Queen Anne Lace

Schools and Race

2007-07-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

This past week's Supreme Court 5-4 decision in regards to using race to integrate schools in Kentucky and Washington has certainly sparked debate among school boards in how should schools deal with their demographics. One suggestion that keeps being suggested is using economic levels; however, I can see that even being an issue. The only students that may have income reported are those that apply for free/reduce breakfast and lunch programs. Will school now have to have families report incomes to adjust their demographics? It does not seem that middle-class and weathy families would want to do be forking out copies of their tax-returns to public schools. It is agreed that there will be litigation on this topic on the near future epecially from those that may not want to move to their new school.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the dissent opinion for the Court. "To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown." We will have to see in the next couple of year what changes are made to school board policies and any new challenges that might be coming to the high Court.

Grade Inflation???

2007-02-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

Associated Press is report that national assessments are not correlating with grade point averages of students. Is this a sign of grade inflation? The article suggests that it is and I would agree just from what I see in my school district. Teachers through the district's approval do give students extra points on exams, quarterly grades, and semester averages just because they are taking harder courses such as AP. My district awards one-half point or .5 to each student who is taking an advanced course; however, even in regular courses, I have seen students given extra points if they passed semester exams. Our district even has an incentive that if you passed your Standards of Learning test, you can be exempted from the exam.

There have been many questions raised this year by the community with these additional points offered. Numerous individuals have written into our local paper, the Free Lance-Star to express their opinion.

I do not know if there is research that would show that grade inflation occurs more frequently has a result of NCLB but it certainly should be looked into for two reasons. First, do administrators and teachers of public schools feel pressured with the requirement of adequate yearly progress (AYP) within the federal mandate? Second have school systems feared the competition between charter, private, and speciality schools that grades within public school systems are showing signs of inflation?

Dyslexia Can Be Determined in 10 Minutes

2007-02-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Dr. Van der Lely has developed a ten minute assessment to determine if a child is dyslexic. This is extremely good news for parents and educators who often have trouble with assessing this issue. It has been tested on over 600 children and targets phonology, morphology, and syntax.

More information about the test, GAP, can be found here.

Texas Proposes a Bill to Fine Parents Who Miss Meetings

2007-02-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

When I read that Texas was considering a bill to fine parents who do not show up for their child's school meetings, I thought this would be a great idea. I think the $500 fine would be enough to encourage parents to make sure they are partners in their child's education; however, I think the money should be for school supplies and transportation needs, not teachers' salaries as the article suggests. The reason I think this is important is that there is an ethical situation created by having teachers get raises off of students' who do not show up. Rather Texas should just pool this money only to school supplies.

Google on the Move??

2007-01-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

I am doing this for a fellow classmate! A fellow teacher at school shared a hypothetical with me concerning social networking. The film, EPIC, is thought provoking.

PS I have not blogged because I can't seem to pull my account up at home.

Go to the farm when mainstream schools don't work for certain kids!

2006-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Moo! Oink! Neigh! For some students in England, The Learning to Listen Centre, the farm school, is their last chance to get an education before being expelled forever. It appears to be working with its students completing their education and many going on to college due to a code of ethics that each student must sign in order to work with the animals:

James was expelled from several schools before ending up at the farm. "I
didn't really like it at first - then I got started with the horses," he said.
"Then I got bored with that, but started learning the skills you need for a
job."...The centre can cater for eight pupils aged 14 to 16. There are formal lessons - Dwayne is to take a maths GCSE next year - and the school has one fully trained teacher. It has been approved by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog. Pupils also learn such skills as welding, horse riding, animal husbandry, milking, dry-stone walling and tractor driving. Each child draws up a behaviour contract - and is asked questions such as: "What do you think should happen if you hurt one of the animals?" Mr Kreutzer said: "Even if they come here with a chequered history we can put that out of our minds and give them respect from the outset. They have to earn the right to look after the animals."

Laptops banned in colleges??

2006-08-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Check out Dottie Hall's latest post on the topic of laptops and college policies. I do not think laptops should be banned but I do think professors need to remind students of some courtesy.

Example of Servant-Leadership

2006-07-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

This article on a school district that is purchasing a house for homeless high school students is an excellent example of servant-leadership that Robert Greenleaf would advocate for:

The Maplewood-Richmond Heights district recently made a down payment on a $250,000 home in a quiet, working-class neighborhood near the high school. A church has agreed to staff it with pastors in training and an area hospital would provide a therapist.

School Superintendent Linda Henke said the idea has probably crossed the minds of school administrators and teachers who encounter homeless students every school year. But making it a reality, Henke said, is far more difficult.

Many communities are seeing the homeless population rise. I was quite impress with this school district's role in tackling the problem. Perhaps instead of buying bricks, we should have coroporate sponsors put down payments on houses for our homeless students to give them some stability in their lives.

Schools Give in to Advertising

2006-07-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh when I read this article from USA Today in which schools are selling space for corporate names through out the school. I realize that schools and business have been doing this for years with yearbooks but I do feel this is different. Unlike the yearbooks which kept the advertisements to the back of the annual, schools are allowing businesses to have name space right in the building including the principals' office. I guess I may be showing my age but I want my school to look like a school - not walls of advertisements like you see at stadiums. Instead of a learning environment, we are allowing corporations to erode the culture and climate of our learning institutions with their distracting media.

However, there is a right way to do this and more tasteful. I suggest that schools look at hospitals and zoos that have done a wonderful job of taking money from sponsors and turning the donatations into bricks or tiles. At the Binder Zoo in Michigan, donations are accepted and turned into a brick to acknowledge the sponsor without distracting the mission of the zoo.

Ivan Illich: Education and Technology

2006-07-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Robert Greenleaf wrote an essay on servant-leadership and education in which he refers to Ivan Illich. Greenleaf argued that there are two issues in education:

Issue #1: The assumption that some individuals know what another ought to learn, and are justified in imposing their judgement - backed up by sanctions.

Issue #2: The fact that our whole system of education rests on coercion: first the leagl requirement for attneding schol until age 16-18; then the built-in compulsion to continue academic education by the credentialing that begins with the secondary school diploma adn continues through the Ph.D. degree-and beyond.

Greenleaf quotes Illich by suggesting that all complusory education should be abolished. Why? Illich states that
"...[the] institutionalization of values leads inevitably to physical pollution, social polarization, and psychological impotence: three dimensions in a process of global degradation and modernized misery..." This sound very Jonathan Kozol to me. Illich also wrote the following: "Supreme Court Justice William 0. Douglas observed that 'the only way to establish an institution is to finance it.' The corollary is also true. Only by channeling dollars away from the institutions which now treat health, education, and welfare can the further impoverishment resulting from their disabling side effects be stopped." Kozol would probably disagree with this statement having written several times that it is unfair financing that is causing the inequities within our education system. Illich notes that the only way to fix the education system is to get rid of it. I don't know if I agree with that statement but I do remember a conversation with one of my college professors that the only way to fix education was to rebuilt the system. My colleagues at the time were shocked that he would suggest but this is exactly what Illich suggests doing. Jim Collins who wrote Good to Great, would also suggest that sometimes organizations just need to reinvent themselves so perhaps Illich is correct.

Ivan Illich also wrote on technology and is credited for the technology movement of the 70s. I feel his writing is a little disturbing because he suggests (if I am comprehending correctly) that only a few should have the tools of technology:

For a hundred years we have tried to make machines work for men and to school men for life in their service. Now it turns out that machines do not "work" and that people cannot be schooled for a life at the service of machines. The hypothesis on which the experiment was built must now be discarded. The hypothesis was that machines can replace slaves. The evidence shows that, used for this purpose, machines enslave men. Neither a dictatorial proletariat nor a leisure mass can escape the dominion of constantly expanding industrial tools.

Not exactly liberating is it. Illich further states:

People need not only to obtain things, they need above all the freedom to make things among which they can live, to give shape to them according to their own tastes, and to put them to use in caring for and about others. Prisoners in rich countries often have access to more things and services than members of their families, but they have no say in how things are to be made and cannot decide what to do with them. Their punishment consists in being deprived of what I shall call "conviviality." They are degraded to the status of mere consumers.

As I read Illich's works, I wonder if society's ills is that we have created a consumer based society. We have taken away the work ethic and pride and created crime and hate.

School districts, students paying price for teacher absences

2006-06-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

In The Arizona Republic, the topic of teacher absences is being discussed. It is agreed that the teachers who are feeling the stress of NCLB and IDEA are taking more sick days. It is also true that teachers are being exposed to more germs; parents are not taking time off their jobs so they send their sick children to school. In one district, it had budgeted $471,047 to cover the cost of substitute teachers but ended up spending $779,980. Ouch!

While the article does not offer solutions, I have one that I have always felt should be implemented in schools. It simply involves giving a teacher a bonus if he/she has only used no more that 2 sick days. When I worked for ASCD, the association had this simple incentive in place that paid you $150. Another approach is to have teachers get their own subs on a pre-approved list.

I do not have a solution for the 'sick kids in school' but clearly something needs to be done with a sick day policy for students. This spring at my school we had late cases of flu. During a two week period, we had anywhere from 67 to 130 kids absent out of 1200; otherwise, our normal rate is about 19 kids out sick. If the Avian flu does come, I feel schools will not be prepared and will contributor to an epidemic if schools are not more strict in regards with having sick children.

