Archives For larryreiff

What can teachers learn from an 85 year old sushi chef? A whole lot.

larryreiff —  August 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

by Larry Reiff

I recently watched David Gelb’s 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi (see the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbV6knbeUFE ).  The film focuses on Jiro Ono, owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo.  The restaurant is located in the basement of a subway station.  It only seats 10 people.  It has no bathroom.  Despite all of this, reservations are required a month in advance, and a meal  starts at about $300(US) a person.

The movie, like Jiro’s sushi, is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity.  Slow motion images of sushi preparation are accompanied by Jiro’s japanese voiceover explaining the philosophy that has earned him the reputation as the world’s greatest sushi chef.  As I watched the film and read the subtitles, I realized that his ideas are the same practices I see in some of the best educators in schools today.  His nuggets of wisdom espouse the ideals that every teacher should apply in the practice and development of their own art.

“Once you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work.”

According to Jiro’s oldest son, Jiro is so immersed in his work that even dreams of sushi while he sleeps. Continue Reading…

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Shakespeare & The iPad

larryreiff —  June 13, 2012 — 3 Comments

By Larry Reiff

 

Since the introduction of Apple’s first iPad, tablet devices have been finding their way into classrooms all over the world. Their portability, adaptability, and ease of use make them the perfect tool for teaching Shakespeare to our students.  As an English teacher, I believe the that the best way for my students to learn Shakespeare is to interact with his words.  The iPad and other iOS devices are the perfect tools allowing students to fully connect with Shakespeare’s text.  Most English teachers are aware of the basic Shakespeare apps, most of which are just a collection of his works.  Some other apps, such as Shakespeare in Bits, are useful, but they are somewhat limited and don’t really offer the student an opportunity to immerse themselves in the text.  However, there are plenty of other apps that can transform the way you teach Shakespeare in the classroom.

Is it sacrilege to cut lines out of Shakespeare? Continue Reading…

In apps, Electronic Texts, iPad, Software, Uncategorized , , , , , ,
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Untethered Teachers: Using AppleTV in the Classroom

larryreiff —  March 14, 2012 — 50 Comments

By Larry Reiff

Is it possible to be both a wired and unwired educator at the same time? Sounds like someone trying to explain Schrödinger’s cat (the cat is both alive and dead at the same time, Google it).  I’m talking about being “an untethered teacher.”  Sometimes, we end up tethered to the technology in our classroom.  To me, this is most evident with the interactive white board at the front of my classroom (I’ve intentionally omitted any particular brand name devices). Fortunately, I’ve been using AppleTV to untether myself from the front of the room.

I’ve spoken to a lot of administrators about what they look for when performing teacher observations.  One of the comments I heard over and over again was, “I want to see the teacher circulating among the students.”  You can’t do that if you’re attached to the interactive white board.  I have an AppleTV in my classroom hooked up to a projector.  Using my iPad and AirPlay, I can wirelessly Continue Reading…

In apps, Hardware, iPad, Uncategorized , , , , ,
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21st Century Textbooks for a Digital Generation

larryreiff —  January 18, 2012 — 3 Comments

by Larry Reiff

Muammar Ghaddafi.  Saddam Hussain. Barak Obama. Fukishima.  Sub-Prime Lending.  What do these topics have in common?  They are all important subjects that our students should be learning about, yet they probably don’t appear in most textbooks in our classrooms.  The moment a textbook rolls off the printing press, it begins to morph into a useless paperweight.  I graduated from John Glenn High School in 1990.  My textbooks warned me about the evils of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  I read about the struggles the people of East Germany face under Communist rule.  A year later, those textbooks were woefully outdated.

A few months back Kelly Croy (Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2011) approached me with an idea that he had been pondering.  Through a series of Twitter direct messages and FaceTime chats we arrived at a single question: why do we rely on giant corporate textbook publishers to provide materials for use inside our classrooms?  We came to the conclusion that a truly useful textbook is not only dynamic, but it is teacher generated.  We set out to create our own ePubs for use in our classrooms.  We also wanted to establish a way to archive and Continue Reading…

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