As I write my journal, I am prepping for tonight’s class. Prepping for class nearly always puts me in the frame of mind of, "What the hell am I doing? I can’t teach." I’ve been working through this negative self-talk since I became responsible for teaching courses. So, since August of 1993. Here I sit,…
I have been really challenged lately trying to put into words a teaching philosophy I have been struggling to promote. A good friend of mine helped me put this philosophy into words, which has helped me put them to paper. Teacher evaluations are mostly bullshit. I say that because the evaluations I have seen do…
I read an article recently about the difficulties of choosing digital content in K-12 education. I think the article was miss-titled. The author didn’t really discuss choosing digital content, more about managing digital content. But the author’s comments did spur some thoughts of my own. K-12 education may have some special issues related to digital…
Without ever having taken an education class, I suspect the over-arching theme of all education course is the training of a person to help him/her learn techniques they can use to help a child become “self-actualized” – to become all they can be. I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor yesterday. As many of…
Over the Winter Break, I bought and read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Fascinating book, and also a brief history of “Silicon Valley.” I highly recommend the book. Steve Jobs never completed college. Neither did Bill Gates, of Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg, the developer of Facebook, he dropped out of college, too. I…
Let me ask you this question: How much money did the United States Interstate Highway System make in 2010? Undeniably, the United State Interstate Highway System is critical to commerce not only within the United States but really the world. Americans are consummate consumers and what we buy has to end up at Wal-mart, Target,…
The Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline I call "America’s Crack Pipe." Not a harsh assessment in my book. Listen to the frantic rhetoric of the GOP. Newt Gingrich calls President Obama’s reticence on passing KXL legislation as "irrational." Michelle Bachman rants like a strung-out intravenous drug user who feels threatened her dealer might be incarcerated soon…
Let’s begin with a definition: stove-piping refers to the creation or development of ideas in isolated environment, with no contact or input from other groups, agencies, or departments. Governments are notorious for stove-piping. Agencies develop databases for their own use, databases that may not be connected to other databases, may not be designed to hold…
I’ve been harping on this topic for many a moon. Now, Diane Rehm (The Diane Rehm Show) and Neal Conan (Talk of the Nation) are both hosting shows on precisely this topic and exactly the same day. Unfortunately, Diane Rehm’s show was somewhat a waste of time. Her guests did little to list the real…
I have a number of philosophies I suggest students should adopt for success not only in this course, but in all courses, and perhaps life, in general. I tell my students to stop thinking about themselves as merely a student. Or, rather, stop thinking about themselves as only a student. Bring your life to class,…
Constant Geography 
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