MHetherington.net

30 Boxes - http://www.30boxes.com
Create an on-line calendar and to do list. You can tag your to do list and also share calendars. Try out the sample calendar.

del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us.
Access your bookmarks from any computer. Organize, tag and share your bookmarks.

GuruLib - http://www.gurulib.com An awesome way to keep an on-line book list. Go to this site and check out the sample bookshelf.

Flickr.com - on-line photo sharing site.

BubbleShare - http://www.bubbleshare.com A great way to share your digital photos on-line in a slideshow presentation.

Pandora.com - http://pandora.com Listen to your favorite music, generated by the music Genome project. Try Springsteen or Sinatra for starters.

http://wikispaces.com - Free wikispaces for educators. You are reading a wikispace. Click on the take a tour link. Wiki’s are a quick and easy way to create web pages that can be accessed and edited by multiple users. See some ways I’m using wikis in Room 613 :
Parent conference sign-up form - http://613signup.wikispaces.com
Student generated study guide - http://studentguide1.wikispaces.com
Curriculum links - http://hwpsocialstudies.wikispaces.com

Digg - http://digg.com Read, submit and vote on today’s most popular news stories.

YouTube - http://youtube.com - Video uploads from around the world.

Diigo.com - http://www.diigo.com - another social bookmarking site. This one is similar to del.icio.us but also allows you to highlight and bookmark specific passages from your favorite sites.

Pageflakes - http://www.pageflakes.com Click on "make a new site" for a sample of how this works. Pageflake allows you to add constantly changing content to your own site. By aggregating RSS feeds, pageflakes allows you to read the latest material coming from your favorite sites. Anytime something new is posted to the selected sites it will appear in your Pageflakes aggregator. Note - I use this to keep track of posts from multiple student blogs.

GMail - http://gmail.google.com - Google’s free webmail service. Almost unlimited storage capacity and great search capabilities.

Google SketchUp - http://sketchup.google.com A free download. Lots of fun. Allows you to draw in three dimensions.

Blog Providers:
http://edublogs.org Free wordpress blogs for educators
http://learnerblogs.org Free wordpress blogs for students
http://blogger.com Free blogs from Google

Examples of classroom blogs;
This year’s Room 613 Student Blogs page - http://hetherington0607.learnerblogs.org
Last year’s Room 613 Student Blogs page - http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org

Detailed instructions for setting up a classroom blog similar to last years blog (a group blog.)

Today I presented two sessions of "Blogging and Web 2.0" to groups of colleagues as part of our professional development "Technology Day." Here is the outline used for both presentations, which were very well received.

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• Presented the local version of "Did You Know", a fabulous slide presentation on future trends originally produced by Karl Fisch of Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO. Thank  you David Warlick and Stephen Downes for spreading the word about Karl’s slide show. The rapid worldwide proliferation and adaptation of "Did You Know" as an educational staff "must see" exemplifies the "exponential" development of communication and social networks. Word spread throughout the school today after the first showing and I’ve been requested to present the slide show at our next faculty meeting.  One excited colleague remarked afterward; "Now I see where the technology is taking us. I see where we are heading."

Benefits of Student Blogging

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• 2005-06 Blogs 

Room 613 Talk - http://room613talk05.edublogs.org.  - Edublogs site - Teacher and Student posts by teacher. We used this space from August 2005 to January 2006

Room 613 Student Blogs - http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org  - Room 613 goes more student centered. All posts and comments still fully moderated by the teacher, but written and submitted by my 75 - sixth grade students.

Rules for Blogging - guidelines for students - Lots of latitude here. It’s a wide highway, just stay   between the guard rails.

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Some of the best posts from Room 613 Student Blogs. This is but a small sample of some outstanding student work.

