Money Drives It All

It has gotten tough to determine what is going on in Washington. The fact that American's no longer have a trusting source for news creates a huge trust issue between government and citizens. The issue is between government officials and citizens and also between citizens and their neighbors. The dissonance created from the media going back and forth with President Trump and his officials have left the rest of treading in the tides of change. Fortunately, I have recently been thrown a life-vest. I am reading a book, not a quick read, but informative. The title of the book is called Dark Money. I don’t know if the author is a republican or a democrat. I don’t want to know. It does not matter. The book talks about the Koch brothers and how they have “used their money” to influence politics. The book makes sense to me, and has opened my eyes to practices that have taken a great deal of patience to reap the benefits. Lets say that the book is accurate, and the Koch brothers have bought America. That would make many of the things we are reading and hearing the media about Trump make sense. It would also make sense of why Trump wants to do away with EPA, the Clean Water Act, Drill in our National Parks, and lessen regulations that allow companies to do what they will with the earth and the people on it. If I was rich, perhaps I would use my money to convince people to do what I say also. Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years worth of data to answer a pretty simple question: Does the government represent the people?Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. In other words, they compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America has essentially no impact at all, . (Usrepresent.us, 2017). Everyone thinks they know that money is important in American politics. But how important? The Supreme Court’s Gilded Age reasoning in McCutcheon v. FEC has inspired a flurry of commentary regarding the potential corrosive influence of campaign contributions; but that commentary largely ignores the broader question of how economic power shapes American politics and policy, (Bartels, 2014). Don forget Illuminati. In subsequent use, "Illuminati" refers to various organisations which claim or are purported to have links to the original Bavarian Illuminati or similar secret societies, though these links are unsubstantiated. They are often alleged to conspire to control world affairs, by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations, in order to gain political power and influence and to establish a New World Order. Central to some of the most widely known and elaborate conspiracy theories, the Illuminati have been depicted as lurking in the shadows and pulling the strings and levers of power in dozens of novels, films, television shows, comics, video games, and music videos, ( Wikipedia, 2017).

When I casted my ballot I was voting for my life and the lives of my family. I voted from my experiences. I don’t think that I have been influenced by a secret society. According to another source who also attended the conference, 300 individuals—worth at least a billion each—were present. This source said that the explicit goal was to raise $500 million to take the Senate in the 2014 midterms and another $500 million “to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president.” (Windsor, 2014). Secret society, or rich people with a voice, the author of the book Dark Money discusses how money influences elections and the ideology of a country.

References
Wikipedia. (2017). Illuminati. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati

Bartels, L. (2014, April 8). Rich people rule! Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/08/rich-people-rule/?utm_term=.e51915a5a5b2

Usrepresent.us. (2017). One graph shows how the rich control American politics. Retrieved from USrepresent.us: https://represent.us/action/theproblem-3/

Windsor, L. (2014, June 17). Exclusive: Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Billionaire Summit. Retrieved from The Nation: Exclusive: Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Billionaire Summit

A Review of Technology in the Classroom

I have used three technologies new to me in my Math 1 class.  The three technologies used were Tweet Deck, Emaze, and Easelly.  I am providing a five-point review of technologies.  The areas that I will discuss are 1) Level of user friendliness 2) Application 3) Student Response 4) Time to finish projects and 5) Benefits.   Each technology will have a paragraph dedicated to reviewing the technology. 

Tweet Deck
Tweet Deck is a useful interface for Twitter.  TweetDeck consists of a series of customisable columns, which can be set up to display the user's Twitter timeline, mentions, direct messages, lists, trends, favorites, search results, hashtags, or all tweets by or to a single user. The client uses Twitter's own automatic and invisible URL shortening whereby a link of any length will only use 23 characters of a Tweet's 140-character limit. All columns can be filtered to include or exclude words or tweets from users. Tweets can be sent immediately or scheduled for later delivery, (Wikipedia, 2017).  TweetDeck was very easy to set up.  Without having previous experience, it took me less than five minutes to set up my columns to receive tweets from my students.   The interface is very easy to use.  So far, I have only used the platform as a means for my students to share the answers to problems that they have worked out in groups or individually.  My students like the opportunity to use their phone.  I like the level of engagement that students exhibit.  Another way I have used TweetDeck is to give students a forum to discuss problems in real-time.  They post findings and ask questions on my TweetDeck.  It is cool to watch the messages pop-up on the screen, probably more so for me than the students.  Students chat all the time.  One issue with TweetDeck is that students, per the students, don’t use Twitter as much as they have in the past.  Twitter’s lack of popularity is a small problem.  Not much time is required to use TweetDeck.  You just sign into the interface and have the kids chat to your handle. 

