Disqus - Latest Comments for michaelsweller

Re: Controversial nativity scene at Claremont church depicts Mary as homeless woman | abc7.com

michaelsweller — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 16:00:39 -0000

Except that Jesus didn't say anything in the Old Testament: all of his sayings are reported in the New Testament.

If you're relying on the Old Testament to guide your path, I hope you don't eat shrimp:

https://www.biblegateway.co...

Re: Controversial nativity scene at Claremont church depicts Mary as homeless woman | abc7.com

michaelsweller — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:11:48 -0000

I think Beto was referring to the woman accused of adultery, whom Jesus defended by saying "let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

Re: Controversial nativity scene at Claremont church depicts Mary as homeless woman | abc7.com

michaelsweller — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:11:16 -0000

Why is it offensive? Could it be that it's offensive to you because it - for a moment at least - causes you to think about the fact that there are homeless mothers in a country of such great affluence? Maybe it gives you just a little chill of discomfort, realizing what Jesus probably would have thought about this?

Re: Controversial nativity scene at Claremont church depicts Mary as homeless woman | abc7.com

michaelsweller — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:08:23 -0000

The Bible does not attribute any reference to homosexuality, positive or negative, to Jesus. If you believe in the Bible, then you have to accept that Jesus simply didn't speak publicly about homosexuality.

Re: Controversial nativity scene at Claremont church depicts Mary as homeless woman | abc7.com

michaelsweller — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:06:13 -0000

You're right; we fight "Christianity," not Christianity: the ideology that the right wing espouses is not Christianity. Do you really think Jesus would support tax breaks for the wealthy paid for by cuts to public assistance to the poor?

I also don't condemn the Bible; I condemn the attempts of the religious right to replace the Constitution with the Bible.

Re: In Community, My final thesis: Learning Connected Learning, the Game

michaelsweller — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 13:31:13 -0000

I especially like this:

...Inspired by commitments of other educators, such as those of Linda
Christensen a professor at Lewis and Clark University and director the
Oregon Writing Project, who says that she wrote Teaching for Joy and Justice because she “wanted to both celebrate what it took to be a classroom teacher …” and “to be a memory keeper about what it means to create your own curriculum and how to do that.” (2010)

Re: Telegraph Fantasy Football: US Soccer Guy names his EPL Allstars

michaelsweller — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:43:09 -0000

That's a real good soccer team, but it'd be a better soccer team if it had more USA soccer players to put on the soccer court. I think you'll get more goal shots if you go transferize Chamberpot for Maurice Edu. Have a great day, buddy!

Re: US Soccer Guy joins Telegraph Fantasy Football

michaelsweller — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 12:57:00 -0000

I'm trying real hard to make my EPL USA Fantasy team the most awesome team in that, so I don't think I'll be able to have a lot of fun with you in EPL England Fantasy. Too much fantasilizing for me. But I hope you do real good, buddy! I'll be followifying your progressization!

Re: I'm The 14-Year-Old Who Wrote The "Jesus Isn't A Dick So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" Sign In Texas And Was Labeled A "Whore" By Strangers Online

michaelsweller — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 11:55:32 -0000

Tuesday, you are awesome. I admire you for standing up for women's rights, and for refusing to let bullies silence you. I also admire your parents for supporting your decision to take a stand. I think you will make a terrific science teacher!

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Daily Spotlight on Education 02/12/2009

michaelsweller — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:34:25 -0000

This article from the Los Angeles Times reminded me of your posts re. the Flat Classroom Conference:

http://www.latimes.com/news...

In particular, this quote re. San Diego-area students exchanging emails with Afghani students:

"In the long term, it's how you fight terrorism," he said. "Somewhere somebody will say, 'Death to America!' and an Afghan kid will say, 'Hey, you're talking about my computer pal!' "

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Beware of the Ants of Annoyance

michaelsweller — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:58:06 -0000

"Pettiness only diminishes the person who is petty." Thanks for posting this! It reassures me that I handled a difficult situation with a colleague properly (by continuing to be polite when the other person wasn't).

This idea of being professional and polite in the face of impoliteness, pettiness and worse ties in with the importance of modeling appropriate behavior for students. If I tell kids to be nice to others even if the others aren't also being nice yet (and I do), then I need to be able to show that in my own behavior, even when kids aren't around.

It seems to me that what a teacher does when kids aren't around can be just as important as what he/she does in front of kids. In other words, negative behaviors can add up, and can "spill over," as it were, into one's in-the-classroom behavior. Not to say that teachers must be saints or have no life outside the classroom, but that everything we do affects everything else we do. Does that make any sense? :)

Re: Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Basics for Beginners: What is Web 2.0?

michaelsweller — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:45:42 -0000

Thank you for posting this how-to entry! Part of the reason I haven't become more involved with Web 2.0 is my feeling of intimidation at how much is out there that I don't understand.

I teach 9th-grade English and journalism at a school in a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. Some of my students are brand-new to the country, and others have third- and fourth-generation roots in California, but many of my kids are U.S.-born children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Their native language is Spanish, and yet English is not quite a second language for them. They have conversational fluency in English, but lack much of the academic language that they need to be truly fluent.

My relationship to Web 2.0 is similar. I am 31, and I grew up playing Atari, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis. I used the Prodigy Network when I was in junior high, and even had a savvy friend who taught me a little about the local bulletin boards--so I've been on the Internet, or its predecessors, for a long time. On the other hand, I didn't own a cell phone till I was 23. I'm not quite a digital native, but I spoke the language--albeit in somewhat-accented tones--when I was young. If we follow the metaphor, I can ask for directions, order from a menu, and do okay on a job interview, but I can't read a grade-level textbook or write well without considerable difficulty (and a lot of coaching).

But then, that coaching is what Professional Learning Networks are for, right?

Here's a short version of what I'm doing so far, both at home and in the classroom, along with a question.

I have used social bookmarking before--I used Connotea to start to build a resource bank for my journalism students, and then (as I do so often) got distracted and stopped working on it. I just opened a Diigo account--I like Connotea, but after looking at Diigo, it looks like it might do as much or more as Connotea. I don't know much about Diigo yet, but I was intrigued by their educators' premium account. More to come on that.

I use Google Docs with my journalism staff to manage workflow. We use Adobe InDesign for the page layout, but the meat and potatoes of our work is writing and word processing. Instead of emailing Word attachments a thousand times as writers and editors collaborate to revise, we put everything on Google Docs and share it so the collaboration happens without the attachment middleman. Once the Google Doc'd draft has become nearly ready for publication, the editors copy and paste into InDesign. This is probably my most successful use of technology with students.

I just started a blog at michaelsweller.blogspot.com, and a Twitter account at twitter.com/mweller77.

Our school has a number of Small Learning Communities, or academies, funded by federal and state grants. Part of the funding goes toward taking kids on field trips to colleges and other places that connect to their area of study. Yesterday, at a meeting, someone mentioned the idea of creating a resource bank of information re. field trips that all the academies could access. Is there a Web 2.0 tool that would work for this? I thought of social bookmarking, but it goes beyond finding web sites--it would include contacts, information about costs and conditions for attendance, and other details like that. Would this be suited for a wiki?