Good-bye, farewell...

The fat lady is singing at the Co-Op! Don't miss the latest at Hungry 4 Change, or this excellent piece on the topic: http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/people_places_things/open_letter_16.php#more

And, of course, there's the latest from Hyde Park Progress.

Not to mention my post from some months ago!

Way to go, Idaho!

Digital Books.....An Essay from The New Yorker

Anthony Grafton's essay, "Future Reading: Digitization and its discontents," is worth a look. It's in the November 5, 2007, issue of The New Yorker magazine. Grafton has also posted an on-line only piece on digital book sources and websites.

Ahead of my time....or at least ahead of the Journal

Check it out! The Wall Street Journal reports today (September 18, 2007) on the "Right to Dry: A Green Movement is Roiling America....Clothesline Has Neighbors Bent Out of Shape in Bend; An Illegal Solar Device?" Yep, global warming may bring an end to anti-clothesline covenants and restrictions in planned developments and subdivisions across the land! Old news, yes?

Biking the Boulevard Lakefront Tour

Math games for 3rd and 4th graders

Here are websites recommended by my son's teacher, appropriate for 3rd and 4th graders, full of math games and puzzles:

http://www2.westminster.net/faculty/plummer/math_curriculum/InternetMathGames.htm

http://www.oswego.org/staff/cchamber/techno/games.htm

http://www.protozone.net/AJinteractives3.html

http://www.k111.k12.il.us/King/math.htm

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://www.mathplayground.com/



For some simple math worksheets, I often use this site: http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

For sites with contests and neat problems for middle schoolers, I like "Math Counts" and the "Math League":

http://www.mathcounts.org/

http://www.mathleague.com/


New item aimed at middle schoolers, especially girls: I'm not keen on the approach here, but maybe it's just right for some students and their families: http://www.mathdoesntsuck.com/

Summer biking

What's not to like about easy biking, great scenery, and wonderful food? We travelled to Quebec's Laurentian Mountains region and did a 3-day, 124 mile biking trip along "Le P'tit Train du Nord" between Mont Laurier and St. Jerome. Check it out:
http://www.laurentides.com/parclineaire/default.asp?langue=an

We arranged for bike rentals, luggage transport, and accommodations through the tourist bureau (which fortunately employs English speakers, as my high school French is pretty bad), at 1 800 561-NORD (6673).

Yes, I know the photo here is bad--but I only had my phone camera, so it will have to do! Better biking photos of the whole family are here-- http://aneconomistdoesthelaundry.blogspot.com/2007/06/we-biked-drivein-rain.html

Happy biking!

Summer math worksheets for middle schoolers

Hey, I know it's summer vacation, but I know my kids need to avoid getting rusty with their math work. And, what do you know, I found some decent looking worksheets for middle school kids at a private school in Chicago. Yes, surely the problems are best matched for students at that school, but they actually seem pretty decent to me, for kids entering 7th, 8th, and 9th grades:

http://www.fwparker.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=460&srcid=460

Another source, added 7/21/07: a public school district that posts summer review packets for elementary and middle school grades: http://www.arlington.k12.va.us/instruct/math/sumreviews.shtml

8th grade humanities anthology, 2006-2007

This anthology was essentially a readings packet. Here's what was there, along with web links where available:

Short Stories/Essays/Speeches

Brackenbury, Rosalind “May 19, 1942"

Bradbury, Ray “The Veldt”

http://ingles.universidadarcis.cl/asignaturas/8/LitNorAm/textos/Bradbury_-_Short_Stories.pdf

http://www.veddma.com/veddma/Veldt.htm

Cisneros, Sandra “Eleven”

http://louisville.edu/a-s/english/subcultures/colors/blue/ammanu01/elevenhtml

Cofer, Judith Ortiz “Bad Influence”

Dybek, Stuart “Blight,”from The Coast of Chicago

Edwards, Kim “The Story of My Life”

Erdich, Louise “The Shawl”

Foner, Eric “The Reconstruction Amendments: Official Documents as History”

http://www.historynow.org/12_2004/historian.html

Henry, O. “The Gift of the Magi”

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/magi.html

Jackson, Shirley “The Lottery”

