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Putting the racy in literacy since September 2008

Barker Blog

Thoughts on the innovation lag and coaching x-country

September 4th, 2010 · 1 Comment · classroom practice

It’s Labour Day weekend. I’m sitting in my living room wearing a big sweater and getting a bit high off the scent of vanilla and cinnamon from the apple crisp I’m baking. It was 32 degrees two days ago but fall is here now. I know this because I bought a pumpkin spice latte this morning.

Anyway, now that I’ve set the scene, I’ll get to the point. I had my first “back to school” day on Thursday. No kids, but we had a full day of PD involving a scintillating recorded powerpoint presentation (complete with bullets, narrated slides, and improper apostrophes) on CAS reporting practices, memos mandating ugly shoes, reminders about field trip paperwork, and… discussions about cell phones and assessment practices. And this is when I realized that I don’t actually work with the teachers that I talk to on Twitter.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have awesome, dedicated, professional colleagues. But sometimes I forget that we don’t always have the same concerns, philosophies, and passions. Sometimes I get caught up in a passionate discussion about assessment policies (yes, I know. I’m a geek) and the person I’m talking to is smiling and nodding and then slowly I see her face glaze over and I realize I may have gone too far. I also have to remember that just because I’m passionate about something doesn’t mean I’m right. I think I’m right, but I could be wrong, and even if I’m not wrong, that doesn’t mean that I won’t learn something by listening (with an open mind) to someone who doesn’t share my beliefs.

Even when they say cell phones need to be banned.

Even when they say technology is distracting and unnecessary.

Even when they say if we have to deduct late marks to prepare students for university.

All that being said, I’m looking forward to an exciting year. I get to go see Damian Cooper in November, I’m presenting at two conferences, I’m starting my master’s, and apparently I’m helping to coach cross country. I’m not really sure how that last one happened.

The only downside I see is this ridiculous health and safety policy banning pretty much every pair of shoes I own. I don’t understand how standing in front of a class of 17 year-olds and walking down the hallway suddenly became activities that require rubber-soled steel-toed shoes. I’m usually a very rule-abiding person. That may have to change.

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Thoughts on bells, whistles, and frivolity

August 31st, 2010 · 4 Comments · classroom practice, technology


no-laughter

Recently, I’ve had  teachers ask me questions about teaching using social networking sites like Ning and Grou.ps,  and I’ve noticed a trend. They like what social networking sites seem to make possible and they want to use technology to increase student engagement, but they’ve expressed concern over the fact that the sites have a lot of bells and whistles. I think they’re concerned that students will confuse the educational sites with the social sites they use outside the classroom.

I understand this concern because I am well aware that students behave inappropriately on sites like Myspace and Facebook, but if you decide to use a site like Schoology or Edmodo (which are cool–don’t get me wrong) because you don’t want to use something that looks too much like Facebook, then aren’t you kind of defeating the purpose? Aren’t you missing out on opportunities to teach appropriate use of social media? If you want to have students create Facebook-like profile pages for characters in a novel you’re studying, but you don’t want to use a site that mimics what Facebook can do because it doesn’t look “educational” … then why bother? If the goal is to increase student engagement then you should use a tool that’s … well … engaging. Shouldn’t you?

Now, I’m not saying Edmodo and Schoology are not engaging. They are. I’ve used Edmodo and my students have thought it was cool. I’ve checked out Schoology and it looks pretty useful too, but you need to really think about what you’re trying to achieve and then choose the best tool for that task.

I’ve had teachers tell me before that they tried blogging with their students but they weren’t really into it. When they tell me what tools they’re using for blogging, then I get it. The tools are boring. Yawn…. Appearance matters, okay?

I think some of the concern comes from teachers worrying that other teachers, administrators, or parents might not think that students are learning when using a site that looks too “social”. My response? Invite those teachers, administrators, and parents to join your site. People fear what they don’t understand (duh), so let them in.

And who says education can’t be fun? Bring on the bells and whistles, I say. 

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Bring.It.On.

August 30th, 2010 · 1 Comment · classroom practice, reflection

bring_it_onHere we go again folks. I feel the reassuring surge of confidence knowing that I feel completely unprepared for another school year, and I always feel completely unprepared for another school year, and somehow everything goes just fine.

