The TWAIN blog

I found two interesting sites today in my regular Hollywood/Entertainment news sites: Ain’t It Cool and DListed. Both of these sites give a different perspective on the Hollywood/Entertainment scene by gathering information from its page visitors who supply info.

The first site is called MagCloud and it is a site for people who want to get into publishing magazines without having to purchase their own print areas. You can upload your magazine while they print and distribute it for you. Is this where printable magazines are headed? Regardless of the Web 2.0 interaction and the decline of print material, couldn’t cost be saved by using Mag Cloud for printing resources for a limited readership? And if you are a blogger who wanted to publish a yearly summary of the blog, what better way than with MagCloud?

The second site is called I’m from Driftwood and it is a blog/social network for gay teens to post their own “Coming Out” stories from the small towns they belong. It is more than just a perspective on gay teenagers; it is a perspective of small town life and acceptance. Very interesting and true stories with great perspectives from the group gathering and posting on this site. Posts include a Google pic taken from the satellite perspective of the small town in which they belong.

What is really interesting about the author of this site is that he helped push the nation’s number one dating site E-Harmony to include gay coupling as part of its site.

With so much “change” in our country, it is great to see more than just the propaganda from both sides of this issue. It is inspiring to read the stories of the citizens in the small towns. I really suggest you check out the site. As a teacher, it would be interesting to develop a similar discussion on a perspective on any issue and share what it is like to live in a smaller town and how that issue affects the citizens in that town. Go back to slavery, to voting rights, to women’s rights, to prohibition, etc. and write from the perspective of your own town on how these rights and the STRUGGLE itself affect you or someone in the town..

A friend shared this with me on Facebook. An interesting perspective on our high tech society. The perspective of our spoiled generation with technology.

Today, I sent emails that had responses within minutes.

Today, I participated in a group demonstration that connected us to a video stream of someone in a different city.

Today, I posted notes on Twitter that were shared with people all around the United States and over half of them I have never met.

Today, I worked on part of a grant on a Google Document shared with two people I have never met but we are all collaborating on the same page.

Without technology, I would have to rely on my own horrible handwriting. I would have to print various copies of it over and over, then use mail to send the writings to the people. I would then have to wait for their responses.

Without technology, the demo of video conferencing resources would never have happened.

Without technology, the idea of Twitter could only be associated with the idea of a billboard and random drive-by’s who see the message on their way to work.

Without technology, I would have drafts of a “work in progress” document and notecards pinned to it as we corrected the different drafts into one solid document. Again, using snail-mail to connect us.

I know I take these tools for granted daily. On Twitter, the Fail-Whale is frustrating to see when it shows that the system isn’t working. My phone has to reboot maybe once a week because it disconnects from the network. My computer runs slower than usual some days. The Internet slows to a crawl after lunch…

These slow-downs happen. But….we are still plugged in. We are still accomplishing amazing things!

And yes, we get frustrated in our jobs when we don’t see progress going as fast as we would like. But….we are doing amazing things. Day by day and day to day.

What amazing things are you doing day to day?

I posted an online form for my crew from Kerrville to fill out about their experiences at TCEA this year. The form is available online through Google Docs at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pcJ_EAVrg90uwhN_UriPRUw.

Responses so far:

“Great wealth of information teachers, technologists and instructional integration. Don’t let time scare you away from integration. As many of the presenters share, these tools are free and easy to use and your students will love them.” This person also added that when I get ready to offer training, she would be willing to help offer some ideas and training too.

“There are so many sites for information and resources out on the internet for teachers and students that it is mind boggling. We haven’t scratched the surface in KISD. Other districts and teachers are doing some incredible teaching through websites, blogs, wikis; going paperless during meetings and other administrative types of activities; organizing information through paperless,searchable software (like ONE NOTE) that could save the district $$ in binders and paper as well as increase productivity and save time. I thought I was knowledgeable about technology and I realized how little I really know.”

“Wow! The amount of technology and resources that are available to educators is awesome and continually increasing. It is up to us who went to this conference to share our knowledge of the resources with others who can use it in the classrooms. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to attend!”

“This has renewed my creative energy in technology integration in my classroom.”

“It was invigorating! What a refreshing change to see all the integration being used. I would love to see our elementary school try some of the great integrations ideas that are out there.”

