Social Activism of Yesteryear Versus Social Media of Today

Please take some time to read this New Yorker magazine article by best-selling author Malcolm Galdwell (e.g., Tipping Point and Blink): Twitter, Facebook, and Social Activism.

The article addresses social media of today as opposed to activism of the past. What is your response to the article? How might the ideas in this article be used in the classroom to provoke discussion?

Photo from http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/malcolm-gladwell-on-outliers-the-story-of-success/article104648.html

Professional Organizations’ Facebook Pages

If you use Facebook, you might want to receive feeds from your professional organizations, or if you prefer, save the URLs in your bookmark folder and access the pages without using a Facebook account. Here are examples of five professional organizations with Facebook pages:

National Council of Teachers of Math at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/TeachersofMathematics

Spanish Teachers at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Spanish-Teachers/306012289177

American Association of Teachers of French at:
http://www.facebook.com/AATFrench

International Reading Association at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Reading-Association/8149175108

Read, Write, Think at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/ReadWriteThinkorg/114708779358

If you check out any of the Facebook pages of a professional organization, let us know your response. If you know of other organizations with Facebook pages, share with us this information.

Reminder: Free Technology for Teachers

If you have not already bookmarked or created a feed to Free Technology for Teachers, which describes free to use online sites, offers free lesson plans, and categorizes access by an index of subject areas, such as science, math, and so forth, it is time that you have. This is a site worth checking regularly, and it has over 25,000 readers, not surprisingly! New posts appear almost daily. Educators find this site an indispensable resource. Once you have time to explore, let us know what you find of value.

Free Technology for Teacher is maintained by Richard Byrne, and his site has won numerous awards. If you don't find what you are looking for the first time around, check back later. This is not the first time I have posted a blog about Free Technology for Teachers. Just wanted to post another reminder about a blog chock full of resources.

Image credit: banner on Free Technology for Teachers

You Don't Have a Blog Yet, What Are You Waiting For?

Ideally, teachers should maintain a website. Even more ideal, they need a blog. Check the 20 Top Teacher Blogs from Scholastic's Instructor magazine to see what other teachers are doing. Let us know what you think of some of the blogs listed, and tell us of other teacher blogs you follow or find useful. Use the Index on this blog, Computers in the Classroom, to find other postings about blogging.

Teachers' Websites

Let's share examples of excellent teacher websites you have explored. Based on one student's contribution to our class's online discussion, I found an excellent model created by a teacher who has been a student at Saint Joseph College. Please take some time to explore Mercier's Magic. There's plenty to explore here. When you first open the site (be sure to have sound on), you will find her current school year site, but under the Home tab, you will see accessible sites from prior years.

Not only does Ms. Mercier group her content by subject area and audience (e.g., parents), she also provides throughout the site links to wonderful websites for instructional purposes. She uses Weebly to maintain her site. Feel free to explore Weebly as a mean to create your own student-centered website.

Ms. Mercier works with symbaloo.com to create customized pages of recommended sites for students. Here are fast links to some of her Symbaloo pages:
multimedia , math, and writing.

To create your own customized resource pages for your students with Symbaloo, open an account, and then you are set to build your pages of recommended sites by discipline, subject area, or general area of interest, using Symbaloo's database of recommended sites.

Ms. Mercier also maintains a blog through Weebly, allowing her students to post comments. In addition, check her Twitter account.

Webbly, Mrs. Scelia is a site designed by another Weebly-user teacher. Ms. Scelia started this site August 2010 to provide resources to her young students.

Let us know what you think of the websites these teachers maintain.

Post your recommendations of teacher websites worth visiting by providing the URL's.

Photo of Ms. Mercier from Mercier's Magic. Photo Ms. Scelia from Webbly, Mrs. Scelia
Logo from Weebly.

Twitter Tweets Archived with Library of Congress

Even if you don't tweet on Twitter and therefore don't need to worry about your 140-character pearls of wisdom, The Library of Congress archives Twitter Tweets, maintaining an electronic record of Twitter's content. The Library of Congress blog explains the archive: How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive. Using the archive can be a valuable source of information, but what about privacy rights? Take a look at the blog posting How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive, and reflect on what it means for the Library of Congress to maintain this archive. Moreover, what might be the value of the archive in the school setting? Do you think students using Twitter realize an archive of their Tweets exists with the Library of Congress? Does it matter to them to know their pearls could be archived? What about maintaining historical records of tweets? How might this archive be of value in the school setting? When referencing the blog posting, also take some time to read comments posted by others to gain a perspective on how others are reacting.

