I hate Times New Roman. That's better. Hello and welcome to the Make My Ex Famous blog by Ken Morris. I had an incredible day, which is nice after having a shitty one. I didn't get a chance to write about the above title when I wanted to but that it's all good. Since I waited, more writable events came forward. So let's get to it.
It was recommended by my daughter's teacher and her mother that Linnea take "Math Intervention" to get her ready for 6th Grade Math. Linnea did not want to take it. She said last summer did nothing to make her better. Why should she have to take it again? But why listen to a kid. Teachers and parents are always right. I was more bothered that another activity was planned without my knowledge or agreement. From my point of view, it is lost time, which, again, from my point of view is the exact intention. So, she scored "Basic" on WKCE. So what? She won't be a mathematician or an accountant. One thing (there are many) that bothers me about the school system is they seem to focus so much time and attention on weaknesses, that students forget their strengths. It's no wonder they are bored. Why does it seem creativity is completely thrown away after kindergarden? Why can't students choose a path that interests them? Better yet, why does it have to be one path? I imagine that a very small number of you reading this when to school and have been doing the same job since. Where are the computer programming classes or the entrepreneur classes? The system needs to change. It is not my daughter who needs an "intervention" because she is "basic" at math. I believe that the school system needs the intervention.
Not sure if you remember the districts choice to purchase 3000 netbooks last year. Yeah, they sure were cute, weren't they? I'd like to know what they were thinking when they purchased them? Where was their intervention? I don't think my daughter is on the path to waste $1.5M tax dollars without an intervention. I can imagine, because I'm creative. It was probably something like this:
"We are on track to lose another 1000 students to better districts like Ashwaubenon and Howard-Suamico. What should we do?"
"We need more technology!"
"But what about integration?"
"Ain't nobody got time for that!!! Order 3000 netbooks."
There are much better ways to integrate technology than buying netbooks. No, Tom Milbourn, netbooks are not new technology. They are crap and I think time has proven this. I doubt they will continue using the netbooks for their one-to-one initiative. They would have better results integrating the technology they have with them. Mobile technology is the future. The ability to access, create, and manipulate media using their smart phones, will help them more than just handing them a netbook. Training staff and determining need wouldn't hurt either. From my understanding, the computers were rarely effectively used in class, damage was rampant, and they were all "unlocked" within a few hours. I know students were playing the FPS game Halo on them. In other words, they knew more than they thought.
If they really wanted to help students learn and integrate technology, Minecraft would be a wonderful way to math and other forms of problem solving. Ask Sharin Tebo. She spent two years teaching in Bangkok and knows how amazing of a teaching tool Minecraft can be. I see what my daughter create in this world and it is incredible. If you have been living in a mine, you might not know what I am talking about. Here's the Wikipedia. Please don't tell me I need to let you know what Wikipedia is. Let them play. There is potential. Be open to it and if you're really adventurous, try it yourself.
The American Dream is my final entry. I am going to keep it simple. My original plan was to explain what it's not but I believe a positive outlook is a better take. To me, my American Dream, is to be happy. And as I continue on that journey with my girls, I want to affect the lives of as many people as I can. Since the time is right, I will leave you with this.
Share, like, and enjoy.
Ken
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