OK- you might be wondering what’s up with the title of this post…
My son freaked out this morning when I was blasting Spandaeu Ballet in the car (yes, I LOVE the 80’s ). He begged me to change the channel, and when I asked him why, he said it was because “Boys don’t listen to love songs. Girls like love songs and guys like rock!”
I laughed inside so hard that I just couldn’t resist sharing this ‘Connorism’ with you- and this post is about a music video so it’s not really that much of a stretch…
It’s been three days since I got back from our amazing journey in China. I’ve consistently been waking up at 4 am each morning, but hopefully that will pass, and even if it doesn’t, I guess it’s just good practice for school starting, right?
A lot of people who followed our adventure have been asking me about the penguin that kept showing up in many of my pictures. Well, that’s ‘Pengi’, my son’s favorite stuffed animal. Before I left for China, I asked my son to pick out a travel companion for me- someone who would keep me company and could report back to Connor (my son) about all of our amazing adventures. He chose ‘Pengi’. It really helped both of us. Pengi kept me from getting homesick and, because I posted all of my ‘Pengi’ pictures in real time on Twitpic, Connor said he felt like he was part of my trip and didn’t mind as much my being away for so long.
As soon as I got home, Connor and I used Animoto to make a music video of Pengi’s adventures . I can’t say enough, or get enough of this amazing and EASY web 2.0 tool! Not only is it easy enough for us “old folks” to use, it’s also perfect for little kids. My son made his first Animoto music video in Kindergarten, and the two of us working together on the China project gave us the chance to connect about my trip and made my son feel a part of it.
They also have an education account which is wonderful because it allows you to manage classes and easily help students with their work by logging in to their content.
If you haven’t tried Animoto yet, DO IT TODAY!
Hope you enjoy this little recap of our adventure in China. I hope it gets you exited to pack your own curiosity and go!
Well, it’s official- our adventure in China is right around the corner. How do I know? Last night I had my first official China “panic” dream. What’s a “panic” dream? I’m sure you’ve had them before- you probably just call them something else. You know, the dreams you start having a few weeks before school starts, where you:
forget about your class schedule and students are sitting in your room waiting for you all day…
not realize you were signed up for a course, then have to take the final exam without ever having been in the class…
are not able to remember ANY of your students’ names…
I think you get the picture now =:0
Everyone has their passports & visas, so now we are just waiting to have our next teacher conference call on July 23rd. I’m really excited to compare checklists with Brett Harvey & Rita Mortensen (the other 2 DEN teachers coming on the trip) and talk about essential questions & “lesson plans” for our students to focus on during our trip.
If you use the “join this site” widget on the right-hand sidebar, you can get updates whenever new info is posted. Also, I really encourage you to become followers of the student blogs. They are linked on the right sidebar as well. Discovery is running a contest for the students to encourage blog use. The student who ends up with the most followers to their blog by trip time (August 1st) will win a 16G iTouch!
Anyone have any funny “panic” dreams to share? If you can identify and have any stressful dreams of your own, please share!
P.S. Special thanks to DEN Star Heather Hurley (H270) for the link to the flickr tool I used@ the start of this post. Check it out! It’s super-easy & fun Spell With Flickr
After seeing the education community embrace Diigo with so much excitement, the good folks that run it decided to create an educator-specific incantation of the popular tool. They listened to what teachers had to say- what special features they’d like to see in order to better use Diigo with their students- and recently introduced Diigo Educator Accounts.
What are Diigo Educator Accounts?
These are special, FREE premium accounts provided, specifically to K-12 & higher-ed educators. Once your Diigo Educator application is approved, your regular Diigo account will be upgraded to have additional features. So, you need to create a basic Diigo account first, then upgrade to the free education account after wards. The upgraded educational features include:
You can create student accounts for an entire class with just a few clicks (and student email addresses are optional for account creation)
Students of the same class are automatically set up as a Diigo group so they can start using all the benefits that a Diigo group provides, such as group bookmarks and annotations, and group forums.
Privacy settings of student accounts are pre-set so that only teachers and classmates can communicate with them.
Ads presented to student account users are limited to education-related sponsors.
