I swear I find great things on Twitter everyday! Today, there were loads of resources for Earth Day that everyone was willing to share and not just educators! Here is a collection of what I found:
1. 10 Most Incredible Globes: Taking Earth Day Literally http://tinyurl.com/dhtxdr
2. Mashable Social Media & Web Guide to Going Green http://bit.ly/801Jo #earthday
3. A list of Earth day bookmarks shared by McTeach: http://htxt.it/9Pt5
4. Even see how Hollywood gives Mother Earth a beating from TVGuide: http://www.tvguide.com/PhotoGallery/End-Earth-Pop-1005270/1.aspx
5. A quick Earth Day fact from the Jack Diamond Show on Mix 107.3. Did you know that Today is the 39th Annual Earth Day. 77% of Americans recycle! Still behind "the world", but SO much better than a few years ago.
6. Stop by Mom Central Goes Green for green tips and news for moms & families - http://goesgreen.momcentral.com
And some websites I got from teachers in my district that I put on Twitter:
7. Here's another fun earth day site that can be used all year long! http://www.meetthegreens.org/episodes/
8. Thinkfinity also has a page set up just for today at http://thinkfinity.org/highlights.aspx?feature=EdEarthDay
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Politics, Blogs, and Education?
Another post I've been meaning to write about for several days and just couldn't find the time...
I was surfing channels on my television recently and saw an ad for an upcoming episode of the Chris Mathews Show. In the ad, Chris Mathews is plugging away at a guest whose opinion had to do with the upcoming presidential election and what bloggers have to say about the candidates. What hit me about this ad, is that Mathews berates the guest as to not having credited sources for the topic at hand. The guest attempts to explain that the blogosphere itself and the authors of these blogs is their source, however, Mathews cuts the guest off and I for one was left feeling that we, the audience, are supposed to think these "bloggers" have no idea what they're talking about.
Now why am I blogging about this? Because I feel that bloggers do know what they're talking about and that Mathews is missing a very large picture to our nation's and our world's future. I found this ad to be ironic, especially because both presidential candidates are using the Internet and blogs and youtube in particular, in ways never imaginable before now. A few months ago, two of my friends, who are very strict democrats, showed me how celebrities were supporting Obama on youtube. I had never really done much with it before and was very surprised to see music videos dedicated to his campaign! There was even one that had cut quotes from his speeches and was put to music! I all of sudden realized that this was going to be a very different campaign. But how could I use this? My head started going into overdrive with ideas for work.
On the flip side, before school ended I had discovered McCain's daughter's blog. She wasn't blogging quite the way I've seen typical blogs, and there were more pictures than I was used to, but she was blogging on the campaign trail and spreading the word.
So basically, the idea I'm trying to get at here is...how is the Internet and bloggers, specifically, not effecting this election and why would someone say that what they are saying on the Internet has no credibility outside the Internet? These candidates are smart...they are going straight at my generation and where they are located the most...the Internet.
I do realize that he is also a journalist and that he may think of "sources" in a different way than I am. I graduated with a degree in journalism and a source had to be reliable. I could see where someone posting on the Internet would not always be reliable. We certainly didn't talk about the impact of the Internet on journalism or other topics, because this problem didn't exist six years ago. Yes, six years ago! We're on a different playing ground now, where anyone can be a journalist in a matter of seconds. I get that...but will others miss how blogs are changing things, just as Mathews seems to have?
In terms of education, we need to think about how to prepare our students for these growing changes. Could elections be completely online one day...like testing? Will they only see political ads on the Internet, instead of t.v.? What if you had the power to just skip them, similar to skipping or closing a pop up window on ads now? Would that change outcomes? What about what our students may write about future elections? Will something they say, change the course of the future?
