Reflections on Teaching

Cross posted on Webcast Academy Blog:
I am trying to learn the technical end of Webcasting through the friendly folks at Ed Tech Talk. This is well,

complicated. At this point, seeing or hearing the word virtual audio cables is now enough to make me shudder in fear and revulsion.

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fmizmercer.edublogs.org%2F2007%2F07%2F31%2Fnow-i-know-how-dracula-feels-about-garlic%2F’;
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Went on a trip to Oakland, California, my former hometown, last Friday. It was nice. I met with friends from Friends of the Oakland Public Library (where I used to be president).
I took this pic from Emeryville Marina. It’s part of my ongoing experiment with creating panorama collages. Click to get a full view:

It’s using [...]

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On Ms. Whatsit: Really – and I mean really – cleaning house shares her son’s cleaning strategies which I’ll summarize as: if it’s bigger than your hand put it on top of the bed, if it’s smaller, shove it in a pile under the bed. This results in a nice clean space on the floor.
John [...]

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There is a theme (or meme, topic, etc.) going around on blogs about what your favourite tools are. Here are mine:

PodSafe Audio/freesound project bringing creative commons goodness to your ears. My podcasts would be boring without the sounds, and music I can get here. Thanks for helping me sound (more) professional.
Skype, meebo, and Twitter are [...]

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Dangerously Irrelevant: ROTW: Assessing students with disabilities leads us to this report:
Education Sector: Analysis and Perspectives: Labeled: The Students Behind NCLB’s ‘Disabilities’ Designation
They talk about Specific Learning Disabilities as the largest group in Special Education. While they are certainly more likely than most categories of special education students to achieve grade level proficiency (speech with [...]

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From Kobus van Wyk – Blog
A considerable amount of research has been done to develop elaborate checklists to be used to determine if a child is ready for school. After the child is tested and weighed and assessed, and is deemed ready, she will arrive at school ready [...]

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What is it that I’m reading? The latest press release from Margaret Spellings (what exactly are “pocket protector skills”)? Eduwonk? Rod Paige’s memoir? No, it’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The quote was from my sister when she was first reading it.
I’m in the process of re-reading all the Harry Potter books [...]

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Communication is not just about message, but about your audience. You don’t have to look any farther than a lesson/unit plan to see that. What you turn into your administrator is different than the actual lesson delivered, and it’s different than how you talk about that lesson to the parents of your students. [...]

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