Life is brutiful: Vulnerability, Love, and Connection Part I

In her TED Talk, "Lessons I learned in the mental hospital", author Glennon Doyle says that "life is brutiful"--both brutal and beautiful on any given day.  This statement couldn't be more true when I reflect on my life as a teacher working with my students.  Here is one example with more to come in future blogs.

This weekend two of my former students celebrated their five year wedding anniversary and their 16 year anniversary since they met as high school students in our poetry club.  Actually they were the founders of the poetry club.  Both of them were budding poets and held a deep appreciation of the art.  They were looking for an opportunity to belong in our school community--a place where they could celebrate their passion for poetry and meet other students who shared their sentiment.

Emily and Jeremy are wonderful human beings who as teenagers had "old souls" that I respected.  I remember the first week of Emily's freshman year; she came after school to ask me about helping her to start a poetry club; she also shared some of her poetry. Emily was so insightful and mature that I thought she was one of my upperclassmen!  Her willingness to be vulnerable by sharing some of her personal art took such courage.

So we started WHS's chapter of the "Dead Poet's Society", often meeting weekly to write, discuss, and process what was going on in their student poet lives.  Jeremy was a year ahead of Emily and was an artist as well.  Our club soon grew with other students interested in a safe space to connect.  Over the months of meetings, I could see Emily and Jeremy had a mutual respect and admiration for one another.  It did not surprise me when later they started dating.

Flash forward a couple of years, and I shared a most vulnerable and emotional moment with Emily and her mother Priscilla. My mother suddenly passed away in September 2003.  I was also newly pregnant.  As one can imagine, I was heartbroken over the loss of my mother, nauseous from morning sickness, and overwhelmed that it was the start of the school year.  I was beyond touched at my mother's wake when I saw Emily and Priscilla (a now retired Westbrough teacher and a mentor of mine) walking through the line to offer their support...it was a brutiful moment of vulnerability and connection...based on a loving trust, loyalty, and gratitude for one another as educators and students--and even more so, in this moment as fellow humans.

***

Like all of us, Emily and Jeremy are living their brutiful life journey; five years ago they asked me to participate in their wedding ceremony by reading a couple of poems. It was so fitting given the memory of how we all connected in our poetry club years before.  I was honored especially because as teachers we often do not see former students--let alone over a decade later.  So to bear witness to Emily and Jeremy's love over the years has been a gift for which I am beyond grateful.

Reflecting on the gracious teacher/student relationship I had with Emily and Jeremy and now mutual friendship reminds me that often in education we can get caught up in grades, state testing, and rigorous expectations.  However, if we look at the bigger picture, we will really see how important vulnerability, connection, love and belonging are--as it is in those moments that ultimately we learn.

The 1900's: Don't Stop Believin'

Recently my nine year old daughter said to me during a family conversation, “Well you did grow up in the 1900’s, Mom.”  Ha!  I almost fell over laughing because she is right! But when I think of the 1900's, I think of the early 1900's when my grandmother was born or when Laura Ingalls Wilder published Little House on the Prairie. (I wonder if one of Laura's students commented about her growing up in the 1800's!)  I think flappers, prairie skirts, bobs and buns. I think jazz and blues. I certainly don't think of myself growing up in the 1900's. Then last week during a class conversation with my students, I asked when Journey's song "Don't Stop Believin'" was released. A student answered in a serious tone, "The song was definitely released during the 1900s." There we go again! (The answer is 1981.) So I was born in the 70’s, experienced my childhood in the 80’s and graduated high school and college in the 1990's.  Oh damn, I guess I did grow up in the 1900’s!  

In 2017, I often reflect on my youthfulness as I began teaching in the mid-90s.  I was only three years older than my seniors and only seven years older than my freshmen.  I had students who had siblings who were older than I was.  Heck, I had one student whose boyfriend was older than I was. Today I have former students who now have their own families, and although I haven’t taught a former student’s child yet, I have taught their nieces and nephews.  

I share this information because I do believe in some ways a lot has changed in the past twenty years of teaching. For example, I no longer write on a chalkboard to articulate information.  I use the info projector, googleclassroom, an app called Remind 101, etc.  I no longer try to use the updated vernacular. "Dab" or "Lit" are currently popular words and they do not roll off my tongue like "wicked awesome" or "cool" used to. Recently a colleague jokingly called me out when I told my students to tape their broadcast interviews. She whispered, "I think you mean, record your interviews."  Oh yes, VCR tapes are long gone!  I have my middle school Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet album on my whiteboard tray in my classroom to remind me I was a teenager once too.  One of my students asked if that was the dad of the Bon Jovi who is still performing today.  "No!" I shouted, "He is the same Bon Jovi!"

