Adora's Blog

Education: not ready to listen?

2012-01-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

"The customer knows best." It's an adage seemingly old as time (for us young'uns, anyway). While it's not always the case (as anyone who has worked an intense over-the-phone customer service job before may know), it's certainly always valuable for businesses to listen to what clients are saying--whether surveys, market research, or feedback cards, many businesses have some structure in place to listen to their customers. And public feedback can have an important impact--Bank of America cancelled its $5-a-month debit card fee before it even began due to customer backlash.

In almost every area of the private and public sectors (think of representatives meeting with constituents or city hall meetings), there are ways for "customers"--those receiving the services or being represented--to make their voices heard. So why should education be any different?

Education? you might think. Surely there are those school board meetings or PTAs? But a crucial voice is missing in education: that of the student's. How often do classroom teachers ask students to provide them with feedback on how their teaching could be improved so students learn better? When was the last time administrators sat down with students and gave them decision-making power or at least input--no, not just over the theme of the Homecoming Dance or how to decorate the school for the holidays, but important issues like curriculum, required courses, or assessment?

I'm asking these questions because of an email from a prestigious education membership organization that my mom recently received in response to talks about a potential book I was hoping to write (that would bring issues of student voice, reciprocal learning, and education technology to the forefront). It said that based on their research, the education community "is not yet ready to receive the message from a student."

If the education community is unable or unwilling to receive a message about education from a student, I think we have problems. We'd find it unacceptable if our representatives suddenly started refusing to meet with constituents or if companies like Bank of America kept on charging ridiculous fees despite public uproar. Yet we accept that education doesn't want to hear from students? We are the "customers" of our nation's schools. It's in our interest to learn in the best way we can--many of my fellow students have plenty of wise insights that I think could help change education for the better--but that simply won't happen if the adults in the room are covering their ears.

"One Expensive Chocolate Bar" - Story Written With Elementary School Students Over Video Conferencing

2012-01-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

One Expensive Jumbo Chocolate Bar

It was quite a festive scene at the McHugh house on January 17^th . There were bright red and gold streamers, colorful lights, and a very big chandelier.

It was all to celebrate Bob McHugh’s birthday. He was the baby of the family—he was just turning seven years old (and very proud of it). All day in school, he had been reminding his classmates how old he was.

“I’m turning seven!” he shouted in the middle of PE class.

“That’s very nice. Now go do five more pushups,” said the PE teacher gruffly.

Bob was super excited about the number of presents he received on his birthday from friends and family. Not only did he get a brand new toy train set and an iPod, Bob also received fifteen dollars in cash from his grandpa.

“That’s more than last year,” commented his brother David as Bob counted his money. “Wait—watch out, Bob—you’re throwing money all over the place—” David gaped helplessly as his little brother tossed money in the air and cackled.

“I’m rich! I’m rich!” Bob crowed gleefully.

“Uhhh…not quite,” David said matter-of-factly. “Fifteen dollars is a lot of money, but it’ll go really fast unless you manage it carefully.”

“You sound like a banker, David,” Bob said, sounding bored. “What do you think I can get with all this money? Do you think I could get that jumbo chocolate Hershey’s bar?”

“Bob, would you really want to spend all your money on chocolate?” David asked, aghast.

“Sure! Why not? It’s not like there’s anything better to spend it on,” Bob said obliviously.

“I could think of a lot of things, but sure, it’s your money,” David said, and, shaking his head at Bob’s foolishness, left the room.

The next day Bob ran down to the local chocolate store to buy his jumbo Hershey’s chocolate bar. He plunked down all fifteen dollars on the counter and smiled happily.

Over the next few days, Bob’s attitude toward chocolate changed dramatically.

On day five of eating chocolate non-stop, Bob looked with despair at his only quarter-finished jumbo chocolate bar.

“I’m gonna die before I finish all this chocolate,” he moaned as David walked into the room. “There’s no way.”

“I tried to warn you,” David said. He could have added another “I-told-you-so” but decided against it. “Next time you get a lot of money for your birthday, why don’t you save it?”

“You’re sounding like a banker again,” Bob said unhappily, but he listened. “Alright, go on.”

“You can save it and then when you have enough money, you can buy something big that you actually want,” David said, “or need. Instead of the jumbo chocolate bar, imagine if you had put that fifteen dollars in the bank and saved for that summer camp you really want to go to, or for college—”

“Or for a flatscreen TV,” Bob said hopefully.

David rolled his eyes. He wondered if Bob would ever learn…

“But I think I’ll save it for college,” Bob added quickly with an angelic smile.

“Okay,” David said, a little relieved. Maybe “sounding like a banker” wasn’t such an insult after all.

THE END.

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I wrote this with elementary school students via video conferencing as part of a program called "A Kid's Guide to Smart Money."

National Novel Writing Month and Homework

2011-12-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

Hi guys,
I feel like I haven't posted anything in quite a while and wanted to quickly update on two things which I hope sort of explain my long silence:
1. I have slain the beast that is finishing NaNoWriMo! For those of you who aren't familiar with it, National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to write 50,000 words (in a novel) in the month of November. I started work on my novel, Truth and Beauty, five days into the challenge and managed to finish a couple days early (out of necessity, since I was leaving on a trip to Colorado and California for two speeches). Oh yes--the speeches should also help explain the silence on here :) I will post more about my travels once I have finished the second thing, which is
2. Catching up on homework. I have a feeling I will have stuff left over to do on Winter Break. Mostly AP Art History stuff...writing 12 art criticisms in one night is no mean feat (although definitely not specific just to me--pretty much everyone else does exactly the same thing)...plus a biology test tomorrow, AP US History, AP Lit. and Comp., Geometry, and French. Yeah, I will definitely be doing work over Winter Break too.
I'd love to hear your opinion on homework and testing. I had the thought as I started studying for my tests coming up that tests don't necessarily test authentic learning--more realistically, they test how much studying you did the night before. However, if we don't use bubble-ins, how do we get results for data and research purposes? Better assessment was quite a hot topic at both of the two education conferences where I was presenting this week.

Social Circles

2011-10-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

If you're an adult, I want you to think for a moment about your childhood; if you're a kid or teen, I want you to think a moment about your experience growing up and in the present day.

Ask yourself: who were/are my friends? Where did/do they come from?

As in--did they all go to the same school as you? Perhaps take one or more of the same classes with you? Hang out with your friends?

I'm guessing that most of them were, in some way or another, in your "social circle." My sister, Adrianna, is in high school. A lot of her friends are "Questies" (a reference to the "Quest" program for gifted students back in junior high). Her social circle, if I'm not much mistaken, mainly includes friends she's made in orchestra, Japanese class, and through mutual friends. She has 745 friends on Facebook; most of them go to her high school.

I have slightly more friends on Facebook (789). But of those friends, the overwhelming majority aren't local. I have friends from England to China, the United Arab Emirates to Indonesia, Mexico, Canada, etc. Some I've met at various conferences, others through blogs or shared advocacy groups (for instance, a lot of my friends are involved in education reform efforts).

If you think about how people make conversation, it's often by finding commonalities--the same hometown, the same favorite sports team, the same class or teacher or language studied. But I wonder: if most of your friends live within a fifty-mile radius, what does that say about you and your ability to connect with people, no matter how different they may seem?

When I think about it, many of the most awesome people I know are far-flung across the nation or the world. TEDxRedmond's speakers live in all corners of the US. Recently I caught up with Brigitte Berman(who spoke at TEDxRedmond last year about bullying) when I was in Boston. When I head to California for another TEDx event I'll be seeing Alec Loorz (environmental advocacy) and Jason O'Neill (entrepreneurship).

And my friends Line and Boushra Dalile (two sisters who are champion golfers, TEDxAjman speakers, and excellent writers) are from the United Arab Emirates; I had the chance to meet them in person when I went to Dubai earlier this year.

I've only met Brigitte twice, and Alec and Jason, Line and Boushra once each. I don't see them in the hallways every day at school, I don't say hi to them at the local library, I can't call them up to hang out or party. :) But I can remember having amazing conversations with them all--whether what we had in common was a conference, a goal, or a love for writing.

Being able to connect with people regardless of "social circle"--transcending the usual measures we use to evaluate if someone is "like us"--is an invaluable skill. Think of how diplomats and businesspeople and the chatty person next to you on the plane do it. I found my own skills tested when I went to Sri Lanka as part of a field visit with the World Food Programme--an amazing organization which I'm proud to work with (you can see my blog post I wrote about that trip here). Visiting their school, I was more than a little nervous. What could I say to these kids, whose experiences seemed literally a world away? Tarp-roofed shacks that could be swept away by floods in the next rainy season. Kitchens without electricity or even running water. School lunch being a lifeline, not an object of complaint.

But despite their environment, so removed from the affluence I see in my home of Redmond, and the necessary trickiness of interpretation, there were still things to talk about. I tried teaching a bit of English, and simultaneously tried my best to comprehend Tamil. (I definitely failed). When I visited a maternity center, a joint program of the WFP and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, I sampled homemade foods from the new mothers in attendance. Appropriately for a field visit with the World Food Programme, conversation usually began with food--how school lunches were helping kids, etc. You see, when you're seeking ways to connect with people, you realize that commonalities may be right in front of you. On this trip, it was something basic: food. We all eat (though, as I saw firsthand, some obviously more than others).

The skill of being able to move between one "circle" to the next, with grace and fluidity, is important--not letting ourselves be defined by one term or one group or one organization/school--"Redmond High School" "Harvard" "Microsoft" "Republican" "Democrat" "black" "white" "nerds" "jocks" "geeks" "hipsters" "Questies." Sure, you might say that you have friends within a fifty-mile radius because really, it's hard to make friends outside of school or church or neighborhood. But even within the organizations you belong to--are you sticking inside just one social circle? Don't let commonalities trap you in a fishbowl.

So--try introducing your school friends to your music friends to your lacrosse friends to your education-reform-on-Facebook friends. Let those circles overlap. :)

And perhaps, at some point, we can forget about having firmly set social circles altogether. Because all that a circle does is keep some people in and all the rest of us, out.

Productivity

2011-08-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this at 11:52 PM mainly not because I have a particular burning desire to write a blog post or even that I have a strong passion on the topic of productivity, but more (fittingly) because I feel like I need to produce some sort of written work today. :)

Admittedly, I did spend a good portion of the morning emailing TEDxRedmond speakers (www.tedxredmond.com--the youth event I'm organizing), working on a document about TEDxRedmond for potential sponsors, communicating with organizing committee members, and taking a SAT Literature Practice Subject Test for fun during commercial breaks on the evening news broadcast (FYI, my scaled score was 760/800--hoping I can do better without the news as a distraction next time--and yes, to folks who disagree with testing, I was seriously doing it for fun), as well as taking a walk to the grocery store with my sister and mom. When I list what I've done today off like that it sounds slightly more "productive" but all the same I feel like I haven't done much, because not mentioned in that list are the minutes I spent skulking around after breakfast, how much time I spent just not really wanting to do much, etc.

My imaginary really productive day for me is one where I wake up early (well, my version of early is more like 9 AM), finish a speech, create a presentation, make a YouTube video, write a few short stories and poems, answer all the emails lingering in my inbox, do some math and science, write a blog post, and then sit back and relax and watch a movie or an episode of Arrested Development on Netflix instant play at night with my family, or read a new book. In short, cross everything off my to-do list and feel sufficiently accomplished to reward myself. :)

Of course, I've never had a day quite like that. I've certainly had days with elements of that, but most of the time I'll end up slacking off. I'll mark the email as important and then forget about it, or skip the math in favor of re-reading a Harry Potter book.

I joke to my mom that I envy kids who had to be coaxed into reading, whose parents give them treats for reading twenty minutes--my parents are the opposite. You see, I have to make deals sometimes (usually when I'm supposed to be preparing for a trip, going to sleep, or otherwise engaged) to read an extra chapter in a story.

It's been that way since I was little and my mom would try to coax me to go play outside instead of read yet another chapter book. When I was six my mom had to do the same in order to get me to stop typing up short stories on my laptop, and come eat dinner. A lot of my peers have parents shouting at them to do SAT practice when, yeah, I was doing the Literature practice test for fun (does that sound incredibly nerdy? I'm a big fan of literature and I'll tell you, the SAT practice subject test is better than mindlessly watching ads on TV during commercial breaks).

No, my personal definition of "productivity" is something closer to a ton of blog posts (I wish--I really need to update more), TEDxRedmond issues neatly squared away, maybe a masterpiece novel, and--this is really unlikely--me producing a properly shaded drawing (my tortillion-wielding skills need work). Other people's definition of productivity might mean de-bugging systems, making a certain amount of money, efficiently finishing homework, etc.

The really strange thing is that sometimes one person's leisure is another person's work (not quite a trash v. treasure thing, but I used the saying's structure). That is, my reading a couple novels--what I consider a break from, say, emailing people about TEDxRedmond or preparing a presentation (both perfectly enjoyable, just not things I want to do all the time) could be someone else's version of one-more-thing-on-the-to-do-list. It's an odd thought.

As I'm heading off to brush my teeth, now at 12:15 AM, somewhat satisfied with what I've done today, I have to wonder: should we be forcing ourselves to be productive in the first place? How far is too far? What's your personal definition of "productivity?"

---
PS, to everyone worried about my psychological health and about to comment that kids should totally have free rein over the summer, my version of free rein is pretty much exactly what I did today. :)
Yeah, I'm just really into organizing events.

Three favorite books about international characters

2011-08-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dawn by Elie Wiesel
I read this a couple years ago and picked it up from the library to re-read recently, then had my mom read it as well. Thanks to the conciseness of its 80 pages, this novel is approachable to most readers. The plot is seemingly simple--the thoughts and reflections of a Jewish Israeli freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on your viewpoint) on the night he is condemned to kill a British soldier in retaliation for the execution of a fellow Israeli fighter.

Though fictional, I think this story lends more insight to the Israeli vs. British fight for a Jewish homeland than the passing mentions the conflict is usually given in American history textbooks. As a book comprised of the main character's reflections, it is moving and raises important questions about the ambiguity of good and evil; Dawn is a book that explores the inner workings of the "gray area" of black and white.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (series) by Alexander McCall Smith
This heartwarming, cheery series about the proudly "traditionally built" Botswanan self-made detective Precious Ramotswe makes mystery both realistic and readable for easily scared folks like me. The series (thankfully) features no Agatha Christie-style nail-biters where people are getting murdered left and right; no, the problems Precious Ramotswe solves have more to do with people, feelings, and culture--whether stolen cattle or unethical witchdoctors, wayward apprentices or soon-to-be-married couples.

Nobody ends up getting killed and best of all, McCall Smith writes a perfect balance of interesting plot and beautifully lyrical details of the Botswanan landscape. The books give us a great gift of seeing Africa outside the lens of what we typically see in the news--famines in Somalia or protests in Egypt; shifting our focus away from the tragic or dramatic and painting a picture of the everyday and the beautiful. (Oh, and McCall Smith's other books are awesome too--I love the Sunday Philosophy Club, Irregular Portuguese Verbs, Corduroy Mansions, La's Orchestra Saves the World, and all the rest). :)

Aria by Nassim Assefi
While it's arguable that the main character in Aria, Dr. Jasmine Talahi, lives in Seattle and is thus not an "international character," the book--told as a series of letters and narratives--follows the Iranian-American woman around the world in her odyssey--both tangible and intangible--to find peace after the death of her five-year-old daughter. While the main character's Iranian heritage plays strongly into the novel, providing an un-sensationalized insight into Iran (much like Ladies' Detective Agency for Botswana and Africa), it is not the sole subject of the book.

The complexity of the protagonist's own struggle with the meaning of loss and mourning, an epistolary tug-of-war between supporting characters pleading with Jasmine to come back home, and the slow revelation of Jasmine's past over the course of the book, and you have a novel that is at once a mental reflection and a physical journey.

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There you have some of my favorite books with international characters! I've found that reading fiction is an excellent way to broaden one's horizons about the world from a more first-person perspective.

Do We Treat History Like a Dead Language?

2011-07-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

Originally published on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adora-svitak/do-we-treat-history-like-_b_911680.html

A sweltering parking garage filled with wand-wielding Harry Potter enthusiasts (all waiting in line for the midnight premiere of HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) may not seem like the most obvious place to quiz one's sister's friends about current events, but it was still an hour until the theater doors opened and I was bored. So I started a trivia game and out popped a question that I was dying to see if anyone could answer:

"Who's Betty Ford?"

It actually wasn't such a random question. Mrs. Ford had passed away only a couple days before. It had been all over the news -- radio, television, the Huffington Post. That said, I wasn't expecting much. My mom had asked the same question to two of my sister's friends the day before to receive blank stares.

"Uh ... related to Henry Ford?" was the response.

I felt it my duty to clarify who Betty Ford was (the trailblazing First Lady who de-stigmatized treatment for addiction and breast cancer) before we moved on to the cheery topics of biology, Latin American dictators, and (eventually) Harry Potter as we finally filed into the theater and grabbed our 3D glasses.

Along with the memorable Molly Weasley vs. Bellatrix Lestrange showdown and the fervent thought that I never want to see Voldemort's face in 3D again, the response to that simple question -- Who's Betty Ford? -- stuck with me.

It seems we're not only uninformed about our present, we're ignorant of our past. The "Nation's Report Card" -- the NAEP, or National Assessment of Educational Progress -- revealed that only 13 percent of high school seniors who took the test in 2010 scored "proficient" or higher.

If we can't even demonstrate basic knowledge about our country's beginnings, why should I care that a sophomore Honors student doesn't know who Betty Ford was? Maybe because someday our grandchildren will look at us and say, "Holy cow, Betty Ford died when you were a teenager? Boy, Grandma, you're old!" just like I stared at my grandpa in awe when he said he watched Robert Frost -- that Path Not Taken dude we read in freaking HIGH SCHOOL LITERATURE! -- on TV at JFK's inauguration in 1961 (and oh P.S., that started the tradition of the inaugural poet).

History is made every day. The challenge is getting everyone to pay attention to it. Paying attention to not only the biggest headlines -- Osama bin Laden; or the saddest -- the tragedy in Norway.

Not just the Casey Anthonys and Real Housewives of the world, but the end of the space shuttle and the creation of South Sudan. The death of Betty Ford, the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the famine in Somalia. Don't these things deserve at least as much attention as Rebecca Black's new music video, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, or even -- gasp -- the stuff we study in high school US History?

And that's where I see a big problem -- the lack of emphasis in school on the fact that history isn't all dead people and finished wars, it's Boehner vs. Obama, Iraq and Afghanistan. I would love it if we made more comparisons between current issues and issues of the past. Maybe we'd realize that sometimes, "current issues" and "past issues" are one and the same. Our world's people still fight over natural resources, kill in the name of religion, occupy regions and give them up -- just as we did "so long ago."
When I was younger, I had a tutor whose entertaining (if at times alarming) anecdotes on the Founding Fathers and modern politicians helped shape my realization that history is meant to be spoken about, not only read. Today, my parents still ask me to update them on the happenings of the world that day, and are more than happy to discuss -- or debate -- with me. I'd love to see such an environment echoed in our nation's public schools. If only we could start talking about the serious side of news with our friends, as easily as we bring up Snooki's latest exploits...

I'm not saying there's no hope. As a HuffPost devotee and a thirteen-year-old, I know that being a teenager and being an avid news-watcher are not mutually exclusive roles. Once I logged onto Facebook to be greeted by the cheery sight of a spirited conversation about the debt ceiling debacle. The wall post, by my sister's friend Airin, read: "I don't get it... How is reducing taxes and reintroducing tax loopholes for the super-rich going to help reduce our deficit?" The part that made my day was the link underneath -- "View all 62 comments."

Those comments -- hitting the same points Rachel Maddow does in a typical commentary -- were all written by high school students. The two writers doing most of the commenting debated the merits of trickle-down economics, criticized Republicans for using the term "job-creators" to describe wealthy individuals, advocated for the Gang of Six debt plan, weighed the pros and cons of economic benefit from oil companies versus environmental damage, protested deregulation of American business (Airin writing as a supporting example, "In India, Union Carbide was allowed to escape regulation. It poorly informed its Indian employees about the dangerous chemicals they were working with [...] As a result, 8000 people died from a gas leak. The governor of the region took the CEO into custody [...] but the US intervened and he went completely free" -- an incident which many other American students -- or adults -- might not know about).

Whatever your politics, I hope you can at least agree with two statements posted on this politically charged comment thread. The first one, saying "I'm obsessed with this entire conversation" and the follow-up, from Airin, saying "I'm glad we high school kids have obsession-worthy conversations. XD"

Eyes-crossed-out-from-laughing-so-hard-smile indeed (yes, that's what an XD is). We need to start more conversations that get students (and adults too!) commenting back and forth with the same enthusiasm and well-informed opinions that we see on modern music stars. By bringing current events into the classroom, everyday discussion, and social media, maybe we don't need to wait for our grandchildren's questions to remind us we should have paid more attention to current events. History is made every day. On a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, in the halls of Congress, and yes, in the millions around the globe clutching our Harry Potter glasses.

Somewhat Haphazardly-Organized Thoughts on Girls and Leadership

2011-07-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, gave a TED Talk a while back, which I watched; I was impressed with her poise and interesting opinions (but then again, which TED speaker doesn't have those qualities?) Her talk helped answer a very important question: why we have too few women leaders.

I would like to challenge, however, the widely held idea that since girls aren't becoming leaders as a result of naturally being less boastful, entitled, and commanding than most boys, girls need to start assuming those qualities in order to become CEOs. (That's paraphrased). This does, however, seem to be the idea-- girls don't speak up enough, take the lead enough, boast enough.

As Sheryl Sandberg pointed out, when girls try to be commanding, it's called bossy. When a girl boasts about her personal appearance or her latest work, it's being a show-off, etc. (This is all speaking in very general terms, mind you. If you haven't already watched Sheryl Sandberg's speech, do, otherwise the rest of this will be confusing). So we need to stop criticizing girls for the qualities we praise in boys.

On average (according to Sandberg) most men tend to brag about their own accomplishments and negotiate for raises far more aggressively than most women (I can tell you about people for whom this generalization does not apply, my parents being essentially the reverse of that description); when asked why they are successful, men (keep in mind the generalization here) will say that it was because of their accomplishments and hard work, whereas women will say they got lucky or they were helped along by amazing coworkers, etc. And society tends to dislike women who will buck the trend and assertively negotiate for a raise.

This is all statistically supported and that is the general trend. So what is it that I disagree with in Sheryl Sandberg's speech?

The problem I see with this is that I felt the underlying message is that women need to be more like men in order to succeed in what is still a men-dominated area (business). It needs to be okay for women to brag, to ask for raises, to be aggressive. Sandberg focused more on making society accept women when we do those things; rather than changing our expectations of what a CEO should do.

My thinking? Don't we need more CEOs who don't fly out the window with a golden parachute?

Don't we need more people in the world to stop talking about themselves and start thinking about others?

