Category Archives: Twitter

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On My Way – NASA Tweetup/sts-134-launch

I’m writing quickly from the airport in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m soon to catch the second in a trilogy of flights that will end in Orlando, Florida, at 6:00am Thursday morning (how much sleep will I get???), and from there I will rush out to Cape Canaveral to be one of many lucky folks chosen by NASA to be part of their “Tweet-up” for the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. I haven’t written much about this here because I was never sure I was REALLY going to make the trip until the last few days. Things fell into place mainly because friends would not allow me to not go.

My school district has frozen all budgets, so even though this trip has huge educational possibilities there were just no funds available. But my colleagues at Powerful Learning Practice passed the hat (Thanks a ton guys!!!) and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach used her precious air-miles to cover my flight – a true angel! An anonymous contributor also kicked in and by that time I couldn’t say no.

I’ve spent the last few school days preparing my students to work through their blogs and Flickr and more to participate with me as much as possible … I would have Skyped with them or even Streamed video out, but no one at my school could help support that, and non of the substitutes I know that could pull that off were available. So we will be working together some now … but much more when I’m back. As Dr. Cannon at the University of Nevada, Reno always says, “activity before content!”

In addition, when I get back we launch a high altitude balloon … well really 3 at once … 2 using hydrogen gas and 1 (at my school) using helium. We are going to coordinate the launches so they are simutaneous. We are printing out the “High Hopes” people are sending us on “fortune cookie size” strips of paper and sticking them inside the balloons so when the balloon bursts the worlds “high hopes” will flutter down and become one with the Earth (it’s all very symbolic – and we are using a paper that will degrade very quickly). Well they are calling my flight … on to Los Angeles!

Learning is messy!

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Shuttle Launch Experience – What Are The Possibilities For Student Learning?

In my last post I shared that I have this fantastic opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next month. One of the ways this new pedagogy changes things is in how my students can be included in my trip.

If I really manage to go (at best a 50-50 possibility because of budget freezes here) my students would learn about the Space Shuttle program, Cape Canaveral and other topics associated with the trip before I ever left. We would travel there through photos, but also via Google Earth – Where is this place? – why did they choose the eastern Florida coast to launch spacecraft from? We drop right down on the roof of our classroom and travel to locations and back when we Skype to build those geography skills and schema, so we would do that for this trip too. My students all have their own blogs, so I can post photos, videos, blog posts about what I am learning, topics for them to do research on. I will be able to post all my photos and even video on our class Flickr page (often within minutes of taking them) – the students could be asked to make a slideshow – write captions for the photos or any number or possible writing projects or research projects.

NASA is asking me to be there to use Twitter to report out what I am doing, seeing and learning. But I would blog about it and would hope to Skype back to my class to share with them, answer questions and maybe do on-the-spot interviews with some of the people I am supposed to meet there. My students are used to taking notes during Skype-conferences and when we have guests in our class, and this would be no different. I could have it set-up with my substitute that I would call the school and let them know to get on Skype and expect a call.

Students could even have pre-written questions to ask – what would they like to know if they get to interview an astronaut or scientist or anyone else that works there? If NASA would allow it I could use a video streaming application like USTREAM to broadcast out so other classrooms could take part … later they could even share blog posts and comments about what they learned with the classes we connect with all the time. All those students have access to our Flickr pages as well – so they could utilize our photos for their learning.

The point is, my students would not be waiting for me to return to find out what happened during the trip – to learn during the trip … they would participate before, during and after. I can comment on their blogs (even grade them), think of new assignments to give them while I am still in Florida, and my students are learning about a place they can only imagine about now. There are so many other possible ways to include them (and feel free to think out loud in the comments). And we do these things often, so this is not pie-in-the-sky – this is what we do as a big part of our learning. Things really have changed since we went to school haven’t they?

Learning is messy!

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I Might Be Going To Launch Of The Space Shuttle Endeavour

NASA informed me Yesterday that I had been chosen to attend the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 19, 2011 as part of their @NASATweetup program. I get to go and Tweet out my experience … and according to their website:

“The Tweetup will provide @NASA followers with the opportunity to tour the center, view the shuttle launch and speak with NASA managers, astronauts, shuttle technicians and engineers. The event also will provide participants the opportunity to meet fellow tweeps and NASA’s social media team.”

Too cool huh!!? The downsides are that I have to pay my own way (although I’m trying hard to get funding – probably won’t make it otherwise). And of course launch delays are not uncommon … so reservations need to be soft and you know things might happen after you’ve gotten there, but it’s all worth it!

