Free Purex Coupons up for Grabs!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Winner's have already been selected!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y63Gq_Bd5WM/UIG6Y3NzCoI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/vHyQjQoy8ps/s1600/purex%2Boxi%2Bdetergent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y63Gq_Bd5WM/UIG6Y3NzCoI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/vHyQjQoy8ps/s320/purex%2Boxi%2Bdetergent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I have to admit I've used many detergents in my life but never found one that I loved until now! I'm a Purex Insider and was selected to test this great detergent! I love using new Purex Oxi Clean Detergent. This is a great product because the laundry has never been fresher,cleaner or whiter than before! Fight tough stains with Purex Oxi today! Best thing is you can because I will be giving away a coupon for a free bottle by simply posting my name of the blog, and a short message saying Kelli Bliss sent me for a chance to win a bottle of free Purex Oxi!

Free Purex Coupons up for Grabs!

The Winner's have already been selected! I have to admit I've used many detergents in my life but never found one that I loved until...

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BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O0JM8vom-_Y/UIGW7ItpDAI/AAAAAAAABto/4NugATstqbI/s1600/Bic+mission.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O0JM8vom-_Y/UIGW7ItpDAI/AAAAAAAABto/4NugATstqbI/s320/Bic+mission.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://smiley360.com/930447.cfm#.UIGWfQNzeWg.blogger">BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers</a>: Thx 4 the free #bicmarkit permanent markers. Enter the 36 Days of Color Sweepstakes http://bit.ly/UTtHSs NoPurNec,US,18+.Ends11/6/12. *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers

BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers : Thx 4 the free #bicmarkit permanent markers. Enter the 36 Days of Color Sweepstakes http://bit.ly/UTtHSs NoP...

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Are Doctors Too Wary of Drug Companies? - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div id="well" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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 align="left"><div class="entry-content"><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Not long ago, I asked a colleague for advice on a patient. He offered up a couple of treatment options, then stopped to show me a <a href="http://www.lexi.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">new medical app</a> on his electronic tablet. With a few swipes of his finger, he summoned a compilation of research articles, synopses and even entire textbooks that, printed and bound, would have filled shelves in a library.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"But do you know what the best part is?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. I thought of the exhaustive reference material and the seemingly endless scroll of diagnoses that were all so easy to access on the small screen balanced on his knees.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"The best part is that none of this is sponsored by Pharma!" he said with a broad smile. "There's no bias."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">My colleague is not the only doctor who feels that way, according to a <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1202397" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine</a>.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">For years, most doctors have had a predictable, if not close, <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa064508" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.</a> Companies handed out office tchotchkes, paid for staff lunches and distributed drug samples for patients. More significantly, drug companies were important sources of biomedical research money, particularly <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=185198" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">during periods when federal support wavered</a>. It was understood that the companies providing funding would <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=182478" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">leave the researchers alone</a> to design and conduct the study, analyze the data and write up the results.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">That understanding began to fray about a decade ago when doctors, and patients, began to realize that drug companies were <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=182478" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">becoming too involved with the research</a> they were supporting. For example, one major pharmaceutical firm manipulated data and underestimated the risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths in a large study of a drug for arthritis. The drug was eventually withdrawn from the market, but not before <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp048286" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">80 million patients had used it, with annual sales topping $2.5 billion</a>.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The case highlighted the dangers of industry sponsorship of research into new drugs, and the public became eager to expose any potential conflict of interest, particularly for doctors. Within a few years, a new standard of transparency in medicine emerged. Brightly labeled drug company pens became an embarrassment; lunches on the drug company tab and sponsored conferences turned suspect; and editors at numerous medical journals <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=185138" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">published lengthy screeds detailing their disclosure requirements</a>.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The new skepticism and transparency were no doubt good for patients and doctors, but this recent study reveals that in our zeal to single out the pharmaceutical industry's biases, we may have become blind to our own.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The researchers created several hypothetical drug studies, then asked a group of practicing physicians to rate the "studies" and the likelihood they would prescribe the new "drug." The researchers purposefully varied the quality of the studies and the disclosures - some of the made-up studies disclosed that they had received pharmaceutical company funding, others said they'd received support from the National Institutes of Health, and the rest listed no funding disclosures at all.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Most of the doctors were able to assess the quality of the research pretty accurately. After reading the less rigorous studies, the ones that weren't designed, conducted or analyzed well, the doctors were hesitant to prescribe the new drugs under study; seeing the more rigorous studies, they were more willing to do so.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">But the researchers also found that the doctors were also unduly swayed by any mention of industry funding. Regardless of the quality, if a study was supported by a pharmaceutical company, doctors were less willing to consider prescribing the studied drug and less likely to assess the quality of the research with accuracy.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"Some amount of skepticism is warranted," said Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "But ultimately it should be the quality of the study and the impact of the results that determine your confidence about using a new drug, not who was funding it."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Being overly skeptical has serious implications for patient care. The pharmaceutical industry, along with medical device and biotechnology firms, <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1202397" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">continues to finance a majority of current research</a>. In 2007, for example, <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=185198" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">industry was responsible for nearly 60 percent</a> of the more than $100 billion spent on research. Much industry-supported research focuses on the side effects of new drugs. By writing off such research, doctors risk overlooking findings that may have important treatment implications for their patients, like a new cholesterol-lowering drug that is found to have less of an effect on energy and blood sugar levels than other similar medications.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Dr. Kesselheim and his collaborators believe what is needed in biomedical research is even greater transparency. Such openness would include more independent third-party statistical reviews to ensure that data is not being manipulated or misleading and wider use of public Web sites like <a href="http://clinicaltrials.gov/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">ClinicalTrials.gov</a>, regardless of the source of funding.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; "><a href="http://ClinicalTrials.gov">ClinicalTrials.gov</a> lists study details like objectives, design and data gathered, providing doctors and patients alike with a way to confirm that no data is being selectively reported or distorted. But participation on the site is voluntary, and pharmaceutical, medical device and biomedical companies are often hesitant to share what they consider proprietary data, choosing instead to list only selective details, or no information at all.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Until full transparency is achieved and such details are available to all on the Web or for independent statistical reviews, Dr. Kesselheim and his collaborators suggest that both doctors and patients remain alert to potential biases - Big Pharma's, and also their own.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"Excessive skepticism," Dr. Kesselheim observed, "is as much a bad thing as naïveté."</div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/are-doctors-too-wary-of-drug-companies/?pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/are-doctors-too-wary-of-drug-companies/?pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Are Doctors Too Wary of Drug Companies? - NYTimes.com

Not long ago, I asked a colleague for advice on a patient. He offered up a couple of treatment options, then stopped to show me a  new medic...

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Celebration Time is Over.

