Battles with Integrity

It occurs to me that the students who today ask why their work wasn't graded over the weekend, are the same people who, ten years hence, will complain how teachers have it easy because they only work six hours a day.

The winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival was Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for Superman. This film is a documentary following the stories of five families across the country as they try to find the best schools and opportunities they can for their children. The film discusses some of the challenges our nation faces as we continue to let schools fail, and hopefully brings some ideas for fixing the problem. The film does feature Jeffrey Canada's work in Harlem, which holds some promise, for sure.

Waiting for Superman is not out yet; apparently still waiting on a distributor. Nonetheless, They released the trailer yesterday. You can find it here.



If you want to share your reactions to the trailer, feel free to do so here. I'd love to hear from you.

Wanted: Someone who can help me figure out what I need to turn an iPad into a teaching appliance. I have a nebulous list of features in my head (including running in-classroom A/V switching and management), and I'd love to see it put into practice. I just don't have the tools or knowledge to implement this.

Anyone game?

So says, casnow. Still, this is pretty drafty.

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Many people forget that some of the coldest days of the Cold War weren't all that long ago. Late September of 1983 was fifteen weeks after the opening of WarGames, a movie that seems quaint now, but was scary at the time, and less than 60 days before we were all scared out of our wits by The Day After. They were making Red Dawn at the time.

Just three weeks after the Soviets shot down a South Korean 747 with hundreds of US Citizens aboard, while the US and the USSR were still mortal enemies, deep in a of the Soviet Air Defense bunker, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov saved the world.

Na zdorovia, Colonel Petrov. Spasibo.

One of these days I want to tell his story in class. I wonder if a 'This Day in History' or 'Five Minutes in History' would be a neat way to introduce stories from the past to my students. Also, would five minutes every few days take away from the other curriculum I need to impart?

Hmmm.

I don't have the time to write an essay on the importance of teachers and teaching. Though people laud teachers from time to time, and many of us can remember a specific teacher (or several) for whom we are grateful, it still happens that teaching is an undercompensated job, often in poor working conditions, for little recognition for the majority of teachers.

Some people say 'if you can read this, thank a teacher,' and that's all well and good, but really, if you can spare it (even just once), I humbly suggest that if you can read this, thank a teacher and then give them $50¹.

Talk is cheap.


¹ Please exercise caution, and don't try to give cash money to someone who is currently teaching you. It might be misunderstood.

With grateful thanks to rhiannonstone for the link.

What did you make last year?


Must learn more about this Taylor Mali.