This is my final comic poking fun at Twitter. (well, for now)
Peace (in the blabber),
Kevin
A Technology Community of Practice
This afternoon, a group of teachers at my school will convene the first Community of Practice (CoP) for technology. This is an interesting development, I think, and one I certainly welcome as we move further into technology integration. We have three computer carts (two PCs and one Mac), a handful of Interactive Boards, and assorted other stuff floating around the building.
Since last year, our school has moved into regular team meetings — first, it was known as Professional Learning Communities and now it is Communities of Practice (I see a Boolean comic coming …). Whatever we call it, this networking is important to us, even as we work as a school to figure out a good balance between setting goals for the work in this circles.
My hope is that our Technology CoP group will think about ways we can share out the technology we are doing with our students with the rest of the staff and consider ways to move us, as a whole, forward. My guess is that many people who say they are using technology as only using it for students as “gatherers” of information (ie, kids go to web and copy information) , and not as “creators” of content (ie, making movies, podcasts, etc). I’m going to try to be persistent, without annoying everyone, that this is the direction we should be going — helping students to become “composers” in a digital world through the use of a myriad of technological tools available to us. I may even print out the statement by National Council of Teachers of English that now puts emphasis on multimedia in the Language Arts field.
My worry is that this group will be seen as the place where we talk about what kind of technology we need to buy next — software, hardware, etc. — and while that is important to a degree, I think we have a lot already here at my school. I want to focus on practice, not purchase.
It’s very heartening that our principal is excited about this new technology CoP group and is fully supportive of the concept. He really does believe in bringing teachers along in this direction but also knows that there will be pockets of resistance to technology. I know that, too.
I wonder if you have a similar group at your school or organization? If so, I would love to know how it is going and what advice you might give to us as we move forward on our own baby steps.
Peace (with others),
Kevin
On the ‘Net, no one knows you’re a llama
The Blabber continues with my webcomic, Boolean Squared, as Funk the llama gets into the action.
Peace (in the words),
Kevin
Making Fun of Twitter with Blabber
Boolean Squared Blabbers On … and On
I use Twitter all the time for networking and writing (I am on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dogtrax) and find it both useful and frustrating, but I see it as a powerful resource. Some of you may remember that I published a song about Twitter called Twitter This (take a listen)
That doesn’t mean I don’t want to make fun of Twitter and so, I begin a series of Boolean Squared comics about a Twitter-like site that Mr. Teach is using called Blabber.
In this first one, a simple question leads to a math problem.
Peace (in the talk),
Kevin
Podcasting Poetry with Myna
I found out about a new music editing program that may rival Garageband but — thankfull for me, the PC user — is located all online and is free. The site is called Myna and it is part of the Aviary suite of applications.
This morning, I wrote a poem in my head about walking my dog out in the darkness of morning and then came back, launched Myna, and had this podcast poem in no time at all. Like Garageband, you can pull loops from a large database, and you can add effects to your voice.
But, unlike Garageband, Myna also gives you the embed code for your mixed down audio tracks.
So, here goes:
And here is a video tutorial on using Myna:
I wonder how we might use this with our students because if it is easy enough to use, then I would replace this application with Audacity. I love Audacity and have used it for years, but this Myna brings ease of recording and podcasting to a new level.
Peace (in the sound),
Kevin
Ascii-ing for Trouble
I have to apologize for the joke in this comic. I just couldn’t resist. I was working on a series of comics this morning, making fun of Twitter (I’ll post them later this week) and during some down time, I made this one up, too. It’s a throw-away of sorts, but heck … I get a chuckle out of it.
I used an Ascii generator site to create the image.
Peace (in the groans),
Kevin
More Dreams …
Dreaming the Future
Most teachers have a Dream Project for their students at the start of the year. It can be a valuable way to work closely with our new students and get to know them better. We find out a lot about a young person by their aspirations. Mine is a digital story called Dream Scenes and we finally … finally finished the digital stories up yesterday.
They are fantastic stories and I am impressed by not only the dreams, but also the way they quickly adapted to technology they have never used before — Photostory. And most have never used Paint for a real art project. Only a handful have ever recorded their voice.
There were many mini-lessons along the way but also, I actively encouraged students helping each other and once again, I am always moved by how much they are willing to share what they have discovered, even to people outside of their friend networks.
I’m going to share a few Dream Scenes over the next few days. Enjoy!
Peace (in the dream),
Kevin
