As a teacher from 2001-2006 and then from 2008-2012, I had the chance to work with dozens of young people and their parents at a time when so much we knew and thought about education and transmitting information was changing. There was a rapid cultural shift in that decade that was primarily driven by “technology” … Continue reading You’re not “addicted” to tech and why it’s dangerous to say you are
On board each Voyager is a golden record — and record player — that is built to last one billion years or more and contains key information about humanity and life on planet Earth, in case of an alien encounter. The sounds include the calls of humpback whales, the Chuck Berry song “Johnny B. Goode,” … Continue reading “Still discovering new things”
After two happy years as a WordPress self-hosted install, I’m moving our 8th grade science class site/home/hub, GriffinScience, to Blogger: GriffinScience: “Because we’ll be using Blogger as a main platform of interaction with the 8th graders next year due to our school Google accounts making that a no-brainer, I’ve gone ahead and moved GriffinScience from … Continue reading Dogfooding
So how do we as teachers cultivate and encourage creativity in a human existence that doesn’t require as many gigs of organic memory? LRB · Jim Holt · Smarter, Happier, More Productive: “It’s not that the web is making us less intelligent; if anything, the evidence suggests it sharpens more cognitive skills than it dulls. … Continue reading Engineering Creativity
One of my 8th Graders is blogging about dessert pictures she takes that remind her of books she reads (she’s an avid reader). You should follow along… Sweet Reader Yes, it is awesome. Continue reading Sweet Reader
Four of us from Spartanburg Day School are headed to Savannah on Thursday/Friday to see how St. Andrew’s School is running their 1 to 1 iPad program… Apple – Education Seminars & Events – Digital Learning Environments in Action!: “St. Andrew’s School is one of the only K through 12 independent schools that is currently … Continue reading Headed to Apple Seminar at 1 to 1 iPad School
On my iPhone home-screen I now have a link to a “2 Do” file that is a Pinboard Note… Pinboard Notes Pinboard is the bookmarking service that fills the hole Delicious left in our hearts years ago by selling out and becoming too bloated. However, Pinboard now has a notes function that allows for quick … Continue reading I’m Sure @Jangro Would Appreciate notes.pinboard.in
Hadn’t run across this before, but I’m pretty excited about the possibilities here… CK12.ORG – FlexBooks Already incorporating some of this into our existing textsbook over on GriffinScience. Continue reading FlexBooks
My pal Scott Jangro had an amazing site in late ’06 and early ’07 called BUMPzee that I loved. Basically, BUMPzee was an early hybrid of Delicious, Digg, and what would become the Facebook newsfeed. Scott and his team were a little ahead of the curve and the platform should have gone mainstream. So, I’m … Continue reading Why I’m Sticking with AT&T (and Glad to See BUMPzee Back)
Fantastic post that answers many of the “iPad is a fad and has no place in our schools” critics… TeachPaperless: Novelty, Huh?: “As for the specific case of the iPad, it’s hardly an ideal device if you are looking for a catch-all. I’m especially concerned about the closed nature of the system and the emphasis … Continue reading Reality Shifts Aren’t Novelties
Trevor Turk put together a WordPress theme using only 83 lines of PHP and 75 lines of CSS. That’s pretty amazing. And pretty. I’m using it here as my theme for a very long time to come. Yes, I love it. Continue reading 83 Lines
This is a wonderful walkthrough by Fraser Speirs on how his school (Cedars School of Excellence in the UK)implemented an “iPad for Every Student” initiative and some of the resulting reflections the school has made. I’m prodding my beloved Spartanburg Day School to do the same (at an annoyingly daily rate, I’m sure). However, I … Continue reading iPads and Classroom Essentials
I wrote this piece on April 25, 2007. I’m fishing through some old posts and had to revisit/repot this as I think we’re on the verge of a major shift in attention literacy and finding information on the web. Enjoy… — Search is king. We have conferences and we have an entire industry built around … Continue reading Search is the Card Catalogue of the Web
It’s really not that big of a deal, but I’ve been a Pro member for the last three years… words like this lead me to think that maybe Yahoo isn’t putting that much long term investment in the Flickr service. Thanks, Flickr… Why only until June 1?We promised you access to your all time data, … Continue reading Flickr Says Thanks for All the Fish
Over and over tonight (strong wifi): Looks like I’m sticking with Basecamp. Sent from my iPhone Continue reading Dear @Evernote, I Want to Use your Service But This is Unacceptable
Years of building and maintaining my WordPress blog have resulted in my learning a lot about WordPress and getting a lot of grease under my fingernails. Weeks of using Posterous has resulted in a media-rich blog with several posts per week. Tell me which service is more powerful. via suntimes.com I started using Posterous primarily … Continue reading Great Review of @Posterous
I’ve been a longtime Evernote member going back to March ’08 (and then a paying Premium member since June ’08 shortly after they opened that functionality), but I just can’t figure out the best way to integrate the service into my workflow. I’ve certainly tried because I do see so much potential in the product. … Continue reading From Evernote Back to Backpack
I absolutely love FriendFeed's GMail IM integration. It's how I consume most of my FriendFeed content as well as lots from my favorite folks on Twitter that I have piped into FF via the Imaginary Friends (now Rooms) feature. So, if I miss a few hours and want to catch up on what is going … Continue reading FriendFeed Catchup in GMail
I have a school issued (white) MacBook 13′ that I’ve been using the last few weeks when I need a computer (besides my iPhone). It’s great that we have MacBooks for teachers and students. However, since we are also transitioning to Google Apps (thankfully) and everything I do is mostly cloud-based, I don’t see much … Continue reading My Laptop’s Operating System
MindMeister Academic Edition The Academic Edition of MindMeister is a complete collaborative mind mapping solution for educational institutions such as schools, universities and learning centers. It helps teachers and instructors to apply essential thought mapping elements in the classroom and ensure that learning is an effective and memorable experience. via mindmeister.com After doing some researching … Continue reading Using MindMeister for Mind Mapping in the Classroom