Kremerdom

(Totally Awesome) House for Sale

2009-01-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

So in the spirit of "doing our civic duty" for the economy, one of the games Ashley and I played over winter break was to check out houses for sale in Columbia [ok, actually it was because interest rates are down to 5%] . We actually just found one we'd like to buy, but there's just one catch: we have to sell our current home first. :-) So...if anyone else wants to take advantage of this buyer's market, here's what we've got:

Address: 4620 Salem Dr
Location: Southwest (close to Cherry Hill)
Size: 1570 sq ft - 3 bed, 2 bath
Schools: Russell - Smithton - West - Rock Bridge
Price: $123,500

We bought the place two years ago and have made many cosmetic updates to it: new carpet, paint, Pergo laminate floors, enlarged kitchen, etc. We love the neighborhood (Columbia just built a park within walking distance last year) and the house itself, which is structurally in excellent shape and considerably more aesthetically-pleasing now (at least we think so), but we'd like to relocate closer east to where we both work and to something a little bigger now that we're a growing family. We're just looking to break even at this point (read: DEAL!), and to move quickly while the house we want is still on the market. we'll be officially listing with our agent at the end of this week, but if you'd like an early-bird tour beforehand (and more negotiating room regarding price), let me know asap and we'll set up a time for you to come see the house. Please forward to anyone you think might be interested! You can email me at nkremer@columbia.k12.mo.us. Thanks!!

[I can't figure out how to caption pictures on here, so here's what you're looking at (in order): Home Exterior, Upstairs Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Master Bedroom, Bedroom #2, Downstairs Living Room, Bathroom, Bedroom/Office]

Who Let Billy Madison Into MWP? (Or, Hannukah in July)

2008-08-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of teacher songs out there, but not too many songs about Writing Project, so I wrote a song for all those nice, little teachers out there who don’t get to hear any Writing Project songs. Here we go!

Writing Project is / a festival of words
Instead of boring lectures / we compare ourselves to birds
So if you’re the only teacher in town / who’s missing all the fun
Here’s a list of what to expect / when you finally join…

Two hours of homework / that’s not two hours
Radical Revision / beefs up words with lots of power
Rockin’ out social change / with a story of stuff
Eating everywhere in town / (except for Pizza Hut)

So pull out your notebooks / and posse up your writing groups
Blog all over I-Books / and hire all the local cooks
Share eighteen of your new books / and Brown Bag all your best works
Roundtable some logic / Have a happy Writing Project

Learn to love technology / like Napoleon’s brother
David Warlick teaches tricks / that he wouldn’t teach his mother!
Podcast with a caterpillar / (Alice is a punk!)
Time for teaching advice / from my bro, Grandmaster Funk

[Chorus]

Finding poetry / no longer a chore
Hey, why looky there: / it’s a 6-word memoir!
Re-read children’s books / give graphic art a try
My super-sentence pig / just became a Piggie Pie!

[Chorus]

Think of then and now / then pass the Kleenex Box
Langston Hughes again? / What a jazzy, jazzy fox!
Charlotte took out pictures / we haven’t looked at in a while
Hair is so much fun, / now get crazy with your tile!

So many teachers are writing in this place
We’ve got room for one more; quick! Go grab Dr. Chase!

[Chorus] Have a happy, happy, happy, happy, Writing Project!!!!

Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in a Comic Book (read in Kintergarden)

2008-08-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Blitz, Michael. The Comic Book Project. July 21, 2008. .

This is the official website for the Comic Book Project, a program created by Dr. Michael Blitz for the Center for Educational Pathways, that “engages children in a creative process leading to literacy reinforcement, social awareness, and character development, then publishes and distributes their work for other children in the community to use as learning and motivational tools.” The project was founded in 2001 in New York City as an after-school club, and through many grants has expanded to schools across the country. Lesson plans, activity workbooks, manuscript starters, the actual comic book canvas template, and previous student publications can be ordered for only $6 per student. All submissions are featured on a free webpage, and Dark Horse Comics publishes and nationally distributes winning entries each year. The theme for the 08-09 school year is: “If I Ruled the World…”

Wilson, Chris. The Graphic Classroom. July 21, 2008. .

