edumorphing

Twitter with 4th Graders

2009-01-24T08:51:00.002-05:00

This week, I took on a large task. I have opened up my personal time to my students and Twitter. With long discussion and rule creating, I opened up their world to using Twitter. We are using Twitter as an educational supplement for students to ask questions, receive help and study new skills while they are home. We are still in the infant stages of Twitter use. I have 5 students involved at the moment. We only follow each other... kind of a closed circuit Twitter use.
I am finding these students love the fact that they have the ability to ask questions the night before the quiz. They love the interaction with me as their teacher while they sit at home at their computer. They are taking a social networking site and using it for educational purposes.
This is foreign to many 4th graders. I have spent the first half of this school year laying the groundwork for digital responsibility. This is not an easy task. Sadly, some 9 and 10 year olds think of social networking sites as a place for gossip and rumor creating. I have spent much of this time showing the learning aspect of these sites.
As of now, our Twitter community gets it. We have had great conversations about topics discussed in class. I helped a nervous student find links to help him study the night before his math quiz. The next day, he thanked me over and over again. In the infant stages, this is working better than I would have ever imagined.

Ownership of Information

2008-12-13T15:32:00.004-05:00

How can I create a wiki that is owned by 4th graders? This is the question I have been struggling with for the last few months. I have owned the wiki for a few years now. The name may have changed a few times, but the idea remains the same. It serves as a link between the teacher, student, parent and world. The ideas that are floating near the top of my sporadic, sometimes rule-breaking mind are endless. I have thought of the creation of an entire digital classroom, where work can be completed via wiki. This idea sank when I realized the students need to be taught core 21st Century information sharing skills.
The 9 and 10 year olds that I teach are rather limited in their current views of the Internet, as it relates to purpose, relativity and possibilities. The more the world becomes transparent, the more I see these young students become stagnate with their learning. The 9/10 year old view of the Internet is a great place to play games, watch videos and chat with friends. This is the Internet for these students. I see the Internet as a vast, sometimes confusing mesh of woven arteries that lead to a completely different mesh of woven arteries. These arteries are created and destroyed. Sometimes just blocked.
The challenge seems to come when time interferes with curriculum. I spend much of my day trying to fit into a little mold of what it takes to be a successful 4th grade teacher. Sometimes this path leads to a successful, well thought-out lesson. Sometimes the lesson goes south. I still haven't figured out how to figure it out. I am constantly changing how I teach. I am constantly thinking of new and better way to introduce a skill so that the student ultimately absorbs the information.
I have now opened OUR wiki up to the world with my students leading the conversation. This is a great milestone, in my opinion. This is a step in the right direction for me. This will be one tool I will use to assess students and teacher (me). The students feel ownership. They now know what it is like to own what they are learning. Very few students have started with the process of making edits to the wiki. I have been sacrificing my lunch time in order to not take any instruction time away from our current curriculum model. These few students are creating a buzz. I am using these students as a fuse to light the entire class with the ownership of the material they are learning.
Every day, a new idea for the wiki is generated by a student. We discuss the positives and negatives of including this idea to OUR wiki. Student ideas generated so far... Going Green, Book Reviews, and Beyond. These ideas are in their infant stages of course. We are still working on our editing skills.
How it Works:
1. Students fill out a wiki editing form with a unique idea they would like to add to our wiki.
2. During the day, we discuss the edit and the process of adding it.
3. Students begin editing the wiki during lunch, indoor recess or when they have finished their assignments for the day.
Future Plans:
I plan to open the editing for students to complete at home. I haven't quite reached this point of trust... yet. I am still working with the students to understand Internet responsibility (what to make public and what to keep to yourself). I believe this will come in the near future.
I am excited about this whole "experiment". The students are also excited.

Pause for Purpose

2008-12-03T19:56:00.003-05:00

Hello all. It has been an incredible amount of time since I have posted to this blog. The time has been wisely spent. I have a new position this year as a fourth grade teacher at a new elementary school. Having spent a few years out of the classroom setting, it was a lot to grasp at first.

I have been spending my time getting used to the many idiosyncrasies of having my own class of 28... 14 boys and 14 girls. Wow, I forgot the rewards of watching students soak up knowledge like a sponge.

I have been using my wiki as a connection between school and home. I have been spending the entire beginning of the school year updating the wiki and figuring out how I was going to make it work with many Internet irresponsible 9 and 10 year olds.

I am opening the wiki up to students now. Students will be able to log on to the wiki during school and add information once work is complete. I have opened up the wiki for Reading, Social Studies and Math. They are labeled "A students View of..."

