Tuesday, February 26, 2008

NCLB Caused Curriculum Narrowing

Washington Post staff writer Maria Glod tells of the effects of curriculum narrowing in Reading and Math Curtailing Other Topics. A recent study found that the No Child Left Behind law has led many elementary schools in focusing on reading and math and to de-emphasize or even omit social studies, science, art and recess. Ms. Glod writes, "Concerns that too many students might be missing important science and history lessons or the creativity of art and music have led many educators to lobby for a broader yardstick of school success." (Also see History Survey Stumps U.S. Teens - New York Times)

Helping Immigrant Parents Help Their Kids

Sam Quinones writes about help for immigrant parents in helping their children be ready for school in A different kind of home schooling in the Los Angeles Times. Lillian Elementary School staff work with parents of incoming students, showing them "simple ways to help their children and reinforce what they were learning in class: tracing numbers in salt on cookie sheets, making letters with Play-doh or simply conversing with them about their day."

Back Online

After a nearly two month hiatus, I'm back online with Educators' News. No, I didn't lose my internet connectivity, but have been putting in long hours developing and teaching a distance education course for K-12 educators on using the Moodle Course Management System. That effort ended abruptly last week, and I'm once again either retired or unemployed. Hopefully, that will leave time for more frequent postings to Educators' News.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Women and Engineering

One I left out yesterday caught my eye again today. How to Reengineer an Engineering Major at a Women's College tells how Smith College is working to attract and retain engineering majors.

Glenn Ellis arrives at his engineering class dressed as a mountain climber. He hooks a rope to the ceiling, projects snow-capped scenery on the wall, and asks a volunteer to join him in a mock ascent...His continuum mechanics class had been studying the case of a major hotel walkway that collapsed in 1981. By discussing materials and structures from a climber's perspective, he not only made the lesson fun, but he also "masterfully illustrated the underlying concept of what went wrong ... in a completely different context."

This one's a really good read.

Gardening Season Begins

One way to beat the winter blues is to get some plants started inside to set out into the garden and flower beds when it warms up. It really doesn't take a lot to grow plant starts indoors, just a warm spot in a sunny windowsill or under a good shoplight. I started with petunias today, planting some trailing varieties for hanging pots and some bedding types. They're sitting under a clear plastic cover, as some require light to germinate, on a plant rack I built years ago. There's also a heat pad underneath to supply bottom heat, as my basement isn't all that warm. Tomorrow, I'll get some onions started. They're a chore to transplant, but growing your own transplants from seed is cheaper than buying onion plants, and you have more vaieties to choose from in seed than from the plants offered in garden stores.

I still consult my venerable copy of Crockett's Victory Garden for some guidance on when to plant what. Although long out of print, both it and Crockett's Indoor Garden are still the two best volumes I have on gardening. Fortunately for others, they're still available used at a very reasonable price through Amazon.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Contract-free Cell Phones?

A posting by Nilay Patel on Engadget reports a Proposed law would require carriers to sell contract-free phones. While I don't often venture into pure tech news, I guess I can sneak this one since they mentioned and used a graphic from Schoolhouse Rock in the posting. The law "would require carriers to sell contract-free phones, provide rate plan information in a 'clear, plain, and conspicuous manner,' disclose any phone subsidies hidden in the plan's price, and offer price-comparable plans with no subsidy or early termination fee."

Obsolete Technical Skills

Since I'm already off task, I might as well put up a piece from David Pogue's blog. A reader had sent in news of a new web site, obsoleteskills.com, that is a wiki of obsolete technical skills. While the site is interesting, the reader comments and lists of obsolete technical skills on Pogue's forum are a good read (and make me feel even older :-). Suggestions included using carbon paper, paste-up, using a slide rule, and pressing HD DVD discs.

Friday, February 29, 2008 - TGIF

Some Guidance for Parents About Internet Use

Another Pogue's Posts caught my eye this morning, How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children? David Pogue, columnist for The New York Times, tells in his blog about a writing assignment he received about the dangers of the internet to children. Pogue found that the dangers are there, but often are "hugely overhyped." He summarized by saying, "The Internet is just another facet of socialization for the new generation; as always, common sense and a level head are the best safeguards.”

Possibly more helpful to all of us in helping parents of children we teach was an excellent, free resource link Pogue provided to a PBS Frontline documentary, Growing Up Online. It's an excellent resource for teachers and parents on using the internet for instruction and on the potential dangers of using the internet for children (mostly high school in the documentary). Without the usual media hype, the documentary frankly describes some dangers to children using the internet (a few I hadn't thought of). It's an excellent, although somewhat disturbing in part, tool for parents and teachers.

FMA Live

A short article in The Indianapolis Star by Andy Gammil, Hip-hop physics, tells about a visit and performance by the FMA Live tour at an Indianapolis middle school. From the announcement of this year's tour:

Named for Sir Isaac Newton's second law of motion (force = mass x acceleration) FMA Live! uses professional actors, original songs, music videos and interactive science demonstrations to teach middle school students Newton's three laws of motion and universal law of gravity. Created by Honeywell and NASA in 2004, FMA Live! has already traveled more than 50,400 miles, reaching more than 161,300 students at 435 middle schools in 39 U.S. states and Canada, with about half in disadvantaged areas.

See the FMA Live site for more information and to access the request a visit form.

Google Page Creator Launched

Google has launched a new web page creation and hosting service this week. While still in beta, Google Page Creator allows those with a gmail account to easily create and post web pages without using html, ftp, or any of the other web page creation items usually associated with creating a page or site. It also allows you to look at and tweak your html code if you wish. The About page gives a good summary.

I put together the page at right in just a few minutes and was even able to use some javascript code (generated by the Hiveware Enkoder) to post my email address in a protected form.

It's just my guess, but I think teachers might be able to put this new tool to use with their kids.

Just a Nice Story

Engineering A Bridge To Careers by Washington Post staff writer Arianne Aryanpur tells of George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty and graduate students leading "about 100 high-schoolers through a dozen sessions, where they had the opportunity to build a bridge, simulate an earthquake, create a robot, track hackers breaking into a computer system, learn how wireless technology works and digitize a crash-test dummy."

Back in the Saddle

After a week of unemployment (retirement?), I'm getting back in the groove of posting to Educators' News along with all that ending one job and possibly seeking another entails. As always, I hope readers will send in their tips and links to pertinent information (please see feedback link below). Annie and I don't know if I'll end up taking a full-time position somewhere, teach again, do commercial course management system training, or actually be semi-retired and just substitute teach a bit to keep my hand in education. My updated resumé has been available online for some time.

Have a great weekend!

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