So here we are again. Back to another World Series, six years after we experienced an eerily similar situation. Survived an ALDS, swept the ALCS...and a little under one week before the first World Series game.<br /><br />I remember having a week of glee, of giddiness. <i>The Tigers are going to the World Series!</i> Just the fact that they were <i>going</i> was enough to make the city of Detroit beside itself with joy. The team had just endured over a decade of bottom-of-the-barrel failures, including the infamous 2003 season that saw them nearly break the record for most losses in a season. So the fact that 2006 brought so much joy in the first two postseason series was enough to lift the spirits of the city (and the fans all over) for another few years.<br /><br />The Tigers were finally <i>relevant</i> again. Comerica Park wasn't a sellout for just Opening Day anymore. The summer once again revolved around the Tigers. I printed out the Tigers' season schedule so I could keep track of where they were (and what time they were playing). Going downtown for a game was an event.<br /><br />But do you <i>really</i> remember the 2006 World Series? I sure don't. I remember watching the first game and feeling down, then watching the second game and still feeling down because Kenny Rodgers got caught with pine tar on his hand (even though the Tigers won that game). I don't even think I tuned in for the final three games at all. I simply heard the Cardinals won, sighed, and went on with life.<br /><br />All this postseason, I have been determined NOT to be content with just <i>going</i> to the World Series. Whenever I think about it, I just utter one phrase:<br /><br /><b>I want to win the World Series!</b><br /><br />What the Tigers did in the past week has been nothing short of amazing. No one really gave the Tigers too much of a chance against the Yankees, fresh off the best regular season record in the American League, an Eastern Division championship, and a solid drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles in game 5 of the ALDS. Plus, they opened the ALCS in New York, while Detroit had to take two flights in two days: one from Oakland to Detroit, and another from Detroit to New York.<br /><b> </b><br />But that was just the ALCS. What we need to figure out is that there is <i>more</i>. The team celebrated with the fans, and gave all the credit to all the right people, and said all the right things. But there's still more to come! The Tigers have only become the champion of one league.<br /><br />I think the team has realized that there is more to strive for. Jim Leyland said as much in his postgame interview with Matt Weiner of TBS. He mentioned that they wouldn't be sitting on their butts like they had to last time they had a week-long break between series. Justin Verlander was talking about Game 1 of the World Series...after Game 3 of the ALCS. Veterans of the 2006 squad - which I just realized are few - will tell teammates that the ALCS is great and all, but <i>it can be better</i>.<br /><br />Compare this ALCS to a Red-Wings/Avalanche series in that rivalry's heyday (between 1995 and 2005). The two teams couldn't meet in the Stanley Cup Final - the highest playoff series where they could compete against each other was the Western Conference Finals. But the Red Wings knew full well that the momentum had to keep going after the exhausting, yet exhilarating defeat of Colorado. There was <i>more</i> to play for.<br /><br />The Tigers need to remind the fans of that.<br /><br /><b>I want to win the <u>World Series!</u></b><br /><br />Getting to a World Series is a huge accomplishment. There are so many teams in Major League Baseball that haven't sniffed a World Series in 20, 30, 40, maybe even 50 years (or more!) - which are long periods of time in fan years. The Tigers have done it for the second time in six years. Wouldn't it just be fair to celebrate the accomplishment, even if they lose?<br /><br />NO! NONONO!! Getting there isn't acceptable anymore. This team has had a solid core for quite a few years. Who's the ace? Justin Verlander. Who's the slugger? Miguel Cabrera. Who have climbed the ranks to be valuable assets? Alex Avila and Austin Jackson. More than that, much of the front office and managerial staff has stuck around, aside from some minor shakeups. In a few more years, some of those players and coaches might be gone. The Tigers may have to start from scratch - have a few subpar years - the fans might waver and even leave. The time to strike is <u>now</u>. Solid pitching has held up the Tigers - solid pitching that not many teams have. Take advantage of the amazing talent on this team and WIN.<br /><br /><b>I want to <u>win</u> the World Series!</b><br /><br />The St. Louis Cardinals are up 3-1 in their series, with Game 5 in St. Louis. Our opponent in 2006 was St. Louis. (We lost.) Our opponent in the 1968 World Series was St. Louis. (We won.) Our opponent in 1935 was St. Louis! (We lost.) If there was ever a National League team who had a lot of history against an American League team (and didn't share a city), it might be St. Louis and Detroit. It is a classic series, and it might happen again.<br /><b> </b><br />St. Louis played Detroit in interleague play in June (I should know - I was there.) Detroit fans know what St. Louis has done to us in the past, and they don't like it.<br /><br />Detroit has less experience with San Francisco, but the mere fact that we'd have to do one or two more West Coast trips is fear enough. But their lineup and pitching is also something to fear.<br /><br />Whoever is on the mound in Game 1, Detroit has time to prepare. The Tigers can watch film, stay conditioned, maybe throw some virtual games to keep the arm in shape in order to be ready.<br /><br />We as fans need to get ready too. Don't spend too much time celebrating this pennant win. Feel free to celebrate the season in two weeks. But right now the "three million Detroit fans" have to get mentally prepared for a World Series that has the potential of having a lot of low-scoring games with role players getting a chance to shine. We can't be hungover come October 27. They need us to come out with intensity - towels waving, cheering reaching unsafe decibels, and encouraging our boys to the win. If we choose to sit in our chairs with our hands under our butts, the team will reflect the discouragement or frustration. We don't want to act like New Yorkers now, do we?<br /><br />We have gotten commendations today for being great fans. The Tigers organization has been commended today for its family atmosphere and positive attitudes - something the media must have noticed due to the contrasting atmosphere of the opposing team's locker room. <i>Keep it going</i>.<br /><br /><u><b>I</b></u><b> want to win the World Series!</b><br /><br />The season is far from over. The Tigers are getting ready for their toughest series yet. Don't buy the American League Championship shirts and hats. Delete the Game 4 clincher from your DVRs. It's time to focus. Watch the final game(s) of the NLCS, do your research, and get ready to cheer hard for your Detroit Tigers. The will to win is vital.<br /><b> </b><br /><b>I <u>want</u> to win the World Series!</b><br /><br />Just keep saying that to yourself. Beating the Yankees in the ALCS is great, but for a fan born after 1984, I need to see for myself that a World Series celebration is the biggest and best celebration of all.<br /><br />Now let's say it together:<br /><br /><u><b>I want to win the World Series!!</b></u>

Celebration Time is Over.

So here we are again. Back to another World Series, six years after we experienced an eerily similar situation. Survived an ALDS, swept the ...

