New Jersey

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 here! I can already hear the seagulls and detect the faint smell of coconut lotion in the air….That’s right, Summer Break is officially in full swing!  That special time of the year that us New Jersey educators try to renew our minds, bodies and our souls.  While I hope that the feel of warm sand between your toes, salty sea air and warm, ocean breezes will help replenish your body and soul, I thought I’d share some inspiration for your mind inthis last post of the 2008-2009 school year.

Throughout history, humans have always created our own learning networks. When we needed to know how to do something, we sought out the expert in that field and they shared their knowledge. For example, hunters knew who to talk to about the latest in hunting techniques. Farmers knew who to talk to regarding the latest in agricultural technology practices. (And students could talk to their brilliant teachers!) Now we have the Internet to access more information about whatever we need to know. However, now there is not necessarily a need anymore to find “the” expert in a field of study. Instead, we need to create our own network of experts, our own Personal Learning Network.

What is a Personal Learning Network? It is a collection of resources that you can go to when you want to learn something. This includes family and friends, teachers, and people in the local community. It can also include non-human resources, such as books, journals and other forms of media. In the 21^st century, there’s also an extensive electronic network of resources that you can – and should – include in your network. This includes resources on the Internet such as webpages and podcasts. But it also includes human resources that are available to you via the Internet- your own personal collection of “experts” on various topics from all over the world! One way to build that collection of experts is via RSS Feeds, which allows you to subscribe to their content and have it delivered to you in your RSS Aggregator (e.g., Google Reader). Every time they produce new content, it automatically gets delivered to you, allowing you to tap their knowledge and wisdom from afar. It helps you to develop your own understanding of the world, to participate in the conversations that are going on, and to have a say in the world that we live in.

There are approximately 9 weeks of Summer Vacation to relax, recover and recharge our educational batteries.  Here are some suggestions I’ve come up with to help you make sure you do all three! 

I hope you have a wonderfully nourishing summer

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. - Ferris Beuller

SUMMER To-Do List

This post isn’t really about technology in the classroom, but it’s an interesting opportunity that I wouldn’t have known about without my robust personal learning network.  So, at the very least, it’s a great example of the incredible resources and interesting opportunities you can experience by staying connected with your peers online.

I also have to admit that I’m probably even more excited about this “simple” opportunity because I just spent the entire day/night in the New York City yesterday with my family.  We started the day at the Museum of Natural History, then had hot dogs & pretzels on a bench in the park while listening to a jazz trio play about ten feet away.  A quick trip to FAO Shwartz (my son is six and OBSESSED with Legos…), then back to Central Park for some “rock climbing” and bare-foot strolling through the grass.  Next came a birds-eye view of the entire park from the roof-top of the New York Athletic Club (compliments of a good friend ).  We capped off the day with a nice, greek dinner at Kefi , then walked it off with a stroll down Columbus Ave. past, you guessed it, Lincoln Center!

So now we’ve come full-circle.  I wouldn’t be writing this post if I didn’t find out about the following opportunity in NYC from my online network. Coincidentally, I found out via Twitter when I got home last night from NYC! A wonderful example of how your virtual world & your physical worlds can (and should) exist in perfect harmony- a lesson we need to live ourselves in order to help our students do the same.

I hope you can take advantage of the following opportunity!

People do their best when they’re doing something they love. In other words we all thrive most when we are in our “Element”. That’s the main idea behind Sir Ken Robinson’s book of the same name. He believes that most peoples real talents are usually deeply hidden & don’t reveal themselves on a regular basis - especially in the typical K-12 school environment. I hope you can take 20 minutes today to watch his video interview (below) with British reporter Riz Khan.

You can make anything interesting if you use creativity in your teaching!

Part 1

Part 2

Kevin Jarrett turned me on to this video that David Warlick recently used at the NJElite Conference in Wildwood, NJ. You might recognize some of the speakers, including Daniel Pink, a former EdTechConnect webinar guest speaker.

