Second Life Lesson

Wow! My brain is fried! I just had my first lesson in Second Life, a world full of avatars! Peggy and Tom showed me around. They were so kind and patient. Good thing, I found myslef running into walls and turning in circles to the point of frustration toward the end of the hour-long session. I am really excited about this tool for distance learning. Peggy says her department has their faculty meetings in Second Life because department members are located all over the country, and the world. I would love to use this tool for TIC. If I could get folks from Winnemucca and other distant locations to try SL, maybe they would be willing to have class there, rather than using the interactive video. At any rate, this is something to consider.
I am pleased with myself and my new learning tonight! One more step, a huge step, toward techyness!

My first digital story!

I am so excited to post my first digital story! I'm proud of Benjamin, my composing partner. I think we did a fabulous job!

It's been a while

I can't believe how easy it is to put this blog off, just forget about it, not take the time to post. I know the document is just for me, I don't have a group of followers on the edge of their seat each day waiting to see my next "brilliant" post. The awareness of this may play into the lack of motivation to post. I realize this needs to be irrelevant, I'm not writing for anyone but me. It's interesting to consider the psychology behind having an audience.
Now, updates on my techy journey! Since Bloggy Bootcamp I have maintained and followed the work on the TIC blog, providing a number of reminders to participants to check their posts, and to provide comments to colleagues. I found this work to be very time consuming. If I had the TIC class as a face-to-face we would have gathered for two hours, each person would have been provided some type of feedback and it would be done. With the blog, not all folks provided posts or feedback. I've decided to consider these folks as absent from November's class. They will have to make up the hours some other way. So, we take away the element of non-participants and what's next? How is this blog process beneficial? The record of good thinking and probing questions is available to reread often. Folks from Humbolt had an opportunity to read what folks in White Pine were doing (if they chose to.) It seemed like Chere' was the only one that did this. Participants could post at their leisure, even if that is midnight. One drawback I thought about is the need to go back often to check what's been added. So getting on the blog wasn't a one time thing, it had to be a frequent exercise. If you were the first to comment on someones blog and you did not go back to see what other's said, you would not benefit from everyone elses thinking.
Moving on: other than the blog I have created and taught students how to create a digital story. I have created an avatar in Second Life and plan to meet with Peggy this week. I have taught a second session in technology in the classroom and a first session in Digital Learners for the High School. I'm reading about digital writing...I just keep trying things, sharing ideas, and hoping I will eventually feel comfortable as a techy teacher.

Bloggy Bootcamp Thoughts

Just got home from Bloggy Bootcamp http://www.thesitsgirls.com/bloggy-boot-camp/
So much to think about! I'm not even sure where to start! I'm thinking I need to start all over, start from scratch - just forget about all I've done thus far, rethink what I'm doing and why I'm doing it... I don't know.

I need to post! It's been so long!

I've noticed that it is hard to keep up with all the different web 2.0 things I've gotten myself involved with! I haven't posted on this blog in almost a week, but I have been posting and frequently checking the teacher inquiry blog I started for November's TIC class. I haven't checked my Google reader lately, I'm sure I have several things to read and catch up on there. I finally posted something new on Facebook. I think it's been a month since I've been on there. As for Twitter....maybe I will check in on that after I post this! How does one keep up with all of this? It takes a lot of time! I should hunt down the NING I created and do something with that, but what? The Wiki I've made for the k-12 math cohort is getting neglected, I think the last edit was back in September. Hmmmm....
This reflection leads me to think about teaching writing and how audience and purpose determines genre in most cases, if not all! The same could be said/taught about all the web 2.0 tools - what is my purpose? Who is my audience? Which tool will best fit? I wish I knew how to get this reflection out where others would read it and provide some feedback. I need to hear from folks that manage their life effectively with multiple web 2.0 tool use. I need to know if this is even what folks are doing! Maybe at the "Bloggy Bootcamp" class I'm taking tomorrow will help me with this!

Wikis

I'm learning about Wikis and their potential use in the classroom. Again, I am learning from Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, 3rd Edition.
I love the opening quote to chapter 4, "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder.
That's what this is all about. A new agreement on what collaboration and negotiation implies at a global level. It's quite amazing. I would love to start a wiki where all teacher researchers using action research contribute to the process of this work. I tried a Ning for this purpose last year. It's dormant - I have not revisited it, and it has had zero visitors other than a few colleagues that I tried to get to use the Ning. They had trouble signing in, or even creating an account or some other trouble...the whole thing just flopped. So, how do we get the traffic we hope for in order to make this collaboration successful? That's what I need to learn now. The same question can be applied to this blog. Why would anyone want to visit this blog? How would I get others to visit it, and contribute to my thinking? Is this even necessary?