Don't we need more people who thank others profusely?

It's time we stop saying that girls need to change, and adopt those behaviors; it's time to say that boys could learn from girls. CEOs of top companies could probably use a dose of not-asking-for-raise behavior and less self-entitlement, rather than us trying to change girls in order to fit into the common mold of what we think a CEO looks like. I give speeches quite a lot about how often negatively-portrayed behaviors common to children (i.e., impulsivity and naivete) may be positive behaviors in some situations, leading to unfettered imagination and problem-solving.

Maybe these often negatively-portrayed behaviors statistically common to women are positive things. We all love people who give credit to others for their success. Companies would probably do better with CEOs who didn't blow their own horn and ask for ridiculous salaries and new yachts every year.

In her talk, Sandberg shared an anecdote of her college European Intellectual History class, where her classmate Carrie avidly read the original works in Latin and Greek and attended all the lectures; Sandberg read them in English and attended most of the lectures; and Sandberg's brother read one book out of twelve, went to a couple of lectures, and received last-minute tutoring from Sandberg and the highly studious classmate before taking the test.

After coming out of the test, they asked each other how they did. Carrie, the undoubtedly most prepared of the three, said (quoting from the speech here), "Boy, I feel like I didn't really draw out the main point on the Hegelian dialectic." And I [Sandberg] say, "God, I really wish I had really connected John Locke's theory of property with the philosophers that follow." And my brother says, "I got the top grade in the class." "You got the top grade in the class? You don't know anything."

To me, Sandberg's speech went on to emphasize why society should make it possible for girls to have "I got top grade in the class" behavior.

My point is that the bragging brother should take a dose of humility, instead.

-----------------

By the way, I totally agree with Sandberg's point that we need to stop demonizing girls for taking the lead in business/political/etc. situations. I'm not saying that girls shouldn't be confident. However, I'm saying that we need to change our expectations for CEOs (aggressive, assertive, etc.) from the current definition to one that more closely matches the best qualities of girls and boys. So--let's stop trying to get girls to change. Let's focus on changing our society.

TEDxRedmond not receiving support from local school district (at least not easily)

2011-07-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

TEDxRedmond, the event I'm organizing with fellow youth (for the second year), is all about learning, inspiring, and doing good, from the unique perspective of young people. In response to the question, "Why attend TEDxRedmond?" we've heard amazing responses from attendees, like this from an 11-year-old: "I really, really enjoyed TEDxRedmond last year. I loved that everyone there is trying to make the world a better place. Since last year I have been very busy trying to do the same. I have been volunteering my time with the Riverview Youth Council, I am the youngest in the group, most of them are in High School and I'm 11. We work on teen suicide prevention, preventing tobacco use, and other healthy choices. I also have been volunteering to serve food at tent city and helping the local women's shelter and sponsoring people on Kiva. But the biggest thing I have been working on is anti-bullying. I am working to help create a safe and bully free school. My dream is to be standing on a stage one day at TED talking about how I made a difference and inspiring someone like me to do the same."
One 13-year-old said: "I think of myself as a 'learner.' I constantly ponder over issues that affect my world and, thereby, me. TEDxRedmond is the perfect forum for young learners like myself. I wish to share in the intellect, the views, and the questioning spirit that makes TED so significant to our generation and beyond. I would like to be a part of the larger objective of creating an aware and accountable epoch in our world."

School districts presumably work every day to try to get students thinking of themselves as learners, getting young people to start grassroots change against negative behaviors like drug abuse and bullying, etc. Yet I somehow doubt that our school district (which will remain unnamed) has heard responses like these at Spirit Day or the school dance (I have a feeling that, in a school situation, you'd get laughed at for even saying 'creating an aware and accountable epoch in our world,' as this 13-year-old did), but dances, Spirit Days, and football games, are among the officially school district approved events, held on school district facilities without a problem. TEDxRedmond, on the other hand, is not.

Why do I care so much? Well, as one of the largest performing arts centers in Redmond (where we hope to host TEDxRedmond) is owned by this school district, we had to apply to use it. As the majority of our youth organizing committee comes from this school district, I thought it made perfect sense that we could rent the building without paying upwards of 2000 dollars, since, with our students mainly coming from this SD, it would be a school district-related event.

You'd think the school district would jump at the chance to host a non-partisan gathering of hundreds of highly motivated youth discussing grassroots change, doing good for the world, education, the environment, charity, etc. As I've unfortunately learned, it's not nearly so easy. In response to the group letter we sent from all the members of our committee who attend school in this district, we were told that the performing arts center was not designed for a "group of students" to use.

It makes you wonder who schools were designed for in the first place.

Supporting TEDxRedmond

2011-07-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let everyone know about the youth event I'm organizing again this year (along with an amazing committee of fellow students): TEDxRedmond. An independently organized TEDx event (TED is a prestigious nonprofit and conference dedicated to Ideas Worth Spreading), TEDxRedmond's goal is to promote youth voice on important issues ranging from education to the environment. You can watch videos from last year's conference on the website, and read about why people are signing up to attend this year. We've received phenomenal feedback about last year's event--young people, inspired by TEDxRedmond, have been building bully-free schools, raising money to fight disease, joining boards, and simply taking action to help others.

We are struggling to find a major funding sponsor this year, unfortunately, which limits us in terms of how many people we are able to bring in from out of state. There are many amazing youth who live in California and the East Coast whom we would love to fly in. If you or your company has the means to help us with these event costs, please contact us at info@tedxredmond.com to start the conversation.

Even if you don't live in Washington State, you are more than welcome to participate in TEDxRedmond by watching our online webstream, "liking" the TEDxRedmond page on Facebook, following TEDxRedmond on Twitter, asking any questions you have about TEDxRedmond on Formspring, and reading our newest updates on the TEDxRedmond blog. Thanks so much for your support!

New Short Story "Cartography"

2011-07-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of traveling is a rather non eco-friendly one, I'm afraid (although I always do recycle or have someone else reuse them)--I absolutely love using paper maps to navigate through a city's streets. While I'm not quite the younger "Ellie" in the story, the reasons for loving maps are pretty much all mine. This short story was inspired by my recent trip to Philadelphia, where I used maps a great deal. Hope you enjoy!

There was something inherently appealing about a fastidiously mistreated map, worn and crinkled around the edges, with concierge circles in Sharpie marker around the must-see sights. Perhaps it was the way a map folded back neatly into place, like an accordion opening and collapsing, to satisfy one’s most orderly instincts; or perhaps it was the simple joy of owning something, leaving your mark on it in the most primal way (that was, with a marker of course).

What few understood about the way Ellie looked at maps was that she harbored a very secret dream of being a cartographer. For all she knew there were no real cartographers any more, or if there were, they were strange government scientists who worked on a very technical level, like her uncle did. She guessed that maybe computers did all the work of plotting maps out now. Now that there were Garmins and Google Maps and Mapquest, who needed someone to draft a map on paper?

Ellie’s ideal cartographer was a romantic one who appeared in the occasional storybook: a bearded sage in flowing robes who sat in a pencil-sketched tower, looking out pensively over the world, pen hovering over a scroll—about to draw it in perfect, beautiful 2D. This was what a cartographer was to Ellie. It was not a programmer and it was certainly not a Google car with a camera on top. If this was what cartography was in the “real world” (this nasty place her mother and father often referred to) she would do horticulture instead. She had just learned how to say the word “horticulture” and was very proud of it. She also had forgotten exactly what it meant.

Though Ellie was not entirely sure that it was realistic to be a cartographer, she knew that it was entirely realistic to use a paper map. Paper maps, despite their consistently small-font street names, were reliably openable and closeable, unlike her mother’s bedraggled GPS. She took pleasure in being her family’s savior, proudly opening up the map when the GPS failed, and navigating them back to the hotel. She often opened up the map just to double-check a route, simply for the pleasure of standing authoritatively in the middle of the street and saying, “Yes, that’s right” with a grave nod.

Just as she opened up the map for what would perhaps be another “Yes, that’s right” moment, her reverie was interrupted by an “Ellie! Hurry up!” moment thanks to her mom. Ellie looked up to see her mother standing ahead, waving rapidly as Ellie stared into the map.

“I was just—” Ellie said, half in protest, half in anticipation of saying something meaningful, but stopped short. She realized that her mother and her little brother would probably not understand (or care) why she looked at the map so deeply, held its edges so tenderly, in that moment.

A map, thought Ellie, was a beautiful orderly representation of her mother and father’s “real world.” A world that was disorderly and littered and loud and smelly and small, a world that was sometimes violent, a world where GPS devices stopped without warning and emitted loud beeps in noisy streets. A map, on the other hand, was a perfect world on a page.

For all its disreputable ties (in small print fonts on clean white lines) to the contrasting greyish gum-ridden sidewalks under Ellie’s feet, a map was still a land of someone’s dreams—a picture of a long ago someone’s half realistic, half idealistic imagination as to what the “real world” ought to be.

Apathy

2011-06-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Apathy is defined as "lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern." I worry a lot about apathy toward, or superficial interest in, world affairs. Lots of people drive a Prius, dutifully donate the occasional hundred dollars to various respectable charities, and bring cans of food to their school's food drive. Maybe they buy organic food or pay an extra couple dollars for something that says "Sustainably Harvested." This is all great.

But aside from maybe buying "green" things, how many of these people actively advocate for issues? Turn on the TV not just to watch the Heat vs. the Mavericks, but to stay informed about the goings-on in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan (really any other part of the world besides the US)? A lot of companies are capitalizing on the "coolness" factor of doing good--Starbucks is trying to get its coffee sustainable, Target is donating 5% of profits to schools, etc.--but I think something that few people have addressed is the extent of the level we care about world affairs.

Just think what typically comes up in conversation. "How was your trip?" "We should totally go shopping!" "I bet you're disappointed by the hockey loss..." When was the last time you had a conversation about child marriages in Yemen or the need for jail reform in the US? Really, when was the last time you thought of those issues? I know you must be imagining me as a strict, frowning person. I'm not trying to say that you should be puritanically informing your friends about all the problems in the world at your next party. That would be a pretty hilarious image. But when do we talk about the issues that impact people other than ourselves?

Maybe the reason politicians haven't brought up homelessness and jail reform--two very important issues--is because the homeless and convict communities don't exactly provide a lot of votes. Rich CEOs who can pay for campaign funding, on the other hand, do. This is why I have trouble with the idea that we should only concern ourselves with the things that affect us. Yet it's an idea which seems to have percolated through media and society. Why else do you think we mainly cover US news? It's news about ourselves. And ABC News has a "Made in America" series where they try to get people to mostly buy products made in the US.

That's all very well, but ABC overlooked the fact that when products are manufactured in other nations, they may help to raise that nation's standard of living. When the standard of living rises in other nations, they often buy our products--things like iPads and other technologies. We live in a globally interconnected society; the time for protectionism is past. We can't afford to think only of ourselves. Why not instead stand up to practices such as child labor, unhealthy work conditions, and low product quality by only giving manufacturing contracts to those factories that meet ethical standards, rather than making blanket statements about the ethics of goods produced in a certain nation?

This only-caring-about-things-that-affect-me attitude does not stop at manufacturing/economics. Reading the Facebook news feed (which yes, I know, is not an accurate reflection of humanity), there are generally a few people who post news articles/calls to action regarding a humanitarian or charitable topic; most of it is "so-and-so is in a relationship with so-and-so," pictures of random things, "I hate the -expletive- -insert academic subject here- homework!" etc. Sure, I post pictures of myself and random things, and I'm not going to say you're a bad person because you do too; but I just wish that people wouldn't exclusively talk about what happened at school or what they're having for dinner.

On Facebook, I see that a lot of very smart people, in gifted programs and Honors classes, whose parents are software engineers and doctors and various other high-profile professions, are posting only about self-related things. An apathy toward world affairs is not an epidemic of one class or one age or one country. It can be found, on different levels, in many different people--whether it's calling a book about women's rights in developing nations boring and deciding to read the Gossip Girl series instead, or never discussing ethical issues though you may be perfectly aware of them, or knowing every detail of a dictatorial regime because you have to make a documentary about it for class, but not discussing it in any way when it doesn't pertain to your grade.

A lot of people criticized my article on the prom tradition as being too intolerant of having a good time "once in a while." The problem is that we try to have fun all the time; we seem to naturally shy away from the unpleasant things in the world and avoid talking about problems (something I see a lot in school, as peer pressure can make it "uncool" or "weird" to discuss current events in conversation). We try to live in a bubble of Priuses and occasional donations, shopping trips to buy sustainably made forty-dollar shorts with our friends, conversations about school events and neighborhood redecorations.

We have to change our concept of "doing good" as the erratic donation or petition signature, to an awareness of global issues, willingness to take action and raise awareness among our friends, advocating for lesser-known, not necessarily "cool" issues, and overall, a deeper empathy for all our fellow humans (and animals too)--not just those in our home, school, city, state, or nation. It starts at home and at school, but by emphasizing it through society, I hope we can all realize that shifting "other people's problems" onto other people's shoulders doesn't work so well as when we all pull together.

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Note: I'm by no means the only person who cares about global issues. :) There is a huge community of like-minded youth and adults who are doing amazing things for the world. The TED Conference is a great example of this (http://www.ted.com/). I organized a TEDx event, or independently organized TED conference, last year, called TEDxRedmond. This year we're at it again!

The organizing committee behind this year's TEDxRedmond (http://www.tedxredmond.com/) and our speakers for last year and this year show what a large number of youth want to have a voice and a platform to spread messages about important global issues. Please help support TEDxRedmond 2011 through sponsorship, participation, or by spreading the word. Hopefully this can be a first step in getting more people involved in making change. Thanks!

Prom--Or, an American Tradition Gone Awry

2011-05-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

The other day my family went looking for prom dresses for my sister. The first place we stopped was an expensive boutique with thousands of dresses. As I was about to step inside, Adrianna remarked casually,

“This place is really crowded with dresses.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, assuming she meant densely packed on hangers, or maybe not much aisle space.

“You’ll see.”

As it turned out, the store was a claustrophobe’s nightmare—a thin bit of waddling space alongside giant round racks of dresses zipped up in plastic garment bags, every color and style imaginable. By the time we walked out (no dress in hand), it felt like Adrianna had tried every single one of them.

She finally found her dream dress in a less specialized department store (where the dresses also cost half as much). The emphasis was on finding something that would be long enough to also wear at a piano recital.

What’s funny about my sister going prom dress shopping with the rest of my family in tow is that my parents were never that big on prom. More specifically, my dad didn’t go to his because he wasn’t into his high school social scene (or, as my sister translates it, he was a social outcast), and my mom grew up in ‘70s Communist China, where high school dance opportunities were pretty nonexistent.

The American tradition of high school prom, however, seems to have found a believer in my older sister—along with what seems like every American news organization. World News with Diane Sawyer on ABC broadcast not one, but two prom stories—the first to congratulate all the brave souls asking their significant others to go to prom with them, the second as a follow-up story on a boy who was suspended for trespassing on school property to post giant cardboard letters on the side of the school asking his girlfriend to go to prom with him. He’s now become a celebrity, having appeared on Today, Jimmy Kimmel, and others.

As a writer, I get it. Prom has all the elements of a popular story. It reeks of all-Americanness, tension, drama. It has romance. Pretty dresses. Dancing. Limos. High school. Coming of age. But couldn’t we get all that (maybe minus dancing, pretty dresses, and limos) with something that didn’t cost schools tens of thousands of dollars, students valuable hours in fundraising, working-class families worry over how they could afford dress and tuxedo shopping? Maybe an awards ceremony or gala to honor the unique in-school and extracurricular accomplishments of seniors? If you wanted, you could still dress up, invite a guest or two, roll out a red carpet, have music, call it prom...but you would be congratulating and evaluating people based on what they’ve done for others, not just how they’re dressed or who they’re going with.

The current concept of prom just seems so empty. Teenagers get dressed up to go to a dance at a fancy location. It encourages social inclusion or exclusion based on your ability or inability to snag a date. I feel like schools shouldn’t be taking a role in supporting dating this way—even for seniors. And it starts way earlier. People often start by going to their junior high dances in seventh grade, maybe followed by a formal dance (my sister’s was on a dinner boat in Seattle) in ninth, homecoming every year through high school, and of course, the jewel in the crown, prom in senior year. I mention this to people I’ve met in Europe—this system of dances and social events—and I haven’t heard of any equivalent.

So how did the prom come about? According to this interesting article from Mental Floss, the prom actually originated in the 1800s as an effort to teach etiquette and good manners to college students. It migrated to high school students with the same goal. Mental Floss described it this way: “the senior class, dressed in their “Sunday best,” gathered in the gym for tea and light refreshments, socializing and dancing under crepe paper streamers and the watchful eyes of chaperones.” It only started migrating to fancy locations in the 1950s, and in the 1980s, the prom became the giant deal that it is today, with students voting on where they want their prom to be...sometimes two years in advance. Paying hundreds—or thousands—of dollars for dresses and dinner and pictures and corsages.

Imagine if we took all of that effort, money, and thought that goes into designing a high school student’s in-school social experience, and put that into designing a student’s educational experience. There’s nothing wrong with getting dressed up and having a celebration of your high school life, whether in a dance or a ceremony or a conference...I just take issue with the American obsession that is the modern day prom.

Education Opinions Part 2: "Big" Changes

2011-02-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't already seen Education Opinions Part 1, I recently discussed "small" changes I would make in education (school start times, recess, and lunches). Today I want to talk about "big" changes I would make in education (if I were in a position of incredible power!)--age-based grades, online learning, and authority hierarchy in school.

Age-Based Grade Levels
I took two electives recently at Redmond Junior High. Everyone asked what grade I was in. It would go something like this:
"Adora, what grade are you in?"
"Ninth grade."
They look incredulously at my apparently seventh-grade style of dress (i.e., sweaters and shirts vs. tank tops and jackets) and say, "You're in ninth grade?"
"Yeah," I nod quickly, and explain, "I skipped a grade."

[Actually, it's feasible that I skipped two grades, since twelve-year-olds are often put in seventh grade (depending on when your birthday is) but usually I say I just skipped one, since I'm now thirteen.]

One's grade in school decides what you'll learn and the level at which you'll learn it. It decides when you'll graduate from high school and even the friends you'll make (most of your friends are probably in your grade or close to it). My question is why your age, not your aptitude, should determine your grade. I am at a loss as to the benefits of putting a group of people of approximately the same age--but of varying aptitudes--into one room where they will all learn the same thing. The quicker students will sit bored while the teacher re-explains a concept they already know from their voracious reading, while the slower students will be confused and left out by the rapid pace at which everyone else seems to be progressing.

My parents homeschooled my sister and me for many years. Why? Because the local school insisted that I, being three, should go to preschool, and my sister, being five, should go to kindergarten. The problem? You learn your alphabet in preschool, and I was already reading chapter books. At the same time, however, I was not so far along with math and science. In other words, I was not "advanced" in everything. Yet many gifted and talented programs try to put students into all-around advanced classes.

Wouldn't it make more sense to be able to take some kind of test (oral, written, multiple choice, or informal discussion with a counselor) to determine what level you would be? Maybe then I could have taken a test which would have allowed me to learn at second grade reading and history level, and kindergarten or first grade math and science.

To me, this approach makes far more sense than sorting students into grades based on when your birthday is. Would you ever tell a son or daughter, little brother or sister, "You weren't born before September 1st, so I'm not going to help you learn your alphabet"? Yet that is what our school system does every year.

Placement tests to sort students into levels would put students with a larger knowledge base into higher grades, but a large knowledge base doesn't necessarily mean a love of learning. I'd propose that honors/gifted status would then be determined by a student's desire to learn and exhibition of independent learning traits (i.e., reading a lot outside of school, tracking current events, etc.). For instance, if you're a ten-year-old who's been advanced to seventh-grade level mathematics, you'd be placed in the honors math class. The material covered would be the same as the seventh-grade level math (because honors classes would no longer have to serve only as a means of providing harder material--you'd be placed in a higher grade if you had that large knowledge base), but there would be more discussion, extracurricular activity, etc.

I personally think that there is no obvious benefit to having an age-based grade system. (Can anyone think of obvious pros?) But there are many obvious, compelling reasons why not to have one.

Perhaps I should add that age-based grades don't necessarily have to be wiped out completely (as in, you could still say, "I'm a seventh grader," "I'm a ninth grader," etc.), but that they would be mainly symbolic and would not decide the level of classes you should take.

Authority Hierarchy in School
I definitely think that students need to get involved in decision-making on a deeper level, beyond simply being on an associated student government or student council. At the TEDx conference I organized last year, TEDxRedmond, several speakers (all of whom were under 18), spoke movingly on their opinions about education and certain ways their schools had supported and/or failed them.

In many countries, schools are preparing students to participate in a democratic environment; yet schools themselves tend to be extremely autocratic, with all high-level decisions being made by adults. Let students have a voice--use online technology to have students give constructive feedback to their teachers and school administrators. Implement student suggestions. Put students on school district boards. Allow students to help form curriculum and get their ideas on which assignments work best for them. Hold regular meetings where students are invited to speak to their school officials.

Online Learning
Every school district should have an online learning framework, so that "blended learning" (partially online, partially in-person) can be an option for students. Students could read more of the fact-based lesson material online, so that when they came to class in-person, time could be used on higher-order thinking skills like experiments, projects, and the like. A lot of excellent learning takes place when students are face-to-face with each other and a teacher, yet there are situations where students may not always be able to make it to class. Should students not be able to continue doing any of their work simply because of a school flu epidemic, school staff on strike, snow days, or absences?

Other obvious benefits of incorporating online learning:
- Teachers could post assignments, students could submit responses, and teachers could grade them, all online, without worrying about endless stacks of paper.
- Students could keep up with what was going on in class and see instant grade updates.
- Teachers could post multiple-choice tests, which can be easily computer-graded, online, and save themselves from the tedious work of checking multiple choice answers.
- Students could review materials from past lessons before a test.
- Teachers could easily post links and resources online for students to view.
- Parents could keep updated on what was happening in class.
- By using tools like Elluminate, Skype, GoToMeeting, chat, Google Voice, etc., teachers could easily stay in touch with students (particularly when students had questions).

As a student at an online public high school, I see my teachers using many of these tools. Many of my teachers have Google Voice as well as embeddable chat tools, so we can quickly get in contact.

Of course, like the "small" changes, all the "big" changes will cost money. Where will that come from?

Among other places, maybe by cutting some of the money that goes into competitive sports (could we make certain sports co-ed, for example?) They provide excellent opportunities for young people to exercise and learn, but do we really need so much expensive transportation for competitions, coaches, and sports gear? (Not to mention new research showing the dangers of certain sports, like football.) Besides, if you read my earlier "small" changes post, you'll notice I mentioned bringing back recess and making PE a daily fifteen-minute class throughout every school year, making exercise routine and not necessarily competitive.

Finally, students should take international studies classes, since it's often shocking how little Americans know about other countries. (Can you name all the provinces of Canada? Mexico's president? Capital of Denmark?)

