September 2002
Monthly Archive
Pat Starts Me Thinking Again…
Yearbook adviser Will over here reads Pat’s latest post and thinks, “golly, that is a great idea.” A “genuine annual history of the school community.” What a concept! What a cool site that could be, and my mind races away with all sorts of ideas for content. I wish I had more time to think in these terms, ’cause as I’ve said over and over, there are inumerable great ways to use these things. And he’s pushing my thinking in terms of publication once again. I don’t know where he gets the time…
How do we make such sites popular…that’s the burning question on this end. Ain’t none of this gonna work if we don’t make it appealing. I do probably 75% of my news reading online now, but I know I’m in the very small minority. If we were to take our newspaper or yearbook online in weblog format, we’ll have to make it extremely interesting content.
Pat says: “And that last leads into further collaboration with the design and programming guys in Bakersfield. What if we had this all in mind before designing a ‘newsBlog’ theme? What school would not kill for this kind of newspaper / literary magaze / year book-ready Manila application?” Which goes back to what I was screaming a long time ago…let’s build better templates, ones education specific. Bryan is doing yeoman’s work, but there is still a long road ahead in terms of templates that work in all browsers and can be easily altered to meet the needs of individual teachers and classes. I still need someone to help me with call-back scripts for the teacher portfolio template, for instance. Nice to keep finding new ways to implement…just wish I was implementing the right stuff.
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General &
Weblog Tech 30 Sep 2002 04:04 pm
Metadata Plugin
Has anyone seen or used this? Looks a bit over my head as usual.
General 30 Sep 2002 12:57 pm
test
What Makes A Particular Stock “Halal”? – While the idea of Islamic investing has been gaining favor with Muslims over the past few years, it is becoming increasingly difficult to come up with a generally accepted definition of a halal investment. It’s easy to avoid companies that market goods Muslims consider “impure” (Here’s a tip – shun businesses listed in this “socially irresponsible” Vice Fund), but nearly every company has some dealing with interest income, which violates the Muslim ban on usury. To get around this, some scholars calculate a company’s “impure income ratio” – if it is low enough, it qualifies. But there are other issues that haven’t been considered yet. At a session on Islamic investing at last month’s ISNA convention in Washington, a young Muslim environmentalist questioned why Exxon was on the approved list. “Good point,” one of the Islamic investment gurus said. “We need to look into that some more.”
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No Hate Crime Charges in Rape of CA Muslim Girl – When an 18 year-old Hindu boy, Sanjay Nair, was arrested on charges that he assaulted and raped his 15 year-old Muslim girlfriend in a California store, his reported remarks to the girl complicated an already serious crime. Nair is alleged to have made “a history of remarks denigrating her religion” both before and during the sexual assault, prompting “hate rape” allegations, according to Palo Alto Police Chief Pat Dwyer. However, the DA evenutally decided not to file hate crime charges. “We don’t believe that was the substantial motivation for that attack,” said Assistant DA Karyn Sinunu. That decision struck a nerve with Bay Area groups such as Maitri and Narika, galvanized into action from previous local incidents involving violence towards women. “It’s still a violent crime,” says Narika’s Nahid Sheikh. “Whether the police charge it as a hate crime, it’s still a misogynist crime.” The case has attracted international attention, particularly because it mirrors the many documented cases of rape and assault in Gujrat, India. Nair, who would have had an additional 3 years in prison if charged with a hate crime, is being held on a $20,000 arrest warrant at the Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose.
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Islam Blooms in Wake of Rwandan Genocide – In the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda where Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by Hutu extremists in a wildfire of racial hatred, Rwandan society has worked to prevent communal violence from happening again. During the violence, Rwanda’s Muslims (many of whom were intermarried Tutsis and Hutus) hid thousands of desparate Tutsis from rampaging mobs. At the same time, some Christian clergy joined in the killing spree and murdered many Tutsis within their own churches, claiming “God does not want you“. Eight years later, Islam in Rwanda is seeing a dramatic rise in popularity, seen by many Rwandans as promoting unity and racial tolerance. “In the Islamic faith, Hutu and Tutsi are the same,” said Yahya Kayiranga, a Tutsi who was taken in by a Muslim family during the genocide. “Islam teaches us about brotherhood.” The Muslim population of Rwanda has increased from 7 to 14 percent since the genocide.
