A Semi-post About Google Reader

I saw this notice on Google Reader:

Through my social networks, most notably Twitter, I was already aware of the impending demise of GR. Within a relatively short time period, I saw numerous RSS aggregator options suggested, evaluated, and endorsed, all in 140 characters or less. Ultimately I chose Feedly, which seamlessly migrated my Reader content.

It is troubling when well-regarded free sites and services cease operation. I'm still angry at Picnik's termination and skittish about its "reincarnation" as Ribbet. I've moved on.

And although Flickr seems to be thriving, I've also taken steps to back up my photos. Some content is too precious to risk on the vagaries of chance and the Internet gods.

To be honest, the Google Reader situation is less disruptive to my online life than it would have been a few years ago. As you can see in the screenshot above, there are 1000+ unread items in my feed. Where once I religiously scanned GR daily, I now check infrequently. Most of my information, resources, and conversations flow through social networking sites these days.

I laughed at Judy's retweet today, then decided to do a sort of non-post post. Google Reader is old news in the connected life.

Thanks Judy O'Connell and Ian Clark for inspiring this post!

The Intersection of Science and Romance

"Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual craftpersons into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical 'steampunk' style..." -Wikipedia

While skimming Google Reader feeds, I often stumble across interesting oddities that fall outside my normal range of interest. Boing Boing's occasional posts on Steampunk would fit into this category. Crafted of copper, brass, and polished wood, the fantastic pseud0-Victorian mechanisms featured there are intriguing works of art.

My husband is an artist with a scientific mind. He decided to use his model steam engine as the basis of a steampunk-esque vignette. To see his notes and explanation of "The (patented) T. Cordell Model 'A' Steam-driven Amplitude Modulated Transistor Radio" visit his photo in my Flickr photostream.

Today is an especially appropriate one for discussing inventions, since it is the birth date of Leonardo da Vinci. Though da Vinci pre-dated the Victorian era by 400 years or so, his lively mind and nimble fingers could easily have created steampunk masterpieces.

In a school setting, a steampunk unit might incorporate elements of technology, science, social studies (Victorian society), and literature (Jules Verne, H.G. Wells as well as modern genre authors).

The Steampunk Workshop describes steampunk as "Goth, Punk, Geek, and Maker Culture whipped into a delicious melange with a healthy seasoning of political and environmental activism. It's the intersection of science and romance, it's sustainable rebellion."


To learn more:

• view a critically-acclaimed video
• read an article about the aesthetic of the craft
• browse SteamPunk Magazine
• take a look at examples of this marvelous art form (scroll down to enjoy a hilarious Steampunk Star Trek photo set)

Technology

Historically, an important aspect of technological advances has been to help humans control their environment and improve their daily life.

Buttons, belt buckles, zippers - all revolutionized the clothing industry. Isaac Singer maintained that women could be trusted to operate "machinery" and successfully marketed his home sewing machine, freeing wives and mothers from endless hand sewing tasks. Washers, vacuum cleaners, telephones, typewriters and automobiles all impacted households and the workplace.

In the educational world, the word "technology" is most frequently used to describe the inclusion of software, hardware, and Internet applications developed to enhance learning activities. There has been an astonishing number of products created that claim to support and extend classroom opportunities.



Choosing the proper tool, experimenting with it, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, is part of the process of technology integration. Consider whether the new technology

• fills a need
• better engages the learner
• improves upon the tool it is replacing
• is appropriate to the subject matter and grade level

Does the new technology do something faster, better, easier? Will it be transformative?

Will the tool drive instruction or will learners' needs determine the tool?




"Treadle" by dmcordell
"smartboard" by popofatticus
"blocks" by {dpade1337}

The Brisbins of Saratoga County

On Saturday, my husband and I drove past a tiny, enclosed burial ground and stopped for a closer look. I took a few photos, then decided to try a quick Google search of the family name, Brisbin, later that evening.

