Group items tagged

Tom's blog is on my aggregator list!

I see a lot on the blog that probably shouldn't be posted due to the fact that it deals with things going on in Henrico County Public Schools. It raises issues with intellectual property and our web posting guidelines. If it can be construed as for one's personal gain, then it's not acceptable. The we and intellectual property guidelines are actually part of policy the last time I checked. Just my thought on it... I do visit the blog to help understand some of the jargon.

I have to agree with you Gary, however, I thought below was powerful: I think about where we spend our money. We're constantly trying to find easy ways out of holes, easy ways to scale metaphorical mountains. We look for processes to remove the chores of thought and decision. Education is floundering. We lost our faith in teachers. It is every politician's easy drum to beat- after all. "Our schools are failing! The enemies are at the gate!"1 Who would argue that our kids don't deserve better? Both parties agree. Education is failing. Our solution is not to work, to spend money and time on our teachers, to help them become better, instead we send our money away, spending precious time testing products of a system we insist is broken. We buy software. We buy content. We buy external experts.2 We buy reputation. We buy "trust" and "quality" because we don't believe either really exists in our schools. Invest that money in our teachers, on smaller classes, on things that have been proven to matter. Make teaching a career that isn't based on martyrdom. Martyrs die flaming deaths. Systems based on them don't last. There are no easy answers. You can't buy, process, software, magic your way out of this. There is no microwave dinner version of educational reform.

This article is written by a gentleman who is for technology, however, he is addressing the four major reasons he has found for reasons people oppose technology. I was actually surprised at the four he narrowed it down to and summarized. Never really thought about most of them as reasons for NOT wanting technology integration! Interesting!

Wow! What a list.... I enjoyed reading the comments to the blog as well. The "contrary to..." seemed very extreme but had some good points. I'm imagining that this agument would have probably been used during the industrial revolution as well.

This article discusses how social networking leads to groupthink.

I liked how the author posed the question: "Will you expand your mind and increase your creativity more by talking to people just like you or with people who are different?" It is so true. In order to expand your mind and learn about different things it's necessary to go and explore areas of the unknown .

I found this article interesting because I never thought that companies would capitalize on the concept of 21st Century Skills to make a profit. I copied just a portion of the article for your review, however I think it would be worth your time to read the entire article. "Recently, those critics have leveled a more serious charge at the organization. P21, they allege, is a veiled attempt by technology companies-which make up the bulk of the group's membership-to gain more influence over the classroom. "The closer we look, the more P21's unproven educational program appears to be just another mechanism for selling more stuff to schools," Lynne Munson, the president and executive director of Common Core, a Washington group that advocates a stronger core curriculum, wrote in a recent blog item.".

You know, Stacy, I have always been cautious about corporate involvement in education and have major concerns about pushing 21st century skills too hard vs. focusing on content. Thanks for this article! It seems no one wants to champion or at least humor this viewpoint. I believe in objectivity and opposing viewpoints as a cornerstone of a democratic society.

Anyone think this is a bad idea? I am thinking about asking if we can set up a school group.

I think it is an interesting idea. I know that many parents and students are told to "check the school's website" for more information. If there is a FB page with updates, I feel that many more parents/students/(and alumni) will find out the information more regularly. Why fight it, embrace it.

Interesting video!

Garry...thanks for sharing! That is a very powerful video. I really think that all teachers should see that. We have to realize that we need to TEACH our students. There is so much out there to support our teaching and we all need to find it and use it! Thanks for sharing that!

Just found this as I was searching for some other articles.

Hey guys...I found this site to be very helpful, especially for those parents who have absolutely NO CLUE what is going on even if they are looking at their child's acivity. Felt this tied into our blogging this week...but this is more geared to the drug side of technology use (which is so depressing)

It is just plain sad to me that kids go online to find "new" ways to get high! Keeping the parents educated is the key to keeping kids safe. It has to start at home. I know as educators we also play an important role, but parents have to constantly monitor what their kids are doing on the web.

I like how there are several different categories parents to use as resources. Cell phones, social networking, and even music.

This is great, but I just can't see myself ever "tweeting."

I haven't tried tweeting but I hear it's addicting.

My wife has gotten into tweeting along with her blogging. She uses twitter as a tool to communicate with authors. I think that if I had the time, I would use it as well.

If you have nothing else to do in the summer! If you expect students to work over the summer then this is a good way to keep up with things the starting the year will be more seamless.

This is the article I referenced in my blog this week. It is definitely a way to help increase the proper use of the Internet!

I think all schools should offer a parents internet education. I really believe that some parents have no clue what really goes on when their children get on the internet.

Wow! This is good, but this mom sure has a lot of time on her hands! I do agree that this should be something or something like this that all parents should do cause they don't have a clue what their kids are up to.

I read one of Dr. Richardson's responses to a post and she was talking about self-policing so I wanted to explore that a little more. I think this article is fueled by emotions from a family issue, but it does ask some good questions!

Just a small look at what I've done with my weblog in history class. It's been awhile since I've used it. Virtual share has been my major tool lately.

This is a great way to use a blog to support your students...having them post their learning as comments allows them to share their ideas and learning with the whole class rather than just the teacher. What's Virtual Share?

VirtualShare is a server in Henrico County that we use to share files with our students and they can drop their files to us. Very soon Henrico will drop that in favor of SchoolSpace (a division of Angel which I believe was bought out by Blackboard).