Before arriving in San Diego for the ISTE Conference mentioned in earlier posts, I visited a few other sites on the way with a friend.  One destination was Laguna Beach, where we stayed up in the hills not far from Laguna Beach High School, overlooking the ocean.  The picture below was taken only a hundred or so yards from the house.  What a beautiful place the whole of Laguna Beach is!


The picture below was taken with my iPhone at an event we attended right outside of L.A., in Walnut CA.  The climate and terrain of coastal California can hardly be beat!


The 'Cycle of Education' represented EdClick in the San Diego Convention Center for ISTE 2012.  Since EdClick customers are now spread across the country, we have begun to attend education conferences beyond those held in Texas.  ISTE is one of the largest and most dynamic of them all.  An estimated 15,000 educators from around the world attended.  We met folks from most every state, plus countries as diverse as Turkey, England, Korea, China, Mexico, Switzerland, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, and numerous others.  Despite our streamlined presence at this conference (our booth was half the normal size, with fewer accoutrements and personnel) we still left with over 100 solid contacts, a certain growth of our customer base, and promising developments for continuing product development! 


We celebrated our success with a couple of nights of food and fun in Little Italy, a San Diego gem!  San Diego is an all-around marvelous city!


After the conference I stayed on in San Diego for an additional day of riding with my most inspiring friend, Ted Schuster.  He took me up into the mountains for a day of twists, turns, and accelerations through Native American nations and other scenic areas around San Diego.  Ted is 73 years of age...going on 20---> I can hardly keep up with him!


Today---Day 180---I am on my way to the Sequoia National Forest for a stay in Camp Nelson, CA.  Leaving San Diego I have an especially reinvigorated sense of what I need to do to further promote continuous improvement in education, particularly through my efforts for EdClick.  The more terrain I cover and people I meet during 'Education Ride 365,' the more certain I am of my mission!

---

Day 168---449.6 miles traveled, 6 hours and 14 minutes of moving time, 54.2 miles per hour average moving time, 2 hours and 3 minutes stopped time, 54.2 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 87.3 miles per hour.  Day 169-172---88.08 miles traveled, 2 hours and 45 minutes of moving time, 32 miles per hour average moving time, and a max speed of 75.7 miles per hour.  Day 173---204.9 miles traveled, 3 hours and 3 minutes of moving time, 67.1 miles per hour average moving time, 36 minutes stopped time, 56.2 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 84.7 miles per hour.  Day 174---185.7 miles traveled, 3 hours and 55 minutes of moving time, 47.4 miles per hour average moving time, and a max speed of 86.6 miles per hour.  Day 175---84.11 miles traveled, 1 hour and 56 minutes of moving time, 43.2 miles per hour average moving time,  and a max speed of 82.2 miles per hour.  Day 176-178---In San Diego Convention Center.  Day 179---161.9 miles traveled, 4 hours and 11 minutes of moving time, 38.7 miles per hour average moving time, 2 hour and 30 minutes stopped time, 24.2 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 81.3 miles per hour. 

After working most of this week in Las Vegas, I am now back in (much cooler) southern California.  Brief stays in Apple Valley, Walnut, and Laguna Beach this weekend will be followed by a week in San Diego for the International Society for Technology in Education Conference I've mentioned in earlier posts.


Two things in particular romanticized motorcycle riding for me as a young boy.  One was daredevil Evel Knievel.  Most of you will no doubt recall him...


...and if so, you're seasoned enough in life to likely remember my other significant inspiration, the TV show "CHiPs." 


Filling up for gas in California I struck up a conversation with a real-life California Highway Patrolman named Luke.  He was kind enough to allow me to photograph him (below) on his BMW law machine!


Six months into 'Education Ride 365' I have yet to have a less than positive interaction with law enforcement!  Yay!

Yesterday I reported about an online effort to raise $5,000 to fund "a vacation" for the adult victim of a recent bullying incident on a school bus.  At 4:10pm pacific time yesterday the fund had raised $355,666.  Now, a mere 24 hours later, the amount is up to $570,566!

On a positive note, an online fundraising campaign was initiated to raise $5,000 for the abused bus monitor in the above video to take "a vacation."  In only a few days this effort has raised $348,972.  I am writing this at 4:10 Thursday afternoon.  Earlier this morning the total was $202,000.  That was a mere six (or so) hours ago. 



Americans are tired of bullying.  Americans are tired of cruel, seemingly poorly-parented children.  Americans (in many cases) expect the schools to completely insulate students from these injustices. 

Common standards in ELA and mathematics have been developed and adopted in all but four states.  Just this week, proposed common standards have been released for career and technical education by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium.  Now begin efforts to get this framework adopted in states across the country. 

The standards are organized into 16 "career clusters" including:

• Agriculture, Food & National Resources
• Architecture & Construction
• Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
• Business Management & Administration
• Education & Training
• Finance
• Government & Public Administration
• Health Science
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
• Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Each of these "career clusters" is further organized into subsets of "career pathways."  According to an Education Week article published today regarding this proposed set of standards:

Career and technical education has been sparking a lot of thought in recent years, as the old vocational education is being phased out in favor of more rigorous alternatives that seek to give students the demanding academics they need, but do it through a more hands-on, career-oriented lens. Programs like ConnectEd in California aim for this blend, arguing that it keeps students engaged while giving them all the training they need to pursue an array of options, from associate degrees and certificates to a four-year college path.