The wealth of information that I discovered was amazing:

• New York Gravestones provided an easy-to-read "translation" of inscriptions on the worn headstones.

• The Town of Northumberland traced the family's history back to 1765, when 18-year-old James Brisbin arrived in upstate New York from his native Scotland. "He settled 1 1/2 miles westerly of Fort Miller, towards Bacon Hill a hamlet in Northumberland that became the hub of activity with the Hudson River nearby."


• By 1789, a mature (and, presumably prosperous) Brisbin was elected an elder of the Reformed (Dutch) Church of Saratoga, according to the 1878 History of Saratoga County, New York, by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester.


• A descendant of the Brisbins noted on her genealogy site that the family name probably "stems from the Scottish name, Brisbane" and adds,

  "There is speculation, as yet unconfirmed, that the Brisbins immigrating to New York were soldiers during the French and Indian war, which ended in 1763. They liked what they saw in the territory and decided to return with their families. Since our family appears on the records of Saratoga Co., NY for the first time about 1765, this seems to add credence to this theory. There is also some speculation that the Brisbin soldiers may have been part of Abercrombie's troop in the French and Indian War, which were known to have been in Saratoga County. From this point on, there are documented records on the Brisbin family, both in America and in Canada."

• "The Campaign of Lieut. Gen. John Burgoyne and The Expedition of Lieut. Col. Barry St. Leger," by William L. Stone (Albany, NY, Joel Munsell, 1877) mentions the Brisbin property during the time of the American Revolution.

  "As a specimen, the farm of James Brisbin had sufficient wheat and cattle to have paid the purchase price, but it was all taken and consumed by Burgoyne's army without compensation, notwithstanding the fair promises made in his proclamation of July 10, before stated. We should except a single cow, which escaped from her captors, returned home and was afterwards secreted and saved. After the surrender, the farmers gradually returned to their rural homes, erected new log houses, and began again to till the soil. But little progress, however, was made, until the close of the war, as this valley lay in the track of the Indians and Tories, who had fled to Canada, and made repeated raids into this county."

• A similar genealogy page, that of the McGregors, mentions two sons of James Brisbin.

  "The first settlement of what is now the town of Wilton, but then and long before known as Palmertown, was begun by two brothers, William and Samuel Brisbin, as early as the year 1764. These two brothers were the sons by his first wife of James Brisbin, who came over from the north of Ireland, and became the first settler of what is now the town of Northumberland, in the year 1765. The two brothers, William and Samuel Brisbin, made their first attempt at settlement on the south branch of the Snoek Kill, in what afterwards became the Laing neighborhood. One and perhaps both of them had been soldiers under Abercrombie and Amherst in the last French war, and the year after peace was concluded they began the early settlement of the old wilderness they had so often traversed while on the war-path. They made clearings, built a sawmill, and cut roads on to their lands. When the war of the Revolution came on they abandoned their little settlement."

  One of the McGregor daughters later married into the Brisbin family. [There were many "James Brisbins" in the family. The father of William and Samuel might be the father or uncle of the James Brisbin who died in 1835 and is buried in the family plot.]
  


• Another local family was the Slocums. In "A Short History of the Slocums..." by Charles Elihu Slocum, we learn that Sarah Slocum married James Brisbin. These are the James, Jr. and his wife, Sally, who share a headstone and a final resting place. Other Slocums also intermarried with the Brisbins. When his father, Giles Slocum, died in 1814, James Slocum went to live with his maternal grandfather, James Brisbin, "near Schuylerville, Saratoga County, New York."

Every town and village has at least one cemetery within its boundaries. The educational possibilities are endless. Students might

• research prominent local names
  
• map an entire burying ground
• undertake a cemetery restoration project under the guidance of adult professionals
• place names copied from headstones on a timeline
• write original stories or poems about the people buried in the cemetery
• search for information about an individual, then present a scene from his/her life (in period garb)
• recreate significant events from the history of their county or state, as seen through the eyes of actual residents
  

It is people that create history, and projects that emphasize human connections can be satisfying, enlightening...and fun!