The students will post anything they deem to be appropriate for the sharing of knowledge with the world. Hopefully we will start with our first entry tomorrow. Depending on how this works out, I plan to have students create their own pages and eventually blog with a purpose. Wish me luck.

School Year Goals

2008-08-13T09:50:00.005-04:00

I like posting my yearly teaching goals in this forum. It gives me a chance to share some of my ideas and serves as a checklist to myself for reflection at the end of the school year.
1. Listen to Every Student Voice...
Sometimes the best instructional ideas come from the students themselves. I love to live by my own modo... many voices are better than one. Too often, teachers become stuck in a muddy ditch that I like to call stagnate instruction. When this occurs, learning also becomes stagnate.
2. Use the Power of Global Learning and Sharing...
Students love to share what they are learning with other students their age. Why not make it a global audience? Along with this idea, we need to also learn globally. Learning from other cultures puts ours in perspective.
3. Help Students Own Their Work...
Students tend to perform at a higher level if they have ownership of the product they create. It's hard to own a worksheet. They didn't create it, and they have seen far too many in their life time. I want to create authentic learning from authentic creations. I hope the last sentence made sense.
4. Create an Atmosphere of Trust and Respect...
I would love to have a learning environment where everyone, teachers and students, trusted and respected each other for their ideas. I will do my part by not talking at students, but create conversations in which they have a voice along with mine. I feel it's important to talk to students as if they are young adults and not baby's.

There it is, my goals. I bet these goals look a bit different from an administrators goals. We will see how successful I am with sticking to these goals. To all teachers, I invite you to list your goals. I would like to read some of your ideas. Until next blog...

New Position

2008-07-31T15:12:00.003-04:00

I was just hired at a new school for a 4th grade position. I am stoked. I am finally back in the classroom with ONE class. The possibilities are endless. Many ideas are floating through my mind. I haven't had the opportunity to work with one class with all of my many ideas yet. This should be great.
I plan to make this an opportunity for collaboration among the students, teachers and parents. My ideas are still quite foreign to most educators in my school system, however it's changing slowly.

Oh yeah, I don't know what all the iPhone hype is about. I know I may ruffle some feathers with that statement, but I just purchased a Blackberry Curve for $150 that does everything. This phone takes pictures, video, voice recording, works as an mp3 player, has e-mail alerts, VZ Navigator which is better than GPS, voice dialing, an awesome browser, and also works as an air card for my laptop. I can't figure out how to get it to make coffee.
Why spend the money for an iPhone? I don't know.

Busy Summer

2008-07-15T09:19:00.003-04:00

I never thought that I would be so busy over the summer that I wouldn't have time to write. I have had a little time to read. Working a job over the summer has allowed me to visit friends that live in other states, go to some concerts that I enjoy and not worry about money as much. Now, I have a month off until the school year begins.
I received a phone call about a week ago informing me that I am being involuntarily transferred. It's a seniority issue at the school. Needless to say, I have no clue where I will be teaching again. I somewhat enjoy the mystery... I think. It keeps me on my toes. I have a few interviews lined up this week and will bring my ever-growing resume. I have no clue what position I will be interviewing for, but at this point it doesn't matter. I have taught 4th grade, I have been a technology teacher, and have taught Science to 2nd -5th grade. I think they can find a spot for me.
I should have more time to write in the coming months. I have partnered up with a friend to get the website project launched... what a job. Much more difficult than once thought.

T#@%?&r... Not a 4-Letter Word

2008-06-12T06:15:00.005-04:00

I spent much of my time yesterday discussing a students grade with a parent. The student never turned in an assignment due a month ago. The student claimed to turn in the assignment, but I know he didn't. The parent wanted to know why the child had a "C" for his Science grade. I thought I explained it very well. I guess I didn't. I simply explained that his grade was not going to change and that was the end of it.

I was supposed to be straightening my classroom to get it ready for a long summer break. Needless to say, I didn't have much time to do this.

Too often I see parents that seem to side with their child rather than the teacher. I guess this is a natural bias. I question where this stems from. Does the parent really believe their child? Is the parent questioning the teachers motives? Has the parent had negative interactions with other teachers?

All of these questions are valid. I tend to think they all play a role. I don't necessarily blame the parent in this situation. This parent may have a negative view of teachers. Teachers are a big part of students lives... negative or positive. As teachers, we need to be as professional as possible, hold all bias thoughts and give every child a chance to learn in the best environment possible. This does include following through with our words. Students need to be held responsible for their actions and their work. If a student does not turn in an assignment, they need to be held responsible.

Responsibility seems to be a lost trait. The parent has the upper hand. They know they can walk into a school to get their child's grade changed. If we want to teach responsibility, we need to stick to our words, be fair, not give in and be professional.