So Excited!

I sent a text to Treena and asked her to try and post on our TIC blog. After a few texting exchanges, we and sending invitations to be an author one more time, it worked! It was a really cool feeling, knowing that we figured this out and created something that will allow open communication with all 24 TIC members. I wonder if all TIC members will know how to get where they need to be to accept their invite and start posting? That will be interesting! Treena needed help but not much, I just had to re-send the invite. I will keep track of this process, how it all pans out. It may be something I can use in my data. Treena just told me that she had fun getting this all figured out and that hopefully she will have a blog created to use with her students soon. YEAH!!!

TIC Blog Update

Not only will the White Pine teacher researchers be using our tic blog, www.whitepinetic.blogspot.com/
but, we've also decided to have the teacher-researchers from the Northeastern part of the state, Humboldt,  join the blog. I would say this is a huge using-technology-step for me. I anticipate a number of learning experiences will arise from this online class formate.

First online class!

Tonight I created a blog so my teacher inquiry group could have an online class for the month of November. I notice that the more I use Blogger, the quicker it is to create a blog. I worried about creating a blog that all the teachers could post on. I finally figured that last step out just by hunting around the different options and tools. The tab titled "Permissions" was the winning tab! All 17 teachers have been invited to our blog, http://whitepinetic.blogspot.com/! I hope to see posts coming in soon!

baby steps

Just learned how to change my URL address for this blog! I am now located at
http://becomingatechyteacher.blogspot.com/
WOOO HOOO!!! Each new learning experience, not matter how small, will make a difference!

The more I reflect upon what to write, the more I have to write about.

What I've noticed about my blog posts... If I'm not reading something about using technology, I have nothing to reflect on and write about. This tells me that I need to do more reading and or experiencing new technology tools so I have something to think about and write about. I need to set a goal for myself. Each day I need to read a few pages from one of the many books I have about incorporating technology into classroom instruction and I need to read blog postings from Will Richardson's blog or Puny's site. From this reading I can analyze each message and synthesize how this new information relates to my current understandings about technology. I need to figure out how this can become my TIC project. What is my question? How can I incorporate this blog into my project? How will this blog help me become a better writer and a better user of technology? How can my learning be useful to a larger audience of educators? I could collect data on time commitment and related benefits. I could code the text in each blog post to show a level of growth and confidence in my use of technology. If this is my plan then I need to create a template that I include with each post that helps me collect this data.
What technology have I used since starting this blog, that I have not used in the past?
1. This blog!
2. Google docs for TIC
3. RSS
4. Text message tools (polleverywhere and Wiffity)
5. Wordle
6. I've attempted to upload video of my writing workshop conferencing but have been unsuccessful so far.
7. I've created a family web site with Google sites, but need to work on this site...make it better.

This is all I can think of now. I think I've got a good start!

Really? Is it really this hard to upload movies?

I've decided that my next techy experience will be to get some of my videos of myself conferencing with my son, Benjamin, uploaded to the Internet so other teachers can view them. I didn't expect this task to be so hard! I will provide updates as I figure this out! So far I have accounts with both Teacher Tube and You Tube. I love using Roxio to edit my movies but for some reason they won't upload... I'm trying to figure out Windows Movie Maker but when I put a clip in it will only load on the audio line, it won't show up on the video...this really confuses me!

I thought I figured it out! I was so excited! I watched the red bar slowly fill across the page indicating the percentage of video being loaded...finally, it's done... I go to view... I get

Sorry! Errors found. Internal problem occurred in your video.

MAN!!!!! This is not cool!!!

