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By Dr. Harry Tennant
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Friday, March 18, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: Way Out There, Man! The closest planet to the Sun is Mercury. For the first time ever, humans (NASA) now have a satellite in orbit around this hot planet. It took over six years for the "Messenger" satellite to travel 4.9 BILLION miles! "Are we there yet???" Click the image below for the full CNN article  Check It Out! Pass It On! (I told you I was going Science heavy today!) Posted at 4:43 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 18, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: It Only Happens Every Twenty Years--->This Weekend A Full Moon Will Be As Close To The Earth As It Gets!The moon will appear larger and brighter this weekend. Its orbit varies up to 31,000 miles from its closest location to Earth---the perigee--- to its furthest point---the apogee. Even this weekend, as close as the moon ever gets to Earth, it is still 211,600 miles away! Here are a few quotes from the CNN story that you can access by clicking the image below: "Saturday's full moon will be a super 'perigee moon' -- the biggest in almost 20 years. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years." "The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993" Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 4:27 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 18, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: You Can't Imagine How In-Depth This Weather Site Is.....Unless You Look!After a few days for spring break, it is back to business! There are a few really neat things I'd like to share with you today. If you love Science, you will love today's "Check It Out! Pass It On!" posts! We'll start with one of the most interactive information sites I know of on the net. "WeatherSpark is a website dedicated to making in-depth weather information easily accessible." It does that well! The graphs are remarkably interactive. This is a fun site!  The image below is a tab titled "Reports." This is super cool. Here is how they describe it: "You can now get in-depth weather reports for any location on earth and any time of year. The report aims to answer basic questions such as "what is the weather like on a typical day". This is useful if you're for example planning a trip and would like to know what to expect from the weather where you're there." Actually, they understate how detailed these summary reports are!  Check It Out! Pass It On!
Posted at 1:21 PM (permalink)
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Sunday, March 13, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: Should 'Personal Finance' Be One Of Our Most Important Required Classes?I often wonder if there is anything we can teach in school that would surpass the value of quality instruction in both personal finance and parenting. These two subjects should probably be core courses. Besides literacy and number sense, what can be more critical in the twenty-first century than the two under-taught life skills of personal finance and parenting. Are these being learned at home? Could our nation be stronger if young people systematically "learned" these two life skills? The piece below is very interesting. Apple users, imagine how much money you could have made had you bought Apple stocks rather than Apple products. Take a look at how prudent investors become 'haves' while so many others become 'have-nots.' I have bought a ton of Apple products over the years, in most cases to improve my job capabilities and performance. In hindsight, I could be wealthy right now!!! I chose the path of priorities taught to me in secondary education.  Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 8:38 AM (permalink)
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Friday, March 11, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: Response To Intervention--RTI--Another Excellent ResourceOn January 29th I posted about "the" source for Response To Intervention (RTI) information. Well...I stand somewhat corrected! I've since become familiar with another rich source of RTI information! As I wrote in my previous blog post: "Many schools and districts have developed and implemented Response To Intervention (RTI) plans. Others have that task ahead of them. Regardless of where your school or district is at on this time line, chances are that many professionals on your staff do not know enough about RTI." in that post, I recommended an excellent web site by The American Institutes for Research, supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Now, I'll recommend a web site by The National Center for Learning Disabilities. It is an excellent source as well! Click the image below to visit!  Does your school have a Response To Intervention (RTI) plan in place? Please leave a comment to share your thoughts or experiences. Posted at 2:24 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 11, 2011 In The News: Texas Governor Rick Perry Places Blame For Teacher Layoffs On 'Locals'Is there an educator left in Texas who supports Governor Rick Perry? Feel free to comment...pro or con. If you are still on the fence, here are a few quotes from the much more lengthy article below... "We're baffled by Governor Perry's comments," said Dax Gonzalez, spokesman for the Texas Association of School Boards. "Let there be no mistake that the decisions being made in school districts across the state regarding budget cuts and teacher layoffs are the direct results of decisions ... at the state Capitol." School district officials in Tarrant County collectively shook their heads at Perry's remarks. "It causes me much consternation that he would say something like that," said Cindy Lotton, the Keller district's school board president. "There are problems with funding from the state, and the districts have been tasked with cleaning up the mess."  A rally on the south steps of the state Capitol on Saturday is being