Until next blog...

What do you mean, Your Pen is out of Ink?

2008-05-26T05:23:00.003-04:00

Many years ago, when the first ink-filled pen was invented, people found something wrong with the new technology. The pen would eventually run dry of ink... where would that leave you? The old technology was just simplified a bit to include a writing tool and the media in which became visible on paper. This was all included in one neat package for consumers to purchase. Everyone needed to have a supply of pens available just in case theirs ran out of ink.

Along came the calculator. Now this made people really upset. You mean to tell me that all you have to do is hit a button and find the answers to difficult math problems? Once again people found something wrong with this technology. If people relied on calculators to figure these problems out, what would happen if they needed an answer and there was no calculator?

Now comes the old saying... History repeats itself. This couldn't be more true. Along comes the computer. The computer is not only used for finding information, but also for publishing in the 21st Century. Now this enraged people. You mean that you can hit a few buttons and find every important historical event that happened on August 12? You mean that you can also publish writing for the world to see in a few minutes? You mean with the same tool, you can pay your bills, find a hotel, shop for Christmas, complete a research project, publish your knowledge, find directions to anywhere, visit any location in the world, and talk to anyone via streaming video? What would happen if we didn't have access to a computer?

I began thinking of this a few days ago. I had a few conversations with different people about a broad range of subjects.

Example A:
A friends cousin just returned from West Virginia University, where he switched majors from Engineering to Business. I asked him why he switched majors and he replied "Engineering was just too hard". This sparked a conversation about the content he was learning to become an engineer. It was a long conversation, but the short version is... the 4 years is spent learning the hard way to do calculations to ridiculous math problems. His question was, "Why would I want to spend 4 years learning how to do calculations that would take me a few minutes to do once I become an engineer. They spend the 4 years deriving equations and completing formulas without the use of the computer or even calculators.

Example B:
A conversation the other night with a few teachers led to a discusion about Wikipedia. One teacher said, "All of my students call themselves DOING RESEARCH, when they get all of their information from Wikipedia and other websites". I said "What do you call it"? She continued with explaining to me how the kids are lazy and doing research today is just too easy.

It seems that there has always been a deep routed issue with society embracing a new technology. The same people that were upset with the invention of an ink pen are now upset with the invention of the computer. These new technologies make doing certain tasks easier. So what happens if you don't have these technolgies? I don't think that is a valid question. We have these technologies, and they are here to stay. Whether I am at work or at home, I have a computer with an internet connection. That means I have a calculator and a pen that doesn't even use ink. Changes in technology will always occur. We need to embrace these technologies and not be afraid to rely on the power that they have.

It's been a while

2008-05-09T05:11:00.004-04:00

Since I have written here. The school year is closing down and I have been working 40 hours a week with another job, trying to pay off some debt and get my MED in Instructional Technology. Been very busy. I have been reading occasionally, but mainly working, eating, and sleeping. Been so busy, I didn't even attend the MICCA Conference in Baltimore. I usually go each year for the 2 day conference. Oh well, I'll catch it next year.

I've already approached Administration with my plans for next year. My hopes to spend part of my day with a school wide Wiki Project seems to be coming true. Right now, I am using the Wiki for informational purposes, but plan to get students involved next year. I am preparing our returning students for what they will be involved with next year. Most are very excited.

I will hopefully be writing more in the weeks to come. Until next blog...

Prove Yourself Boy!

2008-04-17T04:42:00.003-04:00

The latest attempt to regulate online content has reared its ugly head in the form of a false pretense. Of course, it's all about freeing up bandwidth, so that everyones computer will operate a little faster. Can someone tell me how accessing a blog will slow things up.

Yes, I have been waiting for the day, my own blog has been blocked by our school system. I knew this day was coming. While I was at a training one Friday at a Highschool in another County in Maryland, all blogs were blocked. Waiting to start the training, I tried to access my aggregator to read my blogs. What? Pageflakes is blocked? I laughed, thinking that my own district would never do this.

The difference seems to lie in whether your blogging site is deemed a "social networking site" or a "learning networking site". My district has blocked all "social networking" sites. I guess Blogger is considered social. Oh well. We all know how schools think of being social. 90% of the day, students aren't allowed to talk.

