...dedicated to...hmmm, we're still figuring that one out...
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PBS Series: A History of US
The PBS site has full descriptions of the series, along with teaching guides, games and activities, and each of the sixteen episodes in an online webisode version. The complete Joy Hakim book series, A History of US, is available on Amazon. And PBS, of course, offers the series on VHS, but oh, the prices they charge ($265 until 1/31/03--$295 afterward). Better check your local listings and have a blank tape in the VCR! Bonus Pay Fiasco A St. Petersburg Times editorial, School bonus battles, tells about the mess created by Florida Governor Jeb Bush's A+ Education Plan that provides school recognition bonuses as "an incentive for teachers at each school to work harder." The editorial states:
Another Black Mark for Teaching the Test A column I'd missed back in December in the New York Times, More Schools Rely on Tests, but Study Raises Doubts, relates some data that casts doubt on the whole idea of high stakes testing. Times writer Greg Winter tells of a study by researchers at Arizona State University that revealed that "while students show consistent improvement on these state exams, the opposite is typically true of their performance on other, independent measures of academic achievement." Bush Radio Address President Bush called for increased federal spending for poor children in his weekly radio address. In More Education Aid Is Theme of Bush Radio Talk, Los Angeles Times writer Edwin Chen reports that Bush stated, "No parent will have to settle year after year for schools that do not teach and will not change. Instead of getting excuses, parents will now get choices." Senator Edward Kennedy commented, "The president's proposal may provide the money to test our children, but not enough to teach them." Astronomy Picture of the Day T NASA's Human Spaceflight Gallery includes the Shuttle Gallery, the Apollo Gallery, and the International Space Station Gallery. Included in the Shuttle Gallery are audio files, videos and animations, along with still photos of most of the Space Shuttle Missions. Kipp Teague maintains The Project Apollo Archive, including the Apollo Image Gallery, which contains considerably higher quality images than are available in the NASA Apollo Gallery. For straight astronomy photos, check out some of the links below.
Maine Governor Promises Free Internet Access for Poor Students Maine Governor Angus King announced Thursday that seventh- and eighth-graders who qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches will become eligible for free home Internet hookups beginning next fall. In Laptop program gets a boost, AP's Glenn Adams writes that cash donations adding up to $850,000, $100,000 of that from Gov. King, will help to cover the costs of making the hookups. Macworld Expo The Macintosh computing world this week will be focused on Macworld Expo which runs in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, January 6-10. I'll keep an eye out (from here in central Indiana) for new product introductions that may be of use in the classroom. The Macworld keynote presentation by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, where most Apple announcements and introductions are made, is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00 A.M. PST. Devotion for January 5-11, 2003 Zach Wood's weekly devotional for this week is Are We Learning & Changing? Zach also maintains an archive of previous devotionals. If you have suggestions, news ideas, etc., please .
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Mark Marcantonio wrote to let me know that the PBS series 
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Cyber Charter Schools Grow in Popularity Claire Luna has an interesting story about cyber charter schools in the Los Angeles Times, Home Cyber Schools, and Critics, Growing. Luna notes that both regular public schools and some homeschooling advocates oppose the concept of the cyber charter school. Some public educators see it as a drain on public resources while some homeschoolers are frustrated by public funds going to the cyber charters while homeschooling is not funded. Civics Instruction In Decline? Robert B. Bluey reports on the Cybercast News Service site that social studies teachers fear that the No Child Left Behind Act will further contribute to the decline in the teaching of civics. In Federal Education Law Blamed For Decline In Civics Teaching, Bluey writes, "Chief among the concerns is that elementary school students are not being taught American history, said Stephen Johnson, president of the National Council for the Social Studies and a teacher at Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas." Ritalin Therapy Does Not Contribute to Future Drug Use Chicago Tribune science writer Ronald Kotulak reports Ritalin may help kids avoid drugs. Kotulak tells that a recent "reanalysis of six earlier studies" indicates "Untreated ADHD children are known to have about twice the risk of substance abuse as non-ADHD children. The reanalysis showed that children who were prescribed stimulants had half the rate of substance abuse as untreated ADHD children." The reanalysis was done "to answer the No. 1 question of parents with ADHD children: Do stimulants make a young child more addiction-prone later in life?" The current study, Does the Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder With Stimulants Contribute to Drug Use/Abuse? A 13-Year Prospective Study (paid subscription required), appears in the January issue of Pediatrics. Free Primary Education in Kenya? I generally limit column postings to items concerning education in the United