10-Rep Learning ~ Teague's Tech Treks

Learning Technology & Tech Observations by Dr. Helen Teague

By

25 or 6 to 14: Short Attention Spans Meets Its Match

Found myself stranded last night coming home from Portales b/c of storms. Catching up on email, I read a notice about a new book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith.Based loosely on the literary legend of Hemingway, challenged to write a story in six words, supposedly composed “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Smith gives this challenge a non-fiction twist, inviting people to tell their life story in six words.

What would you write? What’s your six-word-life-summary?

Here are my attempts–Send me yours!

Smiled, laughed, surfed, copied, pasted, uploaded
Labeled ADD, ADHD, MEd, TODO, OLD
Smiled, laughed, twirled in flip flops
Deciding whether to answer the phone
Waited for pendulum to swing back
Short Attention Span Meets Its Match

How about giving your students your best 6-Word Advice?

“Whatever” is not a great answer.
The Key to possibilities: just begin
Don’t Try: Forge. Don’t Wait: Act.
Fail Here, Fail Big, Begin Again
Get Plan B, For Technology and Life

Invite your students to join you. Then, up the ante: tell them they must include 1-2 of your latest unit vocabulary words.

If your students are more verbose, invite them to write their best 14 lines about love (of people, places, things, BBQ, whatever) This is actually the task in  A Prairie Home Companion’s Bed of Roses Love Sonnet contest and there are actual winners, but remember we are not in it for the extrinsic motivation. 🙂

One Response to 25 or 6 to 14: Short Attention Spans Meets Its Match

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to toolbar