Trailfire in the classroom
Madeline Brownstone, a teacher from the Baccalaureate School for Global Education, NYC, kicked off this episode by talking about how she has begun to use Trailfire in her classroom. Madeline has only begun to explore the possibilities of Trailfire. Her 7th graders have begun trails on their personal interests and/or hobbies. In one class period they proved able to master the task of registering, creating a profile, and starting a trail. Here are links to some:
http://trailfire.com/12albertoc
http://trailfire.com/12saleha
Is it website graffiti? Is Trailfire post-it notes for the Web?
When it was released last August, Pat Ferrel wrote this about Trailfire:
We let you mark pages with annotations that can be either plain text or HTML (including dropped in widgets like those from YouTube or Google). Then the next time you mark a page (using the same trail name) they are linked together in a trail. It is a fairly simple idea that has some similarity to social bookmarking and annotation products but with more far reaching implications towards creating a user generated meta-web, a Social Web.
From his self-described “cloud,” one of the co-founders of the company, Pat Ferrel joined us on this episode to consider what educators need and want from Trailfire. Pat was a senior engineer at Aldus. He later founded Daily Planet around the notion of aggregating online content based on a user’s personal interests. While it was still in the seed stage, he sold the company to Microsoft, where it formed part of the pre-launch MSN team. At Microsoft, Pat was the Director of the MSN Tools and Applications Group. He was responsible for MSN authoring tools, content server, search, and e-commerce.
Pat, and his co-founder John O’Halloran had noticed that Madeline was using Trailfire for teaching a couple of weeks ago. They were interested to follow Madeline’s work Since they “are currently focusing on the education market for Trailfire.”
Pat discussed some of the different options for teachers for including students in a “contacts” list and allowing a subgroup of users to add to a trail. Pat and John recomment that we:
Take a look at the new ‘Contacts’ tab where you can now add your class as contacts. Also, its now easier to invite your class to join. Just click on the link above the ‘contacts’ list. When you students join in this way, they will automatically be listed as one of your contacts. Also, you can now form your class as a group. If you do this, you can share wiki trails publicly or privately with them. Any comments they leave in your marks will be reported on the new ‘Activity’ tab. By using contacts, groups, activity, share (wiki trails with group) you can more effectively collaborate.
Many of us are excited about using Trailfire as a collaborative learning tool! We can imagine modeling our research processes, supporting careful reading of websites, inspiring dialogue, creating portfolios within social networking blog sites like Youth Voices… and the possiblities seem to keep coming. Madeline writes:
I see it as an excellent tool for students to learn to actually interact with the content on the Internet. I have to do more teaching around this, but I believe the tangibility of the virtual sticky notes makes it very appealing. I also like the potential of crafting trails as artifacts in their own right.
Pat and John seem truly open to hear from teachers. They ask: “How do you think we should improve it? How do you think we can promote it to other teachers?”
Students blog about the VT shootings
In the remainder of this episode Sharon Peters, Lee Baber, Paul Allison, and Susan Ettenheim talked about their students’ responses to the Virginia Tech shootings. What follows below are several postings that students made in the Personal Leaarning Space and on Youth Voices.
VT shooting
It seems that the only thing everyone is talking about is the shooting. I live in New York and many of us feel bad and are sad that this happened. We feel pain and sorry for them. But I don’t mean to be rude but it didn’t affect me at all. I have no friends or family that go there and I don’t have anyone planning to go of course after this. But it makes me think what if I was there? What if my friend died? I know that I am surely not going to make fun of Asian people anymore. And not like I mean it in a bad way, they’re always the quite smart ones that no one really pays attention to. But I think differently now, and they are pretty cool if you talk to them. I think that there shouldn’t be any difference in people.
