This blog was originally meant to be for Web 2.0 related tools and ideas. I'm finding that I am learning more about other things as I go along. There are wonderful resources out there for many things, and recently what I have been finding revolves around once central theme...
Bullying.
It seems to be a fact of life. I was bullied in elementary school. It carried on into junior high. Then I had a light bulb moment. Why was I trying so hard to please everyone? It wasn't making me happy. I stopped caring what other people thought, and amazingly enough the bullying stopped.
OK...I have to admit that back then we didn't call it being bullied. I was being picked on, teased. It was really only bad for 6th grade when I changed schools and knew one other person. I realized later that it was because the girls were jealous. I was an "early bloomer" at a time when the girls were all really interested in boys. I was uncomfortable with my new body, and it made me an easy target. It could have been much worse.
On the other hand, I watched my best friend...who is still my best friend...be relentlessly, mercilessly bullied. She was always heavy, even when we met in 4th grade. The bullying happened at home, by a younger, thinner sister. The bullying happened at school...every day that I can remember. I can remember things hitting a low point the night that I rushed over to her house in Junior High to make sure that she didn't hurt herself. It's too bad. If they had given her a chance, they would have seen just how great a friend she could be.
I know that this still happens today in our schools. I see it, and hear it at work in the school. Sometimes the kids don't even realize that is what it is. "I was just kidding", "She knows I didn't mean it", "we're friends". The reasons can be just as varied...how they look, how much they weigh, what nationality they are , what religion they are, what sexual orientation they have. None of it should matter, and I'm glad that the world is starting to really take notice.
That brings me back to where I started...
First, it was No Name-Calling Week in January. The following week was The Great Kindness Challenge. Today I learned about http://nobullying.com/. This is a great site put together in the UK. The theme is universal and so are the resources. There are sections for teens, teachers & parents. The topics run from cyberbullying to bullying in schools, peer bullying to bullying of teachers by students. They recently (Jan. 22) started a new campaign on Twitter, Facebook, and other Social Networking sites called Enough is Enough. http://nobullying.com/enoughisenough/. This has videos that are being collected of kids that have been bullied. A safe place to tell their stories and support each other. What a great idea! Maybe just one kid will see this and realize that they really aren't alone. Others have been bullied, and others have come out the other side stronger. Hopefully it will touch many others. It's touched me...
Friday, February 6, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
New Year....New Start?
I am always filled with good intentions.
I will get the dishes done right after dinner...but maybe I'll wait a little bit to let the food settle....
I will send out Christmas letters this year...or maybe Valentines day? Easter? There's always next year...
I will finish this book tonight...hmmm...it's morning, and the book is laying open on the floor...
I will write in my blog at least once a week...well, this time it's only been about 4 months instead of the 8. How am I supposed to keep anyone interested if it takes that long?
Well...back to that last one. Here I go again. I have been learning so many things, so why not try and pass them on?
I have recently discovered MOOCs. OK...not actually discovered, since I've known about them for a while. But I actually signed up for a couple of them! I finished the first one, which was about how to become a better trainer. It was short, interesting, but I did not learn as much as I had hoped. Now this wasn't because they were lacking...it's a testament to how good leadership training is in the Boy Scouts of America.
I'm currently in the middle of my second MOOC. It is called Introduction to Learning Technologies, and it is put on by the University of Saskatchewan, and hosted on the Canvas Network. The week 4 starts by covering blogs. As I put on a comment page there, it's time to get back on the horse...only this time I'll try at a trot instead of a full-on gallop. No wonder the horse keeps getting away from me! Anyway...long-winded explanation of how I ended up back here.
On to the discoveries! Today's revelation I actually learned about yesterday. I have been using Google Docs for a few years now. I know that Google has been expanding what they offer, and for the most part, it's been great! (I am a little disappointed that they let the Google Book project go.) Anyway, yesterday I learned about the Add-ons. There aren't just a few - there are many! I was most excited to find that EasyBib is an Add-on to Google Docs. I haven't explored it much yet, but it seems that it would save our students a step on having to go to the EasyBib website for citation. There's a thesaurus, a graphing calculator, Doctopus, Flubaroo, even a Twitter Curator. So much to explore! And the possibilities!
