Dear WinkWorld Readers,

As some of you know, I am on the South Dakota Board of Regents, and in that role, I read and think a lot about the rapidly changing needs of society and higher education.  Our future seems to be accelerating.  Fast change is inevitable.

In the last 6 months I have read lots of articles about the future, but two books, in particular, really ring true for me: First, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, and second, Ten Lessons for A Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria.

Our grandson, Luke, age 22, is an avid reader and has read much on this topic also. In fact, he has been reading Harari for months and encouraging me to do so, too.  I finally took his advice. I am now a new fan of Harari, as I have been of Zakaria.

It’s true: Luke and I really do not know the future, but in what follows we attempt to capture our learning by highlighting 5 categories of change, which will affect universities, students, and all of us.

First, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, and to be ready,  universities need to focus on:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Sciences

Machine Learning

Engineering

Biotech – Bioengineering

Agriculture – Precision Ag

Machines which augment humans

All things cyber and digital

Math – Chemistry – Physics

Business/Economics/Entrepreneurial

Second, HEALTHCARE, and to be ready, universities need to focus on:

Preventative Medicine

Medical Devices

Medical AI

Telehealth

Nurses and Doctors

Third, the ENVIRONMENT, and to be ready, universities need to focus on:

Climate Sciences

Environmental Engineering

Sustainability

Fourth, EDUCATION, and to be ready, universities need to focus on:

Readers/writers/thinkers/educators for the future

Emphasize STEM and STEAM

Relearning

Arts – History – Humanities

(STEM = Science, technology, engineering, math)

(STEAM = Science, technology,, engineering, arts, math)

Fifth, SOCIAL SCIENCES, and to be ready, universities need to focus on:

Diversity/Inclusion

Social Justice

Demographic Changes

Title IX/Feminism/Cultures

Thank you, Luke Wink-Moran.  What a great time we had reading, thinking, and writing about these two books.  We look forward to your input on our delicate, fragile new ideas.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

If you are not in a classroom very often, you may not realize it, but teacher observations are always a part of even the most active classroom.  Often times, it feels like teachers are teaching in a fishbowl with everyone peaking in to see what is happening.  Classrooms are often busy places with active learning. The drawing below (free from Pixaby for educational purposes) captures what classrooms used to look something like.

Often times, there is someone with a clip board standing quietly in the back of the room taking notes for an evaluation or a peer review.

Now classrooms may look like the image posted below.

My question is: How in the world do principals, supervisors, professors do their teacher evaluations? 

My friend/colleague, Dr. Chris Roe, recently conducted an observation of a teacher, Carol, who is now teaching virtually. Dr. Roe spent the morning in Carol’s TV room in her home (a.k.a., classroom).  Carol’s computer sat on a TV tray and projected on her big screen TV, where 26 second-graders’ faces were looking at the teacher.  Dr. Roe sat off to the side in her living room, as he observed and took notes.

As Chris told me, after his observation:

What a tremendous amount of effort went into this session. As an observer and former school administrator, I took notes as I would have if I were in a teacher’s brick and mortar classroom. I needed to see what teachers are going through right now so that I could better respond to new teachers’ concerns and questions regarding virtual instruction. The teachers and mentors I support in the teacher induction program are all amazing, stressed, and persevering.

 

My three focus areas were:

1. Instruction

2 Classroom Management

3. Technology.

 

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Periodically, I share the books I am reading. Here we go…

I just received this treasured book from Profe Beto, my all-time favorite teacher. He wrote this to capture his family memories for his younger siblings. One of his colleagues, Armando Miguélez Martínez, had it published for Profe. What a treasured gift for me. Below here is something which I previously wrote about Adalberto M. Guerrero. I hope you enjoy.

Coincidentally, yesterday I unexpectedly received another treasure–this time from a former student, who had the kindest things to say about his memories of our time together.  See the cool card which he sent.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to this student who is now a fabulous teacher, too.

