Happy Anniversary, Franklin!

I regularly enjoy the newspaper columns written by Cary Clack and today's piece provided me with the perfect avenue for me to resume my blog! In his July 31, 2008 article, Franklin: A Trailblazer in "Peanuts", Mr. Clack celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first appearance of Franklin, one of the members of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" gang. Much to consider about this anniversary--social history and the influence of the graphic novel and comics come to mind.  Go to Snoopy.com and click on Franklin to read the original July 31, 2008 strip.  Enjoy!

Thing 23 Summary

1. What were your favorite discoveries and exercises on this learning journey?

Definitely the blog, creative commons and other sources of media, mashups and everything on big huge labs, rollyo, the web2.0 awards list were my favorites.  In all honesty, every "thing" was like a new world--brave new world, maybe. I have come away with a new outlook on the art of communication. 

2.  How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

23 Things exposed me to some things I had heard of, but never used, but mostly I learned about things that I did not know existed.  Now that I have used them a little, and have conversed with the players who have such creative ways of using them, I am definitely going to continue to experiment. Even though I finished my podcast/ vodcast, I wasn't satisfied with the final product, so I have been searching for information.  This morning I found a blog post that really would have been helpful last week!

This was the best professional development I have had in many years.  Many of these things will be probably replace email, or evolve into email on steroids. I want to be ready to communicate comfortably.  Everything I learned not only can be used in our school and professional lives, but in our personal lives as well.

3.  Were there any take-away of unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? 

I had wanted to begin a blog. This program organized everything I needed to know and took me through step by step.  I have truly enjoyed the comraderie, and really would like to meet some of these people one day. Infomaniac has been a delight.

4.  What could we do differently to improve on this program's format or concept?

I appreciated that each thing began with solid readings and background material before we started the discovery piece.  I loved working at home and going at my own pace in my own time.  I guess that doesn't answer your question-- I have habit of not answering questions.  Sorry.  Since I had so much trouble finishing the podcast, I should be more responsible and contact the Kickball captains earlier.  But that wasn't your problem either.  Possibly more guidance for the macbook people, particularly when using garageband.

5.  If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? 

Definitely.  Summer was perfect for  me  to do the 23.  During the school year I would love an abbreviated program. I don't know if I would have been able to do all 23 things during  the school year,  

6.  How would you describe your learning experience in one word or in one sentence so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

21st Century Communication

7.  Now go and comment on other blogs.

Kickball Captains, Thank you for offering this program through the tlc list so the "out of towners" could partake of your knowledge. It has been a splendid interlude.

Fun Thing The Accent Quiz

Since many of us are podcasting and recording our voices, I thought this would be of interest.  Child_Lit has been discussing and laughing about accents and pronunciation, so I thought I'd share the "quiz" and  the analysis of my voice. Although I grew up in New England, I spent 11 years in the Tennessee and Virginia, and 18 in Texas. Many people can't identify the origination of my accent, and they'll often  say Chicago.  I don't call soda "pop", but I have to really concentrate to enunciate a middle T, like in "cotton" or "mitten", and that is a Boston trait. I only lived there 3 years. 

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Thing 22 Nings

Through the Ning site I looked at nings that sounded interesting, child lit, web 2.0, libraries, service to children, but most of the time they had not been updated since May, they had no discussions, they were "under construction", so on and so forth.  I always came back to the Teacher Librarian ning, and joined that this morning. I am also a member of the Texas School Librarian ning, which provides a smaller scope.  In my view, a ning is another way to network and share ideas with colleagues, but I don't know if it has any advantages over the subject specific list serve other than you can have immediate access to graphics and media.  A list serve usually shares media via links, but the blog can also provide immediate access.  

A ning isn't useful if people do not participate, and I stand accused of not participating in the nings to which I belong.  It seems my list serves stay active all year long, and I participate in them all year. For a lark,  I clicked on the web pages included in the user profiles in Teacher Librarian and Texas Librarian, and in most cases their web sites and blogs were current. The individual simply  hadn't really participated in the ning for some time. What does that mean? Maybe some of us have established a social network via a listserve, and the ning is a duplication, another thing to keep current.  Maybe it is generational, with the younger librarians, having grown up with facebook and myspace and establishing their networks in that platform, finding the ning as a familiar friend/mode.  Maybe the ning provided another way to access a blog or web site. 

Some of my child lit group tinkered with myspace, facebook, etc. this summer, and many of them thought it was faster to use the listserve and the blogs to share and discuss. At this time I prefer the blog, the list serve, and to a certain extent, the wiki. However, I have been known to change my opinion if  I receive "new information."

Thing 21 Pod/vidcast

This "thing" has been intense and it has taken me forever--since July 5th! I studied all the information for several days, and then I began working in earnest Sunday. I have spent 3 full days creating the thoughts, selecting public domain pictures, reading and verifying facts about the subject, and learning how to work in garageband. Over time three or four versions of this podcast were created, and the one I really thought was perfect and was ready to upload to switchpod, began to delete pieces of the audio! I would have had to record the whole thing over! I was horrified, and very discouraged!! Luckily, an earlier version was still saved, and I submitted it to switchpod without all the bells and whistles. Thankfully, the export/import went well, and hopefully this link will take you to this podcast.  I think if I worked on podcasting, I would enjoy using them in the library, but right now I'm exhausted by the whole process.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Thing 20 question

Is there a way to shrink the videos I have chosen to place in my blog, and is it legal to readjust the size? Mine look larger than I would like. I looked for guidance from Blogger and from the YouTubeTeacherTube sites but didn't find any helpful. In the beginning of the html code, there are dimensions. Would it help to readjust them? I tried putting the cursor further into the paragraph, but it didn't help. I considered the possibility that Zamzar would help. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thing 20: YouTube and TeacherTube

Youtube is a virtual repository of media on any topic and created by anyone, expert or novice. I'd love to see their server farm! Teachertube is a little more defined, but many of its offerings are available on YouTube. In a school setting, TeacherTube might be a safer choice.
On Youtube I searched "ed tech" with "Date added" as a qualifier and found a short video titled "Empowering Children Through the Use of Technology". I was really impresssed with the clearly stated presentation of the mantra for the education of our children in the 21st century. It was added to YouTube on July 2, 2008 by FengLynn.



I love Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Star the Fire" and in the past I have suggested it to history teachers as a research topic. Many renditions are available on TeacherTube, but I preferred the layout and photographs used in this one by Scott Allsop.

Claiming my blog

Technorati Profile

Thing 19 Web 2.0 Awards: Livemocha!

Thing 19 was just plain fun and several of these Web 2.0 winners have potential in the schools.  In order to weed out and prioritize, I decided to focus on tools that were free, tools that were new to me, and tools that I needed. Every  Web 2.0 tool I played with had me convinced that I had found nirvana--until I moved on to the next item. In the end it was either .docstoc or Livemocha, both of which I could use at school and at home, but my final vote went to Livemocha.  In the spirit of globalization and online learning, Livemocha has developed a self paced resource to build reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in your choice of several languages. You must be over 13 to register, and at registration, you indicate your native language, and then the language you wish to learn, one being Japanese. We sure could have used Livemocha this year with a student who only spoke Japanese!   I have registered and fully intend to dust off my Spanish and French!