Reaching Out to the World

I had two experiences with Skype this week that reinforced in my mind just how powerful the connective tools of Web 2.0 really are. It’s not a new revelation, yet both were so interesting and both, as it turns out, used Skype as the connector tool.

First, I spent the weekend with some good friends of mine from the college days. We have known each other for more than 20 years now (wow) and although we are scattered geographically, we still find room in our calendar to come together once a year at one of our homes (wives and children often scatter). Two of our friends are in the military and it is sometimes the case that one of them is overseas. Three years ago, one of my buddies was stationed in the Middle East as a patrol guard, searching beneath vehicles for bombs. This year, my other friend who flies helicopters is on a year-long tour just outside of Baghdad. So, obviously, he could not attend the weekend here. So, what did we do? We skyped him and had a long conversation using webcams and laptops and wireless connections to see how he is doing over there (so far, so good). The ability to talk to a friend in Iraq during the war …. that is pretty amazing.

Then, last night, I Skyped my way into a graduate level education class at Columbia University, where the future teachers had been using our book — Teaching the New Writing — as a class text, generated questions for myself and another editor (Charlie Moran) using Web 2.0 tools, and then peppered us with outstanding questions about writing, technology and more for about an hour. Just think how cool that is: to be able to converse with and ask questions of the writers and editors of a text that you are using in the college classroom. It was a great conversation for both us — the producers of the content — and them — the readers of the content — and it really shows how technology is changing the relationship of how we interact with text, don’t you think?

Peace (in the world),
Kevin

Making Music: Falling off Stage

This is another in my series of ToonDoo comics about my life in music. In this case, I was doing a solo for a concert and sat down wrong, tumbling off the stage. BUT, I saved my saxophone. I gave up my body to save the sax!

And is my ever-growing ebook collection of the Making Music comic series:

Peace (off the stage),
Kevin

Looking at Characters through Comics

I came across this interesting blog resource called Art&Story, which focuses in on resources around the art of comics. It’s wonderful. This video is a presentation that delves into the importance of character development for writing, whether comics or short stories or novels. A good character will drive a story forward.

There are other neat videos, too, including a tour of an art studio and using some advanced art tools. Check it out: http://cvcomics.com/video/
Peace (in character),
Kevin

Testing itouch app

I am trying out an app that allows me to access and blog from my itouch. I wonder how it will go.

Peace (in the device),
Kevin

— Post From My iPhone

The Writers’ Saga, continued

Mark Twain arrived home this week, safe and sound inside an envelope. He is part of a group of Writer figurines making their way around the country by visiting various Summer Institutes of the National Writing Project. We’ve packaged the concept as a spy story, in which The Writers have been instructed by President Obama to investigate the National Writing Project and report back. The reporting has been done at a Ning site for technology-minded folks within the NWP.
What I’ve been doing, other than overseeing The Writers’ various journeys, is creating little stopmotion movies to keep the concept fresh and to poke fun at The Writers. Yesterday, I gave Twain his own feature, arriving home in one of my son’s Pirate Ships, floating along the blue waters of one of our futon couches. Meanwhile, we still have no word on the whereabouts of Edgar Allen Poe, who seems to have disappeared in the US Mail system.
I decided to try something a little different with this movie, using ComicLife to create the dialogue on images and then mixing up images and video. It was tricky and I am not sure I kept enough time for the reading of the lines. Let me know. I can always go back and re-edit, if necessary.
If you want to see the other segments of The Writers, go: First here and then here and then here. That should bring you up to speed.

.

Peace (in the fun),
Kevin

The One Comment a Day Project

Andy over at http://iteach20.blogspot.com/ is launching a great concept for commenting on other people’s blogs. He wants to keep the concept simple and manageable, so his idea is for folks to make one comment per day on a blog you don’t often come across.

Here is what he says:

Here is the process.

1. Read a blog

2. Post a comment that is insightful and constructive.

3. Tweet a link to the blog and your comment. Use the hash tag #OneComment

EXAMPLE: I just read a great piece on iTeach blog, check it out! #OneComment

4. Bookmark the blog and return to it another time.

It is just that easy! This Project will help create a positive forum for all who blog and comment. There are so many good educational blogs out there and I look forward to hearing your feedback and engaging in your comments!

The second phase of this project will be a featured blog a week project. This forum will review and promote one educational blog per week. It will also try and introduce new edu-blogs into the learning community. I will be setting up a Ning for this venture. The sole purpose of both ventures is to promote learning and create an engaging dialogue between so many great academic minds. The twitter hash tag for this will be #1Newblog

Please send me your thoughts, suggestions and feedback on both new ventures!I would also like to put together a small team to help with this venture due to the time consuming nature of the project. If you would like to help your fellow bloggers and be an integral part of this venture, please contact me at onecommentproject@gmail.com

I have also set up a separate twitter account for this second phase. It will be @1commentproject. Please follow it for blog updates and blog promotions. When we spread the word about great blogs, we all shine!

Go on. Give it a whirl!

Peace (in new explorations),
Kevin

Teaching the New Writing: the third podcast

The third and final installment of podcasts about the book I co-edited and wrote a chapter for (called Teaching the New Writing) is up at Teachers Teaching Teachers. The first podcast centered on why us three editors (myself, Charlie Moran and Anne Herrington) decided to publish a collection of chapters on how technology may be changing writing instruction, particularly in the age of assessment and standardized testing. The second installment dealt with the idea of collaboration in a technology-infused writing classroom.
And this last edition centered on the concept of expanding sense of audience and how that might impact student writing and projects. We were joined by some of the chapter authors (Troy Hicks, Dawn Reed, Marva Solomon and Bryan Crandall) to discuss a variety of projects.
Listen in:

Or download the file.
Peace (in the podcast),
Kevin

Making Music: My First Gig

It’s Monday, so I am continuing to share out my evolving webcomic series about my life in music, as told through ToonDoo. This comic centers on the first time I played solo in front of an audience and the likely perceptions that were at play.

And here is the ongoing ebook collection:

Peace (in the notes),
Kevin

You Gotta Listen to the Kids on Leadership Day 2009

2009leadershipday02

Scott McLeod at Dangerously Irrelevant is once again holding a blogging Leadership Day tomorrow, in which he asks folks to blog about advice or help for administrators.
This year, I decided to write a song that tries to capture the idea of administrators and leaders getting out of their offices and into the classrooms to talk to students about what they do and what they need and what they hope for. Also, I want to say again that technology should be integrated into the curriculum, not the old model of “drop my kids off into the lab for a planning period” kind of integration.

Anyway:

You Gotta Listen to the Kids
(by Kevin Hodgson)

Here’s what I fear
Tech won’t disappear
It’ll still be apart from the whole

When everybody knows
that kids will grow
when they connect their school to home

‘Cause kids are gonna text
explore what’s next
but they need us as a helping hand

So listen up, leaders:
we need you as believers
and support us any way you can

You gotta listen to the kids
’cause they’re gonna show you the way
You gotta listen to the kids
they’ve got some things to say

None of us knows
where this all goes
so the tool doesn’t matter much

But if they can explore
it’ll open up doors
and the world will be right in touch

You gotta listen to the kids
’cause they’re gonna show us the way
You gotta listen to the kids
’cause they’ve got some things to say

Peace (in the song),
Kevin

PS — the song is also at this link.