Wag the Dog

I am having a hard time taking news seriously recently. I just watched the movie Wag the Dog again and it is shockingly like what seems to be happening in our country. At the moment I am sitting in the airport in St. Louis, Missouri. There are TV monitors in every waiting room tuned to CNN (with no obvious way to change the channel or turn them off). CNN seems to heighten the already hyped news by repeating it over and over again with different newspeople. Right now it is “The Situation Room” and it is going on and on about the hunt for Bin Laden and the recently released documents about Iraq.

I also read earlier today in TechLearning that the majority of young people are getting their news from TV and online. TV is so persuasive. How do I know and evaluate if Bin Laden REALLY was hunted and how much effort was put into it?

Concern for Friends

In this blog I try to focus on my professional concerns rather than be too political. However, something has happened that is deeply concerning me and so I feel the need to shine a light on it here.

I just got back from a visit to Columbia, Missouri where my sons are attending college. When I lived there I had several friends from the Islamic Community. One of the most welcoming and kind was Shakir Hamoodi. About a week ago the FBI raided his home when he was not home. Just two days before this the Islamic Community had invited the FBI people to a dinner which they attended which was designed to keep communication open between them.

Shakir is a sincere man who has relatives in Iraq. He has been an active fundraiser for an Islamic relief organization (the last Islamic one that the US has allowed to function). That organization has been hassled by the FBI for years, but there have been no official charges. Everything is veiled in mystery. The FBI said that their interest in Shakir is due to his fundraising activity BEFORE we invaded Iraq and that there are no criminal charges. He has always been very open about what he was doing. Why didn't they do something about it earlier if it really was against the law?

Anyway, this is personal. I keep hearing about situations like this and feeling that it is wrong, but I don't really know the people. I know Shakir and his family and so I will not just let this happen without calling attention to it.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Martin Niemoller (from Wikipedia)
(NOTE: This same quote has been used with many different groups represented. It is thought that Niemoller actually changed the groups himself at different times. The point is the same.)

More School Observations

I worked today and had time to walk around the school to see how computers were being used in different classrooms. I wasn't really surprised, just sad. I didn't see any computers in classrooms turned on... except for a few on the teacher's desks. The school had an excellent web page though. It was made by a foundation that helps schools by creating web sites for them. It made me feel like using technology is just not all that important. I also felt frustrated thinking about the amount of money spent on equipment that was sitting unused in so many classrooms. Most of them had two or three computers and it was a big school.

Continuing Thoughts on Computer Games

A response to my last post on computer games said "let's face it, guys are violent". I don't buy that. Not all guys are violent. Guys may be competetive or driven or forceful, but that can be used just as well for peaceful means. The same kernels of violence can be channeled into something else and I think violent computer games just reinforce the idea that violence is an outlet.

On the same topic I was on a flight yesterday and talked to the person next to me who has a 9 year old son. His son plays a game called Club Penguin which sounds great. It is a multi-user online game for kids where they create a penguin avatar and then interact with other penguins. He says that it is highly monitored and that players can report another player for inappropriate behavior and they are ejected from the game. Interesting... and I think much better than the violence that many games thrive on.

Thoughts about Computer Games

I am listening to the cutest podcast with Miguel Guilin and his son, James. He makes a good point about how motivating games are for kids. His son talks about how much he has learned by playing video games that he is very motivated to play.

At the same time that I was charmed and interested I was also struck by the inhumanness and violence of the game that he was describing. It definitely taught James to solve problems and to use strategies, but it also taught him to think that SCUDs are helpful things and that wiping people out is sometimes necessary.

I am hoping that we can make educational games that are as compelling, but that also teach peace and peacemaking. I am not a gamer, but there is one game that I have heard of that sounds pretty interesting. It is called A Force More Powerful. Has anyone tried it? What do you think?

ATTENTION: School Websites

One of the worst things I am seeing is that so many school web sites have calendars that are not updated! One of the worst actually had a link called EVENTS which linked to something that happened in November of 2005! If you update anything start with your calendar OR don't put a calendar on your page OR a link that says events! When someone looks on the web to see what your school is like they will not know if the list of teachers is out of date or if the letter from the principal is new, but they can tell right away that the calendar is very old.

I think that websites are such an important way to communicate about a school to parents, the community and the world. It really makes me sad to see so many school websites that are not updated.

ISTE NETS Refresh Project

I just got my email newsletter from ISTE and I am interested to hear that they are doing an NETS Refresh Project. That makes sense to me. Technology changes so fast that it makes sense to regularly refresh these standards. What do you think?

Web 2.0 Conference - k12 Online 2006

A Web 2.0 Conference online is a GREAT idea! I am looking forward to hearing and interacting with people who are actually using Web 2.0 in the classroom and I don't have to travel anywhere! Remember though that it does take TIME, but set aside time because it will be worth spending it. They are still looking for presenters also. Here is more information:

http://adifference.blogspot.com/2006/09/k12-online-2006.html

Tags: k12online, k12online06