Monday, June 25, 2007

Blogging: It’s elementary, School 2.0, and Classroom 2.0

Blogging: It’s elementary, School 2.0, and Classroom 2.0

I had the opportunity to sit-in-on a couple of Patrick Crispen’s sessions at the 2007 AETC conference week before last and he had a great presentation on blogging 101 and blogger. You can download Patrick’s presentation on blogging here (It’s in zip format). Although I am very familiar with blogger, I found the presentation worthwhile and even learned a few new tricks and tips. Patrick always does a great job with his presentations. Such is to be expected of a graduate of the University of Alabama! If you are interested in elementary blogging and Patrick’s presentation doesn’t tell you everything you want to know about beginning a blog for yourself or with your classes, you should visit the following links...

E-School News article on Elementary Blogging

A post by Steve Dembo about Elementary Bloggers

A wiki with links to educational blogs

A wiki tied to Alabama Best Practices Center’s 21ST Century Initiative

John Norton’s bookmarks for the 21st Century Initiative (My blogs are here) Wow!

These should be enough to get you started. I would however point out that before you start blogging with your classes you should get your administrator’s approval. You should also make sure that your Acceptable Use Policy is up-to-date. And above all things you need to make sure that you keep your students safety in mind.

You can find a number of tips to help with the things you need to know about blogging at the ABPC wiki. I hope this helps administrators and teachers begin the move toward School 2.0 and Classroom 2.0 if they haven’t already made the move. Enjoy!

Note: In a future post I will discuss my presentation at the 2007 AETC (Plunge into school 2.0 and beyond: But don’t forget your PFDs). I am just waiting for them to get the 2007 presentations uploaded to their website.

Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

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Is dissection a dying art in our schools?

Are frogs finally safe? I found a rather interesting read today about dissection and thought that it tied in nicely with one of my previous posts entitled Cadavers and School 2.0. The headline for the article is WHY DISSECTION IS A DYING ART IN SCHOOLS. Here is a brief intro to the article.
Generations of biology pupils have learned the marvels of nature by dissecting specimens ranging from rabbits to worms. But the skill is dying out in schools because of health and safety red tape, concerns over animal welfare and pupil
squeamishness. A survey by the Institute of Biology shows that 85 percent of teachers believe dissections are far less common in schools than 20 years ago. The packed curriculum and lack of funding are partly blamed for the decline, but 22 percent of respondents cited confusion over health and safety regulations and 28 percent said many students were too squeamish to carry out dissections. Twelve per cent reported pressure from parents -- and even other teachers -- not to use animal material in class while 14 percent cited pressure from students themselves. For some teachers, dissections are too dangerous because disruptive pupils could harm others with scalpels and scissors. The rise of interactive whiteboards, which allow pupils to view images on screen, has led some staff to show children 'virtual' dissections instead. However, an overwhelming majority of the 220 teachers who took part in the survey are convinced dissections are valuable and enhance pupils' understanding. The threat to dissection has been intensified by a lack of specialist teachers, according to London’s Evening Standard. Graduates in other sciences, such as physics and chemistry, are now allowed to take biology lessons...

Also, I think that the article ties in well with the whole classroom2.0 and school 2.0 movement. Virtual dissections are great, but I can’t help but think that there is still a need for some "old school" dissections in the classroom. I love technlogy, but to totally go to virtual dissections would be a grave error in my opinion. What do you think?

Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Ponce De Leon Inlet

A couple of weeks back the family and I had a chance to visit some of our dearest friends in the world who just happen to live in Ormond Beach Florida. It was wonderful seeing them as we only get the chance to see them once or twice a year. While on the trip the family and I also had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite places in the world (i.e. Ponce De Leon Inlet) and one of my favorite landmarks (i.e. the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse).
The Ponce Inlet lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and in my opinion one of the most beautiful in the world. I love lighthouses as you can tell by the theme of my blog. Here are some more photos.

(A view from the beach...)



I just wish I had thought to take my video camera. If I had, I could have created a virtual tour of the lighthouse and the grounds. A virtual tour would be a great School 2.0 or Classroom 2.0 project.

(A view from the courtyard...)


I plan to create a photo story of the landmark. Also, I had the opportunity to visit St. Augustine and the St. Augustine Lighthouse as well as other historical landmarks. I will share these pictures and others as time allows…

(A view from the bottom)

(A view from the top overlooking the inlet...)









Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

AETC 2007

It’s that time of year again. Not Christmas! It's time for the Alabama Educational Technology Conference. So for me, I guess it is a little like Christmas. I love it! Last year I was a facilitator at the conference and this year I am a presenter. The times they are a changing.

My presentation is entitled "Plunge into School 2.0 and beyond: But don't forget your PFDs." I am honored to be presenting at the conference. My presentation is at 3:30 PM in the North Hall/Room C/D. If you're attending the conference, drop by and say hello. For those of you that can’t make the conference, I’ll try and get the presentation up on slideshare soon…Here is the final AETC Program.

Sorry, I haven't been keeping my blog updated recently. I was on vacation week before last and last week/this week I have been very busy with other endeavors (e.g. doctoral classes, family, building fences, interviewing, and working around the house). I’ll try and do a better job! As a matter of fact, I have to get some of my vacation pictures posted to the blog ASAP. I'll put that on my list of things to do for the weekend…

Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

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