December 1st edition!

My guilty pleasure is…. Twitter… as you can tell by this weekly series, What Did They Tweet?

Kid’s Digital Stories

@JohnMikulski’s students have created beautiful digital stories using Storybird. Storybird is one of my favorite applications that you can read about here! John describes the project which has students write a short story in which the protagonist discovers something he/she would have been better off not knowing. Please read the stories and leave these students comments on their stories. Below was one of many of my favorites!

The Tower on Storybird

Using Scenarios in Your E-learning

This brilliant Slideshare presentation provides a wonderful reflection of how we design our instruction. Although the focus is on e-learning, this really relates to the instructional design of all courses. Cathy Moore challenges us to reflect on our instructional methods to answer the question, “Are we teaching our students to solve problems?” This presentation was tweeted by @EthanKuniyoshi.

View more documents from Cathy Moore.

Project Peace for Students

@ddeubel has created an international global project for students everywhere! If you are looking for an easy project to connect your students with other schools worldwide, then you may want to check out the details here. Join the ning, choose 1 of 8 songs about peace, download the song cards, have students decorate them, then make a video! Here’s an example of one of the video projects.

Find more videos like this on PROJECT PEACE

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference

One extremely valuable part of Second Life is the various free conferences you get to attend. @barbsaka, an amazing educator who has attended several Second Life conferences, tweeted about the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference taking place on March 12-13, 2010. Last year, over 3800 educators attended the event. Below is an example of what you can expect. If you feel comfortable with your Second Life skills, the conference is looking for volunteers, paper submissions, and presentation proposals. If you are new to Second Life, please join the SLife is Life ning where you will find educators like @barbsaka and me willing to show you around.

Dec. 4th Students Save the Rainforest!

This Friday, December 4th, at 12:25pm GMT, your students and you have the opportunity to ask Javier Dril Bustamente, a native of the rainforest, questions about saving the rainforest via twitcam. DM @chickensaltash to participate in the project. This will be a wonderful opportunity to get students involved in a project that helps them reflect about their responsibility to protect the planet.

Add the people in this post to your PLN by using this mass Twitter tool. Just copy and paste this list!

ddeubel, JohnMikulski, ethankuniyoshi, barbsaka, chickensaltash, larryferlazzo, kalinagoenglish

If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out these posts with a more extensive list of favorite tweets:

• Monthly Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.
• Monthly Tweets by Karenne Sylvester, Kalinagoenglish.

Challenges:

Leave a comment for the children’s stories or have your students leave a comment! Join many of the other collaborative projects in this post! Attend the free Virtual Worlds Conference in March!

What do you think of these tweets? Leave a comment below!

My favorite tweets this week were all articles and posts, which struck an emotional chord with me. Therefore, I will not have beautiful videos to share with you like I usually do. If you prefer the more visual tweet links, then I invite you to check out the rest of this weekly series, What Did They Tweet?, in which I share some of my favorite educational tweets.

If the mindmap is not coming out in the RSS reader, you can click on the image to go to the original mindmap.

The Rubber Room: Teachers Stuck in Limbo

I first heard about the “rubber room” from one of my favorite podcasts, This American Life. Check the link for a description of the story and to listen to the story. The rubber room is where teachers who get in trouble in New York school districts go. They may end up staying here for years and are not allowed to teach, but wait for a judgment. Deven Black, a blogger known for his heartfelt posts, mentions this.

As an educator, I often worry about dealing with students bureaucratically. What I dislike about the rubber room system is the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment. After giving so much to students, some educators will just be left in limbo under the wrong circumstances.

The Origin of Hiragana: Learn About Japanese Culture

Brett Fyfield shared this passionate post about the origin of Hirigana, a component of written Japanese and the name of the woman who originated it. Within this post, you learn about the Japanese culture and the beauty behind the writing. I really enjoyed the storytelling quality of the piece. No amount of summary would do this post justice, therefore, I urge you to read the post yourself!

