Monday, February 14, 2005

Brain Bites Rocks!

When I posted a reference last Thursday to the new NASA page, Brain Bites, I did so pretty much on the recommendation from Dr. Tony Phillips Science@NASA page. I was writing the update at home, and downloading videos over our dial-up connection is usually a no-go. So when I went to work Friday morning, I took a few minutes to try some of the Brain Bites mini-lessons.

To make a long story short, I laughed so hard that I had tears in my eyes while watching How would you turn a bolt in space? The lessons are short, interesting, informative, and often humorous. You can watch them online or download them in QuickTime, Windows Media, or Real Player formats in a variety of quality/sizes. For example, the bolt lesson's QuickTime download for 56K dial-up is just 400K. The high quality download is 2.6 MB, still doable if you have the time on a dial-up connection.

There are a variety of topics online already with more to come in the weeks and months ahead. Be sure to have the latest version of QuickTime, Windows Media Player, or the Real Player installed if you're going to download the movies and push them out to student computers. Online, the pages use javascript and Macromedia's Shockwave and Flash plug-ins.

If I were still in a science classroom, Brain Bites would be one of my daily checks for lesson material, along with The Astronomy Picture of the Day and Science@NASA. When prepping for lessons, say, on a weekly basis, I'd be sure to see if there was something new on Scienceman.com, DLESE (Digital Library for Earth System Education), SEFI (Science Education Foundation of Indiana), and of course, PRISM (Portal Resources for Indiana Science and Mathematics), for online learning activities. Don't be put off by the "Indiana" part of the last two. They're really for everyone!

Laptops for...do we have a reason?

One of the harshest, but often accurate criticisms of school laptop or computer programs is that a clear plan and purpose, other than having laptops, hasn't been established. Recently, Cobb County in Georgia announced a $70 million laptop program. In response, Chris Adamson posted Only a theory... to his weblog. Chris makes some tough criticisms and asks some hard questions: "I cannot find anything indicating what the point of this venture is...I think for $70 million, there at least ought to be a specific, attainable goal for this program." His arguments are valid. If there's not a purpose beyond just having computers, then Cobb County is in for a real disappointment. Quite possibly there is a carefully crafted plan, but someone has erred in not publicizing it properly. It's something for all of us who see the value of and support the use of technology in the classroom to remember.

The basic announcement appears in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Laptops for all Cobb students? $70 million by Kristina Torres. The Marietta Daily Journal adds some insights in School official: Deal with Apple would cover all computer expenses by Jon Gillooly.

High School NCLB Doomed?

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Karen MacPherson pulls together opinions from a number of Democrats and conservative Republicans in Odd allies oppose Bush education plan. The overall take is that No Child Left Behind for high schools won't be passed, but that congress will stick with President Bush's proposed overall reduction in education spending. She writes that "Democrats and teachers' groups want to see more spending on the current No Child Left Behind law..." and "...conservative Republicans, heirs to those who fought during the Reagan administration to abolish the Department of Education, adamantly oppose expanding the federal role in education."

California Teacher Speaks Out on Merit Pay

In the San Francisco Chronicle's Open Forum, educator Davy McClay responds to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's merit pay proposals in Improving education with true accountability. McClay writes an enlightened account of responsibilities of teachers for which we should be held accountable. Included are classroom delivery skills, following the mandates of my heart, and helping parents hold themselves accountable. He concludes:

So I ask the governor to enthrone substance -- true accountability -- over show. We need our governor to pave the way for us teachers to magnify all these responsibilities, over and above scrambling to satisfy some new program that will be replaced in a few years.

Washington Township Superintendent Knuckled Under

Indianapolis Washington Township Schools Superintendent Eugene White emerged Saturday after a noisy, closed-door special meeting with his school board and apologized to Governor Mitch Daniels for calling him a "liar." White had stated that Daniels distorted the state of education in Indiana in the State of the State speech "to make public education in the state look bad..." In White gives governor an apology, Indianapolis Star writer Andy Gammill states:

During the [board] meeting, raised voices could be heard from a hallway, but board members would not say what was discussed. Afterward, White also apologized to the district's students, saying he would not tolerate that kind of personal attack from them and should hold himself to the same standard. "The governor offered me a mulligan yesterday," White said after leaving the meeting. "I accept and offer him my apology."

I wrote in a special Saturday edition of EdNews, "The news of White's statements is astounding, as Washington Township is known as a rather conservative school district, not given to encouraging its administrators to make major waves in the news." At that time I didn't add that I knew of what I wrote. I taught for MSDWT for ten years. I even named my charityware font after them. And I clearly knew that the Washington Township board would not permit White's statements to stand, even if the Governor was lying about education in Indiana.

How Bad Is It?

In a Sunday article not yet posted to the internet by the Terre Haute Tribune-Star (which naps over the weekend...and most of the rest of the week), Dems vow to battle education cutbacks, State Representative Dale Grubb is quoted as saying, "I don't mind Mitch Daniels being Governor of the state, but I don't want him to be emperor either." Grub was referring to the Governor's plans to: withhold $52 million in funds promised to public schools in the state; cut Medicaid 5%; eliminate or take over many bi-partisan state commissions or replace existing members with ones friendly to the administration; and "scrutinize" new public school building plans he considers unnecessary. The weblog of Max Jones, editor of the Trib-Star, gives some more perspective to what is going on in Indiana.

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