This is for Montessorians, too

I just got an iphone. I've never been one for tech hype or early adopting in the past, so it's sort of a surprise for me to be into this shiny pretty thing.

This phone some inspiration to get my albums digital. I looked at practical life album on it today. Holy cow. Link to the Picasa pics right there in the proper sequence. This will change my classroom life. I could keep the phone in my apron and take it out for reference on a break.

I imagine the requisite bookshelf worth of plastic-protected albums will go the way of the roledex in the next 10 years. Gone will be unsnagging stuck or loose pages from the binder rings. Gone will be breaking your back or bike to haul these items from home to the classroom.

Secrecy

I saw the documentary Secrecy this spring at a film festival. The film chronicles the levels of government secrecy since the Cold War era. Is it surprising that "classified" is more popular in the Bush II government than any before it? Not really. The film really sheds light on the sad legal history of making public docs a big secret by digging into a recently unclassified 1950s court case that has justified the government need for secrecy.

One of the experts from the film discusses the differing mentalities between the Cold War Era and the Digital Age. He argues that openly sharing information about terrorism and terror suspects diminishes secrecy, but can ultimately improve safety because it means more eyes and minds are aware of a terror threats. His point is that more information, more widely available will result in more people who can make connections that can lead to apprehension of criminals.

In this new age of digital information, we global citizens have extreme freedom of information. The internet makes an overwhelming amount of data available. It also makes that data portable and accessible from almost anywhere. It is in that spirit that I am choosing to post photographs and descriptions of my Montessori training albums.

I'm planning to keep the album information limited to mostly pictures. For one, I want to honor the fact that most of my lessons are under copyright protection from my training program. For two, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. And I am wary of losing data from my hard disk, it will be nice to have a web backup.

Still, I have struggled with why I want to make these photographs public. Aren't these my private efforts at learning and creating self-awareness as a teacher? What benefit will these photos provide to a public sphere?

It's easy, I'm making these photographs publicly available to share with the world what it is I care about with passion. I want the world to see more Montessori guides, schools, children, parents. Why not allow the world a glimpse into my interpretation of the lessons of Dr. Montessori?

It turns out that life isn't a 3rd grade spelling test. There are no more teachers berating me to "cover my paper." There are no Soviet spies wanting to steal away my Montessori secrets. There is just you and me and the spirit of Montessori.

New vaccines for infant diarrhea

file this one under children's health...

The Washington Post reports that pharma companies GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. have published the results of a study that tested the effectiveness of a vaccine meant to protect against a rotavirus that causes diarrhea in very young children. Released in last week's New England Journal of Medicine, the study looked at the effectiveness of the vaccine in 60,000 infants, most who began the study at 10 weeks of age.

The drugs are already approved in 20 counties, mostly poorer nations where diarrhea kills infants in startling numbers. Here's what the study doctors wrote:

"More than 2 million hospitalizations and nearly half a million deaths are attributed to this infection annually. The strategy of preventing rotavirus through vaccination derives from studies demonstrating that wild-type rotavirus infection induces immunity against subsequent rotavirus gastroenteritis."

Downside to the vaccine: Wyeth (Phila pharma co.) released a rotavirus vaccine in 1999 that had the nasty side effect of "intestinal intussusception," which means part of the bowel twists over on itself causing , in 15 children that received the vaccine. So, the company pulled the vaccine off the market.

It seems that 12-15 of this study's participants did suffer from intussusception, but not directly following a vaccine administration. So...it's safe? Safer?

The Post uncovers the greed factor: "Merck, of Whitehouse Station, NJ, initially targeted only wealthy markets, but, after lobbying by public-health doctors, embraced the idea of selling its vaccine at a cut rate in poor countries." Of course, the skeptic in me wonders what good the vaccine will do if these infants grow up still without clean water, enough nutritious food and a global system of oppression that determines the odds from their first wails in underfunded, unsterilized clinic rooms... :(

The good news here is that beyond the invasive marketing of luxury drugs to combat the "diseases" of restless legs and balding, there are actually scientists working for the big drug companies that are interested in making medicines that saves lives.

montessori makes celebrity news story

A troubled fifteen year old girl was murdered in California after running away from home and then Georgia-state care. Her alleged murderer was a 20-year-old man she met while homeless and working as a prostitute. The news coverage of this event continues to reference that she is the great-great granddaughter of Maria Montessori.

Why? Of course her death is newsworthy because it represents a tragedy, and news consumers love tradegy. But, who is Maria in this story? A "celebrity" reference? An indicator of an ironic outcome for the descendant of an educational leader?

Just found a story from a Georgia alt weekly paper that gives this story the detail it deserves. Missing from Georgia DFACS group home facilities for a year, it seems many different state agencies failed in the effort to find a missing child. Hanna Montessori's death in California was first in the news as the story of an unidentified teen victim.

the internet responds:
Sacred Ordinary
Websleuths

Murder stories (mostly covered by the AP):
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Portland (ME) Press Herald (Montessori grew up in Maine)
Los Angeles Times

barcoding kids (for real!)

