edupowow

I explored several forums in Classroom 2.0.  The amount of information and ideas is amazing.  It sort of takes me back to a video cast I watched awhile back.  The guy said, you don’t have to do everything, just do something.  I read several blogs on Lesson Plan creation and storage.  I don’t know why anyone buys anything these days..it can all be had for free if you just know where to look.  And if you don’t know where, just ask some of these people who evidently spend their lives attached to their computers.  They will tell you.  I found a good site 100 Useful links.  This page can help bring you into the century.  Some of the sites we’ve visited in our 2.0 class were there, along with many others. I will revisit these. 

Ning will prove to be a useful tool.  I will send this out to my teachers as soon as I thoroughly study the pros and cons (and get it unblocked.)  I read about the Kahani movement, the story of the first generation South Asians (Indians) in America.  Since I am friends with members of this group, I found the story fascinating.   The Pickens plan site, and plan to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, was fascinating also.  I had heard of this before, but never visited this site.

I joined Tools for the Classroom and explored that tool.  What I found in Ning was that many times someone would have “started ” a page or blog and abandoned it.   In reading through the downsides and upsides of Ning I have a feel that they sort of image each other.  One downside is that it (and social networking) is always changing, based upon the needs of the users.  An upside is that Ning and Social networking are always changing to meet the needs of the users.  Hmmm.   This will be great for teachers to use when they have specific issues to research.  I pulled up several sites on classroom management.  One was silly, but the others had some good ideas.  Guess you just have to sift.  Ning is very interesting.

Must confess it is very fun to be able to visit one site and see downloads of articles, blogs, casts, etc all in one place.  I read a few articles:  One that caught my eye was about Moldova.   There is a stone called Moldovite, parts of a meteorite that fell over this small area thousands of years ago.  My interest in the stone drew my interest to this article.

Currently communist, Moldova is holding an election.  There is speculation that results from this election could turn Moldova more toward Eurpoean democracy and away from communism.  Average income in this area is $350.00 (dollars) per year.  How do they live?  Interesting, after a recent uprising in which cell phone communication was deliberately jammed, folks used Twitter to communicate.  Wow.  We simply do no know how to appreciate what we have. 

I also read about a “free” symposium on games in education.  Another article on Africa spoke of Somalis again fleeing to safety.  One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve directed more international feeds to come to me, is what a big mess the world is in, and how fortunate we are, and how much we complain.

Pageflakes is a very interesting tool.  It is a highly versatile personal homepage that one can manage without even knowing what HTML means.    It is an excellent organizer for all of our myriad and sundry sources of information.  It would be an excellent tool for supporting classroom instruction and would be a great place for students to use to “keep up with”  all of their classes, assignments, research, etc.  I see this a s a great tool for students and teachers.  The personalization ability is phenomenal.  The simplicity if amazing.    I like the instant access to so many sites and see immense potential for class development.   

Topics are so easily categorized and bringing in information is a breeze.

Unfortunately, as are so many wonderful sites for educational use, it is blocked from usage in our school system.   (In fact, edublogs is blocked from usage.)  I will have to see if I can get it unblocked.  That link to FaceBook could prove deadly. 

In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable

Interesting, interesting article on three areas of the brain that are able to “intuit” danger or a threat.  This article was in the NY Times and discusses, Hunches, Feelings, Rising hairs on the back of the neck–all indicate something is amiss, and how these intuitive responses and visual acuity have been invaluable to our soldiers in Iran.  

“In a study that appeared last month, neuroscientists at Princeton University demonstrated just how sensitive this visual ability is — and how a gut feeling may arise before a person becomes conscious of what the brain has registered.” Great article.  Think twice when you get that gut feeling.  It may save your life!

When I am reading blogs I notice that writing styles are generally casual.  Some are fluid; others are stilted.   Blogs allow people to develop a sense of ease in communication that would take much longer “in person.”  Some people are very self-centered in their blogging.  Some show their ignorance through grammatical carelessness or ineptitude.  For me, that takes away from what the person has to say.

Comments, even if in dissention, reinforce that one has been “published” and read.   I have read blogs in which a dissenter is so overwhelmingly at odds with the blogger (and probably himself) that he turns his blog into a personal rant. The anonymity gives him courage he would not have in a face-to-face situation.  Unnecessary.

Blogging can be a good path for learning.  Blog monitoring is necessary when the blog is a part of the extension of the classroom assignment. 

