The Risk of Learning (A Link)

Will Richardson talks about how important it is for teachers to be learners, at his blog. He questions whether or not we teach them how to learn. (I came across his blog by way of a post on Christian Long's blog.) I thought that an article that Bud Hunt, from Bud The Teacher, had pubished in the newspaper the Coloradoan today fit really nicely with the importance of learning. Learning makes many people fearful, as Bud points out. If we are going to get teachers to become master learners we have to find a way to help them feel comfortable with the risk of learning.

$10,000 Tip on $26 Tab (A Think)

MSNBC is running an article entitled Bartender Gets $10,000 Tip on $26 Tab . According to the article, "'I couldn't move,'" (the waitress) said. 'I didn't know what to say. He said, `This will buy you something kind of nice, huh?' And I said, `Yeah, it will.'"

There are a lot of news articles today, but this particular story caught my eye. I'm really not even sure why. I remember once in Dallas, I was driving through a toll booth and the people in the car in front of me, who I didn't know, paid my toll. It's such an incredible feeling when something small but so nice is done for you.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students to define the word "kindness." Encourage them to be specific. For example, if they say that it means to do something nice for other people, ask what it means to do something nice. You might have students begin working in small groups to define this term and then come together as a class to do so.
2. Ask students to share an instance in which they saw somebody else do something kind. (At times, I've asked students to say something nice about one other student in the class. I've strongly encouraged students to make sure that something nice was said about everybody in the class.)
3. Ask students to develop a skit in which they express ideas that occurred inside the man's head when he decided to give a $10,000 tip. (If students are anything like me, they might be a bit cynical as to why a guy would leave a woman bartender $10,000. However, if students raise the idea that he wanted to get to know the bartender intimately, ask them if they think it is fair to jump to this conclusion and think that it's the only reason he would have left such a large tip. According to the article, the guy did not stick around for long after he left the tip.)
4. Invite students to develop a skit in which they express ideas that occurred inside the bartender's head after she received the tip.

David Warlick - Bring it on (A Link)

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I've credited with David Warlick for changing my perspectives on the use of computers in classrooms and computer games for educational purposes. I heard David speak in April and it was an incredible experience. The man is truly a teacher of teachers. Given my respect for David, it should come as no surprise that I'm honored that he wrote a recent post about a comment that I made on his blog, even if he seemed to strongly disagree with me. (Interestingly, I don't think that David and I disagree significantly.) His post is entitled Foundations. I've written a comment in response. Check it out.

Michigan's Economy Worsens (A Think)

Michigan used to have a very strong economy when compared to other states, after all it was the home of the big three automakers: Chrysler; Ford; and, GM. Kids didn't even have to go to college and they could make a nice living working on one of the assembly lines. However, in recent years Michigan has struggled. Today's Detroit Free Press runs an article entitled A Michigan Census Snapshot: More Feel Pain of Tight Economy. The article states:
"'I hate to superimpose worse news on top of bad news, but this is not a cycle,' said David Littman, a senior economist for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based think tank. "We're in a secular decline here in Michigan. As the economy slows nationally, we're going to sink much farther relative to the other states. We've only just begun."
Tom Friedman would say, the world is flattening and Michigan is proof of it. His book titled The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century is well worth the read and will help to explain the problem that Michigan is encountering. He explains, among many other things, that many traditional American jobs have been off-shored.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students why they think the large automobile companies located Detroit have lost a lot of jobs in recent years. Are there fewer cars? Where have the jobs gone? Encourage them to suppor their opinions.
2. Michigan clearly has a problem. But, why should this matter to people living in other states? How has the economy of your own community, city, state changed in recent years? What effect has the Internet and high speed communication had on your local economy?
3. For younger studets, ask them why they think its so important to have jobs. Help them understand that when somebody works they get paid for working and can spend the money that they make on things they want and need.
4. Ask students to develop a radio commentary explaining what the change in economy should mean to them. What can they do to ensure that they have jobs when they grow up? What kind of jobs do they think will never be able to be off-shored? It might be interesting to place these radio commentaries on a pod-cast. Odeo makes pod-casting very easy.

Read/Write Web (A Link)

I don't think that I've ever really taken a look at the blog, Read/Write Web before. But I like it. In the last few days the author hasn't really talked about education at all. He's talked about gadgets for web browsers, like Firefox, and the potential for business on the Internet. In one paragraph he wrote:

If you consider the trend towards a world of widgets and gadgets (mini web applications), you begin to see the potential to make real money from an independent platform. As I wrote in a June article entitled The Future of Personalized Start Pages, the likes of Pageflakes and Netvibes "are building up to a near future where gadgets/widgets will be much more plentiful and functional. Basically these start pages are expecting the world of web services to blossom in the next few years, which is my expectation too."

