"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness"-Titus 2:17
Today (Friday, January 28th of 2005), I (Sal) decided to do a this particular website and dedicate this to teachers across the world. Recently, Darcy Winkelman- a teacher in Morris that attends the local church I go and serve, was nominated "2005 Morris Teacher of the Year". I decided to use this site to explore more of this field that sometimes doesn't get recognize.
I went to Alexandria with my supervisor that oversees the Morris Literacy Project I coordinate in town. We met with other teachers of Adult Basic Education-GED & ESL (English as a Second Language), which we get "equipped" for the new 09'-10' academic school year. It was a blessing to be part of this program where we help "dropouts" get their high school diploma and others learn English as a second language. We sometimes don't realize how we are thankful for the education we have until we meet others that are not as fortunate as us. We might "not" be "smart" as our "next door neighbor" (e.g. co-worker, classmate, family member, etc...), but we are "gifted" in different way. As the Bible states that "we should not compare (measure) our selves with one another" because God created us all unique. Like my previous blog, we all have something to share and we can also learn from each other too. It's a "two way street" in learning when it comes to teaching students. I challenge you to get involve in teaching someone out there what you know because we are all in this together. We can teach everyone and learn from everybody on something "new".
Q: Have you had any experiences where you were teaching someone and you were also learning from them too?
Minnesota
Mr. Patrick Rupp
GED Administrator
Minnesota Department of Education
1500 Highway 36 West
Roseville, MN 55113-4266
(651) 582-8437
Fax: (651) 582-8458
When did GED first came about?
-"The first GED Tests were developed in 1942 to help returning World War II veterans finish their studies and re-enter civilian life. Since that time, the focus of the test has been to provide adults with an alternate method to earn a high school diploma"-Birmingham Public Library
Dayton honors excellence at MAES
04/22/2006 (Morris Sun Triubne Minnesota's U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton paid tribute to Morris Area Elementary science programs with the Award of Excellence on Thursday
"a nationwide directory of professionals, organizations, and schools that serve the learning disabilities and special education communities. We help parents and caregivers find local special education professionals to help with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder assessment, therapy, advocacy, critical teen issues, and other special needs. We also offer a directory of Professional Resources, Special Needs Software and Assistive Technology, and Travel Assistance for Disbaled Persons."
"...is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes formula grants to states, and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology and personnel development and parent-training and information centers.
" is a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easily and readily available in one location."
"s instruction that is modified or particularized for those students with special needs, such as learning differences, mental health problems, or specific disabilities (physical or developmental).[1]
Modifications can consist of changes in curriculum, supplementary aides or equipment, and the provision of specialized facilities that allow students to participate in the educational environment to the fullest extent possible.[2] Students may need this help to access subject matter, to physically gain access to the school, or to meet their emotional needs.
Support is targeted to the needs of the individual student and can be short or long term. In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that special needs students be included in regular education activities as much as possible"
Biblical
"Two Kinds of Wisdom
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.-James 3
Related Sites: March - Heavenly Wisdom, Wayne Reynolds, Pastor "Definition of Wisdom
Wisdom is not knowledge. Most people have knowledge, which is the accumulation of facts, but having facts does not mean there is understanding of those facts. Knowledge is gained by education and experience, but heavenly wisdom comes only from God.
The Bible speaks of two different kinds of wisdom: Godly, or heavenly wisdom and earthly or sensual wisdom. Earthly wisdom is nothing more than common sense. I am not writing about common sense, but uncommon sense, which is heavenly wisdom. James 3:14-18 explains these two different kinds of wisdom.
I taught Sunday School (a.k.a. "Super Church") this morning at my local church, which is the beginning of the new "academic year". It's been a blessing teaching to young children at church over the past 2+ years now. I feel it's important to share what we "adults" know with the "next" generation. I'm still learning, but it's important to share what I already know in my growing "personal" walk with God. Our topic today was "helping your family members", which we used the prepared lesson sample of "Aaron & Moses" (see GoodnewsEverybody.com Religion: Judaism, Hebrews/Israelites, Torah, Bible-"Old" Testament, etc...). Many don't know about this, but Moses suffered a public speaking disability. He was just not known as a great public speaker, so Aaron (his brother) would help him with this skill. This shows that God gives us different gifts to help depend or rely on one another. This is why it's important to use your "God-given" gifts, talents, skills, etc.. to help one another (especially family members). I'm thankful to use my gift of teaching-sharing what I know with the younger generation of my local church.
