I’ve been doing some thinking work around a keynote address coming up around digital literacies with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. I made this video as a sort of teaser, trying to lay out some ideas and flesh out some direction for what I want to speak about — which is how the digital literacies of kids can be connected to the literacies we value in school but we need some bridges between reading/writing in school and reading/writing in their lives.
Peace (in the prez),
Kevin
In summer, I shared out the Scoop.it that I have been curating around articles and resources related to writing with technology. There’s still a ton of great resources there for folks wondering about how digital tools and media might impact the way our students are writing. Check it out:
Peace (in the share),
Kevin
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably think: Man, everything in technology works for that dude. It’s all so seamless.
Trust me, it doesn’t. Often — more often than I write about — things fall apart and my head starts to hurt.
Yesterday, our first day of school, I had this vision of bringing my homeroom class of sixth graders into our webcomic site to create avatars and begin an introductory comic. It’s a great opening activity on many levels because it opens up conversations on many fronts: how you represent yourself, how an avatar can be used, what a webcomic is, and how we will be using technology through the year.
What I didn’t count on was that an upgrade to the comic site over the summer requires the most recent version of Flash, and only about half of our laptops were ready with the new flash player. (And I had not double checked the working of the comic site — an oversight I quickly regretted). It was scramble time, as I quickly tried to come up with workaround plans.
First, we tried to download the flash player update, but they were all in student accounts which doesn’t allow users to download and install software.
Second, I had them shift over from Firefox to Google Chrome. Some computers still do not have Chrome. And, for whatever reason, some of them refuse to download Chrome.
Third, I had them share computers, as I worked to log in as an administrator and fix things as best as I could. But that meant a lot of waiting time for some kids, and about half the class never even got to really start the activity during the 45 minutes period.
Meanwhile, in the background of the laptops’ operating system, the downloading of updates from a variety of programs that had been waiting all summer long to begin now started to run, causing a wireless logjam and freezing up some computers.
Sigh.
The good news was that while some of my new students were frustrated (no doubt, thinking: is this how the year is going go?), most adapted nicely to the situation, helping each other out. And this morning, when I checked the comic site, it seemed like all but four of my students have finished their avatars on the site. A handful must have gone on last night and worked at it at home.
The reality is that we have old laptops (I realized that the cart of PCs in my room were bought when my current class was in preschool) that require a lot of updating and vigilance on my part, and while I am grateful that we do have technology, I know it doesn’t always work the way I want it to work. And when I am delivering professional development with a technology component, I remember days like yesterday — days when it would have been easy to throw my hands up and say “enough already.”
But I kept at it, and I keep at it, because I do believe in technology and media as important elements of the literary lives of my students. And while it may not be prominent in the Common Core or other curriculum documents, the ability to persevere and create workarounds when something goes awry are important skills. Too bad they often come with headaches, too.
Peace (along the wires),
Kevin
I’ve shared this “social media counter” by Gary Hayes before, but it caught my eye again this morning, and it’s difficult not to look at the numbers rolling by and think: wow. (If you are curious about the data, check out Gary Hayes’ post, in which he explains his sources.) There is also an iPad version (99cents)
Notice how there are four main buttons: Social, Mobile, Games and Heritage. And you can change the time sequence, too. I just find this fascinating.
Peace (in the media use),
Kevin
Like many, I have been watching the Mars Curiosity with … curiosity. But along with the idea of a rover moving (slowly) around Mars, I’ve been fascinated by the ways that NASA and its supporters are leveraging Twitter, Youtube and other new media/technology elements to add a little pizzazz to its mission. And adding some very important fun, too. In the past few weeks, both Newsweek and Time magazines and a host of online sites have been featuring the ways that the rover is getting its news out. I just saw an interchange between Brittney Spears and the Rover via Twitter in one of the magazines. Odd? Yes. Interesting? You bet.
Check out:
The embedded video above is another example (although not created by NASA, it is a catchy example of celebrating science for the younger generation listening to LMFAO). Given the reduced funds for NASA space exploration and fears that science research is taking a back seat to other priorities, this push to make science relevant and fun with parody and pop culture is important.
I know, for me, this mix of official and parody has made me pay attention. And I suspect maybe my students, too?
Peace (in exploration of new media),
Kevin
PS – Thanks to Maria for a few additions to the twitter list.
I finally got around to upgrading my Mac to Mountain Lion, and while the transition was conveniently seamless (after hours of downloading), the one thing I noticed was the loss of the “save as” command in applications drop down menu of actions. Which is odd. It has been replaced by “duplicate” but that is not quite the same thing, is it? “Save as” allows you to save a version in process of something; “Duplicate” means you make a copy. There’s a nuanced difference. I started to scour the web to figure out if others were missing “save as” as well, and boy, they sure are. Loads of complaints. (Actually, the ability to “save as” was left off Lion completely, it seems, and was returned to Mountain Lion, but only as keystroke shortcuts, not as a drop down option. Eh, why not?)
Which had me thinking a bit about how accustomed we get to the set up and language of computer programs created by others, from some different time. My guess is that the “save as” idea stems from Microsoft (but I could be wrong about that), and maybe Apple sees “duplicate” as more valuable, and adds a little Apple tweak to the language that confronts us when we write and create on our computers. I don’t know, but I know I get used to doing things a certain way and get flustered when I can’t do it that way anymore. I can adapt, for sure. But it takes time to learn those adaptations and that work moves me out of my surface comfort zone with technology.
