Mark's edtechblog

New Tools for Exploration

2011-08-22T00:08:00.001-07:00

New Tools for Exploration, a photo by mahlness on Flickr.

A WeDo Lego kit and a USB microscope are the latest to await my third graders in the 2011-12 school year... We shall see how much time these new tools and the bounty already there (13 PC's, 3 laptops, 29 XO's) get to strut their educational potential stuff....

Technorati Tags: olpc

Banjo upgrade: armrest

2011-08-19T20:37:00.001-07:00

Banjo upgrade: armrest, a photo by mahlness on Flickr.

Much as I'd like to believe I can be a bluegrass banjo picker, I am coming to realize I'll be a clawhammer-style banjo player. The old-timey stuff. Pete Seeger would be smiling upon hearing this. Today I installed an armrest, essential for playing in that style...

Summer repairs

2011-08-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

You know, some teachers spend a ton of time in the summer taking classes, going to workshops (I've done some of that this summer), and planning for the upcoming school year. Lately, I'm spending a good deal of summer time on maintenance issues. Yesterday I was in repairing a badly torn window shade....

Now today - I went in hoping to swap out a power supply in one of my student computers. This computer was a back up anyway, and it had failed last April. No time to work on it during the school year. So I gave it a try today. Couple of notes to self: 1) good for you for keeping junkers around for spare parts and 2) do not forget to plug in the cable to the hard drive. That's a pretty important one. Success #1 for the day, the computer is up and running nicely.

While I was working on that somebody came in to take a look at my HP Color LaserJet - down with a real bad jam for almost a year. Well, she managed to clear the jam, but there was no lcd display, no ethernet/usb response, so she had to leave. A few minutes later I got an email from the school district saying the school would have to replace it. Ha. This was a gift from my classroom parents a few years ago. I despondently started looking online for replacements - nothing that I could really afford. As I was getting ready to leave I decided to take the printer apart as far as I could. What the heck, nothing to lose. I didn't have to go too far before I found a little ribbon cable dangling around inside, obviously looking for a connection. I plugged it in to a likely spot, put the thing back together, and bingo. Nice laser color printer again.

XO Lending Library in Seattle

2011-08-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

XO laptops for American kids, yeah! Well, wait - that’s not exactly who they were meant for…So why would it be OK - and maybe even a really good thing - that I had a 1:1 XO laptop third grade classroom in Seattle last year? Here's my answer.

A very brief history: I bought an XO in 2007 in the first G1G1 (Give one Get one). I wasn’t exactly an evangelist for the XO program, far from it in fact. I just believed this was something that would be great for my third graders to try out. I tried to get funding from my school’s PTSA, but no dice. In the end, I just took a leap and went for it – a leap of faith that I would find myself repeating several times over the next few years. Fast forward to the end of the 2010-11 school year. There is now an XO Laptop Lending Library at my school. There are 29 XO’s in that library, including the one I bought way back when. The rest, every single one, have been donated to my classroom. If you’re interested in that part of the story, I’ve told it here.

I began the lending library with my own classroom, since they were already familiar with the XO. I offered the possibility of checking out an XO laptop for the weekend, something I had tried at the end of the previous school year. Next, I extended the invitation to the school’s other third grade classroom, which I already knew pretty well, seeing them for Art twice a week, and having a few in my reading group. To introduce them to the XO, I devoted a couple of Art class times. The first session included the basics of button operation, the mouse, XO vocabulary, etc. - with time to explore of course. The second session briefly reviewed the previous session, and then quickly went into Gnome (ver. 10.1.3), and back - with time to explore at the end. There was just never enough time for the exploration.... After those two sessions I figured the kids were ready to check out an XO for the weekend. Their class would be able to check out XO’s for the next two weekends, a maximum of 12 each weekend.

This then was the model that I held to for the three second grade classrooms which followed. The challenge with them was finding times when I could see them for the introductory lessons - when I was not teaching. We settled on my lunchtime :( My own class was at lunch/recess during this time, so the room and I were available. The kids would come in to my classroom, where I already had the XO’s out for them on desks. I should mention that I used an XO hooked up to a projector via a special adaptor, which made those lessons much more efficient and meaningful for the kids.

I established some parameters, just to make the program manageable. I set up a maximum of 12 checkouts per weekend, based on 12 being about half a classroom and being a number I I figured I could realistically prepare for checkout/check-in tracking. As it turned out, everybody got a chance to check one out during their classroom two weekend period. I came up with a rudimentary paper/pencil sheet. Each XO was named, of course, and that was how I tracked them. Simple - match a student name with an XO name, and that was it. All on the mighty clipboard. Each XO had to be marked ahead of time (masking tape) with the name of the student who was checking it out...

If this seems like an awful lot futzing around and extra work - well, yes, it was. Pick up Friday afternoon and check in the following Monday morning were usually pretty hectic, especially as I was teaching my own classroom at the same time - XO’s, power adapters, kids, clipboard, final reminders, etc. But, thanks to the cooperation of my own third graders, we were able to muddle through. I started the Lending Library in February, and we ended in June, 2011. Each student from the 2-third and 3-second grades at my school had an opportunity to check out an XO for the weekend. XO laptops went home 117 times for the weekend, and 117 times they came back, just fine.

I came up with a couple of forms to manage things. One was the previously mentioned checkout form, with cells for dates, student names, and XO names. The other was a permission form that had to be signed and returned two days prior to a checkout. I did not make a big deal out of possible loss or damage to the laptops on the form, going with a vague, “...so we promise to take all necessary precautions to keep it safe and secure.” A few came back a day or two late, which was not much of a problem. The only problem came in the form of frantic contacts via email over the weekend from parents concerned because their child had typed something inappropriate on the XO - and they did not know how to get rid of it. The permission form had this caution, “...all activities conducted on the XO can be tracked and seen later.” This actually happened three times. I reassured the parents that I would clean them up when the XO came back, that kids will be kids, and so on. I’m certain their kids definitely got a pretty severe talking to from Mom or Dad. This reassured me that people were at least reading the permission form carefully :)

That’s it. Next year I’ll start earlier and give opportunities to all the third, second and first graders. If there’s time at the end of the year, I’ll extend the opportunity to fourth and fifth grades - and maybe even kindergarten. I’ll also talk with staff about checking out our XO cart to roll into other classrooms for a week or so at a time. We shall see. To all those who donated their XO’s to my classroom, many, many thanks! Your XO’s are providing learning, exploration, and play opportunities for an entire school community.

Atlantis

2011-07-10T17:11:00.001-07:00

This is a (well-worn) commemorative shirt I own, part of an effort many years ago to get our Names in Space (sponsored by Lockheed-Martin). Every kid and adult at my school

signed a poster that was carried aboard this Atlantis mission(sts-86) in 1997 - and returned, of course. We have the poster....

Atlantis is currently in space, on the last Space Shuttle mission. Here's some info on the amazing Atlantis. Safe travels.

A Lending Library

2011-02-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

I never imagined this happening. I never even thought about it until a couple of months ago. Here are 12 of my third graders about to pack up their XO laptops to take home for the weekend. I hope to make this a regular thing, and then expand it to the rest of the school this year, More to come...

Technorati tag: olpc

Learning the XO Way

2011-01-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

Never, never would I have thought I'd ever have a 1:1 laptop classroom. I bought an XO laptop at the end of 2007. So cool. It was a part of the first "G1G1" - Give One, Get One. I paid for 2, and got one of them. The other was shipped to a child in Mongolia, I think.

I was not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Americans did the same. It was the great vision that Nicholas Negroponte had. Besides being a unique humanitarian gesture aimed at improving the education of the world's underprivileged, the XO laptop was a unique piece of hardware that kick-started the competitive innovations leading to the netbook, the Kindle, and yes, even the iPad.

Here in Seattle, I went to local usergroup meetings in a warehouse kind of space and met with some very cool geeky folks who were so into the XO. I was over my head lost trying to understand how they worked. I mentioned to one of the organizers that I was a third grade teacher. Within 2 weeks I had 2 XO laptops donated to my classroom. I was astounded and overwhelmingly grateful. XO's continued to trickle in from all over the place for the next two years.

When the 2010-11 school year started, I had 11 XO laptops. Three months into that school year I now have 28 XO laptops in my classroom. They have all been donated.

In December of 2010 OLPC News ran a piece about us. A couple of individuals sent us XO's as a result. Then Mid-Michigan XO Repair Center heard about us and began reconditioning and sending us cast-off XO's. The final step was going directly to OLPC with a proposal, asking them to donate XO's that had been unused, returned, or damaged. They said yes (unbelievable!), and the unimagined dream headed toward reality. OLPC sent 10 of them to the Mid-Michigan XO Repair Center, which fixed them up and sent them on to me. The last two arrived yesterday.

What makes this whole thing especially hard to imagine is that we are an affluent school. My classroom was loaded with technology already, tons of it. The XO was not designed for us, no way.

But so what, here we are. My kids love the XO's. We have experimented and explored some. Today I rolled them out, one on each desk. I told the kids that I hadn't even tried out 10 of them. Wasn't sure if they were all charged up enough. I reviewed the basics of operation. We talked about where they came from, who they were designed for, and why they were with us.

When I said, "Go", there were 25 "happy songs" and kids staring, waiting expectantly, for theirs to boot. The XO is definitely not fast, but nobody complained. I said they could explore, play. They knew a few of the "activities".

Then I mentioned Chat. Well, the next 15 minutes was incredible excitement and chaos. Experimentation, sharing, and learning. Even mistakes, and a couple of errors in judgement. We talked about that. We talked about how you could use these to communicate even if you lived in a village without electricity. They got it. We talked about sharing information on the XO, understanding protocols, procedures, and options. Mesh networks, battery life, etc, etc.

