Another Meme- Nearest Book

This one's fast. I saw it on Langwitches. It is called the Nearest Book Meme. I am the queen of both reading and random, so it appealed to me. 

The Rules:

•Get the book nearest to you. Right now.

•Go to page 56.

•Find the 5th sentence.

•Write this sentence - either here or on your blog.

•Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.

•Don't look for your favorite book or your coolest, but really the nearest book.

The closest book is the fiction I'm currently reading, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. I hope the 5th sentence of pg. 56 is appropriate for my blog. Let's see--ok, counting from the first complete sentence on the page, here is #5:

Approaching each other, him from the gym, me from the library---this was when I walked down the aisle and he was waiting, this was when we made love, it was every anniversary, every reunion in an airport or train station, every reconciliation after a quarrel.

That's it. Pretty random. Your turn.

The Wordle Meme

I've been double tagged for the wordle meme by Silvia Tolisano and Terry Shay. 

1. Create a wordle from your blog's RSS feed. 

2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?

3. Tag others to do the same. 

4. Link back here and to where you were first tagged. 

I tried changing my settings, as described by Ann Oro in order to access more posts in my wordle, but the wordle was the same before and after changing settings. It draws from my most recent posts only.  According to Silvia, that is okay because you can do wordles over time and document your "Zeitgeist" or spirit of the times. In fact, she has added to the meme:

5. Create different Wordles of your blog's RSS over a period of time. Do it once a month for the next year. 

Without further ado, here is my blog's wordle, my Zeitgeist for Fall 2008-

What do I see? Students, front and center, loud and clear. Yup! 

I don't like the fact that SCHOOL figures more prominently than LEARNING. 

Think, teachers, kids, groups, technology, project, create- no surprises there. 

Election, survey, political, issues- these words help illustrate the spirit of the times this fall.

Silvia also adds a #6. Share other uses (at least one) you have found for wordle (for your students or personally) to your blog post. 

I've been working on an application, and I decided to wordle a few of my answers to the questions. I think it is interesting to see what words you might be overusing in written proposals, grants, etc. and to make sure that the words that figure most prominently are representative of the ideas you are trying to express. This could be used in the teaching of writing as well, as a fun, new way to "see" your writing.

The hardest part of the memes for me is the tagging. If I tag you, I hope you want to be tagged. If I don't tag you and you DO want to be tagged, please consider yourself tagged!

Tagging--

Ken Allan

Clay Burell

Angela Stockman

Tweet Cloud Poetry Meme

As usual, I am a few days/weeks/months....years??? behind the wave, but I am joining the fun of the found word poetry with my tweetcloud. Can you tell that I am completely burnt out? There are so many important thoughts being articulated and discussed in blog-land, and I desperately want to be part of it. I really do. 

Clay Burell calls it fluff. Well, maybe for him it is...

Tried blogging interesting, useful thoughts. Come comment. Thanks!

Teachers sure talk.

Enjoy everything. Use time better. Eat chocolate. Feel happy. Choose love.

Want free fun? Try Twitter.

Meme Passion Quilt

Thanks to Silvia Tolisano of Langwitches for tagging me for the Passion Quilt meme.

Directions: Find or create an image that captures what you are most passionate for kids to learn about.

This is a great (as in good and fun) challenge for me. I decided to find an image on flickr creative commons rather than to create one. One hard part for me was to choose and express a superlative passion as I have many. The hardest part for me is going to be finding the 5 people to tag. 

The first three words of my caption "we can solve" really sum up the feeling behind the image. WE connotes a collaborative approach, a desire and ability to work with others. No one person can do it all alone. CAN: I truly desire to leave each of my students with a sense of confidence in their own abilities, a feeling of "I can do it" no matter what "it" is. Finally SOLVE: I see using technology as one way to develop a flexibility of the mind, an ability to problem solve quickly and in many different ways (learn, unlearn, relearn). 

We Can Solve This.

3 Simple Meme Rules:

• Post a picture from a source like Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn...and give your picture a short title.

• Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to this blog entry.

• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce. (What is Pownce?)

Tag. Your turn -- what are you passionate about sharing with the kids you teach?

•Marsha Goren from Global Dreamers

•Barbara Cohen from Independent Thinking

•Pat from Successful Teaching

•Graham Hughes from The 25 Hour Day

•jupiterjase from twitter. I don't know his(her?)blog yet.