Where will you find Jesus this holiday season?

I can't believe I almost missed this "whole stack of Jesuses" piece from Swamplot:

Cutting through some 2×6 pine boards he was using to build a table yesterday at the Potetz Home Center in Cleveland, Texas, carpenter Eddie Fregia found Jesus. Or at least what appeared to be an image of Jesus. A long-haired, bearded figure was revealed in a knot Fregia cut through in the hardware supply store’s woodshop, 50 miles north of Houston. “It looked a lot like J.C.,” Fregia tells the Cleveland Advocate. “Either J.C. or my brother.” Fregia notified a coworker and his boss, and they agreed with Fregia’s assessment, though manager Kenny Rogers later told reporter Cassie Gregory that someone else who examined the knot said it looked more like musician and movie director Rob Zombie.

* * *

Various slices of the board apparently revealed slightly different Jesus-like images. “We had a whole stack of Jesuses,” Rogers joked to Gregory. Fregia cut off the end of the piece of wood with the clearest image and took it home with him. He says his wife might take it to theLighthouse Church at Moss Hill in Hardin this Sunday, to show around.

• Jesus knot found in Cleveland [Cleveland Advocate] 

Photo: Cassie Gregory, Cleveland Advocate

Read more…

5 Best Toys of All Time | GeekDad | Wired.com

Not much needs to be added to this wonderful post by Jonathan Liu.

Dirt, Stick, String, Cardboard Tube, Box.

The 5 Best Toys of All Time | GeekDad | Wired.com

Scan the comments for the runners up and tips on liberating your kids (and saving your wallet) by various offerings of these and others.

"You're headed for a one-term presidency" -Steve Jobs

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.

Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.

read on

First Day of High School...

Are you a smart, opinionated, down-to-earth, idealistic teenager?  Do you know one?

Head on over to the new Huffington Post High School page.  It's a place to drop off or pick up some pros or cons on your favorite topic.  

What's that?  You don't care about anything?  You just want to watch some YouTube videos of people singing?  That's fine.

Or maybe, just think about the next funny show to watch.  That's okay, too.  All are welcome.

Teacher? Blog well or look for new work.

Alternative Title: "NEWSFLASH: What you post on the web is not private!"

Remember this one from last school year about Pennsylvania teacher Natalie Monroe:

Her blog posts calling students "frightfully dim," "whiny," and "utterly loathsome" prompted her suspension in February.

You might also recall that her, well, 'punishment', was that she was not fired or reassigned. She's right back in the same school where she was then.

Well, she's not out of the woods yet as more than 200 students have dropped her class this fall requesting to be reassigned. While not available for comment, Ms. Monroe did say:

she "will teach in an empty classroom if I have to."

Now, maybe I'm no expert, but WHA?

Which also makes me think: HUH?

This is like if a tree fall in the forest and no one is around, right? If she's teaching to an empty classroom, is she still teaching? My favorite corollary question is: "If you're teaching and no one is learning, are you still teaching?"

That last one could apply to too many folks.

Facebook Use and Drug Use Correlated for Teens

Education Week: Study: Teen Users of Facebook, Myspace More Likely to Drink, Use Drugs

"When someone constantly sees photos of parties, they sort of feel they're missing out," he said. "It sort of glorifies the whole thing. Especially if you haven't done it before, it could be a gateway to make them think it's all right."

"...he regularly sees Facebook posts about drinking and partying. And it's not just images, he added: Status updates that say things such as, "I can't remember what happened last night" get the message across as clearly as any photograph."

Montessori on NPR. Listen NOW!

Listen now to the President of Association Montessori Internationale, André Roberfroid, on Dallas station KERA. (Missed it? Listen here.)

"What is most important in the early and on-going education of a child? We’ll spend this hour with André Roberfroid, President of Association Montessori Internationale and former UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Program and Strategic Planning. He’s in town for the Educateurs sans Frontieres Third International Assembly, which ended today."

Mom kills son, self, citing school system and costs...

So what's the lesson here?  And we better learn one.  (Caution: Tragic Article)

While perhaps an extreme reaction to challenging circumstances, it's no stretch to assume that many families in our country are facing similar if not identical challenges.  Certainly many of them have also considered all means possible to alleviate the burden.

Too many schools are set up to process children through the assembly line.  In that regard, young Ben is too often just a folder on a desk.  Then on another desk.  Then on another desk.  Then a "family that has to be met with."  The bureaucratic pressures to move kids along, quantify their growth, or cut them loose are enormous.

