All I can say is “Wow!” danah boyd really laid it out there in talking about social networking and our students. We are creating digital identities and there is an evolution happening and a possible identity crisis.
The most eye-opening information that she shared was the socio-economic and social disparities between MySpace and Facebook. You’re probably going “huh?” right about now, but it was incredibly interesting how the two social networking sites broke down in the teenaged mind. Basically, it’s the same old division from the beginning of time, just in the context of social networking sites. The lower socio-economic class and the less educated (remember these are perceived disparities that are proven in her research) use MySpace as their primary social networking tool. The more affluent, better educated turn to Facebook as their home on the web.
So all those class and social groups that are prevalent in the “real world” (read “middle school” or “high school”) are now becoming more obvious in the virtual world.
The at-risk kid in our schools will most likely be an at-risk kid online. In other words, we need to pay close attention to what those children are putting out there in their web presence. We have to look out for them, not only in our schools, but online. So how do we do this if we have schools that block social networking sites and school districts that make policies about “friending” our students and connecting with our kids online?
We have to be transparent about our online interactions with those in our care; we have to be the other adults in their lives, looking out for them and teaching them how to navigate the world of social media. They are going to use the tools, whether we like it or not and whether we are there to support them or not.
Doesn’t it make sense that we teach them the best ways to traverse the virtual world so that they have healthy, safe, happy online experiences? Why can’t we make it all about the learning?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
AASL Conference - Day 2 - The NASCAR Experience
Didn't you get the notice that I was coming to Charlotte? Where are you Dale, Jr.?!
So my colleague and I splurged and went on the NASCAR Valley tour this morning. We boarded the luxury motorcoach that took us from downtown Charlotte over to Concord and the home of the Lowes Motor Speedway.
We started our tour at the Hendrick Motorsports garages. Okay, I'm not a real fan of Jeff or Jimmy, but I can dig me some Dale, Jr. None of the boys were to be seen; however, we did see a good number of cars being worked on in this immaculate garage. Definitely not the backyard garages of back in the day, these multi-million dollar technologically equipped buildings.
The highlight of the tour, other than the incredibly personable and entertaining tour guide who had worked with Harry Gant for 14 years, was an actual lap around the track. no, we weren't at top speeds -- I think we hit about 70 mph in the 15 passenger van -- but you really did get a feel for the banking and possible speeds. Kinda cool! How many people can say they've ridden the track in Charlotte?
An interesting side stop that I hadn't expected was a visit to the Sam Bass Gallery. This is the fellow that designs all the cool paint schemes for the team cars. He has a nice little setup with a gallery and memorabilia on display.
Well, I'm racing off to the general session! Vrrrooooommm!
So my colleague and I splurged and went on the NASCAR Valley tour this morning. We boarded the luxury motorcoach that took us from downtown Charlotte over to Concord and the home of the Lowes Motor Speedway.
We started our tour at the Hendrick Motorsports garages. Okay, I'm not a real fan of Jeff or Jimmy, but I can dig me some Dale, Jr. None of the boys were to be seen; however, we did see a good number of cars being worked on in this immaculate garage. Definitely not the backyard garages of back in the day, these multi-million dollar technologically equipped buildings.
The highlight of the tour, other than the incredibly personable and entertaining tour guide who had worked with Harry Gant for 14 years, was an actual lap around the track. no, we weren't at top speeds -- I think we hit about 70 mph in the 15 passenger van -- but you really did get a feel for the banking and possible speeds. Kinda cool! How many people can say they've ridden the track in Charlotte?
An interesting side stop that I hadn't expected was a visit to the Sam Bass Gallery. This is the fellow that designs all the cool paint schemes for the team cars. He has a nice little setup with a gallery and memorabilia on display.
Well, I'm racing off to the general session! Vrrrooooommm!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
AASL Conference - Day 1 - The Hilton Experience
My colleague and I arrived in Charlotte around 1:30 p.m. this afternoon and met up with one of my college friends for a late lunch. If you want an incredible Italian meal, then you should check out Dolce in downtown Charlotte. It was dee-licious!
We checked in to the hotel, Hilton Charlotte Center City, right next to the Charlotte Convention Center. Now when I attend a conference, especially a national conference like AASL, I want to be AT the convention center hotel; that's why I chose the Hilton for our stay. Forget that it is $160 per night. I can deal with that. You know why? Because the Hilton has wireless high speed internet, according to their site. No where does it say that that wireless internet is $9.95 per day!!!
