Tuesday, August 31, 2010

PLN Resource Overload (NOT Complaining)

As a result of being in the back-to-school mode, I have neglected personal blogging (along with many other valued activities) and on my list of rationales, I blame resource overload. My PLN (personal learning network) is just too darn good! I've said it before and I'll say it again: Twitter is my most valuable professional resource, but it is all in WHO YOU FOLLOW. I'm tweaking and improving my balance of art/technology/teaching/learning colleagues with entertainment, and inspiration. I regret that I failed to create lists as I acquired followees and now try to get organized in my "I can't focus anymore" time.
Hint: Create lists along the way!


So in an effort not to lose these new and revisited resources which got my attention tonight, I will share them here. (Posting to delicious does not promote the attention I think these resources deserve.)

Live, Learn, and BLOG! ~PVB


Kelly Tenkely's Bloom's Taxonomy : Blooming Peacock
Bloomin’ Peacock to show teachers the Blooms Taxonomy break down and the Bloomin’ digital Peacock that shows how the digital tools in the supplement break down.
The Inspired Classroom
The Inspired Classroom is very excited to announce that the Arts Integration blog series is about to begin!
(I subscribed and will be following...more to come as I interact with this blog.)

Blogging with Students
Responding to student blogs...I find it VERY rewarding to respond to K-12 students who are inspired to write by their teachers. So far this year I have responded to some of Mr. Chamberlain's 8th grade math students at Noel Elementary Class of 2011 and Greta Sandler's 5th graders in Argentina at Sharing Good News. If you are in my class and you choose to respond to any of these students' posts (and I hope you do), please be sure and identify yourself as a USA student in "Dr. B's" class.

Voices on the Gulf
Last (for tonight), but not least, I am a community manager at Voices on the Gulf. Please invite anyone you think would be interested in the discussion about the BP Oil Spill to join us!

"At Voices on the Gulf, we invite all of our colleagues who teach on the Gulf Coast to make this site their home and to welcome their students as well. Students from elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, and universities are involved in discusions on this site. We welcome all."

Please explore the site and comment on student posts. I have submitted a number of photographs and posts; most relevant for art ed is my nephew's contribution: "Mom, what color is oil?" Feel free to tell Josh what you think of his art!
If you are currently teaching , please consider this as a platform for your students to write and respond to the impact the oil disaster has had in their lives. I specifically posted these questions for my students at "Exploring Community Impact..." and would be interested in your feedback.

8 comments:

Allie Howell said...

I couldn't agree with you more! Technology plays such a big deal in today's learning - there is hardly ever a day that goes by that I don't learn something from those that I follow on Twitter, Blogger, etc.

Alana Carpenter said...

I love the peacock page!

Anthony said...

I just read Marti's story about the three Tower Seeking pirates and their adventures involving broken bridges, elephants, spiders, and tigers. It was too cute! I definitely recommend checking these posts out!

@Allie if you really believe that, you are going to be a huge asset to the EDM team this semester!

@Alana, man I can't wait to get cooking with these art projects-- I call dibs to be in your group (I want to do something as cool as your quilt)!

eve said...

I was interested in the "mom what color is oil" page as I have a 9 yr old. She has felt threatened by the oil spill because her summers as she has known them to be for 9 years were not made available to her (no Destin, no cousins coming to visit at Destin) As a parent answering the question "will we ever swim in the gulf again", it's hard because some parents are letting kids swim but others, like myself, chose not to swim. Also, today I just heard of another oil catastrophe in the gulf near Louisiana.

Dina Tillman said...

I understand about resource overload. I think as a teacher, it could be considered an occupational hazard. There is so much useful information. I do create list in delicious by course number and subjects. I even have a future resources tag (thanks for the Jackson Pollock website). It has really helped me keep track of important websites, blogs and files.

Wm Chamberlain said...

With the resumption of school and the new college class that I am teaching I find myself overloaded as well. The problem is, even when I have some free time I find it hard to let go. After school was out in May it took me weeks to relax. :)

Thanks for the comments on the posts too. My students and I appreciated them.

Remi La'fae said...

Technology is evolving everyday and as it does new resource become available. At the same time old resources become better so it is easy to be overloaded with good and not so good resources.

Paige Vitulli said...

@Allie, the art of good filtering is what I am trying to master. @Alana, I thought the "Blooms" peacock was very creative as well. @Anthony, Marti's posts do rock! @Eve, It has been so frustrating to not swim with my nephews in the Gulf...we have settled for pools this summer. I'll check into the Voices on the Gulf posting issue...thanks for reading it! @Dina, with all the computers I work on, I don't know how I survived before delicious!@Bill, what college class are you teaching? I love higher-ed! @Zachary...I agree. when i revisit some "old' resources, my new knowledge allows me to use them in new and better ways!
THANKS for all the responses you guys!