Marginalization or bullying exists where those in power accept it as part of the status quo.  Was the system serving Ben or just hosting him:

"He used to say, 'Mom and Dad, I don't want to go to school. I don't want to deal with those people. They're mean to me and they hurt me,'" recalled Jamie Barnhard, Ben's father and Jensvold's ex-husband. "It broke both of our hearts."

Here, now, young Ben, marginalized by his peers at age 13, has his life extinguished.

IWBs and Montessori

There are a lot of interesting opinions on the web regarding IWBs (Interactive White Boards).  They can certainly be useful, but I'd first be asking what do students and teachers want to be able to do in their curriculum.  

The IWBs could be a big help or a huge timesink.  There is also the question of who uses them?  If it's just a glorified felt board with the teacher still at the center of the classroom, that's not a Montessori implementation. 

"The teacher must thrust herself into the background."  -Abs Joosten

(Just look at that photo at right.  It's so awkward and staged.  It gives quite an uneasy feeling, right?)

What's Montessori?

IB MYP and Montessori

I'm not a fan of the MYP for Montessori young adolescent programs.  I'm not extremely familiar with all the ins and outs of IB at that level, but I think there's a mismatch there between what IB requires and what is developmentally appropriate based on a Montessori (developmental) approach to education.

You can learn more about IB MYP here.  Then come back and tell us if you think it's a match or not.

Students and Technology...

Technology abounds.

Time to take our own inventories.  What is your typical daily use look like?

1. Time on computer while alone
2. Time on machine while others are in the room
3. When do you open your laptop to look something up (e.g., in a meeting)?
4. How often do you mention something you've read online (news, article, blog, email, etc)
5. etc

So what are we modeling for the adolescents?  What do we expect them to be doing?  What do they need to be prepared for in their future adult lives (flashing 12:00 on their VCRs?)  In my experience, the issue is not with too little technology used (although that's also common), it's with GROSSLY unprepared and unknowledgeable teachers (i.e., Unprepared Adults).  Many teachers still rely ONLY on depth of content knowledge or are seminar masters and fail at understanding the role of the medium, the adolescent vernacular, and what they need to prepare themselves for life.  What ensues are boring handouts and lame digital slideshows that fail to inspire.  Dialogue/Seminar and socialization–yes.  But not 'only' sitting around in chairs at a table.  The WORK that people do is varied and changing.  Adolescents need, above all, to be adaptable (MM, C2A).  This is not an argument for iPads INSTEAD of seminar.  (Could anyone argue that?  Not even: http://bit.ly/17O4o6).  It's the suggestion that both are needed and that schools and teachers must be experts at both.

Check out these interactive whiteboards: http://bit.ly/bLJZQI It's not what you think! (Or it's exactly what you think.) ;-)

If teachers can understand that computers are great for typing papers and spreadsheets for lab reports then they are certainly on the cutting edge...of 1990 technology.  As Steve Hughes might tell us, "It's just a better 1.0 School."  Students need to be having 2.0 School experiences.  A 2.0 School is the beauty of concepts and application together (cf. http://bit.ly/hhT7Yz).  You know: prepping for seminar at home (or wherever) using lots of technology (golly, this research is easy to do, what with the Net) and coming ready to talk it out, ask critical questions, and defend a position.  Maybe even to share a little on-the-fly visual support for her position by quickly flipping through some graphs or headlines on her tablet.  (What?! They're not bringing their support to class on a clay tablet?  They're not drawing figures in the sand?)

Adolescents are ready to do!  But!  What does DO look like?

My follow up to the HBR article comment...

• Jeremiah Stanghini

  While I don't foresee this happening in the immediate future, I think it would be altogether wonderful if the education policy in the US included the likes of Montessori and Waldorf as part of massive reform. I don't usually like to promote my own posts in comments section, but it's poignant to this particular conversation: (http://www.genuinethriving.com...
  
  There are some really interesting examples of schools that succeed (even not within the Montessori/Waldorf model). One particular school by Mikhail Petrovich Shchetinin in Russia known affectionately to the Ringing Cedars folks as "The School," operates under the premise that children are very capable of directing their own education. More than this, the students depend on each other for learning. For instance: there's a 'group' of students. Within this group, one student may like mathematics, while another, biology. The student who likes mathematics will learn all that they can about mathematics (and the biology student the same). After this, they then teach it to each other and the rest of the group. The students arrive at the school sometime between the age of 5-8 (if I recall correctly) and then leave somewhere in their late teens with a (at minimum) a high school degree and often times, a Bachelor's degree (sometimes even a Master's degree).
  
