Kaulbach's Modern World

Link to published article http://theeducatorsroom.com/2012/11/blended-classroom-learning-virtual-and-real-classrooms/- (Draft) The spear whistled through the air, but the aim was low. The huge tail swished and contemptuously flipped it aside. Then the black form dropped into the foaming waters. "Missed," Cico groaned. He retrieved his line slowly... "Are you sorry you missed?" I asked as we slid our feet into the cool water. "No," Cico said, "it's just a game."   (Bless Me Ultima, Rudolpho Anaya) As a life time gamer of Four Square, Monopoly, backgammon, Scrabble, I am hard pressed to define gaming by today's standards. As an educator who relies on games as incentives for inquiry I have ignored digital game technologies. I awoke to realize that just as the number of books children access is a predictor of reading ability so too is gaming a predictor of digital literacy.  I have fallen in to the very literacy gap that I fear exists for ...

link to published article and related    link to published article Many nights ago, my daughter (KF) sighed and said to her dad,"it's been such a long time since I was able to lay my head on your shoulder." She snuggled against him while he held her tight and finished the bedtime story. Flat Daddy flew out to New Mexico to present at a tech conference and to see KF for the first time in person in over six weeks. Flatdaddy is my husband's Facetime nickname. Being that we are both teachers I couldn't help but compare our temporary separation and online communication to the blended classroom.  For all teachers worried about online learning as a destructive opponent of classroom teachers, there is no replacement for the real deal. But it has me questioning the following: what can technology provide for students that couldn't be there otherwise, what can teachers provide that a computer will never replace? When real daddy arrived in October we took a day toget...