The World is Flat so I'm told

First thought is that I have to read The World is Flat now...http://tinyurl.com/y9kdsml. Been putting it off, but it seems like the time. Will give it to my husband for Christmas and then read it when he is finished. It has apparently been updated in 2007, so it will be relatively current (if that's possible anymore.)

And so, I have been saving Chapter 9, "What it all means" for a time when I can pay attention and think about it. Savor it, so to speak. Can Will Richardson hear my Amen from the back of the room? Amen, I say. What I like about Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts is its applicability and good sense. Web 2.0 has changed the way people interact, this affects education...in many diverse ways. Richardson allows that the affect is a challenge for classroom teachers, which it is, physically and psychologically. However, as with any kind of change, using a thoughtful approach and a willingness to try and possibly fail at first, there is quite a lot to be gained. The role the teacher plays will change but will not be diminished in any regard. Richardson states beautifully the ways in which education and teachers will have to change...personally, I'm ok with that. Yet I have posted things on Facebook and Twitter that I have felt to be truly inspiring (and doable!) and have received some (veiled) negative comments from otherwise brilliant teachers, yet when they hear or see the word "technology" they become defensive. There is not just a big physical shift that is necessary, but an attitudinal shift.

I am really excited about the possibilities, and I can tell that Richardson is as well. He is a great model and leader. I would love to hear him speak. But I wish that I could spread some of the enthusiasm without eliciting the fear and anxiety that comes with his message. Having said that, I am willing to try.

Good course. Time well spent. I wish I had had even more time, but to quote the overquoted, it is what it is. Looking forward to more. Thanks.

Visual Vocabulary

Working backwards, I have finally finished the first project assigned. I was a little sullen about having to use Powerpoint, spoiled brat that I am. So I put it off and uploaded something that I had already done. While, technically it could apply because it was a vocabulary of the solar system, it wasn't right. I also was using the useless, frustrating Nokia at the time and had a devil of a time getting images that I could use. Still can't get over the 2 cameras conundrum. And I had started out with a much larger idea for a school project about classrooms and school personnel in Spanish. I had to really scale back, and this is what I finally came up with. I like it now. Again, though, I just feel as though I haven't had enough time to do any of my projects justice and that makes me sad. Anyway, here it is from Slideshare, sans transitions (which really enhance this presentation in my opinion, but what can I do?) I really should try to figure out the optimum size for presentations for this blog because everything I have posted from Slideshare and YouTube get cut off. Ugh.

Los Colores

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Book

Well, I'm not sure I captured my book in pictures, but the approach I used for this one was more deliberate and thoughtful. I tried to incorporate excerpts that catch the spirit of the book, and I tried to create images that really went well with the text. None of this is easy and requires planning moreso than is evident in the final piece which I think is a valuable lesson to learn when planning to do digital stories with kids. It is a challenge on many levels.

How -to video

Here's my "how-to video" on making coconut almond macaroons. Thanks Mary and Rory...especially Rory, who's a big ham (and secretly doesn't like coconut...can you tell?)

How to create and comment on a Voicethread

Ann Rider's Podcast

Hi everyone, I posted a new episode to my podcast, Ann Riders Podcast. Please click the link below to view it. http://anniebrider.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-12-06T17_36_35-08_00 See you there! - Ann

Shel Silverstein Poems

Ann Rider's Podcast

Playing catch-up...putting it all together

I am playing catch-up for sure. It's been a crazy 2+ weeks of being sick, kids being sick, having relatives come for days (with all the requisite shopping and cooking) and then a long weekend in Philadelphia at an Irish Dance competition (which required several extra practices since October.) It really set me back even farther than I was. I took a lot on this Fall and am not sure that I have been able to do any of it truly well. I will not make that same mistake next semester.

I have been able to think about many of the topics addressed in this class, but not write about them. This post will begin to remedy that, hopefully.