People generally blog about what they care about.  So, maybe it is increasing the amount of reading and writing people are doing.  The quality of the reading and writing may be in  question.   I feel that blogs have begun to influence the thinking of folks.  It is good to have counterpoints to opinion blogs.   It gives me a queasy feeling when I see  that some bloggers are considered unquestionably correct by their followers, especially when I know the information is biased.  But, although I may read blogs, I rarely take the trouble to blog.  It is time-consuming and I just don’t have the interest.

Well, YouTube and I have been friends for a long time. I absolutely love the old Carol Burnette shows. I’ve watched so many “old” things that have brought me great joy. I have also watched “how-tos.” Did you know you can get instructions and tutorials on just about anything you need? Algebra, Trig, Chemistry, balancing equations. There are educational ethics tools. There is everything you can imagine. History, I just saw Ben Franklin, and he looked more like Ben than Ben did! Saw a great unforgettable clip on the Great Depression. There are tips on presenting material and handling class discipline. Amazing.
The video I have embedded is a very educational one. It is of a little girl in a play who chose her dress from Goodwill. The dress was in shreds and the mother had to use all of her “sample” threads from life insurance companies that she had saved over the years to mend the dress. The material was satiny rotten. But the mother sewed and sewed and fixed the dress. What she forgot to do was fix the crinoline!! It begins to fall. Forgive the film quality. It was made with one of those tiny cameras not meant for fine videos. The little girl in the blue dress is Gertrude McFuzz. She is Aleah Skaggs, my baby girl. Enjoy!

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Well, it is fascinating to see how technology has changed since I began teaching.  Twenty-nine years ago, it was so wonderful if you could check out a record player from the library that did not skip or make a hmmmmmmmm noise in the background of the record.  There was one vcr and maybe two tvs in the school.  If you could get a tape recorder to keep in your classroom it meant the librarian liked you.  Oh me, and now we have all of this.  Forgive the digression.  Of all of this, podcasting is what I need to  discuss.   I listened to a few predictable NPR goodies, just because I love them.  Car talk is my all-time favorite.  Fresh Air makes me feel like a good citizen.  I also went into some British sites and pulled down, because of the interesting title, “Mind over Matter.”  It was a fascinating recount of experiments with the brain and more recent discoveries of the brain’s potential.  There was a discussion of animals’ brains and comparisons.  Scary that we really aren’t that different when it comes down to it. 
I perused titles from Universities and listened to minutes from these.  You’d really have to know a lot about nuclear technology or the quantum theory (or want to know a lot) to like these.  I am fascinated by the potential for help these can be for students.  Think of a child in third world whose dream it is to become a scientist.  Where there is a computer available, he may receive a world of instruction absolutely free.  Amazing.

First of all, it should be noted that this post is being composed by a former extremely rural barefoot in the snow farm child who looked forward to the visit from the Bookmobile like some children looked forward to Christmas. We could only check out two books (for a month, until it came around again) But, I devised a plan. I had siblings I could coerce. So, I found my stack of books and they signed their names. I felt a little guilty forcing my baby sister to check out Trixie Beldon mysteries instead of Petunia the Goose (she was 4) but sacrifices had to be made to further my cause.
I am  a regular visitor to Bartelby and a multitude of sites for stories and books.  How have I missed Library Thing.

I love Bill Saroyan.  He has become virtually obscure.  Nobody ever talks about him anymore.  Nobody thinks about him.  Or so I thought!  Tons of folks (well not tons, maybe tens) have comments, thoughts, books by, are looking to discuss,   my hero William Saroyan!  I am delighted.

I was also delighted to know I had read five of the current 10 on the recommendation list.  That is pretty good for someone my age who feels that she longer has to keep up with any trend or list.

I just sent this site out to everyone I know who knows how to read.  Let’s see if I get responses.

I had seen the term “Delicious” on a lot of web pages, but had not investigated its meaning.  What a great gift for those of us who like to store tons of materials.  I can keep everything “right there where I want it” no matter where I am.  I am an information nut.  Clippings, articles, snippings–all cram folders in my overweight file cabinet.   I always think I’m gonna need that little birthday poem or that article about the giant fig one day.   But you know what?  My overweight file cabinet has reached a plateau.  Why print and save a copy of it there, when I can have a copy of it anywhere? 

But now I must address the truly amazing.  All the resources you could want on a topic are already  there, found for you.  My own personal librarian at my beck and call.  The beauty also is not having to sort through a bunch of advertising youknowwhat before you get to a site that really has meaty information.  Someone has already weeded the chaff.  Delicious without the fat.  And they did it just for me!  Lookie!