Monthly Archives: June 2003

Mae Jemison’s Keynote

The rest of our team arrived yesterday – looking like rag dolls, I might add.  That five hour flight in those cramped little seats is miserable.  I even think our sack lunches at school are better than what we got on the airlines.  Some yesterday had to change planes in Phoenix so that made the flight even longer.  Troopers they are though cause they came straight from the airport to the key note session. 

Mae Jemison’s talk was on ” Educating All Students to be Stewards of the Earth We Share.”   I enjoyed her talk – she said a lot of things that I know all of us won’t agree with but she was right on target when she said we need to reflect on our accomplishments and build a strong specific vision.  She went on to talk about how we truly have not made education a priority.  She spoke about how our time is limited, but it has unlimited possibilities.  It’s what we do with our time, our choices.  We need to share ideas and different perspectives and kids need to be taught to make connections, problem solve, and be critical thinkers.  She elaborated on how very important it was that people learn how to think well.  They have to use their imagination and think.  She talked about experiental learning and working in groups.  She chairs a science camp The Earth We Share”, for students age 12-16.  Students from around the globe gather to share global dilemmas.

OK, here’s the controversial statements and she knew we might object.  (I can hear Pam across the states on this one.)

  • No calculators before ninth grade.

  • No computers before sixth grade.

I think she’s basing this on the though that students are not learning to think and problem solve and in many cases they are sat in front of computers for rote learning in which no connections to problem solving are made.

These statements you’ll probably love:

  • Education takes place all the time. 

  • Her goal is to become the person she would want her child to be.

  • The heart of science should be I think, I wonder, I understand.

  • Technology should be putting understanding into some type of practical use.

  • We need student to read about the environment and  we need to help students think responsibly.

  • Technology and science literacy is about critical thinking and problem solving.

  • It is VERY importasnt that people learn how to think well…they have to use their imagination and think.

  • Each and every child everywhere is a flower that needs help blooming.

 

 

 

Blogging in Seattle

Well here I am blogging at the Convention Center in Seattle.  I really was “Sleepless in Seattle” last night.  However, I am back up and running now and ready to enjoy this conference!

A small crew of us from the Georgia NECC delegation arrived here in Seattle  yesterday.  So far the weather has been absolutely gorgeous…..warm and sunny.  Lisa and I have been driving all over this fine city as we work out all the details of managing such a large group ….. pick-ups, times for meetings, where to eat, where to register, where to find out about all the nice things you can do in Seattle, etc.  Yesterday we ate at Cutters.  Tim steered us to the right place.  Great view, delicious food, and very good company!

 

I have to say that Lisa is most impressive as she drives around Seattle.  She drives this 12 passenger van like a pro!  We’ve nicknamed her the Navigator or maybe the Explorer.  Already some good stories to tell but more on that later.

 

The rest of the group will arrive today.  I am here at the Convention Center now finalizing some details.  Lisa goes to pick up Kelly and the rest of the crew so they will all be arriving shortly.

 

The crowd is starting to grow here as people arrive.   It’s exciting! I am really looking forward to the next few days! 

Coker needs help with this whole Blog thing

That’s the title of the email that I received from Lee, a student in Dr. Pullman’s class.  Remember, that’s the class who have been exploring weblogs with great interest.  Lee is the kind of student (teacher) who you really like to help – eager to learn, receptive, inquisitive…  I requested and got his permission to post this email – that’s another thing I like about him, willing to ask for help and willing to share his beginning frustrations with us as he learns.  Anyway, here’s his email to me.

 

Usually I am fairly adept at learning new software/technology. This time, I’m either missing some fundamental thing you said to us or I’m overthinking (or I’m really tired).

 

What I would like to do is figure out how you made your blog like you did (what prefs and admin decisions had to be made) and gain an understanding as to how the blog works from the users end (which will be from my students perspective). What permissions do I need to give them? Do I create News Items or Stories or Discussion Groups for them to respond to?

 

Minor details like these are what I’m missing.

Would it be possible to meet sometime on Monday after 3:00 or Tuesday before 10:55? If there is an online blog 101-like resource that you would recommend (or a book) I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

–Lee Coker

 

Now just think about his questions.  He is doing some good thinking and trying to get a handle on it all.  There’s a lot of pieces to explain.  I have really been thinking on the teaching part of all this (to other educators). There is a lot of confusion in this learning process.  What is that old saying, out of chaos comes order or something like that?  I keep searching for the best way to introduce this and teach it. I think we’re missing something really important here.   Maybe at NECC we can all discuss this.  I’d sure like that.

