Mike Toner | Web Design, SEO & Social Media » affect

40 Days without Facebook

Mike Toner — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:40:38 +0000

For as long as I can remember I have always participated in the Easter tradition of Lent.

Each year, right around the beginning of March my family and friends begin discussing what they are giving up for Lent. This is usually defined as the tradition of personal sacrifice for the 40 days and 40 nights leading up to Easter Sunday.

This year- I decided to give up Facebook. Trendy I know…but let’s consider why:

I’m not sure who gets to see what on Facebook?

I’ve tried to tweak the privacy settings, I’ve tried to create lists- it just seems so imperfect. I’ve also heard that some users (read: my mom) can see my whole profile while I’m using my mobile phone (which has a separate set of privacy settings) versus using Facebook on my browser- (which has a different set security settings.) So it depends on what device I’m on as to which settings are in affect.

As you all know, there is always a constant chatter regarding the privacy of Facebook. Occasionally you’ll see a post like this one cross your newsfeed:

With these sorts of warnings to protect against hacking, it really makes me think twice about what I share on Facebook and the ever-expanding reach into our personal information.

(Side note- I’m not sure how I feel about Facebook sharing my phone number and address information with it’s growing list of advertisers.)

Time Suck:

Take into consideration the amount of time spent on Facebook. Imagine the collective amount of productivity lost in any given workday to this addictive website. That’s enough to make you pause…

Facebook is everywhere.

It was almost exactly one year ago that Facebook’s changes to the Like Button went into full affect.

[box]One year later, the Like button has proven its staying power, becoming just as ubiquitous on Facebook as it has on the Internet as a whole. Facebook says more than 10,000 websites add the Like button to their platforms everyday.With more than 2.5 million websites featuring the Like button and a profitability reportedly higher than a tweet, the simple one-click feature has ensured that it will be around for many more birthdays to come. (via Adweek) [/box]

Now What?

Giving up Facebook felt like such a pointless sacrifice unless I set out to accomplish something more tangible in partnership with my time apart from the online world.

Now, traditional sacrifices during lent haven’t gone away however there is definitely a call for more service as sacraficeduring the giving season. My purpose was to use the 40 days to evaluate how I was spending my time and how easy it was to make a change.

Time to Give Back

Back in March, I attended an orientation to volunteer at Miriam’s Kitchen who provides free, homemade meals and high-quality support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women in Washington, DC each year.

Since then I have spent two evenings cooking and serving at Miriam’s as a way to really connect my personal sacrifice with a sense of giving back of my time to the community. The whole experience was very eye opening to the daily issue of homelessness in my own community.

Also, a few weeks ago, my colleague and I spent an afternoon helping out as part of the Muscular Dystrophy’s Greater Washington Area chapter Muscle Walk. The local event raised more than $100,000 and many of the teams are headed by someone with a type of muscle disease, or a parent of a child with muscle disease. It was great to be part of such an inspiring event where these families use the walk as opportunity to fight back against MD.

So, for the last 40 days- I was off the grid, so-to-speak- and spent my time giving back to the community through volunteer work.

Today, Easter Sunday- I plan to value the time I interact with my friends and family whether it’s online or in real life. I believe Facebook can serve a good purpose and is an important channel for communicating with those important people in my life.

As far as volunteering, I need to reassess my purpose and continue to grow my personal sacrifices outside of Lent. What other activities could I or should I be volunteering my time with that perhaps offer a more personal connection?

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

What Make a Great Teacher? Part 4

Mike Toner — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 01:01:04 +0000

As American Education Week comes to to an end I believe we are entering an era that requires drastic measures to ensure the success of America’s school system.

The results of the National Assessment of Education Progress released Thursday display the sames issues that emerge time and time again on other standardized tests. There is a substantial difference between the performance of whites and minorities, between middle class and poor. There are so many external factors affecting a students success.

I hope that the national debate on education reform will allow for a real dialogue about the challenges facing our education system and focus on the hard work and collaboration necessary to address these issues.

For the fourth and final segment in the What Makes a Great Teacher? series, I interviewed a literacy specialist and remedial reading teacher at a middle school in Northern Virginia. When asked about whether or not schools work well he refers to teaching as an “industry” that needs to continually change and innovate- this answer resonated with me as I think it will with many of you.

When a business stops creating, it dies. Business models go through their life cycles and without change there cannot be growth. Our education system is no different. It is time for a change.

What is the single most important factor in determining a students success?

