Bully Me No More (Lesson Plans)

Tomorrow, December 17th 2010, is Anti-Bullying Day and as a person who has been, in different life situations,

the victim, the supporter, the hero... 

the observer, the bully, the oblivious...

I decided to channel my energy into creating a lesson plan on the subject.   I hope you and your students find it interesting and I hope it helps.

1. Tyler Ward's Cover Version of Eminem's No Love

Write the following paragraph on the board or beam on to a whiteboard/IWB:

It's a little too _______ to say that you're ______ now. You kicked me when I was _____ but what you say just don't ______ me, don't hurt me no more. You showed me nothing but ______, you ran me into the _________ but what comes _________ goes _________, what you say just don't hurt me, don't ____ me no more.

Ask your students to guess what the missing words are.

Purchase & play the song http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tyler-ward-covers-vol-3/id406190149

or Watch the video via the internet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz1Y6EZUT10&feature=related 
to confirm the missing lyrics.

Ask your students to tell you if they know who the original song and singers are.

(Eminem & L'il Wayne). Who are they? Ask what they think the song ís about.

2. Eminem & L'il Wayne: No Love (video)

a. Ask your students to jot down notes while they watch about what they see on the screen – start the music video – make sure to play without sound (very adult lyrics)*  
(this is a clean version)






Eminem - No Love ( Feat. Lil Wayne ) from Top Music on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/17010892 (available Dec2010)*explicit

((some countries have clean versions of the lyrics available -do a google video search))

b. Ask your students to describe (in as much detail as possible) the story they saw in the video and how it made them feel while watching.

c. Ask students if they think that Eminem or L'il Wayne were ever bullied at school. Were either of them the bullies? Why do they think so?

3. What is Bullying?

Ask students – What is bullying? How does it differ from fist-fighting, verbal abuse or other types of hurtful or angry behaviour? 

What factors are usually in place in a situation like the one shown in the video – can we usually tell if someone is being bullied?   What happens to people who fight back?

4. Sticks and Stones

(If you have access to real sticks and stones + cards with common insult words put these up on a table in the front of the class.)

Ask students: Is violence always physical? What does the saying Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me mean?  

Is it true? How do words harm?

5. Stand on the line
hat-tip Anita Kwiatkowska who reminded me of this conflict resolution approach at TESOL-France

Get students to push the desks out of the way and create an open space in the centre of your classroom. Take a roll of tape and draw a line through the middle of the room. Make sure to assert that your classroom is now a safe-place and ask for respect to be shown to each other.  

Example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7QMy54Keg&feature=player_embedded

(Alternatively you can opt for asking students to remain seated and raise their hands or stand up in place when answering yes.)

Ask students to stand on the line whenever they can answer yes to a question and to stand off the line whenever they want to answer no. No elaborating on questions -simply asking them to step on or off the tape. 

*If you're teaching second language learners you may need to clarify some of the vocabulary beforehand.

Stand on the line/ Stand up/ Raise your hand

1. 
   
   ... if you like listening to music...
2. 
   
   " if you have an mp3 player
3. 
   
   " if you have an ipod
4. 
   
   " if you have an itouch/ ipad/ iphone
5. 
   
   " if you have more than 30 albums on your music device
6. 
   
   " if you own any rap music
7. 
   
   " if you have any albums by Eminem or L'il Wayne
8. 
   
   " ~if no one in your family knows about this... :-)
9. 
   
   " if you had an argument with anyone in your family this week
10. 
    
    " if you had an argument with anyone at school last week
11. 
    
    " if you have ever called someone a bad name in private
12. 
    
    " if you have ever called someone a bad name in public
13. 
    
    " if you have ever been called a bad name in private or public
14. 
    
    " if you have ever been hit by anyone else
15. 
    
    " if you have ever hit a brother or sister/ friend
16. 
    
    " if you have ever hit a someone you didn't know well
17. 
    
    " if you have seen someone else hit
18. 
    
    " " … and didn't do anything
19. 
    
    " " … and reported it to an authority
20. 
    
