A blog from an elementary school media specialist traveling down the road marked by technological pioneers. By following in their footsteps, may we stir up the dust from the way things “used to be.”
First let me say, “No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.” As you know, blogging takes time and there are days that my real job, my husband (who has just taken on a bi-vocational pastor’s position), my two children, and my National Board Ceritification process just take all that I have to give. Life as we know it limits me to only so much in a day. However, today I’m back in the blogging world.
Let me tell you about a new project happening in my system that I am rather excited about. It’s called Talladega County’s 21st Century Learners project. The project was started by a group of teachers from Talladega County who have been involved in a project with the Alabama Best Practices Center on 21st Century Learning. Sheryl Nussbaum Beach has been working with teachers from Alabama for the past three years. This particular team of teachers is organizing the same type program for our local school district. A mentor team has been established to facilitate four sessions second semester. The team members are Robbie Stewart, Amanda Spurling, Kim Knight, Karen Pemberton, and Jennifer Barnett. The first training session is January 2nd and I have been asked to be a co-presenter on blogging. The first training session will cover blogs, wikis, web tools, and web wonders. These first sessions are designed for high school and middle school, with elementary to follow in the fall.
At this point, I am unsure of the number of teachers across our county that will be involved. Every school is sending a team of teachers, so regardless of the number, the impact of this initiative will be felt system-wide. It’s exciting to see this happening. Two schools within our district are part of the 21st Century Learning initiative of which Sheryl Nussbaum Beach has helped to implement. I have often lamented the fact that my school was not a part and that I had “missed the boat” on this opportunity. Thank goodness it is coming full circle and I have the chance to participate to some extent.
It should be a wild, fun-filled, education ride. I expect loads of dust to be stirred up across the county as we go. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
I haven’t acknowledged my school’s bloggers for a while. When the school year began and I started to promote blogging to our teachers, I was able to put the spotlight on each teacher as they began their blog. Then, the bloggers came on fast and furious. I couldn’t keep up! So, here today I’m going to put the spotlight on all of them again. I’m so proud of the fact that they were willing to start a blog and venture into the world of Web 2.0.
I hate to admit it. I’m embarrassed to fess up. But the first step to recovery is admitting the problem. So, here goes…I don’t have an iPod. Easy now. I can hear the gasps all around. I plan to rectify this problem by Christmas as I have seen the need to own one. For so long, I thought you only used an iPod to listen to music. I’m a wife and mother of two small children. When do I have time for music? The car? Rarely. It’s usually the sounds of the DVD player. Home? Please! Work? No way. So you see why an iPod appeared useless to me. That much money for a portable radio?
Well, thanks to my network of friends in Twitter and the blogosphere, and all of the links and professional development workshops they direct me to, I finally see the need for an iPod. The K-12 Online Conference was the kicker. I now see…the iPod is not just for music anymore!!!
I’m putting an iPod on my Christmas list. With my limited knowledge about them, I don’t really know what to ask for. I’m hoping you readers might send me some suggestions. Do I want the one that is like an iPhone without the phone? Do I simply need an mp3 player? Nano? Help!!
I want to become comfortable with this piece of technology. I can’t call it new. It’s just new to me. Sadly, I can probably find any number of kids at school that could teach me how to use it! I want to incorporate podcasting into the activities that spring forth from my media center. In order for me to successfully do that, I have to learn a few things for myself. I can’t promote the technololgy if I don’t know how to use it!
Time to stir up the dust again. Let the learning begin, and like the old song says, “And let it begin with me…”
Where do I even begin? Yesterday was a day of learning for me. Let me preface this post by saying that over the weekend I bit the bullet by joining Twitter (a post on this is coming), finding some people to follow, and settling in to watch the action. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but so many people in my blogosphere had raved about Twitter that I had to check it out.
One of the first interesting things that happened was Chris Lehmann’s tweet that he was going to UStream his presentation at the T+ L Conference in Nashville. So, I decided to check it out. What did I have to lose? So I clicked on the link and lo and behold, there I was in his presentation in Nashville, TN. I could see his computer screen and participate in the backchannel as well. He alternated views between his computer screen and a shot of the room for those of us in the chat. Chris was speaking on 21st Century Learning, but honestly the chat in the backchannel had my attention. I have to admit, being a visual learner it is hard for me to stay focused on the “talk” from the presentation when I can read the “talk” in the backchannel. You can visit his wiki with presentation information here.
