We had twenty or so students from my campus create a logo for the Doodle 4Google contest. Since we can only submit six as a school, we narrowed it down to what we feel are the six best. I think the students did a pretty good job.
I know there were probably thousands and thousands of entries submitted to Google, but I really hope one of ours wins!
WOW! It has almost been a month since my last post. I definitely haven’t been making writing my priority lately. 
I decided to write today basically because I want to share a useful site with you all.
The site is a little overwhelming because it tags and lists what seems like a MILLION web 2.0 websites. I got a little freaked out when I first looked at the page because I wanted to see them all, but I have since realized that I don’t have to look at EVERY site. I can look at the ones that interest me and possibly learn something from them, and if I don’t get to ALL of them that is okay.
Although, I will admit that I still feel a little panicky that I will miss a really good site, so if you are sorting through them and come across a site you think is very useful, please drop me a comment and let me know.
Have fun learning!
While driving to the gym a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I passed a nondescript, white billboard with black lettering that read, “I’m SO over you Sarah Marshall.” We both looked at each other and said, “Do you think that is real?”
A couple of days later we saw another billboard that said, “You DO look fat in those jeans Sarah Marshall,” and we noticed a web address in the corner of the billboard www.ihatesarahmarshall.com. At this point we knew it had to be some sort of advertising campaign and decided to Google it when we got home… but we forgot.
So, the following week we saw another couple of billboards , “You SUCK Sarah Marshall” and “Mom ALWAYS hated you Sarah Marshall.” Seeing these ads reminded us to do a little research, so we looked up the web address from the billboards and came across this blog - which is another form of advertising for the upcoming movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
The blog is written from the perspective of Peter Bretter who happens to be one of the stars of the upcoming movie. He comes across as a somewhat bitter and dejected man who is struggling to get over his ex (the premise of the movie), and it is rather “real” in appearance… just another ingenious little “hook” to get the readers to buy-in to the movie and associate with the character.
As I did more research I came across a Flickr group managed by “Peter Bretter” as well as his YouTube channel and a news story about the advertisements in North Texas. There is also TONS of discussion across the web about the billboards and the upcoming movie. Way to build interest, you sneaky advertising execs!
I think this has got to be one of the absolute coolest and best ad campaigns I have ever seen (I know some of you might not like the “meanness” of the campaign, but I am talking about the concept). The billboards grab your attention and make you curious, the blog builds your curiosity and your sympathy for the author, and then you find out that it is all about a movie. It has just been this week that I have begun to see the movie advertised in the traditional way… on television, and apparently the movie is set to open on April 18th. INGENIOUS!
I am betting the movie does quite well at the box office because the advertisers have certainly marketed to their intended audience… as well as interesting people who may not have been intrigued by just a movie trailer.
I also think the ad campaign can be a HUGE teaching tool in the classroom when information literacy is discussed… although the blog and billboards look “real,” they are really just advertising gimmicks. With the popularity of Youtube, social networks, online news magazines, etc. our students are certainly going to need to be able to differentiate between what is “real,” what is propaganda, and what is advertising. They need to be able to research and validate “authentic” sources and, with this ad campaign, it is clear that the lines between “real” and fictitious may continue to blur.
So, have any of you seen the ads? What do you think?
I have come across some pretty interesting and thought-provoking articles and such this week, and I thought I would share the knowledge. So, here goes…
The first item worth sharing is an interesting blog post by Clay Burrell entitled “What is Schooliness?” It is pretty lengthy but well worth the read. It will definitely get you questioning why you do what you do as an educator.
Next, I would like to share some articles I came across in the news this week. The New York Times published an article on March 7th entitled “At Charter School, Higher Teacher Pay.” Basically a charter school in New York is planning on paying its teachers $125,000 a year plus bonuses to see if higher pay equals better teaching. Interesting concept… hopefully the idea will catch on!
