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Tonight will be my last show as a co-host of the Women of Web 2.0 on Edtechtalk .  It has been a great year and a half and I'm so thankful for Jennifer Wagner , THE Wow2 founder. for reaching out to me in the fall of 2006!  Wow!  A big thank you to the other to cohosts Sharon Peters and Cheryl Oakes .  These three ladies will always have a special place in my heart. I leave the show with mixed feelings.   It is such an exciting important part of my own life, and yet I have three children who are growing older by the moment. With two very active middle schoolers and a busy elementary student as well, there are things only Mommy can do.  Right now, my family has to be #1.  My youngest needs books read to him every night.  My other two need sports uniforms washed and everyone really likes a good meal on the table each night.  (Who doesn't?) So, this isn't goodbye to webcasting for me.  Julie and I are working ahead on a variable...

The Women of Web 2.0 show (which includes women and men) on Tuesday nights is one of my favorite times of the week, partially because of our amazing guests and conversation but even more importantly because of the LIVE CHAT conversations that happen. I think I feel a greater connection with the people who come in and chat each week than just about any other group in the blogosphere just because they are like a personal sounding board/ inspiration machine to me! It is very exciting also because we have some amazing guests planned: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Kern Kelly and Alice Barr from Maine AND their students as they discuss the 1:1 laptop program in Maine and the future as they see it. Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Danah Boyd ( see her awesome blog )-- one of THE original Women of Web 2 with special guest co-host Lucy Gray . Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Patrick Higgins Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - Karl M. Kapp, Ed.D., CFPIM, CIRM / Assistant Director, Institute for Interactive Technologies /...

We're talking about viral projects Name : Kevin Hodgson, 6th grade teacher, Southampton, Massachusetts & Technology Liaison Western Massachusetts Writing Project has a great video his students sing backup to his song, "Waiting for the world to get it right!" Bio link (as part of a collaborative blog site): http://teacheng.us/?page_id=43 Links : My Blog: http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/ My Classroom Blog: http://epencil.edublogs.org/ Youth Radio Blog: http://youthradio.wordpress .com/ Western Massachusetts Writing Project: http://masswp.org/wmwpnews/ and George Mayo, Wendy Drexler, William Ferriter who worked with the Many Voices of Darfur project. http://manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com/ http://manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com/2008/02/many-voices-for-darfur.html http://stopgenocide.wikispaces.com/ We're going to talk about viral projects, how they start and how they "take fire." Exciting discussion! tag: education , wow2 , women of web 2 , edtechtalk

Last night on Wow2 was a high energy, amazing discussion about the future of libraries. I found myself longing for Joyce Valenza or Doug Johnson to be someone that my students could learn from. Listen to the show to be inspired and learn a whole lot. My takeaways from this are: Meet the Libratory Joyce used the term "libratory" and Doug reinforced it with talking about the library as a "production studio" resource for his students. A place where they can create, learn, explore, and do things. What an amazing thought! Space Transformation Both of them talked about transforming the space. Joyce said something like, "the library should be a place where students can snuggle up with a laptop, have an argument, work on a film, record a podcast..." Likewise, Doug talked about centralizing things and the importance of looking at having the tools available for students to be able to do all types of digital production. A digital production center. The Invisi...

Every wow2 show is really great, but tonight is going to just be another over the top session with Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson . I guess sometimes I just get the Newbie "giggles" because they are some of my early on encouragers and bloggers who I admired (and still do.) To join just go to http://www.edtechtalk.com/chat and then join the chat. Listen on the stream of your choice. Here are our major topics, I've seen a sneak peek of some of their links and oh boy! Wow's of the Week All Around What Should the Library "Look Like" in the 21st Century" The Changing face of books: E-book & PodBooks (Licensing DRM, gadgets, and more) The Changing Face of Literacy Planning for the summer (ideas) Joyce and Doug's Crystal Ball! (predictions!) OK, going home to cook dinner -- see you tonight! tag: wow2 , library , literacy , education , teaching , innovation , Doug Johnson , Joyce Valenza

I needed a laugh tonight... It was great to see a slide with me and the other wow2 ladies on a presentation by Miguel Guhlin titled "making mistakes." Does this mean Wow2 is a mistake? Or that we are mistakes? That was the meaning we laughed about, however, he was talking about the fact that we are transparent learners and admit how much we don't know! It is nice to get a compliment (and a HILARIOUS) photo. I think it is great to be a transparent learner. Goodness knows we have enough know it alls! I was interested to see the notes from this session from Wes Fryer , it sounds like Miguel gave a GREAT speech. tag: Miguel Guhlin , Wes Fryer , Wow2 , women of web 2