Second Life Saves Lives: Virtual Worlds for Professional Development

Shelly Blake-Plock urged his education students to start a conversation with this article detailing how Second Life saves lives. I would like to urge educators to begin the same conversation about using Second Life as a teaching tool and for professional development. This article exemplifies how Second Life has been used in health care issues. In the first example, the Children’s Memorial Hospital uses Second Life to train hospital employees to evacuate patients in emergency situations. Several drills are performed in the virtual world with various situations. The article explains how the virtual world was the best way for these drills in order to add realism and prevent the hospital from shutting down. These are just one of several examples of hospitals using Second Life to train employees. I have attended ISTE conferences in which I have seen how pre-med students are trained on Second Life.

In the second example, the article discusses how Virtual Ability, one of several peer support groups on Second Life, is able to provide emotional support and advice to 400 of the people that live on its islands who suffer severe physical, sensory, emotional, and mental disabilities. I know several educators still fail to see the potential of Second Life as a valuable tool due to bad experiences. However, I urge you to read the positive research about Second Life and give it another chance. To find out how to be oriented by a volunteer educator on Second Life, please read this previous post.

Value of Negative Learning: Alfie Kohn Article

Fred Podolski shared a recent article by Alfie Kohn entitled, “How Traditional Education Can Produce Nontraditional Educators.” In this article, Alfie Kohn writes how all but one of the biographies he came across of nontraditional educators involved a traditional education. I believe that several educators can identify with learning how to teach from bad examples of teaching. Unfortunately, with the focus on standardized tests, several schools are approaching education with the theory that one type of learning fits all! Ironically, the results of these tests reveal that most students fail with this approach to education. You have to pay to read the entire article. Read a list of free Alfie Kohn articles by clicking this link.

Add the people in this post to your PLN by using Russel Tarr’s mass Twitter tool. Just copy and paste this list!

spedteacher, rainbowhill, teachpaperless, fredpodolski, larryferlazzo, vale24, kalinagoenglish

On the mindmap, click on the earth icons to follow the links to the Twitter profiles, blogs or websites! You can also make this mindmap smaller or larger and move it around. If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe to receive regular updates!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out these posts with a more extensive list of favorite tweets:

• September Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.
• My Week in Tweets by Valentina Dodge.
• The Blogosphere, the Twitterverse (ELT 08/09) by Karenne Sylvester, Kalinagoenglish.

Challenge:

Read one of these posts with your students to spark conversation or enjoy with a great cup of coffee!

Would you like to recommend a favorite tweet for next week? Please contact me to share your favorite Tweet! Please mark the tweet as a favorite so that I can find the tweet!

Some of the world’s most prestigious colleges, universities, and schools use Second Life in the classroom. This virtual world makes it easy for students to learn and collaborate online. Second Life has also been used as a distance learning tool. If you are interested in integrating Second Life into your classroom, there are many different online resources and tools that can help. Here are 10 that would work particularly well for educators.

Real Life Education in Second Life - This Second Life Group was created for educators and academics that use Second Life in the classroom. Anyone can enroll in the group to learn more about Second Life education, events, and collaboration opportunities.

Second Life in Education Wiki- The Second Life in Education Wiki provides an overview of how Second Life can be used in education. It also offers tips on getting started with Second Life and resources that can be used with virtual worlds.

Second Life Case Study- This education case study details the New Media Consortium’s experience with Second Life and demonstrates how this virtual world can impact the academic experience. The case study also offers information about best practices in Second Life.

Second Life Intro- This blog offers a comprehensive introduction to Second Life in education. The intro is great for teachers who need a little help planning initial lesson plans and classroom activities.

Sloodle- Sloodle (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an open source tool that works with Second Life and Moodle. Sloodle enhances the Second Life user interface with a toolbar, web intercom, presentation author, and other tools.

BlogHUD- BlogHUD is a blogging tool specifically for Second Life users. It can be used to blog from Second Life and cross post to other blogs and online accounts.

Sloog- This bookmarking tool allows Second Life users to bookmark and tag their favorite places and avatars. Saved items can be accessed within Second Life or from a web browser.

Twitterbox- Twitterbox is a Twitter client for Second Life. It can be used to send and receive Twitter messages and updates from the Second Life environment.

