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Campaign Launched To Stop School From Claiming Copyright On Student Work | Techdirt
Claiming intellectual property of STUDENTS and FACULTY (check your contracts faculty, most contracts already claim your IP which is why you shouldn't use school computers for anything you create) but now, publicly schools are going on record claiming copyright. Sadly, like many colleges, this serves more as a dampener than a revenue generator. I think a more creative copyright where students own their work, but schools have permission to use and reuse for school purposes makes more sense. I agree with TechDirt that this is a problem that we should begin speaking out about. Read and educate yourself, however, TechDirt needs to realize that most work for hire documents claim IP rights. "We recently wrote about how the school board for Prince George County, Maryland, was considering a policy that would claim the copyright of everything produced by both students and faculty at the various schools in the district. That seemed extreme in so many ways. Some folks have set up a site called Don't Copyright Me, in which they're asking people to sign a petition to be sent to the school board, telling them not to take the copyrights from students and teachers. While this may seem like a small deal because it involves a single school district, the larger concern is that it actually becomes a bigger deal in the long term, as other school districts may follow suit: Copyright is getting out of control. Prince George's County is one of the top 25 school systems in the country. If this policy goes into effect, it could set a terrible precedent at a time when quality education is needed more than ever. Students and teachers deserve the same rights as everyone else. With this policy, a high school student could get a takedown notice from their own school for posting a video they made for class on YouTube."
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Parents Upset Over 'Degrading,' 'Offensive' Class Photo At Sawgrass Elementary School (VIDEO)
There is a wrong way to follow a photography policy. This is an example. While the child wasn't to be included in photos, the photographer removed him in a way that bothered the parents. Just realize this is a sensitive issue and that schools should have photography policies. "A second grader at Sawgrass Elementary School in Sunrise, Fla., who didn't have the parental consent form to be in his class photo was nevertheless included, but in a way that has shocked school officials and the boy's parents, WPLG TV reports. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO Per the elementary school's request, The Huffington Post blurred the faces of the other students in the photo, but the second grade boy can still be seen with a crude, brown-colored, smiley face placed over his face."
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Backchannels in the classroom - this is a fantastic guide by Jerry Blumengarten @cybraryman1 of just about everything about backchannels.
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Students Speak Up in Class, Silently, via Social Media - NYTimes.com
As some say that all students should be required to "speak up" in class, I say "let them type." If you run a backchannel, that should count as classroom contribution. I've found that quieter students will float an idea in the classroom and are willing to express it verbally if the teacher notices and speaks about the topic. Sometimes students want a low-threat way to suggest and interject, and I've personally found the backchannel to be a powerful way to do this.
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Backchannel Chat - Providing classrooms with backchannel discussions
A new website that many are discussing. I love using BAckchannels in my classroom and thus far have used Chatzy and Ning chat, however, this website is designed for real time chat for classrooms. You can mute and remove comments, it has a profanity filter and also a full transcript so you can go back and assess participation and weaknesses. You can set the chat to discontinue when you leave. When I review for tests, I always like to use a backchannel because I can ask questions and we can document answers and the students can save as notes. This is a great tool. I'll be testing the free chat room this week. I've heard from some of our Flat Classroom(r) certified teachers that this is a create tool.
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Can the FCC Create Public Super Wi-Fi Networks?
No, the government isn't CREATING a WIFI network (the Washington Post didn't really look at this), however, this article on Gizmodo does share what is happening at the FCC that could help many, especially those in rural areas, be part of the world's new digital landscape. As we work to put devices in our student's hands, this sort of development could make a big difference for kids and can further spur online and blended learning initiatives as digital divides are further bridged. Applause? Can we have it next week? "Let's get one thing straight: the government is not creating its own "super WiFi network", but its plans will indeed make awesome new WiFi networks possible. Technically, what the FCC is actually trying to do is increase the amount of open spectrum that is available for WiFi networks of all sorts-and for other "unlicensed" uses. This is a very good idea."
