DC GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING ON CLOSING MORE SCHOOLS!
Did you know that the Deputy Mayor for Education (De’Shawn Wright) has hired a Chicago based firm to do a study on how DC neighborhoods are served by the public school system ? (traditional, public and charter)
The information found by this study will be used to make a case to close schools in the District and/or to turn them over to National Charter School Managers
This study will be looking at school’s test scores to determine if a school is “performing” or not. They will not take into consideration other ways that a school is excelling for its students, parents and community
The numbers below reflect the number of “under performing DCPS schools” by Ward
Talented teachers who are also talented videographers are rising. Yes, you've seen Khan Academy, but have you seen Mr. Phonics from the UK? Better known as Mr. Thorne does Phonics.
These videos by Mr. Thorne (featured on the TES website out of the UK) were created for parents so they would know how to reinforce the phonics he was teaching at school so they are very basic. But, what a novel idea! Take something that you need parent reinforcement for at home and teach the parents? (Now how is that for a "flipped" classroom. That is flipping it in a whole new way.)
I know Mr. Thorne has a British accent (well of course, he's a UK school teacher) but this beginning and ending sound game is a cool way to teach phonics.
I'm not going to get into the Phonics vs. Whole language debate here. While my school leans heavily on phonics we do have Dolch sight words as well. I was taught phonetically, so as a parent, it was easy for me to teach my children phonics. I think it is a great idea for teachers to make videos for parents, particularly if the parents have internet access. I sent out emails but currently don't do the video idea.
He has quite a few neat videos on phonics for those of you who teach reading. You'll get lots of ideas.
What is TES? TES stands for Times Education Supplement (http://www.tes.co.uk/) although they were spun off from the London Times as a private entity several years back. They have a magazine with a very broad distribution in the English Speaking world (outside the US primarily.) The magazine covers a lot of current topics (like flipped learning this week.)
All of the resources are free and they have teachers on staff who vet the resources as well. While you'll notice that currently the resources are aligned with standards in the UK, they are in the process of aligning their resources with standards other countries including the US. When I signed up a month or two back, I found some great presentations and ideas for my technology courses. Their special needs resources have been extremely popular from what I understand.
I talked to my friend Julie Lindsay, in China, (originally from Australia) and she reads their magazine religiously and told me it was a highly trusted organization in teaching in her circles. That and my "homework" on their site was enough for me to decide to establish a relationship with this company.
Will I be hearing more about TES on Vicki's blog? Yes. You will. As you know, I disclose any and all relationships with any organization. I do have a few hand-selected advertisers in the right hand side of my blog that fit with my mission and are companies I feel good about having on my blog. So, when TES contacted me about sharing resources of theirs on my Blog and Twitter and the other places I share, I was very excited. I would be writing about these resources anyway and I may be able to write a little more deeply and they've promised to help me "meet" the teachers behind some of the resources as well.
I will be writing once or twice a week about different things on their site and will be tweeting out some of their resources as well over the next few months. Everything on my blog and on my Twitter stream is hand selected by me. If I blog it, I think it. Personally, I've found so many incredible resources on their site, that I think I could tweet and blog ad infinitum and not run out of cool, helpful things to write about.
You'll continue to see all of the other links and things that you've gotten used to seeing here. The great thing is that as I get more sponsors and advertisers for my blog, it helps me spend more time blogging (which I love.)
Join TES, I think it is a great site for sharing. It takes a little getting used to the differences in grade levels, however if you dig, you will find some novel ideas. I also hope you'll share your resources as well.
Also, I want to share with you my updated Disclosure statement going on the bottom of my blog. I want you, my readers, to know what you can expect for me. Although this disclosure is broad, I implement it more narrowly. I decide what of TES resources that I will write about and I will write about the things I think will help you. I doubt you'll see much change here except that I'll have more resources from overseas in the mix and I, personally, think that is a good thing.
Here goes the legal stuff just so you know. ;-) (This will be on the bottom of my blog starting today but I'm putting this in my first post just in case.)
Disclosure Statement
This policy is valid from 31 October 2011
I subscribe to the Blogger’s Code of Ethics, and am required, pursuant to those ethical guidelines and the requirements of the Federal Trade Commission, to disclose certain relationships related to this blog. I am compensated to provide my opinion on certain resources, services, websites and various other topics, and accept certain forms of paid advertising (which will always be identified as paid advertisements). However, though I receive compensation for certain posts or advertisements, I will always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics. Any compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own unless otherwise indicated. Any product claim, warranty, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. I would like to disclose the following existing relationships with companies that may have an impact on the content of this blog: I am a paid consultant of TSL Education and TES.
