Bay Area Treats

It was a time of summer fruits and veggies at the Monterey Market in Berkeley and at Monterey's Farmers' Market on Tuesday.

We saw the animals at Little Farm in Tilden Park and snakes at the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, one of the largest reptile specialty store in the nation, where a boa consumed a large, cat-sized, live rabbit.

Friendly cat on the street in Albany greeted leopard-print Lily.  

We fed on grilled oysters and sardines at the farmers' market.

Gas super savings!  Really?

On Vacation

Drum solo in the morning.

Thing #23: Last Day of Class

I always looked forward to returning to my blog and the list of "23 Things" I needed to accomplish. I liked the self-paced format, following a very clearly marked trail. The scope of the class offered a deep array of selections -- I linked to ones as a place I could start as initial attempts in my classes. 

In keeping with my goal that my students discover meaning and connections for themselves, the wikis and blogs will help frame assignments and responses. The e-book sites, utubes, a rollyo, and podcast, provides a mix of digital mediums.

I agree with some teacher's posting that while the students are engaged with electronic devices, their computer literacy -- especially this next generation of "things" isn't at a master-level . . . YET. This course, gives me a little head start.

Thing #22 (Week 9) Books: e and audio

I have come to the British Library's Shakespeare site, where you can compare different versions of his first printed plays.  What's interesting is 1) seeing the familiar words, but 2) noting the old spelling, and 3) comparing the different text between different versions.  This might be part of a website search for students while we're in Othello.

The best places to get free books deserves a bookmark for future perusal.  

This is an interesting place:  Bookins.  They say:  Bookins is a unique book and DVD trading engine. Use it to find good homes for your books and movies, and to get items you want in exchange... You'll thin-out overflowing bookshelves, get books & DVDs you want in exchange, and have fun along the way.

And, they're not the only site that is swapping books.  These are great enterprises.

 

Thing #21 (Week 9) Pod Casting

The place to start examining podcasts is at Podcast Alley.  I noodled around, looking at subjects that interest me:  yoga, tv shows (Gilmore Girls, Deadwood), gardening.  You have to sample a lot to find something that fits your need.  I wish there were visuals, to help in the selection process.

Two I would return to:

ShakesPODosphere:  A podcast on Othello, with insightful explanation.

YogaDownload.com - 20 minute yoga sessions

The Educational Podcast Directory mostly lists by the creators' names and title of program. Unfortunately, they don't say what their podcast is about.  

To install the RSS feed, I googled "how to install RSS feed in Blogger" and got step-by-step instructions.  A lot of the podcasts in the Educational Podcast Directory would not link via their RSS feed.  But, I managed to link to one, and I see it above this post !??

This podcasting sort of reminds me of putting together a radio show and making it available.   It could lend itself to student activity, given the students had the proper equipment.  The notion of me listening to 90 podcasts (or some lesser number representing group work) is daunting.  

Thing #20 (Week 9) U Tube

I indulged myself for hours looking at entries, ended up with 40 entries on Joni Mitchell, live concerts, interviews past and present.  I enjoyed reading the comments of others that appear below the video.

U Tube is such a great resource:  If you missed the latest news events, want to check something avant-garde, need a how-to, want to be amused.  It's good for clips for the classroom.

  

Thing #19 (Week 8) Library Thing

Years ago, when I was first living on my own, after college, in my first solo apartment, I really enjoyed my growing book collection.  I was taking a UCLA Extension class on autobiographical writing and getting weekly book recommendations.  I devoured titles and proudly shelved them. My gold couch + reading light + telephone + latest novel was my home's "power spot." Keeping track of my expanding library would have given me pleasure back then, as the titles were helping me to solidify my identity. 

Over the years, possessing books has become unimportant to me.  On the rare times I can't find a copy in the library (I'm always on the "hold" list), and I end up buying a book, I usually give to someone else or the library.  My bookshelves are full, and I think all copies of books should be circulating.  We should have a giant book pass along around Silverlake. "Everyone keep passing to the house on your right."

All of this is to say that as a teacher, not a librarian, I have no interest in making a list of my past-collected books, cook books, gardening books, my mom's local history books, and daughter's books.  I don't get the point of the website LibraryThing.  

I liked finding comments on the five books I listed, just like I like to read IMDb comments after I rent a DVD movie, but I don't care which of my books are popular with others.  

Maybe I would join an online book group, if I wanted to read the choice.

Maybe I'll get some new insights from the comments for books I teach.

I might use it to find current book recommendations.  But wandering around the library is fun too.  

Thing #18 (Week 8) Zoho

Zoho Writer came up smoothly with my Firefox browser, but wouldn't engage with my Safari browser.  I know from working with Google Docs, introducing it to students is a valuable lesson. Many returned and used it for subsequent assignments.

I can see the Zoho Show has lots of added features to make an enhanced "power point presentation."  When we used Google.Doc, it was just started to get "fancy".

Google Sites looks like an easy place to create a website.  What's occurring to me is the plethora of ways to have an appearance on the web, as I think of classroom site for teacher to students. Which one will it be?

