=============================================================
THE EDUCATION COMPANION NEWSLETTER
March/April
2000 Issue No.
9
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The
companion newsletter to Mrs. Young's Super
Charged Educational Voyage
Janet Young, Newsletter Developer, Editor and
Co-Author
Subscribe: http://educationcompanion.listbot.com/
Archives:
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/garston/49/archives.htmlDiscussion Board: http://www.egroups.com/group/the-education-companion/info.html
This publication may be freely
redistributed if copied in its
ENTIRETY
=============================================================
====
IN THIS "EDUCATION COMPANION" NEWSLETTER
==========
+ Welcome Message / Announcements
~ Janet R.
Young
+ CONTENT
AREASCurrent trends, opinions, tips,
etc.
~ Bonnie Bracey's Information Superhighway
~TEACHING THE TEACHERS
~ Life is One Big Classroom with
Joan Berger ~
THE LAST GREAT RACE
~
Technically Speaking with Kathleen A. Catapano ~
ALLERGIES ON THE WEB
~ Including the Physically Handicapped with
Sheila Estes ~
HITCH
HIKERS
~ Steve McCarty's East-West Perspectives
from Japan ~WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR ONLINE EDUCATION
(WAOE) 2000 Update
~ Audrey Ciuffo's Library
Connection ~
WOMEN OF VALOR
~ Tammy Bailis' Senior School Musings
~
WHAT THE
HECK IS A LINEAR EQUATION ANYWAY??~
Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale
CONSCIOUS
PRIORITIZATION
+ Internet Educational Hot
SpotsFOCUS ON WEB
QUESTS
+ Call for
Ideas
==== WELCOME MESSAGE /
ANNOUNCEMENTS ==============
Welcome to the March/April
issue of The Education Companion. We are at the point of the school year when we
need to sustain the interests of our sutdents.
Their minds will be drifting off to
dreams of warm weather ball games, kite
flying, picnics, proms and graduations,
"hanging out" and just about anything
we can imagine- except school! Why
not get some online education going.
This issue is chock filled with great sites and ideas
to spur you on.
With this in mind, our authors have come up with some
great interest catchers
for you. Audrey Ciuffo, has selected some great
books with which to culminate
Women's History
Month. Joan Berger has captured the excitement, struggle
and
atmosphere of the Iditarod- The Last Race. Prof. Steve
McCarty has brought us
up to speed on the current activities of the
World Association for Online Education
(WAOE.) Sheila Estes brings shows the
view from"the other side of the
wheelchair."
This is a must read for all of us who need to keep
focused on the importance of
equity in education as well as life outside the
classroom... Kathleen A. Catapano
reviews a site that provides a great backdrop for a
themed unit on allergies.
At last Tammy Bailis has answered that age old
question:
What the heck is a linear
equation anyway? Well, that is not an unknown
anymore! If
you do not have enough hours in your day, then read the starter
article on time management
(by Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale)
and start getting organized today!
In the next issue look for new columns with more ways to keep you
on top of the school day!
Make sure you check out the Internet Educational Hot Spots section. There are loads
of great sites.
Something for everyone! Focus is on WEB QUESTS and
FRACTIONS.
Yes, seasonal sites are there
too!
Share ideas and learn about new trends on our
discussion board. You can join our
Discussion Board and view postings by sending a BLANK
email message to:
~Janet R. Young, Developer, Editor and
Co-Author
>>>Feel free to forward this
issue to friends and colleagues, if copied in its
ENTIRETY.<<<
==== WEB
SITE REACTIONS
==========================
~ Web Site Productivity Survey ~
Take a few minutes to share your
needs regarding this web site.
AOL USERS PLEASE NOTE!!! Just send a
plain old fashioned email to
mailto:mrsy@jrydevelopment.com .
Your forms DO NOT get sent to me.
When you fill out the form, all AOL
sends is a blank email.
So just start with the plain email and give me
a few sentences telling us
how to better meet your needs. Offer
article topic ideas to our
Education Companion authors. Be heard!
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/garston/49/survey.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
==== THE CONTENT AREAS
==================================
~
Bonnie Bracey's Information Superhighway ~
TEACHING THE TEACHERS
I was the only K-12 teacher on the NIIAC. When we
thought about
connectivity,we were determined to make it happen sooner more
than later.
