News for today's 2018: 12/13/12

Introducing The African Storybook Project...

9:35 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is a  reflection  by Fiona Beal from SchoolNet on the initial workshop of the African Storybook project  held in Johannesburg last month. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If you had been walking past the Boardroom in the offices of Saide (South African Distance Education) in Johannesburg on Saturday 10 November 2012 you would have heard loud hoots of laughter. If you had tiptoed to the door and peeped inside to see what was happening you might have seen a group of adults sitting totally engrossed in a very unusual form of storytelling. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ28JljhRsK8K9OkcDcEXV7Sps6Mco08oUvr4brmQOM9nsqP9r6kim0Z68fxSa96AYJ32LPkhWGsmT3h6LbWB986uyKCl43-QP4-PgA6mNxEqH9ZckJMjwkQ5D4r9-gWIgbjg5-tIk5v6/s1600/JEMMA5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ28JljhRsK8K9OkcDcEXV7Sps6Mco08oUvr4brmQOM9nsqP9r6kim0Z68fxSa96AYJ32LPkhWGsmT3h6LbWB986uyKCl43-QP4-PgA6mNxEqH9ZckJMjwkQ5D4r9-gWIgbjg5-tIk5v6/s320/JEMMA5.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jemma Khan demonstrating the art of Kamisihibai </td></tr></tbody></table>South African performance artist Jemma Khan was presenting some of her stories based on the unique style of Japanese storytelling known as the art of Kamisihibai. In the YouTube video below Jemma explains some of the features of this unusual form of storytelling.  <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1Uk4GWEkxSI" width="420"></iframe> At the end of the story you would have heard the group calling, “More! More!” and certainly you would have smiled as another story was whipped out and related with deep emotion and humour. Later on as you walked past the boardroom again you would have heard loud guffaws of laughter. This time when you peeped on you would have seen the words of a story up on a screen and the audience acting out the story with great enjoyment with Nicholas Welch, a young South African comedian and his two colleagues, Jefferson Tshabalala and Jeremiah Mntonga calling out the next form of action.  <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNkVXSjWfPcF6aW1-kZi9fc_wkIu8jLIqKKji8osSE8IminvazP7nRLR9LxwtD-7rMQ85zMj53rTic_YAV0j4fh6A66DzoO34IYWodnPccPe3fuzzeRJjrSiyDbYL3azQUELC5Q1Ih6bH/s1600/wksh3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNkVXSjWfPcF6aW1-kZi9fc_wkIu8jLIqKKji8osSE8IminvazP7nRLR9LxwtD-7rMQ85zMj53rTic_YAV0j4fh6A66DzoO34IYWodnPccPe3fuzzeRJjrSiyDbYL3azQUELC5Q1Ih6bH/s320/wksh3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nic and Co getting the workshop participants involved</td></tr></tbody></table>You might even have heard an event being related from the point of view of two cows who had been silently observing an incident as they chewed the cud (Nic and co once again). <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLc7CjKah-ban5L8-S1citglNXMjY87-UkmXJfbJD_DiCm392Ha6-cBJ3ian22S7gq0zXCLCfDvY5CqjJEt8P0M_ugeBpPgajSxg7m97SsTqlGuKZYnnORZyaKgaI04ug04B9hMbLmTl5s/s1600/nic2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLc7CjKah-ban5L8-S1citglNXMjY87-UkmXJfbJD_DiCm392Ha6-cBJ3ian22S7gq0zXCLCfDvY5CqjJEt8P0M_ugeBpPgajSxg7m97SsTqlGuKZYnnORZyaKgaI04ug04B9hMbLmTl5s/s320/nic2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two cows commenting on an incident they had observed related in Shona by Nicholas Welch and Jeremiah Mntonga</td></tr></tbody></table>You would have certainly been highly entertained by Jefferson Tshabalala in his performance of the Xhosa weatherman.  In fact, at this stage you would have sat down and joined the fun. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNZVdKhKWOpbpEe2Yktnh81k3o-xv2d-y5jxVeTUKi_xX6Kh3UYwPYZhqLIkuov7We7aYEx36xlz1qftwZjJRj8eOC94M5bl-mqzau47ldgMtSp0n52l3qOobn8gSgzk7zsMein72l3_r/s1600/jefferson3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNZVdKhKWOpbpEe2Yktnh81k3o-xv2d-y5jxVeTUKi_xX6Kh3UYwPYZhqLIkuov7We7aYEx36xlz1qftwZjJRj8eOC94M5bl-mqzau47ldgMtSp0n52l3qOobn8gSgzk7zsMein72l3_r/s320/jefferson3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jefferson Tshabalala's enthusiastic weather report</td></tr></tbody></table>It was a day to remember.  If a school day was like this day then an enormous amount of learning would take place. This was the initial workshop of the African Storybook Project which is due to be launched in early 2013.Those of us at the workshop were exposed to so many exciting methods of reading and writing stories. We heard how an author extracted stories from children in a holiday club for refugees. We played fun storytelling games where we received pieces of a puzzle, had to find the rest of the picture, quickly create a group story and relate it to the whole group. We discussed so many aspects of reading and writing. This was a day when reading and writing came alive.  <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUaDw4a4qjzpSZn2jnZ9rELuloQ4ZPeBwHZQWp2nAkvsTWOsX4SfURtBcEVN4XJac2eiLfO_YVeSka49LJZ1L49ZlyBwSheJNQHanzxJGYFdMiew_RsmyYcvr61EdJvMUGNzfiR9ZqcF-/s1600/story1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUaDw4a4qjzpSZn2jnZ9rELuloQ4ZPeBwHZQWp2nAkvsTWOsX4SfURtBcEVN4XJac2eiLfO_YVeSka49LJZ1L49ZlyBwSheJNQHanzxJGYFdMiew_RsmyYcvr61EdJvMUGNzfiR9ZqcF-/s320/story1.JPG" width="306" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Find the missing pieces and create a story</td></tr></tbody></table>You'll be hearing a lot more about the African storybook project in 2013 when it is officially launched by Saide. The project is  funded by Comic Relief in Britain for a four year period and the initial pilot will involve three countries namely South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. The end result will be a lovely website of African stories  for younger students in many African languages and in many different.formats which will contribute to the improvement of reading and writing for young African children. We will elaborate on this initial workshop and the project itself in future blog posts. </div></div>

