The Caffeinated Carbivore

The French have quite a few odd rules, as Matthew Fraser points out, but this one strikes us Social Media bandits to the core: Not being able to say Facebook or Twitter on air?! The social media hold a great deal of power in today's society: 1. Political power, as evidenced by the Obama campaign and the rallies in Egypt 2. Social power (how many couples meet or maintain relationships online?!) 3. Educational power (interactive lessons, teacher immediacy...studies show that students may even learn better with social media. How many times has Google gotten you over that brainfart, "Who was the director of that movie...gosh I can't remember...this is going to keep me up tonight...better just Google it."). The evidence is in our culture. Language serves those who use it, and social media have certaintly taken the driver's seat in creating new turns of phrase like "I'd "Like" that","Tweet this" or "Facebook me". An even stron...

What place do politicians have on Twitter? The primary one (pun intended haha). We've heard a lot of complaints about the costs of campaigns, specifically where the politicians are getting their money from. A politician likes social media for two reasons: 1. It's cheap 2. With the help of your Facebook fan list, Facebook offers a highly targeted ad to a highly targeted audience. Recent research shows that Facebook users may become resentful of the presence of big business on Facebook. The degree to which a politician is considered a big business or a representative thereof has yet to be seen. However, the study did find that young users in particular were open to brands which they felt represented themselves. The takeaway? A politician's ad on Facebook is more likely to be accepted by young users if they seem to be "one of the in crowd"...aka youthful, earthy, and not corporately oriented. A great example of politics, via social media is Comedy Central...

In the past year, a great deal of media attention has been devoted to the increasing cost of education. College education costs more now than ever, and so do text books. Recently, however, media focus has moved to basic education: failing schools, low test scores, and firing teachers. While the NCLB debate falls to the wayside, we begin to focus on fixing the schools themselves: teachers, bullies , and school security. Is Obama's Educate to Innovate a big deal? This blog talks a lot about how to make lesson plans more interesting or teaching tools. This entry is going to be devoted to the students. John Stewart and Steve Colbert focus on National News. It's no surprise that they too have turned their attention to schools. This week, The Colebert Report interviewed the director of "Waiting for Superman", a documentary about our education system, and the few who have access to its good side. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Davis Guggenheim www.col...

Tony Danza is an English teacher?! Beginning October 1st on A&E, you can watch Tony take on English repertoire. Catch the preview here . Teachers have been role models and heroes, but celebrities? Let's chat. 1.What impact do you think having a celebrity will have on the students' learning outcomes? 2. How will having Danza as a teacher impact students' perceptions of teachers? 3. Will students interact differently with teachers after having Danza in the classroom? 4. Will celebrity appearance in the classroom upgrade teacher status, or add an unwanted/unprofessional element of sensationalism?

The "No Child Left Behind" issue has a lot of teachers raving. I too feel that standardized testing leads to trouble, both for teachers and students. A VERY brief list: Teachers: 1. Teaching to the Test restricts creative lesson plans 2. Standardized teacher reviews neglect teachers' connection with students (arguably more influential on student mental health than getting A's) in favor of ability to cram facts into students' heads ( teaching vs educating ). Students: 1. Loss of connection with teacher 2. Those in low income areas seem to be getting the short end of the stick...again. -students in low income schools rarely see change. If teachers truly want to make an argument against Standardized Testing (aka breaking from the status quo of "intelligence" marks) then we're going to need a few good arguments. Most of all, we have to watch our fallacies. Suggesting that the testing structure or disciplinary schools leads underachievers to jail...

I talk a lot about where I hope to see #EdTech end up...but what about where it started? As any good history student knows, you gotta study the past to understand why you're at the present moment. This slide show by Mr. Farber's Room explains: A Brief History of Educational Technology View more presentations from randommind . Another important note about technology and teaching is re-appropriation. I love social media and see an excellent source of educational value (lesson plans, teaching tools for students at home, etc) in Twitter and Blogs . Twitter and blogs already exist, so encourage their use in education. Once we have a few solid lesson plans , then maybe even cel phones (though I'm not convinced they can be "mobile education tools" just yet). Another great example is Skype. I used Skype to maintain a long distance relationship while studying in Greece. Why not use it for distance learning, or even linking to another class for intercultural stud...

Despite my recent blog entry about Cyber Bullying , there is still so much more to say about the topic. As we educate our students on the benefits of social media, we should also alert them to the dangers. There are various approaches to cel phones in schools . As Wes points out , labeling is an important part of image. If the phone is to be used for education, it is called a "mobile learning device" to emphasize its educational importance. However, students, parents, and teachers should be aware of the technology's dark side. As exemplified in the case of the cel phone's educational name, "mobile learning device", parents should be aware of the differences between "bullies" and "Cyber bullies". The many phases of bullying. 1.Olden days: Size: large, often older or taller than the average kid. Skills: Cruel nicknames, stealing lunch money, extreme snowball accuracy. 2. New Wave Size: varied Skills: everything nice, note encoding 3. Cyb...

