Signing in and the Election

It's seems I'm not alone in being unable to sign in to "blogger.com" while I'm on the SPPS server. . .So, for the near future, it appears I will have to blog from home. . .Hopefully we can solve this problem. . .As I watch the replay of last night's Presidential debates, I am reminded how important citizen participation is to our system of representative democracy. . .Take time to attend your precinct caucus on Tuesday, February 5th. . .It's important. . .NCLB is gathering more and more attention from candidates at the national and local levels, respectfully. . .On Saturday morning, I attended a meet and greet with Senatorial candidate Mike Ciresi in my downtown Mpls neighborhood. . .I asked him pointblank what would he do with NCLB--His answer? "Scrap it!" . . .Recently, important members of the Republican legislature, as well as the Governor, have talked about pulling our state out of NCLB. . .Whatever your feeling may be on this issue, the polity needs to hear from you. . .Take some time off on Tuesday Feb. 5th to attend your precinct caucus. . .I will have to miss almost all of my first class of a graduate class that evening. . .In both the long run, and the short run, this year's election holds massive implications for our profession. . .If you would like your students to hear from the winners in the Iowa caucus, last Thursday, both speeches are available, in their entirety on YouTube--just search for "Barack Obama Iowa Caucus Victory Speech" and "Mike Huckabee Iowa Caucus Victory Speech". . .The Obama speech runs almost thirteen minutes and the Huckabee speech clocks in at about ten minutes. . .drfaust

Iowa caucuses

Good morning. . .What a historical night in Iowa!. . .For those of you who feel the urge to show your students what happened in Iowa last night, www.c-span.org has the post-caucus speeches of last night's big five: Obama, Edwards, Clinton, Huckabee, and Romney. . .Remember, the New Hampshire primary is next Tuesday, January 8th. . .During an election year, C-Span is an invaluable aid. . .Btw, Erik Erickson of Como Park took 27 students to Mason City, Iowa yesterday (Cerro Gordo county for those of us who have done time in Iowa--lol)--see yesterday's Pioneer Press. . .I just want to remind this crew that Minnesota has precinct caucuses on Tuesday, February 5th. . .You don't have to cross state lines to observe, or participate in, the caucus phenomenon. . .Why someone felt the need to drive south on I-35 for anything more than a pork tenderloin sandwich is beyond me. . .Remember, the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the caucus hill. . .drfaust

Google Alert Followup

Well, I said that I would inform if Google Alert works. I signed up for one alert daily concerning copyright law and I received my first alert this morning (01/03/08) with twelve articles running the gamut from RIAA and copyright, IPods and copyright, and German copyright law. What an outstanding service! I need to reiterate the importance of what is occurring in copyright law, not just here in the U.S., but all over the world. Stay tuned. drfaust

Thing 13. Subscription Databases

I have distributed handouts to my students listing all the Online Learning Resources that we offer at the SPPS website. Also, they have the passwords and usernames for student access. Second semester will illustrate how well they have learned to use these resources. After the AP U.S. History exam in early May, my AP students will be doing a Minnesota History research project. The after-test period is always problematic for AP students, because the tendency to believe the class is over. As for the specific resources, the Minnesota Reflections site maintained by the Minnesota Digital Library will be the foundation of the research project. It is a fantastic site and very user-friendly. I am already using ABC CLIO in my AP class. The Gale Virtual Reference Library will be helpful in my students' research projects in the latter part of the second semester. United Streaming is a natural for my work, although I do not believe there are videos concerning Minnesota History. Right now, I am considering using CNN Student News as a regular morning newscast for my classes. I was a fan of Channel 1. No, I did not agree with commercials, but they did some very good journalism. I can remember Lisa Ling doing a multi-part series on her travels within Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The students liked the news, and I was aware that in most cases, it would be the only news show they would watch each day. Hopefully, the quality of CNN Student News will be of a caliber that interests my students. I would like to use the Smithsonian Education site and show it to my students, but I am having a heckuva time dealing with search function. Anybody having success with the Smithsonian search engine? The Electronic Library of Minnesota, or ELM, is an outstanding site. I just need a library card--New Year's Resolution #2. I need much more work with databases--this blog is merely a starting point. drfaust

How to put pictures on my blog page, etc.

