On Monday, March 9, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine announced that three cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Ohio. Two days later, he reported that Ohio had four cases. I was confused. Does that mean Ohio now had seven cases, or does the second announcement include the three previously reported? When I figured out that seven was the total, I knew we had a problem. … Continue reading Detecting AI
We’re not hungry. Over my career, I’ve often used the metaphor of feeding the hungry in my approach to technology use in the classroom. Some teachers and school leaders are eager and ready to try new things. We certainly want to support that. Others are struggling just to keep their heads above water. We need to support them, too, and perhaps through them a lifeline … Continue reading Appetites
Two years ago today, Ohio had its first three confirmed Covid cases. Two days later, Ohio reported that we now had four cases. No one was saying that we had one new case; the reporting centered around the total. “But how do we know if things are getting better or worse?” I wondered. If we’re only reporting the totals, we don’t know how fast the … Continue reading Tracking Covid Cases
A few weeks ago, I had a request to remove Zoom from our student devices, and block students from reinstalling it. “We’re never going back to that,” the teacher explained. Apparently the fifth graders are using the chat function in Zoom to talk to one another, which she wants to stop. By “that,” she meant remote schooling. At the start of the pandemic, we leaned … Continue reading Unzoomed
Snow days are magic. There aren’t many things that remind us how unimportant we are. But that call from the school changes everything. Suddenly, that homework assignment isn’t due for another day. The test has been postponed. The faculty meeting will be rescheduled (or, maybe it won’t). Basketball practice won’t be happening. Depending on the home situation, Mom and Dad might go into a panic. … Continue reading Snow Days
“This is America. It’s a free country. You can do anything you want to do.” My football coach was explaining how life works. “But,” he continued, “you have to be willing to pay the price for it. There are always consequences to your actions.” I’m not sure why he brought this up, or whether he even had a point in mind. But the connection between … Continue reading Freedom
Mom and Dad were away for the weekend. It wasn’t really a party, per se. It was just a couple friends coming over for the evening. A little get together. A few close friends. We should have known better. You know how this story ends. The few friends invited a few friends, and before we knew it, the house was overrun with people we didn’t … Continue reading Who Asked You?
Remember 21st Century Skills? Back at the turn of the century, we were all abuzz about the needs of our students as we moved into the new millennium. We knew we had moved from an industrial society to a service economy, and we were transitioning into the information age. We knew that schools had to adapt. And we had some pretty good ideas on what … Continue reading Blended Hybrid
I’ve been thinking about Y2K lately. Back in the late 1990s, the technology industry faced a serious problem with how computers stored dates. The societal norm was to use two digits for the year. Pearl Harbor was attacked on 12/7/41. The first moon landing was on 7/20/69. MTV started broadcasting on 8/1/81. As the 1990s progressed, people started realizing that we had a problem. Because … Continue reading Ready for Anything
We’re almost back to normal. Last night, we biked a few miles to a local restaurant, ate dinner inside, and stopped for ice cream on the way home. I didn’t even take a mask, much less wear one. Most of the people we encountered were maskless as well, and the social distancing markers on the floor were more suggestions than mandates. Right now, Ohio is … Continue reading Almost Back to Normal
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
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
Taste of Tech 