April 2007 Blog Posts (185)

Bad blogger!

So I'm spending my Classroom 2.0 time trying for more meaningful interactions than speaking into space here, hoping that folks my buzz by. I'm not an anemone that sits still and waits for floaters to pass. Am I the shark, patrolling, looking for morsels? Sometimes. Sometimes, I'm just a little krill, gathering phytoplankton to survive...

So if you want to drop a line, please do so, but most of my limited time will be dedicated out in the discussions, I hope! :) See you there!

Added by Ginger Lewman on April 24, 2007 at 8:50pm — No Comments

Hi, Folks!

I'm new to Classroom 2.0, but not to the concept behind it. I don't plan on blogging here, but I am enjoying the conversations. If you would like to check out some of my blogs and wikis, please visit the links in this post.

huffenglish.com: My blog for educators.
Mrs. Huff's English Classes: My blog for my students.
Room 303…

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Added by Dana Huff on April 24, 2007 at 7:32pm — No Comments

Finding jobs - Trailblazer or Path Follower?

This is something that I have been thinking about for the past few days - I am passionately invested in learning about how to optimize learning in the classroom. I believe that we can completely change and improve the way that students learn by making some major changes in education - just one of those changes is using some of the new web 2.0 tools that we are all familiar with.

So, as I was searching the internet last weekend, I came across a school that has a job opening in the same… Continue

Added by Matt Kish on April 24, 2007 at 7:21pm — 3 Comments

What would you pay $50 USD to get?

I was asked by the Texas Computer Education Association, Strategic Open Source, Special Interest Group (TCEA SOS SIG) to discover (and report) on what products and services teachers would deem valuable and beneficial enough that they would rush to join our group.

The cost of membership is:

TCEA Membership: $30.00

SOS SIG Membership: $20.00

------------------------------

Total Cost to Join: $50.00

It is important that we learn exactly what teachers would spend…

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Added by Joseph Chmielewski on April 24, 2007 at 2:48pm — No Comments

Halo 2 and your 3rd period class

Sylvia and I have been emailing back and forth about video games, mostly because I've been bugging her. My vision, unfulfilled so far, is to have my students create a working video game simulation of The Grapes of Wrath.

Why?

First, a slew recent books have convinced me that video games represent an evolution in thinking about motivation and how we learn. Steven Johnson's… Continue

Added by SparklingDrift on April 24, 2007 at 12:12pm — 3 Comments

Hello Classroom 2.0

I've just been directed to this page by the 'Grumpy Old Teacher' blog. I'm intrigued? I'm an ex-primary teacher but now employed by a ICT company as part of a managed ICT service. My role is to provide educational support to help transform T&L through the use of ICT as part of the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) initiatitive being funded by the UK government. Part of my remit is to develop, train and support schools in their use of Web 2.0. I am a personal 'blogger' (Yahoo 360) but… Continue

Added by Val Juneman on April 24, 2007 at 9:34am — No Comments

Is it time?

Tonight I learned yet more about the “crisis” we face in education. We have only introduced a small slice of the “big picture”. The one all of us write about collectively and passionately in this space in the Blogoshpere.

Are we powerful enough in our own districts, when our social networks fail us, and they will fail us like everything else does, can we survive longer than our opponents who are of such forceful voice?

I hope I am not disappointed this time. I loved this… Continue

Added by Karla Murray on April 24, 2007 at 8:30am — 1 Comment

About Vision...

This post started out as an e-mail reply to my own message about an idea to create a space for "shared dialog" in our district. I called my idea "Thursday Morning Tech Talks". I know, it should/could be more creative but I don't think I created the mental model I have of these sessions because I had this reply from one of my most creative team-teachers:

"Sounds good on paper- like staff meetings? Logistically it probably wouldn't be good for our staff meeting as we have to watch… Continue

Added by Karla Murray on April 24, 2007 at 6:57am — No Comments

Still haven't converted over to RSS... watch this!

I ran across this great video this morning (on a blog in my RSS reader) for those of you who aren't using RSS yet... now's the time. Get on board!

Click To…

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Added by Jeff VanDrimmelen on April 24, 2007 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

tired today

I added a discussion question/request to the main discussion forum, so if you're interested, go check it out...

Integrated Project Based Learning? http://classroom20.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A7598

I also posted some thanks and ideas to Ben Davis's discussion about www.Bubbl.us, which is a pretty cool collboration tool for web graphic organizers.

