convert what?

I rented a Digital Audio recorder from the Peabody tech service in order to start doing my podcast. It was an Olympus DS-30 and it was AMAZING! I am thinking about getting one of my own for personal use. I had been using the recorder for many different things throughout the week. I interview a principal and teacher for one class. I interview my mother and brother for another class. All the while I kept adding folders onto the recorder thinking it would be easy to upload the audio files to my computer. I decided to test it out before I started working on the podcast. I figured it would be better to figure everything out first, that way I can focus on my content and presentability.

I plugged the USB into my mac and poof...NOTHING! So I tried clicking on random things. Still nothing. So I tried googling DS-30 and itunes. (I love that google is now a verb!) One website said I needed to buy a converter program. Another said I needed to download Windows Media Audio. After several more searches I discovered that this amazing little device only records in WMA's meaning they are useless to macs, unless I use a third party to convert the files to mp3s. So this is all over my head! I am on the phone with my techie step-father trying to get him to speak in English to me about what I am supposed to download where.

First I download "Switch" and then find out that I have to download a separate program in order to allow the converted files to play in iTunes! What a big fat mess. After I finally figured it all out I was so tired I couldn't even do my podcast. I guess it is one more thing to add to the list of things to do tomorrow. It just proves that thinking technology is going to be easy only curses the user. The only upside to this whole fiasco...I didn't have to pay for a new program.

What's in a name?

What's in a name, Romeo? A whole freakin lot! Naming digital/technologically based things is one anxiety attack waiting to happen. I search and search my brain, trying to come up with that amazing name that will capture everyone's attention only to change my mind for the four hundredth time to something new. Even this blog got a name make-over two posts in. God only knows the mess I am going to be when I have to name my first child. After learning what my job will be for the Nashville Public Library, I went home and wrote down at least 25 names for the new podcast. Some were clever, most were lame. My mother actually gave me the inspiration for the "chosen name." (That sounds so Chaim Potok). While talking to her on the phone she mentioned that she loved the song "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse because of the catchy beat. I am pretty sure I squirted Diet Dr. Pepper out of my nose. This is the woman who has never listened to anything other than the three C's - Country, Christian, and Classic Rock. Long story short, after hearing her talk about it, I thought about the lyrics to the song:

They tried to make me go to rehab but I said 'no, no, no'

Yes I've been black but when I come back you'll know know know

I ain't got the time and if my daddy thinks I'm fine

He's tried to make me go to rehab but I won't go go go

I was specifically interested in the first line of the stanza. They tried to make me go to rehab but I said 'no, no no.' The reason I was interested in this line was because if you add a few letters to rehab you get READ-hab. They tried to make me go to READ-hab and I said 'no, no, no.' How many times have teens/tweens said they were not interested in reading because schools and educational programs are too "old school." As a young adult you are not interested in reading The Scarlet Letter or writing a paper on The Diary of Anne Frank. We all went through middle and high school and even the dorky English majors like me wanted to die when these pieces of literature became the current unit of study. Schools need to go to READ-hab if they are going to engage students. I am not saying 'kill the classic!' All I am saying is, if you are going to teach King Lear to eighth graders at least have the decency to give them the graphic novel by Ian Pollack along with the original text. Give students of today material that they can relate to today.

So, I presented my idea to NPL. This is how it went..."I want to call the podcast READ-hab. I know the connotation is not the best, but the teen/tween listeners will love it and will relate to it. I promise I will annunciate READ so angry parents don't call about appropriateness. But, I want to prove to students that a)reading and teen/tween literature has gone through a huge change b)The library is no longer grandma's library but has revamped its atmosphere and materials - It is a brand new reading HABitat and c)That the different types of literacy out there can be access through so many new forms of media, including a podcast (wink wink).

The director thought it was the greatest idea, but I had to do some convincing and serious groveling for a board approval. I still don't know if I have a go ahead, but we shall see after the first podcast. Cross your fingers because I really think this can be huge. To be able to relate to teen/tweens on their level without being seen as cheesy is going to be the biggest challenge. And going back to what I said before, it all starts with the name.

Total Time at library: 3 hours

Get Excited! It's Practicum Time!

I met with the Public Information Officer of the Nashville Public Library in order to discuss my new position as the podcast host for the teens and tweens of NPL. The first thing I did after moving into my apartment was get a library card. I have always loved going to the library, even when I was little. There is something so sacred checking out a book from the library. You don't know who had the book before you and you don't know who will have it after you. It is like being in a private book club that is instigated through the book itself. Teaching has always been my first choice when it came to my future profession. If I were ever going to change that profession I would get into teen/tween literature. So, when I walked into the administration part of the Central branch of the library I was in a complete state of awe. I was met at the door by the PIO. Walking past the cubicles I realized that these were my people. Posters of original jacket covers of Jane Austen books hung on the walls and silver Curious George figurines adorned desks. I was completely in love already. Here were my book loving, language obsessed nerds! I could not contain my excitement. The PIO and I spoke for 45 minutes before actually getting down to business. Basically, I have found my new dinner buddy!

