PLN Reflection

READ:  I am somewhere between "Between Two Worlds" and "In the Matrix" on this one.  I read articles on CNN almost everyday and sometimes go to news.google.com.  I don't generally collect things using an rss aggregator to collect news stories.  I use tweetdeck, but I only check it sporadically.  I love being able to read books on my Kindle.

TWEET:  I check my feed quite often and retweet meaningful tweets and good quotes.  I am not as prolific as some of my colleagues at tweeting educational articles and such, but I will get better at that.  I don't check tweetdeck as often as I should.

ARCHIVING/BOOKMARKING:  In creating my annotated bibliography for my action research, I have made use of Diigo to archive the papers and websites I wanted to use for later reference.  I have not done much cross-sharing, but I will do more.

WRITING: My blogging so far has been exploring my own writings and making use of tools such as Wordle.  I need to comment more on my colleague's blogs, I know that.  Looking at my colleagues' blogs, I also have noticed that I should also be writing more professional and less whimsical entries.  \

COMMENT:  As I said above, I need to comment more on my colleagues' blogs.  I do respond as quickly and professional as possible to inquiries in response ot my blog entries.

GROW/SHARE:  I have shared freinds' blogs, I have grown my number of followers on twitter.  I try to blog at least once a week, but I tweet rather sporadically.  I love looking into different tools and using them.  I have Dropbox across my computer, my phone, and the cloud which I love to make use of it.  Word clouds are exciting and the myriad presentation media are intriguing as possibilities in my classroom.

MY PLAN:  I am going to make a point to check Tweetdeck at least once daily and repost from one of the educational hashtags I follow daily.  I am going to check educational and mathematical journals and such at least weekly and Diigo interesting articles and papers.  I will comment on at least 3 of my colleagues' blog entries every week.  I also have a growing network of friends that is already a good size on Linkedin, and I maintain a fairly profession, if left-leaning, presence on Facebook.  I have friends across the community, from my dentist to my rabbi and parents from my placement last semester to professors from my undergraduate studies.  As I have grown and gotten more professional connections on Facebook, I have matured my presence there, leaving behind less appropriate things and being very selective about what I share and post.  I do the same on Twitter.  I had an active presence with my sixth graders on Edmodo last semester, and really like the service.  I have tried as I become more mature to do the same to my web presence. I put a lot of plan type things up in each section of this entry as well as here, and I know what I need to improve on.  I will improve, and I will succeed.

This I Believe

Another piece of my own writing:

I believe in the power of writing.

I believe in the power of the mind to create

And the power of the hands to manifest

I believe in the power of the imagination to explore

And the power of the voice to relate.

I believe in the power of myth to entrance

And the power of word to enhance.

I believe in the power of the simile, of the metaphor to create vast, vivid images in the mind, to ignite the imagination, to stoke the flames of creativity.  I believe in the power of rhythm, tone, and point of view to paint a picture. 

I believe in the power of having a voice with which to express oneself, the incomparable power of the soul to fuel that expression.  I believe in the power of the will in defining oneself. 

Never is one’s true self clearer than in one’s writing.  One writes about what one knows and what one likes; one writes about one’s desires and one’s passions.  In writing one finds one’s purest voice and the ability to fight for oneself.

I believe in the power of agency and the ability of writing to make one an advocate for change and justice.  Richard Wright and Frederick Douglass used writing to shed light on a horrific injustice 400 years in the making.  Anne Frank used writing to put a human face on the genocide during World War II.  Cesar Chavez used writing and speaking to bring attention to the plight of migrant laborers.  Countless authors down the generations have used writing to speak for themselves and others.

Thomas Paine used writing to instigate revolution; Benedict Arnold and John Andre tried to use writing to poison the root of that revolution.  Monroe and other leaders used writing to justify egregious treatment of indigenous peoples in the tireless expansion of this nation.  Writing can be used as an agent of change and a weapon of immense power. 

Nelson Mandela used writing to overcome decades of oppression and redeem his nation.  Martin Luther King Jr. used writing to continue the work of Wright, Douglass and others, making great strides in bringing this nation out of a very dark period in its history. 

Writing is the most powerful tool we as humans possess.  It can shape nations, cause wars, and change the world.

This I believe.

My Story

I got some questions on the Word Cloud I posted today so I thought I would answer them.
First question:  I used Wordle.Net to make the cloud and then used the Windows Snip tool to grab a screen cap of it and saved it as a jpeg.
Second question: So what's the story about?
In my years of reading, I have noticed a particular, disturbing trend among the highest epics with regards to female characters.  Female characters in these works tend to fall into one of three categories: 1) the problem; 2) in the way; 3) in the background.  They are never given a chance to be at the front, to be the hero, to make the quests.  My story takes the traditional epic and turns it on its ear.  All of my main cast are female.  The setting is Victorian Europe, particularly Britain and Ireland.  The band of women warriors is about to travel to France to bring one more into their number.  I have done a lot of research into Irish myth and legend as well as the Irish Gods for this story.  It currently sits at a shade longer than 20 pages and a little under 15000 words.      

A new world cloud

Here is a wordcloud I did for a story I have been working on for a long time.  I wanted to see what words and such came up the most.

20% Project

And so it begins. . .My home brewing kit is on the way and I have found a suitable process to follow in order to make my own cider.  This shall be quite an adventure.  When I do bring in samples for tasting, they will be  relatively unrefined as they won't have had the benefit of full aging.  Some may be twice fermented for clarity but that depends on the recipe and how much time I have left in the semester.  The kit should be here Thursday or so and I will have pictures posted here on the blog for you to see.  After that, entries will range between text, pictures, and videos documenting my progress.  Excelsior!

And now another poem of my own composition for your enjoyment.

The Pass

here we stand on a path

that goes we know not where

high in the mountains between

two lives, a decision to make

we cannot go back

ahead lay two paths

do we travel one together

Or each take one, 

Ne’er the twain shall meet

we can’t merely stand idle

A gentle mountain wind

blows through the grassy plain before us

spurring us on

As if Fate herself were

sending the wind,

it blew down one path only

and we start down that path

hand in hand, step by step

Life takes us where it will

but we go together

now and always

here we stand on a path

that goes we know not where

Ode to Thunder

An Ode to Thunder Rhinos charging across the Savanna, Elephants stampeding the Serengeti, Warrior’s cry as the horde descends The heavens raging Primal crash of drums Thunder, thunder The thunder crashes and crashes, Ethereal resonations The thunder crashes and crashes Heavenly reverberations The thunder crashes and crashes Thunder, thunder Roll, roll, thunder rolls On, on, thunder rolls Cannons roar, thunder rolls Guns blaze, thunder rolls Thunder, thunder

Deb's Blog

This is my awesome sauce friend Deb's blog! She is a graduate student at USD in SOLES, but in a different program from us. She is balancing a lot of things and doing so with great aplomb, I really admire her :) Go read all about it!