Additional notes from me for people who wish to send me products or request advertising: The links in my blog post (contextual links) are not for sale. I do test products and review books, although the sending me of products nor books does not guarantee a positive review nor a review at all on my blog.
If you have any questions for me, wish to ask me to speak in person or via webinar, write for you, or look at your product or service, please feel free to contact me or mail me at Vicki Davis PO Box 975 Camilla, GA 31730.
This report "Tweeting for Teachers" says social media should be part of teacher PD. as much as I agree with that, if you just unblock social media, it doesn't mean teachers WILL use it for PD. Teach them how. Plus, expect pushback from teachers who don't want to mix personal and business. Although Facebook won't allow 2 profiles for a person, Twitter will and some teachers may want to take that route.
This very well written piece from Cathy Davidson has me cheering. It is written in response to the recent NY time article "Grading the Digital school." Cathy is the one who belongs in the New York Times in my opinion. Right on. Please read even if you don't agree, it will get you seeing how many educators think.
Today let's learn about our Science Czar, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren.
As the United States of America continues its descent under President Obama and his New Democrat Party into a third-world dictatorship, I still find myself unfamiliar with the overlords who now control my behavior and distribute to me gifts and favors. Oh, I know who is elected into office, and being a teacher of this sort of stuff I understand the bureaucracy and how it works. But who the heck is John Holdren, what role does he play in our political system, how did he get that role, and what sort of a person is he to be controlling me?
It's tough to keep all these czars straight, you know, since under Obamathe number of unelected, unconfirmed offices who go by the old imperial Russian title of Czar has gone up quite a bit (although to be fair, the number of people who have been considered czars under Obama is still just under the number of people who were considered czars under Bush, a two-term President roundly criticized by both the right and left as being undemocratic and statist). Still, I'm determined to get to know all of them- from Kenneth Feinberg, Head of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront and Pay Czar who although being a long-time Democratic operative and chief of staff for Democratic Senator Kennedy was put in charge of determining how much CEO's should be paid in once-free America, to Gary Samore, former US Communist party member and current WMD Policy Czar, to Ed Montgomery, auto-worker czar and distributor of gifts and favors.
It's going to be important for all of us to become more familiar with how things work in America now- after the change- we'll need to know how to curry favor with royal envoys, how to avoid being intimidated and bullied by bowing low and saying the right things, and how to bow get gifts from to our new overlords, who now tour around the land giving gifts to favored people.
So today let's get to know a little bit better our Science Czar, John Holdren. From Who Runs Gov:
Holdren is a powerhouse in the world of science and public policy. As director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST), he is the top adviser to President Barack Obama on science and technology, issues that are increasingly relevant to homeland security, energy and the environment. Holdren casts all of the above as priorities.
He also leads interagency efforts to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets, and works with the private sector, state and local governments, the science and higher education communities, and other nations to advance his policy initiatives.
Although a lot of conservatives may focus on other aspects of John Holdren- for example, in a book he published in 1977, he wrote about and appeared to be supportive of forced abortions, mass sterilization, a "Planetary Regime" with the power of life and death over American citizens, populations that would be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food, and other similarly frightening ideas. This research is important and should be realized, but I want to focus instead on another aspect of Holdren- his belief in a benevolent world dictatorship of the enlightened elite that will forcibly transfer wealth for some reason or another.
Holdren is a believer in the so-called Unified Theory of Left-Wing Causes. This theory is that all left wing causes- including global warming, global cooling, overpopulation, endangered species, poverty, diversity, and many others- can all be solved by a benevolent world dictatorship of the enlightened elite that will force others to live their lives differently and will redistribute their property as they see fit.
Basically, Holdren is a run-of-the-mill tyranny supporter, and was appointed to his position by tyrant-in-chief President Barack Obama, and he is to be opposed by all freedom and liberty loving patriots out there.
The worst part about Holdren, aside from the fact that he seizes on the left wing cause of the day to push his tyrannical beliefs, is that his ideas and theories about everything are wrong. From Forbes:
....In keeping with his dogmatic limits-to-growth convictions, Holdren joined his frequent co-author, eco-doomster Paul Ehrlich, in a famous bet against cornucopian economist Julian Simon. In 1980, Holdren, Ehrlich and Stanford colleague John Harte picked a basket of five commodities--chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten--that they were sure were going to rise in price as they became increasingly scarce. They drew up a futures contract obligating Simon to sell Holdren, Ehrlich and Harte the same quantities of five metals that could be purchased for $1,000 10 years later at 1980 prices.
