I was tagged by Nergiz Kern (aka Daffodil) my Second Life neighbor on Virtlantis Island, home of SLEnglish with Kip Yellowjacket. The task: to reveal 7 things about me that others in my PLN may not know. Most of you already know that I am Salty Saenz in Second Life and that I am creator of the Ning, Mexico English Teachers’ Alliance: META. I also blog about education and experiences in Mexico. But the following 7 things should help you to know me beyond these academic pursuits. My newest blog, Avatar Times, will be debuting soon.

Here are the rules:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

So, here I go:

1. Career in Nuclear and Defense Programs
I am retired from the nuclear materials production programs for national defense (USA).
Most people that know me do know about my pre-retirement career. I have worked almost all of my professional life for the United States Department of Energy and the University of California … both are integral parts of the production of nuclear materials (uranium, plutonium and tritium) for the Defense Department. Having worked in these programs, I have been to all the defense production sites from the Naval Reactors sites to weapons production and surveillance to nuclear materials production … from Aiken, South Carolina, to Fernald, Ohio to Richland, Washington to Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Los Alamos, New Mexico to Livermore, California and more. Yes, I had a “Q” security clearance. For my last 10 years in the DOE family, I moved away from defense activities and worked on programs dealing with Earth and environmental sciences. So, perhaps I left a little more “green” and peaceful than I entered. I am now retired from the University of California.

2. Diversity Educator
I was born and grew up in Detroit in the 60s. The area is still somewhat racially segregated today, but not like it was then. Then, of course, there were the horrible race riots at the end of the 60s. I was 8 years old. My father was a taxi driver in Detroit during those days; and he took us through the city so that we could see history in the making. I saw with my own eyes what hatred and oppression can do. All the white people literally fled (called “white flight”) out of Detroit while it was burning and falling. Detroit has never really recovered. It is a city that burns down a little more each year on Devil’s Night. The burning and destruction and misery continue even today. I went to Fitzgerald High School exactly 1 mile from the Detroit city limit and I lived on the now famous 8 Mile (thanks to rapper Eninem), which is the city limit. One little mile from the Detroit city line and there were 0 black students in my school, although Detroit was 90% black. How was that possible? The answer is easy: discrimination and prejudice. Today when I looked up my old high school in Facebook, I was pleased to see that recent graduating classes are now racially mixed. But even so, the last time I was in the area, segregation on societal , economic and educational levels are still heavily ingrained there in 2009. Discrimination just goes a little further under the surface to do its evil. In a strange series of events, I became a diversity guru and educator in the middle- to late- 90s when HR was hot on this topic. With some colleagues, I coauthored a journal paper on diversity findings in the workplace and made recommendations to honor differences and boost productivity. That turned into a job traveling and facilitating workshops around the country for the USDOE/University of California. A lot of really screwed up things go on in workplaces, let me tell you! I was also the only Anglo-Saxon member of the UC’s Hispanic Diversity Working Group, selected by Hispanics.

3. Raised in a Foster Home
I didn’t know who my real parents were until I was 7 years old. My natural brother and I were raised in a foster home for 7 years, since 3-month’s old. During that time, we were never told the truth. Our foster parents posed as natural parents and even had our last names changed (in school records, not legally) to theirs. Life was normal for 7 years. Loving parents, tri-level suburban home, elementary school across the street, and church on the other side of the house next to ours. We were the “Stepford Children” in a way. We played in the backyard with neighbor kids, had fun with our dogs, went to church every Sunday, had dinner guests, just a normal Midwestern life in the suburbs. That soon ended the day that my brother and I were kidnapped by our biological mother (she died in 2004). Apparently, she still had legal custody all those years. She convinced our foster parents to let her take us out for the day just to go to a movie. We never returned home again. In one second, my name changed, my home changed, my family changed, my life changed, and my identity was turned upside down. I wasn’t really “me.” I learned then that EVERYTHING can change in an instant. How would your children feel if the same happened to them? My biological father and his wife, my stepmother, are super people. We have a great relationship still today. My foster mother died many years ago before I could find her and thank her for the values and foundations that she gifted me during my formative early years. I am who I am today in large part because of those 7 years; my personality, my disposition, my way of seeing things, etc. No matter how hard it was to go through that, I still have that gift with me today.

