============================================================
THE EDUCATION COMPANION
NEWSLETTER
September 1999 Issue
#5
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The
companion newsletter to:
Mrs. Young's Super Charged
Educational Voyage
Janet Young, Newsletter Developer, Editor and
Co-Author
Subscribe: http://educationcompanion.listbot.com/
Archives:
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/garston/49/archives.html
============================================================
==== IN THIS "EDUCATION COMPANION"
NEWSLETTER ==============
+ Welcome Message / Announcements
~
Janet R. Young
+ Team Member Updates
+ Mrs. Young's "New Pages
On..."
+ The Education
Companion Survey
~ Last month's poll
results
~ The June poll: Summer Homework
+ CONTENT AREAS
Current trends,
opinions, lesson plans, methods, tips, etc.
~ Bonnie Bracey's Information
Superhighway ~
TRANSFORMING CULTURE THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY AND LEAPING THE
DIGITAL DIVIDE
~ Michelle's Multicultural Mosaic
~
A NEW YEAR AND NEW FACES!
~ Dr. Robert Kizlik's Teacher Education 101
~
LESS IS MORE, MORE OR LESS
~ Life is One Big Classroom with Joan Berger
~
SPACE- THE HIGH FRONTIER
~ Technically Speaking with Kathleen A.
Catapano ~
VOICING YOUR
OPINION...ONLINE
~ Including the Physically Challenged With
Sheila Estes ~
EDUCATING THE
EDUCATORS
~ Steve McCarty's East-West Perspectives from
Japan ~
MAKING REAL HAIKU
POETRY
~ Tammy Bailis' Senior School Musings
~
GUIDE TO DOING A WORD PROBLEM IN
MATH
~ Audrey's Library Connection ~
CINDERELLA! CINDERELLA!
+ Call for Ideas
==== WELCOME MESSAGE / ANNOUNCEMENTS
=======================
Welcome back to the classroom everyone! I hope you are all
off to a
smooth start. This issue will be sure to offer comfort and new
ideas to
even our most seasoned readers. If YOU have something to share
with us,
SEND IT to me and I will put it in the NEXT issue!
mailto:mrsysuggestions@jrydevelopment.com?subject=to_post
~ IN THIS ISSUE ~
This "back-to-school" issue offers great ideas for
pulling
curriculum together. Joan Berger takes flight in her
article on "SPACE! She has a plan (for in-depth study)
to take
your students to the final frontier- complete with
FREE
materials- just for the asking! You have to read this
one to
believe it! Dr. Robert Kizlik, as always, keeps us
grounded in his
article on teacher development. Tammy
Bailis is still glowing from the
publication of her new book
(Mathways, Volume 1; Pre-calculus Algebra,
Euclidean
Geometry and Analytic Geometry.) Her article this month
makes sense out of solving word problems. Bonnie Bracey
give us
the low down on new-media bridging the digital
divide on the information
super highway. Get ready to "break the ice"
with
"pockets" as Michelle Young brings a new look to old "getting to
know
you" standards. Audrey Ciuffo helps us bring more to the same
old fairy
tale, with her fabulous selections of "Cinderella" from
the four corners
of the world. Help your students get their opinions
across with Kathleen
Catapano's article on merging basic skills with
practical cyber and voice
communication. Sheila Estes shares her tips
for building up effective
communication between home and school via
preparation and clear
communication at meetings at the BEGINNING of the
term. In addition,
while you are communicating- get in tune with nature
as you create
wonderful HAIKU under Steve McCarty's guidance. There's
nothing like
gleaning a lesson from a pro...
~ THE EDUCATION COMPANION DISCUSSION LIST
~
If you have questions, are looking for lesson plans, theme ideas, or
have
a great idea to share, this is a great discussion list for you!
TO
SUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to:
the-education-companion-subscribe@egroups.com
I suggest that you set your "modify your
subscription" to
"daily full-text
digest." This way on a busy message day,
you will not be
swamped with tons of email, and you can just
skim to the postings that are
of interest to you. Then you
can simply delete the message and keep
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To do this, go to: http://www.egroups.com/group/the-
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Once you are logged on to
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text digest." Then scroll down to
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the button. That's all there is to
it. Now you will only
get one message a day with all the messages at
one time.
~Janet R. Young (AKA: Mrs. Young)
>>> Feel free to forward this to friends and colleagues,
if
copied in its ENTIRETY.
<<<
==== TEAM MEMBER UPDATES
===================================
~ We are proud to announce that Tammy Bailis' new book is hot off
the
press! The title is Mathways, Volume 1.
Congratulations!
~ Best wishes to everyone touched by Hurricane Floyd and the
typhoons in
Japan.
==== WEB SITE REACTIONS
====================================
~ Web Site Productivity Survey ~
Take
a few minutes to share your needs regarding this web site.
AOL USERS PLEASE
NOTE! Just send a plain old-fashioned email to
mailto:mrsy@jrydevelopment.com .
Your forms ARE NOT sent to me. When you
fill out the form, all AOL send
is a blank email. So just start with the
plain email and give me a few
sentences telling me how to better meet your
needs. Offer article topic
ideas to our Education Companion authors. Be
heard!
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/garston/49/survey.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ THE EDUCATION COMPANION SURVEY!
~
THE RESULTS OF THE LAST
POLL
THE QUESTION WAS:
Do you feel that
the press is fair in reporting education issues?
