Internet Safety

Bob Sprankle has an update on Internet Safety for the 08-09 school year on Bit by Bit.

Confessions of a Phone Phobic

I have always been uncomfortable using the phone. Just ask people who know me well. It is definitely not my strength in communicating. I much prefer text and face-to-face communication. With text, I have an easily retrievable record, and with face-to-face I can read body language and context, and respond appropriately. I suspect it is a control issue. But perhaps also a deficit in the auditory discrimination modality.

A second confession: I get very annoyed with phone calls in which others are trying to sell me something or asking me to answer questions in a survey. Major irritation.

Last night for 3 hours, on my 6oth year on this planet, I decided to start to face this fear in a marathon session in which I did to others what I disliked having done to myself. (Definitely a sin of commission and obvious breaking of the golden rule). Because of my strong support for a Presidential candidate, I found myself immersed in an activity in which I was extremely uncomfortable. I was stressed. Heck, I would have been more comfortable doing a major speech naked in a full stadium, which is a scary image for many reasons.

My volunteer job was to take a list of local voters that contained party affiliation and phone numbers . . . and to make calls to take a short survey, discuss issues, encourage involvement and early voting in the local effort.

I made 62 cold calls, and in the end, after getting many answering machines and rejections from people like me who get upset with such calls, I talked with a dozen people (which I was told at the beginning was the norm). As the evening went on, I found myself listening to how other callers in the background were approaching phone skills and then incorporating them into my own script. I started finding ways to be the most effective, what worked and what didn't. Total immersion . . . constructivism at its best. I left exhausted, still uneasy, but with a better understanding of others - both the callers and the called.

As a baby-boomer, maybe it is time to buy that Jitterbug! :)

What is your favorite form of communication? How do you feel about being called to discuss issues?

How Do You Cure Phone Phobia

Phone Phobia

Confessions of a Phone Phobic

Telephone Etiquette Guide

Phone Etiquette

Photo Credit: Eldon Hathaway at the Bryant Pond Phone Company. Eldon owed the last crank phone company in the country (1983) just up the road from where I live . . . and was a great drummer as well! The switchboard was in his home and was staffed by the family. For more info, see here.

Audio Version of "Confessions of a Phone Phobic"

Featuring the Work of Mrs. Mac

AquaMind's Scott Love, developer of Noteshare and a regular visitor to Maine, has pointed me in the direction of the work of Elizabeth Sky-McIlvain in the Freeport Public Schools. What a gold mine! Here are some links:

Literacy 8 Journal
Course Noteshare Web Notebook (home access)
Wabanaki Studies
Mrs. Mac's Portaportal
Windows on Maine
Freeport Middle School - Mrs. Mac
Education for the Information Age
The Giver

Creativity

by Ed Latham

I was talking to some students last week during some of the "down time" that often pops up towards the end of many classroom experiences. The talk was very casual, I was an outsider, and this was the first time I had met these students. I simply asked "What are you good at?" and sat back and listened. You may want to try that with a group of kids you know, it can be fascinating to watch what happens and the discussion that comes out.

The short story is that many students, even the academically successful students, did not feel they were good at much other than getting in trouble or irritating adults or peers. After a few minutes of listening, I asked those that did not feel much worth why they felt that way. Every single one of them was able to share a quick story of adults and peers that have judged the student's value to be unsatisfactory, of poor quality, or just wrong. School is a place many come to learn about themselves and how they fit in. Unfortunately, a good sized chunk of the population find out more about what they are not good at rather than the positive.

Sir Ken Robinson has a 20 min talk at TED concerning these issues. His talk is more of an awareness that the problem exists. I did not come away from the video with a "Here is what we can do as a system to help address this valid concern." Instead, I saw the video as a challenge to each individual out there working with kids to at least keep these thoughts in the back of their mind as they go through the daily chaos we call our school day.

Our schools were designed to get young students from point A to B and over time we have had many adaptations in the systems to try to allow for changes that are required. When you take something that works and keep adding on and adding on and modifying it over a hundred years, does it necessarily get better? Will it even accomplish it's original function as efficiently as it did "back in the day"?

