Tuesday, September 28, 2010

EDUCATION NATION! (Tuesday)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

STILL NOT A "DIME" FROM RTTT

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Practice: We’re in it together

Most of what we know, remember, and use, we didn’t learn by teachers and textbooks filling our empty heads, Marion Brady reminds us in an excellent recent blog post confronting current education “reforms.” Instead, we came to learning with our own ideas, opinions, explanations, beliefs and values. And then “we discovered real-world patterns and relationships — new knowledge that caused us to constantly rethink, reorganize, reconstruct, and replace earlier knowledge.”

That’s a very serious intellectual practice, worthy of 10,000 hours. (Translate: eight years of school!) And it takes a coach — someone to watch closely, suggesting just the next stretch a learner needs, at just the right moment. It’s a delicate business, not simple transfer of information– and it has everything to do with the learner’s motivation. As Brady puts it,

As is true of adults, kids’ ideas and beliefs become part of who they are, so attempts to change them may come across as attacks on their identity and be resisted.

That’s why teaching is such a complex, multi-step process, he says in this wonderful summary of what the good teacher practices every day. (Reminder: 10,000 hours is at least five or six years of teaching!)

The teacher has to (a) “get inside” that head to figure out what’s thought to be true, right, or important, (b) understand the kid’s value system well enough to offer ideas sufficiently appealing to warrant taking them seriously and paying attention, (c) choose language or tasks that question old ideas and clarify new ones, (d) get feedback as necessary to decide how to proceed, (e) load the whole process up with enough emotion to carry it past short-term memory, and (f) do this for a roomful of kids, no two of whom are identical.

The faces of students in our Practice Project lit up when they told me of the learning experiences that really stuck with them. Above all, it was hands-on projects, internships, and apprenticeships that led them to ask better questions, explore their subjects more deeply, and rise to the challenge of producing new knowledge.

Along the way, their level of engagement with adults also shifted in crucial ways. Learner and teacher were in it together. And it showed.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Movies and Education (RGB STUDIOS)

State’s film tax credit lifts small businesses, excites imaginations

When he sponsored the bill that would, when adopt ed in April 2008, make Michi gan the most generous state in the nation for movie pro ducers, Andy Meisner had three objectives: creating jobs as quickly as possible in the depths of our economic melt down; growing longer-term a new industry that could some day account for perhaps 5% of the state economy, and re taining creative, educated young people who were looking to pursue their fu tures outside Michigan.

And by those objectives, Meisner said, the movie tax credit is not only a success but a bigger one than most of the much less visible tax breaks and incentives the state provides for other busi nesses — about $36 billion worth last year, including the $37.5 million for the movie, TV and video industry.

A bipartisan idea

Meisner, now the elected Oakland County treasurer, was a Democratic state repre sentative in his final term when he worked with state Sen. Jason Allen, a Republican from Petoskey, to as semble the movie tax pack age, which passed the Legisla ture with only one vote against, from Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi.

“We have literally billions of dollars in various tax ex penditures, exemptions and credits that have been grant ed, many of which do not deliver the desired outcome,” Meisner said. “While the state coffers may never be fully replenished from the film tax credits, this was never about making money for the state.”

But with the next governor facing a $1.6-billion budget hole and unemployment ex pected to remain well into double digits, can Michigan really afford to give away money to have movies shot here?

Cassis’ continuing skepti cism was fueled by last week’s report from the state Senate Fiscal Agency. The report asserted that the expenditure of $100 million through movie tax credits has generated less than $60 million in economic activity. But the term-limited Cassis is doubtful a lame-duck Legislature will do anything about the credits in the bal ance of this year. To next year’s incoming crowd, how ever, they may look like low hanging fruit to throw at that budget deficit.

I hope not. I prefer to see them as seeds that sprouted quickly but will never grow into sturdy timbers of the state economy without time and tending. Given the flighty nature of the movie business, just the chatter about chang ing the rules might spur pro ducers to seek a better deal elsewhere.

Infrastructure for films

Developers are working to build a foundation for the industry here, including the construction of studios and postproduction facilities.
Schools are getting up to speed on the education need ed for jobs in film, video and video game production. And movie makers are slowly get ting more comfortable using local talent. They are, by all accounts, enormously pleased with the locations and the work ethic here and, of course, the tax break.

There are countless stories of businesses that got a quick shot in the arm from having a movie company around — a coffee shop that was repaired and repainted for a scene, a secondhand store that had its best sales day ever when the wardrobe people came in to shop, a local bistro that got a boost from a movie star on karaoke night.