While I dislike the idea that all schools are not really
wired, .. I marvel at the
progress that has been made and I worry about how
we go the next mile. More
connections to the actual teaching places in
the schools the classrooms.
and.....
Teaching the
teachers.
While many says just teach the kids, how should a teacher be
able to
do pedagogically correct work. Many think small children can lead
them,
but correct teacher support, involvement and understand of the use
of
technology will reap more benefits than just having the kids being
involved.
When you teach the teachers you invest knowledge in the system.
The Dept of
Education has shown us the statistics that tell us that the
teachers do not
feel comfortable using technology. For superficial use, it
may be ok for
kids to show them. But teacher mentoring, by teachers who use
technology as a
tool and who UNDERSTAND teaching and learning gets better
results and
makes more sense. You will notice that most of the
people who champion only
this way have never really been working classroom
teachers but are technology
leaders. Being a teacher is an art that
has more to do with using technology as a tool
than the kinds of things kids
can teach. People thought we were out of our minds to
place the date as early as we
did.
The press hardly covered it. We were right on, and
the fact that this much "progress" has been made is hardly attributed to the hard work
that was done by so many people.
People either do not know or forgot that this
work was done. It still stands as help
because people are still getting connected. It
is so buried that most people
cannot find it.
A Nation of
Opportunity
http://www.benton.org/Library/KickStart/nation.home.html
Here
is the McKinsey report though it is somewhat dated.
http://www.uark.edu/mckinsey/
Here
is information on Federal Funding for the Community Centers
http://www.ncrel.org/21stcclc/index.html
And
here is information that can be useful done in community and school use
for understanding the use of technology.
This may be most helpful. http://www.ncrel.org/tandl/homepg.htm
From the McKinsey Report
Some
snippits...
Connecting public K-12 schools to the NII could produce a variety
of
educational benefits. Clearly, it would enable students to build computer
and networking skills. Early evidence indicates that it could also support
both traditional teaching approaches and new methods oriented
toward
teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills. Certainly,
students
find the technology exciting and engaging, it provides them access
to a wide
range of information resources, and it opens up communication with
subject-matter experts, other students, and teachers.
Don't forget,
none of this works by just dropping the computer into
the school and
assigning a tech coordinator. To incorporate change, teachers
need time to
explore, examine, be excited about, to integrate, involve and be
interested
in subjects that will enhance the delivery of curriculum, as they
teach now
and as they will teach later. The Marco Polo Project is a starting
point for
many.
Today, many educators are focusing increasing attention on a
cross-disciplinary teaching approach that emphasizes critical
thinking,
synthesis, and investigative skills. Based on interviews and visits
to
schools, we believe that connection to the NII and widespread use
of
computers have the potential to support this new approach. On-line
resources
give students rapid access to information from diverse sources
in
various forms. Thus, the challenge of finding the facts can quickly give
way
to the challenge of synthesizing and interpreting the facts. Simulation
software develops problem-solving skills by allowing students to tackle
life-like challenges and experiment with different solutions in real time.
For example, the Dalton School's "Archaeotype" program places students
in the
role of archaeologists on a dig. They work in teams to access and
analyze multiple
sources of electronic, printed, and human
information. Networking the
computers further facilitates team-based
projects in and across
classrooms, building skills that many educators and
employers believe are
important for students'
development.
How do schools learn to deal with business people
in technology? We are
not very good at handling the textbook
companies. The www.ncrel.org ,
technology initiatives help a little but I believe you
need a business round table in the
community where the people interested in
technology and the people who are
the technology leaders come together. I also believe
the community should be
involved in the exploration of the technology.
Like a technology fair instead of
a book fair. There are some of these initiatives
that people do to create
in the community. There is a foundation, for
which I am a fellow. www.glef.org that
has
a video entitled "Learn and Live" and there is a community section of
the video that shows a way to introduce the community learning center
concept. The idea of schools, libraries and communities as our call, and the
e-rate has helped. In the communities that do not have e-rate, we need to
have a technology task force to create the school plan, and to help the
people in the school system , if they have no awareness of the way to apply
to get the data they need for the e-rate application. But more
than that, we have public television, school television and
school boards should also
be learning, being involved and understanding the use
of transformational
learning with technology.
In the schools across the digital divide, there
are leaders who are needed
to spearhead this effort in those communities.
There are recognized
leaders in communities and one of their new task ought
to be to get
knowledgeable.