Q: What are your talents, skils, and/or gifts that you would like to share with the "next" younger generation?
Morris Area schools foundation plan gets rolling
Morris Sun Tribune
Published Saturday, May 05, 2007
By Tom Larson "The Morris Area School Board on Thursday made perfunctory business of approving budget reductions to which it gave preliminary approval earlier in the week.
But new plot twists -- most notably the fledgling efforts to form a school foundation -- cropped up during the board’s 90-minute meeting.
The board approved preliminary 2007-2008 budget reductions totalling more than $533,000, which included cutting or reducing the positions of seven teachers and staff members.
The total is about $47,000 above the $485,850 the district projects as its budget deficit for next year.
The teacher and staff cuts or reductions are:
• Wanda Dagen on .833 (5/6) FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Bart Graves on 1.0 FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Nancy Grotjohn on .083 (1/12) FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Windy Roberts on 1.0 FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Jody Snow on .167 (1/6) FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Deb Swezey on .083 (1/12) FTE Unrequested Leave of Absence;
• Termination and nonrenewal of teaching contract for probationary teacher Andrea Pavlicek.
The board also approved a teacher contract for Shane Tappe, who will teach industrial technology, and also officially announced the availability of half-time principal, half-time science and a one-third English position.
The budget reductions also include:
• Eliminating of the boys swimming program. Morris Area had been partnered with Minnewaska Area, which had dropped boys swimming.
• Raising athletic fees $10 per sport.
• Reducing custodial staff by 1.5 positions.
• Eliminating one counseling position.
• Eliminating the district drama position.
• Reducing the music program.
• Reconfiguring special eduction staff.
• Eliminating in-town bussing.
• Not replacing a retiring teacher.
• Discontinuing the French program.
• Reducing Spanish, Art, Business Education, Family and Consumer Science and Industrial Technology.
• Reducing paraeducators.
Discussions of forming a school foundation seemed to energize both board members and the public attending the meeting.
Cindy Perkins, Cheryl Kuhn and Tamy Reese of the district’s Community Education department began extending feelers about support for a foundation on Thursday and reported positive results.
The group collected checks and pledges of $5,000 by the end of the board meeting, and Perkins said Friday morning that the total at that point was about $5,800.
“What we’re hearing from people is that what we have isn’t their total donation but something to get it started,” said Perkins, Community Education director. “We lost two really good teachers last year, and now we’re losing more. What we’re telling (the board) is, ‘You’re bleeding us dry.’ We can’t keep doing this; we have to find other ways instead of cut, cut, cut. We have great support for education in this community and people are willing to step forward.”
Kuhn, Community Education Service Learning coordinator, also told the board she contacted several businesses about potential donations of between $20,000 and $50,000. All the businesses stated that they were willing to entertain the idea but would need time to ponder it, Kuhn said.
“They’re so willing and they want me to send those letters (requesting donations),” Kuhn said.
The goal, she said, is to raise between $100,000 and $200,000 in the next month, and continue to work on establishing the foundation.
Reese, head of Community Education’s Early Childhood and Family Education program, said the response showed a willingness by the community to seek creative options to a school funding crisis that doesn’t appear will be getting better soon.
“We’ll use this as a springboard as we move to the future,” Reese said.
Board member Mark McNally said the initial work on a foundation had him excited about the possibilities and he hoped the public “swells up.”
“I hope the community gets behind this and that people step forward,” McNally said.
Board member Brent Fuhrman also said he hoped forming a foundation would succeed and that tangible results could be reported by the board’s regular May 21 meeting.
“I hope you can show us something on May 21 that we can hang our hat on,” Fuhrman said.
Fuhrman and board chairman Kurt Gartland also stressed that the budgetary picture could change over the next several months as state funding proposals and other revenue sources firmed up.
“We’re not done,” Fuhrman said.
The board heard public statements from 10 students, staff and teachers, all expressing frustration at the losses of instructors and programs.
Teacher Peg Rinkenberger read letters from two students, Kaley Taffe and Katie VanKempen, who stated that they supported students who signed a petition indicating they would not be in band next year if Dagen's position were cut.
“Losing Ms. Dagen is not only losing a teacher but losing the Morris band program and most of the students in it,” Rinkenberger read from the letter.