organized by a coalition called
Save Texas Schools. Planners say they expect as many as 10,000 participants. Posted at 12:21 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 11, 2011 Photo Of The Day: Space Shuttle & International Space Station Silhouetted Against The SunPhoto Of The Day: This is an incredible picture! The description of the photo is worth the quick read. Click either image below to access the story at NPR.org. (The photographer)..."obtained optimal viewing locations from the website Heavens-Above, which tracks astronomical sighting opportunities for astronomers." "If I was 500 feet more to the south, I would have missed it," he explained.   Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 11:22 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: The White House (And All Of D.C.) In 3D On Google MapsThis link will start you out with a birds-eye view of the White House, but you can zoom in-around-over-and-all about such that all of D.C. can be viewed from many angles. It is fantastic! Click below to begin exploration!  Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 2:33 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: Virtual Tour Of Our Nation's White HouseIn a recent post on his blog---EdClicking---Dr. Tennant proposed a number of ways schools can address budget shortfalls by earning income and enacting cost efficiencies. One of the missions of my blog---EdConnections---is to spotlight content and tools educators can use to enrich instruction and otherwise promote quality education. Heavy emphasis is placed on free resources. There is so much out there...and more so all the time. Most schools have their technology infrastructure in place...or are getting it up to speed. Educators must implement this technology in meaningful ways that engage students and capture their imaginations. Schools must implement it in ways that maximize efficiencies and improve communication with and between all stakeholders. I will continue to spotlight free resources educators can use to enrich instruction. If you can't benefit from them, perhaps you know others who can...so you will... Check It Out! Pass It On!
The White House Virtual Tour Dr. Tennant mentioned is quite a rich resource. Click the image below to access this free resource!  One of the many videos that caught my attention was the "Situation Room." Posted at 12:08 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 8, 2011 In The News: Who Needs Teaching Jobs, Texas Is Looking For Jobs In Other Sectors Of Our EconomyThe WFAA.com article below details Governor Rick Perry's efforts to produce jobs in Texas by spending big money....while allowing education jobs in Texas to evaporate like never before. The loss of these teaching jobs is sure to have a ripple effect on local communities, in varying degrees. A few key quotes follow: "He used the word 19 times in his recent state of the state address and has made it a top spending priority. But if Perry realizes his vision of a budget balanced through cuts alone, 100,000 teachers could lose their jobs. That's about a third of the 333,000 teachers employed by Texas public schools....." ....."In the current budget, schools got $50 billion in state and federal money to teach 4.8 million students. Proposed budgets would short Texas schools $10 billion, a figure that includes money that would be necessary to pay for an estimated 160,000 new students expected to enroll over the next two years." Click the photo above to access the full story on WFAA.com
Posted at 12:12 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 8, 2011 In The News: Each Texas District Must Decide What Connective Tissue Is UnnecessaryThis blog has spotlighted how several districts in Texas plan to survive the loss of one-fifth of their finances for the coming two-year budget...give or take a bit. Keller ISD is a very respectable, healthy district north of Fort Worth. They are winners. Here is how they plan to run the next leg of the race despite slashing key connective tissue formerly important to holding their skeleton together. Posted at 9:38 AM (permalink)