The small child who took another
child's life? Why should a gun be the
only technology that child
touched in a day? On a computer a person could
reach pro-child for him,
since everyone seemed to KNOW he was in a
crackhouse. I
don't understand our priorities in this wonderful economic status
we
enjoy.
It costs more to incarcerate than to
educate.
~Bonnie Braceybbracey@aol.com
www.childrens-media.org
Independent
Consultant http://www.bracey-pearl.org/
US
Educationalist & Presidential Advisor on Education & Technology.
The
President's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Board,
URL: http://www.iitf.doc.gov/members/members.html
read:
Minutes of the Committee on Applications and Technology .
URL: http://www-12.nist.gov/cat/cat-min/941027.html
Member
of Vice President Gore's Globe Institute
A member of the Challenger Center
Faculty:
A Christa McAuliffe Educator for the National Foundation of
Education.
URL: http://www.technos.net/journal/volume1/sb3grewa.htm
Author
of The Challenge of Introducing
Technology.
=======================================
~ Including the Physically Handicapped with Sheila Estes
~
HITCH HIKERS
To those who do not need it, a wheel chair can be a
fascinating object.
To the owner, it is an extension of himself or
herself. It is needed to
perform tasks the body is incapable of completing for
itself. It is natural
for students to want to hitch a ride on the back of
the wheelchair whether
it is manual or powered. This issue must be
based on the individual.
Because students with severely limited physical
abilities have difficulties interacting with classmates, it may offer a way for
them to have a bit of fun.
Problems can occur. A friend hitching a ride
down a ramp at a high rate ofspeed and crashing into the pop machine at the end is
taking a risk of injuring
the rider, passenger, chair, and probably the pop
machine.
In our case, we finally had to request that students stop riding
because a few found it amusing to tip the chair onto its back
wheels. There was no danger
as the chair was equipped with anti-tippers. But being
forced backwards gave
Nate a feeling of loss of control that terrified him.
Most students are more than willing to be assistants. During the lower
grades, the teacher would make a list of those who wanted to
be helpers and would
assign one each week. That way each had their turn
while no one was forced
to help when they didn't want to. The helper would
push the manual chair.
One boy was a bit rambunctious when he pushed Nate
outside to the playground. He started off the sidewalk onto the grass to reach
the play area not realizing
there was a small drop in the pavement. Nate did a
nosedive into the grass with
the chair on top of his back; the helper landed on top
of the chair while the teacher
did a marvelous sprint to come to the rescue. No one
was injured. It was just
another of life's lessons in working with the
physically challenged. But that
was several years ago.
Nate will soon be
graduating from high school. The Prom, Senior Fling, and open
houses are all in the works. I will be touching base
with the school to make sure
that arrangements have been made to get Nate on stage
to receive his diploma
along with the rest of his classmates. The school is
always willing to work with us
but sometimes needs a reminder that one of their
students requires extra assistance.
This will mark a very special
achievement for Nate. It has not been an easy road. He has worked hard to complete his studies. His class
will be the 2000 class as well
as the 50th class to be graduated since Eastern
consolidated. We look forward to this
joyous time in his life.
~Sheila Estes
Greentown, Indiana USA
Writer and Guest
Speaker
Mother and caregiver to son with Muscular Dystrophy
Author of Mr.
Leviticus, the Library Kitten.
E-mail: writer2day@excite.com
=======================================
~ Life is One Big Classroom with Joan Berger
~THE LAST GREAT RACE
They face howling winds, frozen tundra, blinding
snowstorms, and even
moose attacks. The racing driver and dog team become
one as they dare
to meet danger together. This is the exciting
International Iditarod Sled
Dog Race, which covers more than 1,049 miles, from
Anchorage to Nome."
("Racing the Iditarod Trail" by Ruth Crisman-Dillon
Press, NY ISBN 0-382-39229-9)
So polish up your sleds, knit your dog booties, and
put on your "long johns"
as we join the Iditarod race on March 4th and become
part of the "last great
race". We begin our introduction to the race with a
study of the climate and
environment of the Alaskan
tundra.
A study of the weather of this region and the often
-90 deg. wind chills can
start us going. We can then delve into the ways
this environment affects the
mushers and the dog teams. A study of frostbite,
hypothermia, and snow
blindness will stress the negative effects on the
human body. A comparison
can be made with the natural protection the dogs have
and the way their fur
traps the body heat.
