San Antonio

I'm writing this from my hotel room in San Antonio where I'm attending the annual NCTE conference. To the left, you'll see the view from my window.

Apart from the weather (which has actually been a little cold for this city) and the great food (I enjoyed La Fogata with my cousin Jim from San Antonio), what stuck out were the number of new media sessions at this conference designed for English teachers. This might as well be a "new media conference." It was interesting to hear all of the discussions surrounding the future of the English classroom. This topic always seems to stir strong opinions, and I overheard one heated discussion between two participants arguing over whether print is dead. How can it be dead, I wondered, when so much of new media contains print?

But there didn't seem to be any lack of interest in new media here. Even though attendance was down this year, sessions that involved new media seemed to be popular and there were so many of them that at any one session time, one could probably see three-five sessions revolving around new media during any one hour. The Commission on Media sponsored a New Media Gallery, and below you'll see some pictures of some of the great activities we were able to feature. We also gave out the Media Literacy Award to Jim Brooks. Edubloggers such as Karl Fisch and Bud Hunt were heavily prominent. There was an NCTE Ning that was set up, although I don't know how much it was really used.

It was interesting, though, that there was still a high level of interest in "traditional" sessions. I walked past a packed session that was entitled "Grammar in the Heart of the Writing Session," and well known authors continue to be popular. And, of course, there were always people in the Exhibit Hall, although it didn't seem to be as crammed as in years past.

But compared with just a few years ago, when there were perhaps three-five sessions per day dealing with new media at NCTE, there has been a tidal wave of change. It remains to be seen whether this kind of transformation will lead to a tidal wave in our classrooms.

Obama Coins?

I was at the mall this weekend, and saw a kid who looked to be about 16 years old wearing an Obama t-shirt. I've been working with kids for a long time, and I don't remember ever seeing one wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a U.S. politician on it (unless it was being derogatory.) But this guy was wearing the shirt unironically. I just can't remember ever seeing one of my students' wearing a Reagan, Bush (I or II), or Clinton t-shirt. The New York Times is today calling this "Generation O."

(Also, over the weekend, I saw a television commercial for "official" Obama coins. It reminds me of the kinds of merchandising you see in Europe that feature members of a royal family or in Memphis for Elvis. I guess it doesn't take long for the kitsch to come along.)

But one wonders how this kind of admiration for a president will transform not only the media's longstanding satirizing of the powerful, but an entire construct of "teenage" that has developed over the last century.