Emaze
Emaze is similar to PowerPoint and Prezi.  If you visit the Emaze website, the about us sections states, “emaze is the next generation of online content creation technology, enabling beautiful content design within minutes. While initially just presentations, emaze has now expanded its realm to offer a creation tool for beautifully designed social hub websites, blogs, ecards and photo albums in minutes. State of the art HTML5 technology enables the addition of media, gifs & live social feeds. Innovative video, pan and zoom and 3D transitions transform content into journeys through virtual worlds. Easily share content anywhere on the web and then analyze who’s watching with advanced analytics. emaze empowers the everyday creator to be simply amazing.”, (Emaze, 2017).  Emaze is very user-friendly.  The commands are similar to the commands of the majority of the software programs in the world of retail and online applications.  Universal symbols for media, sound, etc., are you used with the appropriate wording associated with the symbol to avoid confusion.  Learning how to use Emaze takes a few minutes of experimenting with commands and functions.  After creating a basic presentation any familiar with word commands will create a conference worthy presentation in no time.  The uses for Emaze are similar to the uses for PowerPoint and other presenting software programs.  One difference between PowerPoint and Emaze is that Emaze is internet based.  There is a free version of Emaze and a professional version.  As one can imagine, the upgraded version allows users to utilize features not accessible to users using the free Emaze version.  My students were not blown away by my use of Emaze.  My students appreciated the organized presentations, but I did not improve the academics of my students using Emaze anymore than if I had used PowerPoint.  For me, completing Emaze projects takes a great deal of time.  Project times for me average one hour or more.  Emaze users have nice pre-constructed templates that they can use to speed up production.  Time needed to complete a project is comparable to using PowerPoint and Prezi.

Easelly
I used Easelly least of all.  I created three pages using Easelly to organize my lesson plans, post videos, and to post supplemental material for students to access the information online.  It is another tool for presenting and organizing information.  Students like organized material.  Easelly helps to organize links, data, lessons, and student resources.  


References
Emaze. (2017). Emaze. Retrieved from Emaze: https://www.emaze.com/

Wikipedia. (2017, January 20). TweetDeck. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TweetDeck

User Name and Passcode Please

The title of this blog is misleading. You would think that this article is about computers, internet security, or how to log into the latest and greatest website. Well, the content of this blog has nothing to do with any of the previously mentioned topics. This blog is about the relationships between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The question that Americans are asking is what is the nature of the relationship between the two leaders. I am usually a calm citizen regarding political matters. I must be honest and say that I am concerned about what I has been communicated by the media to the public regarding the relationships between my President and the leader of Russia. Now, don’t think that I am a post-war American that believes that our country is constantly being infiltrated by spies from Russia. I know that this is the case! But, I don’t think Russia spies on us anymore than we spy on Russia, or Britain, or Germany, or any other country we feel the need to watch. What I am concerned about is that Putin may have his own username and login for America’s political infrastructure. The dominating story in the news is that Trump and Putin have a relationship that from a historically perspective is possibly inappropriate for a United States and Russian president to have. After a campaign that saw Trump repeatedly praise Putin’s leadership and promise to mend relations, the U.S. President-elect would likely need to grant Russia a string of concessions in order to fulfill that promise, (Shuster, 2016). If the rumors that President Trump wishes to mirror Putin’s leadership style are true, then the relationship signals the direction that Donald Trump wishes to take the American political system. There are evidences already. Trump wishes to control what the media reports, similar to how a communist society controls the media. The White House on Friday barred news outlets — including CNN, the New York Times, Politico and the Los Angeles Times — from attending an off-camera press briefing held by spokesman Sean Spicer, igniting another controversy concerning the relationship between the Trump administration and the media, (Borchers, 2017). What the White House was doing was handpicking the outlets they wanted in for this briefing. (Borchers, 2017). There are legal issues with censoring the press. Courts have held that a government press conference is a public forum generally open to the media, and any restrictions must be based on reasons other than content,” First Amendment attorney and LawNewz columnist Susan Seager said, ( (Stockman, 2017). At the time the news organizations were prevented from attending the press conference it was known that the organization had reported unfavorable stories about trump. Trump publicly shared his disdain feelings for CNN, which he called Clinton News Network, and for The New York Times, which he refers to as failing news. President Trump criticized the “failing” New York Times on Thursday for what he called a “big lie,” hours after the New England Patriots called out the news organization for posting a purportedly misleading side-by-side photo comparison of the team’s attendance at Super Bowl ceremonies with Trump in 2017 and former President Obama in 2015, (Barrabi, 2017). Am I being critical. Perhaps! Every president has endured media pressure. Obama certainly had his share of negative press. Which is strange to say, because if you are a consumer of any kind of political news these days, the only impression you get is that the Obama presidency is on the verge of collapse, and that he either doesn't know or doesn't seem to care, (Cherlin, 2014). There is even a funny cartoon where the media has attack so much he is wrapped in bandages. President Trump wishes to increase the ruling power of the upper class. I don’t think any president before President Trump has attacked the media or barred them from a press conference because of good or bad press about the sitting president. Although funny, it isn’t American. Our society has always valued, although the word valued is overrated, the opinions of others. The only place I see this kind of behavior, where the government controls the media and attacks opposition, is in communist societies. It is both known and believed that communist leaders deal with the media and opposition differently than Americans. "If you support stopping Russia's war with Ukraine, if you support stopping Putin's aggression, come to the Spring March in Maryino [a Moscow suburb] on 1 March," Nemtsov wrote in a social media post, published hours before he was shot (in Russian). The direct relatives of the executed uncle of Kim Jong-Un have been put to death upon the orders of the North Korean leader, it has been reported, (Parry, 2014). I read that upper 1% of Russian citizens rule the country. Often, after someone criticized President Trump, he lashed back at them. Thankfully, for the people upset Trump, we live in a democratic society. Like Russia, America’s top one percent make decisions about the country. That was true before Trump and Putin. I looked briefly to find support for this claim, but found nothing worth quoting. An unknown, Alexander Zakharov, stated, “However, all these differences are insignificant compared to the fact that in both countries all the real power is in the hands of the ruling class (that 1 percent), not the common people.” Jackson (2015) stated that “Until now, aside from the upper 1%, the American people have not been reminded that their opinion has done little to influence American’s political agenda.” If b

