Writing: My First Nanowrimo Event...I am Scared.

National Novel Writing Month, shortened as NaNoWriMo (na-noh-RY-moh) is an annual internet-based creative writing project that takes place every November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and 30. Despite its name, it accepts entries from around the world. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing, no matter how bad the writing is, through the end of a first draft.

The idea is that many people are scared to start writing because it won’t be any good, and if there’s a time to celebrate length, rather than quality, more people will write an entire first draft, which they can then proceed to edit if they wish.

Even John Green entered the NaNoWriMo competition 3 years ago. Great words of advice from the author of The Fault in our Stars

 Writers wishing to participate first register on the project’s website,  http://nanowrimo.org/ where they can post profiles and information about their novels, including synopsis and excerpts. Word counts are validated on the site, with writers submitting a copy of their novel for automatic counting.

Members from our school’s  Science Fiction and Fantasy Club…(Starships and Dragons), some Journalism students and myself are planning to make the plunge. Come join us…I do not want to be the only person who writes like an moron.

 There is even a NaNoWriMo song.  Dig it.

Education: Collabrorative tools in the classroom

Originally, my focuses in the use of technology in the classroom over the last six years had/has  to do with the collaborative nature of online tools and easy of functionality between the teacher and student using these tools. As far as collaborative tools go for education, Google Docs has proven to be one of the best so far for me. My students and I have made it an indispensable part of the AP World and European History classes. Several of my students are now using it in their other upper level and Dual Enrollment classes. It should be noted that some of my friends also use Google docs collaboratively or allow students to use it in their classes. This has also gone beyond the high school classroom to college as some of the students that we have taught are using it exclusively for collaboration in their classes.

I have had the opportunity along with my good friend Tara Malecki (she should be writing this post) to present at our county’s technology workshops to share our own experiences with Google Docs in 2011 and 2012. In the fall of 2013, I was given the opportunity to present this idea of Collaboration and Technology at the State Social Studies Conference (FCSS). Sharing  with my fellow social studies teachers was exciting and eye opening because many of them were working toward the same goals involving technology and collaboration. It was a great session and confirmed for me that this is the direction I needed to pursue.

These events encouraged me to do more research on the topic of collaborative tools. What I have now learned is that students must also be engaged (Engagement) with the tools.  I now realized that I was addressing only part of what I wanted to accomplish with Collaborative learning for my students.

Carnegie Mellon's,  Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation  addresses Collaborative tools and learning . Here is the synopsis from their site  Collborative Tools  based on a White paper literature review (2009) of collaborative learning, assessment, and tools.  Download Collaboration Tools White Paper

Collaborative learning is essentially people working together to solve a problem, create a product, or derive meaning from a body of material. A central question or problem serves to organize and drive activities, and encourage application, analysis, and synthesis of course material. While the landscape of technology that can be used to support central activities of collaborative learning is vast and varied, it is often lumped together under a single label: "collaboration tools."

Tools that exist to support collaboration can:

•     facilitate real-time and asynchronous text, voice, and video    communication.
•     assist in basic project management activities.
•     support co-creation by enabling groups to modify output in real-time or  asynchronously.
•     facilitate consensus building through group discussions and polling.
•     simplify and streamline resource management.
•     enable local and remote presentation and archiving of completed  projects.

Communication     Virtual Meetings     Email     Instant Messaging     Screen Sharing     Blogs     Voice, Video, Web Conferencing     Discussion Boards	Team Definition & Participant     Social Networking     Presence Management     User Profiles     Contact Management
Project Management     Task Management     Time Tracking     Workflow Routing     Milestones     Calendaring	Resource Management     File Storage     Search     Database Management     Version Tracking     Access Management     Social Bookmarking     Commenting     Tagging
Co-Creation & Ideation     Concept Mapping     Wikis     Virtual Whiteboards     Real-Time Collaborative Editing	Consensus Building     Polling     Question Management     Process Archiving
Presentation & Archiving     Webinars     Slide Shows     Hosted Media Sharing

If you are interested in these ideas and bringing Collabrative tools into your classroom I strongly recomment  Carnegie Mellon's,  White paper literature review (2009) of collaborative learning, assessment, and tools.  Download Collaboration Tools White Paper

Technology: R.I.P Google Reader

Well, Google killed another service that only journalists, Techie's and news junkies find important, Google Reader. I have been using Google Reader for years and I loved it. So what is/was Google reader?

Google Reader is a content application and platform provided by Google that is an news aggregator of content served by web feeds. It was created in early and launched in 2005, through Google Labs. Google Reader grew in popularity to support a number of apps which use it as a platform for serving news and information to people.
In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply aggregator,  which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing." Wikipedia"

In March 2013, Google announced that Google Reader will be closed on July 1, 2013, due to declining usage.

