I led a session on Web 2.0 tools today for the K-12 ELA team at Sturgeon Bay.

As always, there are  a few tech hang-ups, but overall, even spam filters could not keep us down. The practical result of the day is that there are 2o new bloggers and 20 new members of Teaching English in Wisconsin.

Beyond that, who knows?  Who will the ripples touch? Where will the ripples lead to?

I loved the energy in the room, the willingness to try and become engaged.  I hope these teachers continue to satisfy their curiosity and click on links, read blogs, post comments, start discussions, and share their knowledge with all of us.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman believes these changes will stand with Gutenberg’s printing press in impacting the world. Friedman says we now have a “global web-enabled platform for multiple forms of sharing knowledge and work irrespective of time, distance, geography and increasingly even language.”  That platform, Friedman says, “explains more things about what’s happening in the world today than any other framework.”

As a result, Friedman argues, we have to horizontalize ourselves and adapt to this new platform that more and more people can plug and play on.  He describes the process of horizontalizing as “having to learn to adapt our business practices and study habits,  our innovative approaches to this new platform, because we’re going from a world where value is created in vertical silos of command and control [top down] to a world where value will be created increasingly horizontally by who you connect and collaborate with.”

The phrase “value will be created increasingly . . . by who you connect and collaborate with” struck me most profoundly.  My personal experience with horizontalizing began in the late 90’s when I joined a lively and engaging group of English teachers via a list serv. In 2001, I followed Ted Nellen’s lead and started CyberEnglish at SFHS, a class that expressly strives to be horizontal: make it public, peer review, and pass it on. Ted is a genius! He understood convergence long before nearly everyone I know.

When Pat Schulze (from South Dakota) and I (from Wisconsin) used a Moo on Saturday mornings to plan a new unit, we were horizontalizing and we didn’t even know it. We just knew that what we were doing was really, really cool.

More recently I have seen how Web 2.0 tools like Blogs, Wikis and Nings allow us to connect and collaborate irrespective of time, distance, or geography. I manage two Nings and belong to four others. I cannot believe the collective wisdom in those Nings, wisdom freely shared.

Vertical silos have failed me for a long, long time. I realized back in those early list serv days that the people who can most teach me what I need to know are not my bosses. Because we are so stridently homogenized in our geographical space, even my peers, who are fabulous teachers, have not been the catalysts for change I have needed.

It is my Ning friends, my Blog buddies, my global connections who continue to drive me. They’re my teachers. Some days, maybe I am their teacher. We plug in and play in the wealth of ideas that the Web freely gives us, like genius flowing so fast through our fingers we cannot hold it all.

Convergence.

Friedman also says that nobody has told the kids about the shift in technologies that have flattened the world. But it seems to me that the Facebook generation understands the tools better than their parents, better, frankly, than most adults. Teens and young adults create and share content. They text in a new language invented for that purpose.  Even the verbs are new: text, tweet, friend, etc. They upload, download, and share files. Because they use the Web tools that allow them to connect and collaborate across time and distance, they understand the uses of this new platform.

But that may be the extent of it. They manage their profiles, post pictures, tag friends, friend friends’ friends, but do my students understand that the way they effortlessly communicate and collaborate on the Web means they are already at work in the new global web-enabled platform? I’m not sure. I doubt it. If not, whose job is it to present them with these ideas?

It is mine.

As teachers, we may tell our students that they are members of a global community in unprecedented ways. But what does that mean to them? It’s an idea far too abstract for the prefrontal cortext of most 15-year-olds. To be honest, the idea isn’t even quite clear to most teachers.  Sometimes I think teachers like to tell students pretty words. Instead, let’s have them read The World is Flat or Jenkins’ Blog? I love Romeo and Juliet as much as the next English teacher, and I do think Shakespeare has a lot to teach us, but I worry that we are helping to trap our children in vertical silos when we do not help them see just exactly how their cell phones enable them to fully engage in the 21st century.

The graphic is very, very cool. I wish I could reproduce it here, but it would be best not to. I love how the tools that achieve the skill are shown at that level.

Times have changed.

I find myself in the mentor role again, as we have a new part-time English teacher, who is not only new to our school, but new to teaching as well. What I admire about Addie is her unflappability. Truly, she seems always so calm. This is a good thing because, as you all know, the first year of teaching can be nuts. But also, I need that influence. I am easily “flapped.”

Addie has begun a blog, at my urging, to reflect on her professional development. Plus, she will be my CyberEnglish9 teaching partner this year. I know that teachers must use the tools they hope to teach, and she is excited by the prospect of using technology tools in her English classes.