Connexions - Could this be Nirvana?

2006-05-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Dr. Rich Baraniuk of Rice University has created a free, web-based site of peer-reviewed scholarly works on a far-ranging number of topics, including education; however, the site is much more that just a repository, it offers courses too.

The National Council of Professors of Educational Administration is soliciting articles from school administrators and other education professionals to include on Connexions.

I am going to be exploring this site in the days to come but thought everyone should take a look at it. I am amazed at the global collaboration of this endeavor! I think I was even introduced this site from my tech planning class by another classmate, but at the time, I was just getting into using the new technology that I let it pass me up.

Special Education - Where is the REAL DATA?

2006-05-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Working on a paper for another class, I was wondering where the data was that broke down the percentage passing for students with disabilities on the Virginia SOLs. This lack of information encouraged me to call Dr. Wickman in assessment at Virginia's Department of Education. She was extremely helpful and said that she working on gathering the data. She mailed to me a link with the requested breakdown between students with and without disabilities. Basically, it appears that our students with disabilities are at a plateau that is right around 50% passing for all subjects across all grades; however, there are many unanswered questions.

I would still like to know how students with disabilities are performing at subcategory levels, especially in math; for example, do autistics perform better at computation or geometry. Why would I want to know this? I have now met about 120 autistic middle school boys who all have very similar characteristics like poor handwriting, bumping into people and things, and toe walking (i.e. student does not place heel all the way down as he is walking.) Dr. Megson says that many of these kids "see" the world like a David Hockney photocollage. If these kids really see the world this way, it would explain why they bumped into walls and people as well as not being able to look at your face when talking. It would explain why so many of these kids absolutely hate to write and have poor coordination.

Getting Rid of Cursive Writing?

2006-03-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

There has been great debate about whether cursive handwriting should still be part of the elementary curriculum. The main reason that teachers have been disregarding it in their lessons is that cursive is no longer valued as necessary in the age of technology and standard based education. Many teachers have stated to me that they no longer teach it because it is not tested on Virginia Standards of Learning. Their claim is further justified in the fact that the SOLs only have cursive handwriting stated one time - third grade. The few teachers that are teaching it, are only having students learn how to write their names in cursive.

My concern for getting away from cursive, it that we will have several generations of students who will not be able to read our country's historical documents. When students read these now, they are often just reading reprinted blurbs in textbooks. No one ever mentions this fact about accessing our country's early documents.

Just on a whim, I did my Friday lesson, entirely in cursive. Only a fourth of my students could read my science notes. The kids wanted to know how to write and read in cursive because their parents know it and they can't read their parents' notes. This really blew some my colleagues away who did their own gathering of data and got similar findings as I did.

I told the kids that I would teach them but it was going to have to wait until June because we had to get through our SOLs. I had one parent that wrote me and said thanks; I told her she was welcomed and that I hope I don't get fired because I was teaching something not in the SOLs for sixth grade. She quickly responded that if that happened, she would personally bake a cake with a file and set up a collection for me:)

Education in the Great Depression

2006-03-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

With all the recent talks about another great depression in the US, I was curious as to what education organizations did to survive the 1930's? They did exactly what I thought they would by cutting services and salaries as was noted by the following author:

The 1930's were a perilous time for public education. With cash money in short supply parents were unable to provide their children with the necessary clothes, supplies, and textbooks (which were not furnished in some states) to attend school. Taxes, especially in rural areas, went unpaid. With the loss of revenue, school boards were forced to try numerous strategies to keep their districts operating. School terms were shortened. Teachers' salaries were cut. One new teacher was paid $40 a month for a five month school year - and was very glad for the job! When a rural county in Arkansas was forced to charge tuition one year in order to keep the schools open, some children were forced to drop out for that year. One farmer was able to barter wood to fuel the classrooms' potbellied stoves for his four children's tuition, thus enabling them to continue their education. The famous Dick and Jane books that taught millions of children to read were first published in 1931. These primers introduced the students to reading with only one new word per page and a limited vocabulary per book. All who learned to read with these books still recall the "Look. See Dick. See Dick run."

There is already some areas that have cut services because of costs without a recession or depression. For example, in Stafford County Public Schools, summer school has been reduced to less than 15 days from 30 days from about 5 years ago. Some districts are experimenting with this 4 day option as a regular week of school from the traditional 5 day while others are experimenting running schools without administrators.

ARe schools ready for a huge economic change if such an event were to happen? My guess is yes; however, the communities that have depended on schools for watching and caring for their children are not prepared which makes me worried.

What students and teachers need to know about the copyright!

2006-03-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Teaching Generation Z has some timely information for teachers and students about copyright. Students (and teachers) are constantly using images off the Internet without knowing all the limitations. As was mentioned at Teaching Generation Z many folks think that if the copyright symbol is not included then it is fair game to use. Not only is this incorrect, the message is not getting to our students quickly enough or our teachers.

Math Interventions for Students with Disabilities

2006-03-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

In "Mathematics Interventions for Children with Special Educational Needs: A Meta-Analysis" in Remedial and Special Education Volume 24, Number 2, March/April 2003 by Drs. Kroebergen and Van Luit have concluded some major findings that special education teachers and administrators need to start paying attention to especially since No Child Left Behind requires schools to use scientifically based research practices. The researchers looked at 58 studies focusing on three domains: prepartory mathematics, basic skills (ie. the four classic operations), and problem-solving strateiges. In summary, interventions that involved direct instruction and self-instruction had the greatest effect sizes while computer-assisted instruction and peer tutoring were the least effective.

The implications to teachers and adminstrators of special education students should be quite clear. Over the years, peer tutoring continues to be advocated as an acceptable practice for special educaiton students; however, the results of this study would show otherwise. "One important factor is that peers are less capable of perceiving the needs of other students than teachers." (p.111) The researchers also noted that computer-assisted instruction was also not as effective. While the researchers only conclude that humans are better than machine. I feel that a deeper explanation could be hypothesized: Computers cannot sense when a student is not focusing and therefore off-task hence the learning has stopped. Teachers can redirect students with verbal and non-verbal cues.

It would be interesting to know how many special education students have peer tutoring and computer-assisted instruction accommodations. While I feel confident that most teachers of special education students use direct intruction to initialy teach a concept, I wonder how many put students with peers and/or a computer to reinforce concepts. The reinforcement stage is the most critical to be able to correct miscues in understanding that only an experienced teacher can catch.

Aspen Institute and NCLB

2006-02-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

The Aspen Institute is taking public comment on NCLB in preparation of the reauthorization of NCLB in 2007. Comments can be made directly at their site. Educators are often criticize for not taking part in policy making but here is a chance to have our voices heard.

Project Lifesaver

2006-02-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

My local city police began Project Lifesaver which is being used by people with diabilities who may wander off. These individuals who may lack communication skills may not be able to express where they should be. The individual wears a wristband like a watchband that has a transmitter and emits a constant tracking signal 24/7. When the caregiver discovers their loved one missing, they call the police with a special tracking unit that can quickly locate the missing person. Project Lifesaver has been endorsed by the National Sheriff's Association (NSA). People with Alzheimer's Disease, Autism, Down Syndrome, Williams Syndrome, Soto Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, traumatic brain injuries or other conditions that cause wandering are using the device as an extra security.

At my son's school, they have had two special needs students go to the bathroom by themselves and then walk out right of the building. While in both cases, the students were found, it leaves a school administrator biting their nails until the student is located. I was very excited when our local police decided to join Project Lifesaver and signed up my son who has autism. Obviously, I was eager to participate in Project Lifesaver knowing that he could have walked out the building like the other students. He wears his wristband like a watch and thinks he is a Spykid2. The band is completely waterproof and can't be taken off unless cut off - just like a hospital band. More special needs students are using the Lifesaver bands and I imagine as the program becomes more visible with the community, it will grow.

Our Science/Math President

2006-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

In the President's State of the Union (SOTU) address this past Wednesday, the nation was promised that we would be number one in science and math by offering education reforms that would make our country competitive again just like in the days of the Apollo missions; however, no concrete details were presented. From the National Science Teachers Association's legislative update, the public has a better idea of what he wants to implement. Prior to the SOTU, Senators Domenici (R-NM), Bingaman (D-NM), Alexander (R-TN) and Mikulski (D-MD) recently introduced the Protect America’s Competitive Edge (PACE) Act, three bills designed to put into place the 20 recommendations contained in the National Academies of Science (NAS) report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm.

While announcement is welcomed, there is concern that PACE will not be able to hook a more talented teaching pool who will be willing to take the government money and teach with schools in need; however, with so many loosing their positions with the automakers, perhaps we will have career switchers willing to make the change for America's children.

Kings Dominion Law Remains

2006-01-21T02:57:00.000-08:00

Larry O'Dell for Associated Press reports that Virginia is not going to get rid of the Kings Dominion Law that prevents most Virginia public schools from opening prior to Labor Day. A bill that would have reverse the current law was killed by the Senate Education and Health Committee by a vote of 11-3 on Thursday.

