To all who encouraged education through this Ethernet entryway we thank you. EncourageEducation.org friends and families have made a profound difference in the lives of many pupils, parents, Principals, and professional mentors. We have moved mountains and done so in a manner that has been meaningful. Our hope is, together, we will forever grow greater, learn, glow, and expand, just as we have in the past.
Towards this progression, we have evolved. Most of the materials that sat safely at EncourageEducation.org can now be found at Catapult Connects. This site is a private place where colleagues can ponder; publish prose, videos, and visual delights. Please travel down this novel instructional path with us.
Introductions to Catapult Connects and invitations will be sent to all Catapult Employees who actively engaged at EncourageEducation.org, We hope to see you there.
Please trust, that without you, there would not have been "us." We at EncourageEducation.org greatly appreciate all you have done to make this Ethernet endeavor a success. Your participation has been, and will forever be appreciated. We thank you!
Our Hope is You Will Enjoy the Evolution! We will see you again soon in cyberspace, next time at Catapult Connects.
Please never forget; you make a profound difference.
As parents pour into the Catapult classrooms to meet and greet teachers, please invite them to be a more profound part of their child's education.
Perhaps, if we are to hope for parent involvement, we must invite mothers and fathers to join us in our shared quest to help the children grow wise and more wonderful. Dear Catapult colleagues, you may wish to consider this possibility. A letter addressed to Moms and Dads, titled, "As a parent, I promise . . ." may open minds and heart.
Please feel free to print, "As a parent, I promise . . ." Present this to Moms, Dads, and Guardians. Begin a conversation that advances awareness, and watch your pupils' blossom.
As a Parent, I Promise -English and Spanish Portable Document Format versions below.
"Dr. Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, discovered the formula for the sticky stuff back in 1968. But it was Silver's colleague, Art Fry, who finally came up with a practical use for it. The idea for repositionable notes struck Fry while singing in the church choir. His bookmark kept falling out of his hymnal, causing him to lose his page. So, taking advantage of a 3M policy known as the "bootlegging" policy, Fry used a portion of his working hours to develop a solution to his problem. Now the world is singing the praises of his pet project: Post-it® Notes." www.post-it.com
So anyone who knows me as an educator knows that I am a huge fan of post-its. Big ones, little ones, star and apple shaped, lined and unlined, they all serve a purpose. Many purposes, in fact. The ways they can be used in the classroom or with adult learners is practically limitless. I wanted to take a few moments and share with you some of the ways that I have used them in the past to facilitate learning. I would like to invite you to share your own ideas so that we can expand our collective arsenal of post-it uses!
I was having trouble coming up with a way to start this piece of writing. The Diary demands a topic and as soon as I saw the option of "Challenge...Success", I knew how to begin. So often life poses us with a "Challenge". We hope to reach the result of "Success". The "..." is how we get there. Sometimes the "..." lasts years. Sometimes it lasts a lifetime. For me (for now), it's only been a month.
The year 2010 has started off with quite a bang. If my name is unfamiliar, it's because I am a new employee here. I started at Catapult on January 25th. That in itself presented challenges, as any new job or environment does. But things were going great in my relatively easy life. Then the other shoe dropped. On Thursday, February 4th, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My mother is a full time stay at home mom in Ohio. Currently, there are four kids living at home, ages 9-17. I live in Chicago, my brothers live in Virginia and Iowa. We're a very tight knit family. My parents are rooted in their Christian faith and are truly the two best people I have ever known (and I've met Oprah...).
Are you using and taking care of your brain? How about the brains of your students? Are the lessons we are using as successful as they could be? The Catapult/21st Century Learning Title 1 Program in Detroit has been participating in city-wide parental involvement workshops this school year. The topic of these sessions is Understanding Brain Development to Promote Learning Success in Reading and Math. We will complete the third session in a series of four this week, and they have been terrific!
Our speaker, Ann Anzalone, has provided parents as well as teachers with a great deal of information about how to use current brain research to increase focus, attention, and participation with our students. Ann has provided exercises, health, and nutrition information, as well as learning strategies to increase success for our students.
Remember that information is shared between both the right and left sides of the brain. It is critical to successful achievement that those connections are made and maintained. Here are some tips from Ann's sessions that you may be able to use in your homes and classrooms to help your brains stay connected:
• Stay away from stress. Stress causes the brain connections to pull apart and the brain to focus one-sided.
• Sleep at least 7 hours per night and keep bedrooms dark. The brain needs complete darkness in order to replenish certain chemicals in the brain to help with efficient nerve cell firing.
• Eat balanced meals including lots of fruits and vegetables. Always have breakfast. If you skip it, you may get a sugar craving late at night.
• Drink water! To find out how much water you should drink, divide your weight by 3. The answer is the number of ounces of water you should drink daily.
• Stay away from MSG, which comes is listed on food labels using many different names. Here are a few: modified food starch, autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, carrageenan, glutamic acid, yeast extract. Also, B Coplex Vitamins are necessary in our diets to metabolize the amount of sugar we consume.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise produces dopamine in the brain, which increases the connections between neurons.
• Play games and use cross lateral movement. The brain wires itself, creates new neural connections, and tests those connections through play. When we stop playing, we stop developing.
I would like to honor and pay homage to all the African-Americans who have made great contributions to the United States of America and other countries abroad. I consider myself to be an African-American and not Black because Black does not have a country or land. We know from our history that African-Americans were brought to the North America from West Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Our existence did not start with us be forced into slavery. We have a rich history and culture that expands back to biblical times. Anthropologist credit Egypt as being the cradle of civilization and Egypt is in Africa.
During this month, we as African-American must refocus and retool ourselves. We must continue to tell our children of our history and how our fore fathers suffered in this country. Due to their struggle and resistance, our children are able to attend any college, go to any restaurant, go to any theater or play, sit on the bus where they want and can worship the God of their choice. We must continue the oratory stories of what it was like to live through the Jim Crow Laws, Lynching, Segregation and other forms of racisms and now the new form of slavery, prison. If we don't learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it. The road to success is education. This is the one thing that cannot be taken away from you, your knowledge.
After being a New Orleans Saints ticket holder for over 35 years, in which time the team only had two post-season appearances and too many losing seasons (remember the bags over the fans' heads?? - I do!), I had the joyful opportunity to go to the Super Bowl this past weekend in Miami. While I - as a matter of self-preservation and heart-break avoidance - never expect the Saints to win, as the game began my worst fears seemed to be realized.
The Colts marched up and down the field at will, scoring the first 10 points. Then the Saints defense came alive allowing the offense to get in gear and by game's end, the Saints were on the winning end of a 31-17 score ... thanks largely to a very successful onsides kick to begin the second half. Grown men and women ... me included ... stood in Sun Life Stadium openly weeping. We can handle losing ... actually we have parades at funerals ... it's winning that sends up to pieces
