Dangerously Irrelevant

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Five online resources worth checking out…

1. TIME has an excellent overview article on Twitter and how it just may change the way we live.
2. The Des Moines Register profiled an interesting charter school in Sigourney, Iowa. I’m very lucky to have the innovative superintendent as one of my doctoral students!
3. Do you know the 10 Golden Rules of Social Media?
4. Philip Greenspun has some thoughts about how the Web and the weblog have changed writing.
5. Tom Vander Ark says that “public education is [General Motors] in the 1980s -- it's dying and doesn't know it.”

See also previous posts in this category!

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1. Larry Ferlazzo has a fantastic post about the videos at TED Talks and a variety of supporting resources for teachers, presenters, etc. This is a must read!
2. In South Africa (and elsewhere!), “if the principal sets the lead, technology can succeed in a school.”
3. Universities mull the use of blogs instead of course management systems. I’ve been using blogs instead of Blackboard for my courses for a couple of years now. The CMS paradigm is about institutionalized hand-holding and centralized, walled-garden control. No thanks. (hat tip to @jtwetten)
4. The University of Michigan Health Sciences Library has a fascinating slideshow on the different ways that the Obama campaign used social media to get its messages out and mobilize people to action.
5. Siri, virtual assistant software for the iPhone and other smartphones, looks like an extremely useful product (particularly with the voice recognition feature). 

See also previous posts in this category!

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Five online resources worth checking out…

1. Alec Couros has asked his readers to recommend readings that will expand his Associate Dean’s “understanding of current changes regarding social networks, knowledge, and technology in education.” Head on over and add your two cents.
2. Today is #tweetbump day on Twitter.
3. Jing Pro is only $15 a year. Perhaps the best bargain on the Web for easily making short videos!
4. So what IS going on [in Montgomery County, Maryland]? Parents are finding their voices. Awesome!
5. Want to be a guest blogger for NECC 2009? You could win a free press pass to the conference. 

See also previous posts in this category!

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Five online resources worth checking out…

1. Shelly Blake-Pock takes on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
2. Mashable highlights the top 7 Twitter tutorials on YouTube.
3. America likes to foist its e-waste issue on developing countries.
4. Kelly Christopherson discusses how there’s always more.
5. Google Web Elements is worthy of investigation.

See also previous posts in this category!

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Five online resources worth checking out…

1. “We need to be inspired. We need to be encouraged. We need to spend time doing things we love. We want to change the world. Is that too much to ask?”
2. Iowa schools are focusing on penmanship. Really. Penmanship.
3. Britt Watwood notes that “there was a note of fear that the ‘good old days’ were gone and that because of online learning, higher education was going to hell in a handbasket.” Be sure to also check out his white paper on online teaching.
4. Step 1: Play with this sortable table of beginning and average teacher salaries by state.
5. Step 2: Then get really depressed about teacher salaries by reading the PDF version of this book from the Economic Policy Institute.

See also previous posts in this category!

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My latest roundup of links and tools…

America is not competitive

A majority of Fortune 1000 executives surveyed give the American pre-college system a failing grade. As Andrew Trotter reports from Education Week’s new Digital Education blog (check it out!), 95% of the survey participants think that the U.S. is in danger of losing its global position because of students’ disinterest in STEM fields. Be sure to check out the other Bayer Facts of Science Education surveys.

Chris Lehmann rocks out

As others have noted, Chris’ presentation at IgnitePhilly is a must-see. Forward on to others using this URL:

• http://snipurl.com/ignitephilly

This is the kind of passion I strive for on a regular basis. I don’t always get there, but this is my desired goal. 

Hot for teacher

I wonder what the NEA thinks about this SinglesNet ad.

Teach students about dating violence

Rhode Island has made school training about dating violence mandatory. This is a fantastic idea. Did you know that 1 in 5 female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner?

Americans who want Americans to be dumb at math

Jo Boaler has an interesting Education Week article on the ‘anti-knowledge movement.’

This just in: Teenagers like to text message

The New York Times reports that cell phone users send more text messages than make phone calls. Teenagers are the most prolific texters, which of course will impact their communication habits when they hit the workforce.

Wireless school buses

I love this creative thinking in Arkansas about using wireless Internet access to turn long school bus rides into learning opportunities.

