Truckies…

In New Zealand this morning the truckies are protesting the price rise planned for road user charges (read more here ). As I drove to work this morning the organisation of the protest amazed me - in Auckland it was so well planned and an amazing sight to see (yes - I am glad I wasn’t stuck in the middle of it).

Once I got to work the level of information on the net kept me informed of what was going on. The nzherald offered text updates and news stories while on the webcam pages, here and here , I could watch the progress. On 3 news I could watch video footage.

Image Source: NZHerald Photo: Jamie McKenzie

Songza

Great music tool that I am utterly obseeeeeeesssed with at the moment.

Songza is an music search engine where you can create an identity and an online playlist.

So far from all the searches completed it has managed to find at least one song - even some of the smaller NZ bands it has found songs for - impressed!

Thanks to catspyjamasnz for passing this on..

Classic…

A while ago my flatmate thought it would be funny to name our wireless connection ‘Amanda Is Hot’.

All fun and games really…

Tonight it became even funnier when I discovered one of our neighbours have renamed their wireless connection - check out the bottom wireless connection name:

Classic!

Tree People

Tree People is run by Genesis Energy - clever thinking on their behalf. But it is a site that is easy to use, navigate, fun and lends a hand to the environment.

Basically it is a site where you choose a native NZ tree. You then pledge to do something for the environment like unplugging your mobile charger, setting the printer to print on both sides of the paper, switching off lights in empty rooms and so on. As you complete a pledge or meet new friends your tree grows higher. As it grows higher you can start giving native animals and insects to your friends. There are also several kokako (a native NZ bird) that fly around each week - if one lands in your tree you win a prize for the week.

This was passed on to me by the students in my class as our focus this term is on making a difference to our environment. Its been interesting watching them talk about and share this site with their friends and classmates - many were excited to head home and sign up.

Wordle Wordle & More Wordle

Lots of people in the blogosphere are playing around with Wordle at the moment. I thought that looks fun but have not gone to play around on the site until tonight. I can see how it is a site that could be highly addictive!

There are a lot of options to change fonts, colours and orientation of words. This could be a great way for visual spellers to practice their words. I’ve created these wordles using a link to my del.icio.us account and the tags I have for my marked sites. You can create your wordle using any piece of text or any words. So go along, have a go and share your wordle with the world!

Some Days…

I just wonder why?

Today is one of those days..

Image Source: Desi Italy - Flickr

A Second Life

So, here I am sitting on my bed in New Zealand.

Within a few clicks I can find myself in my Second Life.  Last night I was shopping for bmx’s, clothes and new hair do’s.  I found myself talking with educators from all over the world.

Tonight I took part by playing the bongo’s in a drum circle and busting out some dance moves on Jokaydia with Helenotway, Barbs1 and gkat! There are so many possibilities within Second Life but for now I am happy playing my bongo’s, learning the ropes, meeting other educators, people and caramel dancing the night away!

Everyone is really friendly and there are plenty of people around that will show you the basics, not so basics and help you learn.  So if you haven’t given it a go check out Second Life.

Images, Creativity and Control

Something I have become more interested in lately is the use of images by students for their web pages, blogs and presentations and the set of skills and thoughts that they have on the use images and artwork for their needs.

As I work with more and more students and see the digital work they create either through projects or their homepages I have seen how little many know about the use of others’ images for their own work. Many students will happily discuss the need to ‘write in their own words’ information that they gather, but often you will see photos or images taken from a range of sources with no thought of taking them and no reference to the creator.

I decided to look into the term plagiarism and I found it interesting to note that many of the definitions of plagiarism related solely or heavily towards text with no or little reference to images, artwork, music or movies.

Plagiarism is defined as:

Courtesy of a google define search on plagiarism.

I then went off to Mirriam-Webster Dictionary:

Plagiarizing

transitive verb : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source

WOW 2,000

While I see Adrian Bruce tweeting about almost hitting the 15,000 mark (check out his site - awesome!) I am quietly having my own celebrations!

Today I hit 2,000 visitors on my blog! WOW! That’s really scary but very exciting!!

Thank you to all you who read my blog and take part in the conversations and questions. You have up-skilled me, listened to me rant, helped me solve problems and challenged me by making me think past what I can alone - so thank you for being part of this community!

P.S. Head along to Educating The Dragon, an amazing blogger who encouraged me to get into blogging!

Comment Challenge Day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and… 7

I am really enjoying taking part in the Comment Challenge, but I have already fallen into the trap that I was worried about when I was considering taking part - I’m already behind - what with the start of the new term and all! EEK!

But this was something I really wanted to take part in and an area I feel I need to improve on. If anything already I can see a huge benefit in taking part just in the range of blogs I have read - even if I haven’t commented on them.

So here is a recap of the last 5 days or so of the 31 Day Comment Challenge..

Day 2: Comment on a blog you have never commented on

I have commented on a couple of new blogs. In particular I really enjoyed Mentor Me’s post about music and its political motivations and themes. It seems like they have been having some great conversations along with the Intrepid Classroom about this topic. This really got to me because of my passion for music and that we are celebrating NZ Music Month too!

Day 3: Sign up to a comment tracking service

Argh… Argh… and double argh! My new found excitement for Flock I’m not sure what i’m not doing right and I need to have some more time to tinker but I can’t get coComment to work. I won’t say anything more here as this will come down to something simple I am sure!  So i’ll leave it with a - I’ll get back to you!

Day 4: Ask a question

This was great as someone came along and left a comment with a question on my blog (spot the challenge goers!) which was great to get the conversation going. I then responded with another question among my comment - it’s interesting how it is growing into a worthwhile and interesting conversation. Something I haven’t really been involved in previously. The ongoing conversations and connections are proving to be powerful and engaging already!

Day 5: Comment on a post you don’t agree with.

This one seems easier to say than do. I have also heard bit of talk about that some people have found this tricky.  I need to go exploring a bit more. I think possibly this may be easier to do once I step outside my normal educational based blogs into the realms of something else?!  Another task for this weekend!

Day 6: Engage another commenter in discussion

See Day 4 for this one. This is a part of the challenge I am really enjoying.

Day 7: Reflect on what you’ve learnt so far

I’ve pretty much covered this part throughout the blog post. I think that the most powerful things I am taking from the challenge so far is the real big shift for me in taking part in conversations in the comment section.

Also working on developing my comments past the basic and into a bit more depth, relating posts to my experience and finding out more from the blogger after their post.

One week in and I feel like I haven’t really given the challenge my all, but am looking forward to the weekend and spending a bit of time checking out some more blogs and filling in some of the gaps in the challenge. I’m hoping as next week settles down and I get back into routine I will be able to challenge myself some more!

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