Poetic License

I will readily admit that I can’t keep up with the news. Checking the RSS feed every other day is daunting, but I’m managing occasionally.  I really like the feeds I’m getting from YA “know-it-alls”  like Terri Lesesne who keep recommending wonderful literature. I’m also enjoying reading Laurie Halse Anderson’s Blog, Mad Woman in the Forest, to keep up with what she’s doing personally and professionally. Having personal connections (or so it seems since they come so frequently) helps with the professional motivation.

On a personal note, I like reading about new restaurants and am enjoying the posts in a feed I get called Table Talk by Meredith Ford. She reports on the Atlanta restaurant scene – something I don’t always have time to read about in the AJC.

So…I get sucked in easily. I love where the web leads but hate the productive time it sucks up in the vacuum of cyberspace.  Today I visited four new tools of choice. I’ll report on each individually-

1. Letter Pop is a website that allows one to create newsletters for free. There are hundreds of readily created templates available for use, and students would like this as an alternative to Publisher newsletters. Letter Pop is designed to be shared on-line, thus we waste less paper. I like this idea for group collaboration during writing workshops. I often have students wanting to do newsletters to distribute to their friends. This would be an easy way to do so and share with a lot of people. It’s also a neat tool for me to use to communicate with parents on a semi (am I being ambitious?) regular basis.
2. Mixbook is a website used for creating personal books.  It’s similar to I-Book that I’ve used a lot lately on the Mac. SnapFish and other picture storage sites on-line have their own versions. I like that Mixbook is a lot cheaper than I-Book, has a refundable guarantee, and presents more format choices. I think I’m going to try to use it for the next photo book I have to create. Grandparents are waiting for pictures from my children’s b’nai mitzvah in February still.  One of the neatest things about this website is that one can share the book on-line, for free. Way cool. Mixbook even allows users to interface with other uses to collaborate on a book.  I just went on vacation with four other families, and this would be a good way to collaborate on the vacation book.  Just gotta convince the others. Yes, there are loads of other classroom applications too…along the same lines.
3. Toondoo is a neat website too, especially for the creative types.  It’s a website where one can make their own cartoons, publish them to the toondoo website or embed into another interface like a blog, website or wiki.  I was particularly thinking of my English classroom boys who enjoy writing but also like the illustrative aspect of any piece of literature. They may not draw well, but Toondo solves this by having the available toon images at the ready.  This could be an independent Writing Workshop addition or a collaborative piece for any writing assignment. I originally wondered it Toondoo could help with creating a storyboard for a film project my students work on at the end of the year, and this is entirely possilble.
4. Weebly is a web-site creation space.  It’s free.  When I get a lot of time, I’m going to use it to help create a website for my jewelry business as it looks to be fairly foolproof.  When I visited the site, user organizations were featured, and one particularly caught my eye – it called Present Tense and is a “zionist-based” organization that gives feeder money to and support for entrepeneuraial start up companies (profit or not) who are based in Israel. I then went to look at the people benefiting from funding. One young woman started a business called “Challah for Hunger” which supports groups who want to raise money for charitable groups by making challah each week and selling it.  Neat!  I also found out about a young man’s project called “Bible Raps” – I’ll pass this along to the Judaic teachers.  

I found
Download, presented by Liz Kolb of the University of Michigan to be quite informative.  I have been wondering over the past few years, and as my own children (13 years old) have come into the cell phone “age”, why we BAN cell phones completely in our school. I knew there were acceptable learning applications but didn’t realize their scope.

The video conference was worthwhile in getting me thinking about how I could use what Liz suggested in my own personal classroom.  As Kolb states, “The cell phone is one of the most engaging tools for next generation’s student.” As educators, perhaps it’s important to view the mobile phone as a partner rather than a villain.

One personal application I’d be interested in sharing is using the cell phone to conduct an interview. I currently have my students interview someone who was old enough to “experience” the 1950’s/1960’s Civil Rights Movement. They must record their interview by handwriting it or typing it, and then must turn it in. Typically, I’m the only one who sees it unless the students share out loud.  If I had them record their interviews on their cell phones, save them and then post to a class Wiki or Blog, the interviews would be more accessible to all. No special equipment would be needed either.  I only wonder about the time constraints involved.  I will have to explore that further.

As a 6th grade teacher, I have students who are just beginning to beg their parents for the teen “toy” all others have. One of the only downsides of using the mobile phones in my classroom at this level is having to field the parent phone calls I’ll receive when kids come home and say, “Ms. Jacobson told me I need a cell phone for English class. Can you buy one tomorrow??” 

