Monday, January 20, 2003

Martin Luther King Day Related Columns

Three columns speak to the issues of the Martin Luther King Day holiday today. Chicago Sun-Times staff reporter Rosalind Rossi writes in Is school race plan pointless in city, "A federal judge is threatening to throw out a 1980 decree aimed at desegregating the city's public schools, just as a new study indicates Chicago has one of the most segregated big-city school systems in the nation." In Reversal in school diversity is cited, the Boston Globe's Megan Tench writes "researchers say American public schools are becoming as racially homogenous as they were more than three decades ago." Seattle Times staff reporter J.J. Jensen tells of retired teacher Brenda Jackson's return to the classroom in Message isn't just for holiday.

While the Kids Domain site has become rather static and commercialized under the new ownership of the Kaboose Network, it still contains many valuable links for teachers. Of interest at this time are the Martin Luther King and the Black History Month pages.

Science Beat

Scienceman.com has added a number of interesting links since Scienceman Joe Martha returned from a holiday break in publication. Recent updates include links on science fairs, some cool interactive physics simulations, and some links to other science pages you just won't find anywhere else.

Astronomy Fix

Regular readers of this page know I often link to various NASA and astronomy related sites. Lots of the material on those sites can be used to enhance classroom instruction. In my search for relevant material for site updates such as Desktop Photos and columns like Out of this World Desktop Pictures, I ran across Connecticut physician Robert Gendler's site. Robert Gendler's Astroimaging Gallery is an online playground for those of us who love colorful photos of galaxies, nebulae, and planets. As an advanced hobbyist, Gendler does almost all of his imaging in his driveway! The results are incredible.

Gendler writes:

Although limited in scientific value I believe that aesthetic imaging has great educational and artistic value. The fascinating natural forms and colors of galaxies, nebulas, and other deepsky objects are deeply aesthetic and have inspired many to learn more about our wonderful universe. As an art form, recording the natural wonders of the night sky is deeply rewarding and inspiring.

Writing of his imaging style, he says that he tries "to achieve is a balance of smoothness and richness in color, coupled with the best resolution and contrast I can acquire using my equipment."

Interesting and...Unusual Columns

Carol Pogash writes in the Los Angeles Times about Oakland city schools holding board sponsored teach-ins last week. In Political Education or Indoctrination, Pogash notes that most speakers were anti-war and that critics opposed the one sided approach. 'Organizers say they couldn't find anyone to speak in favor of the war."

Laura Pappano's most recent "The Chalkboard" column, Sexual incidents drawing concern among school officials, relates parent and school official concerns about the openness and prevalence of oral sex among students.

The New York Times' Abby Goodnough writes of parent concerns of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan for a "uniform curriculum and schedule" for lower performing schools in Fearing a Class System in the Classroom.

School Nights at the Apple Store

Apple Computer has begun a new promotion "to showcase the great work your students and teachers are creating using Apple technology." School Night at the Apple Store is a program for K-12 schools to share what they've created using Apple technology at a local Apple Store. Parents and teachers can save $50 on their purchase of any Apple computer. For every computer purchased, Apple credits the school $50 toward it's next purchase of Apple products. School Night date at the Apple Store may be scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday nights beginning in February, 2003.

Devotion for January 19-25, 2003

Zach Wood's weekly devotional for this week is Clear As Crystal. Zach also maintains an archive of previous devotionals.

If you have suggestions, news ideas, etc., please .

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Illinois Schools Look at Four-day Week

The Chicago Sun-Times Jan Dennis tells of one solution some Illinois schools are considering in School district looks at 4-day week to cut costs. While the Quincy, Illinois, district is the only one in Illinois so far to petition the state for permission for such a plan, other Illinois schools are considering the option of a short school week.

Bonuses in Buffalo?

Buffalo News staff reporter Peter Simon writes that the Buffalo (NY) school system is offering "new teachers bonuses of up to $10,200 over three years to pursue further education." In an effort to reduce the number of uncertified teachers in city classrooms, "new teachers in hard-to-fill subject areas - such as science or math - will be eligible for up to $3,400 a year in educational reimbursement for up to three years, and other new teachers can receive about $2,400 a year over the same period." Before you sell the house and pack up the kids, you might want to peek at a couple of EdNews postings from 2001 when Buffalo was "exploring midyear school closings, layoffs...to make ends meet" and planned to lay off "500 Buffalo teachers...at the end of the calendar year."

Can You Help?

While there's lots more I could post for today, I've pretty well used up my "computer time" beginning testing a couple of applications from Riverdeep. If you have any experience with the Destination Reading or Math series, please drop me an email and let me know your experiences.

Friday, January 24, 2003

AFT Takes Over the Washington Teachers' Union

The Washington Post's Justin Blum and Craig Timberg report the scandal-ridden Washington, D.C., teachers' union has been taken over by the parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. In D.C. Union Taken Over By Parent Federation, they report that on Wednesday the AFT dismissed "the local leadership and appointing its own administrator as a result of the alleged theft of more than $5 million in local union money."