References

Barrabi, T. (2017, April 20). Trump, Patriots Criticize NY Times Over WH Obama Photo Comparison. Retrieved from Fox News: http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/20/trump-patriots-criticize-ny-times-over-wh-obama-photo-comparison.html

Borchers, C. (2017, February 24). White House blocks CNN, New York Times from press briefing hours after Trump slams media. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/24/white-house-blocks-cnn-new-york-times-from-press-briefing-hours-after-trump-slams-media/?utm_term=.3d77c7c811b3

Cherlin, R. ( 2014, August 4). The Presidency and the Press. Retrieved from Rolling Stone: 2014

Jackson, P. (2015, March 7). Who killed Russia opposition politician Boris Nemtsov? Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31693234

Parry, L. (2014, January 26). Now Kim Jong-Un executes his late uncle's entire family to prevent 'mutiny' - including women, children and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia. Retrieved from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546506/North-Korean-leader-Kim-Jong-Un-executes-family-uncle-Jang-Song-Thaek.html

Shuster, S. (2016, November 9). What Vladimir Putin Is Expecting From Donald Trump. Retrieved from Time: http://time.com/4564254/president-donald-trump-russia-vladimir-putin/

Stockman, R. (2017, February 24). Trump’s Ban of Reporters at Press Briefing Isn’t Just Wrong, It’s Unconstitutional. Retrieved from Law Newz: http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/trumps-ban-of-reporters-at-press-briefing-isnt-just-wrong-its-unconstitutional/

Silver Kills Black

Hollywood has a habit of insulting black people, killing them off, and making them look incredibly stupid on the silver screen. The latest example of this is the 2017 Power Rangers movie. I am not a loyal fan of the Power Rangers franchise and have nothing against the show. I watched Voltron as a child, the original power rangers, and loved the series. However, I was an adult when the Power Rangers came along, so I missed the whole "I am a fan" opportunity. My son loved the Power Rangers as a child, second only to Pokémon. Of the few Power Rangers' shows that I have watched, I don't remember a cowardly ranger, not like the one in the new Power Rangers movie. Not only is the black ranger (the blue power ranger) cowardly, he was weak, simple, and had to be saved several times by his peers. The funny thing is that after all that was done to the ranger to make him the comic relief, the weak and unworthy ranger, he was made to make the mega-droid do a stereotypical ethnic dance at the end of the movie. I am sure the Power Ranger movie will do well since the franchise is popular. However, I am not discussing the Power Ranger movie because of its popularity. It is the featured movie because it killed off the black ranger ( the blue ranger) in the movie. When it happened, I shook my head. My thoughts were that it wasn't even possible for creators of a children’s movie to leave out the need or unwritten law in Hollywood to insult, minimize, or kill the black character(s) in the movie.

Prior to the Power Rangers movie coming out, there have been other movies, many others that have the same theme. Recall Episode VII The Force Awakens. The pre-hype for the movie was that there was going to be a black jedi hero. Yes, Samuel Jackson was a black jedi, but he was not the main character. How laughable was it when the movie opened and the “black jedi knight” was portrayed as feeble, bumbling, cowardly, and accidental as the Blue Ranger (the African American ranger) in the Power Rangers movie. The black actor in The Force Awakens wasn't even a jedi knight. Another known example of how blacks are portrayed on the silver screen is the mortality rate for black actors in horror movies. Out of 50 horror movies, 35 of the movies killed off the black actors. Seventy-percent of horror movies killing off the black actors is more than just a coincidence. Yes, it is better to have black representation than not, even if the actors meet horrible deaths. I do not see anything wrong with the black actors dying. The white, Hispanic, etc. actors die also. It is only a concern when the act of killing or beating the hell out of the black actor is obviously or presumably the target because of his or her ethnicity. The black jedi knight turned out to be a cowardly-turncoat imperial soldier that worked his way up from sanitation worker to soldier. This example has to be the most blatant example of, not racism, but an example of the embedded negative feelings that Hollywood has for the black presence on the silver screen or in general. Sanitation worker, ha-ha, you get the joke right? I will name a few more examples of Hollywoods hiding messages, then I will rest my case.

I have discussed how Hollywood insults, kills, minimizes, and making black people look stupid on the silver screen. They also like to use blacks for examples of violent actions- when someone needs to die, have their ass kicked, or show humility to the main character. Take the two movies Deadpool and Criminal for example. Kevin Costner beats the crap out of two guys by a van, noticeable the only blacks in the movie. The same sort of scene is observed in a Deadpool bar scene. The only black actor in the movie appears just to get knocked out in a bar room fight.

Finally, Hollywood is not replacing black actors. There are a few new black actresses running around Hollywood, but unlike new talent among other ethnicities, there are few black faces popping up on the silver screen. Samual Jackson, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Morgan Freemen, and a few others are the black actors "still" being used in Hollywood. I love and respect these guys but they are going to die at some point, except Morgan Freemen. The black actor's pool is scarce under 45 years of age. Spike Lee discovered most of the old guys and Hollywood just jumped on the train. Will the next Spike Lee please stand up?

