Politically correct Goodnight Moon & odds and ends
Tuesday, December 6, 2005 at 05:37AM If the worriers of the world had their way. Karen Karbo's "Goodbye Moon" in the NY Times. And I had no idea how much damage I was doing to my children reading them this sweet book. Sigh.
And the paranoia about student blogging still rages at WWWedu. Sigh.
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Dropped my PowerBook going through security at the airport yesterday. Dented the titanium case causing the DELETE key to pop off and stay off. Have you ever considered how often you use the delete key? The computer works however.
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Like most people, I pat my shirt and pants pockets before going through the metal detectors at the airport. The jolly security guard (yes, they exist) asked me what that procedure is know as. "The Security Macarena." Personally, I still don't make jokes going through security.
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At the TIES conference on Sunday, I had a woman come up and ask me, "Are you the Blue Skunk guy?" 15 years of writing for print publication and now my claim to fame rests with this goofy blog written for just a few months. There must be a message in this somewhere.
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One workshop four times today and tomorrow in Wake County, NC. It should be pretty good by the end of the day tomorrow. I know my students in last hour English classes always got a better lesson than those in the first hour.
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Great conversations with people at TIES this weekend. Nice to meet John Pederson in person. Wise for one so young.
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Response from Mr. Holland to whose article I had a violent reaction to:
While I could spend hours writing a response to the things you wrote, I will leave it at this...
I'm glad that you are a teacher that is at least interested enough in technology to read such an article and open a discussion about it. Of course, any time there are generalizations involved, there are always exceptions. Perhaps, to an extent, you are that exception to many of the issues brought up in the article.
While you are entitled to your opinion, I stand by what I say in the article. And your rebuttal that attempts to point out that I have too long been out of the classroom is the classic "poisoning the wells" argument, not to mention that it is unfounded and false. So as long as teachers don't get the fact that technology can be a tool (and a very motivational one in the right hands) to propel student learning- yes, even on those ridiculous state tests, nothing will change. Teaching technology as an end in itself is totally missing the point.
Thanks for your response!
I have to say, I may not agree, but I always respect someone willing to respond to a criticism. If I am ever criticized, I hope I will as well.
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Relationship advice for guys: If your wife accuses you of being uncommunicative, do NOT say "Just read my blog." Trust me on this.
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Have a good week, everyone!
Reader Comments (2)
Amy Hendrickson
Eveleth-Gilbert Schools (from the real "North Country")
The have started creating their own spaces to study for English exams and are excited about it! Two girls were squealing in the hall last period because they are so excited about what they can do to get ready for a killer exam next week.
I met with the AP English group and we want to create cumulative wikis from 8th grade on that students can review before taking the exam.
I've taken courses on graphic organizers -- the wiki and its blog-like atmosphere is the best graphic organizer I have ever used!
Students are excited! The information is relevant! Come on anti-student-bloggers it is about teaching information not how you teach information!
Thanks for a great blog!
Wikispace - http://westwood.wikispaces.com
Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com/blog/coolcatteacher