By the Book: Frayer

Click on the title to view By the Book newsletter on the Frayer Vocabulary strategy.

Read more about the strategy on the Joy of Reading Wiki.

How Full is your Bucket?

Click on the Title to read Gary Tomlinson's book report on "How Full is Your Bucket." This book stresses the importance of negative or positive interactions and how they affect our daily work. Even people who are generally positive feel 'refreshed' from receiving praise. Negativity not only affects work productivity but also our health. 

The theory is that each person has a bucket and a dipper. When we give a drop of praise to another person, we give ourself a drop. When we take a drop from someone else, we lose a drop in our own bucket. 

There are some factors to consider when giving praise. Here are some suggestions:

1. Make it personal: It needs to be individualized, specific, and deserved.

2. Prevent bucket dipping. Stop negativity when you see it.

3. Shine a light on what's right. If you give two drops a day, those people will give drops too.

4. Make best friends.

5. Give unexpectedly. A gift can be a hug, smile, secret, or offer to get coffee.

6. "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."

Check out the Positive Impact Test below. How well do you score? What can you do more positively for those around you at work? for friends? family?

New Literacies Wiki Project

This is my Wiki Project for ST: New Literacies in Practice. Click on the title of this post to view the video if you cannot watch the embedded video.

You can visit the Joy-Of-Reading Wiki

I created this Screencast using Screentoaster. I uploaded the video to School Tube, but noticed the quality of the video to be sharper if I uploaded it right to Screentoaster's site.

Facebook

ST: New Literacies in Action

After reading the selection on Facebook in Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" (pg.97-99), Kist poses some interesting questions. Here are my responses:

1. Is Facebook mainly for fun or can it be used for educational purpose?

Facebook is mainly used for fun activities, but it can be used for educational purposes. Libraries or teachers have a Facebook page where they post information concerning what was learned in class, extra credit assignments, or summer/ holiday break practice. This allows students to communicate with other students and the teacher about what they are learning. It taps into something they are interested in (Facebook) and gets them excited about the concept they are learning. You could also use Facebook as a way of becoming a character in a book or summarizing a person's life as you create their Facebook page and think about what other characters or people of that time period might post on their wall. You could even do this with paper and pen if Facebook is blocked at your school.

2. Is it appropriate for students and teachers to "friend" each other on Facebook or Twitter? Why or why not?

This is tricky to answer. I would say that if you know the student and trust them, there is no problem. I think especially students who are in extracurricular activities with a teacher or coach may use Facebook or Twitter to communicate more often. However, the best rule of thumb is once they have graduated their class or left the school, if you really want to play it safe. I think that students like to be in touch with past teachers and occasionally leave "hello" and "miss you" on your pages which is nice.

3. Does Social Networking become "ruined" when used for homework reminders or another school based task?

I don't think so. Students are so used to cell phone and communication through those media. When a snow day canceled the Power of the Pen tournament last year, I was able to text message the team and get replies back from them quickly and then call the one or two who didn't have a cell phone. I knew they got the message, and they could write back to me about it if they had further questions. Students can ignore homework texts just as much as ones from people they don't like, so it doesn't "ruin" anything.

Discussion Response Guides for Blogs

I love these discussion response guides from Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" pg. 90. These help guide students who are shy or unsure of how to comment on another blog. These formats are also great to practice when writing responses to literature or other reading or knowledge in the classroom.

Inquiry

ST: New Literacies in Action

After reading the selection on Inquiry in Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" (pg.75-79), Kist poses some interesting questions. Here are my responses:

1. Students express discomfort with taking part in learning activities that have no clear-cut answer or solution. Why are people uncomfortable with these projects? What can teachers do to structure the activity in a way that learners are successful?