I know this post is quite long, and because of the extreme municipal-level management of schools, many of these changes are seemingly impossible. I'm hoping that we can work toward a better school system in the coming days and years.

Education Opinions Part 1

2011-02-23T22:11:00.000-08:00

My mom once asked me about the first steps I would hypothetically take to make a "better school." I don't claim to be an education expert, but I do have personal opinions about the ideal school--one I'd like to go to. Among many other things, I said that I would change school starting times, improve cafeteria lunches, and bring back recess. These would be good first steps because they help a lot of students a little bit. Given, they do touch the surface, but they can have wide-reaching impacts.

"Small" Measures: Starting Times, Recess, and Lunches
Starting Times
Studies have repeatedly shown that everyone, but children with developing brains in particular, need a good amount of high-quality sleep. It's difficult to get when you have to worry about waking up at 7 in the morning to go to school. Not everyone is a morning lark, and by starting school so early, not only students but also educators have to stave off yawns throughout the day.

I was at a conference where a well-respected doctor who'd studied sleep habits for many years shared information (which I've roughly paraphrased) that adolescent sleep cycles tend to begin at 3 AM and end at 11 AM. Yet we're starting school at 7 or 7:30 AM. While I wouldn't quite change school start times to 11 AM (since we have to consider parents who have to go to work), I think it would be reasonable to move them to 8:45 AM or after. Then hypothetically a teenager could go to bed at 12 AM (as many often do), wake up at 8, shower and eat breakfast, and go to school with 8 rather than 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

Lunch
Another step: make cafeteria lunches better. There would be a cap on the amount of sodium, fat, and calorie content allowed in each lunch. Nonfat or 1-2% milk (and in smaller containers--who really drinks that much milk?) instead of whole, no chocolate milk, no soft drinks, and no vending machines with unhealthy items. A certain percentage of food served would have to be organic and/or local. Have smaller portions to help minimize cost (we all know how much food gets dumped out). Have the school's foods classes, and maybe the entire student body, help make lunch on certain days.

This might be controversial among students, but I think it would be a good idea to have randomly assigned seating during lunch. The social division that occurs when students simply pick out where they want to sit can be hurtful and exclusive to students new to the school or children with difficulty making friends. Also, I think that teachers rarely eat lunch and converse with the students. I've learned a lot from being able to have conversations with adults. So, teachers would be required to eat lunch with the students--at least on certain days--(and really, if they really can't stand students to the extent that they can't eat with them, should they be teaching?) I don't want to sound too uptight, but it might be useful to have lunchtime (or at least part of it) double as a class in good manners and etiquette--particularly helpful for students who don't often have the ability to experience fine dining. Not to mention it might cut down on food fight incidents.

Recess
Making nutritious school lunches would be an excellent way to begin combating child obesity; another way would be to bring back recess, at all grade levels. In middle and high school you might have a somewhat more organized approach (as in, now we're going to be playing Capture the Flag), depending on students, because I could envision people simply standing around and talking to each other instead of exercising.

Perhaps instead of a dreaded required class one semester of junior high, physical education could become a fun, daily fifteen-minute vigorous game-playing time? A lot has been said about boys being kinesthenic learners, and I'm sure it wouldn't hurt anyone to move around more.

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In my second part, Education Opinions Part 2 (the "big" changes), I'll be talking about changing the age-based grade system, authority hierarchy in school, and online learning.

New Short Story

2011-01-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to write this one by the recent story of the piano on the sandbar in Florida's Biscayne Bay. It's similar to another one of my stories, A Gossamer Inch. It seems like my characters lean towards old ladies. Maybe it's my alter ego. :) You can find my other short stories on my Scribd collection.

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On Biscayne Bay

I heard a story ‘bout a piano on a sandbar, says the woman in line who I kind of know from someplace. They say some punk kid put it there—in Biscayne Bay. She says it like it’s a brand of peanut butter or frozen food—familiar like Birdseye or Aunt Jemima or Jif—not some place halfway across the country where the old people go for vacation once a year.

I nod, coolly, and hand the cashier my credit card. The cashier’s just a kid, maybe nineteen, maybe twenty, with whitish blond hair spiked up on the back of his head. His skin is bad on one side of his face.

Remember, put the eggs in the bag last, I caution him as he takes my groceries, too briskly. OK, old lady, I can hear him say in his head, but he just nods politely with a Yes’m and puts the eggs in the bag—last. I can remember doing the same job when I was sixteen, nineteen, maybe twenty. Not at a big store with a supervisor and a manager and endless aisles, but the corner store on Main Street—the kind of store politicians like to bring up in their speeches. The “small business.” The “mom and pop store.” The “multigenerational family business.” They talk a lot about how these places go out of business because there’s no money or taxes are too high. They don’t give a whole lot of wordage to the idea that sometimes the next generation doesn’t want to continue the “family business.”

Do you have a rewards card? asks the cashier.

Do I? I think, and fumble around in my bag to find my wallet. I fumble around in my wallet to find my card, and when I finally find it, tucked behind my ID card, I just know the cashier is tapping his foot. I can’t hear it, but I know it. He slides the rewards card deftly. We didn’t have rewards cards that kept automated track of our balances and how much we’d gotten back when I worked at the corner store. We knew Aunt Ines was a good customer at the butchery from seeing her in there often enough, and that was why we slipped her an extra bag of ground beef or a bone for the dog every couple of weeks. (That was before the dog died and Ines moved to Southern California to be with her daughter, and son-in-law). By then she and I were both so old, I didn’t call her Aunt anymore. Ines’ son-in-law was about my age. I never liked him. He was smarter than me and knew it. That was why he took a bus for two hours just to take Advanced Classes at another high school, one that wasn’t out in the boondocks. No one knew what he took, but it apparently gave him enough Educational Background to be a Software Engineer. And who would want to take over their papa’s corner store when they could be a Software Engineer?

The receipt prints out, slowly, but the young cashier with no patience rips it out and hands it to me with a pen to sign. I sign slowly. I think of the letters I never write any more and how my signature used to look. I used to write letters to Ines, and Martha, and Edith Jones, and to my daughters and cousins removed once or twice, I never could remember. I’d write “Come and visit”—but they’d write “Come and stay”—and after enough people write you enough times saying, you come live in Southern California or Iowa or Georgia or New York or Vermont, your body starts feeling dragged across the Continental United States and you want to write, None of Your Business, but that would be impolite—so you don’t write at all. And they think, stubborn old lady, there’s no convincing her to leave, so better we don’t waste our time anyhow. And they go back to their comfortably populated cities and suburbs where the nearest grocery is an easy walk and they share a ZIP code with twenty thousand other people. And I go back to my lone house off an empty Main Street and thirty-mile country road drive for groceries and a ZIP code I only share with dead Mr. Parry who still gets credit card offers.

I get my own credit card back at the moment I think about Mr. Parry, and I hand the cashier the signed receipt. The woman behind me is only buying a carton of juice. She puts it up for the cashier to scan. As I push my cart out of the line, stiffly, because my joints are arthritic, I can hear the chatty woman I know from someplace say now to the cashier, Pretty strange story ‘bout that piano on the sandbar, isn’t it?

And I think to myself about Aunt Ines and corner stores and Software Engineers and moving and leaving and staying and going, and I think, I’m that piano on a sandbar in the middle of my own little Biscayne Bay, even though I’m nowhere close to Florida. I’m that piano in the nighttime when the faithless birds fly off the banged-up keys. I’m that piano with its legs in the sand, a little less rooted every time, as the tide goes down and the tide comes up—and the tide comes up to wash me away.

Opinion on "Mom Jailed for Enrolling Kids in Wrong School District"

2011-01-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how many of you have read this CNN article, which describes the felony conviction single mother and aspiring teacher Kelley Williams-Bolar received for putting down her father's address, instead of her own, and as a result enrolling her children in a better school. I find the felony conviction to be completely unjust.

Imagine that you are Williams-Bolar, a parent hoping for a better future for her children. What are your choices? Of course, you have your home school district of Akron--which is meeting only four out of twenty-six state standards, has a 76% graduation rate, and is poor and urban. Or you have the tantalizingly nearby, wealthy suburban district (Copley-Fairlawn), which meets 26 out of 26 standards and has a 97.5% graduation rate. Can we really call her a felon for hoping for a better education for her kids?

According to the article, the Copley-Fairlawn superintendent "denied that Williams-Bolar was singled out because she is black and the Copley-Fairlawn district is 75% white." I find it to be incredibly sad, however, that we have in so many ways a segregated school system--no longer so evidently by rules of law, but rather by rules of housing and taxation and economics. For instance, you'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful African-Americans or Native Americans at any of my local schools on the Puget Sound's Eastside. We have a high graduation rate...that seems to coordinate suspiciously to high housing prices and thus property taxes. On the other hand, poor urban areas don't create much revenue for school districts, meaning that they have fewer resources.

The worst part about this whole situation is that the mother, who is only12 credits away from earning her teacher's degree, will now be barred from teaching in the state of Ohio.

This is how America rewards those who are trying to educate themselves and their children?

Please write to Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe with your opinion:

brian.poe@copley-fairlawn.org

Traveling

2010-10-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new round of traveling over this month, November, and December. Coming up:

November: Florida --> Houston --> Calgary --> Toronto

December: Mexico City, Mexico --> Nice, France --> Lugano, Switzerland --> New Delhi, India --> Lavasa, India

I'm already getting the pre-travel jitters...although I still have a few days away.

Education

2010-09-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've encountered an issue with courses; I'm part-time enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy, which offers online courses, and I also take two electives at Redmond Junior High. However, recently, the school districts informed me that, because I was over the allotted "FTE," or full-time equivalency, that I would not be allowed to take one of my courses. This is the letter I wrote to Chip Kimball, superintendent at Lake Washington School District:

----

Dear Mr. Kimball,

My name’s Adora Svitak. I am twelve years old, and I’m currently dually enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy, an online public school, and Redmond Junior High in Lake Washington School District. I’m writing to you today because of an issue I’ve encountered in my dual enrollment. I am taking Creative Cooking and Drama at Redmond Junior High School in addition to my online courses, and the two electives are a wonderful addition. I enjoy both very much. As a student taking Honors social studies and language arts classes, the published author of two books, and a speaker, literacy advocate, and presenter (I teach students every day via video conferencing about reading and writing, and I will be receiving the National Education Association, or NEA, award for service to public education), I think it can be agreed that I am capable of taking the two elective courses.

However, Redmond Junior High and the Lake Washington School District have informed me that I will not be allowed to take both Cooking and Drama, and that I will have to drop one (as I am already taking French at my online school). I’m assuming that the course limits rule was set up because regular students attending a brick-and-mortar school every day would not be able to attend more than six courses. But because of my dual enrollment, it is possible for me to take more courses than are usually allowed. Rules, especially those in education, should be set up to benefit the student and help us reach our full potential. In this case, the rules are a limiting force, preventing me from learning to the extent of my ability.

My mom, Joyce Svitak, placed a call to your office, where she was told that it wasn’t about the courses, it was about the money. I understand that in these times, school districts have to watch their budgets. However, both of the classes that I am in had room; the teachers are getting paid the same salary nevertheless; I’m actually paying a lab fee for Creative Cooking. They are still printing out the same number of rubrics and assignments. One student really doesn’t make a difference budget-wise.

I am okay with not receiving credits or FTE for taking the extra elective course at Redmond Junior High. But I would ask that Lake Washington School District provide me the opportunity to take it.

Thank you,

Adora Svitak

---

To me, this is just one example of what's wrong in education. In a time when we are facing dropout rates and such an epidemic of kids not wanting to learn, they hyperventilate about one student who loves to learn, taking one extra class, and treat it as an "urgent issue." You can pin it down to money, but the teacher's salary isn't dictated by how many students there are in a class. The heating costs don't go up for one more student. The fact that they trouble themselves over tiny issues like this is simply evidence of bureaucracy--and how adult-centric an institution designed to benefit students really is.

-Adora

P.S.Woohoo! Today, Washington Virtual Academy, my online public school, made a compromise, allowing me to continue taking my electives.

TEDxRedmond

2010-09-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

To those of you who have been following TEDxRedmond, we successfully concluded our event on Saturday. I'm glad to say that it definitely had a huge impact beyond the Kodiak Theater (in the Microsoft Conference Center), reaching into schools, classrooms, homes, and communities around the city of Redmond, the State of Washington, and hopefully, around the nation and the world.

Videos will be coming soon!

I want to share some wonderful comments from attendees. One of our audience members, ten-year-old Apoorva Chowdhary, sent me an email after the event:

Dear Adora,

Thank you for organizing the TEDx event. I really enjoyed it and it was very inspiring. It makes me think about what kind of plans I should set for myself, and also makes me think what I should do to help people in the future.

I love how you have the thought that teachers should learn from their students, because I totally agree. And after seeing the TEDx event, I am thinking of starting a blog. I don’t know what it’s going to be about yet, but I will figure out soon. And even though I have never created one before I think I can. My opinion is that it’s good to try new things.

It would be awesome if I could put my footprint on the world (like you said). After the event, I was really thinking about how it would be if I could do that. I came to the conclusion that it would be awesome, and I totally should. What I really liked about the TEDx event was that it probably inspired other people to do that too.

Oh I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Apoorva Chowdhary, and I am ten years old. At the current time I do lots of after school activities. I have played piano for about 5 years, and I have also done martial arts for 5 years. I do swimming too, and I am at the pre-competition level. Over the years I have also done tennis and volleyball camps too. Lastly, I am running for vice-president in my student council because I am in sixth grade and it’s about time I get into my school’s student council.

I hope you reply to my letter. You are really truthfully inspiring to me and I think you are a great role-model. And your sister was amazing on the piano too. Thank you so much for organizing the TEDx event, I loved it!

Sincerely,

Apoorva

As promised, Apoorva did start a blog! I encourage everyone to check it out (and follow!), at http://apoorvachowdharysblog.blogspot.com/

Zoe Sprankle was one of our TEDxRedmond performers. She both spoke and sang on the TEDxRedmond stage. Her dad, Bob Sprankle, podcasted and wrote on his blog, Bit by Bit (as well as on the TechLearning blog) about the TEDxRedmond experience. His open letter to TEDxRedmond's speakers and presenters touched us all:

An Open Letter to #TEDxRedmond Presenters

by Bob Sprankle

(cross-posted at TechLearning)

Dear TEDxRedmond Presenters (Adora, Adrianna, Alec, Austin, Brigitte, Cayle, Jason, Jessica, Jordan, Kelsey, Maddy, Madison, Maya, Noah, Oliver, Olivia, Perry, Priya, Sierra, Simone, Zach, Zoe),

As I write this, I’m still shaking off a bit of jet lag after this past Saturday’sTEDxRedmondconference and have almost gotten back to East-coast time, but without a doubt my heart and thoughts are still back in Redmond, Washington as I continue to process all of your amazing presentations. In doing so, I wanted to reflect on some of my own thoughts and realizations with you in this open letter.

First, I’d like to thank you all for giving me one of the greatest experiences of my life. This was undoubtedly the most amazing and important conferences I ever had the privilege to attend. Sure, I was there as a proud dad (see Zoë Sprankle), but I was also there as an educator, a learner, and even as a podcaster, catching some of the most cherished interviews with students ever (it saddens me that I wasn’t able to interview you all and I hope that opportunity presents itself at some future date).

The fact that this conference was entirely created, presented, and attended by students under 16 years old is a monumental accomplishment. Of course there were adult “fingerprints” of support abounding (big thanks to all the Sponsors who helped pave the way), but you all did the real deal. From the students who organized the event, to the presenters who got up there and “blew our minds,” to the attendees who stayed for the entire day (longer than most regular school days), I tip my hat to you.

I’ve been to many education conferences and every time I go, I ask, “Where are the students?” Recently at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston there was a student presence (Adora, Zoë, as well as a group of high school students helping to run the conference), and the K-12 Online Conference has started a Student Voices strand this year, so it’s not as if it hasn’t happened before. But this conference was entirely “student-centric” and I applaud the fact that we adults were not even allowed in the main room and had to watch the event via telesync in separate rooms.

So Kudos and great Thanks to you all.

Secondly, I want to tell you that you have inspired my students and the teachers that I’ve been able to share TEDxRedmond with. So far, I’ve only showed them your pictures and accomplishments and told stories I heard from you or what I learned about your accomplishments. My students are chomping at the bit to finally get to view the videos recorded from the conference (I hope they get posted soon!), and all of your accomplishments and work have served as great examples of what doing one’s best, following one’s passions or dreams, and not giving up can look like. This is a great gift as we all start a new school year and set high goals and define what excellence means.

Thirdly, I want to tell you that I’ve revealed to every one of my students that you have no “magical, super powers,” and that you are students just like them and that they can be great just like you. Students have identified what elements have added to your success in your endeavors, what it is that you all have in common. Here’s what they came up with: that you have done meaningful work; that you are passionate about that work; that you stuck with it; and that you followed your dreams. From that conversation, it was an easy jump to ask students what they are passionate about; what change they want to make; how they’re going to stick with it. All of you serve as undeniable evidence that they can accomplish their dreams, just like you all have.

And lastly, I want to tell you something that you might not have heard on Saturday as you were busy presenting, or listening to co-presenters in the green room. I got to talk to a lot of people during the short breaks we were given—parents and children alike. Some of these conversations will be presented on the podcast along with the interviews I was able to do with you. Here’s the thing that I kept asking the student participants that I want you to know about. I pointed out to them that they had been sitting for hours listening to you all and that they had given up their Saturday to come to this learning experience that lasted longer than most of their normal school days. I asked them if they had had enough; if they were ready to get out of there (since it had been such a long day). And here’s what they all said to me: “No way! I want more of this! This is amazing!”

I asked them a follow-up question: “Do you feel the same way about your school day?” And each one took a pause, gave me a quizzical look, and gave the same honest answer: “No way. Not at all.”

I followed up by asking why this was so and got a variety of answers, but it was clear that many of them were still formulating a response, and some were not able yet to articulate what the difference was between your conference and their schools’ offerings.

This is one of the biggest “take-aways” from the conference for me and I need all of you (as well as all those that are reading this open letter) to help answer that question. Please. Help us teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, board members, legislatures, president, etc. understand why you were all able to hold students’ attentions for a very long day and have them begging for more, when most of our schools are struggling to keep students in them, or engaged, or even interested.

When Adora asked at the end of the day, “What have we learned?” a young students answered —and forgive me if my paraphrase doesn’t have it exactly correct— that she learned that other students from around the world were thinking and worrying and talking about the same things that she was. That was one of the most salient quotes from the whole day, and it won’t leave me alone.

I need to find out why she wasn’t able to know this before. I need to find out how we can become better connected across the globe so students know we are sharing the same thoughts, goals, worries, passions. I need to work towards helping my students become even more connected with their own passions, with other students like them from around the world, and with the confidence and belief that they can change the world, just as you have all done.

You have laid a huge body of indisputable evidence at our feet. The success of TEDxRedmond proves that students want to and are capable of carrying off huge feats, able and interested in educating and learning from each other, and committed to meaningful and purposeful work, even if they have to go outside of their school’s curriculum to make that happen.

You have given me an extraordinary burst of hope for our futures, as I am confident you have done to thousands of others.

Again, I thank you.

Sincerely,

Bob Sprankle

From the buzz on Twitter, Facebook, and the positive emails we've received, I think it's evident that TEDxRedmond has had an impact. It's only when we can get everyone involved in the discussion like this that there will truly be "Power to the Students."

-Adora Svitak, Curator and Host, TEDxRedmond

Thanks to Bob Sprankle and Apoorva Chowdhary for comments.

The Mosque at Ground Zero

2010-08-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Though I know that this issue is very controversial, it's also something that I think is important to face. The proposed community center (which would include a mosque), blocks away from where the World Trade Center stood, has become a flashpoint of debate around the nation. The president has been criticized by many for saying, "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and community center on private property in Lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances."

As a citizen, I, too, agree that they have every right to practice their religion freely--whether or not it is blocks from Ground Zero. After all, the first amendment in the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights includes the line: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Why should we treat a mosque any differently from a syngagogue, church, or temple? If we simply decide to treat certain religions in a standard way, but not others, we slide into the hypocrisy--and unjustness--that characterizes dictatorships, not democracies.

What's more, the general outrage over the proposed center is only fueling the fire of anti-Americanism abroad. The most effective way to fight terrorism is to show openness and goodwill, not hate or discrimination, toward Muslims both here at home and in foreign countries. When we treat the Islamic population of New York City in a discriminatory way, it only confirms anti-American suspicions in other countries. By antagonizing a moderate group of Muslims, whose only goal is to bring awareness of other cultures to a community center (in the hopes of fighting extremism), we are ultimately helping the terrorists, and their message that America hates Islam.

However, the ultimate point of controversy that has shaped the debate is the fact that it is an Islamic place of worship near the place where Islamic extremists killed thousands of people. I have read arguments from the families of those who were killed on 9/11, and I understand that it touches a place that is still raw in the hearts of many. But truly, the terrorists who crashed the planes into the Twin Towers were hardly more Muslim than they were any other religion. They killed Muslims, Christians, Jews, men, women, children--and the murder of innocents is condemned by every religion I know of. Their league of extremism is nowhere near the moderation we have seen from the Muslim group that plans on building the center. When we say that there should not be a mosque near Ground Zero, we imply that all Muslims are responsible, and we condemn their religion. The sign of one woman protesting the planned center read: "Islam builds mosques at the sites of their conquests and victories." I would easily understand outrage over a proposed Al-Qaeda headquarters at Ground Zero. They were the ones who were responsible. Moderate Muslims were not.

The community center and mosque planned near Ground Zero would help raise cultural awareness and provide a swimming pool, theater, and performing arts center that no doubt all New Yorkers--not just Muslims--could benefit from. It would show that the religious tolerance we put forth in our Constitution is proved by action, not just a sentence of empty words. It would take away fuel for extremist fire and show Muslims around the world that America does not hate Islam. And yet, 68% of Americans believe that allowing the Cordoba House (the proposed community center's name) to go on, is the wrong thing to do. Does this sway my opinion? No. Remember what Albert Einstein said: "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right."

Denying the Cordoba House, and the moderate Muslim group planning to build it the right to do so, is popular.

Is it right?

A Gossamer Inch--A Short Story I Wrote

2010-08-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

You can read a short story I wrote recently on Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35929690/A-Gossamer-Inch

It was heavily inspired both by Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

Here it is:

She moved her head an inch—a gossamer inch, ever so slightly—off the pillow, until her dry cracked lips touched the dry starched linen of the bed sheet. A matted wisp of hair, gray and oily in its disuse, fell in front of her eyes. She had not the energy to brush it away from her face, but let it stay there, tickling—taunting—slowly.

