Tag: news

advisory, NMSA08, PodcastBy Troy Patterson, ,

Podcast #64 – We’re excited about reviews, advisory and NMSA08!

Items, Events, and Other:

  1. Book sale!  Clearance prices!
  2. NMSA’s Middle Level Essentials Conference April 23-24, 2009. Robert Balfanz will be keynoting.  He has done a bunch of research on 6th grade transition factors that has been cited by NMSA.

    • “Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the Talent Development Middle and High School Project, which is currently working with more than fifty high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. His work focuses on translating research findings into effective reforms for high-poverty secondary schools.

      Balfanz has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. Recent work includes Locating the Dropout Crisis, with co-author Nettie Legters, in which the numbers and locations of high schools with high dropout rates are identified.  He is currently the lead investigator on a middle school-dropout-prevention project in collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund, which is supported by the William Penn Foundation.

      Balfanz received his PhD in education from the University of Chicago.”

  3. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video
  4. New NMSA resource:  http://www.nmsa.org/u_rd/022009/gradNation.htm  NMSA has partnered with America’s Promise to disseminate a resource to middle schools about the dropout crisis in today’s high schools.      National Middle School Association

    “Dear NMSA Member,

    One-third of all students and half of minority youth—a startling 1.2 million kids—fail to graduate high school each year. Many of those who do graduate lack the basic skills needed to succeed in college, work, and life. With this many children at risk, our nation is at risk. We need your help to stem this tide.

    As part of America’s Promise Alliance, National Middle School Association is pleased to present you with Grad Nation, an evidence-based guidebook to help you increase the high school graduation rate in your community.

    We invite you to use this first-of-its-kind “road map” that has the latest data, best practices, and tools for meeting your specific high school dropout challenges. In addition to the research-based guidance for addressing the crisis, Grad Nation also includes ready-to-print tools and links to additional online resources. Available to all free of charge, this online resource can be found at: www.americaspromise.org/gradnation.

    Authored by Robert Balfanz, Ph.D. and Joanna Honig Fox from the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, and John M. Bridgeland and Mary McNaught of Civic Enterprises, Grad Nation presents a compelling case for a broad cross-section of all organizations and individuals to get involved.

    Although there is no silver bullet for reducing the dropout rate, we know which approaches work, and this guidebook is the first ‘one stop shop’ for anyone who wants to assemble the best set of approaches that will impact the problem, including information on public policies proven to help reduce the dropout rate.

    As leaders of middle grades education, we must continue to set an example and inspire others to take action to strengthen our schools and keep our young people on the path to success. The Alliance formally unveiled this tool on February 10, 2009. Please join me in supporting Grad Nation as a valuable new resource.

    Sincerely,

    Betty Edwards, Ed.D.
    Executive Director
    National Middle School Association”

  5. Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference March 12 & 13 at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township.  Mr. Ron Clark will be keynoting.
  6. North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference will be March 16-17 in Pinehurst, NC.  Keynote speakers include Bill McBride and Rick Wormeli.  Ron Williamson from Eastern Michigan University will also be speaking at the conference this year.    
  7. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  8. Free Professional Development through Webinars! NMSA is offering previously recorded webinars for free from their website.
  9. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  10. NECC is coming this summer!  Here’s an excuse to travel to Washington D.C.
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Skype in the classroom.  Archived content is available.
  12. Second Life:
  2. From the Twitterverse:

Why I didn’t turn in my homework…

  • I lost it fighting this kid you said you weren’t the best teacher in the school.
  • I was mugged on the way to school and the mugger took everything I had.
  • Our furnace stopped working and we had to burn it to stop ourselves from freezing.
  • I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to add to your already heavy workload.
  • My father had a nervous breakdown and he cut it up to make paper dolls.
  • I didn’t do it, because I didn’t want the other kids in the class to look bad.
  • ET stopped by my house and he accidentally took it home with him.

Shout outs:

  1. C-O Connections bloggers .
  2. Will Richardson, thanks for getting us all excited about your impending visit to Jackson . . . MS! not MI . . .

  3. “I have just started listening to the MSM Podcasts. I download them from iTunes U and listen to them on the way to work. Today I am home with a sick child and I am listening to a marathon of MSM, spending my day with Shawn and Troy. lol.

