How Would You Like to Work Here

Earlier today I was listening to a podcast featuring Howard Gardner. In it he referenced one of today's leading intellectuals, Noam Chomsky. That got me searching around iTunes and the internet for information and podcasts or lecture by Mr. Chomsky.

While searching for information, I learned that Chomsky is a professor at MIT and he works in what is known as the Ray and Maria Stata Building. Otherwsie known as Building 32.

How would you like to show up every day to work in this building?

How couldn't you be inspired to do incredible things working here?

Here is better view of the Stata Center.

Wouldn't it be great if LHS - after its facelift over the next couple of years - turned out like this?

It Pays to Be Nice

Now, why didn't I discover this last spring for my honor speech? This was a key component of my advice for the seniors.

Source: blog.guykawasaki.com via Darcy on Pinterest

12 Most Useful Ways Kids Can Learn With Cell Phones

My principal sent me this link today.

I'm actually surprised that I already use several of these in class.

1. Use Flickr to capture pictures.
2. Use Wetxt for sending group text messages. This looks interesting. I just use a contact folder that I create on my phone to send out group texts, but this has other advantages that look pretty cool.
3. Capture oral assignments with Google Voice. I haven't used this, but it looks promising. I want to have students do a cell phone tour (students could create one narrating Maycomb from To Kill a Mockingbird, or use it to chronicle the efficiency of the slaughter house in The Jungle, for example).
4. ChaCha. It seems that I've heard of this before. But it's a service that offers answers and advice to students. Kind of like their very own life line.
5. Google SMS. This allows students to use SMS to access content via Google. Almost sounds too good to be true. Maybe it is.
6. Twitter. We already use this to communicate and share ideas. Next semester, we will hold Twitter discussions via hashtags. Can't wait.
7. TextNovel. This looks interesting too. It's a way for students to get feedback on their writing.
8. Wiffiti. This site allows students to text a code to a website and their messages will pop up on a screen the teacher creates. I was all over this when I first discovered it, but I now find WallWisher far superior, even though only students with Androids or iPhones can access it via their cell phones.
9. iPadio. Similar to Google Voice. This allows students to call in and record oral reports.
10. Voki. This gives students another way to communicate via their cell phones by creating an avatar that talks with their voice.
11. Poll Everywhere. Another great way to get students to share their ideas. This one works great and it engages students well. You can have them leave responses via multiple choice or short answer.
12. Use other basic features on your phone. I love using Dropbox, Pandora, iheartradio, and my email service on my phone.

Isn't it a great time to be a teacher? And an even better time to be a learner?
12.

What year are you preparing your students for?

An excellent question. An even better TED Talk on it.

Christmas 2011

Here are some pics from Christmas 2011, which was the first at our new home in TRF.

Here is the Reynolds/Pesch clan all together.

Kenzie with her new cousin Evan.

The customary 'goofy' pose.  Kenzie totally has this one down.

Kenz all ready to go skateboarding.

Another incredibly powerful digital narrative

Ben Breedlove was an 18 year old who battled a serious heart condition. After his death on Christmas Eve, his digital narrative went viral. There is no way a letter or essay could match the power of seeing his face and reading his words together.

What a Touch Down

Though Jerome Simpson has been terribly inconsistent this year (there are games he dominates and games he totally disappears) he is terrifically talented.

This touchdown against the Arizona Cards from last Saturday proves it. You won't see a more athletic play than this one.



Luckily, the Bungals hung on and now have a shot at making the playoffs. If they beat the Ravens, which they haven't done in their last two tries.

And Jobs thought of this in 1990!

Another reason to be amazed by Jobs? Watch this video. Remember, Jobs is still in exile from apple, after being fired. He would return a few years later. But he hits the idea of gaming as a learning tool and how to view ebooks on the head. Over two decades ago.

And he was totally right.

The interviewer asks Jobs about the importance of libraries in the digital age. He states one of the steadfast defenses of libraries. The interviewer reminisces about walking in to a library and being inspired by the books. You know how this goes, you walk into a library and go to your desired section and then just get swallowed up by all of various books on the subject - books and titles and views on that subject that we couldn't have ever imagined.

As one who routinely experienced this in college (I remember walking the stacks at the AC Clark library and finding and then reading books on the historical Jesus Christ, Joan of Ark, the medical effects of Nuclear War, the life and poems of Arthur Rimbaud, and the amazing works of Donald Murray). But, come on, how many members of the general public - regardless of their generation - have ever experienced this?

It's the nostalgia with which we shower libraries (and I'm not anti-library at all), but I just think people toss this memory out in defense of libraries when the person doing the tossing likely never, ever experienced this.

Usually, when the argument is stated, it is to defend libraries against computers or ebooks.

I bet, though, when you compare people who have had their epiphany moments buried in the stacks of a library or experienced them on wikipedia, google, or amazon, the comparison is totally one sided.

And Jobs gets that. I love when he talks about the locomotion of primates. Humans - on their own - are pretty paltry compared to the physical exertion of animals. But the one thing that totally changes that into our favor is our ability to create and use tools. Compare the locomotion and energy a man generates on a bicycle to the locomotion and energy of any animal on earth. The computer is the same type of tool. Only for our brains.