I don't care that this post has nothing to do with education. I've always felt that as teachers we need to read widely both in our field and outside of it. I'm personally very interested in the ways that the Internet will contribute to the business world of the future. Sometime in a quiet moment in class, you might ask your students how they think that the Internet has changed business.

Katrina - One Year Later (A Think)

It's hardly a current even, it happened a year ago. But it's still in many people's minds. Indeed, many lives have been changed forever. Many people who fled the Gulf Coast Region during Katrina still have not returned. Click here for coverage a year later from a website called NOLA. MSNBC's website has a site called "Rising from Ruin: Two Towns Rebuild after Katrina." The website has a diaries tab which includes blog posts from residents of the Two Towns. Despite the horrible natural catastrophe that killed many people and dislocated many others, politicians have not failed to make Katrina a political issue. The Washington Post is running an article entitled, The President and His Critics Mark Anniversary Along Gulf Coast. The article begins:

A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated Mississippi and Louisiana, President Bush and Democratic leaders are converging on the Gulf Coast this week to commemorate the losses while continuing the political argument over the federal response to the country's largest natural disaster.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students to pretend that they had lived in New Orleans during Katrina. Explain that there were winds strong enough to pull large trees out of the ground and rushing water. People used boats to move through New Orleans streets. One women said that her home filled up with water like it was a fish tank. Ask students to write a journal entry as if they were in the middle of Katrina. They might post these on blogs. Provide students with an opportunity to share their entries with other students.
2. Ask students to conduct research on New Orleans, beginning with the links mentioned above. They should pretend that they are members of a city council in the Gulf Coast Region and identify four pressing issues that need to be resolved. Allow students to work in groups of three or four.
3. Invite students to consider why Hurricane Katrina has become (perhaps, became shortly afterwards) a huge political issue. Encourage them to support their opinions. Ask them if they think that it is appropriate that a catastrophe, like Katrina, has become such a huge issue.
4. Explain the dynamics of a hurricane to students. Tell them to pretend that they are teachers in a class teaching about hurricanes. Ask them to prepare a lesson that will allow students to get up and move around, as they learn what a hurricane is. Give them an opportunity to teach their lesson to the class.

A Wiki On Classroom Practice (A Link)

Doug, over at Borderland has linked to a wiki that he is keeping on his classroom practices. The wiki contains lesson plans, and information about learning vocabulary, in addition to other things. Doug begins his blog post:

Last year I began thinking about how, after so many years of teaching, I should have the beginning of the year figured out. But I don’t. Each year I dig around looking for a file that I call “first week of school” or something. It has informational letters to parents, and it also has beginning of the year activities that I can do with kids while I’m getting to know them.

Check it out.

Google and EBay Work Together (A Think)

The New York Times is running an article entitled EBay Strikes an Ad Deal With Google. The article explains that EBay is going to pay Google to run advertisements on searches conducted outside the United States. Several months ago, EBay struck a similar deal with Yahoo, Google's main competitor, to put advertistements on searches done inside the United States. The article states:

The deal is noteworthy not only because the two companies are increasingly in direct competition — in areas like online phone service, payment and product listings — but also because EBay signed a similar partnership in May with Yahoo that included ads on domestic pages. That alliance was seen as a way to counter the growing power of Google.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask (younger) students why EBay would want to run advertisements, in the frist place. Encourage them to think about the way in which adds promote business by making people aware of products and services offered. You might even ask students to make up an add for either a local business or a make-believe business of their own. Students could either make up an ad for television, a newspaper, or even an online newspaper. They might make an ad on an Internet program like
2. For students a little bit older, this webquest, entitled Cyberagenda Advertising might be interesting.
3. Ask students to imagine that they are Meg Whitman, the President of EBay. She has to consider the positives and negatives of developing an advertising contract with Google. In groups of two or three ask them to develop a graph listing positive reasons to develop a contract and negative reasons (why they should not develop a contract.) Students could then write up brief position papers and post them on blogs, perhaps even send a link to the blog to Meg Whitman. Challenge students to find an appropriate email address, for her.
4. The article explains that together Google and EBay are going to develop ads that are click to call. If you click on the ad, a telephone will be made on either of the two companies' Internet phone systems, to the company running the ad. This is obviously new and innovative. Ask students to imagine what they think ads will be like in 1000 years.

An Interesting Science Lesson (A Link)

Check out Bionic Teacher's post, "Google Earth Meets Astronomy." BionicTeacher developed a lesson that talks about mapping the solar system in different ways depending on the size of the sun. It looks interesting, particularly for high school science students.

