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Monday, September 6, 2010 - Labor Day (U.S.) OOo4Kids 1.0 Released OOo4Kids (Pronounced "OpenOffice For Kids") reached version 1.0 last week. Designed for children 7-12 years old and based on OpenOffice source code, the children's office suite is available in different platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux) and in thirteen different languages. I did a brief review of OOo4Kids (version 0.8) last February and found its four modules (word processor, draw, presentation, and spreadsheet) quite useable for both kids and adults. The latest version feels a little quicker and the icons and such are a bit brighter. If you're looking for a free office suite for elementary students, this one should do the job. Cool iPhone (iPad) Star Finder
I can only offer this app as a suggestion, as my iPhone is a 3G, and lacks some of the sensors needed to use Star Guide. The app does appear to be getting good rating on iTunes, and I think the concept is terrific. Brian maintains a web page about this app and his iPhone Apps for Astronomy that are still under development. Unfortunately, astronomy apps such as Star Guide have pretty limited usefulness for daytime classroom instruction. I can imagine, however, students on an overnight camping trip, equipped with iPads and Star Guide, getting some good use out of the app.
Reminiscing a bit , one of the coolest activities we ever did with city kids on a camping trip was to take them out to the basketball courts on a moonless night and then turn out all of the lights at the camp. We had the kids lay on their backs and let their eyes adjust. Over the twenty or so minutes it takes for the pupil to fully dilate, exclamations of wonder and delight filled the air as the kids began to witness the milky way for the first time in their lives. Questions of "What's that star" were followed with the wonder of how difficult it becomes to identify constellations when the full background of stars becomes visible under totally dark viewing conditions. Central Falls Update Eric Tucker of the Associated Press takes another look at Central Falls High School, which was in the news earlier this year when all its teachers and administrators were fired under a federal and state turnaround strategy. Folks there got back together and most of the fired teachers returned to the school that serves a poor, transient population that includes many ESL students. In Fired, rehired teachers back at troubled RI school, Tucker writes that "a longer school day, more rigorous teacher evaluations and flexible schedules to provide more classes for struggling students," and more professional development for teachers are some of the changes made for the new school year.
Bruce Fuller, author of Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle Over Early Education and professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley, writes in Politics, not evidence, drive education reform that "trendy school reforms built on grand promises and loose evaluation can yield great political enthusiasm but slight benefit for students." He notes that while pushing untested and unproven reform strategies, the Obama Administration "has said little about rising levels of child poverty, beyond the helpful dose of security offered by health care reform. Family poverty remains the more potent driver of children's learning curves, based on a half century of research." Odds 'n' Ends In Teaching to the New Tests Is Sound Pedagogy, Walt Gardner suggests that if the new standardized tests slated to make their debut in the 2014-15 school year fulfill their promise to measure higher-order knowledge and skills, teaching to the test may be a good thing. He writes, "By requiring students to demonstrate their problem-solving ability and critical thinking, the tests will force teachers and schools to rethink their strategies. They will need to ask themselves if their instruction is likely to help their students develop the wherewithal to achieve these goals." Valerie Strauss's Things you should know about Labor Day is also a good read. Here's one to make you groan. When I was updating some of the advertising on this page, I ran across the Buy.com Halloween banner below. It certainly seemed to me to be a bit early, but then I remembered seeing lots of Halloween stuff on display already at our local discount store.
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). I've worn out a bunch of them over the years and still keep one in my office desk and in my travel bag. And of course, there's the free, open source 
will identify what you aim it at and even give a canned, audio mini-lesson about the object. It can also guide you to celestial objects in the night sky. My wife got me one several years ago, and I really like it. Celestron also offers two SD expansion card lessons, 
and 
.
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On the Blogs For many readers of Educators' News, today is the first day of school with students. Others may have begun classes sometime in August. But for Paul L. Martin who writes The Teacher's View blog, it's a different story. Paul begins his These Days posting:
Three bloggers that I follow wrote recently about getting the school year started. Jenny Orr wrote about her practice of getting to know her new first graders for a week before talking to their previous teachers in Tomorrow...is only a day away on Elementary, My Dear, or Far From It. John Spencer is Letting students redesign my classroom. He lists some good suggestions from his middle school students. And Sandra G. McCarron got her school year started last week with some Daily Chemistry on Reflections of a Science Teacher. She did the Mentos and Diet Cola demonstration one day, followed by the vinegar and baking soda reaction the next day to help her students review the difference between physical and chemical changes. Michael Doyle's path to being a science teacher is unique. He moved from being "very briefly a longshoreman, briefly a lab tech in a booze plant, more recently a pediatrician in the projects, [and is] now a high school teacher." Mike writes the excellent Science Teacher blog, which touches the heart and raises ones spirits. Yesterday he linked to Dina Strasser's The Line blog's You Don’t Have to Take My Word for It #4: What is a Professional, Anyway? Dina had cleaned up and organized an email discussion she and Mike had about professionalism in education. It's a great read. Odds 'n' Ends This week a year ago, the education community was drawn into a political furor over President Obama's Message to America's Students. Remember? It appears he's not going to try again this year.
