Using Wikis

I am preparing for the Technology, Reading and Learning Difficulties Conference (TRLD) where I am talking about Wikis. I think that wikis are amazing and extremely useful, but I have noticed that there are tons of them which are started and never really used much. What makes a Wiki useful? Why do people go back to it and collaborate?

Building a Wall in Bethlehem

This Christmas I was dismayed to learn that Bethlehem is divided by a wall. I knew that Israeli Government was constructing a wall which they say is to keep their people safe. It turns out that this wall is being constructed in many places which keep people from doing their daily work.

Did you know that if this wall was constructed in the time of Jesus it would have cut Mary and Joseph off from the Inn where Jesus was born?

I decided to experiment with my manger scene and here is a picture of the result. I hope it is as disturbing to others as it is to me.
Here is a website with more information: http://cpt.org/campaigns/no_way_to_the_inn/description.php

XO Laptop Reviewed by a 9 Year Old

Wow! I just got done reading this BBC review of the XO from a 9 year old and watching a video of him talking about it. Astounding! I am so glad that I did the Get One-Give One in early November. I just don't have the time that a 9 year old does to play with it (0r I don't take that time), so I am not as proficient as Rufus. I am thinking this might really make a difference. I think that the chatting feature is what astounds me most!

Creativity and Ted Talks

I have subscribed to TED Talks podcasts in my iTunes and put it onto my iPod to listen to in the car on the way to work. (I have an older nano, so I don't have video and in the car I guess that wouldn't work anyway!) I find them REALLY inspiring.

Even though they are short and often on subjects (like biology) which are way out of my field they connect with me. Yesterday and today the ones I have been listening to (from 2005) are talking about design issues and thinking differently about design to solve problems.

One was a biologist talking about designing solutions to problems and looking at nature for the way it solves problems (she gives examples of filtering water, stopping growth of calcium in pipes, etc...)

Another was a design specialist (architect?) talking about thinking differently about design (he used examples of designing medical equipment with the patient's eye view-rear view mirrors on guerneys, white boards on walls for nice notes to be left, one handed devices for entering data so that nurses can hold hands, etc...).

The third was the scientist who discovered the DNA molecule and what struck me there was how they really needed someone who thought out of the box of physics or chemistry or biology. It took knowing bits of each of these to come up with a solution. In each of these areas this scientist (sorry... I forgot his name) felt inadequate, but he was able to learn and put them all together into something competely new!

Are we teaching our students to think in these ways? (judging from the freshmen my professor husband teaches-probably one of the first classes that went through NCLB their whole educational lives-we are not. They are lazy thinkers, but good at passing memorized test items with lots of coaching.

TIME and USSL

I thought that when I got better after the Thanksgiving trip I would be back to writing at least once a week.... Not....

Part of the problem is that I am not taking time to read blogs either. I have no fuel for writing and thinking.

Time is just flying by and when I think of my blog I am shocked at how long it has been since I have read or written and how long it has been since I have checked my Twitter! So I was thrilled when catching up a little to come across this post from Carolyn Foote about Time: Fifteen Minutes

She talks about finding time for learning and how we, as teachers tend to spend all of our time helping others and not enough time learning for ourselves, so that we have more to give. She asks the question about what would 15 minutes a day of Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Learning (USSL) look like? What a great question. I am going to try it.

I am not sure where I will find the 15 minutes... but I am going to try.

Well, got to go or I will be late for teaching the next class.

I'm Back :-)

A bad cold after Thanksgiving travel really has had me down the last week or so and before that there was travel and so I have not blogged even once a week for a while. This morning I must be feeling better because I was having ideas about what I wanted to blog about!

There was something in my head a second ago that I really wanted to say... but it is gone. So I will just make a short comment about something I have been observing and hopefully before the day is over I will remember the other thing and write!

I have been thinking more about my organic transformation idea-that change happens in an organic way even when you try to force it and I think my observations here at the school I am in are supporting that. Teachers here do not change until they feel the need to change. Some of us feel the need sooner than others because we are not happy with the status quo and are always ready to do new things. We don't mind trying them out and learning through our mistakes. Others are not so comfortable with learning that way and want to wait until they are sure everything works. Others do not want to change at all, so need to really see and feel a need for it.

The thing is that things ARE changing in schools. Some teachers are trying new things, but not at the pace that we would like. Just like a plant they need the right atmosphere, nutrients, and water to grow and change. In our society and in many schools the atmosphere is poisonous to change or change is not being watered. Can it be watered too much?