gdp's Comments

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Educating (Child) Criminals

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:31:51 +0000

I did not refer to the parents of any of the children as un-caring or addicted to drugs. In fact I stated that although an image of such behavior has emerged there was no evidence to support it. The bullying issue is terrible, I agree, especially if the principal and teachers who were alerted to the problem did nothing to stop it. In fact, I advocated that they be allowed to stay in LCSD, though I do believe there needed to be some sort of punishment. This incident should have led to an investigation of the conditions at school, not focused simply on the parents and the children. Thiank you for updating us with Steven's progress. I hope that he is doing wel.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:26:20 +0000

sure

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Genuine Writing

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 15:05:01 +0000

I am not a fan of saying that recent innovations such as IM'ing, text messaging, etc. are responsible for the deterioration of writing skills, but I think they must play a part at some level. A much stronger effect is likely from the push to have everything our students easily graded and fit into an objective rubric. Being able to manipulate language effectively, creatively and with emotion is not so easily objectified. Even more disappointing is that the state of Florida seems to think it is because in order to get a 6 a student must demonstrate some of those qualities that are unteachable, and yet they punish the teacher for not doing so effectively.

Wanderings : What if what they say is true…

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:00:46 +0000

Touché - often when asked if I believe in Christ when explaining the Baha'i Faith, I must tell people that I cannot be a Baha'i without believing in Christ. For all my talk of viewing religion's as one, I inadvertently showed that it is easier said than done to not see such divisions.

Wanderings : The One Guidance

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:57:27 +0000

Examining one self is exactly what I would like to see people do, but also to dig deeper, become knwoledgeable of things outside of their immediate frame of reference, to be familiar and comfortable with another way of thinking and new ideas. In order to have love for one another, we must be accepting and tolerant that people may be do things differently. I may chant the greatest name 95 times a day, read a Hidden Word and recite the obligatory prayer. Another person may pray on his knees before going to bed, another wear only certain types of clothing while not mixing meat and dairy, and still someone else spend some time everyday in quiet meditation. These are all different methods of communing with the same God, so why do we let these differences keep us apart instead of celebrating the diversity that is worship?

Wanderings : A Christian Prom

Thu, 7 May 2009 16:29:03 +0000

Peter, my objection to the Christian prom is not due to their potential behavior, or that of the others at the prom. Rather, it is against the concept that they should separate themselves in order to illustrate their point. I believe they are doing themselves a great disservice by creating a "safe haven" in which they are free to express their Christian values. Would this not be more meaningful if they were able to live up to their standards of behavior amidst the general population and not just inside the relatively confines of the church?

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Educating (Child) Criminals

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:03:59 +0000

A very interesting statement was made here... Covello was able to be a straight A student, ranked #1 in his class in a very demanding and prestigious college preparatory school despite his substance abuse problems and the "demons" that he had. Is this what parents can expect for the $17,000+ every year?; a school that pushed its students so hard to succeed that they turned to drugs and criminal activity because of stress? Or, perhaps, is this a sign that the school was so focused on academics that they somehow forgot about the "caring and supportive community emphasizing character, leadership and service" that they so proudly place in their mission statement? Maybe, even Covello's parents dropped the ball and did not notice their son's downward spiral or had abused him in some way. Or is it possible that everyone in this young man's life missed the signs and the sad reality that things like this have happened before and will continue to happen no matter what has been done (or not done). In retrospect, we can put these pieces together and see that something was happening, but rarely do we have such insight as the events are unfolding. This is a sad case, but sometimes it is necessary to have something with a strong impact in order to affect a change. I am sure Covello himself will remember these events for the rest of his life. I also hope that the leaders of the Canterbury School will use this opportunity to bring their community together, to open up communication so they cannot be surprised by something like this again and to seek help for any student that needs it. I know that when I was a student there, there was a sense of community, a family, in which we looked out for each other from the youngest to the oldest.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : eBooks in the K-12 Schools (eBook Series Part 3)