If the combined prices rose above $1,000, Simon would pay the difference. If they fell below $1,000, Ehrlich would pay Simon. Ehrlich mailed Simon a check for $576.07 in October 1990. Simply put, the combined real prices of the metals selected by Holdren and his colleagues fell by more than 50% during the 1980s, confirming cornucopian claims that the supply of resources over time becomes more abundant, not scarcer.....
...Holdren introduced in 1971--with his colleague and perennial population-alarmist, Ehrlich--the concept of the I=PAT identity. Human Impact on the environment is equal to Population x Affluence/consumption x Technology. All of which are supposed to intensify and worsen humanity's impact on the natural world.
History shows that the I=PAT identity largely gets it backward. Population is at worst neutral, while affluence and technology actually promote environmental flourishing. It is in the rich, developed countries that the air becomes clearer, the streams cleaner and the forests more expansive....
...Holdren doesn't appear to have an adequate understanding of the economic process through which these technological advances are achieved. He seems to think new technologies arise full-blown from government agencies and university laboratories....
This is the general flaw to the Unified Theory of Left-Wing Causes- that bureaucrats like Holdren know what they are doing and if they are given more power over others- power that those free people once exercised- and are given more resources- resources taken from the labor of once-free people- that these bureaucrats will make the world a better place for us all to live- a more prosperous, free, and happy place. It turns out though that he is wrong in almost all of his theories- from bets he placed to equations he invented to his general understanding of economics. He is a failed person- perhaps no more failed than the rest of us, but yet given more power and authority and wealth over the rest of us by a government not in any way empowered to do so.
People are not completely 'benelevent', and neither are the governments they create, and there are no 'enlightened' people in charge of our government today, either Democrat or Republican or liberal or conservative. Whatever the cause that you believe in or support, the answer is never the Unified Theory of Left-Wing Causes, and yet the Obama administration has appointed as Science Czar one of the greatest believers in this theory- a guy who is supposed to be a scientist actually at his heart a firm believer in a theory that is demonstratively wrong.
John Holdren is yet another example of a failed administration based on failed theories and ideas putting in placed failed administrators who implement failed policies- and we can see the results of this failure in America today.
If you have an ios5 device, you got text expansion. Lifehacker's guide is a great guide for setting up. I will add this tip. If you are lucky enough to have more than one iOS device, set it up the exact same way on both!
Taxation without representation lesson from history teacher Christina Lambard had parents calling the school to complain. A letter was sent home that said kids would be charged 25 cents a page and if unpaid they would get a zero. Usually the kids figure out the note is false. This year parents started calling the school before talking to the teacher. This lesson has been taught before without the hubbub . I think a bigger point here is that parents should learn to call the teacher first.
As William Chamberlain and I dm's on Twitter, I asked if he was "flipped" and he penned this answer on his blog. It is insightful in that many teachers incorporate elements of delivering instruction via blog or feed without having kids with net access at home.
College prof Judy Arzt from Connecticut writes about the usefulness of live binders. I like her simple 2 paragraph explanation of what it is. I find her simple language easy to understand and think that we need more edtech college profs to create blogs like this to share with their students. Nice blog. She is @JudyArtz on Twitter.
Excellent article on designing a game based learning e-course. There are a lot of links and great ideas. Since hearing Jane McGonigal speak at Microsoft HQ I have using Interrobang and other games as a priority for integrating into my classroom. (Hat Tip @juandoming on Twitter)
I love William Chamberlain's lesson plan from this past Tuesday. I enjoy how he defines criticism and sets guidelines. I really love Mr. C! @wmchamberlain on Twitter. We exchanged DM's on Saturday and he has the students 50 minutes a day everyday. With no net access at home, he cannot flip, but I love how his assignments are right here.
Today I'd like to draw your attention to a recent story that appeared in The Hill and talk about several of the alarming aspects of this story and what it says about the Obama Administration, the Democratic Party which supports this administration, and the people in our nation who continue to support Obama's policies.
The opening line of the story is this:
President Obama’s education reform efforts will address growing income inequality in the U.S., Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Wednesday..
The United States Congress is empowered by the Constitution of the United States to regulate commerce, levy taxes, provide for the general welfare, and a range of other powers- but no where is the national government of the United States of America given the power to 'address income inequality in the U.S'. Oh, I know that addressing income inequality has been an issue in our nation for years- but even liberals used to argue that the reason for progressive taxation was that the 'rich' used the services of the U.S more and so should pay a larger percentage of their income or that anti-poverty programs were simply a helping hand up- never in our nation's history has an administration openly pushed for policies designed to simply take wealth from one group and give it to another group.
