week 4 response to Rita M's post

sunday, may 2, 2010

Wk4 Reading: The WE Story

I liked reading this chapter because previously the "We" story had been a patently girl phenomenon. Women love hearing "we". (Stereotypically speaking. Sorry to offend any truly feminist ladies out there. :) ) Typically the first time we hear "we" anything in a relationship, there's a set of butterflies set loose in our stomachs. So to see the we story be put to a grander, more universal purpose was refreshing. I like to see it used as a bargaining chip. I've done this without really thinking in my classroom. I never like to say "You are being squirrly" to my students. I always say "We are out of control. Let's get back on task." When you include yourself in the mix, they tend not to get offended. I just never really thought to wide-scale apply the we to life.

Week 4 response to Amy B's post

Week 4_Choice

I have worked so hard on this project, especially my Pepsi Refresh Grant. I did not make the first 1,000 entries last month (April). I was crushed, but mainly because I knew it would be another TWO months in knowing the answer to my question - "How much can I change the world?" And, "I can't change it if no one is listening."

I have this dream every so often. I'm in crowded room, and no one is aware that I'm there. I keep bumping into people, then I find a chair. I stand upon that chair and I start to talk about my dream. But no one is still listening. So I shout. I scream at the top of my lungs how important this project is, and how it is designed to change the face of education. How many billions of dollars our country is spending in health care because each generation has been made responsible for the one before it.

I've woke up - THIS is my dream. And people will listen.

http://www.refresheverything.com/how-it-works

http://web.me.com/abarnabi/THIINKFit©_Action_Research/Publishing_%26_Leadership.html

Week 4 Dream job

Interestingly enough I spent the last 23 years as a photography teacher developing (pun intended :) my ideal teaching environment. In 1986 I started with 6 students in photo club and converted an 10 x 20 book room into a photography darkroom. Over the next few years the program grew exponentially till it was the most requested full time class consisting of 3 levels, 6 periods a day with a separate darkroom and digital classroom. Radio playing and zipping about looking at negatives, test strips, scans, Photoshop projects, hand coloring, mounting and framing activities made for an exciting and interactive environment that most found memorable and fun. Of course if I were to truly dream, each student would have a digital slr with an assortment of lenses, their own Macbook pro with Adobe CS5 loaded and double period every day for every class! Maybe in my next teaching adventure because as they say, dreams really do come true if we believe.

Week 4 Art of Possibility..Being the Board

I have found this book to be so timely and in tune to how I am feeling it is uncanny. I have danced around the issue of how I came to be in this program to begin with as recount my recent move and past experiences in the classroom. I was sitting at that traffic light one day as I was told there was an allegation made and my 23 year teaching career came crashing down around me. Yes, I could blame the driver, the lawyers, administrators, silently supportive colleagues, and anyone else in my bewildered state of mind. How could this have happened? This was not part of the plan and now the school and program I had given the last 23 years of my life to were no longer a part of my life. Many think I should have done this, or ought to have done that as I had the support of hundreds of former students and their parents. The allegation was false but without the means to prove it there was no hope of saving my career. While I now know that we aren't our jobs, our career is not who we are, and yes when one door closes another opportunity presents itself it still does not change what happened. So I am quite appreciative of any wisdom I may gain as I find my way.

It was reassuring to be told that the paths of guilt, blame, helplessness, anger, and vengefulness are dead end streets leading us into a whirlpool from which there is no exit. It takes us away from "the living stream" and keeps us from moving forward. Having found a job an hour and 15 minutes away from my dream home it became increasingly evident that I would have to give up that cabin in the woods and move to the city. That is what I have been doing the last week and a half, and now am 12 minutes away from work in a 2 room apartment surrounded by boxes of stuff. I am the board and am moving about in the best way I know how, eventually embracing the creative opportunities living in a city can bring. I will also resume my teaching career at some level because as much as I love being a photographer, nothing compares to sharing what you know with others and helping them find their talents.

Week 4 Obama hope poster Thoughts on tech/media history

Interestingly enough I had just finished writing about the abundance of content on the internet, and how it is difficult for any one image to stand out and become iconic these days. Of course the original Mannie Garcia photograph would have most likely remained quite obscure as, while a quality photo (effective w flag backdrop) there are hundreds of thousands of photographs of Barack Obama. What graphic artist Shepard Fairey did was immortalize the image in the modern day speed of the internet and digital technology. Interestingly enough it also spawned an application in Facebook where you could Obamasize your very own photo, making the sharing and recreation of content complete. So who should get credit and who should get paid, if anyone. Seems it was a group effort, and to be sure while Obama probably doesn't receive royalties for its' reproduction, he is the model in the image, and the popularity perhaps helped propel him to the presidency...thus his reward. As for the photographers, Yes, Shepard Fairey created something unique, but credit must be given, and some financial compensation if possible should be paid to the creator of the image. As much as I hate to admit, this is a case for the lawyers or Creative Commons to work out so a win win situation can be reached. Without this, why would anyone bother to work hard to create new content just to have it taken by unscrupulous individuals for financial gain.

Sources:
Obama photo: Mannie Garcia (AP)/Obama image: Shepherd Fairey, retrieved from http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/09/milton-glaser-weighs.html on 05/02/2010

Wk 4 Publishing/Leadership project part 1 of 3: new digital learners

"This month you will research where you want to publish/present and post your finding in your class blog and you will create the article/presentation and post that as an AR web page."

I can understand how this would be adequate for a blog entry as it involves some thought and deliberation to identify the most suitable site in which to publish. I am not sure however if I can honestly stretch this into 3 separate blog entries, so apologies for not following the letter of the assignment.

As I look at the various journals that may be suitable I was first attracted to the International Society for Technology in Education or ISTE. More specifically, the JRTE, formerly the Journal of Research on Computing in Education. My concern is that the focus of my AR project was just that, action research. It wasn't a professionally written paper with journal posting aspirations in mind. That being said, I realize (and am grateful) that we have month 12 to get this put together in a presentable fashion that would be worthy of submission to professional journals. While my research was not ground breaking, it did practically deal with the issue of education new digital learners, and offer some techniques and observations for making this a successful endeavor. I hope that pulling it together in APA format will give it the format necessary without removing the practical uses for which it was created and intended.