African Storybook Project news Introducing The African Storybook Project...

This is a reflection by Fiona Beal from SchoolNet on the initial workshop of the African Storybook project held in Johannesburg last month.If you had been walking past the Boardroom in the offices of Saide (South African Distance Education) in Joh…

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 12/13/2012

11:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/12/12-amazing-ways-to-teach-during-days-of.html">12 Amazing Ways to Teach During the Crazy Days of Christmas</a> This is one to pull back out - if you're looking for some ideas that you can use, here's a post from last year that will help you with some ideas. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/holidays">holidays</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/christmas">christmas</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/lessonplans">lessonplans</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Debate+Finals+12-2">eracism - Debate Finals 12-2 - Dates</a> The debate dates and times are on this page. Bracket A will be between the Quality Schools International Bratislava - Slovakia and Lounsberry HOllow Middle School on Monday, December 17, 2012 at 9 am. Bracket C will be between Think Global School - Class 2 Argentina and Bettendorf Middle School (USA) on Thursday, December 13 at 9 am eastern. As of right now, Bracket B between Bettendorf Middle School and the American International School of Guangzhou (China) is still being worked out - but it will be posted on this page. When you were in high school you may have had regional or state debate, well, now students debate around the world. You can find out about entering your team in next semester's competition on the website. This project was invented by students at the first Flat Classroom conference in Doha, Qatar. Hope some of you can come. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/debate">debate</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/globaled">globaled</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a> </li> </ul>Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 12/13/2012

12 Amazing Ways to Teach During the Crazy Days of Christmas This is one to pull back out - if you're looking for some ideas that you can use, here's a post from last year that will help you with some ideas. …

