East Middle School Computer Club

I have a close friend who helped me build a fence. He has been teaching for the past 17 years at Highwood High School in Highwood, MT. The fact that my fence is so level is a testament to his ability to pay attention to detail. That ability is probably one reason that he has been such a successful coach for the Highwood Mountaineers. They play six-man football there and he has been their head football coach each of those 17

that is a level fence, dude...

years. He has done an amazing job, winning 10 state championships in his stint as their Head Coach, most recently in 2006. Earlier this month, he retired and is moving on to bigger and brighter things and a new profession. He will have more time now to spend with his own children, something I know is of highest priority for him. Highwood will have a hard time replacing this excellent coach and educator and I know he will be sorely missed by the entire community, especially the players he has coached. He will be working less time and not have to pay to drive 50 miles to and from work each day. And most importantly, I will never again have to be the offensive coordinator for little guy football.

Hey Dean, they need a football coach and a Math teacher in Highwood, Montana…hehe

Week 4 Discussion – Initial Post

During a spring Wikispace project my students worked on called the Far and Away Project I interviewed several students about their internet usage both at home and at school. There were ten students involved in the project, most were 7^th graders. One thing that was surprising to me at that time was the ease with which certain students could bypass our district’s proxy server. In fact, students were able to login to their web mail accounts and check their email whenever they wished. This was pretty amazing to me since all forms of web mail including msn, yahoo, and gmail are all blocked in our district. I had always heard they could get past the blocker if they wanted to, but had never seen it done until I worked with kids on the Wiki Project. This made me think that many students have more access at school than many of our teachers since most of our teachers simply give up when the big yellow screen with a stop sign in the middle pops up. Dr. Thornburg’s analogy of digital immigrants and digital natives is very appropriate in my school. If certain teachers at my school can’t figure something out, many, including me, will ask students how something works. I consider asking a student how to do something an effective method of losing my teacherly voice.

Another thing I learned through those informal interviews is the power that social networks possess for students. It still boggles my mind that some students who, to me, seemed to be the most scattered I had, could keep track of over four hundred global friends on their MySpace account. The most innovative teachers have already begun taking advantage of the power social learning has for students with wikis and educational blogs. I think something even more powerful that is currently developing in various educational arenas is the use of MUVE’s in education. Global Kids and Quest Atlantis are both excellent examples of programs that utilize Social Learning in a contextual framework.

In the coming school year, I will provide my students with more opportunities for group activities and projects. One way I will accomplish this goal is by having a classroom wiki. I also plan to begin utilizing Quest Atlantis in my practice. To be a more effective teacher, I need to begin taking advantage of middle school aged children’s natural social nature .

On a personal Note:

We said goodbye to our beloved Sloopy last weekend by taking her ashes on one final camp trip and could not resist taking a look at some other pups at the dog pound…Buster is our new dog’s name

I am still not sure why I am blogging but I think I want people to know what I believe and who I am…and I guess if they do not want to know what I believe and who I am…They probably won’t be reading this or watching the awesome video that Animoto made for me for free…below…I love Animoto…If you don’t really care about my family you can click here (James gets an “A”) to read a little bit about what I believe about my students…

My Family

On the way to Helena…to the race for the cure…thoughts I had…

Dean taught me a lesson in humility…When developing ideas for a wiki for our students. One idea I had was to start the students off with the question…How can we get Mr. Agamenoni and Mr. Groom to Google Academy. My good friend, Dean reminded me that it is not about me when he said, “The kids don’t care about you.” A lesson in humility from a man 1000’s of miles away in Australia. Just what I needed. Thank you Dean. Therefore, my Blog (wherever I decide to publish it) is not going to be about me, but about how we can change what we are doing in the classroom so students can have access to this endless book of knowledge being written by amazing, incredible, people all over the world. It is not our job to censor, ban, block, and forbid people (children) to read or access this book. It is our job to teach kids how to use it. Something that we need to learn how to do, in most cases, more so than our children. Dean, my friend from Australia, who I met on the island of Jokaydia, is teaching me how to read this book and also, how to write it. My gratitude for my friend, Dean, seems infinite to me as I ride with my family on the way to Helena to remember my Mother.

On a personal note:

The race for the cure in Helena…

I cried for the first time in years today because I miss my mother. So many people are effected by this disease. My friend, Dean, in Australia; My neighbor, Scott, like my son Edin, never was able to meet his Grandma; My friend Becky, whose best friend, Audra, suffers from a similar illness; and one of my students whose name I cannot bring back to memory; all have been impacted by cancer. In fact, I never really realized how many people have been impacted by cancer until today. Instead of rushing to the front of the race as I normally do to ensure that my son runs as fast as he can, I stayed near the rear and watched all the people at the start. Ten minutes had passed and hundreds of people had not yet reached the start line. My vision of this race has definitely changed. It is not about making sure that your son gets the best time, it is about getting together with others and remembering or celebrating the lives of people we love. It was huge, so many people. I almost did not come to Helena today to the Race for the Cure because I felt I had too much to do at home…Thank you, Joanie, for reminding me of what is truly important…

I realize what blogging is all about (I think) now and I plan to update mine regularly…