First of all...the Nokia. Ugh. I couldn't get past the frustration. I had such a problem switching between cameras. I took it to the Turtle Back Zoo but missed a lot of shots because I was switching between cameras. I just can't figure out why there were two cameras in that thing. Redundant and confusing. How many times do you need to take a picture of yourself? Seriously. And I had to use the stylus because I couldn't get the touch screen to reliably work for me, I guess I didn't have "the touch." This is ironic to me, because I can use the touch screen fine on my iPod Touch. So I just failed miserably at getting the Nokia to work for me. I just didn't persevere enough. Not intuitive at all.

Next. The Will Richardson book, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts. I really, really like this guy. I like what he has to say about the future of education. I like how he doesn't treat Web 2.0 tools as "educational technology." It's just education. I like how he's not scared of the future and is making attempts to manage the direction that education and the role that technology plays in education. I follow him on Twitter and very frequently read what he tweets and pass it along or save it for future reference, (using Diigo, which he so succinctly describes in Chapter 6, the Social Web. I have previously posted about my success in sharing about using iPod Touches using Diigo with my colleagues. I felt very smart. Thanks, Will.) Did I mention that I love him?

I did read his comments on Wikis and blogs. I had already been using a Wiki for the World Languages Department in my School District, with mixed results. It's been good for me a few other teachers who are willing to use it, but there was little (useful) training or explanation of use/benefits for my colleagues last year for them to use it with any regularity. And I didn't have the time to proselytize as it was my first year there. Can't be too pushy right out of the gate, kwim? I have found the wiki to be super useful in some respects, as I have gotten some good ideas/comments/resources from the willing colleagues. A fifth grade teacher at my school uses a wiki for her book groups and reading responses with great results. There are uses for a Wiki.

One thing that I will continue to do outside of this class is blog. I like it. I have my son doing a blog for his reading/language arts class. He was thrilled the first time he got a comment from his teacher and wrote right back to her. There you go, writing for an audience! An authentic audience! We have been changing his backrounds with pyzam.com and are on our third holiday template. Although I am not a blogger in the true sense of the word, as there is no real "focus" yet to my posts other than my experiences in using technology in the classroom and beyond, I follow people on Twitter who are prolific and true bloggers. Blogging is a valid and useful resource.

I am looking forward to reading Chapter 9 What it All Means. But right now, I will peruse the podcasting chapter as I have just posted a podcast on podomatic.com. In Garageband, there are so many controls, I don't know what the hell does what. The audio sounds a little tinny and volume levels are inconsistent because I did 5 different poems. I had the best time putting the little Stingers in as transitions. I hope to complete my book excerpt tonight, from Little House in the Big Woods, but the kids are running around making all kinds of noise, which is not the most conducive environment for recording. And man, does your mouth get dry or what when you're reading these long passages? Ok, now I'm going to figure out how to post from Podomatic onto this blog.

iMovie training

Participated in an iLife/iMovie 09 training that was offered by my district yesterday. I learned a lot of great tricks like green screen and PIP. Thinking about how a teacher will incorporate digital storytelling in the classroom is a long process. There is so much planning involved. Also, choosing source material, like cameras or online content is a lot of work. I will probably do one on my own first to show the class before I have them participate and eventually take ownership of the process.

creativity, digital story telling and handwriting

Been thinking lately about how digital story telling can really work for a lot of kids who have writing issues, like my son. Digital story telling offers a way to present knowledge/understanding using organization and creativity without the difficult writing/handwriting process. And I mean not only handwriting, but keyboarding as writing as well.

I am going to apply to pilot the use of iPod touch as a tool to create podcasts at my elementary school. I think that until they Touch gets a built in camera, we will primarily use it as a recording device. There are headsets with microphones and earbuds which I am hoping will make it easier to record in a classroom setting. There are always recording issues. The Touches do have wifi and safari for internet access. And there are quite a few apps, but I have to investigate whether you actually create the podcast on the touch or record and sync the audio to a desktop/laptop for the actual creation in like Garageband or whatever.

I am so interested to hear other teachers' opinions about podcasting/digital story telling because of how "wed" to the writing process teachers can become sometimes, for obvious reasons. I think I see this because at the level of language learning/acquisition that my students are, they do almost no writing, just language production. So I know there are alternative means of expression/presentation/assessment that can be used effectively. Storyboarding is a big element in good digital storytelling which is an organizational tool. The editing process is well, just that, editing...choosing the most important material to include and checking for meaning/correctness. A well done digital story can be a very complete representation of a students thoughts/understanding/ideas.

