Innovative and Creative

How do we differentiate these terms and think about supporting both ideas and the largest conception of both ideas?

Speed

You couldn't read this but it says, brrr ......it's cold

It was the screen message facing out on a cash register. See what you miss when you're fast?

2008 in review

A tradition among a group of friends of mine is to share three new things we tried, accomplished in the previous year. I believe reflection is fundamental to learning and growth. I was struck by how important photographs were to me in this process.

For a small set photos can be seen here.

Personal Networking Assistant

I saw this site in the tagline of a friend's chat status. Imagine that …
I am fascinated by these kind of tools -- both those 'engineered' and organic like PLN Yourself.

At the end of the day I still struggle to balance the shiny tools/gadgets with genuine/authentic uses.

Space

For a couple of years I have danced on Sundays. Every time I learn a new dance or try to remember an old one, I am reminded of being a "new" learner and the frustration with "not getting it" and being confused. The resilience required of learning is significant.

Spaces -- Visual spatial thinking and puzzles

I spent some time putting together a 1,000 piece puzzle and wondering about students and children spending time with this kind of activity. Both the changes in "looking" at the image and collaborating with others to solve a problem. I haven't spent enough time with video games to think about the comparison. It does feel like this kind of activity has value when you consider how much visual information we process every day.

Breakfast Voice

This morning I spent part of my day with the fine folks at Wild Goose Creative.  I discovered that one of the geese is a food blogger. He and another Columbus food blogger talked about their approaches to writing about and exploring food.  

Followed by a very fun and informative coffee tasting with the fine roaster from Cafe Brioso.  

I think this is relevant in thinking about voice.   I am also fascinated by the idea of expertise; how to develop it, share it, sustain and support its growth -- especially in teachers.

Classroom 2.0 room to grow and listen to voices

I listened in (admittedly intermittently) to the "what we learned in 2008" session today.   A wiki gathers up a bunch of the ideas shared during the session.  

There were a couple of bits that struck me immediately.  First, that Steve Hardagon has really created a collaborative space where lots of folks are invited to pitch in and contribute -- from folks who spoke today to volunteers to who welcome new members.  

Lots to keep thinking about …

Visual Communication

I am fascinated by visual communication.  Images, illustrations, videos.  

almost ten years on

Thinking about text, space and voice and how much those ideas have changed in nearly 10 years.  I wrote my dissertation -- "negotiating text, space and voice …" nearly ten years ago.  I intend to write or gather ideas that reflect the journey of my thinking since then and my questions now.

Today, January 1, all three of these terms have been enlarged, modified and changed significantly as the world grows more digital.  The trio of words reminds me first of Louise Rosenblatt's The reader, The text and The poem. 

Text, well who would imagine I could access so many letters and words on my phone?  I still love books, have a large collection and want to advocate for their continued existence and vitality.  At the time I studied, I was arguing that there are many texts, and now NCTE has papers on multi-modal literacies.  

Space, mmm, how much space do you have on your hard drive?  What have we learned about digital spaces?  This is a huge idea.  I imagined space for me was time and freedom to explore ideas.  How has this changed?  How have spaces grown and shrunk?  What do they require of us as learners?

Voice, still fascinates me.  I am a bit bewildered by folks who are so much more at ease creating a digital persona (voice) and still I am drawn to voices I hear as genuine.  How do you discover your voice and use it in a media saturated world?  Just because it's out there (in a blog, maybe) does that count as a voice?  I know some of them feel like genuine voices.  I consistently love to read Chris Glass.  He makes me think, see and finally motivate me!  According to technorati, there are 15.5 million active blogs?