Winning isn't everything

There is this 15 year old kid in Conn who has polled over 700 kids asking them the question of "Why do you play sports?" And his #1 answer - it's fun! 98% girls and 95% boys listed "fun" as their reason for participating in sports. I found this article to be very refreshing. Especially since every summer you hear about parents brawling over Little League games or parents who verbally attack the refs. It's nice to know that kids don't share those same attitudes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/sports/31youth.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

So I went to go check out my Google reader using my mom's laptop. The graphics on her laptop don't really work very well, espically links and stuff like that. So when it wasn't showing my list of subscriptions I wasn't too worried. I just started reading articles like "The 25 Best Coffee Mugs," "Glow Paint on the Walls," "The Most Nondiscript Video Ever".... And then I finally figure it out. My sister did not sign out of her yahoo account and I was in her reader. Feeling like a genius. Although she did have some pretty interesting articles in her feed.

Technology and Service Learning

I found this article that I thought was pretty cool. START, Microsoft, and CNCS have worked together to pilot a program that has students doing community service by using technology. These 6 pilot programs are spread over the states - Mississippi, New York, California... One of these schools refurbished old computers for their service learning projects. The article doesn't say what the others did. I love service learning.
I just want to differentiate between service learning (all students in a classroom do a service to the community that goes along with GLCEs) and community service (students do on their own after school hours). Last semester, I had my 1st graders perform a service learning project at Halloween time. They absolutly loved it! It was a very rewarding experience for me, my 1st graders, and the kindergarteners that we "serviced." My 1st graders felt empowered knowing that they were able to help others and make a difference. So I think that this program that I read about it a great idea! I hope they can make it work :)

And on a totaly different note, I received my letter from the MDE asking for my $160 so I can get my teaching certificate from the state of MI!!! Yay! I think it's the first time in my life that I've been happy to see a bill! :)

J.D. Salinger died

So I got up this morning and I listened to the news on TV as I was getting ready. J.D. Salinger, a famous author, died. :( Like so many others, I had to read "Catcher in the Rye" in high school. I loved it, despite the fact that Holden swore in pretty much every sentence. I still read it occasionally when I have "free time" and no library books around. "Catcher" was pretty much his only book that I liked. I also had to read his "9 Stories" for school and I did not like it at all.

On the today show website, you can vote for your favorite J.D. Salinger book. "Catcher" is currently winning at 62%.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26185613/ns/today-the_new_york_times/

web address

I forgot to post the web address: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/play-then-eat-shift-may-bring-gains-at-school/

Recess then lunch

Don't you love days where you are gone from your house for 13+ hours? It's fantastic.
My boyfriend has had my laptop and will continue to have my laptop because he is correctly installing the new Microsoft 7 onto it. I muddled the 64 byte, then he couldn't get it. So now he's just going to do the 32. I don't care. I just want Google to work again on my computer! I really just want my computer back. It's that feeling like when you leave your cell phone at home for the day....

I took a "How Well do You Know Current News" test on one of my RSS feeds. I scored a 1 out of 5. Pretty pathetic since I watch the news as I get ready in the morning. As if I care about the basketball play was just suspended....

I skipped over all the hype about the iPad and read this really interesting article on why students should go out to recess first, then eat lunch. When students go out to recess first there is less food waste, less trips to the school nurse, 10 extra minutes of instructional time (students can "cool down"/"unwind" during lunch rather then during class), they loose less items such as gloves, and they eat healthier foods. I just thought this was pretty cool. I'm not really sure why ever school that I attended or have volunteered/worked at has done lunch and then recess. Guess it's tradition? What does your school do?

no dictionaries in school??!?!

So far, I am really enjoying the RSS feeder. I have several subscriptions, and I have made the time to check it first thing in the morning while I listen to the news. The blogging and the wiki I am not enjoying as much as the RSS, I think because I feel a little "vulnerable" putting my thoughts out there. But I can most definitely see the usefulness of them in a classroom.

So I found this one article titled "Dictionary Definitions: Too Sexy for School?" One school in California has decided to pull their dictionaries after parent complaints that kids were looking up dirty words. (Namely the phrase"oral sex".) And they will be reading the rest of the dictionary to look "for things of a graphic nature." Who has the time for that?
I'm sorry, but I think that this is ridiculous. The kids are actually using the dictionary for the purpose for which it was intended (looking up words). And wouldn't you rather your kids find out this information from credulous source rather then a friend who mixes up the facts? As the article points out, it's not like the kids have the Internet or anything at home either where they can google these words...

"Pope to Church Leaders: Blog Already!"

