Technology, Affinity Spaces, New Literacies, and Female Leadership: Thoughts on Days 3 and 4 of NCTE

     The last two days of NCTE were a whirlwind for me. I presented on a panel with two brilliant women educators from Texas, served as a floating respondent for "The Future is Now," and served as a respondent for "Sharing Our Voices: Preparing Teacher Educators for Today, Tomorrow, and Forever." Each role was very different, but rewarding. I learned a lot from the roundtables, and I also learned a great deal about new technologies and new literacies from working with Julie Vu and Sara Mullins on our panel entitled "Transforming Learning Spaces with Digital Technologies: Pitfalls and Possibilities." In addition to utilizing ideas and concepts from my dissertation work, specifically affinity spaces and multimodality, I was also able to bring in anecdotes, images, and ideas from my classroom work at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School during this school year.
     Perhaps this was serendipity: the Wednesday before I did this panel, my school had an "Unplugged Day", at which students and educators alike were asked to put away our electronic devices, specifically our phones and computers. Teachers had to use or computers for some tasks, such as taking attendance, but we were asked to keep our lesson plans for the day as technology-free as possible. Since our school is very technology-driven, with clear touches and one-to-one chromebook access for students, this was a big deal for us. It proved to be challenging for students and teachers alike to work without our devices for a whole day. However, it did facilitate some interesting conversations in my 7th Grade Grammar/Composition class about how technology can both encourage and discourage personal connection, the advantages and disadvantages of technology, and the difference between technology and electronics/appliances. A couple of my students aptly pointed out that if we truly went without technology for a whole day, we would be able to utilize very little at school, including such things as the electricity, lights, and supplies on our classroom maker carts:

Therefore, Unplugged Day, for my students and me, begged the question of what exactly we mean by the term technology. Julie, our session chair, was complimentary of how smart my students are, which is true. :) She then decided that we should add this very question to our presentation, when we met ahead of time to tweak it on site, and that we should discuss technology, new technology, new literacies, and how to differentiate such terms. 

       I was able to talk about maker carts and makerspaces in my presentation, which was a great way to bring my classroom experiences into the conversation: 

There are challenges with maker carts, such as keeping them supplied and clean and figuring out how to best allocate our resources. However, they make it possible for my students to do some amazing design thinking and project-based thinking work such as their recent game design and writing assignment: 

Some students created their literacy concept games on their computers, and others created board games with maker cart materials. Regardless, these projects would not have been possible without technology, whether they used new technology, traditional technology, or a combination of the two. This was an interesting concept to explore in the presentation, and one on which I hope to continue to write and to speak. Two other teachers from Atlanta-area private schools attended my presentation, and one asked for my card after the presentation, so we could continue the dialogue about maker spaces and innovative ways of teaching.  

       Another aspect of my teaching that I discussed at the presentation, as related to my dissertation work, is the comics club I facilitate at school on Fridays during Advisory:

In hindsight, I wish I had talked about this element more at the presentation: I figured out pretty quickly that the club functioned more effectively when the students read chosen comics in small groups, which I assigned, than when we tried to all discuss one comic that I chose for them. This is, after all, a club rather than a class, so I need to better keep the protocols in line with those of affinity spaces (Gee, 2004), at which leadership is porous and shared and at which choice is a key component. It's been interesting to me that some groups have gravitated toward digital comics and others have chosen more traditional paper comics. We also plan to watch the Wonder Woman documentary in December, a feat which would not be possible without technology.  

       My two brilliant colleagues, Sara Mullins and Julie Vu, discussed other great strategies for bringing technology into the classroom for such activities as socratic seminars on Shakespeare plays, sources to discuss fake news and the evaluation of sources, and Twitter hashtags to better facilitate classroom discussions at the high school level. I learned a great deal from both of them and gained ideas I can modify for my middle school students.  

       Also greatly beneficial to me was the roundtable I attended and helped facilitate at "The Future is Now", which had activities that early-career teachers led. I ended up at Table 18, which was a very good fit for my interests and current teaching situation: 

Topics included enhancing literature discussions through socratic seminar and the question formulation technique from the Right Question Institute, how music can enhance literacy instruction, and how "iGen Language" is influencing Generation Z, the generation of students whom I currently teach. We had though provoking conversations about how to "gameify" a classroom effectively, how to encourage students to ask deeper questions, and how to find a balance between teaching academic discourse and acknowledging that the nature of language is changing with image culture and social media. I learned so much from these early-career educators (within their first three years) and can't wait to see what ideas they come up with in the future. My Twitter feed includes more images and commentary from this session.  

      A session that I attended related to my work at school the last day was entitled "Advocating for 21st Century Collaborators: Teaching and Thinking in the Company of Others." In particular, I thought this session related to the MVx Mount Vernon Mindsets of communication and collaboration,  both of which are important in today's educational climate. The statement that most stood out to me from this session is one that I also included on my Twitter feed: "Ideas, action, and community make for strong collaboration." The community aspect is one that I've tried to emphasize in my classroom, even at the start of the year, in part because of my National Writing Project background.  

       Overall, NCTE 2017 was a success for me. I was sorry to miss the ALAN Workshop this year due to constraints of time and money, but I sincerely hope that I can return next year. I loved being at NCTE, and a theme that emerged at the NWP meeting that was relevant to my time at the whole conference was the importance of connecting and cultivating relationships with other female leaders. This NCTE year in particular, it was meaningful for me to present and reconnect with women who have mentored me (Jennifer Dail and Mary Stillerman), women who influence me with their pedagogical ideas (Julie Vu and Sara Mullins), and women who went on the UGA graduate school journey alongside of me (Meghan Barnes, Michelle Falter, and Karen Graham). It was inspiring and rejuvenating, both personally and professionally, for me to spend time with many awesome educators this year, especially these women, all of whom I feel are amazing leaders on my field. Thank you so much to each of you! After this past year, I needed some female superhero power, and that's exactly what you all gave me. :) 

Reference: 

Gee, J. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New York, NY: Routledge.