And the worst part about this administration's push for income redistribution is that it knows that the Constitution does not give this power to our federal government- or more specifically, Obama and his cronies know that it is not one of the enumerated powers given to Congress in Article I and there is no way that policies designed to redistribute wealth are necessary and proper for helping Congress to do its other enumerated powers. They know that what they are doing is unconstitutional and not allowed in our government- but being the tyrannical thugs they are they are going to do it anyway
Duncan’s comments are part of an effort by the administration to call attention to efforts by the president to take actions on the economy that do not require legislation from Congress.
Did you all catch that? The administration is going to purposefully make laws and policies from the executive branch, knowing that these laws and policies would not and could not and should not be passed by the branch of government in our nation given the authority and power to make those laws and policies. This is wrong and contrary to the way that a free and limited government of free men is supposed to be run.
Congress needs to immediately defund any agency or department or official who begins to exercise arbitrary power in our nation and act in a way that is unconstitutional and contrary to the law. Obama's czars and administration are setting down precedents that I don't want anyone to follow, from either party- that executive officials are and should be putting in place policies that our elected officials don't want and putting in place policies that are not authorized by our governing documents.
And the Supreme Court needs to step in and defend the founding principles our which our nation was based- separation of powers and checks and balances. Actions of the executive branch can also be checked by judicial review- and if Congress has not provided for authorization and funds for the Department of Education to engage in a policy of wealth redistribution through its college loan program (which was recently nationalized by the federal government), then any policies that the DOE acts on are unconstitutional and should be rejected and declared null and void.
Obama, his administration, his officials, his party, and anyone who supports him is destroying our Republic through actions such as these, and our nation needs to act swiftly and quickly or we will no longer be living in a nation where people's life, liberty, and property is protected by an impartial government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Instead, we'll be living in a tyranny, where people can be killed, their decisions and choices taken from them, and their property redistributed by unelected officials who do this because- to quote Obama- they can and they won.
As Nigerians join the rest of the world in congregating for Hajj, our ironic preoccupation with religion comes out once again. A few years ago, a survey showed Nigeria to be the most religious country in the world, with 90 percent of the population believing in God, praying regularly and affirming their readiness to die for their beliefs. The survey, "What the World Thinks of God" also showed Nigeria coming tops as a praying nation at 95 percent, compared to 67 percent in the US.
Our brand of Christianity has assumed a uniquely Nigerian character: loud, colorful, vigorous and patently overdone. At a time when many are fleeing churches in droves and church attendance are at record lows, the business of worshiping Christ is a trillion naira concern in Nigeria – and growing. Apart from controlling public vaults, the easiest way to own a private jet in Nigeria is probably to talk-smooth on a church podium...[continue reading]
Glenn Kantz, a librarian in a Swiss Boarding school wrote an article on "patron drive acquisitions" that I find boh fascinating and really something that libraries should consider. In the past, it has often been librarian driven. But if the libraries have books that patrons want, will the libraries be more populated? Now that ebooks and overdrive solutions are coming, doesn't it make sense to take a patron driven model? Should people be able to "vote up" the next acquisition? Fascinating thoughts and I look forward to reading more on this.
Evernote for administrators from TJ Wolf in North Carolina is a simple, easy to read guide to a tool that can be put on just about anything. It has become my personal filing system for everything. Nice guide.
Here are the ways that you can print using Google Cloud print. You can print from Chrome when you're signed into your Google account. Lots of ways to print from your Droid device.
You can use your Google account to link the printers on your PC with your Google account using Google Cloud print. This incredibly useful feature can let you go to work on Monday and when you fire up your computer, it will printout the things you want to have printed. (If it works) this is a very cool feature. I'm enabling this today.
I've been having horrific trouble with Firefox 7 for quite some time. It just hangs all the time. I found a great article that is helping me troubleshoot the problem.
Social media has added to my life because there are incredible people in my sphere of socializing.What you get out of your time engaged with social media is directly proportional to the number and kind of people you socialize with online.
I've seen teachers get on Twitter and follow no one and say,
"I don't get Twitter."
That's because Twitter isn't solo. Find the people who are using Twitter, like Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) and Angela Maiers (@angelamaiers), and you'll learn a lot from them.
If you don't get Google+ (and I don't really... yet, but I will) then follow people like Peter Vogel or Chris Porter who do.
If you don't understand Facebook, I've really found that Mari Smith has helped me get it. And in the last month or two, I've been enjoying my twice daily visits to Facebook. (5:45 am and 7 pm ;-)
These people help us understand how to have effective conversations.
