). Carey told the graduates that “painting is one of the ways I free myself from concern. A way to stop the world through total mental, physical, and spiritual involvement.”

Beyond the painting, Carey’s words were also stirring. Carey stated:

“As far as I can tell it’s about letting the universe know what you want and working towards it while letting go of how it comes to pass. Your job is not to figure out how it’s gonna happen for you, but to open the door in your head and when the door opens in real life, just walk through it. And don’t worry if you miss your cue, because there are always doors opening. They keep opening. And when I say life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you, I don’t really know if that’s true. I’m just making a conscious choice to perceive challenges as something beneficial, so that I can deal with them in the most productive way.”

Cary concluded the speech by challenging the students to choose between fear or love to guide them in their life choices when they left the auditorium.

Thank you, Jim Carey.

http://omeleto.com/199433/

Twitter Humour

June 17, 2015digital technology, humour, literacycomics, Twitterlmmenna

Let’s Not Forget About the Teachers

June 13, 2015celebrations, classroom teachers, master teachercelebrating the work of teachers, Huffington post, importance of teachers, Linsday Henry, teachers, unsung heroes of education, work of teachersckosnik

I (Clare) read this tribute to teachers in the Huffington Post. Lindsay Henry got it right. If you have a minute please send to this a teacher you know – I know that I would not be where I am today if it not for the many teachers who cared about me and worked tirelessly. I bolded a few lines in Henry’s original text. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lindsay-henry/this-ones-for-the-teacher_b_7555134.html

This One Is for the Teachers By: Lindsay Henry

It’s graduation season. A time where we focus our eyes and spotlights and applause on the students who successfully pushed through the exams, the essays, the sports games, the drama, to walk across a stage and receive that diploma. To graduate. Finally.

Whew.

So we celebrate. We honor the graduates with parties and families and photos and cake. Lots of cake (preferably with heaps of frosting and rosettes and plastic graduation caps.) We write “Congratulations” on cards and give “How to Succeed in the Real World” books and write “Top 10 Things I Learned When…” blog posts. Of course the graduates deserve the praise and recognition and celebrations and cake and blog posts.

But this post isn’t for the students.

This one’s for the teachers.

This one is for the teachers who stand in front of the students every day, writing on white boards and planning lessons and doing all they can to prepare youth for the rest of their lives. This one’s for the teachers who are full of nerves and anxiety on that first day of class in the fall, then bittersweet sadness as they say goodbye in the spring. The Silent Heroes who put in the work day in and day out, sometimes viewed as the antagonist by the students for assigning those group projects, required readings, difficult tests.

But teachers face their own tests, too. So this one’s for them.

This one is for the teachers who made it through another year full of hurdles. The long days and worrisome nights, the frustrated parents, the conferences. The detentions. The decisions. The reviews. The observations.

This one’s for the teachers that blur the lines because you care so much for these students, as if they are an extension of your own family. The ones that make sure the kids have full bellies and open minds. The ones that are the only constant in some of their students’ lives, filling the void as a caretaker or pseudo parent. The ones that use their own money to pour back into the classroom with materials and books and supplies.

This one’s for the teachers that are so much more than teachers. The ones that are fighters, advocators, listeners, healers, all to reach one more.

This one is for the hard days. The days that are long and the nights are longer, your mind racing and running. The days where teachers feels unsure of themselves, the ones that go home and wonder if they are making a difference, if the lessons are sticking, if they should just pack up the apples on their desks and stop trying.

You matter. The lessons stick. Trust me.

My high school days are long behind me, but the lessons live on and those who taught me. So this one’s for them, too.

This one’s for Mrs. Kochendorfer, my first-grade teacher at Patterson Elementary in St. Charles, Michigan, who’s proud, grinning face is still etched in my memory when I read her “The Rainbow Fish,” just a shy 6-year-old back then with Keds shoes and blunt bangs.

This one’s for Miss Bell, with her huge heart and booming voice shouting throughout my high school hallways: “Practice abstinence!” We laughed with her and loved her because she laughed and loved us first.

This one’s for Mr. Brownlie, with his easy-going manner and button-down shirts and soft-spoken voice. He retired this year, and his dedication and love for his students poured back to him as his former students created a hard covered book thick with pages full stories of how he impacted their lives.

This one’s for the future teachers, the college students in classrooms of their own right now, balancing the act of being a teacher and a student, observing and soaking it all in so they are ready to change lives.

Because that’s what teachers do. They do more than teach. They shape us. They lead us….until we reach the finish line and throw our caps into the hair, grinning at the idea of the future, unsure of what’s next.

But teachers know what’s next: another school year. And so they begin another season of preparation and books and lessons and worries centered around fresh faces sitting in desks.

In this season of mortar caps and gold tassels, Dr. Seuss and “Oh The Places You Go!” lines are repeated as we stare at the backs of the graduates running forward into the so-called real world. But let’s pause for a moment and thank the teachers that helped get them to this point. Because without them — sorry Dr. Seuss — we wouldn’t have a lot of places to go. We would all be a little lost.

Congratulations, students. And congratulations, teachers. You did it. All of you

What is your Munsch favorite?