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He Didn’t Lay Low Enough: 9/11 Suspect Caught After TV Interview – Just days after boasting of his involvement in 9/11 with Al-Jazeera journalist Yosri Fouda, Ramzi Binalshibh, roommate of 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta and believed to be one of the planners of last year’s attacks, was captured in the lawless alleys of Karachi, Pakistan, by Pakistani and US authorities after four-hour firefight. In the interview, Binalshibh bragged about the attacks (which he called “Holy Tuesday”), let slip a hint that bin Laden may be dead, revealed the target of the fourth plane (the US Capitol), and suggested alternative targets (nuclear power plants). Predictable events have ensued: Fouda fears retaliation by militants who think he tipped off the authorities (he denies this), Bush touts the success of his anti-terrorism policies, the US presses for extradition as quickly as possible, and jihadis on the Internet steadfastly deny that he was even caught at all.
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Parents of 9/11 Victim Boycott Memorial With Muslim Speaker – Another sign that the healing process has a long way to go: The parents of a Hawaii woman killed in the 9/11 attacks refused to attend a memorial service because one of the speakers was a Muslim. “I just felt it was completely inappropriate and 100 percent offending,” said Neal Snyder, father of Christine Snyder. “It’s so distasteful for us,” said Neal’s wife and Christine’s stepmother, Jan. The couple became outraged after hearing that Hakim Ouansafi, chairman and president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, was invited to speak at the event. “It’s obvious from her statement that her and her family are still suffering, as are many of us,” said Ouansafi, who has been involved in many interfaith services in the aftermath of 9/11. “It saddens me to hear such comments, but it also gives me the resolve to go out there and talk and educate people more. Islam teaches us to have love and compassion for people who even hurt you.”
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Eyes of the Beholders: Sept. 11th Film Draws Fire – Variety magazine called it “stridently anti-American.” The Italian daily Il Foglio called it “garbage.” It being a French-financed film entitled “11’09″01” (that’s Sept. 11th for you Americans) that assembles an international group of directors to explore last year’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The film opened in a dozen countries on Sept. 11th after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, and the exclusion of America in that group was no accident. “This is now a period of mourning for Americans,” said artistic producer Alain Brigand. “We are not in a hurry for this film to debut in the United States.” The reluctance is easier to understand considering what has upset Americans about the film – an Egyptian entry that blasts US foreign policy and a British entry that chides the US for support of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The filmmakers dispute the allegations of political motivations, saying they had no prior knowledge of what the directors would contribute. Hollywood’s eventual response, on the other hand, has yet to be decided as it has remained silent on the issue for the past year.
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UK Journalist Detained by Taliban Considers Islam – Soon after the Sept. 11th attacks, British journalist Yvonne Ridley was detained in Afghanistan by the Taliban government and held for 10 days before being released as the US bombing campaign started. The British media was soon ready to hear tales of Islamic barbarism from the 44-year old mother of one. What happened next was a surprise – Ridley converted to Islam instead. Needless to say, her trip to Afghanistan was fraught with danger (including, she says, attempts by the CIA to kill her as a pretext to attack). But the Taliban treated her civilly (relatively speaking). “I promised that if they released me, I’d study Islam when I got back to London,” she said. “And what started out as an academic study has now turned into something much more spiritual. I’m very impressed with what I’ve found.” Ridley will be publishing more reflections in a British Muslim magazine out next month. One of them will be how conversion didn’t change her feelings about the Taliban. “I don’t think I would have been more sensitive. I mean, I was their prisoner. “
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Wanted By The FBI – For A Job, That Is – One of the more unusual sights that greeted attendees at this year’s ISNA convention in Washington, DC was the presence of the FBI, gathered just outside the main entrance of the nation’s largest Muslim convention. No, they weren’t shutting down another charity or rounding up the usual suspects. They were there to look for a few good men & women to recruit. Less than a week after September 11, FBI director Robert Mueller issued an appeal for Arabic and Farsi speakers. The response was “extraordinary”, Mr Mueller recently testified. FBI hotlines shut down under the sheer weight of calls. The good news is that Muslim leaders, and many of the 30,000 convention delegates, were delighted that the FBI asked to attend the convention for the first time in the event’s 39-year history. The bad news is that many delegates, especially young Muslims, expressed suspicion that the FBI wanted them only because it needed insiders to spy on other Muslims. “If they’re looking for translators, then definitely,” remarked one 20-something Muslim. “But as long as they’re not asking people to infiltrate their own communities.”
