It’s 12 minutes from 2008 here in Seoul. It’s also 12 minutes from the One Year Anniversary of Beyond School. So it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m spending New Year’s Eve with my beloved B.S. (I do have an uncharacteristic glass of wine next to me as I write.) I want to steal a trick [...]

In my last post, I made a couple sins of omission when giving thanks and measuring the success of Students 2.0. Sin 1: Thanks to Stephen Downes for supporting the launch by featuring it in his (very influential, and rightfully so) OLDaily. Sin 2: I didn’t mention what is, to me, the most valuable aspect [...]

If you haven’t read Ryan Bretag‘s and Steve Hargadon‘s posts on TechLearning about Students 2.0, they’re worth a read. And Steve’s podcast interview with Kevin, Sean, and Lindsey shows them at their wonderful best, in terms of both intelligence and personality. I haven’t really written any reflections here since launching Students 2.0 back on December [...]

More and more I wonder: is school a good place for teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of their students, and to the future of the world? Is there a way to leave the daily farce of gradebooks, attendance sheets, tests, corporate and nationalist curriculum, homework assignments, grade-licking college careerist “students” [...]

Lesson learned: if you start a digital video, finish it quickly. I started this months ago as part of the “Visionary Student Blogging” project for my AP Literature seniors. Some crazy introductory idea that I hoped would help them see how blogging could be an escape from school-as-usual. I didn’t finish it the way I [...]

I’m off to Bangkok for the Apple Distinguished Educator 2007 Asia Institute in 24 hours, so I’m crazy rushed: sub plans for 3 missed classes, packing, the usual teachery stuff (gradebooks and other banes), prepping a presentation for how 1:1 is working (and sometimes not working?) at our school. (I really look forward, more than [...]

Sometimes you just want to give up. Instead, I’ll go transparent and see what ideas, counsels, or commiserations come from sharing. It’s about the “Visionary Student Blogging” connective writing project. The problem? Little vision, little connective writing. It’s partly senioritis, I think. College applications, SAT’s, too many commitments to too many extra-curricular activities (got to [...]

It just occurred to me I’ve been using my Twitterverse to solicit student blogger recommendations for the upcoming student edublog launch on December 1. See this post and especially the conversation thread below it for an idea how this project is taking shape. Some very exciting contributors have already signed on, but if you know [...]

I’ve wanted to help this happen for the last five months. And I need your help to launch it with quality and good aim. Just a thoughtful comment consisting of a short list is all we ask. First, a recap. Why re-write what was already obsessively written since May? So: What would happen if we [...]

The conversation about managing real student blogging – public, connective, prudent, real-world network-seeking – continues in the comments to my last post. Again, for RSS folks, not to be missed if this is a concern of yours. So I’m again posting the latest round of comments here. Doug Noon starts with a good challenging question, [...]