For those who are already a little leery of computers (and there are plenty in my teaching profession, believe me), a simple change like getting rid of “save as” and replacing it with “duplicate” that may seem insignificant to some programmers is actually part of the larger interface that stymies others. I thought Apple would be the company to understand that, and an easy solution would be to add in a “save as” along with “duplicate” so that the user has options. (I have tried to set up my own keyboard commands in order to get that “save as” functionality back, but I don’t think it has quite the same effect and hasn’t really worked for me.)
Peace (and save it as ease),
Kevin
This is kind of interesting. I saw a tweet from a friend, Lacy, that I had “joined them” as a mentor text. Nice! And I didn’t even know I was there! But it was pretty cool to see chart paper notes from the session (not quite sure what the session was) as viewer/reader/participant commented about what they were seeing at my blog (as they think about their own blogs — that seems to be the activity).
I decided to take the image of the chart paper notes, and use Thinglink to add some response notes back to them. One of the elements of online tools is this ever-decreasing space between writers and readers, and back again. And I appreciated how this group’s reflections helped me see my blog from another angle.
Peace (off the poster),
Kevin
We try to keep the lines of communication open with our parents as much as possible. We generate an email list early in the year, and use it once a week for project updates and information. We have a blog site where we post daily homework assignments and links to handouts. We, of course, use the phone to make calls, and email to connect.
This year, I am going to dip my toes into another way to communicate with families by using a site called Kikutext, which allows teachers to set up classes so that text messages can be sent to cell phones and mobile devices. The site — which has a free version (create up to four classes with 80 accounts) and a pro version (more options) — seems friendly enough. I was up and running within minutes and using a teacher colleague who is also a parent of an incoming student as my experiment, I had things working with very little hassle.
Kikutext does not provide your cell phone number to parents. Instead, it filters messages through its web-based interface, so that from my standpoint — it feels more like a web-based email client — but once parents opt in, I can sent forth class-wide messages or individual messages, and the hope is that by reaching them on a device that most people bring everywhere, our channels of communication about their children and my students will be positive.
And I intend it to be as positive as possible. I really need to set a goal of alerting families to the achievements and accomplishments of students, and not just have contact when problems arise. I don’t do enough of that, and if a site like Kikutext can help me, then I am game to give it a try. I am going to pilot Kikutext with just one of my four classes, and try to focus in on parents more than students (but I am not sure this is a good idea — why not have students in the system? The reason for now is that I feel constrained by the free version, and the 80 account limit, since I have 80 students in my four classes. I’ll see how that develops. I would love to have students as part of the system.)
Do you use text messaging with families? I’d love to know more about how it works for you. I follow my National Writing Project friend, Jeremy Hyler, in his work with cell phones in the classroom using Cel.ly for writing, polling and more. I guess I am not quite there yet. But I feel myself moving in that direction. How about you?
Peace (in the texts),
Kevin
Time Magazine has a fascinating cover story and article collection (plus global survey results) about the ways in which mobile technology is changing our lives. When you consider how relatively quickly wireless connections and handheld devices have caught on, you realize again that we are in the midst of profound culture changes around the world. How it will all unfold is really unknown, and this is something that we teachers grapple with in our classroom. How do you teach skills for a world that is still unknown and unsettled, and shifting just about every week?
The magazine points to ten ways that mobile technology is shaking things up. (Yeah, you need to be a subscriber to read the entire articles but this gives you a glimpse anyway)
Yesterday, I began the wave goodbye to Cinch, my podcasting platform of choice, and today, I say hello to Audioboo. The two platforms have many similarities, and as I explore Audioboo (on the web, with the app, and with the call-in phone number), I find it might meet the needs of my classroom. My students regularly podcast on our iTouch, and Cinch was our favorite site (for ease of use). I am hoping Audioboo can take its place now that Cinch is closing up shop.
First, here is a podcast that I recorded yesterday, as a comment response to Bill Ferriter’s great piece about whether kids really are motivated by technology (or whether they are more intrigued by the social aspects). I agree with Bill, but argue, too, that we have in fact noticed increased motivation by our struggling writers, in particular, when technology tools are in the mix.
Then, I downloaded the Audioboo app on my iTouch to give it a try. I was writing a poem about the end of summer, and decided to podcast it out.
Here is the poem:
Summer Slips Away
I’m trying not to flinch
as my own kids get antsy about what could only be called
the inevitable march towards the end of summer,
so we’re doing our best to:
tape down the calendar so that August never ends and September never arrives;
cram our days with biking, running, hiking, jumping, playing;
absorb warm summer rays on the baseball fields;
read the last few chapters of the last great beach book;
but still .. but still …
my teacher mind that never really sleeps wakes me up now in the middle of night
with calls of lesson plans, project ideas,
and the purposeful pacing of that first morning just days away now where I will meet
with my students,
and they, with me,
and together we will begin the first steps of our adventure and inquiry
even as the last bits of summer slip away from us
with the leaves already turning yellow from the cool night air.
Peace (in the podcast),
Kevin
PS – One thing I don’t see with Audioboo is the quick link to download the file as an MP3, which Cinch allowed, and which was very convenient for me to collect student work as audio files. But I found a workaround in the forums. So that’s good.