The Wow2 show last week was amazing with Nicole Pinkard, CEO , Chief Technology Officer - Center for Urban School Improvement in Chicago. For those particularly interested in what happens when Web 2.0 tools are used with inner city students or who think that these tools are only being used in "rich" private schools, think again. All schools everywhere are using these tools with great results. The students who use the tools will be the leaders of tomorrow or at least have a headstart. Will your students lead BECAUSE of you or DESPITE you? Ask that question. Of interest to me was the statistic she shared at the end (I copied this from the Chat Transcript ): "OK, so I'm writing this down for the chat -- she says that at the beginning of the 6th grade year only 4% (100-96%) had literacy skills equal to those of those in silicon valley. At the end of the 6th grade year 75% of the 6th graders had literacy skills EXCEEEDING those of the students in silicon valley. The ...

Every Tuesday night at 9pm EST, I meet with three dear friends over at edtechtalk.com to co-host the Wow2 show . (See the archive of past shows and this is the RSS feed to add it to your podcasts.) Tonight is a show being moderated by my friend Sharon Peters , this is what she says about the show: Please join us Tuesday night at 9 PM EST, 8 PM CST, etc. at ETT as we have a lively conversation about the importance of New Media Literacies and addressing the “digital discrepancies” that comes with socioeconomic status in our societies. Some other upcoming shows are: January 22, 2008 -- Kim Cofino January 29, 2008 -- Scott Rigsby - www.scottrigsby.com -- First double amputee to complete an Iron Man -- February 2008 (Jen on sabbatical) February 5 , 2008 - Peggy Petrilli (turnaround supt in No Carolina); Chris Derry - Blue Grass Institute - Talk about what it takes to turn around schools and how technology is involved. Feb 12**, 2008 - TBA February 19 , 2008 -- ADMIN Part 3!!- ...

Tonight is simply going to be a great show on Wow2 . Jennifer and Sharon are hosting Corey Verner from Letterpop and Colleen King with Math Playground . Remember it is at 9 pm EST. While I will be listening by podcast and reviewing the chat archive, I will be listening. I look forward to coming back in January! tag: letterpop , math playground , Corey Verner , Colleen King , Jennifer Wagner , Sharon Peters , wow2 , education , teaching , edtechtalk

Free Staff Development/ Webcasts/ Podcasts at Edtechtalk.com For those of you who have recently joined the blogosphere, there are some great FREE webcasts over at edtechtalk.com with some great educators. You can listen live and participate in the chat (click on chat room) where you can ask questions to the speakers live, or you can subscribe to the podcasts to listen to later. I subscribe to everything at edtechtalk and listen to all of them. There are some college professors and staff developers that require their organizations or staff to select and participate in several shows a month to encourage innovation and participation. It is exciting to see the growth and interest from the audience-- (Some of whom just listen, the chat is optional) and I believe that such live forums are truly the future of our staff development. Tuesday Nights - WOW2 My little piece of this webcast fun is on Tuesday nights where I co-host the WOW2 show on 9 pm Eastern Time ( See the time zone conv...

The WOW2 show that I co-host with Jennifer Wagner, Cheryl Oakes, and Sharon Peters has moved to a new feed location at http://feeds.feedburner.com/WomenofWeb2?q=womenofweb2.xml . If you're subscribing over itunes or any type of reader, you'll want to delete the old podomatic feed and switch to this one. Some cool recent shows: Steve Dembo, April 24 (I met him in Chicago, he is amazing! More on that later!) Dr. Cheri Toledo April 17 and her amazing class of PhD students including Larry the amazing superintendant (every super should listen to this super-super!) Part 1 Part 2 Web 3D supershow George Siemens - April 4 Part 1 Part 2 We really have a great time over there and are so grateful for the amazing folks at edtechtalk who make it all happen behind the scenes. I always make it a point to catch at least one of the other shows over there each week. They work very hard to bring the best in educational programming for teachers.

Join us as we break ground with an online conversation with teachers in the field and teachers in a doctoral program with Dr. Cheri Toledo, from Illinois State University.This is how experienced teachers are embracing the new technologies. http://coe.ilstu.edu/etip/ Outline for Tuesday evening. Sound checks between 8:30 and 8:45 EST pm Tues.Then at 8:50, I will start streaming, where you can listen at www.edtechtalk.com Channel A, and join the chat as well. You only need to put your name NO password to join t he chat. Since you are part of the show you may want to put your name Julie wow guest, so people will know you are part of the show! Responsibilities: Cheryl - podmaster; Jen - Wiki links; Sharon - Chat; Vicki - Chat I. Introduction of Guests Karen - wikis Julie - blogging Larry - Superintendent-ideas for implementation Kathy - podcasting in secondary English literture Colleen - 3rd grade blogging II.Since many of our listeners are considered "first wave" adopters of ne...

