sometimes I like to pretend I'm still fifteen

My parents are divorced and can't be in the same room together, honestly I don't think they can even stand being on the same planet. My husband's parents are divorced, and feel pretty much the same way. Of course, to avoid the insane drama we live in another state. But what happens when we try to plan a trip home for Christmas with the beloved (and only) grandchild? It is pandora's box to umpteenth degree. Never pretty, I am usually lying in the fetal position in the corner shaking and screaming because I am so tired of trying to visit every one and I just want one day to play vacation. BUT! Hopefully this won't be a problem thanks to WIKIs! On a side note of little relevance- my daughter's VBS song was called "wiki wiki" (a portion :A-uh wiki, B-uh wiki, C-uh wiki are the keys you need for seeking Christianity...A- uh wiki: admit to God you are a sinner and repent and turn away form your sins, quickly-quickly!) It was adorable and she still walks around singing and miming an air-ukulele .

So back to my horrible time visiting with every one. Basically I try to send out time slots for everybody and schedule things but it usually blows up in my face. BUT- I have hope for Christmas this year, because I am going to try and make a Wiki agenda/itinerary. Maybe that will help?
As far as schools- I love the Texas Librarians wiki! It had some awesome resources, especially the resources called disabled child. I have a key assessment due in SPED 3000. This will definitely be handy!
I think I would like to set up a wiki for parent teacher conferences. Parents can sign up in available slots, and they don't have to worry about whether I got their voice mail or email suggesting a time, or even if that time would is already booked. This hopefully would make scheduling a lot easier for parents. I know when scheduling my observation times it has been very difficult because the teacher doesn't have voice mail, and I've arranged to have a sitter but I don't know when her conference period is or anything, so my schedule is way up in the air. With a scheduling wiki my students' parents wouldn't have that same dillemma.

on the fourteenth of may jamestown was settled

I will definitely be using mind maps and flow charts in my class. I went to mindmeister this is great for teaching students how to gather ideas for papers. If I want to see their "bubble diagram" I will be able to read a mind map WAY better than a handwritten one. I also love the ability to jot notes on any specific node. This way students can write sample sentences or full quotes that could easily be copied and pasted into their paper. If my students prefer to work off an outline, mindmeister converts the map to a text outline- AND expands the notes! The mind map I created is a thesis template of the minimum I would expect my students to put on their maps.

The flow sharts are another great way for students to learn vocabulary. I made mine at gliffy. This was a lot harder to make than the mind map, but I still think it was worth the effort. Sometimes gliffy would act up and not delete a selection of objects or markers, so I would have to create a new map. I also couldn't find a podcast tutorial like mindmap. But in the appearance department, I much more prefer gliffy. And the cool name, I would name a puppy gliffy. I would buy a puppy just to name it gliffy. But I decided flow charts would be a great visual device for my students to learn vocabulary. They can create a bubble for each part of the word they need to know and they would ultimately lead them to making their own definition. My students would have to look their their resources to uncover the ways to turn their root word into a verb, noun, or adjective (which would be in one bubble); what the etymology of the word is including root meaning, suffixes and prefixxes and their origins (this is another bubble), and then if there wre other tidbits that they feel would help them to learn the word they could create new bubbles. Next the bubbles all lead to another square where they correctly use the word in a sentence, and in the star they define the word in their own words. I made a flow chart for the word "notorious".

thirteen is a baker's dozen

So I'm typing this before I even start to write a Zoho doc.  I have to or I will forget this very vital point for people like me- those that want to embrace technology but are terrified of it.  If you don' understand this terror I speak of see my first post about Computers and Little Shop of Horrors.  If you still don't get it, rent Little Shop of Horrors, Rick Moranis is hilarious.  So the minute you open Zoho Writer you will be immediately comforted by a simple palate- it's not nearly as busy as Word 07.  THANKS ZOHO!  So now to type things and see if the calm and positive relationship between Zoho and I will continue.

Ok, so it's not too bad.  Using the special characters was a bit of a pain, because the document went black and i couldn't see if it really was selecting my character.  I use special characters frequently when I write letters home to family because we spell Zoe's name with an umlaut over the "o".  It should really be over the "e", but I filled out all the paperwork on the birth certificate right after the took away my epidural, so everything was a bit foggy and I couldn't remember the rules for umlauts.  So that whole pointless story was simply to underscore the importance of special characters.  

