Weekly Tech Tips: Citizen Journalism

Weekly Tech Tip:


related links:

• The Fix is In: Social Mobilization and School Reform (Wiki still under heavy construction)
• Qik
• Posrerous
• iPadio

Video Festival:

• Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

• IDEO Global Chain Reaction from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.

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• TEDxNYED
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Link Stew:

• When test scores seem too good to believe
• (USAToday)
• In Fight for Space, Educator Takes On Charter Chain (NYTimes)
• 'Value-added' teacher evaluations: L.A. Unified tackles a tough formula (LATimes)
• Collective bargaining law published despite restraining order (Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)
• Losing Our Way (NYTimes)
• Members stage “grade-in” at Deptford Mall (New Jersey Education Association)
• 5 myths about teachers that are distracting policymakers (Washington Post)
  
• Research supports style of learning (Adelaide Now)
• Something to Fight For by Deborah Meier (Education Week)
• Resourcing the PYP, MYP, & DP
• Virtual School Symposium 2011 Request for Proposals Now Open
• Arts and physical education in schools: Necessities or extras? (Sun Sentinel)
  

Blog Carnival:

• I’ve created a LinkedIn profile…. Now what? by Mary Huston on Lexical Linguist: I'm just geeky that way!
• Are We Ready to Stop Labeling Ourselves Digital Immigrants? by Pam Moran on A Space for Learning
• Why build a PLN by Kevin Honeycutt on What a PLN is...
• Am I Making Any Sense? by Gary Stager on Stager-to-Go
• ACE and Pearson Collaborate to Transform GED Test, Aligned with Common Core State Standards, Based on GED 21st Century Initiative by Susan Ohanian on Susan Ohanian .Org
• Student revolts about Standardized Exam by Kathryn Coffey on Real Teaching Means Real Learning
• Ugh. Classic Politics Now Extends to Social Networking in Education. by Steve Hargadon on Steve Hargadon
• Compare and contrast: using computers to improve math education by Sylvia Martinez on Generation YES Blog
• The illusion of standardization by Joe Bower on Cooperative Catalyst
• Education is life: a call for more fabulous failures by Kelly Tenkely on Dreams of Education
• Constructing Empathy by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange
  

Retweetable Tweets:

Don't be fooled. GOP had this planned for yrs. Swell deficits w/tax cuts then cry poverty. #WI, #FL, #OH, #MI. We are under attack friends.less than a minute ago via Twitter for AndroidBrian Mancuso
brianmancusoNYC

"To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." ~Thoreauless than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlSean Nash
nashworld

73% of 12- to 17-year olds have at least 1 social networking profile (Pew, 2010). The other 27% LIEDless than a minute ago via TweetDeckGina Schreck
Ginaschreck

#EpicLibyanMan walking into the sunset with his guitar...... and rocket launcher #libya #feb17 http://yfrog.com/h0x47gkjless than a minute ago via TweetDeckIbn Omar
IbnOmar2005

You are indeed fortunate if you're teaching in a school where computers are available for teaching and learning - use them! #ictschootipless than a minute ago via webKobus
Kobusvanwyk

Uninstalling dictator in progress ... ███████████████████████████ 99% complete #Egypt #Libya #Mubarak #Gaddafi #jan25 #feb17 #p2 #sgp #tlotless than a minute ago via websunshineejc
sunshineejc

. @CBrannon Tell the kids that there is a mean old guy grading the tests who is trying to trick them. Your scores should go up appreciably.less than a minute ago via webGary Stager, Ph.D.
garystager

When things get bad, shut down mobile networks & social media. When they get really bad, shut down the internet. #ArabTyrantManualless than a minute ago via webIyad El-Baghdadi
iyad_elbaghdadi

"Minnesota’s kids deserve better." Read Education Commissioner Cassellius' testimony on House GOP education bill at http://bit.ly/en1Xvvless than a minute ago via webCharlene Briner
CharBriner

For those of you new to following me and/or Libya, there's often a grain of truth in rumors. But sometimes they're just bunk. Be skeptical.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckAndy Carvin
acarvin

Testing industry is lobbying now to retain all the testing provisions of NCLB. That's their cash cow. Obama is going along.less than a minute ago via webDiane Ravitch
DianeRavitch

#lol Actual question from a new user: "How do I overthrow a dictatorship with this thing?" /via @tsudoless than a minute ago via HootSuiteTweetSmarter
TweetSmarter

I loathe education's past & dread its future. This is unhealthy. I'm working through it.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneJerrid Kruse
jerridkruse

Rhee: "I worry about people going into the job with longevity as one of the goals. I’m not a big believer in longevity."less than a minute ago via webDan Meyer
ddmeyer

. @radicalgeek You need to look at the trends & how K.A. is discussed along with "School of One" and "Carpe Diem." All bad ideas.less than a minute ago via webGary Stager, Ph.D.
garystager

"We agree that all children need to succeed; but do we mean the same thing?" John Holt #edchatless than a minute ago via TweetDeckdavidwees
davidwees

Jonathan Kosol: Shame of the Nation #edreform #edchat

After finishing Jonathan Kozol's (1972) Free Schools last night I decided to search for him on YouTube and came across this incredible speech he gave in 2005. If you have never seen this you really owe it to yourself to watch the full hour and a half. This is definitely one of the best speeches I have seen or heard in the past ten years regarding education reform, NCLB, social justice, or racial integration, near the top of the list in each category.