In her own comments, Rinkenberger said that, “Fiscally, we should be ashamed of what has happened.”
While acknowledging that the system of school funding and administration tied the hands of district leaders and board members, “right now, you are leaving us short-handed,” Rinkenberger said.
Students Bethany Hansen and Carter Smith also spoke in support of Dagen.
After public comments, board member Lory Lemke attempted twice to modify resolutions that would reduce the cut to the counseling position and include a school nursing and Student Resource Officer reduction in the budget.
Lemke said he wasn’t pushing for total reductions, but wanted all three positions on the list so that the board might possibly devise a funding procedure to avoid cutting one full position and keep two or three through a combination.
But both times the measures failed, primarily because of procedural reasons dealing with the timelines the district must adhere to concerning notifying teachers and staff members of their status for upcoming school years, said Superintendent Scott Monson.
Tabling resolutions would require that a special meeting be called and delay that process.
In addition, modifying or tabling resolutions would not be fair to those in the positions Lemke favored including in the list of budget reductions, said board member John Luetmer.
The option Lemke proposed already had been considered by the board. Proposals could be revisited at future meetings and changes could be considered when the district’s financial picture cleared, he said.
“As much as I appreciate having more options,” Luetmer said, “the downside is not being clear to those other positions.”
"
"...Kovalchuk started feeling more confident after he landed in Language Enrichment for Academic Purposes (LEAP), a class in Shakopee that aims to reduce the number of bilingual students who drop out of high school or don't go to college. The problem has become more urgent for many suburban schools as immigrant families migrate out of the core Twin Cities, but coordinators in Shakopee designed the program themselves and say their particular response is unusual, if not unique.
Before instructor Autumn Lee-Koomen started LEAP two years ago, a lot of kids coming out of the school district's program for English language learners "kind of ended up going out into nowhere land," she said. "I would see students that maybe had a 3.5 GPA that didn't have college plans."
Lee-Koomen has made it her mission to teach her students "what they don't know they don't know" about the U.S. education system. The class, which many students take for three years, is a cross between a study hall and an intensive college counseling program, with Lee-Koomen taking students on field trips to visit campuses, pushing them to sign up for entrance exams and putting scholarship applications on their desks."
*see GoodnewsEverybody: Liberal Arts-English
Recognized Teachers
Guy Doud, teacher of the year in 1986 from Staples, MN
*learned about him from my current housemate (Shalon of Melrose, MN), who he met in person after a speech critique from school
"A high school teacher in south-central Minnesota who was arrested in a child pornography investigation has pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing pornography.
Thirty-seven-year-old Jason Kedl resigned from his teaching job at Red Rock Central High School in Lamberton before entering his plea, which was part of a deal with prosecutors.
Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 24 in Redwood County Court. The plea deal calls for a sentence of 120 days in jail, no contact with anyone under 18 and other restrictions.
Court documents say the state Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tipped local authorities that suspicious files were being posted from a Red Rock Internet address.
That Internet address was traced to the Kedl residence where a search warrant was executed. The search turned up 438 images or movie files of child pornography on his home computer.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"
-Racism
"MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A St. Paul teacher is on paid leave after being accused of racial discrimination in his own classroom.
Parents of some black students said their children have faced discrimination for months at the Heights Community School.
Latasha Tolbert said sixth grade teacher Tim Olmsted told her daughter that she’d be standing on the corner with a sign begging for money on the expressway.
"He told the whole entire class that it is easier for him to teach rich white folks than poor black people,” Tolbert said.
Tolbert said the discrimination started in her daughter’s class months ago. At the time, five of the students in Olmsted’s class were black. Tolbert said all of them were singled out at some point for the color of their skin.
Meg Kane is an education attorney representing three of the families involved. She said none of the kids have been in trouble at school before.
The children told Kane that all of them had to sit at the back of the class. Kane said Olmsted called them “fat, black and stupid,” and said such things as: “You will never amount to anything” and “You only have one parent.”
Kane said Olmsted was denigrating those students, not teaching them. She has sent a demand letter to the school district asking for Olmsted and the principal to be fired. If nothing is done in 10 days, she says she will file a complaint in state court.
Tolbert said she took her concerns to the principal more than a dozen times, but nothing changed. So she moved her daughter into another class.
