Patricia Galien - Educational Blogger Extraordinaire

I have many friends, colleagues, and students "out there" that are doing some really great educational blogs. You know me, I'm a sharerer. I wanted to share Patricia's newest blog, A TESOL ESL File Drawer (Higher Ed.), because I think there is a little something for everyone here. She discusses the different tools and resources she uses in her classroom. REAL examples and REAL resources.

Here's a taste of some of her posts.

Using Respondus (clickers) with her students

Links to Grammar Exercises

Fact or Opinion - two ways to use this PPT lesson plan

Patricia Galien was a student of mine in an online Web 2.0 class I teach occasionally. She teaches English as a second language for a community college in the Mid-West. If you subscribe to blogs, put her on your list and add her to your learning network! She is amazingly creative - and not surprisingly, well educated. (smile)

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Latest Brain Research - Low-Income Children Function Differently

Wow, two posts in one day from me!

In the Open Education blog, Tom Hanson discusses the findings of recent brain research. I found this so interesting, and unfortunately important, that I wanted to share his post with you.

Check it out:

Latest Brain Research - Low-Income Children Function Differently

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

TeacherFirst.com

I am trying to squeeze in a little blog reading. To some, that may sound too much like work. To others, that may just be the most boring thing EVER. But, to me, it is inspiring, and dare I say, a fun part of my job. "The Blogs" is where I find all the juicy stuff! A colleague of mine, Mindy Lower, always finds some of THE best stuff out there on the web. Check out her post about TeacherFirst.com.

Here's a little blurb from the TeacherFirst website:

Welcome TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. We offer our own professional and classroom-ready content along with thousands of reviewed web resources, including practical ideas for classroom use and safe classroom use of Web 2.0. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using our subject/grade level search, keyword search, or extensive menus.

Let me know what you think of this as a resource. Does sharing get any better than this? Be sure to add this site to your online learning network!

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Social Networking: It's a Good Thing ?

Socially, I was pretty busy over the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, I added a flock of new friends to my cyber network – my Facebook world, that is. You’ve read about my adventures in Facebook – the whole discussion about Ambient Awareness . . . . Well, I decided to step it up a notch and see what would happen if I put myself out there a little. Right before the break, I sent out invitations to join Facebook to about 4-5 friends who didn’t already have accounts. To my surprise, I think all of them joined. Not only did all of them join, in some cases, so did their entire extended family.

So, now, my network on Facebook consists of people from their 20’s – their 70’s . I have friends from high school, college, grown-up life, their kids, their parents, my nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters-in-law, people I’ve met through my job, etc. There is no one on my list that I didn’t already have a relationship with in real life. It’s kind of like “hanging out” with my friends, but online. I guess if I put myself out there even further, I might make actual new friends – maybe join a club or group in Facebook. That may be my next experiment.

Needless to say, when I saw this blog post,
Social Networking: It’s a Good Thing, by Joe Crawford, I had to find out more about this “good thing” I was doing. According to Crawford, “A new study suggests that social networking is a beneficial activity, despite concerns about young people spending too much time tethered to the Internet and worries over online predators. Creating a profile on sites like MySpace and Facebook is a creative way to express one's identity, researchers noted, and hanging out with one's friends online is generally safe and healthy”

I get all that, but I have questions. Is this something we should encourage? Is this something we should deny? Or, is this something we should just roll with? Here’s what I’ve gathered from the post. As usual, adults don’t get it. No surprise there! Adults see time online as risky and unproductive. However, according to research, kids need to be online in order to develop the skills of their generation. (Wow, it may be possible that I am not equipped to see that, being an adult and all.) Kids don’t see it as unproductive – it is more like hanging out or talking on the phone. Seems like I remember my mom telling me I wasted way too much time “hanging” on the phone . . . why didn’t I just go visit the person, it’s much more polite. My mom simply didn’t get it. That’s just what we did. We talked to a “crush” on the phone first, after a dozen conversations with all my girlfriends - not face-to-face. Geez, Mom! I think for kids now, it’s the same thing. This online stuff, these are social skills for their generation. Their networks consist of people they already have relationships with. As for me and my posse, I could paint my nails, eat cereal, watch TV, and fight with my brothers all while talking on the phone – AND I could easily remember at least two dozen phone numbers at any given time. Ummm . . . I think they call it multi-tasking now.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving evening 2008. Picture me with a laptop, the TV, a house full of family, a piece of pumpkin pie, and about four conversations going at once. Have things changed so much? Here’s what really cracks me up. My mother actually said, “Why don’t you turn off that stupid computer and call people. It’s much more polite. “

I will probably never be as adept as kids are at the online facet of relationships that exists these days, but I’m dipping my toe in the water. I like it and I’m doing okay and it’s feeling a little more natural.

