the best imitation of myself

Today is the day! Menu for Hope begins!

This year's Menu for Hope will again benefit the school lunch program in Lesotho, as well as support the WFP's local procurement initiative, which contracts local farmers to grow food to supply the feeding program.  Learn more at chezpim!

Brave New Classroom 2.0 (New Blog Forum)

Encyclopedia  Britannica has introduced a special blog forum called "Brave New
Classroom 2.0" - there are several well known "Web 2.0/Educational
Technology" scholars (champions and critics) who will be blogging this
week.

You may find it interesting -

Brave New Classroom 2.0 (New Blog Forum)
October 20th, 2008
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/brave-new-classroom-20-new-blog-forum/

Blog Action Day - Poverty

I'm writing to alert you to a wonderful local program called the Lighthouse of Oakland County.

The services these deserving people received were provided by LOC’s three key subsidiaries: Lighthouse Community Development (LCD), rejuvenating communities through affordable housing and educated homeowners; Lighthouse Emergency Services (LES), providing emergency food, housing, medical, utility and other services to people who need immediate help; and Lighthouse PATH (PATH), which provides long-term housing and support to help women achieve self-sufficiency and a healthy family environment for their children.

Last year was the first year I participated in their holiday adopt-a-family program and it was a wonderful experience.  This year, in addition to adopting a family, I am also adopting a senior citizen and volunteering my time during the holidays to help sort donations. There are many, many ways to help with their initiatives - donating time, money, goods, etc.  Thanks for listening and if you have time, take a minute to participate in Blog Action Day too!

Electoral College prediction tracker

2008 - 2009 Adams Academy Inaugural Fellow

Well - It's back to blogging.  As part of my acceptance into the Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation, I have promised myself that I will blog my experience so you too can participate in the experience and conversation along with me!

In a nutshell -

The Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation is a new initiative that will provide a cross-disciplinary cohort of instructors (fixed-term faculty, continuing appointment librarians, academic specialists, and other academic staff) with opportunities to further their development as excellent teachers whose instructional decisions are rooted in the robust research literature on effective teaching and learning.

My personal goal in the cohort is to work on my assessment practices (both assessment of my own teaching and assessment of my students.)

Our first assignment was to read Steven Brookfield's article “Critically Reflective Practice”  I like what he had to say and I'm intrigued by his idea of a Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ). I'm going to see if I can adapt it for my CEP 815 online course this coming spring.  I can see it working well in a f2f class - but it will be fun to see if it can be adapted for online pedagogy.  I'm a big fan of CIQ's roots in ethnography. 

We also had to take Dan Pratt's Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI)

I scored highest in the Nurturing Category: I wonder if my students would agree? 

Effective teaching assumes that long-term, hard, persistent effort to achieve comes from the heart, not the head.
People become motivated and productive learners when they are working on issues or problems without fear of failure. Learners are nurtured in knowing that (a) they can succeed at learning if they give it a good try; (b) their achievement is a product of their own effort and ability, rather than the benevolence of a teacher; and (c) their learning efforts will be supported by both teacher and peers. Good teachers care about their students and understand that some have histories of failure resulting in lowered self-confidence. However they make no excuses for learners. Rather, they encourage their efforts while challenging students to do their very best by promoting a climate of caring and trust, helping people set challenging but achievable goals, and supporting effort as well as achievement. Good teachers provide encouragement and support, along with clear expectations and reasonable goals for all learners but do not sacrifice self-efficacy or self-esteem for achievement. Their assessments of learning consider individual growth as well as absolute achievement.

I'm really excited for our first meeting on Friday and looking forward to an engaging conversation and a great year!

After Ed Submissions

Here are the videos my students created this summer to submit to AfterEd -
http://www.brightcove.tv/channel.jsp?channel=1659847161

I am very proud of them!!!

Omnivore's Hundred Meme

http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

75/100!! (Well, 75/99 - not gonna do roadkill)

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Is cooking art?

Should cooking be considered an art? | Word of Mouth | guardian.co.uk

Interesting discussion/question from the guardian - I'm thinking about my answer...

Olympics Tracker

2008 Beijing Olympics Event Schedule - Olympics Tracker - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Very handy infographic from the NYTimes!

Molasses-Oat Banana Bread & Teaching Video

Ken Dirkin created this video for his final class project - I just happen to be in the video.  He is working on exploring the topic of motivation & teaching via cooking.