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Liberals

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div>You can’t make this up folks…I was going to half-heartedly type about one thing, and then BAM…something else happened.<br /><br />I was Facebooked. Yeah, I just invented that word, so?<br /><br />And by Facebooked, I mean that someone other than a friend posted something to my timeline, which was this…<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wPyICZYcHoC2PXgib8P4CSbCTqPxRKBEGxr6gzs9dLNYgP8f_cVjLORO-pWYN3bYSUV4fR_DDx9duPx6FWU4qrBpkfmZLwe9Vo1AARlkmVhE826b9dHukTmKh_qdsFnzQrgCaEaqGgQ/s1600/Obama+World+Will+End.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wPyICZYcHoC2PXgib8P4CSbCTqPxRKBEGxr6gzs9dLNYgP8f_cVjLORO-pWYN3bYSUV4fR_DDx9duPx6FWU4qrBpkfmZLwe9Vo1AARlkmVhE826b9dHukTmKh_qdsFnzQrgCaEaqGgQ/s320/Obama+World+Will+End.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>Anyhoo…<br /><br />I was Facebooked last night by one <i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/jastewart65?fref=ts" target="_blank">Jim Stewart</a>.</span></i><br /><br />Oh the horror. He thought it was funny, and expected me to retort by laughing and saying, “Ha.”<br /><br />Well, as for those of you who know me, I don’t play that way. I have to engage whether the perpetrator be a friend, a moron, or a dickhead.<br /><br />And well, since he met the latter two of those three criteria, I had to respond. And the funny thing is, it’s not because I am a big fan of President Obama. Which my friends, drives him and his ilk, crazy, because, as they say…<br /><br /><i>“If you’re not for the Republican, you’re for the Democrat Muslim guy.”</i><br /><br />Because I am more than left of center and make no bones about it, I am labeled a, “Liberal.”<br /><br />What those who label me a “Liberal” don’t understand, is that I while I love peace and harmony in the world, I am a military nut, and want this country to have the biggest and baddest armed forces in the world.<br /><br />I also love Natural Gas. This country is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. I just want to make sure fracking to get said gas doesn’t destroy water supplies and farm fields. If it doesn’t? Frack Away America!! Frack Away!!<br /><br />You know what else I like? Lower taxes. Who doesn’t like lower taxes, however…<br /><br />Why can’t the government lower the rate on those making less than a million, and yes, I said a million in order to compensate for high cost areas, and raise it a few percentage points on guys like President Obama and Willard Romney?<br /><br />It’s not going to hurt those folks, and it would certainly help us…well you guys anyway…for me personally, I am wealthy and need not a tax break, because I am independently rich and AWESOME!!<br /><br />Can I get a shout out from the choir!!? Sorry, I digressed. Anyhoo…<br /><br />Abortion. Yes, as a “Liberal”, I sit around all day thinking about new and exciting ways to kill babies. Well, that is what some on the right think.<br /><br />I am actually anti-abortion, however… <br /><br />If a chick gets pregnant, and cannot or will not support the zygote, or was otherwise raped, pillaged, and/or deforested by an overpowering old, gray, white guy, no overpowering, old, gray, white guy should tell her that she must have his baby…er…her baby.<br /><br />See how the Libertarian in me is coming out!?<br /><br />There’s plenty of other things that make me a Liberaltarian as well…<br /><br />Oh your coffee was too hot and you want to sue? Denied!!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQAFezi5mwsdzi_uc44ZWt7rx8bolOqW0w7U7eXc24uar_dJzKikdAtuN-3GwuLv8BUIKEDv1OxxZ0t5l7Qpt0VdWYbrjctgiYuGtOC6uhV73gqI-iF9DIBJcOORCbPFuJuO4EIazf3M/s1600/Matt+Rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQAFezi5mwsdzi_uc44ZWt7rx8bolOqW0w7U7eXc24uar_dJzKikdAtuN-3GwuLv8BUIKEDv1OxxZ0t5l7Qpt0VdWYbrjctgiYuGtOC6uhV73gqI-iF9DIBJcOORCbPFuJuO4EIazf3M/s320/Matt+Rain.jpg" width="320" /></a>You fell off your bike and crushed your skull due to no helmet? Tough Luck!!<br /><br />You smoked all these years and didn’t know it could give you cancer? Are you new!?<br /><br />Why didn’t my son get a trophy? Because your son sucks and throws like a girl!!<br /><br />See?<br /><br />I want everyone taken care of. I want reproductive rights protected. I want the uber-rich to pay a little more, but…<br /><br />On the same hand, I want folks to stand up for themselves. I want them to quit being pussies. I want them to say, <i>“I’m gonna grow up and take life by the horns, and at least try to live the American dream.”</i><br /><br />And if they fail, I want us as a country to be there to pick up the pieces, and if that is what being a Liberal is?<br /><br />So be it.<br /><br /><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Matt-Man</i><br /><i><a href="mailto:mattman@ymail.com">mattman@ymail.com</a></i><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: blue;">@MattMan_IWS</span></i></a></div>

Liberals

You can’t make this up folks…I was going to half-heartedly type about one thing, and then BAM…something else happened. I was Facebooked. Ye...

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What a privilege to attend IT Design Week report back to parents at Micklefield Primary

