tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680096263465029222024-03-13T00:12:15.330-04:00Open Source TeacherUsing digital collaboration to become better teachers.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-3735352564832903042017-07-31T19:00:00.007-04:002017-07-31T19:00:48.426-04:00Activity 5.2 Blog Post ResourcesSo my Integration of Information & Computer Technology (IICT) course for York U wants me to make an entry here about and educational blogger that floats my proverbial boat. But I'm feeling contrary and I'm not going to do (quite) that. I want to point to a couple of other non-blog internet sources I use that fulfill some of the same functions as blog.<br />
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I go to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">reddit.com </a>every day. It's usually the place I go to first on the Internet. Is avid the right word to describe my use? On the most superficial level, Reddit is a link aggregator. Users (redditors) post links to things they find. The community (other redditors) can vote those links up or down. The most popular links end up on the front page.<br />
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That's reddit on a superficial level. Reddit is also a collection of communities organized as subreddits each of which has it's own focus some of which are moderated and many, many of which are not. Redditors can subscribe to subreddits and its posts will end up on their main feed. Some of the subreddits are pretty rough and tumble. Some are completely offensive. Some are brilliant.<br />
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There are lots of education related subreddits or ones that support my teaching or computer interests.<br />
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<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/">https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/">https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/edtech/">https://www.reddit.com/r/edtech/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/matheducation/">https://www.reddit.com/r/matheducation/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/">https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/readablecode/">https://www.reddit.com/r/readablecode/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/science/">https://www.reddit.com/r/science/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/">https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/teachingresources/">https://www.reddit.com/r/teachingresources/</a><br />
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/">https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/</a><br />
<br />Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-9815879278101209562017-07-25T12:49:00.003-04:002017-07-25T12:49:46.833-04:002-LB2: Activity 5.2 - Meeting the needs of all learnersCatching up on some overdue work for my online course in I<a href="http://edu.apps01.yorku.ca/pdis/course/integration-of-information-computer-technology/#14" target="_blank">ntegration Of Information & Computer Technology</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesDI/Brochures/DIBrochureOct08.pdf" target="_blank">Reach Every Student: Through differentiated instruction</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/MethodsofDifferentiationintheClassroom.aspx" target="_blank">Methods of Differentiation in the Classroom</a><br />
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<a href="https://oere.oise.utoronto.ca/document/integrating-aboriginal-teaching-and-values-into-the-classroom/" target="_blank">Integrating Aboriginal Teaching And Values Into The Classroom</a>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-41438536360104319942017-07-10T20:40:00.002-04:002017-07-10T20:40:50.392-04:00Meeting on the digital commonsIt's worth expanding on my previous post and exploring a bit more the notion of Open Source and it's relation to this blog and to teaching.<br />
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<a href="http://opensource.com/">OpenSource.com</a> describes Open Source in a document called <a href="https://opensource.com/open-source-way" target="_blank">The Open Source Way</a>. It organizes the Open Source Way around five different principles.<br />
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The first is <b>Open Exchange</b>. This is the idea that we all learn more when the exchange of information is open. The free exchange of current ideas is critical to the creation of new ideas.<br />
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The second is <b>Participation</b>. This is the idea that freedom to collaborate encourages creativity. Problems can be solved together that cannot be solved alone.<br />
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The third is <b>Rapid Prototyping</b>. This is the idea that rapid prototypes may lead to rapid failures but rapid failure lead more quickly to solutions that work. The Rapid Prototyping motto is "Fail early and fail often."<br />
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The fourth is <b>Meritocracy</b>. This is the idea that the best ideas win. When everyone has access to the same information, successful work determines which projects get input, effort, and further work from the Open Source community.<br />