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Monday, March 7, 2011 Trends: Tight Budgets---->Tight ClassroomsClass size matters. Does it matter more than the quality of the teacher in the room? In states across our country, class sizes are once again rising, reversing a several-decade trend of lowered average (even maximum) class sizes. For an interesting story on this trend, click the New York Times article picture below, or catch a couple of quotes here: "The increases are reversing a trend toward smaller classes that stretches back decades. Since the 1980s, teachers and many other educators have embraced research finding that smaller classes foster higher achievement.... BUT ....Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who last Sunday told governors gathered in Washington to consider paying bonuses to the best teachers to take on extra students. Mr. Duncan said he would prefer to put his own school-age children in a classroom with 28 students led by a “fantastic teacher” than in one with 23 and a “mediocre” teacher."  Posted at 5:12 PM (permalink)
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Monday, March 7, 2011 In The News: Federal 'Impact Aid' Is Promised-----> Only Half Is DeliveredWhen it comes to our federal government, money isn't always where the legislative pen is. I was previously unfamiliar with the under-funded "Impact Aid" program, which is "a 60-year-old federal program designed to ease the burden of having military bases or tribal reservations that pay no local property taxes within the districts' borders, yet send hundreds of students to their schools." Well, they only came out a billion dollars short. Included at the end of this story is a chart of how much each state qualified for in fiscal year 2011 versus how much each actually received. For Texas the numbers are 107.9 million dollars promised, 48.4 million received. The full article from USA Today can be accessed by clicking the image below.  Posted at 1:30 PM (permalink)
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Sunday, March 6, 2011 Pass It On Education Resources: Conjunction Junction, What's Their Function?!Let's start a wonderful Sunday with what many of us used to hear most every Saturday morning!!! I don't know about you, but I could still recite the lyrics after not hearing it for over twenty-five years! I bet you know an English teacher---or other friend---who would love for you to... Check It Out! Pass It On!
Posted at 10:30 AM (permalink)
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Friday, March 4, 2011 Pass It On Education Resources: Need To Learn Those States And Capitals...Sing Along!No matter how much we stress the importance of 21st century skills over rote memorization, there will always be a need for students to learn information by recall. Part of their education is learning how to do so. Most of us learn songs well. Music can be an excellent tool for needed memorization tasks! Try this one for the states and capitals.......or I bet you know someone who would love it if you would... Check It Out! Pass It On!
Posted at 9:07 PM (permalink)
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Friday, March 4, 2011 Trends: After Katrina Devastation, Schools In New Orleans May Now Offer Young People More Than EverHurricane Katrina was devastating in so many ways. The schools in New Orleans were basically destroyed. As tragic as this has been short-term, it has also provided a unique opportunity for the school system in this great city to fundamentally redevelop. The trend, as highlighted in the article quoted below, is one of parent/student choice from schools with increasingly unique cultures and specializations to cater to a greater range of family (student) preferences. This trend toward specialization and greater choice is a trend that we are seeing (in varying degrees) in other areas of the country, but in NOLA the storm's aftermath necessitated a more rapid pace of development than is likely to occur where the status quo tends to do until the next day. It seems that education in New Orleans is on a fruitful path! Geaux N.O.! From the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune story...or access the entire story by clicking the image below: "Since Hurricane Katrina, the menu of high school choices in New Orleans has dramatically expanded. Students can now go to almost any school in the city, regardless of where they live. Nearly three-quarters of public schools are charter schools free to develop their own curriculums, resulting in schools with distinct characters. Many of the high schools parents may know from before the storm are directly operated by the Recovery School District and have extremely low test scores. Educators sometimes delicately steer parents away from familiar names and toward newer schools like Sci Academy.".... ...."It's about fit," said Darcy McKinnon, high school transitions coordinator at FirstLine Schools, which operates four elementary schools and will open a high school next year. "I talk to parents and give them a portrait of the high school. High school X is wonderful and has loads of extracurriculars, but I also know that it only offers two APs (Advanced Placement courses). Is your child someone who needs structure and personal attention? There are definitely kids who need to go to Easton, Walker or Karr, because what keeps them in school is the purple and the gold, the football team and the band." McKinnon advised Tony Watkins, who goes to Samuel J. Green Charter School, to consider Benjamin Franklin. Though the elite selective admissions school is a bit of a reach academically, McKinnon believes Tony could thrive there."