She says the district needs to deal with diversity, and she wants her daughter’s former teacher to leave.
“There’s no need for you to even work with children, because color is everywhere,” Tolbert said. “It’s everywhere.”
A district spokesperson said Olmsted has been on paid leave for more than two weeks while the St. Paul School District investigates. The district’s spokesperson said because the incident is a personnel matter, it can’t comment any further.
Olmsted did not immediately return WCCO-TV’s phone calls"
-Sex
"A 35-year-old Bloomington man faces criminal sexual conduct charges for allegedly sleeping with a student at Kennedy High School.
According to the school’s principal, substitute teacher Dawne Lejeune Schwartz and a 17-year-old student had an ongoing sexual relationship.
Schwartz allegedly told someone she had been sleeping with the student at her house. Initially, Schwartz denied having a relationship with the boy, but admitted to sending sexually explicit text messages to the teen and other students.
Later in the interview, Schwartz told police she had been seeing the boy since November and that they had sex numerous times at both her Bloomington home and the boy's parents residence.
Schwartz has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison, a $30,000 fine, or both."
" I take a little tour of the campus in early Saturday morning. I was there for a national college student conference.It's such a beautiful historical campus! Click to the "links: sites linking to this video" (right corner below the video) to read more of the history.
Wisdom: "wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."-James 3:17
"
Find online masters degrees in teaching and education.."
Computer Technology
Education Today and Tomorrow
"This video was created by Tom Woodward of Henrico County schools in Virginia. Tom used the work of Karl Fisch from Colorado who created a PPT using various quotes and statistics from "flat world" thinking. Used with permission
"Home education is sweeping through the country as parents recognize the wonderful opportunity they have to educate their children at home. Whether you're considering home education as an option or are already teaching your children at home, this documentary will become a source of continuing encouragement for moms and dads everywhere. You'll meet several families from various walks of life who have considered the cost, made the commitment and are succeeding in teaching their children at home. Homeschooling is an educational alternative your family cannot afford to overlook. Get a copy of the entire documentary: http://www.christianmovies.com/store1/product_info.php?products_id=298"
"NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A new report by the U.S. Department of Education finds that the number of homeschooled children in America has risen steadily over the past five years and stood at about 1.5 million in 2007.
Homeschooling experts, though, place the number closer to 2 million and say the discrepancy can be attributed to homeschooling parents being less inclined to respond to government surveys.
The report from the National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the federal government's education department, said in December the number of homeschooled children was up 74 percent from 1999 to 2007 and 36 percent since 2003.
Among the top reasons parents gave for choosing homeschooling over traditional education: concern about the school environment, to provide religious or moral instruction and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools.
"From 2003 to 2007, the percentage of students whose parents reported homeschooling to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 72 percent to 83 percent," the report said.
Months earlier, Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, released a factsheet saying parent-led, home-based education a decade ago appeared to be cutting edge and alternative but now is bordering on mainstream in the United States.
Ray said in July there were an estimated 2 million to 2.5 million children in grades K-12 who were home educated during 2007-08. He also said the method was growing quickly in popularity among minorities, with about 15 percent of homeschool families being non-Anglo.
In addition, Ray, author of "Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling" from B&H Publishing, noted that homeschooling relieves American taxpayers of more than $16 billion that would have to be spent if homeschooled children attended public schools.
Most parents decide to homeschool for more than one reason, he said, and the top reasons include customizing the curriculum and learning environment for each child and accomplishing more academically than in schools. Also on his list was the option to teach a particular set of values, beliefs and worldview.
Ray's factsheet addressed the academic performance of homeschooled children and said they typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized academic achievement tests. Homeschool students typically score above average on college admissions tests, he said, and increasingly they are being actively recruited by colleges.
"The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional and psychological development," Ray said. "Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service and self-esteem."
Zan Tyler, an acquisitions editor and speaker for Apologia Educational Ministries, a homeschool curriculum and publishing company, told Baptist Press an increase in homeschooling will have a "positive benefit on society."
"They're not burned out from education. [Homeschool students] have a real love for learning by and large, and they have an independence in their learning," said Tyler, a former homeschool resource and media consultant for B&H Publishing. "They sort of own their own education. I think that's important.
"More than that, as Christians, another interesting study Brian Ray did was I think it was 94 percent of homeschoolers said they agreed that the religious beliefs of their parents are also their own religious beliefs," she said. "And this is at a time when we statistically see the 18-29-year-olds leaving the church in record numbers....