When we finally got down to business, she told me what the library was looking for, and what my role would be for them this semester. I didn't think my excitement could get any more bubbling. I was wrong. Mention of a podcast had my stomach boiling. When the fact that I would be able to really speak to the tween/teen age group however I wanted to was relayed I thought I would burst. The giggling didn't start to happen until I was handed a spring 2010 catalogue with all of the new upcoming authors and books. You mean I can pre-order teen/tween literature and review the books on the podcast? OMG!!!! I was in a complete state of high as I floated out of her office and wrote down all of the ideas that bombarded my mind.

I am so excited!!! I can't wait to start the podcast. I only hope they let me continue after the class is over. Just the thought that I can reach the age group that is totally overlooked in literature through a medium that they all understand is amazing. Look out world, Kim is going to get these kids to read without the help of sexually frustrated Vampires! HA!

Total time at library: 1:30

Reread

The assignment was to re-read a section of the readings that were assigned for last week. Well, in all honesty the section I skimmed through was the comic section. I never liked comics as a kid, and always found it difficult to read the dialogue and look at the pictures in order to get a complete understanding of the plot. I also had this preconceived notion that comic reading was meant for the kids who just couldn't or refused to read more refined literature, such as the American Girl series. Needless to say, graphic novels have never been my friends. At least that is what I thought when I first started out reading the "Time Frames" section for a second time.

The more the little time character broke down that initial comic about the photograph, the more I got into what the graphic was saying. On saturday morning, when the funny sections came out I always tried to find humor in the comics that my dad loved to read. As hard as I tried I could not read into the pictures and connect it to the humor in the words. But, once the picture was being broken down into several different meanings that reflected the concept of time, or lack their of, I was able to wrap my head around the comic or graphic. The explanation of the different symbology and line placement gave me the tools that I needed in order to conceptualize the lapsed time within the sequence. It was as if I was being handed the manual to the medium I had always misunderstood. Therefore, by the end of the strip I had a fuller understanding of what the artist/author was trying to accomplish. It broadened my whole world to the idea of graphics as a form of literacy. This concept can be used in several different ways in the classroom. I can't wait to have my students create a miniature graphic novel or comic using all of their vocabulary words. Or have them create a comic out of the plot of a novel. This is a whole different way to engage students that I never would have thought of before, if I had not tried to read the section a second time.

Oh where, oh where has my little book gone.

I distinctly remember every book we read in class. It never mattered whether or not I liked the books, but the memory of what it was like to labour over each word as I scrambled to read the chapters assigned so that I could go on to read the books that I wanted to read is very distinct. To this day I still read anything I can get my hands on. I prefer fiction, but have been known to randomly pick up a book about the Rats of New York City and nibble on it until I am a rat expert. Books are the only places I can escape and become a character, a city, a rat.

After discussing the form of hypertext novels in class, I went home and discovered that I was a completely inadequate reader. Imagine my dismay as I read through the form of the hypertext story in front of me, only to discover that I had missed a few steps and was therefore completely lost, not in the story, but lost within the cyberspace of the web. The novel was called The Heist by Walter Sorrell. To be completely honest, I chose to start with this one because it was one of the first to pop up on google when you search "Hypertext Novels." The novel is pretty straight forward until you click on the links of the names of people and places to get the background information. After several clicks I was confused, frustrated, and mentally exhausted. Granted, this was probably not the best example of a story with which to introduce myself to the hypertext novel; however, as I continued to read I discovered that I was beginning to relate to the critics of the hypertext novel. Books have been such an intricate part of my life. The sacred act reading from left to right, top to bottom only to turn a page and start all over again is an act that I relish in as I get lost within the linear story. The more frustrated I became with the hypertext novel, the more I wanted to pick up my current pleasure read and escape from the depths of the world wide web. I felt so completely out of my element that I was frightened. Although I don't think the book is doomed because of this new form of literature, there is a great possibility that teachers will be teaching from a screen instead of a paper. Student textbooks will be downloaded onto a computer or special reading device and they will have links students can click in order to read more about a certain subject. There is a great possibility that the hypertext novel becomes a tool in which I will have to become proficient as a teacher of literature. I am willing to try again, but for now I am going to stick to my page turning and linear story line.

New Media

This is a blog about my new media class. I am a Graduate Student at Peabody of Vanderbilt. I am in the Secondary English Education program. This specific class promotes the questions and concerns about new media in the classroom, so that we as teachers will be prepared for the integration of this growing phenomena in the classroom. The opinions and experiences that I relate in this blog are my own. I will be relating my thoughts and perceptions about class discussion and readings, and the practice and skills that I acquire through my practicum as a podcast host for the Nashville Public Library.

“Today we are beginning to notice that the new media are not just mechanical gimmicks for creating worlds of illusion, but new languages with new and unique powers of expression.”

--Marshall McLuhan