WeDo joins MindStorms

Andrew Trotter reports on Lego’s upcoming WeDo kits for schools. Calling all junior robotics engineers!

Two great Campus Technology articles

Article 1: 5 common mistakes using blogs with students.
Article 2: Educators and the generative nature of the digital economy.

Hill Street Blues meets K-12

Did you know that over 12,000 K-12 employees in the U.S. had a nonfatal occupational injury in 2006? As Sergeant Esterhaus used to note, Hey, let’s be careful out there!

My netbook is on its way!

Netbooks are hot, hot, hot! (see, e.g., the articles in GigaOM, ZDNet, and PC Magazine). Between netbooks and smartphones, the mobile Web is well on its way to penetrating every nook and cranny of our lives. This has positive implications for getting a computing device into the hands of every student! I thought it was time to dive into this computing sector and will share pictures of my Dell Inspiron Mini 9 when it arrives later this month. Now all we need is ubiquitous wireless broadband…

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My latest roundup of links and tools…

When did the IT staff get promoted above the superintendent?

Will Richardson notes:

[A] school superintendent I spoke with … lamented the fact that his IT staff wouldn’t give him access to YouTube and even Wikipedia.

See also my older post: Principal blogging not allowed.

Math and motocross

Check out this sweet series of motocross math videos at HotChalk. The brains behind the math? Former guest blogger Jason Dyer!

“I didn’t know Sasquatch was real.”

Fun with the Pacific Tree Octopus!

Maybe we should do this for teachers and administrators too

"Seventy-one-year-old Peggy McIntyre needs to learn as much as she can about Windows before 8 a.m. Or else."

Post-Gutenberg economics

It’s now a publish-then-filter world. Clay Shirky notes that “we’re clocking a singularity a week at this point.”

We need to educate our educators

Seth Godin says:

It’s easy to be against something you’re afraid of. And it’s easy to be afraid of something that you don’t understand.

Open your brain, open your model of education

The Education Innovation blog has an interesting post on closed v. open models of education. [Note to self: this might be the world’s longest URL]

Some good thinking going on here

Thanks to Mike Sansone, I recently discovered the Union Square Ventures blog. In Power to the People, they state:

[W]e believe that we are only at the beginning of the web’s impact on the fundamental structure of education. We expect much of that change to be away from the existing educational institutions and towards empowering individuals and newly-formed groups.

In Why the Flow of Innovation Has Reversed, they note:

[T]he vector of innovation has changed. It used to be that innovation started with NASA, flowed to the military, then to the enterprise, and finally to the consumer. Today, it is the reverse. All of the most interesting stuff is being built first for consumers and is tricking back to the enterprise. . . . [O]ne reason this is happening is that the success of a web service is more often determined by its social engineering than its electrical engineering.

Students aren’t the only ones missing the big picture

The Florida Department of Education is concerned that students are missing the big picture when it comes to science. A task force stated that “teachers should provide a broader focus on scientific concepts and process in a 'big picture' sense.” Hmmm… I wonder if that means the Department is going to narrow down the list of required science standards and also pare down the size of approved textbooks. I’m guessing not. Download the full report if you dare.

Disempowered today = disempowered tomorrow

I left this comment at Jim Gates’ Tipline blog:

Students who aren't fluid technology users today will be the low-wage workers and disempowered citizens of tomorrow.

I want it right THERE

Finally, if you’re anal-retentive about your Windows taskbar like I am, check out Taskbar Shuffle.

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Three great questions

I especially like the last of these three questions from Rodney Trice. We should be asking teachers and principals that question more often (and just that directly).

• How do you intend to bring the global community into your classroom?
• How will you prepare students for a future that is relatively unknown?
• How you will eliminate the racial predictability of achievement outcomes in your classroom?

This just in: Teenagers play video games!

All kidding aside, the latest report from the amazing Pew Internet & American Life Project confirms that kids - even girls! – are up to their eyeballs in video games.

We’ll stick to the tried and (not) true

Nope, sorry. iPods are not allowed. Back to the old way. Too bad it doesn’t work as well. Gotta do it anyway. Oh, and I love how the music players are categorically, by definition, a ‘distraction’ (if not in actuality). Who needs reality when we have these little educational policy fantasy worlds that we can create for ourselves?

