Boing Boing will go dark on January 18 to fight SOPA - great explanation of SOPA by Cory Doctorow
Also from Cory Doctorow is The Coming War on General Computation.
Ned Potter, over at thewikiman, has a great post about spoon feeding students. It isn't the standard argument.
Shawn Ram has a post, It shouldn't be about the NUMBER, on his blog Learning to Lead, Inspiring to Change, that should be mandatory reading for all parents.
Garden
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Change
Let's see if I can make this one stick.
I read a lot, both online and off. Today I had several thoughts.
The fire at Slave Lake has caused a great deal of destruction and my heart hurts for those who have lost their homes and/or businesses. It could have been so much worse. This devastating event needs to be looked at as an opportunity for change if the people of Slave Lake are to recover.
One of the things the community lost was it's beautiful, new library. Punch Jackson wrote an excellent tweet "During #SlaveLake rebuild a "temporary" library may be required for community info, access to computers(and), leisure reading". At first I was "leisure reading"? But it makes sense. So many people have lost their homes, they have nothing. Others will need a place to escape the stress. A temporary library could help rebuild the community's spirit.
On Twitter I have also been following the #falmac11 symposium and #inplay11 conference tweets. While one was for library staff and the other for teachers as I read my twitter feed some of the posts could have come from either event. I hope there were educators at #falmac11 and library staff at #inplay11. The ideas shared have value to both fields. The feeling that things need to change, in both areas, has risen to a feverpitch. Yet it's like we have reached the edge of a cliff that we know we have to go over, but haven't quite gathered up enough courage to jump. If we don't make a move soon, it won't matter. The push from behind will drive us over.
I read a lot, both online and off. Today I had several thoughts.
The fire at Slave Lake has caused a great deal of destruction and my heart hurts for those who have lost their homes and/or businesses. It could have been so much worse. This devastating event needs to be looked at as an opportunity for change if the people of Slave Lake are to recover.
One of the things the community lost was it's beautiful, new library. Punch Jackson wrote an excellent tweet "During #SlaveLake rebuild a "temporary" library may be required for community info, access to computers(and), leisure reading". At first I was "leisure reading"? But it makes sense. So many people have lost their homes, they have nothing. Others will need a place to escape the stress. A temporary library could help rebuild the community's spirit.
On Twitter I have also been following the #falmac11 symposium and #inplay11 conference tweets. While one was for library staff and the other for teachers as I read my twitter feed some of the posts could have come from either event. I hope there were educators at #falmac11 and library staff at #inplay11. The ideas shared have value to both fields. The feeling that things need to change, in both areas, has risen to a feverpitch. Yet it's like we have reached the edge of a cliff that we know we have to go over, but haven't quite gathered up enough courage to jump. If we don't make a move soon, it won't matter. The push from behind will drive us over.
Monday, August 23, 2010
I'm feeling old
Working in a public library means you remain aware of the school calendar. As the kids, teens and parents get ready for the start of a new school year you begin getting questions about grade level reading materials, study guides and homework assistance. The demands on kids to perform and the competition among parents and teachers to make sure kids are performing is shocking. In a time when our society is recognizing the need for life long learning, why are we sucking all of the fun out of learning for our children?
I'm just wrapping up my summer reading program. The kids that are still with the program are the kids who's parents are looking for their kids to enjoy reading and coming to the library. The kids that dropped out, often dropped out because the parents felt I wasn't being rigorous enough in my demands on the children. 'Where are the required reading lists and homework assignments?' Parents are shocked when I tell them that I'd be happy with their kid spending 15 minutes reading the cereal box, that I don't care what the child read as long as they did read. My goal is to keep the fun in reading for kids who are starting to look at reading as work.
We encourage adults to find jobs/careers that they enjoy, but we don't want our children to enjoy the 12/13 years they spend in school? How does that make sense?
I'm just wrapping up my summer reading program. The kids that are still with the program are the kids who's parents are looking for their kids to enjoy reading and coming to the library. The kids that dropped out, often dropped out because the parents felt I wasn't being rigorous enough in my demands on the children. 'Where are the required reading lists and homework assignments?' Parents are shocked when I tell them that I'd be happy with their kid spending 15 minutes reading the cereal box, that I don't care what the child read as long as they did read. My goal is to keep the fun in reading for kids who are starting to look at reading as work.
We encourage adults to find jobs/careers that they enjoy, but we don't want our children to enjoy the 12/13 years they spend in school? How does that make sense?
Monday, June 28, 2010
Always learning
Currently checking out the online presentations from ISTE 2010, an education conference in Denver, Colorado, USA running from June 27th to the 30th.
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