Pete's Blog

2009-02-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

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Sometimes I find myself guilty of the very behavio...

2008-11-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find myself guilty of the very behaviors that drive me crazy. I'm really making a conscious effort this year to focus during meetings and NOT get too far off in the distance in my mind's wanderings. I have also been working on my attendance and arrival times. I struggle with how to work in expectations for behavior into our PDs. There was nothing quite like watching the head of PD let the teachers we were working with 'have it' when their disrespectful behavior reached a peak. At what point can I say something, call other so-called professionals out on their behavior? I almost lost it at last Friday's meeting when a group looked at me and told me that Communicator wasn't working effectively in their building. Why isn't it clear to them that I need to know, that I can get them help, that stopping like there is a herd of cows in their way is not an effective way to fix a problem in their buildings? And to admit openly that they had not followed through on something they had been told to do by a supervisor...
I struggle with us as a team being models for behavior when our own behavior (not ours as in me and you specifically but ours as a collective team) does not warrant modeling?
Interesting post!

Oh how true!!! So many people today are only conc...

2008-10-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Oh how true!!! So many people today are only concerned with themselves and feel the world revolves around them. Those are the ones that seem to show up late, want to leave early, with no regards to others. There are of course those that are there early and try to get the most of the situation. But like you said you don't really remember them, it's the ones that make a scene and show their lack of interest.

As for the way PD's are set up. I agree that the 2 hour follow-up isn't the best for those that are involved becasue it is a long day and people have no idea when they sign up if they will have things going on that partucular day. We've used that follow-up time for sharing of lesson/acivities in order to have accountability of the participants to use what they learned. Maybe we need to change the way we design the last two hours to more instruction. I do see the benefits of having the participants share because we always can learn from others but the lack of respcet during some of the presentations was rude! Many side conversations that didn't have anything to do with the presentation. That's another question to those who disregard others as they present. "Do you allow your students to have side coversations when you are teaching?"

This is going to be interesting!!!

2008-10-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is going to be interesting!!!

Pete... I have to say I admire your persistance wi...

2008-10-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

Pete... I have to say I admire your persistance with the blogging thing. I have to say, though, that it might never make sense to you. It's a different tool and might fit well for some and not for others.

One of the things I'd really like to do is explore different applications of blogging and get beyond the myth that blogs are just ramblings and comments that have no 'educational' value. I have some good examples and I hope the group will find more that we can discuss.

I am just impressed that you figured our your coho...

2008-10-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

I am just impressed that you figured our your cohort login, etc....as you can see from mine, I started all over. I can get to my blog, just can't remember the login. I am sure I can find it...just thought I would start over. I look forward to this refresher as well, and since technology has come alittle farther since the cohort, we should be able to do some things now.

Good luck tomorrow Pete! I wish I could be there ...

2007-06-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Good luck tomorrow Pete! I wish I could be there with you all. I really enjoyed working with you through this. Thanks for making it so much fun!!! Coooop!

I agree we have learned a ton and Bill has been aw...

2007-06-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

I agree we have learned a ton and Bill has been awesome. I can't imagine having completed a Master's any other way. I wish I could have been there to learn about Podcasting, but I guess I will learn soon enough with this grant I am involved in .

Best wishes next week! I will miss hearing your l...

2007-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Best wishes next week! I will miss hearing your laugh! I can't believe we are almost finished.

I liked the points you made in your advocacy podca...

2007-06-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

I liked the points you made in your advocacy podcast....your analogy about a CEO and custodian was terrific. I had never thought of that before...can I borrow it?

What we will possibly do without this pressure?

Pete, I am with you. I love trying to learn and f...

2007-06-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Pete, I am with you. I love trying to learn and figure out new technology as well and think it is great that Bill is teaching us and learning from us at the same time. We are also done with our advocacy site and it is a relief to know that all we have left for this class is online, portfolio and prepping for exit. It has been a fast journey this semester, but seems to have been easier to keep up. Maybe it is because my mindset has told me that if I don't than it would be even harder to catch up....or maybe it is just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hey, I didn't know that moviemaker was a free prog...

2007-06-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hey, I didn't know that moviemaker was a free program. I'm looking forward to the whole podcast thing, too, since I haven't really seen (or heard) much about it in education. True it may be a buzzword, but it's still just a lot of buzzing to me. Looking forward to seeing your video, btw.

We did a simple one (podcast) in the 5th grade whe...

