Saturday, January 14, 2012

Save It for Later Saturday: Open Classroom, LEGO Friends, and Pinterest


I am excited by information.  Every time a tweet with a link shows up in my feed, I click, it appears, and a great rush overtakes me.  I enthusiastically begin to read, yet there is always something waiting to distract me:  another tweet, an email, or a dog scratching at the back door. 

Thankfully my Diigo toolbar never fails me.  I click “Read Later,” throw in some random tags, designate the article to a list, and it is added to my endlessly increasing inventory of great reads from the Web.  But when do I read them?

Saturday.

By the time Saturday arrives, the items I have chosen to save for later have accumulated into a sizable catalog that rivals the overwhelming lump of laundry that is thrown in the corner of my room.  And because I find catching up on the week’s reading a priority over a clean cardigan, you now have Save It for Later Saturday.

In Save It for Later Saturday you’re getting a brief run-down of the stand-outs from my week's "Read Later" list.



airport
One of my favorites on Twitter is @timbuckteeth, aka Steve Wheeler, Associate Professor of learning technology in the Faculty of Health, Education and Society at Plymouth University.  His background in e-learning is extensive.  He is a vanguard in the field of educational technology.
In Open door classrooms, Professor Wheeler challenges us to look beyond the classroom where learning is restricted to a teacher and students behind a closed door: 

It is happening in some schools. Many schools are using videoconferencing links to connect with schools in other countries to facilitate cultural exchange and language learning. The next step would be to enable live web streaming, dynamic social networking and Twitter backchannels to operate while classroom sessions are in progress. Think of all the archived learning resources that could be generated for later, on demand use. Think of all the live interaction, dialogue and discussion that could take place during such lessons.

The causes for obstacles in creating open door classrooms are surprising.  After reading Professor Wheeler's article at Learning with 'e's, you will want to email your school's Superintendent which will provide you with a voice in making decisions about your child's future.




On Thursday night I was busy writing about Sydney Spies' senior photo that she submitted to be published in her high school’s yearbook.  While I was speaking out for mothers to support their daughters in expressing themselves beyond their sexuality,  Nancy Gruver, founder of New Moon Girls, was hosting a #GirlsNow Tweet chat to discuss LEGO Friends.  Perhaps if toys were marketed differently to girls, they would not grow up thinking their self-worth is limited to stereotypes.

I think the LEGO Friends controversy is valid and significant.  We should take note of what toys we purchase if we want to change the way our young women see themselves. Parents play an important role in shaping a child’s vision of what she can do with her life.  And in LEGO Friends vs. LEGO Education: What's the Lesson Here?, Empowered by Play gives weighty reasons why understanding the LEGO Friends controversy is vital to understanding girls.


 
I finally received my Pinterest invitation yesterday.  In the middle of carefully, and sometimes randomly, selecting things to pin, I stumbled upon some tips from Mashable’s Stephanie Buck in Pinterest: 13 Tips for Cutting Edge Users.  I found the pointers helpful and even a seasoned user will pick up good ideas.  After devouring the article, I pinned some great infographics I found at Good. Have I told you that I love infographics?

See you next Saturday!




 

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Who's Looking Out for Sydney?


Source
Two days ago, my daughter came into the living room holding her laptop open in her arms, yelling, “Mom, look at this!”

I thought she was going to show me yet another obnoxiously inappropriate ad on Teen Vogue’s website.  This would not have shocked me.  Have you looked at a fashion magazine lately?  However, it’s relieving when she points out images of females that are over-sexulaized in the name of fashion.  This provides me with proof that she gets it.  She’s thinking critically.  

Teen Vogue was not the problem two days ago.  The photo that had my daughter alarmed was of Sydney Spies, an 18 year-old, wearing a short skirt and even shorter top.  According to CNN, she had the photo professionally taken in her hometown specifically for submission to her yearbook.  This was to be her senior portrait.  However, the committee that determines whether or not a photo is approved for publishing rejected the photo for being too inappropriate.  Sydney Spies submitted a second photo of herself in a very short dress with the same result.

Last I read, Sydney’s mother is in support of her daughter’s photos and has contacted the ACLU to fight for her daughter’s freedom of expression.  What does Sydney want to express?  If you simply Photoshop some plaid onto her yellow skirt, you’ve got the girl in the schoolgirl skirt from the adult costume shop.

Source
But have you looked around the mall?  Teen girls are scantily dressed in micro shorts and cropped sweaters.  Just last week, my daughter tried to leave the house in short shorts paired with sheer tights.  But, this is what is being sold in every clothing store and in every mall—high end or low end:  short shorts, shorter skirts, cropped shirts, burn-out shirts that fall from the shoulders a la Flashdance, and leggings worn with full frontal outline in full view.  Ladies, there is no need to run to the adult store, check out the junior department in any clothing store or stop in Forever XXI

So why wouldn’t Sydney Spies want to wear her cute little yellow skirt to cover her bottom and tiny black scarf-like shirt to cover her top?  I get it.  

What I do not get is her mom’s support of her wearing this outfit for a senior portrait to be submitted to the yearbook.  Even if our daughters are bombarded with these types of over-sexualized images and clothing choices, it does not mean we go along with it and say, “OK.”  It’s our responsibility as mothers to explain to our daughters that the clothes we wear send a message to the world.

It is an injustice to Sydney for her mother to be supportive of this photo appearing in a high school publication.  She is exploiting her daughter's sexuality, which gives Sydney the sense that her worth, her self-esteem, should be based on her ability to be, not just "look", sexual.  Our world, and especially the world of young people, is full of examples of the over-sexualization of women.  Just like it's difficult to get our kids to eat well because of the marketing bombardment of bad food, it's difficult to get our kids to understand, especially in the teen years, that a human being's worth goes miles beyond our ability to be sexual.