Keywords: Asian, pain, sad, shooting, VT
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC
Virginia Tech Massacre
Many people mourn beacuse of the shootings of students going to Virginia Tech, consuming the lives of 30+ people and wounding many more. The gunman was a 23 year old senior who many people describe as a person with a really twisted mind and a loner, who wrote plays that had a lot of violence. I think that he was probably bullied by society and was a loner, and didn’t have any friends. I feel bad for him but the fact is what he did was wrong. In my opinion a grade in a school has at least one loner, who nobody wants to talk to and no one wants to be friends with. These people probably think deeply about people and how he/she hates some people. I think that the guy who caused such a tragedy had a whole bunch of hate just boiling up inside him because of how much he was bullied that he just couldn’t take it and felt the need to kill those people.
Keywords: bullying, friends, gun, loner, massacre, shooting, virginia tech
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC
Comments:
1. I agree on the people mourning, but even being a loner does not mean you can take lives like that. College is not like Jr High, there is hardly time to make friends between studying and all of those activities. But some kids still find ways. He could have found those ways but did not try so its his fault.
a Student at BSGE, NYC on Friday, 20 April 2007, 15:22 UTC
V-tech massacre
April /16/ 2007, That’s when a student decided to take the lives of 32 other students and his own at Virginia Tech University. The V-tech community was scared for life from this horrifc event. How could the parents and families of all 32 students ever live again? It must be heart-breaking. Not only did Virginia see how bad this was but also the nation, and all around the world from Pakistan to Russia. This event was truly the worst massacre in American history and i really hope that it could be the last.
Keywords: died, massacre, shooting, v-tech, virginia, virginia tech
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC
Comments
1. I agree with you that it was very horrible and espically since so many people died and because it was in our country. But what is weird is that all the poeople in Iraq that died don’t get the same atention as the people who die in America. Instead Bush wants them to go to Iraq and kill others because he wants to get more power.
a Student at BSGE, NYC on Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 15:28 UTC
Why did he kill so many?
On april 16, 2007, a 23 year old asian student by the name of Cho Suing hui went on a shooting rampage in virginia tech college. His first and main target was his self-proclaimed girlfriend named Emily Jane Hilscher. His second victim was a man named Ryan Clark who heard the shots and went to see what happend. After the first shooting, Cho sent a packege to NBC witch contained a bunch of pictures of him with both murder weapons, A video of him alking about why he did it and a 180 letter manifesto. After that, he went to another part of the school and killed more than 30 people and wounded 29 before killing himself.
I think that this incident happend for no apperant reason. The killer was apperantly mentally disabled. He said that it could have been avoided. He blamed his misery on rich kids and snobs. He said that now we have spilled blood on our hands that we will never be able to wash off. This was a tragic event that people will remember for a very long time.
I want to know how he wasnt caught in the 2-hour gap between the first and second shooting? I also want to know what his true motives where. His video didn’t prove anything.
Keywords: mentally disabled, motives, video, Virginia Tech, worst day
Posted by a Student at ESCHS, NYC on April 20, 2007
Comments
1. He sent the package in because he wanted the people to see how many people he could kill. By having him on the news all they’re doing is bragging on what he did. It’s exactly what he wanted. In e few years someone is going to try to out-do him and blow up a whole school just so that they can say “Hey look I killed more people than Cho!”. They shouldn’t be putting the stuff about him on the news. He only did this so that he could out-do the Columbine shooters. Why? Because they went and put it on the news that they had killed all these people.
A student at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, Virginia on Friday, 20 April 2007, 16:39 UTC #
Virginia Tech Massacre
I think that the Virginia Tech massacre was one of the worst massacres that I ever heard about. I think that just because the guy was all stressed out and depressed about college, he didn’t have to go and kill other people, instead he could have gone to get some mental help or even go and ask the teachers to help him with his work. I also think that the teachers should of sent him to get some help before he killed all those people because the teachers alredy suspected that he had some issues before he killed the people. For example, in his English class he had to write a scprit and he wrote about a guy killing someone else. The teacher suspected him at first and was thinking wheater or not to make him get some help but then she decided to wait a while. I’m not saying that it was the teachers’ fualt but they should of sent him to get some help before he killed all of those people.