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The fifth is <b>Community</b>. Communities form around a common purpose and bring together a broad range of ideas and share the work of the project. The community as a whole can create something greater than any one individual is capable of.<br />
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The principle that attracts me the most in the context of this blog is Open Exchange. On a face to face basis, most of the significant improvements in my classroom practice have been the result of the exchange of ideas with other teachers. A blog is a digital forum in which I can reflect on my own practice and kick around the ideas which interest me and if they merit the attention of others in my learning circle then we can learn from the exchange of ideas.<br />
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In the context of my actual teaching practice, I want to embrace Rapid Prototyping. One of the biggest challenges in improving my teaching practice and implementing new ideas is finding a path from my current practice to my desired goal. But if I embrace the ethos of Rapid Prototyping then a certain amount of failure is not only to be expected. It's to be embraced. I should just try a lot of different things and if they don't work, reflect on why, modify them and try again. I shouldn't need to be fully assured of success before proceeding.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-82561744822839555032017-07-10T16:05:00.001-04:002017-07-10T16:06:30.312-04:00Welcome YU17CO21!!Hey all, this blog hasn't seen any action in all the years it's been out there but of course <i>you're all gonna visit</i> fellow IICTers.<br />
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I've called it Open Source Teacher and that's an explicit shout out to the <a href="https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source" target="_blank">Open Source Software</a> movement which, in turn, arises out of the early(ier) days of the internet. Open Source Software is software whose source code (the actual computer language code used to create the software that the user interacts with) is openly available usually under a copyright license that allows others to study, change, and distribute it without restriction. One of the mottos of the early Internet was "Information wants to be free!" and Open Source Software explicitly adopts that ethic. <a href="https://www.openoffice.org/" target="_blank">Apache Open Office</a> is an example of Open Source Software. It's a full office software suite that parallels many of the capabilities of MS Office. <a href="https://www.gimp.org/" target="_blank">GIMP</a> is a full blown open source image processing software that rivals Adobe's Photoshop in features and flexibility.<br />
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So why call this blog Open Source Teacher? Because the intent is that my/our teaching practice should follow the open source ethic. The source code (foundations, theories, reflections) should be openly available and shared with anyone to study, change, and distribute.<br />
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So there!Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-81705371155195510332011-10-26T11:58:00.002-04:002011-10-26T12:08:55.395-04:00Incomplete Manifesto for Growth No. 1<div align="left">I'm hoping to quote and then comment on each of Bruce Mau's items in his brilliant Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. Sometimes, in order to really absorb something, I just need to copy it down and repeat it to myself. Mau's manifesto is a concrete inspiration both personally and to my pedagogy.<br /></div><br /><br /><blockquote><br /><br /><p align="justify">"<em>1.) <strong>Allow events to change you</strong>. You have to be willing to<br />grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: openness to experience events and the<br />willingness to be changed by them."</em></p></blockquote><br /><p align="justify">It's difficult to be open to growth. I spend a lot of time trying to keep e/thing the same. Growth is difficult and painful.<br /><br /></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-9372544846712263692011-10-12T22:19:00.004-04:002011-10-12T22:29:52.456-04:00The Point of Grade 9 Math......might not be the math. Just listened to a CBC Ideas broadcast featuring Jean Briggs, an anthropologist, talking about Inuit strategies of child rearing and teaching and, somehow out of that it occurs to me that my focus in Grade 09 math doesn't necessarily have to be the math. It's about learning to learn and about seeing the world differently. It's about the mental equivalent of what a good masseuse might do to your spine in loosening it up and allowing you to move not just more freely, but differently altogether as a result.<br /><br />Just remembered a connection to the Inuit. According to Briggs, children were often asked things like "Do you (incorrectly) imagine that such and such is the case?" The method is extremely open-ended and non-prescriptive and forces/expects that the child will generate their own response. Prescriptive right and wrong responses are eschewed.<br /><br />Also, according to Briggs, some variation of counter-factuals are used. An answer might be given that is intentionally wrong with the expectation that the child will know it is wrong and deduce the "correct" and opposite answer.