Cool Teacher Conversations on Facebook Over there on my fanpage, it has become a teacher conversation center. In fact, I've been thinking about renaming the page altogether. It isn't about me at all.It is really a place for people to talk about teaching. Now, I know that with the new settings people can follow me on Facebook without having to fan me, but I see my fan page as not about me but about the conversation.
Like a lot of you who blog out there, I cogitate on a subject long before it comes here to my blog. I think about it and ask questions on Twitter about it. But I'm finding that my best answers from real teachers tend to happen on Facebook. Whether we talk about a talkative class (like we are today) or the struggle to keep up with grading, I always find that great ideas are coming in.
Recent conversation about assessments. I keep coming back and learning more.
It helps me to not feel so alone with my struggles. As long as people preserve the privacy of their students and keep it professional (which it has been so far) I find that I'm learning a lot.
Learning from Conversation
To me, the great value is often not in the neat and tidy packaged textbooks and books that come out but in the rough, nubby, conversations with real teachers who are struggling like I am to be excellent, teach in powerful ways, and engage students in rigorous learning experiences.
I had a teacher stop and talk to me at the church the other night and she was talking about her new principal. She is frustrated and said she just wants to ask:
"Do you want me to teach for this test or teach for their future?"
Because she feels that multiple choice just doesn't cut it. I find that by networking like this, I am learning for my future. So, this leads to my next question -- how are we letting students network for learning? Do they have places they can go for conversation to learn?
Learning Places for Conversation
I don't know the answer but we all have to get there. I know on our Flat Classroom Ning and Digiteen Edmodo that we work hard to have conversations. ON the Digiteen project we have one group Digiteen 11-3 and one group called recess and we work hard to have the social comments posted to recess. But it is Friday and I guarantee someone will go on the digiteen group and post, "I'm so glad its friday" and put a cute little moving avatar. And then another moving emoticon will be posted. And Another and another an dall the way down the page we'll see cute little moving avatars - pushing down the conversations about digital citizenship.
This is not a problem altogether. It is great for kids to talk. But we're working hard to teach kids context.
Where is the PLACE for that conversation?
Places should have a purpose. When they do and you establish community guidelines that are community enforced then it begins to work and that takes time. But you can't have community if you're in and out in the span of a few weeks. This takes long term relationships and community building. It will happen but right now onine learning is so much in "project" mode and we need to move to "place" mode with projects moving in and out via groups.
We need places with purposes so kids can have conversations that matter about learning. We need to help faciliate that. Facebook for them should be fun, but can't we have LearnBook? or the MathMatrix? or some places where kids can go for these purposes that are long term places for kids to join and move into the future?
Learning relationships and communities are needed in education and we haven't even begun to get there. Sure, I think Flat Classroom is a start, but I think Flat Classroom should be years and years long and should be more than about technology but extend to all subjects. We compartmentalize our departments so much that that sort of thinking is tough.
Lets ask ourselves these questions. I do think textbook companies should look at communities but right now I don't think they want to be in the business of linking up kids - I mean look at the headaches involved? The only way to do this is to create communities of practice undergirded by teachersourcing and community guidelines.
Conversation spaces will emerge but we have a long way to go. Let's start talking about it now.
I've been messaging with Scott Newcomb about what they are doing at his school in Ohio and got this message: "Every student 3-5 has their own smart phone (MLD). We are starting BYOD with the upper grades this year." Here is their mobile learning blog.
I think that Trina Crawford (tcrawford2011) has some great points about auto dm's on Twitter. I don't care for them either, although I admit, I experimented with them. I also have a service (I since turned off) that used to tweet right before I hit a 1K mark each time -- it bothered me and I think it would bother others. The thing is that when you tweet on twitter it should mostly be about helping others and inspiring them. Be helpful and the followers will come. The sooner we all learn the world doesn't revolve around us and that we should give back and be helpful, the better off we'll all be. Don't worry about followers - rather, be worth following and the followers will come. Care about your followers and they will care about you. Be selfish and be lonely. Be passionately helpful and the sky is the limit.
Scott Newcomb (@snewco on twitter) works with the St. Mary's city schools (Ohio). I was blown away by his school's mobile learning technology page. Tons of resources here for mobile learning.
So, we thought we understood how Klout worked, now we don't. They totally changed their algorithm. Lots of really cool people dropped. I dropped from 71 to 56! What? It is find to calculate such a score but it should make sense to understand what works and what it all means.
Teachers are (or should be) always looking for ways to motivate students to read. Teachers around the country use prizes, points, and even threats as a means for getting their kids to read.
The Sylvan Learning Center has produced a website called Book Adventure, and it is designed in a way that reminds me of the Accelerated Reader program in a way. But not all schools pay for AR access, so if you're into AR and want it in your classroom, this option may be a cheap and easy way for you to implement it.