I participated in a minimal way in the chat. I still feel like such a newbie that I’m sometimes intimidated to throw in my two cents worth. But , oh, what validation I feel to have someone agree or build upon what little I toss out there. It’s quite humbling and yet exciting to be a part of it. There I sit absorbing it when into the chat room come David Jakes, Will Richardson, Mark Wagner, and many others whom I have come to admire and respect via the blogosphere. I was a little starstruck to say the least.
The power of the network amazes me! One tweet enabled me to connect with some of the most recognized names in the business. I can sit at my computer in small town Alabama and still be a part of some powerful stuff. Why? Because of the network! The network allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world of educational technology. And in case you don’t know it, it’s changing and growing at a phenomenal rate.
Last night I once again set out on a new learning adventure…I joined up with the Women of the Web 2.0 for their chat with David Warlick. It was another learning experience, but I’ll save it for another post…I’ve stirred up enough dust already!
I’m a little late in promoting the K-12 Online Conference here on my blog. Fortunately, I printed flyers and sent them out to my teachers ahead of time.
According to the official site:
The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2007 conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries”. This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 8, 2007. The following two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog (this website) for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” and a culminating “When Night Falls” event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.
This year’s conference is the second K-12 Conference. I stumbled across last year’s conference toward the end. I was unable to participate in any of the live events, but viewed many of the presentations. My impression…WOW! The conference was so relevant to the many questions I had about new technologies, it was convenient since I could view it from my own computer on my own time, and it was FREE! So many of the “big names” from my RSS feeds were then and are now a part of the conference.
Forty presentations will be given over the next two weeks. How often do you find yourself in a position to be a part of that much professional development? Quality professional development at that! I still consider myself a newbie at this so I’ll be referring to the First Timers page a lot! Won’t you join me? Let’s stir up the dust and the cobwebs from our thinking and ways of doing things! Let’s “play with the boundaries” of our teaching and learning!
After ten days in the hospital my grandfather passed away on September 21st. His mind was sharp until the very end and in one of his final waking moments had me hold his hands in the air as he said, “Amen. Amen.” Oh, to have known what he saw and experienced! My curiousity was not to be satisfied as he slipped into a very deep sleep after that. I cherish the fact that I was there, holding his hand as he uttered his final prayers to his Savior. It has been a long month for my mother and me as we first sat with him in the hospital, then planned his funeral, and have now begun the task of settling his affairs and cleaning out his home.
I have missed blogging during this time. It was as if I was missing time spent with friends. Thanks for indulging me with this “time off”, but know I’ve missed you.
According to an article on CNN’s website, the smiley face consisting of a hyphen, dash, and parenthesis will celebrate its birthday tomorrow. It seems that Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman first used the emotional icon, aka emoticon, in an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on September 19, 1982. It’s amazing to see how the emoticon phenomenon has spread world wide in these past twenty-five years. Thanks, Professor Fahlman and Happy Birthday Smiley!
My blog posts may be somewhat sporadic for a while. My 92 year old grandfather has been hospitalized with a multitude of health problems. As the only child of his only child, there is not a lot of family to share the load of caring for him. The time left with him is important. More so than many other things. At a later date, I will pay tribute to him here on my blog, but for now know where my time is spent and my heart devoted. Thanks!
In my last post, I lamented the fact that neither kindergarten nor first grade had a blog going. I warned them that I was targeting them next. Well, lo and behold, I have THREE new blogs to share today. Two of the kindergarten teachers met with me and we set up their blogs. Then one of those taught another teacher what she had learned. Now that’s the way to collaborate!
Without further delay, let me share the new blogs with you. First, Vickie Green created a blog for parents and sudents. Her tag line, “Come soar with us as we grow”, is featured on a template with a bird perched atop a tree. You can visit her blog at http://vgreen.edublogs.org
Sonya Harris created a blog for parents and students, as well. Her blog can be accessed at http://2cats.edublogs.org
And the final kindergarten blog comes from Beverly Humber. Mrs. Humber’s blog features new pictures from our recent author visit. Visit her blog at http://bhforautigers.edublogs.org
Thank you, teachers! For taking on this new project and not being afraid of embracing this Web 2.0 tool. The very essence of being educators causes us to continue our own learning each day. We must continue to learn in order to prepare our students for all that lies ahead of them. While blogging may be a new tool to you, it is already old news for some of our students. I was reading a post by David Warlick over the weekend where he states that he often has to remind himself that technology is anything created after you were born. Learning to use computers and their programs is often looked upon as “work” for us. Our students see them as objects of “play.” Let’s capitalize on their play and work toward learning together.