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html

Lincoln, Abraham “The Gettysburg Address”

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/al16/speeches/gettys.htm

Lincoln, Abraham “Second Inaugural Address”

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/inaug2.htm

Maupassant, Guy de “The Necklace”

http://www.bartleby.com/195/20.html

Morrison, Toni “Recitatif”

O’Brien, Tim “The Things They Carried”

Peck, Richard “Priscilla and the Wimps”

Poe, Edgar Allan “The Masque of the Red Death”

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/masque.html

Saki (H. H. Munro) “The Storyteller”

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/Storyteller.html

Sears, Vickie “Dancer”

Sherman, Allan from A Gift of Laughter: The Autobiography of Allan Sherman

Sinclair, Upton from The Jungle

text: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/140

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Sinclair/TheJungle/

http://www.online-literature.com/upton_sinclair/jungle/

audio (mp3) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6556

Tan, Amy “Rules of the Game,” from The Joy Luck Club

http://ecr.lausd.k12.ca.us/staff/jfirestein/Rules%20of%20The%20Game.doc

---

Poetry

Bishop, Elizabeth “The Fish”

http://www.simonhuggins.com/uricon/classic/bishop_elizabeth/fish.htm

Cummings, E.E. “In Just-“

http://www.web-books.com/classics/Poetry/anthology/cummings/InJust.htm

Dickinson, Emily “Hope is the thing with feathers”

http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/827/

Dickenson, Emily “I dwell in Possibility”

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/ed-possibility.html

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson/10609

Frost, Robert “Mending Wall,” in North of Boston (1915)

http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html

http://www.bartleby.com/118/2.html

Frost, Robert “The Road Not Taken”

http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html

Frost, Robert “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

http://www.online-literature.com/frost/751/

Harte, Bret “Chicago”

Holmes, John from “Map of My Country”

http://dca.tufts.edu/features/holmes/world/map/index.html

Hughes, Langston “A Dream Deferred”

http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/langston_hughes_2004_9.pdf

Hughes, Langston “I, Too”

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1552

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Langston-Hughes/2383

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/langston_hughes_2004_9.pdf

Johnson, James Weldon “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=37

Lazarus, Emma “The New Colossus”

http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LIBERTY/lazaruspoem.html

http://www.sonnets.org/lazarus.htm

Lee, Li-Young “I Ask My Mother to Sing”

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-ask-my-mother-to-sing/

Levertov, Denise “The Secret”

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/denise_levertov_2004_9.pdf

Little, Jean “After English Class” from Hey World, Here I Am!

Macleish, Archibald “Ars Poetica”

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Archibald-MacLeish/391

Macleish, Archibald “Brave New World”

Merriam, Eve “How to Eat a Poem”

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/poetry/eatpoem.html

Nye, Naomi Shihab “Hidden”

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Naomi-Shihab-Nye/7086

Okita, Dwight “In Response to Executive Order 9066"

http://www.nps.gov/archive/manz/ed_best_eo9066_response.htm

http://msavina.squarespace.com/ftm-files/FTM%20Reading%20-%20Dwight%20Okita%20poem.pdf

Sandburg, Carl “Chicago”

http://www.bartleby.com/165/1.html

Soto, Gary “Saturday at the Canal”

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Gary-Soto/4352

Soto, Gary “That Girl,” from A Fire in My Hands

Stevens, Wallace “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Wallace-Stevens/1030

Tobias, John “Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a friend Called Felicity”

http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~hsiao/verse/watermelon.html

Updike, John “Player Piano”

Whittier, John Greenleaf from “Snow-Bound”

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9571

Williams, William Carlos “This is Just to Say”

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/william_carlos_williams_2004_9.pdf

---

World War I Poetry

Brooke, Rupert “Peace”

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/rupert_brooke_2004_9.pdf

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/brooke/ipeace.html

Brooke, Rupert “The Soldier”

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/rupert_brooke_2004_9.pdf

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/brooke/vsoldier.html

McCrae, John “In Flanders Fields”

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/mccrae.html

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/McCrae.html

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/inflanders.htm

Owen, Wilfred “Anthem for Doomed Youth”

