Learning Journey

This learning journey makes me think about Dante's The Inferno. Yes, the thought of Web 2.0 to me was a dark place inhabited by who knows what, but with my Vergi, l in the guise of Mary Woodard, I passed through the 23 levels. At each level I learned to face my fears and came away with knowledge that will guide my path in the Web 2.0 world. But unlike Dante who had to face the devil encased in ice, I found no devil at the core. I found useful tools. These tools have become part of my daily professional and personal world.

• My favorite tool is Wordle. This is so easy. I believe students will find it easy to use and apply to many different academic ventures.
• Unexpected take-away is FaceBook. I found friends from high school (a looong time ago).
• Yes, I will participate in a future trek into the Web world. (reminds of Star Trek)
• Maybe, I will continue to blog.
• Yes, I will continue to use Google doc and Google sites.

I did not think I would ever finish this course with my computer not being damaged beyond repair. My computer and I made it through. We are proud. We are happy. We are finished.

Thing 7b

I continue to learn about the subjunctive mood (verbs). Since this is specified in the new TEKS, I have a need to refresh what I know about using and how to explain to students how to apply this mood when they write. Yes, this has consumed my thinking and represents only a fraction of the conventions (grammar and usage) specified in the new documents. The subjunctive mood expresses a suggestion, requirement, or desire, or it states a condition that is contrary to fact. Verbs such as ask, insist, urge, require, recommend, and suggest are used for a request and precede a subordinate clause beginning with that. However, the tricky little mood takes a shift when it is used with the be. Here a writer must use were for all subjects (singular and plural). Now do you know why this small little usage convention is consuming my mind. So, the RSS feeds on grammar have saved my sanity (both professional and personal).
I am reading other 23Thingers' blogs in hopes of locating more entertaining sites. I have enjoyed the one on Lost. I continue the quest. No more grammar, no more new TEKS. I need a fun break.

Thing 23

The amount of information is overwhelming, but I have stated that before. I am still overwhelmed. Last fall while attending the NCTE national conference, I first heard about Ning. All of the presentations (powerpoints, etc.) were uploaded to a Ning site. After returning home, I was able to revisit some sessions and explore others. At this point I am disappointed when I attend a conference and Ning is not available.
While exploring the educational sites, I found valuable information, presentations, and sites concerning writing and reading. These new insights and approaches help with curriculum development. Many of these include a technology component. I hope to set up a network of teachers to help work on the new TEKS and the new testing that is coming (EOC). My personal learning is all tied to my professional learning at the present time. I need to become more comfortable with the networking and technology at a personal level to help at a professional level.

Thing 22

I hesitate to signup for FaceBook. Using the rationale that this is for 23Things and many people are joining the social network system, I created a site. Much to surprise I have found two high school friends who are networking: one is not a surprise since she was always about social networking while the other I am blow away by the fact that she has a site. I still have some questions about safety issues-not for myself; but, for myyoung granddaughters.
Insights from the site: seniors (not the graduating in May type) are social networking to share memories and rekindle friendships. I dislike the feeling of being exposed to the whole cyberspace. I wonder how much time this sharing will or could absorb in a person's life.
As far as a application within a classroom, I do not know what to think. Yes, as educators we must stress the safety issues. I question the value of social networking through a computer/cell phone/or a hand held device when students need to social network face to face within the classroom and the campus. I do see value when netowrking with other campuses while working through similar assignments to create a collaborative product.

THing 21

TEKS Study is my attempt to collaborate with teachers to work through some clarifications on the new ELAR Teks. One problem was that the teachers I invited to the site had a few issues with logins ranging from forgetting passwords to me not listing the names. In a classroom application, students could work on a document such as a newsletter or review of a series. Would it be poosible to keep a running list of grammar rules and applications that students must understand and use as the school year progresses?
The Google Book Search allowed me to locate an article from a 1999 magazine. Since publication the article has become part of an anthology. The best part is that I own a copy of the anthology.
Google Alerts is now providing movie alerts. This is fun. I love going to the movies especially the $5.00 bargain movie time. Last movie I attended Fast and Furious; please consider that it does have a plot and characters which all fit into my area of concern.
iGoogle gadgets now fill my page. Maybe after the rush of excitement subsides, I will reconsider and delete some of them.