John Dewey might have said school is a factory.

Now, we get to say school is a Walmart stockroom.

Thanks to the forward thinking engineers at the National Institute of Justice, public schools are already piloting programs where students wear or carry a tag that uniquely identifies them using radio frequency identification technology. This technology allows real-time location tracking of whatever is attached the device, which according to the NIJ, somehow or another can improve school safety.

This from a government that wants to give the appearence of supporting small schools, instead we're taking the superstore approach the reducing shrinkage. Beneath the unfunded rhetoric of NCLB, grant money is being offered to schools that will agree to testing military-industrial technology on public school students. In an article for the New Standard, Catherine Komp presents the criticism that this is a means to acclamate students to high-tech surveillance.

Treating our children like volatile inventory is a means to continue decrease the dignity and humanity of young people. When kids are systematically made to feel worthless, they will not grow to be critical thinkers, active citizens or innovaters. Exactly the kinds of adults that corporations would love to employ, right? Folks who are easily intimidated into becoming by-the-book workaholics. And, of course, for the tracked children who are residents of marginalized communities, this is advanced preperation for what all ready goes on in prisons.

Can cash-strapped school systems resist the call of NIJ grant money? Or will children begin to find it normal that Big Brother is embedded into their trendy plastic bracelets?

school is culture is (mandatory) school

Public school is the cultural battleground. Just today while waiting for the Ellen show to rewind in the VCR, I tuned into a commercial on my local Christian TV station that touted LOCAL workshops for adults on leading "children's ministries," interviewing a bunch of reasonable looking mom ladies on how this class let them bring Christ into the hearts of children in public schools, with video of little girls with braids bein' saved by doing some ice breakers about the man JHC.

Moving from evangelism to sexism, isn't it heartwarming to know this 1960 book titled When I Grow Up was sittin' around in an inner-city school until I smuggled it from the discard pile in May, May 2005?

just a sample of the whimsical goodness...

warm and fuzzy greeting cards

Where does the tradition peace centered Holiday and Christmas cards originate? I can recall some song lyrics -- "peace on earth, good will towards men" -- so, it seems to be a long standing practice, but for some reason, seeing "Peace" all dolled up on the front of a card is hitting me really hard this year.

My reaction is just scowly and ironic.

Welcome to a poigantly anti-peace Christmas for the citizens of the United States.

I guess the ironic nature of the "Peace" Christmas card should be clear by observing that well over half of these offerings come with repro art of cartoonish bears and owls carolling in a snowy wood. Okay, I get it, the content is ficiton, right?

Or can we still believe in these greetings? Can we send them to loved ones with good faith? With a believe that we work for peace in this world? Because right now, I'm doing just about diddly for peace. Besides my little Amnesty Intl donations, I'm not spearheading any letter righting campaigns to end war in _________(fill in with favorite war-torn land mass), and I'm sure as heck not a doctor without borders or a UNESCO operative.

These cards don't bear practical messages, like "Here's the direct line to the XXXX oil company exec, please let him know your thoughts on environmental devestation in Africa." They're sort of a warm and fuzzy thought, like "Smell of Gingerbread" or "Take Your Photo with Santa."

Here's what I'm thinking. We model this sort of warm and fuzzy to our children AS A WAY OF LIFE. We say peace on earth, good will towards men. Teachers and parents encourage copying such sayings onto cutout Christmas trees and snowflakes. We hold concerts where multi-colored children sing "We are the World." We give the appearence, we create the appearence of all things bright and beautiful, but really most folks in the US are contributing to global inequity through their day to day actions.

Myself included. I am big enough to admit it, but at the same time crushed by this truth and trying to figure out what to do about it.

Oprah Winfrey was on the David Letterman show tonight, talking about her work to help oppressed folk in South Africa. She says don't be stunned into inaction by the size of the problem, just do what you can do to change things. Life is short, as we all like to say as one year closes and another begins.

I just know that we can get caught on a path so quickly in our youth, and I want to choose an agreeable comfortable one for me, but I feel like I'm idling time while making this nebulous calculation. You've got to jump in, right? You never know until you try.

Ah, it's late and I'm all aphorisms. Maybe I'd better make my own ChrisHanaKwanzaa cards this year. Good night, Ben.

whachoo talkin' about?

The love of my life has another love that rules her world.
A love that should never be spoken.

A love. . .of Diff'rent Strokes.

When a boxed set of the first season of the Gary Coleman hit arrived at our home **thanks Amazon marketplace** I laughed. I recalled watching the show in syndicated Saturday afternoon reruns while growing up in the 1980s, but I never thought it was anything special. In fact, it seemed kind of boring to my seven-year-old self.

But, OMG, this series is funny and smart in a way that almost seems impossible today. What happened to these goodhearted days? The humor has bite, DEFINITELY social awareness, but it lacks that unshakable, bitter sarcasm that infects today's comedy writing. Is the problem today that sitcoms like Diff'rent Strokes set out in the 1970s to make the world a better place, and just failed? Are today's comedy writers and television producers jaded by failed attempts at change, or are they just oblivious to such possibilities?