<br /><br />Imagine if, in my math class, I said to one side of the room "For this class, I want you to only give me wrong answers." And, at the same time I tried to lead/push/divert them into <span style="font-style:italic;">productively</span> wrong answers. Maybe I could (a) make them less afraid to be wrong and (b) get some good insights out of it. <br /><br />I wonder how some of my super-keen kids would take to this?Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-40330775324555808972010-04-27T11:35:00.002-04:002010-04-27T11:39:55.945-04:00Technology whenever!I like technology. I like the web. I like computers. But as a math teacher I'm on the blackboard all the time. When I read about all the cool stuff that other teachers are doing, I get jealous. So why don't I book some lab time and do it?<br /><br />The answer is in the last sentence. I have to book lab time and that's not a trivial exercise since the horizon for available time is something like a couple of weeks. I'm a new teacher. I really don't know exactly where I'm going to be in two weeks. Plus that's not the way I work with technology. I want my technology here and now when I think of it and as I think of it. I need to be able to use it spontaneously because using technology is about creativity and I need spontaneity for that.<br /><br />Until I'm in a wired classroom, I think it's the board for me. I can improvise on the board.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-15672739535424621192010-02-22T06:15:00.003-05:002010-02-22T06:36:59.172-05:00Figuring Things OutAbout 20 minutes into a <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/31/clay-shirky-on-infor.html">really interesting talk</a> on Information Overload at the Web2.0 conference in New York this year (I think) Clay Shirky says something that is simultaneously so basic and so insightful about teaching that I had to put it down somewhere:<br /><br /><blockquote cite="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/31/clay-shirky-on-infor.html">"...we've known the formula for hydrochloric acid for some time now. We're not asking the students to figure it out because we need to know it. We're asking them to figure it out because we need them to have experience figuring things out." (via <a href="http://boingboing.net">BoingBoing</a>)</blockquote><br /><br />It's so easy to lose sight of the fact that this is one of the, if not <span style="font-weight:bold;">the</span> fundamental goals of education. They need to have experience figuring things out. <br /><br />Long after they've forgotten their last piece of trigonometry, knowing how to figure things out will be the thing that keeps carrying them forward in life. <br /><br />The question is how I should conduct my practice in light of this. Clearly, I want to emphasize this attitude in class. And I want to give them lots of opportunities to figure things out. And I want to demand that they figure things out. i.e. I need to expect it of them. And I want to model figuring things out. The implication of this last thing is that I need to not have everything figured out when I go into class. They need to see me do it.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-61175834560515616382010-01-23T08:52:00.004-05:002010-01-23T09:06:58.549-05:00Cognitive LoadGary Davis at <a href="http://republicofmath.wordpress.com">Republic of Mathematics</a> (which is starting to look like a v. interesting read from the POV of mathematics education) <a href="http://republicofmath.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/reducing-cognitive-load-in-algebra/">refers to an interesting concept</a> (apparently originating with John Sweller). The notion is "cognitive load" and it deals with the idea that some concepts or operations just require so much cognitive processing that most or many students get stumped by them. The key point here is that teachers should keep the cognitve load in mind when teaching and actively try to manage it.<br /><br />The example he gives is of students trying to expand -3y^2(4y^3 - 6y + 7). It's one thing to get them to expand something like y^2(4y^3 - 6y + 7) but throw in a coefficient of 3 - not to mention a minus sign and it's just too much to process. But if we're thinking about the "cognitive load" then we can break it down into smaller chunks. First you could multiply through by the y^2 to get -3(4y^5 - 6y^3 +7y^2). Then you could "bring in" the 3 to get -(12y^5 - 18y^3 + 21y^2) and finally bring in the minus sign, switching the signs of every element within the brackets to give -12y^5 + 18y^3 -21y^2.<br /><br />Many or most teachers would do this anyways but I think I too frequently overlook this and, for everyone, I think the notion of managing the cognitive load is a useful one.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-9075109227665183702009-12-04T08:41:00.003-05:002009-12-04T09:06:26.886-05:00SufferingThe day before yesterday one of my less engaged students (in a class full of students who find it difficult to stay engaged) had her head down on the desk. I told her to wake up and she replied, head still down on the desk, that she <em>was</em> awake. And so, predictably for all concerned, I told her to lift her head off the desk and that no one's allowed to have their head down in my class. (As if they were allowed to do it in other classes, anyway. But that's beside the point.) When she lifted her head up she had this extremely put-upon, angry expression on her face. If you're a teacher you've seen it. It's the <em>why do I have to be here and why are you making me do this shit?