References
BARONE, M. (2013, October 31). Fact Check: Do Black Characters Always Die First in Horror Movies? Retrieved from ComPlex: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/black-characters-horror-movies/

Lo, C. (2016, September 8). Is it racist that in most hollywood movies, the asian, black, or hispanic characters die before the white protagonist? Retrieved from Quora.com: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-racist-that-in-most-hollywood-movies-the-asian-black-or-hispanic-characters-die-before-the-white-protagonist

Media and President Trump

I

Student Motivation and Relationships

·       Student achievement is a constant topic of debate in the national spotlight.   Lawmakers, both locally and nationally, set academic standards that students should meet to ensure that America has a high-quality pool of students ready to fill high-tech, twenty-first-century jobs.  The future contributions of current students joining the workforce will potentially move America forward into the next millennium as the leading country regarding economic progress and innovation.   Study after study shows that, although it is known that America needs qualified workers to move the country from an industrial economy to an intellectual economy, the American educational system is not producing sufficient numbers of qualified students to fill the jobs that will be needed to keep The United States of America positioned as the number one superpower in the world.  In 2014, while 80 percent of high school seniors in the United States received a diploma, less than half of all those who graduated were able to read or complete math problems with proficiency, (Martin, 2014).  The graduation rate for students attending American colleges was 60 percent for first-time, full-time students who began seeking a bachelor's degree at a 4-year institution in fall 2008 and finished their degree by 2014.   The lack of student performance within America’s school system ultimately leaves students that fail to perform academically with fewer life-choices once they graduate or drop-out from high school.  Today, it's harder to earn a middle-class wage without a college degree. 

      Currently, the focus for improving America’s school’s is on teachers and leadership at the school level.  Lawmakers can improve America’s educational system by implementing initiatives that focus on building formal partnerships between students, student peers, school personnel, and parents while simultaneously focusing on teaching practices and leadership behaviors that impact student achievement.  Time and time again when I am in the teacher's lounge, the answer for improving student performance is mentioned daily without notice.  On a daily basis, teachers will make comments like Shawn works in your class, but not in mine.  After a few changes, the reason is discovered.  The student likes one teacher and not the other.   I have been told by students directly that students do not work for teachers that they don't like.  The statement is true and not true.  High achieving students will work for their teacher regardless of whether or not they like them.  However, I am not talking about high-achievers.  High-achievers are probably not accounted for in the troubling statistics mentioned earlier on this blog.  Students that fail to achieve academically fail for a reason.   The reasons vary, but it is certain that relationships can help all students achieve.  It is even possible and probable that high achievers achieve because of relationships that they have formed with family, friends, and professional in education.   
 An indicator for student achievement is the teacher assigned to the student being observed.   Teachers can have negative and positive effects on student achievement.  Ross (1994) contends that having effective teachers serves a significant factor for influencing outcomes such as student achievement. Similarly, Gordon (2001) investigates how a group of individual teachers with high belief in affecting student achievement can actually yield desired high student achievement levels in a school.  Regarding teacher attitudes and characteristics, teachers in effective schools have high expectations for students and have a dual personality which consists of being friendly and firm.  One week prior to writing this blog as a student in my class became angry with me.  The student refused to do any work at all and eventually put her head down.  Normally, the student is a motivated student and wants to do well in class.  On this particular day, she shut down because she was not given a piece of candy.  The reason behind not given her a piece of candy that she won in a drawing are unimportant, but for 45 minutes the student did not participate in class.  She was mad.  It was not until she calmed down that she began to participate again.  Can you imagine how the same student would perform in my class if she did not like me as a teacher?  She would bring in the emotional barrier with her each day.  Her grade would be impacted.  Imagine if I have twenty-five children with the same emotional barrier, focused daily on hating the teacher, rather than on the lesson.  A caveat is that if a child is angry, the brain is not focused on the lesson because it is too busy pumping adrenaline, breathing hard, circulating blood faster, and thinking about knocking the teacher's block off.  To avoid such moments, I make a concertize effort to make my classroom and welcoming, relaxed environment for students to learn.  Is it always calm-did I mention I teach high school students-no!  However, I don't as many behavior problems as other teachers.  

     
It is clear that aside from focusing on teaching, there are variables that can improve educational programs across America.  One such variable is teaching teachers how to build professional, meaningful relationships with their students.  Teachers can improve academic achievement with the understanding that their teaching is filtered through their relationships with their students, and their relationships with students help to determine what academic achievement, positive or negative, will result from their teaching.    There are very few, if any, professional development opportunities that address how school personnel should build relationships with students to maximize student achievement in the district I work.  However, there are a wealth of professional development opportunities that addresses how teachers should teach, manage classrooms, plan lessons, and increase content knowledge.  If you want to improve student achievement in the classroom, focus on building relationships with your students. 

References
Martin, D. (2014, May 14). Education Crisis Sweeping the United States. Retrieved from Liberty Voice: http://guardianlv.com/2014/05/education-crisis-sweeping-the-united-states/

  

Similar Sites

---

Stedman Graham

Dr. Graham was born in 1951, in the Whitesboro section of Middle Township, New Jersey. He is a businessman, public speaker, writer, and educator. Currently, he has an office in Chicago, Illinois. Stedman Graham has taught Identity Development around the world and has coached everyone from world leaders to small business owners to a better understanding of who they are, to build a well-developed personal identity and to become more focused as they work toward their goals (Wikipedia Graham, 2017). He is the lifetime partner of Oprah Winfrey.