4. Animal Lover
I love animals, all animals. But I have a spiritual fondness and love for dogs (probably from my foster family). I have a sweet Corgi named “Amiga.” Many people here in Mexico find the name “Amiga” odd as they don’t use it for pets. “Amiga” is Spanish for “girl friend.” Just seemed like a natural fit to me. In the US, there are oodles of dogs named “Amigo” but for some cultural oddity you never hear “Amiga.” Well, now you have! You want to see me get upset and angry and violent (well, constructively violent)? Harm an animal in front of me and see what happens. Let me warn you. If you care for your own safety, don’t do it. I WILL respond and HAVE responded in the past. I have had dogs my entire life and even a spell with a Siamese cat that had no home. I don’t really like zoos too much; I don’t like that the animals are not free. But, hypocritically, I do go because I love to be near them. I always say, “dogs are such special people.”

5. 4-Year Music Scholarship
My younger brother played clarinet and he was a virtuoso. He drove himself to perfection. He was 1st-chair clarinet as long as I can remember: in grade school, in junior high, in high school, at Interlochen and later at Eastern Michigan University youth band. I was musical too, but somewhat in his shadow. Interestingly enough though, I went on to university on a 4-year music scholarship for saxophone and violin, both of which I played. I majored in music for 1 year then gave it up. I didn’t want to teach or compose, and I couldn’t see how I would survive in the field. I abandoned my right-brain predominance and took up boring accounting and graduated with a BS in Business Administration. Yuck! Now I had a career path and a respectable job in Management and Administration that I dutifully carried out until retirement. I betrayed my soul. But, I am still here .. and probably is the reason that I love working in education now. Working on honoring that right brain once again. Even though I played the tenor sax and the violin, they weren’t even my favorite instruments. I have always loved the oboe and the cello, and will until I die.

6. On Breathing
Please don’t refer to me as a nonsmoker. I really dislike being defined or labeled for something that I am not. It seems really stupid to me. If I am a nonsmoker, then I am also a nonsardine-eater, a nondiaper-wearer (at least for now) and on and on. I am a lot of nonthings, aren’t you too? Besides that I simply loath cigarettes and smoking of any kind. My mother died of emphysema at age 62 in 2004 and my aunt (her sister) died of lung complications at age 57 the same year. They both did a lot of damage to their bodies and loved ones with cigarettes, I’m afraid. And even though I was a Diversity Educator, I do discriminate. I do not have any close friends that smoke. I do not go to clubs. And, I hang out at Starbucks not for the coffee or music, I do so because smoking is not allowed and they DO enforce it. Incredible for Mexico, where smokers still do as they darn please. Just remember, someone may be a smoker, but I am NOT a nonsmoker.

7. Special Talents
Ok, now the weird stuff. I have some extraordinary talents that I want to come out of the closet with. Soon I will be uploading a video to YouTube of my Corgi and me singing duets. She loves to sing with her Daddy. She lets me take the lead while she does backup vocals. She is quite gifted, I am not. I never could sing, especially not at 8AM when my sight-singing teacher at college would hit a note on the piano and order me to sing number 8 on page 34. I am sorry, I can’t sing at 8PM, certainly not at 8AM when I am still asleep and my vocal cords are cold. Nonetheless, I do enjoy singing for pure pleasure with my doggie void of the pressures of academics. My other talent is that I can make the little toe on only my right foot dance. Yes, I said dance. All the other toes are perfectly still while the little one twists and turns and grooves to a beat. This must be a genetic deformation of sorts, as the only other person that I have ever seen do the same is my mother. When I have dared show anyone, they were stupefied by both the dexterity of my lil’ toe and the absurdity of it all. I have never be asked for an encore performance by anyone.

So, there you have it. Seven things or facts about me that you may not have known before (I have many more, trust me!). And now I will keep with the rules and tag the following 7 people from my Personal Learning Network: Sharon Elin, John Martin, Mindelei Wuori, Daniel Voyager, Maru del Campo, Larry Ferlazzo, & Dan Gross.