I contacted our tech. guy and told him that I sometime use my professional blog in my class to show students the methods in which I learn on a daily basis. I know he is just the messenger, so I am not upset with him. I also know that this was not a personal attack on me. The tech decision makers didn't get together and say "We have to get rid of this guys blog, he's spending too much work time on it". However this may have went down, I am somewhat disappointed in our school system. When they want to block sites from use for the employees and students of the district, they need to think of what they are actually blocking. When they block whole categories, they need to think of the message they are sending to the teachers and the students. Blocking is saying "WE DON'T TRUST YOU". Not only do they have trust issues, but blocking some of these sites are doing our students a disservice in the classroom. Especially in a classroom like mine. I tend to use many sites to engage students on a daily basis. My options are beginning to be limited. I hope they don't block our WIKI. This would make many students revolt. I don't think the district wants 200 3-5 graders knocking on their door with questions :)

Any way, enough with a rant. Now it is down to me proving that my Blog is educational. What exactly does that mean? How do I prove this? Do I need to invite some Board Members into my classroom on a day that I share an aspect of my Personal Learning Network? Should I invite each of you to a Board Meeting to show them how many people I learn from on a daily basis by being "social"? I don't know the answer. But I need to find one quick.

Help! From the Network

2008-04-06T20:42:00.002-04:00

My mother has been an Art teacher for 37 years. She is still teaching Sculpture and Ceramics in a High School setting. She approached me today with a few questions...

1. How can I get my students to listen when I give direction?

2. What type of 21st Century activities can I incorporate in my curriculum?

I relayed to her the importance of being involved in a Network on the internet. She is very interested in using tools such as blogs to refresh her teaching and engage the students. I came up with many ideas. I mentioned the importance of letting the students have a voice in her class. I mentioned that she should have a student ran classroom instead of her always teaching them how to do everything. She liked the idea, but seemed hesitant.

Now, I am asking my network...

Does anyone know of any good blogs or resources my mom could use to answer some of her questions?

A New Honest World

2008-03-26T10:01:00.004-04:00

I love this new honest world we all live in. Who would have thought that one day, politicians would have to actually tell the truth. No longer, can they get away with deceit, lies and misspoken facts. Everything is recorded. Everything is videotaped. Everything is made public. Out the window is accepting bribes for political gain. A Politician can't even have an extra-marital affair anymore.

A new day has emerged. As soon as a news story emerges, it's posted to a blog or Youtube. If you say it publicly, you are held accountable for what you say. Millions scrutinize your every word or action. Check out this video posted yesterday with 1.2 million hits...

Obviously, someone at CBS is a Barack supporter. Who can blame them. The worst anyone can tie to Barack is inconvenient associations with questionable people. Barack had dealings with a businessman with a questionable past and a Preacher that speaks his mind.

However, I do wish some other small inconsistencies would be revealed to the public...

1. Why do we pay almost $4.00 a gallon for gas while Iraq averages a measly $.23? Hopefully, if gas prices continue to rise, the public will see that we need to be mainstreaming alternative fuels.

2. When is our Government going to blame our Economic problems on the War in Iraq. Oh yeah, we borrowed most of that money from other Countries. Now we have a huge debt that probably won't be paid back in my lifetime.

3. When are we going to find out the names of the intelligent officials who screwed up by saying "there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq". We need all of the names so they can be held accountable for the many lives they have destroyed. They should be in Iraq fighting also.

4. Why does the fate of our public schools rely solely on the test taking skills of students who would rather be outside while the weather is warming.

5. Why do we still rely on Multiple Choice Tests to gauge a students knowledge. Multiple Choice Tests are probably the most remedial form of assessment known. Oh yeah, I forgot about True/False.

I would like to have some of these issues covered on Youtube. Can anyone bring light to my eyes?

Sharing with the World

2008-03-25T13:56:00.003-04:00

This is what I like to call a Photomentary. I created this work this morning with the many photos from driving from Maryland to Maine and back. I hope you watch it in its entirety. Enjoy...

Meme: Passion Quilt

2008-03-21T01:23:00.002-04:00

David tagged me on this Passion Quilt Meme.

Passion Quilt Meme Rules:

1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

15 year old sharing in a room of educators at EduCon 2.0

This is what I'm passionate about. A 15 year old student at The Science Leadership Academy sitting in on a session. This student had no reservations that Sunday afternoon. He was willing to add to the conversation on more than one occasion. This is my goal as a teacher... Let every student know and understand that their voice should and can be heard.

Now I Tag...

1. Chris

2. Jane

3. Bill

4. Jenny

5. Cathy

Mr. Richardson Has Done It Again

2008-03-19T18:43:00.002-04:00

I have been reading more than writing lately. I always love taking a break. Will Richardson has once again made me think with his post An Education President. Will opens the post with the reality of his opinion on Obama's latest speech...

"Like him or not, what Barack Obama did yesterday, in my opinion at least, epitomizes what we need our next president to be, namely a teacher. Agree with him or not, can there be any doubt that anyone listening to that speech yesterday is not thinking harder and more expansively about race in this country and in our lives today? Trust him or not, is there any question that he articulated a real truth about the state of race relations from both a black and a white perspective?"

Listening to radio and television personalities has caused me to wonder about the State of Country as it relates to race relations. Race is an important topic. Listening to a few Conservative Republicans ho humming about Obama's speech last night, I came to the conclusion that most people do not care about the Country... They care about themselves. They started in talking about MORE important topics... Economy, The War, Immigration. More important to who?

I am a 29 year old white man that has many concerns with the Country in which I live. I am constantly thinking of changes that may make The United States a better place to live for everyone. One change that needs to take place... Bring a divided nation together to in turn make it a stronger nation.

Rush Limbaugh recently suggested that conservatives should vote for Hillary. For some reason, conservatives think that de-democratizing the system will work in their benefit. How is this a democracy? Voting for someone that you do not want to win for the purpose of getting your favorite candidate elected is not what our Country was founded on. I do hope that this comes back to bite the conservatives. It would be funny if they had to drudge through another 4 years with a Clinton at the helm. They would have no one to blame but themselves. Until next blog...

THE HOLE: Where's My Rope To Climb Out

2008-03-15T09:57:00.010-04:00

I have made many changes with my teaching methods this year. I have approached teaching and learning more as a journey rather than an end product. I have almost completely ended my use of worksheets. I have graded students on participation throughout projects. I'm focusing my efforts on having students become part of the learning process without a focus on the end product. In doing this, I have gone against the socially accepted methods of teaching. I have come to a few conclusions.

1. Parents do not want this change to occur.
- Parents are used to graded worksheets coming home so they can monitor grades on a daily basis. It is easier to have this type of communication. There is no conversation with the teacher. They see a paper with a number recorded at the top. They label their child according to that number. If it gets too low, they might contact the teacher.

2. Children have a hard time with this change.
- Throughout their years of being in school, they have become accustomed to the socially accepted methods of teaching. They are used to this. Entering my class, they have been taken out of their comfort zone. They have to exercise their brain. They have to actually think. It's much easier to fill in the blanks on a worksheet.

3. Administrators do not want this change to occur.
- They see this change going against their ultimate goal... great test scores on the State Tests. Rewarding students with a grade for an end product is the protocol that is the norm. They don't want to answer questions from parents. They want everything to go nice and smooth.

So I am left with a decision to make. Do I continue to try to climb out of this hole that the education system has dug for the past 100 years? Or do I give in to the Parents, Students, and the Administrators?

I am convinced that authentic learning is taking place in my classroom. I see students understanding concepts, questioning ideas and enjoying coming to Science. I am right now trying to find a happy medium in which will make everyone happy. This is the hard part. This is where I am asking for help from the network. If anyone has any powerful ideas, please feel free to comment.

Until next blog...

Photo Credit: Flickr Elliot Stahl's photostream :
Dave Stahl climbing out of Bugger Hole

Proactive Not Reactive

2008-03-09T11:24:00.005-04:00

What I see occurring is reaction instead of pro action. We are continually losing engineering/science/math related jobs to the citizens of other countries. We were not proactive in our answers 15 years ago when this started. Are we now reacting to something that is far out of reach?

My district has created a partnership with The Navy Surface Warfare Center in Indian Head, Maryland. They joined forces with each other in an effort to motivate students to get interested in these fields. We have piloted a few co-teaching lessons with the engineers from NSWC. I did the lesson with a 3rd grade class. After 2 weeks discussing safety features and building egg catchers, we had the partnership lesson Friday. I think the lesson went well. Along with me and the engineer, 2 people from NSWC, a Board member, Administrators, a camera man and the Technology Teacher were all present at this lesson. It was quite a packed Science room on Friday. The hard part of the lesson was trying to relate what we did in class to what the engineer discussed. Relating egg catchers to cockpit ejection seats was not that easy. But it worked.

The engineer relied on me to bring the conversation back to the 3rd graders. I think it is hard for a Naval Engineer to come into a 3rd Grade classroom and relate directly with the kids, unless they have had some experience with this. The students seemed interested and had many questions for the Engineer.

Now that some praise is out of the way...
I do have some concerns.

The partnership, like I said before, is a result of the District and the NSWC wanting more students interested in these fields. I just don't understand how they are going to accomplish this. Students are tired of looking at PowerPoints. The PowerPoint Presentation is the most overused application in the school system. Students are tired of being talked at. They want to have a voice. Bringing in an Engineer to talk to the students is not going to get them interested in becoming an engineer. Most of these students cannot see this in their future. It is not real to them.