Thing 20

This Thing was a little easier thanks to the Tech Tutorials from Richard Armand for those he wished to expose to new technology. Yes, me.
The collaborative idea for classroom use would be for students to create a presentation dealing with the rhetorical elements in a poem or a speech. Students would include text evidence with commentary. They would also need to use images or even insert music or a video. I think I would limit the number of slides and the words per slide. Idea two would be for TEKS study with teachers collaborating on clarifying statements, the universe of possibilites, and connections to items currently in CSI. Idea three would be to create a survey form to use as an anticpatory set. This would help to activate students prior knowledge/opinions on a topic or issue. By surveying the class, the students would be able to refine and rethink opinions and beliefs.
Thing 20-I can not believe I have worked my way through this many things. My computer is still on my desk. It was in danger of being tossed, stomped, kicked, punched, and abandoned on many occasions during this journey. Earlier I alluded to something dark lurking around the corner, it is still lurking, but not a dark or threatening.

Clouds over Scout Moor Windfarm

Clouds over Scout Moor Windfarm,
originally uploaded by mrrobertwade (wadey).

I am exploring the blog this thing from Flickr to Inktrack. This is way too easy.

Thing 12

Finally. I have had great issues with this "thing." My computer never seemed to want to allow me to create. This makes about four attempts. With a little help from my friend Joel, the Bubbleshare worked. It really is easy. England is my favorite place to visit. It is difficult to image the history and literature that envelops every space in this country. I had a difficult time walking in Westminster due to the grave stones of the authors and heroes I've read about.
This would be a great way to teach prepositions-using a slideshow to show the relationships. Students could also create shows to demonstrate the plot development or character analysis from any work of literature. Could students demonstrate an expository text structure using a slide show? With some more thinking this might work.
I like the Blog link on this site. It made embedding so much easier. Added later: on second look this is not easy. I apparently did something wrong. Do you see a slide show of England? I do have one in Bubbleshare. Hours later: Thank you Joel (once again) for the HTML information. This little piece would have saved me hours of frustration and a few dings in my desk.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Thing 19

The Odyssey is a major literary work studied in English I. This Voicethread would be a way to introduce the epic poem to students by using both audio and video. Seeing the images from ancient pottery with the voice overs that link the stories in the epic would help to make the story relevant to students. Again I need time to search and group all this material to insert into the curriculum. I did find myself being pulled away from my objective to go into areas of fun and entertainment. The time factor is critical-I can not select any media piece without previewing and making a decision about where and how to incorporate the information into a lesson. This would be valuable to teachers to use with the equipment being placed in classrooms across the district.
23Things is not making my job easier or quicker; it is placing more demands on me. Being a memeber of the 21st century is not turning out to be an easy task.

Thing 18

YouTube is a black hole in space which has the capacity to move a viewer through time and space without the viewer being aware of any motion. (I know the science is fuzzy; but think of the comparison metaphorically). My search centered around the word school. The first video to emerge was AC/DC School Days cover of Chuck Berry (very cool music and even more interesting comments about the skill of the guitarist) and from there I ventured into the early 60s while listening to the Reflections, the Satins and other memorial groups. The school search took me into the vidoe world of grammar: pronouns, nouns, verbs and such. I learned "how to" identify many parts of speech and my favorite verb tenses. One group of videos were produced by Chalk n Talk (these were very good).
TeacherTube yielded a vidoe on writing the narrative with an explanation of the elements of narrative. This was by far the best video. What I need now is time to select a group of videos to incorporate into the curriculum. I wish some enterprising Texas teacher would make and upload a video about the new TEKS.

Thing 17

I visited and listened to podcasts at NPR and iTunes. NPR is a wonderful site. I tuned in to a lecture on the structure of Homer's Odyssey. This would have been a helpful aid for teaching the epic. It was more than a simple reading of the poem, but an explication of each segment that connected the Greek culture to the poem. The series has about 10 different segments. I will listen more.
For a little more fun, I chose a selection of "Summer Music." The music I grew up listening to. I also listened a selection about "How to Leave Your Job" (no I'm not leaving, but the music was rather entertaining. As a classroom application, music is a nice way to introduce a unit. The music could be used to set the historical context or a metaphoric context. Another podcast was from the Grammar Girl. If you are interested in knowing more about the subjunctive mood of verbs, this is the place to connect. After the multiple examples, any student would be able to master this grammar skill. (Subjunctive mood is the using were following a singular subject when the sentence makes a wish: e.g. If I were a rich man, ...... or I wish I were a more proficient 23Thinger.)
My next task is to locate and create a few podcast to incorporate into the CSI Curriculum.

