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Friday, July 16, 2010

Drowning Leaves Tensions at Columbia Secondary School - NYTimes.com

Drowning Leaves Tensions at Columbia Secondary School - NYTimes.com

At School in Harlem, Resentment Over Girl’s Drowning on a Field Trip


By JENNIFER MEDINA

Published: July 15, 2010

As the academic year at Columbia Secondary School in Harlem drew to a close, students, parents and teachers reeled from the death of a 12-year-old pupil on a class field trip to a beach last month.

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But feelings of grief have turned into anger after an inquiry by city investigators that faulted the middle school for the way it had organized and supervised the outing, which ended with the drowning of Nicole Suriel on a Long Island beach that had been closed and where no lifeguard was on duty.
Hours after a report by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation was released on Wednesday, Erin Bailey, the first-year teacher who chaperoned the trip, was fired, and the

Teacher Fired Over Field-Trip Drowning of Girl, 12

By JENNIFER MEDINA
An investigation found the trip was poorly planned and said a chaperon should have noticed there were no lifeguards on the beach.
Darci Hemleb Thompson, 49, reconnected with a former teacher from Long Island, Alice D'Addario, through Facebook.

On Facebook, Telling Teachers How Much They Meant

By SUSAN FEINSTEIN
People who have been out of school for decades are expressing sentiments they dared not express in their youth.
ON EDUCATION
Julianne Carlson, a graduate of Yale, taught a prekindergarten class in Spanish last week at an elementary school in Houston.

A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America

By MICHAEL WINERIP
Teach for America has become an elite brand that will help build a résumé, and in a bad economy, guarantee a good paycheck.
THE APPRAISAL
Based on the advice of an educational consultant, Jonathan and Ann Binstock bought an Upper West Side apartment near Public School 87.

Parents’ Real Estate Strategy: Schools Come First

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Developers who sell apartments near good schools should chip in more to help build classrooms, parents say.
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Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Product Review: Art Rage 3

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Product Review: Art Rage 3

Product Review: Art Rage 3

by coolcatteacher@gmail.com (Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher)
I have tested Art Rage 3 since May on my Interactive White Board and also at home with my children.
My son's painting in artrage when he played with it the first time. I love how the paints and brushstrokes mixed together.

On the Interactive White Board
At school, I loaded this up and left it on the board to see what would happen and the students LOVED it. They painted pictures and used the intuitive interface very easily. I tested it with my second grader and up. When on the interactive whiteboard, the students preferred to use the board as a canvas, which brought all kinds of uses.
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Report examines Palo Alto response to teen suicides, recommends next steps - San Jose Mercury News

Report examines Palo Alto response to teen suicides, recommends next steps - San Jose Mercury News

Report examines Palo Alto response to teen suicides, recommends next steps

By Jesse Dungan
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 07/16/2010 03:00:00 AM PDT




A community task force created in response to a series of teenage suicides on the Caltrain tracks in Palo Alto issued a report this week recommending that the city and school district each assign a senior-level employee to steer youth mental health and suicide prevention efforts.
The Project Safety Net Task Force also urges the Palo Alto Unified School District to bolster the mental health aspect of its K-12 health education curriculum.
Rob de Geus, a Palo Alto city recreation services manager and co-chair of Project Safety Net, said the report is a "description of what we've experienced last year as a community and how we as a community responded to that." He said it also addresses "where do we go from here."
The task force hopes the report will be used in policy making and community decision making, de Geus said.
Five teenagers — three who were enrolled at Gunn High School, one who was going to be a freshman there and a recent graduate — lost their lives in the seven-month period between May 2009 and January 2010 at or near the same railroad crossing near the school.
Following the apparent suicides, community meetings were held, grief counseling groups reached out to families, and suicide prevention experts and school districts that had experienced similar tragedies offered their help to Palo Alto. Project Safety Net, which was formed last summer, includes mental health experts and city and school district
representatives, as well as others.
The task force's report documents how the city came together in response to the suicides and aims to provide a
Trace school fire is labeled arson
San Jose arson investigators came to their conclusion after reviewing evidence, talking with neighbors and combing the site. They ruled out possible accidental causes.

