Students: First Semester Ends Soon

Tweet The end of first semester will arrive in a few weeks. The semester grades are the important ones, the ones that count for credits.

If your semester ends before the holiday break, you only have three weeks before your grades will be calculated. Those three weeks include time spent in class reviewing and taking semester exams. If your semester ends after break, you probably have an extra week or so.

Now is the time to ask your teachers if you have any missing work. If you do, you need to get it finished and turn it in this week. Give your teacher a few days to check that work, then ask your teachers for your grades. If any are less than they should be, ask your teacher what you need to do.

By starting now, you will be giving yourself and your teacher plenty of time to get everything finished.

Now is also a good time to start studying for those semester exams. The earlier you start, the better!

CAPspace and Polycom

Tweet A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting at the local AEA (Area Education Agency). The presenter demonstrated new technology they had recently acquired.

There are two components of this technology: CAPspace and Polycom.

CAPspace: CAP stands for Collaborations Around the Planet. CAPspace is a social networking site for education videoconferencing. Members log in just as they would to any social network. They can create and advertise their projects to other educators around the world. They can also attend collaborative events, do projects, teach classes, and more. http://projects.twice.cc/

Polycom is the hardware used for videoconferencing. It is similar to a webcam, but more advanced. Groups of people in separate locations can be connected. Each location can tune into any other location to ask and answer questions, to collaborate on lessons, to listen and learn. The entire system runs through computers and is operated with a remote control. http://www.polycom.com

The advantages of such a system are limitless.

1. Field Trips: Students can take field trips to anywhere in the world. They can attend classes in other countries or visit museums, historical sites, Congress, NASA, or maybe even zoos. These are places they might not otherwise be able to see because of the physical or financial limitations.

2. Shared Classes: Classes in different locations can work together using the technology. They might work on lessons or projects. Schools with limited budgets might be able to get by with fewer teachers by sharing classes. One teacher could present the lesson to several classes in physically different locations.

3. Professional Development: Professional development can be very expensive. The fees for keynote speakers, conference registrations, and travel expenses add up quickly. Videoconferencing using CAPspace and Polycom can take care of all these with minimum costs.

The biggest expense for this system is the hardware purchase. After that, everything goes through a computer.

CAPspace and Polycom seems to be a win-win combination. Students and teachers experience more with increased learning and school districts can reduce budgets.

8 Dangers of Technology

Tweet The first thing I did yesterday was make two salads and two desserts. One salad and one dessert was for my husband's family dinner at noon. The other salad and dessert was for an evening Thanksgiving meal with my family.

By the end of the day, everyone was tired. It had been a long day and we had all eaten two Thanksgiving meals. We were standing around the table talking. Well, at least I thought we were. People seemed to be talking to each other, but two of them were reading Black Friday ads from the newspaper, two of the kids were texting, two of the adults were on their cell phones, and one was surfing the web on his laptop computer. I just looked around and thought, "We're not really together here." Each person seemed isolated, doing his or her own thing.

It made me wonder if all the technology, as amazing as it is, is really a good thing. I started thinking about some of the dangers I've seen, read, or heard about. Here are eight of them to consider:

1. There may be a link between cell phone use and tumors.

2. Using cell phones and texting while driving may very likely cause an accident.

3. Technology may isolate people, even when they're together. There is some argument about this, however. One study says that technology actually causes people to socialize more, just differently than before.

4. Cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking take place frequently. Along with this is the possibility of encountering Internet predators. Children may also accidentally (or purposely) see inappropriate material on the Internet. Parents must be vigilant.

5. Internet addiction can occur. Studies have show that, while not an official disorder, there are cases where excessive computer use interferes with a person's daily activity. Other studies have shown a link between Internet addiction and ADHD and depression in teens.

6. Carpal tunnel syndrome can be caused by the repetitive motion of typing or mouse-clicking.

7. The black dust (toner) used in laser printers has been classified by the FDA as a class-A carcinogen.

8. Technology, especially video games, makes people less active. Lack of exercise can lead to obesity which leads to a variety of diseases.

Parents, students, and teachers need to be aware of these dangers as well as others that may exist. Limiting the use of technology may be necessary for the health and welfare of all.

Sources:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20090505/teens-all-thumbs-when-texting-and-driving
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5A50KD20091106
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/05/depression.adhd.internet.addiction/index.html
http://everything2.com/title/Computer+Myths+and+Dangers
http://www.playsavvy.com/articles/features/eight-valid-concerns-about-video-games/

Happy Thanksgiving to All

Tweet Over the past few days, I've tweeted several quotes with a Thanksgiving theme. Here they are.