POLL RESULTS:
It was a
tie. Folks are evenly divided in their opinion on
what the press
covers in education.
[ED. NOTE]
If you have an opinion you would like
posted, indicate it at the top
your "Poll Vote" message.
Make sure that you state 'how' you want
your comments
signed.
>>>END<<<
----------------------------
THE
"September"
POLL!
----------------------------
What do you think?
Do you feel that teachers and students benefit
from teachers "getting the
scoop" on next term's students from
their previous teachers?
There are two camps.
1: Yes, teachers and students benefit
from teachers "getting the scoop" on
incoming students from
previous teachers. Teachers can plan ahead to meet
student needs in
strengths and weakness. They can organize groupings and
head off conflicts
between students that would better be seated away from
another
student.
2: No, teachers and students do not
benefit from teachers "getting the
scoop" on incoming students from
previous teachers. Teachers will be
pre-biased towards students.
Students and their home environments change
and it is unfair to judge
students based on past performance.
How do you feel about
this?
Do you believe that teachers should "get
the scoop" on incoming students?
Share your opinion now!
I will post relevant list member ideas on the next issue.
I do prefer to share opposing views. However, in order to
do
this, folks need to share their comments in addition to
just voting on the
current poll.
If you want your comments posted here follow
this procedure:
-->Be sure to include a short
signature tag to follow your comments. This
can include your name, location,
organization/company and other
information you feel would
make you
accessible to others who may want to exchange ideas
with you
personally. Do not put any information you want
private (like an
email address or unlisted phone number!) I
will not post any comments
that are abusive, contain
expletives or are not of a "G"
quality. We all know what
that means... I will also email
you back to confirm that
you want your comment posted.
To vote YES- I agree, teachers should "get
the scoop" on incoming students
go here:
E-mail: mrsy@jrydevelopment.com?subject=Sept_YES
To vote NO- I disagree, teachers should NOT
"get the scoop" on incoming
students go
here:
E-mail: mrsy@jrydevelopment.com?subject=Sept_NO
The survey results will be posted in the next issue of The
Education
Companion!
==== THE CONTENT AREAS
=====================================
~ Bonnie Bracey's Information
Superhighway ~
TRANSFORMING CULTURE THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY AND LEAPING THE
DIGITAL DIVIDE
A perspective...
Dr. Henry Jay Becker said in 1992 " It is only when
technology becomes a seamlessly integrated part of
organized lessons
that a cultural transformation within
schools will be accomplished. This
cultural transformation
is now under way in some classroom settings where
teachers
use video materials to introduce and to structure
subsequent
active learning tasks and where computer software
is used as a tool in a
larger non-technology-centered effort
to help students accomplish
understanding or to produce a
shareable intellectual product. But such
integral uses of
technology are hardly the norm."
>From this point of view, the question of equity of access
to technologies is not adequately addressed merely by
examining whether
black and white children or rich and poor
adolescents are equally likely to
be schooled where
computers, televisions or video recorders are present. The
critical questions about equity are about equal access to
effective uses
of technologies."
http://www.technos.net/journal/volume1/1becker.htm
What has using the Telephone have to do with the Information
Superhighway?
Telephone Penetration
Discussions of the digital divide often begin with looks at
telephone penetration, since telephone service is considered
a basic
communications necessity. In _Thorough Americans:
Minorities and the New
Media_ (The Aspen Institute, 1998),
Penn State's Jorge Reina Schement
writes, "telephone
penetration deserves special attention because it
constitutes the access point to many of the new services,
such as e-mail
and the Internet, associated with the new
technologies...When a person lacks
access to a telephone, he
or she is functionally cut
off."
Schools in many areas have had limited access to the
telephone,
since schools telephones accounts were billed the
same as businesses.
Moreover, schools could not afford
connectivity. There are some extreme
examples, such as areas
which have been redlined. There are rural and
urban areas
which have been redlined as well for new technology. But in
the schools, the E Rate has made a difference. Community
members and
school boards, and stakeholders in a community
can help people create the
school plan, and work with them
to create the E Rate application. It is a
government form,
so expertise is needed in completion of the form in some
school systems.
Digital Divide? Do the Teachers in Your Community have
Access? Technical Support?
Information tools, such as the personal computer and the
Internet, are increasingly critical to economic success and
personal
advancement. Falling Through the Net: Defining the
Digital Divide finds that
more Americans than ever have
access to telephones, computers, and the
Internet. At the
same time, however, NTIA has found that there is still a
significant "digital divide" separating American information
"haves" and "have nots." Indeed, in many instances, the
digital divide has widened in the last year. The
persistence of
the digital divide between the information
rich (such as Whites,
Asians/Pacific Islanders, those with
higher incomes, those more educated,
and dual-parent
households) and the information poor (such as those
who
are younger, those with lower incomes and education
levels, certain
minorities, and those in rural areas or
central cities). The 1998 data
reveal significant
disparities, including the following:
Households with incomes of $75,000 and higher are more than
twenty times more likely to have access to the Internet than
those at
the lowest income levels, and more than nine times
as likely to have a
computer at home. (Chart I-2) Whites are
more likely to have access to the
Internet from home than
Blacks or Hispanics have from any location.
Black and Hispanic households are approximately one-third as
likely to have home Internet access as households of
Asian/Pacific
Islander descent, and roughly two-fifths as
likely as White
households.
