(Cross-posted on LeaderTalk.)
A few days ago, Scott McLeod, on his Dangerously Irrelevant blog, asked his readers to share what they think are the best designs for a computer lab. As I was thinking about this and formulating a comment to write on this post, I [...]
George Carlin is dead, and I am saddened by this news. Not because he was some great humanitarian, or because he was an award winning actor. No, it's because George Carlin was one of the greatest commentators on life I have ever heard. George Carlin was a genius. His [...]
... I am not. However, when the toilet breaks, it needs to be fixed, and fast. Have you ever checked out the guts of a toilet tank? It's pretty cool; simple engineering, yet so effective and efficient. Until it stops working. Then, you have three choices:
1. Call a [...]
Baseball was like a religion in my house when I was growing up. My dad and my grandfather made baseball the most important aspect of life (aside from modeling for me the importance of putting in an honest day's work). My dad would tell wonderful stories of the great ballplayers [...]
Last Saturday night I did something I have not done in years. I attended a rock concert at a major-arena venue. Back in the day, one of my favorite activities was going to concerts, but since the advent of children, I have not been to one for a very long [...]
I am pleased to share an interview I did with Tom Hanson of openeducation.net. Tom was gracious enough to give me the opportunity to share my beliefs about educational technology and teaching in the 21st Century. There also are some great examples of Web 2.0 work from many South [...]
As parents, our natural instinct is to protect our children from any harm they may encounter while growing up. We certainly do not want our children getting hurt, either physically or emotionally, and we do want our children to experience success, both in and out of school. But when does [...]
I remember when I was a teacher I was forever telling my students that doing their homework was their responsibility. So was keeping their books, desks, backpacks, and lockers organized, coming to school on time, and bringing a lunch to school (among a hundred other things we expect of our [...]
(Cross-posted on LeaderTalk.)
I was watching Nightline on ABC the other night, and they were doing a story about children lying. It was fascinating because this is a topic I have been interested in for a long time, and it is something I deal with on occasion at [...]
Is it a fun, friendly, and entertaining teacher? Sure, for a while that works, until the novelty wears off. Is it a rigorous, competitive curriculum that is filled with academic challenges? Absolutely, but not all students can succeed in such an environment. Maybe it is the incorporation of a totally [...]
Has Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds done it? What about OJ Simpson? I don't think Bill Clinton really did it, and Michael Jackson certainly has not done it. What have these people, who appear to have nothing in common, not done? They have not taken responsibility for their actions. They [...]
There were four school-related shooting in the U.S. during the past week. Four in one week. They took place in Baton Rouge, LA on Friday, February 8, Memphis, TN on Monday, Oxnard, CA on Tuesday, and DeKalb, IL on Thursday.
All of these situations [...]
George Washington has been credited with saying, “Honesty is the best policy.” So, during the month when we celebrate the birthdays of presidents Washington and Lincoln, I thought that the concept of HONESTY would be an appropriate topic to write about. Honesty falls into the same category as such words [...]
[Cross-posted on LeaderTalk]
One week ago I was in Philadelphia for the inaugural Educon 2.0 conference. This conference, organized and hosted by Chris Lehmann, was one of the most invigorating and thought-provoking conferences I have ever attended. I could not wait to get back to school on Monday [...]
The presidential primaries are in full force, and many of us in the USA are deciding which candidate is the best match with our personal and professional beliefs. In the past I have had trouble differentiating the candidates by the issues. This year, I have found an interesting website that [...]
Jennifer Wagner, from technospud.com, led this session. This an interesting session because the focus was on using Web 2.0 tools in the elementary school. Jen has a nice Wiki created for this session: jlwagner.pbwiki.com
Jen was kind enough to let me share some of our [...]
Today's Educon keynote is actually an "Unkeynote." Instead of one speaker talking for an hour, Chris Lehmann has assembled some of the best Web 2.0 minds from around the country. Sitting in front of me is Gary Stager, Will Richardson, Sylvia Martinez, Joyce Valenza, David [...]
I have been to my share of education conferences over the course of my career, but I have experienced a first at this weekend's Educon 2.0 conference. I have experienced backchanneling first hand. You might be saying, "Backchanneling - what in the world... These bloggers keep inventing new verbs." [...]
Wendy and Brian Smith facilitated this session. Wendy is a science/math instructional specialist and Brian is an educational tech leader. They are from western New York state. This session was designed specifically for elementary school people which is why I am here. This is the link to Wendy's blog: [...]
This is a new experience for me. I am blogging live from a conference session, so I am forgoing the concept of editing in favor of posting quickly. I am sitting in a session on how to use social software for professional development. The presenters are Karen Ellis (live in [...]
I am spending the day at the Science Leadership Academy in downtown Philadelphia. The SLA, led by principal Chris Lehmann, is a unique high school. It is a magnet school which draws students from all over Philly. In addition, the SLA and Chris are hosting this weekend's [...]
Like many of us, I first discovered social networking when I opened my America OnLine account and started playing around with Instant Messaging. Back then my social network was simply my existing friends who also subscribed to AOL. It was pretty cool to connect with my buddies on line, [...]
I have been reading James Farmer's "incorporated subversion" blog for a while. James is one of the bloggers who makes me think, who sometimes makes me mad, and who also makes me laugh. He is quite an outspoken writer, and he is an innovator in the blogosphere [...]
My New Year's resolution to find meaningful ways to incorporate the Web 2.0 into the classrooms starts with an idea I had this morning as I was reading the comments on my latest LeaderTalk post. There are many educators out there in the "blogosphere" who are using the [...]
When is a person considered a "grown up?" This is a question I have pondered for a very long time. Is it when he graduates from high school or from college? Is it when he votes for the first time? Is it when she gets married, or how about [...]
Jeff Utecht, over at UTechTips, recently wrote a thought provoking post titled "Shift Happened What's the Hook?" Jeff appears to be looking for the point to the shift that has been taking place in classrooms. This shift involves moving from traditional instruction to the use of web [...]
There has been some discussion the last few weeks on this blog and on LeaderTalk regarding the need for holding lock down drills with students. We did hold such a drill a couple of weeks ago. In advance of the drill I spoke about it at a PTO [...]
