Random Musings

Interesting article in Business Week on the amount of advertising our kids are exposed to

The center’s recent report, D is for Digital, analyzes the impact of digital media on kids and reaches some striking conclusions. “Federal regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Communications Commission, and voluntary industry, public interest advocacy and philanthropic organizations, should advance policies that protect children from commercialism,” the center writes. “A revitalization of the Children’s Television Act needs to be undertaken to modernize the child protections now called for in a digital age.”

Digital media—whether delivered via the Internet, cell phones, Apple (AAPL) iPods, or mobile gaming devices—is saturated with ad-supported content. And unlike TV ads, much digital marketing is interactive and immersive. Even broadcast TV is changing how it delivers commercials in an age where multitasking youth have become adept at using ad-skipping technology like digital video recorders.

Is more regulation the answer?  I think not.  Regulation will never keep up with the trends and changes.  The most important things is to teach our kids to be digital consumers; to become skeptics of what they see and hear; and that starts with teaching them how to use, create and exploit digital media.  Once they are creators of it, they will begin to understand the power of it and can recognize when they are being sold an unsubstantiated barrel of hype.

evening rain

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Sometimes there is hope in the universe…and I got a big reminder of that on the drive back from the state technology conference this evening…..there is definitely a change in the air; things are moving in what I feel is a positive direction..and we just have to keep them moving.

Hoping for a day of winter whiteness–instead all we got was wet rain and ice–but, still we got one of those “pajama party” days–that teachers seem to so desperately need about now.  I often wonder about how teachers handle the stress today.  The requirements seem to go up and up–and no relief in site but, at the same time, many teachers hold on to “tried and true” ways of doing things that add to their burdon….because now they are doing things both the old way and the new way…how to help teachers with that transition is a constant question, especially since many of our teachers are now very adept at using technology on top of traditional teaching practice.

It would be easier if my own vision were clear, but it’s fuzzy….so, let’s hear it for “pajama party” days.

As I wandered through the zoo on Saturday, a chill breeze almost penetrating my sweatshirt, a beautiful blue sky, the smell of freshly laid mulch (wait–what was that? MULCH!–NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo I’m not ready for spring)…..I still feel as if winter has not yet arrived. The weather has been so variable and I need a day of snow, one of those days where the world is covered in a blanket of white, a day where the entire neighborhood meets and greets as we clear the walks and admire the beauty….and then a cup of hot chocolate and a fire–a day free of stress and tension; one where you are reminded of all that can be right–to me it’s a sign of hope; a promise of a clean slate.

Climate Change–is it happening? yes; is this a result; I can’t say….I’ve lived in this area since 1960–and we’ve seen similar warm winters, sometimes even two or three in a row…

It’s been an ineteresting two months.  Just about 7 weeks ago, a challenge was somewhat “thrown out” to us—to find a way to assess student use of technology without using some type of standardized test sort of thing  (and, of course, the implied course of action is, if you can’t do it another way, then we’ll use a test).

I’m fortunate enough to work with a phenomenal group of people and, together, we put together a plan for authentic, integrated technology assessment, in a curriculum framework, not a technology framework.

Tonight we presented to the school board–and basically got permission to continue on the path we’ve started….there was no pressure to find another way to measure techology mastery–so things are definitely looking up!

 

 

Is it the software or the board??????????  OK–all you interactive white board users out there–I challenge you, for one week, to use the board WITHOUT using the software that came with it….to explore every facet of the board with word processing, drawing programs, internet applications, anything and everything but the board software…..and see where it leads you……………………

Once of the most frightening /burdensome/????  (I’m not sure what word I want to put here) parts of my job is conducting interviews…..with each interview I can’t help think that the decisions I’m helping make are permanently impacting someone’s life—and when the interview goes badly I can’t help but feel the responsibility.

As part of that process candidates submit lesson plans–so I’ve seen a lot of “technology integrated” lessons this week—and more and more of them relate to the use of interactive white boards—in the hands of teachers, not students….add that to the number of lesson activities that flow through my e-mail each week and you get this rant…

It’s a $700 board + a $700 projector–and the “integrated techology” of the lesson is to create a slide with a question on it–and a box over the answer that you can move out of the way to reveal the answer?  This is high-thinking techology integration???  I see so many lessons like this; week after week….they get passed from person to person as an example of technology integration—  I’d love for someone to show me an interactive whiteboard lesson where students have responsibility for the lesson and the board is used as something more than a glorified overhead–because that’s certainly all I’m seeing…even in the lessons on the company’s website…

As a cancer survivor (and I THINK I’m beginning to see myself that way) –you never know when life is going to through you a curve–and the last few months have been one such curve.  I’ve been living an episode of the TV Show House–with test after test coming back “funky”–and nothing definitive–

When things like this happen, you begin to look at things and say to yourself “Is this my last Christmas,….birthday,……snowfall?”   As you  pack up those special Christmas ornaments you wonder…”will anyone care next year?”   And my strategy is to keep myself exceedingly busy to keep those thoughts at bay.  You do, however,  remember the resolve you had when you were first diagnosed to take each day as it comes—and to remember that, for anyone, each day could be a “last” and to treat each day as special.

Wednesday, however, was a “shout to the sky” day–as a definitive test finally came back clean.  I feel like I have gotten my life back and can begin, once again, to plan for more than a month at a time……..