TheJill Carroll Story (A Think)

This morning when I was looking for something to write about I came across the series of articles written by Jill Carroll and Peter Grier, at the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) website. Jill Carroll was in Iraq working as a freelancer for CSM when she was taken captive by the Mujahadeen. I found the entire series of articles well written and informative - definitely worth a read. I might even assign it as a series of articles for high school students to read. I could easily have chosen any one of dozens of paragraphs to quote, but here's the one I did choose:

The gunmen ran at us. A whisper exploded from me into a scream, "No, no, NO!" as I tried to get out. The door closed on my right ankle as someone shoved me back in, pushing so hard that the right lens of my glasses popped out. Through the crack in the door - before the intruder slammed it - I saw the last moment of Alan's life.

Alan was Jill Carroll's interpreter with whom she had grown very close. In the article she explains that even while she feels guilty for Alan's death, she had to push this from her mind during her captivity, or she might not have made it.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Our students often complain that they are asked to work too hard and don't want to exert great efforts on their papers or other work. At the same time, we often see newspaper articles and television broadcasts as finished products. We sometimes don't think about the effort that went into producing these forms of communication. Jill was kidnapped in the process of writing a story. Present your students with a newspaper article or television clip and ask them to make a list of ten things that the author or producer had to do in order to develop the finished product.
2. Ask students if they think news is important enough for a reporter to risk his/her life to write a story. Encourage them to support their opinions. Ask them to consider what value a news story has beyond quelching curiousity. How do news stories promote democratic processes?
3. Jill discusses interactions with her captives throughout the article. If you set aside the fact that she was kidnapped and held against her wishes and her interpreter was killed, which I recognize is very difficult to do, she was treated fairly well. She was not beaten and she was fed. In several places, she describes the kind of meals she was given as those reserved for an honored guest. Ask students to consider why horrible people who murder and kidnap might otherwise treat a captive well. You might ask them to pretend that they are the inner thoughts of Jill's kidnappers, what are their thoughts?
4. If you ask your students to read the entire series of articles, you might ask them to draw a diagram explaining Jill's captivity.

The Value of Assigning Student Papers (A Link)

Over at A New Adventure Jim is writing about cheating and the value of assigning students papers to write. I'm definitely from the old school, but I think its very important for students to laern how to write papers. I might go so far as to say that they should always be writing a paper. Successful paper writing teaches students to research and write. More importantly it helps them develop the capacity to analyze, apply, synthesize, evaluate, all higher order thinking skills. I certainly think that students should also be engaged in more creative projects as well. But writing papers is important.

Jim writes, "There are too many creative ways to have students present what they have learned to have them doing lengthy reports." Read his post and his blog.

Pluto's Not a Planet (A Think)

Newspapers around the country and several Internet based news-sites are running articles explaining that a group of leading astronomers voted to change the definition of Pluto from a planet to a "dwarf-planet." An MSNBC article states:

Much-maligned Pluto doesn’t make the grade under the new rules for a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”

Lesson Ideas:
1. It's sometimes very difficult to define words like "planet." In order to help students understand this concept ask them to define the word "chair." Is a bean-bag a chair if somebody sits on it? What if a chair only has three legs? What if a chair has no legs, but fully sits on the ground? Does a chair have to have a back?
2. Ask students to consider why anyone should care if Pluto is categorized as a planet or as a dwarf-planet. This is a tough question to consider, so you might ask students to work in groups to first think about it. Challenge them to write down two or three serious reasons why this might matter. The article at MSNBC states, "It was unclear how Pluto’s demotion might affect the mission of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9½-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets." Ask students to imagine that they are a scientist who has made Pluto their central area of study, they are reliant on the federal government and foundations to support their scientific studies. How do they think that this decision might effect the money that they receive?
3. Ask students to make up an imaginary conversation in which they compare life on Pluto, which used to be the furthest planet from the sun, to life on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. To do this you might ask students to work in groups, one person would pretend that they are on each of the planets. This would be an interesting project to do on blogs.

One of the reasons that I chose to use MSNBC as the source of today's article is because the page, has interesting videos and charts on it.

A Blog at TeachersPayTeachers.com (A Link)

I got lucky. I was on the road all day on my way to Chicago for some meetings I have tomorrow and Friday. I didn't really feel like searching for a good link this evening. But it just so happens that I had a pleasant conversation with Paul Edelman, the founder of TeachersPayTeachers.com while I was driving. He asked me to help support the blog at his site. Since I enjoy blogging so much I told him that I would do so. Check it out!!

During our conversation Paul told me that there were some exciting things in the works for the site. But he wouldn't tell me what they were. I guess we'll have to wait.

