Wiretapping (A Think)

MSNBC and other news organizations are running an reporting that yesterday the United States House of Representatives voted to give President Bush, and obviously his representatives, authority to listen to/read telephone conversations or emails made between a person on American territory and a person outside this territory, without a warrant. The article reports that:

Under the measure, the president would be authorized to conduct such wiretaps if he:
A. Notifies the House and Senate intelligence committees and congressional leaders
B. Believes an attack is imminent and later explains the reason and names the individuals and groups involved.
C. Renews his certification every 90 days.
The Senate now takes up action on the legislation. House and Senate leaders do not believe that they will be able to draft a final resolution before the November break.

Lesson Ideas:
1. With younger children it might be interesting to ask them if they think it's ok to listen in on a conversation between two people, in general. Encourage them to share their opinions. Then ask the children if it's ok to listen in on a conversation between two people if the two people are planning on hurting somebody else and the reason that you are listening in is to prevent the other person from being hurt?
2. According to the current interpretation of the U.S. Constitution law enforcement officials are not allowed to eavesdrop on conversations without a warrant. However, now the House of Representatives is saying that they can listen in on these conversations if they believe that the security of the United States is at risk and the conversation takes place across national borders. Ask students to write a persuasive argument, perhaps blog a persuasive argument, as to whether or not they believe that law enforcement officials should have this authority. Since the Senate has not yet taken up this issue, you might invite students to send their letters to your senators.
3. If you live outside the United States is this decision by the American government any of your concern? Ask your students this question. Are decisions made by European nations important to U.S. citizens? It might be really interesting to have a virtual conversation with a class in another country on this topic. Epals.com is a great source for finding partner classes.
4. The government of the United States of America was founded on the principles that individual rights are sacred. Individuals should not be deprived of their rights without due cause and process for any reason. Other nations, such as China, believe that society as a whole is far more important than any particular individual. Therefore, if it's to the advantage of society in China individuals can be deprived of their rights. Ask your students to draw a comic strip in which they explore these two different perspectives. Ask students if they think that one form of government is better than the other? Why?

Edit and revise these lesson ideas on our Lesson-Wiki.

Bud theTeacher's Same Same (A Link)

Bud the Teacher, a blogger who I particularly admire, though I've never had any personal communication with him, writes:

It's hard to teach even twenty individuals at once with all of our competing motivations/concerns/frustrations/limitations. And I'm lucky -- most classrooms are far larger than mine. A simplistic response to that is to say that a teacher struggling to meet everyone's needs is possibly suffering from poor classroom management skills -- and that might be a piece of the mix -- but I submit that managing the needs of everyone in the room all at once is particularly difficult.

I've got to say that I'm in my 18th year of teaching and I think I've finally figured it out. I'm teaching a fifth grade class this year and my students are doing a lot of independent work. I'm able to move around the room meeting different students needs at different times. I've never felt as if my classes have had as much learning as they have now and I've also never felt as if I've done as little teaching, as opposed to coaching, as I'm doing now. I'd advise teachers who are struggling with classroom management to use more independent and group activities. It motivates and engages students.

Bush vs. Bush (A Think)

The New York Times reports that Governor Jeb Bush of Florida is taking issue with his brother, President George Bush, over the quality of the federal educational policy package, No Child Left Behind. Florida's school improvement program which grades schools on a scale of A - F is vastly different than the federal policy that uses a pass-fail system. The article explains:

These contradictions became especially notable in Florida in the summer of 2003, when 1,200 of the state’s 3,050 schools earned A’s from the state. At the same time, more than 950 of the top-rated schools failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal law. Similar discrepancies re-emerged in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The article suggests that the most striking fact is that Jeb Bush is speaking out about the discrepancy. Throughout his brother's presidency, the article explains, Governor Bush has remained a dutiful little brother. But, now his different stance might provide ammunition for the President's political opponents.


Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students if they think that either the states or the federal government should have an interest in ensuring that as many children learn school skills as possible. Ask them to explain why. You might ask them to write a quick-blog on this topic.
2. The Constitution of the United States does not assign authority to oversee the nation's education system to the federal government. This means that the authority has been left to the states. Throughout the history of our nation, states have traditionally left this authority to locally elected school boards. (The federal government cannot require states to give tests to their students. But states must give tests if they want to receive money for education from the federal government.) Ask students who they think should have authority over education. Encourage them to provide reasons supporting each of the levels of government having authority and reasons why they should not have this authority.
3. Governor Bush is speaking out about the federal education legislation. Ask students to write a script in which they examine a conversation between the Bushes on whether or not Jeb should speak out. You might have students podcast this discussion.
4. The federal legislation says that "all children should be able to read." Governor Bush has said that the goal of having "all children" able to read is unrealistic. Everybody agrees that with the world's current level of medical and scientific knowledge, some people will never be able to read. Ask students if they think it's smart to have a policy that will not be able to be realized. Encourage them to explain their answers.
5. Tell students that the an "independent think tank" has asked them to suggest ways to improve the nation's schools. In groups of three or four ask students to list five ways to ensure that our nation's school are as good as they can be. After small grousp have listed these five ideas, you might reconvene the class and try to come up with five ideas representing the entire class.

Edit and revise these lesson ideas on our Lesson-Wiki.

A Technology Conference in Dallas

Steve Hargadon and I posted a wiki about our conference in Dallas on November 6th and 7th. I'm planning on presenting on blogs, wikis and podcasts. Michelle Moore, a certified Moodle trainer, will present on Moodle and Steve will host a free seminar on free and open software for schools. I'm actually planning on running two one day conferences. The seminar will take place in Plano. Visit the Wiki for more information.

Steve and I have also decided to host a seminar in Phoenix on November 17th. We are still looking for a venue. If anyone has a suggestion in the next few days, I'd love to hear it.

Bush, Karzai, and Musharraf (A Think)

The U.S.A. Today reports that U.S. President George Bush is meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Pakastani President Pervez Musharraf together, today. Though Afghanistan and Pakistan are both allies of the United States they have very stressful relations between each other. The article states:

The White House dinner is an attempt at trilateral negotiations for Bush, who wants the two leaders to work on clearing out Taliban insurgents who camp in Pakistan and launch attacks in Afghanistan. He also wants to focus on areas where national interests coincide, including the capture of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In the last year the Taliban, which the United States ousted from power in Afghanistan at the end of 2001, when they tried to protect al-Qaeda, has gained increased strength. The Afghanistan government blames the Pakistanis for harboring the Taliban. They also blame Pakistanis for allowing schools that preach hatred against Afghanis to continue to operate.

Lesson Ideas:
1. With younger children it might be helpful to discuss the idea that President Bush is trying to stop an argument today. Ask students what they think somebody should do when he/she tries to solve an argument between two other people. You might encourage them to draw a picture, or for older children create a comic strip, in which somebody tries to solve an argument between two other people. Ask students to explain why the mediator needs the characteristics that they state.
2. Tell students that the United States Department of Education is trying to make sure that all students understand the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Department has asked the class to develop an explanation as to why it is important to understand this relationship. In groups of two or three, ask students to develop the explanation. You might ask them to blog the explanation.
3. Ask students to further research the tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. These two nations are both discussed in newspapers on a regular basis. These newspaper articles would be a great place to begin exploring the relationship. Students might develop a wiki exploring this relationship. Different characteristics of the relationship might have their own wiki-pages. Even if your students don't have access to computers, they might develop a brief booklet on the relationship. Different groups could explore different aspects of the relationship and teach each other. These aspects might include historical, political, military, religious, economic, etc.
4. Tell students to imagine that Afghanistan and Pakistan can't get along and their relationship deteriorates into armed conflict. Ask students to imagine the consequences that this would have on the world. Would it have any consequences? Facilitate a class discussion on this idea. What if Afghanistan and Pakistan became the closest allies. What kind of an effect would this have on the rest of the world, if any?
5. Ask students if they can think of a better newspaper article to consider today. Ask them why that article merits consideration more than this article. Facilitate a class discussion in which students consider the "most important" news story of the day. Ask students if they think it's fair to say that one news story is more important than another news story. Why/why not?

Edit or Expand Upon these lesson ideas in our Lesson-Wiki.