We were talking about and grasping a new system. With 8 and 9 year olds. Their curiosity was exciting. Their ability to quickly grasp and explain parts of this to their classmates blew me away. They want to know more. I can't wait to learn with them.

Technorati Tags: xo olpc

1:1 XO's in a Seattle 3rd Grade? Asking OLPC

2010-12-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly three years since I received my XO laptop. The scenario that has unfolded around that event is simply amazing. I remember talking with my wife about whether we could afford the $400. Turns out a gift from her dad actually financed it. I had asked my school's PTSA to buy one for the school, but got turned down. But I bought one anyway. Lincoln, my cat, loved it.

Jump forward three years, and I now have 14 XO laptops in my third grade classroom. Every single one has been donated. Here's a picture I took a couple of days ago of my kids using them. We have a 2:1 ratio, so they can share as partners.

I've written over 40 articles here about that journey. Search this blog for XO or OLPC, and you'll see them. I've always tried to stay leaning forward, willing to let developments and opportunities come our way. We even field tested and debuted an experimental software release.

So now I find myself in the very strange position of actually asking for more. I'm sending a request for 13 unusable and maybe damaged XO's to OLPC.

Part of the reason I'm in this position is that, at the end of the school year last year, I let some of my kids take them home for the weekend - kind of a lending library. I wrote about the experience, the idea was picked up, and several more XO's were donated. Now I'm going for the ultimate in computers in the classroom - 1:1. Unbelievable.

Here is part of what I'm asking for from OLPC:

Objectives
    1) To place XO laptops in the hands of third graders at 1:1 ratio for learning
    2) To have enough XO's to establish an XO lending library
Plan of Action
    1) Continue integration of the XO's in daily instruction in classroom
    2) Get word out via PTSA and local blogs to increase interest in lending library.
Timeline:
    1) Establish the use of XO's, 1:1, in the classroom on a daily basis by 1/31/12)
    2) Establish lending library for rest of school by spring vacation (April, 2011)
3) Continue program during 2011-12 school year.
    4) Progress will be updated on personal blog, at http://www.ahlness.com
    5) Updates will be posted to http://planet.laptop.org and http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects
Sharing:
   1) Main forum for posting updates: http://www.ahlness.com, Technorati-tagged olpc
2) Updates will be cross posted to http://planet.laptop.org and http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects
3) Updates will be cross posted to Twitter (mahlness, tagged #olpc)
   4) Updates will be cross posted Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mahlness
5) Pictures will be posted to http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahlness and tagged olpc

So here we go. The one recent development that has made this at all possible - from a tech support point of view - is that someone has been helping me by reconditioning donated computers and shipping them my way. He's also helped me repair a "bricked" XO. I would be sitting here with a 1:3 ratio otherwise.Thank you, Nathan.

The XO laptop is slow, by today's standards. It's underpowered. Yet it can do things other laptops have no chance at. Did I mention that two of ours are solar powered? Or that several of them can run an overclocked version of Linux that emulates a regular PC? Or that I hope to have a flash drive Sugar on a Stick OS in the hands of every one of my kids by the end of the year?

Technorati Tags: xo olpc

Trust Me

2010-11-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

Let me teach.
I know how to teach..
I have a Masters degree.
I can do more than read from a script.
Trust me.

Let me teach.
I know how kids think.
I've been doing this for 30 years.
I know more than my supervisors.
Trust me.

Let me teach.
I know what's important.
I care about my kids as adults.
I know learning is not reflected in a test score.
Trust me.

Let me teach.
I have a passion for it.
I seek to improve my craft every day.
I know my #1 job is to help create responsible, caring individuals.
Trust me.

Repairing a Bricked XO

2010-09-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

I now have 11 XO laptops in my third grade classroom. The latest arrived DOA, or "bricked", as in the RTC bug (real time clock failure). I mentioned this earlier in Remarkable Generosity

So tonight I took apart an XO, hooked up a custom cable from the motherboard of one, to the USB port of another. Once connected, I ran a program on one XO that would supposedly fix the other. This just sounds like hocus pocus, I know.

But it worked. Lazarus came back from the dead. I am still shaking my head in amazement and gratitude:

Remarkable Generosity

2010-09-23T19:16:00.001-07:00

Remarkable Generosity
Originally uploaded by mahlness

On the right is an XO laptop donated to my third grade classroom from a teacher in L.A. This generous person sent me two. One is in my classroom now and runs great. The one on the right is "bricked", XO jargon for a laptop that will not boot because the RTC (real time clock) went bad - and a bug in the original firmware will not allow it to boot if the RTC is not there...

On the left is an XO from New York, by way of Michigan. This little guy works great. What's even more amazing, is that it came with several things: a USB cable, an 8-GB SD card with ExtraOrdinary 2010 loaded on it, a one of a kind cable to connect the motherboards of both these XO's, detailed instructions on how to hook the good one up to the bricked one, special software loaded to upgrade the firmware on the bricked one once I connect the motherboards, and detailed directions for exactly how to accomplish this delicate task. I feel as though I'm about to do brain surgery. Oh, it also came with a postage paid return envelope for the special cable.

I'm just blown away by this generosity. I've never met nor spoken with the folks who put this stuff in my hands. They trust that I will put them in the hands of kids and use them to enrich their lives.

This comes at a time when it feels really, really GOOD to say that.

Thank goodness for the kids

2010-09-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow it starts all over again. My new class of third graders will enter a new classroom, bringing with them what keeps me coming back as a teacher. They bring enthusiasm, confidence (some more than others), wide eyed wonder, curiosity, creativity, and a wealth of values from a variety of backgrounds. I love being a teacher, and I can't wait for it to really start.

It was a rough summer to be a teacher. Mostly, I can blame Diane Ravitch for this. I blame her for writing a book that put education reform on its ear. That book changed the way I looked at education reform - forever. So thanks a lot, Diane (big, fat genuinely thankful grin)!

One thing led to another over the summer, and I found myself following people like Ken Bernstein on Daily Kos, The Answer Sheet, from the Washington Post, Teachers' Letters to Obama on Facebook, and a host of others as I tried to follow people not interested in trashing me just because I was a teacher.

The more I read from those learned sources (and clearly not ed secretary Duncan), the more furious, outraged, and ultimately, despondent I became. Lies and untruths were flowing from sources I thought I would follow forever: a liberal Democratic administration headed by Obama, and someone who was a supposed champion for technology in education, Bill Gates.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

I also followed ed-reformers like Tom Vanderark (know thine enemy). I sat around tables in Seattle with him, heads from Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Seattle Schools, and then superintendent John Stanford, as they drew up plans for the Seattle ed/tech plan. I was a teacher. I had differences with Stanford, but to his credit, he surrounded himself with admins and CLASSROOM TEACHERS (there was one other besides me). I spoke at that table of powerful folks as an equal. Stanford heard me. They all did, they all listened, questioned, and engaged. We had conversations.

That scenario is a distant memory from a bygone age - when teachers were not the cause of the problems in education, they were the answer. Now ed leaders are not looking for a conversation as much as the holy grail. This year the answer is bad teachers. The conversation is over.

I need to stop with the rant. In 12 hours or so, 28 fresh new faces will walk into my classroom, and I will know once again why I do what I do. Thank goodness.

With 30, do you get eggroll?

2010-08-18T19:47:00.001-07:00

With 30, do you get eggroll?
Originally uploaded by mahlness

This fall I begin my 30th year as a public school teacher. I feel lucky, and I do love being a teacher.

But I go in to that year with egg on my face, simply because I AM a teacher. I am absolutely astounded the way the new education reform movement has taken over and is being sold and bought, hook, line and sinker.

It is so wrong and so totally misguided.

I have never felt so discouraged.
I have never felt so disrespected.

I have never been so competent at what I do.
I have never been so restricted from doing fantastic things.

We teachers are being blamed for what's wrong in education.
We are being threatened.
We are being told to shape up, or else.
We are being evaluated by invalid measures.
We are being evaluated on the wrong things.

Our president thinks this is great.
So does his secretary of education.

School starts in three weeks.
Instead of encouragement, I hear threats.
Instead of freedom, I feel tighter shackles.
Somehow I have to close out all this awful noise and teach.

Is this any way to make great teachers even better?

Of course not, it's a prescription for driving people who care right out of the classroom.

Thank goodness there are teachers like Ken Bernstein who are battling for us all. He wrote this today as he prepared to start his teaching year:

Today I return to school.

Today I begin the necessary preparation to do the work which consumes me.

Today I begin yet again the process of preparing to teach.

I am a teacher. I wear that title proudly. I am honored to be in the company of those who are teachers. There is no more important work that I could be doing.

I have always wanted my life to make a difference.

I am a teacher. If I live up to the meaning of those words, I will be making a difference.

Peace.

Thanks Ken.

Louis Schmier: To Be A Teacher

2010-08-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

I believe part of the answer to bringing the current teacher bashing and testing obsessed edreform movement to its senses lies in reminding people, from politicians to parents, why teachers teach.

The following was an email written by Louis Schmier in 1994. The image to the right is an excerpt, so please read his entire "To Be A Teacher". Below is the version from his blog:

Well, I just went out for a pre-dawn walk. After being spoiled by ten idyllic days of walking the cool, inviting, gnatless, mosquitoless environs of Seattle’s streets and Vancouver’s Stanley Park, my body had seemed to know what torture it was about to endure. I had started sweating before my hand was on the door knob. It is hot down here! It is humid down here! It was like slogging through a paved rain forest. And, the sun hasn’t even come up yet!