Her leg, thin and varicose-veined, dangled over the edge of the bed. The (now faded red) bed sheet twisted round it like a barber’s pole—red and white, faded dusty color on faded dusty skin. The minutes ticked by, unforgiving soldiers marching on—blindly. Whose orders did they follow? she thought, angrily. She remembered when her legs had been white and not transparent. She remembered when the bed sheet’s red was not faded, but proud in its garish glory. She remembered all this from a time before. But minutes—days—years—were unceasing soldiers. It had been folly to think that she could fight against them—she, when no others could. Not the belles she’d envied, whose rich locks of brown and gold had turned to white and gray; not those spry gentlemen she’d danced with…Dancing. What a word. It was like honeyed water, dripping slowly, torturously before a parched traveler—out of reach, far away—and when you reached for it, gone.

A cough forced its way through her frailty. She seized up in pain, then stilled. Moving never helped.

A minute passed. Stubbornly she kept her wrinkled eye open, scanning the room back and forth with bad, desperate vision—she was the man on the edge of a cliff barely hanging on, prey encircled by predator with nowhere else to go. Insistently, she did not blink, though she knew sometime, she would have to fall, be killed and eaten. Then she heard the clock tick once more.

Wobbling on the bed’s edge, she allowed—she had no energy to make—her leg’s descent, sloth-like in its speed, but jarring in its movement, as though she were a rock climber in freefall. Her foot, her useless twisted gray cracked foot, hit the floor. She winced, clutching the sheet as though it were a climber’s rope. Fondly she remembered those towering peaks her brother liked to climb. They called him crazy then, before he won the medals. Then they liked him. She smiled as she thought of it, and glanced up at the wall where she saw the medals glint.

But what good had they done? Had they saved her brother? Had they paid for his hospital bills? Were they food, water, shelter? Her brother was dead. The peaks he climbed were gone, strip-mined, no longer pretty. Yet those medals glinted, untouched, on the wall—as though to remind her of lost things, as though to say, “We’re still here.”

She had no time for vengeance. Her second leg drooped of its own accord, following the first in its drop off the bed. When she had both legs on the ground, that was when she could try to lift her dizzy, weary head. It made her gag the first time. She would have retched, except for that she had not eaten any food. She coughed up blood instead. It made splotches on the bed sheet. Where the red had faded, her blood restored it. The crumpled yellow blouse she wore gained two more stains, one on each side, like small red buttons. She did not care. Her head fell back down to the bed.

Instead of lifting her head, she decided to slide downward, off the edge. She knew it would hurt, but it was less energy. She dragged the bed sheet, blood and dust and all, with her as she slid off the hard strict edge—then fell onto her knees, legs bent under in an awkward position. The fall, onto her knees and the cold wood floor, sent pain through her legs and made her faint.

It was too hard to stand upright and walk. She would crawl. She was past humiliation, indignation now. She wanted water, and that was that. Feeling half-crippled, she dragged herself past old dusty stacks of letters from friends (now dead, long ago), past the folded evening gowns that reminded her of dances with spry gentlemen, ballrooms and rich families’ houses…

There, on the old table that had been a gift—from who she didn’t know, nor care—sat a pitcher of water and a box of pills. The doctor had told her to take them all—with water, he said. Pills, and water, she thought, as she gulped them down hungrily, what a breakfast. She was knelt down on the ground in pain, surrounded by the dusty stacks of letters, evening gowns spun of rich memories, her brother’s glinting, smirking medals on the wall…

The clock ticked by. Seven minutes had passed since she’d awoke. It had felt longer, just as the minutes when she was young felt shorter, quicker. No matter.

She looked back at the clock though her neck, twisted and painful, told her not to. She looked at it with the calculating glower of a fencer, looking at her enemy in the face, about to begin another duel. Perhaps she had won today, but it had been folly to think that she would win forever—her enemy’s unceasing, unforgiving minutes—days—years—marched on blindly. Perhaps she’d thought that she could win? She had waged a losing war. But today—today was her victory.

Biking

2010-07-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

Recently my mom, my sister, and I have been biking around the neighborhood every day to get outdoors and get some exercise--today, I had a mishap that involved scraping my pinky toe and the back of my leg, rather sickeningly, against a garden's stone wall (sort of like the one shown in this picture).

Not to be graphic, but the toe's nail broke, as well as some skin.

This is likely too much information for many of you (especially if you're anything like my older sister), but this story does have a moral: Always wear your helmet, try to wear long pants while biking, and be careful with turning onto a sidewalk at high speeds with a bike that isn't very agile in the turning department.

So, that was my day today...certainly not as eventful as yesterday, when I went on New Day Northwest to cohost with Margaret Larson. It was a very fun experience and I hope to be able to do something similar again! You can find the video at www.king5.com/newday.

-Adora

Descriptive Paragraphs

2010-07-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Out on the highway, the cars race by like lightning bugs—they flicker for a moment, and then they’re gone. It is nighttime, and the pervasive dark lies heavy and peaceful—everywhere except for the long endless highway, where the wide dirty trucks, high-beams on, roll through and cut the darkness down like tanks against barbed wire that offers little resistance.

I often wonder what it must be like to drive down there, look up after miles of tall rocky uninhabited hillocks and foothills, and see a small but self-assured light coming out of a window in a house—the only house, I think, for miles. It is my light, my window, and my house. Do they down there, in their too-quick-to-stop cars, take a moment to pause and wonder who lives there? I would not know, because like lightning-bugs, they flicker for a moment, and then they’re gone.

IdeaCity Speech

2010-07-21T12:22:00.001-07:00

So, it looks like my embed code isn't working (though it did this morning!)--if you want to check out my speech in Toronto, go to http://www.ideacityonline.com/video/adora-svitak .

Quick Overview of East Coast Road Trip

2010-07-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

After I went to Toronto for the IdeaCity conference, I went to Denver for ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) and after that to Boston for the BLC10 (Building Learning Communities) conference. However, I had two extra weeks before the Boston conference began, which I spent with my family on a road trip. Here's the chronological rundown with hotel commentary:

1. Arrive in Boston and meet up with Dad at the Hyatt Harborside (awesome views of the Boston harbor, and no, I'm not getting paid by Hyatt, sadly)
2. Drive up to New Hampshire to see Grandpa; stay at the Sleep Inn--room had a funny smell
3. Spend time with cousins, drive to Burlington, Vermont, see July 3rd fireworks in Montpelier. The contrast between rest areas in New Hampshire and Vermont is just shocking. New Hampshire has an unorganized sprawling rest stop with a liquor store (yeah, seriously, a liquor store at a motorists' rest stop. It's like you seriously want us to drink while driving--as my dad wryly remarked, the state motto is Live Free or Die when maybe it should be Live Free And Die--lax policies on helmet and seatbelt wearing reinforcing this); NH's neighbor Vermont, on the other hand, had a beautiful joint Vietnam Veterans memorial and rest stop with a greenhouse and toilet water recycled through the greenhouse's hydroponic recycling system.
4. Arrive in Burlington, Vermont; stay in the Courtyard Marriott. Okay hotel. Nothing spectacular. We got to see the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. They charge too much for the tours, but the scoop of ice cream at the end was delicious (still, as my mom would complain, three dollars a person for a little scoop of ice cream!)
5. From Burlington, we drive up Highway (or is it Route?) 89 to Montreal--just in time for the International Jazz Festival and for a great tour from Montreal native and friend Sebastian. Stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Montreal Centre-Ville--very well-furnished hotel with a beautifully tiled swimming pool. I work on my French. New terms learned (pardon me if my spelling is bad): Parlez-vous Anglais, Pamplemousse et Orange jus, sil vous plait.
6. Head up to Quebec City in blistering heat (I must have gained ten pounds just from all the ice cream I consumed those days). We stay at the sprawling Chateau Bonne Entente, a palatial estate with numerous guesthouses. Though the rooms usually go for 300 dollars or more, we managed to land a bargain (when my mom checked in, they looked at her and asked, "Are you a travel agent?") I got to stay in one of the fanciest hotel rooms I have ever stayed at.

Not only did the room's contemporary, somewhat minimalist design make it aesthetically pleasing, it came with a sound system, awesome Nespresso coffee, plush beds, two bathrobes, a globe, a digital scale, and a giant long sink--and--I'm getting breathless--a TV in the bathroom mirror. Yes, seriously. So that you could watch it while taking a bath in the programmable--PROGRAMMABLE--bathtub, which came with air jets that created giant waves, massage programs, and even underwater red lighting. My wrists are hurting from typing this all so fast.
7. Although the hotel was pretty incredible, it would be unfair to Quebec City if I only talked about the lodging. We also got to see the Museum of French-Speaking People, a fairly new, well-designed museum with interesting and visually interactive exhibits about the history of French-speaking peoples across the Americas. We also took a look at the original city walls and walked by the castle-like Fairmont Hotel.
8. From Quebec City, we headed back South, down past Montreal. This time, instead of going through Vermont, we took 87 down to Plattsburgh, NY, where we ate dinner, and from there continued onto Saratoga Springs, where we stayed at the Saratoga Hilton. It was an okay hotel but the atrium-like lobby was big enough to be confusing. My dad also isn't fond of the Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries Hilton hotels offer.
9. From Saratoga Springs we head South to Atlantic City because my mom wanted to see the ocean (and my sister and I were enthusing about seeing the "Jersey Shore" in real life, not just on MTV. Coincidentally, Mike "The Situation" of MTV's Jersey Shore was appearing at our hotel, Trump Taj Mahal, that week). Sorry Donald, but your hotel was one of the tackiest ones I've ever stayed at, and the room needed some work too. We did have a view of the ocean but there was a layer of dust on all the furnishings, implying that our room hadn't been cleaned (or occupied) in quite some time. We bought cheap stuff on the boardwalk and played around in the Atlantic waves until my dad cut his leg and my sister almost drowned (well, that's the way she likes to tell the story; she was okay in the end).
10. Go to Abingdon and Baltimore to visit great-uncle and grandma. Stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Baltimore.
11. From Baltimore start heading up toward Boston to get ready for the BLC10, or Building Learning Communities, conference. Drive through Pennsylvania to visit Dad's childhood home of Yardley, Pennsylvania. See Philadelphia skyline (though we didn't drive through the city itself).
12. Stay in Stamford, Connecticut at another Hilton. Yeah, we stay at chain hotels a lot. We should probably patronize local businesses more, but when you're making reservations on the fly, it's a lot easier to go with what you know.
13. Drive up the Connecticut coast and through Rhode Island, finally arriving at Boston to stay at the Boston Park Plaza. The whole road trip has added five states to my "States Been To" list, some by courtesy of driving through--Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.
14. On our last day in Boston, we go to the Institute of Contemporary Art and look out the window onto the harbor view. Across the Boston harbor, I see the Hyatt Harborside Hotel by the airport where we stayed at on our very first day. Our trip has really come full-circle.

HIGHLIGHTS:

-Ben and Jerry's factory
-International Jazz Festival in Montreal, some very creative graffiti going on, science museum, contemporary art museum
-French-speaking peoples museum in Quebec City, ancient walls
-Beautiful park and historic Congress Park Carousel in Saratoga Springs, see some very grand old houses
-Got my abs so totally ripped in Atlantic City that I call them the Situation, yo! (reference to MTV)...well, maybe not, but jumping over, riding on, and occasionally falling under the giant waves in the Atlantic was pretty fun. Went on boardwalk and no, I did not do any gambling...they caught me before I could operate the slot machine. (Just kidding).
-See my dad's old house and elementary school in Yardley, and the absolutely tiny little library he used to go to. It's got to be one of the smallest in the world.
-The historical Fort Trumbull in West Haven, CT--highly recommended! We missed the tour, unfortunately, but we got to take a walk around the grounds, look in the windows, and look out over the pristine views of the shore.
-Bunch of stuff in Boston--the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library, watched an IMAX movie, Arabia, (great movie, by the way!) at the science museum, saw the Institute of Contemporary Art, walked along the harbor, went to Faneuil Hall...

Now that I've had a vacation with extended family in Toronto, seen the action and excitement at ISTE, and taken a road trip around the East Coast (not to mention keynoting at BLC10!), I think that I'm pretty traveled out. I'll be spending the rest of my summer at home, in lovely (temperate!) Washington.

IdeaCity, Toronto

2010-06-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I flew into Toronto, Canada for the IdeaCity conference. I would feel bad if I didn't do a bit of journaling, so here goes:

The flight in was fairly smooth. I'm impressed by Air Canada's services, both on the part of the flight crew and the inflight entertainment options. On most American airlines that I've flown on, you have to pay a surcharge to watch movies (especially those that are more recent); on Air Canada, I was able to watch fairly recent movies like Tooth Fairy and Invictus, free of charge. Unfortunately, the plane landed before I was able to finish Invictus (I got about three-fourths through it) but it was an interesting movie. I hadn't known a thing about rugby before watching it.

Landing in Toronto, we had to quickly finish our salmon-and-cream-cheese packed bagels (we didn't want to risk sneaking meat through Customs), and get used to the warm weather (the latter being far easier). The city has every aspect of urban modernity that you'd expect in a large city. I suppose I felt surprised that it wasn't more intrinsically Canadian, but then again, it wasn't as though I really thought everyone would be walking around with little maple leaves on their faces or something. I'm not sure what gives a city its identity; perhaps I felt that Paris was intrinsically French because they were speaking a different language, and there's not a hugely noticeable accent here.

This is the first day of the IdeaCity conference; it's been quite enjoyable. So far we must have seen dozens of speakers, with topics such as "The Decline of the Male" and "The Rise of the Female" (the first two sections, or pods, today). I'm completely exhausted at this point. One of my favourite speakers was Emily Levine; she was very comedic.

That's all for now, from Toronto!

-Adora

TEDxRedmond!

2010-06-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

TEDxRedmond is an event organized "by kids, for kids" in the Western Washington area. I'll be hosting the event. Taking place on September 18th, 2010, on Microsoft campus, all students in grades six through ten are welcome to apply at http://www.tedxredmond.com/. To learn more, watch a thirty-three-second "Host PSA":

On Academia vs. Business

2010-06-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to go into education, for many reasons--having an influence on the next generation, the fulfillment one gets out of teaching, etcetera--but another, perhaps less conscious reason, might be how very un-business-y the academic sector is. Of course there are big egos, giant ambitions, and plenty of politics, but at least there's one thing you can be sure of with most people who work in the "public sector"--they're not in it for the money. (Or at least the good ones aren't.)

As a case in point, take a look at the average yearly teacher's salary--it's in the measly range of thirty to forty thousand dollars, varying across school districts. Who in their right mind would accept 24/7 work with a bunch of customers who may not particularly want what you're selling? On the other hand, the profit margins in business can be huge. (Take a look at what some of those bankers on Wall Street are making.) Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, has now become infamous for his many gaffes, including a speech he gave to Stanford business students--pre-spill--where he said "We had too many people that were working to save the world [...] lost track of the fact that our primary purpose in life is to create value for our shareholders."

This quote, to me, sums up all that is wrong with business. Too many don't establish their companies to make the world a better place; they establish it to make money (and, as in the case of BP, they make the world worse off, in the process). When you found an organization to help the world, it's called a charity, not a business. You know that someone is really dedicated to helping the world when they don't make any money off of it. That said, non-profits and government don't provide perfect examples either. Indeed, it seems like they've taken the worst from both the worlds of private and public sectors. Take the oft-criticized Minerals Management Service (MMS) for an example. From what I hear, many of its employees have been hired from oil companies like BP--the companies the MMS should be cracking down on, not hiring from. Like those who go into business, too many go into government for the 3 P's (power, prestige, and profit) as opposed to "working to save the world"--which is what they should be doing in the first place.

When government and business interact, it seems to be good for everyone--everyone, that is, except for the average American citizen. What am I talking about? One word: Lobbying. The unfortunate strangle-hold that big industry has on the government's neck needs to loosen or fall away all together. People complain about nothing being done in the halls of government--maybe because there are too many profit-prestige-power-driven people walking around in them.

At the same time, governments and charities could learn a lot from the sleek efficiency that is the private sector's trademark. Visit some government offices and try to get something done--hurrah, guess what, there's a form for that, which will no doubt be processed, faxed, signed, faxed back, processed, stamped (you get the idea), in a process that will take several days, several weeks, several months, or even (in really bad cases) several years. There are many areas of government which have improved their efficiency, but many (such as the overwhelmed Veterans' Affairs offices) still have a long way to go.

Am I some anti-business Socialist anti-American? (Boy, I can hear the talk radio hosts having a field day already.) No. I believe that business is important--companies can have wonderful impacts in their communities. However, too often these impacts happen as part of marketing campaigns or as coincidences, and I look forward to a day where people don't start a company because they want to make gazillions in profits, or sell some newfangled product, or "create value for their shareholders." I look forward to a day where those things are merely side effects, when Tony Hayward is the exception, not the norm--and where "saving the world" becomes not a mere distraction, but our biggest goal.

Poem Written With Wisconsin Students

2010-05-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

With what we know,

We’ve discovered the anatomy of snow,
We’ve gone to the moon,
By explorers whose lives have ended too soon,

But with what we dream,
We’ve seen unseen,
Traveled to the center of the earth,
The womb of humanity’s birth.

With what we know,
We’ve made crops grow,
Traveled around the world,
Ancient mysteries unfurled;

But with what we dream,
We’ve found that things aren’t always what they seem,
We’re free of boundaries,
Allowed to create realities.

Overflow

2010-05-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

[Not sure if this really counts as a poem...more like a quote.]

We should print everything we read,
Send or email, watch and receive.
It’s easy to know not to send so much
When you’re drowning in paper.

Shoes

2010-05-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

I recently outgrew my loyally serviceable (and rather unassuming) pair of blue Timberland shoes--my toes push, petulantly, up against the edge of the tip of the shoe, and then hurt later. Being naturally mistrustful of any shoes not of that species, shoe shopping is a rather challenging experience for me (especially as the only shoe store I trusted, Shoe Pavilion, liquidated some time back).

As a result of SP's liquidation, I'm forced to go to the cheaper Payless Shoes down the road, where the selection leaves much to be wanted. After two torturous hours of forcing my feet into shoes which didn't fit and made me only more violently regretful that I'd outgrown my good old blue shoes, I settled for a pair of sneakers (sans shoelaces, of course, since I'm too lazy to tie shoes) but with a tongue, which I found useless and rather annoying as well. I'm not sure what the purpose of shoe tongues are, but they are a bother if you're just trying to slip into the shoe--if all I want to do is get into the shoe, why do I have to deal with an utterly purposeless piece of material scrunching and slowing me down? Sorry for the rant on shoe tongues.

I didn't leave utterly devoid of hope for the shoe market, however, as I was able to find a decent pair of dirt-brown sandals which were very nice and comfortable (if, as my mom put it, a "bit masculine"). Here are my tips for shoe makers if they want me to buy their shoes:

1. Focus on comfort, not looks. As long as you don't put bright pink glitter or Hannah Montana on my shoe, I don't care what it looks like.

2. Make more shoes that don't require tying knots. Who needs shoelaces?

3. Try to ensure that the heel or back part of the shoe isn't too loose. I never can find a shoe that sticks on my foot properly.

4. Build to last! I've seen too many cheap shoes fall apart within months.

5. If you want to get anyone from Seattle to buy your shoes, I have three tips: Waterproof. Waterproof. Waterproof.

Lessons Learned in L.A.

2010-05-15T12:06:00.001-07:00

I wrote this for a homework assignment--a timed write, where you were supposed to write a two page personal narrative in thirty-five minutes. See below:

The Los Angeles subway system winds through the glitzy avenues of Hollywood and the decrepit streets of abandoned neighborhoods in South L.A.; it brings you down into dark tunnels and up into the sun. It was on this subway that my mom and I spent a lot of our time in Los Angeles--partly because we were too cheap to take the taxi, and mostly because my mom doesn't drive. If you really want to make someone feel like a stranger in a new city, ask them to take public transportation. It's hard to know where the stations are, let alone whether you should take the Blue Line or the Green Line, Bus 54 or 235. That was why it was so incredible to us when someone asked us for help on the subway--we'd come full circle, from tourist to (impromptu) tour guide. But it didn't happen overnight--like anything, it took practice. When we first came to Los Angeles, we were the ones asking for help. In fact, my mom and I got lost several times (even within feet of our hotel)!

One day, we were trying to get from our hotel near the airport to the science museum, in downtown Los Angeles. Although we had our L.A. map handy, we were still completely at a loss as to how to get there. We asked a short, brisk-walking airport official how to get to the science museum, and pretty much the only words we understood in her response were "the," "bus," and "there." The rest was such a jumble of street names--Figueroa, 8th, Broad--that the most we understood was that we should get on a bus. After asking some more people, we finally ran into a couple who were heading in that direction, and kindly showed us which bus to take. Unfortunately, the bumpy bus took two hours on its meandering route through the city. When we jumped on the subway, we had to ask more people (some of whom looked a little disgruntled at spoon-feeding us directions) which line to take. And when we finally figured out that we should get on the Red Line, we accidentally got on the Purple Line instead. By the time we arrived at the science center, we felt like veterans--albeit veterans who were very bad at combat. On the way back, we fared little better. I mistakenly thought that our transit time would be shorter than it really was, leading us to miss a dinner appointment by an hour and a half. This was quite a blow to me, as I value punctuality.

In large part because of our adventures, or misadventures, on the public transportation system, I determined to familiarize myself with it more. Instead of just asking people where to go like my mom had been doing, I studied the subway map ahead of time, enthusiastically circling, marking, and plotting out our route in great detail. I even memorized some of the names of the stations--Pedro, Slauson, Union, West Hollywood, and Universal City, just to name a few. Sometimes, I would spot familiar landmarks as we passed by, like torn-edged signs, in both Spanish and English, advertising "Party Supplies," giant grey warehouses surrounded by unfriendly fences, and the boarded up windows that marked desolate neighborhoods. You could tell you were approaching downtown when you saw the tall buildings off in the distance, and the "Christ Glory Church" with its sign in Korean. A trip on the subway (or at least the parts that went above ground) was like traversing a canvas--a full, rich canvas dabbed with colors that spanned the rainbow. From a hassle and a pain that we tolerated because we were too "cheap" for a taxi, taking the subway grew to be a daily treat.

It was on our last day in Los Angeles, as I was yet again consulting the subway map (just to make sure that we got off at the Imperial/Wilmington station for our transfer), a thin man asked quickly, "Do you know if I need to get tickets here, or at the end of the line?"

"Here," I responded. He nodded his thanks and bought the ticket. I felt rather pleased that I'd been asked such a question (easy as it was for me to answer). Then a short, portly, middle-aged Indian man walked up to us and asked, "Excuse me, I'm trying to get to Union--do you know how I'd get there?" I easily showed him the route on the subway map, adding that the Union Station stop was where we were going as well. He thanked me profusely and started up a conversation with my mom.

"I actually used to live here two years ago," he confessed, "but I never took the subway." I smiled--my mom and I had really made progress when it came to learning the system! Best of all, that knowledge hadn't just stayed with us--it'd gone to help someone else. Knowledge is best when it's shared, and it made me feel good (not just because I was helping someone), but also because I realized that we'd learned something after all those hours of bus and subway rides. After all, if taking public transportation is the tourist's test, then when a former resident asks you for directions, you've gotten an A++.