Throw da bums out!

After attempts to bring in turnaround experts didn’t work, the state of Maryland is increasingly leaning toward completely restructuring schools that are academically unsuccessful. State schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick says:

We are very comfortable being more aggressive about this. We have seen much better results [when the staff is replaced].

Blog like a farmer

I ran across an old post by Mike Sansone, one of my Iowa blogging buddies. I really like his metaphor that blogging should be like farming.

Scorecards

I bet parents and community members would really like to see scorecards like this one (maybe with different data) for their local schools. I know some schools and districts already do this. Hopefully they use line graphs rather than tables of numbers. Could you tell the essential story of a school district with 10 key, well-done graphs? I bet you could!

No writing in journalism class?

Check out this excellent article about the NYU journalism student who got in trouble for blogging about her class. [hat tip to Tim Stahmer]

I got no money, honey

Did you catch Edutopia’s advice on how to innovate without extra money or support?

Spend hours on content you can find with Google in 3 seconds!

One of my favorite things about Wes Fryer is his ability to highlight the ridiculous. I also enjoy his irreverance (“Behold! I hold aloft the holy words!”), particularly when I have the same experience at my kids’ school.

Speaking of Google…

Finally, I’m digging Google Chrome. it’s now my default browser and I’m using Firefox less and less (and I love Firefox). Chrome is much faster. I also like that each tab is a separate process; I have yet to have a browser hang…

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My latest roundup of links and tools…

The critics need a reboot

David Wolman’s article in Wired Magazine is a quick and effective rebuttal of those who claim that technology is making us stupid.

Social networking for babies

Yep, that’s right. Social networking for babies: Made a mess in my pants today. Slept. Made a mess in my pants today. Slept…

The $70 PC

Using a thin client model for school computers seems like an idea that has promise. And of course a $70 price tag per computer sounds great. Does anyone know a school organization that’s working with NComputing?

Should kids learn about 9/11 via cartoons?

Gary Stager’s got a vein pop about BrainPop…

Handheld learning

Thanks to Dean Shareski, I now know about the Handheld Learning web site. Thanks, Dean!

Youth, porn, and violence

Want the latest facts on youth exposure to pornography and violent web sites? Head to Harvard’s Berkman Center!

Speaking of the Berkman Center…

There is a LOT going on at the Center. Check out its list of projects (the list is clickable thanks to Kwout) and sign up for its news feed!

Karl Fisch is big in Germany

If you didn’t catch it, Karl recently posted about a German magazine’s story about his school and the Did You Know? video. Anybody read German?

Snow in the bathroom

And, finally, here’s a good rule of thumb: don’t read Doug Johnson while you’re supposedly participating in a serious meeting. Thy guffaw mayest disrupt…

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My latest roundup of links and tools...

By now we should be thinking about the Internet like we do water and electricity

Slate Magazine notes that

Camp McCain . . . fundamentally does not see the Internet as essential infrastructure. . . . Instead, Camp McCain dreams of a competitive market in Internet services, and so if Obama sees the Internet as a road, McCain takes it as a car: something that consumers will buy if they want it. In fact, in 2001, Michael Powell compared the Internet to a luxury car: ‘I think there is a Mercedes divide. I would like to have one, but I can't afford one.’ Any too-ambitious government project to put a fiber cable in people's homes, thinks Camp McCain, is likely doomed to failure.

All I have to say about this is that any country that doesn’t see the Internet as essential infrastructure for driving forward its national economy and societal well-being is doomed. Doomed, I tell you! [hat tip to Will Richardson]

Speaking of which…

• The Partnership for 21st Century Skills just issued a new report on education and global competitiveness. Lots of yummy statistics in there about the changing American workplace. a plum reading choice for school leaders. Visit www.tinyurl.com/jobsarechanging

Huh?

• It’s easy to find examples of why we need people to translate the world of educational research for practitioners. To most K-12 educators, for examples, paragraphs 5 through 7 of this study summary (which purports to report the instructional value of using interactive whiteboards) are complete gibberish.

The power of transparency

• I love being able to peer into the innards of Dan Meyer’s mind and instruction. How many other teachers do we know that would even be comfortable with the thought of opening up their entire classroom curriculum for critique and discussion?