I believe we need to change the methods of our teaching first. We need to give the students a way to express how they feel. We need to listen to them. We need to talk with them, and not at them. We need to present ourselves as learners also. We need to let them know that their voice is just as powerful as ours. We need a collection of voices to make learning more powerful to everyone. We need to invite schools to be more proactive instead of reactive. Until this changes, I don't see the students changing. Until next blog...

My Goals

2008-03-01T15:13:00.009-05:00

Some ideas have been floating around my head lately.

Sometimes I get too comfortable in my Learning Network that resides here online. I feel like everyone is talking about changing the system. Many people are practicing what they preach. Still on my side of the field, I see stagnate policy. I see technology talked about to the point of teachers not wanting to hear it anymore. I see a plethora of smartboards, digital clickers, LCD Projectors and other forms of computerized hardware, but with limited and pointless use. I have decided to take a more formal route to making the change.

I have come to the conclusion that I will begin to document the changes that I would like to see happen on my side of the field. I have narrowed it down to 2 initiatives that I would like to see become policy.

1. One laptop per child

2. 21st Century Literacy Class

I believe that focusing on these two initiatives first, will give our district a step to get to where we should be. Right now, I am debating how I will go about informing and initiating.

My goal is to provide students a link to learning networks and to move forward to a paperless classroom. However, first I believe it is important to educate. We need to provide tools in which the students can use to create their own networks. We need to teach etiquette, editing and usage before the students will have a chance in the digital world.

Right now, I see a great disconnect between the haves and the have nots. I have students that can thrive in a digital world. I also have students that can't use a mouse properly. Even the students that have internet connection at home need a digital education. The power of publishing is still not tapped.

21st Century Literacy will be a course that covers the network aspect of the internet. Right now I see the internet being used as a resource for teachers and students. It's like the publishing and sharing aspect of the internet net is not tapped in my district. I posted about this a while back. I think the units of this course should be as follows...

-Social Networks vs. Learning Networks
-Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants
-Digital Publishing
-Information Editing
-21st Century Communication
-Having your voice heard
-Global Culture

Transparency in Congress

2008-02-26T18:25:00.004-05:00

Jim Cramer is the host of the hot (what to do with your money) show called "Mad Money" on CNBC. He has taken interest in the ever popular Sirius/XM merger that has been held up in Congress for over a year now. He is baffled at the attention this merger is getting. So baffled, he started to do his own investigating as to why this merger is being shot down in Congress. Click here for the article. Congress claims that the merger would violate anti-trust issues and would create a monopoly. How can satellite radio be a monopoly, when the competition (terrestrial radio) is free? This doesn't even take into account the other competitors... Ipods and CD's. I pay $12.95 a month for a subscription to SSR, but still listen to terrestrial radio.

Jim Cramer does not own stock in either of these companies. In fact, he doesn't own any stock... for obvious reasons. He sees what is going on in Congress and is name dropping. Cramer is a true financial hero. He mentions many Congressmen that have their pockets filled with terrestrial radios money. He then reveals how the average person can find this information out for themselves. Using sights like opensecrets.org and opencongress.org , one can find out all contributors to Congress, bills being introduced and who voted for what.

The transparency of our government is shining through. Cramer suggests that the only person being hurt by the merger of Sirius and XM Radio is Terrestrial Radio. But, how much will this actually hurt them? TR is free! Congress states that the merger will eventually lead to the rise of prices for the service. But, SR has to keep their prices down because the competitor is free. So this is a non-issue.

If Congress is so worried about rising prices, why did they let the two most profitable oil companies merge in the late 90's?... Exxon/Mobile ... If Congress cares so much about the consumer, why did they let the two most profitable Washer and Dryer Companies merge in 2006?... Maytag/Whirlpool. Does congress think that these mergers are creating monopolies?

Cramer claims that this attention being focused on Sirius and XM is deliberate and is for the sole reason to bleed these companies dry. The ultimate goal is to have these two companies fight the issue until one folds. Congress can no longer hide in these situations. There will always be situations like this in the future. 20 years ago, this would go unnoticed to the public. Not today. Our world is increasingly getting more and more transparent. I love it. Until next blog...

Emphasizing the Process

2008-02-24T11:26:00.009-05:00

Opening up my reader, I came across a great post by Carolyn Foote about what we celebrate.

" We celebrate the visible things, like winning teams or competitions, academic test scores, etc. But are we celebrating equally our daily academic successes? Are we celebrating lessons that work, transformative uses of technology tools to deepen understanding, a classroom that has struggled and is now finding its way intellectually?"

She definitely asks some great questions in this post. I added a somewhat wordy comment to her post which is below...

