Monday, November 24, 2008

Economy and School Dances

A piece in the Sunday New York Times by Yolanne Almanzar caught my eye. Almanzar writes about the effect of the current economic downturn on school activities in High School Dances Shine Just a Little Less Brightly. It sorta goes with the Prom Dress Economy and Stone Soup postings I did last Friday.

Big Raises for CSU Admins

I haven't posted links to the many articles about California's higher education crunch on Educators' News, as this site is mainly about K-12 education. Many articles have appeared in newspapers and online recently about California State University having to cut enrollment next year by about 10,000 students because of funding shortfalls. Hefty pay raises in troubled times on campus in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday tells that in spite of cutbacks on students:

Chancellor Charles Reed approved salary increases of up to 19 percent for nine vice presidents at four of CSU's 23 campuses earlier this year, and approved 11 new appointments of vice presidents at nine campuses at salaries of as high as $225,000.

It sounds awfully similar to the CEO pay deals on Wall Street and the current federal bailout there. And it appears as always, the kids and the teachers get the short end of the stick.

Malia and Sasha to Attend Sidwell

Several articles online have confirmed that the Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, will attend a private school when the Obamas move to Washington, D.C. in January. "President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, announced Friday that their two daughters would attend Sidwell Friends School, the prestigious academy that has educated generations of this city’s elite."

• Obamas Pick Sidwell School, Ending a Washington Guessing Game
• Obama Girls Will Go To Sidwell Friends

While it would have been a boost for the Washington public schools if the Obamas had chosen public education for the girls, you can't much fault them for choosing what they believe to be the best shot for their kids.

Early Graduation

NH proposes letting students skip 2 years tells that " New Hampshire education officials want to allow some high school students to graduate two years early and start taking community college courses," but "still...take part in high school extracurricular activities."

More on Poverty and the Kids We Teach

Two good articles I ran across talk about the poverty that must be addressed in the children in our public schools.To better understand, they walk in their shoes by Taryn Plumb tells of "a recent poverty simulation at the University of New Hampshire in Durham." Enhancing education through nature by Scott Gold tells of kids who live 20 minutes from an ocean they've never seen. Gold tells of how the Children's Nature Institute is trying to add some natural experiences to the lives of kids who "are living in concrete, going to school in concrete and then coming back home to concrete."

Harvest Time

I haven't added any content lately about my garden or home, but our view dramatically changed last week as the guys came in and harvested the field next to us in a couple of days. One of the parts of modern harvesting that always intrigues me is when they dump the combine's hopper into a grain wagon while on the move. When I was farming, it was all I could do just to stay on row without trying to empty the hopper at the same time.

Let me leave you with something that might bring a grin to the faces of some old rock 'n' roll fans. While looking through the onion seed listings in the Stokes Seed catalog, I ran across two uniquely named varieties of red onion, "Red Zeppelin" and "Grateful Red!" I'll probably try both just based on the cool names.

New Affiliate Advertisers

While I often order books from Amazon.com, I realized that when I buy locally, it's either at Books-a-Million or at Barnes & Noble. I've added the latter two as affiliate advertisers for this site. While they may gasp at seeing their ads posted side-by-side, it seems only fitting to do so.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Spectacular Conjunction

Dr. Tony Phillips tells about an upcoming Spectacular Conjunction on his Science@NASA site. He writes, "This story ends with the best sky show of the year--a spectacular three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon." The conjunction has already begun. Venus and Jupiter are already very close together in the southwestern sky just after sunset. It will peak on Sunday and Monday with "a slender 10% crescent Moon...hovering just below Venus-Jupiter."

And of course, the image at right is from the excellent, open source planetarium software, Stellarium. Stellarium is great for previewing just where things will be in the night sky on a given date at a given time. It's available in versions for Linux, Windows, and Macintosh.

I find events such as this conjunction great throw-away comments for those occasional dead minutes just before the bell. A quick comment about, "Be sure to check out the southwestern sky just after sunset this weekend" can really spur student interest.

Computer Use for the Disabled

eSchool News has an article today that is near and dear to my heart as a "retired" special educator. Technology helps shatter limits of disability by Meris Stansbury takes a look at the current state and possible future initiatives in assistive technology for the disabled. Alan Brightman, who worked at Apple Computer as the founder and director of Apple's Worldwide Disability Solutions Group, is quoted telling the following story that occurred when the Apple II was replaced by the Macintosh computer line:

Every day when we went into that Apple building, we'd walk past a BMW motorcycle in the lobby, because Steve Jobs wanted to remind everyone that the goal was to be chic and glamorous. Of the 63 features designed to be helpful on Apple's Mac, all 63 features were major inconveniences for the disabled.

