From the blog of Melanie Holtzman, “Once Upon a Teacher” -

“If you haven’t faced it yet, it’s time to take a good look at the students you’re teaching. Students sitting in classrooms today are members of the Eye Generation. These students are multi-taskers of their digital, visual tools such as cell phones, ipods, computers and television. They transition from tool to tool without interruption of thought passively taking in their environment’s visuals. These students need to be taught to critically examine the images they are encountering on a daily basis in order to come to important conclusions.”

Melanie’s friends at Stenhouse Publishers have invited the readers of Once Upon a Teacher to participate in a conversation with author, Johanna Riddle about her new book “Engaging the Eye Generation“. What an opportunity! Being able to ask Johanna something about her book or just about teaching visual literacy strategies. And she will answer! Let’s take advantage of it.

The conversation with Johanna will be posted on March 13th, so now is the time to visit Melanie’s blog and send her your questions, wonderings or reflections. Please use the comment section of Melanie’s post to let her know what you think. Melanie encourages, “Let’s dig in and really think about how we’re addressing the needs of our 21st Century Learners. Free learning, instant access to material and questions answered…what are you waiting for?!?”

You can get free access to Johanna’s book online here.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cataniamichele/2855661699

Yesterday, I introduced three C’s to keep in mind when determining content for use in a blog. This is the second of the two-part series, focused on examples of continued instruction. The subtitle below provides the idea, and the following paragraph is an example of how you may write the post. Again, there is nothing ‘wrong’ about a personal approach and sharing your interest in the topic. 

Book or Article Review
“Lane White forwarded an article to me yesterday afternoon that provides a great definition and history of web logs, otherwise known as “blogs” (link to article). The author of the article, Andy Carvin, cites research that indicates 2/3 of Internet users have no clue on the definition of…”

 Weekend Challenge
“Remember to check out the weekend challenge. This is not a required assignment – it is designed for those who want to learn more about the topic, and ‘challenge’ themselves to dig a little deeper. I believe most of you will find this challenge a little tougher than usual, but I know you will give it your best shot.”

Extra  Credit Opportunities
”We have just completed a unit on matter. This has been a fun unit – especially when we conducted the experiment that helped us define the three states of matter. Most of you have done well with this unit, but for those of you who want one last chance to improve your grade, here is an extra credit opportunity for you…”  

Homework Assignments
Create a simple list of homework assignments for subject areas (elementary) or by hours (secondary). 

Daily Notes
“Today, we discussed the essential question of “What is the essence of life?” If you answered “chemistry”, you are correct. Specifically, we focused on the properties of matter. Click here for the notes from today’s class.”  

Podcasts
”Thanks to all of you who have emailed to tell me that you love the student podcasts we are producing. This week, our topic is simple machines. Kudos to our presenters – Ethan was our producer, Jamie and Andrew were our hosts, and our guests included Kevin, Caden and Alyssa. Podcast #7 – Simple Machines”  

Digital Stories
“We have immensely enjoyed reading this book. What makes it so real is that much of what is written happened in our backyard several years ago. We have completed a great deal of Internet research and found several pictures that tell the story of lumberjack camps. Therefore, our students are excited to present the digital story “Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp”.

Cool Web Site
“While preparing for an upcoming class, I found this excellent web site that I want to share with you. Check it out… www.(topic).com”  

Fast Facts (did you know…)
“We ran out of time today, but I wanted to share this interesting fact about…”  

Quick Poll (survey results)
“As you know, we took a survey in class today. Here are the results of that survey…”

Two years ago, when we first introduced blogs at Mona Shores, I challenged teachers to think of the three C’s when determining what content to use in the blog. In this two-part series, I want to share some examples of how you can use a blog to “communicate, continue instruction, and celebrate”. Today, the focus is on communication and celebration. The subtitle provides the idea, and the following paragraph is an example of how you may write the post. Keep in mind that one way a blog differs from a traditional web page in that you can be more personal and even persuasive.

Introducting A New Topic/Unit (Communication)
“Every year, I look forward to teaching the unit on the solar system. There is so much to discover, and something new this year is the debate on whether Pluto should be included as the ninth planet. We also use technology to complete a brief PowerPoint presentation as the major assignment for the unit. If you want a head start on learning about the solar system, check out these cool web sites…”  

Complimenting/Praising Student Work (Celebration)
“Our Super Student of the Week is Coedi. Congratulations, Coedi. He is quick to learn new things and is willing to give his best effort when working on math and reading assignments. Keep up the terrific effort, Coedi!”  

