But…

More and more I am coming to realize that most people are not looking for this. They do not want a searchable database of thousands of Web 2.0 offerings. Instead, they want a well organized document that makes the connections from technology to pedagogy for them. Most teachers are not trying to find a new way of mashing up two web pages so that it gives off a split screen effect (if anyone knows of something, let me know). Most teachers would say that is pretty geeky. And each and every one of them would be right.

I have made peace with my idiosyncratic geek status in the education world. I don’t want to be defined by it, but I am still proud of it. I think it is about time that I stop trying to make others like me, though.

Our model of success should not be to see how many people we can get to be WebHeads. Our model should start somewhere more along the lines of Step by Step: Building a 2.0 Classroom. Or prehaps, as simple as a series of documents. Something that could exist as paper, that could still have value in the analog world.

So, about a month ago I started working on such a document. The document is supposed to be an introduction to the essential tools and resources needed for creating an authentic learning environment online. It is not perfect, and it is not finished. When I started sharing the early version on Starting from Scratch, quite a few people contacted me wanting to know if they could use it. Please use it, upload it, change it, but keep me a part of the conversation.

• What should be there that isn’t?
• What can be eliminated as inessential?
• Can this document be used for other purposes?
• How can it be refined?
• What is the next step for teachers when they have the document?
• Is it enough to get people started?

If you missed the link to the document above: 101-resources-ver-2.pdf

Please let me know what you think.

I often think about this digital trail that I am leaving behind. It is amazing to me to know that many of the ideas I am having right now will affect others years from now. I still receive e-mail about a band webpage I put up when I was 16. It is scary how much the internet has a memory. It is cataloging every keystroke I publish. And this is beautiful. The internet knows that my name is associated with my ideas. This makes me truly happy.

So, in an effort to make concrete something that is so disparate, here are the key elements of my web presence (these will have active links in the near future):

Podcasting:

1. Discourse about Discourse: Educasts
2. Discourse about Discourse: Educasts Digg Page
3. Weekly Authentic Gcast
4. Yongesonne Gcast
5. 2005-2006 Discovery Podcasts

Blogs:

1. Discourse about Discourse
2. Daily Lesson Plans
3. Isabelle’s Dandelife

Wikis:

1. Academy of Discovery
2. Discovery -Isms
3. Discovery Utopias
4. DC Edusphere
5. Yongesonne’s Educational Technology Resources
6. LA Cresthill Collaboration
7. Lesson Planning Wiki

Social Bookmarking:

1. WeeklyAuthentic del.icio.us
2. bhwilkoff del.icio.us

Social Networking:

1. Myspace
2. Standpoint
3. Stop CyberBullying
4. Facebook

E-mail:

1. Gmail
2. Firstclass

Public Accounts at services I regularly use:

1. Teacher Bloglines
2. Student Bloglines
3. Discourse about Discourse Feedburner
4. Flickr Account
5. Google Calendar
6. Google Documents
7. Google Reader
8. Conversate
9. Jotform
10. Wufoo
11. Technorati

Number of Google hits for “Ben Wilkoff” – 891.

I hope that none of this comes off sounding narcissistic. This exercise merely meant to show the beginnings of my digital legacy. It is also meant as a challenge for you to estimate your web presence and to start to think about how your digital trail of breadcrumbs will help others down the road.

1. Choose one of the following to respond to in your writing (to be discussed as a whole class after 5-10 minutes of writing):
   • Why do you think that people act differently online then they do in real life?
   • How can we create a safe environment for everyone on our blogs besides setting up rules or guidelines?
   • What are the inherent risks of posting to a blog at least once a week?
2. In groups of 2-3, explore the Discovery Blogging Rules websites and brainstorm your own rules ideas that fit into the following categories (to be used for creating our official Discovery Blogging Rules for 2006-2007):
   • Creating a blogging environment without fear (of insult, of reprisal, of dishonesty).
   • Creating a scholastic blogging environment.
   • Creating a blogging environment based upon protection (of personal information, of identity, of unique thoughts).
   • Creating a creative, non-restrictive, tolerant, and sensitive blogging environment.
3. In groups of 2-3, write down approximately 5 Blogging rules that you think should be a part of the Discovery Blogging Rules.