I have noticed that many of you have posted pictures, etc. on your blog page and I would like to find out how to do it. Also, is it possible to post links on the blog page? I'm sure it is, but I have no clue how I would go about doing it. Thanks. drfaust

Thing 11. All About Google

Btw, the link to Google features on the MILI site is dead. I had to access the Google features throught he Google home page. I first checked out the "book Search" feature and searched "books about minnesota". The search returned over two million items. I clicked on a Library of Congress web site and discovered "The Learning Page: collection conections" and found a collection of 138 digitized books in "Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin ca. 1820-1910. There are three sections in the collection: U.S. History, Critical Thinking, and Arts & Humanities. What a treasure trove of resources! The calculator feature is a nice touch that a social studies teacher like me will utilize on a regular basis. Pretty depressing checking out the currency conversion feature. Why? Today, one U.S. dollar is worth .68 euro. Smart investors have been buying euros for several years, and European vacations are becoming prohibitively expensive. The definitions feature is great for all learners, teachers and students, alike. The file type feature aids one in finding documents in a specific form, e.g. pdf files. As a semi-retired disc jockey I used the product search for "technics turntables". The first site was for Dinkytown's legendary "The Needle Doctor"--a turntable, etc. shop without peer in the upper midwest, if not the world. I used the Googel groups feature to search for some arcane items--Minneapolis Laker memorabilia. To my pleasant surprise the search uncovered over eight hundred sites. The I'm feeling lucky feature took me directly to the website of my alma mater, Grinnell College. Very nice. The image search feature oncovered more than two million sites for the object of my query: Iraq War pictures. Btw, the first site had a totally gruesome picture of a casualty, so be careful! The local search feature was another winner, as the object of my search was my old home Chicago and "italian beef sandwiches". The first restaurant mentioned in the search is arguably the home of the best Chicago-style italian beef--Al's #1 in the Little Italy neighborhood on Chicago's near west side. The movie search feature is another nice touch. I used the music search for a friend's band, the Dillinger Four. The first site was the band's home page. For the news headlines feature I entered "Iowa caucuses" and was taken to over six hundred thousand sites. Wow! The first article was a brief history of the Iowa caucuses recently published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (the paper of record in the deep south). Another nice feature is Q&A. My query was the population of Brazil and within 0.2 seconds, I found a site that said as of June 2006, Brazil's population was 201,765, 543. If you wanted to avoid Wikipedia, the third site was the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Their population estimate was more than almost twenty thousand less--185,308,371 as of January 2, 2008. Interesting anomaly. I was already familiar with the refine your search feature. Very useful. I am not a big fan of the prefetching feature and I have disabled this feature on my home browser. I do not care for something that assumes it knows exactly where I want to go after I have typed two or three letters into the search box. Search by number is useful, but I tend to search for USPS packages, for example, at the USPS site. For the site search feature, I queried the admission site for www.hamline.edu amd was taken immediately to the site. Very nice. The street map feature took me to a thumbnail map of my home address, immediately. The travel and weather features are very useful for travelers. All in all, the extra Google features are very helpful and I am glad I am aware of all of them. Next, I checked out some of the special search features from Google. I used the U.S. Government special search for copyright and was taken immediately to the U.S. Copyright Office. Very useful. I have created a Google Alert for "copyright law" and will report back tomorrow afternoon to see how it worked. I used the book search feature to find books concerning the Minneapolis Lakers (I am a collector of Mpls Lakers books) and I found a book that never knew existed. Wow! There are three copies of the book in the Twin Cities--the Minneapolis Public Library, the St. Paul Public Library, and Minnesota Historical Society (thank you Google!). I need to work more with Google Scholar--more specific search terms. My initial attempts to use this feature were unacceptable. I mentioned Google Docs in an earlier post and will let those comments suffice for now. Yes, I do love Google and these new discoveries have opened a whole new search world for me. drfaust

Happy New Year!

It's been a long day of blogging. . .Time to relax and watch the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii. . .peace out. . .drfaust

Using the projector

Here's an idea for those you who do not want to clutter your walls with standards and benchmark posters. I am thinking of a Como Park geography teacher's room that I worked in during a breakout session at a geography workshop a couple of years ago that included all these wonderful items covering the walls of his room--flags, maps, photographs, collages, etc. I shudder to think what it would look like with all the various state geography standards and benchmarks plastered across the Iberian peninsula or the flag of Jamaica. Here's the solution: create a Power Point production of, for example, U.S. History and the 30 state standards and 57 state benchmarks and then project that standard and/or benchmark(s) at the appropriate time(s). I cleared it with my principal at Arlington and I do not see why you could not do the same at any other building. drfaust

Thing 10. Copyright and Plagiarism (Part II)