Anyway, as I was hoping against hope that the heated asphalt wouldn’t fry the soles of my feet before I finished my route, I was thinking about a question raised by a student in my class yesterday morning. I think he and the others were intrigued by the four days scheduled in the syllabus of what I call “stuff,” those bonding and trusting exercises with which I begin all my classes. It’s my way of starting to replace what I think is the strangling atmosphere of isolating, destructive classroom competitiveness with the sweet smelling air of a mutually supportive and cooperative learning community. He wanted to know what I thought it took to be a collegiate history teacher. I told him that I would have to reflect on that question and would bring in an answer today.

I’m sure he and the others are expecting me to talk mundanely about techniques, courses to take, areas in which to major, advanced degrees to acquire, research in which to engage, stuff to publish, and so on. But, I don’t think I will because I don’t think the essence of teaching lies in the “doing,” that is, I don’t think teaching begins with, is and ends with technique. Nor do I think the seminal issue of teaching lies in the “knowing,” that is, having a grasp of the subject and the subject content of the course. Certainly both technique and subject are important, but I think teaching, and learning for that matter, ultimately rests on “self.” I think the essence of teaching and learning lies in the “feeling” and the “being,” that spirit which surrounds each of us, which brings life and meaning and purpose into the learning experience, and which creates that critical common bond of humanity among the students as well as between them and the teacher.

So, here is what I am going to tell the students about what I think it takes to be not just a collegiate history teacher, but a teacher of anything at any level:

If you want to be a teacher, you first have to learn how to play hopscotch, jump rope, ride-and-seek, learn other children games, learn how to watch a snail crawl, blow bubbles, read “Yertle the Turtle”, and watch “Bullwinkle”. If you want to be a teacher, you have to sing “she loves me, she loves me nots” as you blow at a dandelion or pull the individual petals of a daisy. It you want to be a teacher, you have to stop and watch a rainbow, listen to a distant train, wiggle your toes in the mud and let it ooze through them, stomp in rain puddles, look up and watch an airplane, and be humbled by the majesty of a mountain. If you want to be a teacher, you have to fall in love each day. If you want to be a teacher, you have to paddle a canoe, take a hike, or just get out. If you want to be a teacher, you have to watch intently the artistry of a spider weaving its web. If you want to be a teacher, you have to fly a kite or throw a frisbee, skip stones in a lake or brook, make sand castles, and love people. If you want to be a teacher, you have to listen intently to the rustle of the leaves, to the murmur of the brook, to the pitter-patter of the rain, and to the whisper of the breeze. If you want to be a teacher, you have to dream dreams, play games, talk to the flowers, catch fire flies, admire a weed, walk barefoot, hold a worm, and see what is yet to be. If you want to be a teacher, you have to think silly thoughts, have a water gun fight, have a pillow fight, swirl a tootsie pop in your mouth, burn sparklers at night, and see in a tree more than a mass of atoms or so many board feet of lumber or something that’s in the way. If you want to be a teacher, you have to skip as you walk, laugh at yourself, smile at others, hang loose, always have an eraser handy, concoct an original recipe. If you want to be a teacher you have to be inspired and inspire. If you want to be a teacher, you have to fix a bird’s broken wing, pinch the neck of a deflating balloon and play a tune, do zany things, play with a yo-yo, and lose yourself in the quiet scenery to find yourself. If you want to be a teacher, you have to feed the pigeons or squirrels, sing in the shower or tub, smell the flowers, play with finger paints, and do a belly flop in a pool. If you want to be a teacher, you have to bring joy into everything, watch in awe a sunset or sunrise, ride on a swing, slide down a slide, bump on a seesaw, and respect even a cockroach as a miracle of life. If you want to be a teacher, you have to ride a bicycle or roller skate or ice skate, and live today. If you want to be a teacher, make all those marvelous feelings and images an intimate part of you and bring them into the classroom with you and share them. If you want to be a teacher, as Carl Jung advised, you have to put aside your formal theories and intellectual constructs and axioms and statistics and charts when you reach out to touch that miracle called the individual human being.

That’s what I am going to tell my student about what it will take to be a teacher.

New look, new mix

2010-08-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

This blog has not had much ed/tech content lately.

Well, I got a new phone, and had to do as much as I could with it of course.... then there's been Facebook, lots of stuff going on there.... Twitter is still very much in my new mix... then Posterous came along for me and I found I could post everything everywhere, instantly, via email, especially easy on my phone.

As a result, and also because of the intensity (no, difficulty) of the past school year personally and professionally, this blog has been content silent.

I hope to change that. I have more time right now. My next school year (my 30th year teaching) will be a better one, I'm pretty sure of that.

So here's to a new look, more frequent incredibly insightful posts - ha, and who knows what else...

Seattle from Jack Block Park

2010-07-20T13:49:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Carrot Clinch

2010-07-16T19:26:00.001-07:00

Sweet - and tasty!

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

10 Line June Beetle

2010-07-15T19:22:00.001-07:00

Made an appearance in Seattle today, on our front porch, first noticed by the guy hauling away our old refrigerator...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Conversation with Diane Ravitch

2010-07-13T18:46:00.001-07:00

A fantastic opportunity to speak with Diane Ravitch via Elluminate. I asked a question about unions... She was wonderful!

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Summer clean and lube - test spin coming...

2010-07-10T15:29:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Standing in the sprinkler in Seattle

2010-07-08T17:30:00.001-07:00

Only way to beat the heat today, computers turned off, fans at full speed, and the cats don't know what to do, except cuddle. Wrong. Cellphone now getting too hot, sending...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Diane Ravitch at the 2010 NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly

2010-07-08T10:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.nea.org/grants/40246.htm

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Forwarded from seattlepi.com: State audit critical of Seattle school district

2010-07-06T22:57:00.001-07:00

Mark Ahlness (mahlness@comcast.net) has sent the following story
to you from seattlepi.com.

---------------------------------------------------------------

State audit critical of Seattle school district
SEATTLE -- The state auditor's office on Tuesday issued a
sharply critical audit of Seattle Public Schools, accusing the
district of misappropriating money or leaving public assets
"susceptible to misappropriation" because of ineffective
policies, failure to enforce its own rules and inadequately
trained staff.

* Read the full article at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_seattle_school_audit.html

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

NC classical in WA, amazing technology...

2010-07-06T22:22:00.001-07:00

Listened to WFDD from Winston Salem NC on our deck in Seattlethis evening,
via my phone and a nice speaker. Is there anyhing technology cannot do...?

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

July BBQ in Seattle, a little damp...

2010-07-02T17:28:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Hop tragedy - Attack of the Aphids!

2010-06-30T16:26:00.001-07:00

Had to cut down three huge hop plants that were totally overrun with aphids, thanks to the cold wet Seattle spring (yes worse than usual). Will monitor as they come back, and hope for a long hot summer!

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Blanche cleans up after alder smoked salmon

2010-06-27T20:31:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Froggie fountain, another gift from my kids

2010-06-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

A gift certificate to the local nursery, not hard to spend. Knew the minute I saw this, it was coming home with us. Thanks again, room 12!

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Domain renewal = reality check

2010-06-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

I own several domains. Some of them are for my school. I was speaking with a rep. from GoDaddy.com today who was offering discounts if I’d re-up them now at a reduced rate. We went through all that are coming up in the next few months.

I held off on the domains I own that have to do with my school, said I’d decide on those later. Worst case scenarios flashed by as we spoke… It continues to be a strange, uncertain time.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Cat not included.

2010-06-25T21:11:00.001-07:00

Lincoln always has a tough time letting go of things. We got new couches today and are hopeful our old one will find a good home. Without the cat..

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Lincoln grooving in new chair

2010-06-25T14:21:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Best Teacher chair!

2010-06-24T18:20:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Summer starts with light skies, candles & wine

2010-06-23T22:10:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Sometimes a heart breaks all at once, sometimes a few pieces at a time...

2010-06-23T18:10:00.001-07:00

The kids' last day was yesterday, and it was incredibly intense, in the best of ways. But today we had a staff meeting, and I'm a mess, wondering what to do and where to go...

We rescheduled an all school event, impacting my classroom and my school in a couple of ways next year. I will not be publising a "Best of My Blog" book with my third graders. And I will probably not be running the Earth Day Groceries Project at my school. The rescheduling of the school event precludes both from happening. I have no idea if I can even keep running The Earth Day Groceries Project on the Internet. Timing is everything. And this is bad.

One might think I'd be excited about having less to do, but that's not the case here. My heart is heavily invested in these things. Both are central to how I build the school year for my third graders. One is a chance to grow up and mature, doing things at the edge of their reach - I love giving them that in the Earth Day activity. The other is the culmination, or focal end point, of a year long process of growing and maturing as writers – on their blogs. Do I care about blogging with my kids? Ahem. The Internet project, I don’t even know what to say.

It breaks pieces of my heart to say goodbye to these things, but there is no choice. A decision has been made. I will move on.

A couple of other decisions were announced/made today, both with program wide implications. One I can live with, the other leaves me speechless. Everybody has their important things, and priorities differ, no question. Compromise is an art. So is negotiation. But I am so tired of leaderless decisions quickly made, based on selfish thinking. That’s how I see it anyway.

This has been the most difficult year in my 29 years of teaching, without a doubt. I figured I had a 50/50 chance of actually making it through, so I’m a little proud of my resolve, and thankful to those who let me lean on them along the way.

I am, like most teachers on the last day, totally spent. I have some decisions to make this summer, to take care of myself. I’ll wait for the return of some energy, and maybe, some perspective.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Last day in my special chair

2010-06-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

My students gave me a wonderful chair to relax in - and they signed it! I have been blessed this year

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Report cards, yard work a reward

2010-06-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

It's the last weekend of the school year. Grading and scoring like the last three Everyday Math unit tests. Then on to the report cards. If I get enough done, my reward will be some yard work. Woohoo! If the sun shines…

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

A classroom visit from Jeff Utecht, blogger, teacher, author!

