Internet Safety for Children

I tell the kids that the Internet is a city, like Vancouver. They need guidance and supervision to get around the city. I wouldn't take them into certain parts of Vancouver - if I had a choice. If I did need to take them into any part of Vancouver - I would make sure I, or another responsible adult, was with them.

To that end, I wanted to take some time and talk about internet safety. I have also posted some excellent links here to help you. There is one site, Netsmartz.org, that is designed for children to learn about internet safety through music videos and other activities. I encourage you to take the time to go to that site with your child.

We are at a point where we cannot just keep kids away from the internet. It is too interwoven in our lives now. It also is such a powerful tool for all people to use, whatever their occupations or interests are. Therefore, rather than avoiding internet use, we need to educate children (and especially their parents) in some basic guidelines.

Keep that city image in your mind as you evaluate your child's access to the internet. Would you allow your child to walk alone down the streets of any city with their name, phone number, address and daily schedule stuck as a label to their jacket? Yet that is what we sometimes do without thinking, by allowing our child unrestricted, unmonitored access to the internet. As we teach children about being safe with strangers, being home alone and with matches, we need to give them instruction on internet safety.

I wanted to list some things that are good for parents to know about internet safety:

• Computers should be a public area in the home, not in bedrooms.
• When commenting on my blog or the classroom's blog, do not use your last name at all...I have deleted all comments that refer to last names. Better yet, enter your comment as 'anonymous' - If it is a positive and/or appropriate comment, I will allow it to appear on the blog.
• Learn how to check 'history' on Internet Explorer or the alternative on whatever web browser you are using. This will list all the sites that the browser has been to for the past X number of days (you can reset the number of days, I forget what the default is.)
• Beware of Internet Messenger (MSN) and/or Yahoo Chat or other instant messenging programs. If you don't know what those are, talk to me or your local computer geek.
• Look for how to set parental controls on your computer and web browser. Again, talk to me or your local computer expert if you don't know how to do that.
• Make sure you sit down and talk about what your child is not allowed to post - basically, they should never give away their full name, daily schedule, phone number or location. They should never meet someone they met on-line without your knowledge and presence.

My commitment to you in regards to internet usage at school and the publishing of information on both my blog and the classroom's blog:

• I will not allow your child's full name to be posted on the internet.
• I have removed the link to the school's website to avoid any potential 'undesirables' from connecting your child to a specific location.
• I have enabled 'comment moderation' on both blogs. This means that I will preview all comments before allowing them to be posted on the blog. If they are positive and/or appropriate comments, I will allow comments from anyone.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know. I'd be happy to show you how to do some things with the Internet, too, if you're unsure of your way around. Happy surfing!!

Here are some links to help you, specifically with blogging:

blogsafety.com

kidshealth.org

familyinternet.com

netsmartz.org

Look What I Found!!

I changed my profile picture to go with my title...I think it's more interesting than a personal photo. While I was googling for the photo, I came across more photos that I thought would just be fun to share here. It's amazing what an image search comes up with!!







And that's just some of them....Now I'm thinking I should change my profile picture every other day...lol!!!

On Hypocrisy

In the most recent Reader's Digest, Margaret Wente writes about David Suzuki - "Canada's Prophet of Doom". It talks about his opposition to Kyoto - even though to fully implement will meant bankrupting Canada's economy. He also opposes genetic modified foods -which he should know are really the only key to fighting hunger around the world. I wonder how consistent he is with his beliefs? George W. Bush, Suzuki says, is "the ultimate eco-terrorist on the planet." I wonder what Suzuki would say if he knew that the Bush ranch is eco-friendly? I wonder how cosistent Suzuki's beliefs are with his lifestyle.


This article made me think of a book I have just finished reading. It details how US liberals actually live and make their money. Michael Moore, for example, talks about how he owns no stock, but actually owns quite a bit. He even owns stock in the very companies and corporations that he speaks against, like Halliburton. I have had such a struggle with Michael Moore since his last "documentary" - Farenheit 9/11. When he tried to get senators to sign up their own kids into the army, I felt like shouting at him: "But parents CAN'T sign up their own kids in an all VOLUNTEER army!!!!" His criticisms of the war were criticisms of war in general. He actually had very little to say about the war in Iraq, other that the oil connections - which is no news to anyone. It was there that I lost most of the respect that I had for Michael Moore, or whatever was left of it. I have a copy of Stupid White Men which I will hand over for free to whomever asks for it, by the way - I found his prose even more irritating than the movies. The only thing he did that I'm hanging on to is Canadian Bacon, which is a really funny movie...