On Grammar and Spelling

2010-05-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Recently I got very mad (as I usually do) after reading yet another misspelled, grammatically incorrect piece of writing from my mom. Some people evaluate others by the way they dress; I evaluate them by the way they write. To me, a misspelled and grammatically incorrect piece of writing either shows that you're a) ignorant of some of the rules involved, in which case I would say LEARN, or b) you don't care enough to use Spell-Check. I've found that for too many people, the answer is b.

The problem with my mom is that she makes the same mistakes, every time. Before I even sit down and edit her email for her, I can predict there will be a comma splice, an overly repetitious (and often incorrect) use of the word "to," a non-capitalized or non-italicized book title, or some other kind of heinous mistake. It's not hard to write an email and sound like my mom. All you have to do is use (at least) one comma splice, a "Hi ______" salutation on the same line as the body, and close with "Best, Joyce."

There is nothing so very wrong with this except that I do form my impressions of people from the way that they write, and much like any dutiful child would tell their parents, "You're not wearing THAT to go out--it's hideous," if they were wearing badly matched clothes, I take it personally when my mom misspells, comma splices, or under-capitalizes. Though I may grumble and form bad impressions of strangers who use bad grammar and spelling, I can't really go up to them and scold them, can I?

Last night I watched NBC's Marriage Ref with the rest of the family, and one of the stories was about a man who had devised a sock-sorting system. He numbered each one of his socks, which would then "match" with a corresponding number and letter to represent Left or Right. This was all very well, except that his poor wife had to sort them. In the end, the call (which I found very just) was that he could keep by his system, but he would have to sort the socks himself. I just thought of that because, if my mom wants to keep on using incorrect grammar, she can deal with that system herself. I'd be more than happy to teach her the correct rules--if she'll stick by them.

I did think of another thing from the Marriage Ref, though--one of the panelists was Howie Mandel, the "Deal or No Deal" host (who I personally think looks like a con-man because of the goatee, but that's just my opinion). Apparently he has an obsessive cleanliness problem. This is not to say that I have correct spelling and grammar a hundred percent of the time, but maybe I just have an obsessive correctness problem.

P.S. Jenny, thanks for the comment! I didn't mean the article as a serious comment on how I look at people, but a satirical post to make readers laugh. My mom thought it was pretty funny; sorry if it offended you.

The iPad is Not Too iBad

2010-05-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

Read my post about the implications of Apple's iPad for education:
http://www.educatorsroyaltreatment.com/2010/05/04/the-ipad-is-not-too-ibad/

Skip the Massage--Write a Letter

2010-05-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

There is something rather therapeutic about writing a letter, and while I have extolled the glories of letter-writing before, I think that this is one aspect that has not been too much explored. Recently I was replying to letters from fifth graders in Massachusetts--some very wonderful, well-written letters--and I felt a very nice sense of peace and calm when writing that letter, that one doesn't really feel with the frenetic pace of tapping out an email.

Even if you have all the time in the world, the very format of email seems to hurry you up--it says, "C'mon, hurry up, write this, you have a freaking keyboard, you can go faster, the person's going to check their email soon, get it in now!" Whereas no matter how fast you write a letter, it won't make a difference as to when it gets there (unless you're writing it right before they come and collect the mail); the mail is all picked up at a certain time, and all delivered at a certain time. Email has a certain aspect of randomness about it--you don't know if they've received the email, or when they received it, or what, and you can send it at pretty much any time--letters, on the other hand, are fixed, certain things, that (unless you make copies of your letters) cannot be reviewed and regretted and analyzed after sending.

Writing a letter, in addition, is as separate from work as email is a part of it. It's not too often that you handwrite an entire, full-page letter in your office--who has the time? The very act of writing a letter is snuffing your nose at email, that necessary evil of convenience, and saying, "You know what, I have time to actually sit down and write a letter. A real letter. Sucks for you!" And lovely for whoever receives the letter. I love opening my mailbox and seeing something for me.

So skip the massage. Write a letter. You'll be surprised by the therapeutic benefits.

Today's Teaching

2010-05-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I video conferenced with students in Arkansas for a session titled "Dancing Fingers: Animal Poems 101." Inspired by a section in my poetry book, "Feathers, Horns, and Claws," the presentation centers around getting inspirations for poetry from animals. A very creative class with an impressive vocabulary, the Arkansas students were able to come up with lots of ideas for poems. We explored using animals as metaphors for larger things, like natural disasters and things were scared of (see example below):

HURRICANE

The big brown bear eats everything,
It never stops to think
About what it eats,
And then it leaves a very giant stink.

We also explored how reading scholarly papers/encyclopedia entries/articles about animals could give us great descriptive words for our poem. After reading an article in National Geographic about the Giant Panda, we collaborated on this poem (using the words solitary, hungrily plucked, and insatiable from the original article):

PANDA
Solitary in the mountains, I roam,
Remote regions of China—my home,
I am insatiable when I see bamboo,
My full stomach makes me poo.
But I must eat for half the day,
At bamboo, I hungrily pluck away.
I’m so shy and I go it alone,
I just like that quiet tone.
I really like to roam around,
I wish there was a Panda Town.

Teaching Carson Middle School

2010-05-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Poem Written with Carson Middle School Sixth-Graders

2010-05-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Today I video conferenced with Carson Middle School's wonderful and creative sixth-graders. We talked about Ridiculous Poetry (writing funny poems), and how to make mundane activities (like walking) into interesting, humorous poetry ideas through exaggeration. We also discussed what makes things funny. Their responses included:

Randomness
Humor
Weird Animals
Made-up words

Finally, we put our learning into practice with an activity that exaggerated a real-life event/activity we dreaded. When asked for examples of dreaded activities, one student said, "Walking." When I asked, "Oh, like walking the dog," he responded matter-of-factly, "No, just walking in general."

Here's the poem we wrote together:

Walking is so difficult,

It’s really very hard,

Your legs hurt so bad,

they might fall off in the yard.

There’s always a chance

That you’ll step on a stick

Get it lodged in your shoe,

And get permanently sick;

Walking is slow, unbearably slow,

It takes so much time out of my day,

It makes me so tired that right now

I just want to hit the hay.

On Language

2010-05-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

I've been mulling over our language, specifically our pull at moments to speak it, for a little while, mostly because of my mom. Originally from China, she speaks Mandarin and Cantonese in addition to fluent English. She always speaks English with my dad, my sister, and me (since we're not as fluent in Chinese as she is in English!) But when my Chinese grandparents (who speak very little English) are over, it's a different story. Is this some kind of language peer pressure? It's even evident when there are people around who my mom doesn't even know. For instance, I remember once being in Hawaii. My mom and I were at a hotel lobby, and a Chinese couple across from us started a discussion in Mandarin. Suddenly, my mom started speaking to me in Chinese.

I do think that the language the people around you speak can have an impact on the way you, yourself, speak. At the most basic, it would obviously explain why babies in Iceland grow up speaking Icelandic (since no other reason would explain someone trying to speak that impossible language--that volcano that erupted is called "Eyjafjallajokull"), and babies in England grow up speaking English.

Of course, there are isolated incidents that have nothing to do with the people around you. I know a couple of words of French--merci, oui, and excusi-moi (if I'm spelling that correctly--it's excuse me). I got used to saying the latter when I was in France, mostly in cases of ducking through crowds at crowded museums like the Louvre. That trip was a couple of years ago, and yet, going into my dad's office, I sneezed. Instead of saying excuse me, "excusi-moi" slipped out.

Whatever our pull to certain languages may be motivated by, it's an interesting topic to think about. And now I have to go eat dinner. Adios.

Video Conference with Students in Wyoming

2010-03-29T14:03:00.001-07:00

On March 29^th, 2010, twelve-year-old author and teacher Adora Svitak video conferenced with seventh graders at Dubois Elementary/Middle School to talk about blogging. When asked what she thought of Adora, student Kaitlin said that she was “amazed by her technology abilities.”

In addition to discussing topics for blog posts, Adora asked students what made going to school in Wyoming unique. The answer: Hunters’ Ed. In addition, these lucky students get to camp at Yellowstone National Park for a week, visiting a ranger’s station and going to Montana. These students are a close-knit bunch; many know each other from kindergarten. Students also take one semester of tech and one semester of shop, and take part in track (the higher elevation makes them work more).

Research Skills with Ninth Graders

2010-03-25T14:11:00.001-07:00

Poem Written with South Georgia Fourth Graders

2010-03-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today I collaborated with a wonderful, enthusiastic group of fourth graders in South Georgia on writing a poem together. It was for the presentation Ridiculous Poems 101 (one of my favorite presentations!). One of the tips I mentioned in the presentation was, "To make a poem humorous and fun, exaggerate a real life event." The activity was to think of an activity that you didn't like doing, why you didn't like it, and to exaggerate those details. Here's the poem we created about giving chickens water:

I do not like giving the chickens water,

Cleaning their coop or feeding fodder,
Their water bowl is covered in spores of mold
I think it’s getting a little too old
The filled-up bowl is full of slime,
It’s very heavy; it takes too much time—
I do not like giving the chickens a drink,
Having to fill up the bowl at the sink,
Why do I hate this—what do you think?
Very simply—it’s just the stink.

Ustream Videos

2010-03-21T22:51:00.001-07:00

You can view my live streams at ustream.tv.

TEDxRedmond

2010-03-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I've just received approval for a TEDx license, which means that I can independently organize a TED event under the TEDx name. The event will be called TEDxRedmond, and you can learn more about it by going to http://www.tedxredmond.com/.

Don't know what TED is? Go to http://www.ted.com/ to learn more.

Fourth Graders in Camden, NJ

2010-03-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Today I talked with fourth graders in Camden, NJ over video conferencing. We collaborated on the beginning of a story about a human getting superhuman powers (including a full list of what fourth graders tihnk are superpowers):

Superhuman powers: tipping over cars, invisibility, run at sonic speed, making people’s nightmares come true, break through stuff with your head, shoot electricity off your head, flying, laser vision

Main character: Dragonboy

Setting: Japan

Dragonboy lives with his parents and little sister in Tokyo, Japan. He always wanted superpowers, because he felt very limited by the basic human powers he had. No, Dragonboy was not content with opposable thumbs and running legs. He wanted laser vision and invisibility.

One day, he went shopping with the rest of the family and saw a fountain. He had a penny in his hand that he had just picked up off the ground and he thought, “Hmmm…I might as well throw the penny in that fountain and wish for superhuman powers.” So he threw the penny in, shut his eyes tight, and wished for superpowers with all his might. His little sister walked up to him and said, “Whad’ja wish for, world peace?”

He got an ashamed look on his face and shook his head.

The next day, Dragonboy’s mom came to wake him up and tell him to go to school, as usual. He opened his eyes and looked around. As soon as he opened his eyes, his mom shrieked, jumped, and ran from the room.

“What?” Dragonboy asked, and got up and looked in the mirror. In the second he had before the mirror melted, he realized that his eyes had turned into lasers—that, or there was just a very bright, very sharp line of red light emerging from each one.

“Aaaahh!” Dragonboy shouted, a little afraid himself of his new laser vision. He ran out of the room, and realized, with a sinking feeling, that he was simply not supposed to go that fast. And he had. In less than two seconds, he had already rushed out his room, through the hall, through the kitchen, through the dining room, through the living room, and out the door. And now he was rushing past houses—skyscrapers—the downtown section—and he couldn’t stop.

That was when he saw a giant truck barreling down his way.

[Maybe the car-tipping skills will come in handy now.]

Chemical Reactions

2010-03-16T21:02:00.001-07:00

Today I learned about "Chemical Reactions" in science, an interesting topic and one I was completely befuddled by. The terrible thing was, this always seems to happen; I learn about something interesting in science, think I understand it, and find that I can hardly answer questions on it, let alone explain the concepts. I find myself tripping over words like "exothermic" and "endothermic" while attempting to explain what they mean. So I wanted to think of a new way that I could understand the material better--and why I wasn't understanding it in the first place!

As an author and avid history buff, subjects like language arts and social studies have, in general, been fairly smooth rides for me. I'm able to read the information quickly, remember it, and put it to use. But the problem with speed-reading your science text is that you miss words like "exothermic" and "endothermic" or exactly what they mean. That's one thing I've told myself: read slower and more carefully. It helps me catch more of the important information--information that sometimes hides itself in nooks and crannies that my impatient eyes skip over.

Another thing that may sometimes trip me up is the abstractness of it all. Since I'm learning about Physical Science--which, as far as I can see, is the study of really tiny things (atoms and the like) and stuff that's everywhere (oxygen, anyone?)--which need to be represented by models or pictures or lengthy explanations. On the other hand, in a course like Earth or Life Science, you can point up to space or look at a leaf and see planets and photosynthesis for yourself. Who looks at table salt and says, "This is NaCl, an ionic compound of sodium and chloride?" Or "The atoms in that gas are zooming around pretty fast today." I can't see the atoms in that gas, people. I probably can't even see the gas.

But that's enough grousing about why I wasn't understanding the topic--what about actually solving the problem? One thing that helped was reading the text aloud. Instead of just scanning it (which I'm prone to do if I'm reading silently), reading aloud forced me to slow down a little, to think about the pronunciation of the word and what each sentence I read really meant. I summarized out loud better than I did in my head. My mom was on hand, so I explained the concept to her. Having someone to listen to you and bounce ideas off of can be very helpful. Another thing I did was pull out my Pulse smartpen and take notes while reading out loud (recording both the notes and the audio). It was very helpful for synthesizing information. However, as I listened to the recording as it played back, I was surprised by how much I stumbled over certain words. If you listen to one of my videos where I'm teaching kids about reading and writing, and compare it to my science recording, you'll notice the difference right away--when I'm talking about chemical reactions, I sound hesitant and unsure about some of the things I'm saying. Oh well, I thought. It's a start. It's a start which I hope will result in some long-term progress.

After finishing my recording and a review worksheet, I took the lesson assessment. And guess what? I must have understood my "Chemical Reactions" pretty well, because I got 100%.

I

2010-03-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

I am the cat in the shadows that dance on the wall in the room in the house,
I am the cat in the shadows that dance on the wall who has just caught a mouse,
I am the shadows that dance on the wall to the tune of "Yellow Submarine,"
I am the shadows that dance on the wall during night and day and ev'rything between,
I am the wall in the room in the house that stands up to the air and the dust and paint,
I am the wall in the room in the house that will never ever faint,
I am the room in the house on the block that holds too much for my liking,
I am the room that is a good employee and will never ever think of striking,
I am the house on the block that stands alone and never glances,
I am the house on the block with catches, stands, and dances,
I am the house on the block and I? The house on the block--entrances.

Questions from Website

2010-03-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I received an email from a website contact who asked some great questions:

1.) Do you outline when you are planning a story or do you merely "wing it"?

2.) Do others ask you to edit or beta read their books or stories?

3.) Do you ever listen to classical music or film scores when typing out the text for a new book?
4.) What is your favorite genre and time period to write in and why?

Here are my answers:

1.) I've had very detailed outlines for some of my stories (giant maps and huge family trees which detailed every possible relative of every character) and I've had no planning at all; most of the time, I go somewhere in the middle, where I have a general idea of my characters, setting, and plot (maybe writing some of that down) but not really formal outlining.
2.) I have gotten the occasional request to read someone's work, which I enjoy doing; it's always interesting to see the variety of creative styles out there. I also ask others to edit or read my work before I send it off to the presses. My parents, tutor, friends, and editors all read Flying Fingers to give me their opinion.
3.) I don't really listen to music when I'm working because honestly, I've never been a huge music fan. My sister plays the piano and violin, so maybe I got too much exposure. Another reason I don't listen to music while writing is because I find that it can sometimes block out my stream of thought.
4.) My favorite genres to write in would be fantasy and historical fiction. I like both for probably shallow reasons--I love writing about monarchies, and I can't resist the temptation of having characters wear chainmail hauberks or kirtles or gowns (as you can see, costuming is a big part of the average story I write!) However, I enjoy writing about strong female characters, and I think that historical/fantasy backgrounds help these characters stand out more.
I have written some contemporary work (Journal of a Pre-Teen, in Flying Fingers, is an example), but for the most part I write fantasy and historical fiction. My favorite time periods to write in would be between 1100 to 1920--a large block and one that encompasses much in terms of progress and innovation without sacrificing too much in the monarchy and costuming department. :)

Glog Experiment

2010-03-12T22:50:00.001-08:00

Here is a "Glog," or poster I designed online at Glogster, for my sister Adrianna:

Story Written with Third Graders at Yorkship School Over Video Conferencing

2010-03-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

Characters:
Joe the weatherman
Katie is a nurse
Jim Baker works at the bank
Jamia is a student

Setting:
Yorkship School

It was a rainy Thursday morning at the Yorkship School and Jamia was riding on the bus as usual. It came to the school a little early, so instead of going in with all the other kids, Jamia went to the playground to play on the swing.
She started getting drenched and realized that maybe being outside in the rain wasn’t so fun after all. She was about to go inside when something papery hit her on the head.
She turned around, thinking that someone had maybe shot a paper airplane at her, but there was nobody around—just a crisp one hundred dollar bill, lying on the ground.
Jamia gasped in amazement and quickly picked it up before it became soaked—but she needn’t have worried, because the wet rain had turned to dry money. And it was falling—fast.
In the weather station at FOX29, Joe, the weatherman, was preparing for live television when he got a startling bulletin:
“RAINING MONEY NEAR YORKSHIP SCHOOL,” it said.
“My goodness!” Joe said. “I’ll have to include that in the forecast!”
“30 seconds to live TV,” the cameraman reminded him. Joe quickly put in a note about the raining money and started talking on TV.

In his office at the bank, Jim Baker was watching TV. He was on a much-needed break after a long morning, and he always liked to see the weather forecast.
“There’s an unusual weather occurrence today, folks,” Joe the weatherman said, “it’s raining money over by Yorkship School—”
“What!” the banker shouted, and jumped up from his seat. “I’ll have to go over and investigate!”

Katie the nurse was washing her hands and preparing to see another patient when a doctor rushed in.
“Did you hear that on the news, Katie? It’s raining money!”

Sense and Sensibility Quiz

2010-03-10T22:14:00.001-08:00

Recently I read Sense and Sensibility for my Honors Lit. Analysis and Composition class and I made a short quiz about it for fun. Here it is:

Sense and Sensibility Quiz » Make A Quiz

Adora Svitak Goes to Long Beach: TED2010

2010-03-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

By Adora Svitak

Where can you eat free food to your heart’s delight, snap a picture with Al Gore and say hello to Bill Gates, and watch some of the world’s most influential people speak, all in the same week? If you went to the TED conference this February, then you know that the Long Beach Performing Arts Center is (or was) the answer. I was lucky enough to be able to go to TED as a speaker—and yes, I managed to do all those things. I even took some free yogurt pretzels and dark chocolate malt balls home for my sister.

As the theme for this year’s conference was “What the World Needs Now,” I thought it would be appropriate to talk about “What Kids Need Now.” However, since I was talking mainly to an adult audience, I mentioned that the adult world could benefit by learning from kids. The main idea was that kids have the audacity to come up with ideas that can better the world, and that adults should listen. In other words, “You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow” (a passage I was frequently Twitter-quoted on). Of all the conferences I have attended, I can say without doubt that TED was the most Twitter-active. A single glance at TweetDeck told me that people had basically transcribed my speech on the web (in bits and pieces, of course). There was one quote here, and one quote there--it added up.

One of my favorite lines (one I was, disappointingly, not much quoted on) was, “If you don’t think this applies to you, remember that cloning is possible—and that involves going through childhood again, in which case you will want to be heard—just like my generation." Maybe the fact that this sentence was 156 characters provided a difficulty when it came to posting on Twitter! However, I felt that this line spoke both to the mood of going forward into the future--a mood that is so prevalent at TED--but also serves to appeal to the selfish nature in everybody (you should listen to kids because you would want to be listened to!)

The technology I used was fairly simple, although I did experiment. I used a site called Prezi, a zooming presentation tool which utilizes one large canvas instead of separate slides, then zooms in and out to create a pleasing visual presentation. It's kind of a cross between a video pan and PowerPoint. Prezi was an appropriate choice--as I found out later, TED actually invested in Prezi. Other than the Prezi, a laptop computer, and a remote-controlled slide advancer (which malfunctioned at the beginning of my speech), I didn't use that much technology compared to some of my education presentations.

But that's enough about me--what about the larger TED experience? As a first-time TED attendee, everything was new and exciting. One of my favorite aspects was the aforementioned free food. My mom joked that I had a graduate-student mentality as I greedily browsed the shelves of artisan brownies (yes, artisan brownies), smoothies, juices, yogurts, wasabi-ginger chocolate...the list went on and on and on. Of course, that was only food for the stomach, and TED gives you food for thought as well. As a matter of fact, food in general seemed to be a big theme. We heard from renowned chef Dan Barber, who crafted an engaging metaphorical narrative about his "love affairs" with two different fish (the speech focused on the difference between "sustainable" livestock practices and ways of raising animals that were truly beneficial to the world around them). Even the prestigious TED prize went to a chef--Jamie Oliver, for his campaign to get healthier lunches in America's school cafeterias and raise nutritional awareness in kids.

We snacked on stunning live performances by artists like dance group the LXD (Legion of Extraordinary Dancers), who later performed at the Oscars; singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant, who transformed children's poems into powerful songs; string quartet Ethel, who are regulars at TED events; and ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, who made the miniature instrument larger than life. I highly encourage you to watch all the TEDTalks videos as they come out on the TED website. Some have already come out, like the speeches of Indian artist Raghava KK and autism activist Temple Grandin. Both encouraged the audience to think bigger, dream higher, and understand the unique worlds of both speakers.

Now what do all of these delectable meals of speech have to do with education? TED turns every one of its attendees, CEOs and government officials, business leaders and musicians, into students. In a word, TED is a classroom (albeit a large one). Its instructors come from all walks of life and teach crash courses on science, math, language arts, technology, entertainment, design, culture, history, politics, law, and food. Most importantly, the speakers at, and the organizers of, TED, expect a lot from their students. They expect us to go out into the world and make a difference--something which schools everywhere should expect of their students.

I've heard of books that tell readers about places to go to before they die. TED should definitely be on the list. With a collection of speakers that included notables from fields ranging from art to the environment, science to politics, TED was a veritable buffet of thought from all corners of the globe. Like any good buffet, TED left us feeling exhausted, full, and satisfied--our stomachs full of artisan brownies, and our inspired heads bursting with new ideas.

PARTIAL LIST OF PEOPLE I MET AT TED WHO I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I MET

From TED:
Chris Anderson
June Cohen
Katherine McCartney
Bruno Giussani

Fellow Attendees:
Steve Wozniak
James Cameron
Bill Gates
Chris Colfer
Kevin McHale
John Awgunobi
Will Smith
Al Gore
Matt Groening
Jeff Bezos

Fellow Speakers:
Jake Shimabukuro
Carter Emmart
Esther Duflo
Cheryl Hayashi
Frank Drake
John Kasaona

Benoit Mandelbrot

Oscar Night!