Experiments dealing with insulation can be done,
taking into account the
man-made insulators and the natural insulation the
snow can provide. The
dogs bury themselves under the snow as insulation from
the cold. The snow
is heavier along the Bering Sea coast because of the
salt air and upper
graders can do experiments about the salt
factor.
We can study the wildlife of the region-moose, sheep,
caribou, and ptarmigan-
and their lifestyles. How are these animals suited for
survival in this environment?
An important factor to study is why the race is held
in March? How is the climate
and weather different at that time of the year so far
north? We can focus on the
effects of the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the
photoperiod at that time, and the
phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. What will the night
sky look like from Alaska?
What constellations will be visible?
Since we are so close to the Bering Strait and
Siberia, you can have some wonderful
lessons on the ancient land bridge that once
connected Asia to Alaska and the
migration of peoples from Asia across the land bridge,
into North America. What
would cause the land bridge to disappear? What was
Earth like at that time?
Let’s even get some physics into this topic. Present
some lessons on friction as it
affects the sled runners. How do the mushers protect
the sleds and provide the best
surface for them to glide easily? Where would be the
best position for the musher to
ride on the sled so as to provide the least
resistance? How can his/her weight shifts
affect the ride? The mushers often must ride up and
down inclined planes. A study of
inclined planes and the effects that the variation in
angle of inclination causes in the
amount of work needed, lends itself to experiments at
every grade level.
You can follow the Iditarod race on the Internet at:
http://www.iditarod.com
Happy sledding! Stay warm. Spring is not far behind.
~Joan
Berger
Internet Educational Consultant
jberger5@concentric.net jberger@li.net
http://www.concentric.net/~jberger5
http://www.li.net/~jberger
======================================
~ Steve McCarty's East-West Perspectives from Japan
~
WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR ONLINE EDUCATION
(WAOE) 2000
Update
The World Association for Online Education (WAOE) is
an
educators' organization dedicated to turning online education
into a
professional discipline. WAOE has already been recognized
as a non-profit
public benefit corporation (NPO) by the state of
California, although WAOE
operates almost entirely online.
Moreover, officers hail from nine countries
thus far, so WAOE
is not dominated by any geographical region. WAOE is open
to
all those who are committed to pedagogical principles and
interested
in networking with other online educators worldwide.
Educators concerned
with online education in the broadest sense
see their institutions making
deals and their scholarly judgment
over the curriculum undercut.
Web-literate educators have their
regional and disciplinary organizations,
but when they reach out
to the wider world through the Internet, they sense
that the new
medium holds great promise, but at the same time essentials are
lacking in comparison to the face-to-face medium. Wandering
from list to
list, Website to Website, like so many nomadic
masterless samurai, what
online educators have been missing
is a real organization.
This need
was realized at the Third Annual Teaching in the Community
Colleges Online
Conference based at the University of Hawaii
<http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon98/keynote/mccarty.html>.
Conference discussions continued for months, resulting in an
international Steering Committee. The State of California soon
approved
epoch-making Bylaws stating that WAOE will be fully
operational in
electronic media
<http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm
>.
It may therefore be fitting that WAOE is pronounced "Wowee!"
Since being widely announced in late November of 1998, about a
thousand participants from fifty countries have shown that a need
was
answered. WAOE brings online educators together for mutual
support as well
as to evaluate online courses and resources in
any branch of education. With
the cooperation of many educational
institutions already, a minimum of
expenditures on material items,
and the voluntaristic spirit of educators,
dues are minimized and
expertise can be provided in lieu of dues
<http://www.waoe.org/web/vol1no9/index.htm>.
WAOE aims to be global and accessible to non-Westerners and
non-native users of English, promoting multilingualism
<http://www.waoe.org/web/vol1no10/news.htm>
and
intercultural understanding. Furthermore, WAOE is a
non-profit
organization of the membership type, less common and more
challenging than organizations employing staff. WAOE founders
believe
that the aspirations of educators can best be reflected
in a participatory
democracy.
On top of all the concrete progress in a short amount of
time,
WAOE has afforded social opportunities among its multicultural
membership. The first annual meeting for members in 1999 was
combined
with a world culture festival
<http://scout18.cs.wisc.edu/NH/99-02/99-02-09/0026.html>
synchronized by the global standard of GMT. While the meeting
took place
asynchronously via e-mail and Web forms, synchronous
MOO and Web chat
sessions were also conducted. From 2000 WAOE
is collaborating more closely
with the Child Research Net in Tokyo
<http://www.childresearch.net/>.
