Going wireless

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By the end of next week all seven of our elementary schools will be completely wireless campuses. This project is part of our district one-to-one computing pilot project that I mentioned previously. Creating a wireless campus presents all sorts of... [The Savvy Technologist]

Tim Wilson discusses his district's effort to provide students and teachers with access to laptops on a one to one basis. Quite an ambitious initiative. It should be fun to watch.

This week at my school, Lewis Elementary, we are installing wireless access points that should basically produce a wireless cloud that will cover the entire building. This, in addition to the purchase of SmartBoards, laptops and dataprojectors for 7 of our 11 classrooms, installation of an X Serve, our upgrades of all our iMacs to OS X 10.3.5, and the redesign of our computer lab, should provide a good foundation for some interesting work with technology this year.

In a couple of weeks our teachers report back and we will have a few inservice sessions to help them get started with the technology.

The wireless cloud in the building will be great for me. I anticipate being able to spend a lot more time in classrooms, but at the same time be connected to the office. Our school secretary and I are already connected via iChat. Having access to district email, and all the tools I have come to rely on, while not having them tied to a desk, will allow for more observing and participation in classrooms.

Bill Martin Jr.

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Arts > Bill Martin Jr., 88, Reading Expert Who Drew on His Own Experience, Dies" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/14/arts/14martin.html">The New York Times > Arts > Bill Martin Jr., 88, Reading Expert Who Drew on His Own Experience, Dies Bill Martin Jr., who could not read more than a sentence at a time until he was in college but later earned a doctorate in early childhood education and led generations of young children to reading with simple stories like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom," died at his home in Commerce, Tex., on Aug. 11. He was 88.

Successful Uses of Wikis...

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Big IDEA » Is a specialized wiki the way to go? So this is my thought about wikis: maybe they need to be really specific to a small set of people to be successful. (Wikipedia, then, would be an exception.) This kind of jibes with some ideas I've been playing with a wiki cheat sheet for linux commands I can never remember, one as something of a learning journal but only for a single topic or theme in a class, one for group decision making. In short, what you might call a hit-and-run wiki, one that lives only for a short time to serve some specific purpose and then possibly dies. This wiki doesn't want to be big.

Todd Slater states what I think to be the best method for successful use of wikis. There has to be a reason to use one... I have been working with one of my 5th grade teachers who runs our after school publishing class. Last year we had students write their pieces in Word, save them in a directory on the server and then review them and make changes... This process was in a word unsuccessful.

After spending some time looking at things like MediaWiki and Instiki, we have decided to use a Wiki for students to post their stories. Our teacher, Mrs. Gould will create a Wiki page with sub pages for each of the monthly articles. Students will write and edit their stories and receive feedback via the Talk feature. Once the final drafts are published, they will also be printed as a traditional newsletter. Once published, this particular Wiki will stop being active and we will move on to the next month's issue.

Crow Show

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Crow ShowCrow Show, originally uploaded by timlauer. During the summer months, just before sunset, the crows that live in our neighborhood fly over our house to their evening roost... They make quite a racket... My son and daughter call it "The Crow Show."

John Merrow on Superintendent Searches

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Can D.C.'s Search Make the Grade? (washingtonpost.com) Typically, a new superintendent arrives in a city, hailed as the answer to every problem -- low test scores, poor attendance, embarrassing graduation rates. When change does not occur overnight, or perhaps at all, disappointment sets in. The superintendent departs for the next school district, and the cycle begins anew. [by way of...AssortedStuff]

In keeping with my superintendent theme... Tim Stahmer points to an article by PBS education reporter John Merrow about the methodology used by most urban school district when searching for a new superintendent. Tim points out a very interesting quote from the article...

School districts hire just one person, not a team, and when that individual arrives, he has to spend a lot of time and energy figuring out which of the colleagues he has inherited are trustworthy and competent, and which are not. Who resents regime change, and who welcomes it? It's a minefield that has destroyed many capable leaders.

Portland's New Superintendent Starts Today

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The city's longest to-do list W ith August still simmering along, today is Vicki Phillips' first day of school. The new superintendent of Portland Public Schools may soon feel like the kid who gets loaded down with five homework assignments, a pop quiz and a term paper before figuring out the bus schedule.

The editorial in our local paper, The Oregonian, points out some of the challenges that face our my school district and our new superintendent, Dr. Vicki L. Phillips.