Gingersnapz!

This podcast is a bit of a deviation from the normal format for GingerSnapz! It is in direct response to the attitude she's seen recently displayed by some in the edublogga'sphere. This attitude seems to be snarky disdain for those teachers and educators who may be showing a bit "too much excitement" for the tool of the week. Ginger offers her snappy opinion toward those who often serve as bellwethers for the 'sphere. Please DO leave a comment on this one!

During the first 4 minutes of this episode, Ginger muses about a conference she's about to attend (http://essdack.org/ttt/), hosted by ESSDACK (http://essdack.org/), the company that runs Turning Point Learning Center. She also considers the beauty of the Flint Hills and the destruction of the June 11, 2008 tornado that hit Chapman and Manhattan, KS the night before. IF you have an interest in a more personal "snap" from Ginger, listen to the first of the podcast. However, at about 4 minutes, she FINALLY decides to get to the point of the grading/assessment dilemma, considering grade cards and the under-motivation and under-achievement that current assessment and grading practices foster. Charlie Mahoney is referenced: http://charliemahoney.com/ and the phone call at the end was from her husband, Eric. Enjoy!

Listen in as Ginger reflects on the iConnect iLearn (un)conference that has been a catalyst in demonstrating how education should be, not only for students, but also professionals. How many times have you sat through a powerpoint from some big-wig telling you to change your delivery model? How many times have they "spiced up" their presentation by having you do some silly little activity that "illustrates" what a student would be doing?! Bah! The iConnect Conference has been a proving ground not only to tech-reluctant or newbie teachers, but also to those in professional development positions; to see that indeed these teachers WILL accept a conference that does NOT provide "sit and get" PD. So now my challenge to you is to put up or shut up! Snappy!

This is an interview I held with Julie Rhodes last October at the annual conference of the Kansas Association for Gifted, Talented, and Creative. Julie and I took some of our Master's classes together and our paths have begun to widen. She's now teaching pre-service teachers at Cowley County; let's see what she has to say about these students' tech readiness to teach our future generation.