I also think that if the cops would of arrested him after killing the people in the dorm then he wouldn’t have killed some many people. Instead of killing 32 other people, he only would of killed 2 people which is also bad but killed 32 people is even worse. I hope that the people in Virginia Tech will be able to recover from the massacre.
Keywords: killing, mental help, students, teachers, Virginia Tech Massacre
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC
comment: I agree with what your saying but there were a lot more things wrong with the kid than depression and stress. He was scarred from bullying and also had mental disorders.
V-tech massacre
April /16/ 2007, That’s when a student decided to take the lives of 32 other students and his own at Virginia Tech University. The V-tech community was scared for life from this horrifc event. How could the parents and families of all 32 students ever live again? It must be heart breaking. Not only did Virginia see how bad this was but also the nation, and all around the world from Pakistan to Russia. This event was truly the worst massacre in American history and I really hope that it could be the last.
Keywords: died, massacre, shooting, v-tech, virginia, virginia tech
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC | 0 comment(s)
Virginia Tech Shooting!!! 
On April 16, 2007 there was a shooting at Virginia Tech University, in Virginia (obviously), and I don’t really know much about what happened but I do know that it was really awful for a kid to just come to the school and shoot everyone for NO apparent reason and even if there was a reason I can bet that there will never be a good enough reason for someone to kill a lot of people! I was really sad when I had heard about this shooting because of all the people that died for just being good people, I used to live in Richmond, Virginia but I didn’t like it (because I wanted to try it out for a year with my grandmother) because it was too quiet so I moved back to New York but now I realized that Virginia isn’t that quiet after all because Of what happened this week. I think if that would’ve happened over here in New York I don’t know what I would do if any of my friends would’ve died or even if I would’ve died because death is NOT a game you play it’s really sad and it’s if you die you don’t come back unless god chooses to give you another chance and that is very rare so I think what that boy did was really sad and tragic because if someone was to kill him and his family he would be devastated!
Image: “Please Remember The Victims” by Soulfull (http://www.flickr.com/photos/soulfullshots/465118814/) License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
Keywords: death!, shooting
Posted by a Student at ESCHS, NYC on April 23, 2007
On Youth Voices: A Murderer
Well, the topic that I would like to focus on is the incident that happened in Virginia Tech. One thing that concerns me is that the head people in charge did not really respond really well to the first incident when two people were shot and died, on the other side of the campus. The students were given an email two hours later, which can have led into more deaths. These head people did not take in consideration of the other students. The buildings should have been evacuated and soon as possible.
The suspect/ murderer was an Asian dude. I think that it was possible to stop him, no matter what; it was one guy against the whole entire school. And the school is really big. There were about 32 people who died, 20 something hospitalized, and two in surgery. This is a lot of work for just one guy to do, although it was just one. If something like this can happen, then Virginia Tech needs to get the security upgraded, because obviously it is not enough. Another thing that I believe is that the guy went to that school, whether they say that he did or he didn’t.The fact that he attended that school is even worse, because how is it that a student is able to have guns in the school and by himself lock the doors with chains there had to be people who had witnessed this. Virginia Tech is a big school so there has to be some kids in the hallway every minute. I don’t think that it was possible for him to lock those doors without anyone being in the halls. I also think that there is a possibility that some people helped him out because this is too much work for one man.
On the news it stated that the guy was able to shoot 100 rounds in just three minutes, with both of the guns. Cho Seung-Hui is a murderer and if he wasn’t dead than I would be glad, so that he can be punished and tortured for what he has done. I wonder why he had done what he did. And what was wrong with him to do such a thing. That guy should have gotten some help instead of endangering others because of his psychotic mind. Some rumors that I have heard is that he was looking for his girlfriend, and that in the past he has written about killing people. I don’t know if this is true, but it is a scary thing to hear about.
The picture to the top left hand corner is the face of the Asian guy that killed 33 people including himself. He is a disgrace to his race! And that is a fact. He should have never did that because he didn’t only hurt himself and his family, but other families as well of all the victims dead or a live.