Enjoy, Frank (metaweb20 in Twitter)

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

The yearend activity for me has been immense. You haven’t seen me much on my beloved twitter or blog posting either. My Google Reader RSS aggregator is backing up; and del.icio.us/diigo are on hold. With over 1,000 students to make, give and grade tests; there simply has been no available time. Life is this way at times. I hope to be back into my Web activities within 3 weeks after completing all program reports.

I do poke into twitter from time to time for a quick fix, but I must admit that I miss getting a drink when thirsty. I am a little parched right now; but I know that the river is flowing and will be there when I am ready. Such is the glory of the PLN, Personal Learning Network.

Toward A Definition of 21st-Century Literacies
Adopted by the NCTE Executive Committee
February 15, 2008

Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies—from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and
cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of
purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous
information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments

For more 21st Century literacy resources, visit the following Sites:

21st Century links at del.icio.us … and more
21st Century Diigo links
21st Century Learner – AASL Learning Standards
21st Century Skills – Campus Technology

Johnny Bunko trailer from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

The only career guide you will ever need. Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (or Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age), is at it again. This time with a provocative Japanese cartoon-style look into making good career moves.

From Publishers Weekly: The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. Johnny Bunko will be published this month by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, with an initial printing of 75,000 copies. As the title implies, the book acts as a guide for promoting your career and landing the job that best fits your talents and passions. The title character works in the accounting department at a large company but dreams of putting his creative talent to work. A chance encounter with a pair of magic chopsticks opens up a new world of opportunity for him and teaches him six lessons of the modern workplace.

Ok, I just started EduCrowd, which must mean that I am the first edublogger to stumble upon CrowdStatus, a mashup site that lets you create your own crowds to follow their most current twitter tweets. Each crowd creator decides who is in the crowd, so it is sort of a personal thing. But you can share your crowds by tweeting the publicc URL. The public URL for EduCrowd is http://crowdstatus.com/EduCrowdcrowd.aspx … DM me on twitter if you would like to be included in the EduCrowd or the ESL EFL Teacher Crowd (@metaweb20).

Also check out http://grouptweet.com which lets you set up and communicate within user-established groups.

Ok, so what is the beauty of CrowdStatus then? I believe it is the ability to break the binds of our PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) and have a little more fun with twitter. For example, I can create a “crowd” on the topic of dog lovers, gourmet cooking, camping, or fishing, etc. I no longer have to stay inside of (isolated in) my primary twitterverse. I can now participate as an onlooker of sorts into many different communities that I self-create. Then, if I choose, I could reply to a specific person even if I am not following them. I can even invite them to enjoy the “crowd” by sharing the public URL; so that they can now participate in a new community that they are interested in but not previously connected with. Crowds are created by people you choose, they don’t have to be following you or you following them. So how do you find people that match your varied interests? You used the twitter search tool or tweetscan to build your crowds. With CrowdStatus, I can now be 100% of all my interests, not just the edublogosphere. I am a whole person again! My twitterverse(s) just multiplied!

Related twitterings:
TwitLinks – Tweets for Busy Peeps (links from the most popular tech twits)
GroupTweet – Send private Twitter messages to specific groups of friends!
5 Ways to Find More Friends on Twitter -Resources from our friends at RWW

Exploratree – Exploratree by FutureLab

Additional resources: Check out META’s great collection of graphic organizers and guidance.

This past week in Mexico City, I gave a presentation on connectivism and the networked teacher to teacher trainers, teachers, and administrators in the field of education, principally English as a Foreign Language. The group was made op of my university colleagues. One participant was the ex-president of the Mexico City MEXTESOL chapter (Mexico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), the largest professional society for English teacher in Mexico and sister organization to the USA TESOL organization.

The session was titled “Connectivism – Personal Learning Networks for 21st Century Teachers” and we covered basic Web 2.0 tools for getting connected, including:

1. microblogging (twitter)
2. social networks (META Web 2.0, Classroom 2.0, eflclassroom, etc.)
3. RSS (Google Reader)
4. blogging & wikis (edublogs.org, wikispaces, etc.)
5. social bookmarking (del.icio.us)
6. digital photo sharing (Flickr)

Alec Couros’ graphic, “The Networked Teacher” was indispensable in charting the differences between the typical teacher’s networks and those of a connected teacher using technology.

