2009 MCSD Writing Contest

As you are hopefully aware, this year's MCSD Writing Contest is underway! This year's theme has already generated some excitement:


We have received feedback from many who are asking, "How can we write about this topic when many Web 2.0 tools are "blocked" in the school district?"

Keep in mind, the paper is to be about the classroom of the future. As we all know, many of these tools are currently blocked in the district. Many teachers and students feel very passionate about the need to have access to these resources and so... this is a great opportunity to make a case for the use of Web 2.0 tools! Challenge your students to argue that point in their essays!

Remember, winners receive netbooks! Click here to review the guidelines, template, and scoring rubric.

Submitting entries:

• email to contest@mcsdga.net.
• All entries must be received by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, October 21, 2009.

Have you shared this opportunity with your students yet?

Don’t, Don’t, Don’t vs. Do, Do, Do - AUP Revision

I recently re-tweeted a post of this article shared by Evan Abbey, and written by Will Richardson.

Don’t, Don’t, Don’t vs. Do, Do, Do

Recently, I presented at a school on an opening day for teachers where the first thing that greeted everyone on the table in the lobby was an 8-page Acceptable Use Policy

As you may know, MCSD is preparing to revise the AUP. While I know we have to follow the constraints of the law, I hope we can keep some perspective as we decide what to include and what to leave out.

I hope you will make time to read the post linked above as it presents a thought-provoking picture of a situation at one school.

I can't help but wonder, what will our new AUP say about the curriculum in our district? What will it reveal about what we value in instruction?

GA Movie Academy & Promote GA

Looking for a great opportunity for project-based learning?

Bunny Harris, from the Chattachoochee-Flint RESA will be at the MCSD Instructional Technology Academy, Wednesday, September 23rd, to hold a Kick Off meeting for Georgia Movie Academy and PROMOTE GA. She would like to meet with any interested teachers in the lab at 3:45pm and expects the meeting to last approximately 1 ½ hours.

Don't forget! Any projects your students create and submit for GMA or PROMOTE can also be entered in the 2010 MCSD TechKnow Expo!

The Impending Death of Email?

Email is going away. Slowly but steadily email is losing its pre-eminent position as the standard means of electronic communication and is being replaced by multiple tools. Click here to read more

I have read several articles lately on the impending "death" of email. I can see why it is coming, but it is so hard to imagine! I suspect as difficult as it may have been for the US Postal Service to imagine days of electronic bill statements, emails, and ecards, coming along to take away much of their business.

In my mind, I still feel like there may be certain circumstances where you just have to have an email, or a global account of some sort. There are so many "accounts" many of us have now with emails, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking tools - which are quickly being used more for business rather than social - it just seems you need to have one landing point for it all.

It seems that Google Wave is coming along in an effort to meet some of that need. I am excited to see it launch and am curious to see how many aspects of my online madness that it may organize!