Officers have been discussing how to conduct the whole organization
like a global virtual university, reflecting the interest of members
in
mastering online educational environments. One such benefit of
membership
will be a teacher training course on international
collaborative tutoring
online, which has completed the piloting stage.
With so much happening, in
March 1999 a fortnightly e-mail
newsletter entitled the WAOE Electronic
Bulletin or WEB was
inaugurated by WAOE Membership Chair David Wyatt in
Australia
<http://www.waoe.org/web/>.
WAOE
is also blessed with the WWW Journal of Online Education (JOE)
based at New
York University
<http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/waoej.html
>.
Editor Julia "Evergreen" Keefer has developed a creative
and
colorful journal that is diverse in both cultures and genres.
WAOE
Internet sites are decentralized and can be found in a rapidly
increasing
number of countries and languages. WAOE information is
beginning to become
available in many languages, and WAOE Chapters
functioning in Spanish and
other languages are being launched. WAOE
has a flexible process to encourage
members' initiatives, which are
unlimited with so many cultures represented.
Online Course and
Resource Evaluation Workgroups (O-CREWs) can be based on
any field
or level of learning; cultural, linguistic or geographical
chapters; and
project-based or oriented to timely online issues of interest
to
members. See the WAOE Opening Page for details <http://www.waoe.org/>.
TO JOIN the
World Association for Online Education, please go to
<http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html>.
There you can
pay the yearly dues of US $10 by credit card and/or experience
the
WAOE Orientation tutorial by clicking on View the Course. For full
details on paying by mailing a check or applying for a dues waiver,
see
<http://www.waoe.org/web/vol1no9/index.htm>.
Focusing on online education since the advent of Web-based approaches,
WAOE is working to turn online education into a new
professional
discipline. For an overview of WAOE and how to get actively
involved,
see the WAOE Organizational Page in Japan:
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html.
~Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior
College, Japan
President, World Association for Online Education: http://waoe.org
Website Map to Bookmark: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve
======================================
~ Technically Speaking with Kathleen A. Catapano ~
ALLERGIES ON THE WEB
As the sneezing and sniffling starts, there is an
opportunity for learning
about allergic reactions. Allegra, http://www.allegra.com/ a company
that makes antihistamines, has developed an
interesting site. It has a
pollen forecasting section that indicates on a
citywide basis across the
USA, the pollen levels and how they will affect
you. There is an
excellent series of graphic videos on how the cells
interact to cause an
allergic reaction. It is accompanied by a
detailed explanation and the
vocabulary is hyperlinked to a glossary.
The site offers a unique opportunity for students and teachers to
formulate questions about allergies and gain a good
understanding of how an allergic
reaction occurs. It is a project that makes
excellent use of the technology,
is free and only needs a creative teacher to design a
lesson that will guide
students to meaningful interaction with the
site.
~Kathleen
A. Catapano
Brooklyn, New York USA
Educational
Technology,
Medgar Evers College - CUNY
E-mail: catapano@mec.cuny.edu,
======================================
~ Audrey Ciuffo's Library
Connection ~
WOMEN OF
VALOR
March is a good time to celebrate accomplishments of
some special women
since it is Women's History
Month. I have all my displays in the library
reflect the focal point
of each month. In deciding which books to highlight
for the column this
month, I thought that I would share some of my display
books currently on
view.
One interesting book focuses on
the contributions of women in days of
the industrial revolution, Big Annie of Calumet, A True Story of the
Industrial Revolution by Jerry Stanley, Crown Publishers 1996. This book
recounts the history of the Michigan miners strike against the Calumet and
Hecia Mining Company in 1913. Annie Clemenc was the wife of a Croatian
copper
miner. She saw many miners who had suffered tragic accidents
from their work
at the mine at her job in a nearby hospital. She led
strikers in daily
protests and was a factor in workers there getting better
working conditions.
Her strength and determination helped fuel the miners
resolve to stick with
the strike. She got other women involved and showed
that women can effect
great change. This is a rare history book; one that
reads like a novel! I
recommend this addition to any women's history
study.
Why not add one of the earliest
"femme fatales" to this month's list?