On Friday, March 4th, Dr. Graham skyped with my Math 1 class to discuss with my students how to
establish goals during their teenage years. His message was for them to love themselves, focus on their uniqueness, and to learn as many positive things as possible. His message was very positive and impactful. One of my students cried when she reflected on her life as she listened to Dr. Graham’s inspiring message. Dr. Graham helped my students look into themselves and see what was there within waiting to be discovered. It was an incredible experience for both me and my students.

Dr. Graham changed at least three lives on March 4th in my class. I know this because the students shared their experiences with me. I am grateful that Dr. Graham accepted my invitation to address my class. He is a busy man, but he took the time to give back to 32 children that might not otherwise have met someone of his status, importance, and professionalism, to see what future possibilities await them. There weren’t any cameras around or reporters. Dr. Graham talked to my class because he values my students. He is a man of his of his word. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Graham at High Point University dinner. I sat beside him at the lunch table. He addressed the crowd attending the luncheon. After his message, I asked Dr. Graham if he would consider talking with my students. He said that he would, and he did. After less than thirty minutes talking with my students, Dr. Graham changed lives that needed and were ready to receive his message. This transformation in my students occurred after one moment of contact. I can only imagine how many lives Dr. Graham has touched during his career.

References:
Stedman Graham. (2017, March 2). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stedman_Graham

Four Technologies for the Classroom

In 2017, teachers, pending where they are teaching, face the challenge of educating students that spend a high number of hours each day engaged by media. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation study, which followed 2,000 young people between ages 8 to 18, kids spend almost as much time on a computer, watching television, using their cell phones, playing video games or listening to music as an adult spends during a full day at work (CBS News, 2010). The time that students spend using the computers poses a problem for teachers because teachers either have to meet the students that they are teaching where they are and use technology when teaching, or they must try to teach their students to engage in learning using methods that do not interest students. If teachers are not able to incorporate technology into their lessons, it is possible that the trend of students spending hours in front of a television, on their phones, or surfing the web using their computers will conflict with study time and eventually impact student learning.  Nearly half (47 percent) of the young people who were classified as heavy users in a Kaiser study - meaning they consume more than 16 hours of media in a typical day - say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly C grades or lower), compared to 23 percent of moderate users, who consume anywhere from three to 16 hours of content. Heavy users are also more likely to get into trouble, and are often sad, unhappy, or bored, according to the study (CBS News, 2010). Teachers need more training to teach students using media.  However, it is even questioned whether or not teachers should be trained to teach their students using a media format. The question of whether or not teachers should use technology can be answered by looking at the performance of the students in an individual assigned to a given teacher. If the students are doing well, then there is not a need to look at other methods of instruction.  However, if the academic performance of students assigned to a particular teacher is low, then incorporating technology into the classroom should be considered to meet the needs of today's learners.

Teachers interested in learning what technology is available to help engage students in their daily lessons should find a blog, or Twitter account to 'follow', or sign up for membership for a newsletter that features the types of technologies used in classrooms.   Word of mouth is a good source to find good technology sources.  Google searches are also beneficial.   Below are a few technology tools that can help teachers start incorporating technology into their lessons.   It is recommended that teachers always ask the questions 1) What do I need for the technology to do? 2) How will I know if the technology is doing what I need for it to do? and 3) If the technology is not helping my students why am I using it?     

Blendspace 

Blendspace is a tool that provides many possibilities such as curating resources and flipping classrooms. The program can be used to 1) flip your classroom 2) present student work and 3) teach a lesson.

Animoto
Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows. Animoto can be used in education for countless projects and presentations. Students can use the tool to present a concept. A teacher could use the video as an introduction to a lesson. A teacher could also use the tool to teach a concept or the tool itself to other educators, (Wikipedia, 2017)

Symbaloo
Access your bookmarks and online favorites with Symbaloo. Symbaloo can be used in the classroom to help teachers organize digital content for easier access. Sybaloo can also be used in other creative ways in education.

Realtimeboard
Realtimeboard is an online whiteboard. Realtimeboard allows for collaborative activities. Multiple users can write on the whiteboard simultaneously.

References
CBS News. (2010, January 20). Youths Spend 7+ Hours/Day Consuming Media. Retrieved from CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/youths-spend-7-plus-hours-day-consuming-media/
Wikipedia. (2017). Animoto. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animoto

The future of Education in Durham: Charter Schools, Traditional, or Virtual Schools?

Durham Public Schools (DPS) faces a problem of white flight - the phenomenon of upper and middle class whites moving out of cities and into suburbs. In 2015, only 18 percent of Durham Public School students were White. In 2010, 20 percent of DPS’ students were white. According to the 2015 US Community Census, Durham[CC1] is 52 percent white, up from 40 percent in 2010 (Quick Census, 2015). At this time of decrease in White students enrolled in Durham Public Schools, there was an increase in enrollment in charter schools, with White students being the majority race. In 2015, there were 14 charter schools in Durham, NC. During this same period in 2015, white students made up 54 - 67 percent of the student population in four Durham charter schools. This competition of school choice is leading to school segregation. Segregation is divisive in social context. This is pointed out when Billings, Deming, and Rockff (2016), stated that explicit efforts may be necessary if policymakers wish to prevent a widening of racial and economic inequality in the wake of increases in school segregation. Out of 156,149 households in Durham, only 49,303 households have children (Home, 2010).

