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One teen’s noise

November 26, 2008 By

Teens who play music too loudly in Fort Lupton, Colorado, may be sentenced to listen to other people’s music, including Barney the Dinosaur and Barry Manilow.

“These people should have to listen to music they don’t like,” said Judge Paul Sacco.

Ten years ago, Judge Sacco noticed something that bothered him. It wasn’t just the fact that so many of the faces in his courtroom were so very familiar to him. There were a lot of repeat offenders.

No, what really irked him was the idea that many of them were teenagers who simply came equipped with their parent’s cash in hand to help them pay off the fines that he would inevitably impose.

Now that an hour of Barney and Barry is the punishment, there are few repeat offenders of the noise ordinance.

Filed Under: Culture

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

November 25, 2008 By

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to turn talent into top performance, according to a German study. Researchers at Berlin’s Academy of Music analyzed a group of violin students who started at age five.

. . . by the age of 20, the elite performers had each totalled 10,000 hours of practice, while the merely good students had accrued 8,000.

“It seems it takes the brain this long to assimilate all it needs to know to achieve true mastery,” lead researcher Daniel Levitin was quoted by the British newspaper as telling BBC’s ‘Focus’ magazine.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.

Filed Under: Culture

Not everyone came on the Mayflower

November 25, 2008 By

Miss G’s students turned in their Native American journals at the Harvest Festival:

“I am a Native American girl, and I am 9 years old. My name is Flying Bird and my brother’s name is Jumping Deer. I live in the woods with my family. My father does a lot of hunting and my mother makes blankets and baskets. Today I was walking through the woods and I found a beautiful tree with colorful leaves. I love it here, but I am also sad because it is hard being in a new place – we arrived on the Mayflower three weeks ago.”

Miss G is planning to reteach the Mayflower unit.

Filed Under: Education

Pre-K as a jobs program

November 24, 2008 By

There’s talk of funding universal pre-kindergarten to stimulate the economy, writes Eduwonk. There will be lots of lucrative child-care jobs created. (That was sarcasm.)

He thinks building and rebuilding schools is a better way to go, if the goal is quick job creation.

Filed Under: Education

Ranking the edusphere

November 24, 2008 By

I’m a large frog in the pond of education blogging, writes Mike Petrilli in Education Next. He’s got me second to Will Richardson’s Weblogg-Ed using the Technorati Authority score.

Core Knowledge, left out of Mike’s list, says it’s out of out of date. According to his list, I’ve got the highest Technorati ranking of any education blog. And the numbers are quite different.

I am confused.

Jay Greene adds Google page rankings: I’m a 6. Still confused.

Filed Under: Blogging

Soda ban has no effect

November 24, 2008 By

Banning sugar-sweetened drinks at Maine high schools didn’t affect students’ consumption, a study found.

The study compared four high schools that eliminated soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks from cafeterias and vending machines with three schools that did not take such measures.

Researchers found that over one school year, students in both groups of schools cut down on their average daily intake of sugary drinks — but there was no evidence that the school soda bans led to greater reductions.

It turns out that teens do most of their soda slurping on their own time. Those who can’t get a Coke at lunch will drink one after school.

Filed Under: Health

This test is brought to you by …

November 24, 2008 By

When his San Diego area school cut the printing budget, calculus teacher Tom Farber came up with a way to fund his tests and quizzes: He sells ads on tests.

Some are pithy one-liners, hawking the names of local businesses: “Brace Yourself for a Great Semester! Braces by Henry, Stephen P. Henry D.M.D.”

Others are inspirational quotes, like “Keep the company of those who seek the truth, and run from those who have found it – Vaclav Havel.”

Farber spends more than $500 on printing in a year; Rancho Bernardo High now gives him $300.

Farber’s customers pay $10 for an ad on a quiz, $20 to be on a chapter test and $30 for a spot on a semester final. Some of the quotes, either personal ones or by famous people, are paid for by parents.

Farber has made $350 so far, and still has ad space for next semester.  His surplus will help other math teachers pay for supplies.

Some students say the inspirational quotes help them deal with stress.

Luke Shaw, 17, was less enthusiastic. The senior said a recent sponsorship that was the name of a structural engineering company didn’t do anything for him.

“I’m always hoping that someone will sponsor it with a trig formula or something useful,” he said.

My father had a friend who put himself through college during the Depression by selling ads on report cards. School districts saved on printing costs.

Filed Under: Education

White House girls

November 23, 2008 By

The Obama girls will attend Sidwell Friends, a Quaker private school with campuses in Maryland and Washington, D.C.  Chelsea Clinton is a Sidwell alum and three of Joe Biden’s grandchildren go there. Allegedly, Michelle Obama considered D.C. public schools — there are some good ones — but none made the short list.  Highly educated upper-middle-class parents, especially those who succeeded because of their access to educational opportunities, don’t compromise on their kids’ education.

On the Obamas’ visit to the White House, the Bush daughters gave the Obama daughters tips on bed jumping.

“We helped them jump on the beds,” Barbara said. “We used to jump on the beds when we were little, too.”

Remember their grandfather was president too, so they have a lot of White House experience.

First lady Laura Bush echoed her daughter’s comments, saying Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, were shown the inside scoop on White House bed-jumping.

“They’re really tall beds; you need to get a running start,” the first lady said.

I’m sure the Obama girls will master the technique.

Filed Under: Children

Lousy kids

November 23, 2008 By

Lousy kids — that is children being treated for head lice — don’t have to miss school in some Ohio districts, reports the Columbus Dispatch. Schools have decided lice are a nuisance but not a public health threat.

Some, including South-Western, ban students from class — often for days or weeks — until all signs of lice, including the eggs, or nits, are gone. Other districts, including Columbus and Westerville, say kids can’t afford to miss so much school, so students are permitted to stay in class even while they are being treated for an infestation.

In Columbus, officials say they have seen no increase in lice since the district relaxed its policy several years ago.

Via Education Gadfly.

At my daughter’s elementary school, nobody missed more than a day for head lice. Every class had a volunteer mom serving as “lice monitor” who checked that nits had been combed out.

I believe that a head lice movie should be part of all anti-teen pregnancy campaigns. Call it “Scared Celibate.”

Filed Under: Health

Flunking the Electoral College

November 23, 2008 By

Seventy-one percent of adults failed a civic (and economic) literacy test, according to Our Fading Heritage by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

* Liberals score 49%; conservatives score 48%. Republicans score 52%; Democrats score 45%.
* Fewer than half of all Americans can name all three branches of government, a minimal requirement for understanding America’s constitutional system.

College graduates averaged 57 percent, still a failing score. Only 24 percent of college grads knew that the First Amendment bars establishment of religion.

Those who said they’ve held elected office averaged 44 percent:  Twenty percent said the Electoral College “trains those aspiring for higher office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”

I got 100 percent on the test, though I had to think about some of the economic questions.

Filed Under: Education
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