Here’s an example of what I plan on doing with my Diigo Educator account (I’ll let you know how it goes )
Every week, I have one student choose a current event article & pose a question about it. It started out great, but after a while, everyone just started reading previous posts & trying to mimic them instead of thinking critically on their own. I am going to shake things up a bit by using a Diigo Education account for our current event conversations.
Every week, I will choose a current event article and begin marking it up in Diigo with a question (bubble annotation). My students will have to choose segments of the article to annotate themselves. They must make a statement AND ask a question in their annotation.
I’m just fleshing this out now, so any feedback you can provide is GREATLY appreciated!
While doing some research for this post, I can across an interesting article by Miguel Guhlin that I think does a really great job of explaining the rationale for this post. In his article, “Spending that Internet Gold”, Guhlin makes a good argument for effective website searching by quoting Dr. Judi Harris:
1. We all begin on the Web by “telegathering” (surfing) and “telehunting” (searching. This we can do pretty well. What wedon’tdo very well yet is to take educationally sound stepsbeyondtelegathering and telehunting). 2. We need to help our students and ourselves “teleharvest” (sift through, cogitate, comprehend, etc.) the information that we find, and “telepackage” the knowledge that results from active interaction (application, synthesis, evaluation, etc.) with the information. 3. Then, we need to “teleplant” (telepublish, telecollaborate, etc.) thesetelepackagesby sharing them with others…who use them as information in their… 4. …telegathering & telehunting, and the process cycles back around again.
Most of us are at the tele-gathering and hunting stage, finding and collecting web sites that we believe are useful. How many educational web sites do you visit that have a list of lists, collections of fantastic sites on the web? Impossible to keep track of and maintain, these lists are just more information that each of us has to wade through, each time creating our own links. The pack mules can’t carry all the gold that we’ve found out there. Maybe, now that we’ve accumulated the gold, it’s time to do more than look at it. To do that, we have to know what’s valuable, what’s not. According to Jim McNamara (jmcn@tenet.edu), evaluating something means being able to extract the value out of it.
QUESTION: “How do we help out students determine and extract the value of web resources?” or as Guhlin puts it, “pan for internet gold”. How do we help our students to think critically in such a fast-paced, multi-tasking culture, when they typically have ten internet tabs open at once, an IM’ing window open as well, a Youtube video streaming AND their iPod playing in the background?
ANSWER: The best way to help our students better evaluate internet resources is to get them (students) to interact with them (websites). That’s what Web 2.0 is all about-Collaboration, Evaluation & Synthesis
TOOL: A great way to harness the power of Web 2.0 and interact with websites is Social Bookmarking
DIIGO.com is my favorite social bookmarking tool because it has AMAZING educational possibilities. The social aspect of learning is important, especially with our increasing focus on conversations that add value to what we are learning! What sets Diigo apart from other social bookmarkers is that Diigo not only lets you bookmark Web sites but also have online conversations about them… on the actual sites themselves!.
As soon as you start playing around with Diigo, you’ll figure out countless applications for your own personal use & communication with colleagues, so I’ve decided instead, just to share a few really great ways to use Diigo with your students:
Create a slideshow of clickable web sites grabbed from your bookmarks (A great way to present awesome resources for children, parents and colleagues)
Annotate and add comments to a web page via Diigo, and invite your students to do the same. You will essentially be hosting online, critical thinking & writing excercises about internet content on the actual webpages themselves! (All of the comments you & your students make will remain on the webpage for you all to see anytime you are signed in on Diigo & visit the site)
If you have students posting their own work online (ex. Literary students writing their own blogs), you can use highlighting & sticky notes (annotations) to leave public feedback of their work with invisible ink. A wonderful modeling tool for your students to learn how to appropriately & meaningfully comment on each others work.
Innovative teachers all over the world are constantly discovering new ways to use Diigo with their students. If your interest is peeked, check out some of the following videos:
Now that you know about Diigo, you can help your students evolve from Internet Cavemen, hunting & gathering information that can sometimes be harmful and can often be useless, into modern Digital Citizens, harvesting information in a safe & sustainable manner, which includes contributing their own thoughts and ideas to online conversations. Sure that takes more work, and the results may seem slower to realize, but as any responsible farmer will tell you, it’s the only way to ensure that future generations will also be able to reap the benefits of the seeds we plant now…
Many of our AMAZING NJ DEN members have said that they’d love to be part of the NJ DEN Leadership Council. Well, Now’s your chance!