I wish I could say it had something to do with me. I would love to take credit. The single most important factor in a student’s success is early parent involvement. I can really only speak with any authority from the reading side of things, and here you see a dramatic difference. From the start, parents reading to kids, and speaking to them in a variety of contexts and with a dynamic vocabulary puts children on the road to success in reading and therefore school. Unfortunately this idea is complicated by economics. Poverty plays a huge role. For example children raised by professional parents hear somewhere around 32 million more words than children who were raised in poverty by the time they are 4 years old. Imagine trying to make sense of the world with 32 million fewer words. So the parent involvement is paramount, however it is not as much of a cut and dry choice as it may seem. It starts very early and if it doesn’t start, it is very hard to make it up. It is not to say that poverty is an educational death sentence, but the work is much harder.

How can students do their best in school?

Students can do their best in school by learning to be flexible in their thinking and finding their own meaning in what they are learning. I often hear students saying that they will never use Biology in real life, and to a certain extent they are correct. When students begin to see the value in learning new ideas and new ways of thinking then they can start to do their best in school. I will often respond to students who tell me that a reading is “boring” that I was not looking for an evaluation, and that I want for them to tell me not if it was interesting, but if they can see the value in it.

Do schools today work well? Or are their changes needed?

Change is constantly needed; in any industry. No one would want a medical procedure to be done on them using methods from even 10 years ago, certainly we should not be teaching using methods from 10 years ago. The patients are different and the methods have become better. We grew up doing round robin, or popcorn reading, and we can remember as good readers we would count how many paragraphs there were until us, read the passage before the teacher came to us and and space out in the meantime. The kids who were not good readers likely spent that time freaking out about having to read aloud to the class, and also likely did not have the strategies to identify what they were responsible for. Either way, we are not reading the entire passage and the lesson is lost. So yes change is always needed. In structure, and in methods.

The focus on standardized testing and the notion that there is only one way to demonstrate proficiency is damaging to students and to schools. Schools would benefit from a shift in thinking

It’s not how smart are you, it’s how are you smart.

How do you measure an effective teacher?

There is a huge difference between an effective teacher and a good teacher. Good teachers could spend their careers teaching well and not being effective. I guess the simple answer is that an effective teacher is one who pushes their students to think critically and become independent learners. I am always really proud when my students become frustrated with the repetitive nature of my class. It shows me that they are thinking meta cognitively and evaluating their own learning.

How do you measure an effective student?

An effective student is one who takes accountability and responsibility for their own learning. They have to want it for themselves or it will never really happen. When I think back on my own education, it was not until I felt that the work was for me and not my parents or my friends, was when I really began to learn. It felt good to get good grades, but I wasn’t really building something that meant anything.

What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher has to be in it for the kids. A great teacher has to care about them. A great teacher has to see the world through their students eyes, and decide to teach from there. This is by far the most difficult question on here, because if I knew, I would go out and do it. A great teacher has patience for themselves. I still on occasion will craft a formal letter of apology to my first year students. When I think back, I was awful. AWFUL. A great teacher knows that and still comes in on Monday morning. Patience, knowledge, and a drive to be better.

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 1

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 2

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 3

Mike Toner

What Make a Great Teacher: Part 3

Mike Toner — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:30:58 +0000

Earlier today the Department of Education issued the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 12 Reading and Mathematics National and Pilot State Results.

Today’s report suggests that high school seniors’ achievement in reading and math isn’t rising fast enough to prepare them to succeed in college and careers. Reading results have improved since 2005, but are still below the level of 1992. Math scores also show only incremental gains over four years ago.

In my third interview as part of the What Makes a Great Teacher series I asked a fourth year high school social studies teacher about measuring student success. During the conversation, he explores the discrepancies in grades from teacher to teacher, an interesting reality in today’s education system.

What is the single most important factor in determining a student’s success?

The belief in themselves that they can be successful – this belief can grow from the influence of a positive mentor – a teacher or parent.

How can students do their best in school?

Students need to make school a priority and ask for help when they need it. I see far too many students who get caught up in things that are not important.

How do you measure an effective student?