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SS Assignments 

Three Gorges Dam  

Turkish letter to friend in America on death of Kemal Ataturk

History of India (various subjects including M.Gandhi) 

Newsbreak 

What did I learn from this… a student’s perspective from Eric 

A comment for the students from one of our parents 

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At least 50% of our posts were voluntary, here are some examples of students writing, learning and teaching in a a variety of topic areas.

Play reviews for The Giver (field trip to East Hartford H.S.) 

Poetry 

Science 

Sara’s work - some very creative posts from our most prolific writer
 

My Trip to the L.O.B. - The students summarize their trip to the legislative office building in Hartford where they presented blogging and podcasting.

Comments to our student posts from around the world:

http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org/2006/01/24/australia-2/#comment-1809

We stand corrected from India 

Sixth grader AnnB’s essay evokes tears of pride from a reader halfway around the world. 

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How to make a student group blog like Room 613 Student Blogs using learnerblogs - see specific instructions on this page.

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• Personal Blogs in Education for Professional Development

MHetherington.net - http://mhetherington.net/blogs 

See sidebar on this page for recommended educational bloggers

How to start - make a blog for yourself and see how it all works. Also, read some of the blogs shown in the sidebar to get a feel for how people create blog posts, topics, and reflections.

Edublogs - free Wordpress (like this site and Room 613) blogs for educators. http://edublogs.org - easy to set-up - 5 mins max. Instructions are at the site for beginners and veteran bloggers.

Learnerblogs - free Wordpress blogs (from the author of edublogs) for use by students http://learnerblogs.org - easy to set-up and can be fully moderated by the teacher

Blogger - free, also easy to set-up - http://www.blogger.com  Next blog button can be an issue if using with students

Optional Assignment - make an edublog blog for yourself and publish your first post by answering the following - How can blogs be used  in education?   Post a link back to this page - http://mhetherington.net/blogs and I will also link to yours. Good Luck.

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Some other topics in Web 2.0

Flickr  - store, tag and share your photo’s on-line

Wikipedia - on-line open source encyclopedia

Del.icio.us - save and tag your favorite websites on-line

Bloglines - A web-based personal news aggregator. This is where your can follow the latest post from your favorite sites and blogs.

Podcasting - an example - The Room 613 Panther Podcast   

If last summer was the summer for early adoption of blog and podcast tools, in the web 2.0 world, this is the summer of voice messaging, skypecasting and video production. Three dimensional worlds such as Second Life are also gaining momentum, as the pace of change accelerates and just recent innovations such as music on IPODS, static web pages and discussion boards look so 2004.

Wagner James Au over at New World Notes points out an entertaining YouTube video, "Suzanne’s Guitar" which depicts the fast-forwarded step by step construction of a Second Life virtual guitar designed for Suzanne Vega.   RobbieDingo, the creator of the guitar machinima, also authored a dramatic video, where actors play upon a three dimensional stage in Second Life. Have a look at the two videos. The first will stimulate your brain and the second may touch your heart. 

Vicki Davis at Cool Cat Teacher Blog reflects on educational lessons learned while on, of all places, a Disney cruise. This is one of the best posts I’ve read on teaching and the need for student engagement. Vicki was impressed with the way Disney cruise "educational" activities engaged the young cruise passengers, two of which were her children, ages 10 and 11. The "students" were excitedly participated in learning labs, science experiments, talent showcases and other learning activities. Teachers should strive to make their lessons as interesting as the Disney activities that Vicki describes. Can we achieve this level of student excitement in every lesson, every day throughout the school year? Of course not! But we should make it a goal nonetheless. I found myself thinking "Yeah…why not!" several times while reading the post. Love the idea of "changing classroom scenery" to disrupt the routine and foster interest. I’ve done this at times. Every year I take the students to our outdoor track with a hand held GPS to teach GPS systems. The students "relay" the GPS around the track to measure distance, then calculate their average speed and view a graphic of their route as seen from the satellite system. There are so many more opportunities however. Why not have a social studies class in the library, or even in the science classroom if it’s open and the topic involves science? Change is good!