The books basic premise is that the major liberal spokes people like, Ralph Nader, Moore, Barbara Streisand, Noam Chomsky and Al Franken fail to live the anti-capitalist lifestyle that they say they do. None of them are doing what they're saying, in other words.

The book is a fun read, although I do want to say I'm taking it with a grain of salt. I found it very interesting that the hypocrisies are so dramatic, though.

Bibliography:

Schweizer, Peter. Do As I Say (Not As I Do). New York: Doubleday, c 2005

Wente, Margaret. "Canada's Prophet of Doom" Reader's Digest (Canada), April 2006, pp 135-138.

Bogota Memories

I wanted to write a bit about my time in Colombia (BTW - Colombia, the country, is spelled with two o's). I have tried to include a picture taken by my pitiful webcam of a poster that I have now in my computer room. It is my favorite poster from Colombia - we have quite a few - because, possibly it is the most abstract. Which, in some ways, is the best way to remember Colombia. A beautiful country, sometimes difficult to understand. Definitely hard to live in, but you'll never want to leave once you've been there a while.

I arrived Good Friday in 1989 and just about everything was closed. I had to prepare hurriedly for class on Monday. I was basically given a stack of teacher manuals and told good luck by a very tired looking mother who was filling in for the last few months and was glad her time in the 3/4 split class was over. I got to work to begin my first full-time teaching experience in the garage of the house that the school had rented.

Now for those of you who don't know Colombian history, I was living in Colombia at the time of Pablo Escobar. He was in control of the infamous Medellin drug cartel. He was a nasty, vicious sort of man to his enemies. A loving, caring leader to those who had earned his favor.

By the fall of 1989, when I returned, visa hurriedly worked out, to teach a grade 2/3 class, Escobar had begun his campaign of terror that would ultimatel lead to his dramatic and televised shooting on a rooftop by police. Escobar was randomly bombing anything, banks, food stores, etc. to protest and try to stop the extraditionof drug dealers to the US. For more details of these times, please see the bibliography below.

One time, I had just returned from a grocery shopping expedition at Carulla (grocery store) next to Bulevar Niza (mall that I lived close to) when I felt a shudder go through my apartment. I looked out my window and saw smoke rising from the direction of Bulevar Niza. My good friend (now my wife), Ruth was still there, I thought. I called her apartment and she was there - I sighed in relief. It turns out the car bomb went off in front of the Carulla, but didn't level it. One of the families at my school was actually there when it happened. The father was getting a haircut close to the grocery store and he ran out to try to get into the store after the bomb went off. The police hit him with batons to keep him from entering.

His wife and daughter were in the store. The girl must have been around 5 or 6 at the time. When the bomb went off, the mother and daughter flew away from each other. The mother looked frantically for the daughter and found her, miraculously, sitting on top of a pile of rubble that fell from the ceiling! Needless to say the family came out of it physically undamaged. The news that night said that only 8 or so people were killed but the father later told me that he saw a lot of bodies being quickly hidden by the police. The news was toned down publicly so as not to cause panic.

So you must think it was awful to work there. No, it was tense, yes, but I loved my time there. Perhaps it was because that is exactly where God wanted me at the time. How could I not feel secure in God's hands?

I loved Bogota! I love that it is the land of 'eternal spring'. It is quite situated at quite a high altitude, 8,600 feet or so. There are no extremes in climate there. It is either raining or it isn't. I can't recall talking or hearing much about the weather there, because it would be the most boring topic. Cool in the morning, warming up during the day. The sun setting at 6:30 and rising 12 hours later. Only a few minutes variance during the year.

I loved walking to Bulevar Niza. I often joked that the third floor of that mall was my 'office' to my students. The third floor had all the restaurants and the movie theater... I would vary where I would eat each night. I was single, the US dollar was strong and it was actually cheaper and easier to eat out. I pretty much would only prepare lunch and breakfast at my apartment.

I loved being able to see the Andes mountains around me. I loved that they were green and filled with trees all the way up. We had a fantastic principal, Stan Yohe, who would take the teachers on tours around Bogota and to towns just a short ride away for the weekends. Stan was a historian at heart and would be forever telling us stories about what happened here and there. We really didn't need any other guide!

And the food! My mouth waters thinking of ajiaco, - a kind of chicken stew, of arroz con pollo, of empanadas. I grew to love the traditional breakfast of hot chocolate with a young, runny kind of cheese - I think it was called campesino. I loved grabbing a bus like we grab taxis in North America. You would just wave it down and tell it to stop where ever you needed it to. I learned the buses fairly quickly, once I got my own apartment and actually preferred them over a taxi. They were not only cheaper, but it was easier for me to 'blend' in on a bus - I didn't have to talk so much...

