Siemans, Discovery Network and Educators believe they can.  How about you?

"A new environmental science competition for middle schoolers asks teams of 2-3 students, led by a teacher or mentor, to create sustainable, reproducible environmental improvements in their local communities.

Participants in the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge are encouraged to start right away.

Among the prizes for winning teams are $5,000 savings bonds, a "once-in-a-lifetime Discovery Adventure Trip" with a television personality, and an appearance on Discovery's Planet Green network.

Designed with low entry barriers, the Challenge provides the opportunity for students of all backgrounds and experiences to participate. Contest organizers recommend doing the projects over a 9-to-13-week period. Only 16 weeks, including the holiday season, remain before the March 15 deadline, so interested teams should start soon.

Competing teams will use a six-step scientific methodology: identification of issues, researching them, planning a solution, acting together to implement the plan, analyzing what was found, and sharing ways to replicate or expand the effort around the country.

The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is sponsored by The Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education, and the National Science Teachers Association."

Who will take the challenge?

Ronett Jacobs, 4^th Grade Teacher from Ben Franklin School was presented a plaque by Franklin Alderman Tim Solomon, as Mayor Tom Taylor looked on during the Common Council meeting Tuesday night.  The plaque honors Ms. Jacobs for receiving the Sam’s Club Teacher of the Year Award.

School Board Member David Works was also on hand for the recognition. Mr. Works alerted Mayor Taylor of Ms. Jacobs' accomplishment and invited him to Ben Franklin to celebrate with students.


Congratulations, Ronett!

To hear the audio presentation of the award, click on the “Attachment” Teacher Of The Year Award.mp3 below the “Education tag” at the bottom of this page .

Boston already has the hippest school of music.  It’s the Boston Berklee College of Music. 

That's the in place to be.  But if you have a child who may be interested in a career in music arts...or you yourself are planning for a future in music, you've got to check out the future home of Berklee's ARTeria Valencia.

It's a state-of-the-art, 25-story building in Valencia Spain.  And if you want to study music abroad, this is where you will want to be.


 

"Valencia, Spain will soon be home to a $145 million school of rock (and pop and jazz) from the Boston-based Berklee College of Music, which hopes to extend its successful contemporary music training program to European shores.

"ARTeria Valencia" will be a state-of-the-art, 25-story building (see artist's renderings) featuring faculty and student housing, a high-speed data network, a 1,000-seat outdoor amphitheater and several smaller performance spaces. Construction will be largely bankrolled by the SGAE Spanish performing rights organization, which is apparently eager to bring Berklee's approach to contemporary music education to Valencia -- already a popular "semester abroad" destination.

You might think the music industry's heavily-publicized woes would scare kids into more financially stable lines of work -- say, brokering stocks or managing hedge funds. Those aren't the greatest examples these days, but still, given shrinking labels and dwindling sales, the music industry seems like a hard place to get a foothold.

Nonetheless, budding musicians continue to be drawn like moths to the flame of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where applications for Fall '09 matriculation are up 40 percent according, to Larry Monroe, the school's vice president of international programs, and popular subjects include music theory, composition, performance, music management, music education and even music therapy.  The Boston location turns out 800 graduates each year, while the Valencia location will produce smaller classes of 250."

Read the complete article HERE

 Berklee Valencia

Me?  I want a teacher to be just that.  A teacher.  Not a peer.  Not on a first name basis with a student.

Whether it be in middle school, high school, or college.

There are too many children who may be vulnerable to the teacher coming down to the student’s level.  It’s not necessary, it’s dangerous, and we’ve  seen enough in the news in the past decade of what can happen when a teacher who has befriended a student crosses the line.

A school publication, eSchool News came out with an article regarding the issue that schools are “grappling” with on the use of Facebook with students.  Facebook is what it is…a social networking site. 

 

"Proponents of using online social networks to reach students say it makes sense to go where students are already spending much of their time online. But others fear that educators' use of these sites encroaches on students' online "turf" and could cross the boundary of acceptable social behavior between teachers and their students."

Monroe High School in Monroe, Ohio, the traditional cheerleader
uniforms with short skirts don’t meet the school dress code
NBC photo

I’m sure we’ve all seen situations regarding school rules where we’ve said that the rule didn’t seem quite right.  Schools say rules are rules.  Well, when these rules are made, to cover year after year of changing students and trends, there’s no way they can cover every situation effectively.  They just need to be reexamined periodically.    One of these situations is dress codes.

Extremes.  Who is right?  Who is wrong?  You have the School Board, the School Administrators, The Students and the Parents.  Then, you now have to throw the courts into the picture.

Some issues are innocent...the cheerleading uniforms pictured above.  Tradition in most schools that on game day you wear your uniform to school.  But now, the skirts are too short.  But, they're the uniforms?  What's the difference?  Well, if the cheerleaders get to wear those uniforms to school, your going to let my daughter wear her skirt that short on the same day, too!