    " " … and hit the person doing the hitting
21. 
    
    " " … and waited, then helped the victim
22. 
    
    " if you have ever been a friend of someone who hurts people
23. 
    
    " if you have ever been a friend of someone who took their own life.

Thank the students for sharing and then get them to help put the desks back in place. Don't talk about the experience or intervene – at this stage - if some students are emotional, allow them to comfort each other.

6. Who feels what? 

Hand out the wordle* Who feels what and the activity sheet asking for the emotions of:

• The Bully
• The Bully's Lieutenants
• The Victim
• The Victim's Supporters
• The Victim's Hero
• The Observers
• The Oblivious

Switch groups after 10-15 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers. If teaching 2ndLanguage learners, allow dictionaries.

*Depending on your culture and the age-group you're teaching, you will need to make a decision on which wordle to use. One of these includes the phrase sexual thrill and uses harder adjectives.

7. Tell your story

As the teacher, you should now tell a story from your own personal experience (your childhood or that of one of your kids) of either being bullied, watching a bullying experience plus what you did or didn't do or, perhaps, even of being the bully yourself in a specific situation.  

It is very important that you share a true personal story rather than something in the news at the moment - if you can - as it will help your students trust you enough to tell their own.

Now ask your students to share a story from their lives: they can write their stories in their blogs or notebooks and make sure that they know that they will not required to share these stories unless they choose to. Stop them after a long enough period has passed and then ask for volunteers of those who would like to share their story publicly: again remind everyone that your classroom is a safe haven today and ask for respect without judgments.

8. Bully Me No More: question cards

Print out enough copies of the card game on coloured paper to create multiple small groups of 3-5 students. Cut the cards and distribute the questions you feel suitable for your age group. Put them face down on the table, the students should turn over the cards and ask each other the questions on them.

9. Write a play

Divide up your class into groups of no less than 6 – 10 students and ask them to script a play about bullying:

Act I: A horrible incident occurs afterschool.

Act II: A school meeting is called to discuss the incident.

Act III: 25 years later, everyone meets at a school reunion.

Who is everyone now? What do they do/ what jobs do they have?  What do they talk about?

If the students would like to, get them to choose characters, act it out / film and/or host on YouTube.

10. Follow-Up: Internet Research and Project Work

Post up the following options on the board and ask students to choose which they would like to research on in order to work collaboratively. Students can then use their computers/web2.0 tools to create posters/ prezis/ glogsters/ animotos/ wallwishers/ comic books/ infographics etc.

• Bullies throughout history:a timeline
• How to: A guide by students to teach teachers how to spot and deal with bullies
• What is cyberbullying: how to report, prevent it and stay safe online
• Cyberbullying: what stories are in the media today?
• How to spot sexual predators (off and online)
• Understanding the psychology of the bully / victim/ supporters/ observers
• What is defamation of character? Understanding the legal issues of slander and libel.
• What is the NOH8 campaign?

Useful links: 
http://www.delicious.com/KalinagoEnglish/bullying

I love hearing from you!

Please add your thoughts if you enjoyed this lesson plan and you feel like there's something you would like to question, add or say about it - don't worry about perfection or agreeing with me: it's always a pleasure to hear from you and know your own opinions.

Best, Karenne
education 



Download the lesson plan:
bullymenomoreLessonPlanDecember2010KarenneSylvester

At the top of Maslow's Pyramid

Wow, I am finally surfacing and trying to get my head in gear this afternoon - upon opening up my google reader  and quickly browsing through the ELT blogosphere, I notice many excited reports and reflections on the IATEFL conference which took place in Harrogate this year.

It was, quite simply, one of the best educational events I've ever attended: mega kudos to the organizers, online team headed by Julian Wing and Gavin Dudeney plus the numerous  IATEFL committees  and volunteers who worked so hard at putting something like this together incredibly successfully.   One of the best parts of it all, in my opinion, was Graham Stanley's LT-SIG pre-conference event which was held live, via twitter and also within 2nd Life - I'll blog separately about that later.  But first,

one of the things which struck me most profoundly at IATEFL was something I've been musing on for a while now - covered briefly in my crowd-wise discussion but actually got to see happen in real-time, confirming my thoughts on the process.

