I decided to take the weekend off Twitter to hang out with the wife and get caught up on some work. I hope nobody felt left out during this long weekend. Now, I did not completely unplug. I stil checked the stream from time to time and was still connected to my email. I thought about the complete unplug, but with #edcampDetroit starting and various other ventures starting, I needed to stay connected to email at the minimum. I also have my grad classes to think about as well (see previous post). I wasn't sure what was going to happen over the weekend, but I wasn't really shocked by the end result.
Nothing happened. Essentially, the Twitterverse kept going and the Internet, as far as I can tell, did not collapse. There were times when I wanted to bounce some ideas of friends, but I waited and thought on them some more. It really forced me to go back to the way things were a little over a year ago when I was not connected to a PLN. That was a lonely time. I love having people to share my ideas with outside of my house. I'm sure my wonderful wife loves hearing about all of my tech and teacher related ideas, but the need for more than one sounding board becomes apparent after a day.
I know others have done similar experiments and have had similar experiences. I think it is good for me to unplug from time to time to really focus on my work. The one thing Twitter can do is get me thinking about other projects I would love to start even though I have a few in the works already. The biggest downside of unplugging from Twitter is missing all of @tgwynn's jokes. Bear Down buddy!
When was the last time you unplugged from Twitter?
Showing posts with label CMU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CMU. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Great Textbook Debate
This year, I volunteered to look at some new textbooks for our Freshmen English classes. Our current text is about 20 years old and we were thinking about an upgrade to newer texts that are geared specifically toward the current state standards. The rationale at the time was that these new texts will make it easier to be aligned with the new state standards and we will not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes curriculum review time. After using one book for the first semester, I have already made up my mind and have a recommendation. No Textbooks at all.
This might seem shocking to some of you reading this. You might say, "Nick, you teach English. How the heck do you teach English without a textbook?" That is a wonderful question. I would teach it the same way I taught this semester. The only only time students used a textbook in the first semester was during the short story unit. After reviewing the stories covered, many of them are available for free on the internet. For three weeks, students read from the text and answered questions I created on the class blog or discussion board. Students did not answer any of the questions from the text. These books were better suited a 15 pound paper weights.
The rest of the semester was spent reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Black Boy and Of Mice and Men. Second semester is going to focus on a research paper, Romeo and Juliet and a poetry unit. The poetry unit is where is the other demo textbook will come in. However, looking at the poems that are going to be used (Shakespeare, Dickinson, Frost, etc), most of those are available free on the internet. That is all the textbook is going to be used for the entire second semester.
For around 6 to 7 weeks of an entire school year, I use a textbook. As many of use know, textbooks are not cheap. For an entire school district, it looks like we would need to be around 1,000 books. That price, including all of the extra workbooks, lesson plans, etc. is going to cost a fortune. I can not in good conscience suggest we purchase new textbooks. The money that would be spent on new texts could be diverted to other purchases that would have greater uses in the classroom.
Later this week, I will explain what I would like to see happen with the textbook money.
This might seem shocking to some of you reading this. You might say, "Nick, you teach English. How the heck do you teach English without a textbook?" That is a wonderful question. I would teach it the same way I taught this semester. The only only time students used a textbook in the first semester was during the short story unit. After reviewing the stories covered, many of them are available for free on the internet. For three weeks, students read from the text and answered questions I created on the class blog or discussion board. Students did not answer any of the questions from the text. These books were better suited a 15 pound paper weights.
The rest of the semester was spent reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Black Boy and Of Mice and Men. Second semester is going to focus on a research paper, Romeo and Juliet and a poetry unit. The poetry unit is where is the other demo textbook will come in. However, looking at the poems that are going to be used (Shakespeare, Dickinson, Frost, etc), most of those are available free on the internet. That is all the textbook is going to be used for the entire second semester.
For around 6 to 7 weeks of an entire school year, I use a textbook. As many of use know, textbooks are not cheap. For an entire school district, it looks like we would need to be around 1,000 books. That price, including all of the extra workbooks, lesson plans, etc. is going to cost a fortune. I can not in good conscience suggest we purchase new textbooks. The money that would be spent on new texts could be diverted to other purchases that would have greater uses in the classroom.
Later this week, I will explain what I would like to see happen with the textbook money.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Grad Class Blog Posts
As part of my current grad class, I need to post at least three time a week and comment on the blogs of the other students in the class. I love the idea of commenting on other blogs. Kelly started the Blogging Alliance to encourage communication and commentary. It helped grow my blog and I think it will help these new teachers who are starting out in the blogging world.
I do have a problem with the three times a week requirement. Blogging is not about quantity, it is about quality. I would love to provide everyone an insightful remark three times a week, but sometimes there just anything to write about. I feel what will happen is bad and uninspired writing. There are tons of great articles I can read and write about, but when I feel forced to write, I have a hard time writing.
I want to apologize in advance for any posts that do not have the same feeling as my others. I will try to provide the same spark as I usually do, but we will have to wait and see.
I do have a problem with the three times a week requirement. Blogging is not about quantity, it is about quality. I would love to provide everyone an insightful remark three times a week, but sometimes there just anything to write about. I feel what will happen is bad and uninspired writing. There are tons of great articles I can read and write about, but when I feel forced to write, I have a hard time writing.
I want to apologize in advance for any posts that do not have the same feeling as my others. I will try to provide the same spark as I usually do, but we will have to wait and see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)