According to the state Department of Education, 79 of the state's 132 school divisions had permission to start this academic year earlier, mostly to compensate for days missed because of bad weather."Others apply for it and get rejected year after year," said Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, who proposed eliminating the post-Labor Day opening law.Cuccinelli said Fairfax County school officials believe that the late start puts their students at a disadvantage in end-of-year testing.

As noted by Princess Moss, president of the Virginia Education System, feels that teachers want as much as they can have prior to the mandated Standards of Learning tests that are given in the Spring. The testing window for schools begins in March for the Writing SOL followed by the other core subjects in April/May. It does not make sense to educators to have up to a month and half after the tests; the time should be moved to the start of the school calendar.

Is there a way to have a compromise? Online courses would all schools to start prior to Labor Day. They could even be hybrid courses that start online prior to Labor Day and then move in the traditional mode after the holiday. Businesses that are centered around tourism would not loose their cheap labor force and schools could begin prior to labor day.

Saving Money By Having Independent Contractors

2006-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Apparently a public school district in Michigan has created a novel way to save the district thousands of dollars by simply have school administrators categorized as independent contractors. Hiring independent contractors allows school districts not to pay insurance or retirement perks.

Mr. Dowdy says that hiring independent contractors is becoming more popular with school districts around the state. However, he notes that teachers' unions are opposed to the idea for teachers.

It is certainly understandable why many teachers would be opposed to becoming an independent contractor because of the insurance premiums. For example, I get $475 per month taken out of my paycheck before taxes that helps defer the total cost of my family insurance while the school district pays approximately $612 per month on my behalf. I get paid about $2300 month. If I had to pay for my total insurance premium by paying out an extra $612, I would need to look for a second income to supplement. Something else to consider: I am assuming that I would get the same rate that the school district gets for the insurance which may not be the case because I would be an independent contractor. I may not have the "collective bargaining power" as a large organization to get the cheaper corporate rate. I honestly can see many public entities doing this to save money on behalf of the public purse.

Online Courses Popular

2006-01-15T04:21:00.000-08:00

CNN reports that many college students like online course while some colleges feel that offering them is only giving in to the lazy student; however, one student reports that he concentrates better and as a result has better grades.

Public schools should be studying the trend that is happening around some colleges and univerisities and consider the option of offering some of its courses online like math. More than ever, many high school students are working part-time jobs to help towards the costs of their future college education. Many of the students that I hear from wish that courses like math could be offered online so that they could take an afternoon part-time job. I can't think of a better way to learn time-management and future undergraduate success. If a high schooler can juggle part-time work with an online class along with their high school campus classes, I feel we are assuring a student to succeed with higher education that demands students to multitask and we are also giving them the opportunitiy of true "real world" experience.

Another plus for offering online courses, would be to assure highly qualified teachers for all students. For example, many of our upper math courses like Trig and Statistics, have class enrollments under 20 compared to the average class size of 28 for other courses. It is very hard to find certified math teachers for five high schools but these courses could be taught online to all students by a qualified math teacher. The school district saves money too. Instead of five teachers, the school district is only paying for two or three teachers.

Virginia public schools are already offering online AP courses now but I feel that the school system should be looking at other ways to expand online options to other students as well. Online courses offer a win-win for both students and school officials.

Cyper-age Nightmare on 20/20

2006-01-07T04:24:00.000-08:00

The members of the Educational Technology Planning class aka EPPL 639 are way ahead of the issues presented on ABCNews' 20/20 in regards to green computing and the ethics surrounding our toxic e-waste. One solution that was presented in the show was to ask for an upfront fee that would be used to safely dispose of e-waste which Europe is currently doing as a way to curbside the toxic loads. In Europe, computers are being sent back to the manufacturer for recycling/reusing.

Two items of interest were discussed on 20/20. One of the interesting statistics mentioned was that the average computer monitor has five pounds of lead. The program also noted that hard drives needed to be wiped out with personal information before carted off to a foreign country; the reporter shared an incident that confidential information from the Wisconsin's Department of Health and Family Services found its way into the global community. We all should be concerned about the policies surrounding computer disposal since everyone of us has information like social security numbers, addresses, and other personal information that are on various hard drives that have collected over the years of life.

I know that there were a few of my classmates surprised about the toxic elements inside of computers when I presented the information on green computing. Now with the mainstream attention to this issue, it will be interesting to see how the general public responds to the issue.

Education, China, and Politics

2006-01-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

With China soon to be the superpower of economics, language programs in public schools are focusing on Mandarin have already started in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and Boston.

In the U.S. Senate, the Foreign Relations Committee is considering a proposal to allocate $1.3 billion to boost Chinese language and culture classes in public school, and China, too, is doing its part, said Michael Levine, education director at The Asia Society in New York City. China's education ministry has formed partnerships with states including Kentucky and Kansas, as well as the countries of Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom, to boost teacher exchanges and training.

Kansas says that its not fair to ignore the new world influence and were eager to add Chinese to their offerings. As pointed out:

Those who believe teaching Chinese is important point out that trade between the U.S. and China is growing. U.S. trade with China exceeded $230 billion last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, trailing only Canada and Mexico. It's difficult to learn. To read Chinese, one must know thousands of characters, because the language does not have an alphabet. And when speaking Chinese, tone can determine meaning. For example, "ask" and "kiss" are pronounced the same in Chinese but are differentiated by tones. But Low's students said knowing the language will give them an advantage when they apply to college or begin their careers.

While I have not check out all of these resources, for those that do not want to wait for their public schools, take a look at some of these online resources.

2006 Legislative Survey from Delegate Bill Howell

2005-12-31T13:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday's mail has brought me Delegate Bill Howell's newsletter which announced that the General Assembly will convene on January 11th. The newsletter included a survey for feedback from the 28th District on issues ranging from education, taxes, and government responsibilities. It also asks if you want to be a part of Howell's advisory committee. While I don't know if I will be accepted, I think this would be great opportunity to get involved at the state level and influence the policymakers that I hear about in with my Educational Leadership, Policy, and Planning program at the College of William and Mary.

On the survey the following educational items are asked:

* Should Virginia require all elementary and secondary school teachers to pass periodic competency test to ensure they are current and knowledgeable in the subject matter they are teaching our children? Y or N

* Currently, Virginia serves 100% of the 24,000 at-risk four year old pre-kindergartners. Do you support expanding these programs to non-at-risk children, including those from middle- and upper income- families, at a cost to Virginia taxpayers of over $400 million a year? Y or N

* In an effort to further focus funding on educational instruction, should Virginia require schools to make sure at least 65% of state education money is spent directly on our children in the classroom? Y or N

I don't know if we should require additional testing for teachers. Is there other states that require periodic testing or other professions? Keep in mind that Virginia's recertification program requires teachers to earn 180 professional points or 2 college classes renewal period. Maybe what needs to be done is that the recertification program should be changed to just college courses rather than inhouse professional development. What are the projected costs to implement these tests?

As for expanding the early education programs to non-at-risk students, how many more teachers and classrooms would that entail? Is there a need for it? Do these families want it? Would the at-risk populations be short changed in anyway? Again what would be the costs involved in expanding the program?

As for funding on educational instruction, what is the percentage now? Why 65%? Is there a cost analysis vs. acheivement outcomes that can be used to judge effectiveness of money spent?

I obviously need more answers to these questions. Virginia Education Association did have have a legislative update but I am sure in the next couple of days they will have opinions on all of these questions; however, the VEA did have agenda for the February 6th Lobby Day:

VEA Will Initiate:

1. Bring Virginia’s Teacher Salary to the National Average

A. National Average — Policy of Commonwealth — Virginia’s teachers are paid at a rate $2,057, or 4.31 percent, below the national average, despite the fact that the per capita personal income of Virginians exceeds the national average by $2,192, or 6.97 percent. The VEA shall initiate legislation that will establish meeting or exceeding the national average teacher salary as the policy of this wealthy state.

B. Language Requiring Progress — The General Assembly increased K-12 education funding by $1.28 billion in the 2004-06 biennium. The increase in state per-pupil funding far exceeded increases in teacher salaries. The VEA shall initiate the introduction of budget amendments to include language requiring localities to use the appropriated funds for salaries.

C. 4.5% Budget Amendment — It is time for the General Assembly to step up to the plate and appropriate the state share of a salary increase that will track Virginia towards a national competitive teacher salary. A 4.5% increase for two years will bring Virginia’s average teacher salary to the national average, and VEA shall initiate action to amend the budget for this purpose.

2. Retiree Health Care Credit — The VEA shall initiate legislation which will:

A. Increase the monthly health insurance credit for retired school employees from $2.50 per year of service to $4 per year of service in order to mirror the health care credit given retired state employees. If state employees move from $4 to $6 in the 2006 session, school employees should receive the same increased benefit.

B. Remove the 30-year cap on health insurance credit.

C. Expand the availability of this health insurance credit benefit to education support professionals.

3. Phased Increase in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) Multiplier from 1.7 to 2.0 Over Six Years (0.05 percent per year), and increase the retirement benefit of current retirees by 1 percent for each of the next six years.

The provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act requiring a fully qualified teacher for every classroom and the anticipated retirement of 40% of teachers in the next five years add urgency to the commonwealth’s need to retain qualified teachers in the current era of shortages.The VRS is among the best-managed public employee retirement funds in the nation; however, the retirement benefits provided to school employees lag behind those offered in many other states and behind the benefits offered to other categories of personnel in VRS-administered defined benefit retirement plans (LEORS, SPORS, VaLORS and JRS).The VEA phased-in increase in the formula would offer a strong incentive to teachers near retirement age to remain in the classroom, reducing the teacher shortage and offering well deserved retirement security to retired educators.

4. Bus Speed LimitThe VEA shall seek legislation to have speed limits for school buses in Virginia amended. In this amendment, the limit of 35 miles per hour, on roadways where the speed limit is 55 miles per hour, will be increased to the maximum speed limit allowed of 45 miles per hour, and completely eliminated on roadways where the speed limit exceeds 55 miles per hour.

5. Realistic Rebenchmarking of the Standards of Quality (SOQ) Rebenchmarking is the routine (biennial) assessment of the cost of funding the SOQ. Article VIII, Section 2 of the Virginia Constitution states, "Standards of Quality for the several school divisions shall be determined and prescribed from time to time by the Board of Education, subject to revision only by the General Assembly.” The Board makes its request, which reflects the cost of maintaining the commonwealth’s minimum foundation program. The variables of staffing ratios, number of students, salaries, fringe benefits, prevailing support costs and inflation factors are included in this calculation. Approximately 90% of the Direct Aid to public education is SOQ funding. The VEA supports full funding of the SOQ.

6. Virginia Pre-School Initiative (VPI) A. Requiring ALL publicly funded preschool teachers – not just those employed by public schools – to hold a bachelor’s degree and have specialized training in early childhood.

B. Increasing per pupil funding for VPI to account for inflation, adequately compensate teachers, assist localities with costs of facilities, and create parity with Head Start.

7. VEA Will Oppose Defined Contribution VRS OptionAs long as VRS is a defined benefit plan, recipients can depend on their promised benefit plus cost of living adjustments (C.O.L.A.) regardless of market performance. Educators are better off in a defined benefit (DB) plan than in a defined contribution (DC) plan for the following reasons: DB plan benefits do not decrease when the market falls.Many DC plan participants have seen 40% - 60% reductions in their account balances and therefore in their benefits. A DB plan offers a guaranteed benefit and a disability benefit program but a DC plan does not. At career’s end, educators deserve the security of a predictable and secure benefit.

8. Tuition Tax Credits/VouchersThe VEA shall oppose legislation that directs public funds to be spent for private schools. The strongest argument against vouchers and tuition tax credits (TTC) is that they remove much needed dollars from the public school system. In states where TTC are in place, independent analysis indicates that students from wealthier families and wealthier donors are the primary beneficiaries, rather than low-income students and families. Public school choice is allowed under current law.

iPods Used with College Students but Reward Temecula K-12 Students who Skip School

2005-12-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

This just in ....Dr. Miller at University of Connecticut is using iPods as a study aid for his students. His students love this application to help review for Dr. Miller's exams. Duke University is also experimenting with iPods and no longer worries about attendance; students are still coming to class.

While not stated in the article, the podcasts that are on the web could be utilized as selling tools/recruitement aids for colleges and universitites. Institutes of higher learning just like public schools are hurting for money. Would not showcasing your faculty talent be one way to attract future students?

So what's in this technology for me as a math/science teacher in a public school? While some of my students miss lab days, if a lesson was taped for a podcast, at least my students could watch it or use it as a review. Dr. Miller also mentioned that students that did not have iPods could still access the material using their computer. Also podcasts of K-12 teachers could be use by departments of human resources to recruite new teachers to the district.

Would podcasting help schools struggling with funding and finding teachers save money with the podcast resource?

In California, Temecula School District is struggling with school attendance so the district is raffling a car, iPods, and Disneyland tickets. Temecula is big wine country with several immigrants; my guess is that many students have to stay home to watch younger ones. Rather than giving away cars and trips, why not podcast classes that students could watch at home while using the MIT $100 laptops.

Senator Bill Frist's Smart Grant

2005-12-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

Senator Frist is the first public official that I know that has just recently announced the threat from China and India. Senator Frist's Smart Grant provides incentive funds for undergraduates to pursue degrees in science, math, technology, and foreign languages:

"China and India are generating scientists and engineers at a furious pace while America lags dangerously behind," said Frist. "These SMART Grants and Academic Competitiveness Grants help close America's competitiveness gap and prepare American students for the high-paying, high-skill jobs that drive the 21st century economy. I fought hard to pass this worthy program, and I'm proud we were able to boost funding levels to provide low-income students real incentives to pursue time-intensive math and science degrees. This legislation is a critical national security tool that will also sustain America's global legacy as a land of innovation, imagination, and initiative."

I think this is a great gesture on behalf of Frist but what about the middle class students. I feel that they are worthy to be invested in as well as the low income students. Don't we want to graduate students faster instead of later? I hear from undergraduates all the time that they have to work so they are on the 5 or 6 year plan to get their undergraduate to degree. These students are very motivated and I feel that if there is money to be awarded, they should be considered too.

In today's Free Lance-Star there was an excellent and motivating story about a single parent at 17 who earned her PhD in biochemistry at 27. If it was not for the help of Kylene Hall's family, she would have never made it.

John Battelle on the Future of Online Search

2005-12-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

John Battelle who recently released a new book, Search and was recently interviewed on CNN in which he had the following concerns:

JB: This is in the case of some of the tools now that Google and others give you, called the tool bar, which watches everywhere you go. And why they do that is that so they know everywhere you've been on the Internet so they can give you better search. "Oh, I see, he's been to this site before, so perhaps I should make that site higher in the results." That's called personalized search.

It seems like a service to you, right? But all the information about where you've been doesn't live with you, nor do you control it nor can you control who has access to it because of course the government or Google itself -- or it doesn't necessarily have to be Google, it could be Microsoft or Yahoo or anyone else -- could do whatever they like with it without telling you. In fact, it's part of their privacy policy that they will not sell this, they will not give it to third parties unless the laws of that country require them to.

Now we've seen the laws of various countries and the law of China is very different from the law of Britain and very different from the law of the United States. In fact, the law of the United States is a lot more like China. It turns out that after 9/11 we've passed a law called the Patriot Act which
gives the government right to riffle through all of our stuff on line without our knowledge, which frankly as a journalist terrifies me. Not that I don't think we should have tools to combat terrorism -- I do. I just think we need a little sunlight.

We are creating these vast records of everything we do. It's very difficult to pull those records together and make sense of them but that's exactly what Google's job is. That's why they are in business. Are they doing the work of a potentially corrupt or abusive government? Yes, you can't deny that they are. The question is will they make a stand against it at some point and/or will they make it transparent to me so I can see what they know about me and I can edit it or decide that I wish to become anonymous.

Feeling a little nervous about the potential Google and government partnership? Google can already control what advertisements that I see through tags with my searches which is so flawless that most consumers are not even aware that they are being herded in cyberspace. My question if they can do it with advertising, what is stopping them from doing this with searches that prevent me from seeing information that may prove helpful to my research or my autistic son. Will Google herd me to somewhere else that may be related to my search but not where I ultimately may want to go?

Battelle makes some interesting predictions for 2006. Battelle feels that there will be some major lawsuits involving the protection of data files on the private citizens as well as the Web 2.0 will be a major focus.

Furious with ABCNews

2005-12-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

Today there is an article about how the reading of Harry Potter books actually keeps children out of the emergency wards. When kids are reading, of course, they are not going to be engaging in dangerous activities. Duh!! This was not the revealing part of the article that made me so fired up; it was the following quote from trauma surgeon Stephan Gwilym:

The only downside to this hypothesis [reading Harry Potter books] is turning active kids into bookworms. Potential problems could include "an unpredictable increase in childhood obesity, rickets, and loss of cardiovascular fitness," he said.

I can only say that from the real world trenches of middle school that the bookworms tend to be underweight while the low achieveing students are more likely to be overweight. I guess we can blame the schools for all the reading that we make students do because it is causing obesity; perhaps, we need to change the curriculum to only Playstation during first period followed by XBox; maybe reading needs to be cut out all together. Honestly, I cannot believe an educated person, let alone a doctor, would even suggest that turning children into bookworms might lead to obesity.

I wonder if the good doctor has ever looked at the nutritional value of school lunches or diets in general among children. The National Research Council has a book online entitled Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children which goes into some of the reasons that children may be overweight. Then again maybe its the microwave cooking that is causing the weight problem among children.

Minorities Not Taking as Many Advanced Classes or Exams

2005-12-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

The Boston Globe reports that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of miniority students taking accelerated classes and AP exams.

Prior to 1999, black students filled about half of the seats in the advanced classes. Now, all students are admitted to the classes based only on their score on a national standardized test. School district leaders feared lawsuits if they kept racial quotas for the program; a 1998 federal court ruling banned racial quotas in exam school admissions. Since then, black and Hispanic enrollment at Boston Latin, the most competitive exam school, has declined.

Rachel Skerritt, 27, who is black, went through advanced-work classes in Boston Public Schools, got into Boston Latin, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Now a published author and an English teacher at Boston Latin, Skerritt sees only a handful of black students in her classes.''If I hadn't been in advanced work I definitely wouldn't have gotten into Latin," she said. ''I feel like my whole educational career was made when I was 7."

