So I’ll be the first to admit that because of my wide variety of classes taught, my marking has been somewhat schizophrenic. I don’t generally mark the same way in CPT as I do in History, French or Science, and each class lends itself to specific ways of gathering marks. Readers will note that I [...]
Read the full story »Movies, music, books and other elements of culture.
Teaching, instruction, students and whatnot.
Family stories, legislation affecting families, discussion on family issues.
Gizmos, gadgets and the latest gear.
Politics, news and happenings around the world.
fabulist (n): one who invents fables. funbulist (n): one who shares links. Here we go!
Language Arts:
Reading together – Heartwarming story about a father and daughter who read together at bedtime for over three thousand consecutive nights.
Libraries – Librarian Sara Scribner argues that closing libraries (and in particular, school libraries) could prove disastrous for a generation [...]
Marks are due today, and my usual angst about the meaninglessness of mid-term grades has been amped up this year with two classes whose mid-term reports are going to be even more inaccurate than usual. One class is basically a semester-long project, with very little to mark until the whole shebang is turned in on [...]
Furciferous (adj): bearing a forked appendage. Funciferous (adj): forkloads of fun! Here we go:
Language Arts:
Godzilla Haiku – Just like the title says, these are haikus composed by the rampaging monster, each accompanied by a photo. Aside from the poetry instruction possibilities, the juxtaposition of the traditional Japanese verse next to the stereotypical Japanese monster is [...]
Monday afternoon I gave a presentation on Personal Learning Networks. I’m not sure I was at my best – not because my presentation was bad, but I’m not sure I managed to get across why I think PLNs are so important for teachers nowadays. I tried to Ustream it so that there would be a [...]
Farley Flex, really? Okay, I admire the things he’s done as a record producer, radio station manager and community activist, but we all know that the reason he’s in Prince Albert speaking to 1000 educators is that he’s a judge on Canadian Idol. Idol and its reality TV brethren represent much of what is wrong [...]
Febricant (adj): causing fever. Funbricant (adj): feverishly fun. Here we go!
Science:
Space & Numbers – Do your eyes glaze over when you hear astronomers talk about the hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy, and the hundred of billions of galaxies in the universe? Here’s a comparative article showing how many 100 billion really is.
Social:
Chilean [...]
Alfred Thompson mentioned earlier today via Twitter that he was interested in seeing medal counts per population for the countries involved. Realising that this kind of math was right up my alley, I decided to make such a table for my own interest… The first four columns were what Alfred was talking about, and I [...]
Fabaceous (adj): bean-like. Funbaceous (adj): humour-like. Here’s two weeks’ worth of links – brace yourselves!
Olympics:
Intro to Canada – At the beginning of the Olympics, NBC made this short film to introduce their American viewers to Canada. Tom Brokaw narrates.
Opening ceremonies – TBP’s take on the 2010 opening ceremonies in Vancouver. Lots of spectacle.
Week one – [...]
My impression of Canada Post’s online tracking system:
Day 1: Your package has been electronically submitted.
Day 2: Your package has been processed in Mississauga.
Day 3: Your package has been processed in Mississauga.
Day 4: Your package has been processed in Mississauga.
Day 5: Your package has been processed in Mississauga.
Day 6: Your package has been processed in Mississauga.
*package [...]
Fusillation (n): death by shooting. Funsillation (n): fun by linking. No categories this week, since there aren’t too many links. Here we go!
Hologram world? – Though it might seem absurd at first glance, there’s a distinct possibility that the universe around us may be nothing more than a projection of actions past the visible [...]
Facinorous (adj.): atrociously wicked. Funcinorous (adj.): wickedly funny. Here’s this week’s list ‘o links:
Science
Chess by machine – Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov talks about his time competing against ever-more-advanced computers until finally being beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer. Interesting look at how chess changed when computers were allowed, and how chess changed the [...]
No fun Friday this week – unfortunately, I had this thing called “work” that took up too much of my time… bummer. Bask instead in my choices for movies to see in 2010…
Jan 8th – Leap Year – Yes, I know it’s a standard romantic comedy, and yes I know it will be predictable, but [...]
After having Patrick Ness‘ books recommended to me by the fine folks at io9, I went to the library and picked up a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first book of the Chaos Walking trilogy. And, man is it good! So good, I went and read through the sequel, The Ask [...]
I’ve had many discussions with outstanding teachers around the country (Teachers of the Year, Milken Educators, NBCTs, and so forth). It always amazes me how few of the teachers being recognized for their accomplishments in the classroom can brag on the support of their administrators. Much more common are stories of subversion, sneaking around policies, [...]
When I went to mow the lawn the other day, the kids asked why I’d let the grass get so long. I told them it was so the elephants would have a place to hide, not really thinking about it. Of course, with a line like that, the kids wanted to know all about elephants [...]
When I started this blog in 2002, it was with the intention of it becoming a repository of links to stories I was interested in. It has evolved over the past eight years to become that and much else. While my weekly links roundups serve much the same purpose as the original story file, the [...]
Fideism (n): doctrine that knowledge depends on faith over reason. Fundeism (n): doctrine that places amusement above all. This will be my last Fun Friday update for this school year – they’ll pick up again in the fall, time permitting. Here are your links for this week:
Social:
Scenes from the Gulf – The Big Picture has [...]
I’m really enjoying the new Matt Maher album, Alive Again. A line from one song in particular (Flesh And Bone) has stuck with me:
I met a man who walked on water
Who wore His crown like a blue collar.
I met a man who treated children
Like they were ambassadors to the kingdom.
I wonder how often the church [...]
I originally signed on to Facebook a couple of years back because a friend told me I could find an old high school buddy through the site. Fair enough. Since then, I’ve reconnected with a couple of old friends, but not in any meaningful kind of way – just a few chats now and then. [...]
My district finds itself in a bit of a pickle finance-wise this year. Three factors have come together to create one of the toughest financial times this school district has faced.
The first is inability to raise our own funds. The Saskatchewan government last year announced that it was removing the ability of local school boards [...]
