Disqus - Latest Comments for JazzyJsMom

Re: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/05/reading-to-improve-your-life.html

JazzyJsMom — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:33:00 -0000

Vicki,
Another great post. My mother is an avid reader and my daughter is when the mood strikes her. I am in between right now only because I have so much required reading and research for the Ed.D. program I am in. Every now and then, I can get in a reading for fun book. With school getting ready to take a summer break, I love it when libraries offer rewards for summer reading programs for all age groups.

I was lucky to have a mom who took us to the library because she loved reading. Books have always been around the home and visiting libraries is something I love to do when I visit or move to a city for the first time. My daughter was lucky to always have one teacher wherever we were stationed or moved who shared their passion for reading. Books are still a part of the home.

I also believe that in the economic times we are in, libraries are seeing an increase in patronage. Libraries are cool places for family visits because there is something for everyone. We even discover local community nuggets when an individual offers a free workshop, book reading, or meeting at the local libraries.

With teacher appreciation week coming up, what a fantastic opportunity to share the gift of reading, whether loaning or purchasing a book for a teacher after discovering what may be on their favorite reading list.

Some of us are are still digesting your awesome birthday post to us and sharing the online reading opportunity with others.

Thanks again for all that you do!
From one of your favorite online adult students.
Lisa

Re: Twitter: Better Late Than Never

JazzyJsMom — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:47:57 -0000

Congrats Darren and thanks for being a part of the change we want in the world. Maybe your super can start a new trend?

I look forward to the many positive changes you are making in the Canyons. When you get tired of the cold weather....there are plenty of places down south that could use your techspertise.

Thanks for your blog posts about Twitter, as I am referencing your blog post in one of my assignments with Twitter in Ed Tech.

Re: Change

JazzyJsMom — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:46:13 -0000

Congrats Darren,
I know you will be successful with your experiences and education demonstrated through this opportunity to build it from the ground up. This is every Ed Techie's dream to build it from the ground up rather than repair what you inherit.

So here is to change...you, me, President Obama all starting in new careers.

May your budget be accommodating, your grants many, and the participants of your PD and techspertise continue to share knowledge and expand their own PLNs.

Re: Social Media in the Classroom

JazzyJsMom — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:23:08 -0000

Have you ever been used by social media? I don't believe I have w/out credit. I know I have used your Pay Attention links and given credit to you. I still send your T4 Pay Attention link out to those who say they have never seen it and you have been listed by name and link in my references for a couple of my assignments. Am I using you? your site? Or sharing knowledge that will bring someone through the digital disconnection. When we use social media and learn something new or collect data are we using resources to expand our own personal learning goals whether we are informal lifelong learners or formal degree seeking students?

How should educators approach social media in their curricula? This is a challenging one...if it is set as a standard who enforces it? There are ones that use it and then shut down by educational bureaucracy. There are those who use it and empower students to do the same but in various stages. I am an online student and would never attend a brick and mortar class that didn't incorporate some type of social media. Then again, I am a non traditional student. With the military we use AKO (Army Knowledge Online) which is migrating to DKO (Defense Knowledge Online). Team sites, learning communities, news, discussion groups, video chat, email and many other tools are compiled in this collective collaborative environment.

Is there a level, a class, or a time when it would be best to teach students skills related to social media? Another challenging one...my daughter has grown up with social media at home, she knew what an AUP was before schools had computers. School district standards were different depending on the state we lived in and now she is the techy girl in her group of f2f social circle. But my daughter is unique in that she was raised by a mom who was a Signal soldier and communication and networking along w/ security (COMSEC, OPSEC, InfoSEC) were and are a part of life. Today's students are growing up with social media...having another group of adults who disapprove of their computer habits just makes them do it more. Most of the students I work with have told me they wouldn't listen to any of their teachers giving advice about social media because the teachers are "old school" not using technology in an old school. But the district where we currently reside blocks everything except limited "approved" sites and a school's homepage.

If we take the stance that social media literacy should be taught throughout the curriculum - regardless of subject or grade level - what can be done to ensure that it isn't lost through the cracks? If we take the stance...who will enforce it? If social media literacy was integrated into curriculum it would fall through the cracks because of human biases and fear of the unknown. Those who discovered a passion for it would thrive, those who struggled or were educated with Passive Acceptance would flounder.

Are you taking a course in your Ed Tech program such as a Community Conduit or Leader of Creative Culture? Just curious.

Re: Why College, Why Now?

JazzyJsMom — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:58:06 -0000

We will be calling you Dr. Draper at least a year before I complete my program. I am in my last 2 specialization courses for Ed Tech Mgt then on to the thinning of the collected research and thesis.

I did a blog post titled, "My parents want me to go to college, but" on 12/14 in support of the scholarship/computer workshops I conduct at the library. There are so many options for students today and I help them through the net to discover alternatives through corporate or federal internships or a personal development plan so they can demonstrate that they have a course or plan of action.

We will be looking for your grad pictures as you progress towards completion of your program. Keep on blogging!

Re: Why College, Why Now?

JazzyJsMom — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:14:23 -0000

Congrats on making it to your last semester. I look forward to the day I can blog about my final doctoral coursework.

I don't think college is for everyone. I tried it out of high school and it was expected. I was not a successful freshman. My time with the US Army provided experiences I could not obtain from 4 years of traditional college. No one in my family had been in the Army or graduated college so I took the path less traveled. I have a treasure trove of worldly experiences that I could never obtain from a college experience.

