Teacher-in-the-Box: Available In Your Neighborhood Sooner Than You Think
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Sunday, June 13, 2010
Blog U.: Jing For Student Authoring - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed
Jing For Student Authoring
By Joshua Kim June 13, 2010 6:47 pm
Have you thought about having your students create voice-over presentations to share with your class? Instead of (or in addition to) having your students give live class presentations, a voice-over PowerPoint can be easily recorded and shared through the LMS.The 5 best things about using Jing, PowerPoint and the Discussion Board:1. Free:Jing is free for your students. As long as they have PowerPoint, they (or your institution) will not need to pay for any new software. (If they don't have PowerPoint, they could always get the free OpenOffice or use Google Presentation). A free voice-over authoring tool is compelling, as one of the main inhibitors to having students create voice-over presentations has been the cost of the applications. Jing is also cross-platform.2. Easy: Check out this screencast I made for my students on how to record a voice-over
The Good Old Summertime
By Susan O'Doherty June 13, 2010 3:40 pm
The New York City public schools are officially open until June 28, but my son is off as of last week. The next two weeks are dedicated to preparing for and taking New York State Regents’ Exams, and he has taken and passed all of his state exams already. He’s going to baseball camp for a week in July, he plays first base for a competitive team with an intensive summer schedule, and he plans to take weekly sitar lessons, but otherwise he’s a free agent until Labor Day.On the one hand, this is great. He needs unstructured time, and he makes good use of it — he rides his bike, plays his guitar, writes songs and sometimes just lies in bed with his laptop, catching up on missed episodes of House and Lie to Me. He and some friends have chipped in on cricket equipment and are teaching themselves to play. He and I have been working on some duets; he’s a terrific accompanist and we harmonize well together. If all goes according to plan, this will be a wonderful summer.I remember how important these free days were from my own adolescence. During the school year, there was always something I was supposed to be doing — homework, a paper that was coming due, lines to learn for a school play, and so on. Life was sometimes hectic and fun, sometimes full of scary drudgery (chemistry and calculus come to mind), but always tightly scheduled and often exhausting and overwhelming. I loved going to, and then working
Greenfield school district, others look to solar power to cut ... - Bakersfield.com
Greenfield school district, others look to solar power to cut ... - Bakersfield.com
Greenfield school district, others look to solar power to cut costs
| Sunday, Jun 13 2010 12:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jun 13 2010 12:00 PM
School districts throughout Kern County are hoping to save thousands of dollars a year on energy costs by contracting with companies offering solar power.
The latest plan is coming out of Greenfield Union School District in south Bakersfield. The district hopes to have companies install solar panels on top of roofs of nearly all 11 campuses (Ollivier Middle School is excluded because of efficiency concerns).
Instead of paying PG&E for power, as it does now, the district would pay the solar power provider installing the panels directly under the plan. The move could save the district more than $50,000 a year, and $4.6 million after 20 years, Superintendent Chris Crawford said.
"We are really excited about this," Crawford said. "There are the savings, and it allows us to budget our power costs."
Greenfield trustees earlier in the week heard a presentation from Enfinity, a solar energy company of investors, and Garland Energy Systems, a solar panel provider and consulting resource.
Trustees have given Crawford the OK to draw up an action item school board members could vote on later this month. If approved, the panels would be installed at no cost to the district under the contract.
At the meeting, trustees asked how the panels would look, whether they would affect roof warranties and most importantly, how much the district could save. The district paid PG&E about $800,000 for
Schools Matter: Eli Broad's Bonus Boob, Robert Bobb, Gets Grilled in Court about Ties to Billionaire Boys Club
Eli Broad's Bonus Boob, Robert Bobb, Gets Grilled in Court about Ties to Billionaire Boys Club
The story from Michigan Public Radio:
DETROIT, MI (Michigan Radio) - Lawyers for the school board say Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb overstepped his authority when he waded into decisions about things like which textbooks to purchase, and which tests to administer.
School board attorney George Washington says Bobb cooperated with private foundations and charter school backers to draft a plan that calls for a mayoral takeover, and for replacing traditional schools with charter schools.
"Somebody who comes in as an emergency financial manager should not be scheming behind the back of the people to overturn a referendum that the people spoke on only two years ago," said Washington.
That referendum put an elected school board back in charge of Detroit Public Schools following a
Famous Failures - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.
Famous Failures
Michael Jordan, Walt Disney and More Who "Didn't Make The Grade"
See Video Below
"Why Is School Set Up To Promote One Type Of Achievement, One Type Of Child, And One Type Of Assessment?"
