Matt's Blog

After much technical difficulty, a week's worth to be exact. We finally have the next show down. The stupid recorded kept stopping after 4 minutes and 15 seconds. And the stupid podcasters kept talking without checking to see if it was going to screw up again, and again, and again.

No More Tag, NBC, Yellow Belts, Onward Christian Soldiers

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11/19/05

05:27:28 pm, Categories: media, kids, podcast, education

Plain View #28 11/16/05

Matt: Hell Week, Princes Bride, and some other stuff
Mare: Quiz Bowl, Teaching the Kids to Swear

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10/31/05

Student Podcasts

09:07:07 am, Categories: podcast, education

My students have finished their podcasts. They are a mixed bag. There are some obvious technical problems. But overall, I think they are a great reflection of the thoughts and personalities of my students. I think at least one group will continue to podcast (Squirrel and Dante). If nothing else, everyone in my class (except those who chose not to participate) has had some experience with working in groups; digital recording, editing and producing; sharing their work with the world; and receiving constructive criticism.

The guys at Vox Monitor were gracious enough do a special show, reviewing each of the student podcasts. The kids really enjoyed hearing this show and -- dam da dum! -- it made them think. Think about the choices they made when creating their casts, consciously and subconsciously (for some perhaps unconsciously), as well as choices they may make in future work.

I pretty much made this project up as we went, and I'm looking forward to doing it again now that I have learned from this initial go. If there are any educators out there that want more details on how I carried this out, let me know. I'd be glad to share.

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10/27/05

Pics on Flickr

09:05:59 pm, Categories: pics, kids, education

I recently put up some new picks on flicr. If you can't see the pics of my kids, let me know and I'll put on as a family or friend. (Only difference is you must be famliy to see my speedo pics.) If you can't see the pics at all, let me know and I'll try to fix the link.

You can subscribe to my flickr feed with this.

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10/16/05

Plain View #24

11:33:42 pm, Categories: media, kids, podcast, education

Plain View #24 10/12/05

http://feeds.feedburner.com/searscast

This week: Kids - cute but in trouble, Wiring the Students, Media - Comedian, T.V.

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10/07/05

Banned books week

04:10:16 pm, Categories: media, education

Inspired by Kyle, here's the list of the ALA's most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000. I like Kyle's idea of putting read books in italics and recommened books in bold. So I did that too.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (read to me by teacher)
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (can't believe I haven't read this one)
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher (read part of this to class, then stopped when parent raised stink)
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern (saw the movie, true of most of the Stephen King as well)
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford (what the heck?!)
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell (read to me by teacher - first realization that books could be subversive (4th grade))
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

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10/02/05

Class Skit on YouTube

01:31:29 pm, Categories: education

I posted to YouTube the one class skit that got recorded in my Applied Communication class.

My plan is to have the kids do one of these each quarter. Most of them turned out pretty good. I'm sure they'll get better as the year goes on.

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10/01/05

Blackhawiki

09:57:41 am, Categories: education

Here's a wiki experient I'm sharing with my students. I don't know how long it will last, as freshmen (boys) seem to have a tendency to fall back to name calling pretty quickly. Fortunately you can't punch someone through the internet yet. Anyway, if you're not familiar with wikis, or if you are, feel free to fiddle. Password is extra.

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09/15/05

Comments requested

08:04:32 pm, Categories: education

Ok. I've fixed it so you can comment on my students' blogs without the class password. Comment away.

My Classroom Blog

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09/08/05

Classroom blogging

08:49:21 pm, Categories: education

Well, my students are blogging. And I have to say I'm pretty excited about it. The kids seem to be enjoying it. I think they understand that as participants in a pilot program, the pressure is on them to blog responsibly. I'm sure we'll have to have the occasional discussion about what's appropriate for a classroom blog and what's more appropriate for a personal blog. They administration is aware of what we're doing, and a little concerned, I think. I hope their concern will lead them to follow the student's discussion and see that this is a pretty cool thing.

I have more to say about why I'm doing this and what I hope the kids will get out of it, but I'll do that another time. We're using blogmeister, a blog site designed to give teachers a bit more control (ultimate control really) over what gets published. You can check out our blogs at:

http://epnweb.org/blogmeister/blog.php?blogger_id=3533

Please look around, and if you see something the least bit though provoking, leave a comment.

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