Cleopatra by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema,
Morrow Junior Books 1994, is a
lovely storybook biography. Everyone knows
that Cleopatra was a queen of
Egypt. Not everyone knows that her strength
lay in her intelligence, courage, and cleverness. This book by these award winning
biographers tell the
tragic and fascinating tale in an eminently readable
style with fabulous
illustrations by Diane Stanley.
Charlotte Forten, A Black Teacher in the Civil War, by Peter
Burchard,
Crown Publishers 1994, tells the story of a young girl who grew up
during the
Civil War. She felt that having grown up free, with many
advantages, she had
a responsibility to help other black people. She worked
as a teacher and a
nurse in various locations during the civil war. This
book has an easy to
follow story for young readers. Teachers have always
inspired and this book
has an important place in biography. Children need to
know that early on in
our history black people have filled vital roles in
American life.
Along those same lines, Revolutionary Poet, A Story about Phillis
Wheatley, by Maryann N. Weidt,
Carolrhoda Books 1997, celebrates the life of
a woman quite unique for her
time.Phillis Wheatley did what few other women,
let alone black women
achieved. She became a well known poet during the era
of the Revolutionary
War. She survived by having a strong spirit and a
strong need to express
herself. It's interesting to see that her work is read
today and has
relevance in today's day and age. Children in my school select
this book
frequently. They feel that she is a good role model for them to
emulate.
One more title with that theme
is another valuable choice for inclusion
in the month's study. I Was Born A Slave, The Story Of Harriet Jacobs
by
Jennifer Fleischner, Millbrook Press 1997, is a chilling
account of the
horrors that she endued under slavery. It tells of the spirit
that wouldn't
let Harriet quit in her quest for freedom. This book
takes us through the
life of a slave who suffered severe mistreatment from
her owner, shows us her
life as a fugitive from slavery, and her eventual
release to freedom with her
children. Students need to learn about the past
in ways that draw them into
history. This book fills the bill
nicely.
Another book in the storybook
biography genre that I like is Betsy Ross
by Alexandra Wallner, Holiday House 1994. Everyone knows about
the famous
seamstress who made the American flag. Here is a charming picture
book
version for young students to learn some more facts about this
well-known
woman who figures so prominently in the early days of our
country.
One more of these easy to read
biographies that I like a lot is A
Picture
Book of Eleanor Roosevelt by David A. Adler, Holiday House 1991. She is a
woman I
always admired. Children will find the story of a woman who became
the wife
of one of the most popular presidents very compelling. She carved
out a new
role for first ladies, the likes of which had never been done
before. Adler
writes in a very charming style for younger readers. I have a
great number
of his biographies in my library. They literally "fly" off the
shelves. This
one does justice to the subject.
Since children have a fondness
for animals, this biography about a
woman famous for her love of gorillas
should generate interest. Dian Fossey,
Befriending The
Gorillas, by Suzanne Freedman,
Raintree Steck -Vaughn
Publishers 1997, is about the life of a
scientist and her accomplishments
working with gorillas in Africa. The story
of her life and tragic death makes
for intriguing reading. She was most
different from all the other famous
women in this column in that she did her
best work while working solo. This
book is recommended for older
students.
Let
Women Vote by Marlene Targ Brill, Millbrook Press 1996 is must
reading for Women's History Month. The right to vote, one that is basic and
assumed was a hard won battle for women. This book takes us through the
struggle and fight for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which
granted
all women the right to vote when it was ratified in 1920. We learn
about the
key players in the movement and the problems they faced in
achieving their
goal. The photographs add to the understanding of what went
on in those
trying times. Because of those photographs, children can clearly
see and
visualize what went on in a sequential manner to achieve the goal of
women's
right to vote.
Last, but not least, I
recommend Toni
Morrison, Nobel Prize-Winning
Author by Barbara Kramer, Enslow Publishers
1996. Toni Morrison became the
first African-American to win the Nobel Prize
in literature in 1993. As a
child she was always interested in reading and
storytelling. These helped her
later on in life when she started writing.
Children will learn what it's like
to raise children while trying to write.
We learn about what drove this
famous writer to create and her varied
experiences from which she drew upon
in her works.
All fascinating subjects. Could
I have chosen others? Yes!! There are so
many wonderful books dealing with
this month's subject. I just scratched the
surface. Yet, I feel that they
are more than worthy for inclusion. Enjoy!!