Teachers need to work collaboratively to provide balance formative and summative assessments that measure student achievement. There are ten teachers in my department who teach World History I. 48% of the 535 students enrolled in the course had an A on their progress reports. As I went through and crunched numbers, I learned that there is one teacher whose grades indicate that 91% of her students have earned an A. Just 18% of another teacher’s students have earned an A. We are having a candid conversation tomorrow in our Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting about this discrepancy and why it exists. Is it truly that Teacher A has students who have exceeded her expectations whereas Teacher B just has a “challenging group” this year? Perhaps – but that probably doesn’t explain a gap that is quite that large. It’s because the expectations for student achievement are different, and how grades are determined by Teacher A and Teacher B are likely vastly different. So, in short, teachers need to determine what measures an “effective student” in similar ways. Additionally, I’ve found that effective students are those who value their education and are willing to work hard to achieve the goals set for themselves. Not every student can earn an A in a class, but every student can learn.

What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher cares about his/her students. A great teacher provides engaging, relevant, and scaffolded lessons that focus on the learner. A great teacher motivates his/her student to achieve their personal goals. A great teacher transcends course content to teach students about life – what it means to be a caring, open-minded, well-rounded person. A great teacher makes those around him better – teachers, students, and administrators alike.

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 1

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 2

Mike Toner

What Make a Great Teacher: Part 2

Mike Toner — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:15:41 +0000

Everyday nearly 50 million students head off to approximately 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools around the country and before the school year is out, an estimated $540 billion will be spent related to their education.

In part 2 of What Makes a Great a Teacher I asked a friend of mine who is in her 4th year of teaching what she thought was driving successful students in America’s schools? And how do you measure that success? We are, “starting to see a trend to standardized everything,” she says, but is this best approach to measuring education? There are some hints of incentive pay for teachers, or a merit pay structure as a new way to pay teachers.

It was very interesting to see the similarities between the 30 year teacher in Part 1 and teachers just beginning their careers. Both groups of teachers highlight the importance of external factors influencing a students success: namely a student’s home life and the influence this has on achievement.

Here are the questions:

What is the single most important factor in determining a students success?

There are a lot of obvious factors that determine a students success including overall IQ, ability to learn/process/take in information, general liking of school etc, however in my opinion the most important factor would be the students home life and support system. A student can have an incredibly high IQ, however if there is no support at home asking the child how their day was, do you have homework, what did you learn, how can I help etc, then the motivation needed to succeed is lost. Education must be viewed as an important priority in their lives.

How can students do their best in school?

Students today need a lot of motivation, positive reinforcement and interactive learning. They are so used to being constantly “tuned in” or “wired up” and also being stimulated (through tv, video games etc) they don’t know how to stay engaged unless it involves some sort of interactive learning. This puts a lot of pressure on the teachers to find new and exciting ways to teach all day long in such a way that will keep the students engaged.

Do schools today work well? Or are there changes needed?

Are all schools great? No. Are they all the same? No. Can a school in the inner city of New York or in the boonies of West Virginia give the same opportunities to their students as those in Fairfax County? No. But I do feel there are a lot of good systems in place. I think today kids have a lot on their plates but at the same time I also feel there is no accountability. This seems like it would cancel each other out, but somehow it happens. Kids have so much baggage they come to school with (parents fighting, sports, home life, peer bullying, things you wouldn’t even imagine —roaches in their toothpaste—true story). But at the same time, so much is in place so that they don’t fail. Things like online homework systems, after school make up help and“no fail” policies affect the student’s overall sense of accountability.

I also feel there is so much based on the test scores that there is less room for freedom for students AND teachers to be creative. So while yes, I do think there is A LOT of good in the school system (or I wouldn’t be doing this job), I do feel there are a lot of changes that could be made. And I don’t necessarily feel that the changes currently being made are the best direction to go.

How do you measure an effective teacher?

I think this is a tough situation. I do feel there needs to be some sort of an accountability towards teachers, but how can you hold someone accountable to teach at their highest standard when there is no incentive to do so? Right now, with no pay increases in 3 YEARs, and more work being put on the teachers as office jobs are being cut, why would you put more effort than you already are into your job knowing you wont get anything more out of it?

Also, a lot of teaching is sharing ideas, and thoughts and working together. You would go crazy if you had to do it all on your own. So how do you hold a teacher accountable without creating a competitive environment that breaks down the atmosphere of wanting to share ideas and strategies?

I feel a teacher is effective if they can reach the children.

How do you measure an effective student?