2010-03-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching the Oscars on TV. I watched the whole thing--or almost the whole thing. The only part I skipped was the section highlighting horror films--my nerves (and my stomach!) probably wouldn't quite take it. I enjoyed seeing the diversity of films, but I thought that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin had remarkably little screen time--it would have been nice to see more jokes. All in all, it was a fun experience. My only tip for ABC and the Academy Awards organizers? Less ads, please.

-Adora

The Cult of Twitter

2010-03-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

TWITTER IS A CULT, which I am ashamedly a member of. Why is Twitter a cult? Only certain people use it--my older sister, and, it seems, the rest of the American teenage population, shies away from it in favor of social networking sites. We Twitter users, cult followers, even have our own secret words--"direct message" and "retweet" and "hashtag." Are these words which any normal person would keep in their everyday vocabulary? And really professional Twitter users don't even update from Twitter online; they use their phones and remote updating tools like TweetDeck or TweetCaster or Twitterific. I say "remote updating tool"--clunky word!--because I can't think of the official term. I'm sure there is one.

For reasons which are beyond me, it doesn't seem as though Twitter is very popular among the thirteen to eighteen crowd. Sure, Twitter is home to such celebrities as Ashton Kutcher and Taylor Swift, but that's not a powerful enough draw--after all, they're on Facebook, too. Why would any sane, multi-tasking teenager go for such a seemingly single-function site like Twitter when they can update status, play games, take quizzes, chat, and make friends on Facebook? On the other hand (and this is just conjecture), professionals might not feel any great need for chat, games, and quizzes, so Twitter works just fine for them. It still doesn't answer the question, though, because so many "professional" adults post so much worthless stuff on Twitter. I mean (and I paraphrase), "I ate a cheeseburger today with my son." Do we need to know this? It's posts like that that earn Twitter a bad name, mister! Think about that!

Ultimately, it's Twitter's random exclusivity--its "cult-ness"--that makes it exciting and interesting for some, and irritatingly senseless to others. So next time you scratch your head trying to understand Twitter, remember: you're trying to look into a club whose windows can be pretty opaque. Twitter is hard to understand from the outside (and sometimes, even harder from the inside). Nevertheless, it's home to an interesting and diverse group of people, and it's fun to act anthropologist and investigate why people join Twitter. If you want to learn about generous people, bored people, silly people, happy people, smart people, people who can cramp tons of content into 140 letters--it's on Twitter. And unlike most cults or clubs, Twitter doesn't discriminate about its members. Then again, you might heed Groucho Marx's words: "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." The people on Twitter, apparently, don't have any such concerns.

~Adora
March 7th, 2010

This blog has moved

2010-03-07T13:31:00.001-08:00

This blog is now located at http://adorasv.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://www.adorasvitak.com/atom.xml.

Netiquette List by Fourth Graders

2010-02-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

1. Don't be insulting.

2. Don't write in ALL CAPS.

3. Don't use bad words.

4. Use correct grammar and spelling.

5. Don't post bad videos/pictures

6. Don't give out personal information

7. Get permission before you post pictures/videos of others

Video Conference with Fort Wayne, Indiana

2010-02-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

Today I video conferenced with an enthusiastic bunch of sixth graders in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The presentation was on Personal Narrative. During Questions and Answers, one student asked, "Will you write on your blog about us?" I took a poll of the class to see who liked the idea (it was pretty unanimous) and so, here you go!

The presentation went smoothly, and I was glad to see that the students had an answer ready for pretty much every question I asked. Definitely the class learned a lot, and they worked hard. Great job!

What If Cats Could Swim Underwater?

2010-02-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

I was discussing "What If?" questions and their potential for story ideas with another group of students from the same school, during the presentation Writing Inspirations. Watch the video.They asked the "What if?" quetsion: "What if cats could swim underwater?" Here's the story we came up with:

Blaze the cat had always been a dreamer. In cat class, he had daydreamed about mice instead of actually catching them, leading his teachers to call him a “good-for-nothing freeloading fat cat.” It had to be said that Blaze was a fat cat. At two hundred pounds, he lumbered along with a huge belly of fat. He liked to call himself, “The Great One,” but everyone else just called him chubby.

One night, while resting in his comfortable room at Mr. Lambchop’s house, Blaze had a sudden and vivid vision—a dream, if you wanted to call it that. He imagined that he was swimming underwater, his fur gloriously soaked and his giant belly helping him float. It was an odd dream, since cats don’t like water; but Blaze was an odd cat. He woke up with a start and thought, This idea is too good to let go. With that, he pattered softly out of his room, clambered out an open window, and headed for the nearest lake, Lake Howie. It took Blaze an hour of walking before he got to Lake Howie, and he gazed at the cold rippling waters with some trepidation. After a minute of pondering and observing the lake, Blaze gave a short hiss and jumped into the water.

365 Days in a Frog's Stomach

2010-02-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is a story idea I worked on with a large group of students I video conferenced with today. I was talking about how you could get ideas from asking "What If?" questions, and one of the "What If?" questions they came up with was "What if you got swallowed by a frog?" I suggested the title "365 Days in a Frog's Stomach," they came up with the characters, and voila! We get the beginning of the next great American novel...about being in a frog's stomach, anyway. :) To the students of this video conference: great work and try to finish the story! I'm looking forward to seeing what you create.

365 Days in a Frog’s Stomach

Character List:
George the frog—he likes swimming; he has yellow spots all over
Prince Charles—he likes video games; he’s chubby, and he’s mean
Queen Fox--Charles's mother

It was a fateful February day when Prince Charles went outside in bad temper. His mother had told him to stop playing his favorite video game, “Chicken Shoot,” which Charles liked to play twelve hours every day.

“Go outside or else your eyes will get rotted,” his mother, Queen Fox, said sharply. She gave him a shove out the door and slammed it behind him.

Prince Charles landed on his bottom on the hard asphalt and started screaming loudly. Since nobody came to assist him, he got up with a scowl and started stomping toward the palace gardens. He was still in a state of agitation at the fact that his mother had had the nerve to shove him out while he was just about to reach Level 50. How awful; how awful.

The palace gardens would have made anyone smile with their beautiful rhododendrons and roses, the finely trimmed topiaries, and the lush grassy walkways. But Prince Charles still had his mind on Chicken Shoot, and that was why, when a large frog (actually, that was an understatement—the frog was as large as the royal palace itself) approached. Prince Charles saw the huge shadow the frog cast first, and then he looked up to see the creature. Tall and green, with yellow spots all over from frogpox, the frog was an intimidating sight.

“Get out of my way,” said Charles angrily, kicking some pebbles at the giant frog.

“Get out of my way, little boy,” the frog said indignantly. “I’m the one who’s hunting for crickets.”

“Crickets. Haha, you have some kind of food source,” Prince Charles snorted disdainfully. “I get to eat pudding and sugar-coated watermelon every day. And I get to eat crepes and waffles and—”

“That’s enough,” said the frog. “I get to eat YOU!” And with that, he thrust out his giant tongue and, with one scoop, lifted Charles into the air and into his slimy dark mouth.

Sunrise Australia Interview

2010-02-08T14:08:00.001-08:00

Interview from FETC in Florida

2010-02-08T13:36:00.001-08:00

Haiti Relief Effort Video

2010-02-01T19:23:00.001-08:00

Watch Video and Read Declaration

2010-01-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today I spoke with some very good third grade students in Council Rock, Pennsylvania about U.S. Government. Watch the video.

We also worked together to write our own Declaration of Independence:
1. Because of our lack of rights, we are dependent on adults and thus vulnerable to being bossed around.

2. Without the right to vote, we lack a medium to share our opinions.

3. We’re part of the population too, and we’ll be affected by the laws and decisions that elected candidates make.

4. Adults have the right to choose to go to bed whenever they want to—we want freedom in time of sleep too!

Washington State Geography

2010-01-27T13:37:00.001-08:00

2010-01-27T13:26:00.003-08:00

Disaster in Haiti

2010-01-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody,

I was really struck by the immensity of devastation the Haitian earthquake caused, and I set up two webpages with UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) and Mercy Corps to donate money to help those affected by the disaster. I hope that you will donate and support the people of Haiti.

If you would like to make a donation to Mercy Corps, please visit http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/flyingfingers

If you would like to make a donation to UNICEF, please visit
http://inside.unicefusa.org/site/TR?px=3027536&fr_id=1050&pg=personal

Thank you,

Adora

Reliability

2010-01-21T11:26:00.001-08:00

Today I was connecting with an East Coast school over the internet for a presentation, and it was a nightmare. My audio was choppy; theirs was worse. They couldn’t stream video from their webcam. My projector made a humming noise in the background. It was a litany of problems all in a row. My mom and I were joking about the reliability of systems, and she says, “It shows you that even great systems aren’t always reliable.” (Duh.) I said,

“Mom, no system is reliable—not even life. The only reliable system is Death. It at least never fails you.”

Thought I would just add my Morose Quote for the day. :)

Ohio eTech

2010-01-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everybody know what's up next on the travel list! I will be doing the Opening Keynote at the Ohio eTech conference in Columbus, Ohio on February 1st. If you are in that neck of the woods, be sure to come and see me present both the opening keynote and a featured speech. Take a look at some of the keynote speakers:

Adora Svitak
A twelve-year-old author and teacher, Adora has been teaching writing workshops since she published her first book at age seven. Adora is an American child prodigy known for her essays, stories, poems, blogs, and full-length books. She has been featured on Oprah, CNN's Young People Who Rock, NBC Nightly News, and countless other programs. In January 2009 she appeared in a UK public service television documentary, The World's Cleverest Child and Me. Adora's presentations feature live writing demonstrations, interactive activities, and storytelling. Adora provides kids with a tangible and exciting example of where writing can take them. She teaches every day through school visits and distance learning mediums such as webcasting and video conferencing.

David Warlick
David Warlick, a 30-year educator, has been a classroom teacher, district administrator, and staff consultant with the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. For the past ten years, Mr. Warlick has operated The Landmark Project, a consulting, and innovations firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. His web site, Landmarks for Schools, serves more than a half-million visits a day with some of the most popular teacher tools available on the Net. David is also the author of three books on instructional technology and 21st century literacy, and has spoken to audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, The Middle East, and South America.

John Merrow
John Merrow began his career as an education reporter with National Public Radio in 1974 with the weekly series, "Options in Education," for which he received the George Polk Award in 1982. Earlier he taught in high school, college and federal prison. He began working in television in 1985 as Education Correspondent for the NewsHour and as host of his own documentaries. His work has been recognized with two Peabody Awards, three Emmy nominations, four CINE Golden Eagles and dozens of other reporting awards. Merrow is president of Learning Matters, a non-profit production company in New York City, and a Scholar in Residence at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at Stanford.

Gail Matthews-DeNatale
Gail Matthews-DeNatale works with faculty and administrators on strategic plans for teaching and learning with technology across the curriculum. She has a Ph.D. from Indiana University and over ten years of experience developing, implementing, and assessing online educational projects. Previously, she was a faculty member with George Mason University's Institute for Educational Transformation, Projects Manager for Northeastern University's EdTech Center, and Learning and Technology Specialist for an NSF-funded online Masters in Science Education degree program developed in collaboration by TERC and Lesley University. In addition to her role as Interim Director of Academic Technology at Simmons College Boston, Gail directs the Simmons Blended Learning Initiative, a two year project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Dennis Harper
Dr. Harper has been instrumental in bringing computers and the Internet into thousands of schools in more than thirty nations. Dr. Harper is the founder of the student-centered technology support model where youth aged from 10 to 18 provide substantial support for (1) their teachers’ technology integration, (2) their peers technology literacy, and (3) maintaining the school’s technology infrastructure. Dr. Harper has developed the Generation YES model of technology infusion. Generation YES programs are based on constructivist pedagogy, authentic assessment, and strong participation of students in reforming schools. Dr. Harper is also the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Kijana Voices. Kijana Voices recently built and opened a school in the war-torn West African nation of Liberia. Working with President Ellen Sirleaf, Liberian youth now have a 21st century school to move their nation forward.

Lalitha Vasudevan
Lalitha Vasudevan is an Assistant Professor of Technology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her Ph.D. from the Reading/Writing/Literacy program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She has worked with youth both in and out of school, as a teacher and as a researcher, and is interested in how youth craft stories and produce knowledge using different literacies, technologies, and media. Currently Lalitha is studying media, literacy, and education in the lives of court-involved youth using a multimodal storytelling methodology. Her research has been published in E-Learning, English Education, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Review of Research in Education, and she is co-editor of the volume titled, Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility (2008, Peter Lang). Lalitha is working on a forthcoming book tentatively titled, "Literacies, embodied multimodality, and new educational geographies."

Cynthia Selfe
A Humanities Distinguished Professor at The Ohio State University, Selfe is the first woman and the first English teacher ever to receive the EDUCOM Medal for innovative computer use in higher education. She has authored or edited a number of works on digital technology, both alone and in collaboration with colleagues. Along with Scott DeWitt, she is the Director of OSU's annual Digital Media and Composition (DMAC) summer institute. She also coordinates the English Department's program of Visiting Scholars in Digital Media and Composition. Selfe studies digital technologies to learn more about people.

David Weinberger
David has been a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. He's written for the “Fortune 500” of business and tech journals, including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe and Wired. Journalists from The New York Times, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, InformationWeek and many more turn to him for insight. He is a columnist for Worthwhile and Knowledge Management World, and writes an influential business technology newsletter and a daily "weblog." He was a philosophy professor for six years, a comedy writer for Woody Allen's comic strip for seven years, a humor columnist for Oregon's major daily newspaper, a dot-com entrepreneur before most people knew what a home page was, and a strategic marketing consultant to household-name multinationals and the most innovative startups. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and is currently a Fellow at Harvard's prestigious Berkman Institute for Internet & Society and is teaching a course on how the Web is different at Harvard Law. David's latest book, Everything Is Miscellaneous , was published in 2007. In the shift from the physical to the digital, everything that once had its one place in the physical world now has multiple places: multiple categories, multiple shelves. He's the co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, the bestseller that cut through the hype and told business what the Web was really about. His second book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, was published to rave reviews hailing it as the first book to put the Internet in its deepest context

FETC

2010-01-18T17:17:00.001-08:00

Usually I post a reminder if I’m about to go to a conference, but I got a little absent-minded—sorry about that! Over the past week, I’ve been in Orlando for the Florida Education Technology Conference. I’ve gotten the chance to see speakers like Tammy Worcester, Ed Begley, and Scott Kinney. I gave my own “Eye-Opening Keynote” on Friday morning, bright and early at 7:45 AM. Ken Royal, Tech Editor for Scholastic Administrator Magazine and founder of the Educators’ Royal Treatment blog, was kind enough to introduce me and later conduct an interview—watch below. Thanks!

The Problem with Dinosaurs

2010-01-18T17:11:00.001-08:00

I really don’t have anything against dinosaurs (aside from the fact that many of them are large, ugly, and fearsome) but I do think that museums tend to focus too much on them. I was recently in Orlando, FL for the Florida Education Technology Conference, or FETC. Along the way, my mom and I visited the Orlando Science Center. Like many other science museums we’d been to, the Orlando Science Center had a large exhibit on dinosaurs. This would be fine if there were more exhibits on other things, but it seemed as though the dinosaurs took up most of the museum’s space.

We’ve faced similar exhibits at other museums. Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs…it might be just me, but I think that museums are trying to cater too heavily to the under-fourteen-year-old boy demographic, since they seem like the crowd who like dinosaurs. While I understand the museum’s need to attract visitors and revenue, can’t you be a little more innovative than mere dinosaur exhibits? Maybe whales or sharks or other large, scary animals? After all, the dinosaur is extinct—maybe the hype about them should be too.

P.S. I hope not to offend any dinosaur lovers. I understand that it’s a magnificent creature and worth investigation; I’m merely expressing my wishes for a more nuanced selection of exhibits in museums.

Idea

2010-01-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

I was watching giant shuttle buses (or is it busses?) crawling by and I thought of a little snippet, perhaps, of a new poem:

"If the road is a giant forest,
Then buses are the beasts of the road,"

which now developed into:

"If the road is a giant forest,
Then buses are the beasts of the road,
The Prius is a panda bear,
And the Jeep is the frowning toad,
The sleek towncar is the waiting shark
In the waters off the shore,
The Hummer is a grizzly with its bulky heavy fur,
And I? I am a hiker--a pedestrian, on tour."

Short Tall Tale Written with Ustreamers

2009-12-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

No offense to anyone--school is great!--this is just a short tall tale that I wrote with Ustream viewers, exaggerating the fear that comes with the first day of school.

It was Marisa Svitka’s first day of school in the first grade, a day which her mother said was auspicious, and Marisa was approaching it with the dread that comes with impending doom.

She walked toward the sprawling, colossal elementary school, with its imposing double doors and the frightening sound of hundreds of children laughing. Marisa felt as though everyone was laughing at her.

She walked inside, feeling as drained and frightened as if she had just walked into the jaws of a hippo, and what should she see but the terrifying visage of the principal.

My Writing on the Educators' Royal Treatment

2009-12-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

I've talked about it for a long time...and here it is! My writing about education, from The Educators' Royal Treatment. Check it out!

12/04/2009

You Can't Get Too Much of a Good Thing (NOT!)

Not to brag, but I usually get good grades in school (I go to an online public school, the Washington Virtual Academies). There’s nothing wrong with getting good grades, but it can irk me when I get 100% on my writing assignment for the eighth time, without much constructive criticism. I think that it’s important to realize that even the most exemplary of students need, and want, suggestions and feedback. It’s reasonable that better work should get a higher grade, but you can also go beyond the rubric—and give your students new perspectives to think about.

There’s a danger to praising students too much and always giving good grades—the student gets a certain sense of complacency. We might be tempted to think, “Oh, the teacher will always give us 100%. We don’t have to work that hard.” On the other hand, the student might even feel a sense of powerlessness. For instance, I try to craft my writing as well as possible, but I feel like my writing is for naught—as though 100% is a guaranteed, unchanging grade, and that no matter what I do, I’ll always get that. Getting A’s might seem reassuring, but I like knowing why I got that grade—and the answer to that usually lies in the rubric.

By the rubric’s standards, I got my 100% fair and square. Since I made no mistakes in grammar, mechanics, or usage, I get a 5, and so on. But go beyond the rubric. When you read this piece of work, does it catch your attention? Is it something you would read if you weren’t grading papers? Ask yourself questions like these, find the answers, and create useful, constructive criticism for the student based on those answers.

Suggestions for Suggestions:

1.You can introduce ideas from other students. For instance, I had an assignment in my Washington State History class where I was supposed to respond to short-answer questions about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. My WA State History teacher, who, thankfully, gives a fair amount of feedback, responded.

Question: What type of compensation did Japanese internees receive from the American government? Give your opinion of this compensation.

Answer: Each person who had been detained in a Japanese internment camp received $20,000 and a formal apology from the government. Although this was a step forward in realizing the wrong that had been done to the Japanese, $20,000 is not enough to right a wrong that was built upon illogical, racially-based discrimination. If you were torn away from a community you valued and prosperous land you had worked hard on, and then sent to the cramped quarters of an internment camp in the middle of the desert, you would probably want more than $20,000. The only way to fully right the wrong done to the Japanese-Americans in World War II would be to give them their lost time back—and that is something no government has the power to do.”

Teacher’s Comment: Great point, but at least the official apology was a step in the right direction in terms of acknowledging the injustice. I had another student parallel this issue with our treatment of detainees at Guantanamo – what do you think?

My interest was piqued by this comment—the teacher had gone beyond the rubric, and shared with me another student’s opinion.

2. Recommend additional resources for the student to consider. For instance, many of the lessons that I take at the Washington Virtual Academies come with a “Beyond the Lesson” section at the end. These may include websites, books, or extra information for students to delve into. It’s a great way to provide enrichment. If a student displays particular interest in a topic, you could suggest a resource. Here’s an imaginary question, response, and comment for an art or history class:

Question: Gothic cathedrals were built with flying buttresses, high ceilings, and many other architectural features designed to draw worshipers’ eyes to God. Can you think of other ways places of worship have drawn attention to the holy, past or present?

Answer: Mosques have tall minarets that may dominate skylines, and the call to prayer is heard by everybody. Artworks are another excellent way to draw attention; the Notre Dame cathedral in France has a huge stain-glass window, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome has intricate paintings on its ceiling by Michelangelo. I’ve always wanted to see them, and I think that they’re really effective at getting people interested!

Teacher’s Comment: Excellent brainstorming! On the topic of the Sistine Chapel, you may enjoy the book, Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. It should be in the school library.

3.If you think that the student could expand on a topic, don’t be afraid to ask for an additional response. You can help the student finalize their ideas—and you give them the chance to share things they may not have been able to before. Below is another imaginary question sequence:

Question: You’ve recently learned about literary devices, including figurative language. Give one example of a simile in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Answer: “Her lips were red as roses” is one simile from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Teacher’s Comment: “Her lips were red as roses” is a simile, and it’s also a cliché, which means that it’s an overused phrase—people use it a lot. Would you like to share a phrase that you use a lot, one that’s maybe a cliché?

Answer: I have to admit that I use “bald as an egg” a lot. Maybe clichés develop because the circumstances around, like I know a lot of bald people. I think that we use similes when we want to make something seem redder or balder or bigger or smaller than it really is, and then it ends up being a cliché.

It can be very gratifying for the student to be able to share something they wanted to in the first place. So go ahead. Give your students 100%. But even A+ isn’t perfect—give them constructive criticism, too.

11/29/2009

Nothing's Impossible (A Special After Thanksgiving Motivational Message)

When you were a kid (assuming that you’ve reached an aged state), did you ever get frustrated because adults had low expectations? As in “Dear, I don’t think you can read that book, it’s too hard for you” or “Are you sure you want to do that? I’m not sure you can.” Although today’s children may seem different in every other aspect, that youngster of yesteryear and the child in front of you have at least one thing in common—the desire to achieve. It may not always seem like it, but when there’s a challenge and some risk involved, we can be as impulsive as—well—kids. And that means that we can accomplish a lot.

Of course, that’s all very fine, but where’s the evidence? As the first witness taking the stand, I’d like to present my own story. When I was three-and-a-half years old, I went to the library all the time with my family. I loved reading picture books and feeling the pages slip through my hands. I progressed fairly steadily, and tried reading a chapter book. Instead of discouraging me, or saying that the book was too hard, my mom was impressed—and wanted me to read the book to her. As you can see, I have no scars from the event. In another instance of anecdotal evidence, I have a new baby cousin, and I know that it’s very important to talk to young children in order for verbal skills to develop. Imagine if parents never talked to babies because they were concerned that words were too hard for little ears. Our vocabulary would be significantly smaller.