~Audrey
Ciuffo
New York, New York
USA
Teacher, Mentor, Library Technologist
http://www.ps161.com/libpower.html
E-mail:
aciuffo@ps161.com
=======================================
~ Tammy Bailis' Senior School
Musings ~
WHAT THE HECK IS A LINEAR EQUATION ANYWAY??
If you really
want to improve your marks in math, pay attention to the words
of math. Once you begin learning and using the
language of mathematics,
you'll begin to see the ever present sense of math.
For instance, if you've just
learned to write and solve "linear" equations, you
should realize that the name
is telling you two things. It's telling you that a
linear equation has something to
do with a line -- hence the "linear" -- and it's also
telling you that you're going
to see an equal sign since you'll be looking at an
equation.
So what the heck is a linear equation anyway??
A linear
equation is an address. It describes exactly where, in Cartesian space,
that line exists. It's almost like your home address.
It defines where you live -- so
does a linear equation. If we consider the linear
equation y = 5x + 10, we can plot
a series of points and draw this line. It will cross
the y-axis at (0, 10), cut the x-axis
at (-2, 0) and, once we have two points on the line,
joining them defines the line.
When we have a system of two linear
equations, we have an interesting situation. The two equations can be solved algebraically and
simultaneously and the result
will define the point where the two lines would meet
if we graph them. Of course,
there are three possibilities. The lines can meet at
exactly one point, no points
because they're parallel, or an infinite number of
points because the two lines are
superimposed upon each other. In such a case,
one equation will just be a multiple
of the other. Let's look at each case.
Say we
have y = 2x + 3 and y = x + 4. Since one is not a multiple of the other
and the slope of one doesn't equal the slope of the other
we know that these lines are
not concurrent nor parallel. So there must be a unique
solution. When we solve
by setting the two expressions for "y" equal to each
other, we get that x = 1 and y = 5.
If we graph these two lines, we will find that they
meet at the point (1, 5).
Now say we consider y = 2x + 1 and
y = 2x - 3. Since the slope of a line is the coefficient of "x" when our equation is in this form,
we can see that both lines have
the same slope and therefore they are parallel. So,
there are no solutions. In other
words, these lines do not intersect
anywhere.
And finally, let's consider y = 2x + 3 and y = 6x +
9. As you can plainly see, the second equation is just the first one multiplied by 3.
So these two are not different
lines but the same line, which means there are
infinite points of intersection. The
lines intersect at every single point on the
line.
Don't ignore the words in math. They tell you a lot. After all,
math is just a language or code that humans developed in order to describe our
existence.
Learn the words -- you'll learn the
math.
~ Tammy Bailis
Montréal, Québec
BA (McGill
U.) Masters in Teaching Mathematics
(Concordia U.)
Author: Sinostrology: A Guide to the
Zoo
(published 1998 by The American
Federation of Astrologers);
(French version published 1990 by
les Editions de
Mortagne)
======================================
Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale
CONSCIOUS PRIORITIZATION
Over and over again, day in and day out, I
hear people
complain that there aren't enough hours in the day, that
they're too busy and that they're burned out. This seems to
be their
credo; sometimes it feels like their badge of honor.
Ultimately it makes
their lives less enjoyable and in the
end it hurts only them.
And so
as a society we spend millions of dollars a year on
books and self-help
products that teach us how to simplify
our lives and how to reduce some of
our stress. We search
ravenously for anything that seems as though it could
be the
"magic formula" for our over committed exhausted lifestyles.
We
crave a quick answer (because we don't have TIME for some
long drawn out
process), some miracle pill or a sudden
decreased need for sleep to put our
lives back in balance
again.
Unfortunately, it's just not that easy.
As we've heard so
much with respect to weight loss, it requires long term
lifestyle changes. So, I don't' have a quick answer; I don't
have a
miracle pill and I can't tell you how to obtain a
sudden decreased need for
sleep. But I can tell you that a
more enjoyable life of balance
includes:
1 Conscious Prioritization (a phrase I've just
coined!)
2 Time Management and
3 Organizational skills
This
article will begin with Conscious Prioritization. In
future articles we'll
address time management and
organizational skills.