  With Love and Gratitude,
  
  Jeremiah

   

• Elisabeth Gorra  in reply to Jeremiah Stanghini

  Am I correct in assuming that these schools are private or at least magnet-style in their admittance? If so, than there is one key ingredient at work here that has not been addressed: Parental involvement. The aforementioned school types assume this aspect of education by sheer virtue of the fact that they are self-selective and require an active effort on the part of the parents to place their children in such an environment.
  
  I completely agree that there are aspects of the Montessori education that make learning a more natural, tangible, and creative process. For younger grade school aged children, it can do wonders for conceptual and social development. However, it also leaves gaping holes in the functional development that, if parents are not very aware and involved, can lead to huge problems down the road. The lack of homework assignments and other fundamental educational structures can create a huge opening for children to miss the lesson of accountability. While Montessori may have, or probably, contributed to the creative development of the people mentioned in the article, but it is important to remember that these methods don't succeed in a vacuum. If lessons in personal responsibility are not taught at home, they need to be enforced elsewhere.

   
James Moudry  in reply to Elisabeth Gorra
Montessori is primarily in private and magnet schools.  There are some significant inroads into public and charter schools.

Can you share more about what you know about the "gaping holes in the functional development?"  You've written it with such certainty, but I've not heard it put that way before.  Is it from your personal experience with the schools or another source?  Either way, I'd love to know the background of that perspective.

In my experience and observations of Montessori schools over the past 30+ years, Montessori students develop a strong personal center and sense of self that fosters a deep sense of personal responsibility (accountability to oneself), not to kowtow to an external motivator, but to work for their own best outcome, regardless of external reward.  They go above and beyond exactly because they are allowed to follow their interest in school.  It is the teachers' trust in the students and the students' engagement in the subject matter that optimizes the environment for learning.  The trust is THE central component.  As Guy Kawasaki put it in his book, "Enchantment", "When people trust each other, they stop playing games, they look beyond temporary problems, and they expose themselves with less hesitation."  Imagine what effect that has in teacher-student relationships.

Regarding homework, the best predictor of academic success after parents' education is the amount of time children spend reading outside of school.  The typical (busy)worksheets assigned as homework in other educational systems actually serve to kill interest in a subject, not augment it.  Interest is the spark, or as Arthur C. Clarke said, "If children have interest, then education happens."  It is natural for interesting work to be pursued beyond the class time.  It shouldn't have to be synthetically manufactured.

With respect to the "lack of...other fundamental educational structures," it's not clear to what you're referring.  Desks?  Grades?  I'm curious!

Bottom line: We may have had different observations, but for mine, I've not seen kids graduate from kindergarten, 6th, 8th or 12th grades at their Montessori schools , any worse off (on the whole) than kids from other schools full of different "fundamental education structures."  Quite the contrary, I'd say the Montessori students are at least at parity with their non-Montessori peers in terms of 'academic success' and are superior on some other dimensions such as tendency toward creative perspectives (innovation?) and character development (beyond just familial support).  Check out this link for some research on Montessori public school vs. Conventional public school:

http://www.montessori-ami.org/... (The original is in Science Magazine, but would require a login to view, so this is the extracted PDF.)

NB: I don't disagree at all about the value of parental support.  The family is still the primary environment (through age 12 at least).

If it's not Montessori, you're in a gulag.

Too severe?  As Andrew McAfee, author and former Montessori student, put it in his Harvard Business Review article:

When I got too old for my Montessori school and went to public school in fourth grade, I felt like I'd been sent to the Gulag. 

Fortunately, McAfee survived and gained a deeper understanding of his Montessori roots:

The main thing I learned there is that the world is a really interesting place, and one that should be explored. 

Well, that seems like a fairly noble takeaway for a system that he only experienced through age nine.

Now play a little game in your mind where you imagine that he was able to stay in such an environment until age 18 and then went to college to follow his passions and interests in exploring the interesting world.  Next step: (still keeping your eyes closed, but somehow reading this) imagine that ALL students were in schools that fostered such an outlook.

Generation Z: Why school?

I'm not all-in on the unschooling bit, nor on homeschooling as I understand it (which is limited).  However, the democratization of education is becoming fun to watch as awareness of the power of AUTO-EDUCATION grows.