"Great Post. Celebrating the process almost never happens. We always reward and celebrate the final product. This happens as a theme in our society. What I have found to be successful…I explain to students “why” we are doing certain activities. I teach Science to 2-5 graders. Even with their young age, I feel that it is important not only to tell them “why” they are learning what they are learning, but “why” I am teaching the way I am teaching. Getting the students involved in my thought process begins to get them involved in the teaching process. Students begin to feel as if they are teachers also. They have an honest inside perspective as to the questioning aspect of teaching and learning. The process has been emphasized rather than the end product. The students have become more interested in how they learn as well as what they learn. Just as I question ideas, students are open to question ideas. Last week, a 5th grader decided to question “why” we were coming up with ideas to fix the beach erosion problem in Ocean City, MD, if Ocean City had already began fixing the problem. This began a 10 minute discussion with the class. Instead of sounding like a group of 5th graders talking about a topic, they sounded as if they were a group of environmental/geologic engineers discussing land conservation and ethics. It was a powerful 10 minutes. To sum things up…Until teachers make the process important, we will continue to celebrate the end product."

The entire education system is built around rewarding the final product. I believe we need to start getting honest with our students. Getting honest involves explaining "why" we are teaching the way we teach. Bring the students into the teaching process so they can own how they learn. The students can then question the process as well as the outcome. If something doesn't work, bring the students knowledge into the equation. Have the students come up with teaching ideas that they think will better enhance their learning. This sounds time consuming, but I think once the students understand their role in the learning and teaching process, real learning will bloom. Students in my science class have become more engaged in each lesson. I invite questions about the process. They dig that they have a voice. Until next blog...

Credits: Carolyn Foote's blog "Not So Distant Future" post What do We Celebrate?

Online Predators?

2008-02-21T18:48:00.002-05:00

It brings evil images into ones head. When I hear the phrase, I automatically think of a middle-aged man sitting in his basement, waiting to spark up a conversation online with a child. Television shows like "To Catch a Predator", reveal that these are people that we may interact with every day.

This is a new report from American Psychologist, a journal of the American Psychological Association.

The report, Online ‘Predators’ and Their Victims: Myths, Realities and Implications for Prevention, sure does put a new twist into the definition of an online predator.

Many eye opening statistics are revealed in this report... You can read it for yourself.

This brings up the importance of education when it comes to children using the internet. How can we expect a child to make decisions about what information not to share online? This would be compared to sitting a child in the seat of a tractor, and telling them to plow a field without any knowledge of how the tractor operates. They would obviously make many mistakes before they figured it out. This is what we are doing with the children.

Online predators are not going anywhere. I'm sorry to say, but they are here to stay. As children continue to use tools online at an earlier age, these types of instances will continue to occur. If parents are not willing to educate their children about online relationships, someone has to. Is this the job of schools? I would argue that it may be.

I tend to integrate knowledge of online child participation into my science classes on a daily basis. We have conversations as to how to properly use the internet, what information is safe to give, and what information you should never give out. I lead by example, explaining to the students how I publish information online. I show them my blog, use wiki's, and speak of what is acceptable to publish. I explain the digital information trail that one leaves behind on the internet.

These are conversations that need to happen in schools. Until next blog...

Do Something About it

2008-02-19T17:05:00.005-05:00

Are the majority of teachers happy with the public school system?

I ask myself this question periodically. As I talk to educators, I get the feeling that they don't enjoy their job. I make it a point to always ask teachers... "How's your day going". I usually get the response... "As good as it can go, I guess". I get the feeling that many teachers have no interest in what they do at school. They from time to time act as if they care... (like when they are at a meeting, talking to an administrator, or talking to a parent). It seems like a front that is put on for the people they need to answer to. I think it is interesting when teachers act different when someone "important" is in the room. What about the importance of the "students".

I hear teachers complain about testing, students, and the amount of work they do, but never see them doing anything about it. What are they doing to make their job easier and make more sense. Are teachers questioning the infamous "tests"? Are teachers finding new ways to create more time? Are teachers really understanding the issues of their students?
I don't have the answer, but would imagine that some teachers are doing these things. I get frustrated when I hear teachers that I like to call "the complainers". They always complain, but do nothing about it. They talk about how many years they have before they retire. They blame everything on the students and parents. They talk about students openly with other teachers in the lounge. They label students based on the test scores.

What happened today...
I came close to walking out of our staff meeting. We were sitting in groups. We were given 2 pieces of paper each... The test scores, grades, and interventions of 2 students (one 2nd grader and one 5th grader... names weren't included). The students both had decent grades, but horribly low test scores. We were told to basically figure out what was going on with these students. I was disgusted. I raised my hand and said... "the only information this paper tells me is that these students don't like taking tests". I went on to say... "There is no way to know what types of intervention will be needed unless you know the student". We continue to label. Students have become a set of numbers with no name. Of course, many teachers agreed. Why was I the only teacher that spoke up?