Kids can sign up and take quizzes, and when they get great scores, they can earn points. The points can be redeemed for prizes. There are some prizes already listed on the site, but then teachers can go on and upload their own prizes for their own personal classroom and students, too. Other perks for teachers: preview quizzes and generate reports of student progress. I like the book finder provided. It's almost like the Scholastic Book Wizard that I wrote about a while back. In any case, book finders are always useful tools, in my opinion! The kids' section of the site also provides some games that try to make learning more fun. A parent section makes the website complete for anyone and everyone.
It's a simple site with simple, yet effective features. Sylvan is a good company, and I don't think they would steer your student wrong. Let me know what you think of Book Adventure!
Today, I'd like to bring the Screencast application to your attention.
Screencast is a way for users to store information online. Now, you may think that this sounds similar to Dropbox, but Screencast throws in a couple of curveballs in order to make it one of the best online storage systems available! Read on for more information!
If you've read my post about Dropbox, you know that Dropbox is really an online flash drive system. Using DB, you can share information with others, but you have to go through the hassle of creating a public folder, making sure the other person is a current user of Dropbox, sending the link...yadda, yadda. It's a whole ordeal. If you've read my post about Dropbox, you also know that it is free to use if you only need 2GB of storage. I'll come back to this point later.
Screencast makes sharing information with users much easier. If you've tried to share something using Dropbox, you understand that there's a whole process you must go through in order for that other person to see your materials: you must create a public folder, you must make sure the other person has a current account with Dropbox, and then you must send that person the link. When that's all you know, it doesn't seem like such a hassle. But if you're a Screencast user, you're going to find sharing material with other people so much easier.
And that 2GB of free storage I mentioned for Dropbox earlier? You can have the exact same amount of storage plus 2GB monthly bandwidth for free using Screencast! Users have the option to upgrade to 25 GB of storage and 400GB monthly bandwidth for $10/month or $100/year. Whoo-hoo!
You may be worried about privacy with Screencast because I'm making it sound like it's open to everyone. Fear not; Screencast offers 4 different privacy options so that you can make sure only the "right" people see your materials.
So what does Screencast do, exactly? I mean, we know it stores materials, but if we're already using Dropbox, why would we get a Screencast account, too?
Allow me to enlighten you.
The biggest plus to this account is that you can upload viewable movies, music, and presentations. With Dropbox, you can store the files, but people have to download them in order to play them...and what if that person doesn't have the correct computer programs in order to view the presentation? Time wasted. With Screencast, you pretty much just embed the video into your website and then anyone can view it with the proper privacy settings and link(s).
Speaking of privacy, I mentioned earlier that there are 4 privacy settings available on Screencast. Here they are:
Public: Anyone and everyone can view your materials. It will be listed in the library content of the site's general search engine, and to share things with others, just give them the simple URL.
Hidden: You must specifically give the URL to people before they can view it; searching for this material won't produce any results.
PasswordProtected: You must have the URL and a password in order to view it.
Authenticated: You must have a Screencast account in order to view it.
While I'm not quite sure about the purpose behind privacy setting number 4 yet, I could see settings 1-3 as a very positive addition for classroom use. Let's say I want to post materials ahead of time (I'm a planner, people! I like to plan lessons a month or two in advance!). I can go ahead and store the materials on my Screencast and click "hidden" until I'm ready to share it with my students. If you have pictures or videos of students that you'd rather not allow the general public to see, a password protected privacy setting would be ideal. Parents, students, and administrators would have the password to access the materials, but Joe Shmoe down the street would not have access. I like it!
If you're a teacher that likes to use Prezi presentations, podcasts, iMovie clips, etc. in your class, you may need a place to store all those files so that your students can find them any time they need to. Screencast seems like it would get the job done!
The model for Somalia is Switzerland. Don’t laugh! Political power in Switzerland lies in the cantons – the 26 proud self-governing communities. The state, such as it is, deals with international matters and national law. Who cares – or even knows – who the president of Switzerland is. The way people live and are governed is decided locally. The Swiss confederation means that cantons have joined the state willingly and can leave if they want to. If they were a simple federation, they could not.
Today as I drove home I saw a bumper sticker on the car in front of me that read "Don't Blame Me- I Voted for the Other Guy". It was amusing, but got me thinking- should people be blamed for voting for Obama in 2008? The answer is no- if you or any of your family voted for President Obama in 2008, it was a mistake, but I believe it was an understandable mistake.
