Clifford Stoll and his ideas worth spreading

Clifford Stoll's TED Talk has many different ideas. The physicist talks about a little bit of everything, most of all how children are the future and how he went from teaching a little bit of graduate school to teaching 8th grade science.

Pigeon of the Week

WARNING SPOILER ALERT

I waited. and waited. and waited some more. I couldn't go to the big release in Bryant Park but I made it to the book store today and to my delight, The Pigeon Wants A Puppy! I could not be more delighted with Mo Willems newest creation. I picked it up and read it right there in the book store before I bought it.

The pigeon has it's usual charm of a five year old in a pigeon body. Lines like, "I promise I'll water it once a month" and "You don't want me to take a piggyback ride on my puppy" have the great spirit and humor of a small child. The shift in colors from browns and purples to pinks highlight the 'passion' behind the pigeons voice. I am especially font of the type set when the pigeon says, "I WANT A PUPPY! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" There is something about the pink highlight around the black capital lettering that fuses the sweetness and innocence of the pigeon with the demand to be taken seriously.

And he is, he gets the puppy, only he doesn't want it anymore. How many kids get dogs and then a week later decide they don't want to walk it and feed it...a lot. So now, the pigeon wants...a walrus? We'll have to wait and see if the next book holds in store a walrus and pigeon love story.

To see more about Mo Willems check out his BLOG!

Bruce T. Perry also known as my new idol

I'm usually not one for sitting in large lecture halls listening to academics speak about their work. Not because I'm not interested, but usually because I find their style to be dry and like they are reading from a script. Bruce T. Perry is quite the opposite. Never have I listened to someone so engaging and over an hour later realize how long he has been talking. Bruce T. Perry is an expert on child trauma and I look forward to reading his book I just purchased, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog. Until then let me provide you with some ideas he imparted on me and some links to resources on Bruce T. Perry.

Lessons I learned from Bruce T. Perry

The brain is most malleable in early childhood. This means that we, as adults, need to focus on this age and make sure children get the best attention and care as this will effect the trajectory of their development. Enduring trauma and neglect in early childhood puts a child at risk for crime, depression, and ending up in the special education system. If even 1 million is invested in a program to aid at risk youth and one child in this group is effected and does not end up in special education you have got your moneys worth. Unfortunately, the further you get away from people interacting with children the more you are involved in the policy that involves them.

And some excellent quotes from the lecture,

"How can you love someone if you were never loved?"

"Being born a human does not make you humane."

An inspirational man that I cannot wait to read more of. Here is some of his writing and information on the scholastic website. This is his biography at the Child Trauma Academy where he is the senior fellow.

Does The Maze Ever End? or A scary stroll through the maze...

Did you ever notice how high school seniors can't wait to get out but college seniors avoid talking about it? Senioritis is a common term in most high schools. Second semester comes and the kids planning to go to college already have been accepted and kids who used to put all their energy into every inch of work start to slack a little. But college seniors are different. When I bring it up to most of my friends the fact that in less than two months we will graduate most people respond with, 'please don't talk about it'. It's scary. In the community I came from when you graduated high school you were expected to go to college. You had a path for the next four years. Obviously this is not the same for all children, but as my undergraduate education comes to an end I question, when does the maze ever end? Does it?

I'm starting to think it never will. Graduate school, post-graduate learning, professional seminars, the news, and even curling up with a book you have yet to read. It's all a part of the education maze. It may not end, but how does it change? There is a point in school when check pluses become As, book reports become analytical essays, and four pages essays that take forever to write become all night term papers in the library. As you get older you get to make more choices about what classes you take and what ideas you study. In some ways one might imagine the maze getting more narrow as you close in on a specialty but I imagine a maze that all of a sudden has multiple choices that lead you the 'right way' because it's up to you to chose the end point.

Okay, so I've faced it, I'm never leaving the education maze, but I still want to know how it's changing, shifting, and maybe even creating vortexes to other mazes.

Medical advice from movie stars.

Pirates, Publishing, and and Literacy

What do pirates supply stores and tutoring programs have in common? Everything

I happened upon TED talks early this year. TED in its original form stood for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and held a yearly conference to bring people from these fields together. Since its inception in 1984 it has developed into a conference where there are 50 presenters from a variety of fields with "ideas worth spreading". The TED Prize is given to three 'exceptional individuals' who get$100,000 to further their "One Wish To Change The World".

You are probably wondering what this has to do with education, and further, what this has to do with pirate supply stores. Well, this morning I was watching some TED talks on my video i-pod as my train took me to work. I downloaded one by David Eggers because the word 'tutoring' had popped up in its description. I soon realized that David Eggers is the founder of McSweeney's (a fun website and publishing company, and I swear this is going somewhere).

Imagine a room filled with pirate supplies. Eye patches in every color, maps, parrot food, and all the necessities for sailing the seven seas are right in the mist of a tutoring center for local school children. Yes, that is just what Eggers did at 826 Valencia. Him, the McSweeney's staff, and soon a band of volunteers were helping children with their homework and then with their own writing. the center started to be used for field trips and even published some of the children's work. More of these centers started to pop up. A superhero supply store in Brooklyn, a spy store in Chicago, and many more. 826 National is the over arching non-profit and I am amazed at what they have become. Beyond tutoring the children they publish the children's work, have scholarships, and foster the growth and potential of so many children who might have been over looked. Part of the philosophy is one on one attention for each child and with that kind of tutoring no wonder the idea has taken off.

Let's get back to that TED Wish Eggers had to make...

"I wish that you - you personally and every creative individual and organization you know - will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within one year we have 1,000 examples of innovative public-private partnerships."

So far there are 28 and if you read this want to know how to get involved (and for more information) visit Once Upon A School. This project is truly an inspiration and it is just this kind of innovative thinking that inspires me as I am about to take a giant leap into the real world. Also, who could say no to a pirate supply store.

MIS ter SHEH ska also known as John Scieszka

If I wasn't already convinced that John Sciezka was one of the funniest men alive this old article in Horn Book Magazine, "Reader's Request, or, YOU ASKED FOR IT" convinced me. Sciezka goes through many children's book authors names with correct pronunciations, and even better, helpful phrases. There are basic expressions, shopping phrases, making friends, and a whole slew of phrases to tell Sciezka that you really have to go. The article is ended with this fabulous quote (I'm guessing still by the funny man himself)...

"When Jon Scieszka was in kindergarten, he used to sign all of his papers Jon S. If people don’t read this article and tell their friends how to pronounce Scieszka, he’s thinking of doing that again."


Worth a read to laugh and to help with a few pronunciations. Note, I do recommend reading his new book Smash Crash and his buddy Mo Willems' new pigeon book comes out on Tuesday. You should be excited.