Pageflakes

I just spent the last two hours putting together a Pageflakes page for No Child Left Behind. It was really just a way for me to practice putting one together to see if it is something I could give to my kids as a research tool. I'm not sure how I feel about it. What's more work? Researching for hours looking at website after website, database after database, or putting together a Pagecast? I almost feel like Pageflakes is an unnecessary middle step. Sure, the information all comes to you, but doesn't it all come to you anyway if you're doing the research? It might continue to give the most current information, but I'm trying to weight the cost/benefit here, and I'm not really seeing the benefit being greater than the cost. Is there anyone out there that can convince me otherwise? I'm open to convincing. Also, if anyone has any "How-To" lessons for the website, I would love to see them. I think I was probably making it more complicated than it actually is...

Tech Orientation

I have come to the realization that I will have to plan a tech orientation for my kids at the beginning of next year to introduce them to the tools we'll be using next year through Blackboard and through other websites. Just for my own sanity, here is what I will have to cover with them on Blackboard:

1. Basic: Announcements, Assignments, Submitting and Saving, Sending Email (including setting up an email account for those that don't have them!), TurnItIn.com
   
2. Intermediate: Forums and Blogs
   
3. Advanced: Research (Carmun and Diigo for Note-Taking, Wikipedia as a starting place)

I'm thinking that I will start with Basic and Intermediate, then hit Advanced when we get to the first research project (multi-genre Renaissance again?).

I almost feel like this is becoming a checklist of things that I want to do with my students next year, but why not? I haven't got pen and paper in front of me at the moment.

New Blackboard button: External Links.

• Librarian's Internet Index
• Academic Info: Humanities Gateway
• InfoMine

If ever any of my students are doing a research paper on a current topic, one-on-one lessons with PageFlakes might be helpful. That may be helpful for their government papers. I wouldn't mind spending an entire class period showing students how to set up a PageFlakes account for subscribing to feeds that would allow them to have the most current up-to-date information on their topics.

Now I just need to figure out how to use PageFlakes.

Great Quote

Firstly, do people post more than one blog entry a day?

Secondly, I've been checking out various edublogs, and while reading The 21st Century School House, I found this quote:

I am lucky enough to have a new classroom set of laptops for next year. If I do nothing more than plop my students in front of those laptops and ask them to write their papers in Word or whip up a PowerPoint, then I am not doing my job. In fact, with this 1:1 computer opportunity, I have a much greater responsibility to bring those flat world possibilities into F14. What would be worse than if the students left my class thinking that school computers are only good for nothing more than old fashioned writing tasks and finding ways to bypass filters to access their Myspace accounts?

This is EXACTLY what I've been trying to get across in my writing group. We can no longer think of ourselves as teaching the students how to use technology by saying, "Make a PowerPoint for your presentation." While PowerPoint is a great thing - I use it all the time - teachers aren't utilizing it properly for student learning. They're saying, "Make a PowerPoint" without taking the time to teach someone how to successfully integrate PowerPoints into an oral presentation. It becomes a crutch for the student instead of an aid.

Maybe that's the problem - if we teach kids how to use PP, then it will be a more useful too.

I digress. I just feel, like Mr. Miller of the 21st Century School House, that if the kids aren't at least exposed to ways to share written information, then what's the point of giving them these tools?

Why Am I Awake?

It's 5:39 a.m. and I am awake and out of bed. For some people, this would be completely normal. For me, it is decidedly abnormal. I fell asleep on a very uncomfortable IKEA futon that has been serving as my couch while I transition from one apartment to the next around 11:45 p.m. watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone after having seen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this evening (brilliant, by the way). The next thing I know, it's 4:30, so I decide to get a few hours of sleep in an actual bed.

It never happens. I never fall I asleep. I always fall asleep. So what do I do with myself now? Clearly, I'm blogging. I could write - I do have a lot of work to do. I could read. For some reason I can't get myself to do any of those things either. I could work out (yeah right).

I wonder if there are any coffee shops open this late at night. What am I talking about? This early in the morning is more like it.

This will shape up to be an interesting day.

"While You Were Out" Blog

I've been trying to think of ways to use blogs in my classroom that will benefit the students and get them writing more. I've already set up my English 12 class with two sets of blogs: a class blog and individual blogs. It will take a bit of time, but I plan on giving each student their own individual Blackboard blog where they can blog for specific assignments as well as for themselves. The class blog would be a bit more collaborative, with one of the collaborations being a "While You Were Out" blog.

Many teachers keep "While You Were Out" notebooks that will inform students what they missed while they were absent. To keep it from being more work for the teacher, assign one student per class period to write the "While You Were Out" blog post. When a kid is absent, instead of making them wait until the next day in class to catch up, they can read a blog post one of their classmates wrote and get the student perspective.

This would also be a cool record of funny things that happened in class, unplanned teachable moments, and/or a way for students to reflect on what they learned. Plus they would be WRITING!

I'm going to give it a shot - I hope it works!!

First Post: Blogging. How Fitting?

A question:
If I'm blogging about other blogs, part of me wants to take notes on the blog posts I'm reading, then transfer t hem to the actual blog post. Seems like I've got an extra step in there that only hinders my thought process, so I'm just going to roll stream-of-consciousness style.

I've read educational blogs in the past. I've read blogs that are dedicated to the use of technology in education. Hurrah. Stumbling upon a blog entitled "if bees are few", I found a couple of posts that could be helpful as I try to incorporate blogs into my classroom. The first is "Blogstyle", with a list of about ten rules for writing blogs that can also apply to compositions in general. Many of these tips remind me of Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. In fact, it seems like most of what people consider to be acceptable blogging styles is pretty much in line with acceptable writing practices. Who knew?

Anyway, I'm plum exhausted from the SI. I can't physically write anymore. For serious. I'm done.

DAMMIT! I haven't written anything for writing group tomorrow.

And so I press on.