The second article I feel is worth sharing comes from The Washington Post and is entitled “When Mom and Dad Asks to be a Facebook Friend.” The article speaks with various youngsters about whether it is “okay” for parents to be active on Facebook. Maybe I am just getting old, but I think it is pretty cool of parents to take an interest in their kids’ on-line lives.
And finally, some new videos (or new to me) from Common Craft. Not sure what Twitter is? Watch Twitter in Plain English. Want to become a little more environmentally friendly? Watch New Light Bulbs in Plain English.
Hope you had a good weekend and learned some interesting stuff too!
This is the time in the school year when teachers and students are tired. We have the ELA TAKS test this week. It seems like months since we had a holiday. The students always seem to under-perform this six weeks, and everyone is counting down until Spring Break.
So, in the midst of the low morale that always seems to circulate this time of the school year, I was glad to come across “Letter to a Young Teacher” over at Practical Theory.
I especially liked the following thoughts from the blog post:
“You learn that it’s just not about you. And it’s just not about the kids either. It’s about the space between where the meaning happens.”
“You learn that you can’t reach every kid. And you never really learn to be o.k. with that.”
“You learn that not every kid is going to major in your subject and you accept that that’s o.k.”
“You learn that you aren’t perfect… and neither are the kids, and sometimes the best thing you can do is forgive… yourself and the kids.”
“You learn that life is hard… that the teaching life is hard… that the movies rarely get it right… and that being a young teacher means being the adult in the room, and that’s o.k.”
“You learn how much you have to keep learning.”
Lehmann’s blog post reminded me of a post I wrote awhile back. And I was glad to be reminded because I think it is good for us to take a moment every now and then to relax, reflect, put our jobs in perspective and BREATHE.
I hope I have shared a little inspiration with you this lovely (although somewhat cloudy) Sunday afternoon as you gear up for the week ahead.
Tomorrow is the district’s third laptop revisioning meeting, and two of the schools were asked to do a short presentation (5-10 mins) on our plans. My school is one of those presenting.
So, my vice principal and I discussed some ideas, and then I created a wiki and e-mailed it to him, my principal and some teachers. This wiki is what we came up with and will be how we convey our plan to the group. It was a collaborative effort that took about an hour or so to complete. Not too shabby.
The majority of the ideas mentioned in the plan, we already do; however, we can certainly still make improvements in all of the areas. And, it is discussions, like the one that took place via comments on my one-to-one post that can help set the groundwork for change.
In the midst of comments, my second set of questions got “lost,” so I thought I would throw them out there again.
** Since teacher, student, administrative buy-in seems to be a crucial component in a one-to-one laptop program, how do you get it? How do you get your staff and students to get on board and see the importance of teaching 21st century skills?
** How important is professional development in a one-to-one program and what “kind” of professional development is needed?
** How do you perpetuate and improve upon a one-to-one laptop program once it is in place? How do you sustain it?
I would love to be able to share some of your thoughts at my meeting tomorrow, so get to commenting… please.
The ELA TAKS test is looming in the near future (March 5th), and since I teach 11th graders, which is the exit-level test, I am feeling the need to review some of the TAKS concepts. I don’t, however, want to beat my students down with TAKS drill-and-kill, so I have tried to be somewhat creative in reviewing the skills they need to know.
A couple of my assignments have been to watch a short video clip and answer some questions using key TAKS vocabulary (convey, author’s purpose, inference, summarize, etc.) The students seem to enjoy it and get a review of some TAKS concepts to boot. The video they have seemed to enjoy the most so far is Education Today and Tomorrow.
After watching the video (on their own laptops) the students answered these questions and submitted them to me via Blackboard… not a ground-breaking use of technology, but much more fun than TAKS drill-and-kill.
I was very excited to hear the answers to this question in particular “After watching the video, do you think you are receiving an adequate education for your future? Why or why not? Give specific reasons.”
So, I thought I would share some of their answers with you…
Yes I am. The technology and resources from my school is sufficient to help me form my path in life after high school.
I think I am getting an adequate education because I am in a school that is giving me the opportunity to have a better job.