Colombia still is a violent place, gripped in an unending civil war, but I know what the place is really like. I have seen the Colombian heart and I miss it. The violence is not what Colombia actually is - I would hope that others would discover that, too!

Bibliography:

Bowden, Mark. Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, c2001.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. News of a Kidnapping. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, c1997.

On Computers in Education, Part 1

I remember how disgusted I was that evening. I was watching the evening news and I heard an interview with a middle school principal here in BC. He was complaing about the lack of funds for finishing the new middle school library and he said something to the effect: "When we were all done putting in the computers, we didn't have enough money left for books."

Why was I disgusted? Priorities seem out of whack in education today, particularly when it comes to the subject of technology.

We are in such a hurry to be 'up to date' we don't have enough information or in-staff training to support the technology that we buy. So there are no books and the computers collect dust.

When I was in high school, personal computers were just starting to make headway into the everyday lives of consumers. Our school had just aquired what was then considered pretty good technology - TRS-80's from Radio Shack. My friends and I called them "Trash 80's". Now my high school is no slowch when it comes to having staff that is well-trained and 'with-it'. It did not rise to become one of the best Christan Schools in the US by being lazy and 'out of it'.

However, at this time, even the staff was in a quandry with how to even use these computers within the school. The computers were kept in a room (hooked up, ready to go) within the large library.

My friends and I, having recently discovered the loophole in the PE teachers curriculum in High School, spent most of our PE periods there learning how to program the computers using the BASIC language. We would purchase books that would be full of computer games, only you would have to literally type in the BASIC program into the computer. Then you could play the game (provided that you didn't have even ONE typo or skip one of the hundreds of lines).

After about a year of this, one of the math teachers, a dear lady who I absolutely dispised at the time, but now I see that she was an incredible teacher (her name escapes me at the moment) - she had to teach us basic computer skills. We kept our tongues out of respect (in other words - FEAR) of her stumbling. Finally, she turned parts of the class over to my friends - I was more of a follower in this endevour, so couldn't say much. Turns out, one of my friends, Mark Milbourne, actually was paid by the school to write the first program to catalogue the school library. He went on to DuPont, I think...

There are certain cautions about technology that have been brilliantly pointed out by Neil Postman and others. First, there can be no true community through computers. Schools are about being communities of learning and technology is about individuals interacting with the technology. We need to be very careful as we look at technology in our schools and remind ourselves that technology cannot instruct students how to work and live with others. Secondly, computers are a tool and not an end in themselves. We can teach more about computer skills actually by using them as tools and ignoring the 'computer skill' curriculae. For example, in order to teach students to write, I want to use a classroom blog as well as on-line student written book reviews. The computer is just a tool. All the skills for computers are taught incidentally as one goes about the job. The advantage of this is I don't need to worry about being 'up to date' (let's face it, we never will be - unless we have money to burn..). I can just work with the technology given and use what I can.

An incredible article came out in a recent edition of , Educational Leadership, which also gives some caveats that we, as parents and educators need to think carefully about. I'll close this post with just a few quotes from this article:

"...the more access student had to computers in school and at home, the lower their overall test score were....computers more likely distract them from their studies."

" For example, although we know that computer programs can help small children learn to read, we also know that face-to-face interaction is one of the most important ingredients in reading readiness. As a result of increased time spent with computers, video games, and TV the current generation of elementary students will experience an extimated 30 percent fewer face-to-face encounters then the previous generation."

Makes you think, doesn't it??

Bibliography:

Groothuis, Douglas. The Soul in Cyber-Space. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997

Healy, Jane M. Failure to Connect. New York: Simon& Schuster, 1998

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. (and other works)

Monke, Lowell W. "The Overdominance of Computers" Educational Leadership Dec'05/Jan '06, Vol 63, No. 4. pp 21-23.

On Culture

I have been fascinated with the idea of culture ever since I set foot on Colombian soil. I have continued to explore cultural differences since then. There is not only cultural differences between countries, but between regions of a country, between religious denomination, even between family units, if you want to go that far.

I think it was Aristotle who insisted that we define terms before talking about anything. Indeed, he insisted that most arguments are mostly about definitions of terms.

So a definition of culture would be a good place to begin:

"Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything a group of people thinks, says, does, and makes."
(from Living in Colombia by Hutchinson, et al.)