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Don't dis the competition - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog
Doug Johnson is a great read for his blunt, in your face honesty and his point about how technology companies are trying to differentiate is a great one. I think, however, we should extend this to schools as well. If your school is great, say why, but dissing the competition is no way to compete. If you think your school has no competition, think again. So, read this in light of the arriving and coming competition on the edulandscape and have an honest take on how you should "sell" the virtues of your school. If you can't talk about how great your school is and have to resort to how bad the other one is, prepare for a day when you'll shutter the windows and wonder how they're going to keep the bugs out of your empty building. Wake up and smell the wires burning their way into your student's computers and tablets, great teachers are just a click away and we've all got to learn how to blend and trend our courses, teaching, and to bridge our classrooms to add real value as teachers. It isn't hard as you think but if you just sit and teach like you've always taught, you're setting yourself up for some unpleasant days. You can't do everything but you can do something to improve yourself. Next practices are an important part of your best practice. Always innovate and never settle. Standards are only the beginning, you must have purpose if you're going to be a great teacher. Doug says: "But what I do know that when competitors trash each other, I tend to tune out. And I flat out hate it when I know they are lying - and I will NOT buy from a liar. A salesman recently promoted his video storage service by stating "unlike YouTube, we don't own your movies." That's just not true. (YouTube doesn't own your movies, GoogleApps doesn't own your Docs, CIPA, FERPA, etc. do not ban social media.)"
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Social Media Users Say Pinterest Is as Popular as Twitter
Pinterest is popular. In my experience, ESPECIALLY among teachers and Mom bloggers. Just know how to use it and get on there consistently.
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Twitter Itself Will Soon Decide the Value of Your Tweets
Twitter is going to "rate" your tweets in the hopes of giving you and developers better content. Again, those late to the game may have trouble being heard, but I'd like to think there is always a way to be valuable. Never assume that because everyone is following someone that they have something worth saying - decide who YOU want to follow and that is enough. Of course, when this happens, expect the usual uproar of those who are valued and not valued, as for me, I hope I can resist the urge to start comparing in sharing and just try to stay helpful. From Mashable..."The value judgements will be assigned to the public metadata of tweeters' posts, and used by Twitter's streaming API to help developers more selectively curate massive amounts of status updates. Designations of "none," "low" and "medium" will most likely debut on Feb. 20, according to a post by developer advocate Arne Roomann-Kurrik on the Twitter developers' blog. A "high" value option will be rolled out sometime after the initial batch."
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There are some cool new features in the Kindle app - in addition to xray and notebook (previous feature upgrades) you have multi-colored highlighting, brightness sync across devices and a prompt to rate a book when finished (I like this one because, perhaps, more REAL people will rate amidst many book reviewers who are either biased for or against an author for undisclosed reasons.) Update that iOS or Droid Kindle app or whatever device it is on.
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Thursday, 14 February 2013
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The Gettysburg Address: Literary Nonfiction and the Common Core | Edutopia
A nice reflection on what is happening to reading with Common Core. I find the overemphasis on literary nonfiction problematic, unless, the fact that math and history are primarily nonfiction allows literature to remain 60-70% fiction, however, for those schools who just have "reading" in literature (that would be sad), this is going to have issues. This is a great read. "The CCSS mandates that by the end of high school, 70% of what students read should be informational texts -- specifically, complex and non-narrative literary nonfiction. Furthermore, students should be able to identify central ideas and articulate their development, summarize, analyze, draw inferences, identify an author's purpose, evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical features, and figure out the meaning of words. In short, the CCSS has reclaimed a technique popular in the 1940s, close reading, or sustained interpretation of, in particular, the wording of a text."
Monday, 11 February 2013
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| Books are beautiful gifts... but you can write words to improve other's lives too. |
"No man is an island..."
These words were penned by John Donne as he thought he lay dying from the plague. Masterful words as he pondered the meaning of life and death 'for whom the bell tolls."
Truly, some of the most heart wrenching, agonizing circumstances, squeeze from the pen of great authors words full of meaning that distill rich drops of life onto the pages of history.
"Never, never, never give up."
said Winston Churchill to a people who were pondering just that. The words meant so much because the nights were, quite literally, so black, punctuated by fiery death dropped from the sky and sirens that kept sleep at bay. Who could understand a sleep deprived people with tear encrusted eyes working through the day to live to face another unfaced foe again that night?
Yet, the words became immortal when uttered at the darkest moment. They gave hope and stay written because they are repeated - this one is even on the magnet on my fridge as I teach my children to face the giants of their lives with pitiful stones and slings and a God who sees.
But as I ponder the words of so many great authors. The things written that we remember... and I wonder if all such words must be penned in some sort of prison - a prison of circumstance or solitude. If one hopes to write well, are we also wishing upon ourselves such a prison? Are the walls we erect around ourselves in order to observe the world, also separating us from the mankind upon which we ponder and reflect.