“High” expectations can do more than help kids accomplish and learn new things. I think that they can have a motivating effect. In your life, you may have had the experience of being a smart kid in class, or you may be familiar with the student who is bored with the easiness of their work. When you challenge students’ abilities, you introduce them to a whole new world of learning (and appeal to our natural risk-taking instincts).

That said, motivational speeches should always have disclaimers, and here’s mine. Some expectations will not be met—a preschooler doing AP calculus, for instance, or a toddler talking about onomatopoeia and its appearances in South American literature. It’s why they say to have “realistic” expectations. But then again, you probably tell your students to use their imaginations. Why stay on the ground when it comes to discovering what your students can do? Let your students show you their full potential. The sky’s the limit.

11/10/2009

Making a World of Difference

Where do companies like Scholastic, Promethean, and Tandberg share the stage with speakers including Daniel Pink, Robert Marzano, and Alan November? At Making a World of Difference, the National Middle School Association’s 36th annual conference and exhibit, prominent education vendors and presenters spoke about, and showcased, everything education. This year, the conference took place at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. I attended to present a featured session, “A Kid’s Eye View of the Innovative Green Classroom.” I stopped by booths on the exhibition floor, watched several presentations, and thought about the differences between Making a World of Difference and other education conferences.

My own presentation took place on the first day of the conference—I had gotten up early (considering that I was flying in from Pacific Time!) to prepare. My mom had brought some breakfast up, although she reported that the site of our hotel’s complimentary breakfast was “like a zoo.” I hoped that some of those clamoring for food were teachers who would attend my session! During the presentation, I used quite a few different technologies, from connecting with three sites across the country by video conference, to displaying content on an interactive whiteboard, and recording the presentation for streaming. With so many different technologies, you have to expect a glitch somewhere. From my perch on the stage, I wasn’t able to reach the interactive whiteboard, and at times I couldn’t hear some of the sites we connected with. But feedback from the audience was positive, and I enjoyed the presentation.

After I completed my featured speech, my mom and I headed down to the exhibit hall, where the long aisles remained mostly quiet—activity was slow on the first day. In “Tech Row,” where education technology companies exhibited, we saw interactive whiteboards and video conferencing prominently on display near the 21st Century Classroom exhibit. In the 21st Century Classroom, there was a laptop on every desk and, it seemed, an interactive whiteboard on every wall. According to the NMSA webpage about the classroom, it was ““staffed” by teachers and students from Clay Middle School of Carmel Clay Schools on Thursday and School 91 of Indianapolis Public Schools on Friday.” They were watched by curious teachers and administrators while learning; it seemed almost like watching subjects in an observation room. Students from these local schools were exposed to advanced educational technology, at least for a day. Whether the exposure to new technologies would make a lasting difference in their school is yet to be seen.

Speakers at Making a World of Difference spoke on a wide range of subjects, from student engagement and service learning to technology in learning and environmental conservation. Two of my favorite presentations were those by Alan November and Ross Burkhardt. Mr. November talked about using technology in the classroom—more specifically, helping kids understand the difference between bogus websites (like All About Explorers, which says that Sir Francis Drake was born in New Jersey) and genuinely useful sources (like the Wayback Machine, which makes copies of websites every few months). Mr. Burkhardt talked about the use of creative poetry writing and recitation in the classroom, highlighting the importance of teacher involvement (don’t make your students do something you wouldn’t do yourself!), something I also talk about in my presentations. A session on Web 2.0 tools, though less memorable, stood out to me because the presenter used the same video, “Wikis in Plain English,” as Tara Seale did in her article on wikis. Seeing the video again made me think of the Educators’ Royal Treatment (and think of ideas for my article)!

I love to attend education conferences—I’ve gone to NECC, or the National Educational Computing Conference, for three years in a row, and this year I’ll be keynoting at the Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC) and Ohio eTech. Making a World of Difference differed from NECC most visibly in size, as the NMSA conference was aimed toward a specific focus group (middle school). What’s more, teachers were the main audience, rather than administrators. There were also fewer competing brands present on the exhibit floor.

The National Middle School Association will be bringing its 2010 conference, Innovate. Create. Inspire, to Baltimore next November. Meanwhile, I have many fun memories to look back on from my trip to Indianapolis.

Watch my reporting from the exhibit floor:
http://www.educatorsroyaltreatment.com/2009/11/making-a-world-of-difference.html

Thanks to Mom for asking some great questions!

10/12/2009

No Experience is a Wasted One (in education)

Two weeks ago, my sister Adrianna was sick, sometimes with abdominal pain. Worried about appendicitis, we went to the hospital to get her a CAT Scan. While Adrianna was getting strep swabs, samples to check for influenza, and a variety of other tests, her worried family (meaning us) waited the day away. As it happened, Adrianna had nothing serious, just a virus. It might have been an utterly pointless trip except for the fact that I believe firmly in the idea that no experience is a wasted one. My experience of waiting in the hospital turned into an idea for a personal narrative assignment I had previously been stumped on. When I talk to kids about using their own personal experiences in stories, they sometimes give me blank stares and skeptical looks. The reason? Many of them may consider their experiences too mundane. But even the most mundane of experiences—sitting around in a cramped exam room—can turn into an idea.

For teachers, some of your more memorable experiences are those you’d rather go without—maybe when a projector didn’t work or a computer crashed. This week, I was giving a presentation through video conferencing to an audience at the newly opened education center at the University of Montana in Missoula. Five minutes before the presentation, my PC still refused to open it. Every time, it would give me an error message. In desperation, one minute before I was set to begin, I grabbed my mom’s Mac laptop off a desk and—voila!—it worked. Another time, I was giving a video conferencing presentation to elementary students. The presentation opened fine on my computer, but they weren’t able to see it. So I resorted to using a whiteboard instead. These experiences, while stressful, difficult, and irritating, also forced me to be quick, resourceful, and innovative—the essence, I think, of a great experience.

10/02/2009

Adora the Video Reporter!

Do you ever wonder, looking up at the night sky on a starry evening, whether there’s someone out there, looking back? Recently I’ve been working with an online TV company, Motherboard.tv, to produce a lengthy report titled, “The Thankless Search for Intelligence Out There... Somewhere.” As you may have guessed from the title, it’s about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, also known as the SETI Institute, and what they do. I traveled to their headquarters in Mountain View (near San Francisco), California, and also visited their telescope array in the rural, unincorporated town of Hat Creek, to talk with astronomers and see the technology for myself. It was exciting for a lot of reasons—I’d never been to San Francisco, I thought that the whole looking-for-aliens thing was pretty cool, and it was my first official foray into video journalism. Most importantly, it was a learning experience.

My older sister, Adrianna, and my mom came along with me to San Francisco. Our first day was entirely leisure, so we got to spend the day as tourists. On that day, I learned one of the most important lessons of the trip—that, although it was California, and it was summer, that San Francisco has been and will always be cold and windy. We also got lost, and learned that the iPhone is not to be trusted as the ultimate authority on walking directions. Finally, we ate dinner at a Thai restaurant and saw the city by night by riding on the San Francisco cable cars—then learned two more lessons. One was that you have to pay fare both ways on the cable cars. Luckily for us, the second lesson was that cable car operators are kinder than you think. Realizing that we hadn’t known beforehand that you had to pay, the driver let us get back on—standing room only, of course. So my daredevil older sister, Adrianna, got her dream of standing on the outside while the steep San Francisco streets whizzed by, and I just felt mildly sick.

I wasn’t that sorry to hear that the rest of the trip would be mainly work—actually, I was looking forward to it. I’d done some research beforehand on SETI’s Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, and I thought that it was fairly interesting. One thing Wikipedia didn’t tell me is that Hat Creek (in Northern California) is HOT. I started to get worried when I went to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website (NOAA) to check the weather and they had a little burning sun icon with “hot” in all-caps. When NOAA uses the burning-sun icon and all-caps, you know that they really mean it. And they did. We had the air conditioning in full swing by the time we arrived. It didn’t help that I was wearing long, thick black pants either. As our tour guide, astronomer Garrett Keating, showed us around the facility, I was starting to wonder if there was a real creek nearby—it seemed like it would have evaporated already in the oven-like temperatures around me.

On a more positive note, the technology that SETI uses is truly interesting. I was able to see huge antennas move, see inside an anechoic chamber, and take a look at the “Ray of Death,” which looks like a giant bladed spear but is actually used to receive radio waves of different lengths, not to impale aliens. Although the telescopes look giant and invincible, they’re actually very sensitive pieces of equipment, so we had to get the cameras and microphones tested before using them, in case they caused any damage. As it happened, our wireless microphone was judged too powerful (rather ironic, I thought—such a tiny piece of equipment could hurt such giant telescopes!) and we had to use the one on the camera instead. Sometimes, such sacrifices have to be made in the name of science. :) The scientists at SETI have made a lot of sacrifices, and overcome many obstacles, themselves. Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of the Center for SETI Research, who I interviewed for the program, has dedicated much of her life to the search. Growing up in the 1950s, there was not a whole lot of support for women in science. Although today she’s the recipient of a TED Prize and one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2008, Dr. Tarter had to work hard to get there—while taking engineering, she was the only woman in a class of 300 men.

I learned a great deal about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence through my online reporting. I can only hope that someday, we can definitively answer the question, “Are we alone?”

09/22/2009

A Kid's Eye View of Scholastic's 39 Clues

[Adora Svitak is the published author of three books and the world's youngest teacher. She came up with the title above mainly because it rhymed.]
How would you feel if all your extended family members kept trying to kill you? If you’re Amy and Dan Cahill, you wouldn’t be surprised at all. The young brother-and-sister team are the main characters in the wildly popular series The 39 Clues. The books follow Amy and Dan as they go around the world looking for the “39 Clues.” Oh, and did I mention that they belong to the most powerful family in the world (most members of whom do display homicidal tendencies)? The books are, needless to say, chock-full with adventure.
Now you may be wondering what a book review is doing on the Educator’s Royal Treatment, and for a series of adventure books at that. My response? The 39 Clues is more than adventure novels—it’s a motivational reading tool, pack of cards, and fun read all in one. I should know—I finally read the first book, The Maze of Bones. Written by Rick Riordan, The Maze of Bones (unflatteringly) introduces the Cahill family and its quest to find the 39 Clues.

As far as motivating readers goes, The 39 Clues is a smash hit. Suspenseful and exciting, it attracts both boys and girls with its gutsy main characters (who, luck has it, are a boy and a girl). It’s not the hardest read, so kids won’t be hugely intimidated by the wordage. What’s more, it presents a card-collecting, game-playing, prize-winning opportunity. What more needs to be said?

The books are interactive on many different levels. Each book comes with six cards, each of which has an identification code. Kids go to the 39 Clues website to enter the code and create an online card collection. Players can enter sweepstakes with prizes ranging from $250 to $10,000.

The books are genuinely fun to read. I must admit that, although the books were a little juvenile for my reading level, that I was on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as possible to find out what happened next. And I don’t even like mystery-adventures.

However, educators may find the book a little misleading to younger readers—for instance, the books say that pretty much every powerful person who ever lived on Earth—Ben Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.—was a member of the Cahill family. Which is, I’m assuming, not exactly true. So if you plan on having your students read The 39 Clues, make sure they’re clear on the fact that it’s fiction, through-and-through.

And while the story’s main characters aren’t always role models (like any brother and sister, they fight frequently), they do behave bravely in the face of danger and do what they think is right—which, more often than not, means acting nice to other Cahills, even when it’s not the most advantageous.

Although The 39 Clues definitely isn’t a history lesson, it provides a lot of motivation to under-confident readers and gives kids role models their own age. Test-drive it before you hand it to your students—but I warn you, you may be hooked.

09/16/2009

No More Moaning and Groaning

An Eleven-Year-Old Writer’s Tips for Getting Your Students to Enjoy Writing
“I don’t like to write.”
How many times have you heard that unfortunate mantra? I say unfortunate because writing is a huge part of most curriculums. When you have students who don’t like to write, you have students who will be groaning and moaning about assignments all through the school year.
I teach writing almost every day through distance learning. The other day I spoke to a group of third-graders in Indianapolis. I asked them, “Do you ever have a hard time coming up with ideas to write?” There was a unanimous “yes.”

Help make ideas accessible for students.

Many students I’ve spoken with seem to be under the impression that you can only think of ideas after long and laborious processes. Show students that you can come up with ideas easily. Ask students simple questions that allow them to use their observation skills, like “Tell me about your classroom. What are some of the things on the walls?” Ask questions about colors, smells, sounds, etc. so that students use the five senses.

You can use activities like word association to get kids thinking further—for instance, if there’s a poster on the wall saying, “Work hard to achieve,” ask students what words they think of from “work.” I would say factory, then industry, then pollution, then sewage, and from there I might think of an idea for a child who goes undercover at a sewage plant to find out if they’re polluting the nearby woods and river.

Break it down.

You can also use small steps to reach larger goals. When I’m working with students to try to come up with a story, I ask, “Where should we set this story? Where should it take place?” If it’s set in modern-day, I might ask something like, “What’s a place you like to go to?” Students usually have lots of ideas for settings. Then I move on to characters, and we have fun coming up with names by spelling our own names backward and turning commonly used words into names. When we come up with the needed “ingredients” one-by-one, it makes story writing seem less intimidating to students.

Work together.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of collaboration. Many kids can be really intimidated by writing, especially when an assignment just gets thrown at them—“write a two-page research paper on the Grand Coulee Dam,” for instance. The average kid will be wondering, “But how do I do the research? And cite sources?” and a plethora of other questions. To make writing clearer and more understandable, a collaborative writing exercise is very handy. When students are working together, they learn skills of teamwork. You could choose an example topic—the orangutan, for example—and work with students to conduct research. I would go to National Geographic Animals or a similar site, search orangutan, and take notes on the information, to show students that process. Next, I would give them a topic to search and have them work on paraphrasing and quoting information together. Such an exercise would decrease student fear while increasing learning. Having seen, and participated in, an example of how research should be conducted, the student will be more comfortable with writing on their own.

Make it fun.

Just because you’re preparing for state standardized tests doesn’t mean it has to be all dry prompts and no creativity! Use fun activities like continuous free-writes (don’t take your pencil off the paper!) and pass-around stories (you write two lines on a piece of paper, fold over the first sentence, and let the next person, who can only see one of your lines, continue it) to show students that writing is—well, fun!

Share successes.

If you have especially gifted writers in your class, share their work with other students. Having professional writers speak about their experiences and why they write can be motivational to students as well. Talk about popular authors like J.K. Rowling who have succeeded spectacularly in the field of writing to show students that being a writer is special, and something to be proud of.

Make it relevant.

Maybe you’ve heard the excuse, “But I’m going to be a science professor. I don’t need writing!” Your retort? “Science professors have to write grants to get money for their research.” If your student protests that they don’t want to be a writer, that they want to be something that has no possible relevance to writing, make it relevant. Find ways that all careers use writing.

Hopefully these tips will help the moaning and groaning dissipate next time you hand out the week’s writing assignment. Next time your students say, “I don’t like to write,” I’m hoping that you know exactly what to say back at them.

09/11/2009

Do's and Dont's of the Education Presentation

Do

Use multimedia to engage viewers

To me, nothing wakes up an audience better than hitting the “play” button on a loud recorded scream—not that your audiences would need waking up, of course. I think that giving a presentation is a little bit like holding a banquet. If all you make is meatloaf, you’ve lost eaters’ interest. The point of a feast is to have variety—meatloaf, casserole, stir-fried rice, vegetable quiche, escargot, sashimi. Eating meatloaf after meatloaf is like viewing bulleted text on a slide after slide after slide. Why use just text if a picture is worth a thousand words? Or when a video must be a million?

Lighten it up

It might just be that I’m under 18, but I think that even oh-so-serious adults appreciate a good laugh once in a while. During a lot of education presentations I’ve seen, members of the audience can seem tense, almost intimidated. Cracking a joke helps draw people together and relax. If you’ve made your audience laugh, they’ll probably remember it fondly—more so than if it were a laugh-less, lifeless speech.

Use varied layouts on your slides

The average slide has a title at the top and bulleted text beneath. But you can mix things up and choose from many different types of layouts.
You can use different types of layouts for different purposes—a title slide emphasizes the topic; a comparison slide emphasizes similarities and differences; an image slide helps you emphasize a picture. This not only makes your presentation more exciting visually, but it complements variances in content—including, I’m hoping, more multimedia.
Make sure the technology works

If you’re giving a presentation that demonstrates technology (or uses it in any way, shape, or form) make sure that it works before you start. For instance, sometimes I’ll present at a school and my computer won’t work with the projector. The school will have another computer on hand, so I go online to get my presentation from my email—except the school filters won’t allow me to open my email account. So always, always make sure you have a Plan B, like saving the presentation onto a USB flash drive or on a CD or DVD.

Don’t

Use clashing backgrounds and templates

You could have the greatest content in the world, but nobody will want to look at it—they might not even be able to read it—if it’s bright red against hot pink, or dark grey against black, or grass-green against the red of a habanero pepper. Make sure that, if you’re going beyond a simple background, that your template matches the content of your presentation—don’t use the tattered parchment template for a presentation on 21st Century technology.

Refer to hardware/software preferentially

Unless you think that one brand of hardware/software is really, truly, so much better than the competitor, you have considerably more expertise with one type, there are no competitors, or you’re getting paid by the company J, try to avoid referring to hardware/software preferentially. What I mean by this is, don’t just say, “If you want to establish educational social networking in your classroom, use MySpace.” Instead, say something like, “If you want to establish educational social networking in your classroom, there are many social networking websites such as…” and list a few. Also, schools will have different requirements and needs, so it’s up to them to determine which technology to use.

Conclusion

Don’t use clashing backgrounds and templates or refer to hardware/software preferentially. Do use multimedia to engage viewers, lighten it up, use varied layouts on your slides, and make sure the technology works.

Additionally...

Ask the audience for input: The simple act of asking a question can work wonders when it comes to engagement. Which brings me to…

What are your own do’s and don’ts for the education presentation?

09/03/2009

Ode to the Blog

I wanted to expand more on the topic of blogging, which I discussed somewhat in my post, “Power to the Students.” The weblog is, according to the Encarta Dictionary, is “a frequently updated personal journal chronicling links at a Web site, intended for public viewing.” I think that this definition needs some modification for education. I think that a blog is more than a journal. As I talked about in “Power to the Students,” the blog offers students the chance to publish work, gain recognition, and—admittedly, in a slightly backhanded way—pressures them into improving their writing when they know they have an audience.
But I do know that blogging isn’t allowed in a lot of school districts, probably because of safety concerns. However, school blogging tools like ePals, and even mainstream blogging services like Google’s Blogger, offer you the ability to make a blog private—viewable only to certain people. Those “certain people” should include other students, teachers, and administrators. For centuries student work has been traditionally viewed only by the teacher, the student, and maybe the student’s parents. A blog, if you’ll excuse the comparison, is like a school newspaper on steroids. It offers kids the chance to circulate and distribute work and get feedback, while incorporating multimedia tools like pictures, video, and sound.
At the beginning of the school year (which it is for me here in Washington), blogging can be a great way for teachers to learn more about students and students to learn more about their classmates from topic choice, writing style, and opinion. It offers a teamwork aspect, too; when everybody collaborates over a common goal (to make the blog as good as possible), the classroom learns lessons in cooperation and working together.
All this is very fine, you may say, but what are the students actually supposed to write about on a class blog?

Here are four of my favorites:
10 Events of the Day: This activity is good practice for personal narrative; it can be used as a brainstorming activity to help students write. The title of the activity is fairly self-explanatory. Students list ten events of the day using descriptive skills.
Point of View: This activity can be used in a variety of ways. It works especially well with historical events. For instance, your students are learning about the American Revolution. Have students write from both the point of view of the American soldiers and of the British. Or you could have students write about George Washington from the point of view of one of his horses. This is just an example of writing to learn in history. If you were doing it as a purely language arts activity, you could make it simpler—for instance, write from the point of view of the bird being hunted and the cat who is hunting.
Vocabulary Poems: After teaching students vocabulary, have each student secretly select a word from the vocabulary list, then write a poem based on the word they selected. Post the poems on the class blog and have readers guess in their comments what the word means. For instance, I wrote a poem, Insolent, based on the word:

She would not listen, simply screamed

While others stared in shock;

She put her mother in the pantry

Locking every lock;

She did not do her sums at all

She made fun of her aunt

Whenever asked to do something,

Her favorite word was "can't."

She would have continued

If she hadn't packed her trunk

And set sail on a caravel

Which promptly sunk.

Becoming an Expert: Have students select a topic which they would like to become an expert on. You could have a list of topics for students to choose from, or have them decide on their own. Students will conduct research on the topic and write at least two blog posts about new things they’ve learned. It helps students learn research skills and skills for expository writing.

Honestly, I think that just looking at what the great things the Educator’s Royal Treatment has done with blogging should be persuasion enough for you to start your own classroom blog. Looking forward to seeing you in the blogosphere!

09/02/2009

Digital Reading vs. Print Books

I live in the Seattle area, and in those long ago days of August, it rained. Yes, raining in mid-August. Even we stoic Washingtonians agree that this is not supposed to happen. But, being a stoic Washingtonian, instead of complaining about it for the whole day, I curled up with a book.
You may wonder why I am telling you this. My question is, however superficial, would it be harder to “curl up” with a Kindle (or any other type of digital reading? And, because this is an education blog, the original inquiry leads me to questions about digital reading’s applications in education. Recently I heard about Amazon trying to market to college students by putting textbooks on the Kindle. Do you think digital reading has a place in your classroom?

To use the Kindle as an example, digital reading has its benefits. Some of the K’s features (as were dutifully listed on Amazon) include text to speech, its lightness and portability, its ability to hold over 1,500 books, adjustable text size, bookmarks and annotations, and a built-in dictionary.

For those of you who teach either sight-impaired students or auditory learners, the text to speech feature could be a huge boon. Instead of having to get Braille books, which are not always available and can be hard to obtain, you are able to have books read aloud on the Kindle. This is handy for English second language learners as well; hearing the pronunciations of words, and the written read aloud, can be very helpful when learning how to read English words. However, there have been criticisms that only certain books have the audio feature, and that the voice sounds “robotic.”

The portability of the Kindle is another selling point for Amazon. At 10.2 ounces, it’s “thin as most magazines” (Amazon). Instead of lugging heavy books around in backpacks, students are able to access multiple books with the click of a button. At the same time, its thin feature could make it hard to find if—or when— it gets lost. For a thin device, the Kindle can hold a fairly astonishing number of books—1,500, that is.

One feature I would find especially handy would be the adjustable text size. I’m nearsighted and the fonts in books often seem too small to me. I’m sure that many other students share my predicament; being able to change the text size would solve that.