As we know, generational studies show the current generation of teenagers are influenced heavily by technology, namely their cell phones and social media. We know that students can access information within seconds that sometimes took us (people of the 1900's) days and weeks to research. We know depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicide are on the rise. And yet, the stigma of mental illness is arguably decreasing. Those of us who lived during the 1900's may not fully be able to relate and connect to the seeming necessity of technology which can create a generation gap; however, I would contend that whether you are 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 ,we can relate and connect to one another's feelings. We all know what it feels like to be lonely, happy, sad, frustrated, elated, etc. We remember what it was like to win a high school basketball game, what it was like to break up with a significant other. We know what it was like to earn an A on an English paper or fail a physics test. We know what it was like to rebel against our parents and share a connection with our best friends. And it is those feelings in which we can build empathy and support for one another bridging our generation gap. And of course, music, food, and dance span generations--all of my students could sing the lyrics to "Don't Stop Believin'" even though it was from the 1900's.

Last week I started my 22nd year of teaching, and I am excited. I may have spent the first part of my life in the 1900's, but I'm definitely grateful to be in 2017 teaching my millennials about how we are more alike than we are different.

Craig Janney, Bon Jovi, and Wonder Woman--Oh My!

What I always enjoyed about my favorite school teachers was when they shared a little bit about their lives beyond their classrooms.  For me it was important to connect with my teachers especially if I was going to take academic risks in their class.  Yes, I had intrinsic motivation AND I performed better if I had a working relationship with my teachers.  For example, I needed to trust my physics teacher in order to feel comfortable asking him for extra help (actually a lot of extra help--hence, why I'm an English teacher and not a physics teacher--haha).  Or if I wanted to share with my English teacher a piece of personal writing, it helped to know she used the writing process as well when she was writing.

So it helped me when my teachers shared their own stories as teachers or a little bit about themselves. For example, my junior English teacher shared stories about the trials and tribulations of her teenage sons. My freshman English teacher made up stories that she was really a witch who lived in a cemetery (yes, a bit creepy--but definitely humorous and creative).  My junior social studies teacher told us about his sports stories from his high school days.  And our Spanish teacher told us stories about the boy she fell in love with in her younger years when she was a high school exchange student in Peru.  Yes, decades later, I remember their stories and more importantly the relationships I forged with them, which allowed me to be a student who was willing to be vulnerable, courageous, fun, funny, and love learning.  One big factor for why I was successful was because my teachers modeled their humanness for me in my learning.  It wasn't just about an equation or a thesis statement.  It was about learning how to be curious and interested in learning through story telling, sharing, and connection.

So now years later as as a high school English teacher myself, I do choose to share certain stories about being a student years ago, or I share a little bit about my interests and hobbies and certainly a bit about my children.

Years ago I created a corner of my white board with artifacts that represent my past and present.  A lot of the artifacts represent my high school years:  1987-1991.  And you'll note there aren't any textbooks, tests, formulas, etc.  Although I was a "good" student in high school who did value my academics, my priorities were sports, music, and friends.

a. So my #23 Craig Janney Bruins shirt represents the following:  First, the crush I had on Craig Janney while I was in high school.  I loved and still love the Bruins, and in high school while so many of my friends had crushes on #8 Cam Neely, I adored Craig Janney.  Yes, he was cute AND he was an amazing center.  I loved watching him set up Neely for a goal.  I loved that he wasn't a fighter like the other players.  I loved that he was a smart player.  I observed how he played and tried to incorporate his work ethic and intelligence when I played field hockey, basketball, and softball.