And I won’t be alone, also according to the NASA site:

” … 150 of its Twitter followers on April 18-19 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Space shuttle Endeavour is targeted to launch at 7:48 p.m. EDT on April 19, on its STS-134 mission to the International Space Station.

I informed my students today of my possible trip by having them spend 15 minutes researching the Space Shuttle Endeavour (which I managed to mis-spell “Endeavor” … which they happily informed me as their search began). Once they had learned a bit I explained what might be happening. They were pumped!

This will be the last journey of the Endeavour, as the Space Shuttles are being retired after these last hurrahs. Commander Mark Kelly (Congresswoman Giffords husband) along with his crew will head off to the International Space Station:

“… will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields.”

Here’s hoping things work out and I get to make the trip!

Learning is messy!

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The Tightwad Tech – The Interview

A few weeks ago, after many attempts trying to find a time we could all make, Mark and Shawn at The Tightwad Tech managed to coral Lisa Parisi and myself across timezones long enough to interview us about how we utilize a changed pedagogy utilizing tech (usually for free – hence the “tightwad” connection). Here is a link to the podcast. We had a great time. Give it a listen … and Thanks to Mark and Shawn for inviting us!

Learning is messy!

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Twitter Spam? Auto Follow? Is This An Issue For You?

I don’t want to make too much out of this, but just wonder how others see this. This has started out slow and has lately been much more prevalent. But in Twitter if I mention a company or group as part of a Tweet, the next thing I know I am being followed by someone, or sometimes 3 or more people that have ties to that company or group. I know I can choose to follow or not, or even block them, but until recently I haven’t had to make too many of those decisions … and I know this sounds really petty, but I liked it better when I didn’t have to think about this much.

Personally I don’t generally follow people back unless on their Twitter page they tell something real about themselves and have a link to a blog or a web page they have something to do with. And I know others do about the same. I also block anyone that has a porno site or seem fairly “seedy” in general. I know some people “live and let live” and don’t block anyone, but as an elementary school teacher I don’t want to have to explain to someone why I ALLOW some sex site or whatever to follow me on Twitter when I could have blocked them. I hate to say this, but especially as a male elementary teacher I  feel I have to be extra careful – I have been taken aside and told by school district administration that I am not to hug or touch kids really at all … note that my female counterparts are not given that “suggestion” but I have been told that more than once (and not because there had been some issue, just because,  “We don’t want there to be.” ).

So have others had this “spam” Twitter followers issue come up more of late? People that follow you right after you have mentioned something in a Tweet that somehow connects to them? Does this bother you at all? Is it all OK?

Learning is messy!

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Are We Twittering Less And Enjoying It More?

I was introduced to Twitter last year at NECC in Atlanta and jumped in with both feet. Since then I have been as guilty as anyone with going through a period of almost obsession with the constant chatter and immediate feedback it provided … much of it just fun give and take, but the quick advice and support from experts was the real hook.

Some evenings as I worked on other things while having a Twitter window opened, I would be amazed how in just minutes there would be 2 or 3 windows of “Twits” to catch-up on … and at that time I was following less than 100 people. Now I’m close to following 200 and generally I’m noticing fewer Twits overall with spurts at times.

Why is that? I’m thinking the newness has worn off, other applications that have come along or changed are taking peoples time, families are demanding less Twitter/more attention … what else? … or am I wrong and people are Twittering as much as ever?

I know I’ve cut back, but I still find Twitter invaluable. So are we Twittering less and enjoying it more?

Learning is messy

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Twitter … Another Why? Example

I’m writing this after upgrading my WordPress Blog from version 2.1 to version 2.5 without having my heart completely stop … but almost! I stupidly did not back-up my files … just followed the directions after being advised by WordPress that my old version was open to security issues. 

I did save my old WordPress files … sort of … probably not the right ones though … and did everything right, but when I went to my blog the header was there with a message like you get when you first set-up a WordPress blog and all my old posts and links and all were gone. 2 years of posts GONE!!!! And probably no way to get them back … or at least not without A LOT of work.

I started Twittering my panic asking for help, and Doug Noon and a few others chimed in. After 10 or so minutes that seemed like an hour, Doug finally Twitted a suggestion that I needed to follow-through on updating my database and that did it … everything came back … my heart was beating again and everything.

This is one of those examples that those of us that see value in Twitter tend to bring up from time to time … the quick response from many minds you can access (in 140 characters or less). This is not the ONLY way I’ve found value in Twitter, but tonight it was good enough.

Learning is messy!