2010-06-17T18:37:00.001-07:00

I tell you what. There’s nothing more exciting or rewarding than to have somebody you admire walk into your classroom and just take over for a while. And just sit back and watch. Jeff Utecht, Bangkok teacher summering in chilly Seattle, dropped by my third grade classroom this afternoon.

With 4 days left in the Seattle Public Schools calendar, the wheels on the bus are a little loose right now. We had Field Day in the morning. The afternoon work was writing a blog article about blogging. We would watch another installment of the movie Because of Winn-Dixie later…

It was so great to have Jeff there – teaching, helping, engaging. And it meant so much to exchange a short story, anecdote, or update in the midst of kids who were ready for summer a couple of weeks ago.

And then Jeff the Author signed my copy of REACH (download #132). Frosting on the cake. Thank you Jeff!

Lincoln the Lounger

2010-06-15T21:07:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Blanche finds the catmint

2010-06-13T15:25:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

So if a school votes no confidence in its super...

2010-06-12T23:30:00.001-07:00

...and news media does not report it, did it really happen?

Two more no confidence votes happened in Seattle schools on Friday. Nobody knows.

I'm discouraged that my teacher colleagues have no clue how to make their voices heard these days, but I am much more disappointed in my union for totally ignoring this.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Hops trussed for the summer, doing well

2010-06-12T15:57:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Student Newsletter wraps up for 09-10

2010-06-10T06:57:00.001-07:00

Last night I wrapped up the 19^th year of the Jr. Seahawk Newsletter at Arbor Heights Elementary with the publication of the June edition (pdf). This was my 16^th year as editor and online publisher. It has for the past several years run as: “The oldest continuously published elementary school student newspaper on the Internet!”

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Seattle teachers vote no confidence in super

2010-06-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

Four Seattle Public Schools have put forth no confidence votes in the superintendent in the past few days, as the school board gets ready to renew her contract. The teachers' union has not acknowledged this occurrence, nor has it offered support to schools taking risks by speaking out.

Covered exclusively in education blogs, Twitter and Facebook, mainstream media has not noticed, or has not cared to report. An exception, with links to the information, is here: http://westseattleblog.com/2010/06/west-seattle-schools-another-no-confidence-vote-reported

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

5 XO laptops hit the road

2010-06-04T00:04:00.001-07:00

On Friday I send home 5 XO laptops with my third graders. They are to return to the classroom on Monday of course, but it's nervous time... At a value of $400/each, well, that's a piece of trust I have never extended before. The reason for doing this is simply that I'd like my families to have a chance to see/feel/experience these wonderful computers.

I've not been able to use them as often as I'd like in class... So I believe in my kids, and I have faith in their responsibility. Seems like everyone wants to take one home over the weekend (not surprising), so we had to have a session of "pick a number" to settle things. Luckily there are two more weekends... More later...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Good deed! Made Louis Schmier's Random Thoughts ad free for a year

2010-06-01T21:42:00.001-07:00

Good deed! Made Louis Schmier's Random Thoughts ad free for a year. Read http://therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/1994/06/23/to-be-a-teacher

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

xo laptops back running Sugar in my class

2010-06-01T12:55:00.001-07:00

For the last 3 weeks of school I am returning them to their native state, not running a Linux version and letting the kids check them out overnight.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Two big chunks of cake delivered by neighbors in 2 days

2010-05-30T17:43:00.001-07:00

Man I love this town and our neighborhood

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Today's a welcome chance to catch up, and gas up, for the final stretch...

2010-05-30T16:04:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day weekend at last, can't believe I made it this far. The year has been a challenge, certainly. A chicken is simmering on the stove for a comforting and sustaining soup later. It feels like fall here in Seattle, mid-50's and rainy. Got some paperwork taken care of, much more to do of course, but the next three weeks feel more do-able at the moment.

I'm working on a first - an agreement/contract allowing my third graders to check out one of our seven XO laptops at home for a day or two. The demands of the year have relegated them all too often to a locked file drawer, many days never even getting them out. I hope to at least put them in the hands of more people by the end of the year, just for the experience. Back to the soup, smelling real nice right now...

hPosted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Antidote for a tough year- watching August Rush

2010-05-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

Beautiful movie with heart, soul, and hope. Tried watching Avatar, I don't think so...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Young Authors Day celebration underway at Arbor Heights Elementary in Seattle: http://bit.ly/2z4LHt

2010-05-27T12:47:00.001-07:00

Kids sharing books they wrote, listening to each other, signing each other's beautiful shirts, it's always a special day. http://bit.ly/2z4LHt Here's last year's, with links at the bottom to many years past... http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/ya.html

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Outa ink and air

2010-05-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

Now I’m not usually much of a whiner, but this afternoon was a bit much. This morning my classroom color laser printer told me I needed to replace the black cartridge. I called the local Staples and learned it would be $93. This was just as I was beginning to print out my third graders’ “Best of My Blog” books. Ouch.

On my way home on my bike I headed on a side trip to the store. Halfway there I got a flat tire. Second one in two weeks. Goodness, I’d gone two years in a row without a flat before.

So I walked my bike home, replaced the tire (thank goodness for two spare bikes I have kept around for parts), and headed off to Staples when my wife got home with the car. I just went to the garage to check the air in the repaired tire. A-ok, yippee skippee!

In the silver lining department, while walking my bike home, I found a glove I had lost five days ago by the side of the road…
Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Third graders respond to high stakes test

2010-05-21T19:45:00.001-07:00

My third graders blogged brief thoughts on Washington State's latest high stakes test, the MSP, replacing our WASL. http://tinyurl.com/27zkevc Lots of references to the snacks and doing well, so I guess I did my job just fine - giving them confidence and goodies to take away some of the sting of test anxiety, just like the test prep manuals suggest. Right.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

msp testing, day 2

2010-05-20T10:04:00.001-07:00

Kids really concentrating at the outset on the reading test. Will see well how their concentration holds. Test is long, and pretty tough. I don't think the IOWA tests of my youth were this bad - nor were they as hard on us.

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Testing sign

2010-05-18T13:42:00.001-07:00

Outside room 12 on the first day of MSP testing

Posted via email from Arbor Heights Elementary

msp testing, day 1

2010-05-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

First break time a few minutes away. Snacks await my third graders. Most are finished with the math test. Deathly quiet in here...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

High stakes testing starts tomorrow, feeling ill...

2010-05-17T21:23:00.001-07:00

Disheartened by stories of colleagues spending not just hours, or days, but weeks - doing schoolwide, daylong test prepping. Thanks NCLB and RTTT.

Doing my best to not succumb to the insanity, to keep the kids relaxed - and even have a little FUN in school. Here goes...

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Lincoln Park birders

2010-05-15T19:54:00.001-07:00

At the end of a birding outing with Mr. Ahlness - AH auction item from last fall brings in 21 species and good times. Bird of the day: pileated woodpecker

Posted via email from Arbor Heights Elementary

Back from birding with family from school at Lincoln Park. Great day

2010-05-15T18:27:00.001-07:00

This was an item from our school auctionlast

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

One block from home, time to walk it...

2010-05-11T20:04:00.003-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

$.25 says I'll make it home on this tire.

2010-05-11T20:04:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

Backup bike has its own problems, yikes

2010-05-10T17:08:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Mark Ahlness on posterous

This blog has moved

2010-04-03T14:38:00.001-07:00

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Phone Phun

2010-02-21T17:37:00.001-08:00

Phone Phun
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Been a little distracted the past few days playing with my new Nexus One - the Google Phone. I've never had anything like this before.

My goal at first was to see how much regular computer stuff I could get it to do (like handle 4 email accounts - easy, peasy)...

But the things it does that my computer can't - that's the really amazing, eye-opening part.

Love stinks

2010-02-14T20:21:00.001-08:00

Love stinks
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Happy Valentine's Day, 2010.

I got this from one of the kids in my third grade classroom, and I just had to laugh. I called him over and showed him the card. "You can't say this!" I insisted.

He shook his head and did not recant.

Other kids and parents took a look, rolled their eyes, and shook their smiling heads.

One more time I count myself lucky to be a teacher.

Lincoln on Lincoln on Lincoln

2010-01-30T13:56:00.001-08:00

Lincoln on Lincoln on Lincoln
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Lincoln the cat on Lincoln the XO laptop - a screenshot of the desktop on Lincoln the XO, which is running on an SD card.

Lincoln is the last of my six classroom XO's to be set up in this way. I was unable to get a developer key for it (to load a different operating system), until the helpful volunteers at OLPC actually entered the serial number, etc. into the database - where it should have been all along.

I was told this XO was produced on the second day of production in the first G1G1 run, back in 2007. Still tickin', and moving along faster than the good old days, too.

Samish flats sunset

2010-01-17T22:09:00.001-08:00

Samish flats sunset
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Leaving the Samish flats after a great day of birding with our new scope. A couple thousand dunlin are parked in the mud on the left.

XO Desktop, 2010

2010-01-15T18:27:00.001-08:00

XO Desktop, 2010
Originally uploaded by mahlness

A screenshot of the XO I'm working on. Taken, saved, uploaded, named, blogged, tagged, etc, etc - on an XO laptop, easily and quickly. Getting 4 more of these for my classroom, right away. This is so very cool.

XO Laptop Experience in Seattle Classroom

2009-12-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

A recent guest post about the XO laptop on OLPC News:

How in the world did I end up with six XO laptops in my third grade classroom? I only bought one, back in the original 2007 G1G1. I remember that day well.