Writing is a gift and yet, there are times when I am deprived of her sweet release - stuck checking email or grading papers - I feel like my love of writing is a curse just because I can't do it. There are other times that things are so personal, that they are only suitable for journal -- indeed, that is what John Donne was writing.
Yet, his words and conclusions as he traveled through the darkest days of his life have taught me so much. He eventually concluded that one must either fear God or everything else. Such a conclusion, perhaps, could only happen from days of torment, although as one who aspires to write, I wish it wasn't so.
My own mortality raises her head at me as my body ages and small things happen... the little pop in my knee. The need to get progressive lenses and write everything down are reminders that I am at least changing in some way.
Yet, the passion I feel for my students as they walk in my room is stronger than ever. The thing is, I am also a writer too. And I feel passion for anyone who chooses to read my meager words upon the cybersphere. I am not a John Donne lifting my head to write upon a creased page as I sweat and am bled of my life's marrow by physicians ill informed and even unable to properly diagnose my malady. No GK Chesterton writing tomes of ponderings for newspapers and ready to debate and captivate audiences or Winston Churchill laying out words late into the night to secretaries who will type and return the first draft the next day as he travels to state events and insults Lady Astor. I'm no Emily Browning writing her words alone or one of the Bronte geniuses writing of love and insanity. I'm no Hemingway, getting up at 3 am to write until heading out to fish around noon - although I have to admit that his existence is one that makes me most envious. I love to fish...and write.
And yet, I realize, that the new form of writing - one which allows me to write and ponder in near real-time allows certain opportunities. While not truly a journal - surely my inner thoughts are not worthy of anyone but me and my Maker -- it is still somewhat a pondering of the current state of my life.
I write as I am living through a turmoil and lava hot level of stress that no one could truly understand as I seek to be and remain a teacher. I type as I try to balance and keep those Baskerville Hounds that seek to voraciously gobble up my positive attitude so that the marrow of my being is consumed. I scribble down thoughts I attempt to stave off the pendulum that sometimes swings overhead as I alone detect its subtle lowering of the blade upon my ability to thrive amidst the chaos.
As these struggles surround me - the network of cables tentacling through the campus like the demon beast in 20,000 leagues under the sea - or the extra curricular activities that scream into my brain like the locked up bride of Heathcliff when I'm trying to sleep. Or the precious children that I ponder daily as I plan lessons, teach, and assess and try to provide feedback that not only teaches my subject but will shape their lives.
As I work to parent the three beautiful children in my care and feed them good, healthy food. As I climb Mt. Laundry feeling as lost as the passengers in "Alive" -a book that I read as a child and made me afraid to fly over snow capped mountains. As I work to juggle an online life that would easily choke me like the tentacles of the sea that wrapped around Jonah's throat when he was thrown overboard by a crew anxious to stave off an angry God.
I watch for the threats to my peace of mind like the family in Swiss Family Robinson watched for the pirates they knew would come, and invariably, like them, those pirates come when I'm not looking.
So, while I'm not all those other masterful authors - those men and women I admire. It is easy to forget that they were flesh and blood, just like me and you, writing admist the struggles and pressures of life. They didn't always want to write, but like the prophet Jeremiah perhaps the words were "shut up like fire in my bones, I tried to hold them back but I could not." I think of Peter Marshall, the amazing Irish pastor who settled in DC, perfectly formatting sermons that would live long after him, and his grieving young widow, Catherine, who would first write "A Man Called Peter" but proceed to have a career of her own writing such novels as "Christy." I think of Philip Yancey's long struggle with God and pain and penning the book "Soul Survivor" about how he reconciled his faith in God amidst a church that falls short that has helped me with my own heartache over my childhood church's departing from the Truth.
As I ponder these great authors who have punctuated my own life with their beautiful words and prose. These people who reach through time and space like Dale Carnegie did for me as a child reading his book in the bathtub trying to figure out how to win that student government election in high school.
These authors were great because they wrote from experience and had a somewhat creative genius of seeing the world. Indeed some of them got along better with the characters in their writing than with the humans in their lives (i.e. Tolstoy).
Truthfully, my heroes have most often been speakers and authors - with a focus on the latter. From the author and finisher of my faith to the great authors of the ages - I just don't think there's enough time to read all of them. I'm so thankful that so many of the great works of the ages are converted and put on the amazon store for free so I can absorb their words as I absorb my hot bubble bath every night. Oh such mastery! Oh such beauty and such heartwrenching sadness.
