31 is fun, if you don’t mind listening to me rant. In this episode I rant about a “news” story I found in Google News, then make a connection to one of the things that David Warlick talks about: It is not enough to teach our kids how to read and write. We need to teach them to read and figure out if it is RIGHT.Hopefully I’ll get to do that in my Art Club. Podcast Alley: Education Podcasts – C’mon, you know you want…Continue Reading “Podcast 31: Opinion Hunt”
The local news had a story on backpacks being too heavy for students nowadays. When I went to their website to reference the story I couldn’t find it, but I DID find that they had in fact covered it several times before: 8/17/04, 8/23/02, I can go on, but I won’t. In a society where we stress more and more learning we seem to be putting more than just emotional weight on our students’ shoulders, and apparently we’ve known about it for years. Think about…Continue Reading “Tooooo Heeeeavy!”
Ok, so I can’t think of a wisecrack for number 26. I owe you one. Show Notes:Goals concerning my students: 1) More technology in the classroom 2) More discussion of intellectual property / copyrights / fair use / open source / Creative Commons / etc. Goals concerning my coworkers: 1) Encourage educators to read and/or write blogs. 2) Encourage educators to listen to and/or record podcasts. (iTunes will really help with this.) Speaking of podcasts, here are some good ones: Teach42 Connected Learning Bud the…Continue Reading “Podcast 26: Goals for this year”
24 is 42 backwards! … does that make this podcast the question of life the universe, and everything? Ok, I’m geeking out a little too much. Show Notes:*A big hello to everyone who found me using iTunes 4.9‘s podcast directory! *What do mp3s tell us about curriculum? *Why dread the question “When are we going to need to know this?” *Podcast Alley: Education Podcasts – C’mon, you know you want to vote for me … right?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana “We cannot get to the future without making a break with the past” – Phil Shapiro “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” – William Gibson It’s a bit of a dichotomy here. To get to the future we have to build upon the past, but the past can be very controlling. Take a look at photo processing. Any good photo editing program will have tools labeled “burn”…Continue Reading “The 1.5 solution”
20th podcast – one more and it can drink, even though I don’t. Show Notes:Weblogg-ed discussed inappropriate sites, so I do too. PodcastAwards.com – Another podcast popularity contest. Thanks to Steve Dembo for pointing it out. Bud the Teacher talked about fanfiction, something I used to make a lot of years ago.
19th podcast – one more and it’ll no longer be a teenager. Show Notes:Congratulations to Steve Dembo of teach42.com fame, he recently got hired as a kindergarten teacher for a charter school. Steve, does that mean you’ll change your podcast description to “musings of a kindergarten teacher?” iKnowThat.com – I’ve only just barely scratched the surface of this site, and I already like it. They have plenty of “games,” but they all have an educational nature too them. Registration is free and VERY fast, activities…Continue Reading “19th Podcast”
18th podcast … does that mean it can vote? … most likely not. Show Notes:School ends on Friday! So, how many educators will continue to blog/podcast over the summer? Making Stuff – A great blog that documents one woman making all kinds of cool crafts. Reading her stuff really inspires me. Artboy – This site has all kinds of content, but I mention it because of it’s podcast: Strange Angels. Think of it as the internet version of NPR’s Art & Culture segments. Education Podcast…Continue Reading “18th Podcast: Making Stuff and Strange Angels”
I recently revisited Ender’s Game, a very decent sci-fi story, if somewhat unbelievable when it comes to child psychology. I’d already read the book once, but that was back before I was a teacher. Back then, it just struck me as an enthralling story with plenty of plot twists. (I was once told that the art of writing a good story involves creating a character you like and then visiting hardships upon that character. Ender’s Game does just that.) But now I’ve been teaching for…Continue Reading “Ender’s Game and Education”
It’s the 14th! Valentine’s day! … no, wait, it’s the 14th podcast. Sorry about that. Take a survey, win a pro account for Flickr. Show Notes: A Basement of Broken Dreams – An album by John Holowach, hosted on archive.org. I used his song called My Piano Sings (Part 3). If you don’t push the students you’ll always have good results, but if you push the students then they will LEARN. When sending email about the art schedule, some messages aren’t finding their way to…Continue Reading “14th Podcast: Risks and Email”