Breaking down open adoptions

Breaking down open adoptions

Pennsylvania's new law encourages relationships between child, birth family

-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10347/1109827-499.stm#ixzz18JBdNemV

5 Tasks to Teach Yourself to Teach with Technology

Some months ago I had a plan to write a book of tasks to get teachers using technology. As with so many of my plans and ideas, time and circumstances over took me and I never got further than the first 15 tasks. When I went back to do some more I noticed that I was taking so long doing these that some had gone out of date, so to try to get some use from the tasks I've decided to revise them and start publishing them here so anyone can download them and use them either to do teacher training or to develop their own ability to use technology.

So here are the first five. If they are popular I'll publish the next 5 for new year, so they can be my new years resolution and yours.

Task 1: Create your learning journal
So here goes. The first task is based around Penzu and you can download the task or read it on Scribd. In this task you'll create an online journal that you can use to reflect on the other tasks you'll be doing, so you should do this one first.

• Read the task
• Download Task 1 (pdf)
  

Task 2: Create online storage for your teaching images
In this task you will create a Flickr photo sharing channel. You'll need to do this to enable you to best do some of the later tasks as they come up, but having your own store of images online that you can use for various teaching purposes is always really handy.

• Read the task
• Download Task 2 (pdf)
  

Task 3: Create an online speaking activity
In this task you'll learn how to create an online speaking activity using VoiceThread. So if you have never done that before try the task and see how your students like the activity you create.

• Read the task
• Download Task 3 (pdf)
  

Task 4: Create a blog with a video activity for your students
In this task you'll create a simple blog and use it to make a video based activity for your students. Many of you may already have your own blog, but it's a good idea to have a separate one that you can use to experiment with and create activities for students. Once you have created the blog you'll be using it for other tasks as you work through them.

• Read the task
• Download Task 4 (pdf)
  

Task 5: Create digital books with illustrations
In this task you will create a digital image book based around a short text. Once you have created the book you will embed it into the blog you created in the previous task.

• Read the task
• Download Task 5 (pdf)
  

If you manage to do any of the tasks please do leave a comment and tell me how they went and if the response is good I'll try to put 5 more tasks on the site early in the new year.

So, if you celebrate Xmas please take these as my gift and if you don't celebrate it, you will have more time to do the tasks.

Best wishes for 2011.

Related links:

• Technogogy for edtech news
  
• 100 + Online activities for EFL ESL learners
• Social Networks and the Web 2.0 Revolution: Part 2
• Create your own social network 7 steps
• Web 2.0 Tools for EFL and ESL Teachers
• 10 Teacher Development Task for Web 2.0 Tools
  
  

Best

Nik Peachey

So Ask Me a Question

I recently spotted this very interesting site called Vyou.com which exploits video to create asynchronous conversations. I find it interesting because of the simple way it creates presence. As you can see below, it looks like the person (me in this case) is waiting ready for your question.

All visitors need to do is type a question into the text line below the video and the creator will get a message with the question and post a reply. You can try it if you wish by posting a question to me. I'm not sure yet how long it will take for me to answer though.



This is very quick and easy to set up. You just go to the site and register for free, then once your registration is validated you record two short video clips. One is the one you can see above and another for unanswered questions. As questions are answered they appear below the 'waiting' video.

It's also a bit like Twitter in that you can 'follow' people and build up a group of followers. These people all receive notification of any video responses posted.

I'm trying this out because I think it's a great way of getting students to speak to each other and ask you or each other questions. All you need is a webcam and a microphone.

How to use this with students

• You could set up your own grammar or vocabulary answers site and students could send you questions.
• You could get students to ask each other questions about a story.
• You could play animal, mineral or vegetable and each students has to ask question to see what you are thinking about.
• You could just get students asking and answering questions about their likes and dislikes etc.
• I think this would work particularly well for class exchanges with students from other classes or countries.

What I like about it

• It's free and very quick and simple to set up.
• There's a real feeling of presence and that someone is there waiting for your question.
• I can generate some real spoken interaction.
• It's a very simple idea made very effective.
• You can embed the video chat into your blog or site.
  

What I'm not so sure about

• Of course something like this is very much open to abuse, especially as it allows anonymous questions to be posted.
• The widget which I've embedded into my post is a bit big and it would be nice to have smaller sizes.
• A lot of the example conversations that have been created on the site are a bit adult in nature and certainly inappropriate for younger learners, so if you use it, be sure to use it with adults and embed it into a blog or site so that your students don't wander round the site.
• WebCams aren't generally very flattering, especially in a bad light, but you can always wear a big hat or dark glasses.

If you do give this a try, please do follow me and I'll reciprocate, as I'd like to find out a bit more about how this will work in practice. You can visit my profile on the site at: http://vyou.com/nikpeachey . There you will be able to see a better view of the full size widget.

