School Convocation Day

Well, what do you know? Deb Delisle was the keynote speaker today at our opening convocation, and what do you think she focused on? 21st Century Skills, working in COLLABORATIVE GROUPS, and Informational Technology. Talk about twists and turns! She also emphasized the importance of the teacher-student relationship and building that rapport (of course!).

I was just thrilled that my classroom plan fits right in with that of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Ohio. I sat there listening to her and I must've had a stupid grin on my face, although I hope not. Just was a true affirmation for me today and I feel good about the direction I've chosen.

New Start

Well, I began this blog as a place to muse about life in general and about unexpected twists that life takes. Once class began, the posts reflected my learning regarding New Literacies. I had never heard of a ning and didn't really know what a wiki was, but all that's changed.

I have a feeling that my whole world has changed because of this class and the fact that I have so much more ahead of me as I embark on my quest for my PhD. Life does take unexpected twists and turns and I can't wait to see what waits just around the corner.

I do want to thank Dr. Kist and my classmates for all I have learned from them, and hope we continue to meet in cyberspace (and in realtime, too).

YFYNOA!

That's Yay For Yahoo Newsfeed Once Again! That's my textspeak for coming across another appropriate article while logging in to my email. The article is all about how adults need to keep up with all the text abbreviations that are becoming part of the lingo and it outlines a few instances that caused some embarrassment. If you're interested, you can read the article here.

The Flickering Mind

I've been reading parts of an interesting book by Todd Oppenheimer. The title is The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved. I almost passed it by in the library, but decided to have one resource that I felt was probably in opposition with what we'd been doing in class.

I haven't read the entire book, but basically he's warning school systems to use technology (and spend money) wisely because at the end of the day, it's less about the technology, and more about what you do with it. He also warns against losing the personal touch and helping students enhance their ability to relate to one another.

So it really is in line with thinking about what 'new literacies' really are and, as Bill said, it's not always about technology.

Wikis Here, Wikis There

Wikis, wikis, everywhere!!! Who knew? I started out investigating e-Zines (which I'm still doing), but I've fallen in love with wikis. I can see so much potential with them and am bound and determined to incorporate them into my classroom, too. 

Just so you know,  offers free, unlimited k-12 wikis for educational purposes. I'm also finding that the process of writing this paper isn't so different from what I experienced putting together the multi-literacy autobiography and therefore, it's taking  FOREVER! I read one thing, which leads me to investigate something else, and on and on. I don't even need hyperlinks to do that :-) It's happening with print, too, so reading actual printed books and articles is becoming a non-linear activity for me.

Reading as Fast as I Can

It's taken me days to compile all the articles and books for my Inquiry Paper and now I'm faced with the task of reading them all.  I am excited to investigate my chosen topic, but it's still a daunting task. 

Reading for pleasure? What's that? I did manage to read an interesting book while on vacation just prior to this class. The book, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, was a fascinating journey from page 1 to page 560. I read very little non-fiction, yet this book whet my appetite for more. I guess I'll be getting my fill of non-fiction for the next week.

In case anyone needs another resource, readingonline that Dr. Kist used as an example is really a good one. I found some articles there I couldn't find elsewhere.

Wow, this entry is all over the place, kind of like my brain right now. Must continue reading...

What a Week!

It's only been two days, but it seems like I haven't blogged in a year. Being so focused on completing my wiki and my multi-genre autobiography projects, I just didn't feel I could even stop long enough to blog yesterday. It did give me an opportunity to let a few things sink in, though, so reflective time is good.

Regarding our fabulous guest speakers, I truly appreciate the fact that each one was so different and offered such a wealth of information. I think Bill did an amazing job choosing people that were such a complement to his expertise, which made this environment so rich with content.

Although I had taken David Bruce's video class a couple years ago, I learned additional information from Dr. Dowdy that gave me more ideas to take back to my classroom and my colleagues. She is such an inspiration and I can see how she would be able to challenge her students to think in different ways. I need to learn more from her.

Gary Mote had so much to share and was so encouraging about using this technology. His daughter's powerpoint was a great example of what students are capable of doing with the right guidance.

Jeffrey Pellegrino was such fun and I was intrigued by his presentation on the response system. He has such a diverse background and his sense of adventure comes through, even when discussing something that seems far removed from the wilderness.

What can I say about the ATT Classroom of the Future? That was simply mind boggling. I can't even imagine the logistics of bringing a class there for such an extended period of time, but it sure would be an incredible experience. I'd love to figure out a way.

Looking back, I can't believe all that we learned and accomplished in one week. Granted, I didn't do much else all week, but it was certainly worth every hour in front of my computer. Now, on to the next projects. I hope these next two weeks don't go quite as quickly, though. For tonight, I think I need to sleep.