#YALit & #Web2.0: More than Just Angst and Self-Promotion

#YALit and #Web2.0:

More than Just Angst and Self-Promotion

How do I feel, after a whole semester of Tweeting and Tumblr-ing with my classmates?

Tumblr and I got off to a rough start:

Ok, #teachread, who is using Tumblr? I am super annoyed by the free themes and their lack of customizeability. I made up a new word today!

—
Katie Drame (@ktdrame) October 11, 2011

Then, when I actually wrote something I was proud of, I was really sad to realize that no one would read it.

Just realized I have only 2 followers on Tumblr. And one is my teacher. …hoolforkidswhocantreadgood.tumblr.com #teachread

—
Katie Drame (@ktdrame) October 21, 2011

Then I wrote a post about being scared to finish my teaching degree. Again, I had no audience. I would get so excited about writing and sharing my ideas, and after a whole semester of interacting with the Tumblr community, all of ten people will read them.

Other than whining, why am I sharing these feelings? I wonder how my students will feel when I ask them to do a similar assignment. Just because there is the potential for a global audience, just because everyone could read something posted online, it doesn’t mean that anyone actually is reading it.

In some ways, the relative anonymity of this project helped me learn unencumbered by others’ expectations of me. I was exploring.

I like the way that Tumblr encouraged me to respond to America with my own words, images, quotes, links, and videos. Students should be free to respond to what they’re reading in a form that makes sense to them.

Then, I wanted to communicate! I wanted to be social. It is social media, after all. And no one could hear me.

Responding to my classmates via Twitter turned out to be the solution. Even though our interactions were limited to 140 characters, we shared our thoughts in a meaningful way. We directed each other to our blogs or news that relates to #teachread.

How do I feel, after immersing myself in and responding to America?

Emotionally drained. Engaged. Excited. No longer ashamed of liking “kids’ books.”

Perhaps because I was a somewhat emotional and angsty teen, I have always been drawn to Young Adult Literature. My summers were spent with Harry Potter. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower about a hundred times. I cried through Speak. Like these characters, I too was trying to figure out who I was.

I was comforted to read their experiences and realize that I was not alone.

As my classmate Lucia has mentioned, we need to be careful about generalizing, especially when it comes to our students. Adolescents are not all filled with “raging hormones” and apt to make impulsive decisions at every moment. They are not all trouble makers and gang members.They are young. They are cute. They are shy. They love animals. They are big sisters. They are little brothers. They are philanthropists. They are artists, singers, dancers, athletes, poets, scientists, bloggers, and fashionistas. They want to go to college. They are just trying to figure themselves out.

Lucia said it better than I can:
It is important to draw attention to who our students actually are, not who we think they are or who they should become.

The sad thing is that teens are subject to suspicion not just from strangers, but also from parents and teachers, the people that know them best. We approach them with mistrust rather than compassion. We roll our eyes at them. We don’t know them.

How many times in a day do we tell kids what they mean?

What I have learned from America is that some kids go through more pain and horror than anyone should ever have to bear. Until he attempted suicide, no one had been able to reach him. No one heard his voice.

America taught me about pain and regret. And hope.

The biggest lesson I have learned, and one I hope to continue learning: We need to listen to our students. We need to help them make their voices heard.

On my blog, I tried to share America’s voice as often as I could.

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