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Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Smarter Obey?

Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Smarter Obey?

Smarter Obey?

by arotherham
The primary problem - from a strategic standpoint – with the proposed Obey cuts to the Obama Administration’s education priorities to pay for the edujobs bill was that by cutting Race to the Top House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) instantly pulled governors and state education chiefs into the fight against him. A lot of other groups jumped in but the bait and switch nature of the cuts to an ongoing competition made them untenable. Substantively there are plenty of arguments against the cut and even the edujobs bill itself absent some additional reform but at this point this really isn’t about substance.
Realizing this problem, however, the new proposal being floated yesterday and today to break the logjam in the Senate (where the Obey proposal was a non-starter) would only cut money from the federal charter schools
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Free Technology for Teachers: Free Sound Effects Library

Free Technology for Teachers: Free Sound Effects Library
Free Technology for Teachers
FREE RESOURCES AND LESSON PLANS FOR TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY


Free Sound Effects Library

by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
Free SFX is a provider of free, royalty-free sound effect loops. The catalog of free sound effects can be browsed by genre or searched by keyword tag. Once you have registered for a free account you can begin downloading any of the free sound effect loops. One thing to take note of is Free SFXdoes mix in some “premium” results. Premium sound effects are not free to download.

Applications for Education
Free SFX could be a good resource for locating sounds that your students can use in podcasts,


ISTE 2010 Explorers and Excellence Slide Show

by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
The ISTE 2010 opening kick-off featured the following slides as people came in and filled the auditorium. The slides featured famous people who accomplished big things and quotes attributed to them. ISTE has made that loop of slides available through YouTube. Fortunately, in the video they spared us the music that accompanied the slides in the auditorium.
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Notes from the news, July 16 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, July 16 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, July 16

by Erika Owens
Editorial: New chapter, same book The Inquirer
The Inquirer affirms Superintendent Ackerman's assertion that the District's "efforts to boost student achievement are paying off." The District has decided to reveal the criteria used to evaluate Ackerman for her $65,000 bonus, and that transparency should improve public perception.
Corbett calls for taxpayer-funded vouchers The Notebook blog
Republican nominee for governor Tom Corbett brings vouchers back into the political conversation.
Teachers, not robots, create safe schools The Notebook blog
Former principal Frank Murphy describes how teachers with autonomy and the right supports can create safe, successful schools.
Constructing Modern Knowledge Reflections Practical Theory blog
SLA principal Chris Lehmann has been spending time with some of his educational heroes like Deborah Meier.
Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.
Click here to get Notes from the news in your inbox every day.
Notes from the news
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Bill Gates: What The Man didn’t say in Seattle. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Bill Gates: What The Man didn’t say in Seattle. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Bill Gates: What The Man didn’t say in Seattle.

by preaprez

Thanks to NYC Ed.
There’s a Youtube video, hand-held and shakey, of AFT delegates walking out of the convention hall in Seattle. Those walking out were protesting the invitation given to Bill Gates to speak at their convention.
It was a relatively small protest. Others in the hall protested by sitting on their hands when The Man was introduced.
Understand that the AFT delegate selection process pretty much insures that most of the delegates in the hall
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Spouting cliches

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Spouting cliches

Spouting cliches

by Mike Klonsky
"Education is the civil rights issue of our generation." This has become Arne Duncan's mantra lately, as well as that other well-know fighter for civil rights, Newt Gingrich's. It almost seems like every department head or project manager has suddenly discovered civil rights and is now calling whatever project they are heading, from charter schools to on-line learning, "the civil rights issue of our generation." Forgive me, but I think Civil Rights is still the civil rights issue of our time.

