mrmayo.org

The Year in Review

2008-06-14T18:13:00.005-04:00

The End.

2008-06-13T18:34:00.002-04:00

Past, Present and Future

2008-06-11T18:39:00.014-04:00

One of my students, John, created a full-length, 100 percent original, Hip-Hop album this year. He worked on his album everyday during lunch, and many, many days after school over the last six months. We finished it up today, on the last day of school! We burned 50 CD's, and also posted the entire album online for FREE!

Here are a few album reviews from students on Youth Twitter:
http://aaroncebaff.tumblr.com/
http://winstond.tumblr.com/
Dereck at EBAFF, Bronx, NY

LISTEN & DOWNLOAD & SHARE!
Just Another Day
2 Sides of Life
Put Ya Trust in Me
Betta Count Ya Blessin's
Ashes 2 Ashes, and Dust 2 Dust
Do You?
Sunday School Song
Real Talk
The Monster Remix
Street Dreamz
My Life (official)
When Will I Die

All the world's a stage

2008-05-23T20:30:00.002-04:00

What do you think?

2008-05-07T18:04:00.007-04:00

I've enlisted a few of my students to participate in the Horizon Project. The Horizon Project is a large-scale global collaboration project involving students from around the world. The Project was inspired by Thomas Friedman's influential book, The World is Flat, published in 2005. It's cool that a few of my students have the chance to participate in such a large project.

Our job is to be a Sounding Board for one of the 80 or so wiki's being created. We've enlisted the help of our friends from the Youth Twitter Network to help us give feedback. The wiki is called Connecting People via the Network: Education. (Thanks for your help Nelson!)

SPACE

2008-04-23T17:32:00.016-04:00

The second issue of our new digital literary magazine, Space, is officially out. Huge props to PABLO for designing the site and creating all the page logos! In our second issue, we have students from Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Utah, Georgia, New York City, Massachusetts, Maryland, and even a student from South Korea. (Thanks Soojin!)

We've used the new Youth Twitter Network to promote Space. Youth Twitter is a new site that allows students and teachers to communicate with one another about what they're up to in the classroom. Students "submit" their digital creations by posting url's to their work on Youth Twitter. We then take all the url's and put them into Space.

Be on the lookout for more Space in the future!

Our New Book!

2008-03-23T21:45:00.009-04:00

A few months ago, I wrote this post about our global collaborative story my students and I started titled, @manyvoices, using Twitter.com. Over 100 students in six different countries contributed to our project. Students from the USA, Canada, England, Qatar, China, and Thailand helped us with this project.

The story is now available as a little book (46 pages) on lulu.com. You can buy the @manyvoices book for $5.45 (exact cost of publishing). Or, you can download the pdf file of the book for free.

Thanks to everyone who helped us with this project! Happy Spring Break!

Related Links:

Space

2008-03-22T13:26:00.009-04:00

My students and I started a new digital literary magazine called space. In our first issue, we've collected digital art, animation, music, poetry, prose and short stories from middle school students in Maryland, New York, and Massachusetts.

To submit, students posted their digital creations (with urls) on the new Youth Twitter Network. We created the first issue using a simple Google docs page. Pablo, one of my students, created the space logo. All content on space is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

We plan to publish several editions of space throughout the rest of this school year. We also will experiment with different formats for space. We may use Google Page Creator for the next issue.

Be on the look-out for more space in the future.

the "supposed end..."

2008-03-15T18:33:00.030-04:00

It's still hard to believe that 677 students from around the world took part in our Many Voices for Darfur project. My students and I started the project a month ago with Wendy Drexler's 3rd graders in Florida to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide taking place in Darfur. The project was a huge success. 677 k-12 students visited the Many Voices for Darfur blog in two days and left respectful, thoughtful, well-written comments. Students from different locations also created a variety of Darfur multi-media projects leading up to the event. (special thanks to The Blurb!)

This is a great example of showing students the power of using the web for social action. It also was a good opportunity to talk about commenting online on an important issue with the appropriate tone and language. Students expressed a wide variety of opinions. However, they are all respectful, even when disagreeing with one another. Wendy Drexler and I moderated every comment before it was posted online. We didn't have to reject a single comment. I think that is remarkable, and clearly shows that teachers can trust students to publish online responsibly.

Last week, we printed all 677 comments for a Darfur hallway exhibit outside my classroom. The comments and large Darfur signs we created will be a constant reminder to us for the rest of the year that although our project is over, the genocide is not.

Project Links:

Many Voices for Darfur Weblog
Many Voices for Darfur Wiki (check out all the video's & other student produced multi-media)

Many Voices for Darfur

2008-02-17T13:34:00.015-05:00

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel

In a way, we decided to take sides when we launched Many Voices for Darfur, a global collaboration project. Wendy Drexler and I asked our students an unsettling question: What is our responsibility to help end the genocide in Darfur? The answer we came up we with: spreading awareness.