Iran's Response (A Think)

News outlets around the world are reporting on Iran's response to the United Nations. After the Security Council demanded that Iran stop its nuclear initiatives, which Iran has said is for energy not military purposes, the country formally responded that it is ready to enter into serious dialogue with the United States and the European Union. Iran did not say that it would cease its nuclear activities. (Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.) The permanent members of the Security Council, with the possible exception of the United States, are hoping to avoid more confrontation with this major oil supplier. A Washington Post article stated:

Last month, the Security Council passed a resolution making a suspension mandatory and threatening Iran with economic sanctions if it did not comply by Aug. 31. Without a commitment to do so, the Iranian counteroffer appeared unlikely to ease a tense, years-long standoff over what Tehran insists is an energy program but Washington believes is a covert effort to develop nuclear weapons.

Lesson Ideas
1. Since the late 1970s, when American hostages were kept in the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, the American government has opposed fundamentalist religious government in Iran. Ask students why they think that our government would be opposed to a government governed by religious leaders and religious principles instead of the popular will of the people. Encourage them to support their opinions. Ask students if they think that a democratic nation should be opposed to nations ruled completely by religious principles. This might be an interesting idea to have students blog about.
2. Iran is a major oil supplier. Perhaps one of the reasons that many countries around the world want to approach Iran more kindly than the United States wants to approach it, is because the country provides them with oil. Ask students to consider why oil is so important. You might ask students to create a collage of the many ways that oil is used in the world. A collage might even be made on the computer by having students cut and past pictures into a word document. (I'm sure there are better ways to do this, I just don't know how.)
3. Invite students to pretend that they are policymakers at the U.N. Security Council. Ask how they would respond to Iran if they represented the United States. What if they represented France? You might encourage students to compare news articles written on Iran's response coming from French newspapers, such as this one with an article entitled "Iran Sanctions Could Fracture Coalition."
4. Tell students to pretend that they are Iranians. How would they respond to this situation? The AFP, an international news agency has published an article stating that many Iranian leaders think that the country should pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Learning by Doing and Blogging (A Link)

Weblogg-ed points to several blog entries by students in Pat Aroune's summer class. Mr. Aroune asked his students to think about economics as it related to their personal interests and write about these thoughts on blogs. I think that this is a great way to get students to think about important ideas. After all, they are obviously interested in the topic. I wish that my teachers would have taught me about wind by explaining how a sailboat works, since I've been a sailor all my life. Take a look at what Aroune's students are writing here and here.

For some reason, I couldn't find a link to Aroune's blog on Weblogg-ed, so I googled it. Here it is.

President Bush and Foreign Policy (A Think)

Yesterday, President Bush held a press conference. Two major topics were the international force to be sent to southern Lebanon and Iraq. The washington Post ran a story entitled Bush Says Iraq Pullout Would be a Disaster.

The article states:

(President Bush said) "Leaving before the job would be done would send a message that America really is no longer engaged, nor cares about the form of governments in the Middle East," he said. "Leaving before the job was done would send a signal to our troops that the sacrifices they made were not worth it. Leaving before the job is done would be a disaster, and that's what we're saying."

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students if they think that it is important for the American people to consider whether they agree with President Bush's policy decisions or not. Encourage them to support their opinions.
2. Help young students understand that in a democracy it is ok to disagree with elected leaders. All students should understand that whenever we disagree with anybody we should do so respectfully. Ask students to explain the difference between disagreeing rudely and disagreeing respectuflly.
3. In a democracy we are entitled to, or perhaps supposed to, offer our own perspectives on policy decisions made at the top of government. Ask students to write an essay offering their opinion on whether or not American forces should remain in Iraq without a definite time-table to pull out. Remind students that not every opinion is equal. The best opinions are the best supported opinions. (This article includes opinions from top Democrats who disagree with President Bush.) These opinion pieces might be posted in blogs. They could even be sent into the Washington Post as commentaries in response to today's article.
4. President Bush's Administration has worked hard to demonstrate that there was a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Many people do not believe that such a link existed. Ask students to develop a comic strip explaining whether or not they believe that a link existed. Remember that many serious ideas have been expressed in comic strip format (e.g., Art Spiegelman's Maus - In this book, Jews are depicted as mice and the NAZIs are depicted as cats. As a Jewish activist I think that the book is both respectful and meaningful). There is certainly some controversy as to whether or not it is appropriate to use comic strips for serious topics. You might ask students there opinions on this question. To support the develop of these comic strips you might ask students to read This June 17, 2004 New York Time article which considers the relationship between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

Laptop Initiatives and Standards (A Link)

I'm concerned that too few edubloggers discuss standards and standardized tests. I would imagine that many don't think that standardized tests are smart educational practice. But whether we like standards or not it is something that we have to discuss because standards are here to stay. If we don't link technology and standards mastery many teachers will not touch technology. They are forced to teach to the standards.