BTW – my mother spends most evenings watching television ON THE PHONE with her posse!


Just Sharin’
Lee Anne

What Does a Brave New Classroom Look Like These Days?

I realize I am a few weeks late in sharing this conversation - mostly that's because I'm a few weeks late in finding it. And . . . I can't wait to have time to really read it. *sigh*

Brave New Classroom 2.0 on the Britannica Blog is a conversation that has a little something for every educator, whether you are "into" technology or not. I like that there are a variety of perspectives, experiences, and opinions. For example, here are two divergent opinions on the same "2.0" playbill, Steve Hargadon / Post: “Moving Toward Web 2.0 in K-12 Education“ and right next door, Dan Willingham / Post: “Why Web 2.0 Will Not be an Integral Part of K-12 Education”. I can't wait to fully read them.

The one article I have skimmed thus far is Michael Wesch / Post: “A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do)” Here's my favorite sentence from his post, "Our students are so alienated by education that they are trying to sneak right past it." His is an interesting discussion about the "getting by" game students play. It's not a new game - I admit, I've played it once or twice when I was in school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth - but the game is getting more interesting. Do you believe that their desire to get by has nothing to do with their desire to learn?

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

Why do I Care About Ambient Awareness?

What is it called when you are puzzling over an idea or question, and then the answer, without (conscious) effort on your part, presents itself? Is that serendipity? What a great word!

Of course, I have a story to go with my question. I’ve had a Facebook account for years, and until the last 3-4 months, I’ve hardly touched it. Recently, some of my nieces and nephews were debating Facebook vs. Myspace. I proudly announced I had both and jumped right in the conversation. I quickly found I had little to say about which is better. But more importantly, I found that if I wanted to stay in touch with “my kids” then this is where I need to be hanging out. I also found that several of MY friends were on Facebook and that’s been a bonus.

So, last night I was chatting on the phone with a friend that lives in Michigan. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers – a time when we knew everything about each others’ lives. We talked about this Facebook thing and how we, surprisingly, liked it. We can keep up with the rhythm of each others’ lives through status updates and pictures and wall to wall comments. Yep, I’m up on all the hip lingo.

So, here’s the serendipitous part of this story. After our conversation last night I thought quite a bit about why this social tool made me, a digital immigrant, feel closer to people I already love. Then this morning, BAM! Wouldn’t you know, Will Richardson referred to a New York Times Magazine article in one of his blog posts. The article is called, “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.” The author, Clive Thompson, gives us the verbiage, AMBIENT AWARENESS, which helped me really make sense of all this. He even used the word “rhythm”!!

Here’s a taste:
“This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating. The ambient information becomes like “a type of E.S.P.,” as Haley described it to me, an invisible dimension floating over everyday life.”

Of course, NOW I’m thinking about how this whole phenomenon of virtual ambient awareness works in building online learning communities. How can I use this in a face-to-face class? I’m also thinking that the phrase, ambient awareness, is not on Wikipedia . . . yet. Wouldn’t that be a great project for a class?

Take a few minutes to read Thompson’s article. He sheds some interesting light on why we are so attracted these “awareness tools,” along with some insightful pluses and minuses. (is it me or does it almost sounds like the U.S. Government has had a hand in renaming “social networking tools.”)

Just thinkin’

Lee Anne

Get Out of the Classroom with Virtual Field Trips

When I think of field trips I think of yellow buses, permission slips, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a hot can of pop. Yep, I'm kind of old. But I was just thumbing through the August edition of the eSchool News -- I KNOW! I WAS ACTUALLY READING SOMETHING I COULD TOUCH -- and I had to share this great list of virtual field trips. I gathered them all in my Delicious account under the tag "FieldTrip".

