Lifelong Kindergarten- Keeping Imagination & Creativity in the Learning Process

Mitchell Resnick, MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten

I decided to take my notes from this session in wordle.

Other posts I've written about LLK and Scratch:

Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

Scratch that Itch

some about playful learning:

The Science of Play

Taking Play Seriously

and a great article from The Creative Educator (excellent magazine) on Iconic Pattern Play

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