Time to connect: An amazing video and a chance to watch students do just that

8:13 AM Tukiyooo 0

Yes, it is time to change the world. It isn't going to happen by keeping people apart but by connecting. You CAN use social media and technology tools to improve the world. If you look at the Flat Classroom student presentations (shown below) you can join in and see all of the students who are presenting about what they've learned.  It is incredible. This is far bigger than just 2 teachers on other sides of the world - it became 7 teachers, then 20, and now almost 200 teachers. As I watch elementary students presenting live about what they've learned, I'm amazed. I hope you can join us. Meanwhile, let me leave you with Gracy's video from this Flat Classroom project - they are in the midst of the competition for best video and I'll share more of them - but this one gave me and my class chills. (By the way, <a href="http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/">project applications </a>are open for next semester.) I read about a survey given to 90 year olds, one of the things they said they wish they had done more in their lives is to participate in something that would outlive them -- I'm becoming more certain every day as I see the incredible teachers who are getting and understanding what Flat Classroom really means -- that this will far outlive me and Julie Lindsay. If you're one of those teachers who is connecting your classroom on a global basis - here's to you. You're my hero. If you're a student who is getting in there and connecting - you'r heroes too. Gracy says it best in her video. <embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#F3F6E1" class="xj_video_embed" flashvars="config=http%3A%2F%2Fflatclassroomproject.ning.com%2Fvideo%2Fvideo%2FshowPlayerConfig%3Fid%3D928031%253AVideo%253A216899%26ck%3D-&video_smoothing=on&autoplay=off&hideShareLink=1&isEmbedCode=1" height="260" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noscale" src="http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?xn_version=3704000907" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="456" wmode="opaque"></embed> <a href="http://flatclassroomproject.ning.com/video/video">Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Project</a> If you want to see presentations, information is below (note that practice summits are PRACTICE and not for public viewing.) <iframe frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?mode=AGENDA&height=600&wkst=1&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&src=tm8ucjki566pihf2pnc6e3t448%40group.calendar.google.com&color=%23AB8B00&ctz=America%2FNew_York" style="border-width: 0;" width="400"></iframe>

Time to connect: An amazing video and a chance to watch students do just that

Teaming Up to Make New Antibiotics - NYTimes.com

5:59 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody">I hope you never have this experience: a loved one is hospitalized. Her doctors tell you her infection is <a href="http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/1/1.long" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">resistant to antibiotics</a>. She dies. More than 60,000 American families go through that experience each year — and the number is almost certain to rise.Multidrug-resistant organisms are showing up in top-flight hospitals — like the <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1212370" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">klebsiella</a> found in the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center this year, which may have led to the deaths of seven patients. Even infections that used to be a breeze to treat, like <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1112456" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">gonorrhea</a>, are becoming incurable.In much of the world, of course, bacterial disease is a routine cause of tragedy. Tuberculosis alone kills 1.4 million people a year. One reason for this staggeringly high figure is that most people in the world are too poor to pay for most medicines. But another reason is that some strains of tuberculosis bacteria have become resistant to most of the drugs we have. Even after two years of toxic treatment, drug-resistant tuberculosis has a fatality rate of about 50 percent.What makes the rapid loss of antibiotics to drug resistance particularly alarming is that we are failing to make new ones. We are emptying our medicine chest of the most important class of medicines we ever had. And the cause can be traced, for the most part, to two profound problems.The first is economic. Historically, the drug industry thrived on antibiotics. But if an antibiotic is useful against only one type of bacterium, relatively few people need it during its patent life. And if an antibiotic is "broad spectrum," meaning it works on many different types of bacteria, wider use shortens its commercial life because it quickens the pace at which bacteria develop resistance. Moreover, antibiotics are designed to cure an acute disease — not to palliate a chronic one — so people need them only for a limited time. Compared with drugs that are used for years to treat widespread conditions like high <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/cholesterol/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Cholesterol." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">cholesterol</a> or <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/asthma/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Asthma." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">asthma</a>, antibiotics pale as a corporate investment.The second challenge stems from the nature of bacteria. Though brainless, they are brainy, enjoying a highly effective collective intelligence. Large numbers of independently mutating bacteria test adaptations to group problems, like how to survive antibiotics. What works — like modifying the bacterial proteins to which antibiotics would otherwise bind — wins. As bacteria become more adept at evading antibiotics, it has become much harder to find drugs that can beat them back.Merge these two problems — scientific and economic — and the result is a drug-development disaster: the prospects are so discouraging that few companies bother to try anymore.How can we confront the critical shortage of new antibiotics when both the scientific approach and the economic model are letting us down? We can change both paradigms.Drug makers survive by selling what people or governments buy in amounts and at prices that maximize profit. Monopoly protects the ability to set price for profit. Patents allow monopoly. Secrecy protects intellectual property until it is patented.But what if we take a page out of the pathogen playbook? Many pathogens exchange DNA, sharing what they learn. Drug makers can operate in the same way: they can do science "open lab"-style, working in teams with academic and government scientists and other drug companies to share what they learn and to bring fresh scientific ideas and technological tools to bear. Relaxing the traditional insistence on secrecy allows collaboration, and with it, innovation.Did I hear you say, "It'll never happen"? It already has. GlaxoSmithKline opened its campus at Tres Cantos, Spain, to outside academic, government and biotech scientists in order to collaborate on finding antibiotics for neglected <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/travelers-guide-to-avoiding-infectious-diseases/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Traveler's guide to avoiding infectious diseases." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">infectious diseases</a>. The independent <a href="http://www.openlabfoundation.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation</a> selects the projects and helps cover visiting researchers' expenses.In another version of the open lab concept, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/gates_bill_and_melinda_foundation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" class="meta-org" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a> organized a <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/global-health/Documents/tuberculosis-strategy.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">TB Drug Accelerator program</a> that brings together research teams from seven major companies (Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Sanofi) with scientists from four academic and government institutions. The companies have exchanged more than a thousand compounds and provided the academic and government scientists with access to millions.These experiments show that even competing research teams can share knowledge, risk and reward in anti-infective drug development, test diverse approaches and avoid redundant efforts. (I'm involved in both of these projects.)Philanthropic efforts have financed these open labs, but they can't substitute for market forces. Nor can the current economic model give antibiotic development a permanent, prominent place in drug company portfolios.There are, however, other ways for drug makers to profit beyond using monopoly to protect prices. As Thomas Pogge of Yale and Aidan Hollis of the University of Calgary have pointed out, an intergovernmental fund for drug discovery could reward drug makers for products in proportion to their impact in reducing the loss of healthy years of life. The lower the cost of a lifesaving drug, the greater the number of people who could use it; the more lives protected, then, the greater the monetary reward. An investment of $20 billion a year could encourage more open-lab collaborations to find new medicines in challenging settings like antibiotic discovery and make them accessible to all who need them.If we don't make new antibiotics, we will lose the ability to practice modern medicine. A new collaborative model for drug discovery can help make sure this doesn't happen.<nyt_author_id><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: italic; "><a href="http://weill.cornell.edu/research/cnathan/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; ">Carl F. Nathan</a> is chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College.</div></div></nyt_author_id><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/opinion/teaming-up-to-make-new-antibiotics.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/opinion/teaming-up-to-make-new-antibiotics.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "> </div>