We discussed and debated the student generated rules, especially those that further explored the concepts originally outlined in the four resources mentioned above or those that were noticeably absent from those four resources. Here are our results:

Discovery Blogging Rules

2006-2007

1. I will not give out any information more personal than my first name or post pictures of myself.
2. I will not plagiarize, instead I will expand on others’ ideas and give credit where it is due.
3. I will use language appropriate for school.
4. I will not insult my fellow students or their writing.
5. I will only post pieces that I am comfortable with everyone seeing; other pieces I will keep as drafts.
6. I will not be afraid to express my ideas, while not overgeneralizing or making derogatory/inflammatory remarks; any posts on controversial issues must be submitted to Mr. Wilkoff for consideration before they can be posted to my blog.
7. I will use constructive/productive/purposeful criticism, supporting any idea, comment, or critique I have with evidence.
8. I will take blogging seriously, posting only things that are meaningful and taking my time when I write.
9. I will try to spell everything correctly.
10. I will not use my blog posts or comments as a chat room. (No IM language.)
11. I will not bully others in my blog posts or in my comments.
12. I will never access another student’s account.
13. I will be proactive in monitoring the comments that others leave on my blog, utilizing the comment blacklist if necessary.
14. I will personalize my blog and keep my writing authentic, while taking responsibility for anything blogged in my name.
15. I will not provoke other students in my blog posts or comments.
16. I will use my blog as an extension of the classroom, and in doing so, I will leave anything that unsaid in the classroom unsaid on my blog.
17. I will only post photos which are school appropriate and either uncopywrited or correctly cited.
18. I will not spam.
19. I will only post comments on posts that I have fully read, rather than just skimmed.
20. I will not reveal anyone else’s identity in my comments or posts.

Infractions of these rules will lead to the following consequences in order of severity and number of offense:

1. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction (individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community), warning by teacher, and editing or deletion of offending post/comment.
2. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction (individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community), temporary loss of blogging privileges (duration of quarter), editing or deletion of offending post/comment.
3. Letter of apology to those offended by the infraction (individual students, one core class, or whole blogging community), permanent loss of blogging privileges (duration of school year), editing or deletion of offending post/comment.

The process by which blog posts violating rules 3, 10, or posts of a controversial nature may be used:

1. Students present the idea/draft for Mr. Wilkoff’s consideration.
2. Mr. Wilkoff will either accept or reject the writing based upon its merit on a case by case basis.
3. The student will post the piece of writing with this warning: “This piece of writing is authentic in its use of controversial language/topics.”
4. Mr. Wilkoff will post a heading: “This blog post was accepted by Mr. Wilkoff for use as a Weekly Authentic despite its controversial nature.”

These rules have already started to work their magic. This past week, one student violated rule #18 (spamming). The letter of apology for this infraction, which has shown me that these rules are workable, is as follows:

I hope that my classes and I have added something to the discussion of blogging in the classroom. Please let me know if you have a better way of doing this, or if you think we have missed anything.

Just as an addition to my ever-growing Wish-List:

• I would like to be able to do live collaborative screencasting so that I can conference individually with my students and we can point to and talk about certain aspects of their writing.

Can someone please work on this application. I would really like to use it in my class this year.

When he sent me the questions, however, I was impressed with the depth that they were calling for. So, I took on them as a challenge and answered them as completely and with as much cogitation as possible. The two questions that struck me the most (and produced a clear sense of focus for the year’s worth of teaching with technology) were about new tools that I want to use this year and new tools that I wish would be created this year. Because I found these two questions to be most illuminating for my own practice, I would like to challenge the greater Edusphere to answer them and share out all of the tools that they want to use and wish were available.

• Are there new tools that you’re looking forward to using with students?

I’m looking forward to setting up wikis with my kids. I am also looking at geocaching as a way of exploring more authentic nature writing. More specifically I am excited about using the following websites to encourage content creation and a love of reading and writing:
1. Writely – For collaboration on writing dramas or stories.
2. Glypho – For collaboration on storytelling.
3. Quickmuse – To make poetry writing more transparent.
4. Trackslife – To track writing progress.
5. Standpoint – To create belief statements about reading, writing, and life.
6. Vaestro – To create an audio forum to talk about blog posts.
There are some others, but these are the ones I am looking forward to most.

