education

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Meet “Sally”.  She costs $57,000: less than the yearly pay of the average teacher in New York State.  She is an automaton.  A robot teacher.  And she is coming online in a school district this coming fall semester.

Here is another picture of Sally courtesy of Realbotix, the company that created her:

 

“Welllll long tall Sally, she’s built for speed, she got

Everything that Uncle John need

Oh bay-bee, yeaaaah bay-bee, WHOO-OOOH, HOO-OO bay-beee

Havin’ me some fun tonight, yeah! “

(I just couldn’t resist that, folks.)

I think that Sally is a glorified Teddy Ruxpin.  Remember him? The animatronic teddy bear that toy company Worlds of Wonder came out with in 1985.  Sally probably has a cassette tape hatch in her back that contains her programming, lets her move her arms and head (she has legs but she’s unable to walk).

The school admins swear that ...

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Bit of a setup here: right now the usual work is slow.  So I’ve been supplementing that as a substitute teacher.  The school year just started up here so there hasn’t been too much assignment-wise going on.  For now though it is providing what I need.

And maybe, maybe, a little more.  Today I filled in for an assistant in a five-year kindergarten class.  It was awesome!!!  The teacher said that I did an amazing job!  She said she was definitely going to keep me in mind the next time they need a sub.  I absolutely LOVED it.  This is something I could spend the rest of my life doing.

Well, it was about 10 this morning that the teacher asked me if I’d like to read a book to the students, who are not called “students” but instead “friends” (hey it beats calling them “clients” like I did ...

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How it transpired is something that a LOT of people have thought I’m making up.  But it really happened.

I was on my first day of substitute teaching.  And I went into that school all shiny and shaved, shirt tail tucked into my khakis, best boots… I was going to make an impression on the students and faculty alike (say, why don’t most men seem to tuck their shirt tails in anymore?).

Most of all, I went in bearing in mind all that my own teachers, and substitute teachers especially, had handled us as students when I was in school.  Yes even the subs, many of whom are still burned into my memory.  They knew they only had a day or two to make their mark upon their students’ educations, but they were determined to make the most of it.  That’s precisely the mindset that I was going to emulate. ...

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For now, I’m being a very active substitute teacher.  Which, well… we’ll see what happens from there.  People have been telling me for many years that I would make for a great teacher.  Today was a chance to give it a shot.

So I taught three blocks of high school sophomore honors chemistry class.  The subject of today’s lesson was Neils Bohr, who came up with the standard model of atomic theory.  The students thought it was pretty wild that in addition to being a nuclear genius, Bohr was also an Olympic-class soccer player.

I must confess, I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the technology in the average classroom today.  Instead of a TV and a videotape player on a cart, each classroom now has this big touch-screen high-definition set.  I had to get one of the kids to explain to me how to make it work.  The teacher had ...

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So for like the third or fourth time in my life I am entering the field of education.

I promise that I won’t read “The Call of Cthulhu” to second graders again.

(No, seriously, that’s what happened.)

Looking forward to taking young minds full of mush and molding them into critically thinking members of society.  Or playing a small part in it anyway 🙂

 

 ...

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Don’t you wish YOU had a teacher like Ethan Schoonover when you were in middle school?  This is the kind of innovation and creativity that educators should aspire to have in their own classrooms.  Heck, it’s enough to tempt me to consider teaching full-time.  Several years ago I taught an elective about making and managing websites at an Episcopal day school.  It was just one class three days a week, but it was so much fun and I still think often of those kids and the imaginations they were putting to use.  The girls that Schoonover teaches are indeed blessed to have a mentor like “Mr. E” because they are cultivating skills that will take them very far in life.

What are we discussing here?  After pestering Mr. Schoonover with the idea for an official after-school group at Lake Washington Girls Middle School located in Seattle, the ladies began a ...

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Photo: Gerry Broome, AP
Apparently following the recent examples of others throughout the country, today thousands of teachers from across North Carolina descended upon the streets of Raleigh to demand more money, resources, and… well, what exactly?
Many and perhaps even most school systems in North Carolina cancelled classes entirely.  There were not enough substitutes to fill in for the full-time teachers who had declared their intent to be absent.  Effectively abandoning their students while they themselves, festooned in new red t-shirts, took bus caravans to the state capital.
How much in scarce financial resource got burned up for today’s exercise in political activism?  And why couldn’t it have been done on a Saturday, when school was out and even more teachers would be free to make the trip and show solidarity?
“Yes Miss Loudermilk, I can spell ‘hypocrisy’.  H, I, P, P, O…”
Fine.  Let’s look at the facts:
...
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Catherine Rose and her daughter Alexis

It is an honor and a privilege to be able to say that I have been able to count Catherine Rose among the friendships that I have made through this journey in life.  She and I were in high school together and shared many conversations back and forth from our swim meets.  Catherine is, literally, one of the most powerhouse intellects on the face of the Earth.  I thought that then about her and the past decade has only served to reinforce that estimation.

Catherine and her husband are blessed to be the parents of two beautiful daughters.  One of them, Alexis, was born with severe disabilities that prevent her from learning and communicating as other children her age.  It was something that led Catherine to take a position at Philips and their healthcare division.  In her time at Philips, Catherine has led the ...

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I have had an idea, which may or may not address a myriad of problems affecting these United States…

We should begin letting all natural-born Americans be citizens.  But only at age
18 can they become full citizens, with all the rights and privileges that comes with such citizenship.


However, for that to happen a person must be made to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that he or she is up to handling the responsibilities that comes with being a fully-functioning member of a democratically-elected republic.

Each individual would have to demonstrate
basic knowledge of the Constitution, some simple geography (i.e. be able
to find the United States in a world map) and basic English.  Perhaps along with some understanding of American history, economics and accounting.  Let the examinations be done in the randomly-applied style of the SAT, the GRE and similar tests.  It shouldn’t be too hard but neither ...

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At last night’s monthly work meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education, the proposal was put forth that the board should begin each session with prayer.  It’s been a longstanding custom to have a moment of silence.  If the board approves of it at the May 13th meeting, that would be replaced with a public prayer before an official function of government.

Here’s the story from today’s News & Record…

Board members spent nearly an hour talking
through the finer points of whether they should open meetings with
prayer. It was discussion that at times became tense but never
contentious.

The school board currently opens its
meetings with a moment of silence. Board member Ron Price asked the
board to consider adding prayers during the last meeting.

The members will vote on the issue May 13

The possibility of a lawsuit was brought
up Monday night by

...
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