Survival of the Fittest

or, "Those who do not backup the past are condemned to re-type it."

Darren was talking about his new backup system, which included a new computer and I figured I'd repeat what works really well for me. I have a good computer at home, loaded with a bunch of software and a basic machine at school that is connected to the smart board.  I do not have any other tech toys and only a basic LG phone.

I have two 8GB thumbdrives (e.g., from TigerDirect.com. You could get them from Amazon, too.) "MY Documents" has a folder for academic videos and another for academic files. These two folders are synchronized with the two thumbdrives every day or so. At school I run everything off the two thumb drives, leaving nothing on the school's network. When I return home, I synchronize and thus never go more than a couple days without a simple backup.

For all my other files, I have an external USB drive (400GB, from Staples, Amazon, and many other places, ~$70)  This is connected about once a month or so and backs up ALL my files, including the academic ones, mail folders and system files.  Except for the mail folders, there's little on the home computer other than academic stuff that changes often so I'm okay there.

If you don't have a similar plan yet, you should start.

1969 Norton Commando

Got this from the web. Brings back memories of my '66 Tiger. Wish I'd kept that bike but was offered too much to turn down so I sold it. I can totally relate to this guy ...

Video: The Norton Project
'This is a story about how me and my brother stole our fathers 1969 Norton Commando, had it restored and then gave it back to him for Christmas. He had no idea.'

Scheduling's not rocket science but it sure seems that way.

Pissed Off Teacher has a student with a IEP: kid is doing math at a 3rd grade level and his IEP wants him to master math facts "and to be able to work with whole numbers, decimals and fractions." He is enrolled in Algebra.

Joanne Jacobs mentions that bilingual education didn't work ... "California’s bilingual education ban, which was supposed to lead to disaster, worked for Hispanic students ... Hispanic test scores on a range of subjects have risen since Prop. 227 became law."

What's the connection?

Students should master the basic material before moving on to more difficult material. If you shove them into a class they're not ready for and tell the teacher "Individualize the education", then you will ultimately fail.

Better to spend an entire year getting up to speed and then moving on than to struggle for years in half-assed placements.

Soda Pop Man

Enthusiasm.

Now We Know - It was Breakfast that killed the Beast.

In annual report cards, Philadelphia principals will be graded on attendance, math and reading scores — and how many students eat breakfast at school, reports the Inquirer. Philadelphia’s public schools have made all 165,00 students eligible for a free (tax-funded) breakfast, but only about a third show up to eat it. "Many studies have shown that breakfast boosts student performance and health."

Really? Breakfast does all that, huh? Is this the magic bullet that finally explains why children of poor families are constantly and consistently outscored by those of higher socio-economic strata?

One wishes it were so simple.

I wholeheartedly feel that schools can provide meals to the kids but not for any "scores are improved" bullshit, but because it's plain good sense and the right thing to do. And don't pretend breakfast time is instructional time.