This is my first introduction to culture, through the concept of culture shock that was carefully outlined in the above mentioned book. By experiencing culture shock personally, I learned a lot about what defined my culture and made the culture I was currently living in different, even 'strange' at times.

What are the stages of culture shock?

1. The Honeymoon period ~ Just what it says - nothing is wrong with this culture and everything is right and beautifully different!!
2. Flight, Dependency or Fight ~ None of these strategies are healthy and a healthy mind moves beyond this stage. Flight is retreating into a cocoon and avoiding all outside influences, i.e. creating a North American oasis of your home. Dependency is the other extreme = "going native". Fight is insisting on how 'wrong' the culture is and how 'right' your way of behavior is.
3. The Road to Recovery ~ This shows that you are on your way to being a healthy part of the culture. You are more open to cultural differences, you participate more, you may even joke about your cultural faux pas.
4. Cultural Adjustment ~ You now accept the host culture as a different way of living. You are able to live in it and appreciate the differences without being totally immersed and lost in them.

What is fascinating about this is that everyone goes through culture shock at different rates, depending on your length of stay. It actually takes longer to go through if you are moving to a country for the long-term (10 years) than if you are planning on being there for just 6 months of a year. Another thing that is interesting is that re-entry culture shock (returning to your home culture) can actually be a harder adjustment than the initial culture shock.

Now, for me it has been a difficult adjustment to life here in Canada, or should I say, Western Canada - for the culture of East vs. West I feel has made it more difficult for me. For example, when I have visited my sister-in-law in Winnipeg, I felt that the culture there was more like the culture I grew up in near Philadephia than here in Abbotsford. Winnipeg is definitely more of an urban culture. Abbotsford, technically, is a city, but not a city like I have ever experienced before in any place I have lived before.

Bibliography:

Hutchinson, William R. et al. Living in Colombia: A Guide for Foreigners. (Yarmouth, Maine: Interalculture Press, Inc.) 1987.

Important Grade 2 links!!

Hey all you grade 2 students and parents! Another reason I wanted to begin with this blog is to actually post some links that you can just click on and then you can go to the site. I will keep updating this post, so check frequently for changes! You could use the public library for extra books to read.

Also, please use the math links below to help you practice your math facts!!

Math links:

aplusmath.com

coolmath4kids.com

aaamath.com

mathplayground.com

Math Magician


Science / Social Studies (Unit) links:

Bat Conservation International

On-line Bat Puzzle

Mexico for Kids

Kites in the Classroom

Local Nature Reserve

Find out about Canadian Animals Here!


Spelling and Phonics review:

Phonics Games from Between the Lions


General sites for fun and/or skill review:

Funbrain

The Kidz Page

Big Idea Fun

PBS Kids

Funschool

Puzzles, Puzzles, Puzzles!

Facthound - great site for kid-safe searching!!!

Living in Canada - An American Perspective

Since I have traveled a bit, I have become fascinated by how different cultures work. I enjoy reading about cultures and I have become more interested in history over the years.

The running joke is that Canadians are just 'misplaced' Americans or that they are just an offshoot of the US, embracing the same culture. I would argue that they are a unique culture, and that this culture that is now in place is very needed in this world that can be dominated by images, ideas, etc. from the US. Canada is in a unique position to be a 'check and balance' to the US. Hopefully, Canada will begin to embrace that concept of being a Berean-like thinker to the US. There are some hopeful signs in the latest Canadian government, led by Stephen Harper.

Anyway, what are the key ideas that float around that make up the Canadian identity. I have found that a lot of it boils down to this quote:

"A Canadian is someone who is always asking, 'What is a Canadian?'"...(will add info about where I got quote when I find it...)

The Canadian identity seems to be wrapped up in the idea of questioning, probing, wondering. Sometimes this does look a bit neurotic, but it really isn't. Canadian culture is more open to other ideas and cultures. They don't usually just 'settle' for an answer...they want reasons.

Being outside of the US for so long, I have noticed that Americans (including me) have a tendency to be more sure. Don't bother me with more questions, I've already figured it out. President Bush's idea of "with us or against us" is, to me, something that is taking the American mindset to the extreme. (Don't get me wrong, either, I love my home country, but all cultures have their failings.)

I am fascinated by the interplay between the two countries over time. How Canada's very existence is due to the USA. How the idea that "Canadians are Americans that rejected the Revolution." (Nothrup Frye said that) is true. I think it is fascinating how the birth year of Canada, 1867, is right on the heels of the end of the US Civil War (1865).