The only other thing I had a small issue with was the missing spell check.  BUT  I can see using that to my advantage.  I will elaborate, and this will not be as pointless as the umlaut story, I promise.

Because buttons and too much going on visually in Word 07, I get a little antsy using it.  If I have students who don't have much technology experience either, using Zoho with them in the classroom may be a less traumatic way to introduce word-processing.  No spell check would be helpful with all my students, it would force them to try and figure out what the correct way to spell words are, instead of immediately relying on spell check (which isn't always correct, anyhow).  I also like the sharing aspect of the document, it would be very helpful for group projects.  The students wouldn't always have to worry about meeting face-to-face or complications of different software.

My overall feelings about Zoho in the classroom are rather positive and excited- there's a lot of potential using this in my class.  I mean it's English- when will word-processing not be important?

google twelve: about 113,000,000 results

if you read Jonathan Safron Foer's extremely loud and incredibly close, you will find an excerpt about google.  Really it's more about Googolplex, and how google got its name.  This is all in a fiction book, but the facts are pretty accurate from the perspective of a nine year old boy.  It is also a fantastic read.

But onto google tools- I love google earth and google alerts.

Google earth really helps me explain distance to my daughter.  She doesn't really understand why she can't see Grandma right way.  So we look at pictures of grandma's house and how far we have to scroll (I explain) is how far we have to drive or fly to see grandma.  Sometimes we pretend we can see my mom in her backyard with the dogs.  It's really become a comfort object for her since her dad deployed.  We zoom in as much as we can on our friends in Ghazni and Bagram and tell them all good night, or she talks to her dad when she is bummed.  He doesn't have internet and he usually calls after she is asleep, so this is the best way for her to get a geographical idea, and to keep a relationship (even an imaginary one) with her dad.

I know I could use google earth with my students.  For example, when we cover Shakespeare, to give my students a frame of reference I can show them England and keep zooming in as close as possible to places like Stratford Upon Avon or The Globe Theatre.  It will definitely make everything a more concrete idea, and help them see how things have physically changed over time.

I also looked at google alerts.  This would make research papers 80 million times easier!  My kids can set up alerts on their topic, and won't have to struggle as much to find very current and up to date topics.  It also can help them keep up with current events that they may want to bring to class for brownie points.

eleven is a palindrome

I definitely liked topix the best.  I use them to get all my news on Afghanistan, which is surprisingly limited.  Topix will gather it from all over the globe (because Poland writes more about it than the U.S.).  I also liked that they gave you tiny peeks at each feed, it showed a bunch of categories at once, it was crazy easy to use.  To me google was strait forward, but I didn't like that I had to switch between topics, and all you can find in politics is Sarah Palin.  Of course, the election is important and interesting, but I still want to know about other bits and pieces too!  And, honestly, the categories of all the search engines weren't anything I was ridiculously crazy about.  The blogs I love to follow are ones I have found the hard way- boredom, a random word, and google.  Which is how I stumbled on stuff white people like Which is fantastic.  It's also how I found the story about the toddler.  If I know that I need to find a blog on education, or a blog specifically on politics, or if I want to stay up to date on Bagram, Afghanistan I will use something like topics.  But for my every day entertaining reading, I think I like my old fashioned method.  It doesn't really feel like a waste of time- not when I've been 100% satisfied.  Or if I really want to roll the dice, I use stumble upon.

ten fingers, ten toes

reader and rss are brilliant!  And here is why- I LOVE NPR!!!!!!!!! And, unfortunately Nashville's NPR is bleh.  And the reception leaves something to be desired.  But, on the RSS feed I can just see what is new from all things considered and fresh air.  Then what looks interesting I just have to click on.  Then it takes me to the page and I can gear the soothing voice of terri gross and my day is wonderful.  Seriously, you could run over my left foot, but so long as I hear something from wonderful from terri- I'll give you a million dollars.  If I have a million dollars.