SLBuzz- SLBuzz is a Second Life Community for users who want to browse profiles, post photos and snapshots, search for upcoming events, and network with other SLBuzz members.

Second Life Cheat Sheet- The Second Life cheat sheet is the perfect desktop companion for students and teachers who are just getting started with Second Life. The sheet covers general information, movements, communication, views, and advanced menus.

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Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online colleges for OnlineColleges.net.

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No doubt I love Twitter for meeting new people and planning collaborative projects. However, I often run into the problem that most of the incredible people I meet on Twitter I would like to know much better.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just share a cup of coffee with them at a nice cafe or enjoy a nice chat on a swing set?

Second Life has provided me with this opportunity! Through Second Life I have been able to establish relationships! This stage is what I call the next step in developing a strong Professional Learning Network (PLN) by establishing relationships. A mentor of mine when I was a child used to say, “Involvement equals stick-ability.” If you do not want to lose touch of your PLN then you need to involve yourself in their projects, discussions, and build relationships.

Second Life and your PLN

I think educators underestimate the value of Second Life for making real connections and for professional development. You get to really know a person’s humor, personality, and idiosyncrasies while traveling to new worlds and interacting with the sims. I have met some adventurous educators who are not afraid to have fun and are extremely dedicated to their jobs. I am frequently amazed by what I learn about what incredible feats they have mastered in their classrooms and the incredible skills they have developed. For example, a majority of my Second Life companions speak at least two if not more languages. Moreover, several are bloggers, have explored various countries in real life, and have been published in magazines and journals. They teach beyond walls and are extremely dedicated to their families.

If you are ready to establish relationships, then you may consider joining the SLife is Life Ning. We continuously educate teachers on the use of Second Life for educational purposes. Twice a month, Aniya (the English Teacher) and I will host a free Newbie Teacher Second Life Field Trip for those who want a guide into the strange virtual world! Join our Ning to keep updated with events! As you can tell in the picture above we visit several educational sites and attend professional development classes and seminars. Additionally, we have a lot of fun afterward and socialize. The socializing part is optional. Our next huge event will be Aniya’s birthday bash on Second Life on Saturday, August 29th!

Visit Second Life’s Life

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out these global projects I have been a part of since Twitter:

• Getting Children Involved with Edtech
• Getting Around in a Flat World

Challenge:

Make goals to connect with someone from a different continent or school.

Would you like to let us know about your global connections? Please contact me!

Dear Reader,

You may be sick of hearing me talk about the merits of a Personal Learning Network (PLN)! However, if this is the one piece of advice I can leave you with this summer, then I feel I have significantly contributed to your professional development. Recently, one of my connections led to being a guest blogger for Burcu Akyol‘s Spread Your Knowledge Series! Burcu has entered the realm of friendship even though she lives in Turkey and I live in Germany. How is this possible? The answer is not 42 in this case, but social networking and collaboration on several projects.

Although, Burcu and I have only known each other for three months we have accomplished quite a bit in the education arena. I would venture to say that many would agree that we have added significantly to their projects. The reason is due to our dedication to put our intelligence and energy together to incite change. Burcu has jumped in wholeheartedly in ventures I support or have initiated and I believe I have done the same with projects she has supported and initiated.

How did I meet Burcu? Several of my closest connections started on Twitter and this is what my guest post on her blog this week is about! Please click here to read and comment on the blog post. I met Burcu through Twitter but our relationship stems from participation in Karenne Sylvester‘s BELTFree Ning, the One Comment a Day Ning, and the SLife is Life Ning. Burcu has also joined me in several Second Life field trips like in our picture below! Second Life has really given us the opportunity to get to know each other. You know a person by their willingness to travel to interesting places or what they decide to do at these places. I have observed that Burcu is adventurous and courageous. She is willing to explore new ideas and has a great sense of humor. Many might think that her continuous dedication to her teaching, blogging, moderating student blogs, presenting, and interviewing for magazines would have her stressed. However, I have yet to see her less than enthused and happy. This is the kind of  relationship you want to establish with members of your PLN. Are you ready to take the next step and collaborate for change?