I am fascinated by Prime Minister's and Presidents and how they get along. There's LBJ grabbing Pearson by the collar and telling him to 'stop pissing on my carpet!' (PM Pearson was not a big fan of the Vietnam War and actually talked out loud about it). There's Trudeau's famous 'sleeping elephant' reference.


Essential reading for Americans in Canada:

Coupland, Douglas Souvenir of Canada (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre) 2002

Ferguson, Will Canadian History for Dummies (Toronto: CDG Books Canada) 2000

Ferguson, Will Why I Hate Canadians (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre) 1997

Ferguson, Will & Ian Ferguson How To Be A Canadian (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre) 2001


Essential TV viewing for Americans in Canada:

CBC

Spend a week or a month, if you dare, and watch CBC. If you do, let me know...you should be rewarded, or something...

In my opinion, the best, funniest and most informative show about Canada is The Rick Mercer Report

And a word to my Canadian friends: Yes, Rick did "Talking to Americans". Yes, it was funny. However, Rick's moved on. So should you. End of comment :-)



Essential website for all Americans to have under "Favorites" while living in Canada (believe me, you'll need it!):

THE Canadian Spelling Dictionary!!

It wouldn't hurt to get the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, either!!

How did I get here??

Good question.

I was born and raised in Delaware County, PA. I attended the local public schools until 8th grade, when I switched to Delaware County Christian School. While at DC I attended a high school job fair. I was very interested in being a scientist (l think it was an astronomer at the time), but there weren't workshops for scientists in every single block. I then chose one that looked at least semi-interesting and it was led by an elementary teacher. In fact, he was the 2nd grade teacher at the time. I listened and was fascinated. After the workshop, I spoke with him about volunteering in his classroom during some of my study halls.

Well, after that - I was hooked!! I could still communicate my love for science to someone and I could also talk about so much more!

After high school, I bumped around - mostly due to finances - to different universities. I ended up graduating with a B.S. Ed. in Early Childhood Education from West Chester University in December of 1987.

After that, I subbed in and around the Delaware County area in various school districts. I also worked at the local YMCA in an after school program as well as in the summer and holiday day camps. After a year of this, I was very discouraged by substitute teaching.

I attended a College and Careers Bible study through my home church in Pennsylvania, Aldan Union Church. One very cold night, a missionary from Youth For Christ spoke at our Bible study. This missionary was, at the time, the Director of Youth for Christ in Bogota, Colombia. He spoke on the calling of Phillip to preach to the Ethiopian Eunuch Acts 8:26-40 - this convicted me. I felt God calling me to do SOMETHING - but what???

Now this was the winter of 1989 ( I think) and there were ice storms. You could park your car and get a jug of milk at the local convenience store and go back out and your car would be frozen shut.

This missionary, it turns out, could not get his car open after the Bible Study. I offered him a ride home and we began to talk more about the school that his son attended in Bogota. It was a day school for missionary kids - quite small at the time - and about 10 years old. The school was desperate for new teachers and was only running half time because they could only get parents to fill in the gaps. It was then I realized that God wanted me to go to South America!

Off I went - after all the pre-trip fundraising and stuff - on Good Friday, 1989 and began my teaching carreer with a 3-4 combination class at El Camino Academy . I taught there for 4 1/2 years. I taught 3rd grade most of the time. I will probably do another post about my fond memories of Bogota....

Anyway, while there, I met a very interesting woman teaching a 1st grade class. She grew up in a place called Abbotsford in British Columbia, Canada. We were friends for most of that time. When it came time to leave Bogota, I realized that I couldn't just leave her and say good-bye. And, after the prompting of a friend (Hi, Jackie!!), I proposed. She, of course, made me wait two weeks or so for an answer, but on Canadian Thanksgiving Day in 1992, she finally said, "Yes!!!".

All of our friends reactions in Colombia: "Finally!!"

The long and the short of it after the engagement? The job opportunities were much better, at the time, in BC, Canada and we decided to make Abbotsford our home.

That's how this American ended up, not only in Canada, but on an opposite coast!

The All-Important First Post!!

Why am I beginning a blog?

1. I really like the idea of putting some of my ideas, opinions, interests, etc. out there.
2. I would like to begin a blog for my grade 2 classroom and I thought the best way would be to create my own.
3. I'm just so tickled that I came up with a title that worked!!!
4. Well....why not???

Hopefully, you find this blog interesting. I will welcome your comments and suggestions. I'm excited about this and I hope you are too!!