Regardless of income level, Americans living in rural areas
are
lagging behind in Internet access. Indeed, at the lowest
income levels,
those in urban areas are more than twice as
likely to have Internet access
than those earning the same
income in rural areas. For many groups,
the digital divide
has widened as the information "haves" outpace
the "have
nots" in gaining access to electronic resources.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/execsummary.html
Do the schools in your community extend the use of
technology
into the classrooms for all?
Ideational Scaffolding for Effective Pedagogy
Strategies?
The effective use of technology is not accomplished by
dropping
hardware and tech savvy people in the learning
arena without giving teachers
time to explore, learn,
conceptualize, and think about how technology can be
a tool
in their classroom. There is no magic piece of software, or
magic
computer.
It is a change that has to take place in the teacher's
construction of the learning landscape. It has to be almost
seamless,
this transfer so that it is just a part of the way
one thinks when planning
what will happen in the classroom.
We have to think about what the schools
are being asked to
do, and what the objectives are for the schools. Schools
have many missions in our culture. There are crowded
curriculum areas,
and societal goals.
There are classrooms where this is taking place, but there
are
teachers who are being attacked for not knowing how to
use technology. Few
critics ever know or understand the
culture of teaching and learning. There
are now four
reports that state that teacher time to learn technology
and, the technology learning takes time.
Reflected practice is involved in the George Lucas
Educational
Foundation project, www.glef.org. The
George
Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) grows out of filmmaker
George
Lucas's commitment to education and to a vision of
learning where students
are challenged and engaged, have
access to interactive technologies, and are
supported by
inspired teachers and involved parents and communities. He
uses his powerful medium to tell the stories of educators,
communities,
schools, and integrates the voices in a film
which is a video, which is
online as a toolkit, and a book.
http://www.glef.org/learnlive/toolkit/toolkit.html
So What If We Do Get Connected?
Linda Roberts of the Dept of Education states that "We
all
know that access alone does not make a difference. It's how
the
technology is used which points up the critical
relationship between
content, teaching, training, and
technology. "
There is a crisis in education, in that there is a shortage
of
teachers in the US.
Teaching is the essential profession, the one that makes all
other professions possible. Without well-qualified, caring,
and
committed teachers, neither improved curricula and
assessments, nor safe
schools--not even the highest
standards in the world--will ensure that our
children are
prepared for the challenges and opportunities in America's
third century. More than ever before in our history,
education will make
the difference between those who will
prosper in the new economy and those
who will be left
behind. Teaching is the profession that is shaping
this
education and therefore America's future--molding the skills
of our
future workforce and laying the foundation for good
citizenship and full
participation in community and civic
life.
Accordingly, what teachers know and are able to do is of
critical importance to the nation, as is the task of
preparing and
supporting the career-long development of
teachers' knowledge and skills.
Yet, while we do not ask our
doctors to perform surgery after just several
weeks of
clinical experience, we expect students to prepare to become
teachers with only a few weeks of in-classroom training.
While employees
in high-performance industries have
opportunities for professional growth
and learning, many
teachers do not receive the opportunities for continuous
learning that they need to teach effectively.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/PromPractice/chapter1.html
To understand the frustration that teachers in the classroom
have with using technology, sometimes you have to go there,
to see what
is available, the kind of support that is
provided and the ideas that are
given teachers, and
the T I M E that is given for learning about technology.
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/~teachcomm/what.htm
1. What teachers know and can do is the most important
influence on what students learn.
2. Recruiting, preparing, and retaining good teachers is the
central
strategy for improving our schools.
3. School reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating
the
conditions in which teachers can teach, and teach well.
And finally, here is the piece de resistance.. from Dr.
Larry
Cuban. You have to read this article. Read it
carefully and then DO
something about it.
Dr. Larry Cuban says in Education Week..
" Most teachers
use computers at home more than at school.
No technophobes here. So what's
behind limited classroom use
of new machines amid a river of technology
money? Here's a
puzzle for both cheerleaders and skeptics of using new
technologies in the classroom. Out of every 10 teachers in
this country,
fewer than two are serious users of computers
and other information
technologies in their classrooms
(several times a week); three to four are
occasional users
(about once a month); and the rest--four to five teachers
out of every 10--never use the machines at all. When the
type of
classroom use is examined, we find that these
powerful technologies end up
being used most often for word
processing and low-end applications. And this
is after a
decade of increases in access to computers, Internet
capability, and purchases of software. In other
organizations (think
hospitals, major corporations,
supermarkets), computer use is ubiquitous.
Not so in
schools."
"How can this phenomenon of infrequent, low-end use of
technology be occurring in our schools? For experts, there
is no puzzle
to be solved. The answers are straightforward
and all point to teachers:
their insufficient preparation in
universities, their lack of specific
training, too little
time to learn, too many older teachers,
"technophobia," and
so on, ad infinitum. Surely, some of
these scattershot
explanations have merit in attempting to understand the
paradox of increasing access and infrequent use."
To change the face of education, to leap the digital divide,
to
create a community of learners who can transform teaching
and learning with
technology as a tool requires that
professional development, and
professional T I M E , be
provided to teachers.
Teachers as Learners - Spring 1999
http://www.glef.org/edutopia/newsletters/6.2/frontpage.html
Research
shows that effective professional development
approaches are sustained and
intensive, experiential,
collaborative, and connected to other aspects of
school
change.
