Kindle Publishing: A Diary–Day 1 Getting started

Posted on May 2, 2012 by DrEMiller

Dear Diary,

So the other day I came across a self-published book in the Kindle Store titled The 4-Hour Publisher: Write a Series for Kindle by Suzanna Stinnett. And I’m going to try to follow this book step by step.

Right near the beginning–at Hour 1–she suggests starting with something that’s about 5,000 words. Now, I don’t know about you, but it could take me 4 hours just to write a single page, which is roughly 250 words. So I know this is going to be a longer process than just 4 hours. I mean, if I had stuff I was ready to share, I would have published it already, right? So, I’m going to have to start from scratch, and keep you informed of how I’m doing.

Then, I’m going to take another of the book’s suggestions and take the whole shebang and publish it. But I’m not up to that point yet. Or maybe I am but don’t know it yet. Hmmm. I’m having a bit of trouble following this e-book. I mean, the grammar and spelling seem fine, but I can’t help wondering why that professional editor the book strongly recommends didn’t help with the organization. So far, this piece jumps around all over the place. Wonder if it has anything to do with trying to cram as much into that first 10 percent of the book that ends up as the preview–the free sample that Amazon lets you download to your Kindle before you decide whether to buy the book. And was that what sold me on paying $2.99? Hopefully, it’s only the first 10% that’s a problem. Or maybe my brain is frozen…

Well, I’ve got to get started on that 5,000-word fit-to-publish document.

Expectantly,

Me

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Lisa Adams: Vicissitudes of Circumstance

Posted on March 23, 2012 by DrEMiller

A few months ago, Los Angeles artist Lisa Adams asked if I would mind reviewing her latest book. Titled Lisa Adams: Vicissitudes of Circumstance, and co-authored by the writers of the introductory essays (James Scarborough and Ezrha Jean Black), the book covers the past four or five years of her artistic work. I already owned the book and loved the work, so of course I agreed.

At first, Ms. Adams’ request “fell off my desk top,” so to speak. I was busy and forgot about my promise. When I finally remembered, I realized I had absolutely no idea where to begin. Lisa’s work hits me with reality, fantasy, science, sociology, past, present, future, as well as improbability and possibility–all at the same time.

Worse, I suddenly remembered I know nothing about art. Everything I know about art I learned in junior high, when my art teacher was the man who became George Segal, famous sculptor (and he wasn’t discovered until I was in college!). I realized I agreed to review the book because of what her art says to me and not because of anything I know about art movements, color, composition, light–all those topics that artsy people roll from their tongues.

Bottom line: Lisa’s work speaks to me and the way I think. I call her work mind candy because it evokes ideas and feelings and… Well, you get the picture.

Take a minute or two to read the review I finally came up with. Just please keep in mind that this is a weak stab at the way I feel about her art.

On Lisa Adams Book.docx – Google Docs

If the link above does not work, copy and paste the URL below into your browser:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o3hdfeT8SHaIb-yt3N2c6fvZwmX6EiUJqvGenONxmVY

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Finally!! ERIC Identifies Peer-Reviewed References

Posted on March 23, 2012 by DrEMiller

For years, I’ve been warning undergraduate and graduate students to be careful when referencing articles from ERIC–Education Resources Information Center, maintained since the 1960s through the nation’s Department of Education. One of the problems with using items from ERIC for academic and professional research is that it used to be difficult to determine which documents and articles had passed through blind peer review before finding their way into the substantial ERIC database. Well, the Department of Education is finally addressing this problem.

ERIC – Peer-Reviewed Designation

Not only that, ERIC is going back and slowly determining exactly when the journals found in the database indexes became peer reviewed. ERIC is providing a reference that researchers can check to determine if items from a given source journal or conference were   peer-reviewed. Apparently, this list will be regularly updated as old items and journals are investigated. That reference list can be found here:

Journals Indexed in ERIC

If you want to stay up to date with ERIC’s progress (among many other education projects and topics), follow the IES “What Works” page on Facebook, the non-profit “Doing What Works”  Facebook page, or the ERIC Facebook page.

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The Future of Higher Education

Posted on March 23, 2012 by DrEMiller

The idea of open and free online education has been around for some years now–almost 2 decades, in fact. MIT, Stanford, a few East Coast notables–all got involved in free online course delivery. This blogger discusses what’s out there…

Abhishek Kathuria's avatarA little bit of this, a little bit of that

The Chronicle of Higher Education interviewed the directors of Georgia Tech‘s Center for 21st Century Universities. The interview touches upon several key points regarding the challenges and opportunities around the role of technology in higher education. These include the notions of open courses (see the launch of an online interactive learning platform by MIT and free online courses by Stanford), blogs as a medium for content delivery, universities as credentialing institutions and the resultant challenges faced by middle rung schools.

What you’re seeing, for example, is technology enabling a single master teacher to reach students on an individualized basis on a scale that is unprecedented.

I think what you see happening now with the massive open courses is going to fundamentally change the business models. It’s going to put the notion of value front and center. Why would I want a credential from this university? Why would I…

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Just sharing…

Posted on March 22, 2012 by DrEMiller

Horoscopes in the newspaper are great fun if you don’t take them seriously–at least, not too seriously. My horoscope today was simply uplifting, and I thought I’d share it, as it can apply to anyone at any time.

You could spend a lifetime trying to create great works. Or you could believe that your works are great simply because you are the one who created them.