Here's the link: http://delicious.com/lamorris/FieldTrip

If you have a favorite or a link to one not on this list, please leave a comment.

Just sharin'.
Lee Anne

Michael Wesch’s Presentation to Library of Congress

I have to share this discussion from Will Richardson's blog about Michael Wesch's recent presentation to the Library of Congress. Fantastic. He is so wonderful at making (letting) you think. (Remember, he's the guy who did The Machine is Us/ing Us )

The video is about 55 mins. Yes, that is quite a time investment. I promise you. It is worth it.



Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

I Love the Human Brain!

For many in the area, classes are starting. My first TCC credit class was last night. As usual, our first meeting consisted of reviewing the syllabus, the course content and expectations, and getting to know each other. Reviewing the syllabus is never exciting, but important. Without really meaning to, I did something kind of odd. (Is that how oddness happens?) Before class started I checked weather.com to see what was up. When I began speaking, I left it on the projected screen, and every few minutes I refreshed the view.

So, yeeeeah, why am I telling you this? After I drag the (at this point) willing students laboriously through the schedule, I ask for questions or concerns, etc. I always get a few. Generally, the questions are about details I have just shared with them - as in . . . didn't I just say that? After I answer their questions, I ask them questions about what is in the syllabus. Some can answer many of the questions, but these aren't really the results I hope for. This class was different. The only question asked was if they were allowed to bring beverages in the classroom. Great question - I had not said anything about that. When I quizzed them about the syllabus after, they hit about 99.99999999% accuracy.

I really, really don't think I became a better "explainer" all of the sudden, just this week.

Would anyone like to comment on the connection between weather.com on the overhead and their ability to focus on the discussion?

I love the human brain. I think how we are using it is changing.

Just Sayin'!
Lee Anne

Good Question! Are we getting stupider?

Media have been changing the way we “behave” for a long time now – from the first traveling storyteller to the new iPhone. I usually share with participants in our Web 2.0 classes that the way I learn, share, read, and not surprisingly, think has changed over the last few years. It’s the internet, without doubt, that has propagated my new behavior. I feel like I think more shallowly (it’s a word now!), but I see more and make more connections. The question is . . . am I a casualty or am I the fruit of the internet as a medium? I’m sure most of you are thinking fruit. She is defiantly a fruit. Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . .

In the Atlantic Monthly.com article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr explores the notion that our brains are changing and our new media are responsible.

"As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."

Here’s my question, is it a good trade to forfeit deeper insight for a broader perspective? Okay, I guess I have way more than ONE question. What does this mean in terms of how students learn, how we teach, what we teach, where they learn? How should educators react? Should we cultivate this new way of reading? Will you even be able to finish reading this blog post?

I am constantly fascinated by how the simplest inventions or “happenings” can so monumentally change what is us or what is our world. For example, I’m reading a book, Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger in which he discusses how the alphabet was originally a miscellaneous grouping of letters in no rational order. Essentially, it was just a bunch of letters floating in your soup, and even how those letters eventually became letters was pretty much unscripted. Someone along the way put them in a random order and said, here, we’re going to do it this way. Thus was born the alphabet upon which the preponderance of our world is ordered. Blows my mind – you’ll be hearing more about this book when I finish it.

So, let’s move from one unconsidered mind blower to another – the clock. Carr shows us that the clock changed everything about how we thought, behaved, interacted, etc.

"In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock."

Go ahead. Imagine your life without a clock of any sort. Can you trust your senses? How might our world look now if we had never had clocks? Do you think it might be better or worse? What about no alphabet – better or worse? Surely arguments can be made on either side.

I use to be a fairly focused thinker, but even as much as I wanted to read this entire article in one fell swoop, I couldn’t. I followed links in the article, I wrote this blog post, I instant messaged with people, and many other tasks I didn’t know I was doing all at the same time. I had to remind myself to go back to the article. Can you do it? Can you read the entire article? I finally did. It was worth it. Still, in the frenetic process of reading this article and writing about it, I made several discoveries and thought some worthwhile thoughts. I learned, but did I learn better or worse? Am I getting stupider? (no comments on my stupidness, please!)

As a writing instructor turned technology integration instructor, I have to end with a provocative quote from the article, at least provocative to me:

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.”

I’m just sayin’!
Lee Anne