Learning Community

As I prepare for our presentation on Friday, I am pleased with my progress in using Web 2.0 tools. The whole presentation is in Google Docs, something I knew nothing about a year ago. The practice I've had with this project will enable me to widen my teaching repertoire, as well as using this tool to produce documents during the school year in collaboration with others. The students who will be participating, Shonti & Rose, are so literate about all of this, and it's so fun to watch their ease with all of these tools that are new to me. I have no doubt that they, and their classmates will be using Google docs and presentation, and learn with ease using Internet tools. The ripple effect of this project is immense.

Flikr

I know we're done for the year with MILI, but I just had to say something about Flikr. I finally set up an account, simply so that I could transfer the digital pictures of my hair. About 4 years ago, I had the perfect haircut, and have been trying ever since to get my hairdresser to duplicate that stunning haircut. So I had some help taking pictures of my hair one day when it looked somewhat like what I want. Flikr made it possible for me to print the pictures at school, since I don't have a printer at home. I can understand why so many people use this service; think of the grandparents who get to look at the new kids without making a trip!

Thing 4- Online Productivity

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Pagekeeper? I've been using it at school since I learned about it in last year's MILI class. It is for me, by far, the easiest tool to use during the school day to bounce between all the various sites I need to use. I love the fact that I can partition work tools, personal sites, MILI sites, and thus categorize. It helps me prioritize when I feel overwhelmed. I'm not particularly fond of a lot of graphics, so Pagekeeper's simple design appeals to me. At the front desk, where I spend most of my day, it makes keeping several tabs open easy. The essentials are one for Destiny, one for email, one for Discovery, and one for whatever else I try to work on while fielding questions from students & staff, directing student aides, and maybe trying to work on weeding or cataloging in the few spare moments there are in a day. Spending time in my office, working without interruption, is almost impossible. So, Pagekeeper keeps me sane in a very busy media center. It's there for me to consult when I need it, and my rock in an unpredictable day.

Thing 6- Online Collaboration

The past couple of weeks, Deb & I have been using Google Docs to work on a policy for textbook administration using our Destiny program at South. It has been very useful since we find it difficult to actually talk to each other during the school day, being both very busy with our jobs. We are establishing a procedure for classroom teachers to use to check out & check in textbooks to students. Our textbook coordinator position was cut about 5 years ago, and since then we have not used the Textlink program; teachers have been checking out texts to students using whatever system they choose. Since the district has hired a textbook administrator, we have been asked to come up with a plan for teachers to use the system again. We plan to have teachers use scanners in their classrooms to circulate texts; we will train them to use the system and will assign scanners to the major departments in the hope that this will help keep track of the books. This week, in a meeting with the textbook administrator, I introduced him to the use of GoogleDocs to work with various people on the district-wide committee. He was excited about the possibilities of communicating with others without having to schedule in-person meetings, which is always a challenge. It's such an easy way to work on a single document with many people having input to the final product. I am so glad I was able to pass on yet another tool that I have learned through MILI.

Creative Commons- Thing 9

Tonight I looked at creative commons. Interesting comments on what is really criminal. Even a couple notes copied from someone's musical works; this piece takes squeaking sounds & alters them to fit into anew piece of music. If this is stealing, how do musicians actually own a piece of music? I find it very confusing.
This piece is called Copyright Criminals.
http://www.copyrightcriminals.com/trailer.html
Here's a great sample of music I found there called Sola Solita.
http://ccmixter.org/files/andrewfranco/20393
Just looked at the preview; how can I get the music in here? Help?
This is a very frustrating process. The first time I was able to copy the frame of the movie clip & it showed up in the preview but I couldn't publish it because of an error, so I recopied it & came up with this. How can I do this better?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paloalto/3038701605/

Glogster

This past Thursday, I introduced Glogster to 5 classes of German students doing biographical reports on famous Germans. Many of them were assigned composers like Bach, Handel, and Strauss. They were able to find great musical clips to add to their online posters. It will be interesting to see how they all turn out. The teacher was really excited to have them use Glogster instead of using cutouts, glue, posterboard, etc. Since this is only one option of presenting their information, I know not every student will use it, but I have high hopes for the future of this option. I really like the way it prevents plagiarism by forcing students to be brief, as with the post-it feature.

Tweet, tweet, tweet

Anybody remember that song I learned as a kid-tweet, tweet, tweet like the birdies sing, la, la, la, la, la? I wonder if Webster's had added to the definitions yet?
Did anyone catch that news item last week about twittering in the OR? What if my surgeon needed to twitter for advice during MY surgery? Seems kinda scary to me. On the other hand, I'd rather have a surgeon smart enough to ask for advice than not. Twittering in the operating room; maybe the hospitals will start requiring a designated twitterer as an essential person there.
And on MPR, the number of times I hear, call us at ......or send us a message on twitter, comes up more and more. OK, so I haven't actually tried it, maybe I should.