Rows of Chairs? (A Link)

Today I noticed that Christian Long had a post up about David Warlick's New Century School House Project. In his description of how to name rooms in this virtual school house, which anyone can obtain, David warns against writing, " 'Columns of Desks' (this one will deliver a mild electrical shock through your keyboard)" Thinking about my own classroom I was really intrigued by this warning. I actually wrote both David and Christian, two mentors of mine, the following email today:

In my school, the janitors have to put chairs in my classroom the two days a week that I teach. Regardless of the number of times I've asked them to make a big circle, they put the chairs in rows. I used to rearrange the room myself. But I've gotten to the point in my teaching where it really doesn't matter how the chairs are set up because within minutes of my class my students either move them or get on the floor for independent/group/collaborative work. There's actually an indoor playground in the room right next to my class for nursery school students. But older kids obviously love playground equipment too. Though the two rooms have a divider I always open it so that my students can work in the playground equipment. Sometimes they work in a play house or under a fort. They've even worked inside of a "snake" toy. Last week, one of my students who is an incredible dancer and gymnast was actually hanging upside down from monkey bars and reading a text. The boy is one of the most capable students in the class and he knew what he was reading and was in a comfortable position, for him. I guess I've come a long way since the days when I required all of my students to sit in their chairs.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Exploring Mars (A Think)

The Washington Post has an article this morning about the Mars rover, Opportunity. Opportunity is about to reach a huge crater. The article explains that Steven Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments, said "Exploring Victoria is something we joked and fantasized about but never really thought we could realistically get to it... This is the absolutely highest-priority destination we could have reached." According to the article, "The scientists think Victoria Crater is the kind of geological formation that can tell them a great deal about Mars's history, and especially about whether and when water may have covered parts of the planet. Water is essential for life as we know it."

Lesson Ideas:
1. Tell students that before scientists conduct experiments they often try to determine what they might see. This is called a null hypothesis. Tell students to pretend that they are working with the group of scientists operating the rover Opportunity from Earth. They have been asked to develop a null hypothesis as to what they will see when they get the pictures that Opportunity takes at Victoria Crater. You might ask students to write these ideas on a blog.
2. Like all government agencies, NASA needs a lot of money to keep operating. NASA administrators often ask Congress for allocations of money. Ask students how they think that the success of these two Mars rovers might effect NASA's desire for an increased budget. You might actually have students develop a script of a conversation to take place between the chair of the Congressional committee responsible for allocating funds and the top NASA administrator concerning the influence that the rovers' success should have on NASA's budget.
3. Humankind loves exploring. Tell students to imagine that they had the opportunity to explore anywhere in the world. Where would they want to explore? Why would they want to explore here? You might even give students an opportunity to imagine what they would find at this site and draw a map of it. This activity could prompt some creativity.
4. NASA has a website full of resources about the Mars' mission. Ask students to take a look at two or three of the pictures on this site and write a paragraph explaining what they see. Students might ask questions to prompt further thinking in the paragraph, as well.

Edit these ideas on our Lesson Wiki

Being There (A Link)

Vicki Davis shares some thoughts as she endures the process watching her father-in-law die. She talks about counseling students and the importance of being there for both her husband's father and her students. Vicki, the blogosphere is truly a community, isn't it?

From Rags to Riches (A Think)

I was looking for a newspaper article to discuss this morning and started reading the New York Time's magazine from yesterday. There was an article about a poor inner city black boy, Michael Oher, who was homeless, parentless, and uneducated. The boy, of high school age, had the physical stature of a future NFL star. A religious Catholic school took a shot on admitting this boy. Then a wealthy white family adopted the boy as their own. They helped him get the grades he needed to play football in the NCAA. It was a long article. But, once I started I couldn't put it down. The article states:

What happened next was the strangest encounter of Lemming’s 28-year career as a football scout. Michael Oher sat down at the table across from him. . .and refused to speak. “He shook my hand and then didn’t say a word,” Lemming recalled. (“His hands — they were huge!”) Lemming asked a few questions; Michael Oher just kept staring right through him. And soon enough Lemming decided further interaction was pointless. Michael Oher left, and he left behind blank forms and unanswered questions. Every other high-school football player in America was dying for Lemming to invite him to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Michael Oher had left his invitation on the table.
What never crossed Tom Lemming’s mind was that the player he would soon rank the No. 1 offensive lineman in the nation, and perhaps the finest left-tackle prospect since Orlando Pace, hadn’t the faintest notion of who Lemming was or why he was asking him all these questions. For that matter, he didn’t even think of himself as a football player. And he had never played left tackle in his life.

Lesson Ideas:
1. You might ask students to read this article and summarize it. Many students don't enjoy reading much of what they are asked to read in a high school literature class. But this article is , in part, about football. Ask students to identify the "heroes" of the story and explain what made them heroic.
2. Tell students to imagine that they are Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy, the couple that took Michael in. Ask them to write a script for a conversation that might have taken place between these two people as they thought about letting Michael stay in their home. You might divide students up into pairs and have them work on these scripts together. It might even be fun to make the pairs boy-girl. Note, if you are teaching younger students you might simply invite them to write a script for a couple considering letting a poor child live with them. (In such a case your students wouldn't have to read the article.)
3. The article explains that Michael and Sean Jr. became very good friends, playing video games together. Tell students to create a skit of a conversation that might have taken place between Michael, who was about six years older than Sean Jr. , and Sean Jr. If you have the capability you might invite students to act out the skit and vodcast it.
4. Ask students what they think motivated Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy. The NCAA accused them of wanting Michael to play for their alma mater. Could a couple do something as nice as the Tuohy's did for purely altruistic reasons? You might ask students to blog on this question. (Personally, I would hope that students recognize that people can do very nice things for altruistic reasons.)
5. This magazine artice essentially tells the story of somebody who went from rags to riches because of the behavior of a wealthy family. Students have likely seen or heard of stories in which people have really helped others. Perhaps somebody really helped them or they've truly helped others. Ask students to write their own newspaper article about such a case.

Edit these lesson ideas on our Lesson Wiki.

It's Rosh Hashanah

I'd like to wish all of my Jewish friends a Happy New Year. And I'd like to say I'm sorry to everybody I might have offended this past year. According to Jewish tradition, between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, God judges all people. He inscribes everybody's name in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death. Repentence, charity and prayer can reverse negative decrees. It's a custom of Jewish people to appologize to those they have wronged during this holiday season. Since I consider myself a contributing member of the education blogosphere it's quite possible that I have inadvertantly offended somebody. If I have I appologize.

Andrew Pass

Ahmadinejad to Speak at Columbia...Not (A Think)

Columbia University's newspaper, The Columbia Spectator is running an article about the fact that the invitation that the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs extended to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been revoked. The invitation was revoked because of security and logistical concerns, not because of what Ahmadinejad would say. The article explains that Columbia University President, "Bollinger said in a statement that it was within the dean's jurisdiction to invite speakers to campus. "Dean Anderson has the right and responsibility to invite speakers whom she believes will add to the academic experience of our students," he wrote."

Lesson Ideas:
1. With younger students, ask them if they think that anybody should have the right to say whatever they want to say. With youngest kids it is probably best to keep the situation as one in which somebody else could be hurt by what is said. The Constitution does not allow people to verbally hurt other people.
2. Tell your students that the Supreme Court of the United States has asked them to interpret the First Amenement of the U.S. Constitution. In groups they should explain what the amendment says and the force it has in American life, today. Wikipedia contains a useful analysis of the First Amendment.
3. This story reports on a situation at one university in the United States, one nation in the world. Yet, I wonder if it has broader implications. Ask students if they think that this story is worthy of consideration beyond Columbia University and New York City. Encourage them to explain what big ideas could come from a consideration of this story. You migth ask them to write a quick blog explaining what big ideas come out of this story.
4. Ask students if they think that Columbia Dean Lisa Anderson should have invited the Iranian President to speak at her school. From the article students should recognize that Ahmadinajed has said that Israel should not exist and he does not believe the Holocaust actually happened. Try to encourage students to consider multiple perspectives. (I most certainly KNOW that the Holocaust did happen. But I could also argue, when forced to do so, why the Iranian President should have the right to speak at Columbia. Even while he might have the right to speak, I would still have the right to protest his presence.) Even if the Iranian President has the right to speak, do students think that Columbia University should have offered him a platform from which to speak? You might want to have students send an email to Columbia Dean Lisa Anderson who extended the invitation. Her email address is la8@columbia.edu.
5. Tell students that Dean Anderson has realized that she should develop a policy for whom she will invite to speak and who she will not invite. She has contracted with them to develop a list of perimeters as to who can be invited to speak in a major auditorium on campus. In groups students should develop a list of at least five criteria as to when a person should be invited to speak. (This exercise does not just need to consider controversial people, but also when somebody has important enough things to say before a group. For example, ask students if they think they merit an invitation to speak in a large auditorium at Columbia University. What would they have to do to merit such an invitation?)