Recently there has been a REALLY big shift to test scores and standardizing everything. While I do see the plus side (it puts everyone on a even playing field, all students are taking the same tests as opposed to “Mrs. Smith’s easy tests”, it’s an easy way to see trends within and among schools etc.) Coming from the field of special education, I don’t always agree this is the best approach to measuring a student. Some students may be GREAT test takers, but throw them into the real world and they can’t put any of this knowledge to use. Or on the other end, some students needs multiple accommodations to complete a simple test, but are so creative and intelligent in other ways.

I think students need to be measured on a variety of skills and not just pencil, paper tasks. How would you go about doing this? I think students need to have the opportunity to express themselves in multiple ways. All these studies are done about the different learning styles (visual learners, auditory learners etc).

What makes a great teacher?

A teacher who sees the potential that the student has instead of giving up. He or she teaches the students the life lessons of humility, sense of humor, communication skills, confidence, social skills. A teacher who cares about the student and not about the scores! (unfortunately this is becoming harder and harder to do…)

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

What Makes a Great Teacher: Part 1

Mike Toner

What Makes a Great Teacher? Part 1

Mike Toner — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:26:39 +0000

The 89th Annual American Education Week-Nov. 14-20, presents all Americans with an opportunity to celebrate public education and honor individuals who are making a difference in ensuring every child receives a quality education.

My mother has always been a source of inspiration and I credit her for my interest and passion for quality education in America’s schools. I can’t think of a better way to honor educators than to highlight my mother’s own contribution to public education. She has taught in the Virginia Public school system for 29 years.

Recently I asked her about life as an educator. I wanted to find out what makes a great teacher? Here’s what she had to say:

What is the single most important factor in determining a students success?

I know that you are not going to like this answer, but it is the parents. Students that come from homes where education is a top priority always find success. Students that come from poverty where education takes the backseat are rarely successful.

How can students do their best in school?

They must take responsibility for their actions.

Do schools today work well? Are there changes needed?

Schools do not work well. The schools today are a reflection of a deteriorating society. Morals are no longer a top priority in families. Also, we have parents that don’t have time to teach their own children because they are working longer hours to provide ‘materials’ to their children. I don’t think we can fix our schools until we fix the family unit.

How do you measure an effective teacher?

This one is easy!!! An effective teacher keeps the students actively engaged.

How do you measure an effective student?

One who is willing to learn and questions everything.

What makes a great teacher?

One that treats students with respect, holds them to high standards, does not accept excuses and makes failure not an option. A great teacher teaches students and not subjects. They work longer hours and are always thinking of new ways to actively engage students. The difficult part is teaching students to think and become life long learners.

—

Over the next few days I have more interviews from friends who are teachers throughout Virginia.

Tomorrow, I will share some updated information on the No Child Left Behind Act and the education progress that America’s leaders are working towards.

Do you know a teacher that deserves to be recognized? Be sure to say, “thank you” this week!

Posts in this series:

American Education Week

Mike Toner

Optimization Progression in a Google Instant

Mike Toner — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:16:37 +0000

The web is progressing, it is learning.

Images, music, maps, are only a part of how we experience the web today. These elements are the start of Augmented Reality which uses maps and images to orient the web user to a virtual reality.

Location based social networks like FourSquare, are all the rage right now. This makes sense in the order of things right?right?Geography is about everything that is (literally) close to us, and it’s a universally familiar method of organizing, finding and tracking relevant information on objects, events and people.

First we make friends, then we share.

The one-way-web turned into the Social Web and now Google Instant gives us the Instantly Social, Geographically Oriented, Personable, Smart Web.

The fundamentals are the same. It’s still the Google algorihtm- it’s just smarter- it knows YOU, displaying results in a different way. Relying on your personal search history as a key factor in Google’s quest to deliver a quality search experience which means: PERSONALIZED search results.

Moving forward, Google results will be a reflection of your involvement and patterns on the web- using more than the WORDS themselves to determine the context of your search, more or less- deciphering your intent in searching. i.e. Have you been to this website before? Have you researched other similar sites?

By providing this immediate feedback -Google is changing the WAY we search, and eventually our collective search behavior will change… SEO is now dependent on more than keywords, content must meet new factors related to user relevancy and intent…

Mike Toner

Social Media and The Next Frontier

Mike Toner — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:00:01 +0000

For the last year or so there was a lot of hype surrounding the use of social networks from a marketing and public relations perspective. Then came the question of ROI on Social Media.

Look at how far we’ve come…

I am happy to say that in the world of online interaction… we are moving on.

Over the last year we have figured out to engage, track and leverage social networks as a piece of our organizations marketing and PR efforts. Now that we’ve done that…What’s next, you say?