In order to provide the necessary support to ever-growing state-level DEN communities, give new STAR Discovery Educators the opportunity to take an active leadership role with the DEN then DEN is starting an annual LC election process.
Every STAR Discovery Educator is encouraged to formally express his/her interest by completing the self-nomination form. You will select which leadership role(s) you are interested in as well as provide a brief statement of interest that will serve as your “campaign speech” should someone else wish to be considered for the same leadership role.
In order to be considered for the Chair, Blog Coordinator or Events Coordinator roles you must serve on the DEN LC for at least one year as part of the Events Team or Blog Team. For new LCs this does not apply.
For more details about the DEN Leadership Councils including the roles, responsibilities, benefits and the election process please read the DEN LC Overview.
Wherever you happen to be in the world on March 28th at 8:30 p.m., you’re likely to find a city or community somewhere nearby that is making plans to turn out the lights for Earth Hour. With less than six weeks to go, more than 500 cities around the world have officially agreed to go dark in support of global action on climate change, putting us halfway to our global goal of 1,000 cities!
Here are some highlights of what’s going on around Earth Hour 2009 as we countdown the days…
NASHVILLE—NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK: Earth Hour launched in Music City with a distinctive twang, as recording artist Jo Dee Messina joined Mayor Karl Dean and city officials at a musical press conference at The Stage on Lower Broadway. The event included live performances by Kathy Mattea and Big Kenny (Big & Rich). Other Nashville superstars pledging to turn out against climate change include Amy Grant, Dierks Bentley, SHeDAISY, Lady Antebellum, Vince Gill and Wynonna Judd. Read all about it and check out the video at www.earthhourUS.org.
THE STARS AND STRIPES ARE ALIGNING: Houston, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; St Louis, MO; Sarasota, FL; Minneapolis, MN; and Valdosta, GA signed up to be part of Earth Hour 2009. They join Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City and San Francisco. You say your hometown hasn’t yet seen the light? Visit http://www.earthhourus.org/toolkits.php for tool and tips for bringing Earth Hour to your local community.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU ANNOUNCES HIS SUPPORT: “Climate change is the greatest human induced crisis facing the world today. It is totally indiscriminate of race, culture and religion. It affects every human being on the planet. Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to come together with a united voice and make a loud and powerful statement on the issue of climate change.”
THESE STARS SHINE BRIGHT WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT: Celebrities lending their name and support to Earth Hour 2009 include Cate Blanchett, Alanis Morrisette, Finger Eleven, Gavin DeGraw, Janeane Garofalo, Jars of Clay, Jennette McCurdy, Justin Nozuka, KT Tunstall, Mary Mary, Michael Nouri, Rise Against, Simple Plan, Terri Clark, and The Veronicas.
EARTH HOUR—THE NEW BLACK: Says Clinton Kelly from TLC’s What Not To Wear: “Earth Hour represents a new way of thinking that we, as shared users of a common planet, must adopt if we have any intention of ensuring a healthy environment for generations to come. It’s about conscious thought, living in the moment. First, think for a moment about how much energy you really need. Then you’ll realize how much you waste. Then, just stop wasting it. It’s as simple as that.”
BACK TO MY OLD SCHOOL: The University of Miami became the first American campus to officially sign up to turn off, but was quickly joined by Michigan State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Virginia, Belmont, Columbia, Ohio University, Howard University, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Spellman, University of Missouri, St. Louis and Vanderbilt. Don’t see your alma mater on the list? It’s not too late! Tell your campus to turn out and take action. Check out the campus toolkit at http://www.earthhourus.org/action_college_students.php
I GOT THE POWER: 10,000 college students from across the nation will converge on Washington DC on February 27–March 2 for Power Shift ‘09, asking for “bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action.” http://www.powershift09.org/ Earth Hour Project Director Meg Pearce and Campus Organizer Sophie Latham will be there holding a special session on how to be part of Earth Hour 2009, the largest global climate event in history.