Musings From the Academy has a post today entitled "Laptop Initiatives and standardized Testing." The post states:

Unfortunately, I also work in a state where the TAKS
test directly and indirectly plays a part in just about every decision that is made by the teachers and administrators in our district. Trying to balance technology use and standardized test scores is challenging. Trying to convince the community, students, parents, teachers, and administrators that technology implementation is paramount even if there is no current data to illustrate that it raises test scores is even more difficult, so I can’t say I was thrilled when I read this article in the Dallas Morning News.

Take a look.

Football in Alaska (A Think)

Ok, I don't think that this story would be picked up on by all of the major networks but the L.A. Times is running a feature on it so it fits the criteria for this blog. The article is about football in Alaska. As teachers it's so important that we remember that many students who wouldn't be engaged by a discussion of President Bush's eavesdropping program or JonBenet Ramsey's killer would be engaged by football. The article states:

Here in the Last Frontier, football marches to decidedly different rhythms from those in the lower 48, or 49, for that matter. Two-a-day practices start in July, regular competition kicks off in early August, and Alaska almost always crowns a state champion before major league baseball has a World Series winner.

Lesson Ideas:

1. Life in Alaska is so much different than life in the Lower 48. Find a class in Alaska that would enjoy blogging with your own class. The teacher in Alaska could ask his/her students to blog and you could ask your students to blog. Then you'd comment on each other's blogs. If you email me or simply post a comment I'd be happy to help facilitate this program.
2. The article discusses how difficult it is for Alaska football players to get noticed in the Lower 48. Ask students to consider how Alaskan football players, or football players anywhere might help themselves get noticed. The fact is that while a player has to be good at football to get noticed, he/she can help faciliate the process by sending out video clips, letters and reviews by other players to recruiters. The article mentions "Elmore Laws III, publisher alaskapreps.com, a website that covers high school sports." Encourage students in your class to promote an athlete to a website that covers high school sports in your state. After all, if the website covers the athlete it will be more likely for recruiters to notice him/her.
3. Parts of Alaska are in the Arctic Circle. Ask students to imagine that they were in the Arctic Circle where it stays light much of the summer and dark much of the winter and is obviously very cold. Ask them to write a journal entry explaining what their life might be like.
4. Ask students to draw a map of Alaska. Highlighting important natural characteristics. Here's a map showing some of the towns mentioned in the article.
This site contains several different maps on Alaska.

Tags: (I dont' know how to add tags yet, so hopefully this will work: "bloggingbestpractice" AND "writing" "bloggingbestpractice" AND "marketing"

The Power of Good

The Power of Good is a movie about Nicholas Winton's efforts to save children from Prague in 1938. Winton was a 29 year old English stock broker and he recognized that the NAZI regime wanted to kill Jewish children in Prague. He took it upon himself to get them papers so that they could move to England and find them families that would take them in. All told, he saved more than 600 children. The film is an hour long documentary that seeks to demonstrate that though Winton saved over 600 children, his efforts benefitted more than the 600 children. His efforts enabled these people, many of whom became well known through contributions they made to the world, to have their own children and on and on.

This past week, Mr. Charles Gelman hired me to represent his foundation, The Gelman Education Foundation, to spread information about the film. The film won an Emmy award in 2002. It has a corresponding educational program. Mr. Gelman and his wife want as many people, especially students, to see the film as possible. He desperately wants teachers to show this film to their classes. Many who have already shown it have written to the Foundation expressing the impact that it had on their students. The ideas behind it certainly align with standards in just about every state. Though the Gelman Foundation asks for a $15 contribution for the film, a contribution is not required. (I would certainly not suggest showing this documentary to any students below the seventh grade.)

If you'd like me to have a copy of the film, on DVD, and the educational program sent to you, please email me your name, address, and grade that you plan on showing the film to. Obviously I understand that you'll want to review the film before you show it to your students. My email address is ap@Pass-Ed.com (It's also available on the side of my blog.)

(Though Mr. Gelman doesn't seem to care how many videos he sends out, I don't want to send out 10,000 or more DVDs that get used once. Therefore, I'm hoping that once you view the DVD and show it to your students, you'll pass it around to other teachers, as well.)

I'd also be grateful if readers of this post were willing to link to it on their own blogs to help spread the word as much as possible. Thanks!!

Developing Effective Slide Shows (A Link)

I'm certainly somebody who believes that lessons must be engaging and interactive in order for students to gain as much as possible from them. However, at times it's worthwhile for teachers to present slide shows and power point presentations. The other day, the Fischbowl had a fantastic powerpoint that I truly enjoyed about the nature of the Twenty First Century, entitled Did You Know. (I found it through David Warlick.) Today, I found an article on how to make slide shows, entitled "Developing Effective Slide Shows." The article is written by Bruce Byfield. It's at a site that I've never heard of before, IT Manager's Journal.
Check it out.

