+

Tootsie Pops & Toilet

Paper, Vampires &

Zombies

+Developing Skills of Interest,

Creativity, Literacy, and Innovation

through the Engaging Research

Processes of The Collectory

A presentation from Dr. Z’s House of Fun

Wilkins-O’RileyZinn

Professor and Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning

Southern Oregon University

+When is learning fun

(engaging and

interesting) for you?

“Dolphins are my life

right now! This

project is the most

fun I ever had!!”

• Sixth grader, 2004

+Research is formalized curiosity.

It is poking and prying with a purpose.

• Zora Neale Hurston

+

My name is only an

anagram of toilets.

• T.S. Eliot

The ability to relate

and to connect,

sometimes in odd and

yet striking fashion,

lies at the very heart

of any creative use of

the mind, no matter in

what field or discipline.

• George J. Seidel

+Themes of Fun in Learning(Zinn 2004, 2008):

Choice

Relevance

Engagement

Active Learning

Teacher Attitude

Eiredaramac (Camaraderie)

+It‟s all about making students feel they want

to be there. • Teacher‟s epiphany, 2010

That’s when you’re at your best,

when you’re focused and you’re

serious and passionate about

what you do, but at the same

time, you can relax and have fun

and be confident.

• Derek Fisher, NBA

+

Nifty Fifty Challenge

An anonymous donor will

give you $50,000 to

research anything you

want, but you have to

make your choice in fifty

seconds. It must be

something you are

personally passionate

about, and you must

immediately provide a

rationale for your choice in

fifty words or less, taking

no more than four minutes

and ten seconds (5x50

seconds) to do so.

+How can students

learn essential

research attitudes,

skills, and knowledge

in a personally-

engaging way?

AND how is highly

individualized work

evaluated?

+The Collectory is about teaching the skills of

interest essential to making lifelong learning a

reality and an ongoing delight.

+What basic A•S•K do students

need to enable them to do

research in any discipline?

A • Attitudes

S • Skills

K • Knowledge

What else do they

need to know and be

able to do that‟s

specific to your

discipline?

+

Attitudes • blue card

Skills • yellow card

Knowledge • green card

Your discipline-specific ASK • pink card

Is there overlap? Of course—don’t stress!

That‟s interesting,

but it‟s not

interesting to me.

• Laurie Richlin

Lilly Int‟l. Nov. „09

A • S • K

+

BREAST WISHES!I have a collection of more than 7,000 quotations about breasts that have become part of an art exhibit: Breast Wishes: Uncovering an American Obsession. It‟s led to anonymous gifts like this.

+

Some Key Elements of

Collectory Research

• I-Search research (Macrorie, 1988)

• Collage/montage representation

• Multigenre writing (Romano, 2000)

• Scholarly personal narrative (Nash,

2004)

• Autoethnography (Ellis &Bochner,

2000)

• Autobibliography (Zinn, 2004)

• Self-actualizing creativity (Maslow,

1959)

• Pentangulation (Zinn, 2004)

+

Autoethnography is the

exploration of one‟s

own culture situated

within other cultures,

and leads to critical

self-understanding

through reflection and

experimentation.

A primary difference

between

autoethnography and

autobiography is the

creation of theory from

emergent knowledge,

making it particularly

useful within the

context of research

projects.

+

Adult Learning• Adults want to know why they are learning something.

• Adults need to learn experientially.

• Adults approach learning as problem-solving.

• Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value.

--from Malcolm Knowles‟ (1990) theory of adult learning

I’m fifty-three years old and this is the first time I’ve ever been excited about doing a research project! • Middle school teacher, ED 512: Educational Research, 2010

+

Enjoyment is not a

goal, it is a feeling the

accompanies

important ongoing

activity.

• Paul Goodman

Ongoing

reflection and

self-evaluation are

crucial elements

of The

Collectoryprocess

es.

+Pentangulation

• Self as source of knowledge,

experiences, reflection,

metacognition

• Observation, formal and

informal

• Talking with others

• Formal research, scholarly

literature, historical context

ª Informal research, popular

culture, multiple media,

historical context

You don’t understand anything

until you learn it more than one

way. • Marvin Minsky

+

Ethics Quiz

I have used Spark Notes, Cliff Notes, or other reading aids and pretended the ideas were my own.

I have pretended to read an article, text, or other assigned materials.

I have appropriated material from the internet and passed it off as my own work.

I have cheated on a test.

I have copied someone else‟s homework or other assigned work.

I have done an assignment that was due at the start of class while I was in class instead of completing it out of class as assigned.

