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Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Primary focus: Education
I’ve been running WordPress websites since 2005, and creating webpages since 1995. Over that time I’ve accumulated a lot of sites including different blogs, professional development sites, projects, podcasts, and communities I’ve been part of. Many of them aren’t active any longer, but some sites still have content I want to preserve. The problem is []
Since I’m known in our family (and in parts of my community) as someone with a few technology and media skills, from time to time I’m asked to help out with slideshows at special events. In the past this has included funerals for both of my spouse’s parents, as well as my mom’s funeral. Back []
In my April 26 Media Literacy Roundup, I previewed our then-upcoming Media Education Lab webinar on “Memes, Warfare, and Propaganda” and promised a reflection afterward. This is that reflection. I was reminded about needing to share it because the latest CBS Sunday Morning episode, “Inside Iran’s online propaganda war,” covered nearly identical ground for a []
We’re wrapping up our Coding Mars / Minecraft Mars unit in my middle school computer programming class. It’s one of my favorite units. Students have been programming “agents” (which function like “robots” in Minecraft Education) to mine resources, farm, and build structures in a Mars-themed world. It’s hands-on, it’s creative, and it’s been particularly exciting []
I’m writing this from downtown Nashville, where I just wrapped up Day 1 of the Lead4Change Teacher Summit at the beautiful Hotel Noelle and VentureX Co-working space. It’s mid-April, the weather is gorgeous, and I’m feeling energized, seen, and hopeful. I want you to know why! In addition to sharing this blog post with details []
This week I virtually attended an excellent “Lunch Learn webinar” hosted by the Center for North Carolina Politics and Public Service at Catawba College, titled “Spot the Bot: How to spot fake accounts and sort fact from fiction in social media.” The presenter was Torry Crass, former Chief Information Security Officer for the state []
Today was one of my favorite lessons in my middle school media literacy class: We started our “Froot Loop Conspiracies” unit about the Moon Landing Hoax, Lateral Reading, and using the SIFT web literacy framework to vet and verify online information and sources. Today’s introductory lesson involved watching the first two of three videos, and []
This school year, I’m unable to use SpinTheWheel.io, a random animal selector I’d been using for one of my favorite middle school creature-design projects. Last spring when I was asked to start teaching two sections of AP Computer Science Principles in February, I co-created this lesson with my colleague Todd Johnson, who took over one []
In my 55 years of life on our planet and 32 years as a professional educator and teacher, I’ve shared a lot of stories and more than a few presentations. This evening, I believe I shared one of the most important and powerful stories I’ve ever personally connected with. But like we often do as []
One of the most common problems I see in student and creator videos alike is inconsistent audio. You shoot a clip facing the camera, then turn around to capture something else — and suddenly the audio levels are completely different. The result is a video that sounds unprofessional, even when the content is great. The []
