Yes, I'm addicted to TED. (Is there a support group for that?) I just watched two more excellent TED videos this evening, the second being this one of Sylvia Earle talking about the shocking statistics of the dramatic decline of the health of our Oceans. Oh my...

This is an excellent lesson in the making. Send this to your favorite Earth Science teacher right away.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sylvia_earle_s_ted_prize_wish_to_protect_our_oceans.html

This isn't NEW news, by any means, but I was just admiring it so I thought I'd point it out in case you haven't yet seen it.

Have you ever attached a file and then sent the email before the file was truly attached? I have. Several times. It didn't tell you that it was working to attaching it, did it? NO! You thought it worked like desktop clients.

Well, it still doesn't work like a desktop client, but at least now when you attach a file you'll see a thermometer that shows the progress of the attachment. YES!!

Here's the gist of a conversation from today.

Upon hearing of a wonderful middle school project on Africa, this coach sent it off to her middle school teachers, suggesting that it would be a lot of fun, etc etc. The response she got back, "We wrote Africa out of the curriculum three years ago."

They are devoting more time to Western Civilization topics. Nobody else has picked up the topic, either, although one person does refer to it in a geography class.

This HAS to be because Africa doesn't appear on any state tests. Why else would you stop talking about the world's second largest continent? It has both the largest and the smallest countries, deserts, rain forests.. and AIDS, and Darfur, and ... oh my. We've heard speakers at TED talking about how Africa is the world's hottest emerging market, too.

Oh, and they're now debating removing the Middle East next. I HAVE to believe that SOMEBODY at the high school will at least address that topic, tho. Don't you? But, who will do Africa?

Can you hear me screaming? "Wait, Jim. Investigate first. Maybe they DID just shuffle it around to another grade."

Yes. That's it. That's what's happening. I overreacted. Hopefully.

Watch this TED video. Right now.

A couple of weeks ago I watched a live broadcast of this session. When it was over I stood in front of my computer and applauded for these kids. This is simply astounding. Here is the background of it:

"The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela's life-changing music program, El Sistema. Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, they play Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo Márquez' Danzón No. 2."

Read more about it here. Then, pass this link along to every music teacher you know. This youth symphony is unlike anything you're likely to hear in your lifetime. Make sure you watch both pieces. See if you, too, don't leap to your feet when it's over.

A few days ago I mentioned this project that was conducted by some students at Springfield High School here in PA. What an event it was, too. A major step into being creators and managers of content/news, and taking charge of their learning. Very cool.

Now comes this blog. SHSPresidential Watch blog. Here, students will be posting questions, thoughts, and observations to the blog and replying to comments on their posts. How will this develop for them? I'm anxious to see. When they get a chance to reply to a comment, I'm anxious to see if they do so thoughtfully, respectfully, and in a way that might even promote further discussion.

I like this. They have to be aware of the news in order to post meaningful and timely messages, and at the same time try to be neutral in their position. Nice. What do you think? Would YOUR class like to get involved? Start with the comments. What if your class came up with a Point/CounterPoint position and made two comments? Who knows what might develop from there.