Teachers, are you, too, taking a moment to tell your former teachers how they enriched your life?  Just a thought.

How is it that I did not know her work?  The books are filled with true stories of her life in Africa and now in Wyoming.

One of my book clubs is reading the Chernow book below.  We begin the sharing on Wednesday this week.

One very big book: Only 300+ pages to go.

I loved reading the two books below. I will never forget the Ng fictional characters. I so hope that she is writing a sequel, as I need to know what happened to Mia and Pearl.

The Connie Schultz book, …and His Lovely Wife, was loaded with truth for many women.  I hope she writes another book, too.

I have only been sneaking peaks into the Guillén book, as Wink is reading it.  I am anxious to read it, as it tells our future.  Hang on.  I love reading futurists.

This author, who now lives in Aberdeen, SD, is new for me.  But, I notice that the more discouraged I become with the world, the more I slip away and read.  Maybe this book will help me crawl out of my cave.

I am so grateful that I love to read.

I hope that I also do a WinkWorld on all of my podcasts.  So fascinating.

Okay, languages/literacies folks on the WinkWorld readership list, this one is for you and for me.  I often use WinkWorld as my own little library, so I know I will have it when I want it.

Here are two of my favs: Noam Chomsky and Stephen Krashen visiting with each other. 

I first heard of Chomsky in 1965-66 from Yankton College’s dear Dr. Ehrensberger (Dr. E). I took every English class Dr. E. taught, as he was such a fabulous instructor and gentle human being, and he had white hair and blue, blue eyes, just like my Grampy Dave Clark.  Dr. E told me that I should keep my eye on this guy named Noam Chomsky from MIT–so that is exactly what I have done for almost 55 years. Syntactic Structures (1957) was one of my first treasured texts–wonder where my copy is now?

It is my understanding that Dr. Chomsky is now retired, and spending a lot of time on the University of Arizona campus.  I think of Dr. Chomsky now as sort of a free-range emeritus professor, and I continue to look for him in the main library and/or on the grassy mall.  Heaven help the man, if I should bump into him some day!  I hate it when I gush.

Those of you who know me as a professional know the impact which Dr. Stephen Krashen has had on my life’s work.  The first time I ever heard Dr. Krashen speak was in Phoenix, AZ, circa 1977.  In his lecture, I learned that the way I was teaching my Spanish classes  was all wrong.  I drove back to Benson and told middle and high school students that we were going to toss the conjugations and verb tenses and start using real Spanish for conversation.

I also remember the day I learned that Dr. Krashen followed Dr. Chomsky, just as I did.  I have since learned a bit more from both of these men, but that is another story for another day.

I love this photo of Steve and me.  I don’t have a photo of Chomsky and me–yet, but I will return to the UofA campus and continue my search.

In this WinkWorld, I am going to share a video clip of Krashen and Chomsky in conversation. This WinkWorld is probably not for everyone, but it sure is for me forever and ever.

This was posted in 2020 on YouTube.

A quick search on the internet will  early provide you many more video clips of these two scholars.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

This particular blogpost is specifically for teachers, families, and librarians.

Look at these two geraniums.

You can easily see that one plant is thriving, and the other is struggling. I wonder why?

Now, here is the mystery.

These two plants came from the same nursery; I bought them at the same time; and, they have received fertilizer at the same time; they had the same amount of sun and darkness.

Then why in the world aren’t these two plants the same?

My geraniums are like kids at home and kids at school. You can raise them in the same home; put them in the same school, with the same teacher, the same curriculum; you can treat them exactly the same.

Do the kids in your family all turn out the same? Do the kids in your classroom all turn out the same? Nope?

Why?

There are no standardized plants, just as there are no standardized kids.

Each child is unique with individual needs and interests.

Parenting and teaching is very complex. Teaching and parenting kids equally, does not always work, as kids need equity.

Equal and equity: What’s the difference?

This image has been used for years to help us understand the difference between equal and equity. I do not know the originator who created this, but I very much appreciate his/her work. Thank you.

