Thing 7

Think of ways you may be able to use Flickr in your classroom and share your ideas. What issues might you face?

I can see that in my video production class students could share still images and video clips and upload their finished projects. Students in all classes could gather and share images for research projects and create multi-media presentations with better quality pictures. Documenting school events such as field trips or class activities especially if coupled with a blog would be a great utilization.

There are a lot of ways that Flickr might be used in my classroom ... but I wonder if it's blocked by our district's filter? I'm pretty sure it is. So many great resources fall under that blocked category and I'm finding it frustrating. At this rate it will be another 5 to 10 years before we are anywhere close to utilizing Web 2.0 resources.

Thing 6

Create a post on your blog about one of the photos you downloaded. Why did you choose a particular photo? What is it about the photo that you found interesting? Be sure to include the image in your post.

I found the really interesting image above which is a collage made up of the covers of 99 of 100 most banned books for the years 1990 - 2000. The image in flickr makes use of the Notes feature so that scrolling over the picture shows each of the titles.

This image - and the books that make it up - speaks to my abiding interest in preserving the freedom to read for everyone (including students) and my opposition to censorship. Using the covers to create an American flag represents freedom and the rights we all have ... including the right to read what we'd like and the privacy to do so. That being said, I also believe that as adults and educators, we have a responsibility to offer students quality literature that is appropriate for their developmental stage. As a corollary to that, I recognize a parent's right to monitor and direct their own child's reading.