My friends and I would take the train into the Boston Garden all the time to go to games (tickets were cheaper than today and we would buy the obstructed view seats.  We would then move to empty seats.) So one day we found out that Janney was going to be at the Bruins' Wives Benefit Carnival at the Garden.  I wanted to go in the worst way, but I had to work at Star Market grocery store that afternoon.  I asked my manager if I could come in late or switch my shift.  She said no and if I came in late to not come in at all.  I said, okay and I quit on the spot.  My parents were not initially pleased by my decision (although I argued with my mother that she used to skip college classes to watch the Celtics and Bruins play).  I did not regret my decision as I got to meet Craig Janney in person.  And yet, I know quitting a job on the spot in high school is definitely an example of the impulsivity that teenagers exhibit at this time in their lives.  I hang the jersey in my classroom as a reminder that my students will make impulsive decisions and they will be okay.  We sometimes make questionable decisions, but that does not mean we are mistakes.  And the jersey reminds my students that yes, their teacher was in high school once.

b.  My Slippery When Wet Bon Jovi album represents some of my musical taste in high school and a reminder that I had a collection of  records and cassette tapes before itunes and Spotify.  What makes me laugh is that I have had more than one student ask me if "that" Bon Jovi was the father or grandfather of the Bon Jovi he/she listens to.  I say, No, that Bon Jovi is the same Bon Jovi! And music is so integral to students' identities at this age as it serves as tools for communication, therapy, and connection.

c.  The Wonder Woman magnet I actually added this year.  At the end of the school year, I saw Wonder Woman--TWICE!  I loved the movie.  Gal Gadot was fantastic as Wonder Woman.  Growing up, I watched the Wonder Woman series with Linda Carter.  I played Wonder Woman when my brother and I played with the neighborhood kids. And then to see this movie in which we get her origin story and her displaying her powers of compassion, strength, and intelligence was incredible.

So my personal corner is a constant reminder of my experiences, thoughts, and feelings when I was a teenager as well as a source for my students to remember their teacher was in high school.  And although we are decades apart in age, they are reminded that our generation gap isn't so big.

P.S.  Yes, that is a New Kids on the Block program that I bought when I went to their concert in 1991.  AND yes, I'm going to their concert tomorrow night at Fenway Park. ;)

Coach Ellis: Family

This blog is in honor of my dear friend and colleague Mark Ellis.  Often unsung heroes go unrecognized in public education and I want to recognize Mark for the inspirational educator he is.  He is a peer mentor to so many of us as he exudes what it is to be a quality high school teacher.  The beloved poet Maya Angelou once said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Mark makes fellow teachers and students feel like they can accomplish anything that they set out to do.   

Coach Ellis:  FAMILY

Two weeks ago marked the sixth annual Mr. WHS fundraiser at Westborough High School.  And as usual it was a wonderful community event that was extremely successful.

I remember six years ago when Mark approached me about working with him on a school fundraiser idea he had.  He wanted to raise money for the HUDDLE athletic software program for WHS football; he also wanted to offer some financial support to the Westborough Food Pantry.

I thought to myself, Sure, what are we talking ? A car wash?  A bake sale?  And then Mark said, What about bringing our own Mr. WHS fundraiser to WHS?  This event would be similar to the ones that surrounding towns were holding.  I thought, producing a Mr. WHS fundraiser is not a one hour or one day commitment.  This is a multiple months  commitment.  But then again, Mark doesn't do anything on a small scale.  When he commits, he goes all in.  And for those of you who have worked with Mark, you know that he is a teacher with whom you want to collaborate.  When working with Mark, you know you will work hard, do your best, and have a good time in the process.

As one former Mr. WHS contestant recently shared with me:  "Coach Ellis not only helped start an amazing event for the Westborough community, but also gave the Mr. WHS participants a unique experience.  Rehearsal was something our group looked forward to because of the atmosphere Coach Ellis provided."

***

Mark and I have worked together for over 17 years at WHS; he is a Physical Education/Wellness teacher and I am an English/Journalism teacher.  We connected years ago when I wrote a poem for the WHS varsity football team Mark coached for years.  I had a bunch of his football players in my classes and he and I would communicate frequently to ensure his players/my students were accessing the curriculum. Not only did Mark want his players to do well academically, he wanted them to succeed on and off the field.

"As a teacher he made it very clear that he cared deeply about his students, which made him a very approachable faculty member.  His classes were always upbeat and catered to all levels of competitiveness, which is my reason for enjoying them so much," remarked one of his students.

***

And so began an awesome four year run of directing and producing Mr. WHS with Mark, his wife Karrah, and several other WHS teachers (shout out to Celluch, Reed, and Cullen).  Mark has an amazing way of bringing people together from all walks of life and creating a healthy, functional family of choice.  He demands your full effort and skills in working with him, because he knows the awesome responsibility it is to mentor teenagers.  He knows how critical it is to balance expectations and boundaries with a sense of humor, compassion, and empathy.  He knows because he has been teaching and coaching teenagers for two decades.

