Moms and Pops.

                              

In this article titled, “The Key to Stemming high-school drop-outs: Parents” it is about how low performing schools would do better at reaching out to those students by hitting the parents.  Seems logical.  This article is rather thorough including useful information such as:  

“The report aims to move the conversation beyond traditional tensions – with schools and parents sometimes blaming one another for low student achievement. It shows broad support for a number of steps that schools could take, including a single point of contact for parents and a way to check grades on the Internet. Six of 10 parents in low-performing schools say it would be extremely helpful to be notified when a student is cutting classes or having academic problems.”

Read about it here:  http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1027/p02s01-usgn.html

Of course it’s from the Christian Science Monitor.  They love families.

My school bus was never this fun.

                                         

This kid from a high school here in Detroit steals the bus, takes it for a joy ride then crashes it into a light pole on school grounds.  Wow, that’s some audacity from that kid.  He was able to take it because “The bus driver had briefly stepped inside Golightly, leaving the bus idled outside the school. A mechanic had instructed the driver to keep the bus running because it had a battery problem.”  That kind of thing never happened at my high school.  

Looks like these schools need some better security.  Check out the article here:

http://www.tv20detroit.com/news/local/33230354.html

 

*Note, the bus pictured above IS NOT the same bus.

Should we forgive him for this?

                                               

Ok, he has to create some of the worst music currently played on top-40 pop radio but he is doing the city, Wayne State and the youth quite a service with this; 

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/kid%20rock%20starts%20music%20scholarship_1084609

The rocker and his Made in Detroit clothing company are pairing with Wayne State University in his native city to finance the Kid Rock Scholarship – available to students studying the business and performance sides of musicIt’s quite a good cause, but is it enough for us to forgive him for all of his sins against music?

… Did anyone see that music video/recruiting video/psa he did for the United States Marine Corp?  What a joke.  I don’t know if this will be enough for people to accept you, but it’s a decent start.

p.s. doesn’t he looks like a cross between Waylon Jennings and Ivonna Trump in this photo?

We ARE Valuble.

                                               

Finally, someone is noticing.  This article is about how valuable male teachers are in american schools and I can’t agree more.  Mostly because I am a man, but I think this article raises interesting things I never thought of.

“9 percent of elementary school teachers are men. Education researcher Shaun Johnson of Indiana University says low wages and prestige relative to what men can find elsewhere, plus notions of masculinity, fears of being accused of sexual abuse, and even undercurrents of homophobia dissuade men from the craft.”

Maybe I’m a bit naive, but I never thought of these issues.  Maybe I should think about them a little more if I want to become a teacher.  Similar, negative sentiments are reiterated here;

“There are so many elephants in the room with a man in a classroom of young children,” said Johnson, 30, who was a fifth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C. “Token males routinely say they are under higher scrutiny by principals and parents. Men get the message something is wrong with them, from being told they can’t change diapers in child care to you must always leave your classroom door open. Even when they are valued, it often comes with a stereotype. I’ve heard men teachers complain that they’re always sent the problem students because people see them as the disciplinarian who strikes the fear of God in them.”

Well, I should start to consider all these things before I become a teacher.  Hopefully in middle or high school this won’t be an issue.

Check out the article here:http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/04/22/the_value_of_the_male_schoolteacher/

One more reason why people didn’t vote McCain/Palin.

                                

What a moron.  What better way to have unwanted teen pregnancies and the spreading of STDs than NOT EDUCATING OUR YOUTH ON SAFE SEX PRACTICES!  Yes, that’s a great idea Sarah Palin.  Let’s keep young people blindfolded and in the dark on important issues, awesome.  There are better ways than simply teaching abstinence in school.  Kids will do what they want, it’s best to teach them both sides; if you want to have sex, you’re going to, but if you do, do it safely.

You’ll make a great vice.  Oh, yeah.  I forgot,  you don’t really know what the vice president does.  A-hole.  It’s great that these two out-of-touch Americans didn’t win, we already have enough idiots in this country.  We don’t need to train anymore.

Read this if you want to get angry: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94332508&ft=1&f=1013

By the way, doesn’t she look great on a motorcycle?

                                           

This is why I don’t use Myspace… Or Facebook, or any of that other garbage.

                                

What a drag, you dress up like a pirate for an innocent costume party, have a good time, next thing you realize your university won’t give you your degree.  This girl here (see above partying pirate photo) was denied her teaching certificate from Millersville University because this picture was posted on her myspace with the caption “partying pirate” under it.  The said that it “promoted underage drinking.”  Whether it does or doesn’t there is one lesson learned, don’t use myspace. 

You can read about it here:  http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21644089-15319,00.html

On a related note, I love Mr. Goodbars.

What’s wrong with this world!!!1

                               

Does anyone have any morals anymore?  Or maybe this it’s always been this way and I just never noticed.  You have this loser in Florida, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881004035, preaching not only his political stance to his middle school classroom, but being a complete moron and bigot at the same time.  Who gave this A-hole a teaching degree… Somebody fire that guy. 