This has truly been a meandering piece and one I'm not sure I'll ever publish but one I write as I grapple with my small tiny place in this scene. For writers can write, but they truly become alive when readers read. While I write nonfiction, I'm no less tenacious about the words I choose and the stories I tell. I read the manuscripts I draft for publishers and when I tire, I mark red through the page and write "boring" in the margin and rework the page.
I dream of writing and yet I write now. Even this, these are words. They are here for you to read or for you to ignore. For me, writing is a joy. As I sit here and type on my ipad and watch these letters appear upon my Blogsy app, I'm spellbound and captivated by the joy of expressing something to another person in the hopes that one person will read it.
It makes it worth it to endure the criticism of the typos and run on sentences and fragments that I intentionally allow in blog posts. This blog is a conversation of types - albeit somewhat onesided, until I get the kind comment or email - or sometimes the irate comment or email -- who do I think I am, after all - a normal, average teacher in a very small town in a very tiny school on a very large globe? Really, who am I?
It matters not who I am, but rather, what I do with what I have. My words are a love affair with other teachers who need encouragement and perhaps this post is a love affair with other writers -- anyone who writes a paragraph online in the hope that another will like, retweet, comment, or be inspired by. As for me, I live for those who send me messages that their lives are changed.
A while back a woman wrote me a note that it had been since 2011 that she had been to school without being kicked or hit or bit by her special needs students. Struggling with an unsupportive admin, she came across a blog post that I wrote one day and saw the words "All you have is enough." She wrote it in sharpie and put it on her desk -- then soon replaced it with a paraphrase of "the Lord is my shepherd..." that related to the same thought. She said it got her through November and December.
I want people to write things to help me get through February, March, April, and May this year. So, if that is what I want, that is what I'll try to be for you. You might need that encouragement too. You might need that glimmer of hope.
Writing is such a powerful medium. The pen may be mightier than the sword but enough keyboards can defeat an army. We now have the ability to escalate and elevate the great writing among us faster than ever in the history of mankind. It is a dream that we will escalate good writing, I'm not sure that it is the case, but we can dream such a dream. And right now, with the embattled educators whose hearts and minds are cast aside by a society that has lost the art of respecting educators, we need keyboards to write the encouraging words that can transform this generation.
Writing is a beautiful thing, but good writing is surreal. It lifts us from our struggles and helps us rise above the trials of life. I'm so grateful to live in an age when books are so accessible and little people like me can write and share with the world our thoughts, until, eventually, perhaps, we can become better writers worthy of a larger audience. Yet, just one improved and helped person is enough of an audience for any person. The first three months of my blog I had 7 readers, I loved those readers - they meant so much to me. I still think of them and wonder who they were.
While the authors mentioned here are truly some of the greats, it is great to be an author of any kind in any place.
Remember your noble calling, writer. I'm glad to be among you. Your words are very important and make a difference. Be the writer you want to see in the world, you live in a day where you can do that.
Written by Vicki Davis, author - Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds - Posted with Blogsy from my iPadFriday, 8 February 2013
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| We know every basketball player will miss some shots... so why do we expect others to be right all the time. And when they are wrong, how do we act? |
"You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right." Isaiah 64:5a
Do you ever read something and the unique combination of words just opens your mind to a truth?
This morning the words describing a person who "JOYFULLY does what is RIGHT" lept off the page and furrowed my brow.
Do you know people are who are doing the right thing but with totally the WRONG attitude.
They stomp their foot and say, "Well this is the right thing and I'm going to do it if it just kills me" and then proceed to be so cranky and fussy that everyone knows they are doing the RIGHT thing and perhaps it is the RIGHT thing but they do it with such a WRONG attitude that you can't stomach being around the person?
Inside comes out more than you think.
As teachers, we are surrounded with doing the right thing for kids all the time. I can put on my happy face and serve my students with joy but if inside, I'm seething and angry and fussy and cranky, it does come out. It comes out when they're looking and I'm not. It comes out when they ask me a question.
But what about those WRONG decisions that vex me?
There are things that happen that are WRONG and decisions that are made that are WRONG. But that is the thing, we humans make wrong decisions and have the right to do so. Your administration, I promise you, will make some whoppers of wrong decisions and so will you. And if you don't cut your admin slack when they mess up, you're going to be eating a very unpleasant dinner when your whopper is served up steaming hot - because eventually, if you live long enough, you will screw up too.