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4iSqMCGeJ4-cAiluj_4eopCrKY18ZbAshVXqAjDN_0rSnpoDGZGA-YF8_89371DKMK36wJ6ypZdpMLt8CmotjztqFC26K96_InkYfo67LYI1s_oHAknxWzLzAOJxT_uMgKzpXvnbyxEg/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="46" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSyhJ6S-NP1deTznpKMCgR6fTMXyFregKQHIAMy9rlhW-gA9RHwXHNvbffWxDuMETqYjjsFhBPDgICZSUriOEFsrsvouHapuBuBFQ8g0oXVlzBKCAC0d6GXDyQwMe6vce1gPLYZln9nw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i></span><br />SchoolNet has been offering to its premium members short free online courses in various web applications relevant to teachers since November last <span style="font-size: small;">year,</span> and every now and then one has the very pleasant opportunity of meeting some of the participants face to face. This happened to me at the Apple Leadership Tour Day last term when I met three such educators from Mickelfield Primary<span style="font-size: small;"> - namely,</span> two teachers who have done quite a few of the courses and their principal Jeanette Welgemoed (who did the Google Docs course). I was absolutel<span style="font-size: small;">y<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i>delighted when they told me of the next technology function t<span style="font-size: small;">hat was happening at their school and invited me to attend!</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Micklefield Primary is a small, beautiful girls' primary school situated right in the heart of Rondebosch in Cape Town. </span>I was soon to discover that this is no ordinary school but rather one that is ALIVE with ideas and possibilities – and a school that is making great strides in showing a focus on technology integration.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyxeY6rq_1bNdm55FK7MrzpVI9Tua_kux9qGwAXgA6ICrRLDecjpyGjbNxW3kNTYNYhJ039KKGkfs6gksfFxS9SPbvPRWdXm6Gt-G4dsESYp3Fv_ikIDMHnRTkGaMiQ_-kfp7xf0D54IA/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjH6rHW42lhgtgVnrMl4JJ3jez9YF0ubnNcxt5SvkpDy3Wd8IB1TNYVaZn9xcP-7BWbBRpNcyRUzkqV8JZ2nuKLdd70shizjwOyimhdkWQb2-iteWJHJfTV7ENkhPN3DiaHjWvC_O3Fs/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="483" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Invitation</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The invite was to their Design Week report back to the parents. This was the culmination of doing many exciting things involving technology. In fac<span style="font-size: small;">t</span>, two days before the event Judi Francisco, their very go-ahead and absolutely dynamic ICT integrator wrote and said<span style="font-size: small;">:</span> <span style="font-size: small;"><i>“<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Today we had movies being finished, a <b><span style="font-size: small;">T</span></b>witter lesson for literature, filming of 5 year olds learning poetry, <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>rade 4s showing their themed movies, <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>rade 5s making vokis, <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>rade 2’s creating quizzes for their parents in Obami, Grade 1’s designing the front covers for their C<span style="font-size: small;">D</span>s of their stories and me making a movies of our webcam interviews with <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>rade 1 about their creative writing stories! Busy day…just 2 more to go….</span>”</i> </span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Can you wonder that I was very excited to be attending such a report back to the parents. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The teachers on the online courses</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What I loved about having the <span style="font-size: small;">Micklefield </span>teachers on the various <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">online courses<b> </b></span></span>is the way they<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b> </b>regularly</span></span> shared how they were putting into practice what they had learned on the courses in their lessons. <span style="background-color: white;">The principal is very keen to pro<span style="font-size: small;">m</span>ote technology and that is where it starts really.<span style="font-size: small;">..at the top! </span> In a newsletter to the parents she said, “<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>The girls<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>are the technology leaders of the future and we should be helping to prepare them for that and the skills that they will need in the market place</i></span>.” </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">So now to show the amazing stuff they di<span style="font-size: small;">d culminating in <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the</span></span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></i>Design Week<span style="font-size: small;"> report back.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Preprimary Ipads</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">During IT Design week, the Pre Primary Girls invited their Moms and Dads to bring along iPads and iPhones etc for learning and sharing sessions! I wonder who taught who! These were some of the apps they used: Mouth Off, Kaleidoscope, Swampy’s Where’s my Water, Angry Birds, Lego App4+, Drawing Carl, Paper Toss 2, Fruit Ninja, Barbie Fashionistas, Tap-a-lot, Wet Paint, Fashion Dress Up, Temple Run, Barbie “I can be”, TP-Shapes, ABC…Touch, Curious George at the zoo. What fun!</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQeqbEdxguf1qvS13C10q1M9_PAE6xs19bkKof4SeBUFj_4cB0fDIvuvfSXAmic9JlX5_cxn3zREIBAIu228I-6hcpnD1KM-6opq015zCIcocqJJobRcjfW9f3HoxUiXTPjqJq5TitCE/s1600-h/image%25255B20%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiildO0ERSMpWbXDVQQ_l2W-ZwZks5NngDBEJTs-Egu6oYkMxKr0VrU30azATDS1XSpKuO6ftfXJvvGDPprKuIvbQ_HJ-51A6ns7aeRdo6UGecC_lRbmKDC1rZ8lDSJWNgFhg7B-dt6bhI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="390" /></a></div>, <br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Grade R <span style="font-size: large;">K</span>aleidescope</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The beautiful Grade R  iPad art was on display when I went to the report back to the parents. Simply gorgeous! Their teacher reports that on one of the days “<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">We recorded our poem, ‘My teacher took my Ipod’. We had workshopped this poem in groups and each child had their own line and we opted for a call and response style…</span></span></i>'”</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8OXDpq3V2PlLVfkUFqS0AYWVNBaAzSIcf-f4ik2M_wQTJpZynl1C_gx7-kPhn6pjgHnlIdlRDSPE_d174b67mHEwiz2H3A6U2MGspFqvEOBjI1ntMfRrZUjQum8NT8yl10fIgLPiYAs/s1600-h/image%25255B23%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmyYFxY70S_O-lNv8Kpiq3zZFyBI8lyDtKNMDDNePx3vRKz-2g7Uat9IHdDgwCIctcoxhbJ1uoowiSKMgV8bwLuJiEhVHktPRpevX-VJqne9aiu6Vsopwoz93tK_Z0mjy8VznghjbiIg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grade 1 recordi<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">n</span></span>g stories</span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Their teacher said, “</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><i>The Grade One girls wrote and recorded their very own stories for IT week. It all started weeks before in the classroom when we wrote our own stories. We then practiced reading them to each other and finally recorded them with Ms Whizz. After a few attempts we managed to get a clear recording using speaker microphones. Ms Whizz recorded them using sound recorder. It was very exciting!!  She also interviewed us about our stories and the reason behind choosing the characters. Ms Whizz did this using webcams and a programme called Windows Live Movie Maker. We each got our own CD with all the stories on it to take home as well as a CD with all the interviews on it. This will be a wonderful keepsake for us to remember our very first stories from when we were young</i>.</span></span>” Fantastic idea!