Phew. This week has been super tiring. Grades were due and the semester changed so this week is like September all over again for me. Print out syllabi, go over expectations and policies, set seating charts and basically get to know a brand new set of 150 names and faces! In a way its a great opportunity to recharge mid year, and revisit the curriculum and refine it. BUT it can be tiring too and you never know what these impressionable freshman will come into your class with after a half a year of high school under their belt with a different teacher. I am super excited though to meet them and find out who among them is ready, eager, and willing to be a media maker!

(Yes the title is a White Snake reference - in honor of the PATS)

I attended the first of 2 classes at Harvard this week to mark the kickoff of semester #2. Tuesday’s Human Development class looks like it will be extremely interesting - the 2 profs are engaging and extremely knowledgeable. The only down side is that it starts at 7:30 pm! Makes for a loooong day. And the very next evening is the ProSeminar in which I will be refining my thesis topic and diving in deeper to the literature review. I am excited but weary, as I find more and more of my energy and time and money is being poured into my professional life, with little left for the personal. The apartment hunt is put on hold, the spa vacation remains a travelocity bookmark, and my view of the gym seems to be more of my monthly statement these days. I promised myself (and that Guy upstairs) that I’d take better care of myself this year in my “new age” bracket, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day or dollars in the bank! Keep on keepin on. I’m just one of those people (schmucks?!) who believes that hard work, sincerity, and passion will pay off some day.

“Things been a little tight, but I know they’re gonna turn my way.”
- the boss

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

I am still enjoying the time off catching up on sleep and much-needed rest. I am however prepping now for a short 2 hr web design workshop at TechBoston tomorrow morning. I hope the snowfall overnight is light so I and the kids can get there on time!

Just before the holidays, I found out I won a Facing History and Ourselves Grant of $800 to support a film festival at my school next spring, and the BPS called Friday to tell me that my research proposal has been approved! The masters is actually feeling within reach now.

In addition to these great gifts, I received some lovely presents from family and friends, including a surprise gift from “Charlie Weis”, in the hopes that next year will be better for Notre Dame football - there’s pretty much nowhere to go but up after this dismal season - I got my very own Notre Dame tailgating chair. I hope my faith will be rewarded. Sigh.

What I have been sucked into the last 24 hours, however, is no, not Guitar Hero (I wish though!), but the 1984-1994 7 game adventure series by Sierra Online that captured my heart and my imagination 20 years ago : King’s Quest. All 7 games on 1 CD for $25, used to cost us $50 per trip to Egghead Software and require at least 7 floppy disks to switch between during the game! I remember upgrading to SoundBlaster and better video cards as the series continued, and being mesmerized by the improved graphics and soundtrack with each game. Text command prompts and riddles eventually gave way to mouse clicks and battle scenes. The adventures are still classic though : knight goes on quest for crown, king goes on quest for queen…battles sorcerers, encounters fairytale creatures, and scores points by choosing wit and peaceful tactics over violence or theft. But the tale that captured my fascination the most was KQ4 : the Perils of Rosella, when for the first time, I was not only the hero, but the hero was me - a girl! I thought creator & programmer Roberta Williams was the smartest woman in the world and I wanted to be just like her.

I hope you too got some new and old toys this Christmas!

Here’s how my day went today :

Wake up late and balance the coffee and the nano on the 45 min drive to Dorchester. Decide that my playlists are boring and listen to sports radio talk incessantly about how badly we want Santana to come to town. NOT the guitarist, folks.

Just in time 7:55 am for my first period study hall at 8:00. Dump the coat and the coffee and the computer on the desk as kids stroll in.

Take attendance. Walk around check that everyone’s on task… “Printing out the Patriots’ schedule is not an assigment…” Have student with “nothing to do” rip sound fx cds for me into iTunes in the lab. Have another student give me feedback on the updated “For students” section on the school’s web site.

8:25 my room becomes the tardy room.

Sip luke warm coffee. Start up my computer.