"I would say the greatest benefit of homeschooling is just that these kids are being raised in Christian homes and there's just something in the discipleship model there that obviously is a blessing of the Lord," Tyler added. "These kids are maintaining their faith as they get older in record numbers compared to other kids."
Tyler agreed with Ray's assessment that the number of homeschooled children in the United States probably is much higher than the Department of Education study found, and she said it has been her experience that "a lot of times homeschoolers just aren't going to respond to government surveys."
In 1984, Tyler and her husband Joe started homeschooling their children in South Carolina, and the state superintendent of education threatened her with jail for not sending her children to a traditional school. Through eight years in court, the Tylers advanced the cause of homeschooling in their state. In 1990, the Tylers founded the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools and through the state legislature won a statute giving SCAIHS the same power to approve homeschooling programs as local school boards.
Tyler said she wasn't sure whether the dramatic increase in the number of homeschooled children would tempt the federal or local government to intervene in the future.
"I don't know how much the increased numbers have to do with it as much as the fact that government always seeks to control or intervene," she said. "We saw that in the California decision where an appellate court there sought to make homeschooling illegal."
After she left B&H and before she accepted her current position at Apologia, Tyler served as the national grassroots director for the Parental Rights Amendment, a campaign seeking an amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting the rights of parents to raise their children.
"With Obama being elected and Hillary Clinton his new secretary of state, she's a big proponent of the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child, and that will not bode well for homeschoolers," Tyler told BP. "When an international treaty is ratified, it supersedes all domestic law except for the Constitution. That's why we've been seeking a constitutional amendment that would guarantee parental rights in a wide variety of things including educational choice -- how parents educate their children."
According to parentalrights.org, "Under the UNCRC, instead of following due process, government agencies would have the power to override your parental choices at their whim because they determine what is in 'the best interest of the child.' In essence, the UNCRC applies the legal status of abusive parents to all parents. This means that the burden of proof falls on the parent to prove to the state that they are good parents — when it should fall upon the state to prove that their investigation is not without cause."
As for the future of homeschooling, Tyler said she believes it will continue to be an appealing option for parents who want to raise their children "in the admonition and the fear of the Lord" and according to their learning styles.
"With the economy, it will be interesting to see what happens because more mothers are going back to work. But also as more people work at home, then they're able to blend home education with working at home and all of life. It's really a very natural fit," Tyler said."
Ministries
Tony Campolo, Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education "... has been committed to what God is doing through Christian people in inner-city America and around the world. Under the leadership of Dr. Tony Campolo, EAPE has developed and nurtured elementary and secondary schools, universities, adult and child literacy centers, tutoring programs, orphanages, AIDS hospices, urban youth ministries, summer camps, and long-term Christian service programs in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Africa, Canada and throughout the USA. Our goal is to help build the Kingdom of God by combining evangelism and social justice in the name of Jesus. Listed below are some of the many ministries EAPE supports."
*met Tony at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul
Miscellaneous
The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools
"This feature is from an unknown author and has been circulated on the Internet. The parallels of the state of our nation and the purposeful removal of God from public life is so powerful"
*see afa.net
"A trailer I made of Lean On Me, one of my favorite movies"
Related Links:
-Music
Soul Survivor Remix: The "Lean On Me" Music Video
"Soul Survivor Remix featuring clips from the movie "Lean On Me" starring Morgan Freeman.
~Principal Joe Clark helps Sams refocus his current path in life by using Tough Love and other unorthodox methods in order to get him to make a choice between getting a good education and being a crack smoking thug~"
"..Based on a true story, a black educator takes a job teaching high-school English at the Three Nations Reservation, and is coaxed into coaching the girls basketball team.."
*see GoodnewsEverybody: Native-Indian
"The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
"Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore because the word "God" is mentioned....a kid in Arizona wrote the following NEW School prayer.
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
Please copy and paste this to an new email and pass this on. "
"A former elementary school teacher in Los Angeles has been arrested for allegedly molesting nearly two dozen children after photos of students posed in bondage positions were passed to the Sheriff's Department.
