Reflections on Teaching

What educational blogs do you read? – Classroom 2.0

Lucky son, I don’t know if my mom would be a nice about my blog! Really you have to admire this kind of self-promotion. I’m pretty impressed though after seeing the blog. Guess his mom didn’t lie.

dy/dan » Blog Archive » First Day

Man, I’m so glad I was not the only teacher who was FOOLISH enough to think that ONCE I had taught a grade level, I’d be able to recycle everything the next year. I mean, there are things you can recycle, but as Dave Cormier wisely points out, no two classes are really the same even when you’re teaching the same grade or subject, the kids are different and you need to adjust.

NPR : New FCC Rules Give Consumers More Choice

Lots of talk about the kid who hacked the iPhone, but new rules from the FCC will end Apple’s insistence on only one carrier.
Kobus van Wyk – Blog

Kobus van Wyk does a two-part series on the Pareto principle which is based on a sort of golden ratio of 80 to 20 %. Example: 20% of your students will cause 80% of the behvavior problems, or 80% of the work in group will be done by 20% of the members. I’ve been thinking about how we “ration” or focus our time as teachers on students and how I did this in the last year. I feel like I gave 80% of my attention to 20% of the class in some ways.

Kobus van Wyk – Blog
Another brilliant metaphorical anecdote from Kobus on nature vs. nurture, and how the natural instincts of administrators can undermine ICT implementation.

BlogWalker » Blog Archive » Tackling Life – A South Sacramento Story

This got lost in the flow a couple of week’s back. Gail Desler discusses a series in our local paper on a junior football team that pulled in players from the are I used to teach in. I added a comment about a student of mine that I think was on that team. If you don’t like extremely sad tragic stories about the hideous things that happen in some kid’s lives, then don’t read it. If you prefer reality, warts and all, read the story, Gail’s post, and my comment.