Archive for 2010

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Introducing My Daughter to the Social Network

Monday, December 27th, 2010

The day came. One of my favorite things about FaceBook (FB) was the rule that one must be 13 before they could join (which I know some don’t follow, but we did). Then it happened. My oldest daughter turned 13.

I had my own set of rules to hand out along with my permission.

  1. I must be her first friend.
  2. I must know her password.
  3. She could not “friend” anyone she didn’t personally know.
  4. I have the right to add rules, change rules, and/or revoke her FaceBook privilege as I see fit.

We also made a deal that she needs to do something for me before she goes on FB. That part is working out wonderfully for me, since there’s always something that needs to be done! So far, so good overall.

She has “friended” all of our family and family friends. I love watching my older daughter interact with her long distance family members via FB. It’s great to see that their relationships can grow stronger, thanks to technology. They always comment on her pics and good news that she shares on FB. I love seeing her get the love and support she so greatly deserves from everyone that knows and loves her.

Now, I’m aware that some kids create more than one account on FB (or any other social site, for that matter). I’m aware that I cannot see her chats or private messages, even if I am her friend. I know that no matter what I do, there will be some things that I won’t know about her life. That’s okay. In fact, that’s how it should be. She won’t know how to be on her own as an adult if she’s never given the opportunity to try, and sometimes fail, on her own.

I view my role as (more…)

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Posted in April McCaffery, Media, Parent Perspectives, Technology | 7 Comments »

Christmas in Australia

Friday, December 24th, 2010

Dashing through the snow…in a one horse open sleigh….

Walking in the Winter Wonderland.

Radio Stations and Shopping Malls are filled with Christmas Carols.  Teenagers are busking out front of stores trying to earn a little cash.  I am a sucker for holiday songs.

Whoops…Rewind….What’s wrong with this picture.

It may be the fact that I live in Brisbane, the Capital City of Queensland, which is the sunniest place in Australia (or rainiest as the case may be at the moment)

Image by Aussiegall

Can you imagine Christmas in summer?

For most of our friends in Europe, Canada or America it seems so crazy.  But for us it is normal and we seem to enjoy the quirkiness of singing about a white Christmas while driving to the nearest beach for a swim and cool down.

Christmas in Australia can be divided into two camps.  Those that embrace the heat and those who don’t (with or without air conditioning)

1. Christmas Oz Style

Families that embrace the heat opt for (more…)

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Posted in Ainslie Hunter, Holidays | 4 Comments »

Los Angeles Public School Choice: Part III

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

In parts one and two of this series, Public School Choice (PSC) was defined, and then some goals were set for the vision a few of my colleagues and I have for a pilot school. Since we first became aware that we had this opportunity, we’ve learned a few details that will greatly affect us. By outlining them here, other like-minded individuals may wish to keep these things in mind. Here’s what we’ve learned:

1. School boards (the entities who ultimately approve plans) want 99% of the plan to be about curriculum. Governance is the other 1%. They say to plan the curriculum, teaching strategies, working with standards, etc. and then the governance/structure issues will fall in to place. We believe this is backwards, as we believe that the factors that put us on the PSC list are completely unrelated to teaching and curriculum.

What are some of the issues that we believe need to be fixed? A) Administrative stability (we’ve had 30 administrators in 11 years!), B) Teacher evaluation/performance review: bad teachers must be helped or relieved of duty, C) Decision making: not in a vacuum; must include students and parents

2. The teacher’s union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) has put a cap on the number of allowable pilot schools. We are part of round 3.0 in the PSC school initiative. There are currently 11 pilots in place. The 2.0 PSC plans have yet to be approved, so for all we know, the cap will be reached before our plan is even evaluated. Evidently, UTLA and LAUSD (the school district) reached the cap agreement.

3. We are being discouraged from all angles. LAUSD is telling us that we will face tremendous facilities-sharing issues. They also say that there will be much uncompensated time put into planning and running the school.

Other teachers at the school see us as rebels, or rogue elements. They think we are ruining unity at the school. We believe this “unity” has kept positive change from happening. People seem to want to keep the status-quo. We believe it will take radical change, and that a tinker here and there won’t do it, especially if there continues to be so much inconsistency and stability at the school.

Stay tuned!

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Mr. Franklin is a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is an eleven year veteran and has won District and County Teacher of the Year awards. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Bank of America Community Hero award. Before teaching, he spent five years at Learning Forum, which runs summer camps designed to increase student academic potential. It is a world-wide program.

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Posted in Education Policy, Education Reform, Steve Franklin, Teacher Perspectives | 4 Comments »

Holiday Necklace Craft

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

I love anything sparkly so holiday crafts are especially fun for me. This is more than some festive chunky jewelry for your kids to make you or themselves, it’s filled with opportunities to work on  fine motor skills and hand eye coordination .

What you will need:

  • Some cheap garland, you want cheap so it’s not too full. If it’s really full it’s hard to lace the beads on.
  • A wrapping paper tube (or paper towel roll)
  • markers
  • scissors

Start by (more…)

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Posted in Allison McDonald, Holidays, arts and crafts | 6 Comments »

How Would You Fix One Single Problem in Education?

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Education has been given some pretty major donation over the past year.  Oprah Winfrey and her Angel Network gave 6 Million Dollars to U.S Charter School Programs.  Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook fame, has donated $100 million to Newark Public Schools.  And he is urging others to step up and support education.

Whilst absolutely no-one in the education system would say no to a chance to make schools better, these types of donations and initiatives seem focused on one specific cause or idea in Education, not one specific problem that needs to be fixed.


How would you spend the money?

If you were given such as vast sum of money, how would you like it spent?  Teachers and parents have a unique experience of seeing exactly what student’s need, and need on a daily basis.

Some ideas I can think of are more teachers, better classroom infrastructure, more technology, better food or Arts Programs.

Whilst these are great ideas, do they fix a specific problem that impacts every student?

Now can you think of One Single Problem that impacts every student?

When I first heard of Oprah’s and Zuckerberg’s donation I immediately thought of a scene from the TV show The West Wing.  It is the end of the series and C.J. Cregg (Chief of Staff) is being interviewed for a job by Franklin Hollis (very wealthy, influential man)

Franklin Hollis:  I’m starting a foundation ‘cause if I hold onto all this money I start to look impolite.  I want to find a single problem I can attack.  Something which might actually have some kind of substantial effect.  Maybe I should be fighting AIDS in Africa.  Or maybe it’s malaria.  Could be clean air or election reform?  I don’t know.  But my sense is that you would have a unique perspective on what that could be and how to make it happen.”

C.J. Cregg:  A single problem

Franlin Hollis:  It’s a complicated question.

C.J Cregg:  Highways is what you’re looking for.

Franklin Hollis:  Really

C.J. Cregg:  It’s not sexy.  No one will ever raise money for it.  But nine out of ten African aid projects fail because the medicine of the personnel can’t get to the people in need…Blanket the continent with highways and then maybe get started on plumbing.

Franklin Hollis:  Also not sexy.  Well if you think that’s what needs fixing I’ll give you $10 billion to fix it.

Can you think of one problem and a ‘not sexy’ solution to our education system that needs to be fixed?

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Ainslie Hunter is a proud mum of a spirited toddler, teacher of children with Learning Disabilities and Special Needs and blogger.  When not hanging out on Parentella you will find her giving the very best study tips and tricks over at Study Skills Mentor.

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Posted in Ainslie Hunter, Education Reform | 17 Comments »

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