Day 11: Kim (There's a light at the end of the tunnel)

Frustrations! 

This morning started with a lot of frustration.  Frustrated with technology, frustrated with the class load, and frustrated with the weight of an authentic audience. (Thanks Amy S. for the words!)  So I am starting this blog with frustrations of my own!  Although I am not frustrated for the above mentioned reasons, I am frustrated because I have an opportunity to entertain you with my writing, and I am blank!  I want to catch the essence of my personal writing style, yet the information comes to my brain in chunks that are irrational and irrelevant.  Boy am I glad that Margaret reminded us that "when you are up there, you are giving us a gift.  Don't apologize for your writing, because it makes us pause in our enjoyment of the gift."  So, I won't apologize for the gift I am about to give you, I will just say, in the words of Andra, "embrace, love, and enjoy my mistakes, It's a learning process."

"Our best is always changing - tomorrow your best will be different!" Andra

"Good morning OWP Fellows!  Time to rock it from code switching to authentic dialogue.  Hey, is it a little early to be this loud?  Just a little shout out to Carrie for bringing us the blog this morning.  Carrie how was your night last night?"  "I was frustrated with technology.  I guess I felt what our students feel when their environmental factors get in the way of what they are trying to do."  "Well Carrie, why don't you read us an excerpt from your blog." (As Carrie reads the blog, her frustration comes flooding back again.)  "I am sorry there are so many mistakes.  I don't like this blog writing because it is live for everyone to see, and I don't write that way."  (Margaret joins the crowd in the studio and reminds Carrie,) "Don't apologize for the gift you are giving us..." "Thank you Margaret for you thoughtful musings.  Where would your OWP Fellows be without your insightful encouragement?" (A slamming door is heard over the airways. It is Amy S. entering to offer some advice.) "The weight of an authentic audience is heavy." "Wow, heavy stuff Amy! Thank you for joining us."

"Now on to the next portion of our show. We have a phone-in listener for our morning warm-up. Cindy, are you on the phone with us?" "Yes, hello folks." "What do you have for us today Cindy?" "Well, I brought some stuff today for arguments, but I am feeling some of us want to finish our discussion from Carrie's portion of the show. If you feel like moving on and trying your hand at arguing I am fine with that.  If you want to try arguement writing here are your instructions.  I want you to chose a position statement and think about what the opposition would fire at you, and form a rebuttal.  Or if you would like to finish your discussion from this morning, feel free. I am fine with that."  "Thank you Cindy for being sensitive to the energy in the room.  I think I will tackle the argument of legalizing marijuana." (There is a buzz about the studio. DJ Muse quickly abandons his argument and listens in to Sasha and Heather making an argument for good character education in schools.) 

Now we pause for a commercial break brought to you by Amy S. 

(As she is preparing to teach her demo lesson, she speaks to the crowd.) "I am very visual, you are going to see a lot of things today.  This lesson is based on something I taught online to remedial writers which doesn't work because they are already writing from a deficit. People are telling them what to write and then we say the word "essay." We are going to look at this with a meta-cognitive approach with extrapolation. (Thank you John.)"

Back to our program:

"Welcome back to our show. It sounds like Amy has a great lesson planned for us today.  Amy, take it away." "Nancy, what would happen if you yelled at one of your band mates?" "I wouldn't be in the band any more." "Amy W., what would happen if you whispered on the court playing volleyball?" "I would get yelled at." "Right, because of ineffective communication.  It is important to listen as well as hear." (Amy S. gives a great example of code switching, changing what you are saying depending on whose listening, using the humor of Key and Peele.) "Concretizing your audience is important because it changes the face of what you write. Now it's your turn to write."  (Amy S. gives the audience a scenario and challenges them to write about it in 5 different genres; tweet to a faceless mass, email to cousin, email to professor, report to police, and song/poem.  A sultry voice is heard singing in the background:) "Boom boom ain't it great to be a poor student..." (Then from another area of the studio:) "The empty gas tank blues." (Yet another entertainer:) "Driving along the I-5 way.." "How can you help but sing along...Singing do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do..." "Thank you Carrie, Nancy, and Heather for sharing your musical talent with the audience today. Amy, we are out of time, Andra is here to share a parting word." "I liked the shift from the spoken word to the written word.  Our students don't always have the oral experience and this is a way to acknowledge that."  "Thank you Andra for summing it up so well."  "We are going to take a studio break, we will be back in seven minutes."  (Echoes of "The Star Spangled Banner resonates in the background.)

A visit from Socrates:

"We are back in the studio today with the musings of a great philosopher.  We are going to channel our inner Socrates and dive in to the Socratic Circle. Andra is going to give us a less formal approach and Amy W. will then formally train us (briefly).  Andra, would you please read the rules of engagement for Socratic circles?" "Thank you for asking, Legal participation follows these guidelines: 

• Questions and comments are supported by evidence
• Everyone will participate in the discussion most importantly by listening.
• Argument is encouraged, especially if it's evidence based and not against the person (ad Hominem).