It has to do with Maslow's pyramid of needs, so apologies that in just a moment, I'm going to go all deep with you here.

But first allow me tell you a couple of stories:

On the first official day, climbing up the stairs to the conference, I bumped into Jeremy Harmer.  For those few of you who don't know who that is, Jeremy is one of the most influential  and widely  read authors and editors in the field of ELT.  The man who wrote the book on teaching English.  He is also an accomplished poet and edu-blogger.

I apologized to him that I wouldn't be able to attend his session (I was totally gutted) because we were scheduled at the same time.  Jeremy apologized back, saying that he would have loved to attend my talk and   he was interested in the development of e-communities.

Side Bar Confession:
I didn't think he was serious, let's face it: why on earth would the Jeremy Harmer want to attend my swap-shop and musings on the historical, evolutionary and psychological aspects/practical issues involved in setting up e-communities?

But as the conference raced on and all the evening events took place, here is what became immediately obvious: Jeremy was absolutely everywhere.   He attended most of the sessions of his PLN,  attended the LearningTechnologySIG's preconference event, via 2ndLife, tweeting back like the rest of us towards the external twitter community and was very much, not just a professional guru in our field but authentically interested in what we had to say, think and how we teach:  he was above all, an engaged, active, excited member of the Educational Community of Practice.

The second story has much more to do with me and my decisions about which sessions to attend and it wasn't just me I saw doing this...

There were, at the IATEFL conference, a number of very, very famous and important speakers.

Presenters, globally renowned for their years and years of contributions to ELT, prize-winning authors and glorious trainers who I couldn't believe I'd actually get the chance to see live... and then there were people like me who do what we can, train teachers on a small scale, spend most of our time in the classroom  but many, many of us there were spending  hard-earned pennies on an educational event (some presenting, others only attending): money which would normally be earmarked as holiday funds.

In just about every case, whenever there was a clash between one of my PLN (whether from Twitter or from an educational yahoo!group or Ning I belong to) and a famous author, I found my feet walking me towards the member of the community.

One morning, after staying up 'til 4am, there was an 8.20 session.

A slap of ice-water on the face, deep breaths to wake up and a quick jog took me down to the conference centre on time.   There was simply no question that we would be there and his room quickly filled out as the rest of us, bleary-eyed, twitterers and blog-readers stumbled in - some without our first coffee.   When he asked us why, didn't we already know what he was talking about (it was on PLNs) the answer was simple.



Nik Peachey is someone who has provided us, for free, for years, with so much content and ideas through his blogs and explorations of the web2.0 that we were there to thank and support him.

He is a member of our PLN.  Wild horses wouldn't have kept us from going to see him live.

A couple of days later, when schedules began to severely clash, I missed two community members' sessions back-to-back, sessions that I really very much wanted to attend - I got grabbed into a conversation I couldn't get out of - I was genuinely sad and upset about that.  Still am, so they better be at Brighton next year :).

So, anyway, what has all this got to do with Maslow and when am going to stop gushing and get serious?

Lindsay Clandfield's Pechua Kucha discussed his worries about the me, me, me aspect which just about everyone sees when they enter Social Media but undoubtedly, that is for me, just one minor step along this journey.   

When Maslow made his pyramid, he forgot the top of the triangle.  And as it has been missing, through this blog post, am putting it on now.

Beyond personal self-actualization lies the actualization of community.

(cc)Karenne Sylvester, 2010:  adaptation from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg by factoryjoe on wikimedia commons)


What social media and the web 2.0 is doing, most profoundly is that it is working on the we, we, we.

