From today's Education & ECE department retreat: A tentative stab at organizing our goals/hopes/wishes for students that go through our teacher certification program, in the form of "things our graduates should have, do, know, and be":

REFLECTIVENESS AND THOUGHTFULNESS
Inquiry/critical thinking/reflection/empowerment to seek questions as well as answers/self-awareness

PASSION FOR THE PROFESSION
Self-starter/curious/engaged/passion for teaching/vision/creative/life-long learning/joy

FOCUS ON LEARNERS AS PEOPLE
Diversity/respect/understand kids' thinking/caring/compassion/differentiated instruction/authentic/relevant/nurture/listen to kids/global consciousness/broad conception of assessment/developmental perspective/empowerment/students as designers of learning

KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCE
Knowledge (content and strategic)/awareness of and access to resources and tools/command of various literacies/big picture/command of language

PEDAGOGY
Class management/task management/broad range of pedagogical strategies/pedagogical connoisseurship/flexibility/planfulness/continual adaptation/knowledge of standards and professional practice

IMPACT ON SOCIETY
Social advocacy/agent of change/producer of education/citizenship/social engagment/social justice/subversiveness within constraints

PROFESSIONALISM
Taking responsibility/self-care/professionalism/duty/role-model in community/integrity

STYLE
Aesthetics/self-expression/"being who you are"/voice/style/attention to the learning environment (physical, social, technological, and intellectual)

One of my master's students, Wendy Grosvenor, made this graphic as part of her COATT ("Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology") portfolio. C'est magnifique!

The Monty Python folks apparently now work for the Association of International Glaucoma Societies. Don't take my word for it -- you have to visit the site to get the full effect. Don't miss the creepy blinking eye at the bottom of the menu. And the "Glaucoma Hymn" has to be heard to be believed.

I found this site through www.webpagesthatsuck.com, but "suck" really isn't the right word for this site. It's.... something else.

(And according to the webpagesthatsuck.com review, this is the improved version....)

This definitely looks worth a try...

http://weblog.techno-weenie.net/articles/acts_as_attachment

Updates:

1. In the instructions above, I haven't gotten the rake to work, but it doesn't seem to matter.

2. See the thumbnail tutorial at: http://weblog.techno-weenie.net/articles/acts_as_attachment/thumbnailing

3. Change the create_or_update_thumbnail function as follows, in: vendor/plugins/acts_as_attachment/lib/technoweenie/acts_as_attachment.rb:

def create_or_update_thumbnail(file_name_suffix, *size)
returning thumbnail_class.find_or_create_by_thumbnail_and_parent_id(file_name_suffix.to_s, id) do |thumb|
thumb.attributes = {
:content_type => content_type,
:filename => thumbnail_name_for(file_name_suffix),
:attachment_data => resize_image_to(size)
}
callback_with_args :before_thumbnail_saved, thumb
thumb.save!
end
end

Here's the code from my demonstration implementation.

Update for IPD folks: If you're getting errors when you try to install, enter this command and then do the script/plugin commands:

export http_proxy="http://141.216.3.2:8080"

The reason has to do with an http proxy on the UM-Flint network....

Obese mice who took large doses of a red wine extract called resveratrol were as healthy as normal mice, a new study reports.

The study stopped short of recommending that people drink wine in an attempt to achieve the doses of resveratrol given to the mice -- the human equivalent of about 100 bottles of wine a day.