Thing #19: YouTube – Is my profession going to be obsolete?

I am in disbelief at what you can learn on YouTube.  You can travel through a cell and experience an up-close-and-personal view of mitosis: 

You can learn to play the guitar.  I think Will Richardson IS right – you can learn anything on YouTube.  (The nostalgic site that I visited is a video from my senior year in high school that I refuse to link to for obvious reasons – the late 80s/early 90s were not kind!)

I jest when I ask, “Is my profession going to be obsolete?,” but I do envision many changes:  I see the concept of what it means to be a teacher transforming before my very eyes.  I see my lesson plans for my one-on-one sessions drastically changing.  I see students no longer using their textbooks and instead going on-line to do projects and research.  Students are teaching me as much as I am teaching them.  In addition, several new teachers added to the Lovett community this year are really advancing this concept – although the changes require much more work on my part, I couldn’t be happier!

As an aside, My Delicious account has changed my life because I am now no longer searching for “that awesome site” – I tag it when I find it and call it up at will.  I am also sharing the info – a student of mine checks laptops out weekly and rarely has the same one.  I showed him how to use delicious, and he was so psyched!  I am no longer strictly teaching the curriculum as much as I am showing how technology will help the student learn.  Very cool indeed!

Thing #17: Podcasting

Once again, I am amazed at the ridiculous plethora of information “out there” – this time in the form of podcasts.  I really wish I had more time in my day because there are so many that I want to visit.  Which ones did I check out??? – Grammar Girl was definitely first on my list.  I listened to a few episodes and then watched the one which demonstrates the concept of irony by watching Sarah Palin pardon a turkey only to see an “executioner” kill a turkey in the background.  Honestly, you have to see this to believe it.  And, yes, that is ironic – and also really gross especially if you are eating chicken parm at the same time.  Anywho – very fun grammar tips told in a quirky and quick way.  I honestly discuss grammar quite often with my hubby – just the other day we wondered when to use “different than” versus “different from”.  Yes, we are wild…

Then, I downloaded a few classes including one from Stanford on Stem Cell Research.  Students always seem to ask about this, and I know enough to be dangerous.  But, as soon as I plug in and play this class, I’ll be an expert!  I also saw the class Historical Jesus which my father-in-law bought a year or so ago.  I’ve wanted to borrow it, but now  have my own!  Sweet!

I’ve always been envious of friends who live in college towns like Austin because of the speakers who visit and the wealth of learning that goes on around them.  These podcasts make everywhere a college town.  

I am also going to download some kid podcasts for my little dude, Will.  He will think it’s very cool.  Once again, I am indebted to this class for opening my eyes and ears.  THANKS!

Photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctabu/117954868/

Thing #16 – Library Thing and Web 2.0 Dilemma

So, I was thinking the other day – I have three voice-mails, three e-mails, and Facebook (which counts as another e-mail at the very least).  How and when do I have the time to check everything?  In addition to these, I have accounts with too many other sites to list including Good Reads which looks similar to Library Thing.  And, then a friend lists on her Facebook the other day that she just finished reading a book that was AMAZING.  So, here is the dilemma – how in the world do you keep up with all of this?  How do you decided where to put info about books if there are multiple sites AND people are listing book info on Facebook?  There are simply too many places to visit…  I predict that all of these sites will soon funnel through a Facebook-type site.  Incidentally, another friend works for Bank of America’s e-commerce group and they have a department working on how to make BofA link from Facebook (although my friend cautions that it is very tricky with too many security issues).  I know this is supposed to be a post about how Library Thing can work in academia, but this has been on my mind for a while, and I wanted to get my thoughts down…

On to the task at hand… so Library Thing is very cool.  I’d love to be able to hire someone to type all of my books into the site, but I still haven’t won the lottery so can’t afford the hired help!  How I would use it if I had the time???:

1. Cataloguing favorite reference books including Latin/Greek Roots, OED…
2. Cataloguing favorite books – must have a biography section, historical fiction, and chick lit
3. Cataloguing favorite Middle School outside reading books – students could add and vote

Photo Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/476780331/

Thing #15 – Delicious – Better than Google?

Man, I just wrote a REALLY great post, and edublogs bumped me off for some maintenance.  I sometimes feel like the forces are working against me!  

Ha – well, this delicious stuff is really cool!  I am really feeling more and more like a voyeur because I am reading what Will (I’ll just be on a first name basis with Mr. Richardson now) has bookmarked.  I was initially wondering how this is different than RSS, but now I get it.  I also realize the advantage of using this versus Google.  Let others do the searching and gathering for you. Why start from scratch and reinvent the wheel every time you are looking for something?  Am wondering though how to figure out which peeps you like to follow.  How do you gather networks or how do you trust random taggers?  I guess I’ll have to get in and get my hands dirty.