 

I think this speaks to what Pat and Will posted today.  Will and Pat talk about generating interest but I think that’s the easy part.  The part that is hard is finding the time to help them over the long haul. I think a lot of people give up on it because this particular tool is easy to get into but not so easy when you want to control it and make it into what you want it to be. Also, it is a web design tool that is totally different than what they are used to.  Many try to make it into a typical static home page.  When I sit down and try to write how-to’s for teaching I really get lost in a maze of how to sequence it, how much info to give on each part, etc. The Manila documentation is poor.  Bits and pieces of help are here and there on the web.   I am sold on the educational value but I keep thinking about how many weblogs have been created by teachers that lie dormant.  What are we missing????

 

Oh yeah, I did meet again with Lee.  I’m planning to keep in touch with him so more will come on the above thoughts.

 

Anyway, the day is late and I need to pack.   It’s been a busy day finalizing plans for the Georgia Educators & NECC and wrapping up things at the ITC. I’m leaving for Seattle in the AM on a 7:00 AM plane!!  I’m looking forward to NECC!

 

 

Pam, Suzanne, Victoria & Kimberly

Will led the way with peeking ahead and I got a sneak preview of Pam’s write-up – A Space of Your Own!  I admire all she is doing with the primary kids – really some good work there!  I wanted to post pictures of both her and Will but for some reason my pictures are not working right today.  Too bad!  I could not find a picture of Helen on her write-up….

On another note, remember the English professor’s class that I introduced weblogs to the other day.  Those students are off and running with their weblogs.  I love seeing the different learning styles and the approaches taken as educators first learn about weblogs.  For example,  Suzanne is a high school teacher and Master’s student at Georgia State.  On her new weblog, she is focusing on current issues relating teaching and technology.  She is very interested in how computers influence writing instruction.  She is blogging some interesting topics.

Another student, Victoria, is also exploring avenues and bringing up good questions.  This is why she is excited about weblogs…

I am so excited about learning about blogs and how to use them in my classroom, particularly as I was not very familiar with them before now. Everything we discussed in class today seems universally applicable to most classroom situations. This is very refreshing because most people just say to use PowerPoint to meet county mandates about incorporating technology into the curriculum. As we have already established, I hate PowerPoint. I can’t wait to apply ideas such as publishing students’ work, communicating with parents, and communicating with other classes by using blogs into my own classroom. This is all very intriguing and I want to learn more.

The name of Kimberly’s site is Teaching is a Gerund.  I love that name!  Kimberly makes a personal statement:

Part of becoming computer literate is being able to figure out how to use new technology and software. The purpose of this weblog is to develop my competency as a writer and teacher while reaserching the effectiveness of weblogging as a tool for learning. This is a work in progress and feedback is welcome and encouraged. 

 

I’m going to keep my eye on this class and their weblogs – they get the possibilities!!!

 


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Pam, Suzanne, Victoria & Kimberly

Will led the way with peeking ahead and I got a sneak preview of Pam’s write-up – A Space of Your Own!  I admire all she is doing with the primary kids – really some good work there!  I wanted to post pictures of both her and Will but for some reason my pictures are not working right today.  Too bad!  I could not find a picture of Helen on her write-up….

On another note, remember the English professor’s class that I introduced weblogs to the other day.  Those students are off and running with their weblogs.  I love seeing the different learning styles and the approaches taken as educators first learn about weblogs.  For example,  Suzanne is a high school teacher and Master’s student at Georgia State.  On her new weblog, she is focusing on current issues relating teaching and technology.  She is very interested in how computers influence writing instruction.  She is blogging some interesting topics.

Another student, Victoria, is also exploring avenues and bringing up good questions.  This is why she is excited about weblogs…

I am so excited about learning about blogs and how to use them in my classroom, particularly as I was not very familiar with them before now. Everything we discussed in class today seems universally applicable to most classroom situations. This is very refreshing because most people just say to use PowerPoint to meet county mandates about incorporating technology into the curriculum. As we have already established, I hate PowerPoint. I can’t wait to apply ideas such as publishing students’ work, communicating with parents, and communicating with other classes by using blogs into my own classroom. This is all very intriguing and I want to learn more.

