Very much enjoyed the combination of learning and reflecting, and I look at my blog with a combination of astonishment and pride.

Obviously, I stand at the threshold and am barely a neophyte since I haven’t tried any of these things I’ve only read and written about.

There will be disappointment. There will be exhilaration.

Kudos to the course creators.

Now let’s just hope that we don’t run out of energy and that there’s electricity left to power the internet.

Visited a forum on online publishing started by a guy who wants to have his students collaborate with students from around the world. Dozens of educators responded with advice, web apps, etc. Other forums included links to examples of assignments and related articles. Obviously the advantage to all of this is that you can connect with teachers who have similar goals and interests and find out what works and doesn’t work for them.

Then I hopped over to the resources wiki where I found a billion other…um…resources.

It’s overwhelming, but I suppose I get it. First there are the benefits for teachers pedagogically speaking. A place to go to learn and discover and ask questions. Then there are the benefits for the classroom. Starting one of these puppies up on a classroom scale with the kids building relationships and sharing resources and having conversations. Seems pretty unwieldy and like something I’d try down the road after I’ve done some blogging with the kids, built some wikis, maybe tried some Google docs.

But let me head on over to Ning in Education to learn a little more.

Spent some time checking out a few Nings. Many of the high school examples were closed which was a little frustrating. I did click on a Ning called Teachers as Writers, a small group of teachers who like to write. Clearly, it is the common interests of the members that are important. I’m not likely to find much of interest in a Spanish teacher Ning.

As far as the students go, it seems like they’d need pretty clear motivation to build out their Ning. I’m not talking about grades, but expectations, assignments, and tasks that make networking essential to success. I suppose the Ning could in a simpler sense be a place where the students collectively post work and get feedback. It could be a place where four students working together on a project could start a forum and communicate with each other and share ideas and resources.

I found this intriguing because this summer I’ve had to figure out A LOT of new tech stuff with a few support videos and some text help for each application. Not once could I call someone over. And I think if I’m going to introduce any of this I’m going to have push my students to figure out as much as they can on their own. Fortunately, most of the sites have FAQs and other kinds of support. Nevertheless, it’s daunting. I’ll certainly be happy to have the 23 Things wiki to use as a reference.

Ultimately, this is going to be about creating GOOD problems (by trying new things, by having students express themselves and collaborate and research in new ways) and solving those problems.

Then maybe we can all work for Google.

1)    OK. I like the idea of creating a personal home page with Pageflakes. Right now at home I’ve got the Google search bar. Not too exciting.

2)    I’m confused. Do I use Pageflakes for my teacher “website.” Or do I use a website for my website? Or Moodle? Or my blog? I can’t manage them all and still have time to go running. Nevertheless, Pageflakes does seem like an effective way to manage feeds and have students be able to check out what I’m collecting for them.

3)    I could see putting together theme-based pages. The Darfur page takes great advantage of tags and I could replicate that with other tags and topics. And students could create their own page flakes based on whatever topic they’re studying. This would be really cool for a history/current events class. But it also could be cool for more abstract topics (photos, videos, blogs about SURVIVAL).

First of all, I think I’m going to have my newspaper students write ALL of their articles on Google Docs. One of the biggest challenges has always been keeping track of drafts, ones that students have edited and ones that I’ve edited. With Docs there will always be a version that reflects all editing and contributions. On a separate note, students will never have the excuse that they left the document on their home computer. Seriously, this could be life changing.

A second idea is represented by the Google “word” doc I created called “Building Sentences Using Phrases and Clauses.” Different students will be able to add on to short sentences, building increasingly complex and interesting ones. I suppose they could also edit “mistakes” they find in their peers contributions.

Finally, I could see using Google Docs and presentations for collaborative projects. The students are busy, busy, busy, so if they can perform their tasks individually and add to the same document, say a short presentation on some chapters from “House on Mango Street,” then they can avoid some of the scheduling hassles. Hopefully, this wouldn’t preclude them from actually discussing the source material as well as what they create together.

This was another THING that made me think. When I was creating the Building Sentences document I had to really think about how to word my instructions to take into account the collaborative, cumulative nature of the task. The PURPOSE is manifold. To give students a chance to BUILD on the work of their peers. To give students a chance to LEARN from their peers (oh, so that’s how you use an absolute phrase). To give students a chance to EDIT the work of their peers (hey, Jane, not sure that’s a complete sentence).

And did I mention how excited I am to use Google Docs with the newspaper. I did? Well, I’m saying it again.

I watched the “Dancing” video the other day because I’d read about it in the Times. It’s of this dude dancing all over the world with random people. It’s joy inducing just like everyone says. Those viral videos that become a part of pop culture really demonstrate the democratic nature of Youtube and the net. From an educational perspective it tells me two things. First, I could use videos like that as “art pieces” to discuss and write about. Almost like a visual poem. Second, I could have students create video stories, whether or literal or abstract, connected to a text or not.

As part of my thing 19 search I typed in Oedipus into teachertube and up popped a very funny, clever and somewhat sophomoric (though not entirely in a bad way) video that is a spoof of the Real World but with characters from the play. It manages to deal with themes from the play while updating the ideas and including jokes that I’m sure made the project more fun for the students. I’m glad I found it, because it made me realize that I haven’t really used video in such a way. Now, I’m not QUITE sure yet of the benefits of uploading the videos. Isn’t creating the video the important part? I suppose it might give students extra motivation to know they can get feedback and that other students could see the videos. It seems to me that unless there’s some kind of instructional purpose to the video than it may be nothing more than a public forum for the student work—and maybe that’s enough?