The President Breaks the Law (A Think)

CNN is running an article entitled NSA Eavesdropping Program Ruled Unconstitutional. The article quotes the court ruling:

"The defendants "are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," (U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor )wrote... Her ruling went on to say that 'the president of the United States ... has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders.'"

The Lesson

This ruling is an incredibly powerful statement about the government of the United States. It demonstrates that the President and the Executive Branch are not all powerful.
1. For younger students, you might pose the following question, "Who owns the United States of America?" Help students understand that the people who live in the United States all have equal powers. All people in the United States have to follow laws, even Presidents. A useful analogy might be that in the classroom teachers have to follow some rules, not just students. For example, a teacher cannot swear or push somebody. In the country the President has to follow rules.
2. For older students, ask if they think it's a good idea that the President has to follow rules. You might ask students to write a persuasive argument taking one side of this issue or the other.
3. Ask students if they think that the President of the United States should have the right to eavesdrop on telephone conversations that the American people have, during times of war. Encourage them to support their opinions.
4. If you know how electronics work, or teach an electronics or technology class, this might be a convenient time to discuss the workings of the telephone system with your students. Perhaps incorporate drawing into this lesson and ask students to diagram the way that the telephone system works and how eavesdropping interacts with the telephone system.
5. The CNN article lists several amendments that the judge found the President guilty of violating. In a civics class it might be a convenient opportunity to consider these amendments.

Alfie Kohn: Dangerous Jackass (A Link)

Over at D-Ed Reckoning the author writes:

This is an interesting, and all too typical, interview with Alfie Kohn on his new book The Homework Myth. Apparently, it's taken Alfie an entire book to tell us that there really is no credible research either way when it comes to the benefits or harms of homework.

When I was a doctoral student I had one very prolific professor tell me that the best books can be summarized in one sentence. If the best books can be summarized in one sentence, why write books? As a writer, I don't want to criticize books. At least I know the real reason to write non-fiction books: to gain name recognition and financial rewards. Alfie Cohen seems to be good at both of these things. So I doubt that he cares what the author at D-Ed Reckoning is writing.

JonBenet Ramsey's Killer (A Think)

Left: American John Mark Karr, center, being hustled to a news conference by Thai police officers in Bangkok. (Washington Post, Sakchai Lalit -- AP)

The main-stream-media is talking about the arrest of JonBenet Ramsey's accused killer, today. The Los Angeles Times is running an article entitled Thai Police: Karr Confesses to Killing JonBenet Ramsey.

The article states:

Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24. "John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," Wood said. "The story of this family is a story of courage, and story of an American injustice and tragedy that ultimately people will have to look back on and hopefully learn from."

A few lesson ideas:
1. JonBenet was a little girl who was following her dreams (or maybe the dreams of her parents). Ask students to consider what it means to follow their dreams. Encourage them in a quick write, or a journal entry, to write about their own dreams and how they hope to fulfill them.
2. Many people thought that the Ramseys had killed their daughter. But in many civilized nations there is a legal doctrine, "The Presumption of Innocense." Ask students what this phrase means. Ask them if they think that it is appropriate to consider somebody innocent until they are found guilty. Ask them what kinds of problems it might cause to society if somebody who is guilty is presumed innocent until they are found guilty. Ask them what kinds of problems it might cause to individuals, like the Ramseys, if they are presumed guilty before they are found guilty.
3. With young children it might be appropriate to discuss safety, again. Perhaps in groups of two or three, you could ask students to identify rules that they remember to keep them safe when they are out in public. Older students might be asked to think of a few rules that will keep them safe, when they are on-line. (I certainly would not share the story of JonBenet with young children.)
4. You might ask students to identify three questions about child beauty pageants that they would like to answer. Then provide them with time to conduct research so that they can answer these questions.

Focus on the Problem Not on the Person (A Link)

Today is the first time that I've seen the blog, Paul's Tips. But it looks really interesting. Today's post is entitled, "Focus on the Problem Not on the Person." The post states "Going on the attack should be a last resort in overcoming challenges. Rather than focussing on the person, you should try to see past them and figure out how to solve the problem." For me, this post is very relevant. For many years when I got frustrated I begin to think that the situation couldn't be resolved. Rather than focusing on the situation at hand I find it easier to get mad at the people who were involved in the situation. It's incredible how fast doors (opportunities) can close when people see you as being confrontational and argumentative. In the last few years, I've become much better at working through problematic situations instead of running through people. It's fantastic how much easier it is to make friends and have wonderful opportunities. As teachers, we shouldn't only teach content matter, we should also teach practical skills, such as "focus on the problem, not on the person."