So for 48 hours, starting at midnight EST on March 6th, many student voices will be collected in the name of those suffering in Darfur. We are asking k-12 students around the world to visit our Many Voices for Darfur blog and leave thoughtful, well-written comments. It is our hope that hundreds or even thousands of students will come together to help raise awareness about the first genocide of the 21st century.

Want to get involved? It's incredibly easy to participate. Students simply visit the Many Voices for Darfur blog during the 48 hours and leave comments addressing one of the prompts listed on the homepage. For more detailed instructions, visit our Many Voices for Darfur Wiki. To learn more about Darfur, check out our Resources Wiki Page.

Mr. Moses, a teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada, made a short YouTube video describing the project for his students. He makes a request for multi-media projects that students could share and link to starting on March 6th.

Read what what others are writing about our project. For more information please contact me. [click]

Exploding Walls Project

2008-02-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

Our Exploding Walls Project was an experiment in breaking through the walls of the traditional classroom. My students created content with the explicit purpose of sharing it with a larger audience. For this project, students used Google Docs, Google Page Creator, Edublogs, Animoto, and Voicethread. All of these tools are free.

I collected all the student project links and published them using a Google docs page title, "The Exploding Walls Project."

We shot the video using a $100.00 Flip Video Camera . We found the background explosion sounds used in the video at The Freesound Project. Here are direct links to the sounds we used to create our video:

Let's Read!

2008-01-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

If you want students to read, you have to provide them with reading material they are genuinely interested in. After two grant requests and one car wash, Mr. Stelzner, Ms. Pilgrim, me, and 14 of our 8th grade students met today at lunch over pizza to kick off our new Urban Fiction book club. We're meeting once a week during lunch to informally discuss the books the students have chosen to read.

It's really exciting watching middle school students eagerly choose from an assortment of new books. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. We'd like to expand our book club next year to include other genres middle schoolers connect with.

Educon2.0

2008-01-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

I. what's online collaboration?

II. it's about relationships

III. and learning from each other.

This is the outline for my Educon2.0 session, Online Collaboration 101. Educon2.0 isn't a conference. It's a conversation. For our conversation, we will be discussing the many aspects of online collaboration. It's harder than you think. In this conversation, we will talk about the why and the how. For more specifics, please click one of the links above under the rainbow.

Fortunately, other teachers around the world have agreed to help us out, and take part in our conversation via Skype: Clarence Fisher, Julie Lindsay, Cheryl Lykowski, and Silvia Tolisano.

Blog posts I used to prepare for this presentation:

Exploding Walls

2008-01-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

I think it is possible that a group of 8th graders could make a difference. With the help of the Internet, we can spread information to everyone, and we are not doing this as a joke. Alix- 8th grade writer/co-creator of the blog, Darfur Awareness.

This year, my students and I have been experimenting with online collaboration with other teachers around the world. We've Skyped with H Songhai's high school students in Philadelphia about peer pressure. We shared our digital children's books project through a Skype video conference with Mr. Crosby's 5th graders in Reno, Nevada.

We Skyped in Harvard professor, Susan Linn, to answer questions about unethical forms of advertising directed at children for an essay we were writing. We had a conversation with Gary Bertoia's 8th grade students about Internet restrictions in Abu Dhabi.

We also started a collaborative global Twitter story called @manyvoices being written by 140 different elementary and middle school students from around the world. So far, students from Canada, Qatar, England and China are involved in our global story, @manyvoices.

Next up, our Exploding Walls Project.

stay tuned...

Winter solstice

2007-12-21T18:58:00.000-05:00

The 2007 2nd annual Poetry Slam was a smashing success. Let's do it again next year. Here's Ian's and Connor's Happy Holidays slam poem from today.

@manyvoices

2007-12-18T21:02:00.000-05:00

In the depths of New York City, on top of the Empire State Building, a creature rested. That creature was me. -Sherry

Sunday afternoon, I started thinking about how it would be interesting to use a new microblogging tool, known as twitter, to write a collaborative story with middle school students from around the world. By the time I turned the idea into reality Monday, our project was being blogged about on the NPR blog, The Bryant Park Project, and later on weblogg-ed.com.

Today, Clarence Fisher's students, in Snow Lake, MB, Canada, wrote the second chapter. We now have 36 followers from across the world reading our collaborative twitter story, @manyvoices. Andy Carvin wrote about it today on his PBS blog, Learning.now.

Now, we'll see how it unfolds. Will we knit together a compelling and well-written tale? What will a bunch of middle school students get out of it? When will the story end?
Stay tuned...