The Graphic Classroom is a blog/resource for teachers and librarians “to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy, graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library.” The webmasters, all teachers, read and review every graphic novel or comic listed on the blog and give it a rating as to appropriateness for the classroom

HIGH-QUALITY GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR THE CLASSROOM

ELEMENTARY:
Alison Blare – J. Torres (SERIES: young female Indiana Jones-esque adventures)
Amelia Rules! – Jimmy Gownley (SERIES: Llikable yet flawed kids and their exploits, fun and light)
Beowulf – Stefan Petrucha (accessible version of the timeless epic)
Bone – Jeff Smith (SERIES: ‘Looney Tune type characters dropped into a Tolkien-esque landscape without a map or friend’)
Castle Waiting – Linda Medley (SERIES: “What happened after happily ever after”)
Clan Apis – Jay Hosler (the life and death of bees, both scientific and narrative)
Marvel Adventures – Daniel Quantz et. al. (SERIES: Contemporary, child-oriented remakes of classic Marvel superhero storylines: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man)
Mouse Guard - David Petersen (SERIES: A colony of intelligent mice in a medieval era that is human-free)

SECONDARY:
9/11 Report – Sid Jacobson (Graphic form of the 9/11 Commission Report)
Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships – Eric Shanower (Trojan War)
Berlin: City of Stones – Jason Lutes (Post-WWI Germany, leading to WWII)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Kim Deitch (Critical look at the history of cartoon animation through “Waldo the Cat” and other characters)
Blankets – Craig Thompson (young male coming-of-age story, realism)
Dracula – Rich Rainey (adaptation of Bram Stoker’s masterpiece)
Fables – Bill Willingham (SERIES: characters from fairy tales and folklore are ripped from their worlds and forced to live in 21st century New York)
Marvel: Ultimates (SERIES: Contemporary re-make of classic Marvel characters in the 21st century, facing contemporary problems and full of pop culture references; Spider-Man, X-Men, Ultimates)
Maus – Art Spiegelman (Holocaust memoirs, in allegorical form)
No Fear: Shakespeare – Matt Wiegle (Manga-styled versions of famous plays, w/ contemporary dialogue)
One Bad Rat – Brian Talbot (Abused run-away girl uses children literature to reclaim her life)
Pedro and Me – Judd Winick (Real World star’s tribute to fellow star/friend, a deceased AIDS activist)
The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller (Batman returns from retirement to fight the Joker, struggles with morality, vigilantism, etc…)
The Sandman – Neil Gaiman (SERIES: Morpheus, Lord of Dreams, awakes in the modern world and “learns that one must change or die, then makes his decision”)
The Watchmen – Alan Moore (Dystopian Cold War anti-hero deconstruction of super-hero mythology)
We3 – Grant Morrison (Western manga: A squad of three prototype animal weapons escape and are pursued by the government)

Back From the Future

2008-07-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Doc Brown just dropped me out of the Delorian , and I'm ready to round up Paulo (Freire) and start building the World of Tomorrow.

As much as I'd like to be Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley (I was trying all morning), after my third consecutive session with David Warlick, I find the spirit of Sir Thomas Moore, my patron saint, channeling within me the epiphanies of the next Utopia. Everything clicked...the answers to the environmental movement, poverty, education, the cycle of "stuff"...it's all there, waiting at the fringes of this new era of unprecedented digital democracy. I have the story I've been waiting to tell (alas without the time to tell it now that summer is over), and my mind is overflowing with its pages and chapters, an Aggregator just turned on and set loose in the world wide web of my social consciousness. I'm ready to write it.

In the meantime, the more pertinent revelation of the day: as a teacher of English, my job is to teach students to think critically and communicate effectively. That's the mandate I've been struggling my entire professonal career to ascertain. Prepare yeself, world...my mantra has arrived.

E-Mail to Danita (disguised as a Blog Post)

2008-07-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

"How has MO Writing Project been so far?" they asked.

"Rockstararific," he responded.

"Elaborate..."

"Well, it's definitely lived up to all expectations and even surpassed them (cough, cough...much like the Dark Knight...cough cough). It's the way professional development is supposed to be: empowering, transformative, reflective, from a wide variety of perspectives and with a group of colleagues who challenge each other to transcend their previous experiences. It's immediately applicable, the writing lessons, book shares, daily prompts, breakfast (mmm...), and perhaps most importantly, motivation. If only every teacher had the luxury of being able to participate in such an experience each summer. Imagine..." [insert Lennon link here].

"Wow...can we pay you lots of money to use that in our advertising for next year?"

"Yes. Yes you can."

