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Here I am at Starbucks and I am suppose to be working on a new web page I’m designing. But, as I sit down with my venti Pumpkin Spice Latte-4 shots espresso (caffeine is a good thing!) I start reading my cup. Starbucks has random thoughts they call “The Way I See It”. Well this thought #90 and it goes like this:

If we really want to understand innovation and collaboration, we

have to explore shared space.

Consider Watson & Crick: How many experiemnts did they do to

confirm DNA’s double helix? Zero. Not one.

They built models based on other people’s data. These

models were their shared space. Their collaboration in that shared space

powered their Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough. If you don’t have a shared

space, you’re not collaborating.

(Michael Schrage-MIT design researcher and author of Serious Play)

Pretty much hits the nail on the head. To expand ourselves, our knowledge, our community, our world, our universe - we must take the time to collaborate. Learn from each other. Take what others know and expand it to help not only ourselves grow but those around us. I check my bloglines account at least once and day and usually more often. I unfortunately and with shame admit to surfing through the posts of some of my favorite writers and think to myself -”wow! Great writing!” Then I’ll start composing a comment in my head only to leave it there. In order for me to grow I must get the comments out my head and begin to collaborate with some of the best writers out there in the blogosphere. I want my students to understand that collaboration is a great way to work and grow. We all have a voice - let them be heard. Until next time.

Wow! We had the most awesome day at the State Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. The group presented at the AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase- http://www.classroomhelp.com/att/. My kids were fantastic and they truly knew their stuff. They were interviewed several times and then they were asked if they would write and submit an article to the MACUL magazine - http://www.macul.org/! They filmed their broadcast while they were there and edited most of it for the Friday show. Impressive! They were visited by Kathy Angerer’s office (State Rep.) We were also able to see all of the other presentations. I have to say, there is some fantastic technology going on in our schools.  We saw presentations on robotics, digital imaging, circuitry, podcasting, blogging, and movie making, to name a few. The kids were so psyched by the time we headed home and were bursting to tell their parents when we got back to school! It’s been a long day ~ fantastic and awesome~ but long!

Women of Web 2.o,  http://www.womenofweb2.com/drupal/, is a great place to connect and share ideas. The wealth of information that has been gathered in this short amount of time is staggering. Please take the time to visit this site and if you feel yourself drawn to it as I have, think about joining. There is even a section for Friends of WOW, (Known as the male gender).

This site was created by Vicki Davis, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, and Cheryl Oakes.

Well, my students are definitely keeping me on my toes. I have actually 3 groups/projects that are keeping me busy.

First, my sixth graders are finishing up their digital stories. I have to say the majority of them are so excited that they’ve been practicing on Movie Maker 2 at home and then trying out and teaching their fellow classmates the new things they’ve learned. We will be premiering their stories by the end of the week. I’m thinking of doing it up and having a red carpet and popcorn.

Secondly, my students dance mat vending business has had two weeks of success ~ they’ve sold their alotted tickets for both weeks and they are learning that they must ‘talk up’ their business. They have become very protective over the Playstation 2 consoles, games, and dance mats. They will not tolerate any horse play. It’s nice to see a hard-working group taking this seriously. As one student said, “If we mess this up, we may never get another chance to play video games in school again!”  I wonder if any of them realize that this is more than just playing video games? It’s about the physical activity and exercise and the reading and math skills that are being develop from tracking the arrows and following the pattern of the arrows. Well, I’m sure that will come soon enough.

Lastly, I am going crazy preparing my group of broadcasters to present at out state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. On November 14th, our broadcast group, (seven students) will be presenting at the AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase. They begun broadcasting a weekly news show and streaming it into the classrooms. They write the scripts, film and edit the video, and then create the final project. What an amazing group. I am excited but nervous.

On a final note, I have made a connection with a fantastic group that has just begun podcasting. YouthRadio, http://youthradio.wordpress.com/  is directed by Kevin Hodgson, http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/ .