The power of the aggregator

• A couple of weeks back, Doug Johnson had a great post about the power of RSS aggregators. I’ve been introducing our new principal cohort to Google Reader. Comment from last night’s class: There’s a whole world out there that I didn’t know about!

The power of prefetching

• I like the fact that FeedDemon, the software I’m using as my primary aggregator, lets me read stuff offline.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

• The ILC conference is coming up… So is the Online Teaching & Learning Conference (which, by the way, happens to be online!).

Smackdown!

• Finally, make sure you read the responses of Karin Chenoweth and Ben Wildavsky to Charles Murray’s latest book, Real Education. If you’ve forgotten, Murray is the guy who wrote The Bell Curve and believes that poor kids should just be slotted into menial (but somehow emotionally-fulfilling) educational tracks and jobs so that our schools can go back to their business of educating the elites to run the world. [hat tip to Eduwonkette]

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My latest roundup of links and tools…

Do buildings matter?

• Jay Matthews wonders how much we should care about decrepit school buildings.

Math matters

• Daniel de Vise provides an even-handed overview of the math scene.

Moving forward in Manassas

• It’s always nice to read about a superintendent who gets it.

Extremely handy

• I use this online stopwatch a lot in my presentations.

Sylvia is skeptical

• A few weeks back, Sylvia Martinez had a great post about Curriki and the like. I wonder what she thinks about my letter last year to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (see also my follow-up post)?

Follow the numbers

• I am appreciating Jon Becker’s use of large-scale data to ferret out interesting questions and issues. Check out his posts on digital equity and math achievement to see what I mean.
• Eduwonkette - a.k.a. Jennifer Jennings - is the queen of using data in interesting and provocative ways in her posts. She and Jon are good models for the rest of us who have access to data.

Send this to your wife or neighbors and spark a good conversation about your kids

• If you somehow haven’t run across it yet at another blog, be sure to read Clive Thompson’s article in the New York Times about the brave new world of digital intimacy. Lots of conversation-provoking stuff in there…

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My latest roundup of links and tools…

I read blocked blogs

• I’m gettin’ me some of these super-cool buttons (made by Stephanie Sandifer; inspired by Bud Hunt). What a great thing to hand out to administrators!

Are you up to the challenge?

• The 2008 Comment Challenge is now on (and, hey, recognize a fantastic commenter!)

Why K-12 educators shake their heads at academia

• Rick Hess perfectly captures one of my primary complaints about academia, which is that much of what we do is completely inaccessible (and/or meaningless) to K-12 educators

No hand-held electronics in front of the kids!

I was incredulous to read ... the decision by the London Catholic School Board in Ontario banning hand held electronic devices in schools. . . . Even more bizarrely ... school board employees are only allowed to use these devices "in areas from which students are excluded." Taken to its logical extent then this includes staff also being unable to use digital cameras to record student work or projects, create and listen to podcasts and so on.
– Gareth Long

Like Alfie Kohn, Dan Meyer forces us to rethink / justify

• Who do we think we are?
• The difference between us and them
• Sobriety

New tools I’m finding quite useful

• Taboo Firefox extension
• FeedDemon RSS reader

The impetus is on us, not them

Help a teacher develop an integrated lesson [that] ... focuses on a local issue of real importance, in which they, their families, and/or others in their community have a genuine stake and interest. If their learning is situated in that type of context, I think you’ll find the impact of their learning experiences will be far greater, and many more of them will learn digital literacy skills alongside traditional literacy skills. Teaching in a problem-based learning environment is a lot more work than simply lecturing and delivering content to students, but it is the type of learning environment our students need to remain engaged in school work. Too many kids today are BORED by school. As the adults running our schools, it is our responsibility to remedy this situation.
– Wesley Fryer

A couple of gems from Clay Burell…

• Muhammad Ali: A D- student or an F- school?
• Education as pretense: Schooly “speeches” versus real “talks”

And a couple more from Gerald Bracey

• Proficient readers: Dear Strong American Schools (be wary of those NAEP proficiency levels!)
• A test everyone will fail

We are a little egocentric, aren’t we?

• Fujitsu’s world map (thanks, Brett!)

