Did you know that I'm on Twitter ?

What have I learned about taking my own classes this summer?  One does run out of steam. It's not like I completely don't care anymore, but my effort level has decreased. I find that I am trying to do the minimum required in the discussion boards, while still learning something and attempting to sound engaged and sassy.  I rarely return to the discussion boards after I post. Yes, I should go back and read what my classmates have to say, but I typically do not rush to do that. And when I go back, I read what people said in response to me and then maybe a few more posts after that... I like to work ahead because the deadlines loom there in the distance; I don't want to find myself scrambling to finish something at the last minute - this might be one major difference between my students and me. I am not a procrastinator, and these two classes have emphasized that part of me big time. I'm fairly certain I've been mansplained in at least one discussion board post...

With how messy my head has been lately with acronyms and pedagogies and webinar chatroom comments, you'd think I'd lost what my teaching style IS, but I think all of these Twitter-induced rabbit holes have only reaffirmed what I'm doing in the classroom and why. Student voice and choice. Yep. Empathy built in. Yes. Creativity everywhere. Hells yeah. Real-world applications. Mm hm. PBL asks students to create their own projects and create their own daily tasks. OEP asks students to write for the open movement, the creative network of the world. It demands: "Get rid of disposable assignments!" TFT asks students to transfer what they are learning in one area to another. Punk theory says, "Give students voice and choice." OWI is all about access and inclusivity. Some tweet the other day said that we should shy away from recipe assignments (14 slides, 7 sources, 4 transitions, 2 memes) because that's bad, and <insert their pedagogy here...

Why, hello, little bloggie. It's been awhile, hasn't it? So sorry. So, since my last confession, I've taken a deep dive into OER and OEP and the open movement in general. Here's the shortest version of the story: I'm fairly certain that at a 2013 TYCA-MW conference (at a fancy conference center in Normal, IL), I was introduced to the free Writing Spaces Volumes . I began using them soon after, and I don't think I thought much more about it... Until the fall of 2015 when the campus was offering mini-grants for projects. At that point, I must've been thinking about writing our own textbook, and so we wrote up a proposal. In 2016, the mini-grant was accepted, but Anne left us for industry, and so that summer tasked Dana, Ronda, and I with creating Writing Unleashed . We used Adobe InDesign, and it's very "pretty," brief on boring content, heavy on student examples, and has a cute little nerd unit. We didn't know then - what I know now - ...

Hey y'all... So, since my last post, I have published a second and third book! Yep! And the fourth one should be rocking and rolling this week... all available on Amazon: Book 1: Nontraditional textbook =    The Anti-Textbook .  Book 2: My very first writings - fiction =    Feed the Bunnies & Eat the Pickles / The Purple Wall's Seven .  Book 3: Nonfiction, about breast reduction surgery =    The Big-Boobed Bridesmaid .   ( Coming Soon ) Book 4: Year in the Life of a Teacher =    Teaching: With a Side of Chicken Wings and a Shot of Vodka .

It's there. It's THERE. Search for my name: Sybil Priebe

Well, kids, I just clicked the PUBLISH button at createspace.com AND immediately ordered 5 of my own books to be sent to me a.s.a.p. Crazy, right? Totally. Then I created a Facebook page for the book, and right before that, I sent the Word Doc into KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) so they can make a Kindle-version of the darn thing. That should be rocking & rolling on the Amazon.com site by tomorrow (my guess)? And people will be able to get physical copies (via createspace.com through Amazon?) in a week or so? More later, people...