Friday, December 10, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
History: WWII and the Western Front | EF Educational Tours
I am putting together an educational tour of WWII in Europe. Any of you interested in going, let me know. I will be conducting an informational meeting soon to talk about fund raising etc.
History: WWII and the Western Front EF Educational Tours
History: WWII and the Western Front EF Educational Tours
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Are Longer School Days Coming?
If we are to keep up...we must. The effectiveness of our schools cannot and is not getting it done with the days they use now and students forget way too much over nearly three months off of school....never mind the trouble they find with too much free time on their hands.
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During Education Nation on NBC last month, President Obama recommended lengthening the school day and year as a potential solution to our children falling behind. The suggestion inspired praise from some reformers and critique from others, citing more expenses and stringent union contracts. Are longer days and shorter summers the wave of the future for students and teachers?
This idea has been in practice for some time in some public charter schools. One teacher explains her days before the longer day, "I had 50 minutes a day with each of my classes. That might sound like a decent amount of time, but after taking roll and checking homework, I was lucky to have even 40 minutes left to teach my students, the majority of whom were low income or just learning to speak English." With only short blocks of time to teach, educators are forced to speed through lessons and often feel like they are shortchanging students. When students go home for summer vacation, many are forgetting what they had been learning, setting them even further behind.
At one charter school, KIPP Heartwood Academy in San Jose, CA, the school day is almost 50% longer. Students arrive at 7:30am and the final bell is at 5:30pm. The schedule even calls for a mandatory 3-week summer school program. This added time of instruction is getting results. Although 85% of the students are considered low-income, the school ranks in the top 10% of California schools.
Chicago Public Schools are trying a program with additional instructional time as well. This year, a program known as "Additional Learning Opportunities" has been set in place for students in first through eighth grade. It is broken into a 20-minute recess and snack break before students head back into the classroom for 70 minutes of online learning; only the online learning will not be facilitated by teachers.
Due to a collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union, the length of the school day is set to end at 2:45 p.m. The total school day amounts to 5 hours and 45 minutes, thus barring current teachers from implementing the new program. "Anything over and above the contractually set schedule would need to be negotiated and would have a significant cost attached to it," CPS spokesman Frank Shuftan stated.
In systems where teachers are allowed to work extra hours concerns remain. "Extended hours, if not done right, could also lead to teacher burnout. Already, dedicated educators work at home to grade or write lessons, and if the school day is prolonged without taking this into account, teachers could find themselves even more overburdened," remarked Allison Smith, chief academic officer for KIPP Bay Area schools.
Along with teacher burn out, the cost of these programs is something to take into account. Additional Learning Opportunities in Chicago is set to cost $5.5 million for the academic year. In fact, due to financial hardship, some Idaho school districts have actually reduced the school week to four days a week.
What will it take to make sure that adding extra hours to the school day will help students?
At one charter school, KIPP Heartwood Academy in San Jose, CA, the school day is almost 50% longer. Students arrive at 7:30am and the final bell is at 5:30pm. The schedule even calls for a mandatory 3-week summer school program. This added time of instruction is getting results. Although 85% of the students are considered low-income, the school ranks in the top 10% of California schools.
Chicago Public Schools are trying a program with additional instructional time as well. This year, a program known as "Additional Learning Opportunities" has been set in place for students in first through eighth grade. It is broken into a 20-minute recess and snack break before students head back into the classroom for 70 minutes of online learning; only the online learning will not be facilitated by teachers.
Due to a collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union, the length of the school day is set to end at 2:45 p.m. The total school day amounts to 5 hours and 45 minutes, thus barring current teachers from implementing the new program. "Anything over and above the contractually set schedule would need to be negotiated and would have a significant cost attached to it," CPS spokesman Frank Shuftan stated.
In systems where teachers are allowed to work extra hours concerns remain. "Extended hours, if not done right, could also lead to teacher burnout. Already, dedicated educators work at home to grade or write lessons, and if the school day is prolonged without taking this into account, teachers could find themselves even more overburdened," remarked Allison Smith, chief academic officer for KIPP Bay Area schools.
Along with teacher burn out, the cost of these programs is something to take into account. Additional Learning Opportunities in Chicago is set to cost $5.5 million for the academic year. In fact, due to financial hardship, some Idaho school districts have actually reduced the school week to four days a week.
What will it take to make sure that adding extra hours to the school day will help students?