And, finally, a reminder from John Pederson

• Don’t count your Twitter followers

One year ago: Well, what's your answer? and Principal blogging not allowed

Not so irrelevant 007

My latest roundup of links and tools…

Some really cool posts about Twitter

• Twitter set theory & the wisdom of the group (a must-read)
• 17 ways to visualize the Twitter universe

Reading blogs is like visiting a new city

• I need to think this way about all of the unread posts in my feed aggregator (thanks, Mike Maloy!)

Rethink trust

• An interesting video from an interesting organization (also downloadable)

Zamzar

• Like many others, I am enjoying using Zamzar, a video download / file conversion tool

Lame-o

As someone in a Ed leadership program right now, I couldn’t agree more that it is a waste of time and hoop-jumping to get an administrative license. My professor lectured for two hours to a class of adults on the importance of collaboration in adult education. Lame-o.
– Jethro

A great way to think about the social Web

• No one has ‘forgotten’ or ‘left out’ anything. You just haven’t added it yet. – Alan Levine, Wiki Way (thanks for the tip, Vicki Davis!)

The firestorm subsides

• In case you missed the latest edublogosphere hubbub, you can check it all out here (start at the beginning!). I thought that there were lots of thoughtful replies to Jon’s concerns, but Vicki Davis’ and Ric Murry’s and Tom Hemingway’s stand out for me. I also really liked Wesley Fryer’s reflective post today on his own history and the changes that he’s seen.
• One of my previous posts, Linked, may provide a useful way of thinking about blog ‘superhubs’ as connectors, not inner circles. As the conversation swirl about Jon’s post so aptly demonstrated, getting noticed by the superhubs can bring you into the conversation very quickly and get you a substantial increase in traffic. My experiences with the Did You Know? video and my post about classroom cell phone videos, both of which were picked up by bloggers with far larger audiences than me, bear witness to that truth.

Happy reading, everyone. Like Wesley, I am here for the learning revolution. Hope you are too.

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In the past, I’ve labeled my random thoughts and captures from the Web on this blog as Half-finished or half-baked?. As of today, I’m re-labeling those as Not so irrelevant and have made a new category on my blog for these…

YouTube Insight

YouTube has released YouTube Insight, an analytical tool that allows users to view detailed statistics about the videos they have uploaded. I pulled up my list of videos and clicked on the About this video button for my video on The Resilience of Teacher Culture (featuring Richard Elmore). Here’s what I got:

Nathan Lowell quote

Here’s my favorite quote (from Nathan Lowell) from all of the comments at Will Richardson’s post regarding 21st century skills for educators:

We've spent millions of dollars to equip and wire schools and now that we're discovering just how much we can learn with them, we're spending millions more to prevent the intellectual capitalization that our investment represents.

Classroom examples

Colette Cassinelli has set up a VoiceThread 4 Education wiki where educators can post examples of how they’re using VoiceThread in their classrooms. Very cool idea. Similarly, Liz Kolb is blogging about how to use cellphones as K-12 learning tools. I’ve added these to the Moving Forward wiki since I think they’ll be helpful examples for presenters. [Anyone know of similar sites – ‘how to use these tools in education and here are lots of examples’ – for online video, podcasting, Twitter, etc.? I particularly like the idea of the wiki where everyone can post their examples for all to see…]

Rightload

Courtesy of LifeHacker, I discovered a nifty little Windows tool called Rightload that allows me to right-click on a file and instantly upload it to my web site.

Music education bloggers

Joseph Pisano and Owen Bradley are trying to get 100 new music education bloggers by January 2009. So far they’re up to 36. If you know of any music educators who are blogging who aren’t on the list, encourage them to sign up! [It would be great if the massive list of teacher bloggers at Support Blogging was divided up by subject areas!]

Leaders in Learning 2008

Kudos to Dan Meyer, Vicki Davis, Jason Ohler, Liz Pape, and the other finalists for the 2008 Leaders in Learning Awards. As a General Excellence awardee last year, I can emphatically state that the winners will have a great experience!

Half-finished or half-baked? 005

Random musings. Half-finished (and quite possibly half-baked) thoughts. Things that have caught my eye…

One of the most interesting articles I’ve read in a long time

• Attracting the twentysomething worker. Describes how the workplace is being changed by its newest employees.

Students learn by doing

• Milton Chen, Executive Director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, encourages us to start teaching basketball with textbooks. [thanks, Michael!]