I think the most likely scenario is that television has just become more sophisticated. Sophistication does not equate with the warm fuzzy feeling I get at the end of each episode of Different Strokes. Sophistication has all kinds of causes, too. Probably the most powerful one is the almighty corporate advertising dollar. Ka-ching. In the end, producers/writers/actors want to get paid. Alot. The Hollywood lifestyle is expensive to maintain (Of course, I get that impression from reading the reams of magazines chronicling the lives of celebrities that arrive each week at the bookstore... isn't that a chicken or egg situation?). So, the idea's with good intentions have to find a way to serve the interests of advertising. And the interest of advertising are brutal. Manipulation through fear, pleasure, competitiveness. DS could not hold up today because viewers have more choices, and advertisers demand shows that get the ratings. So, shows need to be full of sex, unrealistic living situations, snarky humor... everything that DS is NOT. Granted, you have to take on a wing and a prayer Arnold and Willis' orphanhood, but can you imagine that DS did not have one sexy leading lady falling out of her blouse? And where are today's primetime television shows that give youth and voice that is not primarily whining, greedy and manipulative?

Maybe I need some other perspectives... was DS an anomaly of its time? I was busy watching Nick Jr. on the cable box when the series originally aired, so I don't remember any of its contemporaries. I guess I should acquire a cable box again, so I can tune in to see Nick at Night reruns of the Jeffersons and All My Family. But, these shows don't have a lot of meaning to me at this time. But, from all of my television history knowledge, I know that they pushed the envelope in terms of discussing social issues.

I know this post goes all over the place, but, amazingly, watching disc one of the first season of DS woke up all new questions in me about what I know about popular culture, race relations, social change, comedy, portrayal of black youth in the media... it is going to take more words to process this.

business of book reviews

This week's New York Times Book Review featured the Children's Book bestseller listings. Fascinating stuff, Robert Sabuda's pop-up book magic is well deserving of two spots in the top five. But read a few pages further...

Please, please, PLEASE tell me why The O'Reilly Factor for Kids is on the Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous best-seller list. You could show up at a bookstore and buy a child in a nonfiction book about engineering, chemical reactions, ancient history, inspirational biography, but somehow all that catches your eye is the obnoxious face out of the nonreturnable eight copies of spin-off punditry book. WOW. Grown-ups suck. You know that every kid that gets that book from some well-meaning old fart just has another reason to feel misunderstood and bitter. And what kind of advice, exactly, is Bill offering to today's youth? How the capitalist, white supremacist patriarchy allows exposed sexual harassers to have their own TV show?

You can't talk to me like that just because I am white

I feel dirty.

Today, this young woman comes in to the children's book department asking for stickers. Now, we don't sell little sheets or rolls of stickers, just sticker books and a couple of gift sets. So, I hand her a Dr. Seuss sticker set. It's clear by facial reaction that it is not what she is expecting or searching for, but she seems interested by it.

I dote at an arm's length away, pointing out that it has a lot of stickers for the price, but I realize that it is not necessarily what she was looking for.

She gets ready to speak, and I smile, expecting a polite explanation of why she won't be purchasing the stickers that day.

Instead: "Well, I am a nursing student and I'm conducting health screenings on kids ages two through seven years old in a predominantly African-American school and... I mean, are they going to know who Dr. Seuss is?"

what? huh? My brain goes blank. Up until the dot dot dot, I was expecting an objection to the price, quantity, small size of the actual stickers. And then -- wham -- expectation that I am just as racist as you. Because I am white like you. Because I am dressed like you.

Now looking back on it, I feel so dirty and used to be dragged into her racism just because of our similar skin color. Would you really ask that to a black person, nursing student?

And now, looking back on it, I feel ashamed because I didn't see something clever, honest, boldly antiracist back to that.

No, I stare at her, recover from blank brain, and as passive aggressive as I can get is to say, "well, you said the kids go to school, right? I would assume that you're fine."

And she just goes right on telling her whole charitable nursing student tale... oh, it's a Montessori school, oh, it is right by your bookstore...blah, blah, bitchity blah.

And THEN she tells me she doesn't think the stickers are right. And where can she get stickers around here? And look at me, nonconfrontational is that I am, giving her ADVICE to buy them online at a teacher store because that's where they sell big quantities. And, then, she leaves, skipping off to nursing class, la la la, in her little school sweatshirt.

I can only imagine her today fawning over cute black toddlers, sneaking a touch of their exotic kinky hair as she helps them adjust the earphones during the hearing test. Maybe she is passing out some Fat Albert or Little Bill stickers, all "you know who that is, don't you, sweetie?" while grinning down at their poor, underprivileged faces.

And you know what, I am no better for not calling her on that shit. Because by not speaking up, even in the strange power arrangement of customer and employee, I'm coasting by...clinging to my white privilege.

Here's my vow to speak up when there is a next time.