    I am a special education teacher at the secondary level and have shared the MSM link and iTunes U info on the podcast with the tech department for my school to distribute to the school, because MSM highlights and covers content that isn’t limited soley to the middle school level.

    MSM is an incredible resource for newbies to the tech world. . . like me. . . because Troy and Shawn provide a thorough and comprehensive review of current education, technology, pedagogy and its practice information available from a variety of sources.

    Listening to Shawn and Troy at MSM has “elevated the level of my game” so to speak. They are thoughtful and thought provoking in their content and coverage of material. . . all provided with a good dose of . . . humor!”

    Thanks Jenny!  We appreciate your spreading the word!

Webspotlight:

History Before and After Humans
Shows an overview of the development of Homosapiens and the potential future of humans.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348103/

Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle The Dropout Crisis

It is a guidebook that provides a road map to help communities tackle the dropout crisis. It is designed to help communities develop tailored plans for keeping students on track to graduate from high school, prepared for college, work and life. Grad Nation is a natural outgrowth of our local summit work to ensure that solutions are developed to put our youth on a path to success.

Grad Nation also includes ready-to-print tools and links to additional online resources, in addition to research-based guidance. It provides information and tools for developing and implementing a customized program that’s right for individual communities.

http://www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=11796

News:

Project Management Keeps Learning on Track

Like other teachers spearheading ambitious collaborative units, Smith’s two-pronged approach to managing the Monster Project — developing his students into self-directed learners while also harnessing technology tools to help keep things on track — has allowed him to smoothly complete complex projects while maximizing student learning opportunities. “Teachers are only successful if they understand how to manage the project cycle,” notes Bernie Trilling, global director for education strategy and partnerships for the Oracle Education Foundation, which emphasizes project learning.

http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-classroom-management

San Jose dad in jail — and mom’s on the way — for 13-year-old girl’s chronic truancy

It started back in third grade with polite letters from the school principal to the East San Jose couple: Your daughter has had a series of unexcused absences; please contact us. Back then, Carol Reynoso and Jayvee Geronimo’s youngest attended school about 80 percent of the time. Now, Vanessa said she’s willing to do anything if only the court would spare her mother from jail, including face her worst fear — school. “I’m willing to really try this time, to go to school,” said Vanessa, whose family says she was mercilessly teased about her weight. “I know I’ve said that before, but I mean it.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_11743743?source=rss

Why All Teachers Must Learn How to Teach Online

Patrick says that public education has struggled to incorporate technology into schools and just adding computers piecemeal is not enough to engage students. Educators properly trained to use the Internet and digital tools can teach in a traditional manner and have unlimited resources at their fingertips. Online learning can also help create more personalized learning plans for each student.
http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/patrick-speaker-spotlight.html

NMSA ’08 Conference Sessions

Lion Taming 101 by Dr. Debbie Silver
Selected notes from Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers
Lion Taming 101 by Dr. Debbie Silver

