Education - From the Board Room

Education - From the Board Room

It has been said that "It takes a community to raise a child". My hope is that this blog will be such a community. That together we can pool our resources to educate our children, and give them the gift of "life long learning".

Monday, April 18, 2011

Free Academy for Your Kids

Blog7  April 18,2011

If you haven't yet discovered the TED talks, I strongly recommend that you check them out, if for no other reason then to inspire yourself.  The TED presentations are made in front of people that have the ability to invest in new ideas, and as I understand it, they also offer prizes at the conferences for he best ideas. Before I get to far off of track,  this particular TED presentation was made be a gentleman be the name of Khan who has started a project called the Khan Academy.  The project started as a tutoring lesson for Khan's relatives and has exploded into a curriculum that is actually being used by a school system in California. I suggest that you watch the TED presentation and then visit the Khan academy to see how this project can help you with pupils that you may be tutoring.

Basically the lessons have been broken down into segments no longer then 12 minutes in length, and if your student is having problems with a particular lesson, you could just find that segment or lesson that explains the topic, and let them watch the segment as many times as they need to understand the lesson.  also there is also a way that you or another mentor can sign up to be a tutor for the student, if they get stuck.

The concept that the use in the classroom is different than you might think.  The teachers in the school system in California are assigning the segments from the Khan Academy for homework, and then they do the problems in class where the teacher can walk around the classroom to view student progress.  Students are encouraged to work with other students and work ahead if they want.  Their progress in all subjects is tracked by computer so that parents and teachers can follow their progress.  Check it out.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/salman_kahn.html

http://www.khanacademy.org/


Web definitions

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a U.S private nonprofit foundation best known for its conferences, now held in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S., devoted to what it calls "ideas worth spreading". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_Talks

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog6 - iTuneU

If you have an iPhone, iPod, iPad or any of the other Apple products, you may already be acquainted with iTunes, but for those who are not, iTunes may have only been for putting music on your iPod at one time but it has developed into a whole library of useful items for education.  The App store has a number of useful Apps for your device that might prove useful for your student, but today I would like to talk about something you may not have looked at, namely iTuneU.  I would also like to talk a little about some of the podcasts available on Itunes.  If you are really serious about helping your child learn, there are a whole series of education courses developed for teaching grade school children. One such series was put out by the state of California, and you might want to look at everything else that is available.  One of the interesting things about iTuneU is that you can find something for any age, and any subject.  Have you ever wanted to go to Harvard, Yale Princeton, Cornell, MIT or you name the University of your choose, you will find full classwork, lectures and all on iTuneU, or discussions by the experts.  Want to learn computer programming? Check out MIT's opencourseware under Engineering and then Computer science.  Their first course in Python and the book is even available on the Internet for free.  Want to learn a new language? You'll find almost any language you would like to learn on iTuneU.
Let's talk for a bit about podcasts or netcasts as they are sometimes called.  If you aren't familiar with podcasts, you're in for a treat.  Pick any subject that you are interested in, or want to know more about, and you will find a podcast on it.  They can range from a few seconds to an hour or more. They can be just sound or they can be set up like a TV show.  If you want to find out about the latest in technology I suggest that you check out Twit.TV, it is available on iTunes or at Twit.TV on the net, Leo Laport, weekend radio host, has set up a number of weekly shows on what he has named "The Twit Network" . Besides his weekly radio show, you will find a variety of subjects in the tech world from digital cameras to cell phones and beyond. If you want to hear about a variety subjects. or stimulate a student, try the Ted Talks from the Ted conferences. The Ted conferences feature the greatest minds in the world. These are super creative people in every respect.  Listen to a variety of podcast and it will stimulate your creative juices. If you have some older students in the house, turn them onto something they enjoy by sharing a recording with them.  Other things you can find on iTunes include books and Audible books, iTunes is available on the Mac or Windows platforms for free. Just download iTunes from http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Power of Being a Parent