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen2.html

Owen, Wilfred “The Parable of the Old Man and the Young”

http://www.poemtree.com/poems/ParableOfTheOldMan.htm

http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/warpoems.htm#5

Owen, Wilfred “Dulce et Decorum est”

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html

Seeger, Alan “Rendezvous”

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Alan-Seeger/17816

Rosenberg, Isaac “Break of Day in the Trenches”

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/rose/poem.html

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/break-of-day-in-the-trenches/

Rosenberg, Isaac “Louse Hunting”

http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Rosenberg/Louse.htm

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1745.html

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Louse.html

Peret, Benjamin “Little Song of the Maimed”

http://www.poems-world.com/Benjamin-Peret/little-song-for-the-maimed/1036

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30285-Benjamin-Peret-Little-song-for-the-maimed

Sensory integration disorder in today's NY Times

Check out today's New York Times for an article about SI disorder:

HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH & BEHAVIOR | June 5, 2007
The Disorder Is Sensory; the Diagnosis, Elusive
By BENEDICT CAREY


My thoughts? Well, SI dysfunction is a tricky thing: I feel confident I've seen it in my own child, yet the scientific evidence on the disorder is practically nil, let alone evidence on effective treatments. In a previous post of LD-related resources (here), I posted a few items on this topic; I repeat them here:

Sensory Integration International (focus is the Ayres/OT view of SI)

Sensory Processing Disorder Network (lots of info about SI, treatment, options, etc.

The Out-Of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping With Sensory Integration Dysfunction, by Carol Stock Kranowitz and Larry B. Silver (original edition 1998; revised edition 2005). I thought the book was very helpful in understanding range of possible presentations of SI dysfunction; revised edition looks pretty similar to original.

Answers to Questions Teachers Ask About Sensory Integration, by Carol Stock Kranowitz, Deanna Iris Sava, Elizabeth Haber, Lynn Balzer-Martin, and Stacey Szklut, first edition 2000; second edition 2004.

The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for Out-of-Bounds Behavior, by Karen A. Smith and Kren R. Gouze, 2004. I liked Chapters 2 (description of problems) and 6 (checklist-does your child have a problem?), but the best was Chapter 8 ("Surviving and Thriving at School", because preschool, grade school, and middle school were discussed separately (sorry, no high school discussion!).

We biked the drive....in the rain!

Too much--or not enough?--of a good thing....one-to-one computing

So, which way does the evidence go? Do primary and secondary students benefit from "one laptop, one child" policies? How do these benefits compare with the costs of such programs, and what is the "bang per buck" of these programs compared to other educational programs or interventions? Do the answers to these questions vary with the SES of students, or whether these programs are implemented in industrialized, developed nations, as opposed to developing countries?

Wish I could answer those questions! Maybe over the summer, in my "spare" time.....in the meantime, here's a site for a nonprofit organization whose name, "One Laptop Per Child," speaks to its purpose: http://www.laptop.org/ . And for a recent news article, check out "Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops," New York Times on May 4, 2007. (This link works for the moment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/education/04laptop.html?ref=education)

What I think about high school mathematics....

I know you needed to know my opinion on this hot topic!

Many (most?) strong high schools offer way more math than I saw when I was in school in the 1970s. A typical sequence starting some time in middle school might be algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, and trig/pre-calculus, followed by calculus, sometimes at the advanced placement (AP) level. Some schools offer algebra 1 to their 7th graders, while others don't typically let students begin algebra until 8th or even 9th grades. While there is no one linear path through this material, some topics naturally build on what precedes them, as, for example, a strong foundation in algebra is absolutely essential for mastery of trig and calculus down the line.

So, what does our school offer? Our school's program, outlined in its program of studies (pp. 16-19), essentially requires students to complete 3 courses in mathematics between geometry and calculus. These 3 courses cover advanced algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, and beginning calculus topics, with the exact mix varying a bit by course (per p. 17 of the program of studies). In contrast, many (most?) other strong high schools require only 2 years of mathematics "between" geometry and calculus (e.g., AP Calculus AB, or AP Calculus BC). (What evidence can I offer to support this? Very unscientific: check out Evanston Township High School's program of studies (p. 41); or St. Ignatius' listing; or New Trier's program of studies (p. 47); or Walter Payton High School's program of studies (pp. 11-13).)