Google Presentation

After using Google Presentation, for the first time I actually finished an assignment during class! This is so much easier than Powerpoint for a beginner (like me). So many of our ELL students get stuck on the bells & whistles, and don't concentrate on what they need to say. This program focuses your thoughts and adding images is so easy, especially using flikr. Here's a link to the presentation I created at MILI tonight.
http://metronetmili.pbwiki.com/GooglePresentations-and-Glogs

9th grade bloggers!

Checking in with Tanya's 5th hour class yesterday in the computer lab, I found all but one of the 38 students actively engaged in blogging about their art choices. A couple students had even posted more than once during the class period about their chosen piece of art!! A very well-designed lesson kept them engaged; blogging gives each one a chance to report and express his/her own personality in the process. Something I hadn't considered is the fact that the teacher can instantly respond to student work through comments on their blog posts. It's really fun to see what the students have posted about their art projects!

Wireless

This is exciting! I borrowed an airport from school & finally figured out how to hook it up at home! Now I can use my laptop on my main floor, even though all my connections are in the basement. I can watch TV at the same time I am blogging. This will also give me the opportunity to practice with my iPod touch upstairs, where I really do all my living. It's much more pleasant to do this while I multi-task my life.

Copyright

On yesterday's CBS Sunday Morning, there was a segment on Shepard Fairey, the man who designed the now-famous poster of Obama in blue & red hues with the word HOPE across the bottom. Time magazine first published this image on its front cover. Fairey transformed the image to icon status. It was amazing to hear him discuss "fair use" of the image for his artistic purposes. This was reinforced by a museum director, confirming that Fairey's use transformed the original into something completely different. Here's the article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/22/sunday/main4818530.shtml

Thing 11--Backchannel

After today's meeting, I am completely blown away by the whole idea of using the backchannel. In any large group, there are inevitable side conversations. Having students respond electronically to what is going on at the front of the room is such a great way of keeping students "on track" using something that most of them will instantly love. It really has the potential of adding depth to any classroom discussion. It was really fun to use Today's Meet and instantly be able to see what other participants were thinking about. Multi-tasking to that degree was a little challenging for me, as I am easily distracted by someone talking nearby. Our students, however, seem more able to concentrate with a high degree of "noise". It's going to be interesting for us to try this out with our new iPod Touch units.

Thing 5 - Public Libraries

Ever since 7th grade, I have wanted to be a librarian, so libraries have always been my lifeline. Today I read an article from the New York Times about how the role of school librarians is both in danger from budget cuts, but becoming a lifeline for so many people who are looking for work, education about jobs, as free entertainment for families and everyone. Our jobs now involve more than finding "the right book for the right person at the right time", we are teaching students a different way to search for information, Powerpoint as a presentation rather than a speech, making a podcast or video clip on a webpage, as part of their classwork.
My local public library is a place where I find the mysteries I love to read, scout music & movies, and really use reference books I can't afford to buy for our school library. The difference now is that I do all the "looking up" part online, where I can renew my overdue books from home.

Thing 6-Online Collaboration

Just read the article on making Wikipedia the assignment. My first reaction, before I read, was to approach with disdain and suspicion, given that Wikipedia is not considered very reliable by many. After reading Ms.Groom's explanation, I think she's got a really great idea! For many students, I can see that having their work posted on the Web could give them a great ego boost, and also make them be more careful about what they do write. They would be forced to take a more thorough look at how they conduct research as well as how they express themselves. It could combat plagiarism, since whatever is posted would be subject to critique by many others, including their classmates. We are working with "digital natives" and knowing that helps me understand why we must meet them there.
I'm excited to see how our students in the Humanities assignment group function with Google Docs and the class Wiki.

Uploading a photo

This cat looks so much like my own Abby, the tabby, that I had to add her.  Abby has a fluffy bed just like this one, too.  My  cat, however, has a patio door to look through as she watches birds feeding on my deck.  This one looks like she's just ready to jump through that window.

 I am just so excited that this might work!!  It  makes me feel great to be experimenting with techniques I've never tried.  

Practice for Humanities

http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d06.htm  

This is a link to one of my favorite African American female artist's work.  Although it would violate copyright to post the image here (plus it just doesn't work), isn't it OK to refer my readers to this link?  This artist produces elaborate & detailed quilts depicting various aspects of life, and I just love the vibrancy of her work.  I'm hoping some of our students will find a connection with her in our upcoming humanities project.  

Copyright

Information from yesterday's meeting really surprises & confuses me. As a person who appreciates some "rules", the new guidelines for copyright seem to me almost nonexistent. However, the whole concept of transfer & distribution of information has changed drastically in the last 10 years. THEN, after years of really studying copyright rules, I felt confident explaining things to teachers. NOW, it's just going to require a lot more thought & explanation to students.
On the other hand, it offers so much more flexibility for encouraging students to create, using work of others as a starting point. I am looking forward to working with teachers on classroom wikis & blogs. In particular, an upcoming art reflection project has me excited about watching how students react to new web 2.0 tools.