Treasure Chest of Thoughts

This week during the meeting of one of my peer PLN’s (my Classroom Redesign Team), colleague Lisa Huff mentioned the term tradigital, a word that caught my attention, a quite interesting combination of terms, one that sounds much more interesting than the term I have been touting lately…blend. 

Tradigital?  Blend?  Yes..tradigital sounds much more interesting!

Therefore, I went where most of us go when initiating a search:  that’s right…Google.  When scanning down the list of results, I encountered this link to Word Spy:  http://www.wordspy.com/words/tradigital.asp

Ahhh…very interesting!

Below the “Example Citation,” the owners of this site then list the “Earliest Citation,” followed by “Notes.”

Thus, intrigued, I decided to check out other trendy vocabulary.  Today’s word is peanut-buttering, defined as “spreading the resources of a company or person too thin.”  Peanut-buttering…that word just might describe me!

Will such vocabulary appear on the ACT, SAT, Arkansas’ End-of-Level 11th Grade Literacy Exam?  Probably not in the near future.

I have subscribed to this site’s feed; think I will ask my students to add this feed to their Google Reader.  Knowing some of their busy schedules, I do think that many of them are peanut-buttering also as they sit in our tradigital classroom. 

This, I think they need to know!

Today, my own version of a sci-fi world continued as I created this cartoon strip for my World of Hollywood using ToonDoo:

Very easy to use, this cartoon strip took me just minutes to create (once I learned how to navigate the system).  ToonDoo provides many images and backdrops and literally with just a few clicks, I had this one created.

As you may recall, I created Hollywood last year using HeroMachine 2.5 for the Pre-Ap English 10’s multi-genre sci-fi project.  Just to review, Hollywood’s goal to save those innocent little fifth grade girls from the advances of the want-to-be-fifth-grade-boyfriends.  (I am probably having too much fun with this storyline!)

This, the creation of the cartoon,  is an excellent way to review punctuation of dialogue.

This year, instead of each student creating a new world, each lit circle group is creating one new sci-fi world…and, oh, the dialogue that occurs as they debate, discuss, and, sometimes, agree to disagree!  Good project for working on group dynamics!

The groups will present their final projects using Glogster, which has recently released a version for the education world.  Thank you, Glogster!  Yes, more updates on that to follow!

Recently, I came across two lists of tech tools; both have some interesting links:

• 25 Free Apps and Websites for Tech-Loving Teachers posted by Mr. Joel at So You Want to Teach?
• How to Become More Tech Savvy This Summerby Jim Moulton at Edutopia via their e-letter.

I know…a little overwhelming, aren’t they?  My suggestion?  Find good homes for the children and a “honey-do” for the husband or significant other and take an afternoon for yourself…some down time with tech tools.  Okay, that makes me sound like a nerd!  But….I just happen to like nerds…

Do you like nerds?  Then, PLEASE check out this self-created video by author John Green that I discovered on his blog.  He is also the author of An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns, (the first two of which I have purchased to read!).  This just might be a great video to show on the first day of school!  What do you think?

Do you have favorite tech tool lists?  Please share!

Just read Will Richardson’s latest blog post “The Larger Lessons,” which continues the discussion about tech tools being simply that…a tool that teachers should use to educate the minds of those who entered our doors.  A tool.  Not the curriculum.  Not the reason I teach grammar, writing, vocabulary, reading.  Just one of the many tools that I have at my disposal.

It’s one of the reasons that I get continually frustrated with NECC sessions and Tweets and blogs that celebrate tools without giving weight to the considerations that goes into choosing a tool in a pedagogical sense. We need more sessions on “why?’ not “how?”…

While many if not most of these lessons can be learned without technology, I think transferring those lessons into the contexts of online networks and global, cross-cultural, sometimes anonymous interactions is not necessarily fait accompli with our kids.

As a Year 2 Web 2.0 learner, I really appreciated this post.  Last year I was truly overwhelmed just learning the reality of the existence of Web 2.0…I was fairly content in Web 1.0; actually, until peer Lisa Huff, no one had taken the time (or was it that no one else knew about Web 2.0 either?  Maybe?) to show me, to teach me, so that I could then learn.

This year, I am still overwhelmed.  I have spent several days this summer learning more tech tools.  Now, as I sit here and as I talk to my fellow comrades who are also now entering the land of Web 2.0, my head and theirs now are spinning with the “why.”  Which tool do I use with what Framework?    Which ones (besides blogs and wikis) am I the most comfortable with in showing my students?  What lessons would best be enhanced with Penzu, Protopage, WikiSpaces, Webspiration?