Going Global

2007-12-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

As we read Animal Farm, we're continuing to research current examples of censorship and propaganda here in our country, and around the globe. Today, I talked with Gary Bertoia, a middle school teacher in Abu Dhabi, and Clay Burell, a high school teacher in Seoul. I'm trying to locate teachers and students around the globe to talk with us about Internet restrictions where they live.

It's amazing what you can do with a $60 dollar webcam and Skype. This year, we have used Skype to talk with 8th graders in Denver, high schoolers in Philadelphia, and elementary school students Reno. We've also interviewed a Harvard psychologist. Now, we get to go global.

Click on the picture below to see our Vocabulary Movie. We used a Flip Video Camera to record this.

Detecting Stars

2007-12-01T18:17:00.000-05:00

Audio From our Skype Interview

2007-11-18T16:16:00.000-05:00

Here's the audio from our Skype video interview with Susan Linn, co-founder of the national coalition, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Dr. Linn agreed to answer questions from my 8th grade students about unethical forms of advertising. A few students transcribed the interview as it was happening. HERE'S THE TRANSCRIPT (Thanks Sara & Lenna).

$100 Million to $17 Billion
Building Brand Name Loyalty
Infant Advertising through Brand Licensing
Federal Laws & Regulations
Could advertising rule the world?
Shrek as Poster Ogre
Shrek con't
Viral Marketing & Data Mining
What is the CCFC?

What's Your Opinion?

2007-11-15T20:55:00.000-05:00

The only problem with buzz advertising is some people don't do what the cool kids do. Some people really just don't care.

Nice quote from Claire, on her stupendous weblog, Awesome.

Friday morning we're doing a live Skype interview with Susan Linn, a co-founder of the national coalition, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Dr. Linn is also the associate director of the Judge Baker's Children's Center at Harvard Medical School.

We're almost ready to start writing our essays.

Deceptive Advertising

2007-11-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

This week, we're starting to research deceptive forms of advertising targeting young people. After students read about these practices, they are going to write analytical essays interpreting all the information.

Many of these deceptive forms of advertising are largely ignored, despite their powerful influences. Hopefully, my students will write essays that punch holes in these deceptive techniques.

READ THIS ARTICLE from CNN about people who believe food tastes better when it comes wrapped in a McDonald's wrapper. Say what?

http://del.icio.us/mrmayo/advertising

This was fun.

2007-11-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

My 8th grade students shared their digital children's book projects with Mr. Crosby's class of 5th graders in Reno, Nevada today. His students watched our movies before the Skype video conference, and prepared questions about our project.

Mr. Crosby's students asked some great questions. One student asked why the characters in Magic Pond, say NOOOOOOoooooooo at the end of the movie. Great question. A couple of students commented on the character Chickenboy from the movie, Because of Checkers.

His 5th grade students talked about some of their weblog writing topics. They also answered questions from us about a movie they made, entitled INCLUSION. INCLUSION is a short movie Mr. Crosby's students made about their experiences using Skype with a classmate at home.

Each class is going to do a post on their weblogs about our video conference today. Then, we're going to read the reactions on our classroom weblogs. It will be interesting to read what my 8th graders, and Mr. Crosby's 5th graders, thought about our video conference today.

It's amazing what you can do with a $40 dollar webcam and Skype. Crazy world we live in. Thanks to Mr. Crosby and his cool 5th grade students out in Reno for letting us share our movies with them!

ka-booz booz-ka

2007-11-02T22:38:00.000-04:00

These movies were illustrated, written, recorded, scored, produced and directed by my 8th grade English students. You can download the movies by clicking on the titles. I've also added links to the original illustrations used in each movie. Enjoy.

Scales For Wishes / Illustrations

Because of Checkers / Illustrations

Journey to the Pot of Gold / Illustrations

Magic Pond / Animation Illustrations

Cameron the Chameleon

Trouble in LOLLIELAND / Illustrations

Murphy the Leprechaun / Illustrations

The Coma / Illustrations

The Story of Carter and the Box

The Magical Adventure of Flo & Lottie

Tricks & Treats

2007-10-30T22:26:00.000-04:00

These are two movies we've created the last few days in class. Joe the Pumpkin is from our children's book project. The Cask of Amontillado is a movie my 5th period made retelling the classic Edgar Allen Poe story.

My 2 Cents

2007-10-24T18:29:00.000-04:00

Our book club fundraiser is all set up, except we still need more volunteers. It would be great to have a few parents help out. Lunch will be provided. Also, thanks to all those students who have voluntered! Please see mrmayo for specific details, or contact me.

When: Saturday Oct. 27th
How Long: 9am to 2pm (come when you can)
Why: raise money for Urban Fiction Book Club
How: by any means necessary