This is a media and information technology library conference, people! And we are going GREEN! This means I need total access to the internet from every where in the hotel, especially my guestroom. I want to blog about my day, the networking, the excitement, the authors from the comfy, coziness of my plush hotel bed while plopped up on cushy pillows in my nightgown. You get the picture! I don't want to have to go to the Business Center, the only place where the wireless is free. Maybe they said it was free in the lobby, too.
So we load up our stuff and head over the convention center, where we have been assured that our "go green" conference will have a wireless internet connection. I even found the lovely "Laptop Pit Stop" sign with cute little tables for sitting at while you type on your laptop. Yeah, right! It took me five times to connect to a network although there were four unsecured networks available. The two designated for our conference -- AASL and AASL 2 -- each had about 2 bars. I managed to connect to a network called Worship Facilities, which surprisingly enough had 4 bars, but that heavenly connection lasted for about two minutes.
I was resigned to use the internet cafe, hard wired desktops on tall tables, strategically placed at near the registration area to lure you in, but ergonomically lousy to discourage you from standing there all day. I managed to check my personal and school email, maybe 10 - 15 minutes of good computer time, before my lower back said enough.
Right now, I'm writing this while sitting in the lobby of The Blake Hotel. That's where my NCSLMA board meeting is in a few minutes. There's FREE wireless in the lobby, but they, too, charge $9.95 per day for wireless internet in the room.
What's this connected world coming to?!
Off to my meeting....and searching for another lobby after dinner.
We checked in to the hotel, Hilton Charlotte Center City, right next to the Charlotte Convention Center. Now when I attend a conference, especially a national conference like AASL, I want to be AT the convention center hotel; that's why I chose the Hilton for our stay. Forget that it is $160 per night. I can deal with that. You know why? Because the Hilton has wireless high speed internet, according to their site. No where does it say that that wireless internet is $9.95 per day!!!
This is a media and information technology library conference, people! And we are going GREEN! This means I need total access to the internet from every where in the hotel, especially my guestroom. I want to blog about my day, the networking, the excitement, the authors from the comfy, coziness of my plush hotel bed while plopped up on cushy pillows in my nightgown. You get the picture! I don't want to have to go to the Business Center, the only place where the wireless is free. Maybe they said it was free in the lobby, too.
So we load up our stuff and head over the convention center, where we have been assured that our "go green" conference will have a wireless internet connection. I even found the lovely "Laptop Pit Stop" sign with cute little tables for sitting at while you type on your laptop. Yeah, right! It took me five times to connect to a network although there were four unsecured networks available. The two designated for our conference -- AASL and AASL 2 -- each had about 2 bars. I managed to connect to a network called Worship Facilities, which surprisingly enough had 4 bars, but that heavenly connection lasted for about two minutes.
I was resigned to use the internet cafe, hard wired desktops on tall tables, strategically placed at near the registration area to lure you in, but ergonomically lousy to discourage you from standing there all day. I managed to check my personal and school email, maybe 10 - 15 minutes of good computer time, before my lower back said enough.
Right now, I'm writing this while sitting in the lobby of The Blake Hotel. That's where my NCSLMA board meeting is in a few minutes. There's FREE wireless in the lobby, but they, too, charge $9.95 per day for wireless internet in the room.
What's this connected world coming to?!
Off to my meeting....and searching for another lobby after dinner.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Blogs as Literacy Engines
My Monday morning was spent sitting in a tech contact meeting, tyring to decide which "hands-on" sessions to attend and being pulled toward a couple of colleagues just to have good old fashioned one-on-one networking.
The first hour of my meeting was spent listening to David Warlick talk about blogs and wikis. Obviously, I’m already a blogger and read blogs and write in my four blogs (this one, another one, the other one, and now this one) on a fairly regular basis.
I was much more interested in the presentation software / application that David was using with his presentation. He was moving in and out, zooming (I think that zooming was partly just a feature of the Mac) and flipping and spinning facts and figures up on the screen. Pretty cool stuff. I’d rather hear about this software, Prezi, than blogging, something that I already know.
And something that I really understand. I know how to use blogs in the classroom; I’ve been talking with teachers for two years about using blogs in the classroom and connecting with professional blogs for themselves.
It’s amazing how many blogs and about some crazy topics there are out there. David threw up some statistics about bloggers and blogs and some great bloggers to follow.
The best turn of a phrase, though, was when he called blogs literacy engines: read, think, write. I like how that sounds. And that is exactly what we do with blogs.
Read. Think. Write. Read. Think. Write.
I read over 30 blogs and get news in my reader from another handful of sources and sites. And I think about what I read and discuss it out loud with my dear husband and a few colleagues. But it's true: I write about what I read after I have processed my thoughts. I write in my own blogs.
