Education community rethinks 'pennies for peace' support

What a let down for everyone involved. Greg Mortenson is a very interesting story. Whether or not everything he has done was intentional does not negate the fact that at least some good came from his organization. Why did he exagerate everything? Was it a cover up so that money could be funnaled into his tours for his personnel fame? His story is interesting because I suspect that he belives a lot of the things he says. Is it possible that he could have deluded himself all this time? Or in interviews was he simply unable to control the empulse to impress? It would be deeply ironic and sad if really wanted to be the person he was presenting.

Delaware Pushes to meet race to top promises

It is amazing what teachers are being put through. Now they have to experiment with different test models to see which are most effective. Unfortunately, what teacher has the time to approach this from a scientific perspective. There is a data coach as she is called or the person who is supposed  to help them comb over all the testing information they have been acquiring in their professional development meetings, but how much can they really due. This is the federal governments race to the top program funding. Well... the Delaware department of education claims the to do list is long and that they are methodically going through it. If this is just one of the necessary objectives then the project is doomed. How much can they really learn from these testing experiments in one year? Possibly a great deal for statisticians and evaluators in the future or over the next few years which may have been the objective all along but I doubt it because I do not think this program had that much for-sight. It feels like a political quick fix.

Testing the test

Most departments of education have testing over sight so I am very curious as to what exactly they are looking to different here. Apparently it is nothing, but now that there is an article about it I would imagine that many people will feel that the issues of testing is being looked at sincerely. I wonder as always how efficient and costly will this new over sight be. Because this is a commentary piece in ed weekly we get one mans view on what he has experienced with testing as the test evaluator for the Massachusetts department of education. He proposing some changes that he believes would improve the test. I think we should put this process of over sight into play, that is have various experienced and concerned individuals donate their commentary evaluations to a forum paper that would then be considered by various district educational departments. no harm done and no money lost or wasted.

California deficit clouds picture for K-12 funding

Jerry Brown proposed an idea to balance the budget in California without  cutting funding for schools. It called for a rise in taxes which the Republicans did not like, go figure. They are fighting Mr. Brown vehemently on this one. He has decided to go around their uncompromising nature and take it to the streets or the residents. He wants to gather enough votes to place tax measures on the ballet. The fight goes on. I wonder how this one will turn out.

Lawmakers set curriculum demands

In Utah a bill was considered that dictated to schools in more detail what should be taught, specifically as concerns U.S. social studies. Is this a scary new trend toward states and our nation telling districts and school more specifically what to teach. It has already been happening indirectly so I am not surprised that the next step is more control from the top down. I think this is just another swing in the pendulum. Not because the sates do not want to be in control but because they can not afford to put that wheel into turning. Imagine the oversight, educational committees and policy makers that would need to be paid.

States curb Exemptions on testing

Districts are being pressured to use fewer exemptions for students with "severe cognitive impairments." It is insane, because I do not know and apparently no one does whether or not the system is being taken advantage of or the school are using their rights to help disadvantaged children. This is all very confusing. I wonder if we have the money to do greater oversight of this issue, well, no. Of course not. Why should we use founds to police for any potential testing scams. More than likely the persons policing for scams would probably scamming the system themselves.

The Red Tree By Shaun Tan

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

The age level for this book is young on up, because its major theme is isolation and how individual perspective and circumstance can change a person’s view of themselves and the world. It takes place in the imagination of a young adult. The language is very simple and mostly intended to support the illustrations. The illustrations are intended to relay the psychological aspects of the themes, which are expressed in the text.

There is a wonderful quote that goes some thing like “talking about music is like trying to dance architecture.”  I feel this applies to illustrations as well. Descriptions do not do justice to the actual sensation of observing these illustrations. For instance the first illustration has simple text “darkness overcomes you” there is an image of girl walking isolated along a city street under the shadow of a ghost like unearthly dieing fish that is over 100 times her size. The colors and detail are astounding and the affect of this image is arresting.

The illustrations are paintings in a style that uses very subtle shading and coloring. This is consistent throughout the book. Shaun Tan’s style is very psychological and emotional. One often feels a blurring in the lines of reality of fantasy.

The size of the book fits the content perfectly. The cover is of  a red haired girl floating in a paper boat on an endless calm sea staring down at a leaf beside the boat. This perfectly fits the story theme. Nothing about the beginning of the book gives a clear indication of the depth of the emotional and psychological journey to come, which is exactly how it feels that it should. Which is to say there is an unfolding of emotional states that lead further and further into an ambiguous sense of self. This helps the illustrate the main themes idea of isolation and perfectly impacts the final idea that perspectives can change sometimes divorced from the individual will.

This book and the author/illustrator have numerous awards and very justifies recognition. I believe that I have never seen this theme done in such a powerful and unique way. I am thankful to have had the privilege to be have been exposed to this artists work and to have passed it on to others whose reaction were similar to mine.