Collaborative Google Wave Story

Christmas has been had and I haven’t quite caught up with my need for an afternoon nap yet. It is nice to be able to check in with my Twitter mates at times of the day when I am usually at work. American & UK snow storms, tweets about food and down-under sunshine seem to prevail. My RSS reader is empty and I am feeling the need to do a little collaborative something.

Allanah - Google Wave
Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

Kevin Hodgson (@dogtrax) suggested that we add to a collaborative Google wave story. I was a bit shy at first to add a few lines but what the hell. It is fun to leap in and have a go. The wave is open to all and Kevin has invites if you would like one. Give it a go and let your creative juices flow.

I still find it fascinating to watch other people edit collaborative projects like this in real time. Etherpad in its original form has been gobbled up by Google but as they have allowed the source code to be used by other people things like Pirate Pad could well fill the void.

The problem I see with using Google Wave in a classroom setting is the individual invites and log ins you would need. The joy of using Etherpad was anyone could just join in.

Also on the clever, creativity front here’s a little YouTube video rendition of the Halleluia Chorus performed by silent monks.

What should the students call you?

Tonight on TV3 television news they had a piece decrying children calling their teachers by their first name. You can view it yourself through this link here. The full text article can be found here.

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!Teachers and students on first-name basis - Story - National - 3 News

Anthropologist, James Urry, warned us that using titles like Mr or Mrs is an important part of creating boundaries for children; boundaries that are undermined by using first names. He thinks, ‘The practice threatens discipline and that titles help children understand boundaries.’

Last year when I didn’t have a class of my own and worked mostly with adults everyone called me Allanah. The world did not stop turning, no one was mean to me and I never had anyone disrespect me. On my return to the classroom this year I thought I would give it a go as I felt I was a bit old to be Miss King and suggested the children could call me what they wanted- Allanah or Miss King.

Now they call me a mixture of titles- one great spin off is that everyone now pronounces my name correctly- the children have taught their parents how to pronounce it how my family have always pronounced it. I even get called Mum, Dad, Nanna, whatever.

I don’t feel any harm has been done by being Allanah. It is not school policy and some teachers at school prefer their titles and it is their choice. Surely we should have choice over what people call us- fairly fundamental I would have thought.

What do you think?