The problem for me was that I became so dependent on Google Reader that I did not look at any other news aggregators. Well just in case you are in the same situation I am here are a few links to help you find news aggregates.

http://lifehacker.com/5990881/five-best-google-reader-alternatives

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/03/14/google-reader-alternatives/1986865/

Acting : Humor in the Classroom

          “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” Mark Twain

“Humor is the affectionate communication of insight. “Leo Rosten

 Humor is important to me and I use it often in my classes. I make no apologies about it. There is a fine line between a stand up routine and using humor as a tool to focus on an event or topic, to create transitions in class, moving from one activity to the next or just to draw the class closer together in a common sharing of a story or idea. Okay, so sometimes, I do both but never at the same time and sometimes not even in the same hemisphere (of the brain), but they are always related to my subject…most of the time.

I have given workshops in both Drama and Comedy in the Classroom for teachers. It never amazes me how little humor we have in our profession or how scared we are to be humorous because we are afraid to reveal aspects of ourselves to our students. This is because we confuse laughter with Humor. Notice I am not talking about laughter and humor together. There are good reasons not to do this. Laughter and humor are qualitatively different phenomena. Laughter is an event in the physical world. Humor is a construct. I am speaking solely about the construct. We can control the humor to our benefit and our students.

At the beginning of ever school year we talk about hurricane season and what we are expected to do in our community. During the Hurricanes of 2004 season we were hit by three hurricanes so I share this little anecdote with my students. (You should know this about me before you read this and that is I am a large man 2x to 3x large.)

The Red Cross and the military brought in cases of bottle water for the families that live in my neighbor near Lake Okeechobee, since all the electricity was out in the area, our water pumps didn’t work for weeks at a time. Generally people would use only one bottle of water for bathing per two or three days, however my wife knew the truth…I was a two bottle man.

I paused and waited to see their response. Moments of quiet can be a wonderful tool for thinking. They looked at me for a moment and then I held my hands to my side and the kids realized, that I am a large round man. Some of them began to understand, and then it begins. First with a few snickers or disgusted looks and it works its way around the class with quite laughter or an oh, my gosh expressions until nearly everyone gets it. I am fat. The best and most effective cooperative learn activity that day and they didn’t even realize what they were doing.

Now, I take that cooperative moment and have them either write about their own experiences during those same Hurricanes in a journal or at a class blog or texting their story in 140 character moments on Twitter among friends or go to Google docs and create one document where all 30-35 students can share their experiences.

A fellow teacher friend of mine who attended one of my workshops and who isn’t found of humor in the classroom herself, tried one in her literature classes and she told me the kids were stunned that she “told a joke”. It made her smile and it stayed with her the rest of the day. The students went back to work wondering what had happen to their teacher. I know because they also told me.

Humor is a tool just like a computer is a tool or white book markers are tools or Google is a tool. It is how we use our tools as teachers that help our students grow and develop.

 Now if the result from your anecdote is laughter than you have bonded the humor and laughter as one. Hey, here is something most people forget. Kids (students) love to laugh and they will love you for it.

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” Victor Borge

Last but not least, humor is also good for one’s mental health. We seem to live in a world of standardized examinations in which many children are overwhelmed with anxiety for fear of being cited as a failure by administration, teachers and parents. I have found it useful to have them read something humorous to cut the tension before taking the exam. Here is an example of a story that I’ve used as the introduction to one of my semester exam and you are welcome to use it as I did.

Something for you to read before you take this Semester Exam. Enjoy.

According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon was faced with a unique problem. A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every day. To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and then cleaned the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirror 

Re-print from Nov. 2010

Purpose of this Blog.

I have written a dedication for the purpose of this blog. If you do not get it don't worry. No one has figured me out yet. So here it is in a nut shell.

The purpose of this post is to share my passions in life and hope you enjoy the ride.

Here is the dedication. Do not read it if you are limited on time or do not want to get more confused about this site and its purpose than you already have become.

This site is dedicated to the things that influence my life. We all go through life changes and as I get older I do not want to limit my life to one or two influences. I am eclectic in all I do and say. I have always been this way which makes me greatly misunderstood by friends and foes alike. First, and foremost, I am a spiritual man and a man of science Lux et Veritas´ (Light and Truth). I seek to find the good in all things. Personally, I am influenced by almost all forms of art, illustration, writing, and technology. I read all genres and I love learning for learning’s sake. Knowledge is power, even if in today’s work it rest in one’s own personal development and power. I am an educator and an actor. I am most fond of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Movies in all its boundless, broad, capacious, commodious, far-flung , indiscriminate, pervasive, unrestricted, and vast forms. I will share my thoughts on all these influences and hope you enjoy the ride.