Remember Marco Polo? I still have a couple training binders for it on my bookshelf. Back in 2000, the WorldCom Foundation partnered with renowned educational organizations to create a collection of Internet resources for teaching K-12 content in every academic discipline. They did everything right. For the math resources, they partnered with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the professional organization that changed … Continue reading Marco Polo = Thinkfinity

I thought I was finally getting it. After spending the last eighteen months working with Web 2.0 tools, I finally have a good understanding of how technology can change education. I’ve become part of several communities online. I regularly communicate with people all over the world. There are even a few people reading my blog. Last week, I was catching up on some old podcasts, … Continue reading Keeping Up

During the EdTechWeekly postshow last Sunday, we ended up looking at my blog. A few people commented on the theme, and I explained that I had it custom designed for use in our district. Many of our teachers have expressed an interest in blogging, but were frustrated by the theme choices available. Especially at the elementary level, teachers felt that there weren’t enough kid-friendly themes … Continue reading WordPress Themes

Apple really wants you to believe that they matter as a computer company. Every time they make a product announcement, the tech industry buzzes with discussion. All they have to do is announce a press conference, and the pundits come alive with wild speculation about what Apple is up to. In the current episode of This Week in Tech, Leo and the gang spend 6 … Continue reading Nobody Uses Macs

There’s a lot of talk in the edtech community about transforming teaching and learning by using web 2.0 technologies with students. With things like blogs and wikis and social networking and all of these neat, new, interactive tools, we can improve the way teachers teach and students learn. I’m even taking a class called “Transformational Connections With Blogs and Wikis.” But I’m not quite buying … Continue reading What's New About Blogging?

Last week, Michigan state Democrats faced a firestorm of criticism after proposing a budget that includes $38 million to purchase mp3 players for all school-age students in the state. Presumably, these would be used for “educational purposes,” but there aren’t any details about how such a program would be implemented. The Detroit News immediately attacked the idea in an editorial (An iPod for every kid? … Continue reading Better Gadgets

I was composing an email about our upcoming curriculum mapping project. I try to be grammatically correct most of the time. It really annoys me when people mess up subject-verb agreements or possessives. I’ve read Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I listen to Grammar Girl. I even tuned in to The Word Nerds for a year or so. Most of the time, I can put words … Continue reading Write Right

I’m staring at this list of resources. There’s some great stuff here. In delicious, I have a “2checkout” tag that I use for things I want to learn more about. At the moment, the list has 23 items. Some of these are really great, exciting resources. I want to learn more about them. Others are just fun things. Some of them are probably sites that … Continue reading Overwhelmed

Mr. Butler has been getting a great response to his book blog over at http://staff.bbhcsd.org/butlerj/archives/2007/03/16/first-two-weeks-a-smashing-success/ Mr. Wasil has also been having a lot of fun with his blog. Check out this post about passwords: http://staff.bbhcsd.org/wasilt/archives/2007/03/23/changing-your-password-for-email-and-logging-into-your-computer/ Continue reading Trackback Test

Last week on the Ohio Tech Coordinators’ listserv, tech guy John Case tore the lid off the web filtering debate. He pointed out these facts: Most schools block social networking sites, because objectionable content can easily be posted by visitors to these sites. Most schools have filtering systems that can be circumvented by knowledgeable and/or ambitious students. Many technology in education luminaries (including Alan November … Continue reading "Protecting" Our Students

By request, here’s the current version of my WordPress Getting Started Guide. It’s specifically aimed at staff members in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights schools, but others may find it useful as well. This document covers WordPress 2.1, sidebar widgets, and all of the plugins we have installed. It was last revised March 1, 2007. WordPress Getting Started Guide Continue reading WordPress: Getting Started

There’s not much to see here. Really. This blog is just here so I can play around with a WordPress.com blog, try things out, and answer questions for others. I can’t believe you’re still here reading this. Move along…. Continue reading Hello world!