School starts in about four weeks.  Am I crazy, or do I need another workshop?  A shop where we actually “work” on these very decisions.  While my being crazy might be debated, the answer to this question is yes.  We need another workshop.  Oh, my.

This morning I posted a comment on Twitter…and got “slammed,” as noted later in a Direct Message by another follower.  Just have to say…these comments bothered me.  Why?  Not because everyone should agree with everything I say.  Free country.  We all have a a right to our own opinions.  Very much believe in that First Amendment!

I am bothered/disturbed, though,  for two reasons:

1. In that box that will only contain 140 characters, one can only say so much!
2. By the time I noted the replies to my comment, it was buried under several screens of comments.  Gone.  Like my voice was lost.  Like I could not even defend myself.  Therefore, here I will thank those who responded, for dialogue is a strong tool, and respond to the last two comments and maybe continue that dialogue here, where one does not have to be immediately present to still respond in a timely fashion. (Yes, it’s true I could reply to them…but I still feel that this somewhat random response twelve hours later is “lost” within all the other comments.)

Original Twitter comment:

Attended a workshop this week based on Dr. Ruby Payne’s work on poverty…very interesting and so applicable for many of my students.

Replies to this comment:

• jennann516@tgillmoreThat workshop is so eye-opening. The part abt material goods vs paper (ie deed to house, insurance, etc) rang so true.
• JenAnsbach@jmiscavish @tgillmore After working in a high-poverty special needs district for 6 years, I found Payne’s work offensive when I read it.
• jmiscavish@tgillmoredon’t drink the koolaid yet-her thoughts really simply a complicated situation: http://is.gd/1DgTd (This is a link to a paper critiquing Dr. Payne’s work.)

To Continue the Dialogue:

On Thursday and Friday of this past week, I did attend a workshop during which Dr. Sue Dehart (a humorist also!) presented the work of Dr. Ruby Payne.  All attendees (125 teachers both from my district and several surrounding schools) received copies of A Framework of Poverty and a workbook of modules (prepared materials for immediate use!  So exciting for any teacher!)

Honestly?  I have not read enough of Dr. Payne’s works to consider myself a valid reference, but after listening to Dr. Dehart for twelve hours, I am confident enough to promote her presentation of Dr. Payne’s work. 

• Day 1 was full of statistics and good reminders (vivid enough to immediately call to my mind students I have had, those I still have, persons who live in my community, those who my church have helped in the past…yes, people in poverty, those people, who, unfortunately, I forget and do now acknowledge enough as I sit here in my middle-class arrogance.  By the way, that descriptor is mine…not one I heard during the workshop).
• Day 2, one in which I left with much applicable material, was simply the use of graphic organizers, which I totally support.  Very much. 

As I peruse the last two comments, I would have to ponder along with the Twitterer who left me this Direct Message:  it’s worth noting that political agendas are connected to acceptance and rejection of her work. Fact becomes irrelevant as agenda takes over.  With this I would and do truly empathize.  Politics within a school district is frustrating.  Very.

One additional note:  I went to that workshop totally unenthused about the topic, preferring to be almost anywhere (with the exception of jail, the grave, and the hospital…just a few that come to mind!).  What is important to note here, though, is that I left a more sympathetic, caring teacher, who hopes to make a more positive impact on her students…and her neighbors and fellow church-goers… this fall.  Yes, that is what is really important to note here.

My journey continues through the highways and byways of 21 CLC through two avenues:

1. My 21 CLC Professional Learning school team.  I will record those thoughts at this blog:  Mrs. Gillmore’s 21 CLC Journey.
2. Classroom Redesign…yes, a newly redesigned classroom, which includes a class set of mini computer and other tech tools.  Too cool, right?  Thoughts about this journey will be recorded at this blog:  Cafe Gillmore.  (The six teachers involved in this project chose “Cafe” as  our theme…as our motto and as an inspiration for interior decorating!)

I hope you check back and check on my progress…and leave any tips to make this journey even more successful.  Thanks!

Today was another full day of technological professional growth!

1. Shopped for Cafe Classroom Redesign.
2. Spent seven+ hours plotting and planning (using our mini’s!) for the first week of school.
3. Currently we are riding out a storm…there just has to be a metaphor involved here somewhere!…of course, four of the six of us are still using our mini’s!

Two points worth discussng here from today’s work-a-thon:

• Select what tools work for you and then truly use them.  Today, some of us (storm update:  just lost electricity…mini’s are fully charged.  Is very still and green outside…no, not a good sign.)….Today, some of us created Protopages, while others worked on wikis.  Really glad that I still have two months to plan and prepare.  Really glad.
• Pre-planning is the key in creating a successful 1:1 program.  Again, let me reiterate…really glad that I have two months to plan and prepare. 