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 14

Court Suits: Vouchers: Legsl Strategies: Suing the System for a Child's Life

"It is, however, an irrefutable, if agonizing, fact that poor kids in this nation have been technically retarded in... http://tl.gd/9dm7soless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"School doesn't deliver what it promises and advertises, and does deliver something poisonous and vicious that it n... http://tl.gd/9dma4cless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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When I finished reading this last night I started to wonder what Kozol's position was on the current debacle we are in regarding school reform. What were his views on charter schools? What were his views on Waiting for Superman? What were his views on the mess in Wisconsin? I found part of my answer in this quote of his I found on the blog Intelligent Discontent:

"It’s easy to create a hundred islands of short-term salvation for children of knowledgable families – those parents that knew how to get their kids into charter school lotteries for the few spaces available. But the hard thing is educating all the children in the neighborhood.
When I visited KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Academy in the Bronx, they put on quite a nice show, but I never knew a South Bronx school with so many students with nice prescription glasses and nice Lands End backpacks."

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 13

Warehouse Bookstore: Rehab Housing: Franchise Operations

"Every dollar, every dime and every penny in an unjust nation is, in some fashion, 'impure' or 'contaminated' or 'i... http://tl.gd/9dlvealess than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Every dollar, every dime and every penny in an unjust nation is, in some fashion, 'impure' or 'contaminated' or 'immoral.' The question is whether the Free School keeps on begging for the proceeds of injustice or whether it learns the way to earn those proceeds of injustice or whether it learns the way to earn those proceeds on its own and in its own terms." Kozol

I wonder how many Free Schools managed, or still manage, to be self-sustaining? Is this possible? Would politicians decry conflict of interest? It's hard enough to start a business that sustains one family, let alone a whole school. And, if students are employed to work in that business won't it come under attack for violating child labor laws? In the meantime it is perfectly OK for schools to funnel money to testing and publishing companies or to send kids door to door selling magazines or grossly inflated tins of peanut brittle and wrapping paper so that their club or activity can continue to be allowed to meet in the public school. Usually when a student brings me one of those pamphlets full of over-priced "goodies" and asks me if I would like to buy some crap to support their program I ask them how much of my money will go to their club. They usually don't know. I always tell them to go find out and come back and that I will donate the money of mine they would have received. They never come back but I still refuse to contribute to this form of exploitation.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 12

Research and Exploitation: Living Off the Surplus of the Universities

"It is very difficult, often impossible, to raise the money to feed people who are starving. It is much, much easie... http://tl.gd/9dlgo7less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"It got so that they could make two hundred dollars in a day retailing stories they had learned by listening to the... http://tl.gd/9dli1jless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The basic rule of thumb for oppressed peoples, in a time of social revolution, is not to go out into the hills and... http://tl.gd/9dllhrless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"It is not difficult from this to gain the powerful impression that the true purpose of research is not to determin... http://tl.gd/9dlr6hless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I often worry if this is really what my current position is all about:

"It is not difficult from this to gain the powerful impression that the true purpose of research is not to determine the proper steps that must be taken in order to go about a realistic plan of action but rather to keep a number of intelligent people occupied for a reasonable period of time with a plausible sense of honorable intention and, at the same time, to maintain them with a reasonable income." Kozol

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 11

Solicitation by Direct Mail: Contradictions, Ironies, Illusions

"In the long run, however, the real question that we have to face is not so much how many decent and agreeable men ... http://tl.gd/9d48u2less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Follow the money:

"In the long run, however, the real question that we have to face is not so much how many decent and agreeable men we can enlist as intermediaries, but it is: who controls the money?" Kozol

"The announcement of immediate extinction is often an excellent way to raise ten thousand dollars." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 10

Funding Strategies: Small Foundations: Middle-Sized Foundations: Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie

"The difficult task is not so much to get the names of the right places and the right foundations; rather, it is to... http://tl.gd/9d3mddless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Extremely good advice:

"The difficult task is not so much to get the names of the right places and the right foundations; rather, it is to break down those remarkable walls composed of ice-cold secretarial decisions, unanswered phone calls and incredible outer-office waiting areas that seem to stand on every side around the man who has the power to dispense the cash." Kozol

