Chris Fritz's Page

I have a good friend named Alice Smith who was recently diagnosed with Asperger's as a senior in college. That might sound like bad news, but it's not a new condition - she just finally has a name for it and a way of learning more about herself. So it's really good news! Alice is also a talented writer and set out in one of her blog posts to explain Asperger's in an understandable way. And I'm glad she did. All you get from Wikipedia is a list of behavioral observations. That might allow me to… Continue

As an interning teacher of high school German, something I'm really struggling with is when students just don't put a lot of effort into my assignments. But not because I can't understand why - it's because I DO understand. The activities I give in class and assignments I give for homework can't be flexible enough to perfectly accommodate every student. Some don't really need the practice, others need to work more on the basics, and perhaps most of them would learn better some other way. Like… Continue

WHAT IS A TIME BANK?

I recently went to an informational session on Time Banks, where I got to hear about the philosophy behind Time Banking from its founder, Edgar Cahn. For those not familiar with the concept, Wikipedia's quick description of Time Banking is below:

Time Banking refers to a pattern of reciprocal service exchange which uses units of time as currency and is an example of an alternative economic…

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I think many of us feel the letter/number grade system is woefully inadequate for evaluating students and providing them with meaningful feedback. But what's the alternative? We have to evaluate students somehow - how else could we provide trusted certification to students for other educational institutions and employers? Well, a Montessori… Continue

Linux Magazine has just published a surprisingly balanced article comparing the latest versions of Ubuntu Linux and Mac OS X. Most of you are probably already familiar with Apple's Mac OS X, but Ubuntu Linux is still relatively unknown, despite being a solid, and free offering. The article celebrates some areas where Ubuntu excels while keeping a critical eye on its… Continue

I just got my Google Voice invite and have been doing a little experimenting with my students in mind. I decided to put the below widget on our class website, so students can call me if they have something urgent they need to talk to me about.

There are a few things I like about this solution:



- It allows students to get in touch with me without knowing my number.

-… Continue

I first started writing this a while ago and actually wasn't planning on posting it here, thinking not many would empathize, but then I saw a great comment by Grocheio that was pointed out by Ira Socol, so I guess I'm not alone! Here I go...



Do you ever use emoticons? In case you're not familiar with the… Continue

Anyone who's ever had to write an essay with a minimum word requirement understands the frustration of having to fill up pages with BS. I can understand why a lot of teachers impose these limits, but I don't think they have the effect we desire.



Desired Effect:

Students are thorough enough to complete the assignment.



Problem:

The assumption we are making is that there is a specific, optimal range of words for discussing a topic and that we… Continue

I recently read an article on the Langwitches blog comparing Twitter to a large dinner party. I think this analogy is perfect. Just like at a huge dinner party, with so many people talking at the same time, about so many different things, you can't possibly keep up with every conversation at once. In fact, you'd seem like a… Continue

Some pretty heated discussion going on right now at NECC about Twitter (and also Google Reader, to some extent). I'll talk about my strategy for surviving Twitter later, but right now, I feel like talking about Google Reader (or any feed reading application for that matter) and how I manage to not feel overwhelmed.



I use the 80/20 rule. In the case of Google Reader, that means 80% of the value I get from reading feeds comes from only 20% of them. If you really think about it, I'm… Continue