If that wasn't enough...I learned something else about Google Docs yesterday. There is a Research Tool. So what, you say? It's amazing! It allows you to do a google search without leaving the document. It just shows up on the right hand side of the page. Do a general search or be more specific. There are options to search for images, quotes, academic articles and more. Not only that, you can even filter the image search to find free to use images. As if that isn't enough, it will also cite in MLA format for you. I tried this. I did a simple search for Florida...just to see what would come up. I dragged a picture to my document...Voila! There is was, with a citation at the bottom of the page. Next I tried a quote search. One came up. It had a little "insert" button at the bottom. One click and there is was - cited just like the picture. This was getting fun! Could I take something from an article and cite that just as easy? Almost! I took some information from the official Florida tourism site on an island that makes me want to get away. It doesn't automatically cite it, but if you hover over the article preview, it give you the option to cite. One click and there it was again. Where was this when I was doing my research papers? It was a quick little experiment, and not put together like it would be if I was turning it in for credit, but I wanted you to have a peek.
I will get the dishes done right after dinner...but maybe I'll wait a little bit to let the food settle....
I will send out Christmas letters this year...or maybe Valentines day? Easter? There's always next year...
I will finish this book tonight...hmmm...it's morning, and the book is laying open on the floor...
I will write in my blog at least once a week...well, this time it's only been about 4 months instead of the 8. How am I supposed to keep anyone interested if it takes that long?
Well...back to that last one. Here I go again. I have been learning so many things, so why not try and pass them on?
I have recently discovered MOOCs. OK...not actually discovered, since I've known about them for a while. But I actually signed up for a couple of them! I finished the first one, which was about how to become a better trainer. It was short, interesting, but I did not learn as much as I had hoped. Now this wasn't because they were lacking...it's a testament to how good leadership training is in the Boy Scouts of America.
I'm currently in the middle of my second MOOC. It is called Introduction to Learning Technologies, and it is put on by the University of Saskatchewan, and hosted on the Canvas Network. The week 4 starts by covering blogs. As I put on a comment page there, it's time to get back on the horse...only this time I'll try at a trot instead of a full-on gallop. No wonder the horse keeps getting away from me! Anyway...long-winded explanation of how I ended up back here.
On to the discoveries! Today's revelation I actually learned about yesterday. I have been using Google Docs for a few years now. I know that Google has been expanding what they offer, and for the most part, it's been great! (I am a little disappointed that they let the Google Book project go.) Anyway, yesterday I learned about the Add-ons. There aren't just a few - there are many! I was most excited to find that EasyBib is an Add-on to Google Docs. I haven't explored it much yet, but it seems that it would save our students a step on having to go to the EasyBib website for citation. There's a thesaurus, a graphing calculator, Doctopus, Flubaroo, even a Twitter Curator. So much to explore! And the possibilities!
If that wasn't enough...I learned something else about Google Docs yesterday. There is a Research Tool. So what, you say? It's amazing! It allows you to do a google search without leaving the document. It just shows up on the right hand side of the page. Do a general search or be more specific. There are options to search for images, quotes, academic articles and more. Not only that, you can even filter the image search to find free to use images. As if that isn't enough, it will also cite in MLA format for you. I tried this. I did a simple search for Florida...just to see what would come up. I dragged a picture to my document...Voila! There is was, with a citation at the bottom of the page. Next I tried a quote search. One came up. It had a little "insert" button at the bottom. One click and there is was - cited just like the picture. This was getting fun! Could I take something from an article and cite that just as easy? Almost! I took some information from the official Florida tourism site on an island that makes me want to get away. It doesn't automatically cite it, but if you hover over the article preview, it give you the option to cite. One click and there it was again. Where was this when I was doing my research papers? It was a quick little experiment, and not put together like it would be if I was turning it in for credit, but I wanted you to have a peek.
I have already passed what I learned on to a couple of teachers,
but I now need to find a way to get it out there. Can I get the teachers to
follow my blog? There's a thought....
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