So how do you solve the problem of getting more minority students to take advanced courses? Use multiple criteria for pupil selection to these advance classes or offer them to all. My concern is that advanced courses are quality education and everyone should be asking for it; however, many families are not aware of the courses or if they are what type of committment is needed to take such classes. I have always felt that all families need to be aware of the advantages of taking these courses. Families of high economic status already know why these type of classes are important just like Rachel's family did. Knowledge and information is power.

The Touchy Subject - Segregation

2005-12-21T03:37:00.000-08:00

Rocky Mountain News today touches upon public education's controversial topic: school segregation aka white flight. Under Colorado law, parents have many options when selecting among schools within a district including out of district for their children. In Boulder, Columbine, and Lafayette new enrollment patterns are emerging creating large hispanic populations at particular schools. While Superintendent George Garcia of the Boulder district cannot do anything to change the state's open enrollment law, a citizen task force has suggested several strategies to disperse the district's students more equitably. These suggestions included enrollment targets for minorities and economically disadvantaged students which would include enrollment caps and preferences for free meals only available at mostly middle- or upper-income schools. Another option would be to provide transportation to low income families so they can take advantage of open enrollment. School board President Helayne Jones acknowledges that the discussions will be politically sensitive.

"For a liberal community, we aren't looking so liberal in the white flight we've experienced from some schools in the last 10 years," says Phillips, who was barred by term limits from seeking a third term on the school board. Jared Polis, a member of the Colorado Board of Education and a Boulder native, says the school district should stop blaming open enrollment for school segregation and do more to attract Anglo families back to schools like Columbine.
"My feeling is the problem is racism," Richard Garcia, board member of the Colorado Commission of Higher Education, says. "I think people are leaving Columbine because they don't like to be with brown kids. I know I'm going to get killed because I said that, but I'm going to call it as I
see it."

"Merely claiming racism can be an excuse not to take action, and sometimes that's what it becomes," Polis says. "I think that parents of all colors care most about the quality of the school and achievement," Polis says. "If there's a school where their kids are getting a good education, and the teachers are good and the program is good and their child is happy, I don't
think they care what color the child that sits next to them is."

No doubt school districts will be watching Colorado to see how this pans out when schools resume in January.

2005-12-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Just when I feel comfortable with all the technology, I read Lowell Monke's article, "The Overdominance of Computers" in Educational Leadership (Dec. 2005). Monke says:

Schools need to prepare young people for a high-tech society. Does it automatically follow that children of all ages should use high-tech tools? Most people assume that it does, and that's the end of the argument. But we don't prepare children for an automobile-dependent society by finding ways for 10-year-olds to drive cars, or prepare people to use alcohol responsibly by teaching them how to drink when they are 6. My point is that preparation does not necessarily warrant early participation. Indeed, preparing young people quite often involves strengthening their inner resources—like self-discipline, moral judgment, and empathy—before giving them the opportunity to participate.
I agree with Monke that students need the ethics piece in their education especially now when we have students on the web. He comments that he realizes that his high schools students could cause a lot of pain without seeing the tears that it would cause. Speaking with another teacher today at school, I asked how are we going to teach ethics to students. The teacher said we were not because it was not in the Standards of Learning or should be the parents' responsibility.
To quote Monke again:
Anyone who has spent time in schools knows that what is keeping today's youth from succeeding academically has nothing to do with a lack of technical skills or access to computers. Rather, it is the lack of qualities like hope, compassion, trust, respect, a sense of belonging, moral judgment, stability, community support, parental care, and teacher competence and enthusiasm that keeps so many students imprisoned in ignorance.

Schools Feel Pinch Of Rising Utility Bills

2005-12-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post reports on the skyrocketing costs of heating bills that schools across the Virginia, Maryland, and DC are facing right now. Will programs have to be cut? Montgomery Public Schools do not think so; however, winter does not actually start until next week.

The article makes wonder if schools actually use data from outside sources to project their costs. When I was in property management, we would use the Farmer's Almanac to predict heating costs. Sounds old-fashion and low tech but we were able to budget funds and avoid having to make difficult choices like the schools are going to have to do if we continue to have a harsh winter as some are predicting.

Can public schools remain free? I have a lot thoughts on this one but I will have to post about it later.

National Standards Are Being Discussed Again

2005-12-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

Education Week has raised the issue of having our public schools embrace national standards. When I first started teaching over 11 years ago, I asked then when Virginia was just getting everyone to use the Standards of Learning, why we were not moving to a national curriculum. Virginia's SOLs for science, mathematics, and language arts/reading are based on national standards advocated by the various associations that advance these individual topics. The case against national standards is the history; many fear that local/state history would be jeopardized by endorsing a national curriculum framework.

In a Nov. 7 opinion piece in The New York Times, the education historian Diane Ravitch argued that the current strategy of “50 states, 50 standards, 50 tests” has not improved student achievement, based on the most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Ravitch is correct that by not adopting national standards we are left with a patchwork quilt education. Viewing the current framework, it looks good but when we examine the fine stitching that is holding the squares together, we have our four subgroups of NCLB struggling, an achievement gap that is still not closed, and frustrated teachers who are struggling to see all children succeed.

Over the summer, I had a chance to hear our nation's governors speak about the future of education in the US. Gov. Warner hosted this summit where the author, Thomas Friedman, spoke about his book, The World is Flat, and a gave a plea that our American education system had to change. Rightly or wrongly, the US wired the world and we have invited our competition, China and India, into the game. Friedman stated at this summit that America's A/B students were going to have a much tougher time in securing employment than their parents because of this global network.

“I’ve been watching very, very closely the educational progress in Asia—China, India, Vietnam, Singapore, and several others,” said Robert L. Wehling, a retired global-marketing officer for the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co., “and I’m telling you, they’re making rapid progress, whereas we’re making minuscule progress. And I don’t think the average American understands the impact of this for our future, because they’re going to have the bulk of the intellectual and creative talent in the world, and that has devastating consequences for us.” Given that global situation, the United States needs to define a common set of standards, “especially in subjects like math and science and related courses,” said former Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. of North Carolina, a Democrat, who also has been speaking out this year on the need for national standards.

I know as a teacher and a future administrator that having national standards and a common curriculum framework makes sense; for example, this week I have had two new students added to my roster. These students were not doing what I was doing in science. One student was doing biology while another was doing electricity; neither of these topics are in my sixth grade SOLs. While these students will not be taking a sixth grade science SOL, I recognize that these students will have gaps in their instruction and they are not the only ones. This lack of a national curriculum frustrates teachers and if the policymakers ask the teachers who are in the trenches, they would quickly move to have adoptions made. However, why take a teacher's word - just read The World is Flat.

Quick let's do a study on literacy and computers!

2005-12-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Wired News via Intel reports that the poor do not want the hand-cranked $100 laptops because they will be unsatisfied with them. Personally, I think it is too early to tell; the United Nations has praised MIT's project because these lime green computers will be going to places that do not have electricity and will be able to create a wireless network. I guess Intel is not inside these computers.

The article also mentioned that Sri Lanka, just one of the places that the computers are going, has a 90 percent literacy rate. Wow!! Let us compare that statistic with our urban schools that do have computer access. I would love to see a study that measures the literacy rates of the Sri Lanka school children as they use their new lime green computers. Will the literacy rate increase? Will it drop? I think this is a great opportunity for a research group to get some useful data. I know that Marc Prensky says the Net Generation has a different brain but I am not convince that it is a better brain. If a study could be done on Sri Lanka's school children or any of the other countries that are getting these $100 laptops, I would enjoy seeing if computers are indeed the great equalizer.

Blogs and School Discipline

2005-12-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Chicago Tribune reports today the school officials walk a thin line when it comes to blogs with questionable material. While two teachers were not disciplined over the contents of their blogs because there was no mention a specific school or names of students, three students from Taft High School of Chicago were disciplined over graphic descriptions from their blogs. While the Chicago incident is not a unique situation facing schools, it should be a wake-up call to school administrators that blogging responsibly should be addressed by education. I see this as no different from driver's education: We know that there will students that will drink and drive so we show the consequences of such action and hope that it will not happen. Irresponsible blogging can lead to serious consequences which students need to be aware. I applaud Taft High School in calling a forum with parents to discuss the issue:

Both legal precedent and district policy make it clear that both students
and staff can be disciplined for off-campus actions, including any "offensive
language" that affects "the safety, environment and learning" at a school, said district spokesman Mike Vaughn. The discipline code also prohibits students and staff from using a computer to "stalk, harass or otherwise intimidate others."

Wikipedia and the Classroom Lesson

2005-12-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

As many of you know Wikipedia is now going to be changing how articles are submitted because of the recent case brought about by John Seigenthaler. An entry appearing in Wikipedia had very misleading information about Seignethaler. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, hopes that the new rules will also curb the number of entries in Wikipedia that occur on a daily basis for the online encylopedia.