I hope you find this interesting.

Related links:

• Quick Twitter Video Activity
  
• 20 WebCam Activities for EFL ESL Students
• Sending Bubble Joy to your EFL / ESL Students
• Microblogging for EFL with Plurk
• Great Video Commenting Tool
• Video conferencing for EFL
• Send Free Video Messages
• Animated Music Videos for EFL
• Creating multimedia stories
• Tutorial: Using Videos from YouTube
• Great Video Commenting Tool

Best

Nik Peachey

Grow Your Own Personal Learning Network

Well this is my first blog posting for quite a while, but I'm hoping to have a lot more coming up very soon. This is just a quick posting to share a session on building your own Personal Learning Network, that I did for teachers in British Council Bilbao recently (25th September 2010).

The session was part of a larger conference that was happening all over Spain to celebrate 70 years of the BC in Spain.

You can watch a recording my conference presentation here.


Or follow this link to it: http://tinyurl.com/382rmy2

The links from the presentation are also below and you can download a PDF copy of the presentation slides here: PLN Presentation slides (PDF 4.7 Mb)

Tools for growing your PLN

Twitter

• Twitter is a great tool for starting to reach out to a huge network of teachers. http://twitter.com/
• You can follow me and see who I’m following here.
  http://twitter.com/NikPeachey
• This is a great starter list for Twitter of people involved in ELT who you can follow. It includes some of the real greats of ELT. Thank you to Barbara Sakamoto for putting together this list.
  http://twitter.com/barbsaka/starter-pln/members

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn is a great place to put your online CV, connect with other ELT professionals and start joining special interest groups. The groups are a great place for sharing and finding information.
  http://www.linkedin.com
• I'm on LinkedIn at: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/nikpeachey
  

Facebook

• Although controversial as a teaching tool, Facebook can also be a useful professional networking tool, just start looking for the ‘Like’ button on various websites and click it to keep in touch with what’s happening. http://www.facebook.com
• I'm on Facebook too and am in the process of creating a page for people interested in learning technology in ELT. http://www.facebook.com/NikPeachey
  

Ning and other independent social networks

• Many of the IATEFL Special interest groups use Ning for discussion of very specific areas of teaching. Here's an example from the Global Issues SIG
  http://global-issues.ning.com/
  

Yahoo Groups

• They’ve been around for a long time, but there are still some great connections to be made by looking for ELT related Yahoo groups.
  http://groups.yahoo.com/
• Particularly useful is the Webheads list.
  http://webheadsinaction.org/
  

Blogs of course
Some great bloggers to follow are:

• Larry Ferlazzo
  http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/larry-ferlazzos-english-website/
• Ozge Karaoglu
  http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/
• Be sure to check out their blogroll and look for connections to other great blogs.
• Find out about more female bloggers here: http://quickshout.blogspot.com/2010/04/let-us-now-praise-famous-women.html

Feed Readers

• Here is an example of a feed reader page I created. This can make capturing information much easier.
  http://www.netvibes.com/Nikpeachey/en%23Teaching_English
• Create your own using
  http://www.netvibes.com/

Storing links and social bookmarking
These are great tools for storing links to information so that you can find them when you want them and share them with others.

• Instapaper
  http://www.instapaper.com/
• Delicious
  http://www.delicious.com
• You can see my Delicious bookmarks at:
  http://www.delicious.com/NikPeachey
• Diigo
  http://diigo.com/
• Also check out all the really useful Diigo groups. You can see the ones I'm following here:
  http://groups.diigo.com/user/nikpeachey

Simplybox

• This is a great bookmarking tool for the more visually stimulated
  http://simplybox.com
• You can see an example 'box' of bookmarks here. I've made it public to share tools for creating digital content.
  http://simplybox.com/public/?id=145809

Here are some tools for reflection

• Keep a personal online diary with Penzu
  https://penzu.com/pad
• Create your own blog just by sending an email to post@posterous.com and wait for the link to come back in your email.
  https://posterous.com/

Slinkset

• If you want to share links and get comments on them but don't want to write a blog, then create a portal site. Here’s an example of a portal I created using Slinkset
  http://technogogy.slinkset.com/recent
• You can create your own for free.
  http://slinkset.com/

More information

• Barabara Sakamoto created this fantastic ‘sticky wall’ for teachers to express what it means to have a PLN. http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/ChubuTeachers
• Read or download this free booklet I wrote to get the technical knowledge and get started creating your own PLN.
  http://www.scribd.com/doc/22124764/From-Information-to-Knowledge

I'd really like to add a special than you to Barbara Sakamoto from Teaching Village for allowing me to share here work on PLNs and for helping to save me and I hope you a lot of work too.