The problems were easy to fix for the architects, [but] they never realized there was a flaw to begin with.

A few years later, Brightman...was at an AT conference and Johnny came into the room, moving his wheelchair with a stick placed in his mouth. He came up to the stage, went to the computer they had for him, and started to play the jazz music he had composed with the help of software.

We've come a long way in assistive technology, but the article tells about how far yet we have to go.

Black/Pink Friday - Cyber Monday Ads

Our list of' Black/Pink Friday and Cyber Monday ads have been moved to a separate archive page.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Obama's Education Plan, Teachers' Unions and Charters

Maria Glod had an interesting article in Monday's Washington Post, Obama Faces Fierce Fight to Keep Education Promises. In it Glod looks at the various factions tugging at the President-Elect as he tries to form a viable education policy. Pat Wingert in Newsweek has a similar article in What Kind of Education Secretary Will Obama Pick?

One faction I ran across yesterday came in the form of a Wall Street Journal opinion article by Terry M. Moe, Change Our Public Schools Need. Moe is an Obama supporter, but his basic theme is that teachers' unions are responsible for our schools' problems and need to be destroyed! The Journal's Comments section adds a bit of balance to the discussion.

What Moe and other non-teachers may not realize is that unions don't spring from teachers' desire just to pay dues, attend another round of meetings, and stifle often ill-conceived administrative attempts at school reform. They arise from mismanagement and mistreatment of employees by school corporations, and a desire by teachers to have a voice in decision making in their schools. Without the protection of our teachers' association, I suspect my teaching career would have been considerably shorter.

James Vaznis tells in the Boston Globe about Massachusetts first unionized charter school in Charter schools Teachers unionize at charter school, a first for Massachusetts. Teachers at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton (MA) have joined the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. The article doesn't give reasons by the teachers for unionizing, but notes that teachers have raised reasonable concerns about pay and health insurance. There also has been friction between some faculty and administrators. While new in Massachusetts, unionization at charter schools has existed in some excellent charter schools elsewhere as described in Unions are alive and well in many charter schools.

Magnet Schools

Howard Blume has an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times about the challenges now facing magnet schools nationwide, Support for magnet schools waning despite their success. He writes:

Support for magnet schools has foundered nationwide even though they continue to shine compared to other types of public schools, including charters, researchers concluded in a report [1.2 MB PDF document] released today. Magnet programs, created to promote voluntary integration, have suffered court setbacks, stagnant federal funding and local budget cuts.

School Funding Woes

Christian Science Monitor staff writer Stacy Teicher Khadaroo writes about the effects of school funding cutbacks in Schools feel pinch from economic woes. One of the best lines in the column comes from Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution in California, about funding cuts.

Often, a simple band-aid measure is the response, he says, such as laying off new teachers. Overall, he says, the challenge is the instability in funding: When "one year you pour a lot of money out to the schools and the next year you squeeze back, it doesn't allow for a lot of rational planning."

Tool Bag in Space Tracked

Space.com's Jeanna Bryner has an interesting follow-up about the tool bag lost in space at the International Space Station. (See Lost in Space) In Backyard Skywatchers Find Tool Bag Lost in Space, she tells about amateur astronomers tracking the tool bag, which is visible with binoculars (or with a very good naked eye on a very dark night, as it's a 6.4 magnitude:-).

While we're off subject (this is supposed to be an education site), I just noticed a CNN posting, Probing the cosmos: Is anybody out there? It tells about the Allen Telescope Array and Jill Tarter, the woman who inspired the movie Contact. She's still listening and is quoted as saying:

We're trying to figure out how the universe began, how galaxies and large-scale structures formed, and where did the origins of life as we know it take place?" These are all valid questions to ask of the universe. And an equally valid question is whether the same thing that happened here [on Earth] has happened elsewhere.

A Late Wednesday Update (7:30 P.M. EST)

I didn't get out to check out the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter last night, but did tonight. Oh my, what a night sky show. And as reported yesterday, it's only supposed to get better through the holiday weekend!

Thursday, November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving Day (US)

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Annie and I, a sincere wish goes out to our readers for a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Although our joy is diminished by events in this world, we give thanks to our Lord for the good life we lead. And while this site carries a permanent link to one of my son's, Zach's, weekly online devotional, here's a link to his most recent devotional, Jesus Does Not Exclude: ALL You Who Are Weary.

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