The entire document of "Common Career Technical Core" standards can be downloaded by clicking here.

I have previously posted about this trend.  I strongly believe greater emphasis on practical application of rigorous curriculum through career preparation concentrations will better serve so many fledgling young people (in particular), as well as our country as a whole.  Students must be allowed to go beyond primarily 'knowing' to much more 'understanding' and 'doing' towards a perceivably tangible goal other than the mere promise of yet more schooling.  So many young adults crave this.

All the journeys
Of this great adventure
It didn’t always feel that way
I wouldn’t trade them
Because I made them
The best I could
And that’s enough to say

Some days were dark
I wish that I could live it all again
Some nights were bright
I wish that I could live it all again

All the highlights of that headlong flight
Holding on with all my might
To what I felt back then
I wish that I could live it all again

I have stoked the fire on the big steel wheels
Steered the airships right across the stars
I learned to fight, I learned to love and learned to feel
Oh, I wish that I could live it all again

All the treasures
The gold and glory
It didn’t always feel that way
I don’t regret it
I never forget it
I wouldn’t trade tomorrow for today

I learned to fight and learned to love and learned to steal
I wish that I could live it all again

Another day down the road when I am blazing hot and longing for a climate more like that of spring in New England, I'll share other pictures I took in May from further up the coast of Maine!

 

One discipline problem school administrators have been increasingly focused on is bullying.  We heard it quite frequently from Edclick's current and prospective customers---school administrators---at the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference this past week.  I also hear it often during my 'Education Ride 365' discussions with educators and non-educators alike.  Since Edclick is in the business of developing solutions for the full range of operational challenges school administrators encounter running a 21st century school, I'm proud to say we can help with the "bullying" challenge!

Needless to say, an example of how two teachers in a suburban San Antonio school (allegedly) recently addressed this discipline priority is not on our list of solutions!  The full story can be accessed by clicking here or on the excerpt below:

From Vermont on Day 151 I made my way on to West Greenwich, Rhode Island.  Using this state as a launch point, on Day 152 I made my way completely up the "arm" of Cap Cod to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Later in the day I returned to West Greenwich, located outside of Providence, Rhode Island. 



The folks at Maroney's Motorsports in New Windsor NY were great!  They charged me fairly and were very kind.  Jim, whose grandfather founded the Harley Shop next door now run by his dad, was cool.  Even more so because he has his dog there running around like he owns the place!


Plunging south, on Day 156 I visited Charles Town, West Virginia.  A tough ride followed on Day 157.  It was a long, wet ride between Charles Town, WV and Louden, TN.  The night I spent in Loudon will not soon be forgotten.  A case of food poisoning put me through the wringer and made the 380 mile journey the next day---Day 158---an exercise in sheer endurance.  Excessive dehydration and motorcycling don't mix well! 

---

Day 151---306.9 miles traveled, 5 hours and 11 minutes of moving time, 59.1 miles per hour average moving time, 2hours and 29 minutes stopped time, 40 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 84 miles per hour.  Day 152---325 miles traveled, 10 hours and 10 minutes of moving time, 32 miles per hour average moving time, and a max speed of 86.8 miles per hour. Day 153---61.87 miles traveled, 1 hours and 33 minutes of moving time, 39.8 miles per hour average moving time, 47 minutes stopped time, 26.5 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 73.5 miles per hour.  Day 154---127.5 miles traveled, 3 hours and 15 minutes of moving time, 39.2 miles per hour average moving time, and a max speed of 70.5 miles per hour. Day 155---332.8 miles traveled, 6 hours and 39 minutes of moving time, 49.9 miles per hour average moving time, 2 hours and 50 minutes stopped time, and 35 miles per hour overall average.  Day 156---191.4 miles traveled, 3 hours and 41 minutes of moving time, 51.8 miles per hour average moving time, 1 hours and 34 minutes stopped time, 36.4 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 79.1 miles per hour. Day 157---491.8 miles traveled, 7 hours and 46 minutes of moving time, 63.3 miles per hour average moving time, 4 hours and 35 minutes stopped time, and 39.8 miles per hour overall average.  Day 158---379 miles traveled, 5 hours and 38 minutes of moving time, 67.1 miles per hour average moving time, 3 hours and 4 minutes stopped time, 43.5 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 84.3 miles per hour. Day 159---464.6 miles traveled, 6 hours and 40 minutes of moving time, 69.6 miles per hour average moving time, 48 minutes stopped time, 62 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 87 miles per hour. 

The map below displays an overview of the 23,406 mile course "Education Ride 365" has taken over the first five months of 2012.  Given the map's scale, the lines look much more linear than the travel actually was!  There were quite a few turns, loops, and overall wandering around throughout this general path!