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 00:56:09 +0000

Sure reading PDFs on the computer screen would cut down on some costs related to printing, shipping and even storing - not to mention damage. But, students can't take them home (we can't assume that kids will have computers at home). Also, I have never seen a classroom with enough computers for every student... meaning group reading or any other whole group activity would be ruled out. If kids had laptops that would work, but they are still costly and more than what is needed. PDAs designed for educational use might be better, though I have heard there can be problems changing font size because PDF is a fixed-width format. I liked what I saw at your site and had been looking for something like it when preparing for this post so thank you for posting the link. I noticed a lot of workbooks there and that brings up another limitation of devices such as the Kindle or Sony's PSR-700 - the user can't fill anything in. However, I know there is freely available PDF reader software that would allow the user to make notes and then return the file to an instructor... or even use a PDF form that could check itself. Some of these ideas will be looked at more in the next post.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : eTextbooks on the College Campus (eBook Series Part 2)

Sat, 7 Mar 2009 03:30:08 +0000

You bring up a very good point about not limiting the definition of an eBook to just a single type of device (you're getting a bit ahead of me, too). I began this series with devices like the Kindle in mind, but as I explore them more it becomes more and more apparent that the media being read on the devices is far more relevant than the device that is used. Post 3 in the series discusses that concept a bit more and it will come up again in posts 4-6 as well.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : eTextbooks on the College Campus (eBook Series Part 2)

Sat, 7 Mar 2009 02:17:01 +0000

Chris - at the point that devices are what you are suggesting they cease to be eBook readers as we have defined here and move into a different classification of device. There are some applications of modified PDAs being used in the K-12 classroom, but even still what you are describing goes a step further. I see where you are going through and I like it - something like that could be especially useful when it comes to students in ESL courses.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : eTextbooks on the College Campus (eBook Series Part 2)

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 17:27:15 +0000

Brady - thanks for providing the link to Shmoop. That's a site I may be taking a deeper look at in the future. You bring up an interesting question of whether the textbook industry will be willing to give up it's "cash cow" - the textbook - in order to stay current in the market. Their resistance to change may kill the eBook reader as a textbook alternative, but it may also cause them to redefine their industry out of necessity - in the same way that the music industry is changing their view of an "album" give the staggering number of individual song downloads through programs such as Rhapsody and iTunes. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : What Matters More?

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 17:17:51 +0000

I respectfully disagree. The time that was taken to things such as memorizing the times tables could have gone to better use. The same content would have been memorized simply through its regular use. If it is never memorized then that should be a signal that it simply isn't in high enough demand in our daily lives to be committed to memory. Too much of the way that children are taught is guided by the way their teachers and parents learned and not necessarily what recent relevant research has taught us about the way that children learn. Regardless of whether or not it is the most effective way to learn, "the way it has always been" is normally selected in favor of "the way it should be". I don't see how looking something up on Wikipedia as opposed to physically going to the library does not represent hard work. The difference of having students not walking down the hall, but instead reading information and discerning what information is useful to them and what may not be reliable is a much more valuable skill than deciphering the Dewey Decimal System. There are skills that will need to be taught that are different than what has been taught for generations, but that is education for the 21-st century is it not?

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Turning the Page (eBook Series Part 1)

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:14:32 +0000

Carolee - many libraries do offer the ability to download eBooks and Audiobooks that can be read on your computer (PC or Mac) and then transferred to a portable device, assuming the file format is compatible. However, the Kindle transfers items from Amazon to the device over a cell phone network - cutting the library out of it. It is unlikely that libraries will be "loaning" digital content for the Kindle, as the Terms of Use, state, "you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party". However, I do now of a library in New Jersey that is loaning Kindles with several books preloaded - though there seems to be some confusion from Amazon over the legality of this. You can read about that on the Tinfoil Raccoon.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Why is School so Fake?