But to joyfully do the right thing?
But this word - JOYFULLY do what is right. Does it stick in your craw like it does for me? I just can't quite swallow that task to joyfully do what is right. Because I get angry sometimes. Some things aren't fair, aren't right, and stink to high heaven like the pile of organic fertilizer that gets the buzzards circling in my hometown. It might be the right thing for me to do to just suck it up and let the bad decision be made, but to be joyful about it? To joyfully do the right thing?
I don't have an answer for you today or quite honestly, one for me. I only accept these words as a true challenge to my soul and behavior.
If I do the RIGHT thing in a WRONG way does that make me less effective? Does it make me WRONG too?
You see them coming. The freight train. Filled with holy indignation, they are doing the right thing - don't get in their way -- they are RIGHT and they are coming THROUGH - through YOU if they have to.They are so right that you'd better not open your mouth or they will just cut your head off with a ginsu sharp word and keep on charging as the books on the bookshelves rattle and the stapler on your desk moves with the vibrating sound of the t-rex going by. They are RIGHT. Holy indignant -but right and everyone knows they are right. But God forbid, don't get stuck in a room with them. The poisonous dart of the vindictively right person will knock your attitude out faster than getting hit with a sleep inducing tribal blow gun from 10 feet.
Some of the most harmful things in a school are the right person who chooses not to forgive and goes about letting everyone know it in the WRONG way. How many times do you have to rub our faces in it? -- A person screwed up. Now that's a new one, like this person hasn't screwed up before and won't again. And you really have to remind me years later about that screw up? Do you want others to keep such records on you?
We can't minimize trying to do the right thing. But when people care more about being right than doing right, you've got a problem.
Ultimately, there is only one person in my school I have any control over at all... ME. And I can strive for and seek to "joyfully do what is right."
Lest you think this is just to teachers... if you have teenagers or tots, this applies to you. If you're RIGHT as a parent but you go about dealing with it in the WRONG way - you might as well have been wrong in the eyes of your child who sees everything and sees every attitude.
Don't just be right - do right. And do right joyfully. A lofty goal, but one worth pursing.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
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BigHugeLabs: Do fun stuff with your photos
This is a great website that lets you do fun things with your photos. In particular, I like having students create a magazine cover of themselves in 10 years inspired by their goals of today. If they keep doing what they are doing now, what things will be their genius? Great, fun website. I also use the motivator to make fun sports photos for playoff games, etc.
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When you're studying a particular subject, it makes sense to dig deeper. For example, the Civil War Trust has some excellent lesson plans on the Civil War as well as a field trip planner, glossary of civil war terms, civil war coloring book, and more. If you cover the civil war in the US, you'll want to visit this site. If you're studying anything, try searching for the word "lesson plans" in quotes along with the topic with a plus like +"civil war" and you'll be amazed at the results. Many of them align with standards from the states or National Council for Social Studies.
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Hungry History — Food & Culinary History
It is a great way to study culture and history to incorporate food into the lessons. As I've been perusing history websites to update my knowledge of what is out there, I came across hungry history on the history channel and love some of these ideas. If you're studying the UK, why not try scones? The South - fried chicken?
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THC Classroom — Study Guides — History.com
The history channel has printable study guides to go along with their content including Beowulf, Odysseus, World history, Civics, Geography, and more.
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History Content | Teachinghistory.org
A US website funded with a grant from the US government that has history content, teaching materials and best practices in history. They also review website. They also have a historian that you can ask questions to and a database of previously asked questions. In a feature I like, they have a section of the site for the digital classroom.
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My friends at Edtech teacher have a fantastic "best of history" websites. This is a must share website for history teachers where you will find many great resources.
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PopClip - Mac - English - Evernote Trunk
This very cool Mac app, Popclip, lets you highlight and send text on a page just about anywhere (including evernote.) I wish I had this for sending quotes to buffer, etc.
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10 Apps That Work Great With Evernote
I've used some of these apps like Kustomnote. I like vjournal as my daily diary that goes into Evernote. This is a nice list of apps that work well with evernote. Take a look.
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
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technology rocks. seriously.: School Signs
Teacher Sarah Thomas on Facebook got the link to these incredible free classroom posters from a "pin buddy" - if you click the link, you can download the PDF. Don't bemoan your budget is cut, get up and print and laminate your own signs!!! This site has them for just about every subject. Love it!