Teacher Inquiry Community (TIC) with many miles between us

Seven folks, three locations, one meeting, one community, a teacher inquiry community. Winnemucca TIC! I didn't think it would work but I love teacher inquiry so much that I was willing to give it a chance. Tonight was session two of a year-long teacher inquiry class where teacher-researchers come together as a community willing to help one another think deeply, think differently about their work as educators. I've facilitated this work for a handful of years now, all face-to-face and all extremely powerful in building a strong sense of collaboration and community. With the Winnemucca TIC we have participants teaching and living in rural-extreme! Video conferencing, Google Docs, email and fax machines are our way of making the connections necessary to build our long-distance relationships! Tonight was session two of a year-long class. Session one started with a face-to-face where all participants were required to meet in one room. I knew I needed that opportunity to meet everyone face-to-face before starting this experiment of video conferencing etc. to facilitate the group. I am pleased to report that tonight was wonderful! I think this will work, although I still prefer the face-to-face. Maybe that's human nature. Session three will involve seven folks and four locations. That will be interesting!
Side-note: I'm exhausted! It's been a very long day of traveling and working. I'm in my hotel room wanting dinner and sleep. Despite these wants/needs, I chose to post on my blog. This tells me that blogging provides a unique motivation for writing. I wonder if this motivation will stand the test of time. I do not plan to reread this post...too lazy tonight. That's interesting to note!

Is email for old people?

I once heard that according to the younger generation, (current teenagers) e-mail is useless and/or obsolete! Hmmmm... I check my email several times a day. It is a tool that much...maybe all of my work, at some level, is coordinated through. Considering the rate of change when it comes to technology, I can imagine a time in the near future when e-mail becomes a concept of the past, kind of like dial-up connections to the Internet. I wonder what I will be using to coordinate my work then! Some version of Facebook? Texting on my mobile device? I find that most of my coordinating of life with three teenagers is done with my cell phone!

I think that any anxiety I experience on my journey toward techy-ness is due to the fear of the unknown. I don't have that willingness to just go with whatever may come at me. As a classroom teacher teaching writing I am comfortable teaching this way, responding to student writers according to what ever may come at me. I don't know what I will be teaching from one conference to the next during a single writing workshop and I am completely okay with that. There is plenty of the unknown and I thrive on it. I trust myself and my knowledge as a teacher of writing. I wonder if that same level of comfort and confidence will come related to my experiences with technology. Only time will tell!

A side note: I have read and reread this post, checked spelling and other conventions, something I would not be doing if I were writing these reflections in my research notebook. I've noticed after reading past posts that I have numerous errors...they are small and a reader can easily figure out my intended message, but still, the errors are there. What does this mean for students that use a blog to communicate with their readers on a regular basis? Will they become more conscientious of their writing? I know I have, and still, I bet once I reread my post a day later I will discover there are still errors that I've missed tonight. Hmmmm....

Blog Audience Implications...Just Wondering

I thought to check in on my blog this afternoon, just to make sure it was still there...where ever "there" is! I scrolled down checking each post glancing at each comment counter. Comments 0....Comments 0....Comments 0....I wanted to reflect on my emotions as I noticed the lack of comments. After wondering why there are no comments I found myself thinking about why I would expect comments, just because I made a blog doesn't mean random folks are looking at it. And if they are even looking at it that doesn't mean they would be compelled to comments. I've read several blogs and I have not commented on one. So, what is going on here...what is the psychology around commenting on blogs, and bloggers wanting comments? I recall reading that students get hooked on blogs when they have others commenting to their posts. Could it me a variation to facebook or email? The one that composes a message using either tool will go back looking for replies. Is the digital generation accustom to instant response? If so, I've wired my brain for that!
Now, another thought....If this were my research notebook I would not worry about others reading my mindless wonderings of words and I write to figure out what I'm thinking. As I type these thoughts on my blog I feel uneasy knowing that once posted, these thoughts are exposed for anyone to read. It's like I don't want to post on my blog unless I think I have something amazing to share but if I waited for something amazing and always censored myself I wouldn't have anything posted. So what is the balance with this genre? With this blog am I writing for a particular audience? How can I adjust my style, my presentation, my level of synthesis if I am just posting for the general population? Should I have created in my mind a hypothetical audience, identified what is appropriate for them and based my writing on that? Again, if I can't freely write my wonderings, if I'm worried about my audience, I may never post.

So...what does all this random reflection mean for me and my blog? Knowing that web 2.0 tools are to connect and share... For now I'm going to go with being my own audience, writing for me. As my blog evolves, maybe who I'm writing for will evolve. I will have to wait and see.

It's about thinking differently

I pulled this off of Dr. Mishra's site, http://punya.educ.msu.edu/2010/02/11/exciting-new-possibility-an-invitation/
"...we know that we are living in exponential times. Clearly the status quo will not do. Most of what we know (and teach) is becoming dangerously irrelevant. We need new ideas, new research, new tools, new institutional structures, and new pedagogies that fit this new “conceptual world” we are living in."