Teaming Up to Make New Antibiotics - NYTimes.com

I hope you never have this experience: a loved one is hospitalized. Her doctors tell you her infection is resistant to antibiotics. She dies. More than 60,000 American families go through that experience each year — and the number is almost certain t…

the sea of swirly twirly gum drops

5:10 AM Anonymous 0

I have sick babies today, but wanted to share the gingerbread house we made a few days ago. The pre-made kit we had didn't give us nearly enough candy, in our opinion, so we added many many gumdrops left over from <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/02/very-first-birthday.html" target="_blank">Eve's birthday celebration.</a> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHSasQ5s2g-v2gkk0YqpW-PcZFMhQekBRT23inSRoxUI-kDJ8iirbYjqaMxGh1p91cYJCxpGjMXNNnfpAUtcOhGf3KEabD1j3t6EzaNC18crX71f3CYgx3_iato8Ew0Ct66D2I65a-TR_/s1600/GingerbreadHouse2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHSasQ5s2g-v2gkk0YqpW-PcZFMhQekBRT23inSRoxUI-kDJ8iirbYjqaMxGh1p91cYJCxpGjMXNNnfpAUtcOhGf3KEabD1j3t6EzaNC18crX71f3CYgx3_iato8Ew0Ct66D2I65a-TR_/s640/GingerbreadHouse2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Gumdrops can make anything look a bit better and the colors were a great tie-in to <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/12/childs-play-christmas-mantel.html" target="_blank">the Christmas mantel </a>in the living room.<div> </div><div>Can you tell we were watching Elf when we made this?</div>

Christmas the sea of swirly twirly gum drops

Teachers are talent scouts

3:41 AM Tukiyooo 0

Sometimes the talent I see in a student leaves me breathless and sometimes envious. Yesterday one such student was almost finished with her eighth grade portfolio but needed 2 more photos for her photo essay. She ran outside to take 2 pictures. in one, she sat down on the ground and got a picture of her boots and in another, she took a picture of a pencil on a bench with students in a blurry background. Both were taken on her ipad and I doubt she even thought about it. She's just talented that way - she sees the world differently - in beautiful colors, images, and drawings that take your breath away. She is talent embodied. Yet, I wonder what would happen if she weren't allowed to take pictures, draw, and share her talent as part of what she does in school? Her breathless talent could never breathe in school. Earlier this year, she drew the school mascot on a football that was signed by the players and sold for over $100 at a silent auction. We simply must allow room for talents and abilities like hers to breathe and move among us. Right now I can name 3 gifted photographers, and incredibly talented videographer, a musical genius at remixing music and another several students who are magic on film - things many schools don't even broach. Are we able to incorporate these talents? Do we have ways to recognize and encourage such things? She looked at me this week and thanked me for allowing her to draw her coverpage, to hand draw her cartoon (instead of using the computerized cartoon maker) and to share her talents. She's thanking me? I'm thanking her for just being alive. I feel that way about all of these beautiful flowers that surround me like an English flower garden. So many students have talents. It is my personal goal to be able to tell each and every student something that student does uniquely well by the end of the semester. This isn't about assessing or grading but about helping show each student a glimpse into his or her own uniqueness and talent. Spotting talent and helping students see their own gift is one of those things that makes teaching so intoxicating to me. I get to do this? I am a talent scout. Are you? - Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds

Teachers are talent scouts

A Compromise on Defining and Diagnosing Mental Disorders - NYTimes.com

3:18 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div></div><nyt_text><div id="articleBody">They plotted a revolution, fell to debating among themselves, and in the end overturned very little except their own expectations.But the effort itself was a valuable guide for anyone who has received a psychiatric diagnosis, or anyone who might get one.This month, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_psychiatric_assn/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about American Psychiatric Association" class="meta-org" style="text-decoration: none; ">American Psychiatric Association</a> announced that its board of trustees had approved the <a title="Web site" href="http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx" style="text-decoration: none; ">fifth edition of the association's influential diagnostic manual</a> — the so-called bible of mental disorders — ending more than five years of sometimes acrimonious, and often very public, controversy.The committee of doctors appointed by the psychiatric association had attempted to execute a paradigm shift, changing how mental disorders are conceived and posting its proposals online for the public to comment. And comment it did: Patient advocacy groups sounded off, objecting to proposed changes in the definitions of depression and <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/asperger-syndrome/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Asperger syndrome." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">Asperger syndrome</a>, among other diagnoses. Outside academic researchers did, too. A few committee members quit in protest.The final text, which won't be fully available until publication this spring, has already gotten predictably mixed reviews. "Given the challenges in a field where objective lines are hard to draw, they did a solid job," said <a title="Staff page" href="http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp?uni=mbf2&DepAffil=Psychiatry" style="text-decoration: none; ">Dr. Michael First</a>, a psychiatrist at Columbia who edited a previous version of the manual and was a consultant on this one.Others disagreed. "This is the saddest moment in my 45-year career of practicing, studying and teaching <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/psychiatry_and_psychiatrists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about psychiatry." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">psychiatry</a>," wrote Dr. Allen Frances, the chairman of a previous committee who has been one of the most vocal critics, in a <a title="Blog post" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201212/dsm-5-is-guide-not-bible-ignore-its-ten-worst-changes" style="text-decoration: none; ">blog post about the new manual</a>, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM5.Yet many experts inside and outside the process said the final document was not radically different from the previous version, and its lessons more mundane than the rhetoric implied. The status quo is hard to budge, for one. And when changes do happen, they are not necessarily the ones that were intended.The new manual does extend the reach of psychiatry in some areas, as many critics feared it might. Hoarding is now a mental disorder (previously it was considered a symptom of obsessive-compulsive behavior). "Premenstrual dysphoric disorder," a severe form of<a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/premenstrual-syndrome/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Premenstrual syndrome." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">premenstrual syndrome</a>, is also new (it was previously in the appendix).And binge-eating disorder (also formerly in the appendix), a kind of severe, highly distressing gluttony, is now a full-blown diagnosis. This one by itself could tag millions of people considered healthy, if often overindulgent, with a psychiatric label, some experts said.But the deeper story is one of compromise. It is most evident in how the committee handled three of the thorniest diagnoses in psychiatry: <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/autism/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Autism." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">autism</a>, depression and pediatric <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/bipolar-disorder/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Bipolar Disorder." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">bipolar disorder</a>.The group working on depression declared early on that it wanted to eliminate the so-called bereavement exclusion, which stated that grieving the loss of a loved one should not be considered a clinical disorder, though it shares many of the same outward signs. Grief has always been a normal reaction to death, not a kind of depression.Advocacy and support groups, such as those representing people who have lost a child, objected furiously to the idea that the bereaved might be given a diagnosis of depression."This was just astonishing, that they would eliminate the exclusion, and a distortion of the research on the subject," said <a title="Staff page" href="http://www.nyu.edu/socialwork/our.faculty/jerome.wakefield.html" style="text-decoration: none; ">Jerome Wakefield</a>, a professor of social work and psychiatry at New York University, who did not work on the manual.In the end the committee cut a deal. It eliminated the grief exclusion but added a note in the text, reminding doctors that any significant loss — of a job, a relationship, a home — could cause depressive symptoms and should