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Grade 2 Obami</b></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pRWyx0nOicsjZUkjPETpGouRChdCf2RvqSEmW5h8DjW2qWOA8MLQosJ3Eoqti5ErnEXEGjxU55IGPdB4AOVJHNykIbr9w2i1RsIYTHo9D_LbcJKsMByNS_uJWVVz1tO2Nq_TZCTomBk/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCknXkMWKMrgj_CJDxE36p5EMEhsDCmWUGdelTbqofvb1GzbxRvAjKcynP8og18y_pehrzoyisyrzbconC-ZTSxp0aHH_SOIqV5zaD3EMBayEdXAp24VW4kpI2NIZhfdmwP2J002Okl8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">T<span style="font-size: small;">h</span>is is what the Grade 2s lear<span style="font-size: small;">ned</span> about Obami</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">:</span></span><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">*Learnt to log into a secure website using a password<br /><span style="font-size: small;">*</span>Added and changed profile pictures<br />*Made status updates<br />*Made positive comments on their friends status updates<br />*Sent messages and replied to messages<br />*Connected with their parents<br />*Wrote simple blogs<br />*Used class “portals” to view videos, pictures and information about their theme work<br />*Completed assignments/quizzes set by their teacher<br />*Learnt how to make their own assignments and set them for their parents<br />*Used the online ‘chat’ feature</span></span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What a good time they had! They have great plans for what they are still going to do in Obami this year. </span></span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grade 3 explored with Photofunia<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: large;">and Wordle</span></span></span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Grade 3 class explored and learnt about two different visual web-based applications on the computer, namely <b>Photofunia</b> and <b>Wordle</b>. With Photofunia they superimposed their own portrait photographs onto various backgrounds. The girls created their own visual pages. They invited all the girls’ parents to attend two computer sessions in which they taught their own parents how to create and use these applications.</span></span><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 396px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="256"></td><td valign="top" width="138"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="133"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccwihITh3xFijc4rA5OOImegJHdxpk9__ej0LsI8co8NZ6mSFGykiAttjgZZFpf6YEPDGUzw819ytxT6vXEjEn0dM4tEUnaNTt4kWV6eDsqKheATQegaIGbjki7J4-OHOdH9fp6TnR3k/s1600-h/image%25255B108%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7dgaPMkSgu_UFhSAdY9DoAz0p5L-1WoMb4uaSoqCBcUXqfcnMR-0w1DM9t5VmJrQqOPkJvCbBWry2PBYQ1aRpBQpMVYQMOtxRSxjdccs54-gQ7VK5b6T5Uk99Z2XJTGF8bzWaqxYLas/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="188" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="25"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0d3DKHtNP5__BZIWECgl8_9hcaaVehhPMJ5wmdaaEcM0cE4NJ35No2pFh6rIuqO97YqyoKOIiCJrU8wE6vqHckZVAAHOtA_TkYEKlQxZN-1qWoixdYyXLZ3bgcs7jSJskoVJ2F1XZnF8/s1600-h/image%25255B109%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy8ZxvKf91AoYHdLfEORaFCkHKEJ2KUOsShhtLnCfI9M6_170xcDK7fms4ntYKAHsq2GoQjGSraFtTRJXmChW67jYNPG9UPlc2JKeCYbk9GcCzWjsFxwzO2O5ccoyGLvc7zZKJfQMgBBY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="124" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="241"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYY__2uzSKgO7wC7nE5zdPza19WuIfLlYEtKkr2tdqEWo3K3ny6QwlmVNXAuoYzJTEo_6Qmu8D6tMthZxDC42Wm4J-tE49GQZFxEzs1t9Mg_2PRDEwKybAyX1Qzu9JS1laXF72C8PeJXw/s1600-h/image%25255B110%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2TKp3tRfl9N9hZANjxJZ-82KDu9Sx9q8BQdgkRu6v-GbtRT16XTXyNvo6wtwl_TuRVV-OBqrpf8MFJERO8apIl7eAYJha9eMcLHyUvG4u4rWymlEbwD-WWmdB2C5ngKAzKYPc0AgbaU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="138" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVePznBaGmaZCyjGgpsVDqiaPJDL5IzqCI4X4c9LBkvUr61SVf5XByVO3KpnYFezB6tIS3h1ClxNz3V0iixFsuimMTDw8ZRvG3T_ZuC_xHI7klJHVMloWrWnQANmhTyMVe8bdbmOKD4JY/s1600-h/image%25255B55%25255D.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqFcRpVGIKISq6UKgk0ouDgK2JmVvth5eXzRvDpIW5vvHk7j-obYA3iiXayXFFY-_6eUk2M5Z-kdhECHmYQ2kObvdzjOx1eYngice-FAzSD2iP1tLM9-s4wbrbCh-NVsh6Uwde9MnHNpc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="123" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With Wordle the girls created their own individual word clouds using words based on their own personal theme. Then they learnt to change the font, back-ground and orientation of the words using different colours and back-grounds. Finally <span style="font-size: small;">they</span> chose different picture displays and shapes that they arranged these word clouds into. The girls thoroughly enjoyed this particular app<span style="font-size: small;">lication</span> and taught their parents how to use it, some getting so excited they emailed their creations home via email and to parents away on business. </span></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <span style="font-size: small;">Grade 3 </span>girls also presented technology orals in which they shared games and ideas and also taught each other about the inventors of the iPad, apple computers and debated different branded cell phones and computers.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The report back to the parents</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The report back that I attended in the evening was the Grade<span style="font-size: small;"><b>s</b></span> 4-7 report back. What I LOVED about this is they did it in the form of a show run by the girls with a huge screen. They showed every step of everything they did so you knew they had grasped the process thoroughly. It was very cleverly done with music and<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>choreography included for effect! I loved every minute of it. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Grade 4 Garage Band</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The Grade 4s used music to enhance a story or theme. They were divided into pairs and brainstormed possible story lines or themes that could be enhanced using music.<br />They then visited the Sound House in Observatory to record their music using software called <b>Garage Band</b> to create music that would convey their message. The program allowed for many different choices of sound effects, instruments and percussion. They then came back to school and used PowerPoint to put together their stories using pictures they found on the Internet. They learnt how to layer and manipulate pictures, ensuring that they remembered to use scale. They then inserted their music as a <span style="font-size: small;">.</span>wav to play across all slides. They also inserted animations and motion paths, added transitions and did rehearsed timings.</span></span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="133"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKPYcJEHDb5g5AvQkYknVbMO9uncWrEEk9DXP7NxHjte4B7KgVMJO2oj6-tDIf_8LQDJ0Bt39tm8aZFjwQVqMWro0YRdRwTx2UN6npnHqOTqUR9El3A8PevznVCaLubLIr7CjqQEjzdA/s1600-h/image%25255B66%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVWLHS5u3fKOZQwAqk1O-A2qCMgtlB76zVvXKtbz6QSBlZrugytLo5jN9E34W312HRaAV7MhAHudJhpIb8V_fhtxd0NWbI-MGr6JOmp-ZM1gz1WfQEH3yYOiTG_ErN8cFFTszbth1VYk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="235" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="133"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgbt7JKBb0kd1Cln7Cyp7zAzGZ04KVgtuIOBpH1Xvb6heAhH3HUWWbYkRgFE8ZI9sFHm2V4FznkpaNQk52m6QvmSj2oYV8yAMY7SVIsEYe1m_FrO6sz-0qXCXRc_KA2oNoD41UDfMHWQ/s1600-h/image%25255B65%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpyt2pqBcILfToeW6IMQ3niDrBdevZnnOyM4NfMBTqtXl4G1VBV90ohtRc_J0AmfgZGY0J3s-eNIip1rVP1xsCA8NglyuF6Y14MYzC4Jjpt76DVvSFEIvnT3sSXyktXn_KNCP7tGecO54/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="133"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">During the week the girls also used iPads in the classroom and used iMovie to make movie trailers. They also used iPads to create lessons and storyboards using an app called Educreations. They presented these trailers at the Report Back and they were outstanding! </span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebNetFgstIcCxOLoVk5YTRxLzmKmNMJQfmqsPmHrksiEkFQhnjUJKjE9WtXfTy65K6ebgBNQ2DLNQswKWZeHzfolOd4qhDv1wgoeqNBq4_Mymeh1iGqltHqUlK9u6WeN33GcLMe3WZlc/s1600-h/image%25255B96%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZXunEabN5rG4iJJj6yLp-QsxbfDkwtPm-lZzyEn1uuFvOLSuof_A5WoRPWLXq7grgx4c_Y-iGDogXsQQoMO3RJ4f1kM6KGAqAmmPU_211zp-mn62w9A4l11RLyRNZ-yN9477UdUIu3g/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grade 5 wikis</span></span></b><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"></td> <td valign="top" width="200"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxrTfYmMVQKD2FTls0hT4vJRrM5dYvUP276VMM857QWzfWiPxxVMDsh3sssCzvxd0BJTYlj6QMeCM6K9meGM4ht4j1kScWcntuFl8gLZTAy0VlKp_JDGK3Y5_s_QdJ1Ng8xlkBgWYcOnA/s1600-h/image%25255B74%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZq6987NE30LbDVdDWVXyIcILpBJO1oIbi1I3JiUZfF-BeXDEoelDvLnCI_pMJOFUUSiRvPVZAIwpVGaGYUhOLuB_6HfrmUtTc5FkjcyvcSICOqgkbOYDg0FLIkuv09OcKSWUa95zZICI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the Grade 5 teachers, Kathryn Gomes<span style="font-size: small;"><b>, </b>participated in</span> the free online SchoolNet wiki course and I was delighted to see how well she had passed on every step to her students. The Grade 5s created an exciting and interactive class Wiki for IT week.