Please also check out the other recorded presentations as they include:

• Patrick Howarth
  http://www.livestream.com/bcvalencia
• Steve Evans
  http://www.livestream.com/britishcouncilspain
• Graham Stanley
  http://www.livestream.com/bcbarcelona

I hope you find these useful and thank you to everyone at the British Council Bilbao for their hospitality and professionalism under pressure.

Related links:

• Pros and Cons as Web Based Research Tasks
• Creating Social Polls and Questionnaires Using Urtak
• Social Networks and the Web 2.0 Revolution: Part 2
• The Web 2.0 School of the Present
• Survey Results: Mobile learning for ELT

Best

Nik Peachey

Another year under the old belt

Well, today is the glorious day that comes around once a year.  It usually entails a flood of facebook wall posts, an outrageous amount of libations debauchery, and of course having to change a certain number in my blog title.  You guessed it -- today is Amstel's birthday!   So now THIS is officially the story of a 24-year-old birthmother.  Thank you mom and dad for the gift of life! 



Crazy how it's been almost six years since I first found out that I was pregnant.   I remember I had just turned 18 when my Political Science class decided to do an election debate in front of the entire school.  It was right before the 2004 presidential election, and my topic was abortion.  I chose that topic.  I spoke passionately about a touchy subject that I really didn't know a whole lot about; but I knew what I believed in.  I argued that abortion was morally wrong and not a viable option for unplanned pregnancy.  I think I touched on some brief fetal development facts, and I spoke passionately against the killing of the tiniest of human beings.  I don't know why I was drawn to that topic, but it was something that really touched my heart.   Later that week is when I fearfully took my first pregnancy test.  And it came back positive.  The irony!   If you want to hear God laugh tell Him your plans, right?  It was the first of many "coincidences" (or should I say God's plans) that would occur throughout the next six years of my life.  



I started Amstel Life when I turned 22.  At best, I wanted to help people to understand why I chose to place my daughter for adoption with the Dollar family.  I also wanted to help other birthmothers who had placed, and most importantly, I wanted to show women facing unplanned pregnancy that there is a peaceful and  positive alternative to abortion.  Never in a million years did I expect to receive the support, feedback and encouragement that I have experienced through Amstel Life.  Never in a million years.  Thank you!



Here's something cool that you guys should know about.  Scholarships 4 Birthmothers is a nonprofit that was started by a birthmother to give scholarships to women of all ages who have placed their baby for adoption and want help with school!  Please consider donating a few dollars to this wonderful cause. They are only $50 away from their goal! 



There are two info sites:

scholarships4birthmothers.info

scholarships4birthmothers.blogspot.com



It's been a great day so far.  This morning, my boss called me into the conference room.  I sat down with my notepad and pen, ready to take notes.  Then I realized that my colleagues were surprising me with birthday cupcakes and a Tinkerbell card that played music.  It was pretty much awesome.  They proceeded to tell me about what they were doing when they turned 24, according to my boss, "before there was electricity."  Haha.   Deanna called my phone today and left a sweet voicemail of her singing happy birthday.  At the end she said, "Happy Birthday Mimi!" (Mimi is my mom)... "I mean AmyHutton!"   That made my day.  

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Here's to another year of Amstel Life!

Flowers delivered to my desk from my best friend Natalie.

Message: "I hope these flowers find you well and you don't eat them."

A Birthmother's Progression

I get a ton of questions from birthmothers who want to know how I was dealing with my open adoption (x amount of time) afterwards.  Any woman who places her child for adoption will deal with her experience differently, but something about comparing experiences with other birthmothers can be sort of comforting.  So I figured I'd share the condensed version of my progression from the adoption to where I am today. 



The first few weeks after I signed the adoption papers I was a complete mess.  I held it together in front of other people, but behind closed doors I cried and cried and cried...and cried.  I was depressed, sad, and I felt like the past nine months were just a blur.  I also couldn't believe I actually went through with the adoption.  Robbie and his family were so incredibly supportive, and I leaned on them to make it though.  I knew that Deanna would be fine with her family, but I wasn't so sure about myself. 



A month after the adoption, I began my freshman year in college, and I had a terribly hard time adjusting to being in a new state, at a new school, and starting at a school where I didn't know anyone.  I was excited about starting college, but the reality of having to make new friends and to completely start over was terrifying.  Not only did I have to worry about the typical problems and issue that every college student has, but I also had to deal with the sadness and depression that went along with the whole adoption experience.  I got to visit Deanna often, and that made me feel better, but I still found myself struggling to cope with everything I had been through.  I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, and although my doctor had written me a prescription for anti-depressants, I felt like they were merely placebo pills.  My loss felt like an open wound, and nothing seemed to make it better.