CELEBRATE EARTH HOUR WITH WIND POWER: Earth Hour 2009 sponsor Esurance makes it easy to offset your vehicle’s CO2 emissions. This special deal is only available for a limited time, so visit www.esurance.com/EarthHour to get all the details and sign up! And if you haven’t yet seen the new Esurance TV ad supporting Earth Hour, check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1hSF2-ggMY
WE COULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT THEIR SUPPORT: While we might wish that Earth Hour could be powered by wind or solar energy, we must rely on the generosity of our national sponsors for 2009, including Esurance, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Conserves, Wells Fargo, and HP. If your company or organization can support Earth Hour 2009, please drop us an email at EarthHour@WWFUS.org.
Don’t forget to mark your calendar…Earth Hour is March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm.
The DEN fleet has left the harbor and is looking for a bountiful fall harvest of STARs from all around the country. It’s a short season and the six DEN captains need your help catching new STARs.
If you recruit a new STAR by December 1, 2008 and report your catch, you can pick from the following:
Deadliest Catch Season 4 DVD set
Planet Earth: The Filmmaker’s Story
Mythbusters Season 4 DVD set
In addition the crew that recruits the most STARs will walk away with bragging rights and a very special DENliest Catch chicklet to post on their blogs, websites and email signatures.
Meet your captains:
Kim Randall guides the Wild and Wacky Western
AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR and WA
Justin Karkow commands the Center of Attention AZ, KS, MO, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT and WY
Mike Bryant skippers the Dawn Treader
IA, IL, IN, MI, MN and WI
Dennis Swain leads the Northeastern
CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI and VT
Matt Monjan navigates the high seas with MPEG: Queen of the Mid-Atlantic
DE, MD, NJ, OH, PA and VA
Brad Fountain captains the Southern STARs
AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN and WV
OK Folks- time to help out our NJ DEN LC leader! One of the video classes in Bev Plein’s school is doing a project about people’s thoughts on the upcoming Presidential Election and they are trying to gather some data. That’s where we come in They have created a short survey that should take just a few minutes to complete. So please give in to your sense of civic responsibility and help them out. The students are hoping to get at least 100 responses, so lets see if we can’t help them out & give them some good data to work with!
FYI: The survey is in 2 parts (that’s what they had to do with the free version of Survey Monkey):
Whenever you get a chance, do yourself a favor & check out this Space!
What is Space?
First of all, it is a GooglePage, so it’s another great example of the collaborate power of Google Applications (GooglePages is still in the Google Labs phase)
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it is a Student “Project” created and managed by students, for students! (created by students from the Youth Twitter Network another post for another time- stay tuned!)
Space is a global digital-literary magazine that presents students’ artistic work. There had been two issues published so far, and the third one is coming soon (Space Issue #2)
Space is a great way for students to get their personal artistic work seen as well as peer-reviewed by students from all around the globe
What kind of work Does Space accept?
Space accepts almost every kind of digital work- art, music, poetry, movie clips, essays, columns… any original work student want people to read, watch or listen to
Note: Submission deadline for Issue #3 is MAy 25th
High School Student Submissions are Strongly Encouraged!
We should definitely keep our eye on this project to see how it progresses & also share it with our students to promote the cause! AND, in the true spirit of collaboration, after you check out the project site, please come back here and leave a comment sharing your thoughts
Project BudBurst invites citizen scientists to join in a field campaign to study the timing of life cycle events of native tree and flower species across the country. This valuable information can be compared to historical records to illustrate the effects of climate change. Last year’s inaugural event drew thousands of people of all ages taking careful observations of the phenological events. As a result of the pilot field campaign, data collected can be used by scientists to learn about the responses of individual plant speciesto climatic variation locally, regionally, and nationally. The 2007 campaign garnered enthusiastic response and robust participation, so they’ve extended the project to year!
Projects like this a are a really great way to run authentic experiments with our students and to show them that, together, we really CAN make a difference
Via RSS
). He begged me to change the channel, and when I asked him why, he said it was because “Boys don’t listen to love songs. Girls like love songs and guys like rock!”
kept showing up in many of my pictures. Well, that’s ‘Pengi’, my son’s favorite stuffed animal. Before I left for China, I asked my son to pick out a travel companion for me- someone who would keep me company and could report back to Connor (my son) about all of our amazing adventures. He chose ‘Pengi’. It really helped both of us. Pengi kept me from getting homesick and, because I posted all of my ‘Pengi’ pictures in real time on Twitpic, Connor said he felt like he was part of my trip and didn’t mind as much my being away for so long.