What's a Planet? (A Think)

The New York Times is running an article entitled, For Now, Pluto Holds its Place in Solar System. The article begins:

In the hope of ending years of wrangling, a committee of astronomers and historians has proposed a new definition of the word “planet” that would expand at a stroke the family of planets from 9 to 12 and leave textbooks and charts in thousands of classrooms out of date.

One point of this article, seems to be that science continuously evolves. What we know now may be further supported or disproved by what we learn tomorrow. It's important for students to recognize that knowledge evolves. If they continuously seek to learn new things the knowledge that they learned yesterday will come to be understood differently.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students if they think that it's important to have a precise definition for the word "planet." Encourage them to support their opinions.
2. Ask students if its fair for a group of scientists to get together and together choose the appropriate definition for the word "planet." Encourage students to consider why these scientists have the right to form definitions. Explain that if people didn't define words, words would not have meanings.
3. Encourage students to research the distance between Pluto and the other planets in our solar system.
4. Ask them to write a diary entry pretending that they are on the icy planet of Pluto. What would life be like?
5. Check out the site Windows to the Universe for a lot more information on planets and outer space.

A Little Bit of Bragging

Recently, I've been really honored to have had a couple of publications go through. A few days ago I was told that an article I had written for the Journal for the Ohio Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development had been published. I'll post the article on my website as soon as I receive it. The article is entitled "Building Student Motivation Through a Consideration of Completed Student Work." This evening I learned that an article I wrote for the Edspresso website entitled "Learning Style, Teacher Choice and School Choice" has been published. It's really very humbling to know that people are willing to read what I write.

NASA and Moon Landing (A Link)

The World History Blog refers to a report from Reuters and writes:

The news report notes, "The U.S. government has misplaced the original recording of the first moon landing, including astronaut Neil Armstrong's famous 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,' a NASA spokesman said on Monday."

I've written a comment on this blog. However, on this blog, I have one more idea to add. The blog post explains that many revisionists wonder if the original recording of the moon landing ever existed, just like many Holocaust revisionists claim that this tragedy never happened. As teachers we have a responsibility to help our students distinguish between fact and fantasy. At the same time they need to understand that sometimes they have to connect the dots themselves to prove that something happened, an abundance of hard evidence may not exist. I believe that only a fool would say that people never landed on the moon, even if we never find the original recording. Only a fool would say that the Holocaust never happened. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing to these things, even if we can't fully prove them.

An Investor and a Soviet Fighter Jet (A Think)

It's not so much that there isn't any interesting news today. But, its always important to remember the hard to reach students who aren't always intuned to what we want them to be thinking about. As teachers we must continuously work to gain their attention and keep it. Perhaps they are thinking about cars, or sports, or boys, or girls. Well if they're thinking about airplanes this newspaper article might interest them. The New York Times has an article today entitled: Soviet Relic Becomes Capitalist's Toy. The article states:

Consider Jeff Marshall’s unusual mode of transportation. The Greenwich (Conn.) Time newspaper reported Monday that Mr. Marshall owns and flies a Soviet L-39 attack fighter jet, which burns through nearly 200 gallons of fuel per hour while in the air. (And we thought our gas bill was high.)

Mr. Marshall thinks that the plane was probably used in the Soviet's war with Afghanistan in the 1980s.

(Note that this article itself has several interesting links.)

Well the question is, how can we use this interesting snippet of a story to help our students learn important information and think in critical ways?

1. Ask students to discuss their favorite mode of transportation, be it for pleasure or for practical purposes. You might even encourage them to conduct a survey of students in the school as to their favorite modes of transportation. This would allow you to incorporate math into the activity, by perhaps having them figure out percentages, and more.
2. Ask students if they think that it's appropriate for an American businessman to be flying around in a Soviet jet. Encourage them to consider several sides of this question.
3. Ask students to write a journal entry, or a blog, explaining what it might feel like in 2006 to fly on a plane that was used in a war in the 1980s.
4. Ask students to conduct research on the pilots who might have flown in this plane during the war. They might start with wikipedia.

User Generated Content (A Link)

Yesterday the blog "A New Adventure" published an article entitled "User Generated Content." The blog states:

..."User generated content” stops at many classroom doors. The number of teachers publishing student content is growing, but at a very slow pace. More students can generate content outside of class than in school. Students want a voice just like adults want a voice. The new tools of social networking can provide those opportunities for out students.

Though brief, the post inspired me to think. I've written a comment on the blog. I'm hoping that the lesson ideas I suggest each morning do promote "user generated content."