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~ W. J. Cameron

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~ W.T. Purkiser

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. ~ Cicero

Some complain that roses have thorns—others rejoice that thorns have roses! ~Unknown

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~ Aesop Fables

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~ Irv Kupcine

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people. ~ Samuel Johnson

Thanksgiving, when the Indians said, “Well, this has been fun, but we know you have a long voyage back to England. ~ Jay Leno

Thank You

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Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, this seems like a perfect time to give thanks to all the school workers who never get much praise.

When people think of school, they generally think of the teachers and the principal. But that is actually just a small portion of all the people involved in keeping the school running.

The following is a list of those that deserve thanks. If I've left anyone out, I sincerely apologize and please know that your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Secretaries
Clerks
Registrars
Teacher's Aides
Audio-Visual
Bookkeepers
Janitors
Cafeteria Workers
School Bus Drivers
Maintenance
Mechanics
Counselors
Psychologists
Audiologists
Speech Pathologists
Social Workers
School Resource Officers
Nurses
Hall Monitors
Study Hall Monitors
Tech Coaches
Consultants
Librarians
Coaches
Sponsors
Substitutes
Teachers
Accountants
Administrators
School Board
Students
Parents

School Resource Officers

Tweet Some time ago I was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch. It wasn't very crowded and so it was easy to hear the conversations at the other tables. I don't usually pay any attention, but one woman at one of the other tables was complaining about the public high school in town. She said something about the school being so bad that there had to be a police officer there all the time. She said she would never let her children go to such a school.

I could have said something, but didn't want to ruin my lunch or hers with an argument. So I continued eating, getting more angry as time passed.

The police officer she was talking about is called an "SRO" or "school resource officer." He wasn't there because the school had a lot of problems. He was there to help prevent problems.

The main duty of an SRO is to insure the safety of the students, staff, faculty, and the school. Each officer in the program is a regular police officer who has taken extra training to deal with students and schools. It is currently one of the fastest growing areas of law enforcement.

Besides safety, SROs also educate, counsel, give classroom presentations, patrol halls, prevent delinquency, and perform other duties as needed by their particular school.

The biggest problem SROs have is job security. They are police officers, but whether they will be in a school depends on funding. Of course, when schools cut their budgets, the School Resource Officer position is usually one of the first to go. Some, however, are paid through grants and collections which provide an extra source of funding.

So today, as we approach Thanksgiving, I just want to say "thanks" to all the school resource officers. They have a tough job, but provide a valuable service. I always felt better knowing our school had one on duty.

"I Have A Plan Iowa"

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Most students will have some time off school this week. It's a great time to spend with friends and family and maybe even get in a few extra hours of work.

It might also be a good time to do a little advance planning. There is a website http://www.ihaveaplaniowa.gov/ where you can plan for high school, college, careers, and more.

You need to log in for some of the information, but much of it is accessible without setting up an account. There are separate sections for Middle School, High School, Parents, College, Adult Learners, Job Seekers, Educators, and College Professionals. Much of the information is for Iowa students, but others could benefit as well.

Students can set up four-year plans for high school. They can research careers and discover which classes should be taken to achieve that career. There are planning charts, pdfs, and videos that give information on a variety of topics including grants, scholarships, and financial aid.

For a good video overview, see http://www.ihaveaplaniowa.gov/Home/Videos/Overview.aspx

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Tweet On several occasions, while watching Oprah, she has mentioned that she keeps a gratitude journal. At the end of each day, she writes about those things for which she gives thanks.

I often express gratitude, but have rarely written it. However, I think I will start and I think that with Thanksgiving Day coming up, this is the perfect time to start.

Why? Scientists have researched gratitude and find that it plays an important role in many aspects of a person's life from good health to a sense of well-being to kindness and a feeling of being loved.

The scientists conducting the research studied several hundred people. They divided them into three groups and asked them to keep diaries. One group simply recorded the events of the day. A second group recorded those things for which they were grateful. The third group listed their unpleasant experiences.

Results showed that people in the the second group had less stress, exercised more, were more alert, more enthusiastic, had more energy, worked toward personal goals to a greater extent, and were less depressed.

Most religions promote gratitude and extol its virtues, but Dr. Michael McCollough, of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Robert Emmons, of the University of California at Davis, found that the beneficial results of giving thanks work independently of faith. It turns out any one, religious or faithful or spiritual or not, can enjoy the positive effects of gratitude.

Most people have so much for which to be thankful...family, home, friends, and more. So give thanks everyday.

If you can't find anything to be thankful for, then perhaps this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJkN0Y2k70M can help:



Source: http://www.acfnewsource.org/religion/gratitude_theory.html

Update on H1N1

Tweet During the last week, there has been a decrease in influenza activity across the United States. There are some other recent developments as well.