be carefully investigated."It's like they took it all back," Dr. Wakefield said. "I don't like the way it was done — in a footnote — but it's there."The debate over autism was even more furious, and it resulted in a similar rapprochement.From the outset, the committee intended to tighten the definition of autism and simplify it, eliminating related labels like Asperger syndrome and "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified," or <a title="More information" href="http://www.psychiatry.emory.edu/PROGRAMS/autism/pdd.html" style="text-decoration: none; ">PDD-NOS</a>. The <a title="Times article about increases in diagnosis. " href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/health/rate-of-autism-diagnoses-has-climbed-study-finds.html" style="text-decoration: none; ">rate of diagnosis</a> of such conditions has exploded over the past decade, in part due to the vagueness of the definitions, and the committee wanted to draw clearer boundaries.It proposed a single "autism spectrum disorder" category, with stricter requirements.Some outside researchers raised concerns. In January one of them, <a title="Staff page" href="http://childstudycenter.yale.edu/faculty_people/fred_volkmar.profile" style="text-decoration: none; ">Dr. Fred Volkmar</a> of the Yale School of Medicine, who had quit the committee in protest, presented research suggesting that 45 percent or more of people who currently had an autism or related diagnosis would not have one under the proposed revision.Autism groups reacted immediately, fearing that the change in the diagnosis would deny services to children and families who need them.The committee countered with its own study, suggesting that the new definition would exclude about 10 percent of people currently with a diagnosis. And again, the experts took a half step back.The new, streamlined definition was approved, but with language that took into account a person's diagnostic history. "It's explicit that anyone who's had an Asperger's or autism or PDD-NOS diagnosis before is now included," said <a title="Staff page" href="http://www.weillcornell.org/physician/clord/" style="text-decoration: none; ">Catherine Lord</a>, a committee member who worked on the new definition and who is director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain in New York. "Essentially everyone gets in."Pediatric bipolar disorder posed a different challenge.In the 1990s and 2000s, psychiatrists began giving aggressive, explosive children a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in increasing numbers. The trend appalled many patient advocates and doctors.Bipolar disorder, which is characterized by episodes of depression and mania, had previously been an adult problem; now the diagnosis is given to children as young as 2 — along with powerful psychiatric drugs and tranquilizers that also cause rapid weight gain. The committee wanted to stop the trend in its tracks, said experts who were involved.Most of the children treated for bipolar disorder did not have it, recent research found. The committee settled on an alternative label: "disruptive mood dysregulation disorder," or D.M.D.D., which describes extreme hostility and outbursts beyond normal tantrums."They essentially wanted to have some place for these kids, and D.M.D.D. was all they had in their kit," said <a title="Staff page" href="http://www.stonybrookphysicians.com/doctor/CARLSON_MD_GABRIELLE_635.asp" style="text-decoration: none; ">Dr. Gabrielle Carlson</a>, a child psychiatrist at Stony Brook University Medical Center, who provided some outside consultation. "These are mostly kids who have<a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">A.D.H.D.</a> or what we would call <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/oppositional-defiant-disorder/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Oppositional defiant disorder." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">oppositional defiant disorder</a>, but with this explosive feature. They need help; you can't wait forever. The question was what to call it, without pretending we know enough to saddle them with a lifelong diagnosis" like bipolar disorder.D.M.D.D. has its own problems, as many experts were quick to point out. It could be a symptom of an underlying condition, as Dr. Carlson argues. It could "medicalize" frequent <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/temper-tantrums/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Temper tantrums." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none; ">temper tantrums</a>. It's brand new, and no one knows how it will play out in practice.But it is now in the book — because it was the best solution available, experts inside and outside of the revision process said.From beginning to end, many experts said, the process of defining psychiatric diagnoses is very much like finding the right one for an individual: it's a process of negotiation, in many cases."That's one of the take-aways from all this, and I think it's a good one," Dr. Carlson said. "A diagnosis is a hypothesis. It's a start, and you have to start somewhere. But that's all it is."One of the committee's most ambitious proposals was perhaps the least noticed: a commitment to update the book continually, when there's good reason to, rather than once every decade or so in a giant heave. That was approved without much fanfare.</div></nyt_text><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/health/a-compromise-on-defining-and-diagnosing-mental-disorders.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/health/a-compromise-on-defining-and-diagnosing-mental-disorders.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print</a></div>