Louisiana educator Nancy McKean over at Random Thoughts asks the question: Why does your class blog? Her question generated consistant responses from a surprising number of teachers. Why does my class have a weblog? Here is how I answered Nancy’s question.

My 6th graders’ education-oriented class blog, Room 613 Student Blogs, has been up in its current "student centered" form for about two months now. With over 250 student posts and 750 student comments, it has taken on a life of it’s own. As I see it, here are some of the benefits of student blogs (in no particular order of importance):

 Room 613 Talk has been our class site for the first half of the year. I used the site to house our class podcast, to post photo and text updates on classroom activities, and to post a limited selection of student writing. Although satisfied with the site, the fact that I had to transcribe student handwritten work or cut and paste emailed paragraphs into posts made the process of including student work cumbersome resulting in a minimum amount of student authored material.

Last week I finally took the next step with my class weblog.  I set up a weblog for my students called the Room 613 Student Blog. This is much more student centered than my past attempts at classroom websites. The students can post text, pictures, and links to the blog as well as comment on classmate posts. Some of the discussion topics are teacher generated, while others are original ideas from the students. Some posts are homework assignments, and others are voluntary. I insist on two overriding requirements:

•  All posts should be related to student learning  
•  All language and topics must be socially appropriate.

Within these very general parameters, the details of form and function will be allowed to evolve.  All posts and comments are moderated prior to being published.

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If you are interested in doing something like this for your students, here is the quick how-to:

• Go to James Farmer’s Learnerblogs.org, and register a Wordpress blog for yourself. This will become the main class blog where all student posts and comments will appear. You will be the administator of this site and will control all posts, comments and access.

• Go back to Learnerblogs.org and register a blog for each of your students, using only their first name or a first name last initial as the username.  Use your own email address for each student’s registration. Since the October 2006 upgrade, Wordpress no longer allows multiple blogs to be registered to the same email address. If you have a gmail account this can be easily resolved by generating and assigning a seperate email address for each student.  To do this, just add a + sign and the students first name after your gmail address. (youraddress+student1@gmail.com) Each student’s username and password will be emailed to you. Organize the emails by homeroom if you a dealing with more than one class. **See 10/15/06  update below.

• Login to YOUR main class blog and go to the Users then Authors & Users section. Scroll down to the "Add User To Community" box and type in the user name of your first student. On the line below set that students role to CONTRIBUTER and push enter. Repeat this proceedure for each of your students.  This will allow your students to post and comment to your class blog, but still allows you to moderate and approve the posts and comments before publishing.

• Put each student’s username and password on an index card and distribute. Have them write down YOUR class blog address on the card. Do not give them the address to their own site that came in the email. This will only confuse things and is not needed for them to post to your class blog. To make the first blog posts, the student will go to YOUR class blog address, scroll down and click on the login link and enter their user name and password. They then click on write and start their posting.

• Give your students an easy to answer prompt for their first blog post. What is your favorite ice cream, food, vacation spot etc. More importantly, ask them to tell you WHY in their post.  If possible, have the students do their first posting from the school computer lab so you can help them through any problems..(yes..there will be problems…usually a wrong address typed in the address bar, or someone typing in the google search box instead of the address bar, or someone misreading an l for a 1 or o for 0 in the password..if you are a teacher, you know what I mean.)

• Later in the day, log into the class weblog (as you - the administrator), go to the MANAGE page. The student posts will appear on the manage page, and any comments will appear on the awaiting moderation page. Check the student post and if acceptable click PUBLISH. You can also edit the post for minor spelling errors etc. If you want the student to fix the post, edit the post, type FIX or PLEASE FIX in the title box and SAVE the post. The student will be able to see this, make the changes and resave for your approval. Remember, once you publish a students post, the students no longer have permission to access the edit function.