Another former Mr. WHS student commented:  "Mr. Ellis became much more than a coach or a professor.  He helped bring together high school students from all different backgrounds and organizations, into an incredible and universally loved program. He was a mentor and someone who would support anyone should they need it, and ultimately created an incredible experience for WHS."

A few weeks before the show, we would hold evening rehearsals after sports practices.  Mark and Karrah would bring their children Jarrett (age 5 at the time) and Emma (three at the time).  I would bring my son Seamus (who was 7 at the time) and my daughter Molly (who was three at the time).  All four children would play together and learn the dance moves that the teenagers were learning for Mr. WHS.  Our students loved getting to know our children; and they were role models for our kids.  And the idea of family was emphasized as there was a mutual exchange and understanding of respect, trust, integrity, humility, and sportsmanship.

At the end of each Mr. WHS practice, Mark would bring closure through a group cheer.  I knew he would do it at the end of his sports practices.  So it was pretty cool to witness and to experience Mark yell in the WHS auditorium, "Bring it in. On three:  FAMILY." And then the group of teenagers in unison would yell FAMILY!  The school spirit Mark would generate was contagious.

***

Mark believes in all kids...on any given day you can see students from all walks of life giving him a high five in the hallway saying, "Hey, Coach!"  He dedicates time during his P.E. classes to creating solid relationships with his students--and as you know--P.E. teachers have a lot of students in their classes--way more than the average classroom teacher.  He teaches the Advanced Placement students and he teaches the Adaptive P.E. students; Mark believe in equity for all students.

Mark also believes that students have the capabilities to be leaders.  Years ago he created a student athlete leadership two-day workshop that has serviced hundreds of students from surrounding towns. The leadership workshop wasn't about how to become a captain of your sports team--it was about becoming a leader even if you weren't captain of your sports team.

Working with Mark has been an honor and a privilege.  I am a better teacher because of Mark.  He also has become what I call my work brother.  Our families respect and adore one another.  And here I go back to the importance of human connection--that is why we are here--to be better and to do better for ourselves, our families, and for our students.  The service we provide our students is invaluable in supporting their success--Mark is one of the teachers who provides this invaluable service to our teenagers.

Unfortunately, next school year Mark won't be teaching at WHS.  For those of you who have developed wonderful relationships with colleagues, you know how hard it is to say good-bye.  For me writing is one way I express myself. So, Coach--one last time at WHS--"Bring it in.  FAMILY on three. One...two...three..FAMILY!"

Food Stories and Teaching

The following vignettes have a theme of food--you'll find some to be of a serious nature and others to be lighter in content.

***

In my earlier years, I would bake my students cookies and brownies.  Yes, bringing in food can be construed as a form of bribery, but if you know me--it truly was out of kindness.  I have learned kindness can be a wonderful motivator for my students.  And now that I am a mother of two and don't have time to bake, I occasionally bring in munchkins.

Anyway I digress, so one day years ago, I passed out some homemade brownies at the beginning of class in attempt to keep my students engaged in a grammar lesson.  A bunch of girls were giggling in the back as they ate their brownies and some other students were glancing around nervously.  I was oblivious to any behind the scenes nonsense and began teaching.  A few moments later, the assistant principal was knocking at my classroom door.  He called out the three giggling girls to take their backpacks and leave the room with him.

Come to find out they had been identified the class period beforehand as getting high in the girls' bathroom.  And then of course they came to my class with the munchies.  And here I was passing out brownies!  Sigh, I didn't know!

***

When I was in high school, I remember learning about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but it was until I started teaching that I understood the application of the Hierarchy of Needs.  If you need a refresher, please click on the link below.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/our-hierarchy-needs

The reason why I share about the Hierarchy is because if I have students sitting in front of me who haven't eaten--and I don't mean skipped breakfast because they woke up late--I mean haven't had a warm, nutritious meal in days, how can I expect them to activate their brains to learn whatever is the lesson of the day?  Yes, some students may muddle through while hungry, but they are not accessing their true potential.  Thankfully years ago, I worked with some fabulous guidance counselors (thanks Kim, Gina, Barry, and Bill!) early in my career who were able to provide me with information about certain students' life situations.  This collaboration enabled me to figure out that if I wanted the best from my students, I needed to create opportunities for my students to access food.

