My Diigo Bookmarks (posted weekly)
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"This page explains in detail how to upgrade Moodle. "
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"Between the Blu-Ray player, cable box, laptop, and everything else hooked up to your TV, your home theater situation is a mess. Here's how I rolled all those devices into one awesome media center—the media center of my dreams—for under $500."
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One of the big trends of the past couple years, spurred the growing demand for programmers, is the rise of in-browser programming tutorials. Gone are the days when you’d have to buy a book and configure a development environment before you could get your hands dirty with a little code.Maybe you want to start learning on your work computer and don’t have access to install a programming environment. Or maybe you want to get started right away and don’t want to deal with ordering books or installing software. Whatever your motivation, here are five places you can point your browser at right now to get started.
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First day of school in today's digital world -- love it!
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I know that I have been on holidays and not paying much attention to the news lately, but did Mike Harris take over as premier while I was sleeping? It would seem so if you read the headlines and online commentary about negotiations with the teachers unions. Or should I say non-negotiations.
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"Over the last two weeks I've had five occasions to work with teachers to either develop new websites or improve existing websites in Google Sites. Over the course of these workshops I've found that there are five ways that Google Sites are commonly being used in schools. Before you jump to the list, the shameless promotion department at Free Technology for Teachers would like to mention that you should see Google Sites for Teachers if you need help getting started using Google Sites."
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Some guidelines for involving students in the creation of the class rules.
- What made collaborative rule-creation more effective in building a smoothly functioning class?
- It never felt as if we were wrestling with the really important issues: Building a functioning community. Safety. Personal dignity. Kindness. Order. Academic integrity. Democracy.
- You're shooting for influence, not control
- No matter what rules you put on paper, your most important job is role-modeling those practices, not enforcing them
- Rules shouldn't restate the obvious. "No cheating" is a stupid rule. "Bring a pencil to class" is a silly rule.
- On the other hand, do give clear instructions about what kids don't know. What to do when a tornado is spotted
- Integrity helps build community. The most important directives in democratic classrooms are around ethical practices: A clear definition of cheating, understood by all students, in the digital age
- Carrots and sticks are temporary nudges toward desirable behavior at best, but ultimately destructive
- We want kids to behave appropriately because they understand that there are rewards for everyone in a civil, well-managed school.
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"The governing Liberals shot themselves in the foot by giving bonuses to senior civil servants while demanding a wage freeze from public sector workers to eliminate a $15-billion deficit"
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"Even as global literacy rates are high (84%), people are reading less and less deeply. The National Endowment for the Arts (PDF) has found that "[r]eading has declined among every group of adult Americans," and for the first time in American history, "less than half of the U.S. adult American population is reading literature." Literacy has been improving in countries like India and China, but that literacy may not translate into more or deeper reading."
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"I REMEMBER the moment my son’s teacher told us, “Just a little medication could really turn things around for Will.” We stared at her as if she were speaking Greek. “Are you talking about Ritalin?” my husband asked."...
- teachers fill out short behavior questionnaires, called Conners rating scales, which assess things like “squirminess” on a scale of one to five. In many cases, I discovered, diagnoses hinge on the teachers’ responses.
- the formidable list of possible side effects included difficulty sleeping, dizziness, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, headache, numbness, irregular heartbeat, difficulty breathing, fever, hives, seizures, agitation, motor or verbal tics and depression. It can slow a child’s growth or weight gain. Most disturbing, it can cause sudden death, especially in children with heart defects or serious heart problems.
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