~ Bonnie Bracey, Arlington, Virginia USA
Independent Consultant
http://www.bracey-pearl.org/
US
Educationalist & Presidential Advisor on Education & Technology.
The
President's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Board,
URL:
http://www.iitf.doc.gov/members/members.html
read:
Minutes of the Committee on Applications and Technology .
URL: http://www-12.nist.gov/cat/cat-min/941027.html
Member
of Vice President Gore's Globe Institute
A member of the Challenger Center
Faculty:
A Christa McAuliffe Educator for the National Foundation of
Education.
URL: http://www.technos.net/journal/volume1/sb3grewa.htm
Author
of The Challenge of Introducing Technology.
============================================================
~ Michelle's Multicultural Mosaic
~
A NEW YEAR AND NEW FACES!
School doors in the USA have begun to open again. Are you
ready with your
ice breakers? Your bulletin board will soon
become a
collage of special projects, holidays, and points
of interest you hope will
spark a renewed passion for
learning in each of your students. If
you're an upper
level elementary school teacher, you may be thinking of
using your bulletin board for posters featuring each student
in this
year's class...
How will you do that poster? Will your students fill in
standard answers to those same old questions: Favorite
color, favorite food, favorite actor, favorite group... The
questions
are easy ones. But after the posters are down, how
many in the
class--including you--will remember what Bobby's
favorite song is, what kind
of pet Keesha has, what Miguel
did this summer, or the new student's
favorite food in this
new country?
No, I'm not suggesting that you throw out those tried and
true
questions. Multiculturalism, however, begins with each
and every one of
us. What better place to start than in the
classroom with you and your
students? Use multiculturalism
as a means to ignite your students' fires
and, hopefully, to
renew your own. Rather than filling in all of the pieces
to
the following suggestions, most of these you'll find I've
left
open-ended in hopes that I've also assisted your own
creative juices to
flow. Do feel free to write to me if
you'd like to brainstorm on any of
these.
Add pockets to your posters this year. Just imagine what can
go
into those pockets! (We can explore this in a few
minutes.)
Make a poster about yourself *exactly* like you expect your
students to make. Include your photo, of course, and hang
your
poster with all the others from the class. After all,
you are a member of
this year's class too.
Before I give you the
next suggestion, I must caution
you to be prepared
to accept *whatever* answers your
students
give you. Don't attempt in any way to correct
their answers with *your* perceptions of what you
*think* their answers should be. If, for *any* reason,
you feel you cannot do this, do *not* attempt this
tip.
It will seem like such an easy question
for students to
answer, and it will be--as long as
you can accept what
they answer: Ask your students
to put down their
national origins. Their answers
can be used to make the
country or countries of
those origins from
construction paper that can be
pasted on their posters.
There may well be students
in your class who cannot
answer this question, and
if you asked them to ask
their parents, they still
wouldn't know. But do give
their parents an
opportunity to answer this question,
should the
situation arise, and get their permission to
do the
following step. If the parent prefers to
mention another nation, accept it.
Allow those
students who don't know their national
origins to use
the USA, or whatever country in
which your school is
located.
On their construction paper countries, have students
neatly
write the name of the country, look up the
capital, and place a star and the
name of the capital
on that construction paper.
Ask them to write down, if possible, a custom, a food,
a hero,
and a holiday associated with their culture.
How about those pockets I mentioned before? Perhaps
one pocket
can hold some of the cultural explorations
students will follow this year, or
how about a report on
each hero, holiday, or custom? Don't forget recipes
for
some of the foods mentioned. Imagine the delights you
and your class
might experience this year if some of the
parents can come to speak to the
class about their
cultures--or how about an international day in
which
students bring a dish representing their heritage? Those
who don't
know their origins and have adopted the USA,
or wherever you are, can
participate in this project with
ease because they will be the class enablers
to discovering
the roots of the nation in which they're
sitting.
Turn your students' and your introductory posters
into
meaningful and tangible learning experiences for the
class and for
yourself. From the first day of school,
you have tools in your hands that can
pave the path
to a bright, new, and exciting school year, a year
filled
with memorable experiences and the seeds for a truly
multicultural
lifetime of learning!
~ Michelle Young, New York State, USA
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/stradbroke/2/index.html
co-author,
_Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: Meeting the
Challenge of Our Multicultural
America & Beyond_ (Caddo Gap
Press, 1996); _Multicultural Moments from
Around the World_
(1997);
author, _Daydream: To Our Mosaic World_, in
progress for
K-12;
TIPS columnist;
SRHS Trivia Trek host
============================================================
~ Including the Physically Handicapped with
Sheila Estes ~
EDUCATING THE
EDUCATORS
This is the year of which I never let myself dream. Nate is
a
Senior in high school. He is mainstreamed in all classes,
remains an A, B
student and is a member of the National
Honor Society. But Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy quickly
teaches a family to set short term goals and
appreciate
anything that is achieved during the patient's lifetime.
More
and more of the afflicted boys are reaching graduation
day and beyond. Nate
has made it to this final year of high
school which will be full of special
events for himself and
each of his classmates. What an exciting time this
will be
for the class of 2000.
Each year presents changes in administration, teachers,
classrooms and physical abilities. I always contact the
school a couple
of weeks prior to registration to remind
them that they will have a student
with unique physical
needs in the classroom. This sets the ball in motion
for the
annual meeting for all involved staff members the day before
classes begin. It is organized by the principal with the
aide of the
Special Education department.
