Double Rainbows

The week before Thanksgiving is a unique opportunity to reap a harvest. This is when students who have graduated stop by to say hi, email updates, and as an educator you get to peek further down the production line and see the fruits of your labor.

Not only do returning students tell you how they are doing, stories of roommates and their plans for travels and their thoughts on a major, they bring social media.


This one had me hanging on the table and laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. It builds. Wait for it. Every human emotion in one heartfelt rant.

Double Rainbow - So intense



And then comes the social media mashup. Pitch perfect!

Double Rainbow Song



This is a double rainbow week. Happy holidays and safe travels.

Photo Credit:
Flickr Creative Commons
Double Rainbow

Reading for FREE!

"In the virtual future, you must organize to survive." OK. I'm in. As a well known fan of dystopian fiction the opening line has me hooked - line and sinker. However, I won't pay for this book, because the author is giving it away. It has already been downloaded to my desktop.

I will certainly buy a copy for the library collection, and I'll purchase an MP3version because I really want students to have as much access as possible to this book. But for how much longer? Reading is alive and well, but the traditional venues are giving way to new ideas for reimbursing authors for their work.

Cory Doctorow is a writer/blogger who spends his time at the forefront of the digital world. By sharing his work freely it fuels his speaking engagements, paid writing assignments, and who knows what else. He also releases his work under a Creative Commons license and allows readers and fans to re-mix his work, as long as they follow reasonable guidelines.

Cory Doctorow: For the win "Below you'll find links to downloadable editions of the text of For the Win. These downloads are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license, which lets you share it, remix it, and share your remixes, provided that you do so on a noncommercial basis. Some people don't understand why I do this -- so check out this post if you want my topline explanation for why I do this crazy thing. "

Example of a fan submitted Wordle:

This is new ground. Cory Doctorow is a pioneer who, by his actions, is changing the game for everyone. He is also a terrific writer. His first book, Little Brother, is also available as a free download, although you can check it out from our library, too!

Add  the quickly expanding array of sites dedicated to digital reading and free access (text and audio) and the scope of the transition becomes very apparent. Check out the CCHS Learning Commons wiki devoted to reading and look at the formats and portals we are making available to our students. We have a lot more work to do, but have made a good start. Taking a cue from Cory Doctorow, our wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You are welcome to harvest our wiki in exchange for attribution.

The BEST reading incentive program evah!

This will be the best 5:07 minutes of your day.

They get it at the Ocoee Middle School. Taking a Black Eyed Peas hit and a flash mob dance this (as originally seen on the Oprah Show) is a beautiful example of a joyous celebration of reading. These students will never forget this event, and reading will always be associated with fun and achievement.

This is also a great example of the adaptive use of copyrighted material. The Black Eyed Peas should be very, very happy.

Congratulations and kudos to the teachers who pulled this together, and the administrators who supported the project.

The problem with paper

It really came home to me for the first time that the paper format was holding me back. I just finished reading Born Digital: Understanding the first generation of digital natives, by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser.

The problem isn't the book, which I really liked (my GoodReads review). The problem is the post-it notes. This book had so much original research and concepts so eloquently developed that I ended up with over 40 post-it notes that I now need to go back and review.

If this were a digital text I could have been using Diigo to highlight and annotate the whole time. From Diigo I could share with a group, like HS Librarians, and see what others had to say, discussing ideas and their application to school libraries with my professional peers. I could export my notes to NoodleTools for organizing for future reference if I want to write a grant or article. As it stands now, I will end up re-typing passages into NoodleTools. What a waste of time. (It also needs to be pointed out that if I had a reading disability I would be unable to access this text because paper has no text-to-speech option, and it isn't available in audio format.)

Research, investigation and inquiry tend to be solitary endeavors. This no longer needs to be the case and,  by utilizing the symphony of free digital tools, we can offer a much richer experience, enhanced by collaborative networks and accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities.

After reading this book I have a much better understanding of our digital natives. They are very polite and patient with us, but for how much longer? Pretty soon they are going to start getting annoyed.

Copyright the Classroom

Unbeknownst to a teacher, he has been recorded during a class, the video edited to show the teacher in a negative light and posted to YouTube. There is little recourse in getting the video removed. Nightmare scenario for a teacher. Technology has entered the classroom in ways that support student learning, but the potential for abuse is very real.

Education has always focused on respecting the use of copyrighted works. What about protecting teachers and the integrity of the classroom?

Acceptable Use details permissible online behavior, responsibility and consequences, but is this enough? A teacher's words, lesson plan, delivery, materials and image are proprietary. Can a teacher be protected by copyrighting his/her work and image? Could this add another layer of protection and legal recourse against intellectual theft as well as malicious activities?

I recently saw a demonstration of a "smart pen" (Livescribe) that, when used with specialized paper (the binder looks like any other spiral binder, but the paper has embedded microdots) can aid students with note taking. The user takes notes and can, at any time, return to the notes, press the pen down at a specific section, and listen to an audio replay of the class lecture. The pen also records video of the note page that can be used with a computer to review the notes, has ear buds for individual listening, and probably eight other amazing features. Truly a fantastic tool for the student who needs educational support.

In addition to cell phones, this is yet another type of recording device being brought into the classroom. Where are the guarantees that the audio of the teacher's lesson won't be downloaded, edited, and used against the teacher in some way?

Technology has outpaced school policy. Teachers are nervous, with every right. It is time for policy review to protect the teacher.

Photo credit:
Flickr Creative Commons

Now brought to you by copyright by Glynnis Ritchie

My dog ate my YouTube

If you are looking for bandwidth, don't come to the CCHS Library. It is being chewed up by proud students sharing their school video projects with each other via YouTube. Media production is in full force with students creating videos for everything from Earth Science to Foreign Languages to English classes. The library has been busy with students checking out Flip digital video cameras, downloading clips, and editing with iMovie. It is awesome! (Oh, yeah, there has been a lot of research going on, too.)

I find it incredibly exciting that students are using YouTube as a means to submit and showcase their media productions. The classroom teacher clicks a link and can quickly view or share student work on the ActivBoard. No worries about the DVD not loading, incompatibility, or damaged media. It is also so much easier for students to share their projects with each other and potentially, the world. This is one of the many ways we see Web 2.0 in action at CCHS.

P.S. Our bandwidth is terrific! Shout-out to our tech team - Gene, the Bobs, Ed, Peter and Derek. Thanks for taking care of the library.


Photo Credit:
Flickr Creative Commons

Tube Generation by GH.Planet-09