Thank you, Sonya

by | Monday, August 03, 2020

Written for my dear friend Sonya-Gunnings Moton, on her retirement from the College of Education at Michigan State University.

Dear Sonya, wishing you all the very best on your retirement. Just want to say how much I have valued having you as a friend and colleague during my stay at MSU. And yes, I totally need to pay you for all the cigarettes I bummed off you during the conversations we had in the “smoking” space in Erickson Hall. All worth it, because it led to one of the most amazing projects I have been part of—the MSU Urban-STEM project. These photos cannot capture just how transformative this project was: 125 teachers working in Chicago Public Schools working with the most awesome instructional and support team ever. We made it happen. A genuine, meaningful and transformative partnership at so many levels. 

Sonya, it has been my privilege to have worked with you over the years. I have learned so much from you, your strength, moral clarity, passion and commitment to education. And most of all, you confirmed something I sort of knew already—that we can be ultra-serious about the work we do, but that does not mean that we need to take ourselves too seriously. You cut through the academic bullshit to focus on what was truly important. You reminded me everyday that one can laugh and have fun even while being passionate and totally committed to the work.

I miss your irreverence, laughter, passion and commitment. You made my world, and that of everyone else who came in touch with you, a better place. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I am a better person for having known you. I wish you all the very best and I do hope our paths will cross in the near future.

A few randomly selected blog posts…

Creativity at Wake Forest

I presented yesterday at a conference a Wake Forest University titled: Creativity: Worlds in the Making. I was part of a panel that included Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein and Todd Siler. More details about the panel and links to my presentation can be found below....

Scaling up the SCALE Instrument

Scaling up the SCALE Instrument

Back in 2017, Carmen Richardson and I wrote an article (Richardson & Mishra, 2017) in which we  proposed an instrument (Support of Creativity in Learning Environment: SCALE) designed to assess the ways in which a learning environment supports student...

eduPUNKing a course website!!

I had written about the EduPunk movement earlier, in fact had even designed a logo for it. A brief description of Edupunk can be found on Wikipedia (a google search will reveal many more). Wikipedia describes it as follows: Edupunk is an approach to teaching and...

Rich TPACK Cases: Great Resource Book

Rich TPACK Cases: Great Resource Book

The TPACK framework is a theoretical framework that seeks to influence practice. And most gratifyingly (for Matt Koehler and myself) it appears to have had a significant impact in that area. That said, the field lacked concrete, rich examples of TPACK in...

Youth participatory creativity in digital spaces

Youth participatory creativity in digital spaces

Ioana Literat is Assistant Professor in the Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design program at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Associate Director of the Media & Social Change Lab (MASCLab). Her research focuses on the dynamics of...

Representing networks

Facebook has a couple of apps that allow you to map your friends' network. I knew about them but hadn't really played with them till Matt Koehler asked for some ideas to use in his 956 (Mind, Media & Learning class) and I suggested trying some of these tools out. To...

Mea maxima culpa

I try to be scrupulous about giving credit where it is due and yet I messed up big time. This happened over a year ago and to my dismay I did not think about it or realize it till this moment. A year or so ago we received the 2008 MSU-AT&T Instructional Technology...

Making it in academia! Hmmm…?

Making it in academia! Hmmm…?

The question of impact of one's work is something that all researchers and scholars care about, particularly in applied fields like education. The question, however, is how is impact to be measured? Over the past few weeks I have had a few instances where my work has...

2 Comments

  1. Sonya Gunnings-Moton

    Our paths will cross again…you can count on it my friend. Thank You!

    Reply
    • Yolanda Hood, Ed.S

      Dr. Gunnings-Moton,

      My name is Yolanda Hood (when I met you I was Yolanda Jackson at Holmes Middle School in Flint, MI under the leadership of Cheryl Adkins).

      I have been trying to follow you and your great work ever since you worked with us during an amazing professional development and when you honored me the chance to listen to and speak with Pedro Noguera during a session at MSU.

      As Dr. Angelou said, “People may not remember what you said or did, but they’ll remember how you made them feel”. I’ll never forgot those two moments. Meeting and “sitting at your feet” helped to increase my drive for being a responsible and intentional culturally proficient Teacher-Leader.

      Thank you for what you’ve done in education in Michigan. It is to be commended. I’m interested in knowing what new things are you involved in as an independent consultant and work at MSU. I’m leaving my info here and hope to be able to connect with you.

      Congrats on your retirement and best wishes!
      – Yolanda Hood, Ed.S

      Reply

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