Nate goes to the meeting which allows new teachers to
become
acquainted with him. The remainder of the conference is
conducted
without his presence so everyone can ask questions
more freely. Our family
has chosen to be very open and
direct with those working with Nathan. For
many of the
teachers, he will be the only severely physically disabled
student they will ever have in this small community.
I make a few notes to take with me. At the beginning of this
informal meeting, I briefly explain that Nate has DMD and
that it is
progressive. From there I go into his physical
limitations and what
adaptations need to be addressed. I
attempt to dispel the myth that
physically disabled goes
hand in hand with decreased mental ability. For
many of the
staff, it is a review with an update of any changes
that
occurred during the summer break. For others, it is their
first
contact with Nate and they are often wary of having
him in their classrooms.
After describing what generally has worked in the past for
various routines I open the floor for questions on any topic
of concern
no matter how personal. Rest room assistance,
discipline, prognosis, and
length of assignments are usually
discussed.
Although many parents may not feel comfortable being so open
with others about their child’s condition, we have
found it to
be the best method for all concerned.
~ Sheila Estes, Greentown, Indiana USA
Mother, caregiver and
personal slave to son with Muscular Dystrophy
Author of Mr. Leviticus, the
library kitten.
Guest speaker
sher51es@netusa1.net
============================================================
~ Dr. Robert Kizlik's Teacher Education 101
~
LESS IS MORE, MORE OR LESS
Learning for mastery is a powerful idea. As I see it, learning
should
always be for mastery of whatever it is that
is intended to be
learned. However, that principle is
sometimes blurred beyond
recognition in teacher education
curricula.
Let me refer to my own institution as a case in
point.
In Florida, the Legislature practically micro-manages
education
at all levels. In matters relating to teacher
education, its will is
implemented through the collective
actions of the Department of Education
(DOE) and the Board
of Regents, which approve and authorize programs leading
to
teacher licensure. Reactions to public sentiment, the
agendas of
special interest groups, and lawsuits or the
threat of lawsuits have caused
changes in the teacher
education curriculum. So do the requirements of
accrediting
organizations such as NCATE. Whether such changes are
actually improvements remains to be seen.
In preparing the syllabi for my courses for the Fall
semester of
1999, I had to infuse or include a host of
objectives, activities, and
experiences that relate to such
areas as technology (NCATE), Accomplished
Practices, and
ESOL (DOE). Of course, part of this is related to our joint
NCATE, DOE, BOR visit in the Spring of 2000. Our syllabi
have to
"look good" for the visiting team. We have added to
our curriculum
about 40% more learning outcomes to the
teacher education curriculum and
have deleted nothing. There
is more to teach but not any more time in which
to teach it.
We have become all breadth and no depth. "Covering"
material
is disconnected from any concept of actually mastering it.
Having the objectives in our syllabi is symbolic but has
little to do
with what students actually learn or master.
Theodore Sizer, the author of Horace's Compromise and a
founding member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, is
perhaps best
known for a simple, yet extremely powerful
declarative sentence, "Less
is more." To me, this has always
meant study fewer "things"
but learn them well. Holding on
to that principle becomes increasingly
difficult as
pressures mount to do more in the same amount of time with
no sacrifice in quality. The almost staccato-like teacher
education
curriculum provides students with little time for
reflection or integration,
and the possibilities for mastery
of the content are diminished. I'm
convinced that such
paradigms will do little to bring about improvement in
the
years to come.
For a look at some of the ideas and principles behind the
"less is more" philosophy, check out
http://essentialschools.org/pubs/horace/11/v11n02.html
Teacher education is not improved by simply adding more to
the
curriculum without removing other requirements, unless
of course there can
be found some way to slow the march of
time. Yes, less is more, or at least
can be, more or less.
~ Dr. Robert Kizlik, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Associate
Professor, Florida Atlantic University
Social studies, curriculum,
educational technology, thinking
skills Member, Phi Delta Kappa, ASCD.
Editorial Board,
International Journal of Instructional
Media
Publications include articles on dropout prevention,
thinking
skills, writing objectives, teacher education and
the popular culture,
curriculum innovation, and using
standardized test scores to predict
academic success.
My web site is ADPRIMA: Serious educational tools and
information.
URL: http://www.adprima.com
E mail: bobk@adprima.com
============================================================
~ Life is One Big Classroom with Joan Berger
~
SPACE- THE HIGH FRONTIER
"These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise...its five
year
mission...to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and
new
civilizations..." Sound familiar? You, too, can "boldly go
where no one
has gone before", at least in your classroom.:-)
The Space Flight Project is now sending out its Call for
Participation and
you're sure to want to come on board. What a great way to
celebrate the
new millennium and Space Day! This award winning, global,
science Internet
project, now in its 5th year, spans a 6 week period, from
Feb. 28th-April
7th, 2000. It can be adapted to gr. 3-12 and integrates all
curriculum
areas. If you are accepted into the project, a packet of materials
to aid
you in your instruction will be mailed to you, free of
charge.
The goals of the project are:
->Students will construct an oaktag model of the US Space
Shuttle.
Students will conduct a series of test flights, recording distances
flown,
with variations of thrust and weight. Students will research
the
topics of flight, space shuttle, astro/aerodynamics, utilizing
library and
on-line resources.
->Students will analyze data and submit findings via
email
following form provided Students' research will be posted to
the
membership Students will have the opportunity to
interact with other member
classes via email-all member
addresses will be sent to every participant.
