karen levy's Page

There's so much information about this topic on the Internet. When looking at the issues that could be worked on, it's important to get personal so that the topic becomes more meaningful. The question must be asked, why choose one issue over another? Maybe, to help clarify, which issue is taken on, a loop writing could happen to clarify the emotional investment in the various topics. Some of the most popular issues students are looking at are: Iraq war, genocide in Darfur, the upcoming Beijing O… Continue

Traditions or thoughts about personal is political.

Jew, Spanish, Ladino, Turkish, Arabic, French, Hungarian,
Abuse, female and Parent's Immigrant Success story
Struggle against anti-semitism,
Father sells shopping bags,
Aunts work in sweat shops.

Father and Uncles march on the Lower East Side
for better working conditions.
Mother lives with boarders in the Bronx,
distributes communist literature
but knows not to sign.

Husband's Great, Great Grandmother
Yetta Sumter, German Jew, born 1825
hid… Continue

I hope to continue blogging on this site. I have introduced Youth Voices to students but I haven't been as successful as I hoped. I think that young people are so busy with their Myspace pages and other online social networks that they probably don't have time to use another one unless it is made a requirement. Some teachers/ librarians have suggested getting a Myspace page and that might be an interesting experiment.

It's amazing to realize there are so many social network tools out there in the virtual world. I thought that blogging was so innovative when I learned about it a couple of years ago. Then, I found out about Voicethread at the retreat, but I didn't use it in my library/school because I had other priorities. For me, if I don't practice these tools, I won't be able to use them because I won't feel competent. I keep repeating this mantra about "practice." because I don't want what I've learned thes… Continue

Some of the obstacles to using technology are just unique to me and some of the obstacles might be those that our student might feel. For me, since I wasn't here at the beginning of this "Institute," I feel that I don't know how to do everything. So that is affecting my confidence level. We talked about how important confidence is to our students being open to new information and understanding. The more support and attention that our students (and me) get while doing any kind of learning activit… Continue