I was surfing channels on my television recently and saw an ad for an upcoming episode of the Chris Mathews Show. In the ad, Chris Mathews is plugging away at a guest whose opinion had to do with the upcoming presidential election and what bloggers have to say about the candidates. What hit me about this ad, is that Mathews berates the guest as to not having credited sources for the topic at hand. The guest attempts to explain that the blogosphere itself and the authors of these blogs is their source, however, Mathews cuts the guest off and I for one was left feeling that we, the audience, are supposed to think these "bloggers" have no idea what they're talking about.
Now why am I blogging about this? Because I feel that bloggers do know what they're talking about and that Mathews is missing a very large picture to our nation's and our world's future. I found this ad to be ironic, especially because both presidential candidates are using the Internet and blogs and youtube in particular, in ways never imaginable before now. A few months ago, two of my friends, who are very strict democrats, showed me how celebrities were supporting Obama on youtube. I had never really done much with it before and was very surprised to see music videos dedicated to his campaign! There was even one that had cut quotes from his speeches and was put to music! I all of sudden realized that this was going to be a very different campaign. But how could I use this? My head started going into overdrive with ideas for work.
On the flip side, before school ended I had discovered McCain's daughter's blog. She wasn't blogging quite the way I've seen typical blogs, and there were more pictures than I was used to, but she was blogging on the campaign trail and spreading the word.
So basically, the idea I'm trying to get at here is...how is the Internet and bloggers, specifically, not effecting this election and why would someone say that what they are saying on the Internet has no credibility outside the Internet? These candidates are smart...they are going straight at my generation and where they are located the most...the Internet.
I do realize that he is also a journalist and that he may think of "sources" in a different way than I am. I graduated with a degree in journalism and a source had to be reliable. I could see where someone posting on the Internet would not always be reliable. We certainly didn't talk about the impact of the Internet on journalism or other topics, because this problem didn't exist six years ago. Yes, six years ago! We're on a different playing ground now, where anyone can be a journalist in a matter of seconds. I get that...but will others miss how blogs are changing things, just as Mathews seems to have?
In terms of education, we need to think about how to prepare our students for these growing changes. Could elections be completely online one day...like testing? Will they only see political ads on the Internet, instead of t.v.? What if you had the power to just skip them, similar to skipping or closing a pop up window on ads now? Would that change outcomes? What about what our students may write about future elections? Will something they say, change the course of the future?
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Going Campaigning...
After reading an article entitled “Batter Up” in NEAToday, I’m thinking a little more politically this week. This article was about various NEA members and how they are making a difference in education by campaigning for candidates who they feel will best support their goals for education. The members varied from elementary to high school teachers and political parties. Some teachers were content to work in their communities supporting local candidates, while others were thinking bigger with the presidential candidates.
This article seemed to come along at a perfect time for me. As I’ve been working on a teacher leadership class this past semester, I’ve been wondering how I can make a bigger difference in my chosen profession. Campaigning will be a great summer project for me and will help me feel empowered by making others aware of important educational issues. If these teachers in the article can do it, why can’t I? The only thing the article didn’t tell me was where I can find more information about getting involved in political campaigns. I did visit the NEA website, which has some other activities related to politics, but I still didn’t find what I was for. Locally, I’m not even sure who’s up for re-election in November, so visiting candidate websites is a little pointless. As far as the presidential election goes, I’m pretty sure I know who I want to support, but I’m not positive. However, going in this route seems like the best way to get the word out about educational issues. I’m even considering talking with some of my friends and seeing if they would like to join me. So for now, my goal is to figure out who to completely support this November.
In hopes of narrowing down my candidates, I visited www.glassbooth.org, a website I heard about on a podcast from BBC5. This website allows you to take a quiz about your opinions on various issues and matches your answers to the candidate who most closely resembles the same answers. It’s a great website to inform students about and have them try. However, for me, it wasn’t much help. There was a one percent difference between the two I’m trying to choose between. At least I got the political party right! :)
Although this doesn’t completely go along with this topic, I did find a website this week that I wanted to share. It’s called freerice.com and was created by a parent of a high schooler who wanted to prepare their child for the SAT’s. This vocabulary quiz website will donate 20 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Program for every correct answer. When I was testing it out for my Website Wednesday newsletter I got up to 220 grains of rice! I was psyched about this website and its generous goals and wanted to make sure the news got out on the web. Visit it for your chance to send rice to people who need it.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
What's a podcast?