I think we are, because what we are learning we are actually going to use it in real life.
Yes, because my teachers are actually doing their job and teaching us the right way and with the right tools.
Yes, the school I am in provides skills for a positive future.
Yes, I think that we are receiving a good education because we are learning things that we are going to use in the real world.
I think I am getting an adequate education, and I am studying for a career so I think I am good.
Yes, because we are using a lot of technology in my school. I do most of my work on my laptop.
Yes, I’m receiving a good education because I’m learning a lot and the technology in my school is advanced.
I think I am because a lot of teachers clearly explain everything, and you can always ask them for help when it’s needed.
And unfortunately a negative…
I was just glad to know that the majority of my students are proud of their school and what they are learning.
Fans of Monty Python and The Holy Grail will probably remember the scene where King Arthur and the Black Knight are in a sword fight, and King Arthur hacks away at the spunky Black Knight who perseveres without giving up as he surveys his injuries and proclaims, “It’s just a flesh wound.”
Well, I feel a little like the Black Knight lately.
As an English teacher perhaps I am a little too sensitive to the preciseness of language and the connotations some words carry, but I feel like the media is constantly hacking away at the school district’s one-to-one laptop program. Although the most current article in the Dallas Morning News was not overtly negative, I feel like little “jabs” were taken with some of the wording, that the article lacks cohesion and is a tad misleading.
That being said, let me further explain myself…
“Irving school officials may buy smaller, PDA-like laptops to cut the cost of their novel practice of providing a computer to every high school student.” This use of the word “novel” in this sentence is, in my opinion, a little bit of a jab. The denotative meaning of the adjective novel sounds great - new, original, etc., but the connotative meaning is a little less positive and kind of condescending - like when you tell someone that what they said was “IN-teresting” when you clearly mean they are a little “off.” I would have preferred a word like “innovative”. Too picky? Perhaps.
I also wish the author would have taken a little bit of time to explain the district’s reasoning for originally going with the laptops we currently have and provided a more thorough explanation about the replacement costs because I think there is much confusion in the community about this expense. As a consumer I can purchase a lower-end Dell laptop for $550-700, but as soon as I have added a warranty program, software, a bag and an extra battery, I am well over $1000. I am not sure this comes across to the community when they can pick up a sales advertisement from their local “Big Box” electronic store and see a laptop on sale for the low, low price of $499.
Another problem I have is that little was mentioned in the article about alternate ways the district and schools have discussed lowering the costs of the laptop program; the majority of the article was surrounding the district’s decision to “look” at alternate devices such as the XO, the Classmate and eee PC, and although switching to one of these devices might be ONE way of lowering costs, it is certainly not the only way and perhaps not the best way to lower costs.
And, although I understand that it may have been difficult for the DMN to get information for their article, “Irving’s executive director of technology, Alice Owen, did not return calls requesting comment and declined to discuss the plans,” I also do not blame Dr. Owen for not discussing the plans with the DMN. At this point there is nothing concrete to discuss. There is a lot of brainstorming happening and discussion at this point but nothing else… yet. In my opinion, it is not really “news” at this point.
As educators our jobs should extend further than simply helping our students pass the TAKS test or graduate from high school; part of our mission should be to prepare our students for the world they will encounter when they leave the walls of high school. A world where technological and social change is increasing exponentially, where the three R’s are evolving into something new, and where with technology, they can easily be in charge of their own educational growth.
So, what is it I would like from the media? I would like to see some more positive stories about our schools and our students. No, we aren’t perfect, and we never will be. We are, however, here and we are chugging away despite setbacks and trials. And, we care what is best for our students today AND tomorrow and that is what is most important. It would just be nice for people to notice that once in awhile.
I posted for the first time today over at Teach More Better, a collaborative blog in the very early stages of development, which will hopefully offer some insight and varying perspectives into the world of educators in a one-to-one laptop district.