Aniya, Me, & Burcu in Second Life at the upside down house

If you are ready to establish relationships, then you may consider joining the SLife is Life Ning. We continuously educate teachers on the use of Second Life for educational purposes. Every week, Aniya (the English Teacher) and I host a free Newbie Teacher Second Life Field Trip for those who want a guide into the strange virtual world! Join our Ning to keep updated with events!

Visit Second Life’s Life

Challenge:

Involve yourself in one of the projects on a Ning group you belong to or come to one of our weekly Second Life teacher orientations.

Would you like to share your collaboration anecdote? Please contact me to be a guest blogger on Teacher Reboot Camp or if you are interested in having a Second Life mentor!

Every week on Twitter I mark a series of tweets as favorites. These are tweets that have either interesting links, encourage thought-provoking conversations, spark some sentiment within me, or need to be read more thoroughly. My Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter is full of educators who consistently engage me in conversation. These individuals ignite within me a need to continually strive to be a better educator and reflect upon my instructional practices. Due to various time zones or highly active Twitter streams we may miss the chance to participate in conversations or miss important links. Therefore, I will post five of my favorite tweets each week. Hopefully, you will be introduced to some new people you were not following before who would benefit your PLN. These are in order of occurrence with the first tweet being the earliest tweet in the week.

Goodbye Geocities

I really enjoyed this tweet by the Kenny Christian, EnglishProfi, because I was able to reminisce with others  about our first website beginnings. David Truss and I had a similar conversation later in the week. I think many will be slightly saddened by this event. Geocities was the first hosting site I used to create a website when I first began college. Back then animated gifs were the hot items and I had plenty on my website. Needless to say I have come a long way from that time. Click here for to find out what to do with your Geocities account.

Language Learning in Second Life

SecondLife is the latest technology I have been learning for educational purposes. Nik Peachey’s tweet provides a link highlights the amazing possibilities SecondLife provides for learning languages. The program offers the student a language learning experience akin to traveling abroad. The student gets a roommate from China, creates an Ecological part in China, and is immersed in Chinese culture all from the comfort of a computer screen. Click here to try this learning experience for free in the month of August!

Parent Edtech Workshops

Thomas Whitby is well known for his thought-provoking tweets. I liked this idea so much I went to my school administrators and asked them if I could hold an educational technology workshop for my young English language learner’s parents. Click here for the link!

Collaborative Mindmapping Tool

I discovered this really cool mindmapping tool through Aniya, TheEngTeacher! Aniya is well known for feeding teachers on Twitter. The link she provides is to Richard Byrne’s blog post about Slate Box, a collaborative mindmapping tool. This tool has several uses for class projects, distance learning, e-learning, and so forth. Can’t wait to use this tool for my online classes. Click here for the link!

One Comment A Day Project

The last of this series of tweets comes from Steven Anderson, web20classroom. Steven provides information about the One Comment a Day project in which each person commits to posting at least one comment to encourage a new blogger. Then the person tweets the link to the blog post with the hashtag #OCP. I added my name to the list and encourage you to do the same. For more information on this project visit Steven Anderson’s post by clicking here!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out these posts with more favorite tweets:

• Gr8 Edu-tweets by Karenne Sylvester, Kalinagoenglish.
• June’s Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.

Your challenge:

Explore these links and follow these Twitterers. Don’t know what to say to them? Just tell them you thought their links were extremely helpful and you heard about them from ShellTerrell!

Would you like to recommend a favorite tweet for next week? Please contact me to share this tweet and I will give you credit for the recommendation! Please mark the tweet as a favorite so that I can find the tweet!

Did you know that educational technologies will soon be the norm? Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and internet technologies means several educators are connecting to thousands at a time. Consider the crumbling economy and the amount of teachers being laid off. More than ever teachers need to be connected in order to make a difference in their fields and be relevant in their fields. As states continue to pass legislation, which increase the use of educational technologies in the classroom, teachers will have to prove they know how to use these technologies to help their students problem solve, evaluate, analyze, debate, critically think, and so forth. However, several educators feel intimidated by the various technologies. Don’t worry your Personal Learning Network (PLN) is here. Your PLN consists of the people you choose to provide you with knowledge and advice in becoming the best educator that you can be. You may be surprised to learn that you can establish relationships with these people and will begin to wonder how you ever survived without them!