<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span>On the Wiki the girls displayed different areas of their work i.e. poetry, artwork, music, orals, written texts, videos and photos. The skills learn<span style="font-size: small;">ed</span> included:<br /><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">*writing on a Wiki page<br />*uploading pictures and sound clips<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">*</span>uploading videos and widgets</span></i><br /> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can visit their wiki and see their brilliance at<span style="font-size: small;">: </span><a href="http://micklefieldgrade52012.wikispaces.com/">http://micklefieldgrade52012.wikispaces.com/</a></span></span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Kszt_5TgxkMsDUgMfQuL2HcNuMXq8WOsFMmv5DnZQM4utmf4jJNdq9txV2lZ2KOI9TXiyjR5C-_sq10FBr6K8cwaf9bpTeaFn5R28zPhfJjI_ZbHNyP_GFCWXCR1dhS_91dNT_9UIXo/s1600-h/image%25255B106%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfylOGprYXYp1CdbyKZvHFo6JdhAQ658f_Nd4BYfUcL5AjBdSZetdo8qNszyi4XtjyosQLW_dULuVnAPzVigcIalIbnKYAtQTV0UMbiyX1MyDyuSycMVaOi3lRGXPuokor_HmYWTE7sUo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="176" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX-raq00OK05KEiujS4cQcQCTj2hLNZ6OXSjSgXymXRz7pmIFqVKXiQVlOJc-HbRRBttBhqImrRp7EDVUzuR8sHAT4uG1NhRAHlLYtcvq426Sf6HlEOvkBACruyCVQ8N3sBBbWOOqkOIk/s1600-h/image%25255B107%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1q2WLdYtSzRPLEGurVlzDtg9Zm_GA3aK7_zSpvKI6DP6s0Vh_bHs8yTMzZ0fVBBWmSdUFIYmfTLr6YhTjkrECEG7rmyMiVVYl2JPk_aB7K51B2Rf-MNfRYniSqgEgJ4w7Pd-dh3X8XgM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="250" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The Grade 6 <span style="font-size: large;">Spoken </span>History Online <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">P</span></span>roject</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />This is a project involved with capturing personal history and sharing it with others, especially future generations. It focused on events or stories that shape one's history. It gave the girls the opportunity to make history ‘come alive’ and realise the importance of their heritage. The girls learnt the interview process: <span style="font-size: small;">h</span>ow to ask questions, what to ask, how to come up with a theme or topic, how to channel the interviewee’s attention, how to take notes, how to select a photograph etc. The technical skills needed to film/record an interview were taught. Tips about lighting, voice, camera position, zooming etc wer<span style="font-size: small;">e promoted. </span>Lisa Chait, well-known radio and TV presenter, producer of ‘I am Women Leap of Faith’ and project director of ‘Life Stories’, came in to teach these interviewing skills. She also shared examples from her Life Stories projects.</span></span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcQGKYLeFSXDpGwYdeWKlPgGTqsShv1dWWlzkUFYdCdwiDnXTSRk-Ids6I2YTyKN4wPl8mSSrinTqMyfDglpwZAkXdXSL-4T2klKjGkQXXiY__2XD2T8Z8F_WxVf24-MkwuACWmtn6kE/s1600-h/image%25255B84%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbLha-oi5yYHKvQ9i7c476jTFFW22UGkIsR4_ceNVp9cKku0euGiV_b2whXSyF2_YlVBw5tChzefqSNw_6T1NBBM9wDjK8uHSGO6R6MyTg_o7j8g95wI2IhfGHWFwYasXBnapxJvDOSY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="200"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-vpfbX0LXH4v6cPz3Q6JEhHZmb8_Q9-44zbS3leeN_QdSRuYxAE7GcTI0Witbn-qC4KUZPGSPVAgisDCvLzBczOGqI60BlmI2u5fwIIn_cb1xZEGAYMb8LLy74YeZP-RaC4b1M_NWHg/s1600-h/image%25255B87%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZur9b6uAMpXpcBgAs-1a551El7Akv6D71BwkFhwlmZjxh7B3ToRVgxHuMcuYVMDxYPhBWERO23u7e4YOpoNJ5pPVME7MacK0-_n6xYzX_9aSJtkgax6ZodH_4b-k0ujnPwa8uZxmtlM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The footage was brought to school and the editing process began using using Windows Live Movie Maker. The final videos were uploaded on to YouTube. (<span style="font-size: small;">M</span>icklefieldgirls You Tube). These movies, shown on the night, were very moving and <span style="font-size: small;">VERY</span> inspiring. </span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6Nt3iP_XJT1qpkphcBVASyH2hftAmX95RFDYAyLmNJjX8hu998i008_9q6K_7mOtdj_u3ApqyuuU5tgoGUya1RASRC90t3kcXyogjF_Nxfs40bnthacgnjy9sTwYota6d6Dt7sxmFZs/s1600-h/image%25255B92%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0u1qTBTDi8QljWvY7kxZ8qsfljLAAmAvukpsMuuf_mNJytt3gPlL0SVDChJ14NNbGBgrpPrfvmK1HcrkAvwZYsVDfuMRkAdwFzoMTaEVoU0WNFd-lp2HQBM7rH22II6UcIQRJTRfMv8c/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grade 7<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Prezi / Google Fusion Tables / Twitter</span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;"><br />The Grade 7s demonstrated their use of Prezi, Google Fusion Tables and Twitter.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Prezi</b> is a cloud-based software for exploring and sharing ideas on a virtual canvas. The girls used Prezi to give a presentation to their peers on <i>Man’s Impact on the Environment</i>. Each was given a different topic to present to the rest of the class using this presentation tool. Many girls felt it was a tool that will definitely help them in the future.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>‘What is the origin, weight and distance travelled of goods purchased in the households of the Grade 7 class at Micklefield School? Analyse the results and report your findings</i>.’ This was the task that was presented to the girls and to carry this out they had to collect, record, amend and categorise data using <b>Google Fusion Tables</b>. The results were analysed in different formats and graphs. The findings were written in a report which was then posted into an online Blog. This project was facilitated by March Turnbull, a Grade 7 Dad<span style="font-size: small;"> who <span style="font-size: small;">is an ex<span style="font-size: small;">pert in this area.</span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjPZM1ymh7tBMiSx0waN2_MgHdPzbnFY6H06yqKz_-w5UYHqn7V8sfSPDNd44q8TpJSvVkAT2v8gis566_894xmFHr0I4-_oaT6ppo3zfOvAH0H437YAKyKU1-po-qnTb_A5lkrvaabY/s1600-h/image%25255B118%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHy4GLHBVm1yt8EKeMRtTw3BOFzchqcV-cUHgWvIlDloPsMr-dLZh6RBs_HQZUuEkhzTizGhBsM5t7nYCYJHJBkNg5bB1d-uli_wIrpFNd2ArC-zvo5u1yW8Zn3SMUlR2-WuJ8IoTQNfo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Can you Tweet?</b> Commenting and discussing aspects of a short story in literature was done on Twitter. Mrs Peters kept the class engaged in a lively and thought provoking analysis of the story with each person being ‘heard’ through their Tweets. The girls brought in their own mobile phones, laptops or iPads for the exercise. This was really a classroom of the future!</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52X1tc9S04KMutcnmXn75y6B_1zvMxy1WYOaDBmia1JbJCMPHWjS9n22jbdJsXf-oLwYHhhIJtbQ0m3lvNsfrH0TXpZQm0n9pbh1IJTSIiy2RkoOw6Sm4bMP9sy7rMeH3CCTSZiiUs0I/s1600-h/image%25255B121%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDoMMZv72o7MePjcQhrG7wVkVCoquYJUG5TZpHAn3rP78nHrbYiIGKbZNTQxyjhLt1YHJRNR95S_3hGoUpd8sAMpeBBdCGWJSb1LQsK-rviruuT0c1FcgNFDrcvZePJstq66xoJRDuzc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Can you wonder that the parents cheered and clapped and were over-exuberant about what they were shown by the girls. I was quite flabbergasted to be honest.  To think that this little school in the heart of Ron<span style="font-size: small;">d</span>ebosch was producing such amazing technology creations! Not too long after this the school held their very exciting  iThink Conference for Foundation Phase teachers (<a href="http://www.ithinkfirst.co.za/">http://www.ithinkfirst.co.za/</a>) focusing on thinking skills and the use of <span style="font-size: small;">I</span>nformation <span style="font-size: small;">T</span>echnology in Foundation Phase Education.  I was invited to give a breakaway session on webtools. There again I saw the value of the free online courses being demonstrated and the knowledge spread and shared. For example Kathryn, the teacher who attended the Wiki course (she and her girls presented such a dazzling show of their wiki at the <span style="font-size: small;">R</span>eport <span style="font-size: small;">B</span>ack), presented on wikis and she in turn had an invite to go and present at another school.  </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can only be very grateful to have been invited to this great Design Week report back. Thank you to Micklefield! Thank you, too, to Judi Francis<span style="font-size: small;">co, for allowing me to use snippets from her newsletter to provide all these details. </span></span></span></div>