Bottom line: our school's current progression of coursework implies that high school freshmen who take geometry will not be able to take AP Calculus by the end of high school, unless they somehow "double up" their courses somewhere down the line. While the school characterizes itself as flexible and "willing to make arrangements," I'd like to see the school offer a clear alternative course sequence which gives freshmen geometry students a chance of taking AP calculus by their senior year. In other words, let these students skip the additional topics that the school chooses to treat in those intervening years between geometry and calculus. While those "discrete math" topics are wonderful and rewarding to study, I would argue that they are not necessary to cover before a student can be successful in calculus. Furthermore, I think it is unduly rigid and downright silly to "track" 12-year old students at the end of 6th grade into course progressions that, absent any special effort like attending summer school, doubling up courses, and the like, imply that some kids will simply not be able to take AP calculus--when they are 17 years old! Talk about inflexible!

Mother's Day: the perfect time for a bike ride

Yes, Mother's Day was yesterday, and after a morning of the maternally mundane (shopping at Target), I had an excellent afternoon outing with my family--to the Palos and Sag Valley Division of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. We took our bikes and, after a brief stop at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, where we admired some 17-year cicadas, we drove to the "mountain bike staging area" and rode the yellow trail through the woods for a couple of hours. Can you imagine? The trail was practically empty on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in May......

MIddle School Teachers, 2006-2007

It's not so easy to list teachers, as people teach bits and pieces here and there. Here's a list of 5th grade homeroom teachers:

Fifth grade
Susan Lesher
Kathryn Gallagher
Robert Kass
Kathy Dorman
Kristin Frank

There's also Diane Snider, a 5th grade science teacher.

For 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, see my posting of middle school teachers and webpages--it's the best I can do right now!

Lower school teachers, 2006-2007

Here's a list of who taught what grades this school year, listed as teacher, assistant teacher if applicable:

Kindergarten
Maureen Ellis/Delores Rita
Christina Hayward, Kristin Plaut-Smith
Nisha Ruparel-Sen, Felicia Carr (website)
Elspeth Stowe-Grant, Cathy McKee

First Grade
Jan Bollig, Kathy Yates
Carol Brindley, Becky Chmielewski (1st/2nd)
Amy Landry, Kathy Iatarola
Kathy Piane, Xinglu Liang (website)
Eileen Wagner, Moira Hughes

Second Grade
Jennifer Griffin, Peggy Harper Kucera (website)
Lisa Harrison, Pam Maxey (website)
Donna McFarlane, Grace Bissonnette (website)
Netafiti Rochester, Janice Cincotta
Michael Wilson, Jessica Palumbo (1st/2nd)

Third Grade
Joyce Carrasco
Sandy Cortez
Sarah Michaelson
Nicole Power
Lisa Sukenic
Gerald Hanck (teaches science to entire third grade) (website)

Fourth Grade
Sylvie Anglin
Deloris Beaton
Stephanie Mitzenmacher
Cecilia Mullon
Michael Silverman

College issues for LD students

An excellent spring 2006 presentation covered the basics on standardized testing and the entire college applications process: http://www.uclspa.org/LD%20College%20Prep%20new.ppt

Information from the College Board, Services for Students with Disabilities, is at:
http://www.collegeboard.com/ssd/student/index.html

Some LD organizations also post related materials:

National Center for Learning Disabilities, “Transition to College and Work for Teens”
http://www.ncld.org/content/view/1019/389/

Council for Learning Disabilities, “CLD Infosheets: College Opportunities for Students
With Learning Disabilities,” http://www.cldinternational.org/Infosheets/college.asp

8th grade humanities reading list, 2006-2007

I post here my summary of materials used this year; corrections welcome.

Rothschild materials, 2006-2007

Based on handout from open house, fall 2006; list of 8^th grade books at Lab Book Store; and miscellaneous handouts and packets distributed in class.