One of the biggest worries for school districts is gang related clothing.  Following that would be provocative clothing.  And you would think it would be easy to enforce these two clothing rules at school, but no, you end up having parents siding with the children on this issue.

"It took only an hour for parents in Omaha, Neb., to get in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union. Their children — 23 of them — had been suspended from school for wearing the wrong clothes.

The teenagers, all students at Millard South High School, were ordered to stay home from one to three days in late August for wearing T-shirts that memorialized Julius Robinson, 18, a Millard South football player who was shot to death in June. The shirts were being sold to help raise money so Robinson’s family could buy a headstone for his grave.

Robinson was “just a really good guy,” said Dan Kuhr, a friend who designed the shirts. “He didn’t cause a lot of trouble.”

But to officials of the Millard Public Schools, the words “Julius RIP” on the shirts were disruptive. After consulting with Omaha police, they also said the shirts could be considered gang-related. "

Well, a friend of mine says, "In light of the country’s financial situation, a little education goes a long way." 

And I agree!

Hopefully, you’ll find something of interest or usefulness on this site. 

"Money Smart Week Wisconsin^SM is a public awareness initiative made for you.  It began in 2006.  It aims to build your financial knowledge so you can deal with your own money more quickly, confidently and shrewdly.   Use this site to find classes and events near you.  Most activities are free.  They offer unbiased financial education. "




Click old Ben Franklin for a visit...

and discussion.


You can listen to the podcast on Righty Blog HERE

Safety in our schools should be of great importance.

There are many aspects of safety that need to be considered…Students, teachers, the school environment, procedures.

Since Columbine and 9-11, we have domestic and world terrorism to plan and think about.

We have the House of Correction on our doorstep.

Every School District has a Safety Committee.

Every School District has a plan.

On our District's website they have an “About Our District” page.

On that page is a link to the Safety Committee.

Also, there is a “New Addition to the Website” that has just been announced.

It is a “Business Services Portion.”

“Thanks to this addition, you will be able to find information about Finance, Transportation, Building and Grounds and Technology Support Services.”

I have been looking over the site since school began this year.  With the Board Goals we should expect some changes.

Last night I found this regarding the Safety Committee:



                  Click to Enlarge



I don’t know about you, but I have some questions.

Who is on the Safety Advisory Committee?

Who is on the School Crisis Teams?

Who is on the Student /Employee Health Committees and what are their functions?

How often do these Committees meet?

What are the Crisis Response Guidelines?

This chart was designed to “keep the community informed?”

Just how is this chart doing that?

The only thing we ever hear about our Safety Team doing, as far as I am aware, is having, in conjunction with the city, mock accident/disaster preparedness, as the city did at Forest Park Middle School this summer.  And we hear about that after the fact.  Now of course, that's a good thing; but we need to hear more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

09/18/08

Dear Parents and Franklin Community Members:

Throughout the day today, all Junior and Senior students will be participating in a "Mock Crash" activity in coordination with the City of Franklin Police and Fire Departments, as well as emergency services personnel from Froedtert Hospital, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center Flight For Life.  This activity includes a dramatization of a serious car accident that includes serious injuries and a fatality.  Our goal is to make a strong impression on our students relative to the dangers of driving and the importance of being attentive and safe whenever they are behind the wheel.  This includes the importance of always wearing a seat belt, the necessity that they never travel in a vehicle with a driver who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the dangers of inattentive behaviors like cell phone use while driving.  This activity was not disclosed in advance because we believe, and the professionals who have done this before have experienced, that the impact of this event is much greater if students did not have advance notice. 

I want to thank the members of the high school staff and the professionals associated with the organizations involved today for their wonderful work putting this event together for the benefit of our students. 

Sincerely,

Mike Cady


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Here are the cars from the "mock accident" on the FHS track.

I have in my notes and on tape from the Buildings and Grounds meeting last week that this event was supposed to take place next week on the 23rd.  The element of surprise I suppose...

Now that it has taken place, track repairs will begin.

Read about it in the Chicago Sun-Times

What makes you so bold?

How did you make that choice?

Why do you think you can teach your children what they need to know better than the so-called “professional educators” in the public or private schools?

Why must you buck the “system?”

Aren’t you depriving your children of the social aspects of a public school education?  Aren’t you making your children social outcasts? 

Is it because you don't think public schools are challenging?

How are you qualified to teach “the three “R’s?”

Public school teachers are constantly being trained to be up-to-date…they have in-services all of the time.  They have class prep time, too.

Do you object to what public schools are teaching?

As your child grows in knowledge…how will you stay on top of things? 

What will you do if your child progresses further than you are able to teach?

~~~~~~~~~

Okay….homeschooling parent.

Those aren’t all serious questions.

But an article did come out today regarding home schooling. 

I thought I would ask my own pointed questions just to get you going....

I am curious though. 

Is it tough on you? 

How do you know you are doing the right thing for your child?