Teachers Teaching Teachers #220 - Connections: Wooly School Garden, Bird Watching, Photography, and Voices on the Gulf - 9.29.10

Enjoy our curriculum share from late-September on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers. Chris Sloan, Margaret Simon, Susan Ettenheim, Paul Allison, and Gail Desler welcomed our guest Becky Jezek, the Director of the Wooly School Garden project.

Woolly School Garden from Drew Falkman on Vimeo.

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

20:51:03 Paul Allison: http://paulallison.tumblr.com/post/1207858433/gardening-skyping-with-an-...
20:51:13 Paul Allison: http://www.woollyschoolgarden.org/
20:52:39 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/community/digital-photography/273
20:52:44 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/video-gallery
20:59:26 wmarsh825: This is my first visit. Does it take some time to get started?
21:00:14 tim: hey all
21:01:02 Chris Sloan: I think we'll start shortly
21:04:43 wmarsh825: Are the participants in red the moderators?
21:05:09 matt montagne: hey y'all
21:05:12 Chris Sloan: where are you from and what do you do, wmarsh825?
21:05:30 wmarsh825: Montana, I teach 7th and 8th grade computer
21:05:39 wmarsh825: How about the rest of you?
21:06:45 tim: i'm a grade 5/6 teacher in wellington, NZ
21:07:04 Chris Sloan: I used to live in Helena, MT
21:07:25 wmarsh825: We're actually having a warm spell. It's 75 and beautiful.
21:07:29 Chris Sloan: I live in Utah now
21:08:10 wmarsh825: That's not very far. That's pratically neighbors up here.
21:08:21 wmarsh825: Tim what do you teach?
21:09:30 Chris Sloan: where in Montana do you teach?
21:10:24 Paul Allison: http://voicesonthegulf.org/discussion/how-clover-plover-and-pip-made-dif...
21:10:36 Chris Sloan: So Tim, do your students ever take photos?
21:10:51 Chris Sloan: photos of places around where they live in NZ
21:12:31 wmarsh825: Paul - I like the story you posted. I'm originally from the Mississippi Gulfcoast and worked in New Orleans for a while. Thanks for sharing.
21:13:24 Paul Allison: wmarsh825 - Join the site.
21:16:14 Paul Allison: http://voicesonthegulf.org/discussion/clean-after-tornadoes-hit-our-comm...
21:17:37 matt montagne: making 3D stuff is cool. Building stuff with your hands is fun.
21:17:49 matt montagne: That is one cool thing about gardening
21:18:01 matt montagne: *one of many cool things that is :)
21:18:02 margaretsmn: Is it wooly or willy pockets?  Is there a website?
21:18:13 Paul Allison: http://www.woollyschoolgarden.org/
21:18:18 margaretsmn: thanks
21:19:26 matt montagne: I saw something like this at Maiker Faire
21:20:27 matt montagne: Will Allen of Growing Power in Milwaukee talks about innovative approaches to growing in Urban Areas...Wooly Pockets looks great
21:20:56 SusanEttenheim: ah matt I just went to the Maker Faire here last weekend!
21:21:01 Paul Allison: http://www.woollyschoolgarden.org/
21:21:32 Chris Sloan: I think Will Allen is featured in a movie that I just saw called Fresh
21:21:43 matt montagne: that is indeed Will, Chris...
21:21:57 matt montagne: I was actually at Growing Power in 2007 when Fresh was onsite filming
21:22:32 matt montagne: one of my former teacher colleagues is in the film for a few seconds...he is filmed dumping a bunch of stuff in a compost bin
21:22:33 Chris Sloan: http://www.freshthemovie.com/
21:22:53 matt montagne: btw, the director of Fresh is skype proficient
21:22:59 matt montagne: we skyped with her last may
21:23:00 beckyjezek: www.growinggreat.org
21:23:01 Chris Sloan: I was totally impressed with their compost bin.  I wish I had worms like that
21:23:12 Chris Sloan: My soil's not so good
21:23:17 matt montagne: nothing beats Will's worms, Chris!!!
21:24:05 Paul Allison: http://voicesonthegulf.org/discussion/our-sprout-run-our-school-blair-gr...
