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Howdy, Campers!
Today's poem and writing prompt/
Writing Workout is below.
My fellow bloggers have covered the topic of
Digital Learning fabulously (scroll below).
Today, I want to list some of the ways I use these new tools...
~ Every day I use an online
thesaurus and
rhyming dictionary to write my poetry.
~ I decided which version of
Ashoken Farewell I wanted to play at a recent tribute to the journalist
Daniel Pearl by watching different versions on
YouTube; then Freda Sideroff posted a snippet she'd filmed of me and hammer dulcimer player,
Phee Sherline at the tribute concert (what goes around comes around!...)
I learned how to pronounce author
Jon Scieszka's name (and lots of other authors and illustrators names) by listening
here.(hint: it rhymes with the soda, Fresca)
Raise your hand if you get overwhelmed. Do you? Whew! And I thought I was the only one. Well,
JoAnn is right. I just need to try one new thing. And I'm going to change the adjective: try one
small thing.
So...here's my poem, based on an old song. But just one verse, not all of them. That's my one small thing!
(listen to the song on this video first, so you know the tune, then read the new words...)
THE BLOGGER BEARS' POETRY FRIDAY
by April Halprin Wayland
with apologies to Jimmy Kennedy and John W. Bratton
If you go onto the internet
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go onto the internet
You'd better go in disguise.
For every bear who hopes to express
Will gather there to write on Wordpress
Today's Fri-day, when every bear posts a poem!
Poem time for blogging bears
The Kidlit blogging bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares,
And hear them rhyming on their holiday.
See them tweet their permalink
They love to click in sync
And never have any cares.
At night they share on Mister Linky
now they can go to bed
Because they're tired little blogging bears.
If you go onto the internet
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go onto the internet
You'd better go in disguise.
For every bear chewing sunflower seeds
Will gather there to read RSS feeds
Today's Fri-day--when every bear posts a poem!
12 Comments on Happy Poetry Friday! Write your own Lingo Poem--and then sing it to your cat!, last added: 2/25/2012
In response to the celebration of the first
Digital Learning Day on February 1, we've been doing a series of posts on how the digital age is affecting us as writers, readers, and teachers. Mary Ann wrote about "
learning to love the e-book," not only as an author, but as the mother of a child with dyslexia. Jeanne Marie shared how she's
trying to incorporate technology into her lesson plans to appeal to today's "digital natives" (aka our students). Esther blogged about her courage and determination (my words, not hers) in
learning new classroom technologies despite her own learning disabilities. And JoAnn shared her approach to facing the deluge of digital-age opportunities:
focusing on trying "one new thing" at a time.
I'm intrigued by the unique relationship each of the
TeachingAuthors has with computer technology, especially because my own undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science. Unfortunately, that education predates personal computers and the widespread use of the Internet. (I know, I'm dating myself here.) However, although the programming languages I studied in school are virtually obsolete (Ever hear of
COBOL?), the basic principles I learned back then still come in handy. Plus, I'm not intimidated by having to tweak HTML code once in a while to get around some of Blogger's quirks. :-)
In an interesting bit of Synchronicity, I'm preparing to teach a brand new class this Saturday that is very technology oriented: "Get Started Blogging." Not only is this a new subject for me, but it's also the first time I'll be teaching a class in a computer lab. (And I keep imagining all the things that could go wrong with the computers!) Of course, as always happens when I teach, I'm learning, too. For example, I learned that the word "
blog" has it's origin in the word "
weblog," which itself was coined back in 1997 by combining the terms
web + log. I'm also learning new software. I decided to use
Wordpress.com as the blogging platform for the sample blogs my students will be creating, instead of
Google Blogger, which is the platform for our
TeachingAuthors blog. That way, I can better share what I see as the pros and cons of the two platforms. If any of you have used both, I'd love to know which you prefer and why.
But back to the topic of how the digital age is affecting me, personally:
As a teacher:
Watch this video: "A Magazine is an iPad That Does Not Work."
Cute baby, right?
The video has been receiving a lot of press over the last few days, and judging by the comments and number of hits it's received, it's also generating a lot of controversy.
Is print dead? Do publications need to adapt to a world that will eventually be full of digital natives? What does this premise mean for book authors and publishers?
What's your opinion: Is print going to be obsolete or is the video a bunch of hype?
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website.
I’m at Computers in Libraries this week, and this morning I attended Helene Blowers’s talk on digital natives. It was awesome. Helene is a great advocate for children and teens using technology. Here are some selected notes from her talk:
Identity—For teens, their online identity is the same as their in-person identity; they explore to see if a space is safe; their social identity is very important to them
Safety—Digital natives have grown up in a world that they perceive as very safe; adults are paranoid that there’s a lot we need to protect them from; teens are great at making good decisions about their online safety. Only 0.8% of teens report meeting someone in person who they met online without asking their parents’ permission.
Information Quality—We’re seeing a shift from authoritative to collaborative control; social responsibility is heightened; we can influence people by sharing information; Britannica now has Wiki element—there are advantages to getting and sharing information in this way; people trust user-generated content the most to help them make decisions about purchases
Creativity—Teens have the ability to express themselves and create content; cultural consumers are digital natives; thrive on information and ideas to fuel their own self-expression; 2/3 of teens are content creators
Opportunity—Teens have high accessibility to information and technology; there’s no barriers; the playing field is leveled; access is universal; connection is ubiquitous; teens have access to a huge sandbox to assert their identity
Sharing—Teens don’t see this as piracy; it’s copying, remixing, creating mashups
Check out Helene’s slides here; there’s lots of rich, useful information in there.
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*thunderous applause*
My 300+ bears and I thank you for this delightful post, April. Adorable lingo poem! You're just too cute :).
((BEAR HUG))
Jama--THREE HUNDRED BEARS?!?! Wowee! I want to go on a picnic with them!
Darling, all the way through, and I really loved that young child's voice in the singing. Your poem is great fun, and considering you all are talking of taking little challenges in cyberspace I liked this line: "See them tweet their permalink". Pretty impressive use of terms. The lingo idea looks fun. I copied your directions to remind me to try it, & I will share it around with my colleagues. Thanks for all!
Linda and Jama--I feel as if I know you--like you're our neighbors, tip-toeing to say hi over your fence, staying awhile for a chat.
April,
I love the images, all those teddy bears tweeting in sync.
Wonderful, just wonderful.
Adorable!!!!!
Maria and Amy...thanks!
What a delicious picnic!
Thanks, April! Teddy Bears' Picnic is still a favorite of mine and I loved your version as much as the original. Loved your violin playing and loved the post!
Susan and Betty--thanks for stopping by!
Fun idea, April. My cats would love this song, and my rabbit, too. I'm impressed with Jama's 300 bears!
What a great post, April. I loved seeing you play. And what terrific use of blogging lingo. Quite timely, as I just taught a blogging class today, and I used every lingo word in your poem at least once. :-)