School?s in Session

You sure can tell when school is back in session again around this blog, can’t you?  We started back on August 20, and I am busily evaluating summer reading, grading, and planning.  I am advising National Honor Society again after a hiatus, and I am looking forward to making that a really good, solid organization that is something more than a line on a resumé.

I have five different preps, which is standard for me, but my largest class is currently 17 students.  I have some really great, enthusiastic and just generally kind 9th graders, which always makes it fun.  My 10th grade Writing class is a great group with hard workers.  My 11th grade British Literature class is going to be so much fun.  I have wanted to teach British Literature for my entire career.  My senior class will be smoother and more interesting, I hope, since I have taught the course once.  In other words, I am really excited about my classes and my students.

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MySpace in US News

Jonathan Seal points to an article in this week’s US News magazine that is a comprehensive discussion on both sides of the MySpace issue. The bottom line is the same: yes, there are dangers, but if we teach our kids, we can make them safe. Oft quoted Parry Aftab says that “parents are chicken” when it comes to MySpace, and I would only add that most educators are as well. But as the article points out, it’s just not something we can afford to be afraid of. In some way, shape or form, we have to teach MySpace or at least the social networking concept that it represents.

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Welcome to Golden Swamp

Last evening I spoke with several people about my work centered here. For the past several years GoldenSwamp has been my informal base for advocating that the education of new generations in the 21st century embrace the internet. My recent activities in this cause include:

Blogging on Howard Rheingold’s team at SmartMobs.com
Panelist at Mobile 2.0 in November
Blogging at iCommons.com
Writing a book (to be finished next month), mobile phones and the young generation.
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