Thing 16

The Library Thing is my thing. Now I wonder what reaction the group will have if and when they check out my reading list. My favorite genres are mystery (murder and espionage), historical fiction, and some fantasy (thank you Dr. Rideout for the series you loaned me this year). I will admit it took awhile to navigate around the site. I was unsure of what and how to do some things, but with a little experimentation a list was created. Is there a way to link the book covers into this blog?
The 50 book challenge is great. Teachers could create their own book challenge list at the beginning of the year. My granddaughter, Emily, is in 4th grade in San Antonio this year and is working on a 50 book challenge. She needs 5 more books before the middle of May. Her favorite book, at the moment and until the next book, is Pennies from Heaven .
Another classroom project could be a listing of books being read (self-selected reading) during SSR.
I enjoyed reading some of the excerpts/books online. I selected a few on John Adams (no clue as to why that selection). He was a very interesting historical figure. Go check him out.

Thing 15

Using delicious would have save so much time for Things 13 & 14 and others. I added the photograph to see if I could. Guess what!It was easy. Maybe this Thing needs a new, earlier number? I keep visiting flickr simply to view the photos. I need a vacation on a beach somewhere. But I digress. The main problem with using the tag was to remember which sites I go to frequently. The ones I tagged I do use weekly and this requires some time to remember where & how to navigate to the site. Now I need to think about tagging sites that are a little more entertaining.
As a coordinator for ELAR, I now have the pleasure of a district wiki. I hope to use this new skill of tagging in delicious to link sites for teachers. Too much information and knowledge is available and not enough time to filter through that information and make the connections to the classroom. This new adventure is exciting, but I must confess some fear. Not a large amount of fear about the technology, but fear of not being able to locate the new information.

Thing 14

I "played" before Spring Break, but did not reflect. This meant that I needed to revisit some sites, but this revisit worked to my advantage. Wordle is so much fun. During the break, I played with the site with two granddaughters. Each created a word poster using a homework assignment. (They eventually became excited!!). I created a word poster using the introductory paragraph to the new ELAR TEKS. What popped up was amazing. The most frequently used word was "student" and "reading." I hope to give new teachers a copy in August.
Some of the other sites I need more time and an idea of how to use them. The sandbox wiki will be very helpful.
Another site my two girls enjoyed was Trading Card Maker (from Thing 13). We made character cards for "Sponge Bob" and John Adams (Emily has a report due this week and plans to hand out her cards). The three of us spent several hours on the trading cards. Time flew by and we all had fun learning how to navigate the site.

Thing 13

This was fun!!!! I tried several different sites. Mappr and I did not speak the same language. Mosaic Maker and I did not speak the same language. Trading Card Maker and I finally spoke to each other. The card on the right is the result. This was so easy. The difficult part was uploading the photo from Flickr and then locating it on my computer. Thank you Joel Palmer for your help (multiple mini lessons). The trading cards could be used for vocabulary development. Teachers begin by creating the cards for the whole class, but releases the responsibility to small groups or pairs to create cards for academic language or vocabulary necessary to the meaning of a short story,, poem or novel. The subtitle could be the syllabication. The description box the meanings. The Greek and Latin root/base words would work hear.
Another thought could be to create a card for character(s), setting, mood, tone, etc. Oh, the places students could go.
The photo of William Shakespeare (FotoTrix) is a must. After all, I have spent a few years thinking about this man and his works. Teachers begin with a photo of a character or author with a caption to begin a unit of study. The caption would be a hint of the focus for the unit. Students would be able to create a character map using images with captions to analyze character traits and motivations.
One last time this was fun! This requires limited time (after the search for images and drafting the captions) to create.

Thing 7a

Traveler guided me to OER. The site is massive. A teacher could spend days scanning the variety of lesson plans. After thirty minutes I started using the tags and was able to surf the material quicker. The one lesson that lingered in my imagination was a lesson based on ABC's for a well know fairy tale. Students used the structure of the alphabet to write a 26 sentence retelling using the letters of the alphabet for the first words of the sentence. The goal is for students to develop the skill of sentence variety.
I need to continue practicing adding images to this blog.

Thing 11

The trees are practice. This is a view from my daughter's former backyard. Always made me think of the old poem "Trees" by Joyce which begins "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." In the olden days of yore, we had to memorize poetry. Guess some things never go away. Now to Flickr. My topic was places. The places I've traveled and would love to return. This is amazing. Flickr that is. A person could wander within the site for hours. I did notice that the photos with multiple tags appeared over and over. A statement to myself: think before you post a photo of yourself-not everyon shares my humor. I really do not want the universe to question my sanity. Within a classroom, this would be a great tool to locate photos about setting. I discovered that my students had no clue about how dense a forest could be. They could not visualize how Henry Fleming in "Red Badge of Courage" was not able to see the enemy, but could hear fragments of sounds. This is a tool to bring the far away locations into the classroom. Just image how exciting it would be to see ancient Troy, Cyrus, and London. You will notice the picture of Big Ben is not near the bottom (need another lesson) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/weon/3343489097/)
What I am discovering is my navigation skills are limited.