I think students are uncomfortable with this mainly because most classrooms are structured to teaching information which is learned and tested. There is a right answer for those questions. Even the high stakes OAT/ OGT are formated to make students think that life is about know the right answer to mark. However, in real life, people are constantly problem solving, no matter what the field. Sometimes, there is no wrong solution, just some that are more effective, more cost productive, more thoughtful, or more creative. I do think there are people who like things with a clear cut answer, so for some dealing with ambiguity is not comfortable. Teachers can help students be successful by breaking down the steps to the project so that they can assess if their students are progressing in a correct manner to complete the project. They can show how the project mirrors real life situations. They can share rubrics that show that the "answer" isn't what will be graded, but other aspects like the research, presentation, or collaboration.

2. How could Google Docs or blogs help with inquiry projects? What do they take away?

I haven't had an inquiry project with these platforms, but I can imagine they would help immensely. Following my classmates' blogs and commenting on them helps me stay connected to them despite us not meeting physically in class. I can see how Google Docs could allow us to edit or do separate research and then add these parts together with ease. Teachers at our school use Edmodo to share powerpoints so that students can combine slides from their partner's presentation in their own to make one show. I think the only thing they could take away in the face to face time. Knowing my classmates from a week of class helps me feel connected to them when I comment on their blog. I think they would feel more like strangers if we didn't have this connection. Or we'd have to communicate socially on Twitter or Facebook to build a bond.

When citing web links . . . .

As I was adding web links to my blog from various print sources, (NCTE and Literacy Clearing House) I had a few unexpected problems. Some of the links didn't work. In two cases it wasn't because the site no longer existed, but it was because the link text was not copied correctly. In one case it was using a _ when it was a - and in another case it was placing a / where a . went.

On the other hand, when reading an article online on the IRA site, links in the text were much easier to navigate to. Partly because I didn't have to type the address myself and also because the person typing the code for the link could check that the spelling was correct when posting the article.

So, this experience caused me to pause and think a little about web links:

1. Check your links for broken links. Sometimes sites are abandoned.

2. Check for changes in links. Sometimes sites move or are renamed.

3. Having a link online through delicious or a website is much easier for navigation than a written text version of the link.

4. When adding links into a written document, copy and paste the link directly from the 

internet. Copy and paste it back to a blank internet page to make sure the address is correct!

Blogging

ST: New Literacies in Action

After reading the selection on blogging in Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" (pg.54-61), Kist poses some interesting questions. Here are my responses:

1. How does keeping a blog help improve your learning (or not improve it)?

   I have found that I am more excited about my professional blog than my personal one. I had a hard time coming up with topics and things to write about, though at times I would think to myself "this would be a great entry!" My professional blog allows me to reflect on what I've read or experienced. I find this useful because it forces me to think about experiences and evaluate them more thoroughly than "on the fly" when driving in the car. I also find it a great way to organize my resources in one location. I no longer have to wonder under what bookmark tab or what other teacher's site that information was located on. It's a great record of my learning and thoughts for the year. 

2. Have you encountered someone who has not followed blogging etiquette? Explain the situation and how you handled it.

I have not experienced this. I think most students, when told what is expected of them, and knowing that it will be easy to trace comments back to them, will follow etiquette. However, if the situation arises, in most cases you can erase offensive comments to your blog. If it was a student, I might explain how that information will never be erased, and it could be found by a future employer. I would also explain that when we converse with other people, we are allowed to have differences of opinion.

3. What are the differences and similarities between a blog you publish for your family and one you publish for your learning? 

One that I publish for my family will be more about me and may contain more trivial things. It might have personal stories, or poetry and thoughts about my day. It would contain pictures from my personal library. A blog for work would contain more work related entries, videos, and comments. It would be a resource for me and other teachers, with personal reflections on articles, but not really much personally about me, unless it was about a lesson plan. Both blogs would contain pictures, movies, links, comments, and have the goal of documenting my thoughts and interactions and looking for commentary.

Spoofs, Mashups, and Trailers

I love these creative videos that show people using technology in interesting ways! Just another way we are interacting with text and using technology to interact with those texts! 

It is amazing that through You Tube, these videos can be shared worldwide, and with the ease of the embed code, these videos can be shared though Facebook via my friends or though this blog to you!