Thing #17 No More "School as Torture"

I'm interested in how to combine scholarship and emerging forms of publication.   The students address an important issue in one of the videos, "Do you have your own lap top? How are the school's laptops?" Those students that have their own bring them to school, because the school's are slow or may have a virus.  So, the first hurdle is access to technology.  

There is a change in the way we think about using the Internet. Previously, it was just a source of information.  Now it is a place where we an contribute, communication, and collaborate with  Web 2.0 tools, technologies, such as Google docs, social networking sites, blogging and social bookmarking.  

This is a good map of the future (present?) of the classroom:

Question:  I want to put my syllabus, homework assignments, copies of hand-outs on a website for students to access.  But, what's our school's policy?  Would I be discriminating against some students who have limited access to a computer and printer?  They would have to rely on the school library during break, lunch time.  Electronic and paper?  Isn't that defeating/exhausting the purpose/teacher?  

I added to the sandbox and noted my difficulty with sizing the photo of Al appropriately in the comment section.  

Thing #16 In Hawaiian, "Wiki" Means Quick

Today I peeked at some very creative, intriguing wiki-blogging classes.  While the students' writing may be posted quickly  (the beauty of the wiki), the teacher's creation and maintenance must take considerable time.

First the sites:

On Mr. Miller's English blog he lists syllabus, assignments, and special requirements for honors students.  His wiki seems to house his overview; the blog is where he poses questions and gets students' responses in the comment section. 

Miller's site is a good example of what a teacher can accomplish on-line, in terms of setup, assignments, look and feel.  However, I didn't see collaborative, student project-based, on-line work.  Merely their comments, albeit, intelligent.

Mr. Morrison's History Coll

aboration is a rich collection of teacher's blog - student's wiki pages.  Because the semester is over, it doesn't have a clear "home" page, with assignments and responses flowing in an organized fashion.  But by clicking around, I see all kinds of writing, blogging, pod-casting, etc. by students.  This site seems to be an example of 2.0 in the classroom.  I like the way he poses a question, adds video or photo, and then asks for and receives student work.  

My personal comment for my classes:   Downside:  Limited access to computers at school, scant access at home, huge startup investment of time for teacher to create.  Upside:  clearly the future of learning and responding, appealing, resource connected, interactive.

Here's list of what you can do with a classroom wiki

I like the ideas of using a wiki for:  "class notes"  "publicize good work"  "share web research", and "upload visual demonstrations.  Also, trading cards, once completed, could be added to a class wiki.  And, the idea of  colllaborative note-taking where everyone pitches in and adds a facts or two about a topic.  Include opinions, challenges, and criticism.  Students then write essays using only these notes.  Make sure each addition includes a citation to book, website, etc.

More good ideas from "out there":  Interesting examination of all the changes a wiki website goes through over 4 years, as contributors edit and expand on entries from Professor Jones' wiki:  I always show Jon Udell’s screencast about Wikipedia’s rockdots entry, to show students what collaborative writing might look like.  

Professor Jones also has an interesting lesson that combines "class notes" with "wiki" practice.

When it comes to grading the student-groups' wikis, he says,  "I can see who’s made what changes by using the history and statistics features."

Another do-able use of a class wiki:   I post a question related to whatever topic we are covering and students are required to post a response (at times they are also required to reply to other student posts). An example can be found at http://mrsatwood.pbwiki.com/Election+...

A how-to get started with my classes:   I have a class that I want to collaborate on a project, what is the easiest way to give them access to the wiki? I use the free wiki.

Lots of pbwiki how-tos for setting up, etc.

Thing #15 The Two Point Oh Revolution

My teenager is doing it without a thought about "new authoring tools" or "social networking interactions".  She doesn't call it "2.0", she just went from surfing to face-booking, just like she moved from middle school to high school.  It's  what you and all your friends do.

I envy that she seamlessly adapts and uses, too preoccupied in her present moment to care about the Fall of the Newspaper or the Liberation of the Library.  She has no favorite way that pre-dates the Internet, she doesn't question time spent in front of a computer screen.

I took a whole year of typing in junior high, and my respectable words per minute came from two semesters of repetitive drills 

and timed tests on a manual Underwood, eyes glued on the copy book, never on the blank keys.  My daughter learned finger positions with an on-line typing course, and credits her typing speed and accuracy to IM'ing.  

We analyze it, they do it.  May they never step off the crest of the wave.

What I absorbed the most from these readings was theme of collaboration, results stored on the web, and video projects becoming increasingly common as class assignments.  Free webware tools make it possible for students to easily incorporate multimedia into their work.   The line between classroom and Internet is disappearing as courses use Facebook, UTube, and blogs as their interaction and information tools.  

The highlights of tonight's journey were:

The copyright law video, compiled with Disney clips

The Human Brain Cloud (animated word associations cluster maps)

The word collage maker, Wordle

The Pitzer class evaluating UTube 

The implications for my teaching are:

get every student access to computers and video cameras

build global awareness through international online project

see examples of 2.0 lessons / units

think in terms of online collaboration / learning