For about 20 years, my family spent Independence Day with the Boston Pops. Each year, they would give a free concert on the Charles River Esplanade complete with the orchestra, special guest stars, and fireworks. Attendance varied widely depending on the weather and the guest artists, but could be anywhere from 200,000 – 500,000 people. The concert is free and open to the public. Let’s … Continue reading The Best
One of the challenges I face in my role is deciding when not to do something. I can see possibilities for systems to work together. I can repurpose technology tools in different contexts to do useful and unexpected things. But building and maintaining these systems takes a long time, and often falls out of the areas that I should be focusing on. I try really … Continue reading Complicated Solutions
For the first decade of my career, we talked a lot about “technology integration.” At the time, we knew technology was important. We knew that it would have a dramatic effect on society and the ways in which we interact as part of our communities. We knew that our students need some experience and expertise with technology. And we knew that it would have an … Continue reading Technology Integration
I’ve enjoyed the journey through Martin Weller’s “25 Years of Ed Tech” this spring. Martin worked with Athabasca University Press to publish the book with a Creative Commons license. This allowed Clint Lalonde to produce a community-sourced audio book, with chapters read by folks from all over the English-speaking world. Laura Pasquini coupled the audio book with a weekly podcast, in which she discussed each … Continue reading 25 Years of Ed Tech
The South African concept of Ubuntu describes the symbiotic relationship between the individual and their community. I am a product of the environment in which I live. My perspectives and opinions and actions are shaped by the people around me. I am influenced by those with whom I interact every day. I am a product of my people. At the same time, though, my community … Continue reading Reflecting on a Year
I don’t attend many professional conferences. In a normal year, I’ll make it to one state-level educational technology conference, and maybe 2-3 smaller one-day regional conferences. Once every 4-5 years, I’m able to attend a national event, as long as it’s not too far away. It’s not that I don’t find them valuable. I’m nearly always able to walk away with new ideas and new … Continue reading Two Places
While hiking in the park the other day, we encountered some Sharon conglomerate. In our area, almost all of the rock is sedimentary shale and sandstone. Conglomerate is pretty rare. It’s composed of bits of quartz bound together by sandstone. It looks a lot like old weathered concrete, with chunks of aggregate rock integrated with a cement. It’s all one rock, but you can see … Continue reading Pretty Rocks
Maybe it was a bad question. On a five-point scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”, please rate your agreement with the following statement: Technology helps students develop communication skills. It was one question of many on our recent Technology & Learning Survey. We asked teachers, parents, and students about their beliefs regarding technology’s role in education, how the district’s technology program is working, and … Continue reading Communication Skills
It’s been a year, now. It was going to be a couple weeks, but we all knew it wasn’t going to be a couple weeks. We told ourselves what we needed to hear to get through it. We did get through the worst of it, and it’s looking now like there’s a path to normalcy. We know “normal” is relative. To some extent, it’s a … Continue reading It’s Been a Year
High schools are strange places. In our formative years, we spend so much time in them that they become intertwined with our youth. It’s the setting for most of the the social, academic, physical, and cognative development that happens in the teen years. Many graduates are instantly nostalgic for high school, and schools have to have “visitor” policies to keep from being overrun by alumni … Continue reading Cultural Heritage
Technology is disposable. One of the challenges of managing technology in schools is the fact that you have to keep buying the same thing over and over again. Every time I put a computer into service, or a flat panel display, or a piece of network equipment, I have to remember that at some point, I’m going to have to throw that equipment away and … Continue reading Life Cycle
I taught “Computers 8.” I think that’s what it actually said on the students’ schedules. The precision in the course name betrayed the hand-waving that was happening behind the scenes. “We know this techy computer stuff is important, and we should tech kids more of that.” I was starting my third year in the classroom, and this was a new job in a new school. … Continue reading Teach Less