2007-06-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

We did a simple one (podcast) in the 5th grade when we did our units. Kids got so into it. In fact they brought their ipods in and uploaded them into Itunes and placed them on the Ipods...Kids loved it.

online ... the adversary that I must overcome! Ho...

2007-06-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

online ... the adversary that I must overcome! Hopefully, now that school is out, I will be able to focus.

I have had some difficulty with my pbwiki edits... put them in, mess it up, redo... put them in, mess something up, redo... put them in SAVE, put more in SAVE... AARGH!!

I also has some uploading issues...but it was my o...

2007-06-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

I also has some uploading issues...but it was my own stupid fault, forgot to hit the refresh button, thank god for that restore history. I also hope that I can keep working strong and get finished at the same time...lots of reading though. I think with the amount of work that we are doing in class that we are going so smoothly we can't tell that time is moving. I think since everything is so focused that is perhaps why we feel so on task.

Why do you think we are much more on task now...do...

2007-06-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

Why do you think we are much more on task now...do we value our time more?

We haven't tried to upload a file...what is the trick?

Great job for plugging away on the online.

My comments are directed more toward the title of ...

2007-06-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

My comments are directed more toward the title of your blog - "Looking Back." First of all, I think it is an awsome title for one of the culminating assignments of our cohort. More importantly, though, I am reminded of a peculiar autobiographical excursion by Norman Douglas published in 1933.

Mr. Douglas kept a bowl of calling cards (akin to the modern business card), and he had a habit of jotting down a few notes about the people who came calling to his home. In his twlight years, he reassembled his life, built on the reflections contined on the back of these calling cards.

The modern blog might serve as a "calling card." In future years, wouldn't it be neat if one of us were to write our story by reflecting on blog entries?

A long way of saying I like the name of your blog!

Reading many of the blogs posted from the class ha...

2007-05-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Reading many of the blogs posted from the class has given me several ideas of how I could use blogs and wikis withe teachers. You can relate to real life by showing other examples of educational wikis and blogs. Talk about how you used them in class!

Teachers and students could use blogs to discuss books, chapters, concepts, or even their frustrations with their homework! :o) I believe that students could also create an advocacy wiki on an ethics topics in many classes-English, History, Science.

You know Pete, I have to agree with ya. Coming up...

2007-05-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

You know Pete, I have to agree with ya. Coming up with authetic problems is not something that I have been able to do very well. I think a lot of that is that we don't have practice using that when we taught, and especially now as ITRT's since we aren't in the classroom.

I'm planning on doing a blog that allows kids from grade 2 - up to contribute a booking blog, where kids can read what other kids thought on a particular book. This would allow for the creative connective type reading we read about in out book and I think could play into that "authentic" type problem. No matter what you will do fine. I was thinking about your civil war lesson you did with the 7th graders, you could have them place what they thought about what happened in world war 2 and post thoughts and reflections, might be a neat place to start. An historical time capsile.

Pete.... I can understand your frustration with th...

2007-05-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Pete.... I can understand your frustration with the blogs and wikis. The technologies are new enough that they really don't have any parallels in 'real life'. Step back from the tool for a bit and think of it as just a different medium for writing - expressing ideas, reflections, or even putting together information (like the ITSipedia).

I'm sure there are numerous ways in which collaborative or interactive writing can be 'authentic'. If you have an idea for that, the next step is easier - putting it in a blog or wiki... :)

I'm sure others who read this entry will have some ideas as well..

Bill

The advocacy topics will be neat to explore. I lo...

2007-05-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

The advocacy topics will be neat to explore. I look forward to seeing this project develop.

Graduation was a great event. I am also glad I did...

2007-05-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Graduation was a great event. I am also glad I did it. We have come really far in 18 months. Looking forward to summer and a bit of a break.

hmmm. . . it's interesting how Americans put so mu...

2007-05-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

hmmm. . . it's interesting how Americans put so much time pressure on themselves. Really, I've been in places where people really don't have that. Sure, it was frustrating when everything happened late or not at all. But you know what? Once I learned that that was how things are, I was a lot happier, and I realized that those people were a lot happier than Americans in general. They didn't have roads or telephones, but they sure seemed a lot happier in general.

Congratulations! It really can be a great motivat...

2007-05-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! It really can be a great motivator. Coop's group should consider your comment with their upcoming project about how to motivate high school students.

Nicely said! I agree 100%. I am glad we all went...

2007-05-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Nicely said! I agree 100%. I am glad we all went. It will be a fond memory!