Irving ISD is beginning to re-evaluate its one-to-one laptop program to better serve our students and teachers. At each one-to-one campus we are being asked to create a gap analysis plan to lay out what we are currently doing well, what we would like to improve upon and the steps to get us there. My school seems to be getting a lot of praise for the way we have implemented our laptops, and I am proud of us, but we certainly have areas to improve upon as well.
Today I was in a meeting with my fellow Instructional Technology Specialists and we discussed the laptop program and where we think it should go. We also discussed why some of the schools have been more successful with implementation than others. I have some ideas about what a district/school needs to do to make a one-to-one laptop program a success instead of a disaster, but I am curious what you think.
What do you think a district/school must do or have in order to implement a successful one-to-one implementation program?
Well, maybe not Wikipedia specifically, but the idea behind it… the idea of “amateurs” working together to create a body of knowledge accessible by all.
Take a few minutes and join me as I unravel my thought process from the Making it Count presentation I attended this morning, to the Oxford English Dictionary, to Wikipedia… I promise, they are all related, and at the end, there is a point.
During the presentation today, the presenter mentioned Wikipedia and how her daughter was recently assigned a culminating project in school which required 10-12 resources… and Wikipedia would not be accepted by the teacher as a resource because anyone can contribute and edit the pages. The presenter then mentioned how important it is for us (educators) to teach students about reliable sources. I agree with her to a degree… yes, we should definitely teach students how to evaluate sources, but not to the exclusion of Wikipedia. I think Wikipedia gets a bad rap simply because it is composed, to a large degree, by “amateurs.”
To further illustrate my point - I have an extensive knowledge of the Holocaust because I have attended conferences, read many books, and studied abroad on scholarship, but I have never done anything professionally with the topic, so by definition, I am an amateur. Does this diminish my knowledge of the subject in anyway? Of course not, but to many people I suppose it diminishes my credentials. And, I do not understand this logic.
So, as I listened to the speaker I began thinking about a book I recently finished reading entitled The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. The book was fascinating to me because it took me on the journey of the creation of the OED (yes, I am a little bit of a nerd). And guess what? The Oxford English Dictionary was created via a collaboration with “amateurs.”
“… Trench presented an idea, an idea that - to those ranks of conservative and frock-coated men who sat silently in the library on that dank and foggy evening - was potentially dangerous and revolutionary. But it was the idea that in the end made the whole venture possible.
The undertaking of the scheme, he said, was beyond the ability of any one man. To peruse all of English literature - and to comb the London and New York newspapers and the most literate of the magazines and journals - must be instead “the combined action of many.” It would be necessary to recruit a team - moreover, a huge one - probably comprising hundreds and hundreds of unpaid amateurs, all of them working as volunteers.” (pg. 106)
And in fact, amateurs did participate in the creation of the OED by contributing quotes from literature that helped to illustrate the meaning of the words being defined. In fact, one of the biggest contributors to the project was William Chester Minor who contributed from his cell in an insane asylum where he spent the majority of his life. Although suffering from dementia, Minor was lucid enough at moments to utilize his previous education and interest in philology and lexicography to contribute to the creation of a dictionary that is seen by many as “the definitive record of the English language.”
So, by now, I am sure you can see where I am going with this… if collaboration with amateurs was good enough for the creation of the OED, then it should be okay for Wikipedia. But you might think, “Wait… the OED had editors to check for accuracy.” That is correct, and so does Wikipedia.
I am not saying to tell your students to use Wikipedia as their definitive resource, but neither should they discredit it simply because it is comprised of entries written by “amateurs.” We are doing our students a disservice if we tell them to ignore Wikipedia and use more “reputable” sites because that is not TEACHING them how to evaluate sources for accuracy.
Are there errors in Wikipedia? I am sure there are. Are there entries that need to be elaborated and cited? Definitely. Does that mean we should scrap the whole thing and use “reputable” sources? Absolutely not. Because until we learn how to validate our sources and identify inaccuracies, we can all easily fall victim to fabrication and untruth.
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