Olympic Spirit?!?

After learning about the Olympics, we understand what sportsmanship is about. We also have read about people who have demonstrated wonderful sportsmanship at the Olympics. Earlier this month, a former Olympic athlete Marion Jones admitted to using illegal drugs. The committee is now going to take away her Olympic medals. Read the following link and tell me what you think. Should they take away her medals or not?

One thing to think about, in professional sports there are a lot of allegations of performance enhancement drugs. Most players will do whatever it takes to get an edge on the competition. What do you think should be done?


Check out this website:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19404801/

Viruses, Schmiruses.

After reading about viruses in our Reading Classes, I decided to research a new virus that may cause the United States some trouble. Avian Flu (H5N1) is a deadly virus that may mutate to the point that our vaccinations may not be able to help. There is a large debate raging on whether or not it will have a catastrophic impact on Americans. I don’t think that there is much to worry about. Could a bird virus be that harmful to humans? What do you think? I believe scientist just want us to pay more money for vaccinations that we don’t need.

Here are a couple of websites where you can read more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9630262/site/newsweek/

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/facts.htm

Are We Failing our Geniuses?

There were many interesting points mentioned in the recent Time magazine article titled, “Are We Failing our Geniuses?” (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1653653-1,00.html)
As an educator I feel that it is very important to challenge all students, but I know that I do not. It’s too difficult to find the time and lessons to teach your most gifted students. I spend my time preparing for the masses, which tend to be in the middle to lower end on the intelligence scale. Grade skipping kids would be a great way for a teacher to continue to teach at this level but yet challenge the gifted students as well. If a 6th grader wanted to come to 8th grade for Math one period a day, I see no reason to stop that from happening. I also think that it is beneficial to everyone involved. The student is being challenged, the teachers are not modifying too much of their curriculum, and students can see the benefits of excelling (Quicker movement through the K-12 curriculum). A great mind is a horrible thing to waste. I feel that if you pull a student out of the public school system, they will not get a logical look at what reality is. They will have to deal with people in their lives that have a lesser IQ than they have. It is better to prepare them for that now, than to have a severe reality check later on.

Is it worth it?

I want to find out how many of my students will actually be into this "blogging" rage. If there are enough students that want to try it out, then I think I'll use it. But, if only a few students get into it, we'll just stick to the whole pencil and paper thing. My biggest worry is that my students will have too many problems figuring out how to do it so they will stop trying. I am a big proponent of technology in the classroom as long as students are using it to learn, and not to detract from the educational happenings. Well, if you think blogging is a good idea let me know.