James Randi On Carl Sagan

One of my favorite men (I met him at DragonCon!) speaking about one of my favorite men and quoting from one of my favorite books. He's talking about science! And teachers!




(thanks phil!)

Recess

Turns out, it's just as important as the rest of the academic day.  How important?  We shouldn't even take it away as a punishment.

"Also, teachers often punish children by taking away recess privileges. That strikes Dr. Barros as illogical. 'Recess should be part of the curriculum,' she said. 'You don’t punish a kid by having them miss math class, so kids shouldn’t be punished by not getting recess.'"

Thoughts?

(image cc "day 51")

Improving School and Spending Less

Last week, Tricia had a good post (as usual) responding to an article by Jay Matthews. It was about ways to improve schools without spending much. Good ideas, all. Replace homework with free reading. Promoting more trade nonfiction reading in high school. Make a national reading holiday.

One idea I think would not only not cost much, but would actually save us thousands of hours of instructional time, not to mention many millions of dollars would be to cut back on the amount of testing we're doing.

"For those who argue that we need standardized tests in order to compare student achievement over time and to compare subgroups of students, we already have a good instrument for this, the NAEP. The NAEP is administered to small groups of children, who each take a portion of the test, every few years. Results are extrapolated to estimate how the larger groups would score. No test prep is done, as the tests are zero stakes: There are no (or should be no) consequences for low or high scores. If we are interested in a general picture of how children are doing, this is the way to do it. If we are interested in finding out about a patient’s health, we only need to look at a
small sample of their blood, not all of it." --Stephen Krashen

It's time to seriously scrutinize every test and see if it's worth the massive amounts of time and money we're putting into them.

(image cc from flickr)

Krashen On...

Recent fun thoughts from Stephen Krashen, from his mailing list.  Here's the good Dr. on...

...Books!: "India claims that it is developing a very cheap laptop "to improve the skills of millions of students" ("India says it will produce new laptop for just US $10," Feb. 4). There is no evidence that a $10 laptop will help students learn more.

Let me recommend a device is even cheaper, and its efficacy is supported by a tremendous amount of research. It is random access, compact, and highly durable.

Using this device simulates temporal and pre-frontal areas of the brain, and may even delay senility in addition to increasing literacy levels dramatically and providing children with large amounts of information.

It is safe for use by children.

One warning: This device is extremely pleasant to use and may result in addiction.

These devices are found in great abundance in libraries, where they can be borrowed for free."

...NCLB!: "Arne Duncan's view of what needs to be done (better tests, better tracking systems, rigorous and uniform standards, earlier start, better teachers) is based on the assumption that there is something seriously wrong with American education.

The only thing wrong is poverty. When you control for the effects of poverty, American children do quite well compared to children in other countries. US schools with fewer than 25% of children in poverty outscore all countries in the world in Math and Science (see Gerald Bracey's column on the Huffington Post, July 22, 2007). US children only fall below the international average when 75% of more of the students in a school are children of poverty.

The obvious solution is to reduce poverty. When all children have proper diets, are surrounded by good reading material, and have the other advantages that children from high-income families have, our schools will be considered the best in the world.

For a description of the devastating (but often reversible) effects of hunger, see Gerald Coles: "Hunger, academic success, and the hard bigotry of indifference" Rethinking Schools, vol 23, 2, 2008/2009. Available at:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/hung232.shtml"

The 21st Century Librarian

NYT has a decent article with accompanying video this morning on the changing role of teacher-librarians.  I could mention some quibbles, but basically I would have to go along with the old canard about "there is no bad publicity" in this case and be happy for the exposure.  Share it with your friends and be sure to let me know what you think.

(image CC "Questions Answered...")

What's Brown and Sounds Like Radar?

Pooooooooooooop.

Ok, this subject always brings out the first grader in me.

There's some great reading to be had on this topic for our young readers!

Tricia has the real poop right here.

(image cc "iPot")

Happy Darwin Day!

 

It's Darwin Day!  Heck, it's Darwin Year!  His 200th!

If you don't understand evolution yet, or still have questions, check out Understanding Evolution for Teachers or the Understanding Evolution home page.

You can celebrate by playing a fun evolution video game!

You can celebrate at church this weekend:

Nearly 1000 congregations are preparing for "Evolution Weekend!"

You can celebrate by reading a book with your kid of course!

One Beetle Too Many by Kathryn Lasky

The Tree of Life by Peter Sis

Life on Earth by Steve Jenkins

Darwin and Evolution for Kids by Kristen Lawson

Here are many more great choices.

If that's not enough for you, Charlie's Playhouse has a list of 89!

Oh, and it's this guy's 200th birthday too.

My Favorite Paragraph

Doug asked what his reader's favorite paragraphs were.  This is mine.  It's from a collection that E. B. White put together of his late wife's writings on gardening.  After she died he missed her terribly.  This is the last paragraph in a long introduction he wrote for the book (Henry Allen was their caretaker):

"Armed with a diagram and a clipboard, Katherine would get into a shabby Brooks raincoat much too long for her, put on a little round wool hat, pull on a pair of overshoes, and proceed to the director's chair--a folding canvas thing--that had been placed for her at the edge of the plot.  There she would sit, hour after hour, in the wind and the weather, while Henry Allen produced dozens of brown paper packages of new bulbs and a basketful of old ones, ready for the intricate interment.  As the years went by and age overtook her, there was something comical yet touching in her bedraggled appearance on this awesome occasion--the small, hunched-over figure, her studied absorption in the implausible notion that there would be yet another spring, oblivious to the ending of her own days, which she knew perfectly well was near at hand, sitting there with her detailed chart under those dark skies in the dying October, calmly plotting the resurrection."

More Book Banning

Ugh.  Please tell me this will be overturned.

A Tip for Parents

Dear Parents:

You know that comfy sweatsuit you like to wear on the weekends?  You, know, your favorite one?The one you think looks ok to run to the store in?

Don't wear those to the Parent-Teacher conference.

I'm just sayin'.

Thanks Jen!

Jen Robinson gives a plug and continues pushing read-alouds. The newest idea is some kind of national read-aloud day. Keep the ideas coming and keep reading out loud.

The Simplest Time Management System

I've mentioned the new time management system I've been trying out these past few weeks here and here that was developed by Mark Forster.

It just works and I've never been more productive.

I just wanted to let you know if you are interested it is now out of beta and he has released the instructions to the public fee of charge.  Here they are.

If you have any questions, ask me or check out the discussion forum on his site.  Someone on the forum has even set up a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) thread.

It really is the simplest system I've come across and it works very well for me.  You can totally start working on it before you even finish reading the instructions.  Let me know if you try it out and how it goes for you.

*update--A message from Mark Forster: "You are welcome to pass this link on to anyone without registration. Please note however that the text of the Autofocus instructions is fully copyrighted and that the text itself may not be copied or passed on."

(image CC "Focus")

Blog Cleanup

After reading MotherReader's blog advice and blog advice II, I used some precious downtime to prune the sidebar. I've put all my regularly read blogs into the blogrollt. I thought about separating out the various kinds, but decided to go democratic and put them all on one list. Did I forget yours? Let me know.

Poetry and Math

"Final Proof That Maths and Poetry Have A Special Relationship" by Shirly Dent

Read the whole thing.  It's lovely.  You know it's good if it makes me want to learn more about math.  Here's a bit:

"One, two, buckle my shoe, Three, four, knock on the door...

Our first, toddling relationship to poetry often goes hand-in-hand with our first fascination with numbers. In learning to count and learning to rhyme, we begin to make sense of the world through patterns, making numbers run in sequence, connecting words with each other in all sorts of ways. And that's before we even get started with Lewis Carroll's recitation of the first 71 digits of pi using nonsense couplets as an aide-mémoire."

(tip to norm)

(image cc "Pi Pie")

Librarians Aren't Teachers?!

So says the Dallas school district, interpreting Federal rules attached to one of those crazy pay-for-performance schemes.

Reading the email they got carefully, they're basically saying that librarians, counsellors and speech therapists are not teachers and are equivalent to the food service staff and the custodians.

I could go on a real rant here, but I won't.  I'll simply say that this helps me decide a question that until now, I thought was a bit silly.  There's apparently been a debate in the world of my future job, namely what should we call ourselves?  Media Specialists?  Librarians?  Teacher-Librarians?

It seemed silly to me until now.  Now I'm throwing my hat in with the Canadians and going for the title Teacher-Librarian.

The real silly thing is this pay-for-performance nonsense.  If you don't think every single person in the building is contributing to the education of these children--including our wonderful food service staff and custodians, then you are deluding yourself.

Yes, the classroom teachers get dumped on when it comes to the grading and the standardized tests and that is wrong.  But saying that that someone who, at least it our district, is required to have a minimum of a Master's degree and must go through the yearly teaching goals and observation ritual (that would be observations of teaching) is not a teacher is kidding themselves.

Ok, so I went into a rant...

(Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com)

Far

lyrics

You ponder the universe and a look comes 'cross your face
You try to fathom distances of all the stuff in space
But you can't wrap the bacon of your mind around the fig
Of all the terms required to describe how big is big

So let me get specific, and use words scientific
Go whip out your thesaurus, for this exacting chorus

This stuff is far, [it's really far] this stuff is far far far away
We're talkin' far, [like über far] you can't get there by car in a day
It's super duper crazy far but not just pulsars quasars and stars
I mean it's far, far, far, if there's some doubt listen to us shout [THIS STUFF IS FAR]

I sense all the explosions going off inside your brain
As your mind gets blown by what I just did explain
Sorry if my words might drive you all insane
But that's what happens when precision is your middle name

So with an exacting factor, like some sextant or protractor
Using details quite semantic, I'll show how huge is this gigantic

CHORUS

...far too big to explain in any concise ways,
it might just have to take 365 days

I hope that I have offered up some technical assistance
And haven't caused your ticker too much ventrical resistance
But you have got to listen and trust my insistence
That I am very accurately describing the distance

CHORUS

©2009 Geologic Records

I love that!  Go to the incredible George Hrab's site to download the song.  It's the theme for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast which is for the awesome International Year of Astronomy.

(tip to one Dr. Plait--you may have heard of him?)

(image cc "open wide")

Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?

Cool poster!  Get one for your school at the Academy of American Poets site for National Poetry Month right here.

Recognise the quote? 

Here's the answer if you give up.

(tip to The Unquiet Librarian)

How Can We Encourage Reading Aloud?

Well?

What do you think is the best way?

Jen Robinson* posted this very question a little over a week ago and boy is there some interest! Checkout that never-ending comment list of people willing to step up for one of the best causes, um, ever--encouraging more reading aloud from parents and teachers.

There has been much speculation on the reasons some parents might not be doing this, but I won't go into that here. Let's just pretend for the moment they don't know how utterly essential it is. But more importantly, and I didn't see this in the comments so far, let's pretend they don't know how much freaky fun it can be.

That's something Mem Fox captures quite well in her book for parents, Reading Magic. She points out the sheer joy and intimacy of the moment. The other book I hope everyone has is, of course, Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook. He's retiring and I hope someone out there picks up the mantle of read-aloud guru and continues revising his book every few years.  Any nominations?

Public service announcements seem to be a popular choice. Many of the ideas are for shots of celebrities reading to their kids. I hope if this ever comes to pass that the kids aren't all tiny ones. Trelease admonishes us to keep reading to them every day until they leave your house. One of the ways he accomplished this was to make his older kids do the dishes and he would read to them columns from their favorite magazines to keep the connection going.  A recreation of something like that would make a great ad!

What else can you come up with?  Let's keep this going strong...

*here's an update on the response to Jen's original post

(image cc cayusa)

Authors In Person

This post from CB James got me thinking about all the authors I've met.  I worked in bookstores for many years, have gone to see them at author signings just because I'm a fanboy, and have even been lucky enough to have gotten to know some as friends.

The point of CBs post was finding out about the real person, usually from their biographies, after having liked their work and how that can sometimes change your appreciation of the work.  I can honestly say I've never gone sour on an author after having met them.  There were some that were not pleasant that I wasn't a fan of already like Henry Rollins (a dick) and Terry McMillan (surprise, a drama queen), and Robin Cook (nuts).  There were some that didn't come off well but book tours can be hard and long and tiring, so I still like Sarah Vowell and  Gary Paulson even though they were not at their best.

I was at a conference once and noticed that Orson Scott Card was nearby, signing.  I am a fan of the first Ender book (the second two were fun, but not as brilliant and I haven't read any more by him).  I avoided his table because I've heard him say some anti-gay things and just don't read him anymore.  I don't think it's necessary to agree with an author on everything and I'm sure there are writers I like that are not the best people because, let's face it, we're all just people.  So I try to be open minded.  But I don't read Card.

The list  authors that are just as cool and interesting as their books is long: Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Dan Simmons, Mario Vargas Llosa, John Ford Noonan, Geoffrey Wolfe, Lloyd Alexander, Janell Cannon, Aliki, Russell Banks, TC Boyle, David Sedaris, Carman Deedy, Joanna Cole, Laurence Yep, Brian Pinkney, Walter Dean Myers, David Shannon, Laurence Block, Jack Gantos, Cristopher Paul Curtis, Steven Kellogg, Tom Wolfe, Jerry Spinnelli, John Green, Mo Willems, Jane Yolen, Christopher Moore....

The list goes on and on.  I have cool stories about each and every one of those experiences.  What authors have you met or read about?  How has that changed your appreciation of their work?

22nd Century Skills

Have you read the latest?  C'mon, people!  Catch up now.  That "21st Century" bandwagon has left the station.  It's time to get on board the 22nd Century Express!

(tip to Tim at Assorted Stuff for the early warning!  Apologies to my awesome blogger friends over at year of reading for stealing their cute image idea--couldn't resist.  They know I'm just kidding.  You know I'm just kidding Mary Lee and Franki, right?  Right?  It's all Alfie Kohn's fault!)

KidLitosphere Central

The amazing and apparently indefatigable MotherReader has led the charge into bringing all the diverse and wonderful blogs which promote "Kid's Lit," from pre-K to Young Adult, into one central hub. Revealed at last is the lovely new site, KidLitosphere Central. Check them out, link to them, enjoy all the events, challenges and discussions about one of the central achievements of human culture: literature, specifically literature aimed at the young and young at heart.