With the pressures, tests, learning results and all of the other demons we face in our school lives, how are teachers finding opportunities to help students explore their creativity to find out what they are really good at. Trust me, when a student finds something he or she is good at, they will not need to hear it from you or even from a peer to know "I love this! I really like doing this!" Can people please share different ways Teachers/Schools/People are opening doors, rather than shutting out so many possibilities. Many adults and students can point to a time when he or she felt really good doing something only to be totally deflated by a simple careless or insensitive statement from a peer, a respected person or loved one. How are we helping people find those desires and helping to kindle those often tenuous fires that can one day burn so bright on their own, but for now, need nurturing to reach their potential?

Looking for Maine Classroom Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Sites, Etc.

We're looking for Maine Classroom Blogs, Wikis, Sites, etc. to showcase. Any to recommend? It is time to widen the network. Any leads you can offer would be very helpful.

Maps Across the Curriculum

Maine teacher, Richard Byrne, shares the availability of online mapping tools on his recent podcast, "Maps, Not Just for Social Studies Anymore."

For those with MLTI laptops, also check out the My World GIS program located on the dock of your desktop. Phil Brookhouse has a Noteshare notebook explaining its application and how to use it at the ACTEM Noteshare Server. At the ACTEM pre-conference of MainEducation 2008, Jim Wells and Phil will be showing us the many possibilities of My World.

Do we really need the static maps found in a textbook any longer?

Additional Resources:

Map Resources at LIM Resources Wiki (Feel free to add to, delete, modify, etc.)

Tools for Learning Workshop: " Mapping & the Internet "

"Back to School"

There's a very thoughtful discussion going on at Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed about change. Check it out here. I especially appreciated the comments of Christian Long.

What do you think?

The Joy of Google

Kern Kelley fills us in on the possibilities of Google in education on Show 35 of the Bit by Bit podcast which is hosted by Alice Barr, Cheryl Oakes and Bob Sprankle.

Direct Link to Podcast

Google Teacher Academy Resources

Google Suite

Bit by Bit Blog

Create a Google Account

Staff Meetings

"If it could have been said in an email, why are you holding a meeting?" ~ Maine Teacher

Out-of-Control Staff Meetings and Boring Inservice

Harness the Potential of Staff Meetings

Sharing Ideas for Effective Staff Meetings

Principals Share "Best Meetings of the Year"

ESL School: Effective Staff Meetings

Energizing Staff Meetings

Great Staff Meetings: Pointers from the Principals Who Lead Them


What do you think? Should meetings happen when just an email would do?

Essential Question: What makes for a good staff meeting?

Diagramming Sentences

"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences."

~ Gertrude Stein

Diagramming Sentences I

Diagramming Sentences II

Sentence Diagramming

eTHEMES: Diagramming Sentences

Surfing the Net with Kids: Diagramming Sentences

Paula's Archive: Diagramming Sentences

Wikipedia: Sentence Diagram

How do you feel about diagramming sentences as a learning activity?

Doin' Time . . .

The timeline above was created in XTimeline and embedded in this blog. Click on events to see more specific information. Refresh the browser to return to the timeline. Use green object at bottom to move through time.

More Great Timeline Tools at LIM Resources Wiki. Feel free to add to or modify the list.

A Life Skills Curriculum

by Nicole Ouellette

In reading some other blogs, I came across a life skills curriculum outlined at one of my favorite blogs Cheap Healthy Good.

Normally source of good recipes and fun food commentary, one contributor decides to tackle how to teach useful skills to junior high/high school students.

As Home Ec and Life Skills programs get cut, I wonder how (or even if) schools are going to tackle teaching these skills.

Check out the 12 Week Life Skills Curriculum here. And the comments are as interesting as the curriculum!

Nicole writes a daily blog at www.breakingeveninc.com.

"The Benefits of Blogging"

Richard Byrne outlines the benefits of blogging in the classroom on his podcast today at Free Technology for Teachers

Podcast Link

Episode 34 - Wicked Decent Learning - "It's Essential"

Direct Link to WDL Podcast

WDL Blog


Questioning

Essential Questions

Questioning Workshop

Earlier Post: Essential Questions and Other Questions

Lessons from Kites & Slow-Smoked Ribs

I spent yesterday afternoon at my brother Mike's camp at Worthley Pond in Peru. It was a very relaxed afternoon of swimming, kite-flying-on-the-lake, scrumptious ribs, liquid refreshment, and good conversation.


My brother, Dave, is an evangelist for perfect BBQ. You can see his popular website for detailed recipes of his best work here. Dave's key advice is to be patient and give the smoker plenty of time to do its thing in order create the most mouth-watering ribs. He says to double the times that any recipe suggests. Believe me, he knows what he is doing!