Showing off at Seattle XO

I was pumped to order one on the first day they were made available, so I was up early. Unbelievably, our cable Internet service was out! Determined, I plugged in a laptop, snagged a neighbor's Internet connection (all in the spirit of international collaboration of course), and ordered one. Thankfully, I was spared from the delivery nightmare suffered by many others - mine arrived just before Christmas, 2007.

I soon found I wanted to connect in person with other XO users, and so attended a couple of meetings of the Seattle XO User group. It was a wonderful group of people, but I felt WAY over my head technically. The group may be reforming soon, as I was happy to read in Re-Starting Pacific Northwest OLPC User Groups.

Anyway, word eventually got out that I was a teacher, and I soon had a couple XO's (Lincoln and Earthday) donated to my classroom. The kids of course couldn't believe their good luck, and expected more any day...

In February of 2008 I was presenting at NCCE in Seattle and brought along my XO's, as folks were pretty interested in them. I ended up at a bar one evening during the conference with my three XO's, meeting up with edtech blogger Wes Fryer and his wife, and principal Glenn Malone and his wife.

XO's connecting at NCCE

Glenn had bought an XO as a Christmas present for his wife Tami (ahem, grin), and they decided then and there to loan Tami to my classroom for the rest of the school year. So for half of that school year, we had 4 XO's in class.

Over the summer somebody left a comment on my blog, saying they loved hearing how my kids were using them, and would I like one more? Jude arrived in the mail from Colorado shortly thereafter.

Just before Thanksgiving, 2008, our fifth XO was donated to us by someone who worked in the administration of a local university - a friend of a neighbor who knew about my XO adventures in the classroom. I named it Arbor Heights, in honor of my school, which was at that time threatened with closure. So we had 5 XO's for the 08-09 school year. Our school stayed open, by the way.

As the 09-10 school year started up, I was contacted by a local person who had been following my blog and had read about my kids using the XO's. Dorothy was donated in person, which was a first. Until that moment, I had never actually met, or had the chance to shake a hand and say thank you in person to any of the donors.

These donors were G2 purchasers, in a sense, giving both of their XO laptops to kids. All of the donations had a couple of things in common. They were not being used, and their owners wanted them to go to somebody, kids preferably, who would use them. To those generous folks, I say thanks once again. And yes, they are being used by kids!

So is there a lesson to be learned here? Well, I've learned that sometimes it pays to share your learning and adventuring with others, and sometimes it pays to take a chance. I loved the concept of OLPC when I first heard about it, and I thought having one in my classroom might be a good learning experience. Seemed just about right for 8 and 9 year olds.

I look forward to sharing that part of the story.

Mark Ahlness writes about his experiences at Room Twelve

Turkey Courage

2009-11-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today our President pardoned a turkey on Thanksgiving. Courage was not alone. A bunch of third graders in Seattle spent some time working out solutions to help several other turkeys avoid being served for Thanksgiving dinner. Here's how some of their blog posts started out...

One day in Boston, Massachusetts a turkey was running around the back of the Ritz Hotel. His name was Bob....
One day in the forest there was a baby turkey. Her name was Sunset. She was the most sweet turkey in the world. But her parents were afraid to go out of the forest cause Sunset was born around Thanksgiving....
Hank Hill is a turkey. That’s me, I’m Hank. I live in a cottage with Goldilocks...
The turkey’s name was Natalie. She was the happiest turkey alive....
It all started at Joe’s Farm with Farmer Joe and his last turkey....

Sound like fun? Indeed it was. I posted this on our classroom blog, where you can read them all if you click and scroll down. It'll be worth a couple of minutes, trust me...

Students in room 12 have been using their imaginations and their writing skills to serve up a little Thanksgiving fun here. Their stories are in response to "Pretend you are a turkey. How will you escape being served for Thanksgiving dinner?"

Click on Turkey Escape, 2009, and scroll down to read over 20 great stories!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, everyone! - Mr. A.

Meanwhile, here's the story of Courage, one very lucky turkey (interesting and hopeful that my students' escape stories relied on ingenuity and scrappiness, and not just blind luck):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What makes me doubly happy here is that my third graders' stories have legs - legs that will carry them far beyond two weeks on the family refrigerator. Their blogs are there for everyone, pretty much forever....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank goodness, one more time

2009-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

Seems like the tougher things get, the more frequently the obstacles come flying at me - the more often I find myself saying, "thank goodness for the kids." Been saying it a lot lately.

My birthday was last week, and there was no school, as usual, in honor of it (November 11th) - ha. My third graders came up with a wonderful card and a bag of sweets that took my breath away. We were all pretty happy. Thanks, everyone!

Later that day one of my students presented me with a handcrafted birdfeeder, made out of recycled materials and a lot of ingenuity. Of course I put it out when I got home. Thanks, Eilis! By the way, the birds liked it, too.

New Internet Task Force

2009-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

There has been a flurry of activity lately on a couple of edtech email lists, wwwedu (Andy Carvin's long running list), and ednet2 (which I recently began moderating) that is making me nuts. Words are gushing forth once again about internet filtering and internet safety. More books are written, studies done, and committees are formed. There are government agencies and task forces popping up every day.

They are all based on fear.

Every single email post and response fans the flames of that fear. Most all of the people talking have good intentions, but I am so tired of nobody seeming to get that they are making things worse.

I suggest the formation of a new government task force:
The Internet Potential and Promise Task Force

Put a few billion behind something like that, and let's see if we don't end up with a better result.

Dream Come True

2009-09-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

This will sound so corny, but I just don't care. What happened today at school was a dream come true.

This is my fifth year blogging with a third grade class at roomtwelve.com. When I started, in the fall of 2005, there were not a whole lot of elementary classroom blogs out there. But once we got rolling that year, I began to think about the future of the writing my students were doing. What would happen to all those articles, the comments, the conversations? My students struggled with this as well. At the end of that first year, I wrote in Rugged days :

The kids really want to blog. Yesterday we talked about next year, when they won't be with me, when they won't have their beloved blogs, and so on. There were tears as I explained how I would phase them out. Lots of good questions. They were grasping at straws, trying to wrap their heads around how the blogs could still exist, live on, somehow remain. This phenomenal response is unlike anything I have seen in 25 years of teaching.

As of today, nine students are missing from a very long Room Twelve Alumni List, and that is the dream come true. I managed to transfer every word from their third grade blogs to their new fifth grade teacher's classroom blog. Every single blog post, comment, and conversation from their third grade writing experience is back with them, so their new teacher can to continue to facilitate and guide their growth as effective 21st century writers.

Tomorrow they finally rejoin that journey. I have dreamed about this happening for over four years, and I could not be happier.

The transfer of bodies of work like that, held in databases, referenced and hyperlinked all over the Internet, is no small feat. I held my breath as I sat next to their new, young, fifth grade teacher, each of us logged in to our classroom blogs. I went through the process of making students "orphans", making them available to their new teacher, and then watching him "adopt" them into his new classroom blog. Several came with over 50 pieces of writing. Not exactly like walking down a school hallway to offer a thick manila folder of writing samples to a cringing new teacher who may or may not ever look inside - never mind share with another person....

This transfer was unbelievably exciting - for both of us.

One person is responsible for this, David Warlick. My hat is off to him for having the vision, for putting in the countless hours developing and debugging an incredible tool, and for caring about our kids' education. Thank you David, for Classblogmeister.

So Ready

2009-09-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, on the third day of school, I introduced my students to our classroom blog. I barely had time to show them the login process, go over the Bloggers Contract, and give out passwords. We ran out of time.

Over the weekend, one student published an article, and another started one and saved it to finish later. I had not showed them how to do this - they just figured it out - from home.

My students are are third graders, 8 and 9 years old.

I've been doing this long enough to realize that every year my next group of third graders comes into my classroom a little more facile in dealing with technology, but this was really, really surprising.

Tonight, a third student submitted a blog post. They are so ready.

Still ticking

2009-08-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly 2 months since I last wrote here. I spoke up some on Facebook, and a little on Twitter - as I continue to figure out the best way to converse about teaching and technology - and still have a life.

Some tech stuff just keeps on coming:

My school continues on Facebook.
August 14, 2009: the 15th anniversary of my school's presence on the web - picture on the right is from the first home page, in 1994.
August 24, 2009: my school starts a Twitter account
Sept 1, 2009: my third graders from last year become Alumni, and a new group of third grade bloggers starts up at roomtwelve.com, my fifth group of bloggers.

Lots more happening of course. School starts two days after Labor Day. I'm still here, leaning forward.

Hard year in the classroom

2009-06-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

Hard year in the classroom
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Two of my five XO laptops, that had a particularly rough year. The one on the left (Jude) lost the "F" key - somehow it just tore off eventually, and I replaced it with a piece of paper and some tape. Works fine. The XO on the right (Arbor Heights) had a student actually fall on top of it in a wild moment in the classroom. Still works fine, I have the broken off piece, and need to find the right kind of glue (hobby shop trip, for sure).

Mr. A's Art Show, 2009

2009-06-26T17:11:00.001-07:00

Mr. A's Art Show, 2009
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Some of my artwork from 08-09 on display, moments before they were all given away to my third graders - who were reminded of the artists we studied this year (that did not become famous during their lifetimes, and whose paintings are now worth millions!)

PLN's, Recess, and Twitter

2009-06-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today on a work day after the last student day, I sent an email to my colleagues, encouraging them to try Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, rss, some ed/tech blogs, etc. over the summer... Later on, we had a staff meeting, and I brought my laptop. We got into a discussion about a major program change for next year, and I sent out a request for feedback on Twitter... After school I sent the following email to our staff:

As a follow up to my earlier email about tech things to try this summer, and as some additional feedback to our discussion on whether we should have recess before lunch next year…

While we were discussing the recess/lunch thing at our staff meeting today, I posted a note to Twitter, saying we were talking about the issue for next year, and asked if anybody had any thoughts. Within 5 minutes, I had the following 3 responses (on top):

… from teachers in CT, WI, and NE. I thanked them later via Twitter, and told them the result of our vote. I also had a response from an AH parent on my Facebook page, which automatically displays my Twitter posts.

