Like Krazy

My drive to and from school each day has taken on quite a change over the past few months. It used to be that I would set my XM radio (The Loft and The Spectrum are my stations of choice) for a commercial-free and concentration-free commute. Lately, though I have been listening to the Steve Hargadon interviews from FutureofEducation.com and Conversations.net multiple times and each time I seem to find something new to spark ideas and get me thinking about education and things I should try in the classroom. One of those ideas is to create some online content for my students to watch and review from my own lessons, similar to what I have been doing with those recordings. I planned to set aside some time this summer to create these lessons. These would be topics that I will cover and discuss in class, but can be viewed in a less interactive but maybe more visual format as often as needed. My thought was that this type of lesson would lend itself very well to a discipline like math, where ...

For the past few days Mother Nature, via a blizzard and then the snow version of a left hook a few days later, has provided everyone in Maryland an opportunity to pause and many, many opportunities to shovel. While I have had no choice but do the latter, I have gone beyond the pause to learn from many educators through Twitter and online conferences. In jumping from one blog to another, I came across the above video and my thoughts turned to, of all things, my summer vacation plans and the school grant I hope to get to study more on the video's topic. I love this mash-up video by Punya Mishra for several reasons, but what is most interesting to me is that it confirms one side of an argument that I am having with myself (it's usually the only chance I ever have of winning one) while at the same time confirming the other side of the same argument! On one side is the incorporation of one aspect of technology (in this case a video of a lecture but it could be a Powerpoint presentat...

This post was inspired by this post from hadleyjf. I commented on that post but felt I wanted to expound on my thoughts here. Before you begin reading, press the play button on the Voki below this paragraph and then immediately continue reading while it speaks. Try it. It'll be educational and will barely hurt, I promise. Get a Voki now! This past weekend I participated in educon thru elluminate and in the past year took online courses using a similar program. In both experiences I was able to participate in a conversation that was taking place during the presentation/class using a chat window. Having done that many times now I have come to realize that I find it impossible to multitask in that way. Many times the chat session became the "front channel" and the presenter/teacher went to the back of my attention. I found that I missed some of what the presenter said while I participated in the chats. But at the same time I also find that I learn greatly from that part of...

This video from Langara College, "Rethink Scholarship," is a very creative look at continuing motivation of ideas. While conferences such as educon and discussions like edchat inspire me, it may take a short video like this to turn that spark into a fire. This is the main reason I decided to act and begin writing much more frequently to this blog. It is a chance for me to put down my ideas and let them sit for a while. If others happen to read them (and I won't leave it totally to chance as I will push these posts to those I have connected with on Twitter) I hope they may leave their own comments and impressions. None of us can truly learn without others and the feedback is always welcome. Heck, I'll just take the non-feedback to mean that the ideas must be so far ahead of their time that others need a chance to catch up. :) Or that they are really, really lame. In any case, I'll take it. Something's better than nothing to get the ideas in motion. I find that ...

I came across a site for presenters entitled Interactive Lectures that contains summaries of 36 formats for making a presentation interactive. Certainly my job as a teacher is part presenter and I found many ideas to work with in my own classroom. I decided to put my notes here as I examine some of these formats and how I may use them. Please use the comment section to add your ideas and allow this to grow. Format #1: Best Summary Each participant prepares a summary of the main points at the end of a presentation. Teams of participants switch their summaries and select the best summary from each set. This reminds me of an "Exit Slip," which is a good way to check student understanding before they leave the room. The summary could be done in many formats (and may even be done several times during a class session). - working in groups or individually, put summary on index card. If in groups, have them read each out loud. If individuals, collect and read a few out loud. - techn...

While I was viewing The Field Guide for Change Agents created at Educon today I was reminded of an article I came across a few weeks ago entitled The Innovator's DNA . In it the authors identified five "discovery skills" in creative executives: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking. It is no surprise that the skills necessary to become an innovative executive mirror those of a change agent in education. The fact that the change agent presentation was created at the Educon conference not only entails networking, but us noneducon attendees (or educon nonattendees?) can only imagine the amount of associating, questioning, observing, and experimenting that went on to produce such a document. They are skills that Change Agents (and probably most of the best educators) wield. The great news is that in being drawn here and taking the time to read this post proves you have several of the "skills" of that innovative DNA. In this case, though...

During a recent class discussion about a Sherlock Holmes story ("Adventure of the Speckled Band") my students and I had read, it occurred to me that maybe Holmes would be out of work in the 21st century. After all, anything that he could possibly think of (in this case it was a "swamp adder" from India) could be googled. So I asked my class what they thought. The immediate response was that Holmes was obsolete. Google could take his place. All of his knowledge was available right there for quick and easy access. Why memorize when you can google it? Then there was a pause. They caught themselves and actually began to think about it. I could have stopped right then and called the entire class session a success. Heck, that might even be considered a successful week. But we did continue. It was time to press my luck and see where this thought was going. First one voice (you gotta love that one - the one you sometimes wait to call on until many others have had a turn), ...