The icing on the cake came later in the week, when I sat down and helped a local colleague, and coincidentally also a past president of the Morelia MEXTESOL to increase her connectivity. So let’s keep an eye on Ellenblog as she starts on her blogging voyage. Lots of goodies to come from Ellen, of that I am sure. Now she is also set up on Google Reader and del.icio.us. She is on her way to being connected, and all of us will benefit, as will she and those that she teaches. Ellen has asked me to sit down and guide her bit by bit to demystify Web 2.0 and getting connected in the most productive way. Perhaps you already know Ellen from her social networking at Mexico English Teachers’ Alliance :: Web 2.0 where she has been an active member since this past summer. Wow, my head is still spinning!

After reflecting a bit on my workshop and individual coaching session, I realized just how many “Ellens” there must be out there. Those educators that have a wealth of experience and offerings that aren’t yet widely connected (perhaps a forum here or forum there and some emailing). I now see just how important it is for those of us that are connected to help others get connected one by one. Like Vicki Davis has said, “The first step is getting connected yourself.”

With my Mexico City and local colleagues getting more connected, I don’t feel so isolated here in my region. And, it feels really good. So look for some new faces on twitter … cause here they come. There is no turning back!”

http://www.ausculti.org/

Great opportunity to start a digital storytelling project with your students.

The Center for Digital Storytelling is based in Berkeley, California. CDS is a non-profit training, project development, and research organization dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell meaningful stories from their lives. Our focus is on developing large-scale projects for community, educational, and business institutions, using the methods and principles of the Digital Storytelling Workshop. We also offer workshops for organizations and individuals and serve as an international clearinghouse of information and resources about storytelling and new media.

Other digital storytelling resources:

Digital Storytelling Links
Sample Lessons: Digital Storytelling
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story
NAIS – Digital Storytelling Adventures
Terraminds Twitter Search: Digital Storytelling
del.icio.us Digital Storytelling tags
Google Blog Search: Digital Storytelling
The Connected Classroom Links
Digital Stories
Discovery Education Network streaming resource for Digital Storytelling
Engaging Digital Natives with Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling Carnival #3
Lisa Huff’s Wiki – Digital Storytelling (& more)

Please add more Digital Storytelling resource links in the comments area. Thanks!

International Edubloggers Directory (yes that is me start of 5th row)

Support Blogging

The ELT Bloggers Directory

Bloggers to Learn From: socialnetworking4teachers

Faces of Web 2.0 ★ 21st Century Teachers

Edublogs.org Blog Directory

Twitter Brain Storm (a backup directory of educational twitterers should twitter fail)

And then there are those “A” lists that are closed. You can’t add your name. You are selected based on your popularity, ratings and/or readership … such as the lists that follow:

LiveMocha Education Blog List

Alltop: Education – We’ve got you covered

D’Arcy Norman’s recommendations for the best feeds and blogs about: Edublogs

Got any more edublogger directories or listings to share?

This would be fun for making different things (print or Web) … plus you could project on classroom screen but scramble the letter order … and play unscramble games (sentences too) .. or place an “x” for wildcards, etc. Or, just to put headers on your (or students) blog posts from time to time!

Also see Tagnautica – Explore the Flickr Tag Space: Really nifty visual word association tool. Just keep following words. Lovin’ all these Flickr API tools!

Got your iPhone in hand?

OK, while this is not really real; it serves as a possibility of things to come. Or does it? What do you think?

This is just such a unique Web 2.0 meets social network event, that I want to participate with broadcasting live coverage of my twitter network friend, Clay Burell. So here it is. Check back just before 1AM Denver time (I am in Mexico, not USA).