</em> face.<br /><br />In the car on the way in to school this morning I connected this to something that I heard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n">Pema Chodron</a> say in an interview with Bill Moyers. She was quoting some Buddhist luminary or other. It was something to the effect that we hate our suffering but are in love with what causes it. So the alcoholic hates the hangovers, or the embarassment, or the way he fails his kids but loves drunkenness or the booze itself. And this student who was hating being there and who could barely restrain herself from lashing out was really suffering. She just hated her situation and wished that it would change or be different. But that wasn't going to and couldn't just happen. What is she in love with that causes her suffering that she can't and won't change?<br /><br />In part, she's in love with not understanding that it's her responsibility to change things. She just wants it to change. She doesn't want to do the work to be in school but she still lets herself be stuck in school. In cruder, less empathetic terms, she needs to shit or get off the pot. That's what most of us need when we're stuck. We're stuck because in some sense we're unwilling to do one or the other. But it's more, too. She could change herself. It wouldn't be easy. Ultimately, it's the project of a lifetime (enlightenment). But that's a path she could take. She could find a way not to suffer in this situation.<br /><br />Perhaps she's <em>in love</em> with not changing herself. Perhaps she's in love with being a child and therefore with not being responsible for herself. As am I. As are most of us.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-74402592296793340692009-08-18T13:04:00.002-04:002009-08-18T13:06:37.371-04:00Identifying Strengths and WeaknessesGood teachers focus in on <span style="font-weight: bold;">particular</span> strengths and weaknesses and are able to say what <span style="font-weight: bold;">category</span> these strengths and weaknesses fall into.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-63126067334378606122009-01-12T15:47:00.003-05:002009-01-12T15:55:26.293-05:00Due Dates and the Clarity of ExpectationsBTT1O were to hand in their summatives today. I'd told myself to be ready for some students not to be done. I was trying to psych myself up to be a tough guy about it. I was <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> prepared for almost everyone not to be done. This included a couple of my star students.<br /><br />On reflection, I did not lay out the tough guy, hard ass expectations all that clearly up front and I have, in general, not done a clear and explicit job of handling due dates. (Which are a mess in the Ontario system, now.) In fact, I need to generally do a better job of being explicit in my expectations with both BTT1O and ICS3M.<br /><br />I thought that the expectations in terms of what to hand in were well laid out in the summative assignment this time around. I got that part right. But I should have spoken to the importance of meeting the deadline and that the deadline was the beginning of the class.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-14525852754467968032009-01-12T15:38:00.003-05:002009-01-12T15:47:47.374-05:00Attention, AttentionWe're fully in summative mode in ICS3M. E/one is working on it in class. One thing that all levels of the summative can use (as a bonus) is the ability to write text to files. So, I spent about 10 mins in class today going over how to do this. What surprised me was the number of students who didn't even bother to pay attention and this was even though I'd told then that it would only take about 10 minutes and that they would need this if they were to go for the bonuse marks on any of the summative levels.<br /><br />What is perplexing me about this? That it is so clearly in their interest to listen so that they know how to do it and that they aren't? Is it the case that it's not clear to <span style="font-style: italic;">them</span> that it's in their interest?<br /><br />I'm inclined to think that they are assuming that they don't need to listen now. That they'll be able to get this info from me later when the information will be immediately useful. If I thought this behaviour just came under the heading of general rudeness, that would be one thing. But one student that I particularly singled out for not listening was quite open and nice with me afterwards. It's not intentional rudeness however much it might incidentally be rude.<br /><br />Perhaps it's the internet generation (Gen I) thing. They're used to information on demand so they just assume that that's how it will be with what I was giving them today.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-14635281097253302752009-01-08T06:39:00.003-05:002009-01-08T06:47:17.167-05:00Alfie Kohn on reform and a Secretary of Education<a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org">Kohn</a>, who is surely one of the most interesting and provocative educational theorists out there today, talks about <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/soe.htm">who Obama should choose</a> for Secretary of Education in the U.S. Along the way, he speculates that much of what passes for school reform is actually a retrenchment of the status quo - stateside, at least. Since what happens there often shows up here as at least an influence, I <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/soe.htm">present it</a> for your delectation.