The Tie That Binds

“One can be a brother only in something. Where there is no tie that binds men, men are not united but merely lined up.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


Over the last year or so, I have constructed an amazingly diverse network of online acquaintances, colleagues and friends.

We have shared doubts, frustrations, fears and hopes about our professional and personal lives.

Via messages on Twitter and Plurk, we've learned of occasions both joyful (promotions, graduations, marriages, pregnancies) and sorrowful (unemployment, natural disaster, death).

Last night, people investigated what seemed like a cry for help, not resting until it was determined that a curious child had accidentally hit an emergency button on a cellphone.

This morning, my daughter sent me the link to a New York Times article about a blogger who was seriously injured in a plane crash. Her virtual friends have rallied to raise funds for a woman who entertained and inspired them, not because she is "perfect" but because "she chose to focus on the beauty" in life.

Social networking is a powerful tool. Think of how you use it to expand and enrich your life. Could you ever be comfortable walking away from this tie that binds?



"Circle of Friends" by Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

Transformation

“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.” - Pablo Picasso

I met an old friend today, an avid collector of cameras, magic lanterns, zoetropes, and other antique devices. After laughing about our different perspectives on technology, I offered to share some sites that might help him add interest to the presentations he gives at local schools and colleges.

If anyone would like to add to this list, I'm sure that he would be grateful - as would all of us who labor to escape the bulleted agonies of death by PowerPoint.

Death by PowerPoint - and how to avoid it (Kapterev)

Avoiding Death by PowerPoint (Kapp)

10-20-30 Presentation Rule (Kawasaki)

Pecha Kucha (Baron)

PowerPoint Reform: a first chapter (Valenza)

Sweet stuff about PowerPoint (O’Connell)

PowerPoint: Do No Harm (Meyer)

Helpful tips for PowerPoint authors (Fryer)

The Presentation File != The Presentation (and 3D Foolishness) (Levine)

"We might hypothetically possess ourselves of every technological resource on the North American continent, but as long as our language is inadequate, our vision remains formless, our thinking and feeling are still running in the old cycles, our process may be revolutionary but not transformative." -Adrienne Rich



"mmlog" by fdecomite

Classroom Rules

Item: Like many educators/business people I'm bored and turned off by "traditional" PowerPoint.

Item: My students love making PowerPoint presentations and feel comfortable with this tool.

Item: Staff members are expected to discuss classroom rules at the beginning of the new school year.

Solution: I'll try to show students a different way of conveying information by creating a virtually text-free (except for the first and last slide) SlideShare show.

Classroom Rules

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

*I'll give you a few days to mull this over, then share my interpretation and that of my students.

I get by with a little help from my friends

Thanks to a tip from Cathy Nelson, I've added Subscription Link buttons to my blog.
By clicking on the appropriate you can make sure that you see both postings and comments in your feed reader of choice.

It's enough to make a lady smile.



Image generated by Cameroid

Palimpsest

"The writing was washed from parchment or vellum using milk and oat bran. With the passing of time, the faint remains of the former writing would reappear enough so that scholars can discern the text (called the scriptio inferior, the "underwriting") and decipher it." -Wikipedia


A palimpsest is a manuscript page that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. Where faint markings were once laboriously deciphered by scholars, modern science has devised techniques that make previously “lost” text more easily accessible to the trained reader.

In this digital age, it is impossible to permanently erase words and images once they are made public. Blog postings and websites can be removed by their authors, but traces remain that can be retrieved by skillful searchers.

We warn our students that their online identity is a composite of everything they write or upload online. But do we really understand this ourselves? Most of us know about Googling names to gather information on individuals. How many people, though, are aware of Wayback Machine, which can find old websites, or earlier versions of existing websites?