Log into the gradebook software. Enter attendance.

8:35 Check my messages. I mean…check my Outlook email…26 new messages…Check my gmail email…35 unread messages…and Bloglines alerts me : 676 new items! Oh and 1 voicemail on the phone. A chat line pops up from Hotmail…”Hello Boston! What time is it there?” from my UK friend…I reply to a survey about a social community portal for our alumni…read the bulletin from the BTU…”Attached is the grant I think we should go for…” YIKES! due in 2 weeks…Important deadlines for Masters in ET candidates…copy and paste an already late news article into the school’s web site…FTP changes and test the links…

8:50 “Ms. may I go to the bathroom?” Sign the pass. Walk around check - “Show me the progress you made today. Is there anything you need help with?” Collect time sheets from a student-consultant who is building a web site for a client under my supervision.

Sip cold coffee.

9:00 I have 14 freshman coming in 10 minutes. What are we doing today? Get the class folder. Read the post-it I left myself on Tuesday…Ah yes, teach them CSS today.

Write objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board.

9:08 Enter classwork grades for study hall students into the gradebook.

9:09 Check schedule again. Realize I am teaching in a different room next period!

9:10 Bell rings.

Unhook laptop. Turn off projector. Pile coat onto computer and go next door. Leave coffee.

9:14 Freshman enter the lab. Write and talk through the objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board. Take attendance in gradebook.

9:25-9:40 Have students copy & paste CSS into their web pages. Explain the code. Explain RGB color coding. “Ms something’s wrong with my laptop…” Pair students together.

9:45 Tardy student walks in. No laptop. No notebook. No pencil. Speak to student in hallway. Assign him homework hall after school with me on Monday. Direct him onto a lab machine and to the web site for make-up Photoshop assignment.

9:55 Direct students to the homework assignment on the web site. The network connection is lost. Pass out hard copies from the class notebook. Review the rubric.

10:15 - class ends.

FINALLY GO TO THE BATHROOM! Put my salad in the fridge. Microwave this morning’s coffee. Teacher in teacher’s room asks me “so how do I get my web site online too?”

10:30-11:30 show teacher how to build a web page in Dreamweaver and FTP it.

11:30-11:40 “Eat” (inhale) salad.

11:50 Back to class! Junior video class comes into the lab.”What are we doing today?”

Write objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board. Take attendance.

12:05-12:30 Mediate a heated debate among team members over the topic of their movie. “Is it about bullying or depression?” “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” “No one’s listening to me.” OK, let’s listen to each other. “Oh I get what you’re saying.” “yeah that’d actually be fire.”

12:30 - 12:50 review & approve storyboards, assign cameras, stations and tapes to the teams.

1:00 class ends. FINALLY! A free block!

New teacher comes in “This is definitely the worst day ever.”

1:00-2:00 A support session that turns into a planning meeting that turns into “hey have you seen this on You Tube?”…

2:00 Study hall next door begins.

Take attendance. Walk around check that everyone’s on task… “Printing out the Patriots’ schedule is STILL not an assigment…” Have student with “nothing to do” rip the last of the sound fx cds for me into iTunes in the lab. Have another student give me feedback on the home page of the school’s web site.

2:20 Seniors are dismissed. Joy! The room empties. I get an email inviting me to a Flash meeting between a group of lead teachers and principals in England. Accept the invitation, and the empty room fills with British accents!

3:00 My room turns into the detention room. “Ms Radden this student claims it was OK that he was using a P2P program to find an MP3 to complete your project, even though it crashed our network this morning.” I review that my students in fact sign an AUP for the school and a laptop policy for my class in which p2p usage is not acceptable in any manner. “Done. Suspension.” I move next door.

3:10 My room already is the photography class. I don a headset and continue to listen in on the Flashmeeting. We arrange another meeting for next week. I must get coverage for the study. Find a webcam. And a room!

3:45 Off to Cambridge for my research methods class! Round and round Brattle street til I spy an open meter.

