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.

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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

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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

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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.