One of my students is extremely hesitant to get on-line.  I don’t know what to do about it because I really feel like he is missing out and getting left behind.  He loves all the “tips” I give to him so I am thinking that he can follow my bookmarks and maybe that will encourage him to get involved.  Anyone have any other ideas?  I mean, he doesn’t even like to check his e-mails!  Made me feel sad for him today when I was reading a post from Will entitled “The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have“.  If this student doesn’t get in the game, he will really be at a disadvantage.

So I really need to go play around with this some more and get some good sites out there.  I’ve really come a long way with this class – I used to not even comment on blogs and now am freely putting myself out there.  I think it all has to do with other Web 2.0 sites – namely Facebook.  Everyone said I just had to join Facebook and I am glad that I did, but it’s really insane.  You feel you have to check it constantly to make sure you aren’t missing out on something.  I realize why my students jump every time their phone/e-mails dings – they are wondering what’s going on on-line and what they are missing out on.  I just read something from Wired entitled Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004,

Twitter — which limits each text-only post to 140 characters — is to 2008 what the blogosphere was to 2004

Makes me want to sign out here and go check out more Delicious, flickr, Twitter, and Facebook.  TTFN…

Thing #14: Gettin’ Gliffy With It

Wow – I thought I had to buy software like Inspiration in order to get access to an electronic flow chart.  On the contrary.  Gliffy.com is really cool and FREE, at least at first…  (you get a free month to try it out and then you have to pay, but if it is really as interesting as it looks, then it will be worth it.)  How I would use Gliffy:

1. English – chart a story or novel
2. Science - explain a technical process such as photosynthesis
3. History – show order of events with cause and effect – causes of WWI 
4. Math – how to solve a proof in Geometry

So, I signed up and began to play around.  I like how you can link to websites and create a comprehensive study guide.  I will definitely be recommending Gliffy to my students.  I am wondering if this is a collaborative tool?  I think you can make documents public with the premium level – translation, more money!  There are Academic Groups as a payment level – wonder if Lovett has an account?  Just thinking aloud…

Thing #13 : PBL in your PJs – Online Conferences

I really hit on some duds before I found Oh the Possibilities by Lisa Parisi.  She taught a class on Project Based Learning (PBL) and how to make your classroom a PBL one without going insane.  What spoke to me was the idea of playing to each child’s strength.  This reminds me of Mel Levine’s Schools Attuned Program and makes so much sense.  If there is one thing that is true, it is that everyone learns differently.  Instead of micro-managing your students, you can tell them what to do, not how to do it.  By doing this, teachers are assured to receive a variety of projects.

The speaker suggests as a beginning, have all students do one type of Web 2.0 tool – VoiceThread, for example.  Everyone will learn it, but there will probably be one or two students who really love it and become “experts”.  Keep a list of which student loves which tool.  Then, the students can help inspire their classmates to learn.  It made so much sense.  I loved when she said the key to a successful PBL classroom is to keep the teacher away from being the expert on each tool.  

STOP BEING THE ONLY EXPERT – MAKE YOUR STUDENTS THE EXPERTS!

It makes the experts feel fabulous, but it also makes the students who needed support feel less intimidated to ask a peer.  And, it takes the stress off of the teacher to teach it over and over again.

One other item of note was her suggestions regarding the rubric – clear idea of what you are wanting them to learn and why – not just what you want the project to be.

I REALLY like online conferences because I started a good ten or so before I watched this one.  You’d never in good conscience enter an actual conference room, listen for two minutes, and get up and leave when you realized you didn’t care for the speaker or the material.  But, no harm done here!  And, I multi-tasked like you wouldn’t believe while I was listening which maybe I shouldn’t mention, but it was great!  And, I am in my PJs!

Photo Credit: Rainy Saturday by nashthebean - http://flickr.com/photos/nashthebean/132853552/in/set-1233726/

Thing #7b: Citizenship and Web 2.0

I really like the News aggregator because there is always something waiting for me to read.  Some articles of interest of late include from The Fischbowl an article regarding the NEXT election where Karl Fisch noted that

all of our current high school students will be eligible to vote in the next presidential election.

But more importantly, he asked,

 What are we doing to prepare these students to be engaged, intelligent, informed, and competent voters in a world that is very, very, very, verydifferent than the one we grew up in?

How are we preparing them to be successful citizens in a publish-then-filter world?

