Archive for December, 2006
The Holy Grail in Teaching
Sunday, December 31st, 2006The Holy Grail, in teaching, would be the development of an assessment tool that has the following properties:
It accurately reflects the actual learning that has occured.
It cannot be spoofed by students who don’t learn/prepare/read etc.
It is fair.
It is easy to grade.
It is, in like manner, easy to administer.
Review: Eragon
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Eragon (the movie)
fantasy/adventure
Cast details, etc., are in the IMDb entry.
InstaRating: 2 out of 5
Having little else to do while school is out, I decided to see Eragon, this season’s epic high fantasy. I went with some trepidation, as the commercials made it seem overwhelmingly, well, cheesy. In hindsight, I had no idea…
Makeover for 2007
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Yesterday I spent more time than really justified in playing around with the look-and-feel of The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach. It began innocently enough: I finally reached my breaking point on the comment spam, receiving two blocks of 48 spams within an hour. (And yes, they came in discrete quanta of 48. [...]
Saddan is Dead: Can We Go Home Now?
Saturday, December 30th, 2006Today, Iraqui President and dictator Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging after a conviction for atrocities committed in his name. Before going any further, let me clarify something so willfully obscured by some commentators on the right: Saddam Hussein was a Very Bad Man. He did terrible things and — while I [...]
Death and The Pardon
Thursday, December 28th, 2006It was announced yesterday (2006 Dec 27) that Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States, passed away at the age of 93. I will admit that I’ve always had a soft spot for the Ford presidency, derided in popular culture as one of the least effective in history. I generally root for [...]