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:42:05 +0000

I agree 100%

TeacherJay's EduBlog : Why is School so Fake?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:46:39 +0000

Faiza - I have some problems with what you are saying, here. First of all, we don't truly know how much a student can grasp a controversial topic or not. It is more than likely that his opinions on a matter will change as they get older - that's natural as more experiences influence him. Just because his grasp of the material may be different from that of an adult who has had a lifetime of experiences, and already formed a more solid opinion doesn't mean that a child's opinion is any less valid or fully formed simply because he is younger. It is still appropriate for his level of development. Secondly, people (adults) make up their minds on "raging controversies" using "limited knowledge" every day. Have we so quickly forgotten what George Bush, Colin Powell, and Hillary Clinton all said about going to war in Iraq? They formed an opinion, and made a decision with the best information they had at the time. Just because we don't have time to give students all angles of an issue doesn't mean that we leave some topics as completely taboo. I flat out disagree that lack of interest is a reason for not pursuing certain topics deeper. Yes, not all students will be interested in all topics to the same degree - again, human nature that will be found in any group of people. But, that is no reason to stop students from exploring topics on their own. I agree that schools should not be mirroring the teacher's opinions, but rather teaching students that different people have different points of view, and even though they may be in conflict, we can still work together and nobody's is more or less valid than anyone else's. That mutual respect for different views will affect them for their whole life and also give them the freedom to form their own opinions.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : The Obama Effect

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:11:26 +0000

The "Obama Effect" would be so watered-down by other things that a very large sample size and data collection over an extended period would be necessary before even considering the possibility that the effect exists. The researchers hypothesis is that no actual learning is occurring, it is simply a reduction in the anxiety of taking a test that is causing the increase in scores. Still, effects such as that would be difficult to correlate and don't really mean anything to us as educators. Perhaps "Obama babies" will have a different experience than those of us born under different Presidents (I'll decline to say which one I am). Any observed experiences though could not necessarily be attributed to having an African-American president, but living in, what is essentially, a different nation than we were born, that would elect an African-American president.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : High Tech in Hawaii

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:16:22 +0000

Thanks Neil. I definitely support the idea of assessing students in manners other than the traditional pencil and paper written test because they are more authentic - mimicking the ways that students would need to demonstrate their learning when they finish school. Your post was spot on and provided some more examples.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : High Tech in Hawaii

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:54:20 +0000

Faiza - I really liked Word Ahead - expect a review of it on this blog soon :-). I may also have some suggestions for you, too, on how to make the site even more accessible to teachers and students, and some recommendations for ESL teachers on how to incorporate the site into their teaching.

TeacherJay's EduBlog : (Economically) Stimulating Students

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:30:53 +0000

Generally, I think returning to graduate school is a good idea, IF it will make you more happier. In my experience, the two biggest reason people cite for getting a graduate degree is 1) to make more money; 2) to get the mandatory qualifications for the job they want. These are valid reasons, and few people will continue their formal education simply for the love of learning. However, despite the costs of having to repay loans, and regardless of the economy I notice that many people who return to school after years of being in the workforce do so because they want to change careers and do what they have always wanted to do. If returning to graduate school will make someone happier in their career then I say by all means DO IT! By the way - I have similar career goals, and I'm not letting the economy slow me down - I will be starting a doctoral program soon.

Islam in Europe : Malmö: Several arrested during pro-Israel protest

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:42:27 +0000

I grew up eating burgers and drinking cola - in fact, I laughed when I read that because I was literally eating a burger and drinking a cola as I read, and true to form this is some American rubbish on TV. But, I don't feel that I lack the ability to comprehend the greatness of Islam (and my burger-eating certainly did not impair my abilities). I am not a Muslim, but I have read the Quran, twice. I found it to be a beautiful book that lays the groundwork for a very peaceful religion. My mind is not filled with prejudices, but you seem to be suggesting that it is because of where I was born. Is that not the same type of prejudice that you are accusing me of. If you would like me, and others, to know more about Islam, perhaps being an example of Islamic philosophy and remembering these words from Sura 23 will serve your purpose better, "And the servants of the Merciful are those who walk upon the earth lowly, and when the ignorant address them, say, 'Peace!" (The Qur'an (E.H. Palmer tr), Sura 25 - The Discrimination)