21:24:54 matt montagne: Chris, video I shot of Will's worms when I was there in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cAMpuKjYXU
21:25:37 SusanEttenheim: hi misswarfield where and what do you teach?
21:25:44 SusanEttenheim: hi arvind!
21:25:49 Chris Sloan: Nice Matt.  
21:26:11 Chris Sloan: Maybe we should get the producer of Fresh on TTT sometime
21:26:19 SusanEttenheim: yes!
21:27:02 matt montagne: they are very approachable...and they are all in NYC
21:28:28 Chris Sloan: Couldn't help myself.  I had after my wife and I saw the movie, I had to write about it. http://sloanspace.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-good-documentaries-you-may-no...
21:28:32 matt montagne: it would be cool to make your own pockets too
21:29:08 Chris Sloan: Yes, I'll have to get some pockets
21:29:23 wmarsh825: I have a question. I am trying to learn more about Ed Tech Talk and I'm somewhat confussed. Is there a topic each time or is it random teahcers (who appear to know each other) discussing idea?
21:29:38 matt montagne: I saw a cool video about some african innovators...they were growing stuff in everything possible...old burlap sacks even!
21:29:58 matt montagne: Some of the best innovation happens when we are presented with extreme contstraints
21:30:02 SusanEttenheim: ahh wmarsh! we'll explain
21:30:14 SusanEttenheim: different teachers host different conversations
21:30:46 SusanEttenheim: this is TTT every Wed from 9-10pm - our conversation is a virtual staff room as Paul said earlier - we call it a public conversation
21:30:59 matt montagne: the master gardner culture is so awesome...they are a bunch of characters...great people for our kids to interact with
21:31:36 SusanEttenheim: our guests have to do with whatever we are teaching at the time - and have questions about - and then we share ideas - we are also usually talking about work on youthvoices.net and voicesonthegulf.net
21:31:41 wmarsh825: I'm really enjoying the links. The writing is great and the topic is very interesting.
21:32:00 SusanEttenheim: what part of this are you relating to?
21:32:01 Chris Sloan: @wmarsh: Tonight is a good example of how tech (in my case digital photography and SKype) can faciliate my students learning.  Susan and I will connect via a site called Youth Voices as well
21:32:10 SusanEttenheim: what questions do you have?
21:32:39 SusanEttenheim: wmarsh - do you use skype?
21:32:53 SusanEttenheim: and I'm also wondering what you teach in your computer class?
21:33:00 SusanEttenheim: hi gail welcome!
21:33:03 wmarsh825: yes - skype.
21:33:42 Gail Desler: Thanks, Susan, sorry I'm late
21:34:21 SusanEttenheim: what do you do in your classes wmarsh?
21:34:51 SusanEttenheim: hooorayyyy gail!!!!!!!!!
21:34:52 wmarsh825: My classes concentrate of keyboarding skills as well as Microsoft products. But I want to move forward. I have created a class wiki and require my students to create blogs, sites, etc. Trying to bring rural Montana to more Web 2.0 tools
21:34:55 SusanEttenheim: clap clap clap
21:35:05 tim: hi.sorry chris and wmarsh.
21:35:12 tim: some friends arrived - just as you asked questions
21:35:38 SusanEttenheim: great! Which parts of this conversation connect with your work wmarsh825?
21:35:38 tim: i teach digital photography to my year 5 students - 9 year olds
21:36:00 wmarsh825: I want to explore the YouthVoices site more. It looks great!
21:36:03 Chris Sloan: @Tim. Susan and my students are taking a lot of photos of the places around where we live.  I was wondering if your students ever take photos of places in NZ
21:36:07 SusanEttenheim: tim - will you share some photos on youthvoices and voicesonthegulf please????
21:37:21 Paul Allison: http://voicesonthegulf.org/discussion/crows-what-do-you-think-voicethrea...
21:37:52 tim: @chris and susan - i'm planning to upload/share some of my students photos
21:38:02 tim: we are on mid-term break at the moment
21:38:03 Chris Sloan: nice!
21:38:37 tim: i have my y5 students work on laptop - their photography sessions have completed
21:38:54 Chris Sloan: We'd still like to see some of their photos
21:39:02 tim: teaching scratch with y6 students now - but will meet with some y5s and work with them to post their work.