The real reason for the meeting...
Showing the teachers that some of us may not be teaching toward the test. Hey guys... "Don't teach to the test, but you have to teach to the test". I love the way administration tries to sugar coat everything. I do know one thing... you can cover a rotten egg with powdered sugar, but no matter how you swing it, it's still a rotten egg. This is how I feel about whats going on. We love to make everything look like it's alright, even though it's not. I thinks it time that we start calling a spade a spade. Do something about it. Until next blog...

Why We Fight

2008-02-16T19:55:00.003-05:00

I have been meandering off the education path lately. I can't help it... some things are just too important not to write about. They are all tied together anyway. I had the opportunity to watch this documentary yesterday.

We are told on a regular basis that we fight with other countries to save "Freedom". We are told that this fighting is necessary in order to keep our way of life in the United States.

This documentary notes many instances in the past 60 years that have built up our military to insure that we are the only Super Power in the World. From the bombing of Japan with Nuclear Warheads to the invasion of Iraq to eliminate terrorism. These actions could have easily been avoided. Japan tried to surrender for 6 months prior to the U.S. dropping the bombs. We didn't listen. We wanted to show how powerful we could be. We wanted to put fear in everyones thoughts. America can't and won't be messed with.

On September 11, 2001 we were attacked by terrorists. Instead of informing the American people as to "why" we were attacked, our government just blamed it on the evil-doers. No explanation... just, the evil doers don't like us because of our freedoms. The American people bought it. There was no mention of past alliances and actions that the U.S. government had with these people. There was no mention about how "we" built up the Taliban to fight the Russians, then left Afghanistan in ruins.

For 60 years the U.S. Government has had 1 underlying plan... To be the one and only Super Power on this Planet, by any means possible. We attack any Country that may be gaining power in the world, under the false pretense that we are trying to help them.

I guess Countries like Sudan are not a threat.

Adding Darfur to the Curriculum

2008-02-16T09:47:00.003-05:00

On a daily basis, I enjoy reading about what other teachers are doing in the classroom. A fellow Tweeter has, with another teacher, raised the bar in the classroom. Mr. Mayo has initiated a project to help spread awareness of the genocide taking place in Darfur. He is inviting students from around the world to participate. Many Voices for Darfur is designed to make it easy for students around the world to participate in the 48 hour blog project. Comments will open at midnight eastern Standard time on March 6, 2008. As of right now, there are 3 teachers on board... Mr. Mayo , Mrs. Drexler , and Mr. Moses.
Mr. Mayo and Mrs. Drexler initiated the project with their third and eighth grade students.
A wiki has been created to help spread the word and organize thoughts. The wiki is quite informative, including resources and del.icio.us links to browse.

Relevance...

Being that our own Government has overlooked this crisis in the Sudan Region of Darfur, it is refreshing to see that there are teachers attacking the subject.

Google Earth image of Destroyed Villages in the Darfur Region

It's great to know that there are teachers spreading the word in a meaningful way. Our Government doesn't seem to care about the crisis, but it seems as though some teachers and students will let the world know.

We Need Change

2008-02-13T17:08:00.002-05:00

I don't affiliate myself with any political party. I am a registered voter. I feel that I don't want to be a part of the political slandering that both parties take part in. I have friends and family that back both parties. We do have interesting conversations.

I couldn't vote in the primary election in Maryland... I'm registered as an Independent. The more I learn about the candidates, the more I am heading in one direction with my vote in the general election.

Politics has gotten out of hand. Big businesses are merging uncontrollably, Church and State are becoming one, politicians are taking money for votes, and the Education system is falling behind. One of the biggest issues that I have been looking at with the upcoming election is... Who can bring change that makes sense. Experience has nothing to do with my choice. In fact, experience in Washington is something that our Country does not need. We do not need another person in the White House that knows every trick and treat in town. We don't need a President that is power hungry. We need a President that wants to unify our Nation.

Some people don't believe that there are 2 America's. I have 2 America's as my friends and family. People hear what they want to hear. I'm tired of the conservatives and liberals arguing over policies that have nothing to do with unifying our country. Religion shouldn't be an issue... Abortion shouldn't be an issue. Why would I vote for a President that is a certain religion? What does their religion do to qualify them to run the Nation? We need a President that can think with their brain and make decisions that make sense to the growth of our Nation. One candidate has proved themselves to me. Now I want to see if any others can even remotely compare to that candidate in the upcoming months. This should be interesting. Until next blog...