June 12, 2015classroom teachers, education, literacy, Literacy teacher educatorschildren's literature, picture books, Robert Munsch, storytellingDr. Cathy Miyata

Yesterday, Robert Munsch turned 70. If you are not familiar with Robert’s work, he is one of the most famous children’s authors in North America. Most of his books are delightfully lively and humorous. Much like a comedian, he likes to take a simple, truthful situation in a child’s life and show the funny side to it. A delightful example of this is his book I Have to Go Pee, which depicts a child getting bundled into a snow suit and then announcing “I have to go pee!”. His books usually unfold in a pattern that children love to anticipate and participation in.

Beyond his writing style, I love his telling style, as he is a storyteller in the true sense of the word. He tells stories (like a performance) and he is very good at it. I (Cathy) have had the privilege of working with Bob (Robert is his “author” name) several times as I am also a storyteller. He is a delight to work with. Bob’s background has always intrigued me. He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but after working in orpahanages and daycare centers, he decided he would rather work with children. After graduating with his Masters in Education, he moved to Canada (he is American) and worked in the preschool at the university of Guelph. That was where he started telling stories. People encouraged him to submit the stories he told and he eventually got one published. The rest, as they say, is history.

One of Munsch’s best-known books Love You Forever, was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children’s Books selling 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). In celebration of Bob’s birthday, the cbc hosted a web page for Bob (link below) on which you can vote for your favorite Munsch book. I suspect Love You Forever will win, as I personally meet parent and educators worldwide that love that book. I will also vote for Love You Forever but it is not the American version I love. It is the Japanese version. I once hosted an event in my home honoring a group of storytellers that came over from Japan. Many Canadian storytellers and authors came to the event and, of course, Bob came too. Graciously, these people gave away copies of their books as welcome gifts to Canada. As there were about 15 Canadian tellers and authors, Bob just kind of blended in with the crowd, and I knew my foreign guests had no idea who he was or how well known he is. That is-until they got home and Love You Forever was released in Japan, and became an enormous hit. One of my guests sent me a copy of the Japanese version and a picture of her and two of her friends taken with Bob. She was so excited and grateful to have met such an amazing/famous storyteller in person. Bob, being Bob, would not have thought anything of it. He’s just that kind of person. Below are pictures of the book my guest sent me. I find the illustrations in this version tender and beautiful. As Bob wrote this story in memory of one of his own children that passed away, I think the illustrations are most appropriate. That’s my Munsch favorite. What’s yours? http://www.cbc.ca/books/munsch70/index.html

Hip-Hop Ed Fosters Connections

June 10, 2015critical literacy, curriculum; teachers, digital technology, education, literacy, Teacher educationHip-Hop Ed, poetry, Rap, slam poetry, spoken wordlmmenna

An article in the New York Times highlighted the work of high school English teacher Brian Mooney, who uses the lens of “hip-hop ed” to engage students in the study of complex literary themes. A blog Mr. Mooney created to share his curriculum and student work caught the attention of a broader audience — rapper Kendrick Lamar visited the high school. Students from Mr. Mooney’s English class and the after-school poetry club performed spoken word poems and raps for Kendrick Lamar.

Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/nyregion/kendrick-lamar-rapper-who-inspired-a-teacher-visits-a-high-school-that-embraces-his-work.html

Teacher Image in the U.K.

June 9, 2015classroom teachers, educationeducators, teachers, teachingpoojadharamshi

Gillian Harvey from The Telegraph argues for a shift in how teachers are viewed in the U.K. She argues:“[r]ather than heaping initiative upon initiative or effecting more change on a curriculum that is altered almost before it can be implemented, it would be better to take measures to improve the image of the profession as a whole.”

Harvey claims teachers fall victim to a culture of blame in education. Teachers are blamed for many things ranging from unprepared youth for the work force to a failure to raise standards. However, Harvey points out that the government officials often receive credit for perceived successes in education. She comments: “[y]ou can rest assured that the moment improvements happen, the praise will be placed at the doors of Nicky Morgan and David Cameron.”

In an era of educational reform driven by data, teachers are feeling pressure to do what it takes to have the data reflect their “effective” teaching. However, as result, pupils in the classroom may be suffering. Harvey says, “teachers are spending more and more time on meaningless bureaucracy and less on teaching and learning or interacting with pupils.”

An interesting read! To read the entire article click here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11645808/Does-teaching-have-an-image-problem.html

Exploring Toronto Through Poetry

June 3, 2015art as a form of communication, arts, digital technology, education, literacycommunity literacy, poetry, Poetry Map, Toronto Public Librarylmmenna

To mark National Poetry Month (April), the Toronto Public Library launched the poetry map, an interactive map that allows users to explore Toronto through a collection of poems associated with the city’s neighborhoods and landmarks. The project was the result of a collaboration between the Toronto Public Library and the city’s poet laureate George Elliott Clarke. Clarke suggested, the “map brings the city alive in terms of it being a living, pulsing, breathing organism that gives creative people – poets – inspiration. It reminds us that Toronto is a great city for the arts.” The Library hopes to expand the project by encouraging the public to submit their favorite poems related to Toronto.

Link: http://www.torontopoetry.ca/