TLC Bloggers: June 2006

Friday, June 30, 2006

MUSE - What's behind that door?

Don't open that door ...

Quick - set yourself 3 minutes and just speed write ... what could be behind that door?

Muse - Sand inside a water droplet

Sand inside a water droplet

WOW! What a picture ... it looks as if there is a 'mini' world inside this brilliant photo. A great muse for your speed writing ...

MUSE - Dirt Lane

DIRT LANE

You all are familiar with speed writing and 'muses' - here is a catalyst for some speedy writing.

What can you come up with?

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Progress with Computers?

Enlargen cartoon by clicking image

Do you agree or disagree with the cartoonist's opinion? Why?

The Influence of X-BOX

Click on this image to enlarge - so it's easier to read

What do you think the point is that the Cartoonist is trying to make?

Do you agree or disagree with his point of view?

One of my students recently told me about how she had e-mailed her Christmas thank you notes by using a fill-in-the-blank form. She was very proud of how fast she took care of the job. The value of a personal message seemed to be lost on her.

What worries me is the way language-dependent activities that help us form a community have disappeared or changed because of technology.

I see the effects all the time in my classroom. More and more students have trouble with traditional classroom activities that require listening and interacting with others. For some students, video games and online companions have replaced family, classmates, and friends.

A few years ago, it was easy to read a book to calm a class down or to inspire a discussion. I can still do that, but it’s so much harder. When I talk or demonstrate a task, I feel like a screen image. They can look and listen or not, as they please. They watch me teach or read as if they’re watching television or a computer screen.

Technology is also changing how students do their work. Research means cutting and pasting factoids from different sources, usually the internet. I think students are having a hard time assembling their own ideas. Volume and rapid recall are everything. Reflection and evaluation take too much time.

Many of the problems existed before computers. For the most part, they result from confining students to one room for most of the day, and from the ordinary growing pains we all encounter.

But today, these same problems tend to be more plentiful and more serious.

Do you think computers pose a problem with the way we communicate with each other?

Women for president?

Can a Woman be a Successful President?

Given the recent success of the TV series "Commander in Chief", there have been many discussions on whether women make better presidents. One such comment reads:

"It is my opinion that women can be successful presidents. Mrs. Clinton could have been as successful as Mr. Clinton. Good president qualities can be found in men and women. Just because there has never been a women president in the past doesn't mean there can't be a women president.

A good president needs to be drug free, make good choices, keep promises, follow the laws, and do other good things to help the world. Women have all these qualities. Some women might make a better president than some men. Women can cooperate with the government just like men. India, Pakistan, Britain and Israel have had successful women leaders.

When people vote, they should look at the good qualities that make a successful president and leadership ability not history or gender".

What are your thoughts on this issue?