Thanks much for your thinking and questions during our presentation(s).
Here is the link for our presentation:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd8w4b8f_17ffqt68gx
Here is a link to the CES Adolescent Literacy group from this morning! I mistakenly only posted the link on my twitter 
Great meeting you all!
So I’ve been a twitter user for a few years now, but I’ve predominantly used it to keep in touch with non-work / grad school related friends via text messages and twitterific tweets.
I had a few work / grad school friends sitting in “follower limbo” because I used my main twitter account for strictly personal communication.
I’m happy to say that I now have a “professional” (whatever that means) twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/lukeforshaw .
I’ll try my best to track down people who might be interested in following one another, as I look forward to using this space to share random ideas and learn from everyone else “out there”
Note to self…
There are number of projects going on in district that could benefit from a customized search engine.
See:
District Blogs / Websites
Project Wikis
Student work hubs
Creation of teacher “scaffolded” research hubs for a given subject / discipline
Professional Development search engine
Qualitative data search engine (Hrmm.. is it possible to upload data from the pens to a shared location in order to search student data?)
Professional Development on Demand: Destination Reading
Published November 10, 2008 PDOD Leave a CommentHere is a short video that will walk you through assigning assessments / interventions in Destination Reading!
You might notice that this video looks a bit different than others I have shot in the past. That is because I am using this free website (http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ ) to model how easy it is to get a screen cast up and running! I know I’ve commented on screen casting as a powerful tool for a number of educational goals before, but with a free tool like this, screencasting has never been easier.
You will need to have Java installed (which most browsers do) in order to watch the film, but you can also leave notes and comments (be kind!) directly on the video as well
Hi all,
If you click on this link, you can watch the presentation as we present! Also, if you have a google account (gmail, google docs etc.) You can sign in and chat live as we present! We’ll be taking some time out to respond to your questions / thoughts as you post them.
Ack.. My older install of WordPress (and my ancient theme) are being wacky when I try to embed this seesmic video.
Click on the link to check me gabbing away about this new site and wonder aloud with me about it’s potential in education!
For all of us Nintendo DS gamers out there (which I’d imagine is quite a few ) we might be interested in checking out the latest in the “girl friendly” (What would Walkerdine say?) offering in the Imagine series, Imagine: Teacher.
I have yet to play the game (although I’ll probably pick it up in a bargin bin soon) but the reviews I’ve read seem quite interesting.
Essentially, it seems that the art of teaching has been reduced to a multitude of “mini-games” that some what correlate to the subject area being taught.
What is fascinating to me about this title is how the genre of simulation game (potentially hitting some what of an apogee this week with the release of Spore) continues to interpret “real life” things through game play mechanics. In this instance, the “game play” of teaching seems remarkably flat and punishing. It appears (again.. I probably should not judge too hard given my lack of actual play) that the “teacher”’s job is to award points to those who complete tasks, and to punish those who fail to complete.
Why is the profession of teaching so easily recognizable in this format? What is it about the coercive nature in our practice that buoys this simplification of our lives in ways that seem palpable to those not in our world?
Hrmm.. I’d love to play this game with a group of kids to ask them these types of questions. Are these depictions of “teaching” and “teacher” reflective of their realities? Do these particular interpretations help to construct the still forming understanding of “teacher”?
Welcome once again all new teachers to the Darien Public Schools! I think you’ll really enjoy our district!
Here is a short list of some of the links and resources I talked about on Friday..
Feel free to email me any time if you’d like to get together to plan, teach or simply talk about technology and learning in your practice.
Also, if there is a link that I am missing, leave me a comment and I’ll add on.
Video subscriptions:
http://www.brainpop.com
http://www.brainpopjr.com
http://www.unitedstreaming.com
Darien Delicious Links
http://www.delicious.com/darienps
Smart Notebook / Manuals
Last year google trends let us take a peek at some of the searching behaviors of users world-wide, but now it appears that google has upgraded this feature by giving us Google Insights.
Essentially the service lets you query the google search database to draw conclusions, or ask questions about users’ search behaviors. How many ways could you imagine this tool used in our classrooms? Think about the data analysis unit alone 