I have had my requisite anxiety dreams: One featuring a former student named Rusty–a student whom I have not thought about in probably five years. And one involving being very very very late for school and doing something inappropriate.

I have purchased new shoes. Boots actually. Knee-high cowboy-inspired boots. Change is good.

I think I know what I’ll be wearing on the first day but that may change if this super hot humid weather keeps up.

I have been to Staples to buy new pens. Unfortunately, they don’t have my see-through plastic envelopes that I like to keep assignments in. I have some left over but they’re not in good shape. This is causing me some anxiety.

I have read the new books that are going to be added to our 4U English course. I am so psyched to be able to offer Three Day Road as a literature circle novel choice! (EEEE!) And I think I’ve figured out how the short stories and essays will function as mentor texts for the literature circle novels. This was no small feat. I hope to write out the unit plan somehow and share it, although there’s all this overlap so it’s very complicated.

I’ve got my welcome movies completed. Just need to update the website.

Really. If I fell through a wormhole and tomorrow suddenly became the first day of school, I’d be fine. Sure…. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

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Most.Shocking.Rose.Ceremony.Ever!

August 13th, 2010 · 4 Comments · classroom practice, technology

Grou.ps, will you accept this rose?

It’s really hard to think about leaving my beloved Nings. Especially since they are so comfortable. But really I have to be realistic here. I can’t afford Ning Plus at $24.99 a month and even if Pearson finally agrees to sponsor my Nings (apparently they’re experiencing a high number of requests. Duh.), I will no longer have access to chat or groups. Also I’d have to moderate every blog post before they appear, and while some teachers may want that, I don’t.

Grou.ps is not quite as slick and the kids can’t personalize their profile pages to the same extent that they could on Ning but it’s still pretty good. I’ve had a couple problems migrating my data but they’ve been very quick to respond and very helpful

But I have a confession….

And now we go to commercial.

Just kidding!

Here’s my confession: I will be cheating on Grou.ps with Ning. Truth be told, as exciting as the new guy is, there’s something warm and fuzzy and comfortable about Ning. As Royan so aptly pointed out it’s like I broke up with the perfect boyfriend and now I keep comparing each new guy to him.

Seriously, though, I would like to stay with Ning only because all my stuff’s already there and yes I know I can migrate to Grou.ps, but I already know how to use Ning and I can speak about it with a fair degree of confidence. The problem of course is that while I applied to have all my Nings sponsored by Pearson, I’ve only heard back about one. Ning says that they’re dealing with a high number of requests so I have to be patient. I’ll bet. They say:

If you already submitted a question or issue but haven’t received a response yet, please be patient. We are working as fast as we can to get to your ticket. Submitting the same question multiple times will slow our team down. If your question is related to a sponsorship or billing, please rest assured that we won’t shut down any networks after the August 20 deadline until we’ve responded to your tickets.

Okay.  So I will use Grou.ps for my media class and continue using my Nings for my grade 12 English classes. It isn’t absolutely essential to have chat for my two other classes and it also isn’t absolutely essential that they create subgroups for their book clubs since I want them to look at all the blogs, not just the ones on their books. I’ll just be a little more strict about use of tags. If for some reason Pearson won’t sponsor them I’ll just move over to Grou.ps.

So that’s the plan. Two roses. You’ll never see that on The Bachelorette.

As a side note, @markhowe1982 told be about Schoology which I checked out. I think it would be absolutely ideal for teachers who are not techies and have no desire to spend hours geeking out with a new toy. Schoology was super simple to set up. It doesn’t have a bunch of bells and whistles but it’s got blogs, groups, and you can also post assignments and grades (among a few other things). In some ways it reminds me of Edmodo, but Edmodo doesn’t have a blog feature.