I personally really love highlighting words. I also enjoy the forbidden pleasures of taking notes in the margins of books. However, I carry personal responsibility for the well-being of all the books on my bookshelves, and so you will rarely find either offense detailed in any of my books. The Kindle allows students to use bookmarks and annotations, so that they can come back to relevant points in stories and read the notes they’ve taken—although recently, according to Puget Sound Business Journal, “a Michigan high-school student named Justin Gawronski [sued] Amazon.com Inc.—claiming that when the online retailer recently deleted the George Orwell novel “1984” from his Kindle reader, it also caused his “copious notes” to be “rendered useless.”

My favorite feature would probably have to be the built-in dictionary. How many times have kids asked you what a word means? When you read a story filled with words you don’t know, the actual plot line can be difficult to understand. Anyone who’s read anything by Dickens can testify to this, myself included. Giving students the power to look up unfamiliar words not only builds vocabulary, it builds independence on the student’s part. Instead of having to constantly rely on others, they are able to find answers by themselves—which ties into my idea of giving kids control.

Although, at this point, this would be a perfect sales pitch for digital reading, I’m not a salaried employee of Amazon—so I’m going to talk about the disadvantages of digital reading too.

The Kindle is expensive. At $299 per device, or almost $6000 for a class of 20, it’s more than most schools and classrooms can afford, especially in a time of economic downturn. There are free digital reading programs available—for instance, my mom has a reading app on her iPhone that allows her to download classics—but, of course, an iPhone costs. Digital reading through eBooks, which can be downloaded free or at low cost, still require computers, and unless your school has a 1:1 program, you’ll have to share one eBook with the masses, which has its own problems—what speed do you scroll at, for instance? Even if you are able to get every student set up with their own computer and eBook, reading on a computer, I think, is harder on the eyes—and less visually appealing—than actually flipping through a book.

And how many kid-friendly books does the Kindle actually have? With its high price, it’s more likely aimed at adults—professionals, businesspeople. Thus it could be harder finding appropriate reading material for your students.

Last but not least, there is a feeling that comes with just grabbing a random book off the shelf—spontaneity. With the Kindle, since you pay for every book, you may be more careful and selective about which books you actually download—which could be a good thing, but also a limiting one. Think what would happen if you only read the books you wanted to read. I probably wouldn’t have learned addition. J In other words, that randomness that comes with looking at a bookshelf and choosing a print book, then thumbing through it, is lost.

Besides, good ol’ books don’t need electricity. You won’t ever hear the paperback in the corner complain about low battery.

Ultimately, both print books and digital books have their pros and cons. As for me, the rainy days have ended, and the sun shines benevolently upon Seattle once more. I’m going outside to play—and I leave it to you to decide which platform for reading is best for your classroom.

08/11/2009

The School Principal Just Friended Me?

Social Networking in Education

What pops into your head when you hear “social networking?” Teenagers and text lingo? Facebook and MySpace? Stalkers? Maybe one thing that you didn’t think of was education. I believe that education is one of the most important potential new aspects of social networking. Because sites like MySpace and Facebook are so popular with the middle-and-high school crowd, educational networking allows you to reach your target audience using tools we are comfortable with.

Social networking is all about sharing. Admittedly, some people share too much (don’t you dare give that anonymous online friend your street address!) but educators can decide what is shared, and turn the social networking site into a center of sharing educational content—so that students are learning in the process. The most basic forms of sharing on a social networking site include email and chatting, or instant messaging, both of which are available on Facebook without having to download software.

Facebook also allows users to write on a friend’s “Wall,” the public writing space in your profile. This would allow educators to post student-specific assignments, tips and tricks, or other information. Through the “What are you thinking?” type-in bar at the top of your own homepage, you can post text, photos, videos, events, and links. All of your “friends”—your pupils and colleagues—will then be able to view this update. This hugely powerful tool gives you the ability to reach out to students and staff with the click of a button.

My older sister, Adrianna, will be a ninth grader this upcoming school year. She is also an avid Facebooker. We both enjoy taking Facebook “quizzes.” These can be decidedly random, with titles such as “What Harry Potter character do you most resemble?” to “Which type of cookie symbolizes your personality?” It got me thinking, however, that educators could utilize the popularity of such online quizzes to send students the occasional pop quiz. It wouldn’t have to be all serious—you could throw in some joke questions, give the quiz a funny title, or pretend that it’s a personality quiz (“Which Renaissance Painter Are You Most Like?”) while actually including questions that test the student’s ability to comprehend the information. Such methods may seem just a little dishonest, but it ties in with my mantra of “Get ‘em by surprise!” The last place a student expects the week’s pop quiz is on a social networking site.

Besides quizzes, social networking sites have the added benefit of offering students an “easier way to communicate,” according to Adrianna. As I have said often, learning is really a two-way street. Facebook allows students and teachers to make learning an interactive, communicative, process, where both sides can exchange thoughts and develop ideas. Questions that students never can ask—or answer—in front of their peers may be less taboo online.

Adrianna also said that social networking gives you room to fine-tune your thoughts—that it’s “less stressful when you can backspace what you said if you don’t like it.” When used properly, social networking as a method of communication can actually help students develop their reading and writing skills; when students are able to express themselves in a virtual environment like a social networking site that they enjoy using, they may feel more comfortable about language arts. Social networking as a method of communication gives students more options; you can share video, pictures, links, etc., on someone’s Wall, through chatting or email—the choices are limitless. What’s more, you can be selective as to who you socialize with. Students’ Facebook pages are where they communicate with people they are comfortable with—which should include you.

I know that not every teacher is crazy about the idea of exploring yet another Internet tool. On her Facebook Wall, my mom raised the question, “Do tech tools create [more] challenge[s] for teachers to manage in the classroom?” One respondent, Karyn Romeis, replied, “Of course they do, but that’s no excuse not to use them. They form a part of the landscape of life, and excluding them from the classroom is to deny a whole world of opportunity.” The likelihood is that many of your students are citizens of the online social networking world. Why not establish a continent of education?

08/04/2009

Power to the Students!

Power to the people! Power to the students!

You may wonder why I declare this. Today’s disenfranchised youth cannot vote; the lower grades cannot drive; we can’t drink—well, that one’s not so important, but in general, minors are not the decision-makers. Where should minors have some control? Education.

When kids of my age are told to do things, we generally are not so excited about doing it. Think in the vein of “take out the garbage” and “eat your vegetables.” When the educator is always at the head of the table, students may not be so apt to eat, or, in other words, to learn.

One of the best ways to get kids engaged in the classroom is to give us some control in our learning experience. I know this first-hand as a student and a teacher. When I teach writing, one of my favorite activities is collaborative writing. Instead of giving each student an individual assignment from the get-go, I instead have students lead the way by suggesting words, characters, and even storylines in response to questions. This gives students a feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of control in the writing process. I use technology like Microsoft Word and an Activboard to show students their ideas come alive in real-time.

As a student, I know how control gets me interested. I attend an online public school, the Washington Virtual Academies, and I am able to learn at my own pace, deciding when to learn what lessons, and where. Although the regular brick-and-mortar school might have a more standardized approach, there are many online ways to get students more involved in the learning process. These include blogs, wikis, and online document sharing.

“Writing is the mark you make on the world, and you want to make sure that mark is something you are proud of.” This is one of my favorite mottoes to share with students. Posting student work on a class blog does many things; it makes students aware that they have an audience, and more considerate of the quality of their writing; at the same time, it gives students who want their writing in the spotlight a chance to demonstrate their work. A blog allows students to reach higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, through editorials, stories, and essays. It gives students a feeling of participation and involvement, and gives them the chance to share their work with the world. A blog could act as a paperless class newspaper, and can be circulated to a wider audience on the World Wide Web. For some years, I attended afterschool classes at my home with students from around the neighborhood who needed homework help. We set up a blog, www.seedsoflearning.blogspot.com, on which we posted our writing.

A blog is also a powerful organizational tool. If you have ever seen the inside of a grade-schooler’s binder, you may reconsider giving them back that masterpiece writing assignment without making an online copy first! The weblog allows you to easily save student work—because even the most eloquent of essays can get lost somewhere in the shadowy depths of a backpack.

Another powerful tool is the wiki. Wikis allow a class to collaborate on a project or get more in-depth on a topic. I highly recommend the video, “Wikis in Plain English,” part of the “Blogs, Wikis, or Nings? Part 2” article by Tara Seale. One way to use a wiki, as the video mentioned, was to create a list. A wiki could be used effectively as a site for students to brainstorm ideas for a project.

A wiki could also be used as a writing tool. For instance, if the life science class is learning about the difference between plant and animal cells, the teacher could set up a wiki for a compare-contrast article and write a paragraph introducing plant and animal cells to get the wiki started. Next, Student A could note that plant cells have cell walls and animal cells do not. Student B could add a few lines about how plant cells have chlorophyll. And the wiki goes on. Every student becomes a part of the project.

I am a big believer in the power of free stuff in general (think dumpster diving), and my philosophy applies to education, minus the dumps. Well-respected online document sharing programs like Google Documents can be excellent collaborative writing tools. They let students exchange ideas back and forth. One plus of using Google Docs is the privacy; Documents only allows those people who have been approved by “Collaborators” to contribute to a piece of writing.

Not only do these technology options give your students control, they are all fairly user-friendly and do not require too much technological expertise. Although technological expertise should not be something you—or your 21st Century students—are lacking in.

Tree House Descriptive Passage Written with Fourth Graders

2009-12-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

We built our tree house in our backyard, which gave

us lots of space. When you walk by our house, you

can't miss the tree house, because it's very tall--

and it's also brightly striped with red and white, just

like a candy cane. The door is square and made

out of non-perishable gingerbread. In fact, the

whole tree house is edible, which means that we will

have a big candy feast after Christmas is over.

To get into the tree house, you climb a ladder made

out of really, really hard gingerbread. Once inside,

you're rewarded by the sweet smell of fresh-baked

cookies, gingerbread, and candy canes.

Story Beginning Written With Sixth Graders over Video Conferencing

2009-12-07T11:48:00.001-08:00

William Bradford was no chef—he knew it, and his mother knew it, and most of the pizza-eating population of San Francisco knew it too well.

William had, until recently, worked at a charming little pizzeria called Rosemarie’s. It served pizza, pasta, and drinks, and it had been short on staff. So it hired William.

William was not a chef by nature. His parents cooked most of his food for him. When they didn’t, he ate cup noodles. This was the extent of his culinary prowess. Nevertheless, the pizzeria made him Head Chef and started him on pizzas right away.

It had been a cool, sunny morning when William’s very first customer walked in. Todd Giant was a short, heavyset man with two greasy bald spots on his head. He loved eating pizza.

“I’d like a double-thick pizza pie with triple toppings of chopped jalapenos, crumbled Oreos, and buttered anchovies.”

“OK,” William said, writing the order down. “Do you want that with soy sauce?”

“Yes, and lots of it!” Todd said, with a loud belch. He had just walked over from the teriyaki restaurant.

William went back to the kitchen to make the pizza pie and found himself facing a hopeless dilemma—he had absolutely no idea how to cook.

Beginning of Story Written with Sixth Graders Over Video Conferencing

2009-12-07T10:59:00.001-08:00

Setting: San Bernardino Mountains

Characters: John—very short, very grumpy. He is the son.

Jess—she’s very humorous, and can make people laugh; she has brown hair. She’s the mom.

Bob—he’s very smart; he’s tall. He can be very klutzy sometimes.

It was an unusually cold Monday for California, and John, Jess, and Bob were vacationing in the San Bernardino Mountains. John, who was being a grumpy teenager as usual, said pessimistically,

“It looks like snow.”

“Come on, John, it’s California,” Jess (John’s mom) said lightly. “Anyway, even if it does snow, it won’t matter that much. We don’t have to get back until Wednesday, and—”

“WOAH!” John’s dad, Bob, yelled as he tripped over the phonebook that lay on the floor, then knocked the bedside lamp off the table.

“Um,” he said, embarrassed. “Well, what were you saying, Jess?”

“We don’t have to get back before Wednesday,” she said calmly. Her husband had tripped over things before.

“I was right, Mom!” John crowed triumphantly. “It’s snowing.”

The whole family ran to the window, and Jess was the first to gasp. The snow was coming down thickly. In some places it seemed like the sky was a showerhead of snow. Jess trembled slightly—snowstorms on the San Bernardino Mountains were infamously fierce. Getting home before Wednesday might be harder than she had thought.

Educators' Royal Treatment

2009-11-30T17:13:00.001-08:00

Hey All,

If you want to see my posts about education, be sure to go to http://www.educatorsroyaltreatment.com/. If you search Adora Svitak, you'll find a collection of all of my articles.

Thanks!

-Adora

Poem written with elementary school students Over Video Conferencing

2009-11-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

The kitty-cat is furry,

Fuzzy and quite purry,

They look very cute,

and their minds are acute.

They play with yarn,

Find mice in the barn,

But kitty-cat may claw you,

Her claws are very sharp.

Her relatives are in the zoo-

the tiger and the lion.

Their hunger is voracious,

And their cuteness is contagious,

But it's still very nasty to

Clean up the poo. Ewww!

Poem Written with Elementary School Students Over Video Conferencing

2009-11-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

Monkeys are cute as they swing through the woods,

Wearing their fur like cloaks and hoods,

Saying, “Koo-koo-ah-ah!”

With a flexible jaw,

Made for eating bananas—

RAW.

They’re jumpy and squeaky,

Sometimes dirty and leaky,

But they groom each other quite—

NEATLY.

Why Killing Insects is Bad for You

2009-11-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

In preparation for my grandma's visit in a couple of weeks, I went about cleaning the house's downstairs bathroom. This may not sound so bad, but you have not seen the downstairs bathroom. Groundwater seeping up to the walls from torrential rains had widened the gap between the wall and the floor, and what I assumed was mold had slowly begun its creep upwards. The remnants of a caulking job were strewn in an odd kind of order on top of the toilet, near the sink, and under the cupboard. But, of course, the title of this post is "Why Killing Insects is Bad for You." After shoving much of the non-vaccuumable mess into the cupboard and vaccuuming the rest, I was faced with my next task--the removal of spiders.

I could have just vaccuumed them up like so many other non-living things, but my older sister's vegetarian instincts must have washed off on me--that, or I was imagining being inside a vaccuum too vividly. So instead of speedily dispatching the spiders (or perhaps daddy-longlegs) that clung so tenaciously to the shower walls, I fetched my spider-catching materials--a plastic cup; a thin piece of paper; and my bug-catcher, a hard plastic, narrow bowl-like instrument complete with tweezers and a cap with breathing holes. I captured one spider in the cup, deposited it into the bug catcher, and proceeded to capture my next. Finding it too difficult, I decided to release the originally caught spider, now getting restless inside its temporary plastic home, outside.

Over the course of the next ten minutes I captured at least three spiders (or daddy-longlegs) and deposited them outside. There were no deaths--with one exception. It was the second day of cleaning the bathroom, and after capturing what I thought were all the spiders, I saw another one lurking on the floor. I was, to say in the least, annoyed. But I was also impatient. My bug catcher, and the plastic cup, lay upstairs, and I didn't feel like making the trek. So instead of giving the spider a chance at life, I grabbed a paper towel and smashed it underneath. I was then faced with horror at what I had done and the realization that I would have to somehow dispose of the cadaver. With a wince, I swooped upon the paper towel, and, half closing my eyes, dumped it in the trash. I think I saw one feeble little leg on the ground.

Not only did I feel triumphant when I successfully captured and removed a spider without fatalities, I felt guilty and nauseated when I had to dispose of a dead one. Thus it is most convenient to dispose of spiders in a humane manner (i.e., capturing them in a plastic cup, then releasing them outside). If anything, it's convenient for your karma. After all, you don't want to be a spider in your next life--and if you are, you don't want a reincarnated victim to have revenge.* So in the future, I'm not going to be killing insects. Adrianna would be proud of me.

*This is a good rule for most living beings, not just spiders. In other words, killing anything on purpose is something to avoid.

Letter to Future Representative Written with Port Leyden's Fifth Graders

2009-10-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been teaching a video conferencing series, "A Kid's Guide to US Government" (Parts 1, 2, and 3) to fifth graders in Port Leyden, NY. I actually taught Port Leyden's fifth graders last year, and it was a fun experience to be reunited with the new fifth graders! Every year, New York fifth graders take a state social studies test, which I found upon reading to be not only informational and interesting but also much higher in its level and caliber than its counterpart, the WASL, in Washington State. Ah well--we can hope for a better new standardized test; they are replacing the WASL.

As part of my presentations, I taught about citizenship and ways for citizens to influence government, such as writing a letter to their representative. Port Leyden currently has a vacant representative seat but there will soon be an election for that area. This is the letter we wrote for the "future representative."

--

Dear _________,

Imagine this: you’re walking in the lovely, bucolic foothills of the Adirondack Mountains when you feel something hot and burning hit your shoe. You yelp and jump up—only to see that the culprit is a smoldering cigarette butt. Would you like this? We are writing today about an issue that we find very important—the amount of non-smoking areas in Port Leyden.

Think if the cigarette had gone any further. We’ve seen in history that carelessly discarded cigarettes can start wildfires, like the Great Yellowstone fire and others. Do you want this to happen in your state?

What’s more, cigarettes left on sidewalks and in nature areas are an eyesore. Littering takes away from the beauty of nature around you.

What’s more, seeing smokers can negatively influence teenagers to take up the unhealthy habit and start smoking. We’ve seen similar effects in movies and TV long ago; back then, the people took action. Why not now?

Most importantly, secondhand smoke can be very damaging to children’s lungs and has been linked to an increased chance for lung cancer. Help the population of Port Leyden stay healthy—and smoke-free. Create more non-smoking areas.

Sincerely,

Port Leyden Fifth Grade Class

Descriptive Passages Written with Fourth Graders Through Video Conferencing

2009-10-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Bob was a tiny, brown, furry gopher with proportionally huge claws (his mother always complained about his inability to trim his claws) and a selfish attitude toward his toys, which were made out of fine wood chips and premium dirt. He liked his toys because they felt hard and rough, with lots of bumps he could file his claws on.

It was a gloomy, wet and soggy Tuesday when Bob scurried out of his burrow into an open

field. He could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. It was muggy and some of the other burrows smelled moldy. Bob felt sleepy; rain had always had a soporific effect on him. "I think I shall take a little nap," he sighed, and dove into his burrow--just in the nick of time, as

a giant lightning bolt struck from above.

-----

The tree house we recently built is

baby blue. It was as huge as a mansion,

with dark and gloomy shadows playing off

on the rust on the walls. Of course, this was

our Halloween theme; usually, the tree house

is bright and cheery, with lots of windows open

to let in the sunlight and the noise of

birds chirping, squirrels chattering, owls

"ooing" and the wind whistling.

The tree house used to smell like dead

mice but, with some air freshener and

a thorough volunteer mice removal and

relocation program, it smells fresh again.

There's a mini-fridge with Jolly Ranchers,

Snickers, Kit-Kats, soda, orange juice, and

root beer. However, there is another

mini-fridge right next to this that contains

all sorts of health foods. The mini-fridge

with candy contains double locks and a timing

program that carefully monitors all input

and output from the fridge.

On the Redesign of CNN

2009-10-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

CNN has recently redesigned its homepage. Now, instead of seeing the CNN logo in the left-hand corner of your screen, you're visually assaulted by a mammoth red banner with a bold CNN logo in the center. It's impossible not to see it, which is probably CNN's purpose, but it also makes everything else look small in comparison.

Another thing, besides the smallness, that I noticed on the new homepage is the divisiveness--or should I say the division-ness? It seems like there are more separators--bars or lines--that divide modules on the screen. Whether the point was to make things more clear, or to emphasize differences between modules, I'm not sure.

Finally, as has happened with CNN design changes in the past, not all parts of the website have been completely changed. If you check out some other sections, you'll still see the familiar logo in the corner, not the giant red banner, and you will see the same navigation bar. However, video has been integrated more thoroughly with articles, and the player, in my opinion, is sleeker and less clunky.

What do you think? Check out the CNN website. And here's my "Question of the Week (or whatever Period of Time That Suits me Therof)": Has a website you go to frequently changed its design, and if so, how? Do you like the change? Why or why not? Write your answer in the comments section if you dare. Thanks!

Story Written with Video Conferencing Third Graders

2009-10-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Character List:

Bob the Brontosaurus—main character

Charlie the Triceratops—enemy

Supermonkey! (Bob)

Billy the Cat (Charlie)

Setting: Ashland Elementary

Conflict: Bob has the brightest colors; Charlie is arguing.

It was a hot day at Ashland Elementary on Wednesday. Bob the brontosaurus was finishing up a lunch of leaves and salad with a tiny dollop of dressing (he couldn’t eat too much or else his cholesterol would rise) when Charlie the triceratops swaggered into the room.

“Hey, what kind of lunch is Bob having?” he demanded. “Haha. You can’t even finish off a whole bowl of dressing like I can.”

“You shouldn’t eat a whole bowl of dressing, Charlie, that’s gross,” Bob said.

“Oh, come on. You’re the gross one. You’re always eating salad without much dressing, and wearing dull colors—hey, wait a second.” Charlie inspected Bob with wide, surprised eyes.

“What! You’re wearing bright colors!”

“Brighter colors than you, that’s for sure,” Bob’s best friend, Supermonkey, chimed in. “Brighter head, too.”

“Quiet, Supermonkey,” Charlie’s friend, Billy the Cat, hissed, his fur standing on end. Supermonkey and Billy had a rivalry of their own.

“This can’t be happening!” Charlie said, stomping his huge, tree-trunk like legs. “I am the paragon of fashion for all! You can’t outshine me! Desist, at once!”

“Resist, at once,” Supermonkey said to Bob.

“Stop the smart mouth,” Charlie said, lunging toward Supermonkey. But Supermonkey was too fast for Charlie. He leapt up into the air, and using his rope-like tail, he coiled himself around the spinning fan on the ceiling. At just the right moment, when Charlie was about to grab Bob, he let go of the fan with a great “Hi-yaaaa!” (in monkey terms) and landed right in Charlie’s face (if you could call it a face). By the time they were done, Bob had managed to escape. Of course, everyone had forgotten about Billy the Cat.

Billy snuck off into the distance and prepared himself for a vicious fight. Dashing at great speed, he launched himself at Supermonkey, his claws extended—and that was when the principal came in.

Short Passage Written with Kentucky Video Conferencing Students

2009-10-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

It was an exceptionally warm day in the city of Anthalantern, Ipsnot. Inside the Anthalantern Elementary School, a big argument was going on--about uniforms.

"We should definitely wear uniforms!" Sandy said vehemently. "It makes everybody look neater and cleaner, and it makes our school look better!"

"Actually, a uniform could get worn out pretty fast," her sister, Addie, retorted.

"Come on, I thought you were on my side," Sandy said, sounding discouraged.

"Was on your side. Past tense," Addie said flatly. "How do you like our new campaign banner?" she smirked, holding up a giant banner that was five feet long. In fact, she nearly fell over--it was so heavy, being covered with gold leaf, copper wire, and stainless steel lettering. It said, "No Uniforms--Keep Freedom of Dress!"

"Uh-oh," said Sandy.