Norwegian health authorities have discovered a mutation in the H1N1 virus that leads to more serious symptoms. It causes the virus to go deeper into the respiratory system. It's not widespread, but similar mutations have been found in other countries. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssPharmaceuticals%20-%20Diversified/idUSLK71202920091120?sp=true

H1N1, a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses, has recently been found in three cats, one in Iowa, one in Utah, and one in Oregon who died of the virus. Five ferrets have also contracted the disease. Recommendations for limiting the virus in animals is similar to that in humans...wash hands (especially before feeding), use sanitizer, sneeze and cough into your arm or a tissue, avoid touching your face and the animal's face, and limit contact with the pet while you are sick. http://www.examiner.com/x-26424-Indianapolis-Healthy-Living-Examiner~y2009m11d20-Oregon-cat-is-the-first-feline-death-from-H1N1-in-the-US

British officials are investigating a strain of the H1N1 virus that is resistant to the antiviral Tamiflu. So far there has been no confirmed person-to-person transmission of this strain. http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSLK44053620091120

There is some good news. The H1N1 vaccine appears to have the same safety record as that of the seasonal flu vaccine. Even better, 80 million doses have been distributed, and 65 million have been given worldwide. http://www.swineflufight.net/?p=161

Of course, there is a problem with the availability of the vaccine. In my area, H1N1 vaccines have only been available by appointment through the county health department, and then only for certain populations. In fact, I've been on a waiting list for several weeks for the regular seasonal flu shot and still have not been called to make an appointment to get the vaccine.

Decisions. Decisions.

Tweet I was watching Oprah today as she made her announcement that she would be doing only one more season of her show. She was in tears, but said she knew it was time. It felt right.

For anyone making a major decision in their lives, I think this is how you know if you're doing the right thing. It will feel like you're doing the right thing. When I made the decision to retire a couple of years ago, there was no doubt in my mind that it was the right decision. I knew I would miss the kids. I knew I would miss the people I worked with. I knew that I would miss the math. But I also knew that it was time to let it go.

I'm not sure I could tell anyone how I knew, but I knew it was right. I've done this with most major decisions in my life and my feelings and intuition have never steered me wrong.

I believe that with any major decision, from choosing a college or career to choosing where to live to choosing (or not choosing) a partner, you can almost feel if the decision is a good one. Yes, you should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your decision, but in the end, you'll choose it because it feels right for you.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. It's either the wrong decision or the wrong time to make that decision.

Great American Smokeout 2009

Tweet Today is the Great American Smokeout 2009. The event is held every year on the third Thursday in November and is sponsored by the American Cancer Society. It purpose is to help people quit smoking and using tobacco products, even if for just one day.

The event started in 1971 when Arthur Mullaney asked people to give up smoking for a day. He asked that they use the money they would have spent on cigarettes to give a donation to a local high school. The idea spread and the American Cancer Society made it a nationwide event in 1977.

Knowledge is an important part of giving up tobacco products. Just knowing that manufacturers add toxic ingredients to cigarettes to make them tastier can cause some people to quit. That list of ingredients includes ammonia, arsenic, benzene, butane, carbon monoxide, cadmium, cyanide, DDT, Ethyl Furoate, lead, formaldehyde, methoprene, maltitol, napthalene, and about 500 more. These products are rat poisons, poisonous gasses, insecticides, preservatives, and others that should not be inhaled or ingested. (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-shocking-ingredients-in-cigarettes.html)

Also helpful for those wanting to quit is having some means of support. Nicotine replacement products, counseling, friends, and family can all do the trick.

For more information, a quick search on the Internet will provide many web sites with lots of valuable information. Just search for "Great American Smokeout 2009."

Intellectual Property ~ Who Owns It?

Tweet The Sunday, November 15, 2009 issue of The New York Times featured an article by Winnie Hu titled "Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions." You can find the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/education/15plans.html.

The article reminded me of a situation that occurred several years ago. There was a school employee who was working on a higher degree. There was another employee who had created a fair number of presentations and documents for the school. This particular employee was also resigning at the end of the school year to take a job in another district. The employee working on the degree had used some of the other employee's materials in his graduate assignments. The employee who had created them complained, but was told that anything created for the school district was the property of the school district. They determined that the materials she created did not belong to her. When she left the district, she had to leave all papers and disks of all created materials.

This had never come up before. We were all astounded to think that documents, lesson plans, projects, worksheets, tests, quizzes, and everything else we had worked so hard on, actually belonged to the school district.