What does it mean to mentor in the 21st century? It means that my role is not so much to give a tour or to explain fire drill procedures or to talk about the importance of parent teacher conferences. This is all important stuff, of course. But, it is much more important to help Addie in other ways.

• explore Web tools, like blogs, wikis, nings, Google tools (docs, reader, etc.)
• join Diigo and engage in social bookmarking
• join EC ning and explore ideas with a diverse, energetic group of English teachers from all over
• help her integrate her ideas for integrating technology into our classroom (photo story, podcasts, and more)

Mentoring means teaching, but for me, at least, it will also mean learning, and I look forward to a fun year.

I created the ning as an extension of my presentation on the same topic at the Wisconsin State Reading Association in Milwaukee, February 6.  It’s a small group now, but please join us and help us learn together.

What if we took that idea and turned it into an analysis activity for literary characters. Instead of just listing the search returns, students would need to qualify each list item based on their understanding of the character.

For example, here’s my list for Scout Finch (the qualifiers follow in italics):

1. Scout needs community support to combat racism in Maycomb.

2. Scout needs to review with [her] parents or guardian the reasons why school is important after all.

3. Scout needs to understand that it is important to stand in someone else’s shoes, to see things from his or her point of view.

4. Scout needs help with [the] project she is working on for the fall pageant. Her ham costume is too constricting.

5. Scout needs a-bath! She is too much a tomboy, according to her Aunt Alexandra.

6. Scout needs communication with her cousin Francis; fighting never solves anything.

7. Scout needs division between herself and the Radleys. She needs to let them live in peace, without pestering them.

8. Scout needs to give Arthur gentle reminders that she has not forgotten him. She could bring him flowers on May Day or send him notes in the mail.

9. Scout needs help remembering that there is good in everyone, even Mrs. Dubose who called her ugly and Mr. Cunningham, who, as a member of the jury, held out for Tom as long as he could.

10. Scout needs to reach out on [her] own to become the strong, independent woman she has the potential to be.

Then of course, there is the 25 random things about me meme/tag game. This activity can also be used as a sort of character sketch. I love the randomness of the order, the quality of each list item. Just 25 things, randomly posted.

Here are 25 things about Atticus Finch:

1. I am a widower. My wife died when our son, Jeremy, was six and our daughter Jean Louise (Scout) was only two. I miss her.
2. I realize that being in one’s fifties means I can’t do everything I used to, like play touch football with Jem.
3. I have the most wonderful children who bring me joy even if they think I’m old. They don’t think I know what they’re up to half the time. Strip poker? Hmmm.
4. For the past three summers, a little guy named Dill has been a constant companion of our family. I think that boy is an imaginative little guy, and I like him quite a lot.
5. Our neighbors are wonderful, kind people. Although some seem intolerant.
6. I can shoot a gun, really, really well, but I have such an unfair advantage that I choose not to hunt.
7. I have no strong religious feelings one way or the other. My religion is that we should treat everyone fairly and justly, no matter their race.
8. I love roast beef and collards, but no syrup, please.
9. My family has lived in this area for a long time. Our oldest ancestor was Simon Finch, who came from England. Unfortunately, he owned slaves, something I’m not at all proud of.
10. I served the Alabama legislature for a time. I like working one on one with people more than trying to convince politicians to do the right thing.
11. My friend Judge Taylor and I play cards on the porch on summer evenings and talk about our concerns. We are worried about racism. It’s just not right and keeps people from being their best.
12. I read every night and love having Scout perched on my lap, though she’s getting a bit big for that.
13. My sister Alexandra still lives on our family homestead, though her husband doesn’t seem to care to keep it up. But I am so busy that I can’t complain.
14. I have an old, old watch that I am saving to hand down to my son Jeremy. He is my pride, so fierce, so inventive. He made a snowman once out of very little snow by building a dirt base first.
15. I rarely drive a car anywhere. My town is so small I can walk just about everywhere.
16. I don’t like criminal law, but prefer to help people with things like wills and entailments.
17. I have fond feelings for a neighbor woman whom I should ask out to dinner, but I am too shy.
18. I am so proud of my brother who is a doctor. He’s going to do important things with his life.
19. My job keeps me busy, but I am able to come home each noon for dinner and each night for supper.
20. I have a hard time teaching my daughter how to settle disputes with words instead of fists.
21. I believe in justice. The courts are the great levelers of our time.
22. I worry about my kids. They fight for my honor even when it is confusing for them.
23. I have a tough job ahead of me, to defend a negro who is clearly innocent of the absurd charges against him. I don’t know if a Maycomb jury can be blind to their prejudices.
24. I think change is coming. I’m not sure why, but I feel it coming soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if great things happen yet in my lifetime.
25. I am tired. I can’t think of one more thing interesting about me. I’m just not that special.