See Video Below
"Why Is School Set Up To Promote One Type Of Achievement, One Type Of Child, And One Type Of Assessment?"
Over the last few weeks, in our conversations with parents, we've noticed something that went" In our expanded conception of giftedness, we raise questions about the 'gifted child' label . . .
Much modern research has been concerned with how gifted kids look, sound, think, and act, largely in an effort to help educators better meet their needs in school and in supplemental programs. The conclusion: There is no one absolute profile.
. . . .research findings lend credence to our theories about the distinction
between schoolhouse learners and creative-productive learners."
---- "Light Up Your Child's Mind"
Chapter 2: Dreamers, Challengers & One Track Minds
Secretary of Education asks men to "step up"
Secretary of Education asks men to "step up"
Secretary of Education asks men to "step up"
If you like this ...
View all »MEMPHIS - Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, spoke to PTA members and parents at the annual Convention of the Chicago-based National Parent Teacher Association.
Duncan emphasized the importance of parent involvement in student academic achievement. He said his department is asking Congress to double the amount of funding for parent engagement programs. He urged men to step up and "engage (children) every step of the way." Parents can use their skills and talents to become involved. (Read some summer learning tips for ways to get involved over the summer.)
"Nothing is more important than parent engagement," he said. "Parents need to be full and equal partners with teachers."
Engagement is a two-way street, he added. Schools must be welcoming to parents.
Many changes need to occur for schools to improve. He put the Department of education at the top of the list. He said he wants the department to focus more on achievement rather than compliance and on innovation more than bureaucracy.
Duncan supported a $23 billion education jobs legislation designed to save up to 300,000 jobs for
Schools Matter: Arizona's Next Target: "Anchor Babies"
Arizona's Next Target: "Anchor Babies"
Something new cooking in Arizona? From TIME magazine:
Arizona's Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals
By Adam Klawonn / Phoenix"Anchor babies" isn't a very endearing term, but in Arizona those are the words being used to tag children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. While not new, the term is increasingly part of the local vernacular because the primary authors of the nation's toughest and most controversial immigration law are targeting these tots — the legal weights that anchor many undocumented aliens in the U.S. — for their next move.
Buoyed by recent public opinion polls suggesting they're on the right track with illegal immigration, Arizona Republicans will likely introduce legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona — and thus American citizens according to the U.S. Constitution — to parents who are not legal U.S. citizens. The law largely is the brainchild of
CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Academy at the Farm
Academy at the Farm
MOM SUSPECTS COMPLAINT ABOUT SCHOOL LED TO DISABLED CHILD'S OUSTER, June 11, 2010, The Tampa Tribune (FL)
For three years, Shelby Hines was the face of Academy at the Farm's Make-A-Difference Walk, an event that raises money to help offset the cost of therapy for the charter school's special-needs children.
As the walk's honorary chairwoman, Shelby, a 16-year-old with cerebral palsy, was featured in newspaper articles and mentioned in Dade City Commission proclamations.
Her connection to the school is ending, though, under less-than-ideal circumstances.
Shelby's mother, Susan Hines, said she was told last week that Shelby can't return to Academy at the Farm in the fall. Hines suspects that's because she complained to the state and the Pasco County School District over the way Academy at the Farm hired its new director.
"They've always said she can stay as long as we want to leave her," Hines said. "Then I started causing problems."
Mike Rom, the school's outgoing director, said Hines' complaints about the selection of his
NorthJersey.com: Massachusetts' law shows implications of N.J. Gov. Christie's proposed property tax cap
Massachusetts' law shows implications of N.J. Gov. Christie's proposed property tax cap
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
WINTHROP, Mass. — The Mallios family spent about $1,400 over the last four years for their son Dino to play basketball. It wasn’t for equipment, training or elite private camps. They forked over the cash just so he could play on his high school team.
There would be no school teams at all in this town just northeast of Boston, tucked between a greyhound racetrack and the airport, if not for a private foundation that came to the rescue after voters in 2004 killed public school sports by refusing to raise taxes more than 2.5 percent.
The vote was taken under Massachusetts’ 30-year-old "Proposition 2½" law, which Gov. Chris Christie is using as the model for his plan to tame New Jersey’s sky-high property taxes. The law bans local governments from hiking property tax collections by more than 2.5 percent without getting voter permission, with very few exceptions.
With school sports a favorite target of local voter wrath, charging athletes — a concept cropping up in New Jersey — is the rule rather than the exception in Massachusetts. For parents in Winthrop, it means $425 per sport, up to $2,175 per family.