I keep meaning to read more of the text Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, but quite frankly not only is it like a user's manual, which I am notorious for eschewing in favor of just trying things out, but it's also dry as toast and about as indigestible.

I'm proud of myself for finally quieting my mind enough to finish another assignment and thankful that I have 2 days over this teacher's convention that I can spend some time and get things done.

Phrase Assignment

I have finally gotten it together enough to sit down and create the story that I've been thinking about for the phrase assignment. It takes me so long to get from idea to product. Why is that? Anyone have any words of wisdom for me?

Diigo experience

I was in a meeting on Friday with elementary school teachers from around our district. I wanted to share my experience with using Diigo one of the social bookmarking tools described in Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, etc. He had recommended it along with Del.i.cious with which I was vaguely familiar. I decided to use Diigo because it archives copies of your links.
So I had started to add bookmarks and give them tags, but I didn't organize them. During the meeting on Friday, I suggested that we look into the use of iPods in the classroom. One of the teachers was interested enough to pilot a project, but didn't have a lot of information. I had 5 great links bookmark on Diigo, so I made a group, searched on the tags ipods and classroom that I had used, invited her and the Assistant Supervisor to the group and now we are all sharing the links and commenting using Diigo. It was so simple and effective. And I looked like a real gear head. Nice.

Allegory

Okay, stay with me. This is going to be really convoluted. But I am trying to arrive at something here. I am trying to make something work in my mind for the Digital story assignment #2. So, somewhere I read an interview with Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. Ever see any of his movies? Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, Lost in La Mancha? He cited as one of his influences, well 2 of his influences, Pieter Breughel and Hieronymous Bosch. Familiar with their work? Heavy on the allegory. I saw the Bosch at the Prado in Madrid, weird intricate paintings full of social commentary on sin and such. Same with Breugel's early work, although not as heavy-handed, he still painted with an eye to figurative reference. The Grim reaper is allegorical, as it represents death.

So I got to thinking about allegory, and I had the opportunity last week to do jury duty at the Essex County Courthouse. I was lucky enough to be sent to the Absolutely beautiful Historic Courthouse I was not thrilled with having Jury duty, but it afforded me to things. Time to think and the opportunity to see the beautiful EH Blashfield murals that had lovely allegorical paintings about wisdom, knowledge, justice, etc. Again, more allegory. More representational figures that are more than they seem. So now I'm challenged to think about what I can do along the lines of allegory. Like the Keats thing, Beauty is Truth, truth beauty. Or the Platonic thing about the universal...

I'm not sure where to go with this. Although I am reminded of the little tale of the wind and the sun, upon seeing a man with a heavy coat on, begin to debate who could get him to remove the coat. Short story shorter, the sun wins. Much gentler. Still thinking. Will continue this thought.

iGoogle and Blogger

I am adding the Blogger Gadget for iGoogle. I like being able to post from my iGoogle. I have been interested to finally figure out what RSS feeds can be used for. IGoogle makes it super easy to add RSS feeds to your iGoogle page. I have to decide what to put on my Home tab. I may make a new tab to organize my edu RSS feeds and then leave my Home tab for more personal/lifestyle feeds.

Blog Action Day

What are we doing personally to reduce our carbon footprint?

Our family has been making modest efforts to "go green". These efforts include:

1. Making an effort to recycle more.
2. Turning off lights, unplugging chargers and unused electronics.
3. Intending to turn in Jeep for more efficient car in January (Hybrid? Diesel?)
4. Using string bags/reusable bags at the grocery store.
5. Supporting local farmers and being a member of a CSA.
6. Refraining from printing every little thing on my computer. Doing more online.
7. Stopped buying water in plastic bottles, using Britta filter system and reusable bottles.

Wish I could use solar panels!

Here are some tips from Scientific American about solutions for climate change.

Blueberry Picking

I am replacing an earlier version of this story with an edited one. I figured out how to fade out the audio at the end. I like it better this way.