(Great source
for keypals.)
This project has a variety of activities and resources, all
posted on the web at http://www.concentric.net/~jberger5
and
its mirror site, http://www.li.net/~jberger.
<sum> Ask-the-Expert-Experts in the field of astronomy,
astrodynamics,aerodynamics, and artificial intelligence will
be
available each week to answer questions from the member
classes. All
questions and responses will be posted to each
member.
<sum> These
experts will also ask Challenge Questions each
week of the members-answers
and the experts' analysis of
same will be posted to all
members.
<sum> An extensive list of literature resources is listed
for submissions of student Book Reviews., which will be
posted.
<sum> Flight Hall of Fame-students create Who Am I's based
on books they have read about people related to flight-they
are posted
on the web site and classes all over the globe
try to guess who these people
are.
<sum> Basic concepts of flight-background material for the
teacher and student with experiments to use to support them.
<sum>
Project plans for a working model of how to approach
the 6 week
unit.
<sum> Coordinated weekly research topics, matched to project
plan.
<sum> Shuttle glider patterns and
instructions.
<sum> NASA Resource centers across the US
<sum>
NASA Publications for teaching flight
<sum> Spin-offs from the space
program
<sum> An extensive list of clickable Space Flight
URLs
The expected outcomes of this project are:
*Students will learn,
through experimentation, how to
collect, record, and analyze
data.
*Students will increase their skills in using the web as a
resource.
*Students will learn the value of a human
resource.
*Students will learn to seek out information from a variety
of
resources.
*Students will learn the value of sharing data with
other
experimenters.
We have great fun flying all kinds of aircraft we make and
experimenting with Bernoulli's principle. Loads of
experiment sheets are
included in the materials sent.
As you may have guessed by now, this project is my own
"baby", a result of courses I have taken with NASA/Space
Foundation at the US Air Force Academy and Peterson AFB in
Colorado
Springs. These fantastic week-long courses are the
most exciting and
stimulating I have ever taken. We even got
to go inside Cheyenne Mountain
where NORAD resides....shades
of "War Games". Just remember,
"The only way to win, is not
to play." :-) Email me if you wish
info on these courses.
PROCEDURE: Submit request for participation by emailing the
form below to: jberger5@concentric.net
Deadline for receiving participation request is
Nov.30th.
***Please do not request materials if you do not intend to
follow through with the activities. There is NO CHARGE for
participation
or for materials.***
Mailings of materials will go out by Jan. 14th
VERY IMPORTANT*** I have found from experience, that if you
do
not have available Internet access in your classroom,
participation will
become difficult. The dropout rate seems
to hinge on that factor.
Please consider this carefully as
the mailing of materials is very costly
and out-of-pocket.
In order to apply, simply copy this form into your email,
filling it in as requested. You will receive an email reply
if you have
been accepted.
REQUEST FORM:
NAME _________________________________
INTERNET
ADDRESS________________________________________
NAME OF SCHOOL________________________
SCHOOL
ADDRESS________________________City__________________
State______________________Zip___________
GRADE LEVEL_________________________
SUBJECT AREA__________________________
APPROXIMATELY HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL BE
PARTICIPATING?_____________________
WHERE WILL YOU BE ACCESSING THE INTERNET
FROM?
Classroom_____Home_____Lab_____
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL EXPERTISE THAT YOU CAN LEND TO
THE
GROUP?______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Hope you will be able to participate in the Space
Flight
Project.
And here's a note from subscriber, Marvin Selnes, regarding
the
mealworm unit:
"A great resource is the Mealworm booklet from GEMS at
Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. I've had great luck with
Cream of
Wheat. They seem to survive longer in it and are
more active. Have also used
Oatmeal with success."
Thanks for the helpful hints, Marvin. If anyone else wishes
to
have their hints for any of my subject areas posted,
simply email me with
your suggestions.
Until next month......
~ Joan Berger
Internet Educational Consultant
jberger5@concentric.net jberger@li.net
http://www.concentric.net/~jberger5
http://www.li.net/~jberger
============================================================
~ Steve McCarty's East-West Perspectives from
Japan ~
MAKING REAL HAIKU
POETRY
Haiku poetry originated in the pithy remarks of Chinese Zen
(Ch'an)
masters expressing their enlightenment experience.
One was to the
effect that when a cow in one province
grazes, a cow in another province
finds its stomach filled.
Easier to understand is Basho, the Japanese poet
who
perfected the art of haiku several hundred years ago. A frog
jumps
into a pond: Splash. That is it. Simple or deceptively
so? A frog sits still
as if meditating, its attention so
concentrated as to be able to suddenly
pluck a bug out of
the air. This time, instead of looking at its
reflection in
a pond, it merges with it and transcends the usual mindset
distinguishing subject from object, observer from observed.
It does make
quite a splash when reflection succeeds like
that, transcending the contents
of the mind, breaking
through to the identity where the mind grasps
itself.
This is mentioned just to alert the reader that haiku is not
merely short poetry. There is another similarly short genre in
Japan
called "senryu" for poetry that does not have a
deep
meaning. It may refer to social trends, but it is still
expressed indirectly
and with concrete, not abstract,
symbolism. The line needs to be drawn
somewhere as to what
constitutes real haiku, or else it cannot be considered
an
art. There is also such a thing as doing injustice to
another culture
by adopting it inappropriately or
superficially.
