Neil Gaiman and Twittering the Exquisite Corpse

So, yesterday i got really excited about the Neil Gaiman Twitter writing opportunity the Exquisite Corpse..I instantly thought of our Writers Guild and how they could have really gotten involved with the writing experience. However, Twitter is now Blocked in HCPSS. (yes, thanks to the NEW Dickensian interweb policies of my county Twitter has now been blocked --we're going backwards not forwards, it seems...i guess no more Teacher Tuesdays at lunch for me sharing ideas with other tech peeps! :-( Doh! /rant)

anyway.... no, an Exquisite Corpse, is not about a pretty cadaver...

"An Exquisite Corpse is an old game in which people write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold it over to conceal part of it and pass it on to the next player to do the same. The game ends when someone finishes the story, which is then read aloud."

we also did the same thing with drawings in the back seat of the family wagon during long road trips....sorta like before mad libs...


2 B, or not 2 B, that is the question. OMW, LOL!

"If only the Bard were lucky enough to have had a Twitter account. Since he didn’t, we’ll just have to rely on BBC Audiobooks and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman to bring us the latest development in Twitterature. Yesterday at noon, the Coraline author tweeted the first sentence in an interactive storytelling experiment, with the hope that fellow Twitterers (Twits?) will pick up the thread and spin the rest of the story 140 characters at a time. The final product will eventually be compiled into a short story, recorded as an audiobook, and made available on iTunes for....hello....FREE! ((of course we'll give you either a link or an embed script when it's released...or you may wanna bookmark BBC Audio) - Twitter an Audio Story with Neil Gaiman!))

It’ll be interesting to see if average Twitterzens will be able to maintain a functioning narrative in this mass game of exquisite corpse, or if it will inevitably devolve into “And then a comet hit the planet and everybody died!” or “A giant POO POO-monster came out of nowhere and swallowed dear Emily whole,” as mine always did. Some hope can be gleaned from the recent success in London of the Royal Opera House’s first tweet-based opera, Twitterdammerung, which actually got some decent reviews. We lose Miley, but gain Wagner. Seems like a fair trade.

Tweets probably won’t be replacing conventional book-writing anytime soon, but it is an interesting glimpse into the possibility of open-source literary collaboration. Will BBC be able to separate the tweets from the chaff, or will we perhaps realize that all that Twitters is not gold?"
Keith Staskiewicz - EW

Finally to quote a tweeter named Smirkette: "Neil Gaiman is such a rockstar. I love how much he's embraced social media, and I can hardly wait to hear how this turns out."

& Neither can i! What do you think? Is this a promotional stunt or a best practice of Web 2.0 use of the technology craftily interwoven with interweb savvy?

GoAnimate.com: MHMS Media Adventures!

GoAnimate.com: MHMS Media Adventures! by gwyneth

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate is WAY cool!..but be warned..before you use this with kids... there are areas that have some questionable content....so, for elem techie teachers & Media Specialists to use with their students there's a MORE kid friendly version of GoAnimate called Domo Animate where there are preset backgrounds, characters and where kids can't upload created backgrounds or content (that could be inappropriate or copyright grey)....check it out!

For Media Specialists making animations for special events, programs, or products i suggest using regular GoAnimate.com where you can Photoshop, iPhoto or Comic Life backdrops using your own graphics & digital pics!

PSST...PASS THAT BOOK!

PSST...PASS THAT BOOK!

Beginning October 19, be on the lookout for specially marked copies of The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld.

Read the book. Register the book's number at hclibrary.org. Pass the book to another friend. Return to the web site throughout the year to track where the books have traveled, and participate in online book discussions.

For more information go visit the HCL Pass that Book Website or contact Mr. John Jewitt john.jewitt@hclibrary.org

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Miss. Jones Writes:
This reminds me of a website i've been involved with for many years called Bookcrossing.com Same idea....here's how it started from my first posting on the BX site in 2005:

Journal entry 6 by gwynethanne from columbia, Maryland USA on Monday, April 25, 2005

this book was the first MC Beaton i ever read....i picked it up in the sheraton inner harbor hotel a while ago, staying there for the MICCA technology conference and having finished the book that i had brought (what horrors! ) i was itchy for a new one. i spotted this book on a library table near the elevator....i picked it up stealthily...looking furtively up and down the hallway...should i take it? not having a book is torture!...i HUNGERED for a new read. i took the book with me and read about the bookcrossing program....grinning with relief that i had not purloined someone's tome, i kept it and read it. and this one was delightful book! i'm going back to the sheraton for the same conference soon and i'm gonna re-release the book back out into the wild! i hope the next person likes it as much as i did...AND if you haven't read MC Beaton....read the Hamish McBeth mysteries..they are cozy little books that feel as comfortable as a good warm wool sweater with a dram of whiskey! thanks keycollect and fiction!.....and the journey goes on! being a school media specialist maybe i gotta get some bookplates of my own now! ....first book? jack finney's Time and Again! ~gwynethanne

and well, that's how it started. ...since then i have purchased (for a nominal fee) the special bookplates & post-its start up kid... and have released books into the wild. i don't leave books outside..but usually in hotels when i travel for educational technology or library conferences

...here's a bit more from the website:

Read, Recycle, & Release with BookCrossing!