Image from: How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive

Award-Winning Teacher's Blog and Website

A California middle school teacher, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, maintains a blog with helpful tips for middle school teachers and a website for her students. Her blog isTweenTeacher.com and expresses her enthusiasm for teaching at this level and offers insightful professional development ideas. Her website for her students is available at:
http://web.me.com/bulldogradio/JeffersonRadio/Welcome.html

On her website for students, you will find links for her 7th grade students and another for her 8th graders, as well as a link to a page where she archives students' podcasts, under the title of Bulldog Radio. Check both her blog for teachers and her website for her students. Let us know what you think.

Image is the logo Heather Wolpert-Gawron uses on TweenTeacher.com

R U Txting Now?

Is texting increasing exponentially as some claim? Is it a distraction in the school setting? What are the psychological effects? What are the implications of texting on learning and teaching? Can teachers stop texting in their classrooms? Read the USA Today article: "Texting Away UR Education."

On the one hand, some teachers advocate for students texting instead of raising their hands. Teachers see it as a way for students to respond in class. In the article, I KN the Answer, one Texas teacher enumerates benefits for texting in class as well as for a homework aid for students to keep in touch with teachers.

After reading both articles, weigh in on the issue of where texting belongs in the schools, if at all?

Photo from the article I KN the Answer, published in EduDemic.

Social Network Sites in the Schools

Digital Directions, an online journal, published a helpfu article exploring the pros and cons of using social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Ning in the school setting. This article should be helpful reading to you as an educator. Let us know what you think after you have read the article, Social Networking Goes to the School.

Illustration Roy Weiman from the article "Social Networking Goes to School."

Greyson Chance Singing Broken Hearts

What if this talented child were in your class? Do you think he should be attending school or starting in on his musical career full-time? He was originally discovered by the general public on YouTube, and now is a famous musical star with television appearances and over 2 million viewer fans on YouTube. How are social media sites, like YouTube, one of the most popular, defining culture? Do you think this YouTube should be shown in public school classrooms?

Teaching History

Here is a powerful way to teach history. Let us know of some lesson plan ideas you get after watching the video.

Declaration of Independence

For those of you who have not seen this video of history in action, thought I would share it. What ideas does it bring to mind for teaching?

Lesson Plans

Two sites with lesson plans including ones that use computer software and websites:

The Educator’s Reference Desk offers lesson plans by discipline. Lesson plans use a variety of instructional materials, including websites and software programs.

Scholastic.com provides a variety of lesson plans in different disciplines. Plans can be found by discipline or grade level. Plans are also featured by month.

Pronto Videos

Animoto.com enables you to make a quick video by using your own pictures and by adding music from the site or your own sound files. Once you import the pictures, you then import the music. After both the pictures and music are inserted, you hit a button to complete the process, and the site blends the images and music into a movie. One drawback to the site is that to make full use of it, you need to pay a fee, and as you work yourself through your first free movie, the site reminds you of the upgrade. The free version allows for producing only a 30-second movie. Take a look at the site, and let us know what you think. I did a quick video with the site, and had mixed reactions to the final product. Have any of you used the site, or know of anyone who does? If so, what have you heard?

Here is the link to the movie that I created in a few minutes: Trial
Use this clickable link to access a blog posting on Discovery Education from an Animoto user who enjoyed using the site:
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/mdbarger/2008/04/17/awesome-astounding-animoto/

Image is from the Discovery Ed. blog.

Go Animate

GoAnimate is a site where teachers, students, and others can create quick animated videos. Here is an example of a 45-second animation focused on teens. Check out the site GoAnimate, and take some time to view other animations. Let us know what you see as the potential for this site in the school setting.
GoAnimate.com: School News for Teens! FREE TV Show Opening! by gwyneth

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

School Filtering Programs

I found this slide show, Strategies for Fighting Internet Filtering on tips for how to address the issue of schools blocking specific Internet sites. For those teaching K-12, blocking sites creates problems when we know specific sites sponsor information that would be of value to our students. The slide show offers some suggestions of how to address the issue and ways in which teachers can teach responsible use of online sources. If you prefer you can view the presentation here instead of clicking on the link Strategies for Fighting Internet Filtering to view the presentation at the slideshare website.

Strategies for Fighting Internet Filtering

View more presentations from Buffy Hamilton.

