Michael Scott's Blog (7)

In my last blog entry, I expressed skepticism about the research that was recently presented by Robert Marzano about the Promethean brand of interactive white boards. Promethean obviously had a lot riding on the roll out of the research. If you go to web site, you'll see Marzano's mug pasted all over the page touting the results of the study. Michael Jordon couldn't have gotten his picture on a Wheaties box any faster. I am not an academic, but I do have background science, and the entire struc… Continue

Robert Marzano recently released his preliminary report on the effectiveness of Promethean's classroom products. Not surprisingly, Marzano "meta analyzed" some promising outcomes from the use of Promethean's classroom technologies. Let me state right off the bat that I think interactive classroom technologies have great potential to improve classroom instruction. Our division is predominantly an Interwrite/Einstruction shop and we have oodles of school pads. We also have begun to acquire some SM… Continue

After a couple of fits and starts, the prototype WIImote interactive whiteboard is done. I got it all working today and think it shows great promise for little money. I confess, Ididn't make my own LED pen. Instead, I found a decent infrared miniature flashlight on the web for about 20 bucks. It's nicely constructed and seems to do the trick just fine. So, for the cost of WIImote (39.99)and a 20 dollar LED flashlight, I have what costs considerably more from the proprietary side. Still, it's not… Continue

Our budget season has left us again characteristically gloomy about our power to acquire adequate amounts of technology for instruction. Happens every year at this time. We basically have had the same amount to spend since the state started SOL testing, and to meet that end, we are fine. To meet other ends is altogether another matter. The "other ends" means having enough technology to support instructional goals within your district. You'd think that if you spent a large sum of money on softwar… Continue

So me and my ITRT colleagues just finished sitting through yet another three days of training from Renaissance Learning. There was nothing wrong with the training or the requirement of our attendance. In fact, since we now exist in schools, we have an important role to play to support the technologies and instructional practices that will make these programs work. In our district , we take care of the technology that supports the software, train teachers to use these tools, and occasionally moni… Continue

My wife and I were getting ready for VSTE later this month when she came across this graphic that's commonly used by her company and many others in regard to creating effective instruction. The graphic that my wife was looking at didn't have source to it, so she asked me if I was familiar with it. The graphic below isn't the one she was looking at, but close enough to this one.

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I am a skeptic. There are a few of us of this ilk lurking about asking questions that many people would rather not answer. We can be troublesome lot. We expect extraordinary claims must be backed by extraordinary proof.

I can't help it though. My parents pushed me to go to college to study something that would lead to gainful employment. I suppose they also has some liberal notion that education was useful for a number of reasons, after all, they were teachers too, but in the end my pa… Continue