And the final version

Digital story rough draft

I thought I'd share the rough draft of my digital story with you all. Please feel free to leave me suggestions or constructive criticism.

Recipe Review: Chocolate Risotto

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July (and those of you outside the U.S. didn't work too hard)! Instead of fighting the crowds, I hiked up the hill behind my house and watched San Diego area fireworks from there. Not quite as large and lacking coordinating music (though some of the other people who hiked up the hill did have a radio with them), but you do get to see multiple shows at once.

On the 5th of July, part of my evening was spent making chocolate risotto. I'd purchased the ingredients a while back, intending to make it for my mother's visit, but due to laziness and a bit of skepticism on R's part, I'd put it off until now. The results, however, converted the two of us into true believers. Chocolate risotto is delicious! A new classic!

Perhaps due to my cooking it a little hotter than recommended, or maybe my rice wasn't quite the same, my risotto turned out a bit runnier than the one in the picture on the original website. Next time, I think I will add a little more rice. Still, it's a keeper!

Gazing into my crystal ball

It's time to blog for school again. What fun!

Blog Response #3: What is your 2020 Education Vision?

Looking into the near future, I think the event that will have the most significant event on the whole compulsory education complex will be the retirement of the baby boomer teachers. Looking at the teachers I know from that generation, specifically my mom and step-mom, I can tell they are definitely excited at the prospect, no matter how much they love teaching.

After the baby boomers retire, schools find themselves missing a large chunk of their returning teachers. New teachers will come into the profession, much as they have, but continued high rates of attrition (made worse by the retirement of mentor teachers and school leaders) will lead to teacher shortages. I imagine that 2020 will probably be a turning point for education, though the field will go in one of two opposing directions.

The first direction, the ideal one, would be for schools to reduce teacher hours and institute formal mentoring programs. During an extra free period, novice teachers would meet with more experienced colleagues for advice, planning tips, and even (hopefully) to share materials. By giving teachers a little more time to plan, network, grade, and contact parents, attrition rates will decrease. School curricula will be refined, while at the same time becoming more inventive, thanks again to the increased planning time.

The second direction, the non-ideal but more probable one, is that the prerequisites for going into teaching will be lowered in an attempt to shovel more bodies into classrooms as fast as possible. The constant influx of new inexperienced teachers will hinder any attempt to institute school programs and policies, as participants will change from year to year. Staff development will also suffer, as many new teachers leave prior to or immediately after completing induction. In an attempt to counteract the inexperience of the majority of the teaching staff, more schools will adopt prescribed curricula, decreasing educational flexibility and experimentation.

Wow, that was depressing. Time for a gratuitous cat picture!


moar funny pictures

Full circle

There is something about the Internet that makes people act like kids again -- at least, while they're still Internet neophytes.

How do I know this? Simple. Who is it that I get chain e-mails from? My middle school students and my mom.