You will certainly hear more about Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s) in the future. This is a small example of one in action. - Mark

I've never really put my relatively small Twitter network to work, asking for assistance in a realtime situation. I have certainly responded when others have asked for greetings, etc. during their presentations. It was really gratifying and reassuring to get responses. I was even better able to articulate a point at the meeting as the result of a Twitter response I received.

I know I'll be even more conscientious about responding to others as a result. This is indeed how networks grow, ideas spread, and better decisions are made.

Technorati tags: twitter facebook pln recess

674

2009-06-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I asked my third graders (roomtwelve.com) how many blog articles they thought they had posted as a group this year. Some knew how many they had written as individuals. I knew a few had posted over 50. Nobody guessed over 350. When I suggested it might be over 500, there were a couple of gasps and several shaking heads. Couldn't be.

So they counted on their own blogs, wrote totals on the board (without names of course), and we added them up. 674. As of May 29th. With 3 weeks to go in school. An average of 32 posts per student, roughly working out to one blog post per student, every week of the school year.

They were pretty surprised, and so was I. As I was getting my thoughts organized for this post, I wondered about my previous classrooms. This year seemed like a really prolific group. So I found a post from June of 2007, where I had totaled the student posts from the 06-07 school year: 711. I had also totaled my first blogging group, in 05-06: 340.

Now I'm pretty sure, with 2 weeks to go in the school year, this group of bloggers will surpass the group from 06-07. But why was I so certain in my wrong assumption before we counted them up, that this year's group had written so much more?

So I've been looking back. Many variables have remained relatively constant - student age, number of computers, number of kids, blogging platform.

What has changed is the amount of time I can devote to writing. With mandated curriculum and assessment demands spiking sharply in the last couple of years, no wonder I feel like they've written more. They have had much less time to write. They're just squeezing it in. Students now blog during earned free time. Many post their morning Journal entries regularly. It is amazing they are able to write online as much as they do.

Another thing has changed. I do not have hard data to share, but I'm pretty sure students are writing shorter articles on their blogs. Call it the face of today's literacy being influenced by the sound byte writing of Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook - I don't know. Philip Greenspun has an interesting perspective in How the Web and the Weblog have changed Writing.

Along with a mandated math curriculum, there is a huge push these days for a Writer's Workshop approach. It's a real nice way to teach writing, but not in the 21st century. It does not prepare our students to write in the world they go home to every night - or the world they will live in when they leave our classrooms.

So what's important to me, as a teacher of third graders, in my approach to literacy - specifically writing? As their teacher, I am most certainly influenced by new media, and I tend to reflect my values in the classroom. What do I care about? Is it the 19th and 20th century model of The Writing Process? (uh, no...)

Fluency. Kids have to be able to sit down and write, easily. They must be able to respond to a variety of assignments without it being like pulling teeth. They have to like to write.
Conventions. Kids have to be good enough at spelling and grammatical conventions so they can express themselves easily.
Expression. Kids must at least be exposed to some basic writing skills - enriched vocabulary, leads, summaries, paragraphing, etc.
Forms and Audience. Kids need to know their audience, and what type of writing is appropriate for which audience.
Conversation. Especially in today's world, kids need to understand the value of written conversation, have some basic understanding of what makes a good conversation, and what does not.

These ideas guide my teaching of writing. I do not have a curriculum guide from a publisher, sorry. My guide is this: learning from 28 years of teaching experiences, and a few years of looking forward to imagine my students' futures.

My kids will do well as writers, I know it. Shooting for 750 blog posts this year. Will update.....

technorati tags: writing writers workshop literacy

90!

2009-06-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

90!
Originally uploaded by mahlness

June 3, 2009. In my third grade classroom at the end of the school day. Hard to think and move, never mind teach and learn.

The Best of My Blog

2009-05-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

No, not the best of this blog. This was not a meme or a blogging retrospective. This was about the best of my third grade students' blogs, a book.

My students just compiled their best blog articles from the year to be their books for our school's annual Young Authors' Conference. They looked through the articles they have published this year on their blogs (some had over 50). They selected the best, copied and pasted into Word, reformatted the text, and added illustrations. They used watercolor pencils to make pictures to go with their writings. I photographed those pictures, edited them (cropped, resized, etc), and put them in their networked folders.

The kids really had a wonderful time taking their writing to another dimension. In their blogs on classblogmeister, they have very little latitude in terms of appearance and formatting. And no pictures - at least not easily included, for 8 and 9 year olds.

So for the past couple of weeks, my students have pulled information from the Internet (their own work!), and have experimented with how that information, their writing, should look - in a for real book that you can hold in your hands.

A few of the things they learned about in the process: cropping and resizing images, pixels, image color/contrast, image placement, font appearance, consistency and variation in appearance, and much more.

It was nice to be able to guide them through seeing their writing in another dimension. Dean Shareski has said for a long time that Design Matters.

Now Dean was talking about more sophisticated presentations - video, PowerPoint, and such. But I think that these days even in the simplest, shortest, most basic pieces of writing, design does indeed matter.

Maybe next year my kids will be publishing their books online.

Naturally, they blogged about the process :)

News Reporter Backsliding

2009-05-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Maybe that's an unfair title, I don't know. I'll try to tell this in as small a nutshell as possible. My school, Arbor Heights Elementary in Seattle, has a tradition of a student newspaper - online. It started 18 years ago, the same year I came to the school. It is billed as "The oldest continuously published elementary school student newspaper on the Internet". We got it online in the '94-95 school year. I'm the editor.

For the past four years, I've had reporters enter their reports on a blog, as comments. I then turned all that writing into a monthly print edition for everybody at school, and a pdf of the same, on the Internet. We even have done podcasts and have had them on iTunes. Lately, there is just no time for that.

In the last couple of years it has been tough getting kids to remember to come to my classroom (on Wednesdays) to work on their reports. Now, they could of course do their writing from anywhere, and at anytime. I hammered on that for three years, but it never took. Not enough buy-in, readiness, or whatever.

Then a month ago I got word that November Learning Communities was going to discontinue their blog hosting for educators.

At the end of my rope and out of ideas, a couple of weeks ago I put the problem of getting kids to remember to come to meetings, to everybody at a staff meeting. The unanimous suggestion was to return to paper/pencil reporting, which I had done for 10 years, before starting up the blog.

It would be impossibly long and boring for me to recount here all the things I've tried to increase student commitment and involvement. Part of the problem is that it's simply the nature of the beast, when you have changing student reporters.

So this month I got a lot of reports, a lot more than had come in on the blog in some time. This is good.

I also got 3-4 more hours of work a month as an editor/interpreter/transcriber of student news "reports". Not so good.

The extra time I don't care about, really.

But the implications of this backward move break my heart.

The letter sent for sure

2009-05-12T18:36:00.001-07:00

The letter sent for sure
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Three days ago I received this very same letter via regular mail. Today my wife signed for this for me (thanks Honey, I guess). I have been legally served. Here's the original.

The slam to my feeling of self worth is enormous. Multiply that by the 3,300 teachers in Seattle. Multiply that by the number of students in classes taught by those teachers, and there is a very big black cloud over Seattle Schools right now.

Here's an editorial by the Seattle Times today. Read the comments to feel an extra warm, supportive shout out to teachers from the public. Not.

For Our Moms

2009-05-09T20:20:00.001-07:00

This is the first Mother's Day without our moms for Janeanne and me. It has been a tough five months. We miss them both so much.

In my third grade classroom this week everyone wrote something about, or to, their moms. Many printed their thoughts out and put them on hand made "Promise Bouquet" Mother's Day cards. Some also wanted to share their writing on their blogs. Here are a few sweet words from 8 and 9 year olds about their moms:

Aundra - About my Mom
Lauryn - My Mom
Sergio - dear mom
Andrea - My mom
Rumi - Camping and Mothers Day
Kathy - A rockin' mothers day
Jacob - About my mom

A final moment just for my mom. She loved people so much. Couldn't stop laughing, hugging, helping, kissing. She was a remarkable woman who brought joy to many, many people. I love this picture of her with tenor Jerry Hadley. I saw her like this thousands of times with all kinds of people. I'm happy and proud that she gave Jerry this moment of laughter and joy.

Anyway, thanks to all the moms out there. We love you - always!

Stimulus Disconnect

2009-05-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

This was left in my mailbox at school yesterday. My "stimulus bucks"? Please. I've been at my school for 18 years, and the amount of money and services coming into it for students right now is laughable, compared to just a few years ago. Just where are these stimulus bucks, who is getting them, and what are they for? Does anybody really understand what is happening in US schools right now?

Today I received a special gift: a nonrenewal of my teaching contract in the mail. Here it is. A 28 year teaching veteran, I am one of 3,300 teachers in Seattle getting this. I am being offered a new contract for less money. I have 10 days to appeal this. Believe it or not, my state has a collective bargaining agreement. My union negotiates our contracts with the school district. Or so I thought.

It is the weekend, of course, so it's a great time have this happen... less media coverage and all that. The bare bones of the breaking story were here and here. Much has happened in the past few hours. My union told me the letter was coming. The district denied that it was mailed. It arrived today. I will try to add updates here. Here's the latest.

What a very sad drama in Seattle for teachers and their students. The disconnect is bizarre. It becomes so difficult to teach with enthusiasm, energy, and passion.

Believe!