A Compromise on Defining and Diagnosing Mental Disorders - NYTimes.com

They plotted a revolution, fell to debating among themselves, and in the end overturned very little except their own expectations.But the effort itself was a valuable guide for anyone who has received a psychiatric diagnosis, or anyone who might get …

Taking on Cancer Again, This Time With the Wisdom of Age - NYTimes.com

3:16 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div></div>After I finished eight months of treatment for testicular cancer in my mid-20s, my psychologist said, "Well, that was like having five years of therapy all at once." What he meant was that you learn a lot about yourself in weekly talk sessions, but during a life-threatening illness, the "issues" come at you nonstop. I relished the slow unfolding of myself in the first, but I resented — no, hated — every step of the second. Nearly two decades later, when confronted with the same diagnosis, I finally understood the benefits of that earlier trial by fire, much as I did the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson when he wrote, "The years teach much which the days never knew."To be sure, there were benefits to being young — I was 26 — when I was first diagnosed, not the least of which was my competitive swimmer's body. After almost dying in the I.C.U. and becoming a "patient-in-residence," I plunged back into the pool (and my day job) just a fortnight after my release.Ah, the determination — and denial — of youth.But facing cancer at that young age had more drawbacks than benefits, not the least of which was losing my sense of invulnerability when confronted with the prospect of disfigurement and disability, even death.Less obvious, but still unsettling, was the loss of my laissez-faire attitude toward life itself. I had always been the kind of guy who focused on the journey (the experience) more than the destination (winning). During backstroke events prior to falling ill I was more interested in watching the clouds race overhead than the swimmer racing in the next lane. This mindset didn't do much for my success in the pool, but it helped define who I was.To make matters worse, conventional wisdom says only one thing matters when it comes to cancer: Beating the hell out of it. Suddenly I had to find an emotional depth I hadn't sought before, a passion for a fight that I didn't want.Am I the kind of person who can win this battle? I asked myself early on.To ensure that I was, I did a complete about-face, saying "No way" to the journey and "Hell, yes" to the destination. Every decision began to turn on life and longevity, and for that I tolerated side effects like hair loss, neuropathy and "dry ejaculation" — because I simply had to win.I re-read Dylan Thomas, who told me to "rage, rage against the dying of the light," and I did. I became a rager. And it almost ruined my life.Not in terms of my health, because in fact my treatment was effective. I was "clinically cured" and chalked up that achievement to my new "Top Gun" mentality. Then I jumped back into daily life — and managed to mess everything up. I applied my new approach to relationships ("My way or the highway"), and got dumped by my boyfriend. In graduate school, I aced my studies but lost friends.Fortunately, my best friends didn't hold back on telling me I had become a jerk, and that got my attention. I had upshifted at the start of my treatment, but now I needed to downshift. I struggled to find my pace, but eventually found a middle gear, more vulnerable than I cared to be but also more human.The second time I was diagnosed, the oncologist sat me down to give me the new installment of the old bad news. I surprised myself and my friends with a very different approach.I did not rage, which isn't to say I was happy about this predicament. And I had moved on from my original question to a new one: How can I go through this and still be the kind of person I want to be?In the intervening years, I had come to realize that cancer victories are not won by personality types, but by a combination of doggedness (choosing the best physician, getting the right diagnosis and treatment), responsibility (doing your own research and taking care of your overall health), and plain old luck.From that very first day of my second time around, I challenged myself not to shift into that "win at any cost" mentality. That's where the gift of age and experience came to my aid, even if my older body did not. Over the years I had learned that life was not a series of choices between winners and losers — I knew that way of seeing things to be oversimplified, if not dead wrong. You can be stronger than an ox, never miss a day of work, or swim your lungs out and, damn it, still die.I could become a jerk again and focus on the end point, or I could accept that the journey is the destination – which I did.Two months after I had been diagnosed and two days before the surgeon was scheduled to excise my remaining testicle, I had a dream so vivid — "I am cancer-free!" — that I demanded to go on a "surveillance" protocol. Reluctantly my doctor agreed, but by year's end I had "won" the debate when my so-called tumor was reclassified as a benign nodule.The years had taught me much — both to listen to my body and to trust in its wisdom. And, most importantly, to find the courage to speak its truth — whether in the doctor's office or out in the world.<a href="http://www.gaymanners.com/" style="text-decoration: none; ">Steven Petrow</a> writes the Civil Behavior column for Booming, addressing questions about gay and straight etiquette for a boomer-age audience. You can find him on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/stevenpetrowmanners" style="text-decoration: none; ">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/stevenpetrow" style="text-decoration: none; ">Twitter</a>.<div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/booming/taking-on-cancer-again-this-time-with-the-wisdom-of-age.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/booming/taking-on-cancer-again-this-time-with-the-wisdom-of-age.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print</a></div>