5:30 - 7:30 Show up tardy to class. No laptop. No notebook. No pencil. We review how to transcribe and code our interviews. But I haven’t conducted my interview yet. The BPS has not approved my proposal, and my ipod died 2 weeks ago. Make a checklist : buy audio recorder.

7:25 A quick check-in with my Professor before class ends as to what plan B is. Plan B is simply : I MUST conduct an interview next week. It has to be Monday after school.

Home by 8:00 - Springsteen takes me there (even his old songs still sound fresh).

Online by 8:30. And here I am…

I too experienced joy at both of the Springsteen shows Sunday and Monday at the Garden. The E Street band wrapped up the first leg of the “Magic” tour. They will embark on a European tour after the holiday and then come back to the States in January. My sisters, Dad, and I enjoyed “No Surrender” and “Jungleland” especially on Sunday, and I was pretty fired up about the throwbacks on Monday - “E Street Shuffle”, “Kitty’s Back”, and “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” “Born To Run” and “The Rising” still resonate, and “Reason to Believe” is done in a rockin rowsing way. Off the new album, the crowd caught onto the sweet summer song “Girls in their Summer Clothes” and nodded along solemnly to “The Last to Die.” Although Peter Wolf joined the stage for “10th Avenue Freeze Out” and Bruce gave a shout out to “the home of the World Champions”…no “Dirty Water” was done…But it wasn’t missed! The crowd was kept plenty busy with the high energy encore, which included “Badlands” and closed out with the jig “American Land.”Thanks Boss.Dad, me, Meg(and my floppy hat) getting ready for the show Sunday :
Dad and the Doctah :

This was our view of the Boss :

This is my sister trying to touch the Boss :

OK so I am still in the process of separating myself from my old blog, the Dope, on blogger.com ( I have been importing and exporting and updating Flickr and installing new widgets…SIGH! Who even reads this thing?! ). At the blogger brunch, we had a brief discussion about the separation of the professional self with the personal self online - is it necessary to create 2 separate identities for work and for play, or can the two be blurred in the Web 2.0 world? For Jeremiah, web marketer and analyst, well, its his job to use the web tools out there, so he feels his personal life and professional are one on the net. Len from EMC, on the other hand, didn’t hire someone who was well-qualified on paper, after googling and finding her rather suspect Facebook postings.

I have struggled over the last few months as to whether to continue posting publicly about personal events and opinions. For the most part, the students I teach are interested in my personal life…they ask me about my culture, my family, what high school was like for me, college life, and if I have a boyfriend and if not why not, and where do I shop, and just normal getting-to-know-you kinds of questions. But it just takes that one student who for whatever reason, even as a harmless joke, finds the goofy picture of their teacher, or pulls a quote from her blog out of context and…front page news?! Am I saying that I really have that exciting of a life that I would make front page news?! Ah these days, especially, not so much. But I knew I was posting with caution before, and at times that kindof took the fun out it.

SO for the followers from blogspot, the Dope does indeed live on, albeit repurposed and refocused. No more commentary on Britney’s bad behavior, or weak attempts at explaining away the IRISH’s pathetic record on Gamedays this season, or especially the hopeless single scene in Boston…There is much more hope in education - especially with technology! And the Boss. OK that’s a stretch BUT since the theme of hope prevails here, I can not NOT post about him, as he is the inspiration behind it. Especially since I just caught the live feed of 3 songs from his “Radio Nowhere” concert in New Jersey. I’ll be attending in November in Boston. Both nights. Very excited.

So welcome back!

