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BP8_2009112_Web2.03_DoILikeToArgueOrDebate

I enjoy a good debate as much as anyone. But I hate to argue. There is a difference. Arguing is pretty emotional stuff. People tend to do it either with their hearts, or an uncontrolled temper. Neither of those will lead to an ending that will leave all people satisfied.

I usually won't debate religion. I won't debate with people I consider zealots on any subject at all. If people are going to cry, or yell or throw things, probably better not to debate it to begin with. Those are some pretty basic rules that keep my life pretty calm. I like calm, well, calm meaning not angry. I am all in favor of excitement, happy, and joyful, all of the good things.

I do love to debate a topic with an intelligent person who is not emotionally invested in the topic. Now that can be a lot of fun, especially if both parties know a fair amount about their sides of the debate and are prepared to listen to the opposing side. It makes for a lively encounter, and people can actually learn from each other.

To this end, I have found a Web 2.0 Tool that has actually surprised me more than any other. amap.org.uk is the website where you can find this amazing little tool/widget. I guess I'm amazed because I didn't expect Great Britain to be the birthplace of a tool of argument. I think of England and I think of rational, calm, Harry Potter, Queen Elizabeth. Not people arguing, and throwing punches, which is not necessarily what this tool is for, but I think you know what I mean.

aMap is designed for you to be able to choose your topic and put it out there the invitation to choose up sides. It is possible to buy already created aMaps, or even to sell your aMaps. There are great areas for teachers to find low cost aMaps with critical thinking teacher's packs, and even explanations about logic and reasoning. It's a very creative way to get students to think about current or historical events, and come up with sound and logical explanations for their way of thinking. It is one method for them to begin to understand the world for themselves.

I appreciate the idea behind this tool, but it took me a few minutes to get there. When I first looked at it, I was a little disgusted. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to encourage people to argue more, when it seems like there are so many arguments already. But after looking over the site and reading about the education program, and seeing some of the arguments, I have to say I think it's a brilliant idea. No one is forced to argue or debate, and I think it's good for people to consider ideas contrary to their own sometimes. It can be a learning process for us all, even me.

BP7_2009112_Web2.02_IAmBabblingLikeCrazy

I've taken 8 years of Spanish over the course of my education. But I never had much need for it in the great Northeast which is where I spent the majority of my formative years. Then, when I did need it, as a teacher in L.A., it was so rusty my students could have gotten tetanus from it. I did remember all of the bad words, go figure, and that did come in handy. But I would really like to be fluent in Spanish. Or really any other language besides English, or maybe in English at this point. It depends on who you talk to.

I have noticed that the world has begun using more and more of a melange of languages, and it is beneficial to have a background of more than one language. I've also noticed that many languages sound at least a little bit like another language which can be helpful sometimes. Other times not so much. There are times when nothing helps at all, and you are left sitting there with no idea what's going on because someone else is speaking a foreign language to you. Or perhaps they have only used a foreign phrase. Sometimes you might just run across a foreign word or phrase in a book or online.

If you are in a school setting, it might not be a problem. You could confer with one of the foreign language teachers. But that's assuming you or the teacher knows from what language the word or phrase originates. Or perhaps you could check in the library and find a translation book. Those are some of the possibilities.

Fear not faithful reader, I have a spiffy new solution for you in the form of a Web 2.0 tool called Babylon Translation Box! It is a widget offering you a translation in over 20 languages through the use of an online dictionary and thesaurus! Best of all, it's free, available from the labpixies at labpixies.com! This is a very small tool that can be places on your website or in your tool bar, and can save you hours of aggravation if you are the type of person who likes to surf internationally flavored sites. Check it out today, and see what you have literally been missing.

BP6_2009112_Web2.0Tools1_WahooVocaroo

I love widgets. PC's have gadgets, and they are way less cool. Of course, PC's are way less cool, except for the card games. At any rate, Macs rule with the widgets. There are so many to choose from. First you have to select a category, and that alone can take you several minutes to half an hour. Then you truly do need to read about each widget, and consider how many people have tried them before you. It is a good indicator of what is popular and what works.

Vocaroo is a Web 2.0 tool that I found that also comes as a widget. It's the next step in email, leaving a voicemail. It's still in beta, which means they are still testing it, but it's a clever little program that is offered for free for now. On the home page, vocaroo.com, you are given the opportunity to record your own voice and play it back for yourself. Then you are offered the chance to rerecord a message and email it to anyone you know.

A number of improvements have been made to the little gizmo while it's been in beta, so now you can choose your colors, and download your messages to save on your computer. As always, one of my favorites is the people behind Vocaroo have a sense of humor. It's worth it just to go read what they will guarantee and what they won't. Don't miss their request for your first born child. It's a hoot.