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IN ART & CULTURE (36 stories): |
Live from Afghanistan! It’s Saturday Night! – Even though few Afghans have televisions, the return of TV broadcasts in Afghanistan is bringing back game shows, newscasts, and (gasp) women singing. (Aug 15, 2002)
Controversial Country Ballad Narrates “John Walker’s Blues” – A country song about the American Taliban’s misfortunes attempts to put a “Ballad of Davy Crockett” spin on John Walker Lindh. (Jul 22, 2002)
Some Say ‘Wimble-don’t’ to Muslim-Israeli Doubles Team – After a Pakistani Muslim chose an Israeli Jew to be his Wimbledon doubles partner, he made history as the first Pakistani to reach the third round. But his country might still ban him. (Jun 30, 2002)
- More stories and comments here
IN BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY (38 stories): |
“Islamic Dinar” Readied For Use in Intra-Muslim Trade – With world markets in flux, Malaysia and other Muslim countries hope to introduce a more stable gold-backed “Islamic dinar” for Muslim traders to use. (Aug 21, 2002)
Separation of Conjoined Twins Poses Islamic Ethical Dilemma – Does doing the “least harm” mean keeping conjoined twins crippled for life or taking the risk to separate them? Islamic scholars grapple with the ethics of separation. (Aug 12, 2002)
Muslims Find New Strength in Consumerism – After watching America take advantage of the globalization trend, Muslim countries find that they have products to offer and the purchasing power to keep them on the market. (Jul 28, 2002)
- More stories and comments here |
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Ed Tech &
General 27 Sep 2002 09:32 am
Template Envy
I guess I’m gonna have to think of another way to get my journalists doing some newslogging some other way since Pat says the template won’t be ready until much later…Anyone out there know how to do a simple site like this in Manila? Pat says I could cut and paste altmuslim, but how do I do that? Ah, learning curves.
General &
Personal 26 Sep 2002 07:09 am
Time? What’s That
Can’t believe how full my plate is these days. Just hanging on by my fingernails. Got about 45 minutes to do some writing and some surfing today. One find: Kevin Brooks who is using weblogs in his English classes at North Dakota State. And there looks to be more inquiry into weblogs and education from Cindy Nichols, also at NDSU. Should be interesting to see what her students find. Another colleague of theirs is also weblogging with her students (Pop up warning!)
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General &
Weblog Theory 26 Sep 2002 06:46 am
A Month of Manila
Some thoughts and observations of my first month with Manila in the classroom. (Click on title of this post.)
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General 26 Sep 2002 06:45 am
Month of Manila
One month into Manila with my kids, here’s what I think:
1. I’m loving the way my Journalism home page is looking…it really is such a breeze to update and make pretty. And I’m loving the concept of the class home page even more with Manila because of the interactivity.
2. Now that I have the discussion feature, I still don’t really know what to do with it. Don’t get me wrong, the concept of a J-Talk type page is cool, but my kids don’t seem as apt to post this time around. After all my longings for Metafilter, now I pretty much have it and don’t know what to do with it.
3. Wish there was some way for a managing editor to organize the posts of his/her minions. The Bees site is good but not as effective since I’m not able to organize the posts.
4. I’m wondering how effective general discussion weblogs will be with kids who see each other face to face every day. Distance learning, absolutely. But I don’t get the sense that they see the need to do all that discussing online, and maybe I don’t either.
5. I’m anxious, however, to see how it works when giving feedback to writing, which is what my journalism kids will be doing this weekend. I’ve broken them into groups of four, and each student will have to post a feedback response to each of his/her groupmates stories. I have a feeling this is a better use.
6. I’ve been pleased with the relatively few technical glitches, except of course for the gems disaster. Only one site has cracked.
7. Although the department feature allows for organizing posts, I still need to think more about how to have kids set up their weblogs. Maybe flipping with departments is a better answer, I don’t know.
8. While it makes my paperwork life easier, it has taken a bit to get used to doing everything on the computer. My kids create NO paper, which actually made it more difficult to learn their names since I didn’t have anything to hand back to them. I think I’m getting the hang of it now, though.
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General &
Weblog Theory 23 Sep 2002 01:15 pm
Understanding weblogs
Quote: “In other words, I realized that a weblog could be a useful tool for personal knowledge management as well as for public communication.”
It’s cool to think of the potential of weblogs as student notebooks, easily searchable, chock full of information from class work and outside reading. Homework repositories, communications with teachers and mentors, etc. all in one place. But the author is right when he goes on to discuss the limits of organizing and publishing this information.
BTW, is there a way currently to make some of Manila public and some not???
Ed Tech &
General 23 Sep 2002 12:54 pm
More Why Weblogs
Back from camping…why is it I keep forgetting how hard it is to camp with two toddlers???
Brian Fitzgerald gets to the “why weblogs” question as he prepares for an upcoming seminar. Here’s a quote:
“I think that it has to do with the real nature of weblogs, the focus on content. Web pages typically require a lot of thought regarding the form of the page before content can begin to be put into it. There are also considerations such as site architecture and depth that always need to be addressed. This is much more than most people want to deal with. It’s more than I, a web developer, want to deal with. People have often asked me if I have a web page and I have always responded that I simply don’t have time or cause to have my own. They are a lot of work. Weblogs (getting back to the topic) however get all of the form issues out of the way at the very beginning, wether you design it yourself or choose a provided “theme”, and allow you to spend the rest of your time posting true content to your webpage.”