Edit these ideas on our Lesson Wiki

Networked Learning (A Link)

Moving at the Speed of Creativity talks about the potential for teachers to learn to use Web 2.0 tools by participating in virtual conferences. I'm not sure if teachers who do not know how to use these tools will participate in the conferences. But I think if they did, they'd definitely learn to use the tools better. What do you think?

An Appology: In a comment that I recently wrote on this blog I referred to Spunky, another commenter, as Spuny. Sorry.

Walmart to Offer $4 Generic Prescriptions (A Think)

The New York Times is running an article this morning explaining that Walmart will begin offering generic prescriptions at $4 for a month's supply. The article states: "The Florida experiment with lower generic drug prices appears to mark the first time that Wal-Mart has used its unrivaled influence in the American economy to lower the cost of health care for its customers."

Lesson Ideas:
1. The article explains that Walmart is attributing its decision to charge such low prices to its ability to lower the prices of getting medicine from pharmaceutical companies to its store pharmacies. Ask students to consider how they think medicine gets from the site where it is produced to the local pharmacy. They might draw a diagram explaining the route. The complexity of this diagram will depend on the grade level and ability of students.
2. Many people have complained that Walmart does not treat their employees well. They have been accused of locking workers in their stores all night and paying low wages among other things. Ask students if they think that the price of a good should be the only determinant as to whether somebody should shop at a particular store? Encourage students to explain their thoughts.
3. Many people in the United States argue that health care is too expensive. Many countries, including Canada, provide health care for their citizens. Taxes in Canada are higher than taxes in the United States. Ask students if they think that the United States government should work to provide universal health care for all citizens. Ask them to consider the pros and cons of providing universal health care. (Students should consider the effects that they think universal health care would have on taxes, quality of service and compensation for medical professionals.) 4. In some countries doctors make great salaries. In other countries they do not. Ask students if they think that doctors should make high salaries. Ask students to make a list of five variables that they think should be considered when determining somebody's salary. You might have students create these lists in small groups and then reconvene as a class to discuss their lists. You might choose to have students develop these lists and rationales explaining the lists on a wiki. The goal of the class discussion might be to develop one wiki entry that everybody can agree with.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson Wiki.

Student Boycotts School Over Searches (A Link)

Check out the New Haven Independent's article about a high school student choosing to remain home rather than submitting to searches that he considers unconstitutional. Based on this student's own explanation of the events it seems clear that he's very serious about his concerns and is not merely trying to stay out of school. Give it a read!!

Democracy and Security? (A Think)

This morning I considered writing about two newspaper articles, both appearing in the Washington Post among other places. The first article, titled U.S. Policy on Iran Evolves Towards Diplomacy states, "On the Middle East, Bush pushed his notion that greater democracy will bring stability to the region. But many foreign officials instead argue that stability can be achieved only if there is peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

The second article entitled, Thai Prime Minister Deposed states:
On Wednesday, in his first public appearance since seizing power, Sonthi asked for the public's support and declared the coup was necessary to end serious conflicts within Thai society that Thaksin had created, the Associated Press reported. "We would like to reaffirm that we don't have any intention to rule the country and will return power to the Thai people as soon as possible," he said a brief television address. He was flanked by the three armed forces chiefs and the head of the national police force.

In order to develop sophisticated understandings of the world students should be able to read, synthesize and compare the major points of newspaper articles on different topics.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Divide your class into groups of three or four and ask half the groups to read one of these newspaper articles and the other half to read the other article. Ask each group to briefly summarize the article and note the main points of each. Then ask groups that have considered different articles to pair up with one another. In these larger groups ask students to first report on their article to the other group, then consider ways in which these articles might be compared and finally develop a statement on what these two different articles might point out about the world in general.
2. President Bush argues that democracy will promote security. Ask students if they agree with this concept or not. You might have them write quick-blog-writes in which they state their opinions on this issue. Encourage students to support their opinions by pointing to evidence from the world. You might then reconvene the class and hold a discussion.
3. Newspaper articles merely present surface level ideas. In other words, a specialist would never be satisfied knowing merely what is in the newspaper about his/her topic. Newspapers can, however, spark questions that lead to further investigation and therefore the production of new knowledge. Ask students to select a newspaper article, or select one for them, and write down five questions that they would like to investigate further. You might choose to have them investigate the questions. But the simple process of identifying the questions is educationally productive.
4. Many students will not be able to identify Thailand, Israel, Iran, or Iraq on the map. (In my opinion this is very sad, considering the frequency in which most of these countries are in the news.) Identify these nations on the map for students. Or, even better, ask students to identify the countries for themselves, using available resources.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson Wiki.

Setting Sail (A Link)

As an avid sailer, I was taken with this story in the Saratogian about a family setting sail for three to five years. Children will be homeschooled during these years aboard the boat. I bet they learn a whole lot more from their experiences than they do from their textbooks. I thought the whole story is interesting, so I'm not quoting a specific article. If you like sailing and learning read it.

The Pope's Infallibility (A Think)

The BBC contains an essay considering the nature of the Pope's infallibility, this morning. As you'll recall, last week the Pope quoted a centuries old document that criticized the Muslim religion. He later appologized. The BBC essay states: "Papal infallibility only comes into play with issues of faith that concern the whole Church. It doesn't apply when the Pope is expressing a personal opinion or, in this case, quoting from a historical text."

As a Jewish individual, the whole concept of infallibiity seems slightly out of place. However, as an educator I know that it is not my role to challenge the validity of religious concepts. However, it is my role to help my students understand the concepts and precepts of major religions around the world. Right?

How would I do that?

Lesson Ideas:
1. Some students may not know who the Pope is or understand his role in either the Church or society as a whole. Explain these ideas to students. Ask them to write down characteristics that they think the leader of a major religion should possess. (This is very similar to asking students to write down the characteristics that any leader should possess.) You might invite students to write down these ideas in a blog entry.
2. Tell students that according to Chrisian belief the Pope cannot be wrong when he makes pronouncements for the entire Church that he declares are indeed for the entire Church as official pronouncements. However, very few popes have actually issued statements that they wanted considered as incapable of being wrong. Ask students why they think a pope might not want to exercise this authority. What can we learn about power and the use of power from the infrequent use of this power? Ask students if they've ever had any power or authority that they've chosen not to exercise? (For example, when babysitting?)
3. Tell students that many people are mad at the Pope because he repeated something that somebody said a long time ago that was hurtful about the Muslim religion. Here's how one CNN article reports on the Pope's statement:

Citing historic Christian commentary on holy war and forced conversion, the 79-year-old pontiff quoted from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos."The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.' "Clearly aware of the sensitivity of the issue, Benedict added, "I quote," twice before pronouncing the phrases on Islam and described them as "brusque," while neither explicitly agreeing with nor repudiating them.

Ask students what the uproar over the Pope's declaration indicates about the power of language. The Pope was not even saying that Muslims have introduced evil and inhumaneness into the world. He was quoting an emperor from history who said this. But millions of Muslims around the world are upset with the Pope. Ask students if they've ever said something that they were sorry they said. Ask them why they said what they said and what they learned about saying things from this experience.
4. Tell students that the Vatican has hired them to spearhead the process of redeveloping relations with many Muslim nations and groups that were offended by the Pope's comments. Tell them that the Pope has already appologized but many groups are still infuriated. The Vatican expects students to write down a list of at least five ideas as to what the Vatican should do to help ease the stress between the Muslim and the Christian communities. This might be an approrpiate assignment to have students do on a wiki.

Edt these lessons on our Lesson Wiki.

What Prompts Readers to Comment (A Link)

This Week in Education is asking about something which I often ponder, "What prompts readers to comment" on a blog post? I don't think that the fact that my blog doesn't attract that many comments means that my ideas aren't good. I certainly hope it doesn't mean that since I'm taking my lesson plan ideas and developing a book of lesson ideas. This Week in Education comments that Jenny D gets a lot of commenters. I wonder if she even knows why she's able to do this? Hey Jenny, if you do know please tell me.

