----- Original Message ----To: Nielsen Lisa Sent: Fri May 02 11:09:01 2008 Subject: RE: Sharing Ideas to Engage Students Until The End of The School Year Hi Lisa, You have some terrific resources listed!!! However, I don't know if you're aware that the DOE filters block an awful lot of great stuff including some of your suggestions. I liked the idea of the Voki so much that I added one to our school website under our "Staff Resources". Unfortunately, the filters block the voice part...you can see for yourself at: (url removed to protect author). Is there any way we can get the DOE to unblock a wide array of websites??? What's ironic is that the really savvy students know how to bypass the filters...though they have to keep finding new ways as the DOE catches on....but the staff, for the most part, are getting blocked from all sorts of educationally viable sites. It can be very frustrating. I used to be the Technology Coordinator/Staff Developer for the Program for Pregnant Students before the four schools which comprised it were shut down last June...along with a whole bunch of other alternative schools. It really hit home about how ridiculous some of the filtering was when I found the DOE blocking lots of the links I had on my educational web directory such as the Center for Disease Control, American Baby, Math Games, etc. etc. etc. At any rate, I did really enjoy your resources. I'm glad to see that someone at the DOE is actively promoting Web 2.0 sites and techniques....I believe that it's with them...and with what will be Web 3.0...that the future of education must integrate in order to prepare our kids to be productive members of society and business. Good luck with the filter Nazis! Name Removed "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." -- George Carlin -----Original Message----From: Nielsen Lisa Sent: Fri 5/2/2008 4:11 PM Subject: Re: Sharing Ideas to Engage Students Until The End of The School Year Hi [Name Removed], I hear you about filtering and am very aware (big ongoing fight). I am of the little filter as possible frame of mind. In fact when I was a library media specialist (long ago) I got my filters removed (not possible today) in a tough school and had very few issues. Today, there is an unblock site you can go to so that selected sites are unfiltered at your school. You must do this from an administrator line. You can get to the site by going to www.nycdoe.org and in the left-hand nav go to "resources" and then (I think) forms. I'm at a conference right now, without my laptop, so I don't have the direct link handy. Fill out the form to unblock sites you want access to and let me know how that goes. Thank you for reading the blog. I hope you'll leave a comment and consider joining the Innovative Educator Network. Lisa -----Original Message----Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 1:14 PM To: Nielsen Lisa Subject: RE: Sharing Ideas to Engage Students Until The End of The School Year Hi Lisa, Thanks for the info...I've filled out a request to get a bunch of categories unblocked. I also joined the Innovative Educator Network... Have a great day! [Name Removed] "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." -- George Carlin