Otherwise, I think I'm done for today. *yawn*

Don't forget to throw some cool tool ideas my… Continue

Added by Ginger Lewman on April 23, 2007 at 10:31pm — No Comments

Before you can walk the walk, you've got to think the thought ...

So I have spent the past few months leaning faster than I have ever learned before. While I have made some very small efforts to implement technology into my classroom in the past, coming across the new 2.0 tools changed my view of technology and learning as a whole. For me, it was important to gather a base of information before jumping into anything in my own classroom (the learning was too engaging to stop ...). I read blogs (thanks Ewan, Will, Chris, and many others), got a feed aggregator,… Continue

Added by Matt Kish on April 23, 2007 at 8:34pm — 3 Comments

Online Book Clubs

I'm looking for examples of online book clubs for adolescents. Is anyone using Second LIfe, Skype, or Blogging to form book clubs between students who are different time zones? How do you manage it? What are the challenges?

Added by Denise Lindstrom on April 23, 2007 at 7:11pm — No Comments

Book Report Project

I have an idea to have fourth graders do book reports on-line. I have little experience with 2.O stuff and would like some input about which would be a more appropriate format: a wiki, in which kids would change the book report about a book they've read; or a blog, in which kids would add their comments to the book reports of other students. What do you think? Or maybe you have a completely different suggestion?
Thanks,
Richard

Added by Richard on April 23, 2007 at 3:00pm — 4 Comments

Huh?

I've never used a blog or any on-line kind of journal and have never really gotten what the point of them is. I'm testing this out just to see if it will give me any ideas for what I might actually use it for.

Added by Richard on April 23, 2007 at 2:53pm — 3 Comments

Student-Designed Curriculum

I know this can't be an original idea, but what if we actually worked with students as they designed curriculum for what they want to learn?

What would be the key processes to follow to ensure that students learned what is essential yet were able to engage in learning those things of interest to them?

For instance, if a student were to discover that he or she is interested in pursuing a career in software development, how could we satisfy the requirements of federal… Continue

Added by Terry Eis on April 23, 2007 at 12:18pm — 4 Comments

In the Ning

What a great group! I haven't been on Classroom 2.0 for even 24 hours and already 5 people have bothered to welcome me with friend invites.

I signed on to Ning just to see what the system was like after hearing about the Classroom and Library 2.0 projects. My big question was whether Ning was worth the new time investment, especially given that I have a hard enough time carving out moments to write in my blog (it still hasn't become a habit for me).

These first five invites,… Continue

Added by Matt Clausen on April 23, 2007 at 6:32am — 1 Comment

Start!

I am very excited to join this network. I have been using technology in various ways in my own life for a quite a while, and I cannot wait to get it into my classroom. I only wish that our school was designed in such a way that fostered technology use.

I can't wait to meet more people who are interested in using technologies in learning!

Added by Matt Kish on April 22, 2007 at 8:52pm — 7 Comments

Coming in...

I was in the middle of doing some Web 2.0 studying this evening (Furl, Spurl, and Diigo) and lo and behold, I received an email from one of my partners in crime inviting me in here!

Since I'm always game to see what possibilites lie in wait--even tho my husband isn't always as patient with my studies--I thought I'd take a gander. I'm very interested in learning interesting new tools to share with students, but I'm also game for a good, thoughtful conversation about where this world… Continue

Added by Ginger Lewman on April 22, 2007 at 8:34pm — 4 Comments

The passion for learning continues

I am a learner, first and foremost and today, I pushed beyond my shaking left hand for complete a guitar recital for a group of great friends with the help and support of my teacher for the past five years and my lifelong partner. We served great food, enjoyed a perfect day and to think last week we were in the midst of a flood and I did my thing and then a celebration!

I have been working for this moment for the last two months. I can't say it was an A+ but that's the conditioned side of… Continue

Added by Bonnie Kaplan on April 22, 2007 at 8:12pm — No Comments

What to do with these LD teachers?

It was a long week. As my last post indicated, I was hoping it was Friday at about Wednesday. Friday finally did arrive. It's now Saturday. Yesterday evening I read through

some blogs and some forum comments over at Classroom2.0

which I've joined and am enjoying meeting new people. As I read through

the posts and forums, a strange thing happen. Maybe it was my frame…

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Added by Kelly Christopherson on April 22, 2007 at 7:56pm — No Comments