Google Maps Street View

• A woman complains that you can see her cat in the window. Interesting implications for people’s perceptions of privacy.

Nebraska is our model for how NCLB should be

• Localized, formative assessments are where it’s at

Proper etiquette?

• When possible, should mainstream media hyperlink to sources like most blogs do?

Will every household have one of these some day?

• ‘Honey, the coffee pot handle broke!’ ‘No problem. I’ll just make a new one with our new 3–D printer!’

Anti-school blogs

• Does anyone know URLs of blogs or online discussion boards that are being used by parents or community members to discuss their unhappiness with their local schools / educators?

Second Life as a museum?

• I had thought about Second Life as a simulation space, similar to the potential that resides with video gaming technologies, but Sweden’s using Second Life like a museum.

Guess which university produces the most doctoral students in education?

• Many of you will be surprised by the answer.

An interesting perspective on higher education

• Are universities like Tower Records?

Make your own screencasts (free)

• I love Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate. But there also are some free alternatives for making your own screencasts.

A different way to pay teachers?

• My favorite is the one that pays $49.50. Insert your own pay clause as a comment!

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Random musings. Half-finished (and quite possibly half-baked) thoughts. Things that have caught my eye…

Interesting perspectives on the infamous software study

• "We now have educational software that is just as effective as live teachers"
• "The Education Dept. has missed an opportunity to truly analyze what works in education"
• "How can a technology that is transforming the way we acquire information throughout the economy - revolutionizing businesses from games to banking - fail to benefit education?"
• "The news media at large were gullible, incurious, and downright lazy ... The ill effects of their sloth likely will undermine education efforts for years to come"

Are we infantilizing adolescents?

• Robert Epstein says yes, and we pay the price.

The digital Taliban?

• Harsh analogy, or spot on?

Attendance, technology, and placing blame

• Profs want to hold students 'accountable' too.

It's all about the leadership ...

• Wesley Fryer reminds us, yet again, of the importance of leadership when it comes to technology integration and implementation in K-12 schools. That's why CASTLE exists and that's why we keep banging the drum: pay attention to the leaders!

... but we have to give them some decision-making power

• NASSP highlights a recent study finding that principals have little autonomy in the things that matter most to them. Remember this before we start casting stones at principals? I wish this study had involved more than 33 principals...

Wiki wiki wa, wiki wa, wiki wiki wa

• Check out the WikiMatrix. I wish JotSpot was listed.

Halo

• The future of videoconferencing, not video gaming.

Unconscious racism

• The NBA referee study has gotten a lot of press, Harvard University's Project Implicit not so much. Read the Washington Post's excellent article on the project. Try it yourself. Implications for school hiring and/or discipline issues?

The way data-driven decision-making ought to be

• Kudos to the Montgomery County (MD) Schools.

Global challenge

• A cool example of students collaborating with others across the globe on matters of importance.

Accountability for teacher prep programs

• Louisiana paves the way?

Violence in schools

• If you were worried about violence in American schools, check out this UNESCO report.

A national platform for an anti-evolution Kansan?

• In the last 8 years, Kansas has twice had an anti-evolution state board of education and twice replaced it with a pro-evolution state board of education. The latest news from the whipsawed state is that one of the remaining anti-evolution board members is running unopposed for the presidency of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

When standards shift

• The St. Petersburg Times explains what happened in Florida when it got harder to pass the state test.

Annie has the final word

If we stop using the tools of the real world at the school door, then what does school have to do with the world of the student? [at the FPS Technology Focus Blog]

Half-finished or half-baked? 003

Random musings. Half-finished (and quite possibly half-baked) thoughts. Things that have caught my eye…

Helpful school guidelines

Ewan McIntosh kindly shares East Lothian’s self-publishing and social media guidelines for students and for staff:

• Students
• Staff

Commas rule. Comma rules.

Jim Coe shares his awesome presentations on comma rules. I’m quite partial to Rule 1. These are great for teachers looking for examples of interesting and effective pedagogical uses of technology. Thanks for the link, Global Learner!

Hoochie skirts

Regarding teacher dress codes, Miss Profe asks, “Would we take a trial attorney seriously if he came to court dressed in a Hawaiian print shirt and board shorts? Or a hoochie skirt and midriff-bearing top?”

