Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

AI is great at answering easy to answer questions.

"I'm unfamiliar with it" and "this is innovative" are different things.

Folks new to education often comment on the degree who which existing systems or expertise are rejected. Schools build systems, don't use them, then replace them with new systems to do the same thing... which are subsequently unused.

Hazards. Our society seems to comprise individuals who make unreasonable assessments of them.

The same folks who tell me "videos can be so easily faked" will also send me videos with the comment "this video proves what I told you."

We used to store computer files on disks kept in boxes next to the machines... or in our backpacks. Hackers did not get the data often, but neither did we if we were physically distant from them.

We have had a warm fal in New England. The "reading outside" season has extended into November this years.

Some “wacky” ideas turn out to be true. That does not mean yours are.

“Efficient search is what intelligence is all about.” I’m not so sure.

Random keys producing Shakespeare is so random as to be impossible. Sure. But I don’t think those works were created by writing random letters.

“DNA was originally a symbiotic virus-like thing.” Sure. Sure. How does one prove that?

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
― Charles Darwin

Before scientists accept an observation, it must be observed by others. If you call yourself "data-driven" then others (who don't care what you think) must concur with your observations and interpretations.

In science, observation is supreme. All disputes are resolved by evidence and observation, and evidence and observation must follow the rules of logic.

Why is is important? If you can't answer this convincingly for your students, drop it from your curriculum.

Together... we learn... divided... we don't.

Too often teachers simply repeat their original explanation, only slower, in hopes that students will understand.

Guess what? Everyone has calculators...powerful calculators... in thier pockets.

I heard a student on a panel of students who were talking to educators who said "don't flex on us" talking about the power dynamics in schools. All of the students were articulate and told the educators what they needed to hear, but that phrase captured it perfectly!

Whereas my high school had a small computer room for students to use (I recall four computers in the room), my first teaching job was in a school with multiple computer rooms.