Hello, hello. I woke up refreshed after a good night's sleep. Finished my final classes yesterday and am now quietly managing an exit from work, with only one or two commitments next week. In truth, I need to finish grading student work, start thinking about next semester and tie up a few loose ends from this one. The next week will be time to focus, recharge my batteries, as we move into the holidays.
I hope that you’re well and things are good. I’m sorry that I missed last week, there was just so much to sort out, and though I had time over the weekend, I felt you deserved something less rushed and more thoughtfully prepared. While I can’t entirely promise all of that, I hope this will be a better, reconnecting communication at least.
It has been a busy few weeks, we welcomed an old friend, took a few trips out of town, celebrated a birthday, ate good food, and found time to read, watch and listen to a few things.
Stephan
Spaces to Connect
We finished up our finals week with presentations, the students have worked hard, taken on some great challenges, and have delivered some really interesting and thoughtful outcomes. It is always bitter sweet, saying goodbye to another group, with some people that you got to know, and some that you’d have loved to learn more about. They were a little quiet on the whole, but I know that doesn’t mean they weren’t engaged, far from it.
Looking back at some of the issues from this semester, there were a few concrete things. I'm reevaluating the materials I provide. Previously, I emphasized numerous readings, videos, and podcasts. However, I see that it's challenging for students to keep up; they prefer short, quantifiable outcomes and occasional guidance toward information sources. It’s more about wayfinding than hand holding.
When I used to observe teachers, a sure sign of confidence was whether they were the busiest person in the room, or whether their students were the ones moving between activities, or talking to each other. You could read the energy in the room, and know whether the class had just enough to keep them going, or whether they were overwhelmed, or equally lacking stimuli.
I think that the same online, in the materials that we prepare, it is finding a balance not in anticipation of what the class needs, but in feeling out, and adapting material to suit the pace of learning. In other words, I think I’m the busiest online, loading up readings and videos to canvas that rarely get seen, are rarely engaged with, are just superfluous. Instead, I could keep all these resources ready for just-in-time teaching, rather than overwhelming the class with them from the start.
Life Lessons
It’s been a sad week, with the unexpected passing of poet Benjamin Zephaniah. His was a constant presence in my life, on Radio 4, or riding on the tube reading his poetry, or one day seeing him in Foyles leafing through novels. There was a great documentary, about why he refused an OBE, because he wouldn’t have the word Empire in his title, I could only find this interview; and even more recently popping up in podcasts, or on tv. I’m grateful to his poetry, his anarchism, which he saw as liberation from authority, giving power back to communities, a bottom up approach, rather than the oppressive, capitalist, white supremacist, system has clearly failed for the hundreds of years it’s been in place.
A few of my friends in the US might not be as familiar with Benjamin’s work, so here are a few links, to poems, music, and interviews that you might enjoy. In particular, listening to Benjamin talk about the Windrush scandal, he knew that something was up way before it was in the news.
I spent this week re-listening to his autobiography, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, and missing his voice, a mix of all those places in his heart, Birmingham, Jamaica, a slight lisp, a big laugh. I can hear the smile in his words when he speaks. Look after yourself Benjamin, thank you sharing your poetry with us.
As it happens, I was in Washington DC when I heard the news, attending a couple of meetings and visiting the Library of Congress. I met up with my friend from the UK, visiting the US, that I mentioned in last week’s issue. He came home with me to Pittsburgh, having traveled to Las Vegas, Oakland CA, and Washington DC.
I really like being in DC, it feels young and fresh, there’s lots to do, and great places to see live music, and enjoy a drink. I can see myself living in one those townhouses in Chevy Chase, or Adams Morgan, walking and cycling around the place.
Oh, and last week I had a birthday, and got a little older. I taught during the day, including welcoming an Italian class who brought panettone with them, I enjoyed a big slice and went home, and that evening we had Thai food and watched a movie together. That's my idea of a perfect birthday.
Lost and Found
Just a few things for you this week.
On the drive to DC I finished the Beastie Boys Book on audio. It was a riot, jumping around, just like a Beasties’ song, with guest speakers, such as Wanda Sykes, Amy Coulter, John C. Reilly, and even Jarvis Cocker, along with rappers, dj’s, collaborators such as Spike Jonze talking through the photos, and recipes from Roy Choi, their tour chef. I’ve probably mentioned this book before in previous issues, but heck’ to finish it, was amazing, sad, and wonderful, all at once.
I’m excited to be part of a new initiative in our department exploring Artificial Intelligence (does it need capital letters?) Each week we’ll be looking at readings, and throughout the semester there will be workshops and speaker events. Some of the materials will be based around the journal Critical AI, and rather than looking at teaching & learning, this group will be focussed on questions around equality, social justice, language, and culture.
So, here are a few things in this space that caught my eye. This article in MIT Technology Review about the use of AI for African languages, and an interesting post for a paper looking at some of the sources for LLM’s, and the predominance of a white, western view in the training of models.
Thank you
In a probably futile attempt to lessen the amount of screentime that our 12 year old is enjoying, we drew up a schedule, using hour, and half-hour blocks to guide his use, so that he’s at least adding some variety to his evening routine.
I thought that I’d do the same for me, because creeping tiredness usually means that I’m on the sofa scrolling my phone. I printed it out, and tried to refer to the blocks, just to see if I could stick to it, and have to say that it has been pretty positive. I did some drawing, attended a couple of yoga sessions, read for pleasure instead of work, and started a new course on Domestika. Of course, life gets in the way, things pop up, but when I’m at a loose end, I can check to see if I might be doing something else, and that seems to motivate me to do it.
As the year draws to a close, I doubt I'll be able to release another issue next week, but you never know, we'll see.
Please have a good time and see if you can do less, try and preserve some time just for you, it’s okay to say no, or lets things wait until next month.
Time to wrap up. Take care.
Who’s Who by Benjamin Zephaniah
I used to think nurses
Were women,
I used to think police
Were men,
I used to think poets
Were boring,
Until I became one of them.
Happy Birthday and Wow... I totally missed that Benjamin Zephaniah had died. What a loss. And thank you for the tribute I will click around and remember his amazing legacy.