Now second grade springs forth with a blog! Second grade teacher, April Shaw, approached me a week or so ago about starting a class blog. With a little bit of work, we’ve gotten it up and running! I’m so pleased to see how blogging is spreading across our campus. You can visit her class blog at ashaw2nd.edublogs.org
Congratulations, April! I commend you on stepping up to the plate, dusting it off, and hitting one out of the park. Our school now has blogs in grades four, three, and two. Watch out first and kindergarten! Here I come!
From Ewan McIntosh’s blog post of August 17th, I learned of the launching of Animoto. Ewan stated that Animoto “provides a funky alternative way to view and listen to slideshows.” Now, I like slideshows, but in times past slideshows have taken WAAAAAY too long to create. Maybe I was just technologically impaired, but I found it not worth the trouble most of the time. I decided to give Animoto a look and see what made it funky. My first thoughts were “What is Animoto all about?” Their website answered the question.
What is Animoto?
Animoto is a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced in widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.
The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic A.I. technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills and techniques that are used in television and film. The technology takes into account every nuance of a song: the genre, song structure, energy, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocals. Whether it’s punk, pop, hip-hop or a classical Stravinsky piece, every Animoto video is totally customized. Even videos generated with an identical set of images and music will each have a completely distinct set of motion design. No two videos are the same. They can be emailed, and embedded in pages on websites including social network sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Now that’s a lot of technical talk just to say “we’re a really easy tool that can be used to create some neat short videos.” Honestly, I spent about 10 minutes learning the process. I took me one try to get it right. After that, I could make a short video with about 12 pics in less than five minutes. It was really exciting! The first video I made was one with student pictures. I hope to put it on our school website, but I’m waiting on parental consent. My next thought was that I needed to put one of these videos on my media center website. So, rather than use students, I took pictures of the room itself and made my video. I’m going to post it here for you to see. I wanted to make one with pictures of my children and post it here instead, but their grandmother was a little phobic about me posting their pictures. Go figure!
Anyway, my final thoughts on the matter are…try it! What have you got to lose?
Let me introduce you to yet another blog spawned at Watwood. Kim Smithwick has created a blog to use with her fourth grade class. Her blog’s purpose is to provide an interactive forum for her students. So far she is posting weekly questions to which her students respond. You can visit her blog at http://kimsmithwick.edublogs.org
As I share these blogs with my readers and the faculty of my school, I urge you to find the blogging purpose that works best for you. Use blogs in the way or ways that are most beneficial to you and your students. Regardless of the purpose you choose, blogging is easy, fun, educational, good for the environment, and (I feel I must warn you) addictive!
Here it is – the first blog from a teacher at my school that was spawned this year from my encouragement! After a short lesson on Edublogs and setting up a blog, Emily took the bull by the horns and set up her blog over this past weekend. I’m so proud to see the effort she has put into it, and I can’t wait to see how it impacts her classroom over the course of the school year.
Notice her header. The picture of the grass symbolizes her tag line of “growing together.” Creative, huh? I applaud her in taking the first steps of growth!
On a side note, this was my first attempt at taking a screen shot and trying to insert it as a picture. I had a difficult time making the picture fit so the whole shot could be seen. I eventually managed to squeeze it in, but distorted the picture in the process. Is there a better way to do this?
My principal is making a concerted effort this year to ensure that our faculty uses more technology in their daily repertoire of teaching strategies. So far our teachers have been given Elmo Document Cameras and projectors, as well as provided with the training to use them. I have given a crash course in APT Plus, specifically United Streaming. In addition, our school technology coordinator has given a mini workshop on the uses of the InterWrite White Board. I’m excitedly awaiting the implementation of these new tools. While there is still so much more to share on the technological front, we have to be slow and cautious as we introduce these tools. As I’ve said before, too much of good thing can be overwhelming and cause frustration. I don’t want folks around here to feel like the character in the following cartoon.
As I ponder my “date” to help another teacher create her blog tomorrow, I am thinking of ways to get more students to blog. Of course, the first question teachers and administrators may voice is “Why blog?” Naturally we all want the experience to be educational and beneficial to our students.
semester. The team members are Robbie Stewart, Amanda Spurling, Kim Knight, Karen Pemberton, and Jennifer Barnett. The first training session is January 2nd and I have been asked to be a co-presenter on blogging. The first training session will cover blogs, wikis, web tools, and web wonders. These first sessions are designed for high school and middle school, with elementary to follow in the fall.
My blog posts may be somewhat sporadic for a while. My 92 year old grandfather has been hospitalized with a multitude of health problems. As the only child of his only child, there is not a lot of family to share the load of caring for him. The time left with him is important. More so than many other things. At a later date, I will pay tribute to him here on my blog, but for now know where my time is spent and my heart devoted. Thanks!
