Tapped In Newsletter: February 2007
...On the Tapis
February 2007
Issue 111
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Donna Sautner
[2] News Nuggets
[3] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
[5] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968), American civil rights activist and Nobel Laureate
[1] Member Perspective: Donna Sautner
Donna teaches 7th grade U.S. History and Computers at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy Middle School in Boca Raton, Florida. She has been a member of Tapped In since 2005.
Donna's Perspective
The 7th graders at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. are using the online virtual classroom forum Tapped In to communicate through web logging and a discussion board with 7th graders at a school in Israel. The students post their responses to different prompts created by both teachers. First, as a warm up activity, they investigated and compared how religious holidays are recognized in America and Israel. We hoped to enlighten the students as to how education leads to global tolerance through the understanding and acceptance of different cultures. Next, they visited a website that hosts many different websites and organizations that tackle racism through promoting tolerance through education. They visit the various websites and post questions and answers to each other to increase their exposure to the work that is being done to teach tolerance and fight discrimination. Many of our students will more than likely be able to meet their "web pals" face-to-face next year when they travel to Israel on a class trip. Thus far, the students have shared pictures but have not been able to arrange for a live chat due to the different time zones.
Our collaborative thinking has only just begun. We hope to continue to discuss various culture clashes that occur in the world today and apply education as the directive to grappling with these issues. We hope to brainstorm ways in which democratic education can be promoted and funded where it is desperately needed.
Luckily, Tapped In is free and does not have any time restraints. Students in Israel can log in whenever they have time in school or at home and the same goes for our students here in South Florida. The 7th grade students here get one class period per week in computers class to respond to the discussions. The online classroom hosts documents, web links, photos, and any file that can be stored by a computer. This allows us the freedom to work with our colleagues with relative ease and ample security.
As stated above, distance, language, and economic barriers do not exist as we are using Tapped In. As long as we have computers with an Internet connection, we have access to each other.
View all of our past online perspectives.
[2] News Nuggets
TI member Mark Rogers, CEO of the Pushmataha County Hospital, had a discussion with the TI Pushmataha County Literacy Council group that is led by Fred Kimball. The discussion was featured on Medicare/Medicaid literacy. Mark noted that overall, healthcare literacy has a major impact on compliance with medical instructions and benefit access. Those that appear to suffer the most are in the 0-8 grade levels of education.
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TI member Kevan Nitzberg recently updated his art/writing info on his section of the Minnesota Artists.org web site.
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The Feb. '07 issue of Learning & Leading with Technology has several articles by TI members. Theresa Pierce wrote about "Encouraging Graphing with Sports" for the Mathematics column, Julie Lindsay contributed to Teacher Resources with "Finding Appropriate Online Resources," and Glen Bull has an article for Connected Classroom about "Video in the Age of Participation."
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TI member Craig Roland contributed "Online Resources for Interpreting Art" for the ArtEd Online column and TI member Pam Stephens has an article in the online Student-Teacher Survival Guide about "Writing a Philosophy of Art Teaching" for the Feb. '07 issue of SchoolArts Magazine.
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Do you have a News Nugget about yourself or another member of the Tapped In Community? Send your News Nugget to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org.
[3] Tips and Comments from the Experts
Though I am not a frequent participant for the sessions hosted by all the favorite groups that I subscribe to, I do use the meeting transcripts quite often. Every time when I login to get the transcripts for the purpose of my teaching, research or reference, I am always grateful to all the people who have collaboratively created this big site with all the valuable resources archived. You all are just a group of wonderful people. With all my heartfelt thanks to you and all the members and discussion leaders in TI, Su-hsun (ChristinaT in TI)
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I have my AP Art History students using the online review page on Tapped In. Thanks again for helping to make that available to us. I may start the 2nd room for my am AP Studio Art Students next year. Kevan Nitzberg
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Leslie Thompson shared with Tapped In helpdesk volunteer David Weksler, "I've just finished running my first chats with the students in my classrooms, as well as introducing them to the threaded discussions. They're loving it! They are so jazzed to start book discussions. They're smart, but underachieve or act very shy in class. One of them participated for the first time EVER today. After class she mentioned that talking in the online room makes her feel as if she can contribute in the real classroom. It was awesome! It's stuff like that that keeps you going as a teacher!"
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If you have a comment or experience to share with the Tapped In community, please submit the information to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org or post to the How You Use TI.
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
Tapped In User Names
Because Tapped In strives to maintain a community for professionals, members are requested to use real first and last names. When this information is entered on the membership form, the system will assign a username of first name last initial. If this username is already taken, then a middle initial or letters from the last name are added. Sometimes this results in some cumbersome or awkward usernames. If you have a problem with your username, please contact us explaining what the issue is.
Here's little trick for finding out your username quickly instead of waiting for the email to arrive after you've completed the membership form. (This also works if you've forgotten your username.)
After you've filled out the membership form, go to the TI home page and click on the link that says "Forgot username or password?" under the Member/Guest Login area. Enter the email address that you registered with and click on "Just Tell Me My Username." You will immediately see the username you were assigned by the system.
[5] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
Contact us if you have any questions about your subscription, password or user name, or if you have any news items that you want to share with the community for ...On the Tapis.