This will be an ongoing discussion because of the recent developments concerning the abuse of copyright by large corporate entities (e.g. Microsoft and its 1998 antitrust litigation, Disney and its wish to extend copyright protections forever, Diebold and its desire to keep the secrets of its defective electronic voting machines somehow protected as intellectual property). Therefore, as citizens and professional educators we need to stand guard like sentinels protecting the public interest as well as the creators of art, etc., and prevent one side from dominating the other, as is the case, presently. As teachers and SLMSs, we deal with copyright on a daily basis. The material in Thing 10 concerning information of the related topics of copyright and plagiarism is, for the most part, very good. I must note, preliminarily, the the U.S. Copyright Office (as presented by the Library of Congress) is generically satisfactory and comprehensive. However, it must be observed that during the controversy over the extension of copyright protection concerning the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act of 1998, the Copyright Office too often took an advocacy position concerning the legislation. The office should remain neutral. Btw, if anyone ever wondered why Hollywood loves Bill Clinton so much, the Bono Act of '98 should provide ample evidence of why they do. The Bono Act extended copyright protection by 20 years, both prospectively and retrospectively. The only people testifying before the U.S. Congress on behalf of this extension were those who stood to benefit in a fiduciary manner from the legislation. All legal scholars who testified opposed the legislation as a violation of the words and spirit of the Constitution. Yes, that's right, the Constitution provides the backdrop for all discussions of copyright and patents. The founders saw fit to give the Congress the sole power ". . .(t)o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for LIMITED (emphasis provided not, by Madison, but by drfaust) Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. . ." U.S. Cons., Art. I, Sec. 8, para. 8. Over the years the Supreme Court has interpreted this paragraph to mean that the "immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a fair return for an 'author's' creative labor. But the ULTIMATE aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for the general public good." Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 156 (1975). Unfortunately, the recent change of direction at the Congressional level hampers teachers and SLMSs as these forces seek to virtually eliminate any further "in the Public Domain" (no more public domain motion pictures, for example). So while we teachers and SLMSs virtuously follow the law of copyright and fair use as it applies to our respective professions, we must also enter the public arena and monitor these unfortunate developments in copyright law. For further information, the following article is an excellent primer on the Bono Act. "Extending Copyright and the Constitution: 'Have I Stayed Too Long?'", by Michael H. Davis, of the Cleveland State University School of Law, which can be referenced at the web site for the "Social Science Research Network" (papers.ssrn.com). As for other materials mentioned in Thing 10, I highly recommend the "Copyright & Fair Use" page at the web site for the Stanford University Libraries (fairuse.stanford.edu). The section on coopyright FAQS is outstanding as well as the sections on "fair use", "public domain", and "releases." Also, the site links to an outstanding not-for-profit legal organization NOLO (www.nolo.com). Finally, the web page maintained by Carol Holzberg from the University of Maryland University College is very good and compares well with the Stanford web page. It can be found at (www.techlearning.com). Btw, that wonderful Nicholas Brothers clip I played for my students in my classroom, was only available because it is in the Public Domain. drfaust