Taking on Cancer Again, This Time With the Wisdom of Age - NYTimes.com

After I finished eight months of treatment for testicular cancer in my mid-20s, my psychologist said, "Well, that was like having five years of therapy all at once." What he meant was that you learn a lot about yourself in weekly talk sessions, but d…

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 12/13/2012

1:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <a href="https://alpha.app.net/coolcatteacher">coolcatteacher on App.net</a> Aoo,net is a pay-for Twitter like service. Users pay for it and thus, there are no ads. The API stays open so you don't have lockdowns like Twitter is having. I've been watching this service and my gutt instinct is that some are going to start playing with it over the Christmas break. I just want to look at it and understand it. Here's the link to my account if any of you who are on there want to help clue me in. (Oh, and it also allows people to RSS your feed - something Twitter isn't currently allowing. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/twitter">twitter</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/app.net">app.net</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.green-talk.com/2012/12/11/conservation-in-education-gp-hosted-panel-discusses-how-biz-help/">Conservation in Education. GP Hosted Panel Discusses How Biz Help | Green Talk®</a> I was part of a panel recently talking about a topic near to my heart, conservation education. I grew up on a farm and taking good care of the earth has been ingrained in me since I was a child pulling weeds and playing with ladybugs. I was impressed with all of the panelists. Of particular interest to many of you is the math teacher using Common Core and integrating conservation. "The panelists were:  Dr. Brian Davis, Vice President of Education and Training  of the Georgia Aquarium;  Daniel Strauss, Nature Conservancy LEAF program; Colleen Ryan, Keystone Center Participant and 8th grade math teacher; Vicki Davis, technology teacher for grades 8-12 , editor of Cool Cat Teacher Blog, and co-founder of the Flat Classroom Project;  and Teresa Walsh , Public Affairs Manager for Georgia-Pacific’s Crossett, Arkansas, facility." tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/conservation">conservation</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/mathchat">mathchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/stem">stem</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.wikibrains.com">Wikibrains</a> Cool brainstorming tool that helps you if you're "stuck." This might be something to use as you do "creative" work to get the juices flowing. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/writing">writing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/composition.">composition.</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://anamericaninbudapest.com">An American in Budapest | a teacher, a classroom, a city</a> Phillip Done, who has written some super cute elementary school teacher-inspired books, is now teaching in Budapest -and has a new blog. He's a great writer - and teaches Third graders. I love teachers who blog and here's one I've put in my RSS reader. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elementary_teacher">elementary_teacher</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elementary">elementary</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Debate+Finals+12-2">eracism - Debate Finals 12-2 - Dates</a> The debate dates and times are on this page. Bracket A will be between the Quality Schools International Bratislava - Slovakia and Lounsberry HOllow Middle School on Monday, December 17, 2012 at 9 am. Bracket C will be between Think Global School - Class 2 Argentina and Bettendorf Middle School (USA) on Thursday, December 13 at 9 am eastern. As of right now, Bracket B between Bettendorf Middle School and the American International School of Guangzhou (China) is still being worked out - but it will be posted on this page. When you were in high school you may have had regional or state debate, well, now students debate around the world. You can find out about entering your team in next semester's competition on the website. This project was invented by students at the first Flat Classroom conference in Doha, Qatar. Hope some of you can come. tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/debate">debate</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/globaled">globaled</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Debate+Finals+-+Information">eracism - Debate Finals - Information</a> The finals for the Eracism project debate are being held live this week. The first two teams will be debating this Thursday, December 13 at 9 am EAstern time in Blackboard Collaborate. It is a very exciting experience - my own students did this on the first project! How wonderful. I hope some of you can come. If you want to know more about Eracism and get information on the dates, here's the website and protocols.  tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/debate">debate</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/eracism">eracism</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> </li> </ul>Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 12/13/2012

coolcatteacher on App.net Aoo,net is a pay-for Twitter like service. Users pay for it and thus, there are no ads. The API stays open so you don't have lockdowns like Twitter is having. I've been watching this se…