China Offers Aid to its Neighbors (A Think)

I'm currently working on a curricular unit for World History for Us All that considers the origins of communism in China, so I was particularly interested in a New York Times article entitled China Competes with West in Aid to its Neighbors, this morning. The article states:

Flush with nearly a trillion dollars in hard currency reserves and eager for stable friends in Southeast Asia, China is making big loans for big projects to countries that used to be the sole preserve of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United States and Japan.

China has the fastest growing economy in the world and it is reaching out to poorer neighbors. Like the United States, China recognizes that it also benefits when it supports other nations.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Too many of our students cannot even identify China on a map. First, ask students to identify China on a map. Then ask students if they think that it is important to be able to do this. You might ask them to do a quick-write or a quick-blog in which they first consider this question. Then reconvene the class and have a large group discussion. (If you are concerned that students might say it is not important to be able to identify China on a map, instead you might ask them to identify three reasons why it is important to be able to identify China on a map.)
2. The article explains that China provides funding without some of the restrictions that the West places on nations which it supports with funding. For example, China does not place the same restrictions for environmental protection or the safeguarding of human rights. First, ask students what they can learn about China from the fact that they don't place such restrictions on their loans. Then, ask students to develop a proposal of what environmental organizations or defenders of human rights might do in response to this situation. You might even ask studetns to develop wikis with ideas that they can then market to others, encouraging them to add their own ideas. (Actually, it might be fascinating to make this project one of integration between two courses, one being marketing.)
3. Ask students if they think that one nation really cares about another nation when they offer to provide them with financial support or if the nation really only cares about itself and feels that by offering this financial support it will benefit itself. Ask students if individual people ever really do anything good without consideration of what they might get back in return. You might have a debate in your class in which different students take different sides. One way to facilitate this debate might be to ask students who believe that people do act altruistically to go to one side of the room and students who do not believe this to go to the other side of the room.
4. Ask students to consider how Chinese support for their neighbors might effect the United States and its allies' standing in the world. You might ask them to develop a comic strip in which they depict their thoughts on what would happen to the United States and its allies if China continues to financially support its neighbors. Do students think that the United States should try and limit this financial support?

Edit these ideas on our Lesson Wiki.

Be Provocative (A LInk)

I was just looking at elearnspace.com, which I don't think I've seen before, other than perhaps when I did the carnival. The blogger, George Siemens, talks about his consulting practice. I was starting to think, so what does it take to succeed as a consultant? Then I saw this entry on being provocative. It's worth a read. I always hope that I'm provocative, meaning provoking thought within both teachers and students. If you like my ideas I'd love to come to your community and help you think about developing these ideas and others, on your own.

Microsoft Wants Share of MP3 Market (A Think)

The L.A.Times is reporting that Mircosoft will begin selling its own MP3 players. The article begins:

Two questions confront Microsoft Corp. as it prepares to launch its answer to Apple Computer Inc.'s hugely popular iPod.
First, how badly do the 79% of Americans who don't already own a portable digital media player want one?
And second, will they want one made by Microsoft?

According to the article, Micosoft has expertise in entering markets late and doing very well (Think the XBox). In fact the same executive team that initially brought out the X Box is now going to bring out Microsoft's MP3 player, called Zune. Microsoft also has the cash reserves to build name recognition for its new gadget.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Tell students to pretend that Microsoft has hired them to do some market research. Microsoft has asked them to conduct a market survey as to whether or not people they know would buy the Zune from Microsoft. First, students will have to figure out the questions that they want answered. Then they'll have to decide to whom they want to ask these questions. Next, they'll ask the questions. Finally, have them compile the questions into a product that is easy to read. For example, a set of graphs. You might want to post these results on a graph. You might ask another class to conduct a similar study. Then the different answers could be posted on a blog and the two classes could consider how the answers compare and why they compare as they do.
2. Tell students that Microsoft has hired them to develop a marketing campaign on behalf of the Zune. In groups of three to four, ask students to develop four proposals for the best way to market the Zune. After they have developed these ideas, reconvene the class and have the various groups share their ideas.
3. Ask students to develop an ad or a commercial for the Zune.
4. Ask students to select ten songs that they would place on an MP3 player if the leaders of our civilization asked them to identify ten songs that best represent our times, that would be passed down as a representation of our times, forever. Allow them to work in groups of two to three to develop this list.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson-Wiki

A New Blog (A LInk)

I just came across a new blog called Teacher, Teach Thy Self. Check it out. As a relatively new blogger myself it's a great feeling knowing that I might be able to send some traffic to another new blogger.

By the way, my friend Christian Long posted a really cute picture of his new baby boy on his blog. I wonder what kind of technology Beckett will be using when he grows up?

Gaza's Economy (A Think)

The top headline on the New York Times' website is titled "Cut Off, Gazan Economy Nears Collapse." The article reports:

Hamas promised security in its victorious election campaign. But it has failed at that, said Hamdi Shaqqura of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. “There is security chaos and no respect for law,” he said, and a prime reason is the involvement of the police and security forces, many of them from Fatah, in the lawlessness, and the constant clashes with militia and gunmen affiliated with Hamas.

I've got to be honest, as a strong supporter of Israel I feel a little awkward posting this entry this morning. Not because I blame the Israelis for what is happening in Gaza. I know that while Israel has recognized the right of the Palestinian Authority to exist, Hamas is bent on destroying the Israeli nation. At the same time, I fear that many people will blame Israel for what is happening in Gaza. But alas, I felt like I was weaseling out if I didn't post the article that most caught my attention this morning.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Tell students to pretend that they are a living in Gaza. Ask them to write a journal entry, perhaps a blog entry, of what their life might be like.
2. Tell students that many people blame the situation in Gaza on the Israelis. After either explaining the article to them or having them read it, ask who they think is to blame for the economic unrest in Gaza. Encourage them to explain thier positions. They might even blog on this.
3. Show students the map pasted at the top of this blog. Ask them to explain what they see. Be sure to tell them to pay attention to the insert as well as the larger map. You might ask them to work in groups of two or three to make notes on what they see. Then reconvene the class and compare notes.
4. The people of Gaza (and the people of the West Bank) are going to have to establish their own nation and support themselves, if they are to ever live at a higher socio-economic status. Ask students what it would take to establish a nation. Have them work in groups to consider what the people of Gaza should do to lift themselves out of poverty. (Tell students that their plan has to have at least four different parts.) They might present their thoughts back to the class, or to the larger community, in a podcast. After students have had a chance to consider these ideas and present them back to the class, discuss them.
5. What else could a teacher do to effectively use this article in teaching?

You could learn more about Gaza at Wikipedia

Edit this set of lesson plans at our Lesson-Wiki.

The Outside Expert Always Knows Best (A Link)

Education in Texas describes a situation in his school in which the advice of new teachers from other districts is respected more by the administration than advice given by veteran educators from within the district. He writes:

My district has...the "invented here syndrome". Our administrators refuse to believe that any of us mere teachers can possibly have a good idea. Why, if we did we'd be highly paid consultants wouldn't we? This has lead to instances of the school district paying an outside consultant $1500 to spend an entire day leading us through an evaluation of a paper on how to eat a tootsie roll. I have yet to see how it improved my abilities as a Science or Technology teacher.

This post just reminds me of the importance of remembering to recognize good ideas in your own context. The person who works next door might be brilliant, or at least have some brilliant ideas. Recognize their brilliance and appreciate

Forgetting the Present (A Think)

As you probably know, I'm hosting the Carnival of Education today. I wonder if there's any point to a Carnival of Education beyond curiousity. The Education Wonk has set up an archive. Is this archive legitimate? Before you think this is a crazy question, consider the following article from The L.A. Times. The Article is entitled Unable to Repeat the Past. The article states:

Digital storage methods, although vastly more capacious than the paper they are rapidly replacing, have proved the softest wax. Heat and humidity can destroy computer disks and tapes in as little as a year. Computers can break down and software often becomes unusable in a few years. A storage format can quickly become obsolete, making the information it holds effectively inaccessible.

Consider this, everything we store on computer files...forgotten!!