Why is White flight a problem for Durham Public Schools? The obvious symptom is that the school district is less diverse. A lesser symptom is the harm inflicted by school segregation. Durham’s mission is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential .... Racially and socioeconomically isolated schools are strongly related to an array of factors that limit educational opportunities and outcomes. These include less experienced and less qualified teachers, high levels of teacher turnover, less successful peer groups, and inadequate facilities and learning materials (Flaxman, 2013). As white and middleclass flight occurs what is being left behind in some DPS schools are students that are academically, socially, and economically challenged. Behavior research shows that children from impoverished homes develop psychiatric disturbances and maladaptive social functioning at a greater rate than their affluent counterparts do (McCoy, Firck, Loney, & Ellis, 1999). The proportion of DPS students that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch increased about 4 percentage points in 2015, to 68 percent which equates to 22,780 students (DPS, 2015). A weak performing school system loses its ability to be marketable in a global economic community. Strong school systems attract business that bring jobs and new residents to work in jobs created by new companies and a thriving economic community that can strengthen a school system ( Berger & Fisher, 2013). Segregated schools also bring social and civil unrest. The Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society, filed a complaint, citing data showing charter schools are almost entirely racially identifiable by school performance (Sirota, 2014).

To address resegregation of schools DPS is working to improve its brand in the academic community. It spends more local money per pupil, $4700, compared to Wake County’s $2400 and Mecklenburg County’s $2400 (N&O, 2015). An interview with Administrator One, an assistant principal for DPS, revealed that DPS has an aggressive mentoring program for new teachers. Durham has an aggressive recruiting program to identify, attract, and hire quality teachers. But to best explain DPS’ efforts to improve the Durham Public School system, Dr. L’Homme, Superintendent of DPS said in August of 2016, “This year, a leaner central office is reorganizing itself to prioritize spending on the classroom. We are training our schools to provide a more orderly and equitable school environment where every student will feel welcomed and respected, and where academic excellence will be an expectation for each child. We are providing enhanced literacy support to high-needs schools, and we are reevaluating our use of classroom assessments to ensure that they provide useful data to our teachers without detracting from classroom instruction.” Hopefully, DPS will be able to better compete with other learning models in the future.

References
Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Cambridge, MA: Third Printing.
UCPS (2014-2017). Union County Public Schools: Strategic Plan. Retrieved from https://webcp.ucps.k12.nc.us/forms_manager/documents/99/ucps_strategic_plan.pdf
http://www.dpsnc.net/cms/lib011/NC01911152/Centricity/Domain/77/Magnet%20Schools%20Review%204.20.16.pdf
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-segregation-race-americas-demographic-future-update-recent-research
http://www.bullcityrising.com/2016/01/scrutinizing-our-schools-how-does-durhams-school-spending-compare-to-other-districts.html
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/resources/data/
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-opinion/article95973132.html#storylink=cpy

Durham Public Schools adopts Educator's Handbook

     

 Educatorshandbook.com   |  Educator's Handbook Infographic

Durham Public School (DPS) system is listed among the top ten largest school systems in the state of North Carolina. Durham County Schools currently has more than 32,000 students enrolled in the system, with more than 2200 teachers employed by the district to teach full-time. The school system’s mission is “In collaboration with our community and parents, the mission of Durham Public Schools is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential and enables them to discover their interests and talents, pursue their goals and dreams, and succeed in college, in the workforce, and as engaged citizens.” The district offers traditional schools,

 magnet programs, year-round calendar schools and small specialty high schools. Durham Public Schools is also one of the top 30 districts in the nation for employing National Board Certified Teachers, and two of district’s high schools were listed in the US News & World Report's Best High Schools list for 2015 (DPS, n.d.). To uphold its mission Durham has implemented a new discipline program to better manage discipline and discipline related data. The name of the new technology is Educator’s Handbook.

Brief History of Discipline in DPS
In 2016, after analyzing racial disparities in suspension rates — and the poorer educational outcomes for suspended students, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education overhauled the student code of conduct for the first time in 10 years, (SORG, 2016). The mission was to decrease districtwide suspensions. Children and teens who are repeatedly suspended from school are less likely to graduate. And dropouts are eight times more likely to go to jail than their peers who complete school, according to criminal justice statistics. The issue of suspensions dramatically affected DPS African-American students, who were 3.5 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers in 2016. Even though then, about half of DPS 33,600 students were black, African Americans made up more than three-quarters of short-term suspensions. In contrast, 19 percent of DPS students in 2016 were white but they comprise only 4 percent of that type of suspension, (SORG, 2016). Durham Public School’s efforts to reduce suspensions overall and to bring the rate of suspensions of minority children closer to the rate of suspensions of white children became a districtwide initiative led by Durham Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Bert L’Homme. Although Educator's Handbook is a platform operated and managed by the State of North Carolina, DPS can use the program to track suspensions and monitor districtwide progress made towards lowering nonessential suspensions.

