Blue-eyed? Yes. Soul? Not so much.

Danish a capella group takes on 1990s dance tunes. Hilarity ensues.

Today's vocabulary word: juxtapose

It's a verb meaning "to place or deal with close together for contrasting effect." You could use it when discussing the debt ceiling debate in D.C., or to describe this display at Schuler Books.

You should have seen the look on the kids' faces as they made their way from Pooh to Go the *uck to Sleep. 

It's not hot, it's a liberal conspiracy!

And if anyone knows anything about hot air, it's Rush Limbaugh, who claimed on today's show that heat indices are something created by the government.



Here's a list of some of the hottest places to have been yesterday, according to a source Rush ought to trust, Fox News.

It's Funny Because It's True: Sen. Al Franken

Sen. Al Franken (D. Minn.) took it to representatives of Focus on the Family this morning with his characteristically well-researched approach to refuting an argument. A bit of SNL-era snark just adds to the entertainment value.

Snyder Signs Tenure Law; Taylor Does Happy Dance

If you want to know why some teachers are afraid of Michigan's new tenure law, look no further than lame duck Superintendent Bernard Taylor of GRPS. In an interview with the GR Press, Taylor called the new law a "bold choice," then added:

“We won't be just teaching to the test,” he said. “If a teacher has good test scores, but their classrooms are devoid of caring and encouragement, or the attendance rates are too low or the special education referrals are too high, that teacher won't do well.”

Let's take his statement point by point. First, Taylor implies that teachers will teach to standardized tests in order to increase student achievement or, more likely, help increase test scores in order to keep their jobs. We're not interested in developing life-long learners anymore, just a bunch of automatons who can fill in Scantron sheets. But a teacher "won't do well" if his classroom is "devoid of caring and encouragement." Fine. No argument there, but I seriously doubt he'll find many who fit that description.

Here's the red flag in the above quote: If "attendance rates are too low or the special education referrals are too high," the teacher is held responsible. How in the name of Horace Mann does Taylor think teachers will increase student attendance? As to special education referrals, those are supposed to be made by professional educators based on classroom data and their interaction with individual students. Again, the implication here is that if a teacher makes too many professional judgments - no matter how accurate they are - and refers too many kids to special education, it's the teacher's fault!

more after the jump

Please Forward to Arne Duncan, Rick Snyder, and Dave Murray

Howard Gardner, professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, believes improving U.S. education lies in treating - and paying - teachers as professionals. Please, professor, enlighten us:

Just as we would like our doctors and lawyers to behave professionally, we should want the teachers of our children to behave like professionals as well. But it’s hardly a secret that many of our teachers do not consider themselves, and are not treated, as such. And it is even less of a secret that most people in positions of power today—whether CEOs or legislators—do not want “the teachers of another person’s children” to behave like professionals. If teacher-proof education isn’t an option, these potentates at least prefer teachers who do exactly what they are told and whose rewards or sanctions are based simply on test scores or some other easily measured result.

Seems like common sense. Read the rest of Gardner's piece at The Washington Post, along with others that are part of a roundtable discussion on teacher incentives.

Don't blame the high heels, Michelle.

I bet Michelle Bachmann's migraines coincide with attempts to think critically.

"How to Be a Writer"

As I spend this morning with the LMWP, I can't stop thinking about a piece I read on Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog. He referenced another blog, written by M. Molly Backes, and her recent entry, "How to Be a Writer."

How do we encourage our children to write? To think? Here's an excerpt from "How to Be a Writer":

What should you do to help your child pursue her dreams of becoming a writer? 

First of all, let her be bored. Let her have long afternoons with absolutely nothing to do. Limit her TV-watching time and her internet-playing time and take away her cell phone. Give her a whole summer of lazy mornings and dreamy afternoons. Make sure she has a library card and a comfy corner where she can curl up with a book. Give her a notebook and five bucks so she can pick out a great pen. Insist she spend time with the family. It’s even better if this time is spent in another state, a cabin in the woods, a cottage on the lake, far from her friends and people her own age. Give her some tedious chores to do. Make her mow the lawn, do the dishes by hand, paint the garage. Make her go on long walks with you and tell her you just want to listen to the sounds of the neighborhood. 

Let her be lonely. Let her believe that no one in the world truly understands her. Give her the freedom to fall in love with the wrong person, to lose her heart, to have it smashed and abused and broken. Occasionally be too busy to listen, be distracted by other things, have your nose in a great book, be gone with your own friends.

