Sci Fi nursery rhyme - cute and thought provoking

The Day the Robots Woke Up
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Thought you might find this interesting!!

I ran into a student of mine from the first school where I was principal, Yost Academy. She attends a Historically Black College studying chemistry. She will spend her upcoming Jr. year in Australia. Her long range career goal is to become an orthodontist. I remember Ashley well, bright eyes, big smile, loved school, happy with life and herself. That doesn't seem to have changed much. Maybe I'm thinking selfishly but it pleases me to no end to think that I had some small part in the development of this wonderful young person. (She remembered both my last and first name - most students I run into remember "Ms. Holland" so I must have made some kind of impression on her :). It makes all those long, hard days and unrecognized sacrifices worthwhile.

For all of you out there who are positively impacting children in one way or another, be encouraged. The work is hard, but it's good work. The results last long beyond this year's test scores or even next week's check. Hang in there. As always, thanks for listening, Leslie

Thanks Beverly!

I attended the memorial service for Beverly Butler, Principal of Brenda Scott Middle School in Detroit on Friday evening. It was held at the school and was a wonderfully moving event. As the accolades from staff, students, her neighbors and community were given I could not help but wonder if Beverly had ever heard these things while she was among us. Beverly was a "tough" administrator who was lauded on that day for high expectations and standards, her staff joined together and sang with one voice during the service. What a symbolic effort. Student messages and cards were posted all around on the walls expressing their love and appreciation for their principal. They knew she loved them. I think she would have been pleased with what was said and done. I am coming away more determined to give my flowers now. Flowers of appreciation for hard work done and efforts given in the way of encouraging words, a listening ear and expressions of a grateful heart. After all isn't that the core of an educator - one with a heart for learners of all ages and stages. As always, thanks for listening. Leslie.

And by the way, if you are reading this thanks for being one who tries to stay "on top of things", be well informed and a perpetual learner yourself! Keep up the good work.

Privacy or No privacy...that is the question.

Facebook Shuts Down RSS Feed App
By Marshall Kirkpatrick on Info Architecture

Google Latitude Comes to More Locations: Google Talk and Your Blog
By Frederic Lardinois on News

These two new posts were in my Bloglines box today. I found it amusing that one (Kirkpatrick)was raising Cain about Facebook's cutting out the opportunity to make sharing data easier and the other was really worried about Googles new "locator" that provides information about where you are by city or longitude, latitude.

Sounds like we're caught between a rock and a hard place. I struggle to understand all the techy type details but one thing is for sure you can't have it both ways. Either my information is secure and I can choose when I share and when I don't OR it's not and I lose control of who can access my information and what they do with it. Maybe that's an oversimplification but I hope we continue to err on the side of secure at the level I choose.

I wonder if Frederic and Marshall read each other's posts...maybe we're talking about apples and oranges but the more data I share on various sites the more I have concerns about where it's going. I think it's even a little creepy to have a website suggest a "friend". Perhaps that's because I'm not a digital native. Let me know what you think. As always. Thanks for listening, Leslie

Audio Journal Session 3 Reflections

When principals and coaches get together in a well facilitated dialogue the results are always awesome. Thanks Mary, Bevelyn, Anupam, Lisa and Team. The evaluations clearly reveal that hands on computer sessions and collegial dialogue are by far the most favored activities.
Using the CPS was a bit cumbersome because of software issues but the data driven dialogue that took place based on the graphs generated by the software was rich and revealing.

We also used the Flip Video Camera to record the activities and shared that at the PLC meeting this morning. What a hit - the camera itself and the video. We will be using it often. Here is the link to the site. http://www.theflip.com/ The team will be participating in an evaluation session soon so that decisions that can be made for next year. We're thinking about an all day session instead of short ones. We'll keep you posted. As always. Thanks for listening. Leslie