Fun & Exciting Stuff

This is just amazing. 438 students are freshmen this year.

# Percentage of first-year applicants who applied online in 2003: 33%.
# Percentage of applicants who did last year: 89%.
# Year that an incoming Amherst College class first created a Facebook group so that they could socialize and otherwise get to know each other prior to arriving on campus: 2006.
# By the end of August 2008 the total number of members and posts at the Amherst College Class of 2012 Facebook group: 432 members and 3,225 posts.
# Students in the class of 2012 who registered computers, IPhones, game consoles, etc. on the campus network by the end of the day on August 24th, the day they moved into their dorm rooms: 370 students registered 443 devices.
# Number of students in the class of 2012 who brought desktop computers to campus: 14.
# Number that brought iPhones/iTouches: 93.

And I am running dittos and using a textbook. Sheesh. I have never felt like an old lady driving a 1970 Pinto in the slow lane of the 6 lane super highway. Teaching is passing us by.

This is a great post, kinda long, but right on the money.

I am going to attempt to give you principles (not how to prescriptive steps) by which to guide your why approach to managing the needed changes in your schools and school systems.

Wednesday, I hear a high pitched machine-like noise in my homeroom.

“You can hear that Mr. Potter???”

Yes, Yes, I can hear that.

“Oh, I guess we can’t use it in here then.”

Apparently, this new ringtone finally came to Gananda. Notice the date on the article. We are a little behind here.

If only they put this much effort into schoolwork.

I think this post is very important to educators.

I am on a committee that deals with 21st Century learning skills. We have a plan in which the students are going to visit other local schools that have advanced farther than us down the 21st century learning skills path. We have (finally) come to the conclusion that we can only go to 3 local schools. The main problem at this juncture is transportation. We are coming to the end of the school year and the $ is not there for us to get 2 buses and go all over the county.

Now, I am thinking that since we are teaching 21CLS, there has to be a technological way to overcome this obstacle. Maybe a face-to-face with admin./teachers/students from other schools is the”old way” of doing things and since we are trying to practice what we preach, there might be a better way to do it. I brought up the dreaded Facebook/MySpace combo as a way to overcome this, but it was immediately shot down. YouTube is blocked by BESS. TeacherTube is blocked by BESS. Most wikis are blocked by BESS. Most blogs are blocked by BESS. Yes, we can unblock the filter, but we are trying to teach 21CLS, using 20th Century technology.

And we aren’t even on to some of the more complicated issues yet.

I have created a Twitter account. It was one of those “Everybody’s doing it” – moments. Please feel free to add me (id: mrpotter) and we can Twit @ each other like 2 Twit-wits. See, I made a funny.

I am very interested in using Sid Meier’s Civ III with my global studies class, especially in the Early Man units. I think it would be great for demonstrating what it is like to found a civilization and the challenges faced by early people. We will have to see what happens.

As the summer is, I’ll say 60% over, I have been thinking about what students will need as they start the school year. Typically parents go out and get pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. I am thinking about adding a flash drive to my list for the kids. Especially since they can’t use email or a burner. Any big project can’t go from home to school and back unless it is in a flash drive. Changing times I guess.

I still have floppys floating around in the bottom of my bag. One PowerPoint project and they are full.

BTW: Target is in full “back-to-school” swing and has been for a week at least. Don’t these people realize summer vacation lasts another month???