Blog #5

The experts say that the time that you spend reading to your children forms not only a bond between you and your children, but also a bond between your children and books.  If a child learns to read, it opens their door to learning, and if they establish a love for books, it sets them on the trail to become "Life long learners".  This isn't completely reserved for parents either.  As a grandpa, I love it when my twin grand daughters clime up on the arms of my chair so that I can read them a story.  This doesn't have to be stopped as the kids become a little older. As they get a little older let them read to you.  My wife was telling me the other day that she used to drive the kids to school, and on the way she would have them read the newspaper to her. I can tell you as a former radio announcer and broadcast journalist that there is no better way to build your vocabulary then to read out loud, and reading the newspaper will expose the reader to a great vocabulary, and current events
A few years ago I helped tutor a group of intercity kids.  One of the biggest things we did for them, was to help them with their reading skills.  We read to them and had them read to us.  We helped them with pronunciation.  We helped them earn the meaning of the words, and taught them how to use a dictionary.  We also helped them with their math skills,and the simple things like how to tell time. Basically, anything that they were working on in school we helped them with if they needed help. We checked their homework, and made sure they were doing it and doing it correctly. The kids came after school for an hour or two a couple of times a week for a school year.  Some just a few months, and their advance in school was dramatic.  One girl went from the lowest reading group to the highest.  One girl had been diagnosed as special ed, was given accolades for making the best advancement in her class for the year. Unfortunately, the program was cut for lack of funding.
This blog was meant for last week, and it was appropriately the 107th birthday for Dr. Seuss.  While I was never a big fan, I've never met a kid that wasn't.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Arduino - The little Robot That Could

Blog 4
To this point everything that I've talked about has been free and open source software.  This time I have a free and open source project that while it isn't free is fairly low cost. This time it is not only free and open source software, but free and open source hardware as well. The Arduino project www.Arduino.cc has all the information about the robotic software and the hardware.  While I haven't got my hand on one of these kits, it sounds like the perfect project for that student that is hard to challenge.  I first heard of the Arduino project through a podcast Floss weekly 61 on www.twit.tv .  This robot project will give the student an introduction to programming as well as robotics. While the project was actually started in Europe, there are a number of places here in the United States that have kits or parts available.  If you are lucky the high school in your area has joined the robotic competition which can lead to scholarships, and other benefits including a great group of kids to run around with.  Check out arduino.cc . Read their papers and forums, and then pick one of the companies listed that supply kits.  I think you will find you'll be pleasantly surprised at the prices.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Library at Your Fingertips

Blog3

Here it is just before Valentine's Day and I thought I might do something special for all the lovers.  When Valentine's Day rolls around they say that a young man's fancy turns to love.  Well we older men have some similar thoughts.   Thoughts about love poems, and poets such as Elizabeth Barret Browning or Robert Browning just to name a couple that comes to mind.  If you have a student that is studying poetry, you can find a lot of books on the  INTERNET that have poetry and talk about their authors and the type of poetry that the authors wrote.  Books are a very important part of education, and it is nice to know that you don't have to make a trip to the library every time that you need to research a subject.  Google books has a huge library in a pdf format that is easy to access, and if you search you'll find a number of websites that offer free or low cost books on the INTERNET.  I hope to soon add audio to this blog, and I may include a couple poems.


How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

The love poem of all love poems, and if you go to the website listed below you can find several interpretations of the poem, but for me I think I'll just remember it as a beautiful love poem.
http://www.eliteskills.com/c/2193

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Gcompris and Open Source Software

Blog #2
Gcompris is an award winning sweet of open source software for kids between the ages of 2 and 10 years old.  The software was developed for Linux but is available for Windows and Mac.  One of the nice things about Gcompris is that it will teach the kids to use the keyboard and mouse, as well as a tool to help them learn the numbers and alphabet.  Advanced games teach math, spelling and other skills.  There are also puzzles, and strategy games in the mix.  My twin Grand daughters seemed to enjoy a number of the games in the suite.  I think it may have been developed in France which is where they live, but they played the games in English.  As I said in my first blog, I set up two computers with Linux for the girls to play with when they visit.  After a little instruction I basically turned them loose to play what ever they wanted on the computers.  When they found out that one was a little slower, each wanted the fast one, but they were content to share.  

