2010-11 Head for the Edge columns online

Here are the links to my last year's Head for the Edge columns published in Library Media Connection. You really should subscribe to the magazine and these while they're fresh!

School Libraries as a Third Place, August/September 2010
The E-book Non-Plan, October 2010
What Does a Good Library Tell You About a School, November/December 2010
These Horses Are Out of the Barn - Ride’m, January/February 2011
Signs of a Welcoming Library, March/April 2011
GoogleApps and Librarians, May/June 2011

BFTP: Hardening of the opinions

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past.  Original post May 20, 2008. The LWW and will be joining our friends Cary and Anna this weekend to do a little hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail so I thought this old post appropriate.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--

One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
                        Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson

Cary and I met our goal of 23 miles in two days, not three, last weekend. We survived hail, rain, wind, wolves, narrow bridges, defective camp stoves, slippery trails, and a damned cold night. We carried 40-50 pound packs to the highest point of the trail. Heroic hearts, indeed.

I have nearly recovered.

Aging fellows like me need a good physical challenge now and again. More so now really than when youth had its horns out and went looking for some territory to defend or some mate to impress. It is simply about proving to oneself that one yet harbors a small ember of the strength and, perhaps, gleam of youth. That the muscles still serve - though they take longer to warm up. That the lungs still work - perhaps harder than ever. But perhaps the best thing to know is that the brain still functions - enough anyway to read a map, talk politics and women, and survive a day or two in the wild. That we are foolish enough to take on the trail, but smart enough not to hurt ourselves too much in the process.

Yet it's not really a hardening of my arteries, I fear most, but hardening of my opinions. A malady that seems endemic among people my age (and younger). How do I keep from becoming one of the old grumps in the teachers' lounge who counters every change advanced with, "Yeah, we tried it that way twenty years ago. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

It's tougher to stay mentally flexible than it is to stay physically fit. What can you do to make sure you can still touch your intellectual toes?

Or as Tennyson might put it:

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. 

 _______________________________________________

Cary complained that the original post did not have a picture of HIM. So from this weekend's hike:

The LWW, Cary and Anna, June 2011. Two great days of hiking! Made 3 of the 7 "summits" on the SHT.

School-owned iPads redux

Judging from the comments engendered by my last post, Will teachers be disappointed using school-owned iPads?, I didn't make myself very clear.

I was not making the case that teachers shouldn't be able to use personally purchased software and media on these Apple iOS devices, but that they couldn't use such software - or at least use a combination of school-purchased and individually purchased software. This is because these devices and the software and media all must be tied to a single iTunes account, not two iTunes accounts. (One iTunes account can be tied to multiple devices, I realize.)

Again, maybe I am missing something here, but here's a scenario:

Miss Pencil gets an iPad and uses her school e-mail address to set up an iTunes account on her school computer. She uses school funds to purchase Pages and some learning games tied to her curriculum. She also uses her own money to purchase Angry Birds and the latest Sue Grafton novel from the Apple bookstore. She backs her iPad up to her school computer.

So far so good.

But then Miss Pencil takes a new job in Minnesota since her position in Texas was cut. The iPad goes back to the district, but what happens to the software tied to that iTunes account? As far as I can determine, either the school gives it to Miss Pencil (illegal?) or Miss Pencil loses her purchases (immoral?).

I don't think you can transfer software between iTunes accounts.

What am I missing here?

My point is that teachers who are accoustomed to using a regular operating system that can run both personal and district owned software may be caught by surprise with Apple's iTunes limitations.