Newsletter (Communication)
“In this week’s newsletter, I share details about our upcoming study trip to Meijer Gardens and the Children’s Museum. Please note the departure and arrival times. Also, I review what we learned this week and give an overview of the topics for next week. Click on the link to read the newsletter.”

Exceptional Examples of Student Work (Celebration)
“I finished grading your projects from the last unit, and I’m very pleased with the overall effort. There were 2-3 assignments in particular that caught my eye, and I want to share those completed papers with you. Congratulations to the individuals who completed this great assignment. Tom Jen Kellie”

Photographs (Celebration)
“For those students in my class, this is not new news. I love using my document camera. So do several of my friends. Here are some pictures for you to see (then post some thumbnail pictures).”  

If you follow several blogs, it makes sense to use a blog aggregator such as Bloglines or Google Reader. However, if you have just one or two blogs that are of particular interest to you, consider using RSS FWD for automated notice of updated content.

You will have a difficult time finding something online that is as easy as this setup. First, enter the URL (address) of the site you want to subscribe to. Second, enter your email address. Third, choose how you want information sent to you. You have three primary choices – normal (each new message comes as a separate email), clustered (individual emails sent in one daily thread), or digest (single email message with all content sent either in the morning, afternoon, evening or night). Finally, click the Subscribe icon.

Here are some links to MACUL related sites, etc.

MACUL’s main web site – http://www.macul.org

MACUL blog – http://macul.edublogs.org

MACUL Space (a ning site) – http://maculspace.ning.com

MACUL 2008 Conference photos – http://www.flickr.com, search for macul2008

also see reactions to the MACUL 2008 conference at http://technorati.com/blogs/macul.edublogs.org?reactions

At Fruitport we are having an issue with comment spam on our blogs. To combat this, I have installed the Askimet spam plug-in. It seems to be working well.

The first step is to download and install the plug in.  You can get it by going here: http://akismet.com/download/

Next, you need to copy this file into the plugins folder found in your wp-content folder. Remember to activate the plugin before you tell your staff about it.

Once that is complete, you can check out the next post for information on how to release it to your staff.

This is how to share this information with your staff and how they can set up Akismet for their blog:

Step One: Get a Wordpress.com API Key
Your staff will have to register for a username at Wordpress.com to get an API Key. (Click Here to access the site.)
Click the “Sign Up Now” button.
Fill out the “User Name, Password, Confirm, and E-Mail” boxes. (Use your school e-mail addresss)
Check the “I Agree” box.
Select the choice that says “Just a User Name Please”.
An Email with your API Key will be sent to the account you signed up with.

Step Two: Enable the Akismet Plugin
Log in to your blog.
Click the plugins link on the menu bar.
Click the link that says “Activate” to the right of the Akismet box.

Step Three: Enter your API Key
Open the e-mail from Wordpress.com.
Copy your API key by highlighting the whole thing and choosing [Ctrl]+[C].
Click the “Plugins” link on the menu bar, then select the “Askimet Configuration” tab.
Paste the API key in the box provided by clicking [Ctrl]+[V].
Click the “Update Options” button.

You are all set to start to combat “Comment Spam”.
Read the Combating “Comment Spam” Part II to learn how to use this plug-in

Sometimes, in the process of updating a blog, you may encounter “writer’s block”. I believe this frustration is most likely to happen in the early stages of establishing your blog (”where do I start”) or after several months when burnout may set in.

Sometimes, having a plan will help overcome “writer’s block”. One idea is to designate various types of posts for a given day of the week, i.e. on Monday, I will post an article or web site review. On Tuesday, I will post something students can do for extra credit.

Another idea is to take advantage of those creative moments and write some messages that are not time-sensitive. Keep the file on your computer for quick retrieval. When that writer’s block strikes (or you’ve had an extremely busy day), pull out the file and insert one of the pre-written posts. Some examples may be pictures, fast facts (did you know…), taking a poll and asking for responses, compliments or praise of student work, reviewing a cool web site, and so forth.

Finally, to take some pressure off yourself, remember that a post does not have to be an essay. A short paragraph or a few sentences can effectively communicate .