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In the mean time, growing poverty and the widening gap between the rich and poor remains a defining factor in educational achievement, playing a bigger role than
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Reflections from Japan � InterACT

Reflections from Japan � InterACT

Reflections from Japan

by Kelly Kovacic

Toyko, Japan
I have never been a very good artist.
I was the kid in elementary school who, despite my best efforts, struggled to draw anything recognizable. I recall inconclusive complements like “How interesting” and “You use such nice colors,” and then encouragement to study the history of art rather than its application.
So I am definitely out of my comfort zone as I gaze at the delicate hand made paper, porcelain vessel of freshly poured ink, and thin goat’s-hair brush before me on a desk at a middle school in Toyko, Japan. Adding to my anxiety are the two energetic boys sitting on either side of me; self-appointed mentors eager to reverse the
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California OKs 'bad' schools list for transfers

California OKs 'bad' schools list for transfers

California OKs 'bad' schools list for transfers

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 16, 2010
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The state Board of Education put a stamp of approval Thursday on a list of 1,000 schools deemed so bad that parents will have the right to transfer their children to a better school in their district or any other district - this school year.
The list fulfills a new state law passed in January requiring districts to provide parents an easier way out of the state's worst schools.
But the list is likely to leave many parents scratching their heads.
That's because not all of the 1,000 schools on the bad schools list are bad. In fact, several are actually pretty good.
The new law left state officials little wiggle room in creating the list. No one district can have more than 10 percent of their schools on the list. As a result, schools that perform at a higher level had to be added to get to the mandatory number.
On the list: Fremont's Grimmer Elementary School, with above-average test scores and


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/15/MNFT1EEV7H.DTL#ixzz0tqaP5R5C
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Endowment, Worried by Markets, Buys Gold Quick Takes: July 16, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: July 16, 2010 - Inside Higher Ed

Endowment, Worried by Markets, Buys Gold The University of Texas Investment Management Company is worried enough about the state of the markets that it spent $500 million (about 3 percent of its value) on buying gold, *The Houston Chronicle* reported. Bruce Zimmerman, CEO of the fund, told ...
As the Crow Flies Arizona State follows a chief who has contempt for "ossified" organizational model in higher ed. But can his problem-oriented approach solve anything?
Using Library Specialists Wisely Forget the usual orientation programs, writes Rob Weir. You can gain more by making a librarian an integral part of your course.
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State may be first to require ski helmets for kids | California Watch

State may be first to require ski helmets for kids | California Watch

State may be first to require ski helmets for kids

July 16, 2010 | Erin Ferguson
Flickr photo by Jasmic
When Jim Robertson, president of the Conejo Ski and Sports Club, hits the slopes, he likes to find out-of-the-way runs on the back side of the mountain, avoiding both trees and crowds.
He doesn’t wear a helmet while skiing, but his grown children, who snowboard, have since they were young. Robertson said not wearing a helmet has not been an issue because of the runs he chooses.
Now, with state lawmakers considering a proposed law to require children to wear helmets when skiing or snowboarding, Robertson acknowledged the wisdom of such a safety precaution – certainly for kids, perhaps even for himself. “It’s a great idea,” Robertson said. “Maybe it should be required for everyone.”
California may be the first state to require at least children to wear helmets on the slopes.
Studies by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission show head injuries represent 14 percent of all ski and snowboarder accidents, and more than half of the deaths on the slopes each year are due to head injuries.
The percentage of serious injuries has increased significantly along with the rising popularity
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“Mappy Friends” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Mappy Friends” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Mappy Friends” Mappy Friends is an easy place for students to write their reviews and impressions of places they have been — whether it’s cities or towns around the world where they have lived, or parks or attractions in the place where they live. I’m adding it to ...
“Internet Censorship” Internet Censorship is the title of an infographic showing countries that censor the Internet the most. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Internet.
“Gulf oil spill FAQ” Gulf oil spill FAQ was published by CNN today, and lists questions and updated answers on the Gulf Spill. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Gulf Oil Spill.
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