What I find I need to do more of, and I would like for more people to do on my blogs, is to comment right then and there. How come nobody's commenting?
The first hour of my meeting was spent listening to David Warlick talk about blogs and wikis. Obviously, I’m already a blogger and read blogs and write in my four blogs (this one, another one, the other one, and now this one) on a fairly regular basis.
I was much more interested in the presentation software / application that David was using with his presentation. He was moving in and out, zooming (I think that zooming was partly just a feature of the Mac) and flipping and spinning facts and figures up on the screen. Pretty cool stuff. I’d rather hear about this software, Prezi, than blogging, something that I already know.
And something that I really understand. I know how to use blogs in the classroom; I’ve been talking with teachers for two years about using blogs in the classroom and connecting with professional blogs for themselves.
It’s amazing how many blogs and about some crazy topics there are out there. David threw up some statistics about bloggers and blogs and some great bloggers to follow.
The best turn of a phrase, though, was when he called blogs literacy engines: read, think, write. I like how that sounds. And that is exactly what we do with blogs.
Read. Think. Write. Read. Think. Write.
I read over 30 blogs and get news in my reader from another handful of sources and sites. And I think about what I read and discuss it out loud with my dear husband and a few colleagues. But it's true: I write about what I read after I have processed my thoughts. I write in my own blogs.
What I find I need to do more of, and I would like for more people to do on my blogs, is to comment right then and there. How come nobody's commenting?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
What I Want in a Principal
A few weeks ago our principal announced that she is retiring at the end of December. Obviously, this news has left our staff speculating and fretting about the future administration and how our culture will be affected by the introduction of a new leader.
We were invited to give input into what we would like in a future principal. While many of us felt that this was just a perfunctory session, about a third of our staff was able to be there and provide some thoughtful input -- as well as shed a few tears. Here's what I wrote and read at the meeting:
I want a principal who will take the time to understand and truly appreciate the culture of positive learning that has been created at our school.
I want a principal who loves middle schoolers with all their quirkiness and hormonal energy.
I want a principal who listens to her students when they want to share a problem or concern, or just updates about what television show they watched last night.
I want a principal who lets her teachers take risks, allowing her teachers to try innovative instruction.
I want a principal who empowers her teachers to take on leadership roles and who supports their professional growth.
I want a principal who is well respected in the community, who makes connections with parents and business leaders.
I want a principal who is a teacher leader first and foremost, never forgetting what it takes to do the hard stuff of teaching on a daily basis.
I want a principal who stands up for her teachers and students when the time comes.
I want a principal who listens to her teachers when they have a concern or a problem or a solution or they just want to share some personal news.
I want a principal who is seen on the campus, in the classroom, in the media center, in the cafeteria, on the athletic field.
I want a principal who implements strong teaching and learning programs that will impact student achievement.
I want a principal who makes the most of her dollars, imploring sound financial abilities to effectively and efficiently provide the materials and resources to run our school.
I want a principal who recognizes, appreciates, and supports all levels of learners from special needs students to academically gifted students.
I want a principal who understands and can effectively assess the data to make important instructional decisions and support successful teaching practices.
I want a principal who is honest, tenacious, caring, professional, vibrant, personable, organized, savvy, accountable, objective, and positive. I want a principal who is “real”.
I want a principal who is a cheerleader, recognizing teacher and staff professional achievements and student academic, behavior, and athletic achievements.
I want a principal who communicates her expectations to her teachers, students, and parents.
I want a principal who asks questions.
I want a principal who realizes that this is “our” school – it belongs to all of us: the staff, students, parents and community. We will welcome a new principal to be a part of our school, but it will continue to belong to all of us: “our” school.
We were invited to give input into what we would like in a future principal. While many of us felt that this was just a perfunctory session, about a third of our staff was able to be there and provide some thoughtful input -- as well as shed a few tears. Here's what I wrote and read at the meeting:
I want a principal who will take the time to understand and truly appreciate the culture of positive learning that has been created at our school.
I want a principal who loves middle schoolers with all their quirkiness and hormonal energy.
I want a principal who listens to her students when they want to share a problem or concern, or just updates about what television show they watched last night.
I want a principal who lets her teachers take risks, allowing her teachers to try innovative instruction.
I want a principal who empowers her teachers to take on leadership roles and who supports their professional growth.
I want a principal who is well respected in the community, who makes connections with parents and business leaders.
I want a principal who is a teacher leader first and foremost, never forgetting what it takes to do the hard stuff of teaching on a daily basis.
I want a principal who stands up for her teachers and students when the time comes.
I want a principal who listens to her teachers when they have a concern or a problem or a solution or they just want to share some personal news.