news What a privilege to attend IT Design Week report back to parents at Micklefield Primary

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Advice to presenters and teachers: All You Have is Enough

<br /><br /><center><a href='https://picasaweb.google.com/115916382183421477315/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPCp6bK0YDF6gE#5800767996378699202'><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTf6wrJtTu10R7KQ3Q90yZPLTgt3rrSP0r4WaQq08WuWw6RlRs0EuFYwyVn4yvTML0rC2zt3VXSEZu8zzfJJA6MLrV9HpNWgDyHbi0ohWyF3AKjGH3cE1tJA9gJx8-jHsSinK-4BLt1r6/s288/4.jpg" style="margin:5px" width="267"></a></center><br />I'm sitting here looking at the grey skies over Chicago. Planes coming and going, gray rain dropping down. The guy at gate E12 is putting his happiest Disney voice asking people to board for Detroit Michigan like they are about to ride Space Mountain. <br /><br />A tired man at Starbucks bumped into me and said "excuse me" just as I said it to him and then glared at me and said "I said excuse me" to an incredulous look from me as to why he was so snippy. Maybe he gave everything he had today and didn't have anything left to determine that I meant him no harm and was only trying to be respectful.<br /><br />After arriving last night close to 1 am and sleeping a few fitful hours, I started speaking at 8:15 am this morning with a small break for lunch and then finished up around 3:30. Lots of people had started leaving the conference muttering concerns about Chicago traffic with a very slim last session.<br /><br />Ending a conference feels just like ending school. I get this feeling. I want closure. Somehow I want to know that I've done enough. I want to know that today made a difference. I want to know that it was worth this unique, special day -- the only October 18, 2012 that I will ever live. I don't really know what I want to confirm that. I don't know why the kind compliments about the keynote this morning or other words of encouragement just weren't enough. <b>But they never are</b>.<br /><br />It is the same way on the last day of school. When I walk the empty halls, picking up a stray old piece of paper or half a pencil, turning it between my thumb and forefinger as I wonder what it was that just happened to me. Another conference, another school year. Time passes so fast. Lively things full of action and interactions. A thousand microexpressions on hundreds of faces too many to interpret and read.<br /><br /><b>Same old feeling</b><br /><br />I realized as I checked in through security that I always feel this way after a conference and I always feel this way at the end of the school year. It is the same feeling, this gray, empty wondering if it was all enough. If I was enough. If I really made a difference. Did I help others.? A thousand gargoyles of doubt gnaw at the gray matter in my mind making me wonder.<br /><br />Yet, in a moment, those gray statues of doubt vanish as I realize that it has to be enough. I worked for hours on these presentations. These presentations are the results of thousands of hours in the classroom DOING this. These presentations and these school years have to be enough...<br /><br /><b>BECAUSE IT IS ALL I HAVE.</b>.<br /><br />ALL I HAVE IS ENOUGH. ALL YOU HAVE IS ENOUGH. IT HAS TO BE because there is nothing else left to give when you have given everything. Learn from your mistakes and get better every time but draw a clear line between rethinking your approach and approaching self doubt because you don't feel like you got enough verbal validation for what you did.<br /><br />I remember one of my very first presentations at GAETC to a small room of perhaps 20 people. I gave everything I had and was done and said "Is that all there is." Now that I've been around, I can speak from experience that whether it is 5 or 5,000 the feeling is the same. More people doesn't give you more validation - it may give you more people who like you, but people are people. If you can change one life, that is great.<br /><br /><b>No leprechaun is going to jump out of the bushes and hit you in the head with his shillelagh and endow you with the knowledge that this is your lucky day and you just inspired everyone to become the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow</b>. You're talking to people and people aren't so easy to read like that.<br /><br />Today, in the gray Chicago day, I want to send a message to all my fellow teachers and presenters around the world that:<br /><br />If you give all you have that YOU have given enough. YOU MATTER very much. Don't let self doubt keep you from doing it again. <br /><br />Have a great day. Teachers and presenters of all kinds - I'm proud of you for doing this hard work of teaching others. <br /><br />ALL YOU HAVE is enough. You are enough. Rest your head and have a good day knowing you gave all you had.<br /><br /><br />- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds<br />

Advice to presenters and teachers: All You Have is Enough

I'm sitting here looking at the grey skies over Chicago. Planes coming and going, gray rain dropping down. The guy at gate E12 is puttin...

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The Next 100

Part of today's afternoon session at the <a href="http://mas.org/summitnyc2012/">2012 MAS Summit</a> is the presentation of ideas for <a href="http://mas.org/mas-announces-the-next-100-a-look-at-grand-central-and-midtowns-public-spaces/">Grand Central Terminal's Next 100 Years</a>. Some photos, in order of the presentations.<br /><br />Claire Weisz and WXY Studio:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8100973119/" title="The Next 100 - WXY by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - WXY" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8100973119_a3ac064f52_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8100984236/" title="The Next 100 - WXY by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - WXY" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8192/8100984236_16b4e919a9_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br />Roger Duffy and SOM:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8100988789/" title="The Next 100 - SOM by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - SOM" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8333/8100988789_48e1e7ea48_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8101000068/" title="The Next 100 - SOM by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - SOM" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8469/8101000068_c919e54c28_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br />Norman Foster and Foster + Partners:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8101041206/" title="The Next 100 - Foster + Partners by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - Foster + Partners" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8101041206_873f4ec9c9_c.jpg" width="600" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/8101029377/" title="The Next 100 - Foster + Partners by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="The Next 100 - Foster + Partners" height="800" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8184/8101029377_20317d2286_c.jpg" width="600" /></a>

The Next 100

Part of today's afternoon session at the 2012 MAS Summit is the presentation of ideas for Grand Central Terminal's Next 100 Years ....

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My son is schizophrenic. The ‘reforms’ that I worked for have worsened his life. - The Washington Post