• How about tools that don’t exist yet, but should? Do you have any particular designs or wishes there?

1. I really would like rss to be more versatile. I would like to see any webpage that I want within an RSS reader and only see what has been changed since the last time I looked.
2. I would like my students to be able to create content in a fully functional word processor/video-editor/image-editor/webpage-editor and be able to post to any service that they wanted without having to log-in to their individual pages.
3. I would like blogs and wikis to become more like one another. (Blogs should be more editable, wikis should allow for more community.)
4. I want a way of controlling what all of my students see on their computer screens without having to buy remote desktop software. (In other words, I would like to have a live (and hopefully free) screencasting tool.)
5. I want podcasting software that uses voice recognition to create transcripts of each podcast to be read while you read.
6. I want a tool to discuss literature side-by-side with a digital copy of the book.
7. I want to be able to tag, put a sticky note on, or comment on/rate anything (pictures, videos, websites, blog posts) and have anyone with a browser be able to see these things without having to download anything or sign up with any service.

Yoz e-mailed me back about some of the items on my wishlist. He gave me a few resources (VNC, Coner.ning, and Castingwords), but none were really what I was looking for. If anyone who reads this knows about anything that would fill one of my wishes, please leave me a comment. More than that, however, I would love to see what you wish for in the coming year of creating classroom 2.0.

A man is fully understands his biases, abilities and shortcomings. A Man thinks. A man never uses his strength to make others feel weak. A man knows that there are differences between himself and a women, but sees them only as the completion of everything he can’t do. A man can see the truth in everything. A man is confident enough in his masculinity to not have to prove it every chance he gets. A man is tolerant. A man works hard and knows how to play with every thing he “has to do.” A man gets what makes him unique. A man is always trying to make himself better. A man is the manifestation of hope. A man is honest about personal needs and emotions. A man, from time to time, wears a devilish grin. A man is aware, both socially and personally. A man cares about what is important.

This is what he wrote in response for his English class:

As always Mr. Wilkoff gives an answer that makes me feel stupid in comparison, I really liked his. I think I agree with just about everything on his answer. I did note that he did not say a man has to have a penis or testicles, which maybe was just implied. I do think that most things stated could be done by a woman, but maybe that shows that men and women aren’t so different. Men and women obviously aren’t the same but we have our similarities. Really the question is really hard since it is so vague and everyone really has different and correct opinions. By definition all it takes to be a man is to have the biology of a man, but just looking back at our day shows us that men act different then women and it’s probably not a coincidence. Maybe it is just nurture over nature and we act like men because we were taught to, but it would take a hell of a experiment to prove that right. And lawsuits would come through your ears for trying to do a social experiment on a kid and give him make-up and purses.

I really like the fact that this teacher has now turned writing into a conversation. It strikes me as incredibly authentic and fun. I hope to do something like this when I come to my Study of Race and Gender.

I am writing about what I am writing about. The right wrists placed near the right keys. The longer I think and write, the longer I rightly think. I have no concept of content, a supposed constant companion in an essay. This essay, though, this one right now lacks all content, so what is left? Style, my friend, style.

The essay, as a way of making meaning about a topic, is so perfect. In this way, I am writing about nothing. I can’t write about anything but what I am writing about. I have no point, but to be pricked by potent words. This is the writing that is continually reborn, every syllable is eating itself, turning itself inside out, and becoming the same again and again.

Just as a sine wave crosses the x-axis infinitely, writing about the words themselves is the freedom to come home as many times as I want. I can go deeper into the crevices of every word, seeing them as open and hopeful, more so than any others because these are words about words. This essay is as closed and open ended as a circle. It can never be about what it isn’t about.

I find purity in writing this essay. in its unending and unbeginning. Truly, all of these words cannot exist. They can only be within my head. But they are at my fingertips too, and because they are there, I love them. Once I start writing, I have changed what I am writing about. How can I then write about it? I love my paradoxical essay, my potent words without a point.

So, these words must blur together and leave no residue in your mind. I have said nothing about something many times over. That nothing, though, is so savory, so stylish. I could write about writing about nothing for a very long time.