Times change and tools evolve to meet the challenge of those changes. Human nature remains the same. Clay Burell reminded us of the need for diplomacy. If a plea for common decency doesn't impress you, consider this: nothing ever really disappears in cyberspace. It may be hidden or difficult to track, but it is still there somewhere. And there are those who can locate it.

Just so you know.



"A word once uttered can never be recalled." -Horace



Image: Georgian paliphsestV-VI cc.jpg from Wikimedia Commons

WARNING!

WARNING! HELP The website you are attempting to visit MAY violate your Acceptable Use Policy. You can click CONTINUE to visit the site OR click CANCEL to not access the requested site. All Internet traffic is logged and reported. User/Machine: DEFAULT IP: 10.230.12.110 Category: PASSED Blocked URL: http://www.youthtwitter.com/ To submit this warned site for review, click here. For assistance, contact your Administrator. 8e6 R3000 Enterprise Filter provided by 8e6 Technologies. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Today I continued my exploration of connective options at school. Here are the results:

• Twitbin and Twiteroo are blocked on school computers and my MacBook
• Twirl will come up on my laptop but tells me "There is an error receiving direct messages" so the screen remains blank
• I installed Snitter on the MacBook - it also comes up blank

Note: I tried to install Snitter on a school computer, but received a message reminding me that all installations require Administrative permission.

As an experiment, I tried to search for proxy sites on Google. The entire search was blocked, "Category: Web-based Proxies/Anonymizers." I suppose I could find the addresses of proxies before I left home in the morning, but there is no guarantee that would work either.

My one success was surprising: YouthTwitter is not blocked here at school! I did get a WARNING! but was able to click through to the site and read student postings on both school computers and my Mac.

Interesting that a student online community is permissable but not an adult one. It seems that our youth are deemed more capable of interacting appropriately than their teachers. Score one for authentic Voice.

Perhaps if Twitter were subtitled AdultTwitter...but no, that sounds vaguely risque. It all comes down to trust. I would like to be treated as I feel our students should be treated when it comes to cyber safety and digital citizenship: provide instruction on safe & appropriate use of the Internet, set clear and reasonable limits, spell out the consequences for inappropriate use, and enforce policies consistently.

If I'm not trusted to conduct myself professionally, perhaps I shouldn't be here instructing children.

At least, that's my opinion. If you disagree, please speak up. I'd like to know the rationale behind Internet censorship.


Update: Now Twitbin is unblocked! I'm not sure why, but I'll link to this posting and hope for the best!

ACCESS DENIED!

I have been logging in to Twitter at odd moments during this entire school year. Yesterday, though, this message appeared on the screen:

The reason given for blocking the site is "Category: Online Communities." I've contacted both my Administrator and the company to request further information.

On the surface, at least, it appears that our district, and, by extension, our BOCES, considers "online communities" to be undesirable. I consider them a key component of 21st century learning.

What's the view from your corner of the world?

Connections

I had the best of many worlds today. One of Clay Burell's KIS students, Stephanie Cho, set up a Skype call so that the two of us could discuss her school project.

Once we were done speaking, I drove over to my community's high school to hear David Warlick speak.


Stephanie was charming and a bit nervous. Our conversation centered on food and memories but took an interesting detour when she asked my opinion on cyber safety and online mentoring.

David Warlick had spent the day conducting professional development workshops in my local district, then invited parents and community members to an additional presentation in the evening. He was relaxed and articulate, and his insights regarding the "flat classroom" were well-received.

So in the course of one day, I was able to interact with a student in South Korea and a cutting edge educator in my own home town.

Life is, indeed, full of the most amazing opportunities.

Not As Easy As It Used to Be

Mac: This ain't gonna be easy.
Indiana Jones : Not as easy as it used to be.

-Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

University professor Henry Jones, Jr. specializes in education and adventure. Perhaps if he were employed in a K-12 facility, he would find both aspects of his life combined in the daily realities of public school teaching.

