No Voice; but oh! the silence sank like music on my heart. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834)
A group of five educators and myself went to the North Bay CUE conference in Napa over the weekend.
LCMSD @ NorthBay CUE
It was a good day and I attended sessions on multimedia presentations, QR codes, and EdModo. However as so often is the case at these conferences … our group was most blown away by something that had nothing to do with our sessions*.
Indeed it came up in a side conversation – adding voice comments in GoogleDocs. What a great way to give students feedback! Its quick, its easy, it allows students to hear your voice in the feedback and, i believe, more students will listen and think about the feedback you are giving them**
Here’s a great tutorial in less than three minutes by J. Roberts:
“I worry that my son might be addicted. When I shut the game off, he freaks out and goes ballistic! I just don’t know what to do.” ~ John Q. Parent
That was a quote from a conversation I had recently with a concerned mother of a middle schooler. The struggle continues. What is too much? Is there a not enough? Here are some tips
My 10-year-old son is miserable since I took away Call of Duty–what do I do?
Q: My 10 year old used to be an avid skateboarder and baseball player—until Call of Duty on XBOX Live arrived. I didn’t in my wildest dreams think that he would become addicted to a video game. I have a 21 year old who played all of the games but was never ruled by them. Since my awakening, I have removed the game, but my son is miserable. How long does it take to deprogram him?
—Problem Gaming, in Kansas City, MO
A: Dear Problem Gaming,
More and more young people are being referred to me for Internet or video game behaviors that are causing real problems in their lives. It sounds like your 10-year-old son falls into that category. Unfortunately, time away from the game may not be enough to deprogram him—he probably needs professional help.
Even though our healthcare system that doesn’t recognize video game addiction as a formal problem, there are still steps you can take to help your son. You’ve already taken the first step: removing the game (though if he is indeed addicted, he will find other ways to keep playing). The next step is to find and make an action plan with a therapist who understands this kind of problem.
In the meantime, when talking about this with your son, frame this as a health issue, not as an issue of misbehaving. Your son’s excessive game play could be a symptom of another issue—like social anxiety or depression—and it could be his way of taking refuge in a world he can control. Explain that you see how miserable he is, and that although he may not understand yet, the goal here is not to punish him but to make his life better.
I generally start each of these posts with a quote. This post is a short one and is all about a quote. I just had to share one that I found here last night. I was drawn to the article through my PLN and it held onto my attention particularly tightly after a great conversation I’d had that day with two mothers (both ES principals) about the mystery of why our kids are so drawn to video games. The article is great and definitely worth the read, but the quote dazzled and i feel is one of the best I’ve seen in some time:
In times of change learners inherit the Earth while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. ~ Eric Hoffer
“If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children’s mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives.” ~ Danny Glover
Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need. ~Rick Riordan
Today I saw this. It aligned so well with so many conversations that I have had I felt the need to immediately re-post this here so I could send my colleagues here to see it.
A great display for those educators drawn to learning visually:
Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.
~ Putt’s Law
Navigating the world of technology and educational technology is not just a challenge for teachers but for parents as well. Many that I have spoken with feel lost in their struggle to help and make the best decisions about technology in their children’s lives.
I have tried to engage with parents through our school’s website by directing them to agencies and online conversations. The hope is to get them reading and to encourage them asking questions and fan the fire of discussion. The response has been great and through monitoring and engaging in the conversation directly we hope to ensure that our parent community feels supported as they navigate the ever changing landscape of technology.
There is no smallest among the small and no largest among the large; but always something still smaller and something still larger. ~ Anaxagoras
Recently I have been fascinated with many science resources that have been shared with me about teaching science at the various school levels. Today I saw this:
Further to this i was introduced to this fascinating resource which I think does an absolutely fantastic job of helping students understand a concept as abstract as “how big is an atom?”
There is so many amazing resources for teachers and these are just two that help students understand size and relative size in an immediate and profound way.
You write your snide bull[expletive] from a dark room because that’s what the angry do nowadays. I was nice to you, don’t torture me for it. ~ Erica Albright (from The Social Network)
You can’t go far without seeing a little blue square with a white “f” in it these days, every ad, website, at the bus stop, on TV, its everywhere. This, of course, isn’t news to anyone. What is particularly interesting to me is that we are all new here, we’re all learning and the definitive in regard to social networking are limited and re-defining themselves everyday.
Should would be employers have the right to ask for the information you share openly with your friends (assuming you retain the “right” to say no?
Navigating the world of technology and educational technology is not just a challenge for teachers but for parents as well. Many that I have spoken with feel lost in their struggle to help and make the best decisions about technology in their children’s lives.