Are we transforming our classrooms to reflect real-time, instantaneous access to factual and political information?

This reminded me of another article on Will Richardson’s blog (I know, I’m obsessed with this blog partly because I met him, but also because he makes great points) regarding Teachable Moments.  Will writes,

there are a host of teachable moments that would serve to make all of our kids better, more able, more functional citizens. I’m sure there are more, but how about these topics, just for a start:

• How mortgages work
• What credit is
• What the tax code is
• The intricacies of borrowing money
• Investing in the stock market
• Balanced budgets
• What debt, both personal and national, is
• The political process (or lack thereof) of the two Houses of Congress
• The electoral college
• Truth in advertising
• Vetting of expertise (as in talking heads)

I can’t tell you how frequently in the last few months students have asked me about current events.  They want to know what caused this credit crisis, why everyone hates Bush, why banks are failing and why the government is bailing them out.  This is an incredible time in our history – for better or worse – but more than anything, it’s a time for everyone to be engaged, aware, and informed.  What class allows students to explore these answers?  Why not have some experts from Atlanta come in and talk to the students?

Recently, I reunited with a dozen girlfriends from college.  These are educated women, but 90%+ are staying home with the kids.  We talked about our degrees and how many of us would have been better served by taking nutrition classes, for example, as opposed to art history.  Now, I don’t mean to set the women’s lib movement back decades, but my point is, why not learn about current events as well as history???  Our students should be spending time researching some of the items Will listed to help ensure we are raising informed students because, after all, they will be voting in four years.

Photo credit:  Really Young Voter by DanielleCH321 - 

http://flickr.com/photos/23554749@N06/2249330199/

Thing #12: Slideshows – too fun and too easy and too powerful!

This was beyond awesome!  The different ways to use this in the classroom are infinite!  This is my new favorite “thing”:

NOTE FROM BLOGGER: Taken down because of photo copyright rules.  Need to re-do this assignment, but great site rockyou.com.

Thing #11: Flickr

I have really gotten hung up on this assignment and honestly can’t say why.  As a result, I am really far behind with the course, but will persevere…

Since visual images are such powerful tools, here are some cool ways to use Flickr in the classroom:

1. Use one image as a writing prompt
2. Have students looks for photos to help explain new vocabulary

Reading about Flickr has reminded me of something I read last year on Will Richardson’s blog about his Flickr Conundrum.  He said,

So the question is, why take pictures of places that you visit that probably aren’t going to be as good as the photos that others have already taken that are already available for you to use in your own albums, slide shows, whatever? I mean, unless you want to organize the wife and kids in front of the spot just to prove you’ve been there, what’s the point?

I remember thinking that his comment was pretty depressing – sure there are better photographers out there, but what makes photos special is that you took them.  The photo is an extremely personal media and knowing that the view was as you saw it on a given day makes it uniquely yours.  Sure, I could google Nevis to show someone where I honeymooned, but how dull would that be?  Friends would much rather see my photos because they tell my personal story.  That’s the point.

So – on to the task.  I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how tired I am with a newborn and a 4 year-old, and then I thought about how tired the most famous man on the planet must be…

and this one:

Photo by Dug Sirkel

How exhausted must he be?

Photo by Jeff Hughes

Thing #10 – Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a way to legally allowed shared material on the web.  This is an important concept for students to understand because without Creative Commons, the students could unknowingly plagiarize material.  Since it’s not the written word we are talking about, but rather images, students (and teachers) may not realize that there are limits and copywriting restrictions on the web.  I certainly did not know this!

I have to admit, this “thing” doesn’t resonate with me as much as previous “things”.  So, I decided to check out Ben Posten’s posting on Thing #10.  I am glad I did because we shared some of the same thoughts.  He pointed out something that I did not read: the Copyright Chart.  I am glad to have this as a reference going forward.  Thanks, Ben!

Here’s my question, if I am supposed to be giving credit to these pics I am using on my blog, how do I do this?  I need to spend more time on this.

P.S.  A few hours later, I began reading my news feeds and lo and behold, Will Richardson was talking about this very thing!  He referenced none other than founding board member of Creative Common, Laurence Lessig, and says about him:

I seriously think he will come to be known as one of the great change agents of our times.

Ok, now I am getting interested.  The blog entry Our Kids as Criminals talks about the blurred lines between copyrighting on the web, and how if we do not take heed, then we are raising students who are continually breaking the law, and, furthermore, what breaking the law does to our kids – namely, has them growing up as criminals!  This is serious stuff.  I was fairly unimpressed with Creative Commons earlier today, but now I am opening my eyes to its importance.