I plan on sharing the article with my students for several reasons. My middle schoolers are very naive and take everything they read at face value; they do not distinguish from fact and opinion very well nor do they have the knowledge and experiences that would cue them to something is wrong with an entry from Wikipedia. With many wonderful things Wikipedia has going for it, there is the potential of abuse from anonymous people. Students need to be made aware that there are good sources and better sources; they need to know that some sources are more scholarly than others. Students need to know that when an article is by Anonymous, they should be advised to avoid it or not use it all. To quote the founder of Wikipedia:

"In many cases the types of things we see going on are impulse vandalism."

Students need to be made aware of the consequences that when posting erroneous items, they can be legally punished.

Is More Flexiblity on the Horizon for NCLB?

2005-12-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

This just in...

Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have introduced
the NCLB Flexibility and Improvement Act to give states, school districts, and
schools greater control in meeting the requirements of NCLB. The bill addresses
several aspects of teacher quality, such as giving more flexibility for middle
and high school teachers who teach multiple subjects. In addition to teacher
quality, it also addresses accountability, funding, and provisions for assessing
special education and limited-English-proficient students.
For more information about this bill click here.

JSB's Digital Divide and the Blogosphere with Mezirow

2005-12-03T16:55:00.000-08:00

From the HSB newsletter JSB makes the following observations about digital generation gap:

There is a new kind of digital divide now and it is the divide between
faculty and students. Faculty, stuck in yesterday's analog world, are confronted
with students who arrive nicely fluent in digital technology and the virtues of
hyperspeed. Students already have a handle on how to convey their emotional
states electronically. It's up to adults to learn that vernacular, he said.
Educators who create programs for adult learning and distance learning need to
apply the vernacular and deepen and strengthen these new means of communication.
When I saw this article, it made me think of Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnshon and the reluctance of my colleagues at my middle school to start blogging with me. I am disappointed they have not caught blogitis. It also made me think of Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives by Marc Prensky.
My professor and two of his blogmates have been discussing their classes and why students are not blogging more with engaging reflections. I can only offer Jack Mezirow's Transformation Theory of Adult Learning as a possible explanation. Mezirow noted that for real learning to take place then one's perspective has to have changed. According to Mezirow, there are three kinds of critical reflections: content reflection, process reflection, and premise reflection. It is very obvious to me that the professors engage in premise reflections because they take a real hard look at biases, beliefs, and values while the students (myself included) are still at content reflection and process reflection in their adult development.
P.S. I know that Marc Prensky stated several times that kids' brains are different now. I can accept that their brains are wired different due to experiences. So if brains are wired differently, could maturity development be different too because of expanded lifespans? Should middle age timespans be changed from 30s/40s to 50s/60s?

Is it time for uniforms?

2005-11-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

I live in Fredericksburg which is surrounded by Civil War battlefields and while the war has long been over who would never guess it by some of the schools. One middle school in Spotsylvania has had an issue with students wearing the Confederate flag causing student unrest. And in this month's American School Board Journal the issue is raised again but this time in a high school in West Virginia. Schools across the country have enacted strict dress codes just like Stafford County Public Schools but this does not appear to have changed anything; someone always manages to go around the dress code.

The time spent on enforcing the dress codes just does seem practical. Teachers have to monitor the kids coming through the door and send them to the office if they are not dressed appropriately. This student loses instructional time waiting for parent to drop a set of clothes or change in gymsuits for the day.

The more practical solution would be to go with the "khaki pant and solid color polo shirt uniform" set. No jewelry allowed but watches would be o.k.

Every parent, teacher, and adminstrator says they would love a uniform. I do not buy the arguement that there would be some that could not afford when I see kids in the expensive sports apparel and the $100 tennis shoes on free breakfast and lunch. Am I missing something here?

Concerned over graduation rates?

2005-11-26T05:33:00.000-08:00

According to CNN, Princeton President William Bowen is concerned about college graduation rates and he intends to find the causes of why graduation rates have been stagnant for several years now. However, I have the following questions that the article did not raise:

1. How are graduation rates at colleges actually configured? (I am assuming that it is based on my #2 question.)
2. Do college graduation rates only consider students that actually started and graduate from the initial institution?
3. Do transfer students ever figure into the statistics?
4. Do distance learning students figure into the graduation formula?

In SLI, it was already mentioned that colleges and universities were being threaten by distance learning programs; however, that does not have to be if they go hybrid. I do feel that brick and column insititutions are being impacted by "technical schools" that offer certificate programs and help with job placement. Why go four years if you can get what you need in two years and a job?

Distance learning could be a way to attract learners who may only want selected courses for job promotions and the such. UMW, UVA, GMU have all capitalize on distance learning that is geared towards IT, education, and business. All of these universities offer certificate programs like the "technical schools". It is cost effective if one looks at the impact on resources - both internally and environmentally. Harvard and MIT are doing it too so it can't be all that bad.

I feel that institutes of higher learning will need to savvy with their offerings and modes of delivery. The traditional institutions will be threaten if they do not take into account the consumer-student needs and the mighty pocket book.

The CNN article also talked about affirmative action and UVA. I wonder if studies show that distance learning helps in this area as well?

Teachers Complain over Professional Development

2005-11-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

I am doing comparison study on teacher efficacy rates between special education and general education teachers in collaborative settings at my school. While the research is slim in this area of special education, several studies have shown that high efficacy rates are correlated to high achievement rates; therefore, I felt it important to look at this data for my school since we have high turnover when it comes to teachers in these settings.

While special education teachers did score above their colleagues in general teaching efficacy, special education teachers and general education teachers had mixed results in personal teaching efficacy. I strongly suspect that professional development is the cause of the low scores among general education teachers under general teaching efficacy has to do with the fact that they have had very little professional development in regards to inclusion classrooms. As for the mixed results for both groups under personal teaching efficacy, I attribute to that fact that some of these teachers were not given a choice. I know that one teacher was told that he could teach math but he had to teach inclusion. I wonder if administrators understand that efficacy rates are the key to success with assigning placements in their schools. Why would they put anyone in a position that is not going to give their 100 percent.

Interestingly, Teaching Generation Z has entry that is asking why there is always resistence to professional development. Some of it I know is tied to the fact that teachers have a fear of change and this contributes to low efficacy.

I am very motivated and consider myself a life-long learner which is demonstrated by the fact that I am trying to earn a doctorate in education. I don't think of myself as any great intellectual (just average) but I love being surrounded by people who challenge me. I view my desire to further my education as internal - perhaps it comes from the fact that my natural mother only had an eighth grade education herself or perhaps it is fear that I will become obsolete.

I can't understand why teachers in my building complain about professional development when I see it as a job security feature in the uncertain environment of NCLB's highly qualifed teacher. Also, I can't get a raise but my district will pay for course work which as long as I keep to the subjects that I teach. If I ever wanted to get out of education (and I don't), the classes that I take would lead me to other careers. So you would think that teachers that complain about professional development would be at least selfish about it but that is not the case.

This leads me only to believe that these teachers have low self-efficacy; therefore, I do not think these teachers can impact learning of students. I wonder if efficacy scales should be used on teachers to see if they should be even allowed to teach or have a contract extended.

Mathematical Breakdown of Web 2.0

2005-11-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

I thought this was very interesting that del.icio.us / blog has broken down the meaning of Web 2.0 in percentages. I admit that I do not know how accurate the math analysis is but it is worth a look. For those that are in education circles, the tracking of this data over time may be valued to justify a need in curriculum changes for the K-12 settings.

One of the comments made to the original post was about time. While I always knew that technology saved time, I had not seen it seen it quite put this way and realize that this is only one person's perspective; there is probably productivity studies that give better analysis of Internet time vs. Real time.

...42 minutes which may not seem like a lot of time but it was internet minutes so like three hours in real-clock time...

E-Portfolios for Educators and Students

2005-11-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

Just read Generation Z' s latest post on E-Portfolios and I highly recommend this to our group. I am sure that our two techies are doing this already but for me this is entirely new idea - meshing the blog with the e-portfolio!! You also must check out Dr. Barrett's Blog which goes into a great deal of information and tips on this topic as well as many more. Dr. Barrett has made an interesting observation:

I am concerned that more effort is going into tool development and not into the important human dimensions of this process. During my opening keynote presentation, I emphasized:
Context: 21st Century Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, Friedman & Dan Pink

Product: Digital Archive for Life (mostly the contents of my blog entry on 9/24 plus Educause Review article)

Process: Portfolios and Reflection

George F. Will's IPod's Missed Manners

2005-11-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

In today's Washington Post, George F. Will made the following comment in his weekly column:

With everyone chatting on cell phones when not floating in iPod-land, "this is an age of social autism, in which people just can't see the value of imagining their impact on others." We are entertaining ourselves into inanition. And multiplying technologies of portable entertainments will enable "limitless self-absorption," which will make people solipsistic, inconsiderate and antisocial. Hence manners are becoming unmannerly in this "age of lazy moral relativism combined with aggressive social insolence."

Schools are already starting to discipline students because of Internet activity (see my other post). As mentioned in my prior post, I wonder if schools need to take a more visable role on this topic and add it to our character education programs. We had some students disciplined on their use of IM that carried into the school this week. How ironic or timely that George F. Will actually talks about the social implications of all of this technology? I wonder if SLI needs to add another chapter now.

Underage Bloggers Beware!!