My slide show was completed pretty quickly once I was able to upload the images. The slide show depicts my love for reading which I truly enjoy passing on to my students (and to anyone else who will lend and ear when I get started on YA literature) Below is the link to access “Just Read”

http://k12l20sandbox.wikispaces.com/poeticlicense

I’ve spent the past few hours now trying to upload this photo to this blog, and I still haven’t been successful. I’m in a place (Camp Barney in Cleveland GA) with no 13 year old to help me, so I’m posting without the picture success story.  I will attempt to do it later when I have a knowledgeable teenager around to help.  The other night I was working on my “THINGS” and ran into a roadblock. I’m working on my son’s Mac and didn’t know why something easy was so difficult.  Thank goodness a young Mac user in the the other room told me all I was doing wrong was double clicking too slowly.  Makes me feel dumb, for sure.

Anyway… I spent hours reviewing Flickr and exploring the images. One thing I wonder, classroom aside, is how to get all my Picasa pictures on there – uploaded with the edits I’ve made.  Anyone have an idea about that? I do worry that the house will go up in flames or the hard drive on the computer will crash and there won’t be any backup–years of photos will be lost. Flickr is a good back up option, but so are photo services like Snapfish or Shutterfly.

As far as using Flickr in the classroom, I really like the sample Carl Sandberg poem that was illustrated by visual images using Flickr.  I originally began exploring images for a novel that I teach but found the images limiting because the novel is historical. I was looking for images that depicted Flint Michigan in the 1950’s as well as old Civil Rights photos. I found that challenging.  I can see using Flickr for slide show creations about a number of curriculum topics – everything from illustrating original stories to interpreting poetry.  I especially like the idea of having the kids use their own images.

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/florian_b/44227093/ by florian b 

FINALLY….SUCCESS!!!!!

Creative Commons seems like a good idea for sharing content professionally and personally.  One of the challenges we face as teachers is educating students about copyright laws and what is available for their use and what is not.  Our kids seem to grow up in a time when they believe ALL media is free and accessible. I often use the Internet to search for materials to build a unit: a lesson plan, a photo or video to explain a project, a slide show, etc.  I have sometimes seen the “CC” logo but honestly, never wondered about it until now. There are many original projects I’d like to share but have often wondered about the “protection” of my materials. If I take anything I find, I usually give the author credit, but don’t pay too much attention to whether or not it’s actually “available” for sharing.  Like the kids, I need educating too.  Perhaps, with Creative Commons, I can now feel free to share my materials and feel comfortable doing so. 

I really like the palpable enthusiasm expressed in Viki Davis’ wiki Wiki Wiki teaching. She tried something new and achieved great success with her students, including garnering “screeching” students in the hallway, excited about learning through their wikis.  I’m facing my own trepidation with wikis as a fellow teacher has asked me to do a presentation with her at the upcoming NCTE  National Conference in San Antonio, TX this November. She’s already been approved, and I’m just now learning what WIKIS are.  Ok. I can be a quick learner, I think. I hear San Antonio is a cool city.

As part of this Thing #8 requirement, I explored a variety of educational Wikis. I began with the Discovering Utopia Wiki which would be a wonderful connection for the 7th grade teaching of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Although I no longer teach this novel, I’ll pass on the information to Kathryn who does.  This Wiki is designed for high school students and connects them to many novels which have a dystopian theme. The Wiki is teacher-created and requires students to invent their own version of a dystopia.  I wasn’t very impressed with the final projects posted and found them to use minimal rubric requirements. I did however think the questions for forming a dystopia were thought-provoking and higher level. The discussion requirements between students could have been stepped up if that was a learning outcome for the teacher. Wikis are about collaboration in the end.

I also viewed the Kindergarten Counting Book where I’m assuming students took pictures that represented certain numbers to 100.  This was an adventurous project for a kindergartner and could have been enhanced with student text (even if dictated) or video.  I’m not sure what the learning outcome was. I’m assuming it was to “count” a certain number of items and write the number representing it.

The most intreging wiki I viewed was the Flat Classroom Collaborative project inspired by Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat. ”The Flat Classroom Project is a global Hands-on working together project for middle and senior high school students.
It was founded by Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, USA) and Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar) in 2006.” As I viewed this extensive Wiki, my mind was spinning about how I could use the concept in my classroom. 

I currently have a pen-pal project with a 6th grade English class in Herzelia, Israel. I’ve been working with Galit Saban, a 6th Grade English language teacher for the past four years and pair up individual students in our respective classes as pen-pals. Students learn “friendly letter format” in my class and pen letters to their Israeli pals who are just beginning to use the English language to communicate in an authentic way. Using a wiki for “getting to know you” or for “shared learning” activities could add a new dimension to this project. 

In addition, the Flat Classroom project could be implemented on a different level in 8th grade World Cultures classes. The point of the class, ultimately, is to connect students to the world outside their bubble, and this would be a perfect fit.

