Joann's blog

Over the past few weeks, Peggy and I have been writing about topics raised in an interview with NEA’s Executive Director, John Wilson. We discussed global literacy and methods to stretch school dollars in a challenging economy. This week, we’ve decided to focus on another of the issues raised by Wilson – the importance of technology in education.

It’s no secret that we’re in the midst of the worst recession since The Great Depression. While some news outlets have reported that the recession is, in fact, over, many people haven’t felt financial relief yet. The economic meltdown was years in the making, and it’s an unfortunate fact that recovery will likely take some years more. By now, we’re all pretty tired of the unpleasant – but necessary – financial belt-tightening demonstrated by our local communities. Town and city budgets are stretched thin, and all public departments have been hit hard.

One day last year, my middle schooler came home in a huff, incensed that his English class would be conducting a mock trial for characters from Lord of the Flies. He wasn’t exactly sure just what a mock trial was, mind you, but he was sure that it didn’t sound like fun, and he didn’t want to be a lawyer someday anyway. So what was the point? Despite his initial misgivings, the mock trial was a big hit with the students, and it turned out to be one of my son’s favorite activities from his English class that year. It was the first year that the teacher had tried a mock trial activity, and it was so successful that she’s decided to use it again this year.

There have been at least six well-documented mass extinctions on Earth over the past 500 million years, a phenomenon that has both puzzled and intrigued scientists for centuries. Various types of organisms on Earth become extinct fairly frequently, but mass extinctions are distinguished by the large numbers of species that become extinct over a relatively short period of time. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, is perhaps the most famous mass extinction. It’s forever branded into our brains from being the topic of feature films, artists’ paintings, and numerous books.

Last year, one of our local schools was named a National School of Character. This was a proud moment for the town, and especially for the teachers and the students. The school’s administration and staff consistently work diligently to help the students develop and abide by core values, such as honesty, respect, and integrity. The goal is not to simply create a caring, safe, and inclusive learning environment, but to also develop the students’ ethical and moral compasses. While there is intense pressure on educators to prep our students for the next assignment, the next grade, and the next standardized test, we need to keep in mind the overarching goal of education: to aid in the development of our students in becoming compassionate, active, and successful citizens.

I pretty much haven’t met a holiday that I didn’t like, but Thanksgiving is kind of special. It’s relatively low-key, and the notion of taking some time to really appreciate what we have – and to give thanks for it – is a winning notion. Each day most of us relentlessly multitask in order to wring the most benefit out of every possible millisecond. Some of us juggle work that needs to be reviewed and graded, attend to student needs, coach sports teams, and oversee a host of other activities. Many of us live from deadline to deadline (and paycheck to paycheck) and generally run on all cylinders from dawn to late night. It’s hard – modern life is hardly the days of leisure predicted by 19th century futurists.

Two summers ago, our local school department offered a one-week forensic science summer camp for older elementary students. Most of the kids were not there by choice, having been enrolled by their parents who thought that the course sounded “fun.” The teacher, having taught this course a few times before, was used to the student foot-dragging and wistful stares out the window at their unencumbered brethren playing outside, blissfully free from the tyranny of overly ambitious parents. The course focused on the investigation of an environmental crisis where local fish were killed by toxins in the water.

Helping out in the classroom the other day, I was surprised to hear the students clamoring to go to music class. Previously, the kids had always grumbled about music class, their complaints mainly revolving around the “babyish” songs that they had to sing, like “I’m a Little Teapot” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Admittedly, I had kind of felt their pain; by the third grade, nobody wants to be linked to music that is associated with the preschool set.

According to the EPA, the average American produces about four and a half pounds of trash each day, which amounts to a whopping 1,600 pounds per person annually. That figure does not include industrial waste or commercial trash – operations that produce much, much more trash than consumers.

A few weeks ago in Hungary, a reservoir ruptured, flooding several towns with 185 million gallons of toxic red sludge. The 12-foot high river of sludge killed nine people, with scores more hospitalized with chemical burns and other injuries. The effect on the environment and the people there is still unknown, and the scope of any lasting damage is likely to be unknown for many years. The sludge is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina, and is contained in numerous reservoirs in communities surrounding the aluminum plant.