"Welcome back to BookCrossing, where books have adventures of their own. BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. BookCrossing books are not stagnant dust collectors, but living entities travelling the world as true BookCrossing emissaries. Our books find new readers and introduce them to the wonders of BookCrossing."

from a blogger:

"BookCrossing,com is an awesome site. If you have a book and you want to share it with the world, or if you just don’t want it laying around anymore and can’t bring yourself to toss it, then you can register it on bookcrossing.com. Once it’s registered you leave the book, somewhere, ‘in the wild’. Since the book is registered on the site, you leave a specific description of where you left it, then when someone is looking for that book or genre in your country, they can track it down, notify the site that it’s been found, read it, then leave it somewhere else to be found again. Such a “make me smile” concept."

so Pass that Book in Howard County and if you like that....join Bookcrossing.com and pass books around the WORLD!

Welcome Back to School 09-10!

YAY!...It's a new year and i'm SO excited to see all the new kids coming to MHMS!!...Welcome 6th graders AND welcome to any transferring 7th and 8th graders!

A Message of Hope and Responsibility

I was very inspired by President Obama's message to students this year! In my opinion, no matter what political side you're affiliated with, it really was a message of hope and responsibility, a teachable moment for social studies classes, and an uplifting and motivating message for kids of all ages.
---

---full transcript here----

Back-to-school advice for safe & ethical social networking

"Back-to-school time is an excellent time for kids, parents, and teachers to think and talk about the safe and appropriate use of the Internet and social-networking tools."

I've been teaching Internet Safety since 2000...I was first asked to do so by Maryland Public Television and then the Horizon Foundation...and through their patronage i created a website called Internet Safety for Parents & Teens that covered a lot of information about how to be more AWARE of the pitfalls and dangers on the Interwebs. The subject i think that is foremost now is not Safety but Awareness. We have to encourage our kids to be aware of their own digital footprint. To be mindful of what they post and how they cultivate a good Internet profile so that when they apply to college, or a job, they know how they will be perceived by those people who will be digging for information ...and dig they will. They need to know that embarrassing or inappropriate pictures posted are there and can be found forever.

Parents: what you can do at home

• have the Internet connected computer in a main room of your house...like the kitchen or living, or family room
  
• If you have kids who have laptops and a wireless router, disconnect the router (unplug & remove) the power cord at bedtime. late night texting is also a concern
• re-charge teen cell phones in YOUR rooms overnight
• know what usernames your kids use on facebook, twitter, myspace, etc. ask to see their page...then ask to see their REAL page!
  
• make sure that ANY social network they belong to is set to private
  
• know how to search the history of your kids computer
  

More things to think about:

"Hemanshu Nigam, the chief security officer at News Corp. and MySpace offers some Online Safety and Back to School advice especially suited to youth who use social-networking services like MySpace and Facebook (MySpace is one of several companies that provide financial support for ConnectSafely). He starts off with the usual Internet safety advice: "Don't post anything you wouldn't want the world to know" and "don't get together with someone you 'meet' online unless you're certain of their identity." Then, perhaps a bit uncharacteristic of his background as a former federal prosecutor, Nigam also provides advice about the compassionate and kind use of social networking:

• Post with respect: photos are a great way to share wonderful experiences. If you're posting a photo of you and your friends, put yourself in your friends' shoes and ask would your friends want that photo to be public to everyone. If yes, then you're uploading photos with respect.
• Comment with kindness: compliments are like smiles, they're contagious. When you comment on a profile, share a kind word, others will too.
• Update with empathy: sharing updates lets us tell people what we think. When you give an opinion on your status updates, show empathy towards your friends and help them see the world with understanding eyes.

from: Back-to-school advice for safe & ethical social networking - CNET News

Talk to your kids about the risks.

• Explain that online information and images can live forever. It can be very hard and sometimes impossible to take down information that is posted, and photos and information may already have been copied and posted elsewhere.
• Tell your children not to post any identifying information online. This includes their cell phone number, address, hometown, school name, and anything else that a stranger could use to locate them.
• Explain that anyone in the world can access what they post online. Tell your children that some college admissions boards and employers are checking social networking sites before they admit students or hire people.
• Remind your children never to give out their passwords to anyone but you – not even their friends. Explain that if someone has their password, they could post embarrassing and unsafe information about them on their personal pages and even pose as your children to talk to other people.
• Make sure that children understand that some people they meet online may not be who they say they are. Explain that on the Internet many people are not truthful about their identity and may even pretend to be someone else. It’s important to stress that young people should never meet people face-to-face that they met online.

• 
  

from the Parents' Guide to Social Networking Websites

The Guidance dept. and i will be holding a parent information night about cyberbullying and internet awareness later this year....stay tuned!

Other Resources:

Social Networking Sites: A Parent’s Guide
Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens
Blog Sites, Profile Sites, Diary Sites or Social-Networking Sites

Bookfellas & Bookfoo! Video Blasts from the Past!

here are two of our most popular videos that i use at this time of year...digitally converted ((thanks Beth Singleton, GT teacher and iMovie maven!!)) and now available on TeacherTube.
Bookfellas...don't mess with these guys...bring back your overdue books...OR ELSE!

all of these kids have graduated High School now....[smiles fondly] Awwwww!!!!


Zach G. & Matthew G.

Mike S.

Bookfoo! Through our A+ partnership with the Howard County Public Library the MHMS video production team was chosen one year to make the middle school Summer Reading promotion video for the ENTIRE state of Maryland! Because of movie copyright (i tracked down permissions for each one or only played -30 seconds) we chose to make the video very RETRO!

Edward Helps Bella to Return Those Library Media Books!

Return Those Books: a PSA from Bella & Edward

created by the talented husband & wife PSA duo...Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hobson
Media Specialist, Oakland Mills MS