Thing 10

Is noticing CC the same as the once you pick a color for your new car you begin to see that color everywhere? I have not noticed CC or even wondered about CC. Maybe I thought "carbon copy"? Many people think that because an image or article is on the internet it is open domain. Granted it took some training from the librarians to show me the the error of my ways. The CC seems to offer a place to locate images, articles, etc. to use in student presentations (both print and digital). English teachers deal with this issue in research papers with documentation and citation. Now it seems a new issue needs to be addressed.
The reason for me taking 23 Things is to be able to use digital images and such in presentations and the development of curriculum. The question of who owns the "teaching materials" is two-sided. I believe teachers do "own" the materials they construct for teaching. On the other side of the question, who "owns" the materials when teachers come in to develop lessons for the district curriculum.
I visited several sites. A wealth of material is available. The random search I made lead to many interesting sites, but now I'm not sure how to go back. My "bread crumb" trail twists and turns on itself. Is there a quick way to mark a site?
At the moment, I do not know enough to point out any potential negatives, but I do believe they are lurking in the shadows.

Thing 9

At this moment in time, Intrack can not describe the steps I went through to add a page to the MISDwiki23Things. It took two days to trek through the instructions (read all instructions first- Mom's voice proclaims in my head). The multiple instructions became a jumble in my brain which meant I had to start again. This time a new strategy (remember to recognize the fact that you have lost the meaning of what you are reading and reread) was necessary. Read the directions in small chunks and apply. This worked. Well, it almost worked without problems. I forgot to use my gmail account and used the district email. This presented me with a "learning" opportunity - how to delete and try again. Success was sweet when I receive the gmail notice that I was accepted to the sandbox. However, there are cyber bullies in the sandbox who withhold and hide things. One unresolved issue is on my table of contents, I have the toc in bold print proudly displayed and no clue as to how to hide that little command. The last step require an outside intervention. Thank you Scott. He guided me through the linking of my page to the home page.
Now this is behind me, I did have fun linking the image, but coming up with a burning question was not.

Thing 8 - Stretch

I have used Wikipedia many times. It is a good place for quick information. Today I scanned the information on the Irish poet Seamus Heaney. The information was clearly written and accurate (as far as I know). What is not here are links to critical responses to his writing. In the secondary ELA calssroom we need links to these critical essays. I would not allow a student to cite Wikipedia in a research paper due to the lack of references on many of the subjects. It is a good place for students to go for background knowledge.

Thing 8

Discovery Utopia and Holocaust Wiki are outstanding. The organization moves students through the project with clear expectations and multiple resources at each stage. The resource tools were extensive and provided more information than needed for the project. Students would need to apply a variety of skills to gather the concrete information and then to create create the project. I would not add anything to either of these projects (well, maybe if given more time to link the TEKS with the project).
1001 Flat World Tales project was not on my list of favorite sites. The resources and the progress checks seemed to be limited. I did not think that placing the grading procedures immediately after the task would encourage students to jump in. Also, the wording "kill off" was a factor. Yes, I know the story, but I think another word would have worked better.
Some ideas that have emerged in the 23 Things study center around the new ELA TEKS. I think a wiki would work in order to produce some clarifying statements about what the new student expectations will become in the way of assignments. As we become more familiar with the process, I hope the collect student examples of products.
Another idea is to begin to move to eportfolios in middle school. Tammy Rushing and I have started this discussion.

Thing #7

Commenting in a community works for me in a professional areas, but not in the personal area. This is probably a generational pattern that I will not be able to break or for that matter want to break. My upbringing did not allow the public sharing of private family issues.

Commenting in a community will work for me at work. I recognize the need and the ease at which a group of teachers can discuss issues of curriculum and content. Since ELA has new TEKS for the 09 - 10 school year, we need to be able to clarify many of the knowledge and skills and student expectations. Multiple voices will be helpful in the process.