Lesson Ideas:
1. Pose the following scenario to students: "You go home from school today and find out that comptuers no longer work. You come back to school the next day and find that computers still don't work and will never work again." Ask students to consider what they've lost? Ask what might be lost throughout the world.
2. Tell students that they should think about what things will be like 1000 years into the future. Ask if they think that people in 1000 years will understand the computer technology that we use today? (In order to help them think about this, ask them if they know how to tell time precisely using the sun. This is something that more people could do 1000 years ago than today.)
3. Ask students to define the term "memory." Ask them if there is such thing as a "national memory." What about a "global memory?" Ask them if they think that memory is important. Why?
4. According to the article, Jason Lanier, the computer scientist who made up the term "virtual reality," describes the potential for forgetting everything stored electronically this way, "If you let forgetting and remembering happen arbitrarily, you're losing part of yourself." Write this quotation on the board and ask students to do a quick write explaining what the sentence means. Then discuss it as a class. You migth choose to write this quotation on a class website and have students blog their understandings of it.
5. Ask your students to think about how to solve the problem. Tell them that they are on an advisory group to the National Archives and have been asked what to do to make sure that information of today is never lost. What can we do. (Tell them that one option is not putting everything that we have onto paper, because the government will refuse to allocate the space for holding this paper.) In groups have them develop proposals.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson-Wiki.

It's a Newspaper...Carnival of Education 84 (Many Links)

Greetings:

Welcome to the Current Events in Education. I'm thrilled to be your host for the 84th Carnival of Education. Since I point to a current event every morning, typically providing a link to a newspaper, I thought it appropriate to divide this carnival into newspaper sections. Well I hope you enjoy it.

Onto the Midway...

Headline News
In this week of 9/11 Jill Davidson’s article reminding parents and teachers how to speak about tragedies and respond to them is certainly worthy of headline news. She explains that the children will watch us and learn on the The Essential Blog.

Just A Substitute Teacher Blog puts life into perspective by discussing the issues of second graders. How nice it must be to not remember 9/11?

If Texas is investigating widespread cheating on state tests, what are the chances cheating also is widespread in Ohio? Last week's Carnival host, Scott Elliott asked the head of the state's testing program what they have done about cheating. The answer? Not much. Like most of Scott's work, its definitely worth a read. Like so many of our newspapers this Carnival paper needs a story about crime in the front section.

Going to the Matt reports that Maryland charter schools will get the same funding as public schools.

Sports
Michelle presents Baseball is for high school posted at Texas Ed: Comments on Education from Texas.

Culture
Don Surber wonders Will the Band be Banned. I sure hope not.

Spunky examines the often wrong assumptions and judgements homeschoolers and public schoolers make about each other, in this post entitled "Home School Snobbery." There are clearly different cultures between homeschooling and traditional schooling.

Three Standard Deviations to the Left examines the culture of his class in "Honeymoon Period Extended Three Days."

Editorials:
ms_teacher offers us Why Class Size Does Matter! posted at California LiveWire: Teaching in the Golden State.

John Rozewicki ponders whether lower SAT scores are really a problem at Supreme Narcissism.

Phil B. at Phil for Humanity presents Obsoleting the Electoral College

The Education Wonks, the prime mover of this carnival, write,"Wonkitorial: Dept. of Ed Retreats on Teacher Quality." What can educats do to promote the best and the brightest into teaching?

New York City Educator opines on new policies banning cell phones form New York City schools.

A Shrewdness of Apes offers some really good advice to both educational policymakers and school administrators. I highly recommend the read.


Science
David, at the Good Human, provides environmentally friendly school projects for teachers and parents.

Dennis Fermoyle, From the Trenches of Public Ed. theorizes on the best prospects for improving education Direct Instruction: Is It the Key to Improving Education?

Truth definitely comes under the domain of science. Elliot H., The Edwahoo, presents five truths he’s learned from five weeks of teaching.

Jon Schnaars writes about balancing expectations to cut stess and anxiety at Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments.

Rightwingprof, at Right Wing Nation, describes the process of Fixing Flawed Ideas: III.

Steve Hargadon presents an Interview with Larry Cuban, Author of “Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom” A professor emeritus of Stanford University counts as science, even if it's social science, right?

The Median Sib presents a fantastic post entitled "Questioning, How Uncomfortable Does it Have to Be?" Let's remember that teaching is not just a craft. It's also a science.

Technology
Green Rising tells us how Bill Gates' ideas will promote sustainable education. It's a post worthy of the future.

Business
Barry Leiba offers us the post More on resources for education at Staring At Empty Pages in which he explains why teachers should be paid more than entertainers.

Dr. Homeslice writes about Union Bouquet #3 at Dr. Homeslice.

John at AFT presents Detroit Teachers Have Parents' Support at NCLB: Let's Get it Right!.

Muse at me-ander knows that she's Back from the Trenches! This teacher's back to business.

Bill at Ask Uncle Bill presents I'm Going To Get An MBA--What Does that Mean? Read to find out.

Businesses just love dollar bills. Some schools use them in awkward ways. Anonymous Educator presents Dollar Bills at Anonymous Educator.

Cassie del Pilar discusses signing Bonuses, Superstars, & Mike Klonsky at District 299 Chicago Schools Blog.

Ryan Boots, over at Edspresso, gave me two options for entries. The first one is about the Detroit teacher strike. But, he also offered this second entry - which out of the interest of full disclosure I must say that I wrote.

Higher Education
Barry Leiba considers the potential of the next generation in Prepared for college? posted at Staring At Empty Pages.

Personals
Darren argues pounces on educational fads in his postForging Relationships With Students posted at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher.

Colleen King asksDo Your Students Model Their Math Problems? posted at Math Playground She points us towards a useful website that provides modeling tools.

In Review
Margaret asks what quality of education was available to Jane Austen on her blog, Poor Starving College Student.

Close Up
What It's Like on the Inside offers an analysis of "The Inertia of Secondary Education"

TV Guide
This Week in Education considers the images of urban schools as portrayed on television, this season.

Foreign Editions
Madame writes LE FABULEUX DESTIN DE MADAME posted at LE FABULEUX DESTIN DE MADAME. Don't worry the text includes English.

Check out this post from Kelly. Any teachers who have taught overseas can sympathise with Kelly. For those of us who haven't taught overseas we can learn a lot form her.

Coming Isuses
TheMedianSib is hosting next weeks Carnival of Education, Number 85. Submissions are due by 7:00pm Central Time. You can send your submissions to carol@themediansib.com/ or use the form available here!! Let's wish Carol Good Luck!!

Past Issues
The Microfice room with past issues of this paper dating back to 1793 (ok, so maybe not quite that early) are available here.

A Couple of Links (Yah that's right: Links)

An essay I wrote on the influence that school choice could have on teacher learning has been posted at Edspresso.

I'm posting the Carival of Education this week. I'll put up the post later tonight or very early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I thought it appropriate to pay a little bit of homage to the founder of the Carnival, The Education Wonks. They write an interesting article on the Detroit Teacher Strike. A judge has ordered teachers back to work. Do you think that teachers should be allowed to strike? I'm not a huge supporter of unions but I do believe that if you're going to have unions they should be allowed to strike.

Attack on U.S. Embassy in Syria (A Think)

The New York Times is reporting that Syrian forces pushed back an armed attack agains the U.S. Embassy in Syria. The article begins:

Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the government said. Four people were killed in the brazen attack, including three of the assailants.

According to the article no Americans were killed.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Many younger students don't know what an embassy is. Explain the concept to them. The people who work in an embassy are the representatives of one country in another country. Ask students to develop skits in which they pretend to be embassy employees. Encourage students to consider what kinds of messages countries might pass through their embassies to other countries.
2. Ask students if they can think of any useful metaphors for an embassy. Have a contest between different groups of students in which they work to develop metaphors for embassies. (This would even be more interesting if classes challenged other classes via blogs and wikis.)
3. The terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy yelled "Allah Akbar" "God is Great." Ask students how they think that a fundamentalist belief in God might prompt people to try and kill others. Encourage them to write a thought piece on this question, perhaps a blog entry.
4. Tell students to pretend that they are the newly appointed leader of an educational system in a country that had previously been fundamentalist. For years and years people in the country have been taught that God is great and God needs to be revered and part of revering God means killing people who don't accept God and in the opinion of local citizens work against God. They have been asked to develop a plan for re-educating people so that they come to believe that murder is never an acceptable course of action. Ask students to develop the plan with at least five key ideas as to how they should do this.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson-Wiki.

