She calls her club “Big Bertha.” She’s been to Scotland, