Reflections on Teaching

I have been doing a lot of trainings the last few weeks. I had two staff development trainings for my district, the first on Podcasting in the Classroom: Giving Students a Voice, and the next on Web 2.0 that seemed to be well received. There is a special meeting at the district with trainers next [...]

[Read more]

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I was in group therapy with a girl who engaged in a lot of high risk behavior. One day she came to the group to report that she had been trying to hitchhike to see friends on the other side of town, and had been raped, sodomized, [...]

[Read more]

It’s that time of the year, Contest: My Annual Report II is back at Dan Meyer’s blog. I thought he might skip it in light of his recent wedded bliss, but he just used it as an opportunity to create an infographic on Mobile Calls to his now wife. The idea is comes from [...]

[Read more]

reading tea leaves on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
The question on most of the edublogsphere’s mind has been, what kind of education policy will we get from the new administration. Some looked at Arne Duncan as more of the same, while others are playing wait and see.
Here is what’s up on thew new White House page [...]

[Read more]

It’s time for me to reflect on the, thankfully, outgoing administration. If you don’t like my politics post, I’d suggest skipping this one.
My favorite (unintentional) visual commentary on NCLB:

NCinDC’s Photostream on Flickr
My favorite commentary on the Iraq War based on spin from the same folks that brought us the “Texas Miracle“:

The Daily Show With Jon [...]

[Read more]

…about a quote from I think William Raspberry about Ross Perot, “If Ross Perot is the answer, it’s got to be a damn peculiar question being asked.” I think of that quote in moments of extreme absurdity (the ascendancy of Sarah Palin was a recent instance). That quote seems to be on replay a lot [...]

[Read more]

I feel like I’m getting back on track after being totally whacked going back to work last week.
Things that worked well last week:
For the camouflage unit (Look Again in Open Court), the BrainPop Jr. video on camouflage was an excellent introduction to concepts and vocabulary.Sorry Gary!
For the imagination unit, a video version of the classic, [...]

[Read more]

Read this sentence about paragraph 4 of the story.
As Yoshiko gazed up at the stars, she was filled with hope and excitement about her life.
As expressed in this sentence and in many other stories, stars are a symbol of
A) family closeness.
B) terror in the night.
C) limitless possibilities.
D) sacrifice to benefit others.
Leave a comment with your [...]

[Read more]