When I read this little Tech & Learning article from Lisa Nielsen a lot of it made sense or just sounded right.  Like,

Alternative education children will be better prepared in life than traditionally schooled: She explains that because of the emphasis on independent investigation, Generation Z will be the first group of knowledge workers who were trained to do their job before they started working.  For example, Generation Z will be great at synthesizing information because they will have been doing that— rather than memorizing—the whole time they were in school.

Doesn't that just sound like straight butter?  Take a look for more...(read on)

Next Generation Digital Book

Cool new ebook (4 min TED talk, April 2011).

Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book | Video on TED.com

My commentary:

I think that our idea of 'book' will evolve or go away. I'm sure everyone was loving clay tablets and scrolls and all, but when new technology brings such innovation, people adapt to it. A scroll just isn't convenient for how we consume information today.

In a certain amount of time, paper printed books will fall away as well. I grew up reading on paper. Now, it probably accounts for less than 20% of what I read. People with digital access are reading more today than ever. When my kids are adults, it will be a lower percentage for them. I won't bemoan it (as long as they still go outside and throw a football around.)

A previous comment touched on the community of people "invested in a book" with a tinge of worry. This may be callous, but they must evolve. Are we crying for the clay tablet community or the papyrus scroll community? How about those folks who ran the printing presses setting each character by hand?

Textbooks are terrible amalgamations of information. They don't inspire. If the wonder-tablets can put in students' hands the words of the actors of history and science and mathematics, and the ideas of great thinkers so that the students can make connections and do what they're supposed to be doing (THINK), then great.

The device is just a thing, an access point (a new kind of tool). The work of students is not in it (necessarily); it's with each other in dialogue and thought. I'm more concerned with how much time they spend with it VERSUS time in conversation and outside in the forest.

Libraries: I love them. But they'll evolve. In my experience they've been quite good at that (think microfiche), so I'm not worried. Librarians are some of the most resourceful people I've known. I don't picture them clinging to shelves of books that no one checks out and screaming, "DIGITAL BOOKS AREN'T BOOKS! (think Soylent Green). Libraries will be public spaces for learning together in communities, agoras of knowledge and wisdom.

Go 'books'!

All that said, the notion of a collection of information that a single individual keeps just for himself might also evolve. Since that's all a printed book is, once you start keeping it digitally, the publisher can update it at will. So that's basically a website, right? So really, what's going to happen?

Everything in clouds and you just need an access point? Perhaps notions of ownership will also change. Do I need to 'own' a copy of Crime and Punishment? No, I just need a way to access it. So companies would stop sending out the bits for the text and just house it once in the cloud. What might be worth storing locally on your device would be your notes on it. But probably, as with the Kindle book loaning now, the companies could just keep those bits as well (they'd be quite nominal).

So what's coming? No more books. They become like websites. But websites evolve to be more dynamic, more useful, and commerce adjusts accordingly (hey, you didn't think you were just going to get access to all that for nothing, right? What is this, Star Trek?).

What's your theory on the future of the 'book'?

Life Lessons from the Bamboo

Growing up, I learned that the trees that can bend in the storm will survive it; those that are stiff and inflexible will snap and die.

Garr Reynolds adds to that on his Presentation Zen site with ten lessons from bamboo.

If you have a tendency to see the following as a to-do list, I have a suggestion: Pick just one and think about it every morning for a week before you start your (work)day. Trying to embrace all ten is not fair to yourself. When you start with just one and focus on it, you can start to see it around you. You can see the situations that reflect the principle or that give you an opportunity to practice it (e.g., conversation with spouse about parenting your children–ask yourself, "In this situation, how can I be flexible, but deeply rooted?").

My other suggestion: Start with #10 and just do it every day.

1. What looks weak is strong (unavoidable Yoda reference contained within)

2. Bend but don't break

3. Be deeply rooted yet flexible

4. Slow your busy mind

5. Be always ready

6. Find wisdom in emptiness

7. Commit yourself to growth and renewal

8. Express usefulness through simplicity

9. Unleash your power to spring back

10. Smile, laugh, play

Read the explanation for each here.

Students First! (duh.)

Five needed shifts in education (according to Steve Denning):

1. Put students first (not a system)
2. Impart dynamic knowledge (not static knowledge)
3. Dynamic linking (read the post for more)
4. Values (not value)
5. Conversation (not command)

The only thing missing from a great article like this would some way to tie it to an already existing educational methodology that had a proven record in addressing each of these points in support of students.