Thing 15. Collaboration

Just to follow up on an earlier post, I plan to collaborate a fellow MILI participant, Mark Anderson, Arlington's faculty technology advisor. The Criminal Justice Power Point Research project will take place in his lab, and I will rely on Mark's Power Point expertise during the project while I handle the research component of the project. As for the readings in Thing 15: Collaboration, I could not agree more with the spirit of the article from "Teacher Librarian" entitled: "Collaboration: Where does it begin?" by Ruth Small. Ms. Small accurately describes the divide between the teaching faculty and librarian/media specialists that exist in most schools. I believe one of the most important reasons for that divide is the fact that most teachers do not consider librarians/media specialists as fellow "teachers". It is patently obvious from this program that teachers have so much to learn from our colleagues in the library. Clearly, these colleagues should be used in collaborative activities. However, only a small minority could work collaboratively with librarians for any significant period of time because there are scores of teachers and one or two librarians in each building. What's the answer to that dilemma? At least three librarian/media specialists in each high school. I omit middle schools and elementary schools because of my ignorance of their needs vis a vis numbers of librarians. In the second reading, "Collaboration and Reflection: Proactivity and Reflection: Tools to Imporove Collaborative Experiences" by Doug Johnson (www.doug-johnson.com), the author speaking from the meida specialist position supports Small's premise, but provides strategies for gradually erasing that division. To his credit, Johnson emphasizes the necessity for relflection as a proactive tool to imcrease collaboration. Johnson, as have many others, correctly identifies the main obstacle to collaboration as the fact that most teachers prize their independent status to the point where if blocks collaboration between them and other colleagues in the building. I was quite interested in the third reading: "Toward a Theory of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians" by Patricia Montiel-Overall of the University of Arizona as published in the School library Media Research section of the American Library Association (vol. 8, 2005). Why the special interest? Montiel-Overall comes from the perspective of a social constructivist (a student of Dewey and Vygotsky, et al). Social constructivism relies on collaboration as a foundation for learning. Social constructivists argue that without true collaboration true learning and teaching will not occur and that the losers will be the typically underserved members of society. This progressive notion of learning/teaching is over a century old and traces its roots to the pedagogy of Dewey and Montessori and the psychology of Piaget and Vygotsky. In this area, those of us who have studied in recent years at the Hamline University Graduate School of Education recognize the theory as espoused by Montiel-Overall. Most importantly, to the purposes of this MILI program which is collaborative as a premise is the argument, as noted by Montiel-Overall, that collaboration has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to improved research skills (and) this positive effect is one of the primary reasons collaboration is promoted (citations omitted). Collaboration is the buzzword at this moment in time in St. Paul. The question remains, as Johnson notes, will we take the time to actively reflect upon our activities. If not, I would say, the chances of long-term success are limited. Before turning to the fourth piece, I would note that Montiel-Overall makes a strong case for collaboration as essential to true integration of content and information literacy standards, as well as integrated instruction and integrated curriculum, in general. In short, this reading is highly recommended. As for the fourth reading "A Rubric for Collaboration", I will have to wait to comment on it until I use my laptop that has "Word". The blog prompts ask three questions. First of all, what do you see as barriers to collaboration? Time and space. . .conflicting responsibilities. . .lack of technological resources--we need a technology Marshall Plan for the public schools. . .lack of ongoing reflective activities. . .and, of course, failure of significant members of the faculty to buy into true collaboration. . .The second question is: How can the barriers be overcome?. . .more prep time devoted to collaboration. . .more SLMSs (School Library Media Specialists--I like that acronym). . .a technology Marshall plan. . .Finally, the third question: Is collaboration worth it?. . .(btw is that a rhetorical question?). . .Of course it is, We cannot survive as a group of independent contractors. . .Successful institutions are collaborative, successful teams are collaborative, successful relationships are collaborative--the list is infinite. . .However, when one's time to take care of one's personal responsibilities increases while the time to take care of professional responsibilities decreases, it becomes problematic. Without radical change to the working conditions of the teaching profession these essential collaborative activities will not have the necessary time to germinate and bloom. drfaust

Thing 10. Copyright and Plagiarism (Part I)

Just a quick note: I cannot seem to access the two copyright quizzes. It seems the links are dead. Anybody know the answer. t/y drfaust

Thing 9. Streaming Video (Part I)

This is just a preliminary comment concerning the use of video in the classroom. I have used video ever since I have had access to video equipment. When used properly and appropriately it almost never fails to enhance and improve the lesson. Our students come from a video age. Failure to recognize this fact can be fatal to connecting with students. Many of my colleagues recoil at the fact that so many of our students spend so much time in front of a video screen, be it television, computer monitors, or an XBox. This is not going to change. In fact, that horse left the barn when Thomas Alva Edison and the Lumiere brothers (France) produced those first memorable motion pictures in the late 19th century (btw, YouTube possesses some great portions of early motion pictures by the aforementioned pioneers). Thus, all of us need to take a deep breath and deal with this fact. My seventy-six year old mother (still working and a lifelong educator) spent many hours every week at the theater in a small rural Minnesota community as a child in the 30s and the 40s. I would attest to the fact that this early exposure to motion pictures has not stunted her intellectual growth. Now, the question for we educators is to steer our students to quality video, television, etc., rather than rant about the "soul-deadening nature of modern popular culture." That argument has failed for over one hundred years now. Are there vulgar, profane, and obscene representations? Of course. Are there beautiful, poetic, and life-affirming representations? Of course. Our job as educated elders is to guide our students to these pieces of art. Our projectors allow us to open up this wonderful world to our charges. By the way, just before the holiday break I found two ecstatic pieces from the greatest tap-dancers in history, the legendary Nicholas Brothers (found on YouTube--an excerpt from the great musical "Stormy Weather" (1943) starring Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Fats Waller, and other luminaries too numerous to mention). I showed these clips to a class full of kids who live and breathe hip-hop. Their reaction? Awe and wonderment. Thanks, YouTube! drfaust
p.s. you government and history teachers, don't forget c-span!

