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...