But, sometimes kids and plants grow up in spite of us, just like this little moss rose, which popped up between the cracks in our sidewalk.

Dear WinkWorld Readers, this blogpost is specifically for teachers, families, and librarians–or anyone who cares about kids and reading.  Whether your little reader is at home or in class this fall, Russ Walsh (russonreading.blogspot.com) has a  great idea, which you might want to try. 

Reading Instruction at a Distance:
Read Aloud, Read Along, Read Alone, Read Again

http://russonreading.blogspot.com/

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

In her blog, Dewdrops, Dawn Wink shares a bit of our summer on the ranch.  I hope you enjoy. Just click on the two live-links.

Part One

Wink Ranch, July 2020

Part Two

Wink Ranch, Part II – Welded Art Sculptures in Lemmon and Rock Climbing in Spearfish, South Dakota

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

The purpose of this WinkWorld is to discuss my ambivalent feelings regarding copyright rules and regs.  When I publish, I always try to error on the side of being conservative: I am sure I get permissions when I don’t have to do so, but I do this out of respect for my colleagues. 

However, I am well-aware that much of my writing and my images are all over the web, and teachers can grab and share when something fits their needs.  I always appreciate an acknowledgement, but I do not worry much about it, as I have years of pedagogical materials, and I really only want to share with teachers, librarians, and families.

However, when it comes to images, apparently I feel more strongly–particularly if an image was created for me by a former student, Dayna, who captured my story of pedagogy in Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World.  Dayna’s painting depicts exactly what I wrote (and she read) in that book. It is a treasure, and I have the original painting hanging on our bedroom wall.

Recently, I discovered that a group of colleagues was using this image (without an acknowledgement to Dayna, nor my book) as their profile image on Facebook. I privately messaged and asked them to connect with me, as I was going to send them the image, plus the citation to use.  They did not respond to me, and soon their Facebook page had been removed.

I am aware that this image has been used a lot, as our daughter, Dawn, is a teacher educator, and she tells me that her future teachers regularly turn in my image for their power point assignment in their educational theory class. The students are not aware that Dawn might recognize it. She takes delight in telling the students that the original is hanging painting on her mom’s & dad’s bedroom wall, and it comes from one of her mom’s books.

So, for you, dear readers, at the top of this blog post, I have posted the the image with the citation.

In addition, here is the story, + citation, from my book about the image.

Critical Pedagogy 3rd Ed – Practicing Pedagogy Patiently

Influential SHE and 3 Models of Pedagogy

When I was interviewed for Influential SHE, there were so many stories, which they could have shared.  I was pleased that they chose to share the 3 models of pedagogy image.

InfluentialSHE and 3 Models of Pedagogy

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Previously, I have written about the Little Free Libraries (LFL), and how this process of giving away books has grown so rapidly in the United States and now around the world.  For previous posts on WinkWorld, just go to my main page (joanwink.com), and in the bottom right corner, you will find a handy Search bar: Type in LFL.

Or, go to:

Little Free Library

Or, you can find them on the various social media platforms.

However, the purpose of the issue of WinkWorld is to tell you how I received my LFL–it was a gift from Lorna Larson of Minneapolis, whom I had never previously met.  She wanted to do this to honor her parents.  In what follows, Lorna tells her own story.

2012 was the culmination of many sagas in my life. I had just completed 7 years of teaching and also my Masters in Education. Both parents lost their battles with cancer.

2013 was the beginning of a new chapter of life for me.  I moved to a new community in Minneapolis and discovered my new neighbors shared my passion for literacy.  Little Free Libraries (LFL) began popping up everywhere.  If only I could have shared this experience with my parents who were both avid readers. Soon I put up my own LFL (see below),

but I wanted to give away some of these little libraries as a way to honor my parents.  I made the offer on social media, and Joan answered.  We had never met, but I had heard her speak and felt a connection with her because of our roots in SD and our interest in libraries. I was delivering several other LFL to SD, and decided to drive to  her ranch as a way of expanding my parents’ legacy.

