Kenzie has come down with her first cold. Her cough sounds terrible. Kristie took her to the local clinic, but they assured us that it was nothing serious. However, the poor little girl has been worn out.
She has not been sleeping all the way through the past couple nights. However, today she hit her wall. She has been zonked out since around 6:30. It's now 11, and she has just stirred a little.
So I'm taking the first half of the night to keep an eye on her - since when she sleeps in her playpen, she sleeps on her tummy - and to play with her when she wakes up. Luckily, I caught a nap. I slept through most of American Idol.
To pass the time, I thought I'd blog a little since with the end of the quarter and a ton of assignments to grade, I didn't have much time.
Here goes --
A few weeks ago, we had a staff development day where the Language Arts teachers in the district met at our local elementary school.
I was thoroughly impressed. You want to talk about being aligned. Those people have it down. Their efficiency is incredible.
Plus, (and I've said this before) I think it should be mandatory for high school teachers to at least visit elementary school rooms. How can a child not love to learn with as creative and inviting as those rooms are.
A friend of mine, who is also the assistant principal at the middle school, was with me while we got a tour of the Language Arts teachers' rooms at the elementary school, and we got to talk about what happens to kids' love for learning as they grow older.
"It all goes to hell when they get to us," I surmised, referring to what happens to their imaginations and love for learning when they hit adolescents and come to the high school.
"It doesn't have to be," he said.
And I agree. But that's how it is for far too many kids for far too much of the time.
I'm not saying the culprit can easily be identified either. Blame doesn't rest on just one person, place, or thing.
Adolescents and all the hell that breaks loose there certainly is responsible. Peer pressure is a factor too. As is the drive for athletics and other extra curricular activities. Parenting is involved. Technology is a huge factor.
But certainly, teachers are to blame too. Come on. How many elementary teachers can you recall having who lectured all the time? Now think about your high school teachers who just droned on all the time.
That's what I'm talking about.
But I was really re-energized after seeing those elementary rooms and hearing about their programs.
*****
One thing that amazes me about our high school is all of the opportunities we provide our students. I was visiting with a junior who was about to leave for the German class trip to Germany and another senior, who had gone on the same trip the year before.
We took a quick count of all the trips one could take in the four years at Lincoln.
Talk about impressive. The Magnet Arts program takes yearly trips to the Twin Cities to visit museums and take in several plays. The Close Up program goes to Washington, D.C. every spring. The German class goes to German every year. The Spanish class has gone to Costa Rica in the past. The choir classes go to New York every other year. The band takes a trip to different locations every couple of years. The senior football players get a trip to the cities every fall. And these were just what we came up with in ten minutes. Remarkably, the senior I was visiting with had been to Washington, New York, the Twin Cities, and Germany - all during her high school career.
Those are some wonderful opportunities.
When I was in high school, we took a trip to Bemidji for a leadership lyceum and then we got to see a play at the Chester Fritz in Grand Forks. In elementary school, we got to ski in Bemidji and take in the Shrine Circus in Grand Forks.
Not quite the same thing.
*****
Is there anything sorrier than mock news shows like The Insider and Entertainment Tonight.
I have read a lot lately about the shrinking attention spans of children and their inability to dig deep beyond superficial layers of comprehension. It's no surpsise after wathing shows like this.
The Insider just ran a lead piece on Madonna and her supposed trading in human trinkets, referencing today's edition of the New York Post cover story in which a reporter attacks Madonna's decision to adopt another third world baby - claiming that she is trying to ease the pain of turning 50 by taking home a third world daughter to match the last baby she bought like a human trinket. Now this is a serious issue with great potential for analysis and discussion of morality and ethics.
Is this a fad? Think of all those stars you see sporting those little dogs on their arms (supposedly Paris Hilton is terrible for this. She will buy a new dog and then forget about it in one of her homes where the help will find the thing either locked in a closet or starving in a bedroom). Is this just a fad like that? It's terrible to say, but how easy is it for say Madonna or Brangelina to adopt a baby? How difficult is it for a regular person to adopt a baby? What issues does the child face being ripped from their families (it's not like all of these adopted children were orphans) and taken to a totally different world? What are the effects on the families the children leave behind? What does it say about parents who are willing to 'sell' their children to rich Americans wanting to adopt? What happens if these adoptions don't work out? Who raises the children when Madonna is off touring or whoring around with another pro athlete?
All serious questions that could be discussed.
Yet,what does The Insider do? It examines some paparrazi pics and describes them: "hand in hand new video show Madonna with her son Rocko - sporitng a mohawk - while she is wearing combat boots, camoflaug pants and dark shades. Little David (her adopted son) in green shorts and a yellow tee. The three year old is also spotted strumming an instrument. Seated on the floor is Madonna expressing her creativity by weaving a basket. Next frame, Madonna takes David to meet his father. But he doesn't recognize him. It is the first time he has seen him in three years."
Now what could the viewer not surmize from this by simply looking at the pictures? Do we really need the 'anchor' to tell us what the people are actually wearing?
Now, I know people have bemoaned that newspapers too have stopped going in depth and started catering to the masses by basically doing shallow journalism, claiming that no one really reads deeply anymore. At least that's not what they buy newspapers for.
I don't doubt this either. Just browse the news on yahoo. It's not exactly in depth journalism. It's the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how and a link to other sources all in under 200 words.
And we wonder why Americans are struggling with higher order thinking skills!
It's the world of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Now Inside Edition has moved on to a picture of Mick Rourke kissing a puppy, Paul Macartney's zipper being down during a benefit, a housewife from the Real Housewives of New York is getting a divorce, and Zach Efron's new shirtless pics.
What significant news!
I know people will talk about how gossip has ALWAYS been a component of our society. Just recount those stories in small town papers which chronicle how so and so had dinner at so and so's house on Saturday. But that was always - or so I thought - treated as a joke. Something you put in there to appease the little old ladies who live in assisted living centers who keep small town papers alive because of their desire to know crap like that.
But how many millions tune in to this type of crap. I mean there is an entire channel devoted to this - E!
And really, what is Facebook? Another way to traffic in rather meaningless information. When we were in the Radisson last weekend, KoKo hopped on my laptop to update her wall or board or whatever it's called on Facebook to let everyone know that she was excited . . . or love Rent . . . or was looking forward to shopping . . . or anxious to go home . . . or who knows what else.
Again, superficial information and superficial thinking. And how many millions of kids do this every minute of every day? Texting is the same thing.
For all the potential new technology offers, it still scares the hell out of me.
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