The Teacher
“Concerning a teacher’s influence, I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive  element in the classroom.  It’s my personal approach that creates and climate.  It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.  As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to mae a child’s life miserable or joyous.  I can e a tool of torture or an instrumnt of inspiration.  I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.  In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.”  – Haim Ginott
Dress Code – Music by Monte Selby
Lion Taming 101
Be Proactive!
Seating charts
We want teaching to be seamless.  No child or teacher should stop the learning process.
Decide what battles you’re going to fight.
Things that are nitpick level, shouldn’t be at the “rule” level.
Practice procedures and routines.
Establish non-negotiables
Lee Cantor’s method can escalate this to an impossible situation.
Don’t get into it with a child in front of the other students.
Stay on your feet and move around the room.
Find your own “rhythm for management”
RESPECT the students.
Taking Inventory
Please answer the question.  There are no right or wrong answers.  What you write will be held in confidence.
1.  What is your full name?  What do you like to be called?  Why?
2.  List 5 words that describe you.
3.  List the people that live in your home(s) and put 2 describing words after each name.
4.  What is your favorite thing to do at school?
7.  Do you like to read? Why or why not?
10.  Write your own question and answer it.
Tips for Successful Communication With Students
Do not begin instruction until all students are focused and attentive.
Be sure your voice and body language are consistent with your words.
Use direct eye contact and simple hand gestures to redirect off-task or inappropriate behavior.
Use clos proximity and a quiet voice to make reminders and censures personal and private
Be warm and friendly, and be firm.
Idea:  Hall Moms & Pops:  Folks in the hall during passing that talk to the students.  Some have erasers, pencils, etc.
Offer choices of behavior so that you control the direction they go.  It also helps them because they can’t come up with choices on their own.
Write notes or emails to students to let them know how much you appreciate them.
Why Students Misbehave
To gain power.
To get attention.
To seek revenge.
To avoid failure
Adapted from Catherine Neale Watson, Middle Ground
They are bored.
You as the teacher are obligated to be engaging, not necessarily to be entertaining.
Things to consider before you react to a disruptive student
Does the student feel the he is not being respected or losing face?
Is it possible that this student really ..
Could this be about your own need to win?
Could have you misinterpreted the situation?
Have you confronted the one who wasn’t the primary instigator?
Behavioral Journal Sheet
Student’s Name ___________________
Class/Period ____________________
I violated our class code by :
I chose to do this because:
A more appropriate choice would have been:
This is how I feel about whathappened:
This is what I plant o do in the future to prevent a recurrence of y actions
This is how my teacher can help me implement my plan:
Student signature and teacher comments:
Individual Behavior plan
Student name, etc.
long-Range goals for the student:
Short-Range goal for the student:
What student will do to meet target goal:
What teacher will do to help student meet that goal:
What Parent ill do to hel reach that goal
What are the consequences?
Positive recognition will be made with _____ of successful behavior.
Rose poem:
When we plant a rose seed in the earth … -Timothy Gallaway.
Secret Password:  iamateacher  www.debbiesilver.com
CEU:  FB3
Selected notes from Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers

Cooperative Learning
Businesses are moving to this model because together they remember more and can do more than alone.
Students can utilize their own strengths

NMSA08, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson, ,

Middle School Matters #59 Carol Josel’s Revision Presentation @ NMSA 08 and Social Networking in Schools.

Quick Quiz:

What did 1 math book say to the language arts book?
Why did the middle schooler bring a ladder to school?
Which word is always spelled incorrectly?
What is a pirate’s favorite subject?

* Want the answers? Just listen to the show.


Items, Events, Calendar, Eclectic Stuff (truc et chose)

  1. Alightlearning is looking for votes and support for a software venture that will incorporate technology and education.  They are competing for a $10,000 grant to start-up their venture.  Generalized information is available on the website.
  2. NMSA ’09 Invitation Video
  3. Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference March 12 & 13 at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township.
  4. Ohio Middle School Association‘s Annual Conference will be February 19-20 in Sandusky, OH.
  5. MIT Vocab Contest!:  Have your students produce a video defining standard SAT vocabulary words.  For every 5 videos uploaded one iTunes download will be awarded up to 1000 downloads per the event in total.  In other words, get ‘am in early and often if you’re looking for the iTunes motivator.  Only 1000 available for the entire WORLD!  Oh, and check out the website.
  6. NMSA is looking for nominations for the Board To nominate yourself (or Troy) click here or go to the NMSA’s main page.
  7. NMSA is accepting presentation proposals to their Annual Conference in Indianapolis next year.
  8. Interested in a Science Quiz show online and in a virtual game show environment?  Try The Second Question.
  9. NECC is coming this summer!
  10. Five questions for Arne Duncan.  Well, maybe from Arne Duncan.  Steve Hargadon has posted the five questions Arne Duncan would like answers to at a teacher’s round table discussion.  Carol Broos has them posted on her blog.  Here are the five:
    • 1. What is the one most important education issue you wish Secretary Duncan to focus on during his tenure and why?
      2. How shall the tenets of the No Child Left Behind act be altered or invigorated? What are its positives? How can its negatives be improved?
      3. How should the new administration respond to the nation’s need for better prepared and more qualified teachers?
      4.What should the new administration do to increase student engagement in mathematics, the sciences and the arts?
      5. How should funding equity issues be addressed?
  11. Go on a virtual field trip!  Land of Lincoln has the Lincoln White House, a typical town, the CSS Hunley, and several other biographical items related to the Lincoln Administration in Second Life.  Use a screen shot recorder (like Snapz Pro) to record a tour to show in class as a virtual field trip.  The Bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth is February 12, 2009.
  12. Second Life notices:
    • 1/11 ISTE Island Wolverine Island Tour 6 pm SLT.  Meet up at ISTE HQ.
    • 1/17 ISTE Island Basic Skills Workshop check the calendar for time and place.
    • From the email bag:  “Cafe 101 is starting up a new semester!  New speakers, new events and a few new teacher tools in the 2nd floor freebie shop!  Come and take a look at Virtual Texas State Technical College’s new sim design while you’re here.
      Play some Una (Uno) on the Cafe roof with a friend, and test your skills at Memory!  Have a great Spring Semester, Everyone!  Cafe 101: Get Your Learn On.”