This brings great anxiety to me. Again, I'm feeling that pressure to catch up with the times. Why do I keep coming back to that? Why can't I just recognize that my role is to jump right in with both feet and get going, get going with whatever technology I want to try and as I play around think about new ideas, new tools, new pedagogies...it's that simple...but really, it's not! Ugh!!!!  I have to retrain my brain. I have to trust myself, I have to take risks, I have to become vulnerable and willing to step into the unknown. I think these are all the same things I tell my teacher researchers to do while doing their action research projects! It's not easy, but it transforms the way we think. It is worth it. But...I need support, just like my teacher researchers need the community we create that gathers periodically to provide probing questions, encouragement, new points of view, reassurance.... how is this created in the digital age? Social networking? But...what about the need to be with actual humans...all breathing the same air, tuning in to body language, providing a comforting pat on the back, a smile, a round of applause....what does this look like in the digital age? Does this have to change? I've been taking a class using Elluminate...we can see each other with our video cams, we can post a smiley face, or even hands clapping for a round of applause... it's not the same!

Technology conference in Las Vegas

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a technology conference in Las Vegas. I am still trying to synthesis all that I learned into one stream of thought. My brain is full of hyper links and I need everything to become linear! This makes me think about Will Richardson's reference to Prensky, 2001a in his book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Corwin Press, 2010...I'm thinking proper blog etiquette would have me put a link there rather than so much text...I need to find out about that! Any way, Prensky says, "...years of computer use results in children who 'think differently from us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It's as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential'" p. 8. If this is true, what does that say to teachers with non-hypertext minds trying to learn all of this technology? Will my mind become a hypertext mind? Will I learn to adapt my needs for sequential learning to a more multi-leveled matrix of thought processes that allows my brain to comprehend a mass of information in one block of time? Do students with hypertext minds have that ability? I don't think that is what Prensky meant. I'm not sure if I know at this moment what he meant as I am experiencing a "mash-up" of information right now and I can't make sense of it.
How am I feeling right now...overwhelmed. When will I quick feeling overwhelmed?

Following my thinking...becoming familiar with technology

A teacher friend of mine facebooked me a link to a teacher friend of hers so I could benefit from his site, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10317635 Cool Teacher Podcast. This type of communicating and sharing is the essence of what I am understanding to be the importance of using the world wide web. As I struggle to figure out how to create my own family web site using Google sites, I find that I have help just a click away, and I'm not referring to the template tips Google offers in it's site templates. Going to Cool Teacher Podcast takes me to a collection of videos I can rummage through until I find just what I'm needing at just the right moment of my frustration. So, thank you, Jan, for facebooking me this link and thank you Cool Teacher Podcast for freely sharing your podcast collection. 

The day after class

I am truly exhausted. Again, I am running a race where I'm miles and miles behind the pack, and again, I ask myself...do I need to catch up? There is so much to learn about technology, I just need to do what I am capable of doing, a day at a time, maintain momentum, and keep moving forward. That's all I can do...it won't "catch me up" but I'm moving in the right direction.

Our first class was fabulous! How could it not be? A room full of people I think are amazing, all energized to learn together. I was surprised at how fun the polleverywhere activity was! I can't wait to hear about how some teachers incorporate that into their classrooms! Wordle was also a lot of fun. Such pretty word clouds!!! The one disappointment...Blogger!  Yahoo was blocked so those that needed to create an account could not get their work done.

White Pine Technology in the Classroom Session One reflections

This is my first ever blog! This is the beginning of my journey into the read/write web as an educator. I have to say, I'm a bit nervous, I'm a bit excited, I'm even a bit frightened.

I'm getting ready for tonight's class. I've spent weeks and weeks reading about how technology should be used in the classrooms. I've spent hours and hours preparing for this one session. I have so much I want to share, I know I will cram way to much into our first 2 and a half hours. After reading so many books: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom by Will Richardson, Toys to Tools by Liz Kolb, The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks, Bring it to Class by Hagood, Alvermann, and Heron-Hruby, Empowering Students with Technology by Alan November...  I feel this intense sense of urgency to "catch up" to where we should have been so long ago with incorporating technology into our everyday teaching... as if catching up is even a possibility. It's not that we are starting way to late, it's that technology is moving, changing, re-inventing so fast that it is humanly impossible to ever be caught up.
I need to start somewhere! I'm taking that first step with tomorrow night's class! I hope all goes well!

Just a note: I know I should be putting the titles or the books I've referenced, or the authors as links... I will figure that out with my next post!