Frank’s Flickr Foto: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metaweb/2317570887/

Ustream.tv channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/beyond-school-tv

Clay’s blog entry: http://beyond-school.org/2008/03/08/an-invitation/

Chris’s Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/share/77403

Chris’s blog coverage: http://betch.edublogs.org/2008/03/08/the-joining-of-two-diamonds/

(live Ustream feed removed, perhaps the recorded version will be made available for posting later)


Chris’s (@betchaboy) Voicethread:

And, of course, twittered about and captured in TwitBin (Clay’s twitter client of choice):

And it all turned out so very del.icio.us indeed:

Below is the complete Clay wedding -day twitter coverage:

	ssedro Watching the voicethread of well-wishes for Clay and EunJong. Drop by and wish them well http://voicethread.com/#q.b77403 2 hours ago
	john_larkin It was heartening to see Clay’s wedding yesterday. 6 hours ago
	betchaboy for anyone who may have missed the chance to do so, leave a message for Clay and his new wife at http://voicethread.com/share/77403/ 6 hours ago
	MetaWeb20 Chris’s Voicethread to register well wishes for the newlyweds, Clay and Eunjong, http://voicethread.com/share/77403/ 8 hours ago
	jchambers @dmcordell Clay was one of the only people I could rely on for constant online comms. He really is brilliant. Stay tuned – he’s all that. 11 hours ago
	derrallg I feel sad that I fell asleep and missed Clay’s wedding, had a dream I was in Seattle buying Doc Marten shoes 11 hours ago
	jchambers @dmcordell Hi Diane. I worked with Clay in Shanghai and he’s as fascinating an individual in person as he is online. Great, great guy. 11 hours ago
	jchambers @dmcordell Hi, I don’t think we know each other formally, but I just want to thank you for your support for Clay today. 11 hours ago
	jchambers still amazed by Clay Burell’s audacity and his live wedding stream… that was completely new 11 hours ago
	MetaWeb20 I participated in Clay’s wedding from 2-4AM but here at university at 7:45AM .. tired and sleepy! 11 hours ago
	loonyhiker @mja320 and considering i was “at” clay’s wedding at 3am too lol 12 hours ago
	dogtrax Just added comment to VoiceThrd for Clay’s wedding. A nice gesture but kind of strange experience, since I only “know” him via blog/twitter 15 hours ago
	jchambers I think that watching cburell and his wedding was one of my UStream high points for this year. Congratulations, Clay! 16 hours ago
	MetaWeb20 just blogged: Clay’s Wedding 2.0, http://tinyurl.com/2gltyz 17 hours ago
	davestacey Just dropping by Clay’s wedding before getting Curig ready for his first swimming lesson :0) 17 hours ago

	nzchrissy add your message to VT for Clay and Eungjong’s wedding http://tinyurl.com/ytm6tx 18 hours ago
	MetaWeb20 Clay’s wedding Ustream Chat http://tinyurl.com/2gltyz 18 hours ago
	MetaWeb20 flickr’s clay’s wedding http://www.flickr.com/photos/metaweb/2317570887/ see blog for chat details 18 hours ago
	nzchrissy fascinated that I can be a part of Clay Burell’s wedding virtually thanks to ustream! 18 hours ago
	betchaboy New blog post… clay’s wedding… http://tinyurl.com/3cl23e 19 hours ago
	derekbrandow Watching live wedding from korea on ustream.tv clay burrel. 19 hours ago
	kdumont @shareski – At a thousand bucks for the hair, I’m thinking we ought to be taking up a collection for Clay. 22 hours ago
	loonyhiker see y’all in a little while. gonna take a nap before clay’s wedding. 1 day ago
	tvuick Clay doesn’t like to talk to me so I am going to bed! Good night everyone! 1 day ago
	v8 @clay- best of luck with the wedding. congratulations! 1 day ago
	betchaboy so what time is clay’s wedding being ustreamed?? 1 day ago
	jeffwhipple @mguhlin clay’s babies!!!!! scary thought….hmmm…will clay’s kids go to “school”??? LOL… 1 day ago

	mguhlin Did I miss Clay’s wedding? 1 day ago
	kwhobbes @dmcordell Thanks for the reply on the post. I’ve been following Clay’s journey. Very interesting. Thanks for the link! 1 day ago
	mizminh adding to my collection of contractions & truncations- @cburell , clay’s – irrespns’y- a handy lil hemi-neologism-& a u beaut day to both:D 1 day ago