• As the posts start rolling in, you will want to set up some categories in your class blog. You can make each student’s name a category, as well as homerooms, subjects, and assignment numbers. In Wordpress blogs, you can sort posts any way you wish by assigning each post a category. Go to the Manage, Category, Add New Category section and create as many categories as you need. Once created, you or your students can designate the category of an individuals post. By clicking on their name on the main blog, your students will be able to view their own posts on a single page.

Good Luck. I tried to limit this post to cover only the basics. If you have any further questions just send an email or comment and I’d be glad to go into further detail.

To see a running example you can visit our class weblog Room 613 Student Blog. 

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Update - 9/4/2006 - If you decide to use a different PRESENTATION template to change the page look, do not use the Narnia template.  There is a problem with the login link (it leaves out the /) on that template. Kate and I discovered this while debugging her new World Lit 4/5 class blog.

**Update - 10/15/2006 - Since the October 2006 Wordpress update, users can no longer register multiple blogs from the same email address.  In order to create student blogs without using the students personal email addresses, you will need to create your own multiple email addresses. This is an easy proceedure if you have a Gmail account (see details above.) I do not have an easy answer for this one if you do not have a gmail account.  

 People can get caught-up in old patterns, literally, in their way of thinking.

Peter Shilling, Director of IT at Academic Commons, wrote an interesting article called Technology as     Epistemology.                     

"The patterns and categories we use can constrict our ability to understand new things. Education has the contradictory tasks of teaching us to work within patterns, but also to think beyond them."

"The same phenomenon of filling in the information gaps occurs when we try to proofread our own writing. The way we learn, when we learn, and the technologies we use to learn all impact what we know as well as the neural pathways we use when accessing our knowledge."

 Many of todays students have developed different neural pathways and therefor process information differently than their older teachers.

"Today’s students have formed their habits of mind by interacting with information that is digital and networked… Not only do our students possess skills and experiences that previous generations do not, but the very neurological structures and pathways they have developed as part of their learning are based on the technologies they use to create, store, and disseminate information. Importantly, these pathways and the categories, taxonomies, and other tools they use for thinking are different than those used by their teachers. Although the patterns and categories we use are never perfect ways of creating meaning, they influence the way we think, remember, and anticipate information."

The new habits of mind of our multitasking students, which some interpret as an inability to maintain focus, could be an adaptation that will serve them well in the new information environment. Skimming multiple sources and locating the right information is now a critical skill.  The amount of information students are expected to process is far greater today than the information available to us in the pre-internet days. Dr. Shilling makes a salient point regarding the nature of information today. Using search engines and networks, we now work more often at primary source and data levels of information, levels not available to the average person just 10 short years ago.

"Part of this shift in learning brought about by today’s digital, networked information results from the fact that we now often work, share, and search at the data level as opposed the level of conclusions, narratives, catalogs, or indices."

 Does this effect the world of education? You bet. Teaching students to reach logical conclusions based on their search of accurate and current data is essential to their success in today’s information rich environment. Dr. Shilling states the challenge quite eloquently:"What it means to master a field of study has changed. Rather than developing an encyclopedic knowledge of all literature on a single topic, today’s students need to know how to find, evaluate, and contextualize information in all different formats on more interdisciplinary topics, but they also need to know how to locate and use the underlying data as well as the technology to sort and present it."

You can read the rest of Dr. Shillings article at http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/technology-as-epistemology 

The more we know, the easier it is to learn more. Tim Fredrick reports from the NCTE conference that Kylene Beers, author of "When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do," put on quite a presentation. She also reported that doctors at Yale University have been doing brain research and are finding that when the brain takes new information and assimilates it with prior knowledge, that information is more easily stored in long-term memory. I see evidence of this in my everyday teaching experience. If a learning framework is in place, it is easier to add additional knowledge to that framework. As we gain additional knowledge, the brain does not reach a saturation or overflow point, in contrast, it is more receptive when it can fit new information into a pattern or context with prior knowledge.