21:39:06 SusanEttenheim: yes pls tim!
21:39:23 SusanEttenheim: when they return. - when will that be? they will have comments!
21:39:40 SusanEttenheim: tim - how old are the y6 students?
21:39:55 SusanEttenheim: WOW I'm starting to teach Scratch with a group in about two - three weeks
21:39:56 tim: my y6 students are 10/11
21:40:07 SusanEttenheim: ahh mine are 14/15 but that's ok!
21:40:18 SusanEttenheim: what kinds of projects are you doing in Scratch?
21:40:25 tim: we have 6 sessions of an hour
21:40:27 Chris Sloan: my students are 14-18 years old
21:40:41 Chris Sloan: mostly 14 year olds
21:40:50 SusanEttenheim: That's not a lot of time to do Scratch!
21:40:54 tim: i've been using some of the resources from the edu site for scratch
21:40:59 tim: no - it's very introductory
21:40:59 Chris Sloan: in photo one I mean
21:41:45 SusanEttenheim: tim will your photo students be taking more pictures and still be in the class after the break?
21:41:45 tim: introducing basic components - then they get a chance to build their own app. we spend a lot of time exploring scratch website - for examples
21:42:25 tim: @susan - they won't be in that photo class anymore - but I will have some lunch sessions with them, and encourage some to upload.
21:43:24 Chris Sloan: The students would get a lot out of it, because my students would want to talk about the images.  And my students get motivated when other students talk about their photos
21:43:26 tim: apologies - I'm going to have to bail - am on baby duty today. nice to see you all. have great weeks up there!
21:44:11 SusanEttenheim: great to see you tim!
21:44:13 tim: I am off to uLearn conference next week - excellent tech in ed conf here in nz.
21:44:44 Gail Desler: OH, love the idea of extending Clover to a game environment.  She truly will go viral
21:45:06 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/community/digital-photography/273
21:48:59 matt montagne: baby duty calling. Gotta get crackin' . Keep up the good deeds all!!!
21:49:13 Chris Sloan: you too tim
21:49:22 Chris Sloan: you too matt
21:56:06 Gail Desler: Becky, I'm on your website - looks great!
21:57:35 beckyjezek: oh good! we should discuss this further tmrw...maybe on the phone. my contact info is listed on the site.
21:57:42 Gail Desler: Oh, wow, I'm looking at photos of the vertical gardens hanging from chain link fences.
21:57:53 margaretsmn: Chris, My friend in North Carolina is a photographer you may want to look at, Marjorie Pierson.
21:58:10 Gail Desler: One thing low
21:58:16 beckyjezek: yes and i'd love to tell you more about the program and the way it works.
21:58:19 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/community/digital-photography/273
21:58:46 Gail Desler: Looking forward to it, Becky. Will contact you soon!!
21:59:04 beckyjezek: Great, please do!
21:59:18 Chris Sloan: Okay Margaret, I'd like to see her work.  How can I find Marjorie's work
21:59:44 margaretsmn: www.marjoriepierson.com
22:00:07 SusanEttenheim: great - thanks margaret!
22:00:33 beckyjezek: Margaret, we should discuss getting your school a woolly school garden as well, if you're interested!
22:00:53 beckyjezek: Everyone's school ha!
22:01:35 Gail Desler: Would be fun to compare Gulf Coast to West Coast woolly gardens
22:03:11 beckyjezek: Of course!
22:08:41 margaretsmn: I'll be looking into the woolly garden idea...
22:08:43 SusanEttenheim: night all! thanks for joining us tonight
22:08:55 beckyjezek: great night to all and thank you!
22:09:02 margaretsmn: good night.
22:09:08 Gail Desler: night all
22:09:10 Chris Sloan: Looking forward to seeing some of your students photos, Margaret.  When you have time
22:10:02 margaretsmn: I'll work on it.  They've been working with found photos online.  want to get them into their own sense of beauty.
22:10:07 Chris Sloan: great
22:10:16 margaretsmn: talk to you soon.
22:10:28 Chris Sloan: looking forward to it. Good night
22:10:31 margaretsmn: gail, can we email about voice thread??