Story Teling (A Link)

Take a look at Miguel Guhlin's website, Around the Corner. I'm particularly impressed with the picture at the top of it. But he also talks about story telling. What does it mean to tell a story. On 9/11 what kinds of national stories are there to tell. I'm wondering what it would be like for all of us to stop and listen to each other's stories. As teachers we should all try to do this. Look at the picture on Miguel's website. What kinds of life stories have passed by on this road?

Five Years Later (A Think)

There are moments in life you simply do not forget. I was driving from my new apartment in Farmington, Michigan to clean out my old apartment in East Lansing, when my mother told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Wait she said, "Oh my God. Another one just crashed." Fortunately for me, I didn't know anybody or even know anybody who knew anybody who was killed. Many people were not as fortunate. Many lives, that did not end, changed forever on 9/11/2001. Newspapers, television, radio, and Internet publications are remembering the tragedies of five years ago, today. The Washington Post has an extensive sections devoted to 9/11 and its aftermath.

I decided to look at things a little differently. I wanted to see how the newspapers in one of America's enemy nations, Iran, was reporting on 9/11. The Tehran Times runs an article entitled The Aftermath of 9/11. The article states: " All nations sympathized with the victims of the unprecedented terrorist acts. However, this sense of sympathy didn’t last long." It goes on to criticize President Bush and the United States goverment for the way that it responded after the attacks. It's interesting that I could easily imagine an American commentator writing a similar article.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Remember that many students in elementary school won't really remember 9/11. Simply tell them that a group of people didn't like some things that the United States was doing and so decided to kill thousands of people. Ask students if they think that it's ever appropriate to hurt somebody because you don't like what they are doing? Encourage them to explain their answers.
2. Ask students to write a letter to Osama Bin Laden in which they express their views on what Al Qaeda did five years ago. These letters can be posted on the Internet.
3. In the years since 9/11 there has been much talk as to what an appropriate memorial to the victims of the atrocities should look like. Tell students to imagine that they are architects who have been asked to design a memorial. Invite them to either describe an appropriate memorial in words (writing) or to sketch an image. Encourage them to explain why they believe this image would be appropriate.
4. In the days after 9/11 there was much talk as to the meaning of a hero. Ask students to define the word hero. As a class compile these definitions of hero and post them on a wall. You might even want to do this as an entire school. You could title the wall "Heros of 9/11 Five Years Later." It might be interesting to ask students to investigate what heros of 9/11 are doing today. How many fire fighters who survived the day are still working in the fire department? What about paramedics? Students can conduct research through the approrpiate agencies' websites. (There is a famous image of firemen holding up a flag on the site of the World Trade Center rubble. What became of this flag? What have these firemen done since 9/11?) Students can prepare multi-media presentations.
5. Put President Bush's foreign policy on trial after 9/11? Was the United States right to attack Afghanistan? Was the U.S. right to attack Iraq? If students don't think that the U.S. was right to attack Iraq ask them to explain what an ideal relationship between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein's Iraq might have been like, assuming that Hussein did not change his policies. Encourage class discussion.
6. Ask students to explain what people should do five years later on the anniversary of 9/11 to remember 9/11?

Edit these lesson suggestions on our Lesson-Wiki.

Taking a Trip Without Leaving the Classroom (Guest)

(Written by Guest Blogger, Professor Don Duggan-Haas, Colgate University)

It’s a pleasure to be a guest – my first foray into blogging. Thanks, Andy!

While the example discussed here is grounded in science teaching, many of the fundamental ideas transfer well to the teaching of other topics. In reading through what follows, consider the questions: “What are signature pedagogies in my discipline?” and, “What makes a field trip an experience in inquiry, and not just a tour?” I’ll end with a slight twist on Andy’s lesson ideas.

Teaching certain things practically requires getting out of the school. Virtual Field Trips, developed by Earth science teacher Sarah Miller, invites you and your students to pay a virtual visit to Norwich, New York to explore the local geology. Built around the essential question (see Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design) of “Why does this place look the way it does?” the VFT is intended to facilitate the inquiry approach that geologists take when they go into the field. Of course, it’s no simple matter to take all your students on a field trip.

The geology field trip is an example of what Lee Shulman calls signature pedagogies. This is closely related to his conception of pedagogical content knowledge (mentioned just below). Signature pedagogies are…

“…the forms of instruction that leap to mind that organize the fundamental ways in to mind when we first think about the preparation of members of particular professions–for example, in the law, the quasi-Socratic interactions so vividly portrayed in The Paper Chase.”

Just as it would be unthinkable to have a physician educated without going on clinical rounds that include mentored discussions of individual patient’s cases, it would be unthinkable for a college geology major graduate without having stood at a rock outcrop and work to figure out how that rock formation came to be. Even though it would be unthinkable for a geologist to graduate without having done this, it often doesn’t happen in teaching Earth science at the K-12 level. There are some very obvious reasons for that – cost and safety concerns probably topping the list – but done well the field trip is remarkably effective pedagogy.

Sarah’s work allows her and other teachers to give a very meaningful simulation of the work of the geologist. In fact, this goes beyond simulation. Students can do the work of the geologist even if they aren’t standing by the outcrop. Wrestling with the questions posed in the graphic organizer on the introductory page for VFTs while virtually standing in that creek or quarry is fundamental to the work of hard rock geologists.

Sarah is working with Rob Ross and Elizabeth Humbert at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY and me (at Colgate University) in a National Science Foundation funded professional development program for beginning Earth science teachers. She’s wearing at least two hats in the project – she’s a teacher participant and she’s developing some materials, like the VFT on her web site and the included graphic organizer as exemplars for other teachers in the project. She spent much of her summer looking at other virtual field trips and thinking carefully about how to structure them so that students are engaged in active wondering rather than just watching. At the outset of the project, I drafted a vignette of how a VFT might play out in a classroom. (Sarah’s VFT is better than the one in my vignette).

VFTs are but one facet of the project, and if it is practical to do actual field trips those are preferred. We do hope, however, that some teachers will develop VFTs and work with one another’s classes so that, for example, a class in New York City might take a virtual trip Upstate and students Upstate might visit Central Park and investigate its geology. Students across the state might serve as experts about their local geology to learners in distant classrooms.

I will be visiting participating teachers across the state this fall. One of the things I’ll do when I visit is act as a rock courier so students will have real rock samples from places they visit virtually.

Questions that might lead to lesson ideas:

1. What are examples of signature pedagogies in the training of professionals in your discipline? Are they reflected in your teaching? Should they be reflected in your teaching? What does it look like when it works well? What is necessary for that to happen?
2. Can you lead a field trip where students inquire into your discipline? Should you? Is there a big question you can think of that could be asked in a variety of settings to foster inquiry (like why does this place look like this)?
3. What would a VFT in your discipline look like? What would you want students to be able to take a closer look at (like the close ups in Sarah’s VFT)? Do you know teachers in other places that you could work with and share VFTs?
4. What would you want a courier to bring your students from the places they can only visit virtually? If it includes documents, are they already available online? Can you think of a discipline where that courier should or would only bring documents?

Audacity Woes (A Link)

Now, I'm a bit nervous. I can't believe that I'm understanding some of the stuff that techies are posting. For example, over at Open Source Classroom the author posts about not being able to get Audacity working on older computers. Yesterday at this time I didn't even know what Audacity was. But last night I tried to figure out how I could make a podcast without doing it online at Odeo. Steve Hargadon told me that he used Audacity to touch up his podcasts. (By the way, if you haven't heard Steve's interview with Larry Cuban, it's up.) Well, at this time at least I think I'm going to use it to make podcasts and then use Odeo to put them on-line. Anyhow, I think the whole concept of "open source classrooms" has great potential to benefit teaching and learning. Classrooms will not be beholden to software companies (a.k.a. Microsoft).

The World's Most Powerful Women (A Think)

First, I just found this fun current events quiz at the BBC.
Q. Many of us don't have computers in our classroom, so how could we use this idea even if our students can't do the actual activity?
A. Simply use the questions and challenge your students to identify as many of the right answers as they can.

Onto the Daily Story...
Forbes Magazine is running an article on the 100 most powerful women in the world. The article begins, "It take more accomplishment than ever to get on this list. Reason: More women are taking over corporations, nonprofits and whole governments." Actually there are also articles on important women in business, important women in the media and important women in politics. (Free registration is required to read Forbes online but I think its worth it. Ifme you don't want to register on-line, read a copy at the library.)