2005-11-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

An alarming story, "As Teens Embrace Blogs, Schools Sound the Alarm" from ASCD Smartbrief has everyone paging through their Code of Conduct and policy manuals. This article really makes me wonder if schools or home should be responsible for making sure that ethics and law of the Internet be covered in our curriculum. I would hope it would be collaborative approach but I know that it won't be; schools are going to be the ones to be blamed if a child gets hurt. Public schools already have character education programs in place but it seems imperative that we update our bullying and harassement talks to include 'how we handle ourselves in hyperspace'. Many colleges and universities are disciplining students because of content that appears on Facebook or MySpace.com. Not only are college students posting questionable content, so are high school students who have found their way to these two Internet sites:

Many are posting provocative pictures, discussing real or imagined sex lives,berating and threatening one another, and recounting drinking and drug use. And that can get them in trouble with stalkers, authority figures and even future employers, experts say.

Web 2.0 personalizes e-learning!

2005-11-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

It seems each week our professor knows what the news is going to be for the next week as if he had some mystical power; however, I think its those RSS feeds ;)

ASCD had a special report or should I say re-report on the Web 2.0 from London's Guardian Unlimited. The British scholar, Stephen O'Hear states that blogging on Web 2.0 removes the technical aspects for the novices (which I agree with) as well as offers a place for collaboration for both teachers and students. This last aspect is certainly emerging skill for myself as an educator.

O'Hear states:

If the early version of the web took a "top-down" approach to content, web 2.0 takes a more "bottom-up" approach - where web services and applications allow users to publish content without the need to write code..

The author also states that collaboration allows for collective intelligence which I equate to as 'two heads are better than one'. Certainly collaboration permits reinforcment of ideas and theories as well as criticisms of thoughts and suggestions.

A new vocabulary has emerged with Web 2.0. For example, the author points out that the collective intelligence of the masses have been able to influence the vocabulary evolution and keyword linking. The term folksonomy evolved from taxonomy which:

refers to the collaborative way in which information is being categorised on the web. Users are encouraged to assign freely chosen keywords to pieces of information or data, a process known as tagging. Web 2.0 services that use tagging include those designed to allow users to publish and share various media.

O'Hear also states that MP3 devices are allowing classrooms to be able to share creations; of course, I want to know as a future administrator how will this all impact acheivement. I have been really reflecting and debating with my colleagues at my school on the study that was mentioned in the September/October issue of Orion where it was discussed that the use of technology was not impacting student achievement.

I do agree with O'Hear that Web 2.0 with the use of RSS feeds through bloglines allows all of us, not just techies and educators, to get the most update information at our fingertips. Through our blogs or wikis, we have a medium to reflect, accept, or reject information that is coming through to us at the speed of light.

Computers Making Kids Dumber?!?

2005-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Last night a colleague was worried that computers might be making her dumb which I do not think she has anything to fear. (She is high on the intellectual totem pole.) But I did a little researching to see if there is anything to her comment and this lead me to Monke's Orion. My district is spending huge amounts of money to level the playing field and to reduce the achievement gap but after reading the comments below form Monke's column, one has to wonder if it this is the way to go.

.....a University of Munich study of 174,000 students in thirty-one countries, indicates that students who frequently use computers perform worse academically than those who use them rarely or not at all....
U.S. Department of Education statistics indicate that spending on technology in schools increased by more than 300 percent from 1990 to 2000.

Google vs. Copyright

2005-11-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

This is a must read and I am sure not the last we will hear about copyright. David Vise of the Washington Post did an article about Google. Here is some notable excerpts:

For years, Larry Page dreamed of tearing down the walls of libraries, and eliminating the barriers of geography, by making millions of books searchable by anybody in the world with an Internet connection. After Google began scanning thousands of library books to make them searchable online, book publishers and authors cried foul, filing lawsuits claiming copyright infringement...Google fired back, saying copyright laws were meant to serve the public interest and didn't apply in the digital realm of search.

I see no problem with authors who give permission to have their works be scanned that this would be an issue because after all, it does make searching easier and quicker. It wouls seem that the authors and publishers would benefit too As long as the works are cited properly, I see no problem. Like the Turn It In database, there does need to be some type of compensation to contribute to its database. I see the same thing here with Google. Perhaps, fees could be charged for using the database and royalities made out; this is already occuring with such databases such as Lexis-Nexus.

PS. It is hard to believe that Google is 7 years old - it seems it has been with us forever. It is also hard to believe the work environment of Google which is described in the article. I can think of several teachers wanting to turn in their resignations to work for Google just for the perks that the employees get; however, I could past on "touch-pad-controlled toilet seats with six levels of heat" but I would just love to have the massage chairs like the Googlers have when I am grading papers :)

Is Public Education Leaving Middle Class Students Behind?

2005-11-13T06:13:00.000-08:00

In today's Sunday, Nov. 13th's Washington Post, there was an editiorial, "Class Focus: It's Not Just Poor Students Who Need Attention" on the issue of NCLB and middle class students at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. In recent years, the school district has pushed for more minorities to enroll and take AP courses and exams; however, students are taking courses that are way too difficult for them and as a result these students are not passing the AP exams which cost $83 per exam. TC Williams paid 237 students to take the exams but 177 students failed the exams which equated to $14,691 in lost funds. In the opinion of the author, Patrick Welsh, that money lost was so that students could "experience" taking the AP exams.

Another disturbing item that was mentioned in this article related to the testing conditions. Any scores passing or failing would be viewed, in my opinion, as invalid because the proctors were unable to control some of the rowdy students.

Mr. Welsh states that the reason more students are taking AP courses is that parents are making sure their children are not in "regular classes" with problem students. These regular classes are the inclusion classrooms. The author of this opinion piece states that he finds more students being identified as learning disabled for his classes which gives these students more time on tests and other accomodations - this is done in order to keep up with the gifted students.

This article really hit me where I teach. While I am at a middle school, I see the same scenario but only at a different level. At my school, more and more parents are pushing their children in the accelerated reading and math classes to avoid the inclusion classes of special education students. In five years, the sixth grade math accelerated course has gone from one course being offered to 5 courses being offered. Many of these students are getting C's, D's, and F's and when it is suggested to transfer these struggling students to the "regular" course, teachers are coming up with huge opposition from parents. Until this opinion piece, I could not understand why our math accelerated courses were suddenly filling up - now I know that at least one reason, it is to avoid being placed in classes with learning disabled students. Our middle class families are feeling left behind but how to fix it???

Grokster is Closing Shop - Sort of!!

2005-11-08T04:51:00.000-08:00

When I got up this morning, it was all over the news that Grokster was going to stop the downloading entertainment media. I found this interesting since we are due to discuss this topic next week. Dr. R was certainly timely :)

Educational Bloggers Network

2005-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

I was very excited to find this today and I hope the Principal is going to see this one. The Educational Bloggers Network is something to aspire to. I also join the free network too.

'Blatant copying' in coursework

2005-11-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

BBC News reported that mass plagiarism is going on at colleges and universities via the Internet. According to the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA), there was even teacher support in the practice with the use of scaffolding, a writing/essay template. Students were found to have similar, if not identical, sentence and paragraph structure using the scaffolding approach. The examiners acknowledged that it was o.k to give students scaffolding to those that needed it but cited that giving it to all students was a concerned.

I could not help but compare this to special education at the K-12 level. At our school, we have students who are identifed special ed who have a calculator accommodation. The student gets an A with the course work with this accommodation. A non-IEP student has no accommodation and is not allowed to use the calculator. Next comes the angry parent of non-IEP student, finds out (via his child) that some students get to use calculators and wants his child to have access since others have access. While we know our canned response to these parents, it not easy when it comes down to the various honor accolades knowing that one student has been given assistance (while legal) and another student has not. I guess I have trouble accepting that all can't have access which is why I think the British teachers got in trouble as mentioned in this article. The British teachers started giving the scaffolding accommodation to all; however, this is only one small part of the problem.

Toxic Computer Dust is Linked to Diseases

2005-11-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

I did not have the documentation that computer dust is toxic last night but here is the USA Today that I hope you will take a quick look. As I said last night, I think most people do not have a clue with what is behind that monitor. This article told be a few more things that make be wonder if some of the ADD/ADHD is from this exposure.

Here is someone's own personal experience with computers in the house.

The Future is GREEN

2005-10-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Another article in Wired News spoke of the top ten futurists' trends: Green computing is on top of the list :) Greenpeace warriors will be excited about to know that Marsha Rhea, a senior futurist for the Institute for Alternative Futures is advising investors that only put money in energy and computer companies that are investing in greener alternatives.

Blogging at work

2005-10-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

As write this, I am blogging at work having just checked my account at bloglines. In Wired News, the article described how several corporations have implemented anti-blogging policies in the work environment. Many employees say that no all blogs should be off-limits because many blogs can be places for employees to resolve issues on work projects; however, employers maintain that some items that employees wish to share in a blog may be sensitive material that in the wrong hands could cost the company millions of dollars.

I thought some of the replies to the article intersting such as:

Blog" is just the beginning. If you think text is controversial, wait until the audio and video blogs catch up. ... soon you're going to have to filter out "podcast" ( http://www.podcastalley.com/ ) and as it grows "vlog" and "Videocasting" ( http://www.vobbo.com/ ) as well.

