I started these mental, verbal and educational workouts because I received an invite from Paul Allison of YouthVoices.  We began meeting with other Youth Voicers to discuss the interaction of our students within our online community.  We have talked about string games, educating students, Trayvon Martin, virtual worlds/games and now we are discussing Howard Rheingold’s Net Smart and an accompanying college syllabus that he has developed.

For our latest hangout we were continuing our Net Smart book talk with:

+Paul Allison +monika hardy and +Chris Sloan are joined by +Howard Rheingold +Fred Mindlin +Valerie Burton+Mariana Rios +christian romero and Jeff Lebow

Below is a video from that hangout.  The quality is so-so.  We had more that 20 people jumping in and out of that hangout.

How can we use digital media so that they help us become empowered participants rather than passive consumers? In Net Smart, I show how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully.

Rheingold identifies 5 literacies necessary to be a fluent and responsible user of social media. They are:

1. Attention -  Rheingold begins by talking about how attention works and how distractions and multitasking might be making us dumb.  These are thoughts that have crossed the minds of teachers, parents and students around the world.  The question is … what is the answer?  The answer to that question is yes AND noWe need to be mindful of the distractions that the internet provides.  It opens up the world to us and we must be sure to attend what is important and not what is easily available and entertaining. 
2. Crap Detection - Just because it’s on the web does not mean that it is true.   This chapter deals with the need to find ways to identify and classify the good from the bad of the millions of informational tidbits that are floating around on the net.
3. Participation - The web has allowed us to learn with and from each other.  We can now have online classrooms and communities that can house 2 people or 2002 people.  Bloggers, Tweeters and Facebook posters have the ability to speak their mind and change the world. 
4. Collaboration – We now have the ability to pool all of our immense resources and … change the world.  There is no longer a  me and mine.  We have the ability to SHARE everything and increase the momentum of a project by making it us and ours. 
5. Network Smarts - If we thought that telemarketers could make life unbearable because of how much they know about us;  think what can be done when businesses know every key stroke and search that you make.  We must learn how to protect our privacy so that we are safe and secure.

I want to get it “right” but I really don’t know what this is so I make changes often searching for that “right” look (I also have a little ADHD so when I see something that I like – I use it.)

I have linked up my blog and other sites to an ecard that I like .. for now.

 http://about.me/VRBurton

I have looked at tons of educator blogs and sites and I like them all because they give me ideas about what I want or don’t want in mine. The sites that I really like are the ones that I go to and then forget why I was there because I have clicked my way through to many of their interesting and valuable resources and posts.

There are many sites that do that. I love to visit the Edublog Awards Winner Page to see who is listed and then visit their sites. I always find great material there. Some use them as their PWP and some use them as merely a blog, either way there is always a great deal of quality to see and read.

Your PWP also deals with what is online from and about you. I post more good stuff than I do foolishness but I use Foursquare to share my dinner and snacks.  I have tried to get into the habit of summarizing my Tweets and Facebook posts so that I can examine my regular footsteps and I am not too upset.

YouTube allowed you to do a search of your name to see what comes up when you Google yourself.  Here is mine:

 helping educators learn to use the Web for their own learning–in part to help them understand where these tools will have pedagogical value for them in the classroom, but also to help them rejuvenate their own learning and careers.

Steve Hargadon’s Teacher 2.0: Using the Web for Your Personal and Professional Growth.

I have been working my way through the 14 actions listed on the site and I have found them worthwhile.  Some of my responses I have included on my blogs as post and others I posted a comment on the Mightybell site or the Teacher 20.com site.

• Action 1: Starting!
• Action 2: You Matter – What are you good at?
• Action 3 (Re-)Discover Your Passions
• Action 4 The Internet and Learning
• Action 5 Understanding the Personal Web Presence (PWP)
• Action 6 Creating Your Own Personal Web Presence (PWP)
• Action 7 The Habits and Attitudes of Being Public Online
• Action 8 Building Your Personal Learning Network (PLN)
• Action 9 Twitter and Google+
• Action 10 Becoming a Part of the Conversation
• Action 11 Build, Curate, or Participate in a Passion Project
• Action 12 Go Finish! Post an “I Am Teacher 2.0″ Video
• Action 13 Create Your Own Mighty Bell Experience!
• Action 14 Set Up a Teacher 2.0 Workshop

• was released – The Ms. B. is Online Daily is out! http://paper.li/MsBisOnline

• The greatest wealth is to live content with little. ~ Plato
• “The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind – Wayne Dyer”
• “Are You In Hiding? Or Shining Brightly?” @AmazingWomen
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams ~ Eleanor Roosevelt”
• “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Words Of Wisdom from Maya Angelou http://ow.ly/6CAlN via@AmazingWomen
• Action=Results=Success=Confidence=Action via @motivationlive
• When it comes down to it, the last person you think of at night is the one who truly matters to you.
• As my own children get older and begin to see the world differently, the more important it is for me to teach LOVE and UNDERSTANDING.

Must Read Articles or Must Watch Videos

• “Use of #childsoldiers can be eradicated, says UN envoy working to protect rights of children in conflict http://j.mp/HdNzpR” via @UN
• Change a mood, mind, heart 2day w/these 2 words by@angelamaiers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms#YouMatter
• Teachers and Students As Media Producers | MindShift http://bit.ly/HjwHBz
• Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology   http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons#.T36XeN8nkxw.twitter
• Digital Differentiation http://d97cooltools.blogspot.fr/2012/02/digital-differentiation-get-wired.html

Kudos

• DEN Summer Institute 2012 – DEN Blog Network http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2012/04/05/den-summer-institute-2012-2/ I am going!!! How about you?

This detox is a recap of work done in class.  Thx to the YouthVoices.net crew 4 the idea.