Last summer my daughter wanted a bikini.  She was 12 at the time and all of her friends were wearing them.  I said, “No.”  She was upset.  And of course the next question was, “Why?”
I said, “Even if being sexy is not your goal, people will see you as sexy.  And you’re too young.”

Even though she is 18, Sydney Spies is too young.  The yearbook is not the place for a provocative photo.  And Sydney’s mom should know better.





Found the Marbles

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Cowbird


Last month when reading my favorite online news source, Good, I came across an article about the new site, Cowbird. I loved what I read and checked it out.  Cowbird is not a bird watching site or even dedicated to anything related to cows, birds, or to nature.  Well, let me correct myself.  Cowbird is dedicated to human nature.  By nature, we have a need to connect through stories.  Cowbird honors this need and does it well.

Cowbird's full title is Cowbird, a Witness to Life.  It proclaims to be ". . . focused on a deeper, longer-lasting, more personal kind of storytelling than you're likely to find anywhere else on the Web."  I agree.

At Cowbird,  you'll find a way to link stories of the same subject with other stories by different users.  These are called sagas.  For example, anyone, from anywhere in the world, can list their story with others who experienced Occupy Wall Street.

Another feature is users can easily add a sound recording to their stories, which gives stories a voice--literally. As I explored the site, I found this added feature to be wonderfully moving.  You can also dedicate stories to other Cowbird users, which makes stories more meaningful.

I created my first story this morning.  The subject of my story is someone I know pretty well--my older daughter, Sophia.  I invite you to click the link below and read and hear an excerpt:

The name "Sophia" is of Greek origin and means "Wisdom". . .










 

Linking up with Mama Kat: Create an “instructional” post where you show readers how to do something cool or useful or yummy.


Mama’s Losin’ It

Sunday, January 8, 2012

2012 Plan for Giving Participants - Thank You!


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At Sperk*, 2012 began with a link up for your family's 2012 Plan for Giving.  Four bloggers (including myself) shared their plans in the link up and many readers shared their ideas for community involvement in the comments.  Thanks to everyone who shared their plans and experiences of volunteerism.  I hope the link up was helpful in providing inspiration for your plans for giving in the New Year.

The winners of the Choice Plan for Giving are Missy Bedell, of Literal Mom fame, and Jo Linsdell, a freelance writer who blogs at 1st Time Mums.  A $20 donation will be made in their names to a charity of their choice.  Congratulations!

Need to Graph Screen Time? Use Chartle!


Chartle has a short demonstration video on its home page.
In Why Ed Tech is Not Just for Teachers, I explained my enthusiasm for following educational technology blogs, news, and tweets.  Educational technology applications are well suited for families.  Many Web 2.0 tools can be used to track family spending, to create timelines or infographics preserving family events, or to share with your children while they are online which fosters the development media literacy skills.

One of the many Twitter users I follow in the category of Ed Tech is HP Teacher Experience Exchange—a free Web 2.0 professional development community for educators. And what are parents?  Educators! Recently HP Teacher Exchange tweeted a link to their tutorial on Chartle, a great Web 2.0 site that offers tools to easily create charts and graphs.

I like Chartle because it is very easy to use.  Once you arrive at the home page, click “Create” which takes you to an impressive and easy to use interface that displays the types of graphs you can choose to make. You can choose from: bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, maps, plots, diagrams, and dynamic charts. Select the type you’d like to create and fill in the fields with the information you want your graph to display.  You can change the number of sections, colors, field directions, etc. 

Choosing Labels for Pie Chart
When you have your graph or chart completed, click “publish” which saves your creation to Chartle’s gallery.  There you can bookmark the link or copy the HTML code to embed your creation into your website.

Saving to Chartle's Gallery





So what can families do with Chartle?  Here’s some ideas:

Create a Pie Chart depicting how family members use their time. 

I created a colorful pie chart showing how I spend my time during a 24 hour period.  It is embedded  at the bottom of my site, Sperk*.  You can also find it via the link here:  My Daily Activities.  This is a great activity for kids who need support in time management.  (It also is a fun tool for math practice in the area of calculating percentages).  Once your child sees how he spends his time, he can work to spend less or more time where needed.  As he makes adjustments in his time management, he can create another pie chart.  Seeing the areas of the pie chart expand or decrease can be an exciting motivator.
 
Create a Bar Graph depicting screen time usage.

This is a great tool for families who have resolved to cut down on screen time in 2012.  Track each member of the family’s screen time, create a bar graph on Chartle, and email everyone in the home the link to the chart, or embed it into the family’s web page.  As screen time decreases, it is easy to create another chart based on the original by clicking “Create [ a new Chartle based on this one ].”  I created a fictional one based on a family of four that wants to track time spent watching television, using the computer, and playing Wii.  You can find it in Chartle's gallery here: Screen Time 

Create an O-Meter depicting amount of work completed for a project.

Teaching your child how to create an O-Meter for her school project may be just the thing to spark her enthusiasm in a less thank favorite subject.  I created one for a fictional science project.  I based it on a project containing five components: researching, essay writing, creating and inserting graphs/photos (which can be easily done with Chartle), composing reference page, and proof reading.  My O-Meter can be found in the Chartle gallery here: Science Project Completion Meter

Selecting Font Color for O-Meter
The O-Meter can also be used to track progress for a personal goal in a school fundraiser or for the amount of money needed to be saved for that new gaming device!


What are some other ways your family can use Chartle?