First Year Birthday November 30, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Opinion.1 comment so far
My blog celebrated its first birthday today. Over the last year on average I’ve posted about three times a week. Posts covered communication/collaboration tools, laptops for children, the role of statistics and data in education, appropriate use of information, classroom uses for blogs, my own opinions, and even a few jokes! I haven’t gotten a lot of feedback, although there are 50+ comments. Akismet thinks another 350+ were spam. There are fewer than a dozen external links to my blog, not counting spam blogs, and Technorati reports a page rank of 962,510. Is bigger better?
So why do I blog? Mostly for myself. I need a space where I can participate in a creative process. I need a place where I can work through my own thinking by committing words to paper. I also need a location for my own thoughts that can exist somewhere beyond the confines of my limited brain. I blog because it feeds me. I blog because I need to externalize my internal dialog. I hope that those of you who are reading this are getting something out of it too, something personal and meaningful. I hope it feeds you too.
OLPC Sued for Patent Infringement November 28, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.add a comment
CNET.com’s The Open Road is reporting that the One Laptop Per Child project is being sued for patent infringement. One more bump in the complicated road to provide access to everyone everywhere.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9824699-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Habits of Highly Successful Knowledge Workers November 28, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
George Siemens has posted a small selection from a Jay Cross publication entitled “Improving workplace performance.” In the selection, Jay states that knowledge workers are taking the responsibility to manage their own learning for what they need to know for their jobs. I see teachers and librarians as knowledge workers. I see professional educators assisting students on their journey to become knowledge workers.
In the life of a teacher, does self-directed learning hold implications for staff development? How about learning communities? How does self-directed learning on the part of the teacher change classroom teaching practices? Are there implications for the student as well as for the teacher?
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/003165.html
Entire Blogosphere Stunned November 28, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Humor.add a comment
The Onion reminds us we’re only blogging here.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/entire_blogosphere_stunned
Google Lit Trips November 27, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.add a comment
Sometimes a good idea just keeps cropping up. Google Lit Trips is an interesting experiment in mapping literature. Developed by Jerome Burg, Google Lit Trips combines classic literature and the mapping power of Google Earth to provide a unique geographic exploration of the story. There is a section on how to get started, and examples of ‘mapped’ literature, including “Make Way For Ducklings” by Paul McCloskey, “The Slave Dancer” by Paula Fox, and “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare. This idea has a lot of potential, especially as more people contribute more titles.
http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Home.html
Blog Example #16 - Online Project Assignment Page November 27, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.add a comment
Mr. Rimes used his blog to post resources and information about an online project called Mattawan Travel Agency. In this project, from January 2007, students are invited to become travel agents. Using a variety of tools, like Google Earth and Kidspiration, students mark spots around the globe that travel destinations.
http://visitmyclass.com/blogs/rimes/archive/2007/01/31/72151.aspx
Edublog Award Finalists November 26, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edubloggers, Edublogs, Link Collections, Tools.add a comment
Looking for great blogs? Try the 2007 Edublog Award finalists.
http://edublogawards.com/edublog-awards-2007-finalists-announced/
Learning 2.0 A Colorado Conversation November 23, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos.1 comment so far
Sounds interesting. Hope there’s more.
http://flickr.com/photos/budtheteacher/2056749610/
Twitter Tutorial November 22, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Tools.add a comment
I’m stil not sure about twitter but if you are curious, here is a great video tutorial on using twitter. Another interesting feature of this tutorial is that it allows others to leave comments on the video itself. Think of it as a video blog with time-encoded comments.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/11/free-twitter-tutorial-on-viddler.html
Identity Divide November 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century.add a comment
Clarence Fisher, in his Remote Access blog, has posted a recent experience that helps point out the differences between the online experiences of students and teachers. Having grown up in a digital world, they have different expectations from those of us who are still transferring our concepts from the analog world. I can certainly understand the significance placed on keeping an established identity when looking at the problem of transferring a physical mailing address. This is not something most school-aged children have had to do.
Here’s a significant section from the Remote Access post:
The kids are trying things on. They are changing their identities as time passes. They need a new password, or a new user name, or a cooler address so they simply move. For us it would be a huge burden of missed mail if we moved often, but for them, it was not an issue. It was expected.
http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/11/kids-and-digita.html
Poetry and Censorship Part 2 November 20, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Opinion.add a comment
The library teacher had to remove the poetry blog upon the request of her school’s administration. It’s really too bad that it came to this, but perhaps not too surprising. Adults often have a difficult time honoring the needs and intelligence of children.
