Our procedures are designed to accomplish 3 major objectives:

FIRST (and most important) – Provide classes with maximum access to computers.

SECOND - Maintain the library as the “go to” place for all research needs.

THIRD - Minimize wear and tear and vandalism of the equipment.

Here’s what we have shared with the teachers:

Laptops and Libraries and Labs … Oh My!

I will let you know how this works for us.  If you have any ideas, tips, war stories etc.  – please share

My whole life has been centered around libraries.  I love them.  I need them like I need air to breathe.  What on earth will I DO when I retire?  Of course, I can still be involved in libraries.  I suppose I could volunteer…. But can I stand to not be in charge???

In recent years, it has been a rare semester that doesn’t bring me a fresh new intern to terrorize – whoops – mentor.  I LOVE doing this.  I love the idea of sharing the “mission from God” with the next generation of librarians.  Several folks have urged me to look into teaching grad school classes.  But – when I DO retire, I just don’t think I want to jump into another regular job – even a part-time one.  The only reason I would leave the job I love, is so I can wake up and plan my own day or week, without pesky job obligations

My hubby and I spent 4 glorious weeks of vacation this summer, celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary.  If I thought retirement would be a series of such trips, I’d sign on the dotted line in a heartbeat.  Alas!  Were we to adopt such a wandering life style, we’d soon be broke and practicing our dumpster diving skills.

So my friends – got any ideas for me?  I have to grow up someday.  But I really don’t want to…..

Words to make you weep.  Words to make you think.

Again …  The Power, the Truth & the Immortality of Words.

It has also started me thinking about  communication on the interactive web – ranging from email, to forums, to blogs, to Twitter etc..

We teach expository and creative writing in English class all the time.  How much do we teach about communicating in public?

My questions:

• Are we teaching students how to communicate effectively ONLINE?
• Are there writing conventions that we should be teaching to increase the quality of that discourse?
• Do we teach students how to express their ideas in a compelling and succinct manner?
• Do we teach students how to express disagreement/dismay/disgust respectfully through powerful language, free of expletives?
• Do we teach kids the power of using common  literary & cultural references in their writing outside of English class?
• How many teachers give students the opportunity to practice these skills authentically through blogs and such?

At the risk of being a curmudgeon, when I read the opinions posted on YouTube et al, I despair for the fate of rational discourse in the internet era.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, specific units taught in your school, opinions on how to keep internet communication civil and meaningful, references to articles….anything you would like to share with me – and the small number of folks that wander into this blog now and again.

The villains in this saga are not sorry. Almost 70 years ago, C.S. Lewis wrote that “the greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil Dickens loved to paint but … in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.” Never before has the truth of his words been so apparent.

To be able to write like C. S. Lewis……  You can feel, see – almost touch – the cold & seductive evil described in those words.   There is a reason why we read the “classics”.

Meanwhile – I am out here thinking on my own. And as usual, I need help.

All good readers have developed reading techniques to help us through difficult text. Scanning for headings and subheadings, interpreting context when encountering unfamiliar words, etc. What about online? There are lots of articles about evaluating resources on the web. I am looking for a list of tools that will help students make quick but informed decisions while navigating websites. Are there techniques that can be used?

We ‘traditional” readers are used to reading in a linear fashion. How does this work in a hyperlinked environment?

I am not sure what I am looking for here. Certainly, I would like to find some good research articles/ studies on how people approach a website. From these studies, articles, blog posts etc., I would like to develop a list of techniques that I can emphasize when teaching our students.

Some techniques I am thinking about:

• Scan the whole page before clicking anything.
• Locate the navigation helps on the top and the sides of the page.
• Locate the “about me/about us” link. If it is not there – go on to the next site.
• Look at the address so when you click a link that takes you away from the site – you are aware that you are “not in Kansas anymore”.
• Know how to click those ruby slippers and get back home quickly.
• Other ideas?

Please help me out here folks. I need to make a vague idea concrete.

I was shocked to read Will Richardson’s post today. I’m glad that he does not ascribe to the new AP pricing rules for quoting – or I would owe him money:

$12.50 for Five Words

That’s what it’s going to cost you to excerpt in your blog any content published by the Associated Press under it’s new pricing structure.

With a little more searching, I did discover a discount for educators. We would only owe $7.50 for quoting 5-25 words. 

What’s next? Charging students to use quotations from AP in their research papers? Might happen if any of said research papers should end up on the web.

Come on – figure out a way to make the web and web 2.0 part of your business plan. How are you going to police the Internet? Isn’t it better to figure out how to gain from your reputation as an authoritative source? I would think that bloggers quoting and linking to your sources would create a buzz, bringing more business your way. Get creative and realize that “You’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone.” How much do you think I should pay Bob Dylan for using that quote?

]]> http://wanderings.edublogs.org/2008/06/21/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-adapt/feed/ 2 http://wanderings.edublogs.org/2008/06/16/e-mail-online-distractions-getting-you-down/ http://wanderings.edublogs.org/2008/06/16/e-mail-online-distractions-getting-you-down/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:44:19 +0000 Jacquie Henry http://wanderings.edublogs.org/?p=169 An interesting article appeared in the New York Times a few days ago. Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast By MATT RICHTEL Published: June 14, 2008.

It is another article pointing to the fact that literacy in a 24/7 connected world is different than the linear literacy we learned in school. Would love to read articles on techniques to teach students how to better understand the information and keep focused on their topic as they jump from hyperlink to hyperlink.