"I find that people who have been poor their whole lives waste less time than overbred Harvard men in getting to the point." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The Free School is established as our answer to an unjust order; yet the money which infuses small foundations, fa... http://tl.gd/9d41h5less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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This is such an important passage from this book. Perhaps the best and most relevant definition of the systemic problem we face:

"The Free School is established as our answer to an unjust order; yet the money which infuses small foundations, family charitable trusts, and Ford and Carnegie alike, is in itself one portion of that order, and the charitable trusts and the benevolent foundations in themselves constitute one elemental item in its superstructure. Large numbers of the executives in both large and middle-sized foundations take, as it were, an interchangeable series of positions: this year with Ford, last year with OEO, next year with the CIA...or back to Princeton...It does not require the reading of a left-wing radical polemic, nor even a particularly harsh and strident ideological position to look at the printed list along the masthead of the large or middle-sized foundation and to recognize there the names of just those men who plan our wars, control our armies, advise our presidents, govern our banks, hire our police and lay down the invisible demarcations of our ghettos. To ignore this point, and to assume that we are dealing, in the middle-sized and large foundations, with the antithesis of government and with the well-groomed representatives of the cheated and poor, to assume that next year's Ford Foundation will be different from this year's CIA or last year's OEO is to exist in dreamland." Kozol

@irasocol @DianeRavitch What are your thoughts on this from Jonathan Kozol (1972) ? Http://tl.gd/9d41h5less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj I'd say he nails the ways power perverts the idea of charitable "good works" perfectlyless than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlIra Socol
irasocol

@irasocol I thought you'd appreciate that.less than a minute ago via Mobile Webanderscj
anderscj

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 9

Definition of Survival

"There is a kind of revolutionary courage, I believe, in fighting for a new world and still helping men to live wit... http://tl.gd/9chd03less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Jonathan Kozol's Free Schools is intense.less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@anderscj Indeed... placing an order for it on interlibrary loan as we tweet :)less than a minute ago via webRon Amundson
mnphysicist

Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 8

Teachers Who Are Not Afraid to Teach

"young children in these situations need strong models in effective, bold, risk-taking, conscientious and consistent adults." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Is this me? I hope not.

"Sometimes it seems that God has punished the Free Schools for attempting to steal fire from the Heavens by making ... http://tl.gd/9ch1mtless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"We would rather have the courage of our errors than the kind of devastation forced upon us by your intellectual wisdom." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1972) Free Schools - Chapter 7

Permanent Struggle: Location: Life-Style: Confrontation

"Free Schools cannot function as life-giving and impassioned organizations if they do not have the means or will to... http://tl.gd/9cfmbnless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

That is a somewhat depressing thought.

"The taste of revolution, the breath of promise it brings to our troubled lives, confirms the sense of desperation ... http://tl.gd/9cfp5qless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

"How can the Free School achieve, at one and the same time, a sane, on-going, down-to-earth, skill-oriented, sequen... http://tl.gd/9cft21less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

@anderscj the civilized aspects will occur organically if enough time is granted, perhaps that is a big part of todays probs?less than a minute ago via webRon Amundson
mnphysicist

@mnphysicist yeah, not much patience anymoreless than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
anderscj

"If, on the one hand, the hang-loose hippie dialect represents a jargon of centrifugal release from sanity and hone... http://tl.gd/9cfv2mless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The ideal location for a Free School born of the frustrations and the discontents of ten years' struggle to transf... http://tl.gd/9cg1bvless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
anderscj

This quote has been ringing in my ear for the last few days. Lets repeat it:

"The ideal location for a Free School born of the frustrations and the discontents of ten years' struggle to transform or liberate the public school is not across the city but across the street from that old, hated, but still-standing and still-murderous construction." Kozol

"The farther the distance from the place of pain, the less the reason to remember the oppressor's eyes or to be cog... http://tl.gd/9cg30uless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Most public schools, and a large number of the Free Schools too, nourish an atmosphere which is devoid of almost a... http://tl.gd/9cg8tcless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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So true:

"Most public schools, and a large number of the Free Schools too, nourish an atmosphere which is devoid of almost all true, credible experience and in which only arduous simulations of real processes take place. The ultimate paradox to which such gruesome institutions finally arrive is the introduction of that paradigm vehicle of school-delineated alienation: 'the simulation game.' We close the windows, pull down the blinds, ventilate the air, deflect the light, absorb the sound, regattas the heart and neutralize the soul; and then we bring in 'simulation games' to try to imitate the world we have, with great care and at such consummate expense, excluded." Kozol

"When we forget the enemy's name, we turn our guns upon each other." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"It seems to me of great importance that we do not forget how to get very, very mad, and at which people." Kozolless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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