I’ve decided to repost her final post here because it might provide a platform for discussing difficult concepts, like censorship and art and safety and authenticity and the meaning of education. Below is a copy of the final post. The work comes from the library teacher.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Research and Laws That Affect this Discussion
I have done some research on freedom of speech rights for students as well as on the concerns of some 0f our faculty. Please see below and feel free to add your own in the comments.
Hazelwood Decision
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4721
A 1988 Supreme Court Case that upheld the right of administrators to censor student school newspaper articles on teen pregnancy and the effect of divorce on children. Administrators must prove, however, that their censorship is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical [educational] concerns.” When the censorship has “no valid education purpose,” it will still be prohibited.
Colorado Student Free Expression Law
Passed in 1990 after the Hazelwood decision, this gave Colorado students more freedom of speech
http://www.splc.org/law_library.asp?id=7
Suicide Contagion Among Adolescents During Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization
http://www.psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/9/915
Here suicidal adolescent inpatients were not shown to influence other adolescent inpatients to think about or commit suicide.
Online Death Dialogues Prompt Suicide? A USF faculty team wants to study whether sites with memorials and farewells encourage kids to take their lives.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/27/Tampabay/_Online_death_dialogu.shtml
This article shows plans for a study about the connection between reading about suicide online and committing it. It also discusses the ways students can be helped (especially with suicide prevention) when adults have access to what youth express online.
Note: For the record, I invited the concerned administration and faculty members to be authors on this blog so that all sides would be represented. So far two have declined.
Poetry and Censorship November 19, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Opinion.1 comment so far
A teacher librarian for a local school where I live recently made a very difficult decision. She put up a student poetry blog and the students wrote about subjects that were meaningful to them. Specifically, a couple of poems had to do with suicide and cutting.The building administration asked that the poems in question be removed to prevent other students from getting the wrong idea. Rather than compromise the integrity of the authors, she removed all of the poems and instead is using the opportunity to foster a discussion about authenticity and censorship. Her post is insightful and worth the visit. Below I’ve copied a section of questions to consider in shaping the dialogue.
- Would poems about suicide and cutting make other students more likely to engage in those behaviors?
- Would there be any benefit to allowing students to write about topics like cutting and suicide?
- Should there by any limitation to the content that can be on this blog? For example, would a racist poem or a poem about causing physical harm to others be acceptable?
- Who should decide what is and isn’t acceptable on this student poetry blog?
- To what extent should students have the right to freedom of speech?
- If you were a school administrator, would you err on the side of caution and student safety or freedom of expression?
The student comments are priceless, especially the one that says “poetry keeps me alive!” My own comment is copied below.
I can certainly understand being concerned for the safety and welfare of students, but I think there could have been a different approach. While some subjects are not ideal for an educational setting, I think the poems in question should probably be printed under one condition. It is important to know the state of mind of the authors. Sometimes writing about hurting yourself can be a cry for help. I’d want to make sure that the poets were okay and safe and received any help if they needed it.
The link to the poetry site has been removed because the site was pulled down.
$100 Laptop - Amazon Kindle November 19, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in OLPC.add a comment
Okay, I admit that this one is even more of a stretch. Amazon introduced a new device called Kindle. It is sort of a mini laptop/e-book reader/online device. I’m not sure how much of a market there is for this, but for only $399 you qualify for free shipping!
By the way, TinyURL.com is a great tool for reducing a very long URL to a short equivalent.
An Internet Hotlist on Web 2.0 - for the Classroom Teacher November 19, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Link Collections, Tools.add a comment
Sue Summerford has posted a very nice collection of Web 2.0 tools for the classroom teacher. The links are annotated and grouped around categories like ‘collaboration-wiki sites’ and ’some really good blogs to start reading…’
An interesting item to note is that Sue used Filamentality, one of the earliest teacher resources for publishing web pages. It just goes to show you that online tools can still be effective even after many years.
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listweb20s.html
Blog Example #15 - School Newspaper November 16, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.1 comment so far
The James Logan Courier is produced by the students of James Logan High School Journalism and News Production classes. It also happens to be the winner of the 2007 Weblog Award for best education blog.