Muppets Reading Software

While there are lots of supplemental reading programs available, I continue to be impressed with the old Muppets Reading CDs. I got my first copies of the two-disk set at Wal-Mart for $5 a pop. We'd made good use of the software, to the point that I had to replace the original disks due to wear (and now archive the originals and use only copies), but have now found yet another good use for it. I'd installed the programs on our computer that has an ELO touchscreen monitor. Some of our youngest students, who lack the fine motor control to be totally proficient with a mouse or trackpad, really love using the software on the touchscreen monitor. The Muppets Reading software is appropriate for preschool through about first grade students. It's getting hard to find, but may still be available.

Early Reading

I'm also in the process, as noted Wednesday, at looking at some pretty comprehensive reading software -- Riverdeep's Destination Reading Early Learning software. One of the reasons I asked for comments last Wednesday was that there are a number of major and minor hoops to jump through to get the software working well on either a Mac or PC. But once installed, the task analysis used seems pretty solid, based on just the short look-see I've given the new program. Any program that can get me belting out "B-I-N-G-O" with my first graders must have something going for it. I even noticed some of the older kids in the room getting into it. (Remember, I teach in a "one room schoolhouse-like" special education resource room.

Speed Bump

Several weeks ago I succumbed to the need for speed and upgraded my G3/266 MHz minitower with an Apple 450 MHz G3 processor. Unfortunately, the chip lasted only a week or so before failing. The vendor was out of stock of the chip, and after some serious wrangling, I returned the chip for a full refund.

My wife had told me just before Christmas she wanted to get me a "computer toy," but had no idea of what to get. I suggested a 533 MHz G3 upgrade from Other World Computing. (Item Number: OWCZ533MA -- OWC MercuryZA G3/533MHz ZIF with 1MB@217MHz 2.5:1 Backside Cache -- No longer available). She responded, "Why don't you order it!"

While the previous 450 MHz processor had required boosting the system bus to 75 MHz to function at its full rated speed, the new 533 MHz processor only required a 67 MHz bus speed. While the slower system bus certainly must impact system ratings, the overall results with the new chip were good. (The items marked "mysettings" are where I didn't resent the disk cache to 128K, colors to 256, and virtual memory off as suggested by System Info.)

As with the previous upgrade, the new chip allows me to run Dreamweaver MX with a minimum of grumbling about its speed. Everything else, especially some of my Classic applications seem to run a good deal quicker as well. Best of all, both GraphicConverter and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 run without triggering the "spinning beach ball of death" too awfully often.

The economics of upgrading older Macs is often a difficult question for users such as myself. I have a good deal invested in my G3, but it is almost 5 years old. By computer standards, that puts it somewhere between the Denovian and Jurrasic periods.

In my case, I've already done most of the things that can be done to accelerate an older computer without a processor change or overclocking the old processor. I run 7200 RPM ATA 100 and 133 hard drives with a Tempo 66 ATA card. (Yes, a faster ATA card would speed things up a bit.) I also am close to the G3's maximum of 768 MB of RAM. I run 640 MB of PC 100 RAM (instead of the stock PC 66 RAM).

I also have a second G3 minitower that at times has functioned as a parts donor. My one attempt at overclocking the stock 266 MHz processor ended badly when I did something else that pushed the G3 too far and toasted its original motherboard. The second G3 was acquired as it was about the same cost as a motherboard alone on eBay at the time. When motherboards later dropped to a reasonable level, I picked one up and the second G3 minitower now functions as my teaching assistant's computer. I also have a number of other G3 spare parts, such as a good power supply, just in case.

With current new G4 Power Macs hovering just over the 1 GHz mark and the G5 chip due sometime next summer or fall, it just didn't seem a good time to me to jump for a new Mac. I currently work at school on an 800 MHz G4 Quicksilver tower. It's a good machine, but 800 MHz isn't all that big a jump from the upgraded G3's 533 MHz. The G4 is outstanding at ripping MP3's and doing graphics work, but for much of my computing, which is the creation of classroom materials, I don't need the abilities of the G4 enough to pop for one at home.

Saturday, January 25, 2003

School iBook Columns

MacDailyNews.com reports that "the Eastern Townships School Board announced today an innovative Enhanced Learning Strategy that will provide every student in its schools with an Apple portable computer" in Quebec's Eastern Townships schools to buy 5,000 Apple notebooks. Objectives of the program are "to facilitate higher student academic achievement; to empower educators in the development and implementation of curriculum; and to provide a flexible and accessible technology-based educational solution that engages students and fires their imaginations to strive for excellence."

MacCentral's Dennis Sellers reports Henrico parents happy with iBook program. Sellers writes of a recent survey of Henrico County parents that "86 percent of the high school parents who responded expressing satisfaction with their child's access to technology." Technology questions were part of a larger survey of parent satisfaction with the Henrico County educational system. The results are pretty impressive:

In Henrico, 96 percent of elementary school parent respondents, 93 percent of middle school parent respondents, and 88 percent of high school parent respondents reported being satisfied with the quality of education at the public school their child attends. Parents of Henrico County schoolchildren have been surveyed every two years since 1996.

Maybe we should just forget No Child Left Behind and go with a survey system!

Have a great weekend!

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