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Ning Alternative Speed Dating (Round 2)

August 12th, 2010 · 2 Comments · classroom practice

rose

I’m already having a hard time keeping all the different sites straight, but the blog is helping. I’ve also decided that I’m only going to look at hosted options since non-hosted options might be a difficult concept for some teachers who are new to technology and I want to encourage rather than discourage (hence, I won’t be talking about Buddypress). So with no further ado, let’s meet our next bachelors:

Bachelor #3: Grou.ps

First of all, this is what my home page for my site on Grou.ps looks like:

groups

I was actually able to import my template along with all my information from one of my previous Nings. I haven’t imported the information though because it would send an email to all the members and I didn’t want to confuse all of last semester’s students. Still, I’m pleased to see how much this looks like my Ning. And the ad is pretty small. I don’t think it would be a big deal to just say to students “this is where the ads are. Don’t click them.” It’s not like they’re not used to seeing ads online. *see comment from Grou.ps about this.

The little bar at the top with Zeus or Thor is a bit odd, but maybe I’m just being picky.

I feel like this site is the most Ning-like of the other ones I’ve looked at so far. It also has chat feature (nixed in Ning’s mini version). There are a lot of ads when you’re in “administration” mode but the ads seem to be pretty minimal in online mode.

Look: *****Since I can import my Ning template. This one wins!

Ease of set-up and use: **** Pretty easy. All your controls are up at the top with Zeus. Takes a bit of playing with, but so did Ning when I first started to use it.

Member Profile Pages: **** Doesn’t look like they can change the themes for their pages but other than that, they look pretty good.

Blogability: ****? I think individual users can maintain separate blogs.

Features and apps: ***** Lots. What more can I say.

Ads: **** Not bad. See earlier comments.

School Appropriateness: **** Seems pretty good. Lots of customizable privacy features.

Ning Migration: Yes.

Overall: The front runner. This guy may be getting the rose.

Bachelor #4: SocialGo

Look: *** Some nice looking templates to choose from, but not particularly slick. I think the premium versions have more templates and layout customization, but I’m evaluating the free version.

Ease of set-up and use: **** Pretty easy. There seems to be a lot of jumping back and forth to different pages in order to set stuff up though.

Member Profile Pages: *** Lots of different boxes on the profiles but you can’t change the background and I don’t think you can get rid of or customize all the boxes without a premium membership.

Blogability: ****? I think individual users can maintain separate blogs.

Features and apps: ***** Chat, video, music, groups, blogs, photos. Plenty. But I don’t like that I can’t get rid of the boxes I don’t want.

Ads: ***** I don’t see any other than advertising for SocialGo.

School Appropriateness: **** It does not allow adult content and you can’t create an account unless you’re 18 or older, and you must be 13 or older to be a member of a group. It also has pretty comprehensive rules about misuse of the site. It appears that students just need an access code to sign up which may be a bonus.

Ning Migration: No.

Overall: I’m trying to figure out how they make money. It doesn’t seem like there’s any advertising on the site I set up other than advertising for SocialGo itself. Customization levels go up when you pay. They also have a “concierge service” to help you set up your site. Maybe that’s where the $ comes from.  I think it’s a solid option, but I don’t think I’m going to go with it because it doesn’t feel as good as Group.ly or Grou.ps. Just a gut reaction I guess.

Breaking News!

After re-reading Alec Couros’ google doc on Ning alternatives I noticed that Grouply has premium accounts available for educators! That means no ads! I sent an email to them about the creepy friend request I encountered while experimenting, so I’ll keep you posted. I’ve also been rethinking the lack of individual blogs and it’s not really a big deal. I just need to be more flexible. Students can all post to the common blog and I could get them to use categories to help me sort through the posts (use their name as the category.)

More Breaking News!

Just got a very quick response from Grouply. My site has been given the educator status and re “friending”. Rich Reimer from Grouply says

People can search for other people, but they would need to know the
exact name. But the kids can make it so they are excluded from
searches. We have a lot of privacy settings that should serve your
needs: http://www.grouply.com/settings.privacy.php

Well, colour me impressed. Going to do a bit more digging, but this is promising.

Gosh, what will I do? This is like having to choose between Chris and Roberto… (did I get my Bachelorette reference right?)

I don’t think I’ll be blogging about any other alternatives because I’m pretty sure between the four I’ve discussed, I’ll be able to find one that works. However, if you want some more suggestions remember to check out Alec Couros’ google doc.

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