Then there’s this lady, http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2008/09/24/news/cops_and_courts/doc48da0619763d0466179560.txt, Wow!  2 students!  What a winner.  Holly, Michigan.  Is this what you do out there in the sticks?  Unbelieveable, who knew that teachers had sex at all let alone with their students.  This world is messed.  Who gave this A-hole a teaching degree.

***Note to self, Florida still sucks.

***Note to self, if you have children don’t move to the Holly school district.

Times they are a’changin’… For the worse.

                                

 Remember when we were in school, you had the awkward boys and awkward girls dressing in poorly fitting clothes and making no actual progress with the opposite sex?  Wait, maybe that was just my experience, but either way in this article:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94288145&ft=1&f=1013, from NPR.org, the online counterpart to the hit radio broadcast, National Public Radio, talks about how teenage girls seem to dress in American public schools these days and reaction of the teachers and staff.  This article/audio broadcast talks about the difficulty teachers have with addressing innapropriate dressing from teenage girls in public schools.  My favorite quote from this article has to be:

“School was no place to be sexy. We would simply ask students to change their clothes. As a deterrent, we put bins in our classrooms — full of 1980s sweaters and capes from Shakespeare skits. If necessary, students could pull out garments to cover halter tops or peeping thongs.”

Dang, this makes being a teacher much more difficult.  I don’t have any Shakespearean capes.

Professor Kwame Kilpatrick, sheer genius.

Detroit’s greatest educator, Kwame Kilpatrick was just recently forced out of his position as Detroit, Michigan’s mayor for lying, cheating, stealing and a possible homicide.  He now has to repay the city 1 million dollars in damages as well as spend 120 days in jail.  If that doesn’t teach the local children morals and ethics, I don’t know what will.  Oh, he also disgraced the city here;

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880921011

and here, by making international news,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7598641.stm

and I’m sure many other places also.  Nice work Mayor,  So long and thanks for all the hard work…

Love, 

Shawn

Why wasn’t this at my high school?!

The other day just meandering around the uber-web I stumbled across this:  http://www.rockandrollforever.org/.  This has to be one of the greatest ideas ever, brought about by the guitarist, Little Steven Van Zant, of one of the greatest American Rock ‘n’ Roll bands of all time, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band.  The mission statement of the organization is simple, straight-forward and simply amazing;

“As the first major educational initiative of the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, Little Steven’s Rock and Roll High School is a landmark project.  Aiming to bring rock and roll history into every high school and middle school in the United States, Little Steven’s Rock and  Roll High School will provide free materials, including teacher guidelines, lesson plans, DVDs and CDs, that will allow music teachers, social studies teachers, language arts teachers, and others to bring rock and roll history to life in their classrooms.   With a website that will function as a virtual meeting place for educators, students, scholars, and fans alike, the Rock and Roll High School project seeks to forge an alliance with the classroom leaders themselves, in hopes that rock and roll is finally recognized not only as a legitimate object of study but as a crucial object of study.  With leading partners Scholastic and MENC (The National Association for Music Education), the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation will be following an initial pilot phase with full
implementation, dates to be announced..”

Wow!  “Aiming to bring rock and roll history into every high school and middle school in the United States,” where was this circa 1997 when I was beginning the 9th grade and all I wanted was to “rock” and perhaps “roll” a bit as well.  This website and organization brought together by Little Steven just got my gears turning and I thought about how killer it would be to be the host of a Rock and Roll history course at the high school level (!).  What an amazing experience for the students as well as the instructor himself, to get to “jam out” so to speak as well as learn about a brilliant art form, community and culture.  I immediately realized I had to come up with a wicked soundtrack for the semester of Rock and Roll History class.  Here’s an ongoing list of tracks that could keep the kids in attention…

1. Otis Redding – Respect (morals and ethic)

2.  The Stooges - 1970 (contemporary history) 

3. 96 Tears – Question Mark and the Mysterians (a local shout out to Flint, MI)

4.  ZZ Top – I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (self esteem booster)

5.  Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot (obvious reasons)

6.  Deep Purple – Space Truckin’ (for science class)

7.  Black Flag – Rise Above (morale boost, individuality)

8.  Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar (for U.S. history class)

9.  Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night (D.A.R.E.)

10.  Dead Boys – I Want You to Know What Love Is (educational for sure)

11.  Black Sabbath – Spiral Architect (mathematics and logic) 

12.  Joy Division – Shadowplay (art)

13. Ramones – Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (come on, you know why)

14.  (the) Melvins – Queen (it’s just a heavy jam)

15.  Bad Brains – PMA (to give the students a positive mental attitude)

16.  John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillun’ (the value of rest and relaxation)

17.  Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (close examination, critical thinking)

18. Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire (Mathematics)

19.  Bob Dylan – Isis (world history)

20.  The Band – Stage Fright (courage and empowerment)

21.  The MC5 – Kick out the Jams (seriously.)

22.  Radar Love – Golden Earring (such a jam)

This is a never ending rock list.  More to come…

***Note.  There are absolutely no Beatles songs.  That’s for their parents to teach them.***