Road ditch sociology

I spent a couple hours Saturday morning helping my fellow Kiwanians police our Adopt-a-Highway bit of road. Our few miles start just south of Mankato's city limits, wind past the ski hill, and end at the southern bypass road. I've gotten to know this stretch of two-lane pretty well over the past 10 years or so.

You can tell a lot about a country and the direction in which it is headed by examining what its citizens toss from their car windows (or let blow out the back of their pickup trucks). Here are some things I thought were pretty interesting. But remember, I am easily amused.

Sports drinks vs. beer cans For the first time, sport drink containers seemed to out number beer cans. If you are an optimist, I guess you could say Americans are leading healthier lifestyles. If you are a pessimist, you could say Americans are still acting stupidly but now can't blame their actions on drunkenness. It was the later view that first popped into my head.

Thong panties. I found no used condoms this bagging trip - the first time this has happened, I think, but I did find a pair of discarded thong panties. Pink and lacey. Perhaps the studies are right - economic recessions result in lower libidos by those impacted. Or could it be my fellow countrymen and countrywomen are practicing less safe sex? I wonder if any studies have been done of the IQs of children conceived in vehicles?

Microtrash. I don't know if there are guidelines about what one should or should not pick up during an Adopt-A-Highway effort. Personally, I tend to ignore those bits of trash any smaller than a Ritz cracker or that I think Mother Nature will soon take care of herself such as banana peels and small bits of paper. My bagging buddy was more particular. Cigarette butts were a particular item of contention. I left'm; she didn't. Oh, the stop-smoking campaigns don't seem to doing much good here in Southern Minnesota judging by the number of butts and cigarette packages I saw.

Most piggish fast food eaters. Subway wins this year. Jared, tell your fat-assed tribe to lose weight by walking to a trash can. Thank you. And let's go back to paper soft drink cups instead of plastic ones that don't quite disintegrate when hit by UV rays.

Thank you's. A number of us commented that we were thanked by passing motorists and bicyclists for the work we were doing. I only hope the gratitude extends to action - or inaction (not littering). But then I just don't see someone who bicycles for fun or says "thank you" tossing stuff to the side of the road. Even sports drink containers.

Overall, I'd say litter has become less and less a problem on our bit of highway over the years -  a positive sign. And we Minnesotans are pikers in producing litter compared to folks in Bangkok, Cairo and Mumbai. I hope we never take our clean, green, beautiful landscapes for granted.

Enough trash talk for this Sunday morning.

Upstream costs, downstream savings

Finding Time
Each time I pass the picture I take a few seconds to straighten it. On its single nail, heavy tread makes it tilt. I always have the extra seconds to make it straight, but I never have the precious minute needed to get the second nail to straighten it permanently. In 50 Words

One argument for teachers spending time to learn a complex technology is that once mastered, the technology will eventually result in time savings. As Zach commented yesterday, "I usually try and use the sales pitch - climb the learning curve and you save a ton of time later on."

And I too have preached this sermon for years: upstream costs = downstream savings.

But I am not sure there is any time cost/benefit formula that can be applied across the board to "technology." Taking the time to learn and create a macro for keyboarding a long address seems to have an immediate and direct time savings. Learning to use Moodle to supplement a F2F class that still meets five days a week, I wonder? Or learning to use a Flip camera and to edit video using iMovie and to upload the videos to server to create a source for students to watch or rewatch a lesson? Hmmmmmm, the pay back time seems pretty long to me. Value = time learning/time saved (and figure in a variable for the length of time to reach the savings).

I have two learning tasks this weekend: to figure out as much as I can about my new iPad 3G that arrived on schedule yesterday (thank you FedEx) and to experiment with GoogleWave that we just turned on as a part of GoogleApps for Education. Will either the iPad or Wave make me* and, more importantly, my librarians and teachers more productive - short or long term? Any district technology "leader" ought to make these sorts of evaluations a high priority.

And, yes, I know it doesn't always have to be about productivity. I learned  quickly to stream Netflix videos and find NPR broadcasts on the iPad. Nothing wrong with having fun with a new toy as well.

* I think one can make the case that the "pointy-haired" boss (like me) has some value leading a tech department. Tech "enthusiasts" may overestimate the time/value quotient. I worry when schools place professional CTOs instead of former teachers in charge of a district's tech. Good security, I'm sure, but ...

The Tattered Pages

Amy Sieve, Middle School Media Specialist in Northfield, MN, shared this with me and kindly allowed me to share it with you. As a little librarian growing up on the prairie, I ran paperback book exchanges in my libraries, but Amy had taken this to a whole new level.