I have worked on other things during class, including but not limited to other coursework, surfing the net, texting, etc.

It’s hard to do your best at

something you don’t really

want to do. Why should I

go research information on

something I don’t care

about?

• Comments from a pair of

cheaters on ABC‟s 20/20,

November 19, 2004

+Things I Didn’t Buy For My Son

A Consumerist Collectory

+

Activate the skills of

interest, innovation, and

lifelong learning through

personally resonant

Collectory research

You can teach

students a lesson for

a day, but if you can

teach them to learn

by creating curiosity,

they will continue the

learning process as

long as they live.

• Clay P. Bedford

+Discovery Skills of Innovation• Dyer &Gregerson, 2010

• Associating: making connections among the seemingly

unrelated.

• Questioning: asking “what if?” and “why not?” Challenging the

status quo.

• Observation: closely observing details, including people‟s

behavior.

• Experimentation: trying new experiences; exploring new

worlds.

• Networking: including with people with whom you may have

nothing in common, but from who you can learn.

+

There is a formula for

drudgery (Ruediger, 1932),

and many students have

learned how to be actively

disengaged in school.

Skills of

Interest

+Where do ideas

come from?

I am often asked,

“Where do you get

your ideas?” The

short answer is

everywhere. It’s

like asking, “Where

do you find air to

breathe?” Ideas

are all around you.

• Twyla Tharp

+ChoiceI know how I learn and I

understand that this may

not be the same in every

context. I actively seek

opportunities to

maximize my learning

by integrating my

interests and passions

into my coursework.

Students choose

Collectory topics,

methods of pursuit and

sources, manner of

presentation.

+Relevance

I find purpose and

connections among things

I‟m studying. I connect

personal resonance and

pragmatic reality. I know

who I am and what

interests me.

I choose a Collectory topic

thoughtfully, engaging in

metacognitive activities

that help me understand

my interests and my

preferred ways of making

meaning.

+EngagementI attend class and

deliberately find ways to be

actively interested. I care

about my learning and am

truly present through

thoughtful interaction in and

out of class. I apply course

content to my life and to

other courses.

I engage in ongoing

disciplined and informal

Collectory-related reflection,

collection, and connection

and am alert for

interconnections.

+Active Learning

I don‟t just attend class; I am an integral part of making the class interesting because I am interested. I seek out additional information related to what I am learning.

I use all facets of my life as sources of information. I understand that learning doesn’t just happen in school and I actively seek additional learning-from-life opportunities.

+Teacher Attitude

What makes teaching fun?

I put myself in the place of

the teacher and make my

interest apparent. I go

beyond requirements and

produce quality work.

Collectory teachers are

open to possibility, trust

learners, emphasize the

journey, involve learners in

evaluation, expect quality.

+CamaraderieI talk with others in and out of class—instructors and classmates. I get involved in clubs, study groups, sports, student government, and/or other activities. I am interested in learning about other people and their cultures and I know how to listen and be a friend.

I actively seek other perspectives related to my Collectory topic and I share my work regularly, helping others with theirs as well.

+ A student once called me the “Ex-Lax of

writing teachers.” Collectory processes

can really help get the writing going!

+WHAT IS QUALITY

WORK?

WHAT SHOULD A

GRADE OF A

REPRESENT?

Quality is not an

act, it is a habit.

•Aristotle

+How to insure your Collectory doesn‟t suck!

Some advice from the Vampire Team:

• Pick a topic and begin your research right away.

• Tell other people what you‟re exploring and ask them

to watch for related information.

• Record what you‟re doing, the sources you find, and

your thoughts and reflections REGULARLY. You will

not remember!

• Keep careful track of your sources. Get all the biblio

information as soon as you look at something.

• Be open—keep your topic at the front of your mind

and you‟ll be surprised how much you start to see.

Winter 2011

+How about you?With The Collectory, the end is just the beginning. . .

How could you use Collectory processes with your students?

+El Dia de

Los Muertos

mIIm

aII

Zinnpix are from

Olvera Street,

Los Angeles,

and Dr. Z’s

House of Stuff

+ Zombie Haiku (Ryan Mecum, 2008)

They surround the car

and all are moaning something.

Is that the word “trains??! (p. 17)

+

Vampire Haiku

Ryan Mecum (2009)

As I‟m writing this,

my syllable-counting hand

is starting to smoke (p. 133).

+

In Finito

To find a form that

accommodates the

mess, that is the task

of the artist now.

• Samuel Beckett