2020–Seven years later, and we both still love to share books with our LFL. This summer I was able to take one of my two exchange students to the ranch. It makes me sad that my parents were never able to meet Angelo, but the Winks helped bring these two worlds together.  Maybe one day, Angelo will have his own LFL in São Paulo, Brazil.

July 2020 Lorna returns to the prairies.

Lorna and Angelo take  a ride on my 4-wheeler, ‘Lil Blue.

Lunch on the porch

Lorna carried 3 book bags of my professional books back to Minneapolis when she left: Some are for her and others are for beginning ESL teachers.  Happy reading!

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

The purpose of this WinkWorld is to share ways to keep kids learning, whether they are in class, at home, or on a computer somewhere.

However, if you have not read PART ONE of SUNY Oswego, this won’t make much sense.  In Part ONE, I shared what a group of SUNY pre-teachers found on a Treasure Hunt of my webpages.  In PART TWO, I continue to share the students’ discoveries. In addition, I continue to use the initials–not the complete names.

Click here to see PART ONE.

From PC:

Joan Wink recently posted on her WorldWink resources for parents to use to help their children while the schools are closed. On the page she posted several YouTube videos of read alouds that parents can show to their kids. Providing parents these tools can be extremely helpful especially for parents who may lack books at home. Wink also provided links to virtual field trips. The information provided on this page provides parents and student opportunities to continue to learn. I enjoyed listening to the read alouds and I think kids would really like to listen to these stories. The videos cover a range of topics.  

Learning with Your Kids at Home: Some Resources

From EW:

Story time is a huge part of my daily schedule teaching pre-K, but I was unaware the positive effects story telling has on students writing development. Wink states, “ In addition, storytelling, “initiates writing because children quickly want to write stories and tell them.” This makes a lot of sense, but I hadn’t thought of the benefit of writing development from storytelling. This seems like a great fit to introduce writing to students by telling them they will learn to be able to tell their own stories!  I am going to keep this in mind when we go back to school next year. I think it will keep the students excited to practice writing.

From LS:

Picture this: You are chilling in bed, rushing to finish up a reading assignment for class due at midnight, but you have to move yourself from that extra comfortable position in order to hold your book in a way that will allow you to keep it open to annotate and highlight important information… 

You’re struggling to hold down your book, your hand is over the crease, fingers are spread out. You move your hand slightly to the right cause you’ve been holding the book like that for so long and it’s starting to cramp. The front cover and pages of the book come tumbling down over your hand. You then proceed to open the book up again, scramble to find the page you were on, and grab anything heavy that you have to hold the left side in place. But that lotion bottle you grab just isn’t heave enough and is covering half of the words on the page, so you have to try something else. (and repeat 5x) Sound familiar?

Lisa Westbrook, one of Wink’s colleagues and friends from Texas, has an idea for you! Lisa spiral binds books. She claims “so that she can highlight and write more easily in the book.” You might be thinking, “that’s a lot of extra work!” Actually, it’s very easy! You take any book that you want spiral bound to an Office-Max-type store, and they will take the binding off for you and put on a spiral. It may take a little extra effort, but it’s something small to make your life easier. We often need to put in extra effort to do what works best for students, so take the time and spend the few extra dollars if you can to something that will make life just a little less stressful!

Lisa Westbrook: How/why to spiral bind a book

Thank you, Lisa Westbrook.

From MP:

As a first year teacher, I do not have much experience on how to begin a school year with my students. I enjoyed reading through many of Joan Wink’s words of advice, but this one stuck out to me the most. I will keep this in my “Tool box” of ideas for the years to come. b

She began her advice, with suggesting to Begin With A Book. She spoke about how one of her friends reached out on a Social Media platform asking people to donate books for her students for the first day of school. On the first day – each student got a free new book for them to take home and enjoy. She told her students that their “homework” was to go home and read 30 minutes from their NEW book. This shows the students that their community cares about them and their education. 