Here is my own personal solution – though I am not very good at forcing myself to do it.

My office does not have a computer. So – when I am feeling overwhelmed, I hide in there. I bring in work that can be done without a computer, along with print-outs of online lesson plans or whatever I am currently focused on. I’ve hung a sign on my door that says: “Do not disturb unless you are on fire.”

Now – if I could just force myself to get away from email, et al long enough……

“Education is not about filling a pail, it’s about lighting a fire.”
William Butler

I ran across an article today: Serendipity casts a very wide net by Bill Thompson. The author writes about some who feel that the internet has killed opportunities for the chance encounter – and then goes on to make the case for the other side. I have thought about the topic and wrote about it 2 years ago in this post: Serendipity.

The book “The Dumbest Generation” by Bauerlein touches on the idea as well. Being too immersed with only the social groups and ideas that interest us at the moment can limit our vision.

I understand the concerns raised …. to an extent. I just don’t see it happening to myself – or to my husband. Maybe it is because we have always been intellectually curious. Yes – my main interest for the past few years has been library issues – but following up that interest has opened up many other areas to pursue and new connections to make .

My husband is an avid photographer & this passion continually expands his thinking. His mind amazes me. Hillary Clinton once said “Bill and I started a conversation in the spring of 1971, and more than 30 years later we’re still talking.” I feel that way about my husband. He has a very serendipitous mind that leaps from one idea to another and then picks one to study in detail. His interests are wide-open and he keeps serendipity alive and well for me. Recently he took a photo on a portion of beach on Lake Ontario. In the picture was an interesting formation of mud and sand. Most people (if they noticed it at all) would pause for a moment and go on, never thinking of it again. Not my hubby. He began to think about what caused that particular lump of sand to form that particular shape. He was not satisfied with creating a beautiful abstract picture. He had to know what caused it so he could give the picture an accurate title and satisfy his intellectual curiosity. So – he emailed the photo to a professor of geology at a university 100 or so miles away. He included all the circumstances of the day – weather, lighting etc. The professor was intrigued and passed the email on to a colleague in another state. My husband, at home in a small rural village, had a conversation with 2 geology professors in different parts of the country and all 3 of them were able to add to their knowledge in their different areas of interest.

Yes – this COULD have happened prior to the internet – but this kind of serendipity was just not as likely pre-internet. Scholars were more isolated. People were more isolated. The internet has opened the world for both the scholar and the passionate amateur. This free exchange of information helps everyone.

“A rising tide raises all boats.”

What are the implications for education? I believe that educators need to teach students to be open to serendipity – to follow their passions and interests through a hyperlinked world. Bill Thomson says:

The real dangers to serendipity is not the technology we use but our attitude towards it and the opportunities it offers. If all our searches at school are guided and the range of answers we are open to are limited by a prescriptive curriculum, then we will learn to ignore the interesting sidebar and the unexpected link.

Of course I was disappointed that Thompson mentioned libraries only in a rather disparaging way. Another instance of the general public not recognizing our role in a changing information landscape. Librarians have more of an opportunity than ever in this type of world. Our new standards are not prescriptive. Our standards encourage divergent thinking. Here is an excerpt from the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner:

Learners use skills, resources & tools to:

Use both divergent and convergent thinking to formulate alternative conclusions and test them against the evidence (2:2:2)

Now – just how do we go about teaching these “dispositions in action”? The “habits of mind” that lead to serendipitous finds?

…. Serendipity that brings meaning to life ….. or a cure for cancer.

….The [Newsweek] article focuses heavily on a recent book by Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University, entitled “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)”

So what is the opinion of the online school media community? Is this generation dumber in comparison to others? What’s the cause? Can it be traced to television, computers, video games, the Internet, the new communication technologies? What, if anything, can be done
about it?

Ed Nizalowski, SMS

I just read the book. There is much I agree with and many things that I do not. It is a book that I plan to read again.

There is a lot of talk out in blogland about the book and, judging from some of the comments, many folks have NOT read the whole book. I have read the Newsweek article as well as the book. I am not entirely sure that the writers of the Newsweek article have actually read the book in its entirety. The magazine writers cast blame for the educational deficiencies of young people on the parents, teachers and baby boomers – implying that Mark Bauerlein is solely – or even mostly – placing the blame upon the NetGens. He most definitely is not. He casts big time blame on teachers (and librarians) for abdicating their role as cultural guardians and warriors. He casts blame upon parents who allow their children to come home and immerse themselves in “screen time” as opposed to spending time reading, doing homework and interacting with parents and other adults. Bauerlein’s primary thesis is that the social aspect of net use is keeping kids in an extended period of adolescence. The social side of life has ever been the favored domain of adolescence. But in the past there were large chunks of time that were spent away from other teenagers, allowing more space for them to read, think and communicate with more mature minds. There is a lot of truth in what he says.

This book will probably equally infuriate teachers, librarians, parents AND NetGeners. Interestingly, a few days ago I found the most thoughtful responses on the school newspaper of Emory College. Mr. Bauerlein in a professor there. The article and comments appeared to be primarily student written the last time I had a look.

You will find more of my thoughts in the last paragraph of this blog post. Who Are You & Why Should We Believe What You Say

Mark Bauerlein sees a return to a more scholarly, traditional approach to education as the answer. For another point of view on the efficacy of “traditional” education, I found Doug Johnson’s post today to be very interesting. The Impetus for Educational Change