Discussion of Social Networking and Education:
1. Use by Teachers for professional development
2. Use by classrooms
3. Use by students

Web Spotlight:  Animoto:  Grab all those pictures you took in Advisory (you did take some, didn’t you?) and throw them into Animoto.  Let groups of students pull together music they’d like to set the pictures to and let Animoto do the rest.  Thousands of possible combinations let each group’s work turn out different with the same base material.  What a great way to motivate the kids through the dark winter months.

News:
Are We Testing Kids Too Much?

As a third-grader last year at Portage’s Amberly Elementary School, here’s what Cole took:

• The Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests, which involves more than eight hours of testing during two weeks in October.

• The Standardized Test for Assessment of Reading, a computer exam given four times annually to determine his grade-equivalent reading level.

• The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills test, administered three times during the school year to check reading progress.

• The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, which is essentially an IQ-type exam.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/portage_tenyearold_cole_curtis.html

School Officials: Cuts needed to pay teachers
While districts across the state have explored the idea of a four-day school week, and state officials have tossed it around as a possible cost-cutting measure, most superintendents say the minimal savings isn’t worth the disruption.
The district also wants to redesignate money set aside for summer school, then conduct a less expensive summer program through online courses.
http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/641683.html
Budget Pain Dampening K-12 Efforts
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/07/16session_ep.h28.html?tmp=1659392755

More and More, Schools Got Game
The logic for the importance of improving school mathematics programs is reasonably unassailable. But the problems with mathematics in the United States are just as clear. A depressingly comprehensive, yet honest, appraisal must conclude that our typical math curriculum is generally incoherent, skill-oriented, and accurately characterized as “a mile wide and an inch deep.” It is dispensed via ruthless tracking practices and focused mainly on the “one right way to get the one right answer” approach to solving problems that few normal human beings have any real need to consider. Moreover, it is assessed by 51 high-stakes tests of marginal quality, and overwhelmingly implemented by undersupported and professionally isolated teachers who too often rely on “show-tell-practice” modes of instruction that ignore powerful research findings about better ways to convey mathematical knowledge. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010301556.html

Teaching Intangibles With Technology
Teach students some facts, and they learn for one exam at a time. Teach students to think and they learn how to learn for the rest of their lives. Ambitious work from European and Israeli researchers is making it easier to help students learn to think for themselves. This is exciting stuff for teachers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090106083838.htm

The Art of Revision (702)

Board Quotes:
Writing makes our thinking visible for ourselves and others.  – unknown
Feed your brain with words.  Read till your eyeballs fall out – Wilson Rowls
A writer takes a sentence, cuts it within an inch of its life, adds a clause, tucks in a few adjectives and then – when it can hardly stand up – hacks away at it again.  It’s hard work and don’t let anyone tell you its’ not – Helen F. Brassel
The writer is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write.  He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know. – Annie Dillard
You have to do a lot of bad writing to get the good writing. – Don Murray
Writing is long periods of thinking and short periods of writing. – Ernest Hemingway
It is perfectly okay to write garbage as long as you edit brilliantly.  Until you have something down on paper, even if its terrible, there’s nothing to work with, nothing you can improve – C.J. Cherryh
Use as many words as you need and not one you can live without.  R. Jordan
The best stories are not written, but rewritten. – Scott Willis
Show, don’t tell.  Writing and reading are acts of discovery.  ‘Telling’ robs a story of the feel of discovery – Rick Jones
Regard your writing as literature – unknown
Poetry is fewer words that say more. – unknown