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Thursday, March 3, 2011 In The News: Teachers Wonder Why The Scorn?The New York Times ran a story today entitled, "Teachers Wonder Why The Scorn?" It is---like most NYT articles---a well-developed and worthy read. 
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Thursday, March 3, 2011 Trends: Race To Nowhere---->Challenging Current Assumptions About How To Best Prepare The Youth Of America For LifeWe live in a hyper-paced world. Most of us are over-scheduled and find it difficult to reconcile what we can do versus perceptions of what we should do. This is a well-established trend in American society. So often, this hyper-pace is extended to our young people and expectations of them...based upon our perception of what will make them successful in life. This is one guiding theme in a new widely-acclaimed documentary called, "Race To Nowhere." In their words: Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. In a grassroots sensation already feeding a groundswell for change, hundreds of theaters, schools and organizations nationwide are hosting community screenings during a six month campaign to screen the film nationwide. Tens of thousands of people are coming together, using the film as the centerpiece for raising awareness, radically changing the national dialogue on education and galvanizing change.  Click above to visit the "Race To Nowhere" web site I have yet to see the film.
If you are part of a screening in north Texas, I'd love an invite! Posted at 8:41 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Pass It On Education Resources: May The Force Be With Education Like It Is Imagined At The George Lucas Educational Foundation & EdutopiaMost of us know and love George Lucas for what he has done on the big screen. Beyond this, many of us are aware of and respect his contributions to improving education through the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Edutopia is the information source for this initiative...and a superb one it is! Most any educator would find this to be a valuable professional development tool! There is so much to see at the web site...by clicking below!  Below find one of the many video pieces I enjoyed on the Edutopia site: "Meet A Virtual Principal: How To Lead From A Distance." Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 6:05 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Parent Resources: Support For Parents Of A Child Struggling With Drugs And AlcoholI echo here what I stated in my post on February 19th, entitled "Parent Resources: Provide Inquiring Parents With More Than Words." As I wrote then: "As an educator....I wish I would have done more sharing of resources. That can be the extra step. Every year more parents have access to the internet and regular connectivity. There are many quality resources online for parenting education. What can make the link between increased online access and a parent utilizing the resources can be an educator who is asked for advice." Accordingly, here is a resource that is rich with information for parents who are concerned that their child may have an alcohol or drug problem. Often these are the most difficult cases.  Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 5:12 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Trends: Teen Cutting Videos Widely Available OnlineThe human experience is complex. Teenagers are trying to figure it all out. More so than at perhaps any stage of life, this quest often leads to potentially self-destructive behaviors. Unfortunately, some of these are painfully self-inflicted...and on the rise. "Cutting" is one of these. As an administrator, particularly in middle schools, I was associated with a number of students who engaged in this activity. They are not always troubled souls. At times, some young people are just too experimental for their own good. Of course, there are other motivations and explanations. The article below is interesting and instructive. Click on the image for the full article from Time/CNN.  Posted at 9:17 AM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 In The News: An Interesting Excel File---> Center For Public Policy Priorities Breaks Down Projected Texas School Funding & Job Loss Numbers...County By County.The Center for Public Policy Priorities just released four analyses that "are useful for estimating the effect of proposed budget cuts to (Texas) state services on local communities." One shows "roughly how the state's $27 billion revenue shortfall would be allocated county by county in public education." Importantly, it includes calculations of anticipated private-sector job loss associated with these cuts.  For the entire study, click the image below to access it from the Center for Public Policy Priorities  Posted at 7:16 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: A Vision of 21st Century TeachersThis is a teacher response to the student version I posted Sunday! Check It Out! Pass It On!
Posted at 8:11 AM (permalink)
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