Is that inspirational or what? 🙂

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How Mobile Devices in Education Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Posted on March 21, 2012 by DrEMiller

A teacher complains about the growing trend toward using technology in the classroom. A blogger, Lee Stewart, posts some interesting classroom solutions that incorporate critical thinking skills as well as work place skills. However, whether some of these ideas are actually usable in a regular classroom is up for debate, and depends on both the school policies and the particular class. But you will get the idea that the Lee is getting at.

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Evolving Classroom's avatarthe Evolving Classroom

A friend, who is a former educator, emailed a link to a letter published in the San Jose Mercury News from a teacher expressing an opinion about using digital devices in the classroom. This letter to the editor read like a typical frustrated 20th century teacher trying to cope with a digital generation of high school students. I couldn’t help but think…this English teacher represents a majority of the public education teacher’s “mindset”, teaching America’s future generation of 21st century citizens. My digital “ah ha” moment… how can this apparently good teacher be helped to appreciate the value of mobile technology to teach young people critical-thinking life skills? To answer this question… let’s begin by reviewing his letter.  

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Cyberbullying – IMPACT on teaching and learning

Posted on March 21, 2012 by DrEMiller

On cyberbullying in the middle years. Great resource!

elketeaches's avatarelketeaches

At the end of my recent post, “Does Crackbook (oops!) Facebook make you unhappy?”, I touched on the idea that it is important that learners understand and have knowledge of how to be good digital citizens.  An unfortunate side-effect of online activity is that there have been numerous cases of cyberbullying, especially amongst school-aged children/young-adults.  Here is a presentation I created last year on Cyberbullying in the Middle Years.  There are some really good resources, including Australian resources in the slides.  Please note that I have taken out all reference to specific school names.

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Rice and Klein on The State of American Education

Posted on March 21, 2012 by DrEMiller

Here’s a great little presentation by Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein on the state America’s education. Dr. Rice talks about challenges of poor education for the military, while Chancellor Klein points out the need for providing good education for all students, not just those whose families can afford private schools. As an alternative measure, Klein seems to be promoting charter schools. However, his real emphasis is on parental involvement in their child’s education and educational choices.

Normally, I pay little or no attention to Fox News. However, Rice and Klein actually paid little attention to the commentator, making this an interesting clip.

On FOX’s web site, part of the introduction to the video clip says

On Tuesday, former Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice and chancellor of the New York City Department of Education Joel Klein paid a visit to Fox & Friends to discuss the state of the country’s education system.

To me, this is the part Rice and Klein paid attention to, and not the commentator’s agenda related to the role of teachers’ unions in driving education down. I was proud of Rice and Klein for not taking that bait.

Here’s the clip:

CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON FOX & FRIENDS: EDUCATION IS A CRITICAL NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE

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Moodle, Moodle Reader–More Free Internet Stuff for Teaching!

Posted on March 21, 2012 by DrEMiller

I’m on a roll this week in terms of sharing articles and blog posts with you! This one caught my interest because of the educational implications of Moodle Reader, an easily accessible “plug-in” for Moodle, an open-source course management system. The thing is, once I read the article (see below) and thought about Moodle Reader’s educational uses, I decided that I had to learn more about it.

Although I haven’t yet tried it out myself, I thought there is no reason to hold you up, if you’re interested in cyber-learning to supplement your teaching or course management.

Enjoy!

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MOODLE READER GAINS TRACTION

Thomas Robb, Kyoto Sangyo University

MoodleReader is the name of a plug-in module that we have developed at Kyoto Sangyo University (KSU) as part of our Extensive Reading program, in order to ascertain whether students have actually read the books that they have claimed to have read.

Extensive reading (ER) is widely recognized as an effective means for students to increase their language proficiency by reading easy material in large volumes. This helps to consolidate their knowledge, improving their ability to quickly comprehend what they have read and to predict what vocabulary and syntax follow.

When it comes to applying ER in the classroom, however, some way is needed to hold the students accountable for what they have read. Written reports or summaries, however, present a burden for students and teachers alike. Enter MoodleReader.

MoodleReader allows students to prove that they have done their reading via a short quiz of 10 randomized questions. If they pass the quiz, they are rewarded with the book cover added to their stamp collection on their MoodleReader page.

The program was first implemented in 2008 for use within our own faculty. We soon realized, however, that not only would the program be useful to our colleagues in other schools, but we also actually needed their assistance in order to develop quizzes for, ideally, all of the graded readers that are available. We started out by making quizzes for the 300 most commonly read books at KSU, and then opened up the software for others to use. Three years later we are approaching the 2,000 mark with quizzes available for virtually all books in the major graded reader series, and with over 15,000 students in over 100 schools around the world regularly using the program.

MoodleReader can be accessed in two different modes. For those who have Moodle installed at their school, the software is freely available for installation. The system administrator, however, needs to have a password in order to access and download the quizzes from the central quiz bank. For those who do not have their own Moodle, there is MoodleReader site where teachers, or entire schools, can have their own page for quiz access, even tailored with the same theme as their own school’s homepage. Feel free to contact Tom Robb if you would like to assess the suitability of the program for your own students.

via CALL Newsletter – March 2012.

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http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolcallis/issues/2012-03-16/4.html

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Using Poetry with ESL Students?

Posted on March 21, 2012 by DrEMiller

Do you love poetry? If so, who influenced your love of it? For me, it was my father who first taught me that poetry could just mean–to him, it simply was.

Since poetry involves simile and metaphore, the words matter primarily as a gateway to the artist’s intent, or our own meaning. In that sense, is it unusual to use the meaning of poetry to encourage English language learning?

Read the article below, from TESOL Connections, to get ideas on using poetry with learners of English.

TESOL Connections – March 2012

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