SITE Blog

Martin Luther King, Dream Realized/ Not!!
The Dream? Let’s Update the Dream
By Bonnie Bracey Sutton

President Obama and Dr. King’s dream

During the 1963 March on Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” One year after the inaguration
of Barack Obama— the first African American of the 44 presidents of the United States — we are seeing King’s dream at once realized and deferred.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inauguration-central/inauguration

I am old enough to have seen Martin Luther King in Washington on the Mall. I am young enough to have… Continue reading

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Here is a problem along the edges of the digital divide that most people are unaware of the perspective from Native American Tribes.

Given the fact that many Native American tribes have some land and some have casinos, people think that they live in the lap of luxury. There are a few tribes who have learned to create a business model to change the future of their children. But we have an interesting set of problems that the President has to address. For those not familiar with the cultures, here is a virtual tour if
The Four Directions project works to use technology as a catalyst for change in the schools. Recently students, teachers, community members and Four Directions personnel worked together to create a demonstration project with… Continue reading

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There is a large and vocal support of Michelle Rhee in the press. I beg to differ and to offer an opinion and some research that the reporters, and her friends have not examined to think about her policies.No one speaks for many who have worked in urban, or rural or
difficult education for years without any support, funding or publicity. Maybe some of these people should attend the Think Tanks on Scholarship to tell their truths or at least question the soothsayers.

I am a citizen of Washington DC. I have taught in a school in my neighborhood in South west. No, I am not one of her victims. I taught in Arlington, Virginia for years, I taught in DODDS schools in Baumholder, GDE, and I have taught using technology in… Continue reading

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December 7, 2009— The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and its
partners are launching Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) to
uncover and remedy the inadequacy of the nation’s computer science
education system at the K-12 level. While 5 of the top 10 fastest
growing jobs are in computing-related fields, the percent of schools
with rigorous high school computing courses fell from 40 percent to 27
percent from 2005 to 2009. The last 60 years witnessed an
extraordinary burst of innovation and talent that have produced a
nation where most can scarcely remember life without computers. Yet
this innovation-based society is at risk if students are not learning
fundamental computing knowledge in our nation’s schools.

“CSEdWeek is a new national movement to raise awareness of the
significance of computer science in our daily lives and our economy,”
said John White, CEO of ACM. “We… Continue reading

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Dialing Up the Digital Divide

Maybe those connected really don’t care about us!!

One of the following stories of the digital divide is a story of of the suburbs near Washington. I live in Washington DC, my family lives in Fairfax and I travel all over the US in my work to see and understand the various aspects of the DIgital Divide. I am passionate about the work because I am an accidental technology pioneer and I am a woman, and a teacher.

In the discussion of the digital divide opinions like mine are often dismissed.Many teachers have been overlooked in the quest for the meaningful use of technology. Lots of men want to cut to the chase and leapfrog over the teachers. I find that… Continue reading

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Thank you to everyone who sent in a proposal for Ethics and Game Design: Volume Two.

The proposals were originally due today. Since many of you are still
recuperating from airplane delays, the swine flu, and holiday
shopping, I decided to postpone the deadline one week to Monday,
December 7th, 2009.

Thanks!
Karen
___

I am excited to announce that “Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values
through Play” will be coming out in February 2010.

The book features the following authors:

Henry Jenkins
Chris Swain
Miguel Sicart
Brenda Brathwaite
John Sharp
Colleen Macklin
Erin Hoffman
John Nordlinger
& many more!

Wish you could have contributed? You still can, because Volume 2 is
coming out in late 2010/early 2011. I invite you all to contribute to the book,
which will provide a diverse and comprehensive compendium of case
studies, theoretical frameworks, and empirical research in the
emerging field of ethics development through games and play… Continue reading

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You never hear me fuss about religious schools, or charter schools, or
most types of schools I have even taught in DODDS Schools and in a
school for dropouts. Teaching is sometimes a challenge but the nuns who
taught me were up to every challenge. So, that is one of the reasons I get fired up
when people like Michelle Rhee make fun of older teachers and do not realize that
these people and others stood in places where no one cared to teach and produced miracles.

My skill in teaching and being able to adjust to the learning landscape
came from observing and being in the schools of these nuns, the Oblate
Sisters of Providence who served in the urban, poor and ghetto
communities of the nation. I was surprised when I found that my school,
Saint Joseph’s was… Continue reading

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What I love about this project is that we who crafted it are teacher educators, consultants, research people and game developers as well as STEM specialists. We worked together to fill a need for teachers, but our networks must not be good enough. We need a few more teachers to make this go. You can email me bbracey at aol com to register. Our registration was a barrier to some as they did not understand the difference between the SC conference and Teacher Day. We want teachers, professionals, educational experts and teachers working in a knowledgenetwork. We especialy want teachers.

Norm Augustine, Shirley Malcom and a legion of others have testified that STEM and computational knowledge is lacking in K-12. The department of education is looking for innovation. We… Continue reading

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I have often commented on the theatrics and the misery of being a citizen of DC with Ms. Rhee as the cheerleader in chief as if we in DC want bad teachers. Its more than teachers, its a national change that has to happen, but there are ways to do it. I guess Andres must not be cute or known about. Read this and see how it should be done. Andres and a few other leaders in education should get some of the play that Michelle Rhee is getting.

Where are the articles on this guy or on Norm Augustine, Convocation on the Gathering Storm sho started the whole conversation about why we NEED change.

baltimoresun.com
Road to reform
Our view: Baltimore’s school reform has been… Continue reading

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