It’s open house here tonight! Phew makes for a VERY long day and I was at a networking event for Women In Film last night that now is making my eyes blurry - but not too blurry to make myself some updated business cards (what an eejit to show up to a NETWORKING event with little to no cards!)! I was able to break today for a caffeine kick before the parents arrived at 5:00. It is really a great opportunity to place the kids’ names with their PARENTS’ faces. Although I don’t see many out of the 150+ that I teach in a given semester, it helps to make contact. Most of the ones who come by are NOT the ones who really need the parent contact, however. I have struggled in the past with parent-teacher contact, but have gotten MUCH better at making those calls, and it has paid off! If a student misbehaves, does not show up for detention, is tardy, or is failing, it is important to make that first call home to not only try to nip the bad behavior early, but to also cover your own butt! Seriously, documenting your contact with a parent is critical - especially if you do not get a reaction. If it comes to the point when administration has to get involved, these records of reaching out substantiate your concerns and claims.

Classes are going really well so far this year. My media classes (3 sections) are PACKED into the lab and we have kicked off the first project building animated identity pieces in Flash with voiceovers. The kids are enjoying bringing childhood photos to scan, and listening to their own voices tell their stories about home. My freshman are…freshman! They are sometimes tough when your voice is on empty, your energy is low, and your patience is THIN! But the kids were hooked from day one when we took the cameras out for a scavenger hunt - the challenge is keeping them hooked in. Their energy is super high which keeps me on my toes! No matter how many times I do a lesson, the 9th graders always tend to surprise me, impress me, and challenge me. They are writing, scanning, and creating audio, imagery, and video clips to embed into their eportfolios. We are also studying the history of the web and how it works, learning vocabulary that they will animate into slide shows. I trully enjoy teaching the seniors. We are pretty laid back now, once a week, brainstorming and remembering projects over the years to include in the senior portfolio. We will kick it into high gear second semester as they prepare for the Senior Exhibition in June. And lastly, my Advanced Web class is working on job searches, ethics in the workplace, and resumes before meeting their clients (real ones!) to build web sites for by January. I am pretty disappointed that I have such a small number of students in the one section - this curriculum has been my baby over the last 2 years!! But it allows me to focus more on the video curriculum that I wanted to revamp, and I will not be driven crazy by keeping track of a dozen clients’ needs on a weekly basis! I also am pleased to have some “regulars” stop by the lab on Mondays - we dabble in podcasting, 3d modeling, and all things tech/art/whatever interests them … and I learn a ton from them too! I am hooking students here and there up with IT and web jobs through the TechBoston Consulting Group which makes their eyes light up with pride! Gotta make that money! ( :

13 minutes left…and yet I have to go home and search for apartments that I have no time to look at this week. Landlord kicked me out. Elderly mom moving in…STRESS much?! And my master’s classes are revved up this week too. Sigh. Busy busy!

Wow so I haven’t written in ages - no kidding! - and now I have all the time in the world to blog…well, at least until Monday! The last 2 months of school were pretty crazy. I was managing 3 sections of 40 students and 11 clients in the Advanced Web class of sophomores….wrapping up PSAs with the juniors…planning the Senior Portfolio Exhibition and Evaluations… and grading, grading, grading until ( sigh ) it was all over. I will post separately my reflections on those projects, along with pix from the field trip to Cloud Place.

“So what are you doing for the summer?”, you ask? Relaxing…and I have 4 jobs! Seriously, I ramped up the freelance web design, am teaching a 4 day PD for BATEC next week, am consulting for Facing History and Ourselves on their documentary project from July 16 - Aug 2, and am once again “Professor Radden” by teaching the Intro to Computers class at Bunker Hill twice a week. Phew. And so when I complained yesterday of being bored, well, I reminded myself of the weeks ahead. But seriously, I am looking forward to all of the micellaneous projects I am involved in this summer! Last summer, I did not do a thing - but I needed the rest after a tumultuous school year. But I really needed the money more! Learned that lesson…and that I can still be a beach bum and get work done. Although, now that I am only steps away from the beach…actually it gets easier to do both since I can quickly transition from sand to sufing…the web, that is!