Lesson Ideas:
1. In my mind, this article merited mention in this blog because our students have too few women role models. With this in mind, ask all students to select one women role model who they admire and to explain why they admire this individual. You might even have them write a letter to this role model explaining their admiration. (For this activity, the role model definitely need not be famous.) If the boys argue that they want to pick a male role model, explain that the person they select does not have to be their only role model but they must pick a woman. How often do we make girls study about men?
2. Ask students if they agree with the following statement, "We study too few women in school." Encourage them to support their opinions.
3. Ask students if they agree with the following statement, "Even today, society is prejudiced towards women." You might have them write a response to this statement as a blog.
4. Ask students to interview one woman professional that they know to find out how they think that their experiences as a woman help them be successful. If students don't know any professionals, have them look up a law firm or medical practice on-line and contact one of the professionals there, to interview. These professionals might be contacted through email.
5. Have students select one individual mentioned in the Forbes article and write a more extensive biography of the person, a biography that will require additional research.

Edit these lessons on our Lesson-Wiki.

Mrs. Smith is Doing it Right (A Link)

I am so impressed with the blog Learning and Laptops, but I'm even more impressed with the learning that the blog describes. Mrs. Smith the teacher of a class that appears to have 1:1 laptops, writes:

Here is a sample of the online MacBeth annotated text done by a freshman.
Here is a sample of the peer editing completed by one freshman to another's paper.

You'll have to go to the site to actually see these examples of real learning using the Web 2.0 effectively.

Military Tribunals (A Think)

In June the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals in which defendants were not allowed to see evidence against them considered confidential and a hazard to national security were unconstitutional. Today the New York Times is running an article explaining that Congress is considering passing a law supporting the use of military tribunals, with rules similar to those rejected by the Supreme Court, to try terrorist suspects. The article states:

The rules apply to the 14 members of Al Qaeda who the president announced had been transferred from Central Intelligence Agency prisons to the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Those prisoners have been interrogated in C.I.A. prisons and could be questioned further and brought to trial under whatever provisions Congress approves.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students if they think that it's necessary for people to know what they are accused of doing wrong before they are punished. What if them knowing what they are accused of doing wrong, has the potential to put the lives of other people at risk? Does it matter how many lives might be at risk? Encourage students to support their opinions thoughtfully. You might ask students to write a position paper on this topic. You could even have themblogg it.
2. You could set up a mock trial in your classroom in which somebody is being accused of terrorism. Government lawyers don't want to release details of the accusations because of national security risks. Lawyers for the defense have to argue that thedefendantt has a right to know these details. Lawyers for the government argue the opposite. You might even challenge another class to a debate. The debate could be videocasted, blogged, or put on a wiki.
3. Ask students how a consideration of the rights of defendants in terrorism cases might inform appropriate teacher behavior in the classroom. For example, if one student approaches the teacher with some very embarrassing information that he/she says another student has been spreading, should the teacher tell this information to the other student when asking if the accusation is true? Students should support their opinions. (This might be a very good activity to use with younger students. However, make up a scenario that has names (of students who are not in your class) to make the activity more realistic.
4. The United States has a very interesting system of government. TheSupremee Court has already ruled that military tribunals cannot be held in which defendants are not told of the accusations against them. Now the President and Executive Branch are turning to Congress to pass a law that would allow such tribunals to take place. If the law is passed the tribunals can once again take place. However, if somebody challenges this law and the Supreme Court again finds it unconstitutional the tribunals will stop. An amendment to the United States Constitution would then have to be made to permit the tribunals. Ask students to develop a graphic organizer or picture explaining this process. After students have completed this activity you might scan their work into the computer and make it available for viewing on-line. I'd be happy to make it available from this blog.

Improve on these lesson ideas in our Lesson-Wiki.

Is Teaching a Craft (A Link)

I'm a little frustrated with a post by my friend Ryan Boots at Edspresso. He makes the argument that like journalism teaching is a craft. He writes:

Similarly, it's starting to sound as though teaching, like journalism, is a craft as opposed to a profession. From what I've seen in media, the best reporters learned through plenty of hard knocks, watching good reporters do their thing, and by having hard-nosed editors (or producers, in the case of broadcasting) shape their work. Similarly, it seems that good teaching is more a function of solid content knowledge, practical experience and a lot of intangibles as opposed to assorted ed school ceremonies.

Of course, there is some craft in teaching. There is some craft in everything. Master's of the teaching craft can practice on a day to day basis responding to unforseen situations. But there is a definite body of knowledge that teachers should possess. Teachers must not only know the content that they are teaching, but they must possess pedagogical skills. They must not only have experience, but they must also have specific pedagogical skills related to the content that they teach, what Lee Shulman refers to as "pedagogical content knowledge."

I consider myself a very good teacher, but one of the reasons that I am a good teacher is because I understand educational theory. I understand multiple intelligences and different learning styles. I know what it means for knowledge to be worthy of learning in schools. It must be connected to real life and provide students with the skills to think thoughtfully. I recognize the importance of continuing to learn about educational theory and best practices on a daily basis.

Ryan, the best teachers, like the best doctors, know that there is a lot to know. The best teachers, like the best doctors, know that if they don't incorporate this knowledge into a creative craft, they aren't going to succeed.

What do you think?

Who is Felipe Calderon, Who Cares? (A Think)

The New York Times, the Washington Post, and numerous other newspapers around the world are reporting that Mexico's highest electoral tribunal officially declared Felipe Calderon, the winner of the country's presidential election. But the Washington Post article states:

Calderón's opponent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, refused to recognize the decision. During a fiery address before thousands of supporters in Mexico City's downtown square, the Zocalo, he mocked Calderón as an "illegitimate president" and pledged to create an "alternate government" to "refound the Republic and reestablish constitutional order" before the Dec. 1 presidential inauguration.

What does this battle for power in the U.S.'s southern neighbor mean for the United States? What does it mean for the rest of the world?

Lesson Ideas
1. Ask students if they think it's fair to say that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is wrong not to recognize Calderon's victory? In what situations might he not be wrong?
2. Have your class email a class in Mexico and ask students to share their thoughts on the presidential election in their country. The website epals.com has a very useful tools that allows teachers to search for classrooms around the world with whom they can partner for collaborative learning. If you do this type of collaboration, I'd love to hear about it.
3.Ask students if they think it's important to the United States that there is a dispute over who should hold power in Mexico? Ask them what they think it means for the rest of the world? Ask what information students would need to know in order to determine the effect that a power struggle in Mexico might have on the rest of the world. (You might encourage students to develop a list of questions that they would like answers to before they answer these questions. Allow them to work in groups of two or three.) Help students understand that people don't always have all of the information they need to answer questions effectively. Sometimes they can look this information up, research it. At other times, people simply don't have access to the information.
4. This newspaper article today provides an entre to discuss the differences between Mexico and other nations of the world. Encourage students to consider language, religion, common foods, socio-economic status of citizens, type of government, etc. You might encourage students to develop a brochure or commercial presenting Mexico as a nation of the world.
Additional Mexico Resources: Wikipedia, Mexico for Kids, Mexico Channel

Improve this lesson at the Lesson-Wiki

I Think We Have Lost Our Way (A Link)

When I first started blogging somebody advised me to write short and concise posts. Today The Wall is running a post that is neither short nor concise. But it is very thought provoking. I thought you might enjoy taking a look at Ken's perspectives on school improvement. He writes:

One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different result. Santayana once wrote “Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.” I prefer to describe what we are doing using something one of your panel taught me. When I was at Kettering Middle School, Dr. Tompkins, you told teachers they always needed to have a plan B, because - and I quote - “if the horse you are riding has died, beating it won't make it go any faster.” I believe what we are doing with HSAs is beating a dead horse.

If you want to read it, click here.

Fatal Last Minutes Caught on Film (A Think)

The London Times, and newspapers across the globe, are reporting on Steve Irwin's death for a second day. The article states:

John Stainton, Irwin’s close friend and producer who was on board Croc One, Irwin’s boat, said that the “shocking” footage showed Irwin pulling the stingray’s barb out of his chest before lapsing into unconsciousness.
“It shows that Steve came over the top of tA he ray and the tail came up, and spiked him (in the chest). He pulled it out and the next minute he’s gone. That was it. The cameraman had to shut down. The coroner’s report will say what happened, but I think he died fairly instantly."
Mr Stainton added: “It’s a very hard thing to watch because you’re watching somebody die and it’s terrible.” He has given the footage to police investigating his death.