Yes, some of our students qualified for free or reduced breakfast and lunch, but have you ever seen how much a teenager can eat and drink throughout the day?  I shared a classroom with my colleague Sarah; we would keep a drawer full of granola bars and other snacks and discreetly let our students who were in need that they had free access to the drawer.  The difference we saw in our students' physical and psychological demeanor was transformational.  They knew they would have some of their nutritional needs met as well as the emotional safety of knowing they would always have access to some food.  And cognitively, they could now access their learning.

I know a lot of teachers who provide their students with food and other necessary resources for learning.  Yes, we do it because we know students learn more when their brains are fed, and we do it because it is the humane, loving thing to do.

***

And for those of you who didn't read an earlier blog of mine, there's the jelly doughnut story:

I have grown as a teacher because I have learned:

To duck quickly when a student throws a jelly doughnut at you. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. You may be thinking at least it wasn't a chair or another form of a weapon (don't worry, those things were thrown at me later in my teaching career.) Anyway, a freshman girl who had some anger management issues threw the doughnut at me when I told her she couldn't eat it in the classroom. Now mind you, it wasn't my classroom. As a rookie teacher, I had to travel around the school to five different classrooms. The classroom I was in where I dodged the doughnut was the classroom of a very bitter and cynical teacher. I personally didn't mind if students had a snack or a drink in class; however, this teacher did and made it very clear to me that she would have me reprimanded if she found food in her classroom. So when I pleaded with my student that it wasn't my policy, but we had to respect the classroom teacher's policy, the student scowled and threw the doughnut at me. As I ducked, it hit the blackboard and as if in slow motion, splattered and dripped down the blackboard. For a split second, I admired my quick reflexes to duck, but then I was horrified at the thought of the bitter teacher seeing the remnants of the doughnut on her blackboard. Oh and yes, I was also upset that my student made a bad choice and therefore, I directed her to the principal's office.

***

Lastly, I want to talk about tea. If I was your teacher, you know my drink of choice is tea--hot tea, iced tea, green tea, black tea, flavored tea...nothing added to it--just water and a tea bag.  I grew up loving tea because my mother and her best friend would always meet up for tea; and as a child I would observe their loving friendship as they drank their hot tea.  As a teacher, tea serves as a comfort, an inspiration, and a conversational starter and a connector.  Often students will see me with my Honey Dew, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, or travel mug filled with tea in the morning.   I have had many a student start a conversation with me about how they drink tea when they aren't feeling well or how refreshing an iced tea is on a hot day.  Or a student will mention that his grandmother, favorite aunt, or dad drinks tea.  Some of my greatest teacher gifts I have received is a gift card to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, so I can buy a hot tea!  What I love is receiving a text from a former student who says he/she was drinking a cup of tea and thought of our class and/or something he/she has learned in our class.  

***

I once read the three things people from different culture can connect over are:  food, music and dance. I have found this idea to be so true with the culture of teenagers.  I shared about food today--I'll save my music and dance stories for another blog. :)

"My Heritage Holds Me Hostage": The Puppet Show

Before reading my commentary, please watch this two minute group spoken word poem.  The poets are on the slam team that I co-coach with Anita Cellucci (@anitacellucci, @LibraryWHS).  The students are (from left to right):  Kofi, Nakia, Nikki, and Nadine.  You may need to watch it more than once because the poets speak fast.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz6BDhUVgUcxdXB3ckF5ZGYzRFE/view?usp=sharing

Pretty incredible, aren't they?  Yes, they co-wrote that poem.  Yes, they blocked and choreographed the poem.  And yes, they are so proud of their performance. As Anita and I are!

The students put their voices, hearts, and souls on the line.  They commit the ultimate human act:  to share their vulnerabilities in order to connect with fellow peers, family members, and community members.  Often the hope is to be validated, to be heard.

And yes, what they slammed is indeed from personal experience; I validate that important point, because today in 2017 we know people still will call with malicious intent someone a "cross breed" or will follow someone because they are "suspicious" based on the color of his/her skin.  Unfortunately, these are our students' lived experiences.