Illegal Participation includes:

• No put downs
• One-on-one debates
• Hand raising is discouraged
• Consensus is not the goal

That about sums it up.  Let's get a more formal opinion from Amy W.  Amy, what do you have to add to this discussion?" (A powerpoint is displayed on the screen in the studio) "I go through this powerpoint with my students before our first Socratic circle.  There are a lot of slides here so I will post them on the blog."  (The essence of what Amy W. taught is that there is a difference between a debate and a discussion.  Stick to the point.  Both listen and hear.  Ask open ended questions.)  "We have invited John, Amy W., and Cindy in to the studio to demonstrate a working socratic circle.  Take it away folks." (A hum is heard over the airways as the participants work their way through a mock socratic circle.  Mumblings of "text redundancy, writing across the curriculum, scaffolding and building leadership," were heard by the radio audience.  However loud and clear, "We are going to go forth and multiply writers," was heard from Amy W.) "Andra, would you please once again lead us out of our conversation around socratic circles with one last question?"  "Sure DJ Muse.  My question for you to ponder is, What did you notice in yourself as an observer of the socratic circle?" "I was taking notes as they were talking," "Thank you Jeanne for that insightful input.  That is a great way to pull writing in to this method." (Many other insights were shared during this portion of the show but in the interest in time, most of this discussion has been cut.)

Lunch time! Tummies are full on food but also what we chewed on from our discussion in the Socratic Circle and Amy S's demo lesson.

"Man my belly is full from lunch!  Only 2 hours left in our show so I better shake off the urge to nap and open my mind for our next guest.  Next on our show we have Amy W.  Amy is not stranger to our show and she will be demonstrating how to effectively include authentic dialogue into our writing.  Wait a minute, we are experiencing technical difficulty."  "I hit the doc cam button, go figure!"  "It's okay Amy, we will get our technicians in here to fix it.  Why don't you ad lib in the mean time."  "I'll just get started, we can do it without the doc cam.  Are you ready for your world to be rocked?"  (In an ear pleasing voice a recorded voice reads the following quotes: "We tend to think a dialogue as a tennis volley, with the subject being hit back and forth between speakers.  But when you really listen, you realize that people talk over each other constantly, and rarely finish a complete thought." -johnaugust.com and "Because direct dialogue has a dual nature - emotion within a logical structure - its purpose in fiction is never merely to convey information...") "Can anyone guess what we are talking about in today's lesson, based on these quotes?" "Dialogue!" "We will set the stage with brainstorming the characteristics of conversation vs. dialogue in a story." (The studio audience brainstorms characteristics such as formatting, flow of dialogue, and listening to how people actually talk.) "Thank you Amy for that engaging conversation.  Do you have any practical advice for us?" "Certainly DJ Muse.  In order to create realistic dialogue, you have to know something about your character.  What do they wear, what are their mannerisms, and what is their personality." "We have some guests in our studio that are going to try their hand at creating realistic dialogue.  We are going to give them 2 characters and they have to create dialogue around a situation.  John and Margaret, you are up first." (John and Margaret are given the characters of a movie star and a fanatic fan.  Insert announcer aside here: I am sorry I didn't capture funny lines from these "skits" I couldn't type that fast.  Carrie and Heather had a nerd and cheerleader; Nancy and Amy S. had a couple on a blind date. Carrie wants to know, "Who was the blind one?" Kim and Sasha had a DJ and phone in listener, the inspiration for the genre of this blog; Cindy and Jeanne had a dog catcher and dog owner.) 

"Thank you guest speakers for an entertaining afternoon.  I am curious what the story is behind your conversations."  "Well DJ Muse, funny you mentioned that.  I am going to have our guest speakers spend 10 minutes writing the story behind these conversations.  We will hear a few when they are finished."  "Thank you Amy.  I will take this time then to mention a void we are feeling here in our studio.  Our guest expert, Andra, had to leave us early this afternoon.  Boy are we feeling the absence of her insightful thoughts." "Amy, are your guest speakers ready to share?" "Actually, they are." (John, Margaret, Heather, Carrie, and Kim share their stories.) "You know DJ Muse, it is interesting to note that Margaret and John both included the same phrase "Russian Mule" in their story without collaborating.  I think we can say that creating dialogue with a partner has a powerful impact on your creativity." "Yes Amy, I would agree with that." "Tell us more Cindy." "It is really hard for me to do partner work.  I get anxious and don't want to dominate so I get quiet and I don't really share...." "It is challenging in a good way because it pushed the creativity in a different way."  "Yes Amy S., that is what I was about to say."  "Thank you all for sharing, and thank you Amy for demonstrating how to effectively use realistic dialogue in our writing.  It has come to the time in our show for response groups.  We will take an hour long song break and come back to wrap up our show.  Here's a great song from the Spoonful of Sugars to get us started."

While a much needed song break drones on, the guest speakers in the studio take time to discuss their writing and finish pieces they are working on.

"This is DJ Muse bringing you back from our hour long song break.  We only have 5 minutes left in our show. During the break I was talking to Margaret, the head technician of this show and she shared some news with me that has invoked some mixed emotion. Margaret, would you like to share with our audience the news you shared with me?" "We only have 2 days left in this broadcast.  I am saddened by this realization, but also excited at what we have accomplished." (An agreeing hum falls across the crowd now gathered in the studio.) "Tomorrow is the last day for the log and Friday will be the last day for sharing the log.  Our show will end, but our musings will go on through our prose and poetry.  It may look messy, but will always come together in an anthology that will inspire and encourage. Well, that's about it for DJ Muse.  I'm going to take myself out of the drivers seat but I am going to turn you over right now to the excitement of Johhhhhn Barberrrrrrrrr." (DJ muse points to the adjoining broadcast room and the sweet sounds of his voice fade away.)