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-67950049576629463282008-12-11T13:28:00.007-05:002008-12-12T16:04:36.848-05:00Understanding Student AbilityToday at Incredibly Amazing HS, all the Grade 9 Applied teachers gathered together to discuss the students each felt were at risk academically.<br /><br />In the first place, that's a cool thing that teachers were given the time during a regular day to meet and figure out who was at risk. Certainly, nothing like that happened at my previous school even though that school had a reputation (deserved, I think) as a good school. There's an unusually strong focus here on identifying kids who are at risk of failing and taking steps to keep that from happening.<br /><br />But what I want to reflect on here is that the real bonus for me as a newbie teacher was the opportunity to see how other teachers - particularly more experienced ones - understood the strengths and weaknesses of students. I had a couple of "Aha" moments (at least) in which I listened to a teacher's take on an at-risk student and went to myself "Yes I should be looking at <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> aspect of a student's performance." Or that I should understand this aspect of learning in this or that particular light.<br /><br /><h3>Categories of Strength/Weakness</h3><span style="font-weight: bold;">Abstraction </span>- How difficult is it for the student to deal with abstract material?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">One on One Attention</span> - Does the student need an above average of one on one attention in order to understand what's going on?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Organization </span>- an obvious one but particularly important for weaker students who don't need the extra challenge of trying to track miscellaneous bits of information and paper. Kids with organizational difficulties are obvious candidates for a learning strategies mini-course that Incredibly Amazing HS is going to run after Christmas.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tolerance of routine change</span> - Lots of kids are really sensitive to changes in their routine at school and at home. Sometimes they need to be able to chill out when they get hit with a change. It helps if you know a kid's in this category.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Information retention</span> - how long can the student retain information that they've studied? Obviously, if this is aproblem for them, exams will be a challenge. The eye opener for me with this one was to conceive of a student's exam performance as being a function of the <span style="font-style: italic;">amount of time</span> for which they could retain the information. It's productive to look at it in this light.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-80942042214653255952008-11-23T09:57:00.003-05:002008-11-23T10:03:51.581-05:00Tim Brown's Key's to CreativityTim Brown had a really interesting vid on the <a href="http://www.ted.com">TED</a> website. He was talking about the links between creativity and play. The entire video (below) is worth your time but these are the three points I took out of it.<br /><br />Exploration: Go for quantity.<br /><br />Building: Think with your hands.<br /><br />Role Play: Act it out.<br /><br /><!--cut and paste--><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="320" height="285" id="VE_Player" align="middle"><param name="movie" value="http://static.videoegg.com/ted2/flash/loader.swf"><PARAM NAME="FlashVars" VALUE="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/TimBrown_2008P-embed-PARTNER_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="wmode" value="window"><embed src="http://static.videoegg.com/ted2/flash/loader.swf" FlashVars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/TimBrown_2008P-embed-PARTNER_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="noscale" wmode="window" width="320" height="285" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-70668234046542817412008-05-06T18:40:00.003-04:002008-11-23T09:57:17.632-05:00Being a beginning teacher is like having to show up for an exam you haven't studied for <span style="font-weight: bold;">every day</span>.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-55893281464693592092008-04-16T08:42:00.002-04:002008-04-16T08:46:31.018-04:00Motivational Sayings (sort of)A collection of saying for new teachers. It's billed as being anti-motivational but there are some nuggets in there.<br /><br /><a href="http://valleyjew.blogspot.com/2007/10/really-bad-collection-of-motivational.html"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> "Absolute power corrupts absolutely. A teacher’s power isn’t nearly as cool.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> One day when you realize that you’re really teaching something well to a kid who really wants to learn, you’ll feel like the hero of a story. But, if there’s a story at all, the kid is the hero.