The Chicago Writing Marathon (if Chicago was actually Rocheport)

2008-07-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

So I survived my first marathon today! There really wasn't as much sweating or fatigue as I expected...though I regret to report the puking was still there. (did anyone else have similar "fun" in the aftermath of Crab Quesadillas? They really weren't as tastey the second time around. Maybe the kid took my Napoleon Dynamite jab personally. Who knew he could be so vindictive? But, I digress...)

The writing marathon was great! Even though our group only got a couple of reps in, I really enjoyed the experience and could easily have gone several hours longer...if the rocks became cushioned chairs and the air became air conditioning at some point. I was a little nervous about sharing "everything" at first, but the lack of commentary during each 10 mins really helped motivate me to let go and embrace my inner writer, and, much like physical exercises, each rep brought me added vigor to the next, as my metaphorical adrenaline started pumping and ideas started flowing like one of those Starburst commercials. Mmmm...Starburst. It's too bad I can only keep down saltines. Durn quesadilla!

Do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Wordle Dance

2008-07-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Consider this an experiment in the Wordle Wide Web:

Kremerdom is Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!
Rockstarariffic!!

I Eat Research For Breakfast...with skim milk.

2008-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

So I started my research yesterday! WOO HOO!!! Totally because I'm a proactive and forward-thinking individual who feels that procrastinating impairs one's ability to fully flourish (and having nothing to do with the fact that I had to do some research for my lesson tomorrow and my research topic just so happens to be the same topic as my lesson).

So what is said topic, you say? Graphic Novels! Comic Books! Cartoons! Animations! Happy Happy Fun Time Picture Books! (that last one might have been a stretch). If the world was perfect (aka, Kremerdom), I would narrow my focus entirely to the teaching of writing/creating graphic novels. However, the entire topic is still somewhat taboo in academia, so I'm going to have to stay broad and embrace graphic novels wholistically - how they can improve literacy, when they work well with interdisciplinary learning, why they're legimate literary forms, etc. I still haven't decided exactly what form I want my final product to take: an annotated bibliography named Sally (with librarian glasses), a stuffy research paper named Alfred (with a monacle), a list of lesson ideas named Sam (with contacts), or a comic strip itself named Zen (with blue hair...gotta have blue hair).

One "find" I'm already uber-excited about is comicbookproject.org. I could tell you about it now, but then you wouldn't be surprised tomorrow and make ooh and aah sounds...and I really need oohs and aahs on Thursdays. Cheerio!

Kids that are good at Blogger are less likely to get hit by cars...

2008-07-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

While this is probably not news to 99% of the people reading this, Will Richardson wrote a book called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms...and...I've been reading it....and...it's made me think private pedagogical thoughts...so...I'm going to post those thoughts for all you cyber voyeurs out there.

Two things immediately come to mind in regards to blogging in the classroom: 1) Wow, what a great way for students to immediately publish work and get immediate feedback in a fun, trendy way; 2) How the heck am I going to manage the circus that ensues? (universal accesibility, cyber-bullying, student safety, assessment, etc.)

To address the former: Publishing could very easily transform the way students think about their work. It's one thing to write something because a teacher needs to grade it. It's something altogether different to write something that your classmates, your friends and family, the entire world might see. That requires pride...and in my experience, pride (and often pride alone) has been the distinguishing factor between success and failure for my students.

To address the latter: Accessibilty certainly is an issue, but even if you can book a computer lab once every week or two, I think the investment will certainly be worth the time. Grading could be done on a somewhat participatory basis (make x posts, respond to y posts, etc.) if at all. Safety can be helped by closing the blogs to in-class or in-school viewership only, but monitoring could still be tough...ideas?

To address my mother: Momma K, 2215 Rivercrest Ct., Jefferson City MO 65101

The King of Kremerdom

2008-07-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

(Because everyone should be a king or queen once in their life...)

Welcome to my virtual domain, where virtual rule by this virtual dictator will be virtually benevolent in nature.

My name is Nick Kremer (terribly ironic, I know) and I am neither a king nor benevolent in real life (only one of which is a lie). I am a teacher in Columbia, Missouri and a graduate student at MU (and apparently a little trigger happy with the parantheses). I am currently (in fact, literally currently) involved in the Missouri Writing Project, from which this blog has its deep-rooted noble origins (since 1:45 PM of 7/8/08). Tune in for random pedagogical ponderings (or ramblings), brief moments of literary genius (or vomit), and delusional excursions (permanent trips?) into this wikiful world of my own egomaniacal creation (seriously, somebody is going to have to tell me to stop using these parantheses...)