Carol A. Josel
Bio:  Has a smart big sister.
Valerie went to Yale, Cornell, and Penn.  Valerie is also an artist.
Two things I could do:  Swing by my head and get nose drops on the green velvet sofa.
Good advice:  You need to find something that you’re good at.
University of Maine started as a nursing student.
Didn’t do well in Organic Chemistry.
She has a free e-newsletter.  Please sign up for one.
She has a blog!
Journaling
Kids should journal everyday on a topic or on themselves.
Have a writer’s journal of your own.
Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn 10 times.
Stars:  We twinkle in the cold sky air we are there all night if you try to pull us down we will burn a hole in your pocket.
Ralph Fletcher- “Writing becomes beautiful when it becomes specific.”
Maniac Magee example.
Ralph Fletcher’s book:  Adam (descriptive language, speciific)
Write what you see, not what you’re supposed to see.
Example:  stapler
It’s not a stapler.  It’s a small paper viper, dangerous to paper, and only harmful to humans if they poke at it and provoke it to anger.  You can tell when it has struck by the two tiny holes in the corners of papers.
Play “This is not a …”
Adjectives and adverbs can clutter up a piece of writing.
Example:  “Very gradually, it go really, really windy.  The wind blew a lot.”
Revised:  “At first there was just a breeze.  Later that afternoon, though, a cat blew by my window.”
In the journal put favorite words
Lollipop
Smack
Revision activity:  Fold paper in half make two columns.  Left side put the first word.  Right side put the verbs from each sentence.
Good way to check for the 23 non-action verbs.
Find great leads to read to students.
Leading Types:
1.  Leisurely:  “The first week of August hangs at the firey top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the seat of a Ferris Wheel when i paused in its turning.  The weeks that came before are only a climb from the balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless and hot.  it is curiously silent, too, with blank white downs and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.  Often at night, there is lightning, but it quivers alone.  There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.”  – Tuck Everlasting.
Thought shots
2.  Beginning at the end.
3.  Introducing the narrator
4.  Unreiable narrator
5.  Starting in the middle:
6.  A sound effect:
7.  Dialogue
Now its our turn in the packet.
Practice Leading:  Directions:  Here are some 8th graders’ leads.  Consider them carefully, deciding on their effectiveness.  Then its your turn …
Topic:  The German invasion of Poland which triggered WWII.  A loud roar echoes throughout the Polish countryside, the clear blue sky quickly turning black with billowing clouds of smoke.  (Kelly Ballady)  See packet for more.
Practice:  Roach Facts  Make a lead from the facts.
Was Kafka wrong?  Imagine what you could do in the Olympics if you could run 90 miles per hour!  You’d stay at a roach motel be able to eat a Danish and, if injured, regrow lost appendages.
Barry Lane activity:  Twenty questions.
starter:  There was this dog.
Students ask questions about the dog with no yes/no questions.
Find the best sentence in lot and use that as your leading sentence.
Carol’s ideas for making writing an everyday expected activity:
1.  Message each other frequently by leaving notes on pillows, desks, mirrors, wherever.
2.  Make letter writing a habit for all, sending them to friends, relatives, even Santa.
3.  Write your autobiography as a gift to your child.
4.  Have your child write an annual “Year in Review”–an ongoing record of your lives.
5.  On birthdays, give written gifts of family stories and recalled moments.
6.  Send postcards to each other—without going anywhere.  We all love mail.
7.  Make the sending of thank you notes a must for everyone.
8.  Keep a family journal, a record of your lives over time—and include captioned photos.
9.  Writing letters to the editor keeps the juices flowing.
10. Promote journal writing—and respect privacy.
11. Encourage your child to write and perform skits or puppet shows. Think Popsicle sticks.
12. Contact Student Letter Exchange for pen pals: 516-887-8628; www.pen-pa.com

MSM, PodcastBy Troy Patterson, , , ,

Podcast 58 Natives are Restless, Immigrants are Coming, and Scholars are To-Be-Defined!

Items, Events, Calendar, Eclectic Stuff (truc et chose)

  1. Alightlearning is looking for votes and support for a software venture that will incorporate technology and education.  They are competing for a $10,000 grant to start-up their venture.  Generalized information is available on the website.
  2. NMSA ’09 Invitation Video
  3. Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference March 12 & 13 at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township.
  4. Ohio Middle School Association‘s Annual Conference will be February 19-20 in Sandusky, OH.
  5. MIT Vocab Contest!:  Have your students produce a video defining standard SAT vocabulary words.  For every 5 videos uploaded one iTunes download will be awarded up to 1000 downloads per the event in total.  In other words, get ‘am in early and often if you’re looking for the iTunes motivator.  Only 1000 available for the entire WORLD!  Oh, and check out the website.
  6. NMSA is looking for nominations for the Board To nominate yourself (or Troy) click here or go to the NMSA’s main page.
  7. NMSA is accepting presentation proposals to their Annual Conference in Indianapolis next year.
  8. Interested in a Science Quiz show online and in a virtual game show environment?  Try The Second Question.
  9. NECC is coming this summer!