I also thought about using a Wiki to collaborate with a 6th Grade English Class at the Solomon Schechter school in Westchester, NY. My very good friend Dr. Jennifer Davids teaches The novel, The Watson’s go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis during the year like I do. For years we’ve been talking about collaborating on a project, with our students, and this may indeed be the year of the Wiki.

I just read a new article by Bam Bam Bigelow (Bill Ferriter) called “A Short-Sighted Sprint to Measurable Glory” in his Tempered RadicalBlog. FIrst, when required to search for new reading material to fill my “Reader”, this Blog’s name caught my eye. I like what Bam has to say, and it resonates a tremendous amount this week particularly.

I was recently at my brother and sister-in-law’s home for dinner. My sister-in -law was excited to show off my 3rd grade nephew’s CRTC scores. As a teacher in a private school, I don’t have to administer the CRTC and, unlike the IOWA, I had never seen an assessment sheet detailing the test.  Yes, Max scored incredibly high in all areas of the test, but it saddened me tremendously. Here is this bright, articulate, artistic, creative thinker who has been made to learn “canned” material only to regurgitate it on the final test at the end of the year. After moving back from England in December, Max is miserable in the public school system here. He hates everything about the school and appears incredibly board with what he has to learn. He spends long hours doing practice homework pages for this particular test and resents the fact that he has no time to play and be creative when he gets home, much less at school.  All of this in a “World Class” E. Cobb public elementary school.

Bigelow and I are on the same page because we both believe that public school kids in this country are taught that education has an end – a test to measure one’s worth. That’s it. It’s not about the learning or the excitement or the thrill of mastering new skills and opening vistas – it’s about the test. Bam Bam says, 

You see, I was looking out over a classroom of kids that I know as beautifully complex creatures.  They’re inquisitive and curious, embracing challenging questions about the inherent justice and injustice in the world.  They’ve wrestled with the idea of standing up to power and tried to explain the origins of hate.  They’ve had their thinking challenged and challenged the thinking of others time and again over the past 180 days.

They’ve explored music and art, seeing beauty and understanding the importance of design.  They’re humorous—and they tend to find joy even in the most challenging circumstances.  Almost all have personal passions, developing levels of mastery in areas ranging from dirt biking and skateboarding to writing and dance. They’ve shown compassion, demonstrated respect, and developed an attitude of exploration.

Each is learning about  himself, his friends and our world every day. 

But in the end, none of that “growth” will matter.  Instead, my students—and your children—will be defined by one mystical number generated from a collection of answers on one multiple choice exam given on one day in June.

I struggle with this same sad understanding. I feel for Max and can only suggest he get out of public school or get tested for the Gifted Program. It should offer him some vehicle for getting out the little box they’ve put him in.  Withouth a private school education or a change in school districts, he’s destined to spend his elementary years spitting back information for the test in June.  I can only work with him to enrich his learning outside the classroom and have begun doing so.  But why does it have to be this way?

Ultimately, it was the national testing trend and NCLB that ran me out of public school.  I feel thankful to be free to teach students real material that will have an impact on their true reading and writing lives in the future.

So, I found a new way to keep up with all the news I have no time to read…a very useful thing this RSS is.  I love the idea but wonder about the reality.  Anyway- one feed I now subscribe to is “This I Believe”, an NPR podcast.  In Colin Bates’ “Our Vulnerability is our Strength”, a young man talks about his new job as the “assistant” to two profoundly cognitively disabled men. He helps them wake up in the morning, get dressed, eat, work, go through their day and then retire at night to sleep.  The author says he does this work because he was living an unhealthy, unselfish life. He feels like just being with the two men, his “bosses”, and encouraging them, gives his life purpose. All for $9.00 an hour.  I love the “This I Believe” series on NPR and am constantly reaffirmed by people’s good morals and beliefs.

I just finished reading Noam Cohen’s excellent article in this Sunday’s New York Times  (Opinion/ p. 4) about Obama’s recent victory in obtaining the Democratic nomination. Cohen attributes Obama’s win partly to his ability to reach a web-savvy world and one which utilizes the Internet to garner support in a new and fresh way. What Obama seems to know is how to tap into a philosophy that isn’t about “top-down” leadership.  Yochai Benkler, a harvard law professor points out the differences between Barak Obama’s website and the McCain and Clinton websites, ” ‘On the McCain and Clinton Web sites, there is a transactional screen,’ Mr. Benkler said. ‘It is just about the money. Donate, then we can build the relationship. In Obama’s it’s inverted: build the relationship and then donate.’ ” The article goes on to talk about how Obama is “less leader than facilitator,” a role that resonates for me as a teacher.  I don’t see education as “teacher directed” but rather “teacher enriched.” I believe that students of any age have some responsibility in their own learning. Utilizing blogs and wikis is one tool to accomplish this.  Obama is having success and seems to know his audience.  Teachers should heed the lesson in his victory.