Six months after the adoption, I had a terrible encounter with a faculty member at my college.  I wrote about this in a previous blog post, but in case you missed it, here's the shortened version.  I was contemplating going into either communication or teaching, and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.  I met with an advisor in the School of Education, and she grilled me about my desire to become a teacher.  She implied that if I didn't care enough about children to make the decision to become a teacher, then I should probably just move forward with communications.  I lost it.  I was in disbelief.  I ran out of her office, sat on the bench outside of the building and just bawled.  It was the lowest of low points in my life.  That's when I numbly stumbled into the Counseling Center, and I met the counselor who helped me to get through the next four years of my life.



A year after the adoption, I transferred to NC State, and I began my sophomore year.  I also decided that I probably shouldn't attend any of Deanna's future birthday parties because I couldn't hold it together during her 1st birthday party when everyone sang "happy birthday."   Aside from that emotional breakdown, I was doing better.  I had made lots of friends, and I joined the club swim team.  I got involved with 'Real Choices," a student organization that helps pregnant and parenting students. I also got involved with lots of pro-life organizations and events in Raleigh.  For the first time after the adoption, I felt like I could really make a difference in people's lives because of what I had gone through.  And that was a good feeling. 



I continued going to my counselor (who coincidentally transferred to NC State's counseling center) until my senior year of college.  It was a long and difficult progression, but four years after the adoption I felt like a different person.  My senior year at NC State I become president of Real Choices, and I also became president of an honor society for the top 12 seniors at NC State.  I was planning social events for student moms, teaching Sunday School  to a class of rambunctious 8th graders, interning at a local television station, having a blast with my friends, and visiting Deanna and her family often.  I finally felt at peace with my decision, and I was humbled and amazed at the impact Amstel Life was having on so many people in the adoption world.  I thought to myself, "this is what open adoption is supposed to be." 



Today, it's been more than 5 years since Deanna's adoption, and I sometimes have to stop and remind myself what I've been through.  There are times that I am still in disbelieve I have a daughter.  Seriously, sometimes I can't believe I created such an amazing human being, and I am so proud of that.  I had a lot of help and support from my family and friends, but most of all, I believe it was my faith that carried me through.  The night before I signed the adoption papers in the hospital, I prayed long and hard.  I remember making an agreement with God.  I said, "God, if I go through with the adoption, please just don't let me regret my decision."  And 5 years later, He has not broken our agreement.  I started my open adoption journey by putting every ounce of faith I had in God.  And today, my trust has only gotten stronger. 



Sometimes I stop and think about everything that I've been through.  I am still completely amazed at how our open adoption has turned out.  I don't think anyone could have imagined a story this good.  If you ask me, it's not just a coincidence; it's a God thing.  With time, a strong support network, and lots of faith, anything is possible.  For all of the birthmothers out there who are in the beginning stages after adoption, there is hope!   Trust me, I have been where you are. Yes, it is going to be incredibly difficult, but it does get better.  And when you finally make it to the point where you are at peace with your decision, it will make every sacrifice you made completely worthwhile. 



For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11

Welcome Welcome Welcome (back)!

It's been a while, it's been a looong while.  But Amstel's back in action TODAY.



Where to begin?  I visited my sister in the NC mountains and had a blast at her rock party, went on not one but two family vacations (San Diego & Tampa), moved into a new place on the hottest day of the entire year, went with Robbie to visit Deanna on her 5th birthday (July 11th), picked up some new responsibilities at work, was diagnosed with a sleep disorder (excessive daytime sleepiness), was banned from Web MD by my family, had a quarter-life crisis, and then realized I hadn't blogged in nearly two months.  A lot has happened!  But I can't complain. Life is good, and I love being a professional, independent, (most of the time responsible) young adult.



I came across a really neat article in Newsweek called, "Why Birth Moms Deserve Respect" by Raina Kelley.  If you haven't seen this yet, please read.  It's worth it!   My favorite part of the article is the last few sentences:  "By indicating that placing a child for adoption is a selfish or painless choice when it’s not, or talking about birth mothers as if they were all crack-addled prostitutes or at the very least wayward youth, we not only limit a woman’s right to choose but also shut out the possibility that there are other people out there who would love to adopt. Why not try respecting these women as mothers able to make the best decision for themselves and their pregnancies—even if that decision is not to parent?"  Just thought this was worth sharing with all of my fellow birthmothers out there. 



In case you were wondering, 5th Deanna's birthday party was great.  She had a joint-birthday party with her friend at a gymnasium, and I do believe that the adult men had more fun than the children...

Robbie and I gave Deanna the "band in a box," and we made sure to tell her that Don would love to be woken every morning to the sound of clashing cymbals.  On that note, I'm out!  More good stuff to come soon on Amstel Life.