Kids around the world knew Steve Irwin from his many television appearances. Steve will be missed.

Lesson Ideas:

1. Someone once said that watching television at all is a complete waste of time. Ask students if they agree with this statement. Then ask students if they think that Steve Irwin would agree with this statement. Ask them to write an essay from Irwin's perspective in which they argue whether or not television is a complete waste of time. Students might post these essays on blogs. If they do, email me the link and I'll help to spread the word. You might post these essays on our Lesson-Wiki.
2. Steve Irwin made his living at developing documentaries about something that he loved, reptiles. Tell students that in memory of Irwin's life they will develop a documentary about something that the love. In groups of three or four, students should either make a skit, or a video, or the best option would be to make a vod-cast. Tell students that they should seek to explain their interest, how other people might benefit from their interest and how their interest is relevant to the world.
3. Young children might simply be encouraged to pretend that they are reptiles and move around the classroom, perhaps to music, as reptiles. Ask young children what they know about reptiles.
4. In a science class students might be encouraged to write an explanation of what actually happened to Steve Irwin when he was bit. A number of intersting videos related to Steve Irwin's death are available on CNN's website. In order to effectively write these explanations students might be asked to do additional research.
5. Put Steve Irwin on trial. Ask students if he should have been swimming in an area , researching an animal that had the ability to kill him. Put the Stingray on trial. Should the stingray be blamed for Irwin's death? Encourage students to support their opinions.

Lesson-Wiki Page: Please edit, change, expand upon these lesson ideas at the Lesson-Wiki Page

All Work No Play (A Think)

On Labor Day in the United States it's important to step back and think about what it means to work, what it means to relax and what it means to manage your time. The L.A. Times is running an article entitled All Work and No Play? No Way. The article states:

Worried about employee burnout and turnover, some employers are forcing workers to take the vacation time they are entitled to. Determined to take some of the "labor" out of Labor Day and other holidays, employers are encouraging these workaholics to switch off their cellphones and log out of e-mail while they're away.

Perhaps its particularly important to help students consider the importance of time management at the beginning of the school year. While some students need to learn to budget more of their time to school, there are atually other students who need to budget a little less of their time to school work and more of their time to having fun.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Write the phrase "Time Management" on the board and ask students to explain what it means. Lead a discussion with students explaining the importance of doing school work, having fun with friends, spending time with family and doing other things.
2. Ask your students to conduct a survey of several businesses, typically businesses that employ staff full time such as business firms, asking managers to explain how they think about the balance between business and pleasure. Students can develop their own questions. Perhaps students can email these questions to local businesses and then compile and post the results on a blog or website.
3. Ask students to make up a "medical-related" editorial in which they try and convince business people that all work and no play is not healthy. You can encourage students to research information to put into these editorials. They might vodcast these editorials or podcast them. I can't believe how easy it is to make podcasts on www.odeo.com.
4. Teach students how to develop their own calendar so that they know what they have to accomplish on a specific day. Remember that people don't naturally know how to write down assignments and allocate time to finish these assignments. They need to learn how to do this. Many high school students and even adults have a difficult time maintaining an appropriate schedule.

Lesson-Wiki Page: Please edit, change, expand upon these lesson ideas at the Lesson-Wiki Page.

A New Wiki To Accompany this Blog

Recently I've been a little frustrated with the amount of comments that I receive on this blog. Perhaps it would be more accurate to write, "the amount of comments that I do not receive." One reason that I think it would be so nice to get comments is because as my readers know, every morning I suggest several lesson plan ideas to accompany a current event article. I believe that the best lessons are developed through a collaborative process amongst numerous educators. Since I'm not getting many comments there's no collaborative process at work.

I'm thinking that maybe the blogging process is a little hierarchical. In other words, on my blog I've got the most authority. I decide what it blogged and readers can post comments. I maintain the authority to approve or disapprove of comments. (I've never rejected a comment.) A collaborative process is not about hierarchy - it's about complete equality. Perhaps wikis provide greater equality than blogs.

Therefore I've decided to set up a wiki to accompany this blog. The wiki is located on Wikispaces at http://current-events-education.wikispaces.com/Every day when I post an entry on my blog, I'm also going to start a new page on this wiki, which I'm referring to as a Lesson-Wiki. Hopefully readers will go to this wiki and adapt the lesson plan ideas, add new lesson plan ideas for specific current events and even start new threads of lesson plans.

When I spoke to David Warlick the other day he asked me to explain the difference between the lesson plan ideas that I provide every morning and the old weekly readers. He wondered how I was using the tools available on the Web 2.0 to promote higher quality teaching and learning. Certainly there is some difference between what I've already done and old weekly readers. But hopefully, this new wiki will faciliate the development of the highest quality lesson plans related to current events, promote this development in a way possible only on the Web 2.0.

September 2nd Podcast

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Problem Resolved

With David Warlick's help I solved my problem. Thank you David. I have a new address for my second blog, it is www.pass-ed.com/blog1. I took the second blog off of blogger and put it on Movable Type which comes with Yahoo website hosting. This blog actually looks like it might be easier than blogger. With blogger I had to install my own feed - I used feedburner. That's done for me on Movable Type. I'm not a technologically oriented person - I'm a teacher first and foremost. Technology scares me - I just use it because it's the no longer the wave of the future, it's the wave of the present and future.

Need Technical Assistance Please?

I've got a little problem and here's what it is: I've got two blogs. This one and another one, http://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogspot.html. I don't want the two blogs to work off of the same feed for syndication purposes. This is the blog that I've been working very hard on and the one that I hope most people are interested in. The other blog is a little blog that I also keep for my Jewish educational interests. Perhaps at some point I'd like to put another feed on that one, but I don't want one there now. For some reason that I can't figure out my other blog is connected to this blog's feed. (I only have one account from blogger, if this helps. One account, but two separate blogs.) Aggregators list the last blog that I posted on.

If somebody knows how to change this please let me know.

Thanks,

Andy

Lockheed's Orion Spaceship (A Think)

The New York Times is running an article entitled Lockheed Wins Job of Building Next Spaceship. The article begins: "Lockheed Martin won a multibillion-dollar contract from NASA on Thursday to build the nation’s next spaceship for human flight, a craft called Orion that is to replace the space shuttle and eventually carry astronauts to the moon and beyond." It goes on to explain that while Lockheed Martin won the contract, which could run well past six billion dollars, a coalition comprised of Boeing and Northrop Grumman lost the contract.

There is an incredible amount of information in this article that could be used for lesson planning ideas. Even better since many students like the concept of space and space exploration they'll be genuinely interested in the topic.

Lesson Ideas:
1. As teachers we sometimes don't think about extending the same assignment over time. We may not ask students to develop a proposal for their work. We simply expect them to do it. Today, tell students that just as Lockheed Martin and Boeing had to propose the work that they would do on the spaceships before NASA gave one of them the go-ahead, they should propose a work idea before going ahead and doing it. (Indeed, in the business world, people must typically first submit proposals in writing before they go ahead and do the work.) Ask students to explain whether or not they think that this is a good idea.
2. Ask students to create a game in which the objective of the game is getting approval to do a work project. Students can determine how the players of the game will select (0r be assigned) the work project and who the players are applying to for permission to do the work. But it has to be an interactive activity that somebody else will play. Tell students that they can model this activity off of any game they want to. (If you don't want to take the time to make an entire game, ask students to write down between six and ten ideas for this game.)
3. The article explains that the Orion spaceship is going to fly to the Moon and to the International spacestation. One day it may even serve as a return ship for the crew of another spaceship that flys to mars. Ask younger students to pretend that they are floating in space. (This is a kinesthetic activity that students may find fun.) Perhaps play some slow music in the background as students move around as if they were in outer space. Then tell students that they are walking on the moon, on which the force of gravity is much lighter. Walking is more like floating while occasionally touching the ground. They should pretend that they are walking on the moon.
4. Ask students to draw a map of the part of the solar system that includes the moon, the international space station, and Mars. Through this activity they should understand how far away Mars is from Earth. Ask students to find appropriate resources on the web to help them develop this map.
5. NASA has several interesting videos developed for students on their website, click here.