The Cease Fire (A Think)

Recently I've been thinking that the name of this blog may not adequately express what I want the blog to be. Though I link to newspaper articles on a daily basis, I hope that my lesson plan ideas can be used in many more classes than simply "current events." More on this later...

Now on to the daily think...

The Washington Post runs an article entitled, Israel Accepts U.N. Deal: Both Sides Warn of More Fighting. The article begins,

The Israeli military halted its combat operations against Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah rockets stopped raining on Israel early Monday morning as a tenuous U.N.-imposed cease-fire took effect after more than a month of fighting that devastated parts of Lebanon and sent hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.

Lesson Plan Ideas
1. Ask students what it means to have a "cease fire." Help them understand the difference between "cease fires" and "peace treaties." Students should understand that there is no peace between Israel and Hezbollah. They have simply agreed not to fire on each other. Ask students to think about, and perhaps write about, whether they've ever been in a situation in which they very much disliked somebody and had previously fought with them but had agreed not to physically fight with them.
2. Students should understand that it is often very difficult to maintain cease fires. Ask them to make a list of rules that would make it easier for nations to maintain cease fires and not battle with one another. Encourage them to consider why it might be difficult for countries to live by these rules.
3. This article has links to wonderful videos and panoramas. Every picture has a story behind it. After ensuring that our students understand the general themes of the conficlt, as teachers we might show our students a picture or two and ask them to explain the story behind it. You might divide the class into small gorups, assign each group a picture to develop a story about, and then reconvene the class and invite the groups to share their stories.
4. You might want to show students a map of the Middle East. A useful map exists at this website.

New Technology and the Classroom (A Link)

Ewan McIntosh is one of the most interesting bloggers that I've read. In one of today's posts he writes:

The arguments that new technologies are just a fad, a cherry on the cake, an added extra, a bolt-on, a treat, something we can pass by, nothing that a good PowerPoint can't supercede, nothing that a textbook hasn't achieved until now, nothing that our best exam factory schools can't do without... all of this is is just keich. The teachers touting this must wake up to the fact that they are not engaging their kids unless they do use these technologies, the ones the kids use. Moreover, they're not really preparing them how to cope with the information being passed over to them unless they teach how to manipulate and analyse that information with these tools.

I've posted a comment in response to this article on Ewan's blog.

I suggest that you take a look at his entire blog, edublogs. It's really insightful.

"World Trade Center" The Movie (A Think)

I'll never forget the time that a student of mine, a seventh grader, asked if I ever thought that there would ever be 9/11 Day Sales. I asked him what he was talking about and why he even asked the question. He explained that the United States has Veterans Day Sales, Pearl Harbor Day Sales, adn Memorial Day Sales, why not "9/11 Day Sales?" As I read a review in the New York Times of Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," which opens today, I thought of my student's question.

The review states:

It was impossible to banish the thought, even in the midst of that day’s horror and confusion, that the attacks themselves represented a movie scenario made grotesquely literal. What other frame of reference did we have for burning skyscrapers and commandeered airplanes? And then our eyes and minds were so quickly saturated with the actual, endlessly replayed images — the second plane’s impact; the plumes of smoke coming from the tops of the twin towers; the panicked citizens covered in ash — that the very notion of a cinematic reconstruction seemed worse than redundant. Nobody needed to be told that this was not a movie. And at the same time nobody could doubt that, someday, it would be.

Some lesson ideas:
1. Ask why anybody would want to make a movie about 9/11. (Push students to consider more reasons than just to make money.) (This question can lead to a consideration of why anybody would want to make a movie (or write) about anything.)
2. Ask why anybody would want to see a movie about 9/11. (This question can lead to a consideration of why anybody would want to see a movie (or read) about anything.)
3. Ask students to consider if there are some topics that its simply inappropriate to make a movie or write about?
4. Ask students if there are some topics that its inappropriate to make money from? (Remember that Oliver Stone will likely profit from "World Trade Center.")
5. If its ok to make a movie or write about anything but its not ok to make a proft by making a movie about anything than what are directors and producers t0 do if they want to make a movie about something from which it is not ok to profit?
6. Encourage students to make a video (or write a newspaper article) of their own in which they explore other peoples opinions on the questions raised above and their own questions, in light of the movie "World Trade Center." (Yesterday, Kathy Schrock highlighted two free software programs that make movie-making easier, on her blog.)

Alexander Russo on NCLB (A Link)

Over at This Week in Education, Alexander Russo writes, "it makes me angry not so much at a law that requires annual testing to measure school (not student) performance but rather at the teachers and administrators who would convey so much anxiety and pressure onto the students." Russo's point is simple but important: we shouldn't pressure our students to do well on standardized tests. I agree and have written a comment about the post on Russo's site. Take a look.