---

Fall topics, as listed on open house handout:

Introduction to Civil Rights, Equality, and the Supreme Court Today; The Constitution; Reconstruction

Texts listed on open house handout:

Warriors Don’t Cry, by Melba Patillo Beals

The Gettysburg Address

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/al16/speeches/gettys.htm

The Living Constitution, by D. Shillings

Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html

“The Storyteller,” by Suki

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/Storyteller.html

“The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant

http://www.bartleby.com/195/20.html

“Blight”, by Stuart Dybek

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, dir. Frank Capra (1939)

Eyes on the Prize: Episode 2

Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (DVD)

Tribes and Bridges (video)

Primary sources

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

(handbook of modern history documents)

Additional materials:

Collier, Christopher; and James Lincoln Collier, Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow: 1864-1896, from The Drama of American History, Benchmark Books, New York.

Facing History and Ourselves, Study Guide for Warriors Don’t Cry, by Melba Patillo Beals; may be downloaded directly from: http://www.facing.org/campus/reslib.nsf/studyguides/Warriors+Don't+Cry?OpenDocument (requires “logging in” by providing your name and address etc., but no $ needed)

Halberstam, David, “And Now, Live From Little Rock,” Newsweek, September 29, 1997

“How a Dissent Can Presage a Ruling: The Case of Justice Harlan”, part of the Brown vs. Board of Education case: http://www.landmarkcases.org/brown/dissent.html, or http://www.landmarkcases.org/brown/home.html

Frost, Robert, “Mending Wall,” in North of Boston (1915); access at http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html or http://www.bartleby.com/118/2.html

“Choices in Little Rock,” Facing History and Ourselves Teaching Guide, http://www.facinghistory.org/Campus/reslib.nsf/resourcebooks/Choices+in+Little+Rock?OpenDocument

“Brown v. Board of Education” 347 U.S. 483 (1954); accessed at http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html

Constitution of the United States; available at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/usconst.htm

Lincoln’s “Last Public Address,” April 11, 1865; available at http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/last.htm

---

Winter topics, as listed on open house handout

Industrialization and Urbanization in Chicago; The Labor Movement and the Pullman Strike; The Progressive Era: Jane Addams and Theodore Roosevelt

Texts listed on open house handout

The Pullman Srike and the Labor Movement in American History, by R. Conrad Stein

Jane Addams, by Jane Hovde

“Hunger of Memory,” by Richard Rodriguez

“Rules of the Game,” by Amy Tan

“Crickets,” by Robert Olen Butler

Chicago: City of the Century (video)

Selected 19^th and 20^th century poetry

Excerpts from The World’s Columbian Exposition

http://columbus.iit.edu/index.html (?)

Excerpts from The Great Fire, by Jim Murphy

Excerpt from The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Sinclair/TheJungle/

http://www.online-literature.com/upton_sinclair/jungle/

Primary sources

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

(handbook of modern history documents)

Additional materials

“Pullman Answers Strikers: For the Further Benefit of our People," letter to the Herald, 1894

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5306/

http://www.uwm.edu/Course/448-440/pullman.htm

An excerpt from “Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy”, by Louise W. Knight, U of C Press, Chapter 13: Claims, 1894

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/446999.html

---

Spring topics, as listed on open house handout

“The War to End All Wars”: WW I, Versailles, League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson; WW II

Texts listed on open house handout

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque

Selected 20^th Century Poetry

Inherit the Wind, by Lawrence and Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Eyes on the Prize

Primary sources

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

(handbook of modern history documents)

Additional materials

“To End All Wars: World War I and the League of Nations Debate,” Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University

http://www.choices.edu/curriculum_unit.cfm?id=43

(you can buy hard copy or e-copy (pdf file) from Brown's "Choices" site, http://www.choices.edu/index.cfm)

"President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points," 8 January 1918; available at
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wilson14.htm

War Letters, Carroll, Andrew, Ed., Scribner, 2001. "Social Activist Jane Addams Warns President Woodrow Wilson of the Consequences of Preparing for War Instead of Advocating for Peace....."

E-Newsletter for LD@LAB group, April 2007

I mentioned these items in my April 24 email to the LD@LAB group:

• This is a good time of year for parents to think about placement issues for next school year, as the school principals and other administrators are planning now for next fall. If you have ideas about appropriate placements and classrooms for your child(ren), this is the time to speak up.