Now the best way to use this as an educator is quite obvious- following edublogs. Which are also ridiculously awesome.  Not quite as awesome as Terri Gross.

nine lives

I had a lot of fun at image chef.  I wasn't totally crazy about the other sites...but this one was fun.  I generated an image of my dog when she was in desperate need of a grooming!  And then I added a quote from a fatboy slim song.  The next one I made was the chalkboard.  My dad used to always write little notes in our lunch or on a random page in my journal that said "Lauren eats bugs"  and it's something I do for Zoe, too.  So it just seemed fun to throw on my image.  I know I will use these with my students.  It will probably be used in blogs, emails, and other posts where my students may need gentle reminders about rules, expectations, or assignments.  Since an image goes with the sign, hopefully that "reminder" will stay with them.

image chef kitten  

image chef blackboard

jon and kate plus eight...

... is on tonight!  So I better get onto my eighth thing so I can watch it tonight!

I used the spell it API, and it is so fun and I know I can use it in the classroom with vocabulary.  I can have my students make one for each of their vocabulary words, and it will reinforce the spelling.  And it would be a lot more fun than writing the word over and over again 40 times on notebook paper!  I made one out of the word ABSQUATULATE - which literally means "to get up and squat somewhere else"  That was my favorite vocabulary word in 10th grade.  We were doing SAT prep and that was on our list.  

 

 

I also used the jigsaw application.  I have this great pic of an elephant from my trip to the zoo in March, so it was fun to use it finally!  I think that having the students create puzzles out of pictures that illustrate certain topics, and have them assemble them could be a good way to introduce a unit.  Or if I had my students pic a picture they think illustrates a topic it could also be used to assess their comprehension.  And it would be a whole lot more fun than an essay!

we are seven (wordsworth)

Flickr is so easy!  Awesome!  After messing with pageflakes I had a lot of trepidation about flickr.  I created my own account and uploaded a pic from a snowy day to the apsu23things group.  I also uploaded a photo of Zoe and from last Saturday at Jazz on the Lawn.  Feel free to talk about how ridiculously funny she is.  I never get sick of it ;)

Flickr is really helpful for staying in touch with my in-laws (who seem to expect pics on a daily basis!) and it's much easier to upload them here than on my email account since I have my camera set on a high quality for the best pics.  I always exceed my limits!

As far as education is concerned, using flickr strictly for uploading and warehousing photos would be difficult to integrate in the classroom.  But, for my artistic students flickr would be a great place from them to upload pics they might create for projects.  It would be easy for me to view and leave comments on.  I think the extras of flickr, like editing and photo books and such would also come in handy with my students- for example creating an "illustrated" book for a poem.  They could do the photo books- take pictures with friends that illustrate the specific lines, and break up the stanzas one on each page.  It would definitely force them to think more creatively and would show both their effort and understanding of the work.  

six [pence none the richer...]

that title took some work...

Aside from that, I really liked page flakes.  I am not big into a special home page, but this one was pretty neat.  I set it up with sudoku and gossip and all sorts of widgets that will keep me from doing what I'm supposed to (like working on this blog which is due in just under 24 hours!  ARGH!!!)  Page flakes is really easy to set up, but not to edit.  I liked that they really has some great news stories specific to Ft. Campbell (that didn't show up in our weekly paper, it was a surprise!)  But I couldn't really edit the music selection.  I liked that it automatically has NPR for the music, but I would rather listen to Fresh Air than their music.  I never could get it to change, but it could be me.  I had a recipe widget on there, but it wouldn't set to healthy only... the recipes were just randomly generated from an "epicurious" webpage.  Which isn't very helpful for me- I like finding new recipes, but I am trying to be a more health conscious eater.  I don't want to be eating my carrot sticks while looking at a home made brownie thumbnail!So I didn't think it had a whole lot of choice... certainly not compared to google.  Which is weird because google came in third.

From an educational perspective...I think it would be neat if one could be set up where one widget is an assignment calendar, another some online resources that can aid the student in reinforcing or remediating concepts.  Just sort of set up the entire home page as a way for students to be immediately clued-in about what is going on in class.  This would be especially handy with portable labs... the moment each student turns on the lab top there's everything they need to know for class.  It's especially helpful for easily-distracted or forgetful students.

five, five dollar, five dollar foot-long!