Mark Berndt, 61, a teacher with over 30 years experience at Miramonte Elementary School in south Los Angeles, is charged with molesting 23 children, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Police began the investigation after a photo processing facility passed along suspicious images depicting students blindfolded with their mouths covered in tape. Female students were depicted with a blue plastic spoon containing "an unknown clear/white liquid" in front of their mouths, while other students were pictured with live cockroaches on their faces. In some photos, Berndt had his arm around the children or his hand over their mouths.
Police found the spoon, along with an empty container in the trash in Berndt's classroom and, through DNA testing, determined that both contained Berndt's semen.
The students were between the ages of 7 and 10 years old when the alleged crimes occurred, police said.
Authorities launched a widespread sex crime investigation, interviewing current and former students and school employees and searching Berndt's home. They recovered a total of 390 photographs and an adult "sexual bondage" film which mirrored the photos of the children, according to a statement by the sheriff's department today.
More than 26 children from the 390 photographs have been identified; an additional 10 children have not yet been identified, police said.
Shortly after the investigation began, in March, 2011, Berndt was fired from the school. The school did not immediately return calls for comment today.
Berndt was arrested Monday and charged with 23 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. He is being held at LA County jail in lieu of $2.3 million bail. "
'Amid a storm of controversy and police investigation, a California teacher who left his family and job to be with a teenage former student said he followed his heart and that the couple waited until he resigned before they "took it to the next level."
"I know my family is probably disappointed in me," James Hooker, 41, said. "They're probably confused in what we're doing. I'm not sure how to explain it to them. ... I am just following my heart and this is the direction I'm going in."
At issue, however, is when the relationship between Hooker and 18-year-old girlfriend Jordan Powers truly began, and whether Hooker broke any laws.
The former teacher at Modesto's James Enochs High School maintains that he did nothing illegal, and that people questioning the couple's relationship, including Powers' mother, who wants Hooker arrested, are ignoring the details of their relationship's timeline.
"They don't care about the rest of the story. They don't care about the rest of the detail," Hooker said. "Once I ... resigned and ended my assignment ... that's when we took it to the next level."
Powers, who has stopped attending classes at her high school but is still planning to graduate on time by doing independent study, said she's in love with her former teacher, who she met over three years ago.
"Yes, I do love him," Powers said."He's my best friend. I mean, he's more than just a lover."
As soon as the couple went public with their love on "Good Morning America" Thursday, criticism of their romance went viral, and raised eyebrows across the country.
Hooker and Powers met when she was a freshman and he was her business class teacher. They say their relationship evolved over time, and only became physical after Powers turned 18 in September.
"We don't expect people to understand," Powers said.
Hooker seems to agree, saying that a relationship like theirs will generally be misunderstood.
"It's just difficult to hear things that aren't true, and to be perceived as wrong no matter what our case is," Hooker said.
Tammie Powers, Jordan Powers' mother, is not convinced by Hooker's claims, and has taken her outrage to Facebook, along with her contention that she found phone records showing long, late-night phone calls and more than 8,000 text messages between the couple.
"He shouldn't be with kids. I'd like to see him arrested. I'd like to get information from when she was a minor and have him arrested," Tammie Powers said.
In California, where it is illegal for anyone younger than 18 to have sex with an adult, police are now investigating.
"The fact that there were these 8,000 messages, there was an ongoing relationship that was extracurricular, that doesn't pass the smell test," criminal attorney David Cohen said.
As for his relationship with his family, Hooker said he plans to file for divorce, but he hopes he can salvage a relationship with his three children, including a 17-year-old daughter who attends the same high school where he taught and his girlfriend plans to graduate from this spring. "
""This is a statement that was read over the PA system at the football game at Roane County High School, Kingston, Tennessee by school Principal Jody McLoud, on September 1, 2000.
I thought it was worth sharing with the world, and hope you will forward it to all your friends. It clearly shows just how far this country has gone in the wrong direction.
"It has always been the custom at Roane County High School football games to say a prayer and play the National Anthem to honor God and Country. Due to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, I am told that saying a prayer is a violation of Federal Case Law.
As I understand the law at this time, I can use this public facility to approve of sexual perversion and call it an alternate lifestyle, and if someone is offended, that's OK.
I can use it to condone sexual promiscuity by dispensing condoms and calling it safe sex. If someone is offended, that's OK.
I can even use this public facility to present the merits of killing an unborn baby as a viable means of birth control.
If someone is offended, no problem.