I suggest that you check out their web sight for a download.  Their download page is     
 “ http://gcompris.net/-Download-"      They have a limited edition for Windows and Mac or if you want to try Linux, they have a cd for the Linux distribution for Knoppix which contains the whole version of Gconpris.  As they explain, you set your computer up to boot from the cd you download and make from their website.  The cd contains the whole operating system and a number of other Linux programs, including word processing, other educational games, Internet browsers, and many other programs that you may enjoy.  They all run off the "live cd" and do not disturb your hard drive or Windows or Mac based operating system.  Be careful, you might get hooked.  All the programs that you might have to pay big dollars for in Windows or Mac have free counter parts in Linux.  Generally you can do most anything you want to with Linux.  In fact a lot of programs are developed in Linux and transported to Windows and Mac.  Many Linux distributions are now available as downloads for a "live cd".  The one I use is Ubuntu which is supported by Conical, and has a large community of volunteers that work on bugs in the software.  I'm actually writing this blog in "Open Office", a multifaceted word processor.  Open Office is available for Windows as well for free at      “http://www.openoffice.org/"   If you try any of the programs I recommend,  I'd like to hear from you.  If you have anything to suggest to help educate the kids, let me know and I'll pass it on to everyone. 

In future blogs I hope to add sound and maybe even video to the blog.  My three sisters have all worked with kids, and I hope to hear from them in the weeks ahead.Gcompris and Open Source Software

Saturday, January 29, 2011

My first blog

Education today is in the fast lane.  Parents are still charged with the responsibility of helping their children succeed not only in school, but in life as well.  My kids are grown and they now are working with their children.  My daughter spoke recently of some of the things that she does with her twins that I did with her. For example, when we went to the mall if the kids wanted to go to the toy store, we would go, but they knew that they couldn't buy a toy.  That was something to ask for at Christmas time or for a Birthday.  Instead, we would always visit the book store after the visit to the toy store, and I would let them pick out a book.  They knew that Grandma would shower them with toys at Christmas, isn't that what Grandmas are for, and they really liked their books.  We started very early reading to the kids, and there is a bond that takes place between the parents and kids when the child sits on a lap and hears a story from a loved one.  That bond is more then between parent and child; it is also between child and books.  I would like to hear ideas from others on this blog about what you have found that works to encourage the love of "life long learning".
I would be remiss if I didn't say something about technology and it's role in education today.  Last year, after we had tried it in a few classrooms, we equipped all of our classrooms with smart boards.  If the schools don't keep up with technology, we will loose some of the kids in the classroom.  It was a big investment, but it is already paying off.  There are many things that a parent can do at home to make education interesting to their children.  Let me sight an example.  When my daughter comes to visit, I set up two computers that I have loaded with Ubuntu Linux that I've downloaded off the net.  Linux is a free system that has thousands of free programs for education, and any other thing you might be interested in doing.  I use Linux because it runs very well on old computers, and the kids can't hurt the system.  I don't expect everyone to have extra old computers laying around the house like I do, but many of these programs are free on the net for a windows based computer.  Let me give an example.  One of my Dentist's assistants was telling me about one of her kids having problems with math in school.  I downloaded a program called Tux for Math and gave it to her.  The program starts out at a level of just finding the numbers on the keyboard to adding, subtracting, multiplying and division of larger numbers.  The numbers or problems fall out of the sky in the form of asteroids on the screen, and when the answer is typed in and the space bar or enter key is pressed a rocket shoots the asteroids out of the sky in an arcade game that kids love. I gave her the program several months ago, and the kids still use it. There are other programs on the same website. Later I'll post the link so you can download this program for your kids.  The program is available in Linux, unix, Windows and Mac.

Say, I'd love to hear from you about programs that you have found helpful.