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Election 2010: Some Idaho candidates squabble toward Election Day | Election 2010 | Idaho Statesman
U.S. attorneys will monitor Tuesday vote across Idaho
TREASURE VALLEY — Federal attorneys will be on duty in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Pocatello on Tuesday to take complaints of election fraud or voting rights violations for the general elections, U.S. Attorney for Idaho Wendy Olson said.
“Election fraud and voting rights abuses dilute the value of voting and corrupt the essence of our representative form of government,” Olson said. “They are crimes against both the individuals affected and the people of the United States, and will be dealt with promptly and aggressively.”
The FBI will also have agents available in its Boise office to handle complaints of election fraud, intimidation, suppression and other abuses.
Olson said the detection of election fraud depends in large part on the watchfulness and cooperation of the public.
“It is important that anyone approached to participate in questionable election practices, or anyone who observes such practices, contact my office or the FBI immediately,” she said. “The public’s help is critical to protect the sanctity of the ballot box.”
How to complain
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Breitsameter will serve as the district election officer for Idaho, overseeing the district’s handling of election fraud and voting rights abuses. Breitsameter will work from a Boise office, and can be reached at 334-1211. The FBI can be reached at 344-7843
Source: Idaho Press-Tribune
“Election fraud and voting rights abuses dilute the value of voting and corrupt the essence of our representative form of government,” Olson said. “They are crimes against both the individuals affected and the people of the United States, and will be dealt with promptly and aggressively.”
The FBI will also have agents available in its Boise office to handle complaints of election fraud, intimidation, suppression and other abuses.
Olson said the detection of election fraud depends in large part on the watchfulness and cooperation of the public.
“It is important that anyone approached to participate in questionable election practices, or anyone who observes such practices, contact my office or the FBI immediately,” she said. “The public’s help is critical to protect the sanctity of the ballot box.”
How to complain
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Breitsameter will serve as the district election officer for Idaho, overseeing the district’s handling of election fraud and voting rights abuses. Breitsameter will work from a Boise office, and can be reached at 334-1211. The FBI can be reached at 344-7843
Source: Idaho Press-Tribune
Weekly updates coming soon.
Weekly video updated will be coming beginning November 1st. Daily tweets will continue as interesting tidbits come about.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sovereign Idaho: Term Limits Temptation: Creating the Pretext for a...
Sovereign Idaho: Term Limits Temptation: Creating the Pretext for a...: "Written by George Detweiler Throw the bums out! The idea is appealing to Americans who see their elected officials becoming less and less in..."
Friday, September 17, 2010
The speech every American high-school principal should give.
The speech every American high-school principal should give.
(If every high-school principal gave this speech at the beginning of the next school year, America would be a better place.)
To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.
I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity - your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race-, and non-American-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values - e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America's values.
That includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial, or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism - an unhealthy preoccupation with the self - while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensible reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete successfully in the American job market. We will learn other languages here - it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English - but if you want classes taught in your native anguage rather than in English, this is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. These people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property - whether in class, in the hallways, or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the F-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the N-word, even when used by one black student to address another, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school self-esteem will be attained in only one way (the way people attained it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation ago) - by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates from this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky - to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.
(If every high-school principal gave this speech at the beginning of the next school year, America would be a better place.)
To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.
I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity - your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race-, and non-American-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values - e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America's values.
That includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial, or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism - an unhealthy preoccupation with the self - while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensible reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete successfully in the American job market. We will learn other languages here - it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English - but if you want classes taught in your native anguage rather than in English, this is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. These people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property - whether in class, in the hallways, or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the F-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the N-word, even when used by one black student to address another, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school self-esteem will be attained in only one way (the way people attained it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation ago) - by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates from this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky - to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Freedom is not your inheritance
"Freedom is a fragile this and is never more than one generation from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again." President Ronald Reagan.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Constitutionality of Health Care Law
This is a must watch by every American. This must be taught in our schools. Only one school is, Nampa Classical Academy but the government is attacking them for defending their Constitutional rights.
Go to this link and watch this 16 minute lesson on Constitutional law.
http://video.foxnews.com/#/v/4131967/constitutionality-of-health-care-law/?playlist_id=86917
Go to this link and watch this 16 minute lesson on Constitutional law.
http://video.foxnews.com/#/v/4131967/constitutionality-of-health-care-law/?playlist_id=86917
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Crisis by Thomas Paine 1776
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
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