Web Spotlight:
Created for middle school teachers: A direct path to selective online resources for instruction and professional development from the National Science Digital Library. Enter each subject pathway below to browse a list of topics and take an in-depth look at teachable concepts in science and mathematics.
http://msteacher.org/

Letters from our listeners:

Happy New Year to you both

I’d like to consider a differing perspective on the terminology “digital native” vs. “digital immigrant.”

I feel that these categories are as restrictive as other stereotypes which we as educators battle to abolish. We make assumptions that children who grow up with technology are native to it. Yes, they do experience the use of computers, cell phones, DVD’s, wide-screen TV’s with cable and digital downloads, the internet, SMS and AIM at a very young age. But the connotation is that they somehow have an advantage over those of us who as children had B&W television with VHF/UHF-only programming, dial phones hard-wired to the wall, LED calculators, VHS tapes, cassettes, and even computers with a whopping 128k of RAM.

Children are native to whatever they experience as they age. They will embrace the ubiquitous technology with as much fervor as some of us did with our 8-track tapes and AM radios. Does this make them more likely to be successful in its use? Perhaps it gives them a better start. But they are using things that have no context. As teachers, we are well aware of how important context is to what kids learn. We, the so called “immigrants” are not really immigrants at all. If anything, we are the philosophers and archivists of knowledge. We have the context that kids lack because we lived the technology as it changed and grew. For example, ask the average middle school student today about how the Macintosh OS relates to Windows in a historical perspective. They have little clue and don’t even see its relevance. But wasn’t WW I relevant to WW II? Are the military personnel who didn’t grow up with the option of Cruise missiles considered immigrants?

I’m not saying that kids today don’t have a different perspective than many of us in our 30’s, 40’s, or even 50’s. But if anything, we are perhaps the true natives. We lived off the land of tubes to transistors and circuit boards. We evolved in our usage of computers and microwaves, and we had keen perspective  to evaluate, compare and contrast, and contribute to further development. It seems that, at the very least, we need one other category to better describe the generational rift.

Consider the title “digital scholar.” Many of us are walking encyclopedias and history books of technology. We felt, tasted, and touched the evolution, the revolution, and the contribution. We have an altogether different appreciation for what the digital age has given us, and as scholars, we have an obligation to share as much as we can with today’s youth. Because only armed with this context can they bring things forward and make the tough decisions ahead. These digital natives will need to determine the difference between “can we” and “should we.” Let us hope they choose wisely.

Thanks for all your hard work with this podcast.

In the News:

SCSU to help teachers create ‘culturally relevant’ classrooms
Her philosophy is that teachers can instruct students more effectively if they understand their cultural backgrounds.
“People have got to understand the culture in which these kids come from,” said state Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman. Matthews, a former educator, says teachers who are able to grasp students’ backgrounds can motivate them to learn.
http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/articles/2008/12/29/news/13385212.txt

Kansas Schools Emphasize Technology, Training
“Technology has changed a great deal since the old purple mimeograph, filmstrip projector and overhead projector that I started with 30 years ago,” Turnbull said. “We thought yellow highlighting markers were a cool tool then.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/12/26/215019kspnpittsburgtechnology_ap.html?tmp=47036604

The dying art of cursive
Handwriting was reinstated into the Sunshine State standards in 2006, after educators became concerned that it was slipping away from classrooms. According to state guidelines, third-graders must begin learning cursive, fourth-graders must have legible writing, and fifth-graders must be fluent in the script.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20081229/NEWS13/812290311/1006/NEWS01

Kids not ready for kindergarten cost Minnesota schools $113 million a year
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/36860224.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciatkEP7DhUsI

Schwarzenegger seeks education cuts
California schools could eliminate a week of instruction and increase class sizes next year under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new plan for solving the state’s budget crisis.
Matosantos said the state’s plunging economy could have forced far deeper cuts in education than the ones Schwarzenegger proposed.
http://www.sacbee.com/arnold/story/1510332.html