Category: Uncategorized
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Good teachers are the most important factors in student learning
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swfand yet, as Bill points out, as a country we have not been serious about identifying, understanding, and trying to replicate good teaching. Bill suggests something that I’ve suggested, and that web 2.0 tools make feasible: video recording classes to analyze and reflect on teaching. What better reflection than that done on accurate data? And…
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Can the American Dream of an equitable public education
be furthered by the web? I do not see why not. As an experiment, I am going to try to help students on the wrong side of the digital divide with web 2.0 tools. My hopeful hypothesis: that the read-write web will meet kids from disadvantaged homes where they are, give them proximal learning zone…
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A memo from the bosses to their Commander-in-Chief
Readers of this blog know that I have been an active supporter of US President Barack Obama, and have heeded his call to reach outside my comfort zone and help “rebuild America.” Well, two weeks ago, Barack emailed me asking that I host a “get-together” for folks to discuss the economic stimulus package currently being…
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By Jove, I think the British Schools have gotten it!
or so suggests this video from British Education Department types of last October suggests. With impressive spokespeople like these, I would think they’re enthused. So, where is the American version of this public education initiative?
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Would that I were a springboard for my colleagues,
one that could power them toward connecting and communicating in new, collaborative ways with web 2.0 tools! Instead, I’m afraid I’m an annoyance when I speak about the benefits of the read/write web for literacy teachers. And right now, without the benefit of electronic media at all they are maintaining learning gains each year as…
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Game theory already at play in curricula!
One of the great things about the net is that you get to follow the evolution of ideas from many differing places. And in a good discussion thread, there can be more solid information than one can find in a book. In a post last month, I described my hopes for the gains available when…
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They tell me you are wrong, and sometimes you are
Wikipedia. But your wrong does not stand long, with your thousands of assiduous editors jumping in and correcting false or misleading information as soon as it appears. And they tell me you are wicked, Wikipedia, that you trick information seekers, and bias them into your politically-motivated, left-wing mind-control. But I looked for it, and I…
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Why Saul Bellow works for me
is that in the two novels of his I’ve read, the hero somewhat resembles me. And we all like to identify with a protagonist, right? Like me, Bellow’s hero is a thoughtful middle aged American man living in or around Chicago. But I also like his books because his hero is distinctly unlike me, and…
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Mr. President, won't you continue to tweet me?
from your BlackBerry?And may I still tweet you? What does becoming the people’s man mean in terms of your accessibility? Right now, a paper-based government works out the details of documentation and security/confidentiality in a web 2.0 America, where citizens can do more than sit back and take it, or sign the occasional petition. Obama…
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"You, me and Montaigne makes three"
It’s something I can say to every person in the blogosphere with me–because just like old Michel of the 16th century, the blogger leads a life of ideas–at least some of the time. A lord in his own castle, Montaigne had the money and education to assemble a deep library. When he could, he’d retire…
The Wikiness 