SL vs. RL

WOW,
I have spent some time the last week or so exploring Second Life, WOW! If you have not checked it out, you need to. I am hoping to get the last house on Eduisland tomorrow. It is probably blocked at school, and you need to download a small piece of software on your machine, so try it at home and let me know what you think. My online name is Meg Writer, look for me and I will teleport you to the island.
By the way RL stands for real life and it can really take that over!!

Windows Vista

I know two posts in one day is more than you have come to expect, but I am setting up my new laptop with Windows Vista, and at the moment I really like the look and feel of it. I have not yet opened Office that I have read is very different. It will take some getting used to, but so far I like the look and feel!
Meg

Blogging Excuses Continue!

My excuses continue! I was asked last night what am I going to do with all my free time when my School Board term is over, and I told them I was going to try and keep up with my blog! Love Margaret Johnson's comment about my first post in a loooooong time!
I have created a GooglePage with a gadget to help me with the countdown. http://megormi.googlepages.com/schoolboard

I look forward to joining the many dedicated bloggers!!
Meg

METC 2007!

OK, OK, I know, I am a BAD, yes, BAD blogger! Excuses, I have many!
1. Young kids
2. I am a School Board President, stop laughing it is HUGE work!!
3. I surprised my boys this Fall with a new puppy, LOVE her "Napa Chardonnay" My Golden Retriever is amazing!
4. Writing two books at the same time.
5. Traveling and speaking.
6. Life. I (LOL) when David Warlick linked to my blog that needs a facelift, sorry, go to my website for content!! More soon! www.techteachers.com

Teddy Bear Blog from Brenda

Hi Meg!Thanks for your great session at the ECOO conference, I really enjoyed it!Here's an example of changing times in education. In the past I've done the global project from iEARN.org called the Teddy Bear Project with my primary students using email. This year, I tried to make it more collaborative and visual...a place to tell our story and reflect on it over the year. We spent until January posting with our friends from Australia and now continue to write about the travels of our koala bear.Check it out at:www.mrssherry.blogspot.comI presented it at the ECOO and primary teachers seemed to really like the idea!

MAME Communication

Hello all!
Just a note, if you send me comment on the blog I can't email you back because the link is from anonymous blogger, not your email. So if you send me a post try and send me your email also!
Thanks!
meg

Thanks for all the Comments from MAME!

Thanks everyone for your comments!
I have enjoyed a rainy day by the fire really diving into the world of publishing! We should have vblogged our time together, then they could have have been edited into podcasts and small vblogs on each of those topics. We could have vblogged Judy with her simple, yet fabulous presentation, thanks again!

Danny's report is now in cyberspace! Margy wanted to use it for a presentation on Tuesday, now you all can use it. There are three clips waiting for you to use. Keep me posted if you use them. Here is the link to the videos

Thanks for a great session!
meg

MAME Spring Conference

Good morning!
We will use this blog today as our question board. Please leave questions and if we don't get to them today, I will answer them on the new MAME Blog!

Connectivism Blog

Connectivism Blog: "I think this is the wrong question. People don’t want to visit your content. They want to pull your content into their sites, programs, or applications. This is a profound change, largely not understood by educators. We are still fixated on the notion of learning content, and we think we are making great concessions when we give learners control over content (and start to see them as co-creators). That misses the essence of the change: learners want control of their space. They want to create the ecology in which they function and learn. Today, it’s about pulling content from numerous sites and allowing the individual to repurpose it in the format they prefer (allowing them to create/recognize patterns). Much like the music industry had to learn that people don’t want to pay for a whole album when all they want is one song, content providers (education, museums, and libraries) need to see the end user doesn’t want the entire experience – they want only the pieces they want. We need to stop thinking that learners will come to us for learning content – our learning content should come to them in their environment."

Blogging Before Breakfast

Hello Michigan Mame conference!
I am wrapping up my breakout session for the morning and I have found some wonderful resources for you to explore. Even if you can't make the session the links will be with my other digital handouts on my site at http://www.techteachers.com/conferences/links.htm

Send me a comment about your thoughts after the session!
meg

The Shifted Librarian Does it Again

Jenny's blog was the first one I started reading, it it remains my favorite. Jenny's blog is filled with ways public libraries can better serve the changing patrons. Her message is also so appropriate for schools. Today as I was reading Jenny's blog as I prepared for the Michigan MAME conference, she taught me something new! I am sure it has been there all along, but today I clicked on Jenny's Blogroll and I can now see all the feeds Jenny subscribes to. What a great way to get started using RSS feeds and connecting to new blogs with the direction from an expert.
There are many blogs out there that I have no interest in reading, but Jenny is a great filter of information for me. As someone said in a session last week, a blog can be thought of as the Cliff Notes from various sources. Check out what Jenny is reading and writing about!

Everything Bad is Good For You

I just completed this page turner, and wow is what I have to say. This book is a must read written by Steven Johnson. I am now rereading and focusing on how these ideas apply to change in education. This information on blogging caught me eye.

“more than eight million Americans report they have a weblog or online diary. The wonderful blog-tracking service Technorati reports that roughly 275,000 blog entries are published in the average day – a tiny fraction of them published by professional writers.” Page 119

“ Ater only two years of media hype, the number of active bloggers in the United States alone has reached the size of prime time network television” Page 119

“There’s plenty of arm chair journalism out there, of course, but the great bulk of personal publishing is just that, personal: the online diary is the dominant discourse mode in the blogoshere.” Page 119

“There is no denying the content of your average online diary can be juvenile. These diaries, in fact, were created by juveniles. But thirty years ago those juveniles weren’t writing novels or composing sonnets in there spare time; the were watching Laverne and Shirley. Better to have minds actively composing the soap operas of their lives than zoning out in front of someone else’s.” page 120

Now on to gaming!

Back to Blogging

Sorry all that have dropped by to visit, I have been engaged in a number of other activities and now I will try and stay on track. I have been writing, and researching extensively about the power of using images and multimedia in the classroom. I also have been busy volunteering and driving my short guys all over the county!

Blogging Before Breakfast!

Hi all at MACUL!
Hope you enjoyed the blogging session, send me a comment or a link to your blog. I would love to hear from you!
meg

Podcasting in Education

Very interesting research I am doing on Podcasting. My researching slowed a bit when my husband joined the iPod craze and started using "my iPod", I am having great difficulty sharing! As I read in the Sunday Trib about the millions of iPods shipped this Christmas, I was thinking about the power or Podcasting to reach students and teachers in our schools. No more ignored morning announcements, subscribe to the feeds of information YOU need. I see a staff feed, sport feed, administrator feed, you name it!

I will continue to research and report back!
meg

Happy New Year!

Hello all!
Finally calm has again settled at home after the holidays. I am back at the computer and back to research about Blogging. In an interesting twist I began some research about Podcasting and I am very intrigued. I know I am sounding like a geek (yet again!) but in simple terms a podcast is a recorded audio file posted to a blog that can play on your iPod or MP3 device! I listened to my first podcast and I see huge potential for our students, I must figure out a way to make this work!

Podcasting is a very new term, and I am up to my neck in research, but I am really interested in how the audio files can help the struggling learner. I will try and keep my blog updated as I collect my research. More as I continue!

Hi Everyone!

Hello!

Yiiiiipppppeeee!

Finally, finally. Talk about just in time learning! Check out! http://www.wbloggar.com/download/ The post and publish is amazing!

This is a Test!

w.bloggar???

What is Your Action Plan?

Create a short action plan for bringing blogging to your classroom or school? Share your plan in a comment.