I found this article to be mildly amusing because I in my head I pictured Pope Benidict sitting in his pajamas (like me) with his Mitre (tall hat) on his head blogging online - even though the article didn't say HE would be blogging, just that he was encouraging Church leaders to... I'm going to have to ask my Catechism kids their thoughts on this tonight. Maybe I can mesh it in with our John the Baptist lesson :)
Seriously, I wonder what priests would be able to blog about? There are some privacy issues with what they talk to others about. Then again, I wouldn't say that my days are incredibly interesting and I still manage to find stuff to blog about.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pope_to_church_leaders_blog_already.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

School Lunches

I’ve found a few interesting articles on school lunches within the last day. The first is an article in the Chicago Tribune. It’s about how some people are trying to improve school lunch get rid of their districts’ “Brunch for Lunch” since it is all carbohydrates, sugar, and fat. The part of the article that was most eye opening to me was that statistic that this district can only spend about $1 per school lunch! ONE DOLLAR!!! That’s less than a McDonalds’ or Taco Bell meal – and we all know how fatty those places are. It’s crazy.
I knew that Obama was into improving schools, and the article provided a little more information for me. “As Congress prepares to discuss the Child Nutrition Act, President Barack Obama has asked for an additional $1 billion in funding for school lunches, which would mean about 30 cents more per lunch.” (Chicago Tribune) One dollar and 30 cents per lunch doesn’t sound like much, but I guess it is an improvement.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-suburban-school-lunches-jan05,0,6750587.story?page=1

Which is why two women in California (I think?) have decided to open Revolution Foods. Revolution Foods provides lunches to school. These are not normal lunches, they are “meals [are] prepared fresh daily and feature foods free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors and sweeteners. Every lunch includes fresh fruit and vegetables.” (NY Times) I think this is great. Maybe a little over the top with the no artificial flavors or hormones, but way healthier for everyone. According to the NY Times, Revolution Foods makes about “30,000 lunches a day, in mostly low -income communities.” Fantastic since those kids tend to be heavier due to their parent’s inability to purchase expensive and healthy foods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/us/24sfpolitics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The last article that I read was about Canada having something called The Healthy Food for Schools Act. This Act banns junk food, pop, and candy from school and mandates that kids have at least 20 min of recess!!!! Way to go Canadians!!! I hope Michigan/Granholm take a cue from our neighbors to the North and implement something similar. With the obesity rates being at a record high we need to do something. (And if my memory serves me correctly isn’t Detroit one of the fattest cities in the US? I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere at some point…)
http://education.change.org/blog/view/junk_food_unwelcome_in_canadian_schools_eh

Facebook

So way back in my senior year of high school I made a Facebook page. Back then, Facebook was new. Only people who were associated with a college and who had a college email address were able to make a Facebook account. Only people who were your friends could access the information. Everyone else used MySpace or something similar. I purposely elected to avoid MySpace and similar sites because EVERYONE had access to your information. I made a Facebook page because there were some "pretty good" privacy settings on it. It's fair to say that I felt pretty safe on it.

But hello changes! I'm not too happy with all the changes in privacy setting that Zuckerberg has made. I don't want all my stuff out on google or any other search engine. I don't want random people looking at my profile. And I'm seriously considering deleting it- especially since I'll be looking for out-of-state jobs soon. Not that I have anything worth "hiding," I lead a fairly boring and typical life. It's just that I don't want everyone to have all my information. That's how identities get stolen - and according to TV commercials, identity stealing is an ever growing field.

Anyways, here's a link that I thought was helpful. It was on the ReadWriteWeb RSS feed.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_3_facebook_settings_every_user_should_check_now.php

PLCs

I found this article called "Teachers and Community Members Practice TLC with PLCs." This article is about PLC (Professional Learning Communities) work together to change schools and make differences. While one individual can work hard for change, a community need to collaborate in order to make a big difference. The example cited in the article at Jefferson Elementary were 53% of ELL students are "proficient" at English. (Up from 3 % in 2002.) Math scores at the same school have also greatly increased.
Last semester, I was part of a PLC at an elementary school. I loved listening to all the experienced/veteran teachers talk about what they do in class. It was great to hear differing points of view and different solutions to my problems. We also created several school goals and came up with a few ideas on how to reach them. For example, one of our goals had to do with MEAP scores for next year. Everyone looked at past scores for our school and offered suggestions about what could be done to improve even though some of the teachers (speciality, kindergarten...) had nothing to do with MEAPs.
I feel that since we all are teachers, and we have all linked blogs and wikis, we are part of a PLC. But does anyone else participate in PLCs at their school? What are your thoughts/feelings on them?

http://www.edutopia.org/professional-learning-communities-collaboration

Antiworksheets

I thought that this was an interesting website. There is not much on it yet, but I think I'll check it out in a week or two. The idea is to build a site that "containing “Free Thought-Provoking Project Ideas” that teachers can use to enhance their practice and create a rich learning environment in their classrooms"

They are also looking for ideas/help/feedback if anyone is interested or has ideas. Click on the second website at the bottom.