[The list in itself is interesting. There are various levels of understanding here: literal, inferential, even ironic].

There were a variety of factors that propelled me to open my own facebook account this summer. The strongest was that I knew I could not talk intelligently about something I personally knew nothing about. Joining the vast social network has been an enlightening experience.

My friends include NCTE colleagues, a few colleagues from my school, a few family members, former students, a few current students, and a couple of actual friends. It’s kind of fun when someone writes on my wall or sends me “flair.” What I have learned in only a few weeks is that facebook is a huge deal to the young people of my school community. It’s where they socialize when not face to face. It’s where they stay connected with each other.

Recently a teacher at school who knew I had a facebook account asked me if I ever “talk to” students on facebook. It was not a question I expected.

Two things crossed my mind.

One, well, as a matter of fact, yes. Just recently I had a nice little real-time chat with a current student about a book we were reading in class. It seemed like a conversation we might have had just before the bell rang or in the hall as we were heading home for the day. It was not too formal, but not too casual, and it was definitely teacher-student. He was polite, sincere, and we had a nice, short chat.

The other thing I thought was, hmmm. Why? Shouldn’t I? Does it cross the line? Am I not supposed to?

I think the second response kicked in because I answered her that I mostly communicate with former students and we sort of left it at that. I didn’t really answer her honestly, and I wondered later why I lied.

My reaction nagged at me.

Lately I am more and more annoyed at the assumption that all things “social networking” are the tools of online predators or silly teens wasting their time. Blogs, nings, facebook, MySpace, etc. are blocked at most schools, I imagine, because their connotation in the media is so negative. There is the perception that they are dangerous and our students need to be protected from them. It would also not be productive for students to be posting to facebook profiles via their iPhones instead of paying attention to their science experiments to keep them from bubbling over onto the floor.

Facebook takes measures to protect its users , but even so, anytime we enter willingly into the Web, we take some risks. There are some really questionable groups on facebook, but I don’t join them. I know how to stay safe online. If we want our students to know how also, we must teach them to be responsible Netizens. They need to know that public communication is “public,” and posting to one’s facebook profile is not that different from making a public proclamation, except that what gets posted to the Internet is there “supposedly” forever.

When this teacher asked me about facebook, I wondered what she thought it was. I know I wasn’t quite sure until recently. I think too many people base their opinion of social networking sites on a few sensational stories in the media. How else are they to know what reality is unless they, like me, open a facebook door to find out. I found out that facebook is not a seedy, back-alley teen club where hoods in leather jackets smoking cigarettes hang out, waiting to harass unsuspecting passersby. It is more like an annotated address book with pictures. It is even a bit like a magical (think Hogwarts) newspaper featuring the latest headlines from everyone you know or care to check up on now and then. It’s a place where old college roommates can stay in touch even after their jobs have taken them miles away from each other. Even families can connect on facebook and share pictures.

Facebook, MySpace, blogs, nings and others are not evil by their nature, though some will subvert them for salacious use. At their best, they are tools for networking, social networking, professional networking, personal networking.

Now and then, even teachers use them for improving their practice. Professional development in the read write web can be amazing!

But, of course, it’s so much more than that. I revised an old assignment, something I had been using since 2001, called Intro to the Internet. It relied on Ted Nellen’s assignment as a starting point. The new lesson has some of the same objectives as the old, but the new one is more relevant and, I think, a better springboard to 9th grade CyberEnglish.

One thing missing from the new lesson? True collaborative writing, which we could do at Google docs IF we were permitted. Everything in its own time, though, right?

Oh, and there’s a cool wordle in this lesson, too. I love that tool.

What students begin to see are patterns and repetitions, which are, of course, (theoretically) clues to the meaning of the passage. I ask students to consider dominant patterns. Ask them to discuss what they might mean.

I copied the url for Google News into Wordle because I wanted to see if any dominant patterns would emerge.

I don’t know about you, but to me, the news seems to be filled with violence. Just “wordling” the news daily would be a great springboard for discussion.

But it would also be a good tool for finding dominant word patterns in a literary passage.