I also checked out a video that a broadcast journalism class put on teachertube. It is a story about retiring teachers featuring interviews with the teachers, colleagues, and students. I could see trying out little stories like this for our newspaper blog. Similar to the audio clips from the previous lesson, video clips could really enhance the blog and draw students in. It could obviously become very distracting from our business of writing stories (not to mention bring up even more problems with monitoring appropriateness, not to mention require me to actually learn how to TEACH broadcast journalism), but it may just be that in 2008, video content is necessary and that we may need to jump and learn as we swim. I could see some person on the street interviews or great clips from games or video editorials or visits to nearby places of interest. It could hit really big. If it does, I’ll be sure to thank the folks at 23 things. No joke.

(BTW: I tried for about an hour to embed the teachertube videos to no avail. So i just put in the link instead. Frustrating!)

Here it is. I think I need to speak up next time. Hope you can hear it.

It’s a start. I liked the list of “uses” on the Evoca website. Of course, now I can’t find it. So why am I writing about it? Who knows! Maybe you’ll be able to find it.

Anyway, it inspired some ideas related to my newspaper class and the blog we’re hoping to start. Audio segments of interviews, interviews with athletes before or after games and actors before or after performances. Man on the street interviews and roundtable discussions (“OK, I’m sitting here with x, y, and j at lunch and we’re talking about school uniforms…”) Obviously there could be problems with people not wanting to be recorded, or wanting some control over editing, but my guess is many would be very interested. Goofballs might come out of the woodwork, but we might also get people really excited to hear the voices and sounds of Lovett life. And to be able to use the cellphone!!! Awesome.

At school, I’ve used podcasts in a few ways, none too exotic. I’ve played some This American Life segments that connected with a book or story we were reading or that I thought would help inspire ideas for writing (for example, they’d listen to a particularly detailed personal essay with strong voice and we’d deconstruct it). I’ve also made listening to a podcast an option for my outside “reading” choice project. I’m particularly proud of the fact that several of my students are subscribers to TAL and Radiolab now. I also added it to the multi-genre theme project as one of the required sources. I haven’t gone further than that, either by making my own podcasts or requiring my students to.

But after checking out some of the Thing 17 resources, I’ve got a few ideas…

1) As part of my This I Believe assignment (adapted from NPR), I’m going to have students record their essays. Now, I’m not sure if that really counts as podcasting if they’re simply recording their piece. Is a “one-off” podcast a podcast? How would a subscription fit in? I suppose as each student uploads a piece, it could download to students who have subscribed. Either way, I like the idea of students leaving feedback for each other. Maybe this would work better with voicethread, where students could read their essays and then classmates could add their thoughts and personal experiences related to the topic. This could work with other short written pieces they create during the year.

2) I’m interested in the Librivox short story podcasts and others like them. Could certainly be a choice on the outside project list, or an occasional required assignment to listen to a short story or poem. Of course, I did listen to the beginning of one and the narrator sounded like he had been anesthetized. That would be a sure way to annoy teenagers. I assume some are better than others. But the overall point is that they’re listening. Great for auditory learners and the rest of us, too.

3) Require them to become This American Life subscribers/fans? Hmmm. Perhaps that defeats the point of all this “the Web is about choice” stuff.

4) If I add it to the outside projects list and have the students work in pairs or small groups this year, they could listen and then blog or create a communal wiki page about the podcast or just have a plain old fashioned discussion.

5) I liked the grammar girl podcasts I listened to. Not sure how to incorporate them since they’re pretty random. But they’re a resource, and, who knows, maybe they’d become a required listen. It also occurs to me with all of this that the point is to help students understand what’s out there. (That’s part of the point of my outside project choices assignment.) Some will become fans of this podcast or blog. Some of others.

6) As far as putting my own voice out there, I could see similar reasons for blogging as podcasting. For giving updates, for sharing thoughts about assignments and topics, for sharing examples of work. I suppose it could be quicker sometimes to podcast. Less formal? I’d feel pressure to make the written content “perfect,” whereas with a podcast I might just riff on an idea or add an addendum to an assignment informally, colloquially. Still, I don’t see creating my own regular podcast rising to the top of the list of Web 2.0 stuff I try. I’m more likely to blog, since it can be read by the students and since I could use it not only as way to share class related ideas and info, but also as a way to share thoughts and anecdotes that I might record in a journal. In terms of podcasts, 1 – 5 on the list are more likely.

The most immediately practical educational application I can see is for the big multi-genre theme project I do. Sometimes it’s tough for the students to find texts by genre or theme and I think the tag search could really help with that, not to mention give them immediate access to reviews.

From a personal standpoint, I’d love to get my own library catalogued (though I’m not exactly sure why yet). I’m only sorry that there are so many books I’ve read that aren’t on my shelf or that I’ve forgotten I’ve read that wouldn’t get catalogued. But for now, that’s just the snob in me speaking.

Application idea: It occurs to me that I could tag articles in the Times or elsewhere, organize them by topic, and share them out with my students. For example, in my newspaper class, I could tag great examples of sports articles for students writing sports pieces for the paper.