Protesters, but no incidents, greet anti-Islamist at Temple | Philadelphia Daily News | 10/21/2009

Protesters, but no incidents, greet anti-Islamist at Temple | Philadelphia Daily News | 10/21/2009

Last night i saw an Ultra right Racist Anti-Semitic Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders speak at Temple University? HOOT! Who's next David Duke?

College Republicans who co-sponsored the event, canceled last week and issued a statement "strongly disapproving" of student group "Temple University Purpose's" decision to continue sponsorship of the event. During the 30+ minute tirade Wilders called the Quo'ran an evil book, defamed all Muslims, strongly criticized cultural relativism, & stated his opinion that the Western Judeo-Christian way of life was the best. Mr. Wilders, billed to discuss Freedom of Speech strongly defended the right to publicly criticize religion; citing his dismay at the public Muslim outcry resulting from Danish Newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishing cartoons depicting Muslim Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. As i am a strong supporter of the liberal freedoms we enjoy in the West, i respect this mans right to speak, i don't equate the NEED to ridicule the religion of others as a right.

There's a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech. It is now clear that this mans intent was to provoke an angry reaction from Temple students, so that he could control the news coverage. He and his cronies wished to demonstrate to the passive observer that his "freedom of speech" was challenged by the"violent jihadi" audience of "lefties," who listened politely as he challenged their right to breath the same air as he. Luckily, i left right before the fireworks of his staged Q & A session started. Geert Wilder came to Temple and spoke. Having allowed myself to be a pawn in his highly misguided game, I feel a little dirty and used.

Just for kicks here's a link to the Conservative California based group who sponsored this event David Horowitz Freedom Center
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/

10/5/2009 EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

Reflection pool at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC October 9, 2009

• Today we learned that DHMO is actually water, and can be bad for you! Actually, we took a critical look at websites as sources, and how you literally can't believe everything you read. We examined source bias and validity a bit through this exercise.

• We were also exposed to the site ReadWriteThink which offers creative interactive activities for K-12th grade students.

• Additionally we were given a desktop publishing assignment.

OBAMA?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/world/europe/14iht-havel.html?hpw
http://www.poligazette.com/2009/10/06/obama-keeps-china-happy-by-insulting-dalai-lama/

HH the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

In the coming several weeks I will be humbled and deeply fortunate to be in the presence of HH the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet for two important teachings and a rare educational conference in the nations capital!

• Teaching in New York, NY, USA on October 4: His Holiness will give a half-day afternoon teaching on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta(jangchup semdrel) organized by a Vietnamese group at the Manhattan Center. http://www.sixparamitas2009.org/
  

• Mind and Life Conference in Washington, DC, USA on October 8 & 9: His Holiness will participate in a Mind and Life Conference on the theme of Educating World Citizens in the 21st Century. The conference will feature educators, scientists and contemplatives discussing issues on Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Brain and Heart to be held at the DAR Constitution Hall. Contact Website: http://www.educatingworldcitizens.org/
  

• Teaching in Washington, DC, USA on October 10: His Holiness will give a half-day morning teaching on The Heart of Change: Finding Wisdom in the Modern World organized by the Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture. Contact Website: http://www.dalailamadc09.com/
  

L' Shana Tova

We didn't have class today.
Happy New Year!
L' Shana Tova
ראש השנה

Class 3 9/21

Today we discussed Web 2.0: Google Docs, which was very helpful because i had been unaware of this feature. I was surprised to find that our schools Bb Drive on Blackboard were one in the same, and i already had some files saved from our previous class in which i was first introduced to that feature. We discussed PowerPoint and Presentation Skills for our next Web 2.0 Project. At the end of class we were given the opertunity to pick a topic and date. I choose a social bookmarking site: www.diigo.com which i was unfamiliar with. Interesting concept with potential for classroom applications. However there are some other sites with different features which I find more beneficial. Zotero, which is not a social networking or application comes to mind. I hope to include several other similar, relevant sites in my presentation.


My diigo site which already contains many bookmarks can be found at:
http://www.diigo.com/user/fenario72

8/31/2009
Effective use of Technology

Today was the first day of class. I got caught in traffic and showed up very late. Hopefully I will be able to make this schedule work. I arrived and the young woman sitting next to me helped get me up to speed. The class was discussing the many ways in which technology affects our lives. We also discussed the traditional classrooms of our past with the classrooms of today and beyond. We used a note taking/ flowchart type of program to document the various technologies we use. We also learned about "My Backpack" on Temple's website, which if I could figure out how to open I would be able to recall the name of the flowchart program I have saved to there. It's an .isf file, possible a compatability issue with my mac?