A thought from today that I need to share with my peers:  I would really like for us to get together throughout the summer and share and discuss what progress we have made since our last bonding time, which is exactly what this has become.  A point made early by Lisa Huff:  next summer when we are hosting such an event for the round of mini users, time away from school, from home really does allow for time to bond, or what I l like to refer to as professional development and growth.

Update #2:  Just had a discussion with the other teachers, and we all agreed:  we do not want to wait six weeks to get together.  Checking our calendars so we can showcase what we have created and learned every two-to-three weeks or so.

Update #3:  Storm is over, and as so often happens, the temperature has dropped, and life is wonderfully cool…both literally and figuratively!

Tech Tools we used today:

• Flickr
• Protopage ~ Sticky Note feature
• Voki
• Mini Computer built-in camera
• Voice Thread
• Continued work on wikis and blogs

Promise…I will comment on these more!  As of now, we have put in a 13-hour day.  Shhhh…time for some R and R…with no technology involved!

Throughout our second day of learning how to utilize the mini computers within our classrooms, my peers and I spent a day working and learning more about each other.  Maybe it should be a requirement for co-workers to spend successive days together…working and talking and working and chatting.  Fun!

I did fail to mention a techie tool that we used yesterday:  MonkeySurvey.  How did we utilize this tool?  Well, we did create a survey for our students, but, some time…just a little bit…was spent creating surveys that often created snickers at inopportune times (yes, I know this sentence is in passive voice…intentionally so.  Passive voice saves me from having to name names!)

Today, the presenters spent time assisting the teachers create wiki pages…a tool that we from Batesville began using last year (Mrs. G Info and The Think Tank…I love wikis!).  Thus, much of today was spent working…for the most part very quietly…on techie tools we each wanted to perfect, as the presenters also shared ways they had implemented the minis and all the techie tools mentioned here and in yesterday’s post.  My favorite?  The Lucky Ducks.  Ms. Anna purchased each of her students a rubber ducky, which each student adopted wrote about in various assignments.  Cool idea…now how can I implement this within my classes this fall?

One idea we gleaned from today?  Next year when we host this meeting for the “newbies” in our district, we want to host sessions for the various learning levels.  Leader Lisa Huff is taking notes…already planning for what we can implement to ensure the success of our teachers and our Classroom Redesign within our district.  Today, it became even more obvious the multiple levels of technological knowledge within the room; to have been able to break out into sessions….that would have been advantageous. 

Tomorrow, we do not meet as a group, so we will spend time preparing for the first day back to school. That’s right:  Welcome back to school…after only being out of school for a week!

This is exciting…just in case I forget to write that!

Five peers and I are in Fort Smith, Arkansas, training with their next group of teachers who will also be receiving a class set of mini-laptops this fall.

Today we utilized these (among others, of course!) techie tools:

• Etherpad:  Here’s one we worked on today!  I really see the application of this tool within the classroom.
• Protopage:  My first Protopage….not sure how much I will use this one but still fun to play with…may change my mind as I develop this more.
• Penzu:  This may be my favorite!  Maybe because it looks like a real piece of paper?  Definitely will go more “green free” this fall!

Currently, here’s what I see…literally…three of my peers “playing” on their mini’s. 

• Peer One – researching professional development reads.
• Peer Two – creating our theme t-shirt…can you say “cafe”?
• Peer Three – updating her Reader.

Have I used the word nerd yet?  Definitely some of the coolest people you will ever meet!  Definitely teachers that our students will be blessed to have this fall.  Definitely leaders within our district.

Definitely exciting!

Thanks to  T. Seale and Tom Barrett for introducing me to the latest WAVE by Google.  According to the link provided by T. Seale,

Waveis a web-based application that marries multiple forms of communication and collaboration, including chat, mail and wikis, into a unified interface. Everything inside Wave happens in real time: You can even see a comment being made as the person is typing it, character-by-character.

Thanks for links…and the online professional development that was…did I mention?…free!

• T. Seale:  On Twitter, she provided this link:  Google Waves Goodbye to E-Mail, Welcomes Real-Time Communication
• Tom Barrett - On Twitter he provided this link:  Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009

Do you Twitter?  I have discovered that Twitter is the quickest “link” to what many in our field are reading…I like it!  In a way, Twitter allows one to pick the minds of those who are being true professionals:  they are sincerely interested in everyone knowing what they know.

Then as you Twitter, you will begin to learn about all the other Twitter applications and uses.  Yes,  another instance of realizing that the more we know…the more there is to learn!