Here is a video that spoofs the "Facebook" movie trailer by making a trailer for a "You Tube" movie.





Here is a video that combines two unlikely ideas: Jane Austen and "Fight Club." The juxtaposition makes it too funny!





Here is a video that is a 'trailer' for a movie based on the hit game "Oregon Trail". It adds to the plot of the game, but makes enough references that if you've played the game, it will bring back memories!

Web 2.0. . . The Machine is Us/ing Us

Reflections after viewing:

I like how this starts with the linear "paper and pencil" text to help illustrate how digital text is more flexible.

I also like how the explanation of code helps explain why digital text can do what it does.

"We are the Web" sounds like an interesting article to read.

I like the idea that the internet is not "more powerful" or "greater" than humans or human interaction, but that our use of it teaches the machine how to act!

I really like the list at the end of all the things that we'll have to rethink-- copyright, privacy, authorship, family . . . new literacies are challenging for us all!

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

Did you Know? 3.0

Some thoughts after watching the video:

The world is becoming a bigger place! 25% of India's highest IQs is greater than the population of the U.S.!

Careers are changing! The top 10 jobs in 2010 didn't exist in 2004!

We are social networkers! If MySpace were a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world!

We connect beyond typical face to face! The number of text messages sent and received DAILY exceeds the population of the planet!

Language is evolving! We have over 5x as many words as in Shakespeare's time (and think of words we've lost from his time!)

We have constant information! A week's worth of NY Times is more info than someone in the 18th cent. would read in a lifetime.

Information is changing! 1/2 of what a technical student learns in his first year is outdated by his third!

So what does all of this mean?

 It means that change is inevitable, and it is happening! We cannot ignore the world and how it is run and what technology is a part of it. We cannot live in "what used to be" because it is quickly changing to something new. We are a more global community which means we are competing and cooperating on greater levels than ever before. We also need to be able to sift through information, critique it, and locate it, because there is so much of it that there is NO way we can memorize it all! We need to stay in touch with what is current and keep growing. Communication and Information are the new "power" that people are going to seek. We have an opportunity to share information with more people- personal or professional- than ever before.

What does it mean for you?

How the Web Was Won: An Oral History of the Internet

(Click on the title to read the article.)

The beginning of this article surprised me. It was curious to me that the beginnings of the web, no matter how infantile, started in the late 50s. It was almost just as startling to think that only 15 years ago, the internet was starting to be in the hands of ordinary people. It seems like things have changed so much that it should be longer than 15 years.

It seems mainly sad that like probably too many things, war and conflict started the idea of the internet. Being able to fire missles back if we were fired upon started an idea that would change how we communicate and interact, and even how we read and write.

It was interesting to read how there were not many sites online because of the complexity of connecting and adding this information. When I think of how blogs, Twitter, You Tube, and so many other programs make sharing and connecting easy-- most with the click of the "share" button, it is amazing that we've come so far along.

Bob Metcalfe talks about two things that I think technology gurus or futurists must relate to. The experience of having a system crash while you are presenting it to important people, (Haven't you been to a technology meeting when the server was down and you all watched the presenter's screen?) and the moment when AT&T's reps laughed at him. The fact that people couldn't see that this was going to be a large part of our future, in hindsight, seems like folly, but so many inventions have been treated in such a manner. It makes me wonder what things lie ahead for us.

This was my favorite quote of the article:" Steve Case: We always believed that people talking to each other was the killer app. And so whether it was instant messaging or chat rooms, which we launched in 1985, or message boards, it was always the community that was front and center. Everything else—commerce and entertainment and financial services—was secondary. We thought community trumped content." I like the idea that the purpose of the internet in the beginning was about connection and communication. A lot of things have spun off of it, but it was made to connect us. At our hearts, we are still storytellers who want to share stories.

It was also amusing that like most other technology or product stories, there was heavy competition between Microsoft and Netscape. This reminds me of the VHS and BETA debates, Blueray or HD DVD, Mac or PC, Coke or Pepsi. It seems like every good idea has some rival. In some cases, one dominates and drives the other out, but in other cases the competition helps the companies thrive and push to develop new ideas.

