Meet Boolean Squared, who has a lot in common with students in our classrooms in that he “loves computers with a passion, but he rarely uses them in the way that his teacher — Mr. Teach — would like.” And he fully believes that “there is no operating system or Web site that should not be tinkered with.”

Created by my NWP colleague the multi-talented Kevin Hodgson, this web-based comic strip will run every Monday via Masslive.com’s Newspaper in Education and will soon have an RSS feed available. I’ve mentioned Kevin many times in past Blogwalker posts, always about his innovative approaches to 21st century teaching and learning. How fun for Kevin’s 6th grade students, their parents, and the community at large to have this window into the world of digital natives and (or maybe vs.) digital immigrants.

Boolean Squared could make for great Monday morning class discussions too.

I’m impressed with the U.K. Childnet International resources, including their links and PDF brochures on Young People, Music and the Internet and Young People and Social Networking. Nice handouts for parents – teachers too- to provide common sense guidelines for safe, effective, ethical use of the Internet.

The resources on their digizen.org link are equally excellent. The intro sums up their mission:

Digital citizenship isn’t just about recognising and dealing with online hazards. It’s about building safe spaces and communities, understanding how to manage personal information, and about being internet savvy – using your online presence to grow and shape your world in a safe, creative way, and inspiring others to do the same.”

Digizen’s Cyberbullying resources also include a powerful video that I’m sure would spark classroom conversations, starting with the reality that kids in the U.K., just like in our school districts, are having to deal with 24/7 cyberbullying challenges.

Seems as though the commercial sector frequently, though unintentionally, provides some of the best free teaching resources. Take, for example, the video below, for a stunning look at the effective use of basic camera shots (a skill I’m still hoping to master). Before you watch the video, you might want to know that it was produced to sell a very upscale condo development in Charleston, S.C., located at the intersection of Jones and Whiter.

No, I’m not in the market for a condo (and the model’s dress is not my style), but I do really like the variety and use of the shots and the way it flows together via transitions.

One of my favorite workshops from last summer’s NECC was Rushton Hurley’s hilarious session on video editing. Before leaving the session, I signed up to receive his electronic newsletters. An update arrived in my email yesterday entitled “Educational Video, the fun way.” I’m glad I opened it! I’ve spent the morning exploring links to some wonderful resources:

• iEARN 2008-2009 International – Here’s Rushton’s introduction: “There are still some slots for those wanting to make a simple video as part of a cool international project.” What a great way for students to share about their own communities – and to be able to learn about other communities – national and international – through a student perspective. Check out the video samples posted to the site, which will serve as great examples to get students started. Note: Registration ends Monday, September 15.
• Next Vista Learning – Looking for good videos to bring into the classroom? I think you’ll like the cross- curricular clips posted on Rushton’s website. Hey, I actually get the difference between helium and sulphur hexaflouride after watching Scott Merrick’s video!
• Lit Terms in Modern Media – And for students needing more than a textbook explanation of literary terms, Todd Seal’s site should be helpful. “The idea is not simply to help define the term, but to explain why to use the technique.” Note: Content is appropriate for older students.

And if you’re traveling to San Jose next month to the Innovative Learning Conference, I recommend you check the program from Rushton’s workshops!

What I most value about Web 2.0 are the multiple opportunities to join groups of like-minded colleagues and to craft and continually expand my own personal learning network. The Day in a Sentence community is one of my favorite communities. To begin with, it stems from my friend Kevin, whose enthusiasm, expertise, and sense of digital adventure tends to be infectious. When Kevin takes a blogging vacation, he passes the DIAS weekly postings on to others. This week, for instance, educator and writer Deb Renner Smith, whose blog I’ve just added to my RSS feed, is hosting DIAS. The DIAS rules are simple. The idea is to wrap up your day or your week in a sentence. But you’re allowed to break the rules. If you need two sentences, no problem. If you can summarize in just a phrase, or an image, or even a poem, that works too. And we’re a global community too. With the new school year now under way in most districts, many, many of my colleagues putting in tons of extra hours in hopes of making this the best year ever for their students. But this week my DIAS comes from a student perspective:

This week my son, who has more than once dropped out of school, called me as he enthusiastically headed off for a new semester at a local community college, and he left this message: “So much depends on getting a good teacher.”

To my son’s comment, I’d like to echo a thought posted today by Bud the Teacher inviting all of us to “go do good things” as I head back in to re-read a related post on Two Writing Teachers.

If you’ve been looking for opportunities to help your students develop better blogging skills (posting and responding), check out what Aussie educator Miss Wyatt is sponsoring: Student Blogging Competiton!

You can follow the conversation and updates from her blog site or from a new discussion item in The Edublogger.

I’m also glad to know about the SignGenerator site that Miss Wyatt used to create the blogging competition graphic.