Madison dust-up

There’s a battle raging over the Madison (WI) school district’s decision to turn down $2 million in Reading First money:

• Schemo responds
• Big guns pound Schemo

Teen lit

Despite concerns about media immersion (television, music, Internet, etc.), teens are reading like never before.

Remember the Celestine Prophecy?

Check out David Truss’ Web2.0 Prophecy.

We need a plan. We really do.

Patrick Higgins nicely extends my contrarian post regarding Web 2.0. Thanks, Patrick!

Oops!

Rulers for New York’s state test don’t measure up. There’s probably a lawsuit in there somewhere. The last two paragraphs of the story are spot-on.

Have I mentioned that I like Seth Godin?!

• Better start buying your [school district]sucks domains now! (be sure to click through to read the various domain names that were bought)
• Schools are monopolies (almost). Ouch.
• Are digital refugees really just fear avoiders?
• Most schools fall in the good, not great, category. Godin believes that there’s a big gap between good and great.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Half-finished or half-baked? 002

Another installment of my ongoing series of half-finished (and quite possibly half-baked) thoughts that are running through my head…

Meetings

• Stand up and save time? I am guessing some (many?) school meetings would benefit from this no-chairs approach.
• This picture is a great metaphor for how it should be.
• I appreciate Scott Berkun’s honesty regarding effective meeting management.

The Adminwall

I really like Jeff Utecht’s term, the “Adminwall.” This is exactly what I was talking about way back when (my first post ever!).

School culture

How fabulous would it be if schools’ organizational cultures were like this?

• XPLANE culture map

And where do YOUR administrators park?

Imagination is dangerous

For all those of us who think schools should foster imagination and creativity, The Onion gives us fair warning…

Did You Know?

Karl Fisch and I keep getting e-mails about Did You Know? I actually met someone today who hasn’t seen it!

• This YouTube version has LOTS of hits
• Variation: Did You Know? II
• Variation: Wusstest du?
• Variation: Do You Realize?
• Variation: Boring Videos Happen

Also on the small screen

A couple of videos worth watching:

• Wesley Fryer’s Administrator Movie
• See also Marco Torres’ Teacher Movie

LeaderTalk

Last, but definitely not least, LeaderTalk is off to a great start. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s a hoppin’ place…

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Half-finished or half-baked?

Here are some thoughts that are running through my head as we head into the weekend. They’re either half-finished or half-baked. I’m not sure which…

Silence (or else)!

I found a sad Tom Turner post through Alice Mercer (thanks, Alice!). Here’s a blurb from the original story:

A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted new lunchroom rules this week requiring students to remain silent while eating. The move comes after three recent choking incidents in the cafeteria. No one was hurt, but the principal of St. Rose of Lima School explained in a letter to parents that if the lunchroom is loud, staff members cannot hear a child choking.

Does anyone else think the school could have handled this differently?

Not so flat yet

As George Siemens reminds us, the world isn’t so flat yet. Karl Fisch’s presentation, Did You Know?, highlights that China, India, and others are up-and-coming, but the reality is that their gross domestic product per capita is still way below that of other countries.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

The quest for readers and subscribers is as old as printing itself. Lifehacker recently profiled some suggestions for bloggers who wish to increase their number of RSS subscriptions. Of course Lifehacker’s suggestion is the best of all:

Of course, our favorite method here at Lifehacker is to provide awesome content (ahem).

Speaking of half-baked ideas?

• Pennsylvania governor targets school administrators

Just in case we take our 2.0 selves too seriously

• Still in beta!

Dewey (or don’t we?)

I’ll conclude with this wonderful quote from Chris Lehmann, which I was reminded about by a recent post from Carolyn Foote:

It's really not about the computers. School 2.0 is older than that. School 2.0 is the tradition of Dewey. School 2.0 is born out of the idea that active, engaged, constructivist learning will lead to active, engaged students and people.

Is the difference this time that the ‘progressive’ approaches that Dewey advocated are increasingly being recognized by corporations and others as having economic value, as being essential economic drivers?

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Tags:  technology+leadership, McLeod, Lehmann, Foote, Turner, Mercer, School+2.0, Dewey, Rendell, Siemens, Fisch, Did+You+Know, Lifehacker, RSS, blogging, administrators