My Top 11 Movies of the Decade (2000-2009)

If you can't tell, I am a movie buff, and this will no doubt be reflected in my blog. As I mentioned in my introduction to this blog, while I will primarily be writing about education and policy topics, I will not rule out talking about non-education/policy related subjects. This will include movies. While this list may be of no particular interest to anyone else who reads this blogs, I have none-the-less presented here my top movies of the decade. And yes, I did choose 11. Why? Because 10 just wasn't good enough.

11) Wall-E (2008)
10) The Corporation (2004)
9) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
8) The Dark Knight (2008)
7) Traffic (2000)
6) Children of Men (2006)
5) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4) Munich (2005)
3) Borat (2006)
2) There Will Be Blood (2007)
1) City of God (2003)





















I will probably do a top films of 2009 list as well, but, I will probably wait until around Oscar season until I have had the chance to see a few more films.

Obsolete Items

Huffington Post posts 12 items that have become obsolete in the past decade. Some items really are obsolete (dial-up internet, encyclopedias); some, I would argue, are on their way to becoming obsolete (landline phones, yellow pages); and some are actually still in wide usage (fax machines).

A couple of other quick points from this article:

-Since when did "calling" become obsolete? I know we have IM, text messaging, and other forms of instant communication, but come on.

-Classified ads are one of the items on this list. I recently taught my Vocational Skills class the importance of classified ads, and even had them do an activity where they decode the abbreviations from different classified ad samples. Next time I teach the class, I will probably focus more on using the internet to look for jobs.

The Decade's Biggest Education Ideas (according to Scholastic)

Overall, the list is pretty accurate, and Scholastic points out that just because some of these ideas are popular, doesn't mean that they are right. The list includes alternative teacher training programs, charter schools, and how technology has impacted education. One quibble with this list, however:

"Books Are The New Black"

Essentially, books like the Harry Potter series and The Da Vinci Code have gotten students interested in reading. I appreciate what these books have done for reading, but that is considered a big idea? People like reading popular books. Really? Kids reading books became popular in this decade? As one commenter from this post puts it:

"Not biased or anything, are we, Scholastic?"

Professional Development and Blogging

As a first year special education teacher, updating and maintaining on a regular basis is not going to be an easy task. I cannot promise that I will be able to write something every day, but I hope to give relevant postings as much as possible.

One way to help post regularly is to have a good source of websites to go to for relevant information. But having good access to resources is not only important to me as a blogger. It is also important as a professional teacher who wants to continue to grow. I am finding more often than not in this job that it is too easy to slip into lazy routines and outdated methods of teaching. This is not to say there is anything wrong with "old school" methods to teaching. One of the most common phrases in teacher college is that "you don't have to reinvent the wheel".

But since society changes, students change, and thus, teachers need to change (transitive property in practical usage). Many teachers feel that there are way too many professional development activities they must go through. I understand the massive amount of time that PD takes up, but I tend to take a contrarian viewpoint in my profession. I believe a good teacher is always one that is looking for new ideas and ways to reach students. This is not only true of the education profession, but in any profession. In addition, because we are in the business of education, it only makes sense that our education is always ongoing. Teacher education never ends.

One good source I just found is a list of the "50 Best Blogs for Special Education Teachers", put out by OnlineUniversity.com. I have visited a few of these sites before, and look forward to perusing through the other sites.