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> I was hired to teach high school when I was twenty-two. The teacher I replaced had died on Thursday. She was at a restaurant alone, reading a trade paperback and collapsed right at the table. Heart attack. I came in for an interview on Friday and started on Monday. I showed up ten minutes early. The school secretary gave me a map of the campus, a key and said, “Good luck.”</span></a>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-60591973997709182642008-03-27T20:47:00.003-04:002008-03-27T20:54:55.504-04:00Preparing for Parent-Teacher InterviewsSuggestions for preparing for Parent-Teacher interview from my informal mentor:<br /><ol><li>Ask for the student's notebook if their parents are coming to the interview. This should provide you with some support for whatever issues you might have with the student or that the parent might have with you.</li><li>Have a marks printout for each student handy.</li><li>Initially, at least, don't talk too much. Let them take the lead and see where they go with it. It's their interview in a (n important) sense so let them set the agenda.<br /></li><li>Make sure that they're aware of <a href="https://ocdsb.desire2learn.com/index.asp">Desire2Learn</a> and that you post the homework there.</li><li>Post the interview schedule on the door and make sure to indicate that they should knock on the door when its their time.<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="img/gl.link.gif" alt="Link" border="0" /></span></span></li></ol>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-68106176897379174092008-03-22T10:35:00.003-04:002008-03-22T10:55:12.149-04:00Are Schools Redundant?The (almost) always provocative Bob Cringely has a must-read post up on his site about how technology is de-legitimizing the very foundation of schooling.<br /><br /> <a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080321_004574.html">"...we've reached the point in our (disparate) cultural adaptation to computing and communication technology that the younger technical generations are so empowered they are impatient and ready to jettison institutions most of the rest of us tend to think of as essential, central, even immortal. They are ready to dump our schools."</a><br /><br />This has a ring of truth to it and ties in with an insight delivered recently by (I think) Stephen Fry: academia has been based on the notion that facts are scarce. Hence they must be memorized and otherwise preserved. But in an Internet world facts are easily copied and aren't scarce anymore. Google makes them easy to locate. As Cringely puts it farther on in his posting it's not longer a knowledge economy, it's a search economy.<br /><br />The big question is (i) is this true and (ii) if it is true, what does it mean for us as teachers?Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-12501438117910008512008-03-01T12:30:00.005-05:002008-03-01T12:37:57.683-05:00In theory...<span style="font-weight: bold;">...there's no difference between practice and theory but in practice there is.</span><br /><br />The tension between my high level goals and aspirations as a teacher and the down and dirty fundamentals of life in the classroom 75 minutes at a time remain. I don’t want to be a cop, to be coercive and to use reward and punishment as a mechanistic tool to get students to learn (I want to be more <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.html">Alife Kohn</a>-like) but feel that I am forced back into that mode by the day to day reality of what I’m encountering in the classroom. Students are talking about their personal stuff at the same time as I’m talking or at the same time as another student is talking and being generally so disruptive as to make them impossible to ignore. So I threaten them and occasionally follow through on my threats and occasionally lose my cool in a visible way.<br /><br />The key, suggests Bob Sullo in <span style="font-style: italic;">Activating the Desire to Learn</span>, is to make the content interesting and relevant. Then students will want to learn. Sounds right to me. But that challenge seems way, way, beyond me. I struggle just to come up with and organize the stuff to fill the time at this point. That kind of meta-effort, devoted to establishing its relevance and to making it connect to them at a personal level seems like too much when it’s 9.00 PM and the kids are finally put to bed and the supper dishes are put away and I’m sitting down to figure out what tomorrow’s class is going to look like.<br /><br />How can I get out of here (Mr. MacDonald - GRRRR) and over to there (Mr. MacDonald - great class!!!!)?Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-3341137880147538462008-02-22T10:18:00.002-05:002008-02-22T10:28:38.029-05:00The Psychology of PowerPointScience Fiction blog <a href="http://io9.com">io9</a> <a href="http://io9.com/357063/how-cognitive-science-can-improve-your-powerpoint-presentations">reported</a> on a presentation by cognitive scientist <a href="http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/%7Ekwn/">Stephen M. Kosslyn </a>at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on 15 February, 2008 about using cognitive science to improve your powerpoint presentations. There are, apparently, four basic rules:<br /><br /><ul><li>The Goldilocks Rule</li><ul><li>present just the right amount of data</li><li>never include more information than your audience needs<br /> </li></ul></ul> <ul><li>The Rudolph Rule</li><ul><li>make key information stand out like Rudolph’s nose so that you guide your audience’s attention to it</li><li>“The human brain is a difference detector.”