The End of the World...Ok, Maybe Not!

Happy No Rapture Day!!!!

As far as I can tell, the world did not end yesterday. Harold Camping was wrong again. That makes him 0 for 2 the sport of Apocalypse predicting. Hardly Hall of Fame numbers. Seriously, I am glad he was wrong, but it does make me wonder why people are so enamored by End of the World prophets like this crazy old loon. Are they all just crazy like him? Are their lives so hopeless that this is only thing they can find that gives them purpose? Or is it something else?

Whatever the reason, I hope his followers can regroup and use their energies to make the world we have a better place for all. Maybe this day can be used to encourage everyone to remember what a precious thing life is and that we should use our time and energy to make a positive impact on those around us! I know this is a little "touchy, feely" for some, but hey, the end of the World only comes once. We just don't know when.

Mother's Day

As I sit here at my local Starbucks, sipping on my Iced Mocha and downing a Sausage and Egg Sandwich, I am wishing I could be with my 91 year old mother on this special day. I am not a fan of most of the "Day's" we celebrate in America. Most of them (Boss's, Secretary's, Sweetest, etc.) are just excuses for Corporate America to make more money. Mother's are the one group of people who truly deserve special recognition.

I have written about my Mother before, but as she gets older and her memory fades, I find myself reminiscing about our life and the life lessons she taught me without even trying. Both Mom and Dad treated me just like my Brothers and Sisters. Even though I was disabled, I was held to the same expectations as anyone else. This was most evident in my education. My Mother fought many battles with the Appleton Public School District and others in order to assure that I (and other students with disabilities) would have equal access to a quality education. We tend to take many things for granted in this world and assume that things have always been the way they are. When we do that, we forget the Trailblazers that fought the battles that helped change the Status Quo. I am proud to say my Mother was one of those Trailblazers.

One memorable example happened during my Junior year in High School. I was selected by my School to represent them at Badger Boy's State, a leadership experience sponsored by the American Legion. Soon after I was nominated, we were informed that I would not be allowed to participate because the facilities at Ripon College were not wheelchair accessible. My Mother was dumbfounded that an activity sponsored by an organization that represented many people with disabilities would not accept people with disabilities. That idea seems like common sense today, but at the time many people thought my Mom was being unreasonable by fighting the "Powers that be." She eventually won the fight and I was allowed to participate. It was a wonderful experience and I still use much of what I learned there. I also received many accolades for being the first wheelchair user to attend, but none of it would have been possible without the behind the scene efforts of my Mom!

So, on this special day set aside to honor Mother's everywhere, take a moment to remember the things your Mother has done to help shape the person you are today, and if you are a Mother remember, sometimes it's the unseen things that have the biggest effect on your children.

My Rant!!!

Will people ever realize that the whole..." My taxes pay your salary" argument is a red herring that the richest people in America have used to pit us against each other? The truth of the matter is that we all pay taxes for services that society has decided are the responsibility of Government. When I applied for this job, it was open to anyone who met the qualifications.

In reality, we all pay each other's salary. Go to any store and buy anything. Part of that purchase went to pay the employees in that store. Buy a car...you just paid part of the salesperson's salary. So when I take part of my salary and pay my rent, or buy a loaf of bread, or take a trip I am paying part of someone's salary too!

We are paying Almost $4.00 for a gallon of gas. Part of that goes to pay a Billionaire's Salary. Why do we not turn our anger towards that injustice? Have we been brainwashed to the point that we don't see where the real blame should be laid?

So, please...I beg of you, drop the "I pay your salary" argument from your list!

Living in a Sad State

For as long as I can remember, I idolized teachers and people who worked in schools. My dad was a teacher. My Mom was a "Vending Machine Lady" in the lunchroom at our High School. As a matter of fact, most of my family worked in education. I thought trying to educate people and help them reach their goals was an honorable, respectable profession. Being a teacher is all I ever remember wanting to be. I tutored classmates, volunteered with the rec department, basically did everything I could to help people learn. I did all of this even though I was constantly being told that a person with my disability couldn't be a teacher! I never let that stop me because I knew in my heart it was what I was meant to do.

After College I continued to fight the good fight. I applied for over 200 jobs before I was hired by Milwaukee Area Technical College 2 1/2 years later. I have been here for 25 years and I love what I do. I love the people I work with and I love our students. I also freely admit that I am paid very well for what I do. I am not ashamed of that. I was brought up to believe that you should find a career that you love, that you are good at and also pays well. I have succeeded at all three of those. I am proud of that!

With the current political climate in Wisconsin, that is probably a dangerous statement to make. Our Governor, Scott Walker, has decided to single out educators and other public service workers as the cause of our great states current (debatable) budget crisis. Even though the vast majority of workers in these groups fall into the middle class, Walker and the Propaganda Machine that is the Republican Party has convinced people that we are greedy, selfish money grubbing slobs.

The funny thing is that there really are very few money saving items in this legislation. Most of it centers around limiting workers rights, ending collective bargaining and basically killing Unions. If collective bargaining is ended, the only negotiable item would be salary and even that would have a cap. If Administrations no longer need to offer insurance how long before they stop offering the option altogether?

Even though the Unions have agreed to the monetary parts of the legislation, Walker and his cronies refuse to have any type of dialogue on this topic. This is nothing more than a vindictive attack on his opponents. The people who this hurts come almost exclusively from groups who voted against him. Walker justifies this behavior by using the tired old Republican standard red herring argument of a mandate from the people. In reality, he won with 52% of the vote. I hardly think 2% qualifies as a mandate.

Wisconsin's State Motto is perfectly concise and positive: Forward! My fear is that with Walker, The Republican Party and their Millionaire Donor's Club in charge, our new Motto will be: Backward!

Skype!

I Skyped for the first time this weekend! I made a video call to Rita, the teacher of my EdTech class. I actually was quite impressed with the quality of the call. The only problem was that my voice would drop every so often. this probably due the quality of the built in microphone on my laptop and not Skype itself.

Next week I take Skyping to a new level when I attempt to Skype with my class from Las Vegas! I guess what happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas!

Google, Google, Google

I am not sure why but I have always had a little prejudice against Google. i feel the same way about Microsoft. It might be the conspiracy theorist in me, but I just don't trust them! That being said, I must admit that this class has opened my eyes at least a little to the value of the applications that Google offers. I think that GoogleDocs is a very effective tool for collaborating on a project. GoogleEarth is just cool (and a little creepy).

A Vision of Students Today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=dGCJ46vyR9o

I watched this clip and was struck by a few things. the interesting thing to me is that most of the items that caught my eye had more to do with the educational process and the atmosphere in the classroom than the uses of technology or social media. The first statement that shocked me was that only 18% of teachers know their students names. If this is true, it is a real shame. Another statement was that only 26% of classroom material is relevant to students lives. I believe that this is probably more a case of the students not seeing the relevancy when it is really there. It is our job as educators to help students make the connection between the material and their lives.