School-Issued Smartphones

Although many schools ban the use of cell phones, this policy is beginning to be revisited. Here is one article that speaks to the merits, Solving Algebra Problems on Smarthpones. In fact, in the North Carolina school featured in the story, students are issued smartphones by the school. They are used by students to assist them in solving algebra problems both in the classroom and at home, while doing homework. In addition to several applications for which the phones are used, the students have access to a class blog, where they can pose questions when they need assistance with solving problems at home. The teacher or peers can respond. To learn more about this use of smartphones to assist students with their algebra skills, refer to the Education Week article, Solving Algebra Problems on Smarthpones. Do you think it is about time that more schools lifted bans on smartphone use during school hours? What about the idea of the schools being the ones to issue the phones? The article documents several advantages of issuing school-sponsored smartphones and using them both in and out the school. Let us know what you think after you read the article.

In addition, the article contains this video, which you might want to watch for additional information and for student and teacher testimonials of the value of the K-Nect Project, the program that brought the phones to the schools.




Photo is from the article at and is captioned as such: "Using her school-issued smartphone, Katie Denton, a junior at Dixon High School in Holly Ridge, N.C., reads the biographic profile of a student from another school that is also participating in a Project K-Nect math class.—Sara D. Davis for Education Week" (URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/18/26smartphones.h29.html?tkn=ZQYFjhaVSfhzLsrxox93KA3La%2BpCWkUHEk%2Fn&cmp=clp-edweek)

Failing Grades for Attracting Women and Minorities into STEM

Several new reports just released show the trend to attract women and minorities into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (often designated by the acronym STEM) remains dismal. Here are links to read more about two recently released reports.

US Gets Poor Grades in Nurturing STEM Diversity from Education Week.

Why So Few? AAUW Report

There's a lot to chew over in these two articles. Take some time to read them and to check some of the links to other resources contained within the articles. As educators, we need to be concerned about stereotypes we create and how our attitudes influence the students in our classrooms. What can we do to serve as strong role models to encourage students to pursue interests and eventual careers in the fields represented by STEM, areas in which more and more professionals will be needed in the future to sustain our growth as a world leader? What is our responsibility to encourage students in general to pursue careers in these fields and to start preparing them for such futures in grades as early as the elementary school?

President Obama has already proposed several steps to support STEM. (See "Obama Unveils Plan to Bolster STEM," Jan. 2010.)

So much of the future of our country rests in nurturing young people's interests in the STEM fields. What is your response to the recent reports about our failings as educators to support and nurture young people's interests in the STEM areas? Are the solutions offered in the articles and the related reports feasible? What do you see as solutions?

photo credit: cover from report obtained at

http://www.aauw.org/research/WhereGirlsAre.cfm

Teacher Suspended for Facebook Post

An East Stroudsbury University professor was suspended for a comment she put on Facebook. She claimed she was kidding when she said she had a bad day and wanted to kill some students. The school officials took her comments seriously, and suspended her when a student brought the matter to the attention of the administration. Some say the suspension was a violation of free speech while others claim all threats of this kind even if made in jest should be taken seriously. Read more about the case in Higher Ed Morning, Facebook: Teacher Suspended for Posts, and check some of the comments posted.

In another case, a middle school teacher was suspended for some comments she wrote about one of her students on Facebook. Read of that story, Apex Teacher Suspended. Stories of both students and teachers being suspended for Facebook comments are increasing.

How do you feel about the emerging cases of retribution when a member of a school, be it a student or teacher, faces suspension for postings put on Facebook or other social networking venues? Should comments posted on these sites be taken seriously? Need teachers exercise caution? What about comments students post on Facebook, or other public social networking sites, about teachers, school administrators, and other students? As a teacher, what would you do if a student brought to your attention a comment written about her or him by another student that could be interpreted to be mean spirited or threatening? What about the teacher from East Stroudsbury U.? Do you think she should have been suspended? What about the middle school teacher who called her student "Bible boy"?

Videos Feature Winning Digital Natives

See some wonderful digital media projects created by students, some as young as 8 and 13, and read their profiles to learn more about who they are. Youth Portraits at Eutopia features the stories of students showcased in the Digital Generation Project. This project is intended to help educators and parents understand how students are using digital media. Spend time reading the students' profiles and seeing their digital work. Afterwards, return to this blog and post your comments about the project. Which students' work did you find impressive? What have you discovered by viewing the students' profiles and work? Note what the students have to say about their education and how digital media has motivated them as students and learners. If you have some extra time, explore the Digital Generation: Educators section for specific teaching ideas. Let us know what you fnd of particular of interest to you.