<br /></li></ul></ul><ul><li>The Rule of Four</li><ul><li>Generally, the brain can hold only four pieces of information at once so limit yourself to presenting four things at a time.<br /></li></ul></ul><ul><li>The Birds of a Feather Rule</li><ul><li> if you want to indicate that certain things belong together, group them by giving them a similar colour, shape, or location in the visual field.<br /></li></ul></ul><br />The goofy rule names? It’s always easier to remember something unfamiliar if it’s named for something familiar.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-69775121509154503852008-02-16T08:19:00.000-05:002008-02-16T08:31:37.520-05:00New Yorker Does Short Fiction Podcasts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TznWmXaG66Y/R7blAyrmh9I/AAAAAAAAAAM/p-SLuCVbjME/s1600-h/NYerPod.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TznWmXaG66Y/R7blAyrmh9I/AAAAAAAAAAM/p-SLuCVbjME/s200/NYerPod.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167569424221636562" border="0" /></a><br />The inimitable <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/">Boing Boing</a> <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/13/four-more-podcasts-i.html">reports</a> that the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/">New Yorker</a> (best magazine evah!) is publishing <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction">podcasts of some of its short fiction</a>. Each month the mag asks one authour to pick a favourite from the NYer archives and then read it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I'll</span> be signing up.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-70341870876605816082008-02-13T10:52:00.000-05:002008-02-13T11:00:05.220-05:0010 Rules for CreativityNever underestimate a nun (in this case, <a href="http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/03/03/sister_corita.html">Sister Corita Kent</a>).<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Heart_College"><br />Immaculate Heart College</a> Rules (art department):<br /><blockquote> <ol><li>Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.</li><li>General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher, pull everything out of your fellow students.</li><li>General duties of a teacher: pull everything out of your students.</li><li>Consider everything an experiment.</li><li>Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.</li><li>Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.</li><li><strong>The only rule is work.</strong> If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.</li><li>Don’t try to create and analyse at the same time. They’re different processes.</li><li>Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.</li><li>“We’re breaking all of the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.” - John Cage.</li></ol> <p>Helpful hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything always. Go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully often. Save everything, it might come in handy later.</p> <p>There should be new rules next week.</p><p>Courtesy of <a href="http://mike.teczno.com/notes/">Michal Migurski</a></p><p></p><br /></blockquote>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68009626346502922.post-41554579351828151312008-02-03T11:40:00.000-05:002008-02-03T11:54:17.975-05:00The Professional versus the Inspired Amateur<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html">Great article</a> by Steve Martin in February issue of The Smithsonian magazine. It occurred to me on reading it that there's a lot of overlap between stand-up comedy and teaching. Here's something surprising that he has to say about the difference between being <span style="font-style: italic;">great</span> and being <span style="font-style: italic;">good</span>:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">The consistent work enhanced my act. I learned a lesson: it was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the circumstances. Performing in so many varied situations made every predicament manageable, from Toronto, where I performed next to an active salad bar, to the well-paying but soul-killing Playboy Clubs, where I was almost but not quite able to go over. But as I continued to work, my material grew; I came up with odd little gags such as "How many people have never raised their hands before?"</span><br /></blockquote>Well, that difference between being great when inspired, when the spirit moves you, and being <span style="font-style: italic;">consistently</span> good is precisely what it means to be a professional, isn't it? Amateurs can be great at what they do because they can be inspired but that's something that's outside your control - by definition. You have to depend on the muses to be inspired and they are...fickle. But a professional has honed his or her craft to the point where he or she is at least good pretty much all the time.<br /><br />Someday, when you're really a professional, all your classes will be good and, when inspiration does strike, you'll be great.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15585262958846412558noreply@blogger.com1