Basic message: We need to stop “teaching” our students with tools of the past. We EXPECT the latest and best technologies to be used to manufacture the products in our lives (our cars, clothes, etc.), so why don’t we demand they be used in education as well?  What old habits are we willing to let go of?  What are we willing to change so that our students (and we) can truly learn?

Do you have a favorite education video? After watching this one, leave a comment with a link to a video you think people should see. I’ll compile them in a future post.

“MySpace/Our Planet” is the first book by the MySpace Community, and though that numbers more than 200 million people over a wide age range, the text is geared toward tweens & teenagers.  The idea is to get this crucial group of consumers to reduce the impact of how they eat, shop, do laundry, use electronics, date, give parties, and travel on spring break.

The book debunks many eco-myths and sorts eco-activities into Green, Greener or Greenest (take the bus, ride a bike). Suggestions are divided into Micro (switch to a refillable water bottle) and Macro (switch to a local foods and organic diet).  Readers are urged to start environmental clubs, learn the history of environmental law, join protest marches, and VOTE.  And if no one represents you, “think about running for office yourself”.

“MySpace/ Our Planet” is full of MySpace member’s posts (with lots of misspellings ) and seems a bit obsessed with “friending” eco-friendly celebrities, but all-in-all I am inspired by the book conceptually and contextually.   If it represents even a fraction of Gen Y & Z’s zeal for treating our Mother Earth with more compassion, then maybe there’s even hope for us Gen Xers!

MySpace/ Our Planet: Change is Possible
By the MySpace Community- © 2008 by HarperCollins Publishers

Wow! Yet another reason why I LOVE the DEN! I just got an email from Dave Solon, an amazing DEN member who was also at the Philly event with Jeff Corwin that I recently posted about. For those of you who don’t know Dave- I hope you get the chance- keep an eye out for him at National & Tri-State Discovery events. Dave’s got a great podcast called Twenty For Tech (20 minutes, that is!) and he was able to capture an episode at our Corwin meet & greet last Friday night. Nice Job Dave- Keep up the good work!

Dave combined the Jeff Corwin interview, sound bytes from the Discovery event with the Deadliest Catch cast , a skyped interview with our very own Steve Dembo , and a few DEN members talking about their experiences to create a podcast that perfectly highlights why it’s so great to be in the DEN.

Dave- You Rock!

Here’s the link to Dave’s entire podcast

Here is just the Jeff Corwin interview called “A Teachable Moment with Jeff Corwin” in case you want to share it with your students…

By the way, the occasional “squeaking noise you hear in the background of Dave’s interview with Jeff is the bathroom door of the restaurant we were at. So for all of you who are still hesitant to try your hand at podcasting, it just goes to show that you really can podcast from ANYWHERE!

They were standing outside the bathroom

Get ready to soar… The DEN has a limited amount of seats for a private reception and screening for Discovery’s new show When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions’  which details 50 historic years in space on Tuesday evening, May 20th.

CA DEN members attended the West Coast Premier last week & said that it was AMAZING!   To see their feedback visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2008/05/14/ca-stars-leave-earth-with-nasa-and-buzz-aldrin/ )

Guests will be among the first to view archival NASA footage that has never been seen before as well as meet an astronaut featured in the documentary!

Premiere information and program description is provided below.  If you are interested in attending, YOU MUST RSVP BY VISITING THIS LINK: https://discoveryed.wufoo.com/forms/nyc-nasa-premiere-event/ You are allowed to bring up to 1 guest… please no children allowed.