A good point, especially when giving kids the “paper” for Internet publishing, right Pat?
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Ed Tech &
General 20 Sep 2002 09:41 am
No Rss Here…
David says that he can’t get an RSS feed from my site. Frustrating thing is I have no clue how to fix it. I’ve turned on the syndication feature, but I guess I need to do more. Anyone have ideas?
Ed Tech &
General 18 Sep 2002 04:33 pm
The RSS Frontier
I’ve been trying to put it off, but I think I’m going to have roll up my sleeves and get into the newsfeed side to this. Pat has been experimenting as has David (who led me to amphetaDesk). The potential here boggles my simple mind; here I am again at the start of the journey feeling muddled. It certainly would be cool to figure out how I could get feeds from all my kidweblogs as they were posted. Anyone? Anyone at all?
Ed Tech &
General 18 Sep 2002 01:47 pm
Changing the Model
We’ve started a discussion at our school with the intent to “to revisit our current classroom model for instructional technology, and to begin to develop some recommendations for a new model that will use technology in more effective ways.” (Here’s the weblog, of course.) It’s a pretty big undertaking considering the extent to which we are already infused with technology (I think it might be easier if we were starting from scratch) and the diverse abilities and philosophies of our staff concerning integrating it into our curriculum.
A survey that we took a couple of years ago showed a pretty proficient level of understanding and use of technology by staff for personal use, but a less than satisfactory ability to use those skills with students. One thing that may be preventing that is the current configuration of our standard classrooms, each of which have six computers. When the Blue Ribbon School assessor was here last year, he noted that in 55 observations in standard classrooms, only once did he see the computers being used for classroom instruction. (Despite that, we did receive the award.) Obviously, that is a problem. With class sizes averaging over 20, six computers become more of a logistical headache than tools for instruction.
The debate yesterday centered around how best to gather information that will drive our decisions about the model. At first, we talked about analyzing the data from the old survey more in depth, or resurveying the staff to get new data on their skill level. But we soon realized that the only way to truly do a needs assessment for teachers was not to ask them what they know so much as ask them HOW they do use or would use what they know. What would they need to effectively put their knowledge to use in their teaching?
I think this is the crucial albeit extremely complex question that many schools fail to answer. Sure, we can provide the hardware, we can even provide the training. But there remains a large disconnect between the potential and the reality when it comes to actually using technology to improve teaching and learning. (And by the way, we had that debate too, with one person saying that he has yet to see a study that proves using technology improves learning. Bring back chalk!)
It’s going to be interesting to see what the data shows. We already see it as being discipline specific, that there really is no such thing as a standard classroom for all subjects. (Obviously, there probably is no such thing as a standard English or Science classroom either, but we can probably get closer to that ideal at least.) And to be honest, I am awed by this challenge. There are so many determiners in the equation. Should be a eye-opening process.
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Ed Tech &
General 18 Sep 2002 01:13 pm
Teens earn diplomas with online program
A pretty interesting program for disaffected kids…and it’s interesting to me because I can see the application of weblogs here as well. They mention e-mail mentors, work logs, reflections…I doubt they even know they can have it all in one place.
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Ed Tech &
General 16 Sep 2002 11:25 am
Web Portfolio Roundup
Can’t imagine that more people won’t be using Manila-type software to do this. I’m not sure I’m going to get my independent study portfolio off the ground this year…I need to start writing the proposal for next year.
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General &
Weblog Tech 13 Sep 2002 06:56 am
More to Learn
Pat notes that Frontier 9 has been released, and it looks like there are some new options for Manila that I’m gonna need to learn. I have to say that so far my students seem to be taking to it pretty well. But here are just a few things for the Wish List:
An easier way to create links to departments. (You can see by my instructions here that there’s gotta be an easier way.)
A way to move posts around in a collaborative weblog. My Lit kids are adding the content, but they’re not necessarily doing it in the correct order. It occurs to me now that one solution may be to not have them post to the home page and instead leave their posts “pending” until those who were supposed to go before them have posted. Then I can send them to the page.
An easier way to link stories…I’m not having my journalism students use stories because the extra step they have to go through. I need to think more about this too.
Karen is thinking this stuff through too, which makes me feel a little better. She’s talking about doing weekly wrapups, a la Barbara. I think at some point, I will do that too with my journalism kids, maybe post links to Best Practices from within their own weblogs. One of the reasons I wanted to do this was to facilitate the “learning from one another” process…I just have to make sure they get to see the good stuff.
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