Building Your PLN

Here are my top 5 ideas for connecting with other educators. These suggestions are ranked in the order I believe to be easiest to learn and do. However, I recommend trying all these platforms:

1. Ning- These are social communities on the web that have members with similar interests. Joining a Ning is very easy and just requires that you fill in a simple registration form. I suggest you start with joining Classroom Web 2.0. You will have the option of attending several free webinars (online seminars) and participating in discussions with other educators.
2. LinkedIn- Creating a LinkedIn profile requires a lot more time than joining a Ning. However, the time is worth it, because this is the way several educators connect. LinkedIn has become so vital to careers that several use their LinkedIn profiles as their resume, portfolio, and electronic business card. Thomas Whitby has created several teacher groups worth joining, because many of the educators are active in the discussions. For more information, please visit Thomas Whitby’s LinkedIn profile by clicking here or you may contact him on his Twitter profile. This blog post by Karenne Sylvester will also provide you with a LinkedIn tutorial and tips on creating a LinkedIn account.
3. Webinars- These are online seminars which usually require you to only sign-up and join the online platform. You get to meet several educational professionals who will share with you PowerPoints and hold voice and video chats with you. For more information, please check out my previous posts on webinars by clicking here!
4. Twitter- One of the best ways to quickly connect with other educators and gain so much knowledge. However, there is an art to building your PLN on Twitter. I suggest the following links for further information.
   • Start by getting a free Twitter mentor. You will quickly meet a person knowledgeable on Twitter and be able to add some of their recommendations. Moreover, this person will let others educators know to welcome you to Twitter.
   • Review my Youtube Channel with several Twitter tutorials.
   • Add me to your Twitter list. My Twitter account is @shellterrell. I would be happy to help! Just leave me a message introducing yourself.
   • If you want to know how I currently use Twitter in the classroom, then visit my previous Twitter posts by clicking here.
5. SecondLife- By far this is the most complicated way to connect with other educators. However, the interaction, training, relationships, and adventures offered by SecondLife make this technology a must in developing your PLN.  SecondLife is an experience! You really get to know the educators in your PLN as you share several learning adventures with them! I suggest you start by joining the Second Life is Life ning. You will meet several SecondLife mentors who may provide you with free gifts. Moreover, you will be provided with a safe residence. You will also be able to attend our exciting and extremely informative teacher newby field trips and gain some friends who are learning the technology as well.

Thank you Scott McLeod for sponsoring Leadership Day 2009 and allowing bloggers like myself to participate in this event. Scott, you are a champion for the educational technology movement and your Shift Happens videos are inspirational and continue to revolutionize the education system!

Your boot camp challenge for this week:

Try one of the five suggestions for a week. Through a blog or diary keep track of how the experience has positively and negatively impacted you.

Do you want to share your experience of using one of these five technologies? Even if you found the experience unpleasant, please contact me to host your blog or for an interview!

Have you wanted to attend the several Second Life teacher events but were too afraid you would do something embarrassing? Two years ago I set up my Second Life account hoping to explore the world and discover its use for my students. Unfortunately, my computer could not handle the program. Recently, I tried giving Second Life another chance after seeing several educators on my TwitterStream using the program to attend teacher workshops, discussions, and conferences. A great friend on Twitter helped me navigate and find free clothing shops. You can see my new look below! We had such a wonderful experience that we decided to have a field trip this Saturday, 5 p.m. German time. If you are new to Second Life and would like to attend please send your Second Life name to my Twitter account, @shellterrell.

The Agenda

One of the most difficult problems is learning how to navigate and interact with objects. Also several teachers have reported having wardrobe malfunctions and not having a proper look for teacher events. Therefore, we will accomplish the following on this adventure:

• We will go shopping at free Second Life stores.
• Learn how to change and store outfits for different events.
• Learn of different landmarks to meet educators.
• Learn to interact with objects.

Your boot camp challenge for this week:

Join us on our Second Life field trip.

Which Second Life tips do you have to share? Please, contact me and share this with our readers!