Our students speak the words My heritage holds me hostage, not intentionally,  but because of this skin.  The statement is a powerful, haunting, and chilling line because it is packed with the complexities of race, racism, identity, and other social constructs that our students are facing on a daily basis.  Our students chose the metaphor of puppetry because they often feel like they are puppets being controlled by society's stereotypes, misperceptions, and falsehoods.  However, by sharing their experiences in this poem, they are educating the viewers, empowering themselves, and dispelling the stereotypes that they have been labeled.

Co-coaching the team has been a transformational experience for me as I have learned way more from my students than I believe I have been able to offer them.  And yet, humbly, I know Anita and I have offered them a safe space in which to feel, think and act freely.  We have guided them to process life experiences, encouraged them to celebrate their creativity, and laughed and cried with them about the silly moments and harsh struggles of day to day life.  I have such a deep respect for these young people who are willing to perform in front of peers and adults.

Our students also perform individually in slam competitions.  They write and perform poems on a whole range of topics:  race, racism, sexuality, friendships, love, social justice, body image, etc.  We are grateful to MassLEAP (Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance Collective  (Massleap.org) who provides a multiple opportunities and venues for our students to slam.

Below are some resources to check out if you are interested in looking at more spoken word poems.  I also use a lot of slam poetry in my classes as a way to complement the literature I am teaching.  Students are so moved by the performance poems and often make strong personal connections.

@MassLEAP

buttonpoetry.com

slamfind.com

https://www.massleap.org/history-and-mission

Assignment: Media Fast

I did not blog last week because I was engaging in a week long media fast with my Broadcast Journalism students.  I created this assignment approximately five years ago after I read the book Fast Media Media Fast by Dr. Thomas W. Cooper (Emerson College).

Dr. Cooper poses questions in his book such as:

*Are your thoughts truly your own, or just recycled sound bites from the news?
*Do you experience the fullness of life firsthand, or are you separated from life by the endless barrage of media and marketing messages which tell you to speed up and catch up?
*Are you losing nourishing connections to other people by looking at a screen all day?
*Have you become a consumer instead of a creator?

Dr. Cooper cites many benefits of the Media Fast; here are a few listed here.

*Saving time as in regaining several hours in your day for play, work, sleep, catch-up, family, hobbies, etc.

*Thinking for yourself, rather than recycling slogans, jingles, and cliches.

*Creating music, poetry, art, fiction, crafts, rather than over-consuming media

*Freeing yourself from enslaving habits, schedules, mindsets, etc.

*Turning off the "speed-up" world long enough to slow down and take personal inventory.

*Bringing the family or group back together around common activities or discussion
(pages 5-6)

He also shares his personal experiences of engaging in a media fast/diet and then describes his research regarding his own college students' media fast/diet.  Dr. Cooper notes that he has seen the negative health effects of media overstimulation, including anxiety, insomnia, depression, mental exhaustion, and attention deficit/hyperactivity syndromes.  I, too, could relate in observing my own students' symptoms and comments.  Heck, I could relate personally.

Like any new idea, invention, and/or discovery--there are pros and cons.  I believe a lot of us could easily cite a handful of pros and concerns re: social media.  For example, I am grateful for an app called Whats App as I can text with one of my dear friends who lives in Hong Kong.  On Facebook, I can see pictures of other friends from high school and college.  I now Facebook message with my cousin Patrick who lives in West Virginia.  I stay informed about education, politics, and entertainment on Twitter.

I grew up in a time when the biggest technological worry was:  am I watching too many hours of The Brady Bunch (which we could argue that point in another blog)?  And for context:  I didn't have internet access until I was in my senior year of college and I could only email people on my college campus.  When I first began teaching, our school had some computers in one computer lab.  I didn't buy my first flip cellphone until the early 2000's.  Flashforward to 2017, my students have never known life without the internet.  Most of my students were given their first cellphone for their 10th birthday.  My school is now a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) school.  Things have changed--fast.

So just like my dad used to talk about what life was like pre-television, I talk to my students about times pre-internet and pre-cellphone.  A common question is:  how did I know where my friends were going to be at any given time on a Friday night?  Well we planned ahead of time in school.  Or we used our landlines (a.k.a. house phones) to make plans.  Or if we were out, we used a dime to call on a payphone.  And get this idea:  sometimes we didn't always know where our other friends were--and we were okay.

The Media Fast Assignment

For this assignment, I narrow media to social media with the following definition:   forms of electronic communication (as websites for social networking) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos and games) (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). 