• This winter, the high school administration committed to the purchase and installation of the Kurzweil 3000 system (http://www.kurzweiledu.com/), which should be available for use this coming fall. We will share details about how the system will be used when we know more about it. Questions about implementation and plans should be directed to Suzan Snook, high school learning consultant, at Suzan Snook .

• A few weeks ago, I met with David Magill and plan on following up with a meeting next fall, to include reps from our group and other administration members, namely the principals of the four schools. This will be an opportunity for us to describe where we are and where we want to go.

• Next, I am experimenting with a "blog" to keep track of my bits and pieces of information related to LD issues, and I welcome your comments, posted or not, on it: http://aneconomistdoesthelaundry.blogspot.com/search/label/Learning%20differences

While this blog is not a perfect replacement for a decent LD@LAB website, it is allowing me to post "on-going" as I learn things and put them together. Take a look! For example, I discuss various text to speech software packages, including Kurzweil, here: http://aneconomistdoesthelaundry.blogspot.com/2007/03/text-to-speech-software.html

• Julie and I plan to regroup and refocus for next year--aiming to schedule 3 meetings next year, one each for fall, winter, and spring. We have some ideas and as always welcome your input. Is there something in particular you'd like us to set up for next year? Let us know.

What I think about the Co-Op......

I know you needed to know what I have to say about the Co-Op grocery store--it's all here in the April 18 issue of the Hyde Park Herald:

National Hanging Out Day: but not for teenagers!

Did you know? Thursday, April 19, is "National Hanging Out Day", as in "hanging out your laundry on a clothesline," not "hanging out at the mall." Check it out! http://laundrylist.org/education/NHOD.htm

And how did I miss this piece a few days ago? The New York Times (4/12/2007) reported on clotheslines: "To Fight Global Warming, Some Hang a Clothesline." Amazing! This link presently works, though it probably won't for long: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/garden/12clothesline.html

Yep, the pros and cons are all there: time, convenience, money, energy usage, "quality" (as in, towels and jeans are very stiff when line dried)--and also a "work around" to avoid a mutiny at home about said stiff items: pop them in the dryer for a few minutes once they're (almost) dry; that softens them up a bit.

Now, of course, part of the underlying issue here involves wealth and class, right, because in some parts of the country, you have to be quite well off to have your own private outdoor space in which to hang your line. But that's a topic for another day......in the meantime, here's an article about the "clothesline wars" and an organization that helps people fight against legal restrictions/prohibitions on clotheslines:
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2004/scene_horwitt_janfeb04.msp

The New York Times again: I feel better, kind of....

OK, OK, so readers of the New York Times are also expected to need a helpful map to understand an article about New York City itself: today's paper has an article about a Staten Island food pantry that was burglarized ("Staten Island Journal: Theft Empties Pantry, but Hungry Keep Coming"), and sure enough, there's a map accompanying the text to show where the pantry is, in case you didn't know anything about Staten Island. And why would you know anything about SI if you read the Times regularly?

Besides, the map has no label on it whatsoever, so I suppose it is really only helpful to people who know something about the geography of NYC. Once again, the paper's decision about what to map, how to map, how to label reveals much about how it views itself and its readership. I think this is my 3rd posting about those little maps (see one and two); I may have to create a separate category for these items!

In any event, maybe it's a good thing Chicago got the USOC nod today to compete for Olympics host city rights in 2016. Wonder if that will make page 1 of the Times tomorrow?

The New York Times View of the World

Ah, once again the New York Times has indirectly revealed what's obvious to New Yorkers and what's not. In a previous post (here) I noted that a recent article on a butcher in Chicago contained a helpful map revealing that Chicago was located in Illinois. Today, I read an article ("Memo From Morecambe: Postcard From Ailing British Coasts: Wish You Were Here") about the British seashore, particularly the coastal town of Morecambe. Morecambe? Excuse me? With no map to tell me which part of Britain's coast we are talking about? I"m just supposed to know where this town is, thank-you very much? I think not! :)

Cloth or paper napkins?