In this sense poetry is generally not haiku when it uses
words
like "I" that are not indirect and probably not deep
in
meaning. Metaphysical expressions such as those found in
the poetry of
the West or India are alien to the way of
thinking in Japan and therefore
unsuitable for haiku. To
describe one's mental contents also misses the
theater of
haiku, which is nature.
The five-seven-five syllable form has to do with aesthetics
in
the Japanese language, so it should not be a necessity in
English. I have
translated a famous haiku by the modern
reformist master Shiki which,
ironically, was not 5-7-5 in
the Japanese but was exactly 5-7-5 syllables in
my English.
But it is more important that a deep meaning is expressed
in
nature symbolism. In good haiku poetry the changes in nature
subtly
express the profound changes in the mind.
To purists of unique Japanese sensibilities, only Japanese
language poetry generally of 5-7-5 syllables, with one and
only one
seasonal reference keyword, and with one and only
one pause or grammatical
break, while following other
traditional conventions as well, can qualify as
real haiku.
Columbia University Professor Donald Keene, the most
eminent
Japanologist, once gave a speech at the "hometown
of haiku," not
far from where I live on the island of
hikoku.
He stated that only Japanese can write haiku, and it was
clever
in a way to adopt the Japanese superficial verbal
communication style of
telling people exactly what they
want to hear.
Some time before that my haiku poem in Japanese had
been
accepted by the most competitive haiku column in a national
daily
newspaper with a circulation of over eight million.
he judge passed away not
long after that, probably of
natural causes rather than as the price of
heroism, but his
commentary had indicated that it was a real haiku poem in
terms of meaning and aesthetic expression. So you can
imagine what I
would have made of Professor Keene's speech
had there been any fruit or
rotten eggs handy.
My collection of published haiku is available online at
the
"Bilingual Haiku Scroll" (see URL below) in
Japanese,
Romanized Japanese, and English versions. Japanese
language
fonts are necessary to view the Chinese characters, but
the
English versions can be read normally. Generally I composed
them in
5-7-5 Japanese and tried to make a poetic English
version that could stand
alone while expressing the same
insight. So the bilingual haiku genre may be
somewhat
unique.
As an example of the process, I was sitting in a park
frequented by Japanese blue herons who perch so motionlessly
that most
tourists do not even notice them. Then I wrote
what I saw (in Japanese):
A blue heron / preening its heart / white feathers fly.
The moment I put
the pen down the blue heron took flight.
The changes in nature had reflected
the changes in myself.
So in teaching haiku, it may be better to have the students
view
or imagine scenes in nature that they feel strongly
about, yet aiming to keep
themselves, any description or
commentary out of the picture, such as a
change or
unexpected turn in nature. There should be one seasonal
reference, preferably not naming or describing it but
painting a picture
of it, as it were, in words. "Blue heron"
in the above example is
a summer seasonal keyword, as they
most often appear in summer. Spot the
seasonal reference in
a couple more English versions of my bilingual
haiku:
To young leaves / the world seems / to spin on a
branch
Snowy moat / ducks as if / baby swans
This month's selections for further reading and
enjoyment:
"Bilingual Haiku Scroll" (Japanese-English)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/haiku.html
MPEG Movie of Steve in Japan (12 MB download)
http://lehua.kcc.hawaii.edu/w33.mpg
Bilingualism and Japanology Intersection (an Asian Studies
WWW
Virtual Library 4-star site) Online Publications Menu
Mirror Site
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Berkeley-Labo/4001/epublist.html
~ Steve McCarty, Professor, Kagawa Junior College, Japan
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/epublist.html
an Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library 4-star site)
President, World
Association for Online Education:
http://waoe.org/
E-mail: steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp
============================================================
~ Tammy Bailis' Senior School Musings
~
GUIDE TO DOING A WORD PROBLEM IN
MATH
Doing a math word problem is like knowing where you are and where
you want
to be and having to find the way to get to there from here. Though
that's
true about life in general, in Math, there's one extra condition
governing
the action -- in Mathland, you must find THE BEST WAY -- THE
MOST
EFFICIENT AND PRECISE WAY -- to get to there from here. So doing a
math
question can be compared to having to find a specific path of
stepping
stones across a wide river -- a path which begins on the stone where
you
are on this side of the river, ends where you want to be -- on the
last
stone -- on the other side of the river -- when all the stones in
between
are unknown -- they have ?s on them. The objective of the exercise is
to
find those unknown stepping stones.
In math, as in life, there are often many ways to get to where you
want to
be from where you are, but in Mathland, your mission is to find
the
straightest road between the two. You're looking for a bee line from
here
to there. You're not looking for the scenic route -- you want
the
autoroute -- the expressway. So how do you find it? You can't look at
a
map like you would if you were going from one city to another. What
you
must do is find the right combination of given facts and
previously
learned properties which leads to the solution of the
problem.
Say you're working with this problem: A farmer buys 1000 yards of
fencing
in order to enclose a rectangular field. If he wishes to enclose a
maximum
area, what dimensions should he make the field? In a case such as
this,
the first thing to do is make a diagram! Since you know that the field
is
rectangular and you know that opposite sides are equal, your
diagram
should indicate that.