The IATEFL 2010 conference in Harrogate confirmed it: there is a deep need within humans to support a community they co-create.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shellyterrell/4519170550/sizes/m/in/set-72157623849013638/

The conference was very much not just about only saying hey to our old-new friends and sharing hugs (how quickly we all knew each other) nor was it about how wonderful, wonderful it was to smile in real time at Vicky Saumell and giggle with Jamie  from China, to talk blogging with Nik Peachey over a beer (how cool) or to listen to Shelly and Ozge as they went through their presentation in the apartment for the 20th time (fantastic, fantastic -best presentation of the conference) or to bossily tell Marisa and Shaun to pay attention to our real-life discussion too, not just to one with the 2ndLifers, or to share a cigarette with Emma  Herrod and Scott Thornbury; to find out how nice Luke Medding is in real life, to attend Candy van Olst's presentation of dogme in Business English settings or to get one of Ken Wilson's massive bear hugs, to  rehearse my PK with Sue Lyon Jones, to congratulate Lindsay Clandfield on his mega launch of Global,  to play with Tamas' little Sophie and break bread with Amanda, to have Jamie Keddie profusely worry about me and whether or not I'd make it up to the stage without fainting beforehand; to quickly converse with storyteller Jan Blake and  with Herbert Puchta on the value of non-self-promotion via twitter... but also, also more importantly

how we did not forget our twitter friends 

and how we felt connected to the PLN members who could not there  in person.

We truly didn't want them to miss out on a single moment of the excitement we were going through;  we really didn't want them to miss out on the learning we were receiving so we let them know what was going on... we didn't want them to miss out on how well our fellow community members were doing as they stood up, sometimes for the first times, in front of large crowds and shared their knowledge so....

we shared and shared and shared. And we tweeted and we tweeted.

Collectively, both inside and outside the IATEFL conference, we continued to work at building and strengthening our amazing global community of educational practitioners and I'm so incredibly proud to have witnessed this and in my small way, been a part of all that growth.

Useful links related to this posting:

• Mark Andrews and the Great Tweet Forwards
• Clarissa Ryan, The Twitter Divide
• Shelly Terrell on PLNs, Twitter & Conferences (see Jeremy's poetry on video there)
• Nik Peachey on "famous" women :-)
• Ken Wilson on Tweet-ups and Tweet watchers
• Shaun Wilden's fantastic talk 
• IATEFL Pwned by Gavin Dudeney
• When the dust settles by Jeremy Harmer 

Best,
Karenne

Crowd Wise 10: What to read next

Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are 
the product of disagreement and contest, 
not consensus or compromise.

James Surowiecki

Where can we find research and more information about working in e-communities?  Are there any courses you can take online or in person? 

Have you read a great book or can you recommend a helpful website or ebook helpful to those new at creating e-communities?

Best,
Karenne

This posting is the final part of the series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 9: On the dirty subject of money

"Dogs have no money. Isn't that amazing? 
They're broke their entire lives. 

But they get through. 
You know why dogs have no money?  

No Pockets." 

Jerry Seinfeld

I remember tweeting a while back that I pay to have the ads on my online platform (with students) removed and the response I got back was "I'd rather find something for free."

Now, I don't pay for the community where I work with other teacher-bloggers - I see it as a place where we're all in the same boat together, however, my student community is part of my job where naturally, I earn a salary therefore I'm actually quite happy to pay for it (it makes my work better).

I tend to think if the software developers and companies who produce these platforms never ever earn any money for their time, energy and creativity then eventually they'll be forced to shut up shop.

Yet... most people tend to agree with my co-tweeter, why?

Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 8: Working with Learners vs Working with Teachers

Educational e-communities can contain groups of students, groups of learners or both.  In your experience which is easier or more comfortable?

Are the activities the same?  Why/why not?

What are some of the differences you've noticed in ratio of participation, collaboration and communication?

Best,
Karenne

Crowd Wise 7: Building the team

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. 

Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." 

Margaret Mead

Throughout the world we can see - in towns, cities, countries and companies that to create anything of any real value takes much more than one mind and one pair of hands.  We know, intuitively, that the many are hundreds of times smarter than the few.  

But is it easy to find others to collaborate with? 

And once we've found them, how do we transfer off-line team-building skills into an online environment?

