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Thing 22: Classroom 2.0

July 22nd, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

I have definitely been in the camp of people who view social networking as a waste of time.  I have a MySpace account and find it tedious.  I am amazed at how much time people spend tendering their “page” like a garden.  I guess it is a personality type; I never decorated my locker in high school either.

That said, I joined Classroom 2.0 because I can see real value in that network.  In just a few short minutes, I found several discussions that were of interest to me.  As a new teacher, in particular, I am glad for the advice and guidance of veteran teachers.

I intend to employ this tool in many productive ways.  Classroom 2.0 is like a virtual teachers lounge!  It is a great place to engage people who care in discussions that matter.

Here’s a link to my page.

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

7c: Blogger Clay Burell Leaps!!!

July 19th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

I read a blog about Senator John McCain and his admission he is Internet “illiterate.” The author, Clay Burell, infers that McCain, at the very least, lacks curiosity. He goes on to posit that McCain may have some great fear of knowledge and may steer us all into the weeds in the 21st century. I haven’t witnessed so great a leap since Mikhail Baryshnikov retired.

I am sure Mr. Burell would be shocked to know that I, too, have been fairly Internet illiterate for a man of my age. Is my lack of curiosity at the center of this amazing deficiency? Or maybe I too possess a raging irrational fear of NEW. Maybe I am simply hardwired to accept only old fashioned, outdated and outmoded ways of thinking. Maybe I will help lead the world into darkness!!! Maybe I should take Phil Gramm’s spot!

Has Mr. Burell learned how to cook gourmet meals, impressing his friends and family in the process? Has he mastered the trumpet, drums, bass guitar and voice and performed these instruments professionally? Has he written screenplays that became films, plays that became performances and songs that became records? Are my accomplishments indicative of a person who lacks curiosity or who fears learning at any level??? Maybe I have been too BUSY to learn the Internet. Is it possible that McCain’s duties as US Senator have kept him a little busy?

Also, how do we quantify McCain’s admission? How do we quantify my admission of illiteracy? It is relative. Maybe McCain thinks he’s illiterate. Maybe I think I am. Maybe Mr. Burell thinks he isn’t.

Senator McCain is 72 years old, about the age my dad would have been had he not succumbed to ALS in 2006. If I remember correctly, my father (who had a MASTERS in CHEMISTRY) found the learning curve online frustrating at his age. He relied on me to help him, just as Senator McCain (who has been a public servant his entire life) has relied on those around him to navigate the waters of the ever expanding Internet Sea.

I think Clay Burell should stick to education and forget politics. His lack of thought in this area is stunning, even to the illiterate like me (or is it I)!

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 2 Comments

Thing 21: Nuts about Pageflakes

July 19th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Pageflakes is a stable and easy-to-use application whereby the user can create a customized “page.” I chose to create a great homepage for myself from which I can survey the current news and weather while having access to my emails, to-do lists and calendar.

In just about 20 minutes, I was able to create something I can use everyday. My page will continue to evolve as I do, and pageflakes leaves the door wide-open to further customization.

I can see using pageflakes to create a homepage for a production, complete with a calendar, to-do lists, and video links to points of interest for designers, actors, technicians.

Pageflakes is cool!

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Thing 20: Google Docs Rocks Indeed!

July 19th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

I am loving the Google Docs. This is a web-based application with unlimited potential. It is very easy to use and allows the user to take advantage of the wiki concept without all the fuss. I expect to use Google docs a lot this year. Here’s how:

1) Creating story boards that the entire class can access/modify.

2) Creating on-line forms for actors to submit their personal info (which will be STORED securely and immediately).

3) Creating production lists and documents to be shared by all the designers and production staff.

Another thing Gdocs allows me to do is publish a doc to a URL so people can have a look without having to save it. Here’s a link to a doc I published. It is my writer bio.

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Thing 19: YouTube and the lowering of worldwide standards…

July 18th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

SO I just endured about an hour of YouTube. As a professional actor and filmmaker, I find YouTube somewhat distressing. While the Sundance Film Festival has for years raised the bar and challenged the independent filmmaker, YouTube has plumbed the depths. The lowest common denominator is continually challenged and recalculated on a daily basis. New cinematic lows are achieved on YouTube every few minutes as small minds seemingly race for the bottom.

That said, there are some great videos out there, if you have the time and/or the inclination to look for them. I found some fine interviews with great actors like Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. I found a good “How to…” video about becoming a working actor. I also found some real acting classes. Embedded below is one from a Canadian teacher living in L.A.

TeacherTube is a terrific resource. I was genuinely impressed by the video I saw entitled “Pay Attention.”

As a video producer, I know I will continue to add to the conversation online, perhaps even help to raise the bar a touch. I will have to think about how that production can be used to help other teachers… I will admit I hadn’t thought about that audience. Now that I am a part of that audience, I know first-hand how much HELP I need!

Here’ s that Canadian actor/teacher, Benson Simmonds. He does a good job of getting right to the heart of the acting challenge.

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Thing 18: Podcasts for (and by) Dummies

July 17th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Thing 17: Listening to Podcasts

July 17th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Ok, true confession number one hundred thousand… I had never before listened to a podcast. I knew what they were, but I never bothered.

I have been using iTunes for about two years and so I relied upon their expertise. I searched the iTunes site, which is extremely user friendly and terribly well organized. I immediately found a couple of podcasts that were up my alley.

The first was Garrison Keillor’s Writers Almanac. It was informative and affirming and fun, everything I expected from Mr. Keillor. Much to my great and pleasant surprise, it was also short (about 5 minutes).

The second podcast I listened to was from The Onion news radio show. The Onion is consistently funny satire, though this particular podcast left a little to be desired. The beauty of that transmission was its sublime brevity (being only about a minute in length).

I am unsure if I will make podcasts a regular part of my media diet, but I am glad I took the time to discover them.

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Dewey Would Be Freaking!

July 17th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Dewey and his decimal system used to seem confusing to me.  Now that I have visited LibraryThing, the Dewey decimal system seems like finger-painting with three primary colors.  What a mess!  The more I surf around trying these applications and gizmo web sites, the more claustrophobic I become.  I would love to socialize about books, but if I spend my time tagging, blogging, emailing, podcasting, and teaching, I probably won’t have a lot of time to read books!  I wonder if I am the only one out here who is getting worn out by all this.

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

7b or not 7b… is that a question?

July 17th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Hi there!

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 0 Comments

Thing 15: Time is NOT on My Side

July 17th, 2008 by davidmarshallsilverman

Delicious is cool but it is just another time-consuming monster. Add it to the list:

1) google reader

2) edublogs

3) wiki (sandbox and all)

4) twitter

5) moodle

I can’t keep up! Only time will tell if I will use delicious productively. It is certainly a fast way of organize sites. Now if only I had time to visit them!

Posted in Exploring Web 2.0 and Theater Instruction | | | 2 Comments

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