2009-05-06T21:21:00.001-07:00

Looking for inspiration? Check out #20 in the Boston Globe's fantastic Big Picture entry, The 2009 Kentucky Derby

Mine That Bird in last place, 18 horses ahead of him (most of them bigger), going around the first turn. A 50 to 1 shot, he won by nearly seven lengths in a breathtaking race.

Sometimes you just have to believe, against all odds and circumstances, in what you can do.

Photo credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Aging gracefully

2009-05-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Earth Day Groceries Project turned sweet sixteen this year. In human terms that's just entering adulthood, but in Internet years, well, we're talking ancient. Pleistocene, at least.

The years have brought changes to the website of course. It's now a 501c3 nonprofit (donations welcomed). There have been posters, patches, and free bags....

This year I fiddled with .asp pages and didn't break anything in the databases that hold thousands of records of participating schools. Couldn't afford to hire that part out this time. Still firing on all cylinders, fingers crossed...

But the biggest change came out of self preservation, when I stopped hosting pictures from schools on the web site. This was a huge deal for hundreds of schools - to get pictures of their kids/bags on the Internet, so it made me very sad. But, in eliminating picture hosting, I've been spared dozens of hours of work in the past few days.

So what to do... I should have done this months earlier, but I started up a Facebook Group and a Flickr Group, hoping people might put pictures there. Considering the lateness of getting the word out, I think response has been not too bad. Below is a slideshow from the Flickr Group, which contains 105 pictures, at this writing:

I believe these are moves in the right direction, e.g., keeping in step with the times and using the the tools and networking sites widely used by the general public. What does not feel good is that the vast majority of schools cannot access them (Flickr and Facebook), at least in the US. I don't know what to do about that. Maybe if enough teachers railed against their tech department filter watchdogs for a good cause, something might happen. But I doubt it. That part is discouraging.

But what keeps this activity going year after year, and brings me hope, is the excitement and enthusiasm that children bring to their communities with this activity - and the stories they share on the project website.

If you're worrying about the direction our world is going, or thinking there just is not enough goodness and caring in people anymore, take a few minutes and Read Reports on the project website. Click on any state, Canadian province, or any of the 35 countries listed there. Here are some examples:

Heather Stewart
Jack Fields Elementary
Humble, TX USA
We decorated 342 bags!
About our project: The students at Jack Fields Elementary were so excited to begin this project! It is a great way for our students to make an impact in their community. This project allows their voices to be heard...the fact that they are able to make a difference is SO powerful!!!!

Michele Pietrzak
St. James Sewickley
Sewickley, PA USA
www.stjamesschool.us/
We decorated 400 bags!
About our project: This was A HUGE success for our FIRST year of participation. The students loved decorating the bags. Our school is in a small community (a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA). The local grocer was generous enough to buy the paper bags for us to use since they don't regularly stock them. Earth Day is celebrated school wide among our students and staff. We had school t- shirts made for the occasion, had a big assembly, and did individual class service & clean-up projects within the community. WE CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

Gheban Liliana
scool Gen. I.D. Sirbu
Petrila, Romania
We decorated 150 bags!
About our project: This is the third year we participate in the Earth Day Groceries Project. The kids really enjoyed this activity. They picked one slogan that they wanted to design their bag around or on their pizza boxes (we decorated 200 pizza boxes in the project national-Pizza mesanger). The kids were very eager to show off their artwork and creativity with the rest of the community, so they got right to work! We invited the the local press Gazeta Vaii Jiului . They were glad to take part to our activity and to become soldiers of our Planet. Our great successes were to make students feel the necessity of living on a clean planet! Inst.Gheban Liliana ,Prof.Barbu Elena , Prof. Ambrus Georgiana and prof. Chinta Cipriana School Generala I.D.Sirbu-Petrila ROMANIA
submitted on 4/25/2009

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

(posted to Tweeters, on Earth Day)

Most folks around here know Marv Breece as a fabulous birder, a great teacher, and an all around good guy. He's also a wonderful photographer and a very generous soul.

For the fifth year in a row, Marv has allowed his pictures to be made into specially resized desktop wallpaper for The Earth Day Groceries Project - the largest educational activity on the Internet.

My third grade classroom is currently encircled with some of the most amazing computer desktop screens you can imagine. There is something special about Marv's pictures. People walk into my third grade classroom and gasp.

Check them out - they're available in both full and wide screen:

http://www.earthdaybags.org/gswallpaper.htm

Thanks Marv, and Happy Earth Day everyone!

A Testing Tale

2009-04-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

I started this yesterday, and it got way too long for a blog post - and I wasn't even a third of the way through all I wanted to say. So I will say less, include a few pictures, and leave it at that.

Preparation:
Getting ready for the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) started two weeks before we took the test. I was especially concerned about how well prepared my kids would be in math, using a "spiraling" curriculum. Then there was this number line fiasco.

The Test:
Well, in my third grade classroom, nobody cried, and nobody threw up. But I wish you could have seen the terror on the faces I looked out on as we finally got ready to start. It continues to disturb me greatly, the impact of this ridiculous testing on our young people. If this is not abuse.....

I was not allowed to look at the tests or their answers. I was not allowed to tell my kids if they were doing well. If I saw somebody accidentally turn two pages and skip a page, I was not allowed to tell them. Gotta tell ya, it was like going to Pluto to take a test.

The Art:
If the kids finished early (95+% of them did every day), I told them they could draw, period. With a pencil only, and only on 8.5x11 newsprint. I didn't want them hurrying through the test so they could get out their special markers or whatever, and have a really great time if they got done fast.

Towards the end of the week, I started putting up their "doodles" on a poster in the hallway outside our classroom. Some very interesting artwork was produced.

The Writing:
In the third grade WASL, kids take reading for 2 days and math for 2 days. In another attempt to salvage something from the experience, I asked them to write about the WASL. I gave them a little time to write each day after the test, and then I asked them to post all their thoughts from the 4 days of testing to their blogs on Friday.

Their writings about the WASL are all compiled on one page here. It's a pretty long page, and a few of the kids are experimenting with html formatting in a wysiwyg editor on classblogmesiter, but you'll get the idea.

The Snacks:
And hey, I'm not the only teacher who pulls out snacks at testing time! Check Doug Noon's great piece on testing in his classroom. I think my kids had it all over some others, in terms of snack quality, but you'll have to read what they said.

Technorati tags: wasl roomtwelve

My Bentwood Box, Chief Seattle

2009-04-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

I'm incredibly honored to have this bentwood box in my classroom. It was made for me by Wes Felty, after he saw my original painting. Incredible gift.

I finally added a video Wes did a few years ago to YouTube and to Chief Seattle's Speech of 1854: Chief Seattle's reply to a Government offer to purchase the remaining Salish lands:

Thanks, Wes!

Shifting gears, finding encouraging signs

2009-04-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today I found out that it may be up to six months before Sugar on a Stick becomes really usable on my XO laptops. I had been getting a little discouraged, and I didn't know if it was really going to happen. So I was relieved to know that it may work, eventually.

So I took a deep breath and started thinking about where I might go with Sugar on a Stick right now. I recalled an exciting time from a year ago where my classroom was the field test for a new piece of software for the XO called Classroom Presenter for the XO. It had been developed by students from the University of Washington.

I had written about that incredible experience, and I thought now might be a good time to see if their program would run on a PC running Sugar on a Stick.

I used an XO to be the "teacher", and Sugar on a Stick on my Thinkpad as a student. After being sure they were both on the same jabber server, both had the program loaded, and both had the slide deck loaded, we connected. The program worked flawlessly. From my little XO, I was able to direct the student computer to any slide. I also received immediately any response to questions or drawings on the slide deck from the student computer. I could unlock the student computer so it could go to any of the slides, and I could lock the computer, so it could see what I, as the teacher, wanted it to see again.

A couple of specs: the XO is running version 8.2, and Sugar on a Stick is the "beta" version. I used the server at jabber.sugarlabs.org. In theory, I could have an entire bank of classroom computers, or a lab, or computers scattered around the globe - to be engaged in an activity. The Sugar community is encouraging school servers, or hubs, which would be a much better idea with many computers involved. The XO has a built in Mesh network, which we used during the demo in my classroom, but it's not on Sugar on a Stick. We had 8 XO's engaged at once back then. (laptop images here are from the slide deck designed for our demo, converted from a simple PowerPoint presentation I sent to the Classroom Presenter developers)

One thing I was not able to try out was sharing a student "answer" to all of the others involved in the activity, but I bet it would have worked, as everything else did.

I continue to be amazed at the potential I see for connective, constructive collaboration out there. Monday I start talking with my kids and their parents about having a flash drive dedicated for their own Sugar on a Stick.

technorati tags: xo olpc sugaronastick sugar classroompresenter

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-04-09T21:30:00.001-07:00

What's wrong with this picture?
Originally uploaded by mahlness

Good thing I have been told to take down this number line - that I was forced to put up - in my classroom.

The reason had nothing to do with the obvious error, which had gone undetected in my room for a year and a half.

High stakes testing to the rescue of a mandated curriculum. Good grief.

It makes you think

2009-04-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

I took a picture of this after school in my third grade classroom because what was happening just blew me away.

This is obviously the Connect Four game. I was blue, and as you can see, I was about to lose...

There are several things noteworthy in this picture loaded with technology stuff:

Dell GX 270, with 1 GB RAM
Acer 19" monitor
Ethernet switch
wireless access point

Yet the thing that made this all possible is barely visible. It's a 1 GB USB flash drive, plugged in to the cpu right under the "1", on the right. That little stick was the entire operating system, apps, and docs for what I was doing with my keyboard and mouse on my honking big Dell.