Are there specific activities which we can use to help build strong groups which actively work together towards a common goal?

Are you and your e-community working on a collaborative project right now?  What are you doing? How did you find or make the right people to adopt your project and take on important responsibilities?

Best,
Karenne

This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 6: Threats to e-communities

He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; 

and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march 

from his home; and if he would not really have rather stayed there in peace.

J.R.R. Tolkein

Every community has its darker side and the virtual world contains its seedier side too.  Sometimes they can become even more emotionally challenging, due to the anonymity of parties involved.   These are just a handful of the things that may crop up when you run or participate in an e-community - knowing about them helps you to deal with them so I've listed a few below:

The Door-to-Door Salesman

Sole purpose for joining an e-community is to advertise pharmaceutical products, commercial services and generally talk about what they have on offer and only what they have on offer.

Will directly spam your members and generally make a real pest of themselves.

The Troll

Primary purpose for joining an e-community is in order to spread their self-hate on to others.  Will start fights.  Highly difficult to recognize - not all argumentors throw flames and most debators are not trolls.

It's also important to note that conflicting opinions within communities often help members bind better together!

The Cold-Shoulder

Moderators who don't understand the psychology behind the actions of those who are brave enough to add to a discussion, for the first time,  ignore ego-boo which in turn stops other members who were not brave enough to yet, from adding anything further: collaboration dies.

The Pirate

Sole purpose for joining an e-community is to steal content and ideas for their own commercial ventures.  Will trawl through your archives until they find what they want, copy/steal it and obviously not attribute this work appropriately.

The Kidnapper

Sole purpose for joining an e-community is in order to find new members for their own e-community.  Will spend time getting to know your members and then spam the core with invitation links:  often convincing them to take on moderator positions etc within the other community.  

The Predator
Sole purpose for joining an e-community is for sexual purposes.  Will seek out your young, principally female members, and spam them with invitations to connect outside the virtual world.  Sometimes only mildly irritating -at other times highly dangerous, especially if you're working online with young children.

The Drop-Out Leader
Gives up on his or her community before allowing it to reach critical mass.

The Lost Leader

Primary purpose of starting an e-community was out of self-love.  Tires of the work involved and abandons his or her tribe leaving members unsure of future direction and lost.

If you run or participate in an educational community, have you had any experience with the above?   How did you deal?

Have I missed any other threats?


Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 5c: Why do people join e-communities?

An ant can carry a leaf

but a colony of ants can carry an elephant.

African proverb

From the dawn of time, or better said, from the dawns of civilization we divvied ourselves up and created tribes.  We roamed in groups across vast plains, colonized nations overseas and settled down in towns only to then construct cities.  We joined football clubs and today we join e-communities.

But why?

What is this driving force, this need which makes us want to team together - aren't we all innately selfish beings with the primary concerns of home, food, shelter and our own genetic prolongation?

Why do some of us lead and others choose to do a Ruth, to make other people our people, other traditions our traditions?   Why do we protect, admonish, support, love, help, reject, compete with, collaborate with, fight with, laugh with...

people that we do not even know?

Share with me your thoughts, musings or opinions on this issue.

Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 5b: My culture, your culture, our culture

People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. 

We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.   Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.  

Kofi Annan

Cultural differences have been noted in groups of monkeys which live in different regions so it's hardly surprising to note culture becoming an issue within e-communities.

Some of this might have something to do with rules set or not set right from the outset, sometimes it has a lot to do with recognition and egoboo, sometimes it is made up of professional  partnerships and other times competition and jealousies.    Sometimes it springs directly out of the leader's own approach to leadership and his reasons for creating the group in the first place.

What happens when the tribes' needs change?    What does a community do when it realizes it has leaders who are autocratic  or it begins to suspect that shady politics, raw ego or financial gain may be in the background of every message sent?   

What can a community do when its leader feeds off its members by asking for more and more and never really giving back?  How does it butt in and interrupt, asking for a new tone?

Why are some e-groups nothing more than deserted ghost-towns, others a warm safe nest and still others warring battlefields made up of various splintered tribes?  