Another example that was provided, is to send post cards to all of your students before you meet them. Write them a caring letter/note inviting them in to meet you before school begins or to bring in school supplies prior. I absolutely love this idea!

From JL:

I have been monitoring her blog for a couple of days to see if there is anything new to post during this crisis, and I was surprised to see that her newest blog post (from March 31st) was about Ann, The Winter Pilgrim who visited Wink on her pilgrimage to a church in the neighboring town. I have never heard about the Society of Servant Pilgrims who travel across the world in religious practice in an effort to love thy neighbor and connect with the world at large. 

Below here is Ann, the pilgrim.

I think her blogs are a treasure because these are bits of information that students and myself would never have known about. I truly think that all author blogs are a treasure because of how much information can be kept there. For this particular blog, the students can explore the Society of Servant Pilgrims website and discover new and interesting things about these people that walk all over the world to meet and connect with others. Check out the blog post here.

I got this from my LIT 521 Technology and Literacy professor gave to me as a resource for a boatload of other author and illustrator websites that you could use for your students 🙂 Since I was talking about blogs, there are a lot of authors and illustrators that also blog on their sites as well and discuss a lot of neat and critical topics. For more great ideas for kids, click here.

From KJ:

Wink offers a link to Stephan Krashen‘s youtube talk on Guided Self-selected reading which I thought was an awesome idea willing to read more often. I think this is something that all teachers of all grades need to consider.

From KN:

Wink offers a Tower Building Activity that I feel would serve as an engaging team-building experience. Each year, I ask students to do something very similar on the second day of school where groups of students are challenged to build the tallest structure using spaghetti, marshmallows, and tape. Student engagement with this type of activity teaches them the necessary collaboration skills that will be needed throughout the year.

From AB:

I found this awesome host of  Mary Borba’s Lesson Plan activities and ideas that teachers of any content area can apply to their subject. I loved it so much that I downloaded and saved the PDF before writing this. Personally, I find it hard to remember all the learning games, activities, and strategies I’ve seen or used off the top of my head, and so compilations like this are a great tool in my toolbox. Additionally, even if I don’t think the activities on this list are right for my lesson, they can inspire me to create my own versions or takes on them. 

From JF:

 This post discussed how Joan Wink attended Grandparents’ Day at a school.

The school she attended was on the isolated prairies so there was only 10 students but this idea of bringing in peoples’ family is very important. The students got to greet their grandparents as they walked in as well as the other students’ grandparents. They then got to complete activities such as a homework assignment, explain their day to day routine, complete some arts and crafts, as well as complete an interview. The students were completely engaged and got to become connected with their family members on a deeper level. 

Thank you, Mary Borba.

From AS:

This post discussed a Shoebox Autobiography. Students are able to decorate a shoebox and put special items inside that have a memory that goes along with it. I thought this is a great idea because I know many of my younger students have trouble when it comes to writing personal narratives. This shoebox has actual items or funds of knowledge in it that allow the student to remember that moment in time and tell the story of what happened. I normally use a heart map at the beginning of the year where students draw pictures of different events in their life. But, I think objects will allow students to remember more details about the moment and having the object in your hands might also bring all the senses into play and the details of the story can be greater.

From ELR:

This post from Joan Wink discussed many options for parents to do with their children at home during this unprecedented time. The first idea was stories that can be read online to children. First, she says that the Internet is a free library, so use the resource. Scribid and Redshelf have many free books online that authors have given permission for them to post for free. The second resource discussed is free coloring book pages that can be downloaded, printed, and colored. The third resource discussed is virtual field trips. Many museums, zoos, and other places have offered virtual field trips to keep kids busy and learning.

I found this on the WinkWorld News tab on Joan Wink’s webpage. The link is posted here.

Thank you, Professor Tania Ramalho and future teachers of SUNY Oswego for sharing with us.