I think they liked it! And this isn’t everyone! Will post more as they come in.

Now….can you see why I have the greatest job in the world???

November 4 marked the introduction of a new president-elect for our nation. It also marked the end of equality in California as defined by the act of marriage for both heterosexuals and homosexuals. The campaign funding for both opponents and proponents raised $35 million for proponents and $37 million for the opposition to Prop 8. Close gap for funding. The vote was close as well: 52% voted yes for Prop 8 and 48% voted no.

Whether you are for Proposition 8 or against it doesn’t matter here. This message is about the rise of a civil rights movement under our noses but using the technology to connect nationwide. I ran a search on Facebook this morning and found over 108 groups already setup to join members of Facebook to petition against “Proposition H8″. Over 500 with the use of the words “Proposition 8″ and another 500 using the phrase “Prop 8″. I ran a Google search on these titles and found many wikis, blogs, websites, and videos for and against Proposition 8. I also found sites that were actively recruiting for future planned events for protesting these causes as well.

This past weekend, major cities (and some smaller ones as well) had protesters at their capital buildings voicing opposition to California’s reversal of marriage rights. How did all these protesters organize? And what’ next for them?

They organized using the same tools we are using in education – Web 2.0, social networking, social streaming. They too are part of the “Human Network” as Cisco calls it in their commercials.

Without listing different sites and all different perspectives here, just know that there is a network supporting or protesting the movement for same-sex marriage nationwide. There is a civil movement taking place around us. And they are planning more events and more ways to spread the message using these social networks and social impact resources.

Imagine 1955 if Rosa Parks had a wiki or a Twitter about her day on a bus. What if the Million Man march in Washington was advocated on a NING, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.? How would the anti-war demonstrations of the Vietnam war gone if they had Web 2.0 tools?

Beyond just this current movement, our president-elect has plans on his site to deliver a weekly video state of the union address using YouTube embedded videos. He already used Twitter to cover his movements in the campaign. Now, he is embracing change using the technology tools.

Now is the time to get our teachers and administrators onboard. The world is passing all of us by when we are limiting the access to these tools to our students and teachers. The world is connecting around us and we are still in the “one-room schoolhouse” mentality. A civil-rights movement is underfoot here in the US of A. What better time to introduce the idea of collaborative network environments than with the movement of civil action? Now is the time to share about “Personal Learning Communities” as these protesting communities are developing and working together world-wide.

Now is the time for our teachers, administrators, students, etc. to connect to connecting.

A few weeks ago, I deleted over 86 of my Twitter groups I was following. I cleared out the blogs I was following and I completely archived this blog.

I lost my voice.

The voice I want to portray in this blog.

I am trying to figure out what I want that voice to be.

I am as Toffler says “learning, unlearning, and relearning” even in my own blog.

I have been continually writing but keeping the posts private. So that I can fine tune my voice. So that I can make sure that what I write is about what I believe and what I want to represent me.

So, I will keep working at it.

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Meanwhile I am happy to report that my previous employer has found a new technology coordinator who is going to take them to new heights! I had the pleasure of extending a hello to this guy and I am really excited for him and the possibilities at that place. They are really forward-thinking and moving into a really good direction. I remember where we were when I started there and I imagine his first few days and weeks just trying to find the cafeteria, a bathroom, and a quiet place to just absorb all the energy of that place.

I remember having a co-worker who showed me the ropes from his side and helped get me situated. I remember the two of us splitting the responsibilities and his help to get me going, meet all the new people, and helping me to be successful. That person is gone from the district. And now, this new guy has inherited all of the roles and responsibilities that were originally assigned to two, then to three, down to one, and now on his own shoulders.

I don’t believe in abandoning the place where I invested my heart and learned as much if not more than what I brought to the table. I don’t believe that I should leave a place to “figure it out” on their own. I also think it is absolutely disgusting to offer to help in exchange for something from them. Isn’t our field to support learning no matter where we are? Aren’t we by nature supposed to help and not hinder?

First do no harm?

I sincerely want ALL schools and education systems to be successful. And I want ALL teachers – and teachers include technology coordinators, librarians, principals, etc. – to be successful as well. Take whatever you need. Share.