C4T #2 Summary

     For the past week I have been following John T. Spencer's blog named "Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration. He is a teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. The first post I followed, named "Acceptable Use Committee", was about him joining the committee regarding the Acceptable Use policy for his district. This committee outlines rules for his district, and he raises questions about why they focus on rules instead of ethics and the motive behind rules. He also says tongue-in-cheekily that if we are making rules for one issue, then why not make committees for math and history because of ethical issues with those subjects. The committee misses his point and decides to make rules for all of these subjects as well.
     The second post I read, labeled "5 Reasons for Leaving the Pencil Conference", discussed how disappointed he was at the content and speakers in this years Pencil Conference. His first major issue was that the presenters were unapproachable. The second was that the presenters were arrogant. The third point was that the presenters failed to grasp concepts like complexity, paradox, and mystery. The forth reason was that the presenters speak like addicts. The last point was that the "New School" folks will not accept good ideas from the past.