Reflections on Teaching

Due to the efficiency of most of my colleagues in getting students to return Internet Permission slips, most classes were in the computer lab this week. Last week was unusual because I was not in the lab. This week has had it’s own adjustments.
The rhythm of relationships with students is a little different for me, [...]

[Read more]

Ten out of ten teachers agree, the first days or week(s) of school are all about establishing your classroom environment. This week is awkward for a couple of reasons. Until I get permission slips/AUPs from most of the students, I can’t have them on computers, so for the first week or so, I’m in their [...]

[Read more]

In the last few weeks, I’ve been doing trainings at the district, while getting ready to do a presentation for my fellow staff members. My principal would like to see other staff members, not just me in the computer lab, using technology more in their classrooms. He has been in and out of the site, [...]

[Read more]

Lots of stuff on Dan Meyer’s blog, where I’ve found a lot to comment on recently. Dan takes a look at (and aim on) a couple of Web 2.0 tools.
dy/dan » Correct Me If I’m Wrong is about Wordle, which Dan questions the analytical value of in literature studies. Dan’s blog’s strength is not just [...]

[Read more]

After spending a week being super wired at Discovery Communication’s corporate headquarters, and then another three days in a much less tech-oriented setting, it gave me a great opportunity to think about different kinds of social networks.
First we have online networks. We like these people in part because we have a common interest that is [...]

[Read more]

First, we’re going to start off with the video interviews I did with various from DEN including Lance Rougeaux, Hall Davidson, and Scott McKinney and from the DEN Stars themselves:

The important ideas are about building relationships, and building integration between streaming and Web 2.0 to help us learn, and lead to students being engaged and [...]

[Read more]

Some of the really great conversations I and others had at NECC were about educational technology presentations and professional development. If we want to improve education, and teach others that these tools are the way to do that, we need to improve how we communicate with fellow teachers and administrators about these tools.
There were two [...]

[Read more]

Fortunately after that, I did get into a presentation in the next session, and I only had to get there about 40 minutes ahead of time (the number dropped as the day wore on). Also, the ONLY handout I got was a discount coupon, a business card, and a button. People are putting materials online, [...]

[Read more]

This was a day that did not start off well. Folks going to EdubloggerCon have largely had the place to ourselves up until now, but today the hordes arrived. I’m hearing figures anywhere from 13,000 to 20,000 for projected attendance. I arrived at a time that I thought was early, 8ish for a session starting [...]

[Read more]

http://flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/352382915/
Reflections on the school year
This was a year where I was perhaps overly ambitious. It was my first year in the computer lab, and I had a blast, but I was like a kid in the candy shop, in that I wanted to try it all. Here are some highlights, with cautionary tales:

VoiceThread - Group [...]

[Read more]