Thing 8. Dribbling Lessons for Information Literacy

While assaying some of the "Content Area Informational Literacy Lessons" exemplars compiled by Metronet, I noticed a few things I would like to briefly discuss. As a social studies teacher, I accessed the U.S. History lesson entitled "Interactive Research: A Time Period in American History' created by Walter A. Freeman of the Nashua (NH-?) School District. The lesson is a very nice lesson, but I believe appropriate only for very high achieving students (AP or IB) with excellent technology skills. By the way, the lesson is found at the "Apple Learning Interchange 2007" website. Under the lesson's "Tools and Resources: Internet" section, I found two excellent articles by Robert Harris from "VirtualSalt" ("www.virtualsalt.com"). The first is "Evaluating Internet Research Sources" which again should probably be limited to very high level students. The second is an excellent guide for teachers titled "Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers." Unfortunately some of the other links that Freeman provides are no longer functional. These are located on the "Plagiarism Theme Page". However, an outstanding link concerning copyright is functioning. The link is "10 Big Myths About Copyright" by Brad Templeton (www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html). This is a nice handout for students and something all teachers should keep handy in their office and classroom. Also, I investigated the Government/Citizenship lesson. The lesson is "Get It on the Ballot!" and concerns election ballot referrenda and initiatives (excellent for a lesson on direct democracy). It is found at the PBS web site (www.pbs.org). This lesson can be utilized by a wider variety of students than the History lesson. However, I must make some comments about the "Online Resources" section. There are four online resources listed. Two of the four, the"Ballot Initiative Strategy Center" (www.ballot.org), and "Fair Vote: The Center for Voting and Democracy" (www.fairvote.org) are "progressive" (left of center) advocacy groups. Thus, to present balance for the lesson, a teacher should search for "conservative" (right of center) groups. The other two resources are excellent and objective: the "Institute & Referendum Institute" at the University of Southern California (www.iandrinstitute.org/ballotwatch.htm) and the Federal Elections Commission (www.fec.gov). drfaust

Thing 6. Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator

Upon the end of the break on Wednesday, I will be conducting a pilot project with my second hour Criminal Justice class in which they will create a power point production of an issue of their choice concerning Criminal Justice (e.g. sentencing, capital punishment, juvenile justice, racial profiling, state and federal drug policy, DUI policy, alternatives to incarceration, electronic privacy, interrogation and torture, etc.). The easiest part of teaching research for me is helping a student find a topic of interest that is relevant to the content we are studying. The most difficult challenge will be motivating the students to work in an efficient manner with the time limit, which in this case will be ten class periods from start to finish. Also, the ability to convert their research into a Power Point production will be difficult. The RPC Teacher Guide will help me in a variety of ways in this journey with this particular class. The Support Materials are outstanding. I will use several for this project. As for Step 1: QUESTION, my students will receive three items. First, the "Minnesota 5 Student Research Planning Guide". . .Second, the "Narrowing a topic using a general to specific triangle" planning aid. . .Third, the "What is research?" poster. As for Step 2: GATHER, my students will receive two items, First, the "Improve your Google search tip sheet". . .Second, the "10 Qs for evaulating web sites" student aid. . .As for Step 3: CONCLUDE, my students will receive the "Outline organizer". . .As for Step 4: COMMUNICATE, my students will receive three items. First, the "Useful Transitions Tip Sheet". Second, the "keyhole Essay tip sheet. Third, the "Storyboard" (for oral presentations with electronic slides. As for Step 5: EVALUATION, my students will receive one item--the "Grading Rubric for the research process". . .I will keep you informed as to my group's progress. drfaust

Thing 5. Create and Maintain a Teacher Web Page

My New Year's Resolution vis a vis teaching is to maintain an up-to-date teacher web page. So far, my web page is rudimentary and does not yet contain anything that will be of any real use to students, parents, or colleagues. other than my basic contact information. I am planning to feature a video on a weekly (at least) basis concerning relevant current events and/or historical events. As of yet, I am having difficulty figuring out how to use Urban Planet to link up videos to my site. Also, I would like to feature, again on at least a weekly basis, an article or essay concerning either relevant current events and/or historical events. Again, my ability to establish links is lacking. Also, my website will contain the weekly schedule for my various classes. Finally, as a history teacher, my website will contain the state standards for United States History. My recommendations for teachers attempting to set up a website is to find someone experienced in setting up websites, tellling them exactly what items you want on your website, and then work with that person for several hours until you feel comfortable doing the work yourself--otherwise, hire a webmaster (lol). . .drfaust