I'm very excited about the conversation that Cheryl , Jen , and I (Sharon is out tonight) will be having with Miguel Guhlin , Doug Johnson (librarian extraordinaire, Blue Skunk Blog ) and Dr. Scott McCloud ( Dangerously Irrelevant ). We've titled the show "Administration 2.0 Supershow" and here are some of the topics that we plan to tackle: Show 21 -- Administrative Web 2.0 Supershow! What administrative practices enable effective technology usage by students and teachers? What barriers do administrators create that impede effective technology usage by students and teachers? What are the consequences when few formal school leaders (e.g., principals, superintendents) understand digital technologies? What are university educational leadership programs doing to prepare new technology-savvy school leaders? What can tech departments do to help improve tech skills and understandings by administrators? What kinds of awards and commendations could be given ...

Tuesday nights at 9pm EST, I have a highlight of my week, the WOW2 show over at edtechtalk.com where I chat with around 20-30 of this amazing edublogger community as I co-host a live webcast with Jen , Sharon , and Cheryl about the latest in educational technology and we focus on Web 2 (and now Web 3D). Many of you listen to our recorded shows and have e-mailed me, thank you for your encouragement. The old saying is that iron sharpens iron -- it is this intentional conversation each week that pulls me out of the day to day grading, lesson planning, and pushes me to help things grow and improve (with the invariable stress that causes) to pull back and see the common struggles that many of us are having as education is experiencing the birthing pains of a new evolution in education. I think it is important that each of us find a "sounding board" or avenue of people that we communicate -- connect with in order to stay sharp and learn more. Though some may feel like they know ...

Tonight is our Wow2 show over at edtechtalk. (9pm EST Tuesday nights!) This is our once a month "chat" where you are the star! You can join us via the live stream at edtechtalk.com (with a 30 second delay) or, if you're brave and want to talk with us, come over to our skypecast at https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=518307&hash=52166d805bf0c5a7a65b The Wow2 show has really turned into an exciting high point of my week where I get encouragement from other educators and learn new things. It is really part of my personal learning network because I think I learn more than I share. Some upcoming shows that we're very excited about (mark your calendar): Mar-07 March 6 2.19 -- FREE CHAT -- March 13 2.20 - Jeanne Simpson and Chris Harbeck - Wiki collaboration with Middle School math wikis Moderator - Vicki March 20 2.21 - Miguel Guhlin, Scott Mccloud, Doug Johnson, (confirmed) Moderator: Vicki March 27 2.22 - Cathy Evanoff, Tea...

Hats off to Brian Crosby . Watch this 5 minute movie entitled Inclusion . How can this sort of power be denied? I am firmly convinced that because this school allowed a classmate with leukemia to attend via Skype that the lives of both the class and the student are enriched. This is proof that it is not the tools that are inherently good or evil but rather the use of the tools. A hammer can kill someone but it can also build a house. A nail can be driven through a hand but it can also hold the roof over your head. A fist can hit but a fist can also be clasped in your hand in love. We do not outlaw hammers, nails, or fists -- we teach people to use them properly. So should we do with blogs, wikis, podcasts, skype, and any other tool that becomes available for use in the human experience! (Hat tip to tonights WOW2 show and our incredible guest Wesley Fryer for letting us know about Brian's work. He was on at the very end of the incredible show (along with Miguel Guhlin ) where W...

Come on over to edtechtalk.com if you are online and listen to our live interview with Wes. We start in 4 minutes! If you miss it, come back and listen to the recording. It is going to be great!

Exciting discussion of School 2.0 and the tentative edubloggercon ( a place where bloggers get together) prior to NECC this summer. This Tuesday night at 9 pm EST, go to edtechtalk.com and listen to channel 1 and you can hear the WOW2 ladies ( Sharon Peters , Jennifer Wagner , Cheryl Oakes and myself) talk with Steve Hargadon , Will Richardson , and Chris Lehman (if he's recovered from the flu.) This "star studded" cast will talk to us about the following: What does School 2.0 look like? How will classrooms, teachers, and assessments change? Tentative plans for the edubloggercon in June and how YOU can get involved. As always, you can go in the edtechtalk chat room and ASK questions of our guests and the WOW2 ladies. (You can hear past shows over at womenofweb2.podomatic.com or at edtechtalk.com .) I have found that each show is better than the last and that the diverse background of those in our chatroom (public, private, men, women, various countries) makes it the ...