We’re about a week or so away from the start of another school year, so I am shaking the dust off of my blog and getting back into the writing mode. I though I would start with an ode to my new Macbook Air. Here I am in New Orleans reading from the Macbook. I …
Last night I was just thinking to myself how I’ll probably never get to solve a big mystery like Sherlock Holmes. I am pretty sure that most police investigations are rather mundane, and, because most criminals are stupid, there are no clever clues to figure out. So it is interesting to note that I now …
This should also be titled, “Or what I can learn from my students.” I am a pessimist by nature. I admit it. I have this negative streak a mile wide. I always feel like more could be done and in a better way. Maybe I’m not a pessimist, maybe I’m just never quite satisfied because …
I am looking at my WordPress site, and I’m thinking, “Twenty Twelve” theme? Really? And you call yourself a techevangelist?!” And I am wondering if my choice of theme says something about me and my abilities as a technology infused educator? Sure it does. Don’t all of our choices ultimately say something about us? I …
Today I found myself in a bit of a conundrum. I am the team leader of a group of three teachers who have all agreed to use a common rubric to grade student essays. I have been using turnitin.com for years to grade student work. I have found the ease of use combined with the …
I was delighted today to notice that I have 20 comments on my blog posts! 20 comments from people all over the world. How wonderful. I think that spam is proof that people are evil by nature. Who does that? Just once, I want to meet the actual person behind just one of the spam …
I am looking at poster in my classroom that a group of students created. It reads, “It’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with.” Where am I right now? I’m in my classroom sitting at a table somewhere in Omaha. I’m with students who are attempting to write. We are all here together in …
The kid without a computer walks into my room at this 1-1 school. All the other students get their laptops out obediently and look up what they are supposed to look up. The bell rings, and the student without a laptop just sits there looking kind of lost. Sure, it’s probably his fault that he …
Every year that I have taught, the first week of school is always a race. Students are getting into the groove. Teachers are exhausted. And to make matters even worse, technology never ceases to fail. This year, apparently we implemented a new security “feature” and they are still ironing out the bugs. This summer, my …
Today I encountered a student in our one-to-one school who has decided not to get a school-supplied laptop. This created a minor speedbump in my creative writing class because we were just figuring out how to use Google docs to share our writing portfolios. I found out that it wasn’t an issue with technology; she …