I Speak of Dreams

The best quiz ever

Please go take this quiz right now. The results are astonishing.j

Best quiz ever.

REading Quest

This site is designed for teachers, but students and parents wanting to help their students will also find it useful.

ReadingQuest: Making Sense in Social Studies is a website designed for social studies teachers who wish to more effectively engage their students with the content in their classes.

ReadingQuest is designed to provide you with the philosophical bases for sound comprehension strategy instruction, directions for a range of comprehension and content reading strategies, and printable handouts and masters for transparencies. You will be invited to think about how a social studies skills framework might help you choose the right strategies for your lessons.

There are graphic organizers, hints and charts. Very rich!

Portaportal

I have a couple of computers I use, plus I also use the ones at the library from time to time. I also use a couple of different browsers (long story) The bookmark situation is irritating from time to time. There is help:

Portaportal is a web based bookmarking utility that lets you store links to your favorite websites online. Now your bookmarks are no longer limited to any one machine.

Educating in Poverty.

Sometimes I get discouraged, and then I meet people dedicated to making a difference.

Here are two.

No Excuses

Participants in the No Excuses project may hold differing views about vouchers, the federal role in education, and other policy issues. But we agree that there is no excuse for the academic failure of most public schools serving poor children. All children can learn. Hundreds of public, private, and religious schools serving low-income children have proved it. We hope you will help us shine a spotlight on their success. And we hope you will join us in demanding that failing schools meet their standard. No Excuses.

Knowledge is Power Program

KIPP began in 1994 when teachers Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin started a public school program for 50 fifth graders in inner city Houston after completing their Teach For America commitment. Their mentor teacher, Harriett Ball, motivated the two young men to remain in education and do everything possible to ensure their students were achieving at the highest possible levels in the classroom. Their students' academic success and interest in learning inspired Feinberg and Levin to expand the program beyond one classroom.

Progressive Education Follies

Somehow I missed this:

Regular readers of ReformK12 know that we spare no effort in criticizing Progressive educators and the whole child-centered mindset. A few months ago we posted a comparison of what would happen if you took the Progressive model and the Traditional model to their respective extremes. At the time, we felt that Summerhill exemplified the Progressive approach. Today we learn that Summerhill's been trumped.

Mr. Chapin has taken down the particular article referenced, but he has some other worthy insights. (You can find selections from the article at ReformK12, Joanne Jacobs, and Four Right Wing Wackos.

From a closer reading of Mr. Chapin's other writings, the school in question is an "alternative school"--meaning the kids are too troubled, one way or the other, to continue in the conventional education system. What do you do?

Musical Misogyny

My daughter listens to hip-hop, so perforce I listen to hip-hop (I'm driving, she controls the radio)  What are the issues?  The hateful approach to women, for one.   And how that image is taken in by the listener, and also affects the academic ambitions young women have, and therefore our educational systems.  And finally, the way that male hip-hop artists

I started at Negro, Please (Jason is very funny, but most of what he cares about--like reality TV--is meaningless to me, so I only stop by every few weeks).    But this stopped me in my tracks:

Bitches Ain't Shit but Hoes and Tricks: Sexism, Feminism and Denial in hip hop.  Jason's thesis is, yes, hip-hop is fiercely misogynist, but women in the audience deny that the artists' statements are about them,  and keep buying and supporting the vilest of the anti-woman artists.  The women artists aren't any different.  Jason nominates a few artists who counter the trend, but asks for others.

A Celebration of a Long-Lasting Union

[This got stuck in "draft mode" on December 17, 2003.  Rather than put it back there, let's put it here.]

Republic of T asks "Could these two old men be a threat to your family? Some would have you believe so. They are Gustavo Archilla (88) and Elmer Lokkins (84), a same sex couple who have been together for 58 years, and who just got married in Canada.

The New York Times carried their "elopement" story. RoT heard about it from Religious Liberal.

(Oh, it was RoT's blog that pointed me to Margaret Cho's blog, which splained to me why Tupac really is important, which got me in good with my girl .  Thanks, dude.)

And did you all catch Why social conservatives should support same-sex marriage by Jonathan Rauch?

Lowly Microbes.

More of this. I like to start with the insignificant microbes.
Lutheran in a Tipi is kind of fun. Right now they have just moved the tipi so photos and words on setting up.

Brainhop is a BoingBoing like site that collects miscellany.

Have Fun Be Good Canadian libertarian writer mom.

Catherine Franz is a business and spirituality coach.

Mission to Convert The Devil Worshipers Buddhists

I was looking for a Buddhist prayer, the text of which I couldn't remember. So I asked Google "Dalai Lama's prayer"--because I believed it was his--and came across this:

Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies, Inc. (SCBS) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization whose vision is to see a church established and leadership discipled among every unreached Buddhist people group.

Our mission is to equip the Christian community with relevant information and appropriate training for ministry in a Buddhist pluralistic context so that they can intelligently share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors next door.

Personally, I believe that proselytizing (actively trying to bring someone into your own religous beliefs) is at the very best misguided. At worst, it is morally reprehensible.

It turns out that the founder of Sonrise, James Stephens, was a dedicated member of Soka Gakkai Buddhist from 1970 to 1984. On pilgrimage to Japan in 1985, Stephens was injured. The Soka Gakkai functionaries in Japan did not come to his aid. So he became disillusioned with SG, and "became a seeker"

The Pepsi Molotov Cocktail

Al's awake again. I made dinner. Then there's this:

The American artist Joy Garnett, whose paintings are derived from news images, is faced with a legal action for thousands of dollars over this one. This has nothing to do with the protection of livelihood and everything to do with the suppression of free speech and free artistic practice. Don't let the schoolyard bullies win! Show your solidarity with Joy by grabbing this image and posting it on your website or by making your own artwork derived from it."

(the quote is from BoingBoing, linked at the end of this post.)

The protest page is here.
This is the image in question:

I assumed that the suit was brought by Pepsi, as somehow demeaning the brand. It wasn't.