My students read multiple chapters from Dr. Cooper's book and then they individualize their fasts.  I ask students to choose something to minimize and something to eliminate for seven days.  We discuss as a class what students choose because if you aren't a sports fan and you tell me you are eliminating the ESPN app on your phone--the class and I will call you on it.

It is amusing to hear how the students define and individualize their fasts.  One student said, "So I will watch two Netflix shows on the weekends and one during the week."  I repeated what I heard and another student said, "Wait.  Do you mean watch two shows on Saturday and two on Sunday or two total for the weekend?"  The original student replied, "Yes, two on each weekend day." She said it with a tone as if the other option didn't exist.  Then another student said, "Well then you mean during the week, you'll watch one episode per night versus one show for the whole week."  Again, the original student said, "Well yes!"  To be honest, sometimes I can't keep a straight face listening to the students hold one another accountable.

The majority of my students either gave up or minimized their use of:  netflix, instagram, snapchat, youtube, facetime, ESPN app, online games, and vsco.  I choose to eliminate Twitter and minimize Facebook.

Each day students record in their journals their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors surrounding the fast. Each day we discuss how students are managing.

And as one might imagine, students go through withdrawal (note:  Digital Addiction is real.).  About two days into the assignment when we are discussing how we are doing, students are often irritable and agitated with one another and me. (I no longer take it personally.) During last week's class discussion one student snapped, "Yeah this isn't working for me.  I am using vsco again, so I will focus on minimizing instagram."  I said, "So you broke your fast and aren't planning on trying to start over again today?  The student said "No." I read in her journal in more than one entry about breaking her fast: "I felt like I was missing out."

Below are some more student comments from their journals.

"I don't want to miss anything that people are doing!"

"I did find myself to be irritable and critical because I couldn't do what I wanted."

"I am nervous."

"It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I am realizing how hard it is to follow through with my media fast.  It is such a routine, a part of my life.  I wish I had more will power but will continue to try."

"It is also funny because last night my mom took my phone so I would study for my micro test and I almost felt relieved.  But the truth is that I would never have self turned off/taken away my phone on my own."

"I have actually found that 30 minutes is more than enough time for me to scroll through vsco.  Last night I spent almost an hour and a half just sitting with my family and talking about our lives."

"I don't know what I'm going to do this weekend."

"I thank the human to human interaction was good for me. It kind of makes me realize the importance of talking to people in person, rather than over the phone."

"Got to be honest--I broke my media fast...I wasn't going to get through the weekend so I just quit.  Sorry, Mrs. Stoker. :( "

"I learned that you don't need social media and netflix in your life.  I also learned that the less you're on social media, the more you have time for schoolwork and not rushing it just to watch netflix afterwards."

"I did around 4 hours of homework that I'd do on facetime, in almost two hours not on facetime. I WAS SO PRODUCTIVE!"

"My mom wasn't home to tell me I can't continue watching shows.  Not that she should have to tell me."

"I also saw how much my family used electronics."

"I am fortunate that I went through this media fast as it made me realize my real addiction to my phone and social media."

For me, I was fine eliminating twitter as I know I can get my news in other places.  Facebook was a bit more difficult as I quickly realized how often I mindlessly scroll through Facebook. I found myself having at least ten more minutes in the morning to myself and in the evening I was more mindful of spending time with my family.  I also chose to text with friends versus staying on Facebook.

Each year I assign the media fast, I am seeing more and more how dependent students (and adults) are on the social media apps on their phones.  Henry David Thoreau said, "Men become tools of their tools."  Scary how true this quote seems to be in the beginning of the 21st Century.  I have learned by personally participating in the media fast that it is essential we continue to create breaks and balance with media. Thoreau also said, "We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep."  And so perhaps that is the true lesson here:   to stay awake--to trust ourselves without feeling like we have to depend on the phone in our hand to make our decisions for us.  To know that by thinking we are missing out on someone else's experience we are actually missing out on our own in-the-moment lived experience.  To understand it's okay to feel discomfort and fear.  To recognize our time is precious because we have a finite amount.  And to love real human connection is why we exist.

Cooper, Ph.D., Thomas W.  Fast Media Media Fast:  How to Clear Your Mind and Invigorate Your Life in an Age of Media Overload.  Gaeta Press, Colorado, 2011.

https://hbr.org/2017/03/why-you-should-make-time-for-self-reflection-even-if-you-hate-doing-it