Jenni Clark

Presentation

After a long break and lots of happenings, I am back.  What is great about this medium, especially if no one is reading, is that you can go away for almost a full year and come back without any reprisals.  I've been busy and you know,dear reader, how that is sometimes.

I am back because I have a presentation to do on January 4 at the ECS Professional Development Day.  I am supposed to report about NECC 2007 so I have been at that website reviewing handouts and stuff from the conference.  Now I need to review some of the blogs of folks I have come to listen to on the subject.  Should be interesting. 

Vickie Davis, Cool Cat Teacher, says this:

Make it easy for others to follow your lead.

Make it important for them to do so.

Make it important on your to do list.

I need to remember that.

We need to prepare our students for their future, not our past....Dan Pink

Teachers had a role when information was scarce....what is our role now that information is plentiful?

This web carol says it all...

I wonder as I wander all over the net,
If people who write ed tech blogs still forget
That teachers may blog in a workshop and then
Be hampered by tugs between time and the pen.

If we really want to see students who write
On wikis and blogs both in class and at night,
We need to find tools and resources just right
To save teachers time and not force them to fight…

For access to places both simple and safe
So parents and principals never will chafe.
For computers in classrooms that do operate
And home Internet access all over the state.

I wonder as I wander the ed tech blog’sphere
If we preach to the choir– the wise few who come here.
If perhaps it’s the people who show the most fear
Whom we should address with our efforts sincere.

The greatest of gifts we could wrap just might be
Bringing visitors into our midst so they see
The passion of teachers and hopes yet to be
With classes that thrive aboard blogs and wikis.

So to each other we should blog no more,
Instead bring in parents and VIPs galore
To see what the tools of web 2 have in store
For learners not limited to our own shores.

I wonder as I wander if I could invite
Just one parent or maybe a blog neophyte
To comment right here and see the bright light
Of learning not just so that each answer is "right."

Of asking more questions than knowing it all
Of seeking for answers outside the school walls
With peers side by side or in a world virtual
Where loving to learn is the beckoning call.

So speak up and ask what these wiki things are
And how children write blogs from both near and afar
And how you can help make this vision a star
For us all to follow and wander no more

Digital Storytelling

Bernajean Porter says that there are 6 elements to digital storytelling...

Living Your Story
Unfolding Lessons Learning
Developing Creative Tension
Economizing the Story Told
Showing NOT Telling
Developing Craftsmanship

I love the idea that no one touches the technology until the writing is THERE.  Have you seen some of the stories that are told this way.  Incredible.  I want to do this on the elementary level.

Microsoft Student

Just downloaded Microsoft Student.....free!  Have you seen it?  Let me know how you like it.