Barack Obama’s campaign created a number of positive ads that emphasize such words as “values” and “work,” portraying him as someone whom working-class voters can feel comfortable with. While Obama’s ads tended to be more positive in tone than McCain’s, there were also a large number of attack ads. Just as President Clinton’s 1996 ads linked Bob Dole with Newt Gingrich, nearly all of Obama’s attack ads linked John McCain with President Bush, whose approval ratings are extremely low. By linking McCain to Bush, the Obama campaign successfully undercut McCain’s image as an independent maverick.
In advertisement after advertisement in 2008, Barack Obama pounded a steady theme- that he was an agent of change that would bring our nation back towards hope by rising above partisanship and embracing every good idea that was proposed. He talked about how he would pull us out of Iraq and that he would sit down an engage in smart diplomacy with our enemies. He pounded on the fact that he would be a smart and savvy leader who would have the sound judgement and wisdom to make the right decisions facing our nation. He linked his opponents in the Democratic Party and in the Republican Party to corruption and special interests and vowed that not only would he be the cleanest, least corrupt politician in the White House, that he would root out special interests and make the White House open and clean and transparent. And he promised to cut the deficit in half and leave our nation with a balanced budget. These were all great goals and promises that a lot of American people could get behind in 2008.
Watch how in this speech he hammers Congress for 'failing to ask the hard questions'- questions about why contracts were awarded to certain groups, why policies were undertaken when the nation clearly didn't have to money to engage on them, and he ripped the Congress a new one for 'giving the President open-ended authority' to make actions and spend money. Obama was right- America doesn't want a President that is unrestricted and making rules up as he goes, playing around with slush funds of cash, and using executive orders to get around the authority of Congress and the people, and he was right to hammer Congress on it.
Take a look at this speech he gave where he laid out his reasons for running for office. In it, he says that we need a new President for 3 reasons- first reason, that we need someone who can bring our nation together and rise above the divisions and partisanship that is dividing our nation, second reason, that we need someone who can 'take on the special interests and win', and third reason, 'telling the truth to the American people even when it's tough.' Back in 2008, and today too, these are good reasons to vote for him and it is understandable that people would support that.
Or watch this one, where Obama lays out the argument to vote for him in the primary in Iowa back in 2008. In it, Obama says that the reasons to vote for him is that he has a track record for reducing the power of lobbyists in DC, that he was opposed to the war in Iraq from the start and will immediately bring our troops home, that he would help out working families and raise their pay and lower the costs of healthcare, that he wouldn't push national programs in education without properly funding those programs, and that we can be 'assured' that he will be who he says he is. He pounds the point that we can trust him- that he is who he says he is and that he isn't going to change once he gets in the White House.
Don't blame yourself for voting for Obama in 2008- in campaign advertisement after campaign ad, he said the right things and talked about doing a lot of good things for our nation. It was understandable if you voted for him based on these ads, and since there was very little background or track record of him, that was pretty much all you had to go on. And McCain wasn't the best choice and ran one of the worst campaigns ever, so don't blame yourself for voting for Obama in 2008.
But look back at all that he ran on in 2008 and compare it to what the results were and who he is today. He did the opposite of everything that he said, he ruined everything he wanted to help, he has presided over divisive and protests like no other- both Tea Parties on the right and Occupiers on the left-, he has piled up debt and put in place structural deficits that will bankrupt America, he took many years to take our troops out of Iraq while expanding troops in Afghanistan and committing our military to many more countries, he has made the White House more opaque, corruption is rampant and massive contracts were awarded to companies with few questions asked- likely due to campaign donations those companies gave him personally-, he throws around his authority without limit, signs executive orders to go around Congress, has blocked fundamental and tough reforms from being put in place, has increased unemployment and the number of people on food stamps, and has made foolish decision and statement after foolish statement and decision.
Most importantly, you shouldn't blame yourself for voting for Obama in 2008 because you trusted him- but if you vote for him in 2012 everyone should blame you because you still trust him. He lied to you- he lied to all of us- he promised us things and pounded on the themes of trust and believing him him, and he did not do those things. He lied, and in 2012, America should hold him accountable for his lies, which are all public record and easily found (follow this link yourself), and he should be thrown out of office and the Republican nominee- whether it is Romney, Perry, Cain, or someone else- should be our next President of the United States.
Our teachers have been talking about the fact that we need ongoing online pd and sharing of best practices. Also, that many webinars are sort of long. We want to have bit sized presentations with time to ask questions. Our first FLAT will be tomorrow and features two of our certified teachers presenting their take on developing a global project. Join us!
Common sense media has just released a new report "Zero to 8: Children's media use in America." Our students on Digiteen are reviewing this report for their research, maybe you should take a look too.