I first started using a PLN, or Personal Learning network, this summer. I began a google bookmark list to compile great suggestions or online gadgets that I could use in my classroom. I've even joined the movement to re-appropriate social media for education, turning my Twitter account into a space for sharing and discussing educational technology, aka #edtech. Social media has come a long way these past few years. "Media culture" was once theorized to make national boundaries permeable; now it reinforces them . The need for educational technology is clear: our students are entering a more technologically advanced society which demands their interaction. More pressing still is the learning styles students adopt from their new media teachers, such as multitasking and visual presentation methods. We need to teach them to use these tools, but more importantly, the skills needed to read and discern their meanings. The media has a plethora of persuasive methods at ...

Lots of academics (those who study the pedagogy and those who dish it out) agree that the space in which one is taught has a lot to do with how one learns. Thus, our classrooms are smeared with positive reinforcement posters, charts, time lines... The Danes have a new idea: get rid of classrooms all together. This isn't a necessarily new idea; online classrooms exist without walls, other than those of your house. However, this would be a college where students go to their own space to learn. This could be a desk by the window or your favorite bean bag chair. To replace the educational posters, this college is designed with architectural flow to encourage students to work together. Shaw has done many studies of space and how it is utilized in communication. The basic idea is that groups need a physical place to reify their existence (remember how everyone seemed to claim lunch tables, and even though there was no assigned seating you almost always sat in the same place?). Th...

In the past bullies have been easy to spot on the playground. They even had catch phrases Now, bullies have left the playground and moved online, making them harder to catch. With the help of online anonymity, things like " Juicy Campus " have given bullies new power: now they can trash you at home. After the death of Phoebe Prince , a student who killed herself because of bullies, bullying has been getting a lot of media and academic attention. Now that bullies are using the internet and cel phones to carry out their harassment, bullies can be charged with stalking and criminal harassment. Schools have responded as well. A teacher was suspended after asking students to list who was bullying them, in hopes that the list would encourage students to ostracize the bully. In the end, the list turned regular students on the bully-reversing who the bully is does not solve the problem. As school begins this fall, cyber bullying is among the teacher training catalog. At Illino...

Do you know this man? This is Steven Slater , the man who has 28,000 fans on facebook for...quitting his job. Though his flight exit was a bit theatrical, his plight was far from abnormal. Contrary to popular belief, Steven is not suffering from a breakdown-he's dealing with a part of his industry that many fellow airline employees are familiar with: Emotional Labor . As teachers, we have equal amounts of academic and emotional labor. We have to physically and mentally instruct through our personalities-but which personalities? We are familiar with our many faces (the "parent" the "co-worker" and yes, the "teacher"). It's tough to always be friendly and attentive when our students are being anything but. So should we pull the emergency hatch? No way. Be aware of the tasks you're performing-grading papers can be easier than keeping a smile on your face sometimes.

We're educators, not just teachers. We want students to learn how to, well, learn! We won't always be there to remind them of the state capitals, but we can teach them good memorization tips that will help them in the future. A great way to give constant access to knowledge is by building a class blog. This is an environmentally friendly, "I lost it" proof way of preserving class discussions and links for future use. A lot of us are teachers because we like learning. So get educated! Create your own PLN. That means two way communication-comment on others' blogs or tweet your heart out! Our teaching community is passionate about, well, teaching! The Edublogger is a great place to teach yourself how to use new gadgets. My google list is always growing because of the insight other teachers have shared. Create one yourself-organize your knowledge then share it! Create a feasible goal with your students in mind. How will tech benefit them? Which is mo...

Summer reading lists aren't just for students ... This is what I've been reading this summer I wrote a review on this one, too.

The population of Facebook is larger than the total inhabitants of the United States , and has been for a while now. What does that mean for teachers? Facebook has become a large part of our students (and our own) lives. This means, if we friend our students or have a public profile, we should keep our page professional. In addition, it is important to remind our students that "public speaking" doesn't just happen in face-to-face communication . Encourage your students to consider what creates their "self"-both online and in person. 1. Ask them to check their sense of self comes from- how much comes from the media ? 2. Talk to them about who their friends are in person, versus their Facebook friends .

Max and Mary is a 2009 stop animation story from Australia. This is no Christmas Clay-mation special though; these characters deal with asylums, broken hearts, and substance abuse (one chocolate, one sherry). With the help of lightheartedness that we grant animation, these characters deal with serious issues through humor, letters, and a distinct sense of humanity. The reason I like this story for class so much is that it's a great example of show AND tell. For artists, it's show : the use of color (brown for Mary, grey for Max...where do students see red used?). For writers , of course, it's tell: how does Max speak? What details does he pay attention to, and how does this shape his character (to be fair, his dialogue is characterized by his disorder...does his disorder make his character, though?). The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time is another great example of an autistic character-seeing the world through a different set of eyes is very enlightenin...