A few paragraphs in the New York Times by Pamela LiCalzi O'Connell. 

This may be the year that school blogs come into their own. A school blog is simply a Weblog - an online blend of diary, links and commentary - that is used by teachers and students.

Blogs seem to be a natural way for teachers to maintain a class Web page and for students to handle research projects. One site for classroom blogs, schoolblogs.com, lists more than 1,200 worldwide, up from 800 a year ago. And new blog sites for teachers have sprung up, like the Educational Bloggers Network (www.ebn.weblogger.com).

One of the trendsetters among educators is Will Richardson, supervisor of instructional technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, N.J., who made use of blogs in his journalism and English classes last year to foster discussion and collaboration as well as to showcase students' work.

Students in his class on modern American literature, for instance, created a blog to study the novel "The Secret Life of Bees" (weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/bees) by Sue Monk Kidd. The author posted a 2,300-word message, and a group of parents read along and contributed their thoughts. Other Web users also happened upon it.

"The whole collaborative aspect blogs bring to the classroom is what I took away from my experience last year," Mr. Richardson said. For this academic year, he is planning a collaborative blog with students in Krakow and Prague to study the Holocaust. Mr. Richardson's efforts are chronicled - where else? - on his Weblog (www.weblogg-ed.com).

Teach one student vs. teaching students how to collaborate and learn-to-learn collectively? Emergent education. 

Way to go, Trendsetter Will!

Funny as hell. Dark as rye. Recalling Slappy. The teflon goose. The Verge of Worst. The Rainbow Menace.

The Bush-Cheney administration has been receiving advice from veterans.

Former Vice President Al Gore presented a well crafted critique to MoveOn.org at New York University last week.

Robust debate in a democracy will almost always involve occasional rhetorical excesses and leaps of faith, and we're all used to that. I've even been guilty of it myself on occasion. But there is a big difference between that and a systematic effort to manipulate facts in service to a totalistic ideology that is felt to be more important than the mandates of basic honesty.

Unfortunately, I think it is no longer possible to avoid the conclusion that what the country is dealing with in the Bush Presidency is the latter. That is really the nub of the problem -- the common source for most of the false impressions that have been frustrating the normal and healthy workings of our democracy.

Americans have always believed that we the people have a right to know the truth and that the truth will set us free. The very idea of self-government depends upon honest and open debate as the preferred method for pursuing the truth -- and a shared respect for the Rule of Reason as the best way to establish the truth.

The Bush Administration routinely shows disrespect for that whole basic process, and I think it's partly because they feel as if they already know the truth and aren't very curious to learn about any facts that might contradict it. They and the members of groups that belong to their ideological coalition are true believers in each other's agendas.

And former Congressman Newt Gingrich calls for reinventing the State Department.

Anti-American sentiment is rising unabated around the globe because the U.S. State Department has abdicated values and principles in favor of accommodation and passivity. Only a top-to-bottom reform and culture shock will enable the State Department to effectively spread U.S. values and carry out President George W. Bush’s foreign policy.

Rogue State Department, Unfinished Business, Suggested Readings, Transforming the State Department

Partisanship aside, this administration should listen to both.

Just making that up.

[a klog apart]

I can't wait for Don Norman's new book to arrive. Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things. It's a skinny paperback. Norman posted drafts of the prologue (500k pdf), chapter 1: Attractive things work better (245k pdf), and Epilogue: We Are All Designers (200k pdf). Wouldn't it be cool to understand why people love me but hate my blog? Or vice versa? Perhaps a companion piece to Fogg's Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do?

One of my favorite IT columnists, Lewis is now sharing his experience and wisdom at IS Survivor Publishing. I occasionally drill into his Management Speak. A recent example:

ManagementSpeak: Doing it the way you suggest would negatively impact the process we are trying to implement.

Translation: No, and no I won't give you a reason.

Translating this week's entry the way our anonymous contributor suggests will positively impact your ability to understand what's being said in staff meetings.

Jan Karlsbjerg is fair and balanced.

This Modern World is fair and balanced.

Washington Interns Gone Bad is fair and balanced.

The BunkoSquad is fair and balanced.

Atrios has a growing list of fair and balanced news sources.

Al Franken is fair and balanced too.