OK, it's been asked before: which is better environmentally, cloth or paper napkins? It's clear that the Sierra Club crowd views cloth as better. Here's a sample posting from someone who thinks cloth napkins are all-around better, not to mention "probably more environmentally friendly": http://everydaymusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/cloth-napkins.html

But that writer also admits to drying them in a clothes dryer (in the winter), and some research suggests that the writer's preferred all-cotton napkins are likely to be much worse environmentally than blend or polyester napkins: http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/sustainability/

So, how does it work? If you wash the napkins in your washer and dry them in your dryer, probably the polyester napkins are best, followed by....hmmmm, would it be cotton napkins or paper? If, on the other hand, you wash the napkins in your washer and line dry them, the cotton cloth napkins might be best (though maybe this depends on the water temperature you use in the washer), followed by....hmmmm, would it be poly napkins or paper?

As usual, it seems impossible to reach a definitive view, as I don't have all the "life cycle" information needed about production and use of these napkins.

In the meantime, I will let my paper napkin stockpile run out and try the "cheap cloth napkin"/line dry strategy, and then see what kind of rebellion happens at home!

My favorite biking links

Well, there's the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, which is sponsoring its annual Bike the Drive on May 27.

And there's a great site listing bike rides throughout the Midwest: http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/mwrides.htm

And, of course, I'm a big "rails to trails" fan, so their website is here: http://www.railtrails.org/index.html

And, last but not least, there's the Allegheny Valley Trails Association, in western Pennsylvania, where I ride with my family every summer. We especially like the part of the trail south of Franklin, towards the Belmar Bridge, because the boys can play in the creek feeding the Allegheny River.

Now, if only the temperature would get above 35 degrees, we'd be ready to ride!

Landmark College: for LD and AD/HD students

Did you know about this place? http://www.landmarkcollege.org/index.html

Very interesting! And its library page describes its holdings and assistive technology arrangements: http://www.landmarkcollege.org/Library/index.html

Information on adaptive technology

Indiana University has a site with information about assistive technology for people with various impairments or difficulties: see http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadapts/technology/learning.html
for resources for LD, and see the general page http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadapts/ for resources for other impairments (visual, auditory, etc.).

Second city....in the eyes of the first?

The Sunday, April 1, 2007, New York Times reports on a south side slaughterhouse, Chiappetti Lamb and Veal, and the article includes a helpful map to guide the unfamiliar reader--no, not a map showing the location of Chiappetti's relative to, say, the loop, or the lakefront, or O'Hare airport. No, it's a helpful map with a picture of the state of Illinois, with a nice, big star along the northeast boundary to note the city of Chicago. Well, excuuuuuse me! Do readers of the NYT really need to be reminded that Chicago is in the state of Illinois? Do articles about Philadelphia or Atlanta or Boston contain similar condescending graphics to educate the reader who has never visited those cities? I don't usually think too much about how Chicago and the midwest are often "dissed" by all those smart alecks on the east coast, but that was a little too much!

Second City indeed! :)

Coming attractions: Storm's 6th grade humanities: REVISED

Plan is to read several stories from Chinese Folk Tales: An Anthology; translated by Yin-lien C. Chin; Yetta S. Center; Mildred Ross. Paper ISBN: 978-1-56324-800-9. No audio files available; but electronic text files are available in Questia at http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78510276 (Note: Questia memberships cost $20 per month, $45 per quarter, or $100 per year).

Here's a tentative schedule:

1. The Clever Daughter-in-Law - read in class on Tuesday, April 10
2. Finding a Wife for the River God - read over the weekend of April 14; quiz on Tuesday April 17
3. The White Snake - April 28 weekend
........No story.....CAMP
4. Monkey - May 11 weekend

Students will also begin reading The Examination by Malcolm Bosse. The book is available from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD). This project will start around April 11, and students will read about 26 pages per assignment; I don't know the timing or frequency of assignments yet.

LDs and second language acquisition

English-speaking LD Students sometimes struggle with foreign language classes in middle and high school. What do we know about this issue? Not much....

Where are some good general discussions of the issues?