Wait, wait!  The answer is in the comments!

Star Trek Future: No more money, but still the Borg

So if all the richest keep making more and more and then they give it away, will we reach a Star Trek future with no money being used?  Maybe, but we'll still have to deal with the Romulans.

And the Borg.  I hate them.  It.  Whatever.

See what Bill Gates says about polio vaccines, Mark Zuckerberg, and leaving only $10m to each of his kids...

Best Pick Up Lines!

You get too many emails to read. We all do. So there are a bunch we just delete without ever opening. Good for us.

But when you're sending an email, how do you avoid being deleted?!

Best (top 20)
20. [COMPANYNAME] Racing Newsletter
19. [COMPANYNAME]: 02.10.06

Worst (bottom 20)
20. You Asked For More...
19. [COMPANYNAME] Resort - Spring into May Savings

See all 20 best and worst subject lines..

Blowing up the schedule...

45 minutes or two hours? What's the right length for a high school class? Does it depend on the subject?

At private schools, though, the longer classes are becoming more common, said Patrick F. Bassett, head of theNational Association of Independent Schools. “I’ve never heard of anyone going back to a traditional schedule, not once,” he added.

Read on... - NYTimes.com

Hope for Geeks

They had me at "Heathers".

What about you? Have you followed up with your high school classmates to ask what they really thought of you?

"As anyone who’s seen movies like “Heathers” knows, the social agonies of high school are nothing new. But the Internet has magnified those feelings of alienation for the oddballs. Partly it’s the relentless exposure to celebrity culture, to images of perfection and roaring success with little discernible talent. (Hello, Kardashians.) But it goes beyond issues of appearance."

An Ex-Geek Offers Hope to Teenagers - NYTimes.com

School Design: Be the Change...

You've got six minutes to see some of these interesting visions of schools of today. I'm sure they look a bit different than when you attended.

However, images like these should generate conversations about how the spaces get used, in which direction(s!) information flows, and in what ways are the schools student-centered.

So take this as the start of the conversation.

School Design: Be the Change (click for youtube video)

When will they reduce the price?

Check out this incredible map from Trulia.com. Not only does it show the number of days before the first price reduction (how anxious are they to sell), but it also offers the PROBABILITY OF A SECOND REDUCTION.

That way, you know where to hold out and where to to jump after the first reduction.

Enjoy! -> Trulia.com - Price Reductions Map

Where have all the flowers gone...

Watch as the lands of the native population disappear before your very eyes. I'm sure it's their fault for not negotiating a peace with the invaders. Oh. What? They did? Huh.

Animated maps: This is a series of maps charting the shrinkage of...

Happy Star Wars Day

From the Writer's Almanac...

Finally, today is Star Wars Day. According to the online resource Wookieepedia, it is typically celebrated by sci-fi fans the world over with parties, movie marathons, Star Wars-themed toys, the occasional light-saber duel, and movie-quote exchanges on Twitter. You could also celebrate by reading one of the many Star Wars-related novels, playing a video game, or gazing at your collection of action figures in their original packaging. “It’s nice that this particular date seems to observe and celebrate the power of the Force, and we’re thrilled that Star Wars fans continue to find new ways to connect with a galaxy far, far away,” said a Lucas Films spokesperson.

Despite the fervor of some of its fans, Star Wars Day is not a religious holiday yet, although the Church of Jediism is lobbying hard. The City of Los Angeles prefers to celebrate Star Wars Day on May 25, the anniversary of the film’s release, but as for the rest of us ... May the Fourth be with you.

Cursive: A 21st Century Skill?

Don't you think that it's fairly certain that handwriting will become a secret language?

Will it happen in our lifetime?  It seems to be happening now.

Enjoy this NYT piece.

Chicago school bans homemade lunches

"The students can either eat the cafeteria food--or go hungry. Only students with allergies are allowed to bring a homemade lunch to school, the Chicago Tribune reports."

"Tucson, Arizona's Children's Success Academy allows home-packed lunches--but only if nothing in them contains white flour, refined sugar, or other "processed" food."

The full blog post from Yahoo! News.

I'm not sure where this is heading, but certainly a bit Orwellian.

10 Tips For Shooting Better Video with Your iPhone | Mac|Life

I like to watch your quick video as much as anyone's. Take two minutes to read this and make them just a bit better.