From the desk of Mr. Walters

A little background.. . More often than not, over the last year, when I go online looking for a book, I seem to perpetually find myself facing no options to buy it new from the company I went to in the first place.  Typically, I'm using Amazon, and I get the message that I can buy it from some third-party seller, who may or may not be reputable.  I've assumed, perhaps erroniously, that it's just because I'm looking for old books that weren't that popular. A recent experience Recently, I finished the last book in the Tales of the Otori, and I decided I want to read the prequel, "Heaven's Net is Wide", which came out in September of '08.  That's las Fall, kids.  Anyway, once again, the standard buying option is not available! http://tinyurl.com/ykwrtyu While looking at this, somewhat in disbelief because i know this to be a popular series, I did note that the Kindle version was available.  Further investigation revealed many other titles I'v...

An Authentic Curriculum As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working hard to develop a curriculum that “ Get[s] Past Teaching Apps [and helping students] Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt “ (Cool Cat).  This focus is defined in my curriculum in terms of  students’ technology fluency , which is defined in Cool Cat’s post as: the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention. I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment since things keep changing. As Cool Cat notes and Karl Fisch supports, “We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won’t hold: It won’t hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.”

A great man has died today. Gygax, 'Dungeons and Dragons' Co-Creator, Dies http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87901434 Listen Now [3 min 55 sec] With co-creator Dave Arneson, E. Gary Gygax developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. Gygax died Monday at age 69. AP/Family photo All Things Considered , March 4, 2008 · Imagine a mournful horn echoing across thousands of fantasy worlds: E. Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, died Wednesday morning. He was 69. Gary Gygax was an icon to fans of the game, many of whom would show up at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. What began as a fantasy game published in book form in the early 1970s, eventually morphed and tumbled onto kitchen tables and dorm room floors. Players assumed the character of elves and dwarves, magicians and swordsmen, and confronted the primal conflict between good and evil. "D&D," as fans call it, is the...