“the use of blogs to learn not just to teach”

Will Richardson’s post Teacher Bloggers Not Blogging (Says Me) looks at the David Warlick article in EDTECH titled Blog Rules. Yet another reference I have found recently to Principal Dr. Tim Tyson and Mabry Middle. Will says: “Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more […]

Square Peg, Round Hole

A composition of other people’s thoughts and ideas… with a theme. How to Bring our Schools Out of the 20th Century by Claudia Wallis, Sonja Steptoe, Time Magazine cover story Dec. 18, 2006 “For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests and closing the “achievement gap” […]

David Warlick’s K12 Online Conference Keynote 2006

Here is the gem I took from David Warlick’s Keynote “Derailing Education“. Warlick is referring to Friedman‘s ‘Experts’ and ‘Adaptable People’… from The World Is Flat. “These are the kinds of people that need to be coming out of our classrooms, people who know how to make themselves an expert and people who can learn, […]

Alan November and Authentic Audience

I heard Alan November speak tonight and although there were many great ideas, one key idea hit a cord with me. “Students will work harder for an authentic audience than for a grade”…”Students will do more if they leave a legacy beyond a grade.” The technology is there! I remember for a couple weeks after […]

Christopher D. Sessums’ “Competing Paradigms and Educational Reform”

A great article: Competing Paradigms and Educational Reform that asks, What has this dominant paradigm actually done for public education except manufacture a crisis? Not only does it list initiatives and consequences of this paradigm (read the post!), it also suggests a paradigm shift with the following perspective: • Human freedom and empowerment are more […]

Pizzas and Paperclips

I am combining two short posts here: —————————————– Ordering a pizza in in the near future. Turn your speakers on for this one… a little dark humour about living in a wired world. Ordering from Pizza Palace. Originally posted April 6th, 2006 —————————————– One Red Paperclip We live in a wired world where a man […]

Application of Constructivist Principles to the Practice of Instructional Technology

Application of Constructivist Principles to the Practice of Instructional Technology By Bonnie Skaalid I found this while procrastinating on finishing my masters paper. Disgusted with how this has transformed from a labour of interest and love to one of ‘hoop jumping’ that is just what I Googled… along with ‘education’. This is just what I […]

The purpose of a system is what it does.

Stafford Beer coined the term Cybernetics. He was a brilliant man who, among other things, wrote a novel about a very wise but forgetful wizard. This excerpt tells you what he thinks of our education system. The title alone- referring to the Education Minister- should give you a hint of what is to come. Excerpt […]

Hello world! ‘Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts’ finds a new home!

A few years ago, a friend sent me an invitation to join him on a social network and start something called a blog. I signed up and my first post, “The purpose of a system is what is does” set the metaphoric tone for my ideas and thoughts that will fill this space. Essentially, I […]