The uprisingsthat have shaken the Arab world were galvanised by photographs and videos taken by ordinary citizens using their mobile phones. Spread via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, these images offered the outside world a glimpse inside countries such as Tunisia and Egypt as the people took to the streets to overthrow their dictators and to demand justice. These images publicised their cause and spurred on would-be revolutionaries elsewhere, in the process transforming ordinary citizens into citizen reporters who could circumvent state-run media to tell their story.
"Should jailbreaking cell phones be part of my research project, 'Miss' Vicki?" said the eager Digiteen student as if a light bulb had just gone on.
"Tons of people are starting to jailbreak phones and I'm not sure if they understand if they should or what the impact is. I think it should be part of our recommendations."
"Is jailbreaking a phone part of legal, copyright, and fair use?" he said, quoting his subtopic on the project.
In just a few short sentences I was whirled away on a new inquiry and cutting edge issue of students today. I remember several years a go when some students came to me concerned that too many teens were sleeping with their cell phone in hand or under their pillow. They said it at least six months before news media outlets picked it up. Cyberbullying was on their radar at least five years ago when the project first started including text bombing.
This is why students should be at the forefront of digital citizenship research and recommendations. They can aggregate research and have personal perspectives that adults simply cannot have. That is precisely where we put them in the Digiteen project, too.
Every student has a slightly different research topic. Designed in such a way to make them think, it is challenging to coach each of them to understand their topic. Last Friday as we were continuing our authentic research phase of the Flat Classroom project, I had a student take my breath away,
"'Miss' Vicki, can't you just give us a worksheet? I don't feel like thinking today."
What? Did she just say what I think she said? Did she just confirm my whole teaching strategy in one sentence? My response was,
"Your brain is a required school supply for this class. You have it and you must use it. I don't give homework so I need your brain for at least 50 minutes today. I'll help you if you get lost."
Then, another comment,
"Well, who has the same topic I do. I can just look on their screen."
The answer was that no one has the same topic. Not on these projects. If two kids have the same topic at a school they are supposed to be in different classes, separated by time and space, so that each student will learn how to research.
I talked about this with one of my classes yesterday. I always want my students to know WHY we do things in my class. "Cause I said so," isn't good enough. I want them to know why we learn the way we do and why I do these odd, really hard things to get them thinking. I asked the simple question,
"Why don't we all do the same research project so we can learn together?"
One student blurted out,
"Because everybody knows that a few kids do the research and everybody just asks them and says the same thing those two or three people say, that's how it always is when we research the same topic."
Everyone nodded their heads - some sheepishly.
I want you to hear what these students are saying because these students are at an excellent school with great results and great teachers. Worksheets are not the norm. But these kids without an ounce of educational theory know which one requires thinking and which one does not.
Jailbreaking Education Currently, we have a mass production model of education. But until we personalize things and require each student to learn. Until we do things in creative ways that make sure kids each learn and have to think and process, we will continue to have the select few do the thinking. It is human nature.
Education shouldn't be one size fits all. I don't think that getting outside the standardized work we do in education should be considered jailbreaking. But for now, in most schools it is.
Typically, the number one complaint of schools and why they can't embark on global collaborative projects is that there is no time in the curriculum. The other issue I've seen is that a teacher who only has kids twice a week and is tasked with 150-200 kids is asked to do such a project. I have 85 kids on 2 projects right now and I'm totally worn out at the end of the day.The schools that have done such scalable contributions to global collaborative projects (like the the amazing teachers at the Berea School district in Ohio) have good student to teacher ratios that allow for coaching. (Don't let Berea's website fool you, they are as sharp as they come.)
Higher order thinking and deep, wide technology integration where students build PLN's, use social bookmarking, use educational networks, collaborate on wikis, and produce profound multimedia cannot be relegated to a one-lesson "now you know a tool" approach. It requires immersive, experiential learning and that takes time.
Teaching right now for me is completely exhausting but completely fulfilling. In fact, right now we're talking on my facebook page about how to "work a room" in a way that doesn't completely wear out the teacher. My biggest struggle is energy level. It is exhilarating but it is also exhausting.
But to get here requires giving each student an individual research topic with a team of collaborators from other schools and a powerful network of teachers committed to help and support each other across country borders and district guidelines.
This kind of teaching is tough but it is real. I just find it so interesting that I and the other teachers feel that so much of what we do is frowned upon as some sort of "jailbreaking" that "most" schools can't do. This is what every school should do in a globally connected world. To say that you don't have time because you have to prep for a standardized test is sad.
Remember your noble calling teacher.
Sorry, I didn't have time to add photos this morning, I may come back and add them later.
