Category: General

While I was pleased by the changes brought about by yesterday’s elections, I have no idea what the changes mean for the more specific causes that interest me. The analyses following the returns seemed to be focused on attitude, the distinction between the war in Iraq and the war on terror, and ethics. Clearly, these are significant issues that concern the public, but those elected based on such issues (and others that are significant locally) will also shape potential changes in educational policy.

I hope that NCLB will be reconsidered with an eye to those consequences that determine what happens in classrooms. I hope testing continues, but in a way that informs education in a less judgmental manner and with better insight into the circumstances faced by some teachers and some schools. I would hope that assessment would be expanded, because the present focus tends to discourage attention directed toward some content areas and the message is that such content areas are less important. How could it be a good thing that language arts and math in elementary schools receive more attention and science and social studies less simply because only certain areas are the focus of the evaluation that is used to judge schools.

I would also hope that the objectives of such testing be more carefully considered. For example, the logic of arguing that the “failings of American schools” are a concern because low performance decreases the potential for the country to compete economically can be traced to “A Nation at Risk.” The policy of holding schools responsible for the capability of all students to meet minimum standards does not necessarily follow logically from the expectation that schools develop the innovators of tomorrow. How about a substitute goal of helping all students achieve according to their potential? What about the goal of providing all students a quality education in the wide range of areas that will contribute to economic development and personal fullfillment? What about the goal of developing those with special talents who are perhaps those individuals most likely to be the innovators?

Blogged with Flock

Here is an interesting online activity that may serve as a diversion tomorrow evening as you wait for election results to trickle in.

A couple of years ago, Matthew Kane created a mashup that returns data on Republican and Democratic contributors that can be linked to zip codes. Enter your zip code and compare the number of contributors and the amounts contributed (note these data will be dated). Note that the addresses (Google map) of the contributors are also identified. I must admit I find the map locating contributors a little scary, but it does partially explain who gets what phone calls and visits.

Cindy forwarded this URL to me – I see David Warlick also reviews this site.

I encountered this article from C|Net News on China and the Internet. The article addresses concerns that China controls access to the Internet. By chance, Cindy and I are heading to China on Friday. I guess we will have the opportunity to investigate for ourselves. It will be a busy week preparing so that others can cover out responsibilities here. Hopefully, there will then be many interesting posts from there.

Google has acquired another online service. In this case, the company was JotSpot – a provider of free (at the low end) wiki space. As far as I know this is a little different than other acquisitions because the acquired product was free at the level of few users and limited space, but rather expensive at the unlimited end of the continuum (couple of hundred a month). It is true that the higher capability level of Flickr comes at a price, but the upgrade cost is minimal and this is a service to the individual. The high end of JotSpot seems more suited to commercial functions.

Comment by one of JotSpot’s founders.

Will educators find opportunities in this tool? I suppose it depends on the cost and security features that are available. As I understand proposed DOPA regulations, I would also think that this service would be considered a commercial social software site and blocked.

I am close to the limit of my tolerance for this political season. It is too bad television programming does not operate like Google – click on this 30 second ad only if you really want to hear it.

The newest topic of national significance seems to focus on whether John Kerry can tell a joke. I am trying to decide this for myself. The punch line was not that funny, but then punch lines taken out of context rarely are. I spent about 30 minutes this morning exploring YouTube attempting to find a piece that would include the minute before and after the 13 second punch line that seemed to imply those who serve in Iraq are stupid (CNN sound bite with spin). No luck.

My guess is that Kerry was speaking to young people and making a vague reference to the Viet Nam era and perhaps attempting to raise the spector of a draft. At least in such a context, the punch line would have made sense. Perhaps the comment would not have been funny, but at least it would have made sense. Those of us who faced the draft would understand – at one time college performance did have something to do with whether or not one ended up in the military. At one time, you left college and you would hear from the draft board.

I think the proper criticism of Kerry is that he was attempting to raise fear in young people that the draft will return. Unfortunately, targeting someone as engaging in fear mongering is not sufficient. Every politician does that. If spin options are available, it is desirable to label someone (despite the medals for valor he has been awarded) as unpatriotic.

I hate to leave you on this heavy note. Why not tell a joke!

“I thought you said your dog don’t bite” I said. “Ain’t my dog,” was the reply.

(Please do not ask for an explanation. I would rather be labeled as unable to tell a joke than spend any more time on this topic.)

I encountered a post that seems a natural follow up to my own post on supplementing student note taking. The author of A Teachers Life offers some links that seem to focus on the Cornell Notetaking system. If I remember, the Cornell system suggests that students divide a note taking into two columns – taking notes in one column and “reprocessing” in the second column.

I wonder what the digital equivalent of such a system might be? Any system for saving text (even WP) would allow reprocessing in ways that would not be efficient on paper. Wiki-type tools (e.g., Notemesh) would seem promising as a way for students to collaborate on note-taking, improve the quality of notes generated by any one individual, and access a set of quality notes for review.