Comments for Betty Online

Comment on Extreme thinking by bgilgoff

bgilgoff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:28:21 +0000

I’ve just this morning finished reading Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and so couldn’t be more in line with your thinking Liz. Thanks for your comment. From the book, which is so very readable, well written and incredibly well sourced, I feel that I’ve had my eyes opened even more not to drug company profits, although they certainly fit with her main thesis of corporatism, but to the incredible lack “freedom” of the free trade movement. Klein provides a compelling argument for the contradiction between free trade and democracy. I highly recommend her book. Or, for starters, check out her website at http://www.naomiklein.org/main or her many articles posted on The Nation website at http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/naomi_klein. Both sites are worth following.

Comment on Extreme thinking by lizbarrett

lizbarrett — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:07:41 +0000

I just read this and it is June - what a gift it was!

You have a responsibility to question what you are being told to teach - look who is doing the telling! As Canadians we have choices, but what is stopping us making the difficult choices. Stop paying lip service to Canadian Aid - the vested interest groups are making a fortune in the name of Aid to third world countries. Fair Trade is a joke - Drugs to treat the symptoms associated with AIDS are so expensive that babies suffer with thrush because the drugs cost too much - so they just suffer and die - while drug companies post record financial gains.

Comment on Catching up…. by joaquin

joaquin — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:43:12 +0000

Congratulations on adding the coComment widget, this will allow you to track all of your comments, a concern you mentioned on your post. If you have any other questions let me know.

Comment on The 3 best things I’ve learned in the challenge by dogtrax

dogtrax — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:08:22 +0000

Yes, Kim: Islands.
Nice metaphor.
But hopefully, islands that connected by some warm ocean currents, right?
Kevin

Comment on Other blogs worth following by inpi

inpi — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:36:38 +0000

Betty,
I’ve enjoyed the video and think it’s urgent and exciting to encourage teachers to “take the plunge” into e-learning and web2.0 new worlds. Michele suggested us to read “Literacy of the 21st Century”
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/ConnectingtheDigitalDotsL/ about the new skills students may develop in classroom projects that fully accept and work with the new technology; in my school, we are just starting, but in great enthusiasm.
@Michele,Thank you for indicating this book; I noticed this eloquent expression: “right-brained kinds of skills that are less “logical” and more creative” - we can intuitively feel that, it is somehow “in the air”.
Ines

Comment on Other blogs worth following by bgilgoff

bgilgoff — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:41:33 +0000

But the 31 day challenge activities are all well worth doing. I just know that for most of us it might well be 311 days worth of challenge, but that is all ok!

Comment on Other blogs worth following by Michele Martin

Michele Martin — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:37:24 +0000

Don’t worry about doing the activities if you’re finding that you’re commenting more and finding new resources!

Dan Pink wrote “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World” and he’s also just written an excellent career book called “Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.” (You can find a great presentation about the latter book here: http://tinyurl.com/5q7zj5

“A Whole New Mind,” while a few years old, is a must-read. It talks about the fact that the best jobs in the future are going to require right-brained kinds of skills that are less “logical” and more creative. Changed my life because it really crystallized for me how we need to be thinking differently about learning and what we’re teaching people for the future. And it’s an interesting read, too. I highly recommend it.

Comment on Catching up…. by bgilgoff

bgilgoff — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:28:58 +0000

Welcome to the challenge. I’m learning tons! I’m reading more blogs and really getting more and more involved in commenting. Last week I had a whole class of mine start blogs because I’m excited about the potential for community. Like Karen Greenwood Hanke says in the video I just embedded in my blog post today, “Start with the teaching. If I want my students to be making global connections then I’m going to give the tools to my teachers first and provide them with opportunities to connect with other teachers around the world or other teachers around the country.” I think blogging can do that in a way that teachers can manage with their limited time. I like that it isn’t as immediate as chatting or more online/inyourface technologies that connect us more in real time. There is a definite advantage to the lag and delay of blogging, commenting, responding, replying. For those of us who are trying to keep some balance in life, this is preferable. Plus I find it allows me time to think. Nothing with blogging has to be immediate. I like that.

Comment on The 3 best things I’ve learned in the challenge by mscofino

mscofino — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:28:32 +0000

Great reflection! I especially like this statement:

To really be a blogger I can’t just write my own blog. I have to be an active member of the blogging community and so I have to get out there and read and comment on other people’s blogs. That is equally as important because it is the participation and active membership that makes blogging such an incredibly powerful change agent. But like any good conversation I learn from both listening to others (reading blogs) and exercising my voice (writing my blog).

I love the idea of being an active member of the blogging community - and just being an active blogger isn’t enough. Participating in conversations is what gets the thinking going, and even though posting is a great conversation starter for what you’re thinking about, there are tons of other great conversation starters out there that you might never have thought of. That’s the powerful part of commenting for me, anyway!

@Kevin: I think the fact that blogs are so much less connected than a social network makes them harder to feel like a community. It’s more like islands of conversation spread out across great distances than a group of people learning together. It’s kind of strange dynamic because I think we all know that we’re welcome to be part of any of the conversations that strike us, it’s just sometimes hard to find them. At least that’s my feeling about the whole thing…

Comment on Catching up…. by tgidinski

tgidinski — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:27:13 +0000

If it’s any consolation, I’ve just started the comment challenge! This is actually my first comment in the challenge. I don’t know if I’ll manage to catch up and do all the challenges as I’m just starting to seriously blog, but I’ll still learn in the process.

As per your website design, I think the best thing is that there is variety. If every blog were black and white, we’d all get pretty bored!