When I retired, I left everything behind. It was actually pretty easy because my home already had enough school clutter. But every once in a while, I'll still find a test or worksheet tucked away in a folder on my computer. A few weeks ago, I found an Algebra project I had created hidden in a folder in the back of a file cabinet. I had written it years ago.

Now, after reading this article in the New York Times, I find that teachers are buying and selling their lesson plans and worksheets.

I can understand why a teacher might buy a good lesson plan. It takes so much time to create a good one, and if one is already made, and it's available for a reasonable price, why go to all the work of creating a new one?

I can also understand why a teacher might sell a good lesson plan. Teacher salaries are notoriously low. And yet teachers spend a great deal of their own money purchasing items for their classrooms. If selling lesson plans supplements the money a teacher spends on equipment or books, then it seems s/he is simply being rewarded for his or her work.

Of course, the critical issue here is the fact that the school districts these teachers work for might actually own the intellectual properties these teachers are selling.

And of course, there are the ethical questions. Some how all this just doesn't seem right. If I've written a fantastic lesson plan, it seems like it should be mine to do with as I want. It seems I should be able to sell it, give it away, or even take it with me to a different school district.

But there's also something that doesn't seem right about teachers selling lesson plans. I don't know what it is. As a teacher, I swapped ideas with other teachers all the time. But the idea of selling my idea to those teachers, well, it seems to lower the standards most teachers set for themselves.

I guess I really have mixed feelings about this. What do you think?

The Scarecrow and The Theorem

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On Saturday, I was watching the Wizard of Oz. Towards the end of the movie, when the Scarecrow gets his brain, he exclaims, "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh joy, rapture! I’ve got a brain!"

Well, the Scarecrow may have his brain, but he needs to go to math class and learn the Pythagorean Theorem.

I used to use this example when teaching. My original intention was to show the video clip and use the quote to help students learn the theorem.

Then I watched the clip. I had only vaguely remembered it and was so glad I reviewed it before showing it to the students. My lesson plans were immediately changed. I still showed the video, but instead of using it as an example, I asked the students to list all the things that were wrong with it. The students always came up with a pretty good list.

My advice to all teachers is to always review beforehand any media that you plan to use with students. I think this is usually done, but when time is short, you may want to skip this step. Don't!

My advice to students is to not believe everything in the movies, even when it sounds and seems like reasonable truth.

The actual Pythagorean Theorem states, "The sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse.

Strange Things Happen

Tweet This evening I'm going to relate a story that has nothing to do with students, parents, teachers, or even education. It's an account of something that happened during the last two days. I don't know if you would call it serendipity, synchronicity, or irony, but these kinds of things happen to me all the time. I find them quite strange, interesting, and wonderful.

On Saturday, The Wizard of Oz was on television. It had been ages since I had seen it, so I watched a good portion of it. I was even on the treadmill singing along with the Lollipop Guild. The show has always been been one of my favorites. The special effects amaze me, considering the film was made in 1939. Anyway, I watched Dorothy take her trip through Oz and finally get back to Kansas.

Yesterday, I was on Facebook. I did a little farming in Farm Town and baked some cakes in YoVille. I then read through some of the posts. I'm a big fan of Anne Rice and she had written several comments during the day. In one of them she said that she had "watched Curse of the Demon with Dana Andrews, just one of the scariest old black and white movies I've ever seen." I kept thinking that if Anne Rice thought it was scary, it must really, really be scary.

I then started thinking about which old black and white movies scared me. When I was younger, I loved scary movies. I would sit in the dark on Friday night and watch a local program called Creature Feature. Each week there was a movie about Dracula or the Wolfman or Frankenstein or some other poor frightened and frightening monster. So which one did I think was the scariest?

I remembered a movie I had seen years and year ago. It was about a man who had no arms or legs. He lived in a mansion with his sister. Strange murders started taking place and of course he was never a suspect, because it would have been impossible for him to go commit the evil deeds.

I could not remember the name of the movie, but thought that James Mason or Claude Rains had played the main character. I searched under their names, but found no movie credits that matched my memory of this film. So I searched Google and part way down the page was a description that seemed familiar.

I read several of the summaries and it was the film I remembered. The movie was called Night Monster. The lead character was not played by James Mason or by Claude Rains, but by a man named Ralph Morgan. Yes, this was the film that scared me; it was made in 1942.

So I brought up images of Ralph Morgan. He was an older, nice looking gentleman. He didn't look like James Mason or Claude Rains, but he did look very familiar. I wondered why.

As I read through a mini biography of his life, I suddenly realized why he looked so familiar. It turns out Ralph Morgan was the older brother of Frank Morgan.

And who is Frank Morgan? Why, he played the wizard in The Wizard of Oz.

(You knew this story was leading somewhere, didn't you?)