Another look at implementing technology

Implementation is a thorny issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/education/mooresville-school-district-a-laptop-success-story.html?_r=1

Something To Think About

I think this oversimplifies the issue, but it's not way off base:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?ref=opinion

More on the Phone Topic

We should be teaching appropriate phone etiquette whether or not we allow students to use phones in school. It makes sense. Being connected to technology is no excuse for diconnecting from humanity. Here is a recent article from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/fashion/17TEXT.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=texting&st=cse

What's the plan?

Here is what's next:
I will read more of Mary Bullard's nuggets of wisdom. I know she is on top of the wave...and she spreads lots of good resources via the emails that I seldom have time to investigate.
I will try to reflect in this blog!
I will talk to younger, more tech savvy teachers and ask for their help in trying digital methods of inquiry and instruction.
I will dig out the long list of topics David Warlick spoke about at a Countywide PD session a few years back. He raved about Twitter before it was the behemouth it is now...
I will move forward.

Activity 6- Mostly Cloudy

I realize that the cloud is supposed to free us from our desktops. Google Docs and the Amazon Cloud (music) Player are two recent examples I've seen. Privacy concerns still bug me. If information is "out there, I lose some control of it. I prefer to share only the things I want to share, with whom I choose. I'm not ready to cede all of my privacy.

Social Bookmarking

Will it survive? http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/yahoo-trying-to-sell-del-icio-us-not-to-shut-it-down/

Whatever happens,this could have great utility as a way to select appropriate source material for students to search. Obviously, many students need guidance to determine if a source is credible. Having a list of bookmarks would be a good starting point. Using the list, a teacher could provide reasons why each source is a good one. Students could then begin to formulate a set of rules to determine whether the information on a site is accurate, up-to-date, and appropriate for use. We might not repeat the following real-life example:

I once had a group of students who did a Powerpoint presentation on the Civil Rights Movement. It was well done, except Spike Lee's photo was placed above some biograpical information about Malcolm X. After a brief investigation, I found that Spike's picture was first on a search page for Malcolm X. Mr. Lee was the director of the film biography starring Denzel Washington.

Hello again.

This is my second blog, and perhaps the habit will "take" this time. I'll try to use this space to stash notes on experiences, questions, and thoughts related to the ever-changing nature of teaching and learning.