Monday, February 26, 2007

Can't Find the Web Page You Want?

Nothing can be more infuriating than to try and find the right page at the right time.

San Diego State University has practical tips designed to boost online search effectiveness.

To check them out, click here.

A New Wikipedia?

Eschoolnews.com advises a new informational portal that will give others another option than Wikipedia for quick details about a particular topic. The eschoolnews article found here advises Citizenidium will require users to register their names before editing any information, and states the main difference between Wikipedia and Citizendium will be “more cultural than operational”.

BUT, will it be factual, or will it allow users to slant entries according to their own agendas thereby leading the kiddies and parents astray as they conduct research for all of those performance assessments/projects?

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Who Is 30plusteacher?

After 30 plus years in education I’ve seen it all and done it all.

I’ve taught many of the parents of the students I now teach and in some cases the grandparents, too.

I’ve seen education policy and strategies recycled, repackaged, and reinstituted too many times to count. Administrators, system officials, research gurus, and legislators have come and gone in their attempt to swing the education pendulum this way and that as they pose problems they can use to justify their jobs.

These problem posers come and go…….the only constant remains the classroom where teachers and students interact.

My hope here is to discuss best practices, the problems that I see as stumbling blocks for classroom teachers, and to use my experience to provide insight for educators as well as parents in a rapidly changing society.

Teaching Strategy: The Hand-Wave

In a Boing Boing post dated 2-18-06 University of Chicago researchers advised students whose teachers hand-wave learn more, and that when the hand gestures illustrated a point to one side of the main point, they did even better.

I wonder how much of my tax money was spent to fund this little gem?

Anyone with half a brain knows to point at things as your teach. How else are you going to get their eyes open and on you or get their head out of their bookbag or pocketbook while they textmessage someone?

Heck, I even bang on the board at times, and have been known to dance a little jig when necessary.

Follow the link at the Boing Boing article for the whole thing.