The Internet is the most important democratizing invention since the printing press, 500 years ago.  This quote really stuck with me because I think that it is true. Notice that the comment was linked to "old" technology of the printing press. Being able to print books and make them available to people who weren't rich opened up doors for education and learning and sharing ideas. The internet now allows people that same freedom on a totally different level. The only issue that we have is whether people have access to the internet. It seems like those gaps are quickly closing.

This article was interesting not only from an historical overview point of view, but the fact that it demonstrates how quickly humans can take an idea and then see how it applies to their field. Musicians, Companies, Movies, and other people all saw that the internet would have an impact and changed what they did to accomodate that change. We have to see the change and do the same for education.

Texts without Context

(Click the title to read article)

This article gives several text which support and refute the beauty of "ownership" in a Web 2.0 world. All of the title sound like ones that I may wish to follow up on reading later, so I will list the titles below so I can read them.

On one hand, we have the question of ownership: who owns reality? words? music? Once an artist releases music, isn't it available to all people? The only difference is that in our modern society being able to USE those words and music or video is becoming much easier. If you had an ear for music, you could have sampled music or stolen a riff for your song. However, with technology, the ability for ANYONE to sample someone's music just got a whole easier. I am even torn with this aspect of the new technology: on one hand it allows some non-musicians to be musicians of a certain kind. I think of my students who use garageband to make original songs. Many are musicians, but many are not. On the other hand, maybe the ability to sample and use music shouldn't come so easy. Maybe you need to know a little about music and an instrument before you should be allowed to sample randomly and without abandon. What is the right answer?

The other set of authors are contending that Web 2.0 is affecting our ways of learning and experiencing life, and they are not good. They express concern over fragmentation, emphasis on immediacy, focus of data saturation, and the lack of "authority" in written words.

One of the interesting points of this article was the idea that the internet allowed most people to slip into an "eternal childhood" like Peter Pan. They seemed to imply that people used the internet to share pointless and trivial matters, and that this mindset is what influences the news and others to focus on silly and funny events instead of heavy things.

However, I do address with Sustein's observation that we are allowed to personalize too much online and that runs us the risk of never finding people who have different opinions than our own. Obviously affinity groups are a fun part of online communication as we can talk about passions and interests that perhaps no one in our physical world care about. However, the danger that the news and things we read are all one sided is very dangerous, especially if you are extreme in your thinking or viewpoint. 

So is it possible that Web 2.0 will not broaden our communication opportunities, but limit us to those who continue to reinforce our ideas?

What about artists who compose a work to be viewed in a certain manner? Is it right to allow others to take and use what they want from that work?

The conclusion of this article resonates most with me. It explains how sampling and fiction that combines other characters can be well done like J.J. Abram's "Star Trek" or "Clueless." Some people look at art or story and do something new with it. However, sometimes the imitation isn't innovation: it's just imitation like Lady Gaga reflecting Madonna and countless remakes of TV shows and video games into movies. One wonders if these imitations are so prevalent because we are so connected to our pasts. When one remembers the music or characters they loved as a child, you can just imagine people thinking that there is money to be made if they can connect you to those memories.

As with other forms of technology, it seems like we will have to balance the benefits with the drawbacks and learn how to navigate this brave new world.

Reading List

"Reality Hunger" David Shields

"You are not a Gadget" Jaron Lanier

"True Enough" Farhad Manjoo

"The Cult of the Amateur" Andrew Keen

"The Shallows" Nicholas Carr

"Digital Barbarism" Mark Helprin

"Amusing Ourselves to Death" Neil Postman

"Faster" James Gleick

"Data Smog" David Shenk

"Cyberselfish" Jaron Lanier and Paulina Borsook

Cass Sunstein

"Life the Movie: How entertainment conquered reality" Neal Gabler

"Lost Books of the Odyssey" Zachary Mason