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The Google Apps Ninja Program that I started back in September and blogged about here has completely taken me by surprise. There are now over 150 educators who have access to the Google Docs. Seeing that there might be something here that I can support long term I decided to move all the files to their own Google Apps domain. So the Google Apps Ninja Program is now officially found at www.ninjaprogram.com the website isn't finished but after reading this blog post if you are interested in using the files and helping to keep them updated, fill out this form and I'll get you in. I'm excited to focus on this next year as one of my projects.

A steady diet of pundit Thomas Friedman, publisher Rupert Murdoch, and press releases from the Business Roundtable would convince most readers that CEO decisions in managing their businesses, technological choices, swings in financial markets, and global boom-and-bust cycles had little to do with the U.S. economy. While putting onto public schools the solution for economic downturns, rather than business executives, is a loony non-sequitur, it is a victory in shifting blame from corporate leaders’ flawed decisions to the shoulders of educators

It is also a myth that all U.S. schools are broken. Surely,most urban schools are low-performing and in many cases have earned the label of “dropout factories.” Washington, D.C, for example, would be a poster child for such districts. Moreover, although islands of excellence in urban districts do exist (including D.C.), they are seldom stable over time. Where the myth-making enters is when urban schools are conflated with all U.S. schools. Not only I but many others have pointed out that the U.S. has a three-tiered system of schooling where the top two tiers have mostly “successful” schools by current standards. The bottom tier contains failing urban schools. Thus, all U.S. schools are not failures by any standard.

You can click on the document to the right to read a more detailed examination of each of these qualities of the ‘Native’ information

Facebook promises something it cannot deliver just as many promoters promise that online instruction will transform schooling as we know it. Both are over-hyped social media.

time invested in a relationship determines its quality, having more than five best friends is impossible when we interact face to face, one person at a time. Put simply …. The emotional and psychological investments that a close relationship requires are considerable, and the emotional capital we have is limited.

personal contact sustained over ten months of a K-12 school year in the hands of skilled, knowledgable, and caring teachers, researchers have shown again and again (PDF: Rockoff on Teachers), makes a difference in students’ lives. Even the best online instructional software that create “virtual learning environments” fail to come close to what students do daily as they interact with each other and their teachers.