As an adult returning to college, my degrees have been in fields I am passionate about which are supplemented by real world practical work experience in the field of telecommunications. Information Tech and Educational Tech were not options when when I was a freshman many years ago. As I go through this process with my own child, she is living through her first college experience and now talking about the Air Force. I am cool with that. She is an independent thinker, been drug around the world by her military mom, and has many more life experiences at her age than I did.

Many of her friends have gone different ways, college, military service, marriage, federal service jobs, jail, and even death. I think we can all say we have a variety of awesome colleagues, friends, and family that did or did not attend college. In times when the economy can try even the best of planners and savers I support your "prepare for anything" approach to your future. I also believe we have to help students in the decision making and critical thinking processes which are difficult skills to hone if someone else is always making your decisions.

I look forward to seeing your graduation pictures and the continuation of your blog.

Re: Listen

JazzyJsMom — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:25:01 -0000

Now if we can just get them to view this post...and for some reason I can hear my mother (and some supervisors) telling us that is why we were given 2 ears and one mouth, to listen before speaking. Of course that was her version taken from a quote credited to Epictetus, "“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”(Epictetus, Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Daily Spotlight on Education 12/09/2008

JazzyJsMom — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:46:38 -0000

Thanks Vicki...I am honored to be mentioned in your Daily Spotlight in Education. Let the Digiteens know I am with them in spirit today as I have to sit in on a course going through validation. I followed up with another post Continuing to empower students. Thanks for all that you do!

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Is it wrong to let students try? Is empowering kids the WRONG thing to do?

JazzyJsMom — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:07:51 -0000

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” Dale Carnegie

Vicki,
Keep doing what you are doing. You could come to our district where blogs, wikis, YouTube, and everything in the edublogosphere is blocked.

Your students are ahead of many students in GA (& the nation) who cannot even access your blog, let alone your students' blogs or projects.

Some of the comments you received are what I hear from my daughter's high school teachers and yet another reason I will continue my day job working with military students f2f and through dL tools.

As a parent, I volunteer with students and parents through the computer labs at the library because the library networks do not block 1/2 of what the school networks do. I recommend your blog stating that you can spend a few minutes each day your child is in middle or high school and learn something new every day. People also realize how far behind our students are when they get to college. The ones that do graduate and head off to college are forced into using online tools and they have no experience accept what they may have done through MySpace.

I am sure you have more positive comments than negative and remind your students that they do inspire other students who do not have a Cool Cat Teacher like you.

Keep up the great work, the digital citizenship your students are learning and incorporating gives them a leg up over those who have no clue but are expected to abide by rules and regulations when they grow into the real world.

As Abraham Lincoln once said, "“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”
Keep doing what you are doing.

Re: Poll: School Mobile Phone Policies

JazzyJsMom — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:23:12 -0000

We have four high schools going through a pilot program to allow students to carry cell phones. Here is the current policy that is being revamped during the pilot program for Richmond County (Augusta, GA):

Rule: Cell phones and beepers are banned in school, on buses and in students' vehicles. Phones are allowed on field trips only to notify a parent of emergencies or arrival times and places.
Punishment: First-time offenders receive three days' in-school suspension. Second offenses result in five days' in-school suspension, and subsequent offenses result in a referral to tribunal.
Confiscation: Items seized go to public safety and will be returned to parents in 12 months.
The Augusta Chronicle shows a picture Officer Julia Stein with the unclaimed phones on August 1, 2008. In 15 years, 5,725 phones were taken from students, according to the public safety department. Of those, 4,566 were still being held by the department this summer. http://chronicle.augusta.co...

Even with people volunteering to come in an provide learning sessions on how to incorporate cell phones, the RC district is on the far side of the digital divide. As a participative parent, a volunteer, and a substitute teacher, I find it hypocritical that the students are told not to bring them by administrators and teachers who are carrying them, use them during the day to talk and text. The students know when they are having a shake down and quickly run to find students who drove to school to hold their phones.

Re: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/08/throw-down-gauntlet-break-chains-of-bad.html

JazzyJsMom — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:54:51 -0000

Vicki,
I can't take the credit. Credit goes to David Thornburg in a statement made in May 1999 at the Computer Using Educators of California Conference as published in Windows on the Future Education in the Age of Technology. He stated we need to get beyond the yabuts, "Yeah but we do not ahve the financial resources to wire every classroom"; "Yeah but we do not have control over the curriculum because it is dictated by the state, college entrance requirements, or the school board"; or "Yeah but I am a few years from retirement" (Pg 125).

Re: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/08/throw-down-gauntlet-break-chains-of-bad.html

JazzyJsMom — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:30:45 -0000

Great post Vicki! What gauntlet would you throw down to improve education? Hard to limit it to one guantlet...More action less talk, more facilitation than preaching, MORE Flat Classrooms, more personal learning networks, more Cool Cat Teachers, eradicating the "yabuts" (Ya, but...), eradicating the paradigm paralysis. The longest journey begins with one step, if everyone dedicated one step to making the change it would happen. The change will occur when the pain of change overcomes of the fear of change.

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Meet me in SL Next Thursday 8 pm EDT: New School Year... Cool Tools Here

JazzyJsMom — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:35:34 -0000

See you there...what a great teaching and learning experience for all of us. You will do just fine. As Helen Keller stated, "There is one thing worse than not being able to see, it's being able to see and have no vision".