The Pledge of Allegiance through the years. Food for thought.
To say I am sick-at-heart about the passing of Joe Paterno would be an understatement. I still believe in his “grand experiment” and I will always remember him fondly as a dedicated educator and role model.
From the Black Shoe Diaries:
Behind Joe Paterno’s Beaver Stadium statue are the words, “Educator, Coach, Humanitarian.” They really could have been arranged in any order. Yes, he won a few football games, and the grand scope of Paterno’s educational and humanitarian achievements was not possible without his blossoming football program. It not only changed the lives of those who passed through it, but also of those who were just lucky enough to be around it for few hours on a Saturday afternoon. It brought together people of all types, forging friendships that otherwise never would have existed. It made us feel bigger than we actually were. Paterno believed that his players could succeed on the field and in the classroom. When ordinary students could overcome their starstruck feelings to say hello, Paterno would ask if they were studying and going to class. He believed in all of us, whether we knew it or not.
Music meets engineering and physics. Love this and share it with every budding tech-type you can find.
Tech in the Classroom: Zinn Education Project
The Zinn Education Project describes its goal as a way “to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula.” Though the project is specifically aiming to promote use of A People’s History of the United States alternative textbook, it is not simply a book-selling promotion.
Instead, the Zinn Education Project offers a collection of free downloadable materials with information about the lives of everyday people in America as seen through the eyes of minorities, women, and people otherwise overlooked by history.
(Though much of the content is available for free download, you must register to access that content. Some links lead to an external site to purchase materials).
"The Tempest" Banned in Tucson
I can’t even begin to express an adequate amount of displeasure about this move. Truly appalling.
Another notable text removed from Tucson’s classrooms is Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest.” In a meeting this week, administrators informed Mexican-American studies teachers to stay away from any units where “race, ethnicity and oppression are central themes,” including the teaching of Shakespeare’s classic in Mexican-American literature courses.
The author of one of the banned books has come out with a scathing comment on the action of the Tucson Unified School District:
“The only other time a book of mine was banned was in 1986, when the apartheid government in South Africa banned ‘Strangers in Their Own Country,’ a curriculum I’d written that included a speech by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela,” said Bigelow, who serves as curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools magazine, and co-directs the online Zinn Education Project. ”We know what the South African regime was afraid of. What is the Tucson school district afraid of?”
This video is an incredible testament to the fact that individuals with autism lead a rich inner life. I will surely approach problem behaviors with a little more understanding, having witnessed this young woman’s struggle with her own body.
Just another way to get kids excited about words — this time, music!
Major kudos to the Milwaukee Public Library for coming up with this rockin’ ad campaign.
