I was overjoyed to discover that one of my SAISD's teachers--Paul Gates--has apparently been featured or mentioned in a book (page 261) entitled, Podcasting for Teachers by Kathy P. King and Mark Gura. Paul's work with blogging/podcasting second graders has been celebrated in a variety of ways. In my writings, I've mentioned him several times:

• TCEA Presentation - 5 Steps to District Blogging
• Writing and Publishing Using Blogs
• Danny Maas, Founder/Productor of TILT-TV, featured Paul Gates and his students in TILT

The power of the Read/Write Web is striking because it taps into the power of the human voice. I still am moved to tears when I hear a choir of children singing a touching song on the radio. . .it's happened to me ever since I watched my first child come into the world. Often, though, we seek to quiet those voices of our children, hoping to silence the canary in the hopes of protecting it from predators. Yet, new technologies are powerful because they help us be more human.

Human nature doesn't change, but social and technological progress tends to amplify its effects. Simply put, the more ways we have to do what comes naturally, the more we do it. One of the things that comes most naturally to humans is the desire to communicate; the internet amplifies our ability to do so. Research is showing people how to "incorporate the internet into their social 'toolkit' and use it...to deal with personal and interpersonal issues in their lives."
Read "Free internet as an Agent of Community Transformation" from The Journal of Community Informatics

Isn't finding your voice one of the most powerful acts you can achieve? That's the power of children who blog and podcast. I wrote about Paul in several blog entries, and shared the following in The Role of Educational Leaders which will some day appear in Coming of Age 2.0 (when that will be, I don't know! <smile>).

You know the power of a child's voice can galvanize a room of educators and parents...Paul's students have consistently written about the garden that they keep, and everything they are learning about plants. You can find audio blog entries (a.k.a. podcasts) from individual students sharing what they have learned, written about, and drawn by hand. It is Paul's class blog that has taught me the definition of a blog--an electronic notebook that facilitates conversations between those who blog there, as well visitors.

I'm delighted to see that Paul's work--and that of his students--has been acknowledged and published in a book! I'll have to agree with Mark Gura, one of the authors, when he writes on his blog:

...a new body of essential 21st Century skills has come into being since the advent of personal computing and digital technology. These skills represent a crucial body of learning for today’s students if they are to graduate as effective citizens and participants in the economy. 21st C skills are not solely technology skills, but involve the ways that learning, knowing, communicating, and solving problems have changed through the application of technology. They must be learned through the continual and ongoing use of technology.
Source: Mark Gura, The Powers that be have been informed

I'm delighted to see that Paul's work--and that of his students--has been acknowledged and published in a book! Please let us know at Instructional Technology Services how you are sharing your students' voices with a global audience!