Educator's Handbook Summary
Educator's Handbook is the latest discipline program that Durham County Schools has selected to use to track discipline referrals districtwide. The program is a paperless method of tracking the number of discipline referrals written annual, and for what reasons they were written. The program tracks entry by teacher, administrator, and school. The level of the infractions; if it was a serious infraction or just a minor one, is distinguishable and the program provides detailed reports of what discipline measures were taking by teachers and administrators. Educator's handbook allows senior administrators to require designated actions before writing a specific referral, for example, a teacher may be required to make a parent contact before sending an office referral to administrators. Teaches that classify a referral as minor are opting to address discipline issue themselves, but log their actions to document the infraction. Teachers that designate a referral as an officer referral are requesting that an administrator addresses the infraction. As stated previously, Educator's Handbook offers reports that give administrators at all levels with access to Educator's Handbook data about what is happening within a school. Educator's Handbooks data can be uploaded to PowerSchools. In addition to the reports feature, Educator's Handbook also has an email component that allows teachers and administrators to email parents about school infractions that involve their children. The email feature also serves as the liaison between teacher and administrator, providing updates to teachers about administrator decisions regarding infractions. Formal letters can be printed from the program to mail to parents, to be used for formal notices, and to be used during formal reviews of a child’s discipline record.

Helpful Links for Educators Handbook

How To... Brief demonstration videos Access Your Account (1:30)    Compose an Incident (1:34) Assign a Consequence (1:55) Create and Use Rosters (1:22) Approve Roster Access (1:00)

Documentation Detailed user guide         Account Access          Account Setup        Incident Workflow        Calendar         Rosters        Reports        Students               Employees        Settings        Document Template Codes        System Requirements

Downloads Handouts and slide decks         Teacher Handouts         Teacher Training Presentation

If you like the infographic, you can learn more at ....Click Here.

References:

DPS. (n.d.). About Durham Public School: Minds on. Retrieved from Durham Public School System: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

Educators Handbook. (2016). Educatorshandbook.com. Retrieved from Educatorshandbook.com: http://educatorshandbook.com

School Match. (2017). Durham Public Schools. Retrieved from School Match: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

SORG, L. (2016, February 19). Durham revamps school discipline code. Retrieved from The News and Observer: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/article60844267.html

Education Secretary

Betsy DeVos's nomination for Education Secretary is another example of how President Trump's presidency so far has been anything but a democratic process. Facing criticism from my peers, I asked my friends to give President Trump a chance to lead our country. My public support for Trump was probably the remnants of a time when I wanted Trump to run for President. I held on to stubborn feelings when I thought Trump would be a great President as I solicited support for him. My friends laughed at my patriotism to believe in Trump because he was President. They reminded me of all the leaders before Trump that supported laws that were unjust and morally decayed. Fortunately, insightful leaders came behind the leaders of tyranny to govern our great country with U.S. citizens in mind and rejected unjust laws and made changes that moved America forward to become a country of civic living. I said, "Give Trump a chance."

Betsy DeVos' vision for public education is to create a separate but equal school system. She supports charter schools over traditional public schools systems. DeVos is a member of the Republican Party known for her advocacy of school choice, voucher programs, and ties to the Reformed Christian community.[1][4][5] She was Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, with reelection to the post in 2003. DeVos has been a defender of the Detroit charter school system[6][7] and she is a member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She has served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice and heads the All Children Matter PAC (Wikipeida, ). President Trump nominated her to govern over the country's educational system. Why was she chosen? If DeVos was nominated because of her beliefs and related background experience, the selection would not be a point of contention. Any qualified person should be considered for the position. The issue is that DeVos is one more nominee, one of the several previous nominees, that seems to be getting nominated because of their billionaire or millionaire CV and their personal vendetta to push a personal goal into law through their relationship with Trump. Devos stated, "My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party … I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence," the piece reads. "Now, I simply concede the point. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections." The practice of passing laws though a politician that you have financially backed has now become obsolete. The new practice is to "donate enough money to my presidential campaign and I will hire you so that you can change the laws your damn self". The pattern is obvious. Scott Pruitt is an adversary of EPA. Rex Tillerson has a conflict of interest with Putin. Betsy DeVos is an advocate for charter schools. Ben Carson is Housing Secretary? The practice of appointing people based on campaign contribution can put our great country at risk. >>>>>>

I support protecting our country from attack. I support making decisions that are in the best interest of the people of this great country. What I don't agree with, and what Trump's actions remind me of, is that of a country with a King, a communist structure, or governing structure based on a tranny. He fires or goes after people that offer a contrary position to his own. Presently, our country is a country that allows open discussion, a difference of opinion, and room for consensus. Each day I watch the democratic fabric of our nation being pulled into dislodged strands of string. Education is not excluded from the political carnage left by changing presidential-executive orders. I am still hopeful that these appointments will improve our great country. Only time will tell.

