We’ve come across this topic more than once, so here’s a little diddy on it. Pay attention.
BACKFILL YOUR CESSPOOLS AND SINKHOLES!
Why?
Because they are hazardous and people don’t realize it. Kids playing in the yard, even a dog running over one can be all it takes to cause an otherwise avoidable and gruesome death.
What will it take for people to wake up? Don’t know. But for that one person for whom the following story is helpful–you’re welcome!
A 9-year-old girl playing baseball with friends on city land was rescued by her playmates Wednesday after being suddenly sucked into the ground by a large sink hole, Fox12 reported.
The girl’s grandmother said it was a miracle that her granddaughter, Page Wiklund, survived the incident in which she fell through the top of an old septic or cesspool system in a vacant lot owned by the city of Portland, according to Fox12.
City workers said that the hole was anywhere from 16 to 20 feet deep and filled the hole Thursday morning, Fox12 reported.
Wiklund disappeared into the ground Wednesday as she was running to first base. Luckily she landed on a pipe that prevented her from falling the rest of the estimated 16 to 20 feet to the bottom of the hole.
“When I got there I fell down, down on my bottom, and it was all dark,” Paje said.
When all they could see was a hand waving above the ground one of the girls playing with Wiklund ran for help while the other managed to pull her out, Fox12 reported.
“She could’ve been killed, she could’ve suffocated it could’ve been really, really bad,” said the girl’s grandmother, Karin Wiklund.
Are there really enough people who can resort to asking this question?
Apparently yes!
According to the IRS,
You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:
1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child’s family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.
OR THIS MIGHT HAPPEN! I’ve been looking for a real-life demonstration of what the potential future holds for the less cognizant of my young ones…
and here it is!
I’m not sure what to make of the guy’s laugh in the video…psychologically he must have felt that he was watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with good ol’ Bob Saget (remember him?).
Just in case you were interested on staying up to date on the latest and greatest developments in drug smuggling and disguises…
Straight from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Microgram Bulletin, read up on what’s going on in your world. Everything from cocaine found in ukeleles to candy, the DEA has it identified!
Do this, but start with school buses. School buses are often “tethered” (if you’re on a field trip, just use one of the “normal” buses) to a district. Install a few electric terminals there, let the districts sing your cost-saving praises to the surrounding community, then districts might even be in a position to make a profit off of their stations as the bolder within the community decide to purchase these electric cars.
There you have it. That’s our idea for Shai Agassi and the upcoming electric car boom–make it an electric bus boom to sell entire communities on the idea while promoting education and strengthening the educational system within individual communities throughout the country and around the world.
When students complain about having to write something in cursive, the best remedy is to have them write the following phrase countless times until their cursive is ready to be turned into an easily read, professional font.
Given the various learning theories along with very few solid so-called “definitions of learning,” I prefer a view which
looks at learning as an active process in which the learner builds on prior knowledge to select and transform information based on their own cognitive structure (“What is Learning?”).
Although constructivist in nature, it allows for the connectionistic model (connecting relevant pieces of information together) and the cognitive explanation of sensory memory (STSS) within the stage model of information processing where
it is absolutely critical that the learner attend to the information…in order to transfer it… (Huitt).
It is clear, therefore, that each of these theories demand action from the learner or else learning is lost.
Educators have the daunting task of helping their learners take such an active role in the learning process. This can be accomplished by changing the way a person deals with incoming data. For example, when I notice my students tuning out after 10-15 minutes of reading information together, I can help them take back control by asking myself questions in a think-aloud format, engaging them in a short play, or requiring them to draw a picture of the events explored within the text. In this way, my young learners must stay constantly active in the learning process as they listen, speak, act out, create, but above all—think and learn (Bell, et al)!
When a person actively builds on prior knowledge based on their cognitive structure, (Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences) they must “recognize when they understand and when they need more information” (Bransford, et al, 13). This brings to light the question: is learning a product or a process? It seems to be both. For example, when someone claims to have learned how to ride a bicycle, what do they mean? We must consider the context. What about within the context of a street competition? How about mountain biking? What of cliff biking and jumping? Each of these contexts warrants a different kind of learning. The person might mean that they can do no more than balance on two wheels while riding in a straight line while another is adept at racing down the side of a mountain. Someone who rides a bike is able to show that capability (product) yet each new terrain encountered requires an ongoing ability to build and transform knowledge (process) based on prior experiences (“What is Learning?”).
My preferred definition of learning is, perhaps, most explicitly justified in the study of how experts differ from novices. Experts maintain a level of metacognition which enables them to actively chunk information into mental clusters overseen by a larger umbrella of concepts and principles. This fluency is consistently seen across academic subjects (Bransford, et al, 17-38).
Once again, besides changing up the way data is presented, educators have an overwhelming mission: to organize “curricula…in ways that lead to conceptual understanding” similar to that of the experts (Bransford, et al, 30). By leading our learners to chunk information into mental clusters (via “instructional procedures that speed pattern recognition”), we can foster their development and growth as they actively build upon their pre-existing knowledge and transform the information into something relevant and useful.
Bransford, John D., Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. 1999. The National Academies Press. 16 March 2009. <http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/>
“What is Learning?” Virtual University Design & Technology (vuDAT). 20 March 2007. Michigan State University. 16 March 2009 <http://vudat.msu.edu/246/>
Use this link to track an eagle’s nest by live webcam…it’s up during daylight hours and you’ll need to refresh the page after about 20 minutes of view time.
If you ever want to raise your kids’ stress levels (or your own) while teaching them a valuable, necessary skill in today’s technologically privy society, direct them here…
Unless, of course, you choose the “Random Text” option which is completely not valuable–but extremely challenging and constantly frustrating.
WARNING: If you’re good, it can get kind of addicting…(feel free to change the “Tutorial” to “Web Site/Blog” then cut and paste the following totally random blog: http://www.eduponder.com)