Having now been out of the regular classroom for six years, I'm not sure how much I can contribute to teachers and students at the beginning of a new school year. A few articles is about the best I have:
I'm not sure whether I'm going to be subbing again this school year. I'm still signed up, attended the beginning of the year orientation, but haven't seen any action as yet. Subbing is a good way to keep abreast of what real teachers are doing and experiencing in the classroom. I'd guess that my dustup last March that resulted in the Vigo County Schools Superintendent getting our first Educators' News Turkey-of-the-Week award may have something to do with the inactivity. Diane Is Back It was good to see Diane Ravitch resume posting on she and Deborah Meier's Bridging Differences blog on Education Week. Welcome Back to School "Reform" is her brief review of happenings over the summer in education "reform." In her summary, Diane writes:
Google Sky Map Frequent contributor Tom Rademaker saw my post from Monday, Cool iPhone (iPad) Star Finder, and sent along info for a similar app for Android users. Google Sky Map is still in beta, but can chart the night sky in the direction your Android OS device is pointed. Users may also choose objects from a list of planets, stars, etc., and the application will guide them to the area of the night sky where the object should appear. Tom related that his son and grandkids (ages 8 and 6) use Google Sky Map "all the time." District Mayoral Primary a Referendum on Rhee? Next Tuesday's D.C. Democratic mayoral primary may well be a referendum on D. C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. Appointed by incumbent Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Rhee has attracted national attention with her aggressive, abrasive style while alienating many former Fenty supporters. Challenger Vincent C. Gray, D.C. Council Chairman, appears to have a good chance of unseating Fenty. Gray has been critical of Rhee, but has stopped short of saying he will replace her if elected. Coverage from The Washington Post:
School Starts When? Jennifer Medina has an interesting article about a quirk in this year's school calendar, It’s Back to School. Then Back to Vacation.
Howard Blume writes in L.A. Unified delays first day of school year that budget cuts and furlough days producing a shorter school year, along with the Jewish High Holy Days have pushed the traditional after Labor Day start of school to September 13 for many LAUSD students. He also notes that with various groups taking over some LAUSD schools, some have started as early as August 9! On Superstar Superintendents Larry Cuban writes in Rhee in D.C.: The myth of the heroic leader:
While Cuban begins his piece writing about D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the upcoming Democratic mayoral primary, he widens his scope to review a number of "here today, gone tomorrow" superstar superintendents and some less famous supers who "slogged through a decade or more of battles, some of which they lost, to accumulate small victories." A School Board President Speaks Out Charlotte Humme, president of the Board of School Directors of the William Penn School District in Pennsylvania, recently addressed the district's professional staff. Valerie Strauss picked up on the speech and has reproduced it on her The Answer Sheet blog in School board president: Ed reformers "just don’t get it". In part, Humme said:
Evaluating Principals Walt Gardner tackles an important subject on his Reality Check blog in What About Principal Accountability? He writes:
I taught for one really outstanding principal during my career, one really bad one, and a number of others who were...well, human. They were good in some areas and not so good in others. I'm glad Walt has begun to address this issue, but I still think more attention needs to be focused on a principal's responsibility to nurture new teachers. I watched many promising young teachers enter the system over the years I taught, only to see too many of them become jaded and cynical about education. Often, even with peer mentors, they didn't receive the support and guidance they needed to develop into good, career teachers. Some left education, but more often, they remained as mediocre educators who might have become good or truly great teachers with the proper nurturing early on. I contrast what I saw happen to those teachers to my good fortune. Our reading teacher at my first school, who later became our assistant principal, took me under her wing (at the principal's request) and took on the task of finishing or at least polishing my teaching skills. She guided me to appropriate materials for our mostly challenged readers, provided gentle but helpful criticism, and was my mentor as I struggled to become a good teacher. The principal, an ex-marine sergeant, was a combination father figure and friend to his staff, while still clearly being the boss. He'd chew my ass when I screwed up, and then take me out and buy me a beer! The Other Half of Bridging Differences I often link to Diane Ravitch's posts on the Bridging Differences blog on Education Week. But Diane is only half of the team, as the blog is actually a series of messages between Diane and co-writer Deborah Meier. In Why the RTT Consensus Has Led Us Nowhere, Deborah writes about going through a folder of "earlier correspondence with Diane—written when we saw each other as enemies!" Deborah notes that her experience of an "enemy" turned ally with Diane "leads me to be cautious: maybe some of my current 'enemies' will..." After that sage advice, Deborah asks the burning question:
Constitution Day Resources
In one of those "Huh" moments, I realized that the act that mandates "all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day" was passed after I retired. School Fees Challenged Sam Dillon writes Public Schools Face Lawsuit Over Fees that "a civil liberties group is suing California over those proliferating fees, arguing that the state has failed to protect the right to a free public education." Fees to use textbooks, for supplies, or to take required tests or courses have become pretty common, but Dillon notes that experts say the case "could tempt parents in other states to file similar suits." Odds 'n' Ends James Blasingame's An unusual introduction to Native American YA lit is an interesting, if a bit rambling, read on Valerie Strauss's The Answer Sheet blog. Walt Gardner's Laissez-Faire Education is an interesting read related to the free school movement. Have a great weekend!
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I guess that just leaves more time to publish Educators' News. 
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