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| The ABC's of RSS... |
| 03.31.04 (9:22 am) [edit] |
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Run, don't walk... get yourseslf over to Will's blog and take a gander at his new RSS: A Quick Guide for Educators. It's a great introduction to RSS with specifics on creating specialized feeds. I've been using Bloglines for months but didn't know that Bloglines has a notifier--just add it to the bottom of your screen and you'll be alerted when new content is added to the feeds in your account! This is a very useful guide--and only 8 pages long--with great links for News feeds. Thanks Will!
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| Sistas are doin' it for themselves... |
| 03.25.04 (3:23 pm) [edit] |
Okay, so I'm refocused on two things--getting students sharing and community. I'm excited about it. Now, that's not to say that all the other work on blogging isn't important. Creating the blog class for teachers, meeting with our Blogger's Network, and supporting new class blogs are important aspects of my goals. But it all comes from my desire to get students sharing their ideas and from my own participation within the edublogging community. I just have to remember: when things seem to get out of control--get back to the heart of the matter.
On that vein--here's an exciting development. I've been participating in different blogs with Anne Davis alot lately. We seem to have an affinity--a real LOVE of working with kids. I think her Writing Wrinkles group is outstanding and she appreciates SuperThinker, my alter-ego. Over the past few months I've read the Wrinkles blogs and posted encouraging comments. I'm so impressed with the growth of the writing skills these 5th grade ESL students have demonstrated. And especially with one blogger's growth--Emily.
Emily has developed a real ease of communication. Her writing is smart, interesting, upbeat, and has a good flow to it. She's at ease with her words and comfortable turning phrases to get her ideas across. I see her as a future Meredith, Will's lucky student who is being mentored by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Reading them you get the idea they're both plucky females, unafraid of putting their best foot forward.
Meredith's got a great opportunity to stretch her talents with the Pulitzer Prize winner and I thought Emily should have an opportunity to grow too, so I put SuperThinker on the case. Wouldn't 'ya know it--good 'ol SuperThinker whooshed right into Emily's blog and left this comment:
Hellooooooo Emily! It is I, SuperThinker, your friendly neighborhood superhero blogger who's always tickled pink when reading your blog! Well, well, well my friend. What can I say about your writing other than to tell you that your writing style just gets better and better with each post. As a matter of fact, your writing has developed so much that I'd like to offer you the opportunity to write a post for my blog, BlogHeads. Here's my idea: I'd like to have you write a post as a guest blogger telling other students about two things 1) why you like blogging and 2) what writing tactics you think are important in a good post (interesting lead, quotes, etc...). You can send it to me via email and I will post it on BlogHeads! What do you think of that Miss Up-and-coming-writer!?! (I'm buzzing with excitement!)
SuperThinker • 3/17/04; 1:00:50 PM
A student guest blogger! What a great way to get students to share their ideas, and stretch their writing skills by posting for a larger audience of peers! Isn't SuperThinker awesome! (*wink*) And here's Emily's reply:
WOWWW! You want me to write a story by those guidelines? SURE!!!!! I'll be totally up to the challenge!!! YIPPEEEE!!!!! And me, Miss up-and-coming-writer! Aw shucks..... ^-^ I'll love to write that for your wonderful blog! (buzzing so hard with excitement I'm vibrating)
Emily • 3/18/04; 9:53:12 AM
I'm so excited about this! I can't wait to see what develops! My, er... I mean SuperThinker's idea has alot of great possibilities. It can pave the way for a recurring "Spotlight: Student Guest Blogger" in which students share exemplary practices with their peers. Hmmm... no wonder she's "SuperThinker." She's got it goin' on!
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| Chaos, it's a good thing... |
| 03.24.04 (9:55 pm) [edit] |
Well, I think I've put my blog dilemna into perspective. I haven't pared down my bloglines subscription--I just can't do it-- but I'm dealing with it.
Chaos is a good thing. I've found that the best learning--my best ideas--occur when I'm out of my comfort zone. Seems my little blog dilemna--so many blogs, so little time--has made me focus on THE essential question: Why did I start blogging, anyway?
Taking a trip down blog memory lane, I clicked into my archives and read my first post. How funny it looked! Plain (no formatting), rambling (well, I DO appreciate a little "stream of consciousness" hiccup every once in a while), and I didn't know the HTML tags for creating links so they look weird. (*smile*) It's quaint, actually!!! That post was on September 6, 2003, just 6 1/2 months ago. Here's a snippet:
Wow! Suddenly, it hit me. Since I'm a teacher, wouldn't it be cool if I created a blog for students to share their ideas about books and the concepts they develop? Hey, students could even post their own writing and receive comments.
Then 5 days and 5 posts later I wrote:
Well I'll be darned--there's a whole community of educators out there using blogs in elementary school! And here I was reinventing the wheel. Now I can actually commune with the like minded--wow, I love this blogging stuff!
Aw--mega-quaint! (*sheepish grin*) But beyond the quaintness factor lay the answers to my question--Why did I start blogging in the first place?:
1. to get students sharing
2. community
Hmmm... getting students sharing and community--two sides of the same coin; a reciprocal relationship. I'm pleased with my efforts on both fronts, and with the results. So far so good. So I'll deal with the time issue. It comes with the territory. I feel re-energized. Chaos, its a good thing!
TOMORROW'S POST: SuperThinker's surprise guest blogger!
