via Ain’t It Cool News.

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That’s nearly 1/3 of my total photographic output since I bought my first digital camera back in 2001.

I was helped a lot by some big trips this year. I went to San Diego, London, Orlando, and San Francisco this year. I went to some great conferences as well. I also was all over the place in the greater Boston area. I also completed Project 365 for the second time.

I realized this year that what I try to do with my photography is document the things and people I love. Below find a gallery of the 12 photos that I think best represent that effort at documentation, followed by explanations for some.

Fittingly, my favorite photograph that I took this year is of the love of my life. Beth didn’t know that I was taking her picture looking at this gorgeous California sunset. Unfortunately for all of you, you can’t see how lovely she looked that day. Fortunately for me, her silhouette completely pops against the amazing colors over the Pacific.

We went to London for our friends’ wedding, and were fortunate to get to sit at the table with the bride and groom directly across from them. Since I’m allergic to flash, I tend to rely on my fastest lens (50mm 1.4) to power me through indoor shots. It leads to fun depth of field moments, like the groom here looking adoringly at his new bride. I’m so glad I focused on her almost as much as he did.

Whenever I’m in the city, I love to catch glimpses of people in their own little worlds. I don’t think this photo is necessarily my best in terms of technique or framing, but I kept coming back to it as a perfect, quiet moment in an otherwise busy city like Boston.

I can guarantee you that two years ago I couldn’t have pulled this shot off. I was drawn to this little scene of people watching fireworks and knew I had to capture the way the light worked.

Speaking of fireworks, I can’t get enough of them. This one’s my best from 2011, taken at Hampton Beach.

We don’t use our garage much, so this spider was able to build its amazingly intricate web. Lucky timing + lighting meant I could capture her perfectly one day sitting in the middle of it.

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This week I have a metric crapload* of classes coming to the computer lab to do an online assessment for the Symphony Math program. On the scale of online assessments I’ve seen over the past 14 months since I started as a Technology Specialist, I award it the highest praise yet: it’s quick. It takes about 20 minutes.

Before the students started in the assessment, their teacher gave some of the standard boilerplate about trying their best to show off what they really know. She told them to take their time answering each question to make sure they got it right.

Diligent students being diligent students, they did.

Here’s the interesting part, though: at one point in the assessment, students receive the instructions to answer the following questions as quick as you can.

This, of course, provides a fascinating bit of cognitive dissonance to watch play out. Fully 1/4 of the class raised their hand when they got to that point to clarify the teacher’s expectations of them.

Is it wrong that this really worries me?

*as opposed to an imperial crapload, naturally

Teachers don’t trust research, and understandably so. There’s a lot of shoddy research that supports fads. Experienced teachers remember that “this year’s method” directly contradicts the approach from three years ago. So they’d rather go it alone. Newer teachers pick up on the skepticism about research from the veterans.

Unlike medical research, teacher research rarely examines possible side effects, and whether they are short-term aggravations or can be expected to persist.

via Studying Teacher Moves : Education Next.

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The demand for technology in classrooms has given rise to a slick and fast-growing sales force. Makers of computers and other gear vigorously court educators as they vie for billions of dollars in school financing. Sometimes inviting criticism of their zealous marketing, they pitch via e-mail, make cold calls, arrange luncheons and hold community meetings.

via Silicon Valley Wows Educators, and Woos Them – NYtimes.com.

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I had a brief window of time to breathe today, so I stopped by a fourth grade classroom. Some of the students would be coming to see me immediately afterward to finish some work in the computer lab, so it was nice to meet them in their classroom.

The real reason that I stopped by, though, was because the teacher had told me that her students were giving their speeches as they ran for class representatives on the Student Council. This meant that in one 20 minute block of time, I’d get to see some of my favorite things in action:

• speechifying
• Student Council
• democracy in action

Some of the students gave some very good speeches. But only one of them touched my heart.

This 10-year-old boy started off smartly by confronting the biggest issue standing in the way of his election, which is that he is a bit of a class clown. He stated that when something is important, he can focus on it.

Then he did something immensely brave.

Opening his heart, he explained about a time that he had felt abandoned by some friends. Then he started to weep openly in front of his classmates. After taking a moment to recover, he then went on to explain that because he knows what that feels like, he wanted all of the students to know that, regardless of whether or not he wins the election, he has their backs, and he won’t let them down.

I nearly started to cry myself, and am pretty close to tears again in the retelling.

I also saw an amazing act of caring and respect today.

Each and every single one of the students in the audience seeing this boy crying in front of them waited patiently and respectfully listened to what he had to say. Not one student laughed or made a snarky comment. Not one restlessly moved around. The look on faces that I saw was one of concern and caring.

To me, this says a lot about those kids.

But it says just as much, if not more, about the teacher.

Do you know many teachers who run a classroom where students feel so safe, valued, and cared for that a 10-year-old boy can open up honestly about his feelings in a speech before the class, cry about it, and not have a single kid make light of it? I know teachers concerned about crunching numbers in multiple standardized assessment measures. I know teachers that start complaining about the kids when they enter the teacher’s lounge. I know teachers who refuse to collaborate because it’s a change in working conditions. I know teachers that play politics.

Fortunately, I also know teachers who show the kids that they’re valued every day. I know teachers who spend their own time learning. I know teachers that want to share everything about their program to any and all interested parties. I know teachers looking to create amazing new experiences for their students, not sticking to what they’ve done countless times before. I wish I knew more of these teachers.

I saw an amazing classroom today.

Hahahahahaha. Thinking that online surveys mean anything. Hahahahaha.

Seriously, did you really just compare your national survey with a substantial Methodology section to an online survey where the Methodology was basically, “hey, you’re here, feel like taking our survey?” Even your terribly weak conclusions at the end don’t actually mean anything.

Without even getting into the actual survey itself, and any inherent biases in the presentation of your actual survey, you’ve done a lot to discredit it with this nonsense.

via Views of EdNext Readers In Line With Those of General Public (except on Teachers Unions).

UPDATE 11/4/2011: My comment does not appear on that page. It’s either in never going to be approved limbo or has been deleted.