‘Trees, trees, trees.” - Reflections on OTRK12 2014

“What did you see yesterday?”

"Trees. Trees. Trees."

I like exercises like this, I do. Why I haven’t had official homework like this since Mrs. Lee took myself and the rest of my Grade Three class to the Royal Ontario Winter Fair, I’ll never know. I’m guessing that I used to not like these writing exercises, but now ... I realize they are good for reflection and analysis.

Of course, like all good writers, I stole the title of this piece from somewhere. In this case, I stole this from my middle daughter. This was her response to a similar question while we were traveling to Minden, Ontario.

Not PC enough ... sigh

First of all, I have to work on the title of that particular presentation. I’m guessing here, but the the title “The Care and Feeding of an eLearning Teacher: A Case Study” wasn’t something that drove people to see my presentation. I’m thinking something more politically correct and slightly more subversive “How to Nurture Your Inner Connected Educator” or something like that.

After that idea struck me, I broke down the rest of my thoughts into two items: “Things I rocked” and “Things at which I sucked”. Putting first things first:

“Things I rocked”

I like public speaking. I’m good at it. I speak in public well. I also put together a decent presentation. I try and teach my face to face students the evils of PowerPoint karaoke and why putting a lot of text on a screen in front of an audience is a  sin against God and nature.

Sinful. Also, level R.

I also rocked preparation for my presentation. I had more than enough ideas collected from notes I took from my position as eLearning teacher for my Board. My perception of good writing is that simple and powerful images and words work better than complicated and suave. I just don’t do suave. I also had very simple demands of my hardware and my software. What I describe as my “innerware” - my inner script of what I was going to say - was uncomplicated and followed the images I had on the screen.

Not needing the wireless to present was something I’ve learned from being a teacher in a “connected classroom” for 14 years. During my presentation, I called that “Digital Resilience” - the ability to overcome technical issues. For example, neither of my remotes worked - my iPhone or my iPad would not connect to my Macbook for some reason. I concluded years ago that sometimes things just don’t work and you have to keep the lesson looking brilliant, regardless of technical issues. 

I also rocked stealing ideas. I stole ideas from myself, if that is possible, in order to put together what I thought of as a useful presentation. During the day, I grabbed ideas from the presenters I heard and thought about how I could mention their great ideas in my presentation next time and next year.

Finally, I think I rocked talking to fellow participants through “Back channel conversations”, namely Twitter. @Chesmandu was all over the #otrk12 tag on Wednesday and I collected a good number of people to follow, followers and retweets during the day. Like most people, I find the ideas I see there somewhat overwhelming, but a real benefit of events like this.

I rocked having fun, too. 

“Things I at which I sucked”

I did not stay on my calendar. I was sitting having lunch in the room I had just finished presenting in, staying in the after glow of being done, when I had to get out of the way for the next presenter. It happened to be Bev Meglio from the Ministry of Education. I’d been in a workshop with her a few weeks previous and knew that she knew her stuff. I decided then and there that I’d stay and bear witness to her genius in “Making Connections in the Online Classroom” than go somewhere else. I still don’t know what I missed in the presentation I should have gone to, but using Twitter’s search engine, I’m hoping I can make that up.

I sucked at networking face to face and taking a look around me while at the conference. Yes, I did well on social media to meet and speak to people. I did not, however, do as well while walking around the Delta Meadowvale. I think I met and spoke to five or six people all day that way, which was a bit of a let down, to be honest.

I like being a part of things, too. Not networking with the organizers of the event is something that may prevent me from being apart of the “inner circle” for next year’s event. How can I show you I like being a part of that inner circle? Well, I’m a rugby player. But I'm also a rugby coach, a rugby administrator for my club, also for my region and my province. I like being a part of things I like. And ... I like eLearing.

What I was looking for, I guess ...

I also sucked at engaging my audience during and getting feedback from my audience after my presentation. That isn’t to say I didn’t get any. Of the five or six people I met after my presentation, they all said I helped them in specific ways. For example, I had one young man from the Ottawa area that tell me my idea of getting and reading the manual for his chair in order to prevent further back injury, was a real call to him. His co-worker mentioned that she will take my idea of getting up and out of my desk once an hour to heart after today.

Conclusions

I always like taking notes during and after the first time I do anything. To be blunt, I think that helps me make different mistakes the second time I do something. I will be doing this presentation at least one more time, I’ll just make it more engaging and explicitly ask for feedback from my audience. I’ll think of a better title, make sure I look around but keep teaching and learning, too.

Oh, and keep having fun.

Day .. I dunno ... it's "social bookmarking", though.

right, the assignment today ... ok it wasn't today, it was a few days ago, but I'm jsut getting to it now ... was about social bookmarking.