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| Blog dilemna... |
| 03.18.04 (11:10 pm) [edit] |
I really love being able to get information I'm interested in via Bloglines and I'm thoroughly enjoying the ability to access my bookmarked links with Furl. I'm passing these tools along to my fellow teachers, and will definitely use them with students. But, I have to admit that lately I've been feeling like I'm in a losing battle against what Sting sang about: "Too much information running through my brain, too much information driving me insane..."
Last night I swore to my fiance that I was going to trim down my 50 bloglines subscriptions because I just can't keep up with it all--but I couldn't do it! (He's been threatening to start a blog for blog widows for months now--though he's finally stopped remarking that if he wore a computer screen on his chest and a mouse on his ass I'd pay more attention to him!) Ironically, while I was looking at my bloglines account with "chop chop" on my mind I read Will's latest post in which he says the same thing and sites the specifics:
1. RSS feeds serve to expand your reading base,
2. Furling and aggregating make it easier to read, bookmark and retrieve more information, and
3. There's more good information on the net.
Like Will, I need to find a way to read the information of interest to me more quickly. Blogging, rss feeds, and furling are so cool--but I'm spending more time in front of a screen and less time out and about. Maybe that was okay during the winter (well there's sort of a winter in California) but the weather's great, plants are blooming, and I'm feeling the pull of real life tugging me away from my computer screen.
Also, I've got several blogs going and I love them but wow--it's alot of work. Now I can see why so many bloggers have either taken breaks from blogging or stopped altogether. Don't get me wrong--I'm not considering quitting. I just want to deal with this issue before it becomes a problem and I find myself burnt out and walking away! (*sigh*)
As my fiance keeps telling me, "Just like everything else in life, balance is the key." Hmm...
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| Word to your mother... |
| 03.16.04 (11:55 am) [edit] |
Want to know what happens if you're feeling too sick to blog but jonesing for your computer? You spend way too much time reading all your RSS feeds. I found this on Scoble's blog. It's
Snoop Dogg-Tha Shizzolator. You put in your URL and it changes your blog hip hop style. Here's what it did to my 03/04.04:
Hey, I'm furling, too!
Thursday 03.04.04 [3:28 am]
Will, Alberto 'n Pam has been posting 'bout furl lately so I've read alot 'bout that shiznit but I just couldn't really visualize that shiznit." Is that shiznit like bloglines (which I LOVE)--or another bookmarker (why would I need another)? Well, after reading Will's post today I decided try that shiznit n' shit. I'm so glad I did 'cuz that shiznit's bomb diggity!
Here's how that shiznit works: Once yo' ass create yo' account yo' ass simply drag da "furl that shiznit" link onto yo' links bar." To save a link yo' ass simply visit da site 'n click da "furl that shiznit" link on yo' links bar, know what I'm sayin'? That's that shiznit--furl does da rest! COOL! Even better, yo' ass can instantly categorize yo' links, type in some comments 'bout that shiznit, 'n even rate that shiznit from 1-5. And, a really bomb diggity features is that yo' ass can save a "clipping" of da site by highlighting text, 'n clicking "furl that shiznit, know what I'm sayin'? " Saving a clipping is a bomb diggity idea--'n that's when that shiznit hit me! I can use that shiznit fo' research!
Alright--it's back to work for me! I'm feeling well enough to get serious again... yo diggity!
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| Not your mother's Pong!?! |
| 03.10.04 (7:32 pm) [edit] |
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I'm sick (*sniff sniff*). Want... (*cough cough*) to... blog. Can't (*sniff*). Oh well. (*sigh*) Click to see Pong (*cough*). Funny, I don't remember it quite that way.
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| Hey, I'm furling, too! |
| 03.03.04 (8:28 pm) [edit] |
Will, Alberto and Pam have been posting about furl lately so I've read alot about it but I just couldn't really visualize it. Is it like bloglines (which I LOVE)--or another bookmarker (why would I need another)? Well, after reading Will's post today I decided to try it. I'm so glad I did 'cuz it's great!
Here's how it works: Once you create your account you simply drag the "furl it" link onto your links bar. To save a link you simply visit the site and click the "furl it" link on your links bar. That's it--furl does the rest! COOL! Even better, you can instantly categorize your links, type in some comments about it, and even rate it from 1-5. And, a really cool features is that you can save a "clipping" of the site by highlighting text, and clicking "furl it." Saving a clipping is a great idea--and that's when it hit me! I can use it for research!
Right now I'm researching Small Learning Communities for a school reform grant. As I find research I'd like to cite I email it to myself, sometimes with a quotation I've cut and pasted in order to remind myself why the article was meaningful. But I realized that furl cuts out the middle man. I can just create a "Small Learning Communities" file, find the research, click furl and include comments and clippings! Woo-Hoo! No more finding a site, highlighting the url, clicking ctrl+c, opening another window, opening my email account, typing in my email address, clicking ctrl+v, and sending it to myself! Now I can just furl it! And, I won't have to open my email account, download the information to the desktop,  and then save it to my flash drive so I can carry it with me. It all stays on furl--for free! Thanks Will--again!
BTW--it was my birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday to me! How old am I? 29, again! My mother says that the years between 29 and 30 are the 10 best years in a woman's life, and I wholeheartedly agree! (There's baby me at 24 hours old--a mere 29+ years ago!)
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