And there are the intangi bles — the movies have given our collective psyche a boost amid our economic woes, something to talk about, even participate in. They greatly expanded Michigan’s pres ence on the national and glob al stage, too. Nothing calls attention to your world-class airport quite the way George Clooney can.

Movies are never going to replace the auto industry as Michigan’s economic main stay. But if we stick with what we’ve started and allow it to grow, they can — along with batteries, solar shingles, wind turbines and biomedical breakthroughs — be a solid and exciting part of Michi gan’s future. We’ve spent a lot more to get back a lot less.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

SOLVED! (Better Late then Never)

Authorities: DPS a victim of computer theft crime ring

MSU football player, former students face charges in scheme

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
The computers were sup posed to help Detroit Public Schools students compete in a high-tech world. That’s until burglars broke into schools, hauled away laptops worth $158,800 and sold them as far away as the Middle East.

On Tuesday, 10 men, includ ing a Michigan State Universi ty football player and another MSU student, were charged with participating in a crime ring that sold 104 stolen com puters in seven other states, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Internal tracking devices led officials to stolen DPS computers.

Spartans tight end Dion Sims, 19, of Ypsilanti and MSU student Nicholas Tisdale, 18, of West Bloomfield are accused of receiving and concealing stolen property, a felony pun ishable by up to 10 years in prison, Wayne County Prose cutor Kym Worthy and DPS officials said. Eight others from the region, six of them former DPS students, are ac cused of burglary or receiving stolen property.

DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said: “This is about stealing educa tional opportunities directly from our kids. And we aren’t going to stand for it.”

Crime a part of larger DPS problem

Financially strapped district plagued with epidemic of computer thefts, officials say

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY, PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI and SHANNON SHELTON

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Ten men from throughout the region — Detroit, Dear born, West Bloomfield, Far mington Hills, St. Clair Shores and Ypsilanti — are charged together as part of a computer theft ring. Its target: Detroit Public Schools. The take: 104 computers valued at $158,800. But investigators are not re vealing how the men are con nected with each other. That, they say, will come out in court. The men are accused of a crime that is part of a larger computer theft epidemic plaguing the financially strapped school district.

The most recognizable among the defendants, 19 year-old Dion Sims of Ypsilan ti, is a sophomore Michigan State University tight end who now faces a felony charge of taking part in the enterprise that police say stole laptops that ended up in seven other states, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

“Detroit’s schoolchildren were without the proper tech nology to be able to compete in this world,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Tuesday as she announced the charges. “Other people were getting ahead with their equip ment.”

The crime ring was exposed as DPS continues to investi gate the theft of 788 laptops worth more than $800,000 stolen from 29 schools since last year.

The accusations

Sims and other members of the ring are accused of stealing computers December through January from Coffey Elemen tary, Burns Elementary, Northwestern High and West Side Academy, according to of ficials.

Police said three former DPS students, identified as members of the Helly Helly Bois gang, broke into the schools and stole the comput ers. The suspects are Brian Rogers, 20, Dwaine Scott, 19, and Mark Scott, 18, all of De troit. The three were expected to be arrested to face a list of felony charges — punishable by five to 20 years in prison, Worthy said, adding that the others will have a chance to turn themselves in.

Internal tracking devices led officials to stolen DPS lap top computers in metro De troit, Arizona, Ohio, California, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Tennessee, and also Cana da and the United Arab Emir ates, according to the investi gation that involved several law enforcement agencies since February.

Former DPS students Jai saun Holt, 18, of Farmington Hills — who was a standout quarterback at Henry Ford High; Dezmen Faqua, 19, of Dearborn, and Juan Legardy, 20, of Detroit, as well as Danny Tiwaini, 22, of West Bloomfield and Christopher Schambre, 21, of St. Clair Shores were ac cused of receiving the stolen computers and reselling them on eBay and Craigslist and to friends.

A woman who identified herself as Faqua’s mother said Tuesday, “No, he didn’t,” when asked whether her son helped sell the laptops. But she de clined to give further com ment.
Along with Sims, another MSU student, Nicholas Tis dale, 18, of West Bloomfield is accused of receiving and con cealing the stolen property.

Football star

Mark Hollis, athletic direc tor for MSU, said in a state ment Tuesday that Sims had been suspended and that offi cials were aware Sims “and members of his extended fami ly” were dealing with legal is sues, and Sims had told the coaching staff of the investiga tion and kept them apprised of its progress.