Identity- 

that is the item that popped out at me most when I watched Dr. Wesch's video.  I commented to Christine Poindexter about my opinion that technology is both isolating and connecting at the same time.  And I didn't think to put associate that with identity.  But it IS an identity issue.  You can be and post and do whatever you want online.  The possibilities for what you say and how you act are limitless and society is more courageous and willing to explore new territory because we remove a lot of vulnerabilities.  Removing those vulnerabilities allows us to make connections and define us how we want to be seen, we are creators of our fates/destinies/personalities.  It's like my avatar- if I could she would be 6 feet tall, with ridiculously perfect white teeth.  The only thing that limits anyone at all (and not just in the context of the internet) is drive and motivation.  I am a huge believer in "If you build it... they will come"  and the internet is more encouraging to society... it is a much easier build.  So given all this, what role do I (as an educator) serve with my students?  Do I let my students walk the fine line of connection and isolation and hope they figure out the happy medium?  Or do I caution them on proper technology use and the evils of WoW (World of Warcraft, a great way to socialize with strangers all across the globe while locking yourself into your home, never leaving and playing in the dark while your floor becomes covered by empty combos bags) 

I choose to encourage imagination and independence online, and hope that they will find a great way to stay informed and find answers to issues and concepts they don't understand.  I hope they find so much available to them that they develop questions that can't just be answered by google.  And then I hope they bring their new knowledge, their new questions, and share them with the class and the world with the same independence and invulnerable confidence they display in their electronic life.  

While students will not always make the connections in the virtual world correlate with reality, my goal is to help them foster that comfort, respect, and interest with both technology and human contact.

So this diatribe shaped my thoughts for the actual prompt.  To me, School 2.0 is self-education in lots of respects.  It takes a highly-driven, motivated, and mature student to take online courses.  So it is not for everyone.  A generalized definition though, one that would apply to all students, is a mode to independently find answers to questions.  So what does this mean for future schools?  For starters, teachers will always be necessary.  They are fundamental to the learning process, and effective ones will allow the learner to uncover knowledge for himself, but still keep the learner focused on the task at hand.  Teachers are excellent mediators and motivators.  The internet is an amazing resource, but that is what it will always be- a resource.  And that is a really great thing.

four the third time

So I know that if I don't post a three somewhere and just skip strait to four my OCD will drive me crazy and ten years from now I will still be bugged that my blog posts jumped around numerically.

So down to the real meat of this post: COMMENTS

I love comments, they completely validate my posts.  I lot of what I feel about commenting was reflected in the articles we were asked to read.  But I loved the quip about Emily Dickinson: I just don't envision Emily Dickinson having a "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" blog. -Blue Skunk Blog.  

It is true though, Bloggers write to be read.  If we write to be read we (bloggers) do need to be open to criticism and praise.  But that doesn't mean that commenters should be cruel.  There is a dignified way to respond to a blog.

I also loved that most of the authors stressed contributing.  It is great to receive a comment that says, "Way to go!" or "Here, Here!" or "what's up, Dawg?" but it doesn't add to the dynamic of the post or blogging in general.  When you read a blog that gets your gears turning you should comment with your thoughts and new perspectives on the topic.  It's helpful to both the author and all the other readers.

I read s few blogs from fellow classmates and commented on the following:

Michelle Burkhart (and her amazing Flickr jigsaw puzzle's educational opportunity)

Christine Poindexter (agreeing with and qualifying the pros and cons of technology in education and society in general)

Tiffany Allemand (she has a great idea for teaching vocabulary with image generators!)

Alexis Clemmens (the other English Ed major in the class, she gave me great ideas for using blogs with my students!)

These blogs are great edublogs:

moldingyoungminds.wordpress.com

This one is awesome.  It's more about her life with tidbits about being a teacher in there.  The code names she uses for everyone are awesome, she's also an English teacher, and she in the DFW area (that's Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas for those of you who aren't from the greatest country ever.  The greatest country would be Texas btw)

anonteacherblog.blogspot.com

This lady is brilliant.  She also is an English teacher so I am feeding off her ideas.  She had her students do skits to really grasp the concepts of "subtext" in Shakespeare.  Making connections from old Lit to the modern day lifestyle in order to get students interesting is so difficult for me.  This is probably because I love literature so much that I don't ever think about how it relates to inane modern habits.  I mean, how could you relate The Great Gatsby to doing the dishes?  Ok, so that's a little exaggerated but the point I'm making is that I don't typically need a motivator to get involved or interested in class assignments and therefore it is difficult for me to remember that some students will.