Cho had sent the NBC news a video of his confession on the murders that he had done.
The murderer had something wrong with him and it wasn’t taken care of, and the result led to something horrible, “Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-old shooter in the worse school massacre in American history, was thousands of miles from his homeland, South Korea, and apparently and infinitely further from humanity….” I also believe that he was far from humanity, because a decent human being would not do what he has done to those people.
Posted by Nadine at ESCHS, NYCComments
1. They said that Cho had some mental problems and he was a loner at his school. One sentence that really stood out for me was “He is a disgrace to his race”. What is that supposed to mean? So, if a white man commits a murder he is a disgrace to the white race? Cho is a disgrace but not to his race because he doesn’t represents the whole asian race.
Mei Nga at ERHS, NYC on Thursday, 19 April 2007, 17:47 UTC
2. I thought this was a great story to write about. This is the biggest massaacre of American history and should get lots of attention. I believe that Cho should have been sent to therapy and forced to take medication when he wrote disturbing essays for class. This is obviously a sign that he needed help. However, what he did was insane and I can’t believ someone woudl do such a thing.
Malisa B at ERHS, NYC on Friday, 20 April 2007, 00:22 UTC
3. Dear Nadine,
I really liked your blog. I agree with you that the people could of done something to stop Cho from killing so much people. If the people did do something, maybe not so many innocent people would of died. I think Cho has some problems because he killed 32 people becuase he was talking to a girl online and she signed off. I thought that was kind of stupid. Why would you kill so much people because a girl signed off?
Edna at ERHS, NYC on Friday, 20 April 2007, 00:44 UTC
4. Dear Nadine,
I really enjoyed reading your post becuase not only did you give alot of information about the current event, you let your own opinion in. You stated what happened, and then afterwards what you thought of the situation. Sometimes it can be hard to say exactly what you think about something. I also like reading yours becuase I was intruiged by a picture in the very beginning which made it stand out from the other blogs on the page. I agree with you when you say, why would someone do such a thing? and he hurt not only himself, but his family, friends and many victims. However, I do not agree with you when you say that he is a discrace to his race. Just becuase one person did something very bad and strange does not mean his entire race should take credit for it, and looked badly upon becuase of it. When you say he let his race down, it sounds like they do nothing good and he went into this ordeal representing them.
Rachel at ERHS, NYC on Friday, 20 April 2007, 01:14 UTC
5. i believe this is horrible thing to happen in the world.. I made me sad and drespssed to know a teenage coudl have caused so mean so much pain.
Yanee at ERHS, NYC on Friday, 20 April 2007, 02:27 UTC
PRAY FOR THE ViRGiNiA TECH. SHO0TiiNG.
I think that instead of talking about what happened and what could have avoided it, you should pray for the family and hope that they get throught their terrible loss. Even thought what happened was sad and stuff, you can’t change what happened in the past so I tihnk all we could do right about now is pray.
Keywords: guns, pray, school, shooting, virginia tech
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC
Virginia Tech Massascre
I heard that the killer was bullied a lot in school, in Korea, also. This reminds me of an episode of One Tree Hill, when someone that was bullied a lot, and he hated everyone, and he just brought a gun to school and threatened to shoot everyone. This proves that bullying definitely has a horrible affect on the lives of people. If someone is bullied, they are affected for the rest of their lives and it can change how they are. If people had not bullied the killer, then maybe this incident may have been avoided. Bullies have to realize that their actions can do a lot of damage. It hurts the person bullied, and it might cause them to hurt other people so they could feel the same hurt feeling that they have experienced. If people were just a bit nicer in this world, things like this massacre could be avoided.
Keywords: bullies, bully, bullying, guns, killer, massacre, school, Virginia Tech Masssacre
Posted by a Student at BSGE, NYC | 1 comment(s)
Comments
1. Well maybe the killer saw the episode of one tree hill and thought “Hey that sounds like fun” lol..i doubt it….teehee
a Student at JFH on Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 16:01 UTC