Indiana Jones: Not as easy as it used to be.
With curriculum driven by high-stakes standardized testing, there is little flexibility or room for experimentation. Unless innovation translates into immediate results, it is neither sought nor encouraged.

Mutt Williams: You're a "teacher"?
Indiana Jones: Part time
Most teachers must combine instruction with an endless stream of paperwork and numerous professional development requirements.

Mutt Williams: Professor, this really is a dead end!
Indiana Jones: [opens a hidden door] Come on Genius.
The creative teacher will try to share meaningful learning experiences with students regardless of whether tools and technologies are blocked (or non-existent).

Agent Irina Spalko: Belief, Dr. Jones, is a gift you have not experienced. My sympathies.
Belief is the gift that makes teaching worth the time and trouble. Belief in students, belief in the future...Indy did experience that gift, and so do teachers around the globe.


"Their treasure wasn't gold, it was knowledge. Knowledge was their treasure. " -Indiana Jones

I'm Nobody! Who are You?

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us -don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.


How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!
-Emily Dickinson

There has been some discussion lately about the "exploitation" of Twitter by people who are interested in self-aggrandizement rather than connection and collaboration.

In my wildest dreams (well, maybe in just a few of the more delusional ones), I don't anticipate becoming a sought-after lecturer, consultant, or best-selling author.

Twitter is my place to meet new friends, converse with virtual colleagues, share resources, and offer encouragement, sympathy, or congratulations, as needed.

There may well be those who are only concerned with self-promotion. If so, their agenda becomes apparent relatively quickly. My rule is to only follow people who follow me back. I'm in Twitter for conversation, not hero-worship.

Like many tools, Twitter has a variety of uses. It works for me, but then, I'm Nobody! Who are You?


"Andrew likes 'Diary of a Nobody' by George Grossmith" by Ross_Angus

Spring Cleaning

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean." -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


Spring made its presence felt today in upstate New York, and we scurried to take advantage of the sunny skies and (relatively) warm temperatures.

Since next week is Spring Break in our part of the country, I'll have some long-anticipated free time. I need to do some cleaning.

There are always those mundane domestic chores to complete. Although I'm not particularly good at housekeeping, the idea of a more organized environment is very appealing, and I can't wait to fling open windows to air out rooms and linen.

I also need to rejuvenate my body, with outdoor rambles and lighter, simpler meals.

Can't neglect my mind: Kim Cofino shared her vacation reading list; here's mine

• "All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well" by Tod Wodicka. This first novel was written by a graduate of our local HS and has received a positive review in the NY Times.
• "Saving Fish from Drowning" by Amy Tan. Love all of her books, with their mix of mystery and fantasy.
• "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Promised Intrepid Teacher that I'd read this story of "One man's mission to promote peace...one school at a time". Got tired of waiting for an interlibrary loan and bought my own copy.
• "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi. Clay Burell has urged/challenged us to study Vladimir Nabokov’s "Lolita". Amusingly, the original work is not available in Target (I'll need to visit a more sophisticated venue - wonder if eyebrows will be raised when I use my teacher discount card?) but the Nafisi account of teaching "forbidden Western classics" was. Is there some cosmic irony in this?

A rather ambitious program, I know, but entirely doable, if I "neglect" Twitter and Google Reader for a while.

Which brings me to my next cleaning task. I've been favoriting Tweets that mention potentially useful resources, emailing myself key posts from GReader, and signing up for new tools to try out (Aviary, Diigo, and Gimp, to name a few). Sorting through this cyber cache might be too large a project to take on right now, but perhaps I can begin advance planning for the much longer summer vacation.

There are postings to write and school units to plan.

Perhaps most importantly, there are people to connect with, in person and online.

It's quite a bit to tackle in a single week. There are no penalties if I don't get to everything. But there are definite rewards for cleaning and stretching and growing however and wherever this occurs.


"Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature --if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you --know that the morning and spring of your life are past. Thus may you feel your pulse." -Henry David Thoreau


“light sweeping” by Shnnn

Letter to the NYS Board of Regents

"Excelsior: Ever Upward" -Motto of the State of New York

Chancellor Bennett, Regent Cohen, Dr. Sullivan, and members of the Regents Steering Committee,

As you stated in your March 19 news release, the revision of New York State Learning Standards is "critically important...Meeting the standards should ensure that students are prepared for college, work and citizenship. " You have requested recommendations from a variety of stakeholders, including educators.

I am a certified School Library Media Specialist and have taught in New York for more than 20 years. My concern is that our students are not acquiring the technical skills necessary for success in school, work, and daily living in the 21st century.

Many districts struggle with budget deficits and classroom teachers work tirelessly to prepare children for mandated testing. There is little time or money for curricular add-ons. However, technology should not be an add-on; it is most beneficial when embedded in all curricula and accessible to every learner.

Unless our standards endorse necessary communication and collaboration tools, like student email accounts, blogs, wikis, and podcasts, individual districts will continue to block them and teachers will have little incentive to pursue professional development training in these areas.

Your recommendations will affect education in the State of New York for a decade or more. We need to ensure that the final product will be as comprehensive as possible. Please give our students the tools they need to acquire, manipulate, create and communicate information.

In addition to mailing my comments to the Steering Committee, I am posting this message on my blog to encourage others to enter into this dialog about our state Standards.

Thank you for offering us this opportunity to work for change.


Comments and recommendations to the Regents Steering Committee for Standards Review may be sent to: emscocis@mail.nysed.gov

A Confederacy of Dunces

"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." -Jonathan Swift

The genius part is easy: Al Upton, in Australia and Jabiz Raisdana, in Qatar each used blogs as a tool to extend and enrich their students' classroom experiences. Both men were successful on a global scale, as people from around the world responded to, commented on, and emulated their projects.

Al Upton was served an Order for Closure by the DECS (Department of Education and Children’s Services - South Australia), which required that he shut down the miniLegends while the agency evaluated "risk and management issues." Jabiz Raisdana was forced to resign because of parental concerns about content on a personal site which was not directly linked to the school website.

Then, who are the dunces?

The DECS, Doha school officials, and parents in both countries acted in what they believed to be the best interests of the children involved. This certainly would not qualify them as "slow-witted or stupid person(s)."

Hundreds of educators responded to the situation with blog postings and comments. Is every single one of them "backward in book learning; dull or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt"?

The word "dunce" was originally applied to the followers of John Duns Scotus. These scholars were scorned as being opposed to classical learning. Dunsmen or Duncemen eventually came to symbolize those opposed to any type of learning, or to one slow at learning.

Perhaps we are all dunces in the latter sense, slow to recognize the need for change, reluctant to move into uncharted territory, hesitant to commit to the systemic evolution/revolution our educational system needs to function well for our modern students in their modern world.

In the words of the immortal Pogo, "We have met the enemy...and he is us."


"The History of Five Little Pigs" from Project Gutenberg

To Know The Nature of Joy

"Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy." -Veda Upanishads


I just began an online course, "Learning and Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools." One of our first assignments is to create a blog, then write a posting "about how you would want to use a blog for educational purposes in your classrooms, schools, or districts." Because I've been blogging since last June, I asked the facilitator if I could use Journeys to share my ideas, and she agreed.

I'm hoping to fill in some gaps in my tech/tools knowledge; my online explorations certainly affirm that there are a LOT of things I want to learn, don't know, didn't even know I didn't know.

Still, I have made some progress. The required readings for class include articles and postings by people I interact with daily on Twitter or follow in my Google Reader. Wesley Fryer, Will Richardson, Steve Dembo, Miguel Guhlin, and the Students 2.0 contributers are all old friends, even though virtually. I could easily suggest another 20 or 30 outstanding edubloggers to add to the list.