http://www.antiworksheets.com/

http://www.antiworksheets.com/contact/

Recycled school supplies - very cool

Every teacher that I know spends loads of money of their classroom every year. As many of my friends and I are just beginning our careers as teachers, and trying to find/purchase classroom materials, our hard -earned cash is being rapidly spent. I stumbled across this article in my RSS in the ASCD Smart Brief. It is called "Nonprofit helps shave classroom costs with recycled supplies." In Arizona, there is a new organization called Treasueres 4 Teachers. Teachers pay a $50 fee and are then allowed to pick up "new, donated, and recyclable supplies." According to the article, large companies donate items as well as other people.
What a great way to "reduce, reuse, recycle" and teach your students about recycling and community. Not to mention cost saving. This would also be a great organization for a beginning teacher to join to get materials and great ideas from other teachers.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/17/20100117edsaving0117.html

"Race to the Top"

Does anyone know anything about this/go to MEA meetings? I don't belong to MEA. Is it because it is not "finished"? Or does MEA have other issues with it?

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/13/324035miracetotopmich_ap.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss

I think I've subscribed to too many RSS feeds...

So I was working my way through all my RSS feeds (I subscribed to 6 plus a bunch of ppls' blogs) and I found some interesting articles on SMARTboards. The first one is called "SMARTboards are Work for Edmund teachers." First of all, the name of the articles bothers me. I mean all "new (to you)" teachnology is work. Teaching in general is a lot of work!!! I guess the title just made it sound like SMARTboards are a total pain for all teachers to use.
The article talks about how it takes one teacher 2 hours to create one activity on it. Another teacher rates her knowledge at a 2 / 3 on a scale of 1 (know nothing) to 10 (expert). Then the article goes on to say how the district hopes to place one of these into every single classroom. (Sounds like conflicting points of view from teachers and school board?)

I agree that it is time consuming to come up with activities on the SMART board, but they are amazing and totally worth it. If you try to google some activities, you can find some for free that can really fit into the curriculum. When I did my student teaching last semester we found that Everyday Math (our math textbook) had a website with free SMARTboard activities for every lesson! It was great. Even though we did not have a SMARTboard in our room, we still used it with the computer and the Elmo. The kids loved it!
If teachers don't feel comfortable with new teachnology they need to try to make the time (even though there are never enough hours in the day!) and take a few classes or ask some colleges for help. Especially if there is one teacher who is great with technology. Or another grade level teacher with whom you can work together to make SMARTboard lessons or swap activities with.

The SMARTboards are great. They get, and keep, kids interests in lessons. Many kids are hands-on and need that extra manipulation of items rather then watching someone else do it.
http://newsok.com/smartboards-are-work-for-edmond-teachers/article/3431851

I also stumbeled across this other interesting article called "New projector makes any wall an interactive white board" about two different projectors that can turn surfaces into an interactive white board - like a SMARTboard. The projector is self-contained, doesn't need extra software and only cost $20000. Pretty cool.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/01/13/new-projector-makes-any-wall-an-interactive-whiteboard/

Thanks for the suggestions :)

So I think that I might finally getting the hang of this blogging / google reader thing :) yay! Next thing to tackle is the wiki!
I’m going to try to get Firefox onto my computer when I get home (borrowed dad’s work laptop and am currently at Panera ). When I googled my issue yesterday, I found that as a suggestion so I'm hopping it'll work. Thanks for the suggetion !
New in my world – my boyfriend is switching from Verizon to AT&T for his phone service. This means that he is getting the iPhone! (I mean why else would one switch to AT&T if not for the new gadgets???) This means that I get his fancy new 16 g, touch-screen, connect to wi-fi, has a million aps ipod! That’s right – I’m 23 and I’m finally getting an (used) ipod!!!! As if I’m going to use any where near 1g on it… It'll be one more piece of "technology" for me to learn to use.

On my google reader, one of the articles that I was looking at is called "2010 Trends: Sensors & Mobile Phones" It's by Richard McManus and it's part of my ReadWriteWeb RSS. Apparently the iPhone has a bunch of built in sensors. There's one for noise, ambient lighting, temperature, and proximity. According to McManus, the iPhone has a built in accelerometer which is a motion decetor. This is used for playing games and "re-sizing your iPhone display from portrait to landscape." Your phone collects all this "real-time data" from you and stores it. I guess the ida is to let others know about traffic jams etc... using your accelerometer. Could be helpful, but I feel like this might end up being a "big brother" kind of a thing.

Beginning of the school year

Can't believe that it's already the beginning of the semester. I feel like I'm a little crazy for graduating in December and already starting a masters program. I'm also feeling very technologically illiterate! - since I have never used most of what we'll be learning about in class.
For some reason google does not work on my laptop so I have to borrow someone elses' to get onto my blog and reader. That's annoying. Does anyone know how to fix that/what the issue might be?
I'm looking forward to meeting everyone next weekend :)