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Have You Used Every Tool In Your Toolbox? Did You Throw Away Those You Haven’t Used Yet?


kitchen utensils.jpg

Originally uploaded by CieraH

Do you have tools you keep somewhere in your house? If you do, are there some of those tools you have never used? Say a socket for your wrench set that you’ve just never had reason to use?

How about kitchen utensils. Do you have some that maybe you got as a gift that you’ve just never used?

OK, one more question. Can you ever remember suddenly having a use for one of the tools or utensils and being glad you had it? I had a car once that I had for 4 or 5 years and had never used the jack, and obviously the previous owner hadn’t had reason to either because it was still wrapped in the original paper – but when I got a flat out in the middle of nowhere I was sure glad I had that tool (jack). I had no experience using the jack but the directions were there and I figured it out and I made it home safely.

What’s the point? The current Web 2.0 discussions have doubted the usefulness of applications like Flickr and Twitter (but others too). I’m not sure yet how I might ever use Twitter in my classroom … but I’m glad its “in my toolbox” because if I ever see a legitimate educational use for it I have it available to use. If I didn’t have that jack in my car when the flat occurred, or I didn’t even know there was such a thing, I would have been stuck.

Skype is a great example. Wes Fryer invited people about a year ago to join a Skypecast he was moderating about edtech. I had never used Skype, didn’t even have an account (I had used iChat once before). So I got an account, joined Wes’s Skypecast and another later in the summer. So lo and behold the situation with Celest came up and it literally occurred to me that instant that Skyping her into class just might work, just because it was in my toolbox. I hadn’t used Skype with my students before … hadn’t even been on Skype at school, but it became a possibility just because I knew about it and saw a potential use. I’m sure there are similar stories you could tell about using wikis or blogs or whatever. So whether its Twitter or Second Life or the next web 2.0 app that comes out, I just hope I have the time to put them in my toolbox so they are there when I might need them. I mean do you throw out the sockets for your wrench that you have never used?

So those that doubt the usefulness of playing with and learning these applications (Twittering our lives away) I say bunk. Its only a waste of time if it becomes too much of a distraction and negatively impacts your work. As professionals we are supposed to be able to moderate ourselves and make just those kinds of decisions.

Learning is messy.

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Connections Through History or Its The Network Stupid!

Yesterday we spent part of our day following the Battle Road in Minute Man National Historic Park In Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts (click on my Flickr badge below to see a few photos from there). This is where the American Revolution started. The battle between the Colonists and British Redcoats started with Paul Revere’s famous ride … which was about getting communications out to Concord because the British were on their way to destroy munitions stored there. Once the first shots were fired the Americans followed along the road the Redcoats were trying to travel back to Boston and safety, and continually harassed and attacked them. The communications here centered on lamps in the belfry of a church and riding horseback to deliver the message in person.

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Philadelphia and in the last hour I signed up for Ning, caught up with what everyone in my Twitter account was up to today, almost made a connection with Steve Dembo on his cruise-ship using Skype (he let us know over Twitter we were no longer needed to check his connection because he had had so many replies to his Twit request) and I just got off a video-conference with Dean Shareski who is in Amish country with his family (where we go next on our trip) asking me questions about what to do in Boston and New York where we just came from. He let me know he was available to Skype through his … guess … that’s right Twitter. Is this a network or what!?

The talk of late in the edblognetwork has been about the network – and I’m more than inclined to agree that much of the educational power is there. But I’m on vacation and so I’ll have to talk more about this in a later post.

Before closing I must mention that I’ve read the introduction and most of the first chapter to “Cult of the Amateur” … I would have gotten farther, but I’ve found myself writing so many notes in the margins … and I get so … so… #!#@$!!!! … peeved at some of his nonsense and faulty thinking that I have to put it down and catch my breath. I wish I could get a discussion going about it now … but I’m on vacation. When I’m back though WATCH OUT!

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Twitter In The Classroom

I tried to leave a comment on David Warlick’s redesigned blog, but alas it wasn’t accepted or worthy or something, so I’ll post here instead. David wondered whether he should put a “Twitter-like” app on Class Blogmiester – and I say do it (of course I’m not the one doing the programming).

I do several activities that require students to write short “notes” to each other (I blogged about it here). Its fun, it promotes writing as a fun activity, it fosters editing skills, each “note” is short but when you add up all the writing students do in 5 to 30 minutes it is pages. Anything that promotes writing is aces with me. My kids beg me, offer me money bribes … er… um … seem so excited by these activities that they MIGHT offer me bribes ; ), to play what they consider games. I’m sure that smarter teachers than I will come up with even better activities and uses for Twitter.

Twitter can be messy learning!

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