Yeah, I didn't know what that meant either, not really, so I was glad it came with a YouTube video:



I saw this after I did another assignment on wikis. Not nearly as cool. Since I have a classroom of bloggers .. they don't know it yet, but they are all going to be blogging by the end of the week ... I always wondered about linking their public blogs to each other. Since their blogs are public and I warn them about privacy concerns, I ought to be able to link their blogs in such a manner, no?

get the students to create their blogs, then bookmark them on a del.ic.ious. page, then get them to create a "links list" on their own blogs ... the first link, of course would be the class del.ic.ious thingy.

hmmmm ... they are linked and "creeping" on each others' pages ... and since I still have the blogs of Mod 2 and Mod 6 (and of Mod 4 from last year ....) I could link them all together... which might make learning with me .. um .. "crowded" ...

One step closer to a PLN as a Culminating Activity they can use later on in their lives ... hmmmm...

Day 3 and 4

Right, so today the course had me watching a number of videos I'd already seem as a part of my own PLP... things like the "Did you know 4.0", and there were others


and this one, too:



In any case, the question that needed answering was "What are ten things you need to know about blogging" ...

well, it's funny, as I am just finishing up a course at the moment, and I thought about those things this afternoon:


1) start early - the earlier the better

2)perhaps use blogs as a presentation/poetry tool

3)web design help NEEDED for me, students - some of their web design was really really bad.

4) how to make it interesting/relevant to their needs as learners
other blogs followed
other interests allowed on the blog
used as a PLE

5)spelling counts

6)title for each post - NOT “ CUL ACT POST #3”

7) “Chesser made me do this” is Awesomesauce. This one needs a bit of explanation, to be frank. While setting up their blogs, most students have literally no idea what to write or how to write it, so I give them that sentence. By now more than two dozen blogs begin with that sentence.

8)type face / fonts need to be “Normal”

9)all posts need a visual - video embedded or a pic

10) people other than the European dictators. ugh. this is a course that looks at 1984 and Animal Farm. Almost by design, they flock to the dictators of Europe and Asia. I mean it's interesting some of the stuff they discover for themselves, but I'd rather learn about places where they come from.

11) not all in one post - also a real flaw in this last course I just finished. Some were so illiterate in digital stuff, that they would work ont he posting at home, email it to themselves to be retrieve at the school, then click and paste it into a blog post... their entire five or six post post was all in one blog post. Kind of sad, really. I don't know where to start with such ideas.

Here it is ...Day 2

So today's reading and question is all about "Web 2.0 - that my children will be educated in a far odder place than I was ... except I'm a teacher and I'm learning how to educate differently, too.

It's a chicken and the egg idea in my case.

Here's the click and paste of the question:

Think about this: What do you think Web 2.0 means? How is it different from "Web 1.0"? Can you list at least five Web 2.0 tools?

Web 2.0 is not a one way street, as it was before 2.0. Interaction must take place ... and going back and forth between the intended audience and the one producing the content. In my case, in my classroom, I need to be open to communication with my students 24/7 .. or at least more than usual. I also know that being more open, leads me to more risk, but there are now more ways to communicate while being safe, so that arguement is almost invalid now.

Five 2.9 tools would be Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, podcasting software like Garage Band, and perhaps iTunesU as a platform to start conversations. Those last two are weaker than the first few, but you get my idea.

A new beginning

Right, sorry about the former picture that was here ... i used the Blogger app on my iPhone to post a pic which, I gotta say, was a little over the top.

In any case, I'm going to use this blog to learn something new ... again. I started this:

It's a Web2.0 course about the tools used. I'm thinking it's going to be the basics, which so far, it is. Every day I'm going to get an email asking me to do a task. Tonight, I had to create a Google account (I already have one) and then locate myself on the map; something I'd not done before.

Pretty easy .... for me. For someone with no experience with Web 2.0, I'm sure that would have been a challenge in patience and fortitude. Here is the last part of the assignment:

Tomorrow, we'll talk about connected learning and connectivism, a new learning theory.
Think about this: What words come to mind when you think about being a connected learner? Some might be technology, inspired, learning, friends, networks, sharing. What else can you think of?

A connected learner has a good idea what a good digital citizenship entails: keeping an eye on your own online reputation and images. Such a learner knows that "click and paste" answers are not good for their own marks and are, quite frankly, usually just plain bad. A connected learner is someone who takes advantage of the tools at their disposal and exploits the weaknesses of the problems they are facing with crowd sourced solutions; networks of people that are alike and not like them are the best for seeing both sides of an issue, or for seeing more than one solution to a problem.

Oh, this will be cool

As you may know, my stressful time of the year is coming -S L O W L Y - to an end. Sort of. Like crawling the last fifty meters of an ultramarathon or something.

I did get this article's link emailed to me today, about the 10 best music apps for the iPad. SOmething to explore while I recover from this negative stress.

Blogging in classes

Yup, I got another article about this emailed to me today.

Article is here...

Man, I can hardly wait until this stressful time at work calms down.

Let's say a prayer....