I guess in the best of learning experiences, we walk into a media center (the modern version of a library) with our Iphone in our pocket, our MacBook in our back pack (or satchel if you're cool like me (and Indiana Jones)), and several books - along with our kindle - tucked under our arms.

Christmas Games

The Bungals have their biggest game of the year today. Historically, they have been horrific on Christmas games. There was the debacle against the Bills in 2005 when the Bengals won their division but lost to the Bills (it was the Bills lone road win for the entire year). As bad as that was, it doesn't compare to the Christmas Eve loss to Denver the following season. The Bungals only needed one win in their final three games to earn a wild card spot. They got blown out by the Colts on Monday Night Football (which was no surprise). Then they traveled to Denver and lost a heart breaker when they lost 23-24 when they missed the extra point.

This year sees the very hot Arizona Cardinals come to town. This looked like an easy victory several weeks ago when the Bengals were 6-2 and the Cards were terrible. But the Cards are 4-1 and the Bungals have slumped to 8-6.

So it doesn't look good for the home team as the Bengals need to win out and have the Jets lose one more game. I'd have more hope if Marvin Lewis had actually ever won a late season game that has mattered (he hasn't).

Maybe the Cards will struggle in the cold and the Bengals can string enough plays together to pull this one out. If they were playing like the were the first half of the season, I'd feel confident. But injuries to our offensive line and secondary have the offense struggling to run the ball and the defense struggling to defend the pass. That's not a good thing.

For now my prediction stands at Arizona 24 - Cincy 14. We'll see though. I just have to remind myself that no one on earth thought the Bengals would win more than six games at the start of the year. Yet, they are a promising young team that is still a year or two away from being a serious threat.

A beautiful, touching digital essay

And not just because it's about Star Wars either!

I'm doing a digital essay next semester with College Comp 2 for sure now.

Congrats KoKo

Earlier this year KoKo's design for the Prowler sculpture was selected. The Magnet Arts class spent the rest of the quarter building it. Today it was unveiled at our recognition assembly. It was awesome.

The Flipped Classroom

I've always been interested in the concept of the 'flipped' classroom. This infograph, though, illustrates what exactly a flipped classroom is. I love it.

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

The Greatest Movie Trailer Ever

There are some that can argue The Dark Knight is the greatest movie ever made (it certainly has one of the greatest villains ever portrayed). But the sequel to that movie, The Dark Knight Rises, is quite possibly the greatest movie trailer ever (I can only think of the trailer for 300 that can even rival it).

You be the judge (the scene with the football player running a kick back for a touchdown is insane).

Jobs that Died in 2011

As a teacher, I'm always interested in the up and coming jobs for my millennial students. I keep my eye out for those stories that declare what the ten most in-demand jobs are now or the top five jobs today that didn't exist five years ago.

This story, though, caught my eye: jobs that died in 2011.

Here are the doomed species:

1. US Postal Carrier. Their sweet retirement packages are killing them. As is the fact that they haven't been able to adapt very well to the flat world. Don't believe me? Look at how different both UPS and Fed Ex are from what they were 10 years ago. But the US Post Office? How have they really changed in the past 50 years? Bill pay on line and email have killed them. They need to adapt or their pensions will sink them for sure.

2. Real Estate Agents. Is this a surprise to anyone? After the housing disaster who even wants to venture in to this field anymore?

3. Video Store Clerk. Please. We have iTunes, Netflix, and those pop machine size DVD rental machines in the grocery stores.

4. Toll Collectors/Operators. Thanks to technology, a simple scanner in a booth can pick up barcodes on your car and bill you.

5. Stock Brokers. I don't believe it. Like it or not, we will always need them. Until computers become sentient and can invest perfectly.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I always regret not going to see this in the movie theater with my buds Simon and Harry. It was a couple years later that I finally caught it on VHS.

But it is easily one of my favorite Christmas movies (with Jingle All the Way, Home Alone, and Love Actually as its only competition).

And this is my favorite scene. I laughed so hard I cried.

"Cash, are you trying to kill me?"

I asked this question a few nights ago when Cash woke up for the fourth time at around 4 am.

Kristie chuckled as she heard me say this as I got up to check on him, which usually entails taking him downstairs for a bottle and rocking him back to sleep. Of course, that usually entails taking him back upstairs once he falls back asleep and trying to lay him down in his crib. This often leads to him promptly rolling over and sitting up and crying. That leads to repeating the whole process over.

Kristie and I have completely forgotten what six consecutive hours of sleep feel like. This too is one reason I cannot stay awake past ten - or even nine.

Cash's routine is to fall asleep sometime between 7-9. He usually sleeps until midnight. If we are lucky, he stays asleep until five. But he usually wakes up around three. Sometimes he wakes up around four. And then five. Those are the rough nights.

This is compounded by Kenzie who has started to want to sleep with Mom and Dad. She usually falls asleep reading with Kristie. Then I carry her to bed. If we are lucky, she usually sleeps all the way through until six. However, she has started to come into our room and crawl in bed sometime after midnight.

This wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a complete bed hog. We have no problem letting her snuggle in between us, but inevitably she will shift to sleeping perpendicular between us, which leaves both of us teetering on the edges.

Last night was a great example. Cash fell asleep early, so I put him in his crib. Kenzie has been coughing a lot and she wasn't feeling the best so she had settled down with Kristie in our bed. When I crawled in, she was contently watching a Teenage Mutant Ninja episode. Kristie was reading her Kindle. I tried reading a short story, but fell asleep after about a minute.

I woke up to Kenzie getting restless. I scooped her up and took her downstairs for a little time in the rocking chair.

That lasted for about 20 minutes. Then she decided she was hungry. When I ask her what she wants to eat, her favorite response is "Let's check in the cupboard." Of course, she knows full well that the cupboard is where we keep the chips and snacks. Not exactly what I want her to have at 9:30 at night.

After Kenz said she was hungry, I tried to beat her to the punch so I asked, "What do you want?" Then I quickly added, "And do even ask to check in the cupboard."

Kenz smiled and asked, "Okay, let's look in the cupboard."

She had me there.

So after some juice and a couple Chicken in a Biscuits, she decided she wanted to cuddle up and lie on the floor. This worked great, except we both zonked out and woke up at 11. By this time I was still and ached all over from sleeping on the floor.

I carried Kenz up to bed and actually got to sleep for a couple hours in our bed until I heard Cash crying.

I scooped him up (there is nothing sadder than walking into his room and seeing him standing up in his crib with his hands on the bars crying and crying) and took him downstairs. Six ounces of formula later, he was out.

I set him down in his crib and got back in bed . . . for about an hour before he was back up.

This led to rough stretch from roughly 1-3 where I tried repeatedly to set him down to have him sit back up and cry.

At one point I actually set him down successfully and had him all covered up. I was just pulling his door shut when Kenz started to cough and cry.

Uh-oh. Of course, she cried more and woke up. She coughed louder and cried even louder. This, unfortunately, led to Cash waking up and bawling.

Let me tell you, it was wonderful.

"Why do you guys hate us so?" I asked as I brought Kenz to our bed where Kristie got her calmed down and settled in. Then I grabbed Cash and carried him back downstairs.

Around three Cash was finally out. I finally set him down and picked Kenz up and put her in her bed. I was able to enjoy two hours of sleep. Then the alarm rang and it was time to hit the shower, which I did.

Then I faced a dilemma: crawl back in bed until Kristie had to get up (around 6:20) or go down and look at email, read the news, and get some coffee going.

As I yawned, I thought, I'm crawling back in bed.

I snuggled up next to my wife and had a peaceful two minutes before Cash began coughing. I held my breath hoping he'd fall back asleep. But it wasn't to be. He began crying, and it was time to grab him.

While I do long for a nice full 6 hours of sleep (I've completely given up on ever getting the suggested 8 hours of sleep), I know all to well how quickly Kenz has grown up and how much I miss those nights - though they don't seem so enjoyable at the time - when I used to snuggle with her in the rocking chair. So whenever I get frustrated, I just look at little Cash as he is snuggled in either against my elbow or my neck (depending on how I rock him) and just savor the moment.

The Apple II

Was 1977 really that long ago?



We had one of these in Mr. Mueller's sixth grade classroom. It was only 1,298 dollars back then. That equates to a whopping 4,894 dollars today. Can anyone imagine buying a five thousand dollar computer today? You could buy SIX iPads for that!

Another interesting infograph

Created by: Online Graduate Programs

A most interesting infograph

Infographic by Assisted Living Today

As one who is on social media almost constantly (like now), this worries me. Maybe Mark Bauerlein is right after all.

See, that's the wonderful thing about social media. One minute I find something disturbing like the infograph above. And in the next second, I find this video which is also quite awesome and thought provoking (especially the part about "what happens in Vegas . . ."



Good or bad . . . it's an amazing time to be alive.

Perspective

This morning I saw this story about a witch being beheaded in Saudi Arabia. That comes after watching this story yesterday about 50 million missing girls in India.

Suddenly, it puts into perspective how much I love living in American. And how often I take it for granted. Here I don't have to deal with such issues like that. Instead I can grumble about the Bengals stumbling to 7-6 or laugh at the outrage over banning old world light bulbs in favor of florescent ones. Indeed, it puts thins in their proper place.

No Mistakes

Now this take on how to make the most out of mistakes is quite interesting.

Rothko

One of my favorite artists is Mark Rothko. I saw a link to the Museum of Modern Art. It took just a search and a couple clicks to find these multi-media links.

I love Rothko because when you look at one of these paintings, it is like the visual equivalent of reader response literary theory. For as you look at it, you become a companion to the picture and help it perform and function.



Here is a clip with commentary for Rothko's son discussing how his father worked to create these amazing paintings. From looking at them on line, on TV, and in books, one doesn't realize how massive these really are. But as his son reveals, Rothko used to stand on latters to paint these.

Amazing.



Here is what might be my all-time favorite Rothko work.

If you ask me . . .

This is what education should be all about

'Tis the Season

This is AWESOME