The International Dyslexia Association has a fact sheet titled “At-Risk Students and the Study of a Foreign Language in School”: http://www.interdys.org/fact%20sheets/foreign.pdf

LD Online has several articles on this topic; a listing of these article is at http://www.ldonline.org/article/c677. Two in particular seem most relevant: “Learning Disabilities and Foreign Language Learning,” by Robin L. Schwarz (1997), available at http://www.ldonline.org/article/6065; and “Foreign Language Learning and Learning Disabilities: Making the College Transition,” by Sally S. Scott and Elaine Manglitz (1997), available at http://www.ldonline.org/article/6066

The Association of Departments of Foreign Languages publishes a journal, the ADFL Bulletin, which published a bibliography (not annotated): “Selected References on Foreign Language Learning in Relation to At-Risk Students and Students with Foreign Language Learning Problems,” by Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow; ADFL Bulletin, 32:3, (Spring 2001), pp. 65-70. http://www.mla.org/ADFL/bulletin/v32n3/323065.htm

A researcher/educator in Scotland maintains a site with lots of background information as well: “Dyslexia and Foreign Language Learning”, http://hilarymccoll.co.uk/dyslexia.html

A blog on LDs reports on a recent article which denies the existence of a “foreign language learning disability”: http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2007/02/no_such_thing_a.html. The underlying article, by Richard Sparks, appears to be a bit of a “retraction” of previous work by Sparks, though I’m not completely clear on that point. See “Is there a 'disability' for learning foreign languages?” by Richard Sparks; Educational Research Newsletter (ERN Online); accessed at http://www.ernweb.com/public/905.cfm?sd=2

Pedagogical tips and another list of references (not annotated) are at: http://www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/foreignlang

Someone had a good idea, but all the page’s links to ERIC are “dead” and would have to be rebuilt: The Foreign Language Teacher’s Guide to Learning Disabilities” http://www.fln.vcu.edu/ld/ld.html#Foreign

Here’s an article regarding college-bound students: “What High School Students with Learning Disabilities Need to Know about College Foreign Language Requirements,” Joseph W. Madaus, Council for Exceptional Children, Teaching Exceptional Children November/December 2003, http://www.teachingld.org/pdf/foreign_language.pdf

What second language is best for students with reading difficulties?

Hmmm, with all those experts out there, you’d think there’d be a consensus on this one.....not! Naturally, students have different types of LDs, with different strengths and weaknesses, and there is probably no single “best” second language for English-speaking students to study. That said, here are some (hopefully credible) sources of information on this issue:

A conference presentation from 2001 notes discuss characteristics of French and German in terms of how LD students will fare with these languages (in brief, “yes” to German, “no” to French): “Neuropsychological aspects in the approach of teaching and learning a foreign language,” Katrin Sellin, Fifth Annual British Dyslexia Association conference, 2001, http://www.bdainternationalconference.org/2001/presentations/thu_s6_d_12.htm

Here’s a piece by a passionate advocate for the teaching of Latin: “Latin for Students with Learning Disabilities”, by Barbara Hill, http://www.promotelatin.org/LatinforLDbrochure.pdf

Addendum, October 2007: see this recent article from the WSJ: WSJ.com - Veni, Vidi, Wiki: Latin Isn't Dead On 'Vicipaedia' (Appeared on Saturday September 29; the link will only work for a few days....)

A blog for homeschoolers facing LD issues reports that “Latin, Spanish, or American Sign Language are good choices for kids with LD issues, including dyslexia,”

http://www.learningabledkids.com/home_school_info/foreign_language_learning_disabilities.htm Note that the blog refers to an article and provides a link to it, but the link is no longer quite right; try this instead: http://www.ldonline.org/article/6066 ; that link will take you directly to “Foreign Language Learning and Learning Disabilities: Making the College Transition,” by Sally S. Scott and Elaine Manglitz (1997), mentioned above.

Here’s my personal take on all this: dyslexic students probably benefit from a language with clear, consistent rules and where the rules for spelling are consistent with phonetic rules for pronunciation. So:

a. Latin: Grammatical rules are clear cut, and the speaking and receptive language skills are not so important. Students can focus on the reading and writing parts of acquiring a new language, and studying Latin will improve English vocabularies as well.

b. Spanish: can also work well, since spelling tends to be phonetic. Parents may also find it easier to support Spanish language study at home.

c. French: Spelling can be tricky. Has a bit of a “disconnect” between the pronunciation and spelling of the sounds.

d. German: Some people view German as “too hard,” with long words, while others praise it as a language with clear spelling and grammar rules that dyslexic students can learn quite well.