Technology or Paper

There seems to be the ago old argument of what practices are best for educating children. The flip-flop argument is that you don’t need technology, that a talented teacher in the classroom is all that it takes for students to advance, vs technology is necessary for tomorrow’s students to compete in a world not yet known to us. Lets take the side of this argument that technology is not needed. In fall 2016, about 50.4 million students attended the public elementary and secondary schools. Of these, 35.4 million were in prekindergarten through grade 8 and 15.0 million were in grades 9 through 12. An additional 5.2 million students attended private elementary and secondary schools (source) (NCES, 2016). Where are the talented teachers with the natural gift to teach all types of students going to come from to teach 50 million students? Since America is not at the forefront of the global race to be first in the field of education, I think that it will be safe to say that there are not enough of these high caliber teachers in the US, or least they are not working in the field of education. This fact helps the alternative argument, that computers are needed.  Its clear, that technology is needed to make up for the shortfall of exceptional teachers. But the lack of exceptional teachers is not the biggest argument for technology. The most significant argument is that technology is needed in the classroom is that our tomorrow will be a world of technology and people need to know how to use technology. Tabling the argument that technology is needed, lets hop back over the fence to the side that technology isn’t a factor in learning. If this is true, we have surely wasted the last 50 years or more with the going to the moon and personal computer gibberish. Corporations have made a mint, well billions in Bill Gates case, only to establish a poor class, a meager middle class, and a rich as hell upper class. Half the world’s wealth is held by eight people, (Reuters, 2017). Could it be that all this technology is a way to make money, just business?   People still die; get sick; come out of school with a degree, but not much more than that until they are hired; and we still require the same basic needs for survival; substance and water, even with all the advancements fostered by advanced technology. If we look at the situation in terms of advancement, of course technology is important. It is fun to play with and create, and it keeps us busy.  People are curious and we get bored easily.  We need something to do.

The truth, in my opinion, is that neither argument is accurate, because neither side argues the only important perspective which is that man has done nothing, or created anything, that matters, with the exception of the possibility to expand our inhabitants among the stars.  So it doesn't mater which side of the argument you take because we are just having fun doing stuff, advanced or trivial.

This blog pokes fun of our indecisiveness regarding the best approach we should use to educate students. We change frequently, looking for the silver bullet that will solve our educational problems. One almost wonders if there is a best practice with just 33% of all students graduating from college. All the professionals give their advice, but the truth is that by design education and opportunity is dangled in front of many students as an untouchable fruit. I hope there is a best practice. I hope we discover it.  We have to, because I am looking forward to the next already created invention.

Technology in Educational Leadership

Administrators working in low-performing schools face the daily challenge of coming up with ways to support students academically and to raise test scores. Technology has been an area that educators have turned to for answers when asking how to better support students. Programs like Study Island, IXL, Campus, North Carolina Virtual Schools, and Accelerated Math have been utilized to improve student learning. To further extend the integration of technology into the classroom, software programmers have created ways to use cell phones, IPads, computers, and other hand held devices as an instructional tool. The US Department of Education states that technology is used to support both teaching and learning, technology infuses classrooms with digital learning tools, such as computers and handheld devices; expands course offerings, experiences, and learning materials; supports learning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; builds 21stcentury skills; increases student engagement and motivation; and accelerates learning (United States Department of Education, n.d.). To observe the benefit of the use of technology in the classroom, one need only look in the nearest classroom of a progressive teacher.

Educators have become so reliant on technology to support students that some school systems have allowed students to bring their own technological devices to school to enhance instruction. Wake County is one such school system. “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a growing national trend and it has come to Wake. Just like it sounds, students can bring their own laptops, tablets or even smartphones to school to support their learning”, (Yarbrough, n.d.). In addition to allowing students to bring their own devices to school, many systems have used funding to provide class sets of computers or to make their school a one-to-one, student-computer school system. Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil, (Herold, 2016).

Not everyone is convinced that the use of technology in the classroom is moving in the right direction. The basis for this opinion seems not to be the use of technology, but the way the technology is used to support teaching and learning. “In every case of failure I have observed, the one-to-one computing plan puts enormous focus on the device itself, the enhancement of the network, and training teachers to use the technology. Then, teachers are instructed to go! But go where? That’s the critical question that must be addressed first”, (Ziegenfuss, 2013). The problem of establishing a vision, and leading the use of technology is one that many educational organizations face. To help administrators with integrating technology and establishing a vision for its use to support teaching and learning in the classroom the ISTE Standards were created.

The standards are clear and specific ( Read More About the ISTE Standards)

Visionary Leadership
Educational Administrators inspire and lead development and implementation of a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation throughout the organization.

Digital Age Learning Culture
Educational Administrators create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.

Excellence in Professional Practice
Educational Administrators promote an environment of professional learning and innovation that empowers educators to enhance student learning through the infusion of contemporary technologies and digital resources.

Systemic Improvement
Educational Administrators provide digital age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through the effective use of information and technology resources.

Digital Citizenship
Educational Administrators model and facilitate understanding of social, ethical and legal issues and responsibilities related to an evolving digital culture.

Technology is an important resource to combat illiteracy, weak computation skills, and low academic performance in general. The ISTE Standards help to direct its use, to be sure that technology is not integrated just for the sake of being used. The right technologies must be used for the right situations if students are to benefit from its use.

See what President Obama said about technology in the classroom in 2013.

References
Herold, B. (2016, February 5). Technology in Education: An Overview. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/

International Society for Technology in Education. (2009). ISTE Standards Administrators. Retrieved from ISTE.org: https://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-A_PDF.pdf

The United States Department of Education. (n.d.). Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education: https://www.ed.gov/oii-news/use-technology-teaching-and-learning

Yarbrough, M. (n.d.). BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE COMES TO WAKE. Retrieved from Wake County Public Schools: http://www.wcpss.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=16&ModuleInstanceID=7209&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=3462&PageID=24

Ziegenfuss, R. (2013, February 10). Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-to-One Computing. Retrieved from November Learning: http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/why-schools-must-move-beyond-one-to-one-computing/