I am willing to bet - and I might lose- that I am the only member of this class who is also a member of AARP. You might think free coffee at McDonalds. Or wonder why Jamie Lee Curtis is posing topless on the front cover of the April edition of AARP magazine. You may be breathing a sigh of relief that "Thank God, I'm not as old as HER".
Old age is an adventure of its own with many perils along the way. I have to admit my biggest fear is not cancer, heart disease, or death itself. It is Alzheimers. Scientists predict that 1 in 8 baby boomers will have it. We have been given the same advice that I give my own students. Learn something everyday. Learning keeps the brain alive. That is homework I am willing to do.
I have to admit that my own attitudes toward virtual schooling were very uninformed. It seemed to be a perfect way to cheat (my mom could do my homework). Who would know? I smugly assumed that online classes were easy. Brick and mortar classes were hard. I figured lazy people would take online classes. It takes toughness to tackle I-94 in a snowstorm heading down to Wayne State. Besides who would I talk to? Myself?
But after last weeks class, after those films and readings, I had what Oprah likes to call her "ah, ha" moment. I finally got it.
I thought about David, a young man I know who recently graduated from Osborn High School, who had complained to me about how few AP classes were available for him.
I thought about Mackinac Island School, 100 students in grades k-12, on a tiny island that is frozen in for four months a year. The kids walk, ride bikes, ride horseback, or snowmobile to school.
Then there is my sister Nancy who has MS and is imprisoned in her wheelchair. Her mind is still free.
Talk about prisoners - educated they are less likely to return to prison.
I looked up the word "ghetto" in the dictionary. It says "quarter of a city where a minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure."
Wouldn't a virtual school represent freedom? It wouldn't matter if our own personal ghetto trapped us by bars on a window, ice barriers, disease, old age, poor schools, or isolation. A virtual school would set us free.
I learned a lot this week. That's a good thing.
I also put my cell phone in the refrigerator. That is NOT a good thing.

No Child left Inside

On November 22, 1963 a lone photographer recorded history on an 8 mm camera. Actually I read that 32 people filmed the assasination of President Kennedy but none with the detail of Zapruder. What would have been different today? EVERYONE in the crowd would have filmed.
I loved the section on Grassroots Video in the Horizon Report . Film is an incredible expression of creativity. And everyone can paricipate. It's cheap. It's easy. It's fun.
Websites like You Tube make it easy to share. Although You Tube doesn't come thru the computers at my school. The censors stop it. I hope that changes soon.
With students being able to produce video from simple devices such as phones and cameras it becomes an easy tool to use in research and interviews.
This morning I read something interesting in the Detroit Free Press. An article said that participation in outdoor activities has declined nearly 25%. It blamed "videophilia" - doing stuff indoors in front of a screen, watching television, sitting at computers, playing videos. Then on the radio on the way to church I heard that 30% of our children are overweight.
I don't live in the past. I do like to visit there sometimes. It is a warm and fuzzy place filled with long gone people. We hear that life was simpler than. I don't believe that. I wouldn't like to give up my safe car, good medical science, or the computer.
But I sort of agree with this article. I have mentored a 13 year old girl for several years. I took her to a beach on Lake Huron. She had never made a sand castle, walked along a lake, climbed a lighthouse, or had a bonfire. She lives at 7 Mile and Gratiot and had never been to Belle Isle or downtown Detroit. But she is very good at finding her way around the internet.
I think that life is about balance. We need to encourage our children to go outside and discover nature. Plant a garden, watch the birds, learn about bugs. They need to know that Mother Nature is important and enjoyable. Taking a long hike in the woods is calming.
We can't always just watch the film.

This is a website that I will definitely reccomend to the other teachers at my school. Especially those that teach history. I sat here watching an incredible video of the historian David McCullough, author of 1776, talking about George Washington. History is so often poorly presented to students but McCullough made the times that Washington lived in come alive.
Then I watched a special about Pearl Harbor. Using maps, photos, and narrative the "Day that would live in Infamy" were real.
Maybe I am uninformed but this is the first educational website that I went on that was in both English and Spanish. A quick click at the top of the page was all it took.
Tech support was clearly indicated.
I found the site to be easy to navigate and each site or page that I went on was available.
This site seemed to be directed more for parents and educators. I don't think students - at least young ones - would access information easily without guidance. I liked that lessons were offered to parents to use over summer vacation. Lessons using the local library were very good.
The site is easy to read and visually appealing. It was current and up to date.
There was an excellent section on Black History month. I liked the fact that the science section had information on minority scientists which my students are always searching for. Usually with difficulty.
It is probably not a site that I would put my middle school students on but their teachers and parents - yes. My students love sites like mathplayground or funbrain. Those are more interactive and "fun". But I would suggest this to teachers and parents.