Back from Spring Break, it's so hard to get rolling again!!
Right after I suggest podcasting to a teacher, the most frequent question I get asked is, "what's a podcast?" It's come to be a question I dread because most of the time the person I'm talking with doesn't like my answer. First, I relate it to a radio show, then I give examples of the few I've worked on. I think part of the problem comes when I start explaining about the recording process, which isn't hard! But that seems to be the point where I lose my audience.
It can be frustrating, because I know what a great tool they are! I've seen students get really creative and use their imaginations to their fullest potential. They really get into the process and start watching what they're saying, and then the recording has to be just right, and the music has to be awesome (in their opinion). This all shows me that the student wants to achieve and take the time to learn something new. What kid isn't going to love talking into a microphone? They eat it up!
Here are the benefits to podcasting:
I use podcasts almost daily, both professionally and personally. I use them to continue my education. Every once in a while I will run into a website that offers a podcast of a seminar that someone did. I download it and listen at lunchtime, or on the way home, or when I'm exercising. I'm recently found out about Conference Connections, a free way to listen to speakers from educational conferences around the globe. In January I had planned to go to FETC, but I couldn't really afford it and I was already going to two others later in the year. But I didn't miss out! I type conference connections into itunes and viola! There are recordings (or podcasts!) of the speaker's presentation. I also use it to keep up on movie news. Did you know Teller of Penn and Teller is directing MacBeth at the Folger Theater in DC? Neither did I until I listened to an interview on my way to New Jersey recently. How cool is that?
Right after I suggest podcasting to a teacher, the most frequent question I get asked is, "what's a podcast?" It's come to be a question I dread because most of the time the person I'm talking with doesn't like my answer. First, I relate it to a radio show, then I give examples of the few I've worked on. I think part of the problem comes when I start explaining about the recording process, which isn't hard! But that seems to be the point where I lose my audience.
It can be frustrating, because I know what a great tool they are! I've seen students get really creative and use their imaginations to their fullest potential. They really get into the process and start watching what they're saying, and then the recording has to be just right, and the music has to be awesome (in their opinion). This all shows me that the student wants to achieve and take the time to learn something new. What kid isn't going to love talking into a microphone? They eat it up!
Here are the benefits to podcasting:
- The students still have to do the writing process
- The student can be as creative as they want
- The student becomes instantly more engaged in the curriculum
- Students learn across curriculums
I use podcasts almost daily, both professionally and personally. I use them to continue my education. Every once in a while I will run into a website that offers a podcast of a seminar that someone did. I download it and listen at lunchtime, or on the way home, or when I'm exercising. I'm recently found out about Conference Connections, a free way to listen to speakers from educational conferences around the globe. In January I had planned to go to FETC, but I couldn't really afford it and I was already going to two others later in the year. But I didn't miss out! I type conference connections into itunes and viola! There are recordings (or podcasts!) of the speaker's presentation. I also use it to keep up on movie news. Did you know Teller of Penn and Teller is directing MacBeth at the Folger Theater in DC? Neither did I until I listened to an interview on my way to New Jersey recently. How cool is that?
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Some Things
I didn't realize it had been a week since my last post! So much to do and so little time... I was telling some friends about the post I saw at Danica's Random Thoughts about Meghan McCain's blog "McCainBlogette.com". I mentioned to them that I thought it would be a great site for the Civics teachers at my school to use. One of my friends mentioned another blog that might be good as well. And surprisingly, it's at Glamour.com. Their new blog, Glamocracy, is all about women sharing their ideas about politics, the candidates, and more. What I think is really great about this blog, is that it's not just one party's views-it's women from different background and different parties, all giving their opinions on the topic of politics. Check it out if you get a chance!
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