So the major news over the last week has been the arrival of the Guardian Angels into town in response to the escalation of violence in Boston. Boston has tallied 13 homicides in 2007, up from 10 this time last year, and witnessed 3 violent shootings in broad daylight in the span of only 4 hours on Friday alone, 2 resulting in death. The Angels have come to town to recruit peacemakers who can promote anti-violence within their own communities and counteract what the gangs are doing. Although they were not turned away, they were not exactly supported by skeptical police and hopeful but cautious civilians.

I say whatever help we can get, take it, and I do agree that the movement for peace needs to come from its own people, who need to welcome and trust the authority that are there to protect them. Although more guns are off of the streets, the gang mentality of anti-snitching and distrusting police remains, and it is a powerful one, powerful enough to keep families hiding in their homes, witnesses’ mouths closed, and teenagers trust of authority broken even as their friends get gunned down before their eyes.

Working literally right in the middle of the major areas entrenched in the gang warfare, and seeing 15 year olds come into school wearing t-shirts dedicated to their gunned down cousins, I am hopeful that the Angels’ work is effective but skeptical about the depth and longevity of its outreach. Of course they are seen as “outsiders,” not welcome, not supported. Who are they recruiting and what is their agenda? The future - the young people - to stop the cycle of violence that is clearly spiraling out of proportion.

I brought the topic to the attention of my 11th grade students today in class and every one of them had an opinion, a question, a comment about it, but were actually mostly asking me what I thought about it all. It amazed me because THEY are the ones who live it! I told them how much it disturbs me to have to listen closely to the names of the victims, or to hear students retell stories of gun shots fired minutes after getting off of the bus in broad daylight. I didn’t grow up in an environment like that, so I can’t relate - and I don’t know what the solution is. And they don’t either. But they are the ones the Angels, the police, the teachers, the neighbors are looking to for answers. They are the ones who have to stop the cycle. For their generation and the next and the next…but when asked “what do you think? what is it like to be you? what do you want to say about it?”, they seemed surprised that I was even asking, as if I were the first to want to hear it. In the age of the online democracy and the access they have to such a huge audience, wow, the implications of their messages could really be powerful. If only they had the confidence to say it, to film it, to ask it, to solve it…I guess that is what the Angels are up against as well.

I spent the last 2 Tuesday evenings at the Institute of Contemporary Art taking a workshop about blogging and podcasting. I’ve been blogging for quite a while and have begun podcasting, so not much of that was super new to me, but it was a great oppotunity to see the new Digital Studio, get a free tour of the permanent collection, and swap ideas with the educators there.

Getting OUT OF the classroom is SO important! Just being in a new space and speaking with teachers in other schools, I was reinvigorated with an enthusiasm for what I am doing already, and motivated to keep pushing along with new stuff. It gets me jazzed, what can I say, when I meet other people as fired up about all these things as I am! Plus, there’s always somebody doing something different or new, and is best of all willing to share the tool or the trick or the technique. No one can be a “know-it-all” when it comes to emerging technologies in the classroom, cuz its always changing. Its more like a collective intelligence that keeps on growing, feeding off itself to get bigger and better.  ( Oh that’s the web! ) It can also be overwhelming and even discouraging when you do see what other educators have done already - you think, man, why aren’t I doing that?! or whoa, HOW did they do that?!

One of those A-ha’s for me was, after the tour, realizing the importance of getting the students out there too (not just me next time!). Making connections between the history of art and the contemporary tools we are using is powerful - don’t just learn Flash to make a ball bounce up and down, animate to express an emotion you have or to explore issues of identity! We get so caught up in the ”coolness” of the medium, that we often miss the message.  

What also struck me is the importance our guide placed not only on the message but on the process the artist went through to get to the end product. Artists had essays, videos, sketchbooks, and quoted reflections on the entire experience of making the artwork. Presenting it in a public forum was the culmination of their experience. Our students get so caught up in making IT, that often the reflection on the process and the celebration of the final presentation gets forgotten about.

I hope to get back to incorporating the entire experience into a project - from planning, to producing, presenting, and reflecting - for my students, and building more meaning overall into each exercise.