The name of Kimberly’s site is Teaching is a Gerund.  I love that name!  Kimberly makes a personal statement:

Part of becoming computer literate is being able to figure out how to use new technology and software. The purpose of this weblog is to develop my competency as a writer and teacher while reaserching the effectiveness of weblogging as a tool for learning. This is a work in progress and feedback is welcome and encouraged. 

 

I’m going to keep my eye on this class and their weblogs – they get the possibilities!!!

 


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Joe’s Action Research & another Georgia State Weblogger

Joe posts his Action Research Update.  He presented at the Teachers Network Policy Institute to an audience of teachers, principals, and university professors.  I can’t wait to see his study.  This is the type of documentation we all need to find the time to do.  Joe continues to be a trail blazer!

On another note, through a student I was helping learn how to create a WebQuest, I learned about a professor here at Georgia State who has a weblog.  I emailed him and shared several of our sites.  He invited me to his class and gave me the entire class time to share and all the students created a weblog.  I just got an email from him. 

Thank you for such an enlightening and entertaining class. From what I’ve heard the students are mad bloggers now.

He told me that he created his blog to learn about it.  The write up on his site for the About link is as follows:

About this Blog
George Pullman teaches rhetoric and electronic writing at Georgia State Univesity. This blog exists because he figures to know one you have to have one, and he is currently developing a paper for cw2003 that deals with blogging as a tool for writing instruction.

His syllabus for his class really impressed me as he is one of those trail blazers who truly integrates technology with his curriculum.  He was glad to know that we were hosting sites here.  Small world, huh?

 


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Side-by-Side- What a Concept…..

WatchBlog (via Kairosnews) is a multiple-editor weblog.  It has three columns with each having its own blog.  Democrats, Republicans and the Third Party (which covers everything outside the two major parties) are side-by-side.  I was trying to figure out just who was doing the writing but just see names.  It’s an interesting layout though and should be interesting to follow.

 

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Blogs breed western corruption

Yesterday, Philip, one of our student assistants pointed me to an interesting article on ars.technica

Excerpts from the article….

The youth of Iran are out of control. The last week has seen portions of the under-25 population publicly demanding democratic style reforms of the conservative Islamic government,

As globalism seeps into the Middle East, a net boom has caught Iranian officials off guard with growth of 90% from last year. The result follows Hannibal’s increased obsession with Blogging as 20,000 logs have sprung up among the Iranian youth yearning for a voice in the repressive region.

In a society which heavily dictates personal behavior, the youth are finding the internet to be their last hope for free and open communication. Which is why it must be stopped. According to Reuters, the conservative regime has already begun arresting bloggers, filtering some 100,000 porn sites and a good 200 Iranian pages, while strict legislation is expected to eliminate this new threat from the West.

We’re all working hard to give our students voices to help them write and think critically. These youth are having to fight hard to even have a voice.


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Reflections from Jill

Jill Walker of Jill/txt gives some great feedback on students teachng with blogs, with links to “how-to’s” by students.

She also list things she did right and things she could have done better.

Here are some things I did right, I reckon, in the blogging section of the course:

  • Required different kinds of blog post in the final portfolio: an analysis of a website, a reflective/theoretical post about the web and communication, a technical post (which generated a lot of the teaching posts) and an evaluation of another student’s site.

  • Did a fair amount of blogging in class.

  • Ditto for comments and linking to each other’s blogs.

Of course there are things I could have done better, too:

  • Specified just what, exactly, I expected, much earlier in the semester.

  • Done more in-class blogging earlier.

  • Worked out a less traumatising way of starting blogging than having each student install MoveableType themselves the first week of semester. I don’t know how I’ll do that next spring. It’s excellent that they have control of their own blogs, and MoveableType has a lot of good features that we’ve used since, but it was a really rough way to start the semester and the many students who had problems certainly didn’t feel very at ease with their blogs. Little confidence was gained.

  • Done something about the curriculum – I didn’t use it very well. However, students have found and read and written about a lot of other material themselves, and that’s good. Perhaps more of the curriculum can be self-defined by students next time round

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