Three years ago, as part of my PLC (Professional Learning Community) I conducted a survey on the reading habits of our lowest and our highest scoring Middle School students on the reading portion of the MCA test.  The data confirmed my suspicion that successful students have lots of book in their homes, they receive books as gifts, they live in homes where books are valued, and they spend their free time reading for pleasure.  Likewise, the data also confirmed that less successful students don’t have the same access to books in their homes, don’t receive books as presents, and don’t place much value on books.  

With this information, I put together a plan to open The Tattered Pages, a new and used bookstore in our school. Through newsletters, articles in the local newspaper, advertisements, and speaking engagements I solicited donations. I also received grants and new book donations from our local colleges and retail bookstores.   Today, The Tattered Pages contains over 3,000 new and used books that students and their families can buy.  What makes The Tattered Pages unique, however, is that books are “bought” using earned coupons, rather than real money.  Students earn these coupons in a variety of ways, including: 

      Book Donations- students receive a coupon for every book they donate.  This is  an important component to the philosophy behind The Tattered Pages.  By  donating books they no longer want to own, students learn the important lessons  of recycling, sharing, and contributing to the good of the whole. 

      Working in The Tattered Pages- the store is open all day every day, and it is  completely managed by student workers. Student workers come in before school,  during lunch or study hall, and after school.  Their job includes pricing new  donations (the coupons are in the same increments as real currency, so the books  are priced much like you would see in a real bookstore), shelving, tidying up, and  helping customers (we get over 100 shoppers each day). 

      Doing a job from the Job Jar- staff members send me jobs they need done in  their classrooms, and students earn coupons when they fulfill these jobs.  These  jobs include sweeping classroom floors, dusting, filing, scraping gum off the  school sidewalk, washing windows, etc.  

      Excelling in their classrooms, lunchroom, school bus, etc.- every month staff  members (including custodians, bus drivers, etc) receive coupons in their  mailboxes. Students who demonstrate good citizenship, or academic excellence,  are given coupons by their teacher.  Rather than reward students with food and  candy, staff members are encouraged to reward with the gift of a coupon to buy a  good book. 

      Selling popcorn.  The Tattered Pages sells popcorn for 50 cents a bag every  Friday.  All proceeds go towards purchasing books and gift wrap (we gift wrap all  books “purchased” by students that are to be given as a gift).

In December we held our Third Annual Holiday Shopping Extravaganza.  This is a special sale that is held in the evening and runs throughout the day for one full week.  It is a wonderful opportunity for students, and their families, to “purchase” gifts for everyone on their holiday list, without spending a dime.  As in previous years, the event included free gift-wrapping, holiday treats, music, and movies.  We wrapped over 500 books for students to give as gifts for the holidays!!! 

Last month we held our Third Annual Mother’s Day Sale.  This is an evening event for Mothers and their middle schoolers to come to The Tattered Pages.  While the students shop for a Mother’s Day present (and have it beautifully gift wrapped!), the mom’s can listen to music and munch on donated baked pastries and yummy coffee.   

Both of these events have taken on great importance, given our country’s economic situations.  Many of our students have been affected by this crisis- either through a parent’s unemployment, or the loss of housing.  Each of these have become very popular among students and families, but, because of all the donations, they have also brought in the community at large 

Because our Middle School has a large population of Latino students, my goal this year is to find good deals on books to purchase in Spanish.  Donations of money, or books in Spanish would be very useful in helping our Spanish collection grow.  In this way, we could better serve our Latino families and help put more books into their hands and homes.  In turn, this, I believe, will increase the academic success of these students. 

The Tattered Pages has had a huge impact on our school and our community.  Through speaking engagements at local churches and events I receive hundreds of book donations each month from people in the community.  Because we encourage our students to give gifts (another great life lesson- demonstrating our appreciation to those who have shown us love and friendship by giving a gift), we accept donations for all ages- picture books up through adult reading materials.  The community feels good about donating books and helping out our school.  Parents feel good about not having to provide real money to their children for purchasing gifts for friends or family members.  The students feel good about doing honest, worthwhile, work to earn coupons, which enable them to own books.  It is a beautiful site when students leave The Tattered Pages with beautifully gift-wrapped presents which they bought, without spending a dime. 
 

Our sites are set on  adding more Spanish books to the collection, which will allow students who don’t speak English, or who’s families don’t speak English, to still be actively involved in The Tattered Pages. 

Video can be found by going to

www.nfld.k12.mn.us

then select Middle School
go to the vertical menu bar and select MS Video Streaming
select Tattered Pages

Good library programs offer many services - and not all of the them involve technology!