Perhaps we all have to be reminded to slow down, to be patient, and to gently persevere. We can try to force our will on just about anything and perhaps actually be temporarily successful, but in the end, the Universe will have its way. You just can't force good ribs . . . or just about anything else, for that matter.

Flying kites offers similar lessons. You just have to be patient and allow nature to offer its opportunities. Be prepared, but be patient. Be ready to take advantage of the currents as they present themselves.

See any application to how we approach schooling?

I'm struggling to learn these lessons. Our digital world and consumer world conspire to make us impatient. We want it and want it now! Our egos soar and we relish our power. But like Icarus, we risk flying too close to the sun. Somehow we need to remain grounded just as the kite is tethered by its string.

Thoughts?

Gustav and the Genius of Wikipedia

The argument against Wikipedia by many is that it is simply not authoritative, that one just doesn't know how accurate it is, that the credentials of the editors are questionable. And yet, IMHO, the genius of Wikipedia comes through especially during events such as Katrina and Gustav.

Questions: For information on what is happening and has happened regarding Hurricane Gustav, where is your most reliable and up-to-date source? Commercial news organizations, Encyclopedia Britannica, or Wikipedia? Or is it somewhere else?

Who do you trust? Do you trust CNN, Fox News, or local news for example, more than Wikipedia in getting non-hyped, reliable and fair news coverage?

ATTENTION: Residents of areas affected by Hurricane Gustav are advised to seek advice and information from local authorities through television and radio. Information on Wikipedia may not be current or applicable to your area. Do not decide whether to leave your house, shelter, or vehicle based on Wikipedia information.

~ Disclaimer at top of Wikipedia Hurricane Gustav article

See "Who Do We Trust" Workshop

"Crossroads" and the Circle of Life

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery."

It is difficult to believe that YouTube started only about three years ago according to the WayBackMachine documentation/history. See here and here. I'm not sure we school people have come to terms with the revolutionary nature of this event. Now there is a proliferation of similar sites and the convergence of television and the internet seems to be very close. Sure there is plenty of distasteful stuff out there, but the power of this democratization of culture through this medium awes me. People who never have had a chance to strut their stuff now have a forum and, increasingly, in my humble opinion, we're seeing the power of it all.

I do understand that many schools block video sites, and I do understand their concern for protecting the young. I'm just not sure we are doing them a favor by failing to model and inculcate in them the ethics/etiquette involved in working in any forum. Are we teaching them about civility and how to think critically by simply ignoring and/or denying this powerful medium which just about anyone can access at home or, I imagine, most public libraries?

My nephew, Josh , a third year engineering student at UMO, posted a "cover" yesterday of a group he was singing and playing with at the Black Mountain Ski Area in Rumford. The song was "Crossroads" which was made popular by Cream and Eric Clapton back in the 60's. At least that is where I knew it from. However, Josh had connected with the tune with someone closer to his generation - John Mayer - who he can't seem to get enough of. And it turns out that it was actually written by Robert Johnson, a hero of Clapton. My point is that YouTube has the power to make all these connections at a gut level. The circle of life.

BTW, I subscribe to Josh's videos, so I instantly know when he has posted a new one. I can then give him feedback and encouragement. He loves it. Yes, the circle of life.

Josh and Band's Rendition:

Mayer and Clapton


Robert Johnson

The Amazing Simplicity of Google Sites

I've used Google Page Creator for about a year now, and despite a few minor bugs, I was very happy with it. It happens that it is being phased out, and Google Sites is its replacement. Sites seems to be of the wiki persuasion and is ultra-easy to use and offers lots of possibilities for collaboration. Here is my new "Online Office" site. Slick.

Neil Postman Revisited

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Photo Credit

In the foreward to his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman compares George Orwell's 1984 vision of the world with that of Aldous Huxley in Brave New World:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

~ Neil Postman


What do you think? Will what we love ruin us? Will too much information reduce us to passivity and egoism? What are the implications?

See earlier post

When Words Get in the Way

jargon aphasia n. A form of fluent aphasia characterized by a copious flow of unintelligible speech. Jargon-aphasic speech may be subdivided into semantic jargon, in which ordinary words are strung together to form unintelligible utterances.

~ A Dictionary of Psychology

Dilbert: Mission Statement Generator

Education Jargon Generator

Hiding Behind Education Jargon

Edu-Speak

Education Jargon Information