The other computer I was playing against happened to be in my classroom, but it could just as well have been in Kathmandu. That other computer was an XO laptop (also running on a flash drive). Both computers were running Sugar, and they were connected to the same Jabber server on the Internet.

The XO was moving much more slowly, but I still lost. The record of that game is on the flash drives that were plugged in to those two computers. Those flash drives can be plugged in to other computers. Those flash drives can hold the apps and docs that their owners want on them. They call it Sugar on a Stick. There are some wrinkles to be ironed out, but....

this kind of leveling of the playing field really makes you think.

technorati tags: xo olpc sugar sugaronastick soas

Peeking under the hood

2009-04-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've been in the midst of a technical challenge, and I have been at a loss about how to solve it. I have to admit, I do enjoy working out computer challenges. Emerging from a morass of missteps and frustrations, today I had a moment where I solved the technical problems, it all made sense, and I had a chance to glimpse into the future.

I have 5 XO laptops in my third grade classroom. Two of them are solar powered. I read the latest from the OLPC News and I follow Forum discussions closely. Now, we all know the XO started a revolution in mini laptops, and powering them via solar panels is also pretty cool. But these developments pale in comparison to what I am looking at right now.

Lately there has been a flurry about Sugar on a Stick - Sugar being the OS for the XO laptop. Long story short, I figured out how to load an entire operating system, along with application data from individual uses of programs, to micro media - flash drives and SD cards.

There are five computers in this picture, complete with operating systems, applications, history, documents, etc. The contents of an entire computer can be loaded on a bootable flash drive or SD card. Put it in your pocket, and boot it in another computer - and you have your computer again. It can run on a Windows computer or a Mac. To me, this is incredible.

What does this mean in my third grade classroom? First off, it means a time of exploration and problem solving. And fun. We all know "Lincoln" has a red X and O, but what if we put in a flash drive we call Jude2? That computer now is running a different OS, has different applications, and has different documents stored on it. It also appears unique to other computers sharing the same Jabber server on the Internet.

The implications are mind boggling, if you really go with it. For a couple of years I've had a classroom collection of flash drives kids could check out to carry data back and forth to school. But I've never had a whole computer on a stick. I can now carry 5 XO laptops on my keyring. But why stop there?

In theory (and it would not be hard), each student could have his/her own computer, which they could load whenever they used an XO (could also be loaded on other computers - but that will be another step...). Students could carry their own favorite applications, and their documents would be there as well. All on a 2GB flash drive. Really.

This is not the future, it's here now.

I feel like I'm only peeking under the hood of what's coming...

Technorati tags: xo olpc roomtwelve solar

Back off

2009-03-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've had just about enough teacher bashing the last few days.

First, from Congress, to Arne Duncan, to media, it's open season on teacher unions. Clay Burrell has pointed out the free swings everyone seems to be taking at teacher unions - as the supposed cause of problems in the US education system.

Then there are those who just blame teachers directly. This one really bothers me because it lays the blame for failure to use new technologies in classrooms at the feet of teachers.

This incredible article in Education Week reports on a study - and leads with this - that teachers are the reason new technologies are not being used in our schools:

Teachers, for the most part, are not taking advantage of the tools that middle and high school students have widely adopted for home and school purposes,....

Wrong. We teachers are, by and large, not allowed to use new technologies in our classrooms. Good grief, people, look at school district policies. They are set by administrators and school board members, not by teachers.

Guess what, they're not set by teacher unions, either.

So I say back off, and get to work fixing what's wrong. Do not start by trying to fire teachers. We are not the problem. That's like trying to pin the world financial crisis on bank tellers.

Staying even

2009-03-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Lately it's been difficult getting around to posting here. Part of it is the increasing load at school, and part of it is that Twitter and other social networking forums, like Facebook, also allow me to publish my thoughts. Shorter posts, for sure, but it's so much easier and quicker to say something or make a point.

Not only have my ways of expressing myself changed, but my thoughts are read by different audiences. Here are some real modest personal stats:

A little over 300 follow this blog via rss (as far as I can tell, as there is more than one feed)
270 people follow me on Twitter (went up by 7 while I wrote this)
I have 135 friends on Facebook

It would be impossible to tell how much overlap there is between those three groups. My best educated guess is that 30 to 40 people are on all three of those lists. Easily 90% of them are educators, I am pretty sure. Would like to see a Venn diagram right about now...

What's the point of all this? Well, I've been reading lots lately about social networking, much having to do with Facebook.

"Social Media is Here to Stay... Now What?" - danah boyd, a must read
The Way We Live Now - Growing Up on Facebook - NYTimes.com
Kari Henley: Facebook And Kids: Are Their Brains Ready for Social Networking? - Huffington Post panic
Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know - valuable common sense

And Twitter seems to be making headlines of its own:

Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Ways to Find Teachers on Twitter, which led to:
twitter4teachers - a wiki. I started following many elementary folks from this today. I need to remember to do this more often, and not remain so passive about my PLN.
Keith Olbermann on YouTube: Twitter is the Worst Person(s) in the World
Even my own school district had something to say about Twitter the other day...

What does all this mean to this third grade teacher trying to teach and prepare his kids for the rest of their lives?

Not sure, except to say that if I do not at least try to stay even with the kids I'm teaching, in terms of understanding the technologies so entrenched in their lives, I don't have a prayer of providing a meaningful or relevant educational experience for them.

And as their teacher, I should be doing a lot more than just staying even with them.

Reasons to be in a place

2009-03-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

There are reasons we move to a new place, and then there are the reasons we stay. They are often not the same. I moved to Seattle in 1973, right out of college. This is a big part of why I stay:

I'm sure this hits me so hard now because of family, so very far away. I just sent a birthday gift to my brother in Connecticut, and flowers for my mother-in-law's funeral in Kansas.

And then this beautiful little video comes along. Take a minute (literally) and watch and listen. It's nice in full screen mode...

The power of a place. It makes you wonder and think about all sorts of things.

Credits: Video by Christopher Boffoli, with thanks to the West Seattle Blog for pointing it out.

For you, Barb

2009-03-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Barb, we miss you like you can't believe. Like the kids say, please come back.

For everyone else; Barb Bailey is the music teacher at our school, and she is fighting valiantly to regain her health. She has taught across the hall from me for many, many years.

Whenever I open my classroom door, I miss the beautiful sound of children singing.

Missing Our Moms

2009-03-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today my wife's mother passed away. Sarah Jean Currier was a beautiful woman, and she will be missed by many.

I sit here in Seattle, shaking my head, while I think about losing my own mom three months ago.

Janeanne is now there with her family in Kansas. I know the grief she is going through. It is painfully fresh in memory.

All I can think at this point is to be thankful for having had such wonderful moms. We were both pretty lucky, I think.

Information flow

2009-03-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

I thought about titling this Information Overload, but the issue is not simply one of amount - but of access. Whenever I log on to a computer, which is several times a day, on up to three different computers, I start these apps:

email - I use Outlook, have it configured to access 4 accounts
rss - I use Bloglines, monitor 159 feeds
Twitter - following 183
Facebook - 115 friends

Four different applications, with Twitter and Facebook at very modest levels of involvement. I get different things from all these of course. I should mention I am on several email lists (Edtech, wwwedu, classblogmeister, ednet, tictech, ahptsa). Then there are the work emails: "All Staff" and "Teachers" lists for my school.

So this is a lot of information, sure. But I have managed it fairly well, until recently. These days, I don't know where to start. The usual sequence was: email, rss, twitter.

Now there is Facebook, and it's #2, right after email. And I am spending a LOT more time there.

I'm sure this happens to people all the time - an infatuation or fascination with the latest application. So now it is Facebook with me, but it feels different from past experiences with other applications. Here are some past "flashes in the pan" of my attention:

There are some obvious reasons for the ascension of Facebook in my Hit Parade.

When I built my network of first 100 or so Friends, it was made up of educators, musicians (related to my wife's career), and local folks.

Then somebody brought up my high school rock band from the 60's. One connection led to many others, and all of a sudden I'm making contact with a group of people who are about to have a 40 year reunion. Many of them are new to Facebook. Then there's the rock and roll band scene - on the other side of the country. The lure of that is hard to explain, but it's undeniably strong. I went to school in Manchester, Connecticut - some 2,500 miles away from Seattle, where I have been since '73.

Why is Facebook working for me where other apps fell short? Well, it's a very good aggregator of my work. My Twitter posts appear there automatically. Same for my uploads to Flickr - and posts to this blog. Then there is the the ability to follow the activity of all friends right on Facebook or through Bloglines. Tonight I just had my first chat on Facebook - somebody dinged me. I wasn't even sure how that would work. It was pretty easy, actually. I fully expect to have video chat, skypelike, in the near future (is it already there?).

The other reason it works so well it that it's the current hot social networking application. Can't remember what Clay Shirky had to say about it last year, maybe I need to go back and take a look... Myspace, Diigo, and Nings are great, but their time as a useful tool has come and gone - at least for me.

I will not be surprised if Facebook fades soon and something else comes along to take its place. But for now, it is #2 on my Hit Parade of apps I open whenever I start up one of my computers.

"99 pictures of friends on the wall, 99 pictures of friends..."

2009-02-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

Facebook friends. I'm finally on the cusp of triple digits. This comes as I'm reading Dean Shareski's Control is a Worthless Pursuit, where he rightly questions even trying to control our kids on the Internet - in reponse to this story about a school district in Wisconsin doing its best to stay even with a societal shift. I hope they give it up. Not only is it worthless, but it is a wasteful use of resources that should be directed not to control, but to teaching, leading, and guiding.

So here I sit at 99 Facebook friends. BTW, none of them is a student of mine. I am a third grade teacher. But I do get emails from my students, yes I do. Time to wake up.

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