The next 20 years....

Interested in the future? curious about the present....?

I recommend watching this guy, Chris martenson -- a scientist and former fortune 500 ceo -- he quit his job and now works exclusively on something he calls his "crash course" -- it's an insightful, apolitical, and dispassionate accounting of our economy, energy, and the environment. It's split into 20 parts on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisMartensondotcom

all are worth watching, but if you're forced to choose, start with Peak Oil (chap 17, I think) and make sure to watch chapters 18 and 19 -- that's where he finally distills the subsequent chapters into a cogent, measured, but still alarming hypothesis.

Dave can you post...

Hi Dave-can you post the wesbites you shared for fair use songs and pictures? I put them in a document on my school laptop and don't have it here! Thanks!

Blog journal address...

Hi Everyone,

I have begun a blog and have just written about how Saturday went for me...here is the link if you'd like to follow me or just check it out.

Newspaper writing

I struggle most with what LABEL to use here and not sure this is the right one; however, I was guided to not create new ones so I will just go with assignments for now.

I am doing a project with my college English Language Learners (ELL) on Letters to the Editor. It is a digital project, in that they must do it online for it to be sent to the paper. It is fascinating to see how hard this is for them...not the digital part but the Writing to Persuade/Give opinion part. As students from many countries where this is NOT common, they really wonder, "Is it OK to write these things?"

Fascinating lesson in history, democracy, and writing all at once. Anyone who has ideas how to combine these issues, I welcome it. Very interesting to do this, and it happens every semester.

Saturday

Hey all - that was a great workshop day. I really enjoyed the chance to sit down and work on my stuff for a number of hours. It's not a luxury I can enjoy at work or at home these days, so it's great to have a dedicated time and space devoted not to grading or similar "book keeping" but to doing something that will make my teaching better!
I also learned some cool new tech stuff. I really enjoyed Dave's tutorial on imovie. Getting a handful of tips on how to make use of the program was great (which will certainly snaz up my home videos of Ellie...) but I really liked seeing how he places an emphasis in his classes on intellectual property rights. It's a fascinating topic, and one that I realize I should think more about. I showed the website "creative commons" to my wife, who does research in a law firm, and she was excited because they are always looking for pics and what not that they can use without violating copyright restrictions. Educating my students about IP can provide them with a great real world skill as well as an increased sensitivity to a serious 21st century concern.

Thanks Dave!

New Saturday learning

Today I learned some cool stuff on Google Docs and am ready to get my students to open accounts. I am convinced this can enhance my editing time with students. Can't wait...

Two Cool New Resources!!

These are the resources I modeled at the beginning of our work session!

http://screencast-o-matic.com/

This website records what you're doing on your screen! It is a great tool to show kids how to do anything electronic, how to do a bibliography, etc. You could also use it to guide kiddos when you have a substitute, or to differentiate for certain kids who did not get your lesson the first time around!

http://www.wallwisher.com

This website is a wonderful discussion forum to use with your students. Your students all post a "sticky note" of 150 characters or less, and all stickies appear on the screen. A teacher I know uses it as an admit or exit slip.