When working with a global group of human individuals, be it with teachers or students, can culture online ever be agreed upon and defined?

Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url: http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 5a: R u U online?

I first started asking this question long before I entered the world of the web2.0.

It was based on what I'd heard about second-life, way before I even knew teachers taught there, and I wondered if a person could 'exist' in 3D, as an Avatar, ultimately more beautiful and dynamic than their real selves and still maintain their personal sense of identity.   I never really did get into second life, in the end, I s'pose because that question never really went away for me.

Some people believe personality is static, something you're born with and that's that: neither changing nor evolving, not influenced by circumstances or location, no matter where you are or what you are doing.   Others believe that we are constantly and consistently changing in order to adapt to new environments. 

I'm not sure what I believe.

Having traveled all over the world and been part of so many different kinds of societies and real life communities I would be lying if I didn't say that I have witnessed my phraseology, body-language, accents and mannerisms change many times - adapting to fit- and it was hardly surprising to see me evolving once I embraced the culture of the web2.0.

Unquestionably, I'm bolder and friendlier online than I am in person.

Much more likely to approach strangers and say hey and much more likely to "friend" and randomly chat to others than I do in real-life.  In real-life, if we want to be honest here, unless I am in the classroom then I'm the one sitting nursing her glass of wine in the back of the room, on the comfy sofa and the one who goes back to her hotel room early while others sit around to drink 'til dawn - 

Online I tend not to lurk.

And yet...

Hmm...

In life, I love introducing like-people to like-people, adore the thrill of finding someone else in this big fat world who thinks similar to the way I do about a certain subject and boy do I get a kick out of that in my online life. In real life, I delight in having a good philosophical debate, even arguments- a toss of ideas which lead to me learning something brand new / gleaning a different perspective on an issue I might have once felt passionately the opposite about... and of course, we won't even begin to go into giggles I get out of taking the p* out of certain members of the twitterverse, just for the.. the fun of it.

In life, I take risks: try out things which are way too hard for me to really do (like climbing into volcanoes, like riding elephants, like swimming in shark-filled seas)  because to be honest,  I don't really care that much about the consequences...  I just don't really take my self all that seriously (says she the blogger reflecting on her serious thoughts on-line).

Am I different?

Dunno. Dunno.

As above all else, most importantly, in my real-life I don't suffer fools gladly and most surely do not online either.   So how is it that certain things change in virtual realities and other things become more pronouncedly the same?  Why those things?

What do you think?
 
Are you... U when u're online?

Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!  To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:  http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 4b: Lurkers are..? (Roles)

You are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces,

but a unique human being, and if you've got something to say,

say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better.

David Mamet

I do not participate or contribute to every online educational group I belong to.  I do not comment on every blog post I read: sometimes I feel intimidated by the other contributors, sometimes I am not sure that I have anything of value to add to the conversation, sometimes I do not know what is expected or appreciated...

 

And sometimes, I just don't have the time to write out a response.

As discussed in 3d, Does size play a role, Jack McGee puts the ratio of lurkers to non-lurkers at  90:10  |edited 02.03.10, previously read 90%, see comments|   

I debunk that theory - when it comes to educational communities - because I have noticed that it tends to be platform and purpose determined, however, agree that it is the larger percentage of any group, even when educational.

So my question is, who are the people we do not see on our platforms, our blogs, on Twitter?

What is their role and how does it compare to their roles in real-life?  Are they the quiet ones in the staff room, the silent listeners at a party? 

If you run an online educational group yourself, what do you do to encourage these members to contribute the value of their wisdom to the community?

If you are what is popularly termed as a lurker (silly word), would you mind breaking the silence just for today (you can do it anonymously) to let us know why you stay silent? 

Thank you!

Best,
Karenne


This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!