Conscious
Prioritization: Conscious Prioritization involves
determining what it is you
really want in your life and
balancing that with what it is you really HAVE
to do in your
life. For example: You HAVE to sleep, you HAVE to take care
of your children and you probably HAVE to work. Other than
that your
time is your own. Now I know what you're thinking,
but NO, you really don't
HAVE to clean your house. No, you
really don't HAVE to be involved in the
PTA. No, you really
don't HAVE to be a den mother, a little league mom, a
Girl
Scout leader, a volunteer in your child's classroom or a
deacon at
church. I'm NOT telling you to resign from
everything but I am telling you
that there are a finite
number of hours in the day and I'm encouraging you
to spend
them on activities that bring you the greatest enjoyment!
There's an old expression in business that says we spend 80%
of our
time on activities that give us a 20% return and we
spend 20% of our time on
activities that give us an 80%
return. What conscious prioritization is all
about is
spending 80% of your time on activities that give you an
80% or
more return!!
So think about your life. Write down the "have to's".
Remember this list should be short. You have to sleep, you
have to take
care of your children and you have to work.
Taking care of your children
does NOT mean chauffeuring
them to all of their various activities. It means
feeding
them, clothing them, bathing them, getting them off to
school or
daycare and helping them to learn and to grow in
their educational
environment. We'll get to the chauffeuring
part later.
Now make a
list of the activities that bring you the
greatest enjoyment. Perhaps that
is supporting your children
in their numerous extra curricular activities.
If so, GREAT!
Maybe it's reading or hiking or playing softball or cooking
or painting or even cleaning the house. Whatever it is, this
list should
ONLY consist of the activities you enjoy. When
your list is completed, rank
it, in the order of your
enjoyment.
For example, my list consists of
spending time with my
family, working on the Internet and writing. It's a
short
list but so is my available time. Notice that no where on
my list
do you find cleaning the house. So guess what, my
house is not spotless all
the time (or even most of the time).
When this bothers me, as it does, I
remind myself that the
cost of having a perpetually spotless home is less
time with
my family, less time on the Internet and less time for
writing. Quickly, my sloppy house doesn't seem so bad.
Every day when
I'm tempted to spend my time on activities
other than the above, I ask
myself if the cost is worth it.
Is it worth it to stay up later to write
because I've spent
time cleaning the house? Is it worth it to spend more
time
at work and give up some hours with my family? Is it worth it
to
forfeit the Internet for a day to organize my closets?
Sometimes the answers
are yes! Priorities can and do change
daily. But the objective is for YOU to
consciously set the
priorities each day so that you're living your life
proactively rather than reactively and spending your time
the way YOU
want to spend it. Guess what? This may mean
saying "no" once in a while.
That's okay. You CAN'T do it all!
Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale is a CPA and
the editor of
"The Balanced Woman", a monthly ezine. It contains parenting
tips, household hints, ideas for pampering yourself and more.
Subscribing is easy and FREE. Just send a blank email to:
-TheBalancedWoman-subscribe@onelist.com.
She is also the
author of The Woman's Guide to Resumes and Interviewing,
Lessons From a Toddler and 77 Ways to Pamper Yourself. All
of these
publications are available through AJAY Publishing at:
==========================================
~ Internet Educational Hot
Spots~
Cool sites to check
out!
Send FREE
Email Greeting Cards!
TEACHERS!!!!!- FREE online WORKSHEETS!!!
No catch!
Tutorial World provides free questions for your
practice.
Print out the worksheets and come back as many times
as you like. Bookmark this page and tell your friends
about
this website.
WEB
QUESTS!!!
WebQuests
"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented
activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the
Web."
Great ideas and ready made web
quests.
http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/oct98/web2.htm
A Web Quest on Web Quests- Interesting tutorial on developing your
own quests.Science- nice.
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/Teachers.html
From NASA- VERY
interesting!
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/
Matrix of Web Quests, has samples.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix.html
Collections of ready made
quests.http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest_collections.htm
Favorite Authors Talk Show -Quest
http://smec.uncwil.edu/BIC/products/holowaty/robinann.html
Learn about Ancient Egyptian daily life, Egyptian
mummies, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, KingTut (Tutankhamen), Egyptian games,
and Archeology.
http://users.massed.net/~mdurant/AncientEgyptWebquest.htm
Great Quests from NOVELL.
Schools offering distance learning. This is a
great site to help you find
the resources to meet your distance learning
needs.
http://members.tripod.com/~lepine/de.html
Internet Tutorial
Short and basic, but if you've gotten this far, you
may not need it.
However, you can send it to an Internet newbie
friend...
Make a marshmallow Bunny at
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/rabbit.html
MathNotes- good math help
Black Jack