I Speak of Dreams

Leland Martin, 18, Alcohol-Related Death

As always, my deepest condolences to family and friends.

Mr. Martin was a senior at Winder-Barrow high school in Winder, Georgia.  The prom was held on April 28, 2007; after the prom, he joined a number of friends at an after-prom party in nearby Auburn.

Alcohol was available; by eyewitness accounts Mr. Martin was "highly intoxicated".  The party went on well past 4:00 am. 

Martin either fell asleep or passed out and was laying in a position that cut off his ability to breathe. Because of his highly intoxicated state, he was unable to wake up and change position, said Maj. Murray Kogod, Barrow County's chief deputy.

Underage Alcohol Deaths 2004
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2005
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2006

Jordan Crist, 19, Alcohol Poisoning

As always, my deepest condolences to family and friends.

On May 2, 2007, Mr. Crist was found "unresponsive" in a friend's  dorm room at Southern Methodist University.  On May 25, Texas officials announced his blood alcohol level was 0.40.  His family believes that Crist's diabetes contributed to his death.

"There's no place  that's actually keeping data on alcohol deaths"--Thomas Kunstman MD

Underage Alcohol Deaths 2004
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2005
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2006

Karl Fazli, 21, Alcohol-Related Death

As always, my deepest condolences to family and friends.

Karl Fazil was a junior at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio).  On the night of February 13, 2007, Mr. Fazil attended a party where he was seen to be "drinking heavily", and the party-goers put him on a futon in the living room, where he was  "found unconscious and unresponsive"  in  the following mornig  about 10 a.m.

Instead of a High School Diploma, Certificates?

Dennis Fermoyle wrote a post, What To Do About Pains In The Class?, in which he suggested improving the quality of the GED as a means to meeting the needs of kids who will not be going on to college; CrypticLife adds another intriguing idea.

This also relates to non-English speakers' mastery of English, as Joanne Jacobs has written.

The Calladus Project

I stumbled across a blog new to me, the Calladus Blog:

I'm a Fresno Atheist who writes about the erosion of rights and personal freedoms in the Secular / non-believer community by religious conservatives.

I also comment on Skeptics and skepticism as applied to science and the debunking of pseudoscience.

He does more than that: he has a Friday feature called Atelier, featuring realist artists.  He teaches illiterate adults to read. As a former Christian,  he has a good mastery of the Bible -- I am grateful for his post "Jesus Loves You, But Hates Your New Wife"  (or why the fundamentalist position against same sex marriage is hypocritical, given the  Bible's teaching against divorce and remarriage).   Those of you looking for blogging principles ought to take a look at his comment moderation policy.

English Language Learners: Better Teaching

My pal Joanne Jacobs has written a research piece for the Lexington Institute on moving English Language Learners to full proficiency.  She writes:

Forty to 60 percent of students who start California schools as “English Learners” never reach full English proficiency; many won’t graduate from high school.

My article, How Good is Good Enough? Moving California’s English Learners to English Proficiency (pdf) is up on the Lexington Institute web site.

California schools lose funding when students are reclassified as “fluent English proficient,” an obviously perverse incentive. Many set high standards for reclassification: ELs have to do as well or better than the average native English speaker to qualify as proficient.

But the larger issue is that many ELs go to schools that don’t do a very good job teaching reading and writing to anyone. They’re not reclassified as proficient because they score below-average in English Language Arts on the state exam, even though they may speak “playground English” as their preferred language. ELs become proficient in English more quickly if they attend schools that focus on building the reading and writing skills of all students.

This isn’t really about teaching in English (more than 90 percent of ELs are in mainstream English classes) or teaching in Spanish. It’s about teaching well.

My local school district (a one-school, k-8 school) has a student body that is  3.8%  English  Learners; the next district over is 45.5% English Learners. 
 

Trillions of Toddlers

Well, that's an exaggeration.  Me, I love the 18 month to 48 month set.  I find them endlessly interesting.  This weekend featured lots of toddler time.

Jumper Girl has a younger brother who is about 32 months old.  I don't get to hang out with him much, for various reasons--but Saturday, lots of time.   What an inventive boy!  He was pretty busy playing with his big brothers, helping his sister open her graduation gifts, and inspecting the fountain.

Joshua Harrington, 20, Alcohol Overdose

On Friday, May 4, 2007, Joshua Harrington went to a party in Wausau, Wisconsin, with 40 to 50 other young people.

According to witness reports, he was quite intoxicated.

Mr. Harrington's body was discovered the next morning, and emergency response personnel were unable to revive him.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Underage Alcohol Deaths 2004
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2005
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2006

Julian Elliot, Again--The "Myth" of Dyslexia

Julian Elliott was quoted in both the Times and the Daily Mail:

He told The Times: "After years of working with parents I have seen how they don't want their child to be considered lazy, thick or stupid.

The articles refer to the situation in the United Kingdom.  I rather agree with Elliott on the whole: the term is imprecise and lacks scientific rigor.  For a more complete statement of Elliott's position, read this interview.

Not Calm Becalmed

Jenijen, who blogs at Not Calm [dot] com, got to go to the Berkeley event I missed.  Then she felt ill and had an emergency appendectomy.  She's resting up.