To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

Crowd Wise 4a: Leaders are..? (Roles)

The greatest master is he who creates the most masters

Tao te Ching

Whenever I think about leadership in e-learning communities within the field of ELT, these are the following people who immediately spring to my mind as long-running, long-serving and highly experienced e-moderators:

(From top: Carla Arena, David Deubel, Duncan Baker, Gladys Baya, Tara Benwell & Vance Stevens)

At a minimum, without counting, I belong to at least 50 different web2.0 groups: on LinkedIn, Xing, Orkut, Google, Facebook, Ning, Moodle and Yahoo!Groups.  

My role on these varies across the different platforms: for most of these, I am a lurker(!), on others I contribute infrequently, responding to a call out for help or providing monthly blog summaries - not just of my own blog:), and on others, I contribute very often.  

In some, I actively and regularly engage in lively debates - sometimes heated exchanges on methodology, technology and pedagogical best practices.

I even run two groups aimed at other English teachers: one of which is on Facebook (strictly connected to my blog and helping my readers who choose to connect with me there) and one is entirely dedicated to enabling ELTbloggers to meet each other and collaborate across the blogosphere.  I  also have groups where I work in private blended learning courses with students.

BUT... I wouldn't begin, not even for a second, to put myself in the knowledge categories of those I've pictured above.*  

And that makes me wonder:   
what is it, that creates an amazing e-community leader?   

Many people believe, like rules, that having a specific leader isn't necessary and that communities can drive themselves.  On some this does work, on others it doesn't. Fact is, some leaders created their groups to serve their own (financial) agendas and simply do not communicate, care about or give anything back to their members.  Some  started their communities as part of an experiment in e-learning, something to put on the CV because it looks cool,  some gave up on the concept way before their group reached critical mass and others have been taken over by trolls, spammers and pirates.

I've seen, first hand, throughout the last three years that great leadership is not something to take lightly and is something to take special note of.   But what are the qualities these people possess?   Is it the desire to share? 

How are they able to lead others - people which, most of the time, they have only met online?  Did they learn how to do this, read books - which ones?  Or was it a skill they simply innately possessed dormant until the internet was born?

Let's do a quick experiment, for a second, read this ad:

I wonder...

How would the rest of the job ad read?

Best,
Karenne

**Although there are many, many, many other online edu-group leaders I could have featured in the mosaic above,  I have specifically chosen ones in the field of ELT where there has been a clear leadership model over a long period of time, in communities I belong to or participated in.  However, please don't hesitate to recommend other great moderators you have also noted.   

Pictured:

• Carla Arena, Images for Education and many more
• David Deubel, EFL Classroom 2.0
• Duncan Baker, BESIG LinkedIn Group
• Gladys Baya, Learning with computers
• Tara Benwell, My English Club
• Vance Stevens, Webheads

This posting is part of a series, Crowd Wise, and is, in part, preparation for the swap-shop on web based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th, 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!

To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!

 

Crowd Wise 3d: Does size play a role? (Group Identity)

Friendship is a plant of slow growth

Mark Twain  

According to popular statements regarding the ideal size of a community, the number 150 pops up frequently, however many, if not most, groups aimed at global teachers exceed this number.  

However, many, if not most, blended-learning communities made up of students fall significantly short of this.

When it comes to the e-communities you run or have joined, which do you prefer?  Why?

What happens when the online community is too big?

What happens when the online community is too small?

Is there a just right?

How about the speed of growth?

When a tribe grows rapidly do you feel ignored, your needs unmet or unnoticed?  Alternatively, have you even been frustrated by communities which seem to be growing slowly?  Why?

Best,
Karenne

Update 15.02.10
Nice link, hat tip @lclandfield: Seth's Blog, Viral Growth trumps lots of faux followers

This posting is part of the Crowd Wise series and is in part my preparation for the swap-shop I will be hosting on web-based communities at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate, April 8th 2010.  Your answers, as brief or as in-depth as you'd like to be, is very much appreciated!

To subscribe to all the posts within this specific series, copy and paste this url:

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/crowd-wise  into your reader.  

Note: if you would like to participate in this conversation anonymously, please do feel free to do so.  Alternatively, if you would like to specifically mention an online educational community when making reference to your experiences, adding your group's name and/or its URL, you are most welcome to!