It has been an interesting week in Doha. The government Supreme Council has decreed that all schools stay closed until October 4th in an effort to curb the spread of Swine Flu. What makes matters more complicated is that this announcement came on the tail of a weeklong holiday for Eid, so I haven’t seen [...]
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As a teacher who understands and champions the benefits of using new media, social networking, or for lack of a better word- technology in the classroom, I think I often lose sight of what it is I am actually teaching. With recruiting season fast approaching, I have found myself immersed in the painstaking task of [...]
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I am sitting in an unconference session called “Echo Chamber.” To my right Brian Crosby scratches his hair as Clarence Fischer, who sits to my left, proposes that an echo chamber may sometimes be a good thing, a source of rejuvenation. I can’t seem to articulate what I find disconcerting about the echo chamber. David [...]
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I first met Lindsea in February of 2008. The details of our meeting can be found here, but I am quit certain Lindsea’s name isn’t new to anybody well versed in the Edublogosphere. She has become one of the Web 2.0 poster children.
Since our first online, meeting Lindsea and I have kept tabs on each [...]
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Here is a comment I recently left on a post by Ken Caroll called, Is Teaching a Subversive Act?
Good to see you again Ken. I find your posts and subsequent conversations very thought provoking. They linger in my head for days as I try and work out my arguments. Perhaps it is because [...]
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It is depressing how even “new” ideas labeled as punk, as in EduPunk, can quickly become mundane water cooler banter in this incestuous and quickly homogenizing edublog echo chamber. Like starving piranha we all latch on to the latest term, tool, or idea and beat it to death, till there is nothing left of it [...]
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At its most fundamental level the Internet is nothing more than a way to spread and share information. Sometimes this information is produced by the person sharing it, but more often than not the Internet is simply the passing of acquired information. We share information in hopes that it will help us better connect with [...]
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I recently read an article about a teacher’s union in New Zealand fighting new rules that could have teachers fired for online behavior.
Teachers are fighting to exclude their private lives – such as personal postings on Internet sites Bebo and Facebook – from falling foul of new serious misconduct rules. The Teachers Council wants to [...]
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Since March 10th, I have been out of a job and it has been difficult for me to post anything worthwhile, because after all, it is tough reflecting on teaching when you haven’t been teaching. There have been many times I have had a post brewing, but I let it slip away due to either, [...]
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I am reading a book called Three Cups of Tea, by David Oliver Relin about a man named Greg Mortenson, who after failing to summit K2 stumbles into a small village in Northern Pakistan called Korphe and promises to build the people of the village a school. Reading this book coupled with my friend Jason’s [...]
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