I’m not sure that my student implied all of this when he wrote it, but I hope that he did (we’ll see when I show it to the class tomorrow). I like this type of recursion and metacognition. With a little bit broader scope, this kind of writing about writing could be actually useful in the classroom. Let me know what you think about this “instantaneous reflection.” Is it useful? Is it important to reflect upon every action you do as you are doing it? Do we do this naturally or do we need inquisitive 7th graders to point it out to us?

I think that this could be done by holding meetings at local schools in order to address the myspace/internet safety issues. There should be a place where parents can ask as many questions as they want and learn about the educational benefits of moving beyond pencil and paper based classrooms. I would like to set something like this up at my school. These are the resources that I have so far. Let me know if I need to include anything else.

Safe Blogging and Social Networking Resources 

Karl Fisch’s Internet Safety Links 

A resource for CyberBullying 

A wiki introducing Internet Safety to Parents 

A sad little article about the lack of understanding among teachers about internet safety. 

I am still working out what this meeting(s) should look like. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

• Authentic Writing (aka Real Writing)

Authentic Writing at its most basic is writing that has a real audience and a real purpose.

Now to define the two new terms I have just created. A “real audience” is one that is not only the teacher. The teacher and the self can be part of a real audience, but rarely do they make up it entirely. A real audience is made up of people who are genuinly interested in the writing for what it has to say not because they are forced to be interested. A real audience is one that is likely to listen to, comment on, or attach value to a piece of student writing. Equally likely for a real audience is the posibility of using the writing to create something new. Finally, a real audience is one that does not require perfection to find importance.

A “real purpose” is one that has some intrinsic value to the writer. Getting better at writing can be a real purpose, but it is not (and should not be) the only one. A real purpose is determined by the context of a student’s life. It is made up of what the student wants to do or would benefit from doing (making a grocery list, writing a passionate eulogy, getting out some teenage angst) rather than what he/she has to do. Writing with a real purpose is a social act; it is connected to the self and to others without any educational manuvers or imagination on the part of the writer (i.e. Write a letter to your congressperson about spending a million dollars).

To further illistrate the point of Authentic Writing, here is a chart of what constitutes Inauthentic Writing versus its Authentic counterparts:

Authentic Writing	Inauthentic Writing
A grocery list	A CSAP prompt
A blog post	A research paper on a teacher-selected topic
An intelectual passion paper	A form poem that is only seen by the teacher
Student-selected creative non-fiction	An essay that does not relate to the student or the current curriculum

Wendy, a co-chair of our department, and I have been talking about different ways of reflecting after/during meetings. Karl of Fischbowl fame had his fellow teachers answer to these five categories with his own examples:

• Setting- too dark and difficult to hear everyone’s thought. The computer room didn’t allow for an open discussion. Many people were typing a theri computer rather than listening and aprticiapting in the class discussion.
• Pressure to do all of the technology pieces-we were all over the place in terms of feedback on this topic. Some were glad to try something new, others didn’t believe that their participation in this class required the implementation of all of the new pieces of technology.
• Participation- we were accepted into this program to try and change our way of teaching, and so we should be expected to participate in the discussion and the class. We can’t move forward if we don’t all focus and contribute when we are together every two to three weeks for only three hours. We need to leave the “other things” outside of the class and concentrate on the task at hand.
• Speed- we are moving through things too quickly. We need to devote the time to each new piece before moving on. Don’t introduce new things with only a few minutes. Instead, give us the class time to work.
• Collaboration- we need more small group work. Either discussion of concepts, what others are doing in class or bainstorming new ideas, this needs to be built in to each class session. Also, this doesn’t need to be done by department. This can be just as valuable having interdisciplinary time.

I wonder how these categories of reflection would pan out in our department.

1. Wikis and wikibooks
2. One to one learning
3. Digital Storytelling
4. Web 2.0 and social networking
5. Podcasting

Looking at this list, it seems that these topics are a little hokey. They are basically the buzzwords for the last few years. I feel, however, that I have gotten beyond the buzz. I hope to prove this with the following posts. If you get anxious, please go to my furl site. Search for these categories.