I can designate a school day as earth day and involve students in activities to religiously worship and praise the goddess, mother earth, and call it ecology.
I can use literature, videos and presentations in the classroom that depict people with strong, traditional, Christian convictions as simple minded and ignorant and call it enlightenment.
However, if anyone uses this facility to honor God and ask Him to bless this event with safety and good sportsmanship, Federal Case Law is violated.
This appears to be at best, inconsistent and at worst, diabolical. Apparently, we are to be tolerant of everything and anyone except God and His Commandments.
Nevertheless, as a school principal, I frequently ask staff and students to abide by rules which they do not necessarily agree. For me to do otherwise would be at best, inconsistent and at worst, hypocritical. I suffer from that affliction enough unintentionally. I certainly do not need to add an intentional transgression.
For this reason, I shall, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's," and refrain from praying at this time.
However, if you feel inspired to honor, praise and thank God, and ask Him in the name of Jesus to bless this event, please feel free to do so. As far as I know, that's not against the law----yet."
*e-mail fwd. sent by my friend Shannon F. (June 09')
*introduced to me by Kazu (Sunday, August 19th 2012)
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
"Uploaded by TEDtalksDirector on Jan 6, 2007
http://www.ted.com Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
"
INTRODUCTION to ICONS of EVOLUTION: Science or Myth? Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong
(Washington DC: Regnery, 2000)
by Jonathan Wells "
"Science is the search for the truth," wrote chemist Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel prizes. Bruce Alberts, current President of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, agrees. "Science and lies cannot coexist," said Alberts in May, 2000, quoting Israeli statesman Shimon Peres. "You don't have a scientific lie, and you cannot lie scientifically. Science is basically the search of truth." For most people, the opposite of science is myth. A myth is a story that may fulfill a subjective need, or reveal something profound about the human psyche, but as commonly used it is not an account of objective reality. "Most scientists wince," writes former Science editor Roger Lewin, "when the word 'myth' is attached to what they see as a pursuit of the truth.""
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com Science: Biology, Biological Warfare, etc...
T.V. Show
The Fonz Staying In School Is Cool
"Uploaded on Jun 6, 2009
Fonzie finally sells out, graduates from high school, and lectures us on why dropping out ain't cool.
"
P.O. Box 12429
1112 AW Amsterdam
The Netherlands "We hope that through Foundation University we can play a role in opening the doors of Higher Education to specially those who could not afford to explore their skills and talents.
We have special programs for migrants as well as to specially those who live in Europe and special sponsorship programs for those from the development countries. "
Testimonies of the Philippine trip of Dr. Samuel Lee 01
"Dr. Samuel Lee is the founder of Foundation University: university without borders. Foundation University is more than an Educational institution. It is a social movement of justice for all. A movement which aims to provide education for all people who cannot afford. Our mission is to provide exemplary education, from a biblical perspective, leading to bachelors, masters & doctorates for aspiring servant-leaders in pivotal professions based on Christian thought and action. Last trip in the Philippines Samuel Lee has established three class based schools training leaders and pastors for only 200 Pesos a month in Bachelor of Arts Degree in Christian Leadership.
This is a testimony of a short term seminar.
for more info visit www.foundationuniversity.com"
Calling all teachers: Exotic locales and state-of-the-art classrooms attracting American educators to international teaching posts
This National Teacher�s Day (May 6) American educators face challenges and opportunities that didn�t exist before - By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service Monday, April 28, 2008 (assistnews.net) "
ORLANDO, FLORIDA (ANS) -- How would you like to go on a cruise to discover your potential as an American educator in exotic international locales?
While the numbers of teachers in the United States are increasing and the numbers of students are decreasing, some educators have found a new route to much-needed job security while enjoying high adventure, says a media release from Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Currently, there is a significant shortage of educators qualified to teach in international schools that serve missionary children.
Wycliffe Bible Translators and Mission:Teach are working together to fill more than 600 unfilled teaching positions that actually prevent missionaries with families from serving internationally.
Teachers with as little as one year of classroom teaching experience -- who want to experience the world before starting a family -- to retired teachers looking for a second career qualify.
"It would have been phenomenal if I had done this earlier in life," said Elaine Duimstram, a 71-year-old retired teacher from Wisconsin who was widowed five years ago and then decided to teach abroad.