States. But Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi's column, Hope, confusion and despair mix as government offers free primary education for the first time in Kenya, caught my eye last evening. My brother is a missionary in Kenya and when on furlow often sits and tells of the beauty of the land and people, but also relates the extreme needs of some of the people and the lawlessness throughout much of Kenya. Ngowi's column tells how free primary education for all became a campaign promise recently in Kenya. Enabling legislation had already been passed, but not enforced. With a new administration in power, the promise of the law was proclaimed to be true by the new administration. Unfortunately, requiring schools to accept all students without any additional support from the government has caused many problems, as told by Ngowi. This column is a very interesting look at the struggle for public education in another part of the world. Science@NASA Science@NASA returns from a holiday break with another great teaching page, Near-Earth Supernovas. Dr. Tony Phillips tells of the "Local Bubble," a 300 light year long area "filled with almost nothing," created by supernovas in the Pliocene era. NASA will soon launch a satellite called CHIPS ( Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer) to study the Local Bubble. JPL Release The Jet Propulsion Laboratory released an interesting story last week, Earth and Asteroid Play Orbital Cat and Mouse Game. It tells of asteroid 2002 AA29 "alternately leads and follows Earth around the Sun without ever passing it." The 200 foot asteroid that will make its closest approach to earth in 95 years poses no danger of impact on Earth, but its peculiar orbit makes for an interesting read. There's also a page of very cool animations of the earth and asteroid's orbits, another with close approach tables, and a java 3D orbit visualization page. Was It All That Long Ago?
Was it really all that long ago that I looked out my back window to see a deer grazing in my back yard? I think I'm getting a Dr. Zhivago complex already this winter. I need to see something green (beside that stuff growing in the fridge:-). No Child Left Behind Discord In Education Law Reaches Milestone Amid Discord, the Washington Post's Michael A. Fletcher writes "In a letter to be sent to Bush today, 42 Democratic senators who supported the law predict that it will fail "without a substantial increase in resources." While the Bushes will "host a White House celebration today of the first anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act," Fletcher notes that bipartisan support for the measure "seems to be evaporating" due to "the White House of reneging on large, continued funding increases they [Democrats] say are needed to make the law work." Macworld Expo MacCentral's Peter Cohen has one of the better initial reviews of Apple's new offerings in Macworld Expo keynote coverage recap. Surprising most folks, Apple introduced both a 17" wide PowerBook and a 12" G4 PowerBook. Apple also upgraded its Airport base stations and wireless cards to the faster 802.11g standard. Software introductions include a free Apple web browser, Safari, Keynote presentation software ($99), Final Cut Express ($299), and the iLife bundle, which includes the latest versions of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD ($49).
X for Teachers program extended From Apple's X for Teachers page: "The X for Teachers program has been a resounding success, with nearly 300,000 teachers participating to date. Apple is pleased to extend the X for Teachers program through March 31, 2003." No Child Left Behind Concerns Continue Jim Crittenden shared his views with me this week about No Child Left Behind from his rather unique perspective as a teacher at the Kayenta Middle School.
Jim also added the following about some really rewarding teaching:
Richard W. Stevenson writes in Amid Criticism, Bush Promises to Produce Education Gains in the New York Times, "President Bush today vowed to follow through on his plans for improving education but was immediately challenged by Democrats who said he had failed to provide schools with enough money to meet the goals of the bipartisan education bill he signed a year ago." The San Francisco Chronicle's Nanette Asimov relates in Education Act ties cash to exams, Low scores may cause schools to lose funding, "By 2014, it will be illegal to do poorly in school." Asimov continues, "That's essentially what the new federal Education Act says, requiring every student group -- blacks, whites, Latinos, English-learners and the disabled -- to do well in school or jeopardize federal Title I funding for poor students." New from SchwabLearning.org Mothering a Mind at a Time is "a conversation among three mothers who worked to form a balanced view of their children's learning challenges and strengths." This week's SchwabLearning.org online newsletter also carried links to the top 5 new articles appearing on the site in 2002.
X for Teachers in Europe, Middle East, & Africa Apple has extended its free X for Teachers program to include primary and secondary school teachers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The program specifically excludes "countries featured on the US exports list of banned countries." As yet, I've not been able to find a comparable program for teachers in Central and South America. I've received one email so far from a teacher in Mexico wondering if such a program existed. With the news about the Europe, Middle East, and Africa program, maybe our southern peers will be next. Come on, Apple! How about a free X for Teachers program -- worldwide!
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