I want a principal who is seen on the campus, in the classroom, in the media center, in the cafeteria, on the athletic field.
I want a principal who implements strong teaching and learning programs that will impact student achievement.
I want a principal who makes the most of her dollars, imploring sound financial abilities to effectively and efficiently provide the materials and resources to run our school.
I want a principal who recognizes, appreciates, and supports all levels of learners from special needs students to academically gifted students.
I want a principal who understands and can effectively assess the data to make important instructional decisions and support successful teaching practices.
I want a principal who is honest, tenacious, caring, professional, vibrant, personable, organized, savvy, accountable, objective, and positive. I want a principal who is “real”.
I want a principal who is a cheerleader, recognizing teacher and staff professional achievements and student academic, behavior, and athletic achievements.
I want a principal who communicates her expectations to her teachers, students, and parents.
I want a principal who asks questions.
I want a principal who realizes that this is “our” school – it belongs to all of us: the staff, students, parents and community. We will welcome a new principal to be a part of our school, but it will continue to belong to all of us: “our” school.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
November is Coming! November is Coming!
November is almost here, and I'm getting really excited about all that's happening this month!
Daylight Savings Time -- Yes, I like my "extra" hour. I'm looking forward to snoozing just a bit longer this Sunday morning, enjoying my "extra" 60 minutes.
Tech Contact Meeting -- While most folks dread meetings, I actually like attending some of my meetings, this being one of them. All the tech contacts in the district meet a couple times a year as a group to get updates from technology services and instructional technology personnel. It's a lot of sit-and-get, but it's a great time to network with colleagues that I rarely see. And it has the fringe benefit of actually getting a lunch hour where we can sit down at a restaurant to continue our conversations about technology, integration, education, etc.
AASL Conference -- I haven't been to my national professional conference in a few years (life sort of happened in the form of a now three year old!) Well, we're headed west to this year's AASL conference, where I'll get to do even more incredible networking with some of the coolest people in school librarianship! Yes, people, I do get excited about my profession! Did I tell you that I'm presenting at the conference, too? And I signed up for a little side excursion -- a tour of the NASCAR track and museum! Vrooooom!!!
Student intern -- I'm getting another student intern, and she starts in November. Imparting knowledge on enthusiastic young people going into our profession -- let's just say, I'm loving it! Really looking forward to mentoring this future school librarian.
Veteran's Day -- What a great holiday! Saluting those that defend our freedoms everyday. And it doesn't hurt that it's a day off in the middle of the week this year!
La Boutique for Kids -- It's like Tupperware, but it's children's clothes! I'm having a party, where the rep brings in racks of name brand kids clothes at discount prices. I'm pretty sure that I get an awesome discount!
Book Fair -- The fall book fair is in November, and we've got some fabulous PTA volunteers helping us organize for the event. Love seeing all the books that the kids are scrambling to purchase. Love having classroom wish lists for the teachers, too. They're like little kids when they find a new, donated book in their bags.
National Board Certification support -- I'm gearing up to help my library media candidate cohort as they dive into the NBC process. Let's hope my guidance helps them get to the heart of their teaching and students' learning as they analyze and reflect on their instruction.
Thanksgiving -- I've always loved this time of year. Growing up, we did big cleaning over Thanksgiving break and geared up for the Christmas holiday, putting up the tree and decorating the house. I'm soooo ready to share the holidays with my little one this year.
NaNoWriMo -- It's National Novel Writing Month! And once again, on top of all the stuff going on in my life, I'm going to attempt to get 50,000 words on the pages in 30 days! Writing energizes me, so why not go for it?!
Daylight Savings Time -- Yes, I like my "extra" hour. I'm looking forward to snoozing just a bit longer this Sunday morning, enjoying my "extra" 60 minutes.
Tech Contact Meeting -- While most folks dread meetings, I actually like attending some of my meetings, this being one of them. All the tech contacts in the district meet a couple times a year as a group to get updates from technology services and instructional technology personnel. It's a lot of sit-and-get, but it's a great time to network with colleagues that I rarely see. And it has the fringe benefit of actually getting a lunch hour where we can sit down at a restaurant to continue our conversations about technology, integration, education, etc.
AASL Conference -- I haven't been to my national professional conference in a few years (life sort of happened in the form of a now three year old!) Well, we're headed west to this year's AASL conference, where I'll get to do even more incredible networking with some of the coolest people in school librarianship! Yes, people, I do get excited about my profession! Did I tell you that I'm presenting at the conference, too? And I signed up for a little side excursion -- a tour of the NASCAR track and museum! Vrooooom!!!