Time to read for pleasure

So I finally used the 2 Barnes and Noble gift cards that I got as a gift from families at the end of the school year in June. I bought a book I can use in the classroom (Diez Deditos, of the popular José Luiz Orozco fame) and the highly anticipated (by me at any rate) Odd and the Frost Giants. What a jewel of a book. I am so glad that I found Neil Gaiman's work, as it always leaves me happy and thoughtful. And shouldn't everyone be that way for a little while at least? A familiar theme for Gaiman is mythology and the "gods", particularly Norse myth. What I like about myth in general (as opposed to religion, which I am studiously leaving out of this conversation) is how gods and humans interact and impact each other. I have always thought of gods in certain mythologies as human nature magnified. In myth, the gods are so very human...yet to be a god in myth means that one's essential nature doesn't change. Man has more leeway in this area, so we have that going for us, which is kinda nice, right? Odd and the Frost Giants was just what I wanted to read. Short, well-written, big ideas with a light touch.

Okay, enough philosophizing...just exercising a little license to gush because, well, this is my blog. I can say what I want.

El Sistema Solar

Ceci n'est pas une Powerpoint. This is not my Powerpoint. It's A powerpoint, just not the one that I am supposted to be posting. This is just a test.

El Sistema Solar

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Drawing of the bow

Drawing of the bow...I don't remember where I heard this. It may be some goofy yoga thing, but the gist is that sometimes it's necessary to move (or appear to) move backward in order to move forward more purposefully. Like when you draw the bow backwards to send the arrow forward, are you with me? In any event, this may just be a bs way to say that you messed up and you have to start all over again. Which I have to do with the whole visual dictionary/pics on the Nokia. To be fair, this time I have a real plan instead of just taking pictures under pressure and cobbling together some half-baked, unrelated, ill-considered, shaky, fuzzy crap. I just haven't had the time to really get to know the camera/phone, and that's the crux of the matter. You have to know your tools, right. So...visual dictionary redux. Bye-bye baño.

Time is not my friend. This is what I conclude. Time and pressure...work of the devil.

Puedo ir al baño?

09172009008
Originally uploaded by ann.rider

I'm testing the "blog this" function from Flickr. I have good pics of kids in school, but didn't want to make them public. So...here's a nice pic of the bathroom! This is part of a larger visual dictionary that I'll use to teach the parts of the school in Spanish for my third graders this year.

I just get nervous making pics of my kids public.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Back to School NIght

My Principal was kind enough to excuse me from my Back to School night duties at Glenwood so I could attend my own kids' classrooms tonight. I did make a DVD of videos I put together at the end of last school year along with an explanatory hand-out (we teachers love us some hand outs, right?) and contact information in case any of the parents are interested in the World Language program at our school. I just set up a laptop on a desk and with help of the Media Specialist with whom I share an office, will show the DVD as parents are roaming the halls. I have no idea if anyone will even watch, and what they'll think if they do. Yipes.

I may post a couple examples of their work as Quicktime movies. I had actually used the Flip camera to tape them, then loaded all the .avi files into iMovie and made very simple movies for them to watch. The kids love to see themselves speaking, and it's good for them to hear. While I'm posting things, I think I'll post the link to the WL Departments Wiki that I administer. I also have some Voicethreads that the kids did last year that I think are cool. I'll post those, too.

Honestly haven't made a whole lot of progress with the Nokia. This week is killer for meetings for me. One thing after another every night. I can't keep away from Twitter though, so I did find some great blog resources. Follow @lthumann if you're into educational technology. She's a prolific tweeter (and I mean that in the best possible sense.) She posts a lot of great information.

Because of a class blog requirement as well as recent tweets from lthumann, I also keep thinking about blogs and wikis in the classroom for younger students and wish there were some way around the whole email issue. I know pbworks allows classroom accounts without having to have an email address...don't know of any blog applications (?) that do so. I like the idea of blog for younger kids because it is a little less "open" for lack of a better word.

Anyway, posting links then catching up on pesky emails.

First Post

This is my first post on my personal blog. I have been blogging to keep in touch with my family since 2005. Today, however, I strike out on my own. Compulsory though it may be, it is still my own. So this is my first post for the EDST 6340 Production 1 class.