Let her have secrets. Let her have her own folder on the family computer. Avoid the temptation to read through her notebooks. Writing should be her safe haven, her place to experiment, her place to work through her confusion and feelings and thoughts. If she does share her writing with you, be supportive of her hard work and the journey she’s on. Ask her questions about her craft and her process. Ask her what was hardest about this piece and what she’s most proud of. Don’t mention publication unless she mentions it first. Remember that writing itself is the reward. 

Let her get a job. Let her work long hours for crappy pay with a mean employer and rude customers. If she wants to be a writer, she’ll have to be comfortable with hard work and low pay. Let her spend her own money on books and lattes – they’ll be even sweeter when she’s worked hard for them. 

Let her fail. Let her write pages and pages of painful poetry and terrible prose. Let her write painfully bad fan fiction. Don’t freak out when she shows you stories about Bella Swan making out with Draco Malfoy. Never take her writing personally or assume it has anything to do with you, even if she only writes stories about dead mothers and orphans. 

Let her go without writing if she wants to. Never nag her about writing, even if she’s cheerful when writing and completely unbearable when she’s not. Let her quit writing altogether if she wants to.

Let her make mistakes.

The rest, as Coates suggests, isn't just good advice for encouraging your child to write, but for living a good life as well.

Those Who Can, Teach: My Morning with the LMWP

I'm spending this hazy, hot, and humid morning with two dozen teachers who are practicing the art of teaching writing by writing. The Lake Michigan Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project, is in its ninth year of bring together educators who have one common goal: improving the teaching of writing in their schools.

Today's session began with "sacred writing," time devoted to putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). The LMWPers can respond to a prompt ("What are the things your mother wants from you?") or write whatever is on their mind. In a few minutes, we'll stop writing and participate in a teaching demonstration. Each teacher presents one of these 90-minute lessons on writing in the classroom, then receives constructive criticism from his or her LMWP peers.

What really makes the LMWP and NWP special, however, is the time granted to teachers to pursue their own writing. In addition to discussing what works in the classroom, these educators spend much of their afternoon drafting short stories, poems, memoirs and, in my case, a diatribe or two. LMWP teachers teach writing because they are writers.

It's too bad no one in the local media - even though they've been invited - has taken the time to sit in on one of these sessions. They might begin to understand what dedicated education professionals do during their three months off: think, write, discuss, share, collaborate, reflect, and push themselves to become better teachers who help students become better thinkers and writers.

Hackgate: The Movie

Nothing like a little humor at Murdoch's expense. Perfect casting choice for Rebekah Brooks, too. From The Daily Beast.

Your kid's getting an A! (So is everyone else's kid.)

Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher HealyNote: 1940 and 1950 (nonconnected data points in figure) represent averages from 1935 to 1944 and 1945 to 1954, respectively. Data from 1960 onward represent annual averages in their database, smoothed with a three-year centered moving average.

This won't be news to veteran teachers, but there's a new comprehensive study of grade inflation at the collegiate level that suggests social promotion isn't just for middle schoolers anymore. In fact, students in private schools are more likely to 4-point than their public peers. Are students working harder? Studying more? Hardly:

They then attribute the rapid rise in grade inflation in the last couple of decades to a more “consumer-based approach” to education, which they say “has created both external and internal incentives for the faculty to grade more generously.” More generous grading can produce better instructor reviews, for example, and can help students be more competitive candidates for graduate schools and the job market.

Harry Potter and the Book of Mormon

Mormons, meet Mr. Potter and Company.

30 Years, 135 Liftoffs, 1 awesome photo

Chris Bray and his father attended the first Shuttle launch 30 years ago, and made the journey to see Atlantis liftoff last Friday. Awesome. (photo courtesy Chris Bray via Universe Today)

Colorforms is 60!

And thus began my addiction to sniffing thin pieces of vinyl. You see, kids, before video games, we had coloring books and Colorforms to let our imaginations run wild. To celebrate Colorforms' 60th birthday, University Games is re-releasing the original geometric shapes set and the Michael Jackson dress-up set.

Personally, I'd like the Super Friends and KISS sets.

World's First Senior Citizen LipDub

Courtesy of Clark Retirement Community in Grand Rapids, these seniors show us why they're "Feeling Good"!

AP EXTRA CREDIT!

Okay, there's no extra credit, but you should check out Diane Rayor's appearance tonight at Schuler Books on Alpine at 7 PM. She'll discuss her new translation of Antigone and its relevance in today's society. Buy the book at Schuler or here.

They Might Be Giants meet Chumbawumba

Courtesy of the AV Club. I challenge you not to smile during their cover of "Tubthumping." Good luck.

They Might Be Giants covers Chumbawamba