Student intern -- I'm getting another student intern, and she starts in November. Imparting knowledge on enthusiastic young people going into our profession -- let's just say, I'm loving it! Really looking forward to mentoring this future school librarian.
Veteran's Day -- What a great holiday! Saluting those that defend our freedoms everyday. And it doesn't hurt that it's a day off in the middle of the week this year!
La Boutique for Kids -- It's like Tupperware, but it's children's clothes! I'm having a party, where the rep brings in racks of name brand kids clothes at discount prices. I'm pretty sure that I get an awesome discount!
Book Fair -- The fall book fair is in November, and we've got some fabulous PTA volunteers helping us organize for the event. Love seeing all the books that the kids are scrambling to purchase. Love having classroom wish lists for the teachers, too. They're like little kids when they find a new, donated book in their bags.
National Board Certification support -- I'm gearing up to help my library media candidate cohort as they dive into the NBC process. Let's hope my guidance helps them get to the heart of their teaching and students' learning as they analyze and reflect on their instruction.
Thanksgiving -- I've always loved this time of year. Growing up, we did big cleaning over Thanksgiving break and geared up for the Christmas holiday, putting up the tree and decorating the house. I'm soooo ready to share the holidays with my little one this year.
NaNoWriMo -- It's National Novel Writing Month! And once again, on top of all the stuff going on in my life, I'm going to attempt to get 50,000 words on the pages in 30 days! Writing energizes me, so why not go for it?!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Instructional Technology Rocks!
Wednesday was an early release day for us at school. That means that we sent the kids home at 11:55 a.m., half-day, and we had staff development in the afternoon.
Okay, so I hear the moans and groans from those of you that have sat through the endless staff developments at your schools and offices.
Well, since I was one of the organizers of THIS staff development, I can assure you that it wasn't a groaner -- and the fact that like a dozen of my teachers have been energized and enthusiastic about technology and have requested equipment and time and space speaks for itself!
Thanks to the generosity of our administration, we have a number of SMART boards on campus and we knew that to get the most out of them everyone needed to be trained. Yes, some people are never going to touch a SMART board again. But others were knocking down the library doors to checkout the rolling interactive white boards. How cool!
While everyone rotated through the SMART board training, folks also attended two other sessions. We've got folks excited about using flip cameras -- my favorite is the family and consumer science teacher who is going to video yourself doing laundry to use with her students. We had folks amazed at all the extra stuff they can with their ELMO document cameras. (I didn't know you could make movies with it!?!) We also have folks clamoring for the student response systems -- the clickers -- to use for preassessment activities. Way cool!
I was responsible for introducing educational blogging to folks. I directed them to my blog first. Not sure how smart that was! Do I really want my colleagues following my every opinion? Maybe it'll start so incredible dialogues with other educators! Maybe....
I also sent them to the 100 Best Blogs for Teachers and pointed out some of my favorites. Overall it came back to time -- just having the time to explore Web 2.0 tools and instructional technology. Oh, and it didn't hurt to have some pretty awesome colleagues to step up and present some of these really cool tools!
Thanks, folks, for creating a great professional exchange!
Okay, so I hear the moans and groans from those of you that have sat through the endless staff developments at your schools and offices.
Well, since I was one of the organizers of THIS staff development, I can assure you that it wasn't a groaner -- and the fact that like a dozen of my teachers have been energized and enthusiastic about technology and have requested equipment and time and space speaks for itself!
Thanks to the generosity of our administration, we have a number of SMART boards on campus and we knew that to get the most out of them everyone needed to be trained. Yes, some people are never going to touch a SMART board again. But others were knocking down the library doors to checkout the rolling interactive white boards. How cool!
While everyone rotated through the SMART board training, folks also attended two other sessions. We've got folks excited about using flip cameras -- my favorite is the family and consumer science teacher who is going to video yourself doing laundry to use with her students. We had folks amazed at all the extra stuff they can with their ELMO document cameras. (I didn't know you could make movies with it!?!) We also have folks clamoring for the student response systems -- the clickers -- to use for preassessment activities. Way cool!
I was responsible for introducing educational blogging to folks. I directed them to my blog first. Not sure how smart that was! Do I really want my colleagues following my every opinion? Maybe it'll start so incredible dialogues with other educators! Maybe....
I also sent them to the 100 Best Blogs for Teachers and pointed out some of my favorites. Overall it came back to time -- just having the time to explore Web 2.0 tools and instructional technology. Oh, and it didn't hurt to have some pretty awesome colleagues to step up and present some of these really cool tools!
Thanks, folks, for creating a great professional exchange!
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