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">If you were to encounter my son, Tim, a tall, gaunt man in ragged clothes, on a San Francisco street, you might step away from him. His clothes, his dark unshaven face and his wild curly hair stamp him as the stereotype of the chronically mentally ill street person.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">People are afraid of what they see when they glance at Tim. Policymakers pass ordinances to keep people who look like him at arm's length. But when you look just a little more closely, what you find is a young man with a sly smile, quick wit and an inquisitive mind who — when he's healthy — bears a striking resemblance to the youthful Muhammad Ali.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Tim is homeless. But when he was a toddler, my colleagues in the Connecticut state legislature couldn't get enough of cuddling him. Yet it's the policies of my generation of policymakers that put that formerly adorable toddler — now a troubled 6-foot-5 adult — on the street. And unless something changes, the policies of today's generation of policymakers will keep him there.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>How it went wrong</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">I was 25 years old in 1978 when I entered the Connecticut House. I had a seat on the Appropriations Committee and, as the person with the least seniority, was assigned last to my subcommittees. "You're going to be on the Health subcommittee," the committee chairs informed me. "But I don't want to be on Health," I complained. "Neither does anyone else," they said. Six weeks into my legislative career, I was the legislature's reluctant new expert on mental health.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">The 1980s was the decade when many of the state's large mental hospitals were emptied. After years of neglect, the hospitals' programs and buildings were in decay. In my new legislative role, I jumped at the opportunity to move people out of "those places." I initiated funding for community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs for adults, returned young people from institution-based "special school districts" to schools in their home towns and provided for care coordinators to help manage the transition of people back into the community.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>Critical misjudgements</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">But we legislators in Connecticut and many other states made a series of critical misjudgments.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">First, we didn't understand how poorly prepared the public schools were to educate children with serious mental illnesses.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Second, we didn't adequately fund community agencies to meet new demands for community mental health services — ultimately forcing our county jails to fill the void.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">And third, we didn't realize how important it would be to create collaborations among educators, primary-care clinicians, mental-health professionals, social-services providers, even members of the criminal justice system, to give people with serious mental illnesses a reasonable chance of living successfully in the community.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">During the 25 years since, I've experienced firsthand the devastating consequences of these mistakes.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Every year, one in every five children and one in every four adults has a diagnosable mental illness. A quarter of all mental illnesses are considered serious. Until Tim came into my life in 1985, I had no experience with mental illness in my immediate family.</p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>Problems in kindergarten</strong></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">As with many other chronic diseases, the symptoms of mental illness often sneak up slowly. Beginning in kindergarten, Tim had persistent problems making friends, keeping his focus and following directions. He was usually gentle. But he also had a scarily short fuse. He slept poorly at night and reported that he "got yelled at a lot" in school.</div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">I can't point to a single time when I first realized Tim's problems were not just normal. The day he lay down in the middle of the road — just to see if a car would run him over — comes to mind, however.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Tim's mental illness turned out to be a serious one — schizophrenia — but the disease wasn't diagnosed until he was 17, after he'd been sick for more than a decade. That's pretty much the norm for serious mental illness: Typically, 10 years pass from the time people show symptoms of mental illness to the time they receive appropriate treatment.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">When Tim entered elementary school, it took us three years to convince school officials that his symptoms weren't caused by problems with Tim's having been adopted, his racial identity (we're white, he's black) or our parenting. That by then we had three children younger than Tim who also were adopted transracially and were thriving helped make our case. The school's evaluations suggested he had what was then called attention deficit disorder and some learning disabilities. He was admitted into special education, and the school drew up a mandated individualized education plan (IEP) for him. It focused mostly on helping with his organizational skills and, at the school's insistence, his "self-esteem."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Tim's mental illness wasn't being addressed, though. And it turned out that Tim probably didn't really have attention deficit disorder. Soon his symptoms grew worse. On many nights, he wandered the house instead of sleeping. One day, after his 5-year-old brother had broken one of Tim's prized toys, Tim pulled a knife from a kitchen drawer to attack him. It was a few weeks after that, on a cold winter night, that he suddenly raced out of the house wearing nothing but his underwear, strapped on a pair of in-line skates and went skating down the middle of a busy state highway. He began to report that he was hearing voices.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Tim was finally hospitalized as he turned 11, and he received a diagnosis of a sleep disorder, depression and, after a year of counseling, post-traumatic stress disorder.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Tim's IEP clearly needed to be revised after he received his new diagnoses. But his principal told me repeatedly that "he just needs to follow the rules," as if Tim could will away his illness. In a due-process hearing we then demanded, Tim's special education teacher declared that Tim's biggest problem was "overprotective parents."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Blaming people with mental illness — or their families — for the mental illness isn't new. And it carries a cost. The cost to Tim: Beginning in sixth grade, he would never complete another full year of school on schedule.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>The fragmented years</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">What followed were many years during which one public school after another knew it couldn't educate my son but had nothing to offer, holding him back in one case and bumping him ahead in another.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Trouble seemed to find him. Self-medicating with marijuana, Tim's drug of choice for lowering the volume of the voices in his head, got him suspended from the first high school he attended — a public, vocational-technical school in Middletown, Conn. — and placed on court-ordered probation. Fighting with another student got him expelled from the next one, a private boarding school that the juvenile court and school system had sent him to in Idaho.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Back in Connecticut after being arrested for trespassing, he was placed in a teen mental-health inpatient program by the juvenile court. Fighting with another student also got him expelled from the fourth school, a small, private school that specialized in educating teenagers who had had trouble succeeding in regular high schools. A public high school in Austin, where I'd moved after his mother and I divorced, then admitted him because the law required it to, but only for the last six weeks of the school year. It provided no IEP and essentially lost track of him.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">During a span of 30 months, those five schools were Tim's "freshman year." Had educators actively sought input from outside mental health professionals, they might have seen that Tim's illness was beginning to overwhelm him: "I'm in a tired, tired state all day," he told one counselor. "I worry about stuff a lot. I don't like having friends; it's hard to find people who are like me. When I'm really, really sad, I cry. When I'm a little sad, I sit and stare."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>Insurer made matters worse</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">On more than one occasion, my insurance company also contributed to Tim's problems. Here are two examples among many:</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">●When Tim was 15 and needed to be hospitalized while in Idaho, my insurer forced his discharge to a non-secure residential drug rehab program in Connecticut — even though Tim wasn't using drugs at the time. He ran away 72 hours later. That led to his arrest for trespassing and a six-week stay in juvenile detention.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">●When Tim was 17, he was hospitalized while visiting his mother in Connecticut. My insurer refused to authorize more than a few days of inpatient treatment, and so the hospital discharged him before he was stable. Soon I found him camping outside my home in his underwear in near-freezing temperatures, and I had to hospitalize him again. Afterward, my insurer said that because of his history, Tim now was eligible for enhanced case-management services. It also said that he'd exhausted his lifetime benefits.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">When Tim turned 18, he had no high school diploma, no job prospects and a debilitating mental illness. Legally an adult, he also decided he wanted to live on his own. With a brand-new diagnosis of schizophrenia, Tim was eligible for a variety of support services, but he now told us he didn't want them. He was tired of counseling and he didn't like the side effects of the antipsychotic drugs prescribed for him. He also didn't want a caseworker checking in on him.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">He got his wish. None of the overextended caseworkers assigned to him had time to devote to an unwilling client such as Tim.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">I found him supported housing three times in three years, but he was evicted each time for various infractions. When Tim finally found a landlord willing to rent him a place on his own, the mental health agency's housing personnel gave him a bad reference. That kept Tim living on the streets, and eventually he drifted into homelessness and incarceration. When he was in jail, with its regular routines and meals, Tim usually stabilized. But when he was released — because he went back to the streets instead of to a service provider — he destabilized right away, which in his case meant becoming highly agitated and paranoid, and hearing voices.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">In 2008, at age 23, Tim moved to San Francisco and has lived mostly on the streets there ever since.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">The last time I visited him, he was holed up for a while in a small room a caseworker had found him in a Mission District rooming house. His only furniture was a bare mattress on the floor; a rat and flies were his companions. Sadly, he seemed content.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">This is the mental health delivery system that I helped build.</p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong>What I realize now</strong></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">More than one educator has told me that I shouldn't blame the schools: Their purpose is to educate children, not to treat them. I understand this. But I also learned from personal experience that ignoring a child's special needs makes meaningless the special-education concepts of "appropriate" and "least restrictive" education that are embodied in the laws we passed.</div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">These terminologies — and the realities they represent — were things that policymakers thought about too narrowly. The word "disability," for instance, should have covered Tim and children like him. But as a friend who worked a generation ago on drafting the regulations for the federal government's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act told me, "Paul, we were thinking of kids in wheelchairs."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">It's no wonder that children like Tim graduate from one kind of cell to another when they grow up. On the basis solely of the numbers of people with mental illness who are incarcerated in them, the three largest "mental health facilities" in the nation are Riker's Island in New York, the Cook County Jail in Illinois and the Los Angeles County Jail. The two most stable addresses in Tim's adult life have been the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle, Tex., and the San Francisco County Jail.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">If I were a legislator today, I'd mandate — and provide funding to ensure — that every teacher receive training in recognizing symptoms of mental illnesses. I'd see that pediatricians are trained to make screening for mental health concerns a regular part of well-child exams. I'd require school administrators to incorporate recommendations from pediatricians and mental health professionals into students' IEPs.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">I'd put much more money into community mental health services. I'd integrate how services are delivered by funding collaborative community mental health programs and have them run by mental health professionals. I'd include services for chronically homeless people under this collaborative umbrella.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">At the same time, to clear our county jails of people with mental illnesses, I'd get rid of laws targeting homeless people, such as those against loitering or sitting on a sidewalk. And I'd make sure that there was supportive short-term and long-term community housing and treatment for everyone needing them. Both were promised almost 50 years ago in the federal Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1964 — promises that were broken when it was repealed in 1981 and replaced by a block grant to states.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Mental illnesses cost as much as cancers to treat each year, and the National Institute for Mental Health notes that serious mental illnesses can reduce life expectancy by more than 25 years. That reduction is almost twice the 13 years of life lost, on average, to all cancers combined. When Tim needed hospitalization, an insurer sent him to drug rehab. Imagine the outcry if the insurer had tried to send a smoker with lung cancer who needed hospitalization to drug rehab.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">Perhaps, even if Tim had gotten earlier, more effective and better integrated care, he still would have become homeless. But I don't believe that. Tim is where he is today because of a host of public policy decisions we've made in this country. It took a nation to get Tim there. And it will take a national commitment to get him — and others like him — back.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; "><strong></strong></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium; 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; ">A former legislator and mayor, Gionfriddo has worked for more than 30 years in the fields of health and mental health policy. He is author of the weekly blog <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://pgionfriddo.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html">Our Health Policy Matters</a>. This article was excerpted from the Narrative Matters section of the journal Health Affairs and can be read in full at <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.healthaffairs.com/">www.healthaffairs.com</a>.</p></div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_print.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_print.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

My son is schizophrenic. The ‘reforms’ that I worked for have worsened his life. - The Washington Post

If you were to encounter my son, Tim, a tall, gaunt man in ragged clothes, on a San Francisco street, you might step away from him. His clot...

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