What have I learned from this distinguished company? They have helped me to understand that

• learning must extend beyond classroom walls
• students have a Voice that needs to be heard
• safety means education not isolation
• teachers should be co-learners
  
• collaboration expands and enriches curriculum
• even in a 2.0 world, tools are secondary to content

A friend and colleague in South Korea, Clay Burell (whose wedding on Saturday was UStreamed, blogged, twittered and virtually attended by people from around the world) posted this reminder for bloggers:

I’d suggest this: if you think you have nothing to write about as you face the blank screen, remember these people, and their fine gestures, and consider, instead of thinking, simply feeling. And create from that. Create some new form of kindness. Let your education “lead you out” - from yourself. Let it pull you to engage the world from the tip of your nose to the opposite pole.

And that is the best lesson I've learned, to use blogging as a connector to others around the world, and by so doing, to discover joy.

"Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one's identity as a being of worth and dignity." -Rollo May



"tay0403" by jwfarmer10

The Way of Progress

"I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy." -Madame Marie Curie

Patrick Woessner began an interesting Twitter discussion the other day by mentioning that he was helping his son study for a quiz about the Amish. He commented

I spend much of a snow day helping 8 year old study facts about Amish culture...interesting but relevant to him how? Lots of time spent helping [son] study for quiz on the Amish...I'm about ready to toss the computer

When I pointed out the irony of using a computer to study a group famous for their policy of rejecting all labor saving technologies, he responded

Not to worry...they were old fashioned drill and kill worksheets

This exchange started me wondering why his son was studying this particular topic: as part of a unit on world religions; for a discussion of attitudes towards technology; in relation to local history? "Drill and kill worksheets" don't sound like inquiry-based research.

Is it possible that one source of digital inequity in our educational system is an Amish-style attitude towards technology and change? Just a thought.


"Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them." -Henry S. Commager



"Out of time" by Sleestak66

Guerrilla Teaching

"Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which small group combatants use mobile tactics...to combat a larger, less mobile formal army." -Wikipedia

It is an undeclared war, but battles are being waged daily. And just when you believe your side is winning...

Skirmish #1:
zemote @ericolson Looking at: "TED | Talks | Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? (video)" (http://tinyurl.com/2z3op4)

dmcordell @zemote Tried to open "Do Schools Kill Creativity" at school. Blocked by firewall. Does that answer the question?

zemote @dmcordell I think you answered the question perfectly :)

iteachcomputers @dmcordell - THAT is the definition of irony!



Skirmish #2:
dmcordell @Digimom Very fluky firewall:kids can get to YouTube(I can get to Twitter/no gmail or Reader)but humor, incl some political cartoons,blocked.

Digimom @dmcordell HUMOR is blocked by your firewall? I would tell you that's hilarious but then you wouldn't be allowed to read this!


Talk about irony: after telling Digimom that YouTube was freely available, I went online to add a clip, that features Guy Kawasaki explaining his 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule, to my Blackboard account. Without warning or explanation, YouTube is now blocked. Teachers in our district have no override privileges, so we must request that the IT unblock specific sites for specific dates and class periods. Assuming, of course, that he is in the building and available to assist us.

I found a university site that had the video embedded in a blog posting. Since the clip did not come directly from YouTube, it remained unblocked and available for use.

Therefore, I may be embedding video clips for instructional use in my blog. Like this sequence of self-portraits of Vincent van Gogh: totally school appropriate, unavailable because it's on YouTube.

I will never knowingly expose my students to inappropriate resources, but I WILL enrich their learning experiences whenever and however I can.

It's a battle many of us fight daily. Our small successes represent great victories for our students.

*Note: I had trouble embedding videos on blogger, so I've created a rough & ready site at Tumblr, Guerrilla Teaching Resources. It will do...for now.

Thanks to @garageflowers for the suggestion!