Another reply stated the following:

So do these corporations serve as the line in the sand regarding companies leveraging employees to perform PR through corporate or personal blogs? Google will use Joe Programmer to spin perspective on Google Print, while an online discount broker will do whatever is necessary to not only outlaw employees blogging, but browsing blogs as well? It'll be interesting to see how all of this plays out it cubicle-land.

IT and Egalitarin Working Environment

2005-10-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

I am re-reading SLL now with the lens of school administator. A Harvard professor, Shoshona Zuboff is quoted in SLL by stating that she is not observing the egalitarin working environment which she says is a result of management not wanting to share authority and power. In some school organizations, I observing this lack of the egalitarin environment which I attribute to the standards movement in accountability of student achievement. Why? Competition has evolved among teachers not to get non-disabled students for fear that test scores from these students might not make the grade on the teacher's performance. I wonder what would happen if all teachers got special education students, general education students, and gifted & talented students equally? I would hope that the true teachers would surfaced within the learning organization.

Also in SLL, Ronald Coase states that organizations develop when the transaction costs of contracting, evaluatiing, and enforcing are lower for it than the individual. I think case could be made that IT has allowed the homeschool network to boom because the transaction costs are lower for individuals.

Bill Joy, Samuel Johnson and E-Waste

2005-10-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

In the Social Life of Information (SLI), the authors mention a computer scientist by the name of Bill Joy that technologies might wipe humanity out. The authors state that this view was tunnel-vision.

Today there was an article in the BCC about e-waste in India. Companies are having the very poor disassemble computer parts; these employees desparate for money are not aware of the effects of such a job as on their health:

"There should not be any lead in our blood because lead has no biological function. You and I, living in a society like this, will have about 8-10 micrograms per decilitre. Even at a level of 5 micrograms per decilitre lead can bring about DNA aberrations. And in children, anything around 10 micrograms per decilitre can bring down the IQ. Half of children in a city like Bangalore already have blood lead levels at about 10 micrograms per decilitre, which has resulted in a reduction in their intelligence quotient. We are seeing more and more cases now because more and more electronic waste is being handled by our people."

The prognostications made in the article remind me of Samuel Johnson's advice made in SLI: "Mankind needs more often to be reminded than informed." One of the reasons that is given that the Romans fell was their lead water pipes. History has a funny way of repeating itself. Will the heavy metals used in our technologies be at a cost to our global society?

Blogging as a News Source

2005-10-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

In an article from the BCC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4330690.stm
the arguement is made that news from blogs have proven themselves worthy:

They have proved their worth as news sources in recent times, perhaps most notably following Hurricane Katrina.

Pete Clifton, editor of the BBC News website, thinks blogs have a valuable role to play because they embrace the value of what people know, and what they are saying. He further went on to say he doesn't think blogs will takeover sources of news journalism like the BBC, but could be complimentary.

AOL bought Weblogs, Inc. which indicates that they see $$$ from it.

One criticism made in the article was the blurring of professional news with that from blogs which is happening on Yahoo News.

Should institutes of higher learning be concerned with CMS and convergence

2005-10-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/DEC0401.pdf

My understanding of this article is that convergence of software systems allows for collaboration across departments as well as a cost-effective compondent using CMS.

Developing an Open Source Community of Practice

2005-10-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/MWR0563.pdf

This was an interesting overview of why an institution of higher learning would consider open source software. According to this author, commerical software is not geared towards institutions of higher learning because vendors look for ways to consolidate. Commerical vendors are not interested in a custom-made product. This observation seems to contradict the observations made in the Social Life for Information in which individualization would be paramount.

MIT $100 Student Lap Top

2005-09-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

You will want to check out this article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/242632_kidslaptop29.html

I disagreed that even $100 was too expensive. Let me know what you think.

Blogging with NEA

2005-09-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

I just got my October NEA Today magazine today and it features an article entitled "New Kids on the Blog: Students and teachers are chatting it up on Web logs" by Mary Ellen Flannery. From the article, most teachers were using it as another way read and write in the classroom. Many teachers felt that it movitvated students to write better.

Check out the following blogs from the article. See which one you think might be controversial.

http://acontar.blogspot.com/

http://msfrizzle.blogspot.com/

http://posthipchick.blogspot.com/

http://hipteacher.typepad.com

http://ginnybonk.blogspot.com

http://educat.blogspot.com

http://folkbum.blogspot.com

http://www.assortedstuff.com

http://www.shutupandteach.org

IT Gender GAP?

2005-09-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

Panelists participating in a Web cast hosted by the National Science Foundation last week suggested numerous ways to attract more girls to the information technology field. Among their tips: Encourage girls to try science activities that can be messy or "gross" and stress technology's "human context" by noting its potential to help solve the world's problems.

We talk about the gender gap in education with the girls taking higher order mathematics and sciences. The same gender gap is also seen with technology.

Over the mountain, and through the web to Hyperspace

2005-09-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

It looks like my school division is going to let me blog for my class. I really want to thank the Tech people - you are awesome!

Visual Literacy

2005-09-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

As I reviewed the request from our Group Project, there was desire to "develop a deeper understanding of visual literacy.." as well as how should "schools & colleges incorporate visual literacy courses into their curricula?"

I was curious as to what standards, missions, and/or statements there were regarding information technology and visual literacy.

From the American Library Association (ALA):

Information Literacy and Information Technology

Information literacy is related to information technology skills, but has broader implications for the individual, the educational system, and for society. Information technology skills enable an individual to use computers, software applications, databases, and other technologies to achieve a wide variety of academic, work-related, and personal goals. Information literate individuals necessarily develop some technology skills.

Information literacy, while showing significant overlap with information technology skills, is a distinct and broader area of competence. Increasingly, information technology skills are interwoven with, and support, information literacy. A 1999 report from the National Research Council promotes the concept of "fluency" with information technology and delineates several distinctions useful in understanding relationships among information literacy, computer literacy, and broader technological competence. The report notes that "computer literacy" is concerned with rote learning of specific hardware and software applications, while "fluency with technology" focuses on understanding the underlying concepts of technology and applying problem-solving and critical thinking to using technology. The report also discusses differences between information technology fluency and information literacy as it is understood in K-12 and higher education. Among these are information literacy’s focus on content, communication, analysis, information searching, and evaluation; whereas information technology "fluency" focuses on a deep understanding of technology and graduated, increasingly skilled use of it. 2

"Fluency" with information technology may require more intellectual abilities than the rote learning of software and hardware associated with "computer literacy", but the focus is still on the technology itself. Information literacy, on the other hand, is an intellectual framework for understanding, finding, evaluating, and using information--activities which may be accomplished in part by fluency with information technology, in part by sound investigative methods, but most important, through critical discernment and reasoning. Information literacy initiates, sustains, and extends lifelong learning through abilities which may use technologies but are ultimately independent of them.

From the International Visual Literacy Association, they have developed a mission as well as standards that can be found at www.ivla.org I was not able to view these from their site but am wondering if our professor is already a member that we could look at their documents.

From the National Council of English Teachers:

To participate in a global society, we continue to extend our ways of communicating. Viewing and visually representing (defined in the NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts) are a part of our growing consciousness of how people gather and share information. Teachers and students need to expand their appreciation of the power of print and nonprint texts. Teachers should guide students in constructing meaning through creating and viewing nonprint texts. Be it, therefore "Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English through its publications, conferences, and affiliates support professional development and promote public awareness of the role that viewing and visually representing our world have as forms of literacy."

What strikes me about NCTE's statement is that they state to participate in the global society, people will have a growing consciousness of how information is gathered and shared in mulitiple ways. Not surprisingly, this one statement is imbedded in all five questions that were to be addressed by the planning group.

The fact that the NCTE has stated that visually literacy is indeed a form of literacy makes our task even more important: Will Drupal be an effective content management system in the age of visual literacy?

My Blog Mission

2005-09-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

The purpose for my blog will be to become an adequate user of blogging. I also will evaluate blogs used by K-12 professionals as well as to explore the ways that blogs could be integrated in public schools.

To implement my objectives set in the purpose, I will emerge myself in the blogs of my fellow classmates, my professor, and others. By joining the community, I hope to contribute to the knowledge generated by being an active blogger.

The final assessment for this activity will be an culminating paper that will conclude the findings that I set in my purpose.

Ethical Concerns with Wireless

2005-09-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

At the end of class last week, I was asking one of our members about her wireless laptop. She had mentioned that she can pick up others access because there are so many people that do not put up their safety net. I had mentioned this to our CTT who indicated that there are 10 people in his neighborhood who all have wireless and do not make any attempt to protect themselves. In fact, one of his neighbors even offered him to use his wireless connection! I was discussing this with our techno AP who said his sister lives in an apartment and does not pay for a connection because she can tap into neighbors in the building.

To quote Hadi: That's why it's very important to activate encryption on any WiFi network. Just like when you leave the house you lock the door, do the same with your network.

I want to purchase my very own wireless laptop and so I do not have to rely on the school. So I have been researching which laptop to purchase as well as the security software to protect my investment.

Thanks to All

2005-09-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

With the thanks of our professor, I was able to get my blog up and running. It was indeed the firewall at school that was not permitting me from carrying out the setup. Our CTT will let me know if he will allow me to have access at school.