Duimstram has taught in Papua New Guinea, China and Costa Rica. "One lifetime is not long enough to learn all that I've learned while abroad. I always wanted to travel -- this is the perfect combination for my love of adventure and passion for teaching."
"I can't wait to get started," said 25-year-old Anna Casassa who will teach in Asia in 2009 after teaching second grade in Florida for one year. "I've always known I would be a teacher. Being able to travel the world and teach is an incredible opportunity."
OPPORTUNITIES STILL EXIST: A TEACHER�S CRUISE: JULY 25-31
Wycliffe international teacher's cruise ship.
Interested teachers can spend a week on board a cruise ship and earn graduate school credit, learn more about teaching abroad and increase their knowledge on teaching multicultural students. Certified teachers can get more information about the cruise, teaching opportunities or apply online at www.Wycliffe.org/Events/EventsList/TeacherCruise.aspx.
Wycliffe Bible Translators is the world�s largest Bible translation organization. Since it�s founding, Wycliffe has been involved in more than half of all Scripture translations: 721 New Testament and Bible translations impacting more than 80 million people.
Wycliffe�s worldwide Bible translation work -- and the language development that is a foundational element of each translation -- impacts the efforts of countless other Christian ministries, relief organizations, governments and more. Its reach can be seen through improved literacy rates, health care, government relations and advocacy programs.
In 1999, Wycliffe formally adopted a vision of seeing Bible translations underway in all languages needing translation by the year 2025. That goal -- known as Vision 2025 -- is leveraging Wycliffe�s tried-and-true language development techniques and advances in technology to expedite Bible translations by the year 2025. Visit www.demossnewspond.com/Wycliffe or http://www.wycliffe.org/ for more information. "
Ministries
AFRICA
-Uganda
Giving the Gift of an Education
"Uganda is home to 25 million people; 48% of the population is under the age of 15.
Average income is $30 per month.
Nearly a third of the 10 million school-age children do not attend school, some simply for a lack of the required pair of shoes.
$15 will buy a pair of socks and shoes for a needy child the will allow them to attend school. "
"...Peñaflorida was honored for creating mobile "pushcart classrooms," carts stocked with books, chalkboards and other supplies, that bring education to poor children in the Philippines. Since 1997, he and more than 12,000 teenage volunteers have taught basic reading and writing skills to more than 1,800 children living on the streets...
"I received medal but shared the honor with my co-volunteers, my mentor and the children we reach out to," he said. "The government heads received an instruction from the president to have the pushcart schools replicated all over the country."...
With Peñaflorida's consultation, the pushcart classroom model started by his nonprofit organization, Dynamic Teen Company, has been replicated more than 50 times by different organizations and institutions across the Philippines. And according to Peñaflorida, more classrooms are pending as President Benigno Aquino's administration reviews plans to expand the infrastructure of the mobile classroom system.
"The duplication of the pushcart school system ... is happening now in different provinces and regions of the country, and we receive numerous letters from other parts of the world," Peñaflorida said. "Filipinos have become more aware of the need for these children to be educated, fed and taken care of. Before, they saw [a pushcart] as a symbol of poverty, but now they see a pushcart as a symbol of hope and education....
Peñaflorida says he knows firsthand what these children lack. He spent his childhood in a shanty near a dump site in Cavite City. He founded his organization to provide impoverished children an empowering alternative to gang induction....
Taking Education to the Poor
"
Added On September 16, 2010
Since being named CNN's Hero of the Year, Efren Penaflorida has become a celebrity in his home country."
"The International Human Rights Group, a Christian legal defense organization that defends religious liberty and the right to homeschool in Europe, reports that in addition to refusing to allow their children to attend sex-ed classes, the families also resisted having their children enlisted in a theatre production of "Mein Körper gehört mir" or "My Body Belongs to Me," which informs young children in how to engage in sexual intercourse.
..Thornton states that unlike much of the American education system, German officials "view the children as belonging to the State, particularly during the time they are in school" and for that reason parents' beliefs and authority over their children takes second place to the interests and mandates of the State.
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com European: Germans of Germany
"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
"The Ebook was written by an individual with 40+ years experience in education as a teacher and administrator. With a passion for involving schools as active forces in changing the world, he offers ideas for community action, as well projects which involve students, teachers, parents, teams, student organizations and administers. It's all about thinking outside the box and applying cooperative brainstorming in making the world a better place."
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