“We will allow the legal pro cess to play out before we make any final decision re garding his future status with the team,” he said.

Sims, a native Detroiter, was a significant catch for the Spartans’ 2009 recruiting class, as the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s product ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the country by Rivals.com.

He also was a basketball star, finishing fourth in the state’s Mr. Basketball Award voting as a senior.

He chose MSU over the Uni versity of Michigan, Ohio State University and other schools.

In his first season at MSU, Sims was a regular part of the offensive rotation, appearing in all 13 games. He had 11 catch es for 133 yards as a backup and scored three touchdowns. He made the Sporting News’ and Rivals.com’s All-Fresh man Big Ten team for his ef forts.

As part of a deep tight end group, Sims was expected to contribute significantly this season. However, he did not take the field in the first three games. He did appear on the depth chart and suited up for those games, but did not play.

When asked Sept. 5 about Sims’ absence from this fall’s football opener the previous day against Western Michigan University, football coach Mark Dantonio gave a terse re sponse.

A popular target

DPS laptops are often tar geted by thieves.

In June 2008, the security department caught six people in the act of stealing 27 school computers and recovered 40 more from their residences. Also, two custodians were ac cused of stealing 30 new lap tops in 2008 — three were found in the possession of two teachers and a teacher’s aide.

Last year, officers recov ered 71 stolen laptops worth $71,000 One DPS school was bur glarized during the weekend and 80 computers were stolen.

Suspect’s father faces charges, too

The father of the Michigan State University football play er accused in a $158,800 laptop theft ring is facing charges in Ann Arbor for what police say also was a computer-related scheme.

Dion Sims’ father, Donald L. Sims Jr., the former business administrator at the Universi ty of Michigan’s Center for Afro American and African Studies, is facing four felony embezzlement charges. He’s accused of using U-M money to purchase $74,000 worth of computers and computer-re lated equipment, and for mak ing $14,000 in other fraudulent purchases.

Diane Brown, spokeswom an for the U-M police, said this afternoon that Donald L. Sims Jr. was arrested and arraigned in June. He is scheduled to ap pear in Washtenaw County Trial Court for a pretrial hear ing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, ac cording to court records.

She said he purchased at least 75 computers and 14 com puter- related items — items for which the university was not reimbursed. The purchas es happened between 2008 and 2010. It’s unclear what the remaining fraudulent purchas es were for.

“He was essentially in a po sition to be able to purchase laptops or computers, and they were used for his own personal purposes,” Brown said.

Sims had worked at U-M since 1990 and earned $66,868 as the business administrator. He left his job in March, but U-M officials aren’t saying whether he was fired.

Brown wouldn’t comment on whether Sims sold the com puters, saying such details are part of the investigation. But she said charges against oth ers could be coming.

The suspects, charges

Ten metro Detroit men were charged Tuesday with felonies in connection with the theft of $158,800 worth of Detroit Public Schools computers.
Brian Rogers , 20, of Detroit: Six felonies, including breaking and entering, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and conduct ing a criminal enterprise, pun ishable by 20 years.
Dwaine Scott , 19, of Detroit: Five felonies, including break ing and entering, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and conducting a criminal enter prise, punishable by 20 years.
Mark Scott , 18, of Detroit: Five felonies, including breaking and entering, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and conduct ing a criminal enterprise, pun ishable by 20 years.

Facing one count of receiving and concealing stolen property worth more than $1,000 but less than $20,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison: Jaisaun Holt ,18, of Farmington Hills

Dezmen Faqua , 19, of Dearborn

Juan Legardy , 20, of Detroit

Dion Sims , 19, of Ypsilanti

Nicholas Tisdale , 18, of West Bloomfield

Danny Tiwaini , 22, of West Bloomfield

Christopher Schambre , 21, of St. Clair Shores

Northwestern Digital

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

EDUCATION NATION! (Tuesday)

A RECIPE for SUCCESS!

Practice: We’re in it together

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The NEXT CONVERSATION (PART of UN-VARNISHING the TRUTH)

THE LARGER CONVERSATION (NOW IT is EVERYWHERE!)

PART of the LARGER CONVERSATION! (Zuckerman-Facebook)

Waiting for Superman (Education and Movies)

Movies and Education (RGB STUDIOS)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

SOLVED! (Better Late then Never)

Contributors