Post 6- Thing 2, My Blog

The Blog, though created, seems to be an ongoing character building experience...
I continue to have log in problems, requiring several tries. The images I attempted
to upload resulted in error messages. My avatar is created but I cannot seem to find the
instructions for downloading her, even after many searches on the Yahoo site. Oh yes, and the
fact that I have to do any blogging from home, since Blogger is still blocked from my office.
So much for working in the tech department....

What I am most aware of is the time all this requires- both the doing and the trouble-shooting. Which means that something else needs to give. I don't yet know how I feel about the trade-off.
That said, I love reading your blogs, and like the energy around them.

In regard to other blogs, I have not made time in my life to regularly read the ed tech professional blogs, even though I know they have wonderful discussions and information.
Several of my favorite people (and friends) maintain high profile blogs, which I will try to spend some time reading as we work through the Things. I still tend to read the printed info first, as I spend far too much time in front of my computer already.

Leslie

Post 5- Things, the beginning

I am going to go back to the first thing- Information Literacy- and try to do this with some method to the madness. I have been doing quite a bit of reading on the topic of information literacy and am struck with several things:

1. I really liked the Shapiro and Hughes article that references it as a "liberal art." I have thought of it more as a very badly neglected basic skill, the liberal art argument elevates the notion in a way that seems to... add value, perhaps.
2. Most experts talk about information literacy (IL) as one of the many "new literacies" that educators not only need to be aware of, but teach. I actually see it as an umbrella that includes all of the related 21st century literacy skills. For example, if our students are going to get information from audio and video as well as print sources, then media literacy is the evaluation component of IL.
3. And lastly, I have seen several very well written "call to action" articles regarding the importance of teaching IL, with publication dates in the 1990's. So, I am wondering why IL is still not on the radar of our school leaders and policymakers. We remain so very focused on basic skills, at the detriment of our students. I really worry about the soulessness (sp?) of where we are at.

The good news is that here we are, in year two of the MILP, school by school and teacher by teacher, making a difference for our students. It is a pleasure to work with you all.

Leslie

Post 4- Getting back on track...

Unfortunately, this is not easy... after being out of town, I tried coming back last week, but could not get into my blog due to Google changes. Got that figured out, but now it seems I can't work on this from work due to filter issues. But I am back and determined.

I am fascinated with this whole concept of blogs and the possibilities, but for me as for all of you, the issue is time- and finding it to keep up with an additional responsibility. I have not exactly started this out right- which causes me a fair amount of chagrin. My false starts bring to mind the tag on Mary Mehsikomer's (from MDE) emails-
"If you can't serve as a good example, at least you can serve as a horrible warning..."
One of the things I've always liked about education (and I used this often enough in the classroom) is that when you have a bad class, day, week, or year, you can regroup, come back the next class, day, week or year and do it again, better. I would like to be a good example for you all, so here I am.

Post 3- Same day, five minutes later

I am behind, and do not want to set a bad example by doing all my posts next Wednesday before the meeting, so here I am again.

As I mentioned in my first post, I have been hard at it, trying to wrap up the work of Son of (actually, we have renamed her, Daughter of) Research Project Calculator, which I have been involved with for WAY too long. We are very, very close- and it is almost like giving birth- the pain and the excitement! Check it out- http://rpc.elm4you.org/step1.php?teacher=yes
We welcome any feedback you might have!

Tomorrow, I go to the Fall MEMO Conference (MEMO is the School Librarian and Technology Professional Organization) where I'll give two presentations- one about the Calculator, and the other about you! I should return with inspiration and good things to share.

Leslie

Post 2

Setting up my Blog last week made me think of something I read years ago about "3 year, 20 minute projects." Those things (maybe I am the only one who does this...) that you put off for years, that end up taking 20 minutes to do. I did not create my blog the day we did them in class, as I was fighting with the technology gremlins that were trying to keep you from creating your blogs. Then, I put it off. And then I wasn't sure if I would do it right... And then I got the "do it now or else" email, so I jumped in- and it was easy and fun!

So, to save myself more pain and agony, as soon as I saw Ann's email with the instructions tonight, I quick set up my feed. The problem is that I wanted to talk back to everyone, and there does not seem to be a comment button on the feeder view. You also do not get the benefit of the personality of the blog and blogger from the agregator.

I see amazing potential for this tool- for teacher PD and for classroom discussion. It is quite entertaining to read your posts- you are an amazingly funny group! I have been sitting in my kitchen laughing out loud- I believe that is supposed to be "lol," but I am not quite there yet.

Hasta la proxima,
Leslie