"It was a high fee to pay, but in order to keep my kids in the community, and I felt they were getting a great education here, I did what I had to do to pay it," said Elaine Mallios, Dino’s mother. Her son, a soft-spoken star guard, won a basketball scholarship to a good college. "All I know is I wanted to keep them in my town, my community and have that small-town atmosphere."
Three decades after Massachusetts enacted its cap, property taxes are, by New Jersey standards, low: $4,250 for the average single dwelling last year. They rank 20th in the nation as a percentage of home value in 2008, according to the
FILE PHOTO
Buy this photoIn New Jersey, critics of Christie’s plan contend it would cause too much pain without more state aid to towns and schools.
The vote was taken under Massachusetts’ 30-year-old "Proposition 2½" law, which Gov. Chris Christie is using as the model for his plan to tame New Jersey’s sky-high property taxes. The law bans local governments from hiking property tax collections by more than 2.5 percent without getting voter permission, with very few exceptions.
With school sports a favorite target of local voter wrath, charging athletes — a concept cropping up in New Jersey — is the rule rather than the exception in Massachusetts. For parents in Winthrop, it means $425 per sport, up to $2,175 per family.
"It was a high fee to pay, but in order to keep my kids in the community, and I felt they were getting a great education here, I did what I had to do to pay it," said Elaine Mallios, Dino’s mother. Her son, a soft-spoken star guard, won a basketball scholarship to a good college. "All I know is I wanted to keep them in my town, my community and have that small-town atmosphere."
Three decades after Massachusetts enacted its cap, property taxes are, by New Jersey standards, low: $4,250 for the average single dwelling last year. They rank 20th in the nation as a percentage of home value in 2008, according to the
Engaging dissidence
THE RECORD
Whose voices are being unheard? Is there room for alternative, even critical voices?
Rabbi Arthur Weiner is the spiritual leader of the Jewish Community Center of Paramus.
WITH THE world once again embroiled in angry debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jews throughout the world gathered in their synagogues yesterday and read the story of Korach, who led a failed rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
Korach, our tradition teaches us, criticized and rebelled for the purpose of personal gain and power. An ancient source contrasts his behavior with that of Hillel and Shammai, great teachers and scholars who lived before the destruction of the Second Temple. They argued passionately over Jewish law and practice, yet did not let their often contentious debates destroy their bonds or deny the legitimacy of their opponent's positions.
The lesson that our sages derived from this is simple, yet important: Any controversy that is for heaven's sake is destined to be of lasting worth, but any not for heaven's sake is not destined to be of lasting worth. Which controversy was for
WITH THE world once again embroiled in angry debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jews throughout the world gathered in their synagogues yesterday and read the story of Korach, who led a failed rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
Korach, our tradition teaches us, criticized and rebelled for the purpose of personal gain and power. An ancient source contrasts his behavior with that of Hillel and Shammai, great teachers and scholars who lived before the destruction of the Second Temple. They argued passionately over Jewish law and practice, yet did not let their often contentious debates destroy their bonds or deny the legitimacy of their opponent's positions.
The lesson that our sages derived from this is simple, yet important: Any controversy that is for heaven's sake is destined to be of lasting worth, but any not for heaven's sake is not destined to be of lasting worth. Which controversy was for
N.J. bill targets special interest groups
WIRE SERVICE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON — Legislation that would require special interest groups to publicly disclose information about their contributors and expenditures will be considered this week by a New Jersey Assembly panel.
Proponents say the measure would create more transparency surrounding "secretive groups" that involve themselves in state campaigns and policy discussions but refuse to detail their funding sources.
The bill (A-2595) would apply to groups — organized under certain sections of the Internal Revenue Service code — that engage in influencing elections or providing political information and also raise or spend at least $2,100.
These groups would have to report their contributor and expenditure information to the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission if the bill becomes law.
They also would have to identify themselves in communications they pay for that provide political information or tries to influence elections. And political
Proponents say the measure would create more transparency surrounding "secretive groups" that involve themselves in state campaigns and policy discussions but refuse to detail their funding sources.
The bill (A-2595) would apply to groups — organized under certain sections of the Internal Revenue Service code — that engage in influencing elections or providing political information and also raise or spend at least $2,100.
These groups would have to report their contributor and expenditure information to the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission if the bill becomes law.
They also would have to identify themselves in communications they pay for that provide political information or tries to influence elections. And political
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