Things #6

I keep reading about the "divide" or "gap" in technology. This topic has ranged from economic issues to an issue of intellect (life long learning). My feelings are divided.
I attended the TCEA conference in Austin and came back even more overwhelmed. What I noticed from the vast array of sessions is that elementary classrooms are using technology. One particular session gave a great presentation on using the interactive whiteboards/slate. One topic that was not well represented was secondary English language arts. The main focus of this group of presenters was Web 2.0 and blogging. Where are the interactive whiteboard lessons/activities for secondary ELA?
Now, I can reflect on my experience with Thing #6. The RSS feeds were simple to set up. I found several sites that help with my area of curriculum. But, I need remediation on how to link to another site with the blue link. I have returned to #4 to find some help.

Thing 5

21st century skills and strategies are being defined and redefined as we pass from this opening decade of this new era. Prophets have proclaimed that this century will require connectivity, interactivity, and collaboration (http://www.kwfdn.org/resource_library/resource.aspx?intResourceID=846 Executive Summary) to be productive in both their profession and personal endeavors. These same prophets also proclaim that the "role of the teacher has remained static" and "the core of the education institution hasn't expereinced radical innovation." This is all true, but the concept of teacher has always been one of change and innovation. After reading the seven forces that will reshape education, I believe that teachers will adapt (not just the new "digital natives" but also the "digital immigrants"). The open education (a bottom up and participatory, sociao-techinical platform for creating and sharing) is not new to teachers. Each class period students are encouraged/pushed to enter into academic dialogue to share what they observe, interpretute, create, and share. Schools have never been confined to the four walls of a classroom. Must to the surprise of my former students, I did not live in A3. On more than one occassion I have left students speechless when I have been seen at the mall or even a movie (not of the classical category). Students leave the classrooms and take with them most if not all of what had been experienced. Teachers know this when students return the next day or the next decade to share what they have applied in the real world. The new digital world allows this exchange to move beyond the physical barriers of geography and the limits of time. The article refers to this limitless classroom as an exstitution. When barriers and boundaries are expanded, a new social structure will develop. One hope is that people can begin to hear how similar we all are, thus the move to connectivity where hostility exists. One final issue with these new forces in education is the impact of neuroscience on education. The mysteries of the brain will be revealed. No longer will teachers work to understand learning disabilities, but will have the tools to intervene before gaps in knowledge grow to the point of being labeled a disability.
The future of 21st century education is being defined. Many voices and forces are making predictions, but will these prove to be the final answer. No. Teachers are adaptable. Teachers will adapt and use the digital tools to prepare students - notice that students are not using a rock tablet and chisel in classrooms today. Teachers will adapt pedagocical models to include self-direct learning (http://independentlearning.org/ILA/ila03/ila03_lamb.pdf).

Thing #4

Blog language varies from informal & chatty to professional & academic. I found my attention or focus would drift missing the point of the conversation as I plowed through the many entries. Reading blogs requires a new set of skills-a set I do not have at this time but will need to develop. The main point of the blog conversations seems to shift and a few digress (makes me think of the epic form with its many voices and many digressions and many catalogs). As I create this blog, I am writing my way into meaning. What do I know or how much do I not know? A "blog literacy" is developing with a set of skills and strategies.

Thing #2
Information overload, the 24/7 cacophony of talking heads, data, observations, and new products, requires 21st century digital learners to be critical thinkers with the ability to filter and sort the important from the mundane. The digital age has changed my professional practice. Now I have the ability to preview the content of multiple resources online and obtain information to clarify areas of confusion or concern. This is the digital way to sort those that will be helpful from those that I used to trash. But this brings up the issue of who has the access. Do all citizens/students have equal access? Will this fuel an "achievement gap" based on access (which is linked to money)?

The digital classroom is necessary and fundamental to the future prosperity of all students. The programs that placed books in the hands of all children will now become placing digital tools in the hands of all children. These digital natives will learn to access and process information to create new learning. I hope my expanding vision and knowledge of these tools will enable students to engage in learning. Learning from the past by applying the tools of present.

Thing #1

Reflections on Lifelong Learning.
The most important habit I must develop is "play" into learning. Moving from "perfection" to "play" offers a sense of adventure and excitement about the unknown and unexplored digital world.Play allows mistakes to be just that mistakes not failure. I have made a few mistakes in the process of #1, #2, and #3 Things assignments. One was not writing down a particular password, but after several tries the one I was so clever in creating reappeared in my brain.

The easiest habit "responsible for my own learning" seems clear. I signed myself up for the course. I am determined to complete the course. I am focused on having fun. That last statement does not appear to be a playful statement, but I am working on that.

The most challenging is linked to the most important. Playing with digital technology will increase my confidence as a digital learner. I want to move beyond the surface of the 23Things into application of the Things into my current position.

A First

Ok. I now have a blog. This was an easy process.