Beannacht

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

iPad use

Ya know, when I finish this double teaching section of the year, I'm going to have to review some of the posts here. At bare minimum, to see if they make sense ... Imma thinking some of them need some editing, as I just write and then click "publish post" most of the time.

The other thing is so that I can review really cool stuff that gets sent to me. Like this blog about using technology in the classroom.

Cool. Glad to think that in a few minutes, I'm off for a few days.

OK, I'm still in pain, but it's a good pain

How to share files with students. How do I do that without making myself an object of media scrutiny ... or derision.

Well, I have been using Dropbox with myself ... that is seeing how easy it would be to share files between my iPhone, Macbook and other wonderful Mac products. But ... there is also Google Docs ... but I have not yet had a lot of time to use/play with that technology.

Well, there is also FarFinder/Presence which is kinda messing up the waters. Provide an URL to one file where students can read/download an entire class' set of readings in one go ... or download the readings one by one.

To their smartphones... which after today, might prove to be a not so smart phone. Man, I need to do something about Internet Addiction in my classes. Kinda frightening what people think they can do at the same time. Seriously.

In any case, I need to be more savvy than my students in oder to lead them to greater wisdom .... or at least what to do "when their printer runs out of ink at home"

Oh, this hurts

I'm trying to get myself up and going; my work schedule (although I am grateful to have my position) is rather overwhelming at the moment.

It's my birthday today, and rather than going out, having some fun ... I went to bed early. Seriously, like five minutes after my eight year old child was in bed, I was snoring.

It's not that I'm old...I'm getting burnt out. Which isn't a good idea.

In any case, I sw this link on my email today ... ten tips for using project based learning. I also read this article about how the computer games children play could be so much better....

I'm busy... so what do I do? I set up a blog on a topic I'm interested in learning about and I'm going to run with it for a few weeks. "Learn what I can, absorb what is important and disregard the rest."

who said that? This guy:

A series of links to follow

I get a lot of email about using electronics in the classroom. Technology. Stuff I know I should take the time and read and share. I know that.

I like to share stuff. Here is a thingy about technology and it's affects on our spiritual self.

Another link about using electronic devices to teach writing. I have to admit, I like letting my six year old child use my iPad. I helped her learn cursive writing yesterday. She's not supposed to see that until she's eight.

Another artcle about teaching science in a high school setting using cell phone technology. Remote labs. Using equipment remotely that you'd never be able to get inside your own lab.

Pish posh, you say. the iPad is something only for adults. Yeah, right.

Why to blog

OK, so there are some posts that I have yet to go back and read ... there are some great stories out there. This story about bloggers from a grade three class in the States is just plain ol fashioned cool.

I have kids; do they need a blog?

I have a blog; do I need readers?

I think the answers are "Maybe" and "No, but they can provide feedback."

An attempt to Google docs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RyhssELwSnjbZmgzXDU8U_x1usp-ovq-kfsdkyas7RQ/edit?hl=en&authkey=CMn1_k0

try that out ....

and see it if works.

Stuff I need to park .... somewhere

Well, I'm trying to get iMovie to become a productive part of my laptop.

I needed somewhere to park this link to help me get better at it.

and this, my friends, is it.

Whoa. Game changer

This one caught me unexpectedly.

No more actual dead trees in my classroom.

Whoa.

Ya, know ... htis has to link to me somewhere

I'm thinking deep and rather depressing thoughts as of late. Lots of questions from a new insurance guy, coming up to my birthday (is not a big number, just a number) and thinking a lot about mortality.

Then I run across this article about what people are thinking about what happens to your digital life after you shuffle off this mortal coil.

Which is a good question ... we read diaries of people centuries after they are dead (Samual Pepys' is a favourite .. man that guy built an empire)... why take down someone's blogs/flickr accounts when they die ... interesting, interesting....

OK, I have to put this somewhere

OK, this is a cool idea - a Virtual Private network of iTunes library ... sort of a Dropbox for your music... for now, anyway.

Article and rather overly complicated diagram is here...

Oh. My.

This has been one of the tougher parts of my career. Usually, that eleven weeks after thanksgiving into Christmas is tough.

Add a baby into the mix, then.

Then, add a crazy need to train and run.

I'm freaking tired, man.

Then I read this, and it almost all goes away.

Almost.

Merry Christmas.

Like ... duh .... !

I've often wondered what was the difference between learning at home and learning with a teacher. I mean, there are people out there who want the really expensive Educational System to just go away so they can stop paying taxes for it to run.

And so, with that idea in mind, I clicked on this article and was pleasantly surprised to read it.

and I thought it was funny that GWB supported NASA more that Obama has:


also saw this picture and thought it was cool.

Now ... why didn't I think of this?

Seems Ahnold has beaten me, yet again.

State wide PD ... on iTunes. The entire State of California Department of Education has their own section of iTunes ... it's been up for at least five months, and I ain't never heard of it.

M'eh. Whatever... now that I have ... holy SNAP some of it looks good.

Hmmm... Facebook anyone?