I find that there are often situations where it would be very helpful for my daughter in particular to be able to record a message for me to hear. Specifically when my granddaughter who is almost 2 years old and as precocious as can be, lets one of her little pearls of wisdom drop from her tongue in Dallas, Texas, and I am 1500 miles away at work in Iowa. My daughter could record it, and I would not miss this miraculous moment at all, because anyone with anyone experience with babies would know that they do not perform on command, and that moment would not be replayed when I was available later in the day. It would be lovely to know that I could be there as it were. It's very hard to miss out on so much from so far away.

Perhaps the people at Vocaroo have grandchildren that live very far away too? Well done I say!

Go give Vocaroo a try today. It's a brilliant little widget, or a great toy to give your friends to play with on your web page. I'm getting ready to add it to mine. Stop by and give it a try.

BP5_2009112_FlickRLessonPlans_ILoveTheBigWords

I have always loved really big words. I love to use them as often as I can. Little did I know that this would come in really handy when it came time to take the GRE for graduate school. Prestidigitation means magic. Loquacious means you use 10 words when 1 would have sufficed. Or close to that. My kids also have a love of this and we used to challenge each other all the time, but I think my daughter Karen won a long time ago when she brought home floccinaucinihilipilification which means to describe something as worthless. I no longer have to put that in quotes because it has been a part of the family lexicon (vocabulary) for 20 years. In fact, I couldn't put it in quotes, or credit it to anyone because I can't even remember where she learned it way back then.

The point to all this was my latest assignment, which was to find a lesson plan that used flickr. Which I did indeed do. However, I found that the teacher's idea was somewhat flawed. She started with the idea that students could take new vocabulary words and look them up on flickr in order to see pictures that could give them clues to the definitions of the words. Great idea, but she didn't stop there. She rode it right off the rails by having the students go to other websites, which circled right back to flickr with several useless steps. She ended with a cute mini movie making session that seemed fun but pointless.

I liked her idea of using flickr to figure out definitions, but I'd like to stick with just that and take it further. I think it could be used at any grade level, regardless of the word. Obviously some words would not be found on flickr. For those words, the students could look them up in a real dictionary or thesaurus. In many cases, the resulting words would probably still be unfamiliar, then these words could be looked up on flickr, and so on. It could prove to be quite a challenging game. I think the student would enjoy it, and learn several things from it:

1. How to use flickr.

2. Improve dictionary skills.

3. Improve thesaurus skills.

4. Improve vocabulary.

No matter what students are going to do with their lives, they need to have language skills, but especially if they have any ambition at all, a rudimentary vocabulary is required. If they expect to achieve anything, then a more proficient vocabulary is expected, and this is one way they can acquire it. Students love competition, they love to play games, give them a list of words, a computer, the web address to flickr.com, a dictionary, a thesaurus (try to keep it a little old school) and let the games and learning begin!

BP3_2009111_ReaderChoices_WhatIChooseToRead

I'm in graduate school, I work full-time, I have a part-time job, and I have a family. I have a life. Therefore, when I decide to read something, it had better be worth reading, even if it's just a comic strip, I don't take my reading time lightly. I've been known to rip up books that disappointed me in the end. That was after a two day rant about the author's complete lack of concern for the faithful reader, otherwise known as "me."

So when I decide to subscribe to a feed from the Google reader, you can be fairly certain it has some gravitas, or at the very least it tickles my funny bone. If it's for a task assigned by a professor, I will still take it seriously, because my reading time is very precious to me. I was given the assignment of finding 5 RSS's to subscribe to in the field of education. I actually found 6.

The first is Educational Technology. This one is a no-brainer because I'm getting an M.A. in Education, Media, & Technology. I'd like to keep up on what the world is doing while I'm in school for the very same thing.

Second is Education: News & Videos about Education - CNN.com, and I guess I'd have to say I chose this because I choose CNN to provide me with my news. They seem to have the scoop on everyone, so I trust they'll have the scoop on this.

Third is NPR Topics: Education, NPR has been my go to radio station for years, especially when I'm looking for the liberal, or off-beat stories, and sometimes that's where the best education stories are found.

In fourth place is NYT > Education. You can't beat the New York Times for news stories, and New York City is always a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to education, so this is a good place to look for stories on education as well.

My fifth choice is U.S. Department of Education, because big brother is always in charge of some of our monies, and it behooves us to pay attention to what he has to say.

My final selection, and the "also ran" is RTFM Education, because seriously, aren't there an awful lot of people in education that need to RTFM? And this one tickles my funny bone.