Event: WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS
          New York Reception and Screening

Date:  Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Venue:American Museum of Natural History
          New York, NY

Time:  6:30 pm     Reception begins
          7:15 pm     Screening: Episode 2 - Gemini Program
          8:30 pm     Reception resumes
          9:30 pm     Evening concludes

Attire: Business attire
Program Description:

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS presents the dramatic story of the space agency’s pioneering, awe-inspiring missions, to commemorate the first 50 years of space exploration. The story of NASA is the story of man’s greatest adventure, of man’s great ambition, and of man’s endeavors to go – quite literally – where no man had gone before.  The series blends astonishing re-mastered archive – 100 hours of original NASA footage, much of it never seen before, is being converted to HD to make the series - with first hand testimony from the men and women who embarked on the greatest action adventure mankind has ever undertaken.  Series Premieres: Sunday, June 8 at 9:00 pm (ET/PT)

Hope to See You There

Background Information: While natural disasters, like the recent Cyclone that hit Burma, are not totally predictable, or preventable, one thing we can certainly all be doing more of is urging people to take environmental concerns, such as global warming, seriously and to make sure that we, ourselves, are responsible stewards of our environment. After all, the Earth is not ours to do with as we please.

“The only one who has the right to destroy this land, is the one who created it.”

-”Chief Joseph” Nez Perce

I’m working on a digital storytelling project with my students right now that we’re calling “The Footprint Project”. Its aim is to increase awareness about our individual Carbon Footprints. When we’re finished, I’ll share my reflections with you all!

A few mornings ago, I discovered that one of my favorite new tools,Diigo, was down for a bit when I tried to enter a group discussion and received the above message. Were they buckling under the pressure of global educators? Was this the beginning of all my die-hard Del.icio.us colleagues saying “told you so!” No…the reality is more unfortunate.

Diigo is a global company with headquarters in Reno, NV and a R&D center in China. About 3 weeks ago, the Reno area experienced a 4.7 earthquake, and someone joked that it was probably because of how well received the latest Diigo release has been- all the cheering had the earth shaking.

Then, on Monday, May 12, at 2:28pm Beijing time (6:28 GMT), a major earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) jolted southwestern China’s Sichuan Province. That’s like 600 megatons of TNT explosive, or the energy released by the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption (Wikipedia)!

Diigo’s R&D center is based in Chengdu, which is only 90 km from the quake’s epicenter. Maggie Tsai, one of Diigo’s head team members, said:

“When the quake hit, our whole team was still in a heated discussion on features in our regular international conference meeting (yes, we work very long and odd hours, and skype / gtalk are wonderful must-have tools …) All of a sudden, very loud rattling sound came through. Our team in Chengdu said calmly over skype, “There is an earthquake, we have to get out of here.” So I thought, well, it must be another one of those small tremors, so I kept skype connected, hoping to hear from them again soon. Fortunately, we were able to connect with our Chengdu team a few hours later, and learned they are all safe and sound.”

Fortunately, all of the Diigo team members are fine, but they are now temporarily housed in the ground floor of a hotel, with a very unstable internet connection, so Diigo development will be slowed down for a while. The good news is that their regular operation is all based in here in the US, so service will not be interrupted. That’s music to my ears, since I’ve become seriously addicted to my Diigo toolbar very quickly!

As of this morning, reports say over 19,000 people have died as a result of the quake, and many are still buried under collapsed buildings or are missing. Especially sad is that many children were in school at the time and were buried under the rubble of their collapsed school buildings. I know I speak for the entire DEN community when I say that we pray for the rescue of as many of these precious souls as possible.

The reason I was able to quote Maggie Tsai is because of the strong personal learning network I have been able to proliferate in the Diigo Community. That’s how I found out that they were affected by this disaster- yet another example of how our global connections are shrinking the physical miles that exist between us all.

It’s times like this that we need to take a step back & be thankful for the people in our lives. So, to all of my Twitter, Diigo and most especially my DEN friends, I’d like to say

THANK YOU FOR BEING.

Diigo is appealing and urging people to consider donating & helping those affected by the Earthquake tragedy in China. For more information, please visit the American Red Cross.

“As a child, I knew how to give. I’ve forgotten this grace as I’ve become civilized.”

- Luther, Staning Bear, Oglala

I’m going to make sure I hug my Husband & Son as soon as I get home tonight & tell them I love them. Life is short, Make it Count!

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

How do students submit their material?

• How to submit work to SPACE
• 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