The Internet is leaving the computer at home. We are taking the internet with us everyday on our blackberry, iphones, droids etc.

We are able to access information on the web from virtually every place on earth, no pun intended…(it’s not virtual, it’s real…)

The Future is in the palm of your hand..in the form of a mobile phone/device…

One day soon, my blackberry will ping me when the dryer is done and my refrigerator will send me a message when it is time to buy more Dr. Pepper after sensing that the refrigerator is low on soda.

When thinking about the next use of mobile devices what do you imagine? I think appliances, cars and tv’s will the the first things to ‘communicate’ with my mobile phone… what do you think?

I believe we are also going to watch our mobile devices become our keys, phones & wallets combined…

Mobile is the pre-cursur to the Semantic Web..or the Personal Web…the cloud?, er 3.0….ohh no…here we go again…

The Future Internet – Web 3.0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off08As3siM

Mike Toner

Making Social Media Valuable

Mike Toner — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:21:35 +0000

Social media took a wild ride last year as businesses and organization began accepting it as a serious business tool.

Tonight, I am speaking to a group of business students at Howard University who are dedicated users of web 2.0 but are looking to be the next ‘gatejumper’ in the world wide web. I plan to talk about Reputation Management online AND the human aspect of becoming a web aficionado. The first point will detail ways you can build online influence using the internet.

“The Internet has leveled the playing field for media, merchandise, communication, location and many other areas.” – Trust Agents

My second point will talk about how involvement in social media will inevitably lead to the risk of “one-way intimacy”- when you are simply pushing your message out to an audience. The important point here is that brands earn our attention through personal intimacy, we must maintain that human touch. We all recognize that companies need to change and begin participating- your job is to find out how to make twitter valuable for your employer or for your own business.

Here is the secret, tie in social media to the overall business goals, not just web-related goals. Track leads and sales from social networking to understands the true impact.

Listen Listen Listen

Lastly and most importantly, don’t focus so much on you and your message. Figure out how you can help FIRST then speak up.

Website Resources:

Mixergy – Online Business Tips from Successful Entrepreneurs

FastCompany.com – Where ideas and people meet | Fast Company

Books:

Here’s a book I read recently and one that should be in any entrepreneurs bookcase:

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Mike Toner

Be The Challenger

Mike Toner — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:31:18 +0000

Even when I was younger I was always questioning the process of everything. This habit led me to seek out and follow the process and those implementing the policies & procedures around me.

Who were these people in charge?

Whether in university leadership programs or professional associations I have taken an interest in the steering mechanisms behind my surroundings. By following the paths of leaders I have found the movers & shakers in my communities and given myself the opportunity to analyze the process & situations within each.

Ghandi said, “Be the Change”- I say, “Be the Challenger”- question the working parts, analyze the tasks at hand, look for and recognize inefficiencies in the process and address the policies and procedures that are not working.

Being the Challenger isn’t about pointing out the negative. It also means recognizing and building on strengths. Your own strengths, the strengths of others and the strengths of the situations. Bring these together and focus on those few things that work well and function best.

What do you challenge?

-Mike Toner

www.miketoner.com

Mike Toner

Act Right!

Mike Toner — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:38:05 +0000

This is a follow up to my thoughts from Monday’s post on customer service.

I believe that every conversation with a potential customer is a representation of the larger organization; you are now acting as the company. In the same way, every performance for a stage actor is a representation of the way the playwright intended the script to be performed, mostly a larger depiction of reality.

Now lets take customer service as a new character role:

Service Provider: Not always seen as a hero, SP is the complicated antagonist of the play. After generations of observing good service he or she uses their experience, along with the desire to help to increase the position as a service provider. He or she is often forced to depend on the kindness of their customers.

On the flip side, it’s often difficult to recognize good customer service and even harder to BE A good customer. Yes, that’s right, as the customer you must be willing to listen and be receptive to the service offered to you.

Customer: Often not ready for a new process or sequence and can be easily caught off guard. During his or her ‘demanding moments,’ customer is at their worst. In contrast, the quieter times seem good and this leading character will willingly engage in an interchange of questions and answers with SP.

As an audience member, there are certain rules or etiquettes that should be followed by all parties involved. As with theatre, there is an expectation that the show will be professional.

Do you recognize good customer service? Moreover, are you good at being a customer?

What characteristics does each portray?

Photo by: Tabbi Kat

Mike Toner