Now, say we make the width of the field x yards. (Put x on 2 sides
in your
diagram)This means he has to use 2x yards for the fence along 2
sides,
leaving 1000 - 2x yards to split between the other two sides. So each
of
those other sides is ½(1000 - 2x) or 500 - x yards long.(put this
in your
diagram too) Now you know that the area of a rectangle is base
times
height, so we can express the area of the field as A = x(500 - x) or A
=
-x2 + 500x. This of course, you should recognize as a parabolic
function
that has a maximum value for A since the coefficient of the x2 term
is -1.
You simply solve for the x value that yields the maximum for this
function
and you will have answered the question. We can see that the zeros
of this
parabola are x = 0 and x = 500, so the axis of symmetry, which is
half way
between the zeros happens at x = 250. The answer then is to make the
field
a square that is 250 yards on each side. (I tried to get the
following
image to line up properly. If it didn't come across with
straight
lines, you will be able to see it correctly on the online version
when it is put up.)
500-X
************
* *
X * *
X
*
*
************
500-X
So how did we find the solution? We used the two facts given in
the
question: ie. that the field was rectangular and had a perimeter of
1000
yards, and our knowledge of the area function for a rectangle as well
as
our techniques for finding the x-coordinate of the vertex of a
parabola.
We therefore have found the most direct route from where we were to
where
we wanted to be. This is what all math questions are about, finding
the
most direct route from what we know to what we want to
know.
~ Tammy Bailis, Montréal, Québec
BA (McGill U.)
Masters in Teaching Mathematics (Concordia U.)
Author:
- Mathways,
Volume 1: covering pre-calculus Algebra,
Euclidean
Geometry and Analytic Geometry.
- Sinostrology: A Guide to the
Zoo (published 1998 by The American
Federation of Astrologers); (French
version published 1990 by les Editions
de Mortagne)
E-mail: piglet@vif.com
============================================================
~ Technically Speaking with Kathleen A.
Catapano ~
VOICING YOUR
OPINION...ONLINE
Isn’t it frustrating that you don’t usually have time
to
send your ideas or messages of support or protest to the
places where
they will have an impact? The thoughts and
words are right at hand, but the
time to actually write the
letter and mail it is most difficult to find.
There is hope!
Your computer is a great way to send your remarks to the
appropriate places easily and efficiently. Email is the
answer.
Dashing off a reasoned message to your senator,
congressperson, television
network, or favorite sports team
is convenient and effective. Email
addresses for the United
States Congress are available at
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1411/index.html.
The
Senate Email List and Tutorial
http://www.northernwebs.com/senate/)
offers guidelines for
writing letters of opinion. Additionally, many
institutions
now have websites --- stores, schools, sports teams,
airlines, and even the White House --- where messages can be
left.
Access them and share your opinion.
Using the web or email to voice an opinion is a wonderful
project for students as well. It encourages writing,
requires knowledge
of a situation, analysis of the issue and
development of an informed
opinion. Youngsters can
learn to express and defend both their negative and
positive
opinions in an appropriate and informed way. What a powerful
lesson that is.
~ Kathleen A. Catapano, Brooklyn, New York USA
Educational
Technology,
Medgar Evers College - CUNY
E-mail: catapano@mec.cuny.edu, pkcatapano@aol.com
===========================
~ Audrey's Library Connection ~
CINDERELLA! CINDERELLA!
Welcome back to school! As a librarian, I'm looking forward
to
kick into high gear so that our students will be
motivated to begin library
usage. I thought that I would
begin with something to spark interest in
reading and
borrowing books.
As I have each class come to the library for their
orientation,
I do a mini lesson on some of the "Cinderella"
stories. I explain
that there are "Cinderella" stories frome
all over the world.
First I ask a class to describe the
original version of Cinderella. Then I
read one of the
various Cinderella stories from another country or region to
the class. I had the class compare and contrast the stories
using a
graphic organizer. The children enjoyed hearing a
different version of an
old familiar story, and at the same
time got to use study skills. I
displayed quite a few
different versions and the children were clammoring to
take
out those titles.
Some of the books I used in this lesson are:
> Smoky
Mountain Rose - An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan
Schroeder,
Dial Books 1997
> The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci,Dial Books
1989
> The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo,Harper Collins,
1989
> The Korean Cinderella By Shirley Climo, Harper
Collins
1993
> Jouanah - A Hmong Cinderella by Jewell
Reinhart Coburn,
Shen's Books 1996
> Chinye - A West
African Folk Tale by Obi Onyefulu, Viking
Press 1984
>
The Enchanted Anklet By Lila Mehta, Lilmur Publishing 1985
> The Irish
Cinderlad by Shirley Climo,Harper Collins 1996
Have fun using these different books.
If YOU have a theme you would like me to address in this
column, send your suggestion to: mailto:aciuggo@ps161.com
Have a great school year!
~ Audrey Ciuffo, New York, New York USA
Teacher, Mentor,
Library Technologist
http://www.ps161.com/libpower.html
E-mail:
aciuffo@ps161.com
==== CALL FOR IDEAS
========================================
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share?
Do you have a great site you think I should add to Mrs. Young's Super
Charged Educational Voyage? Submit
it!
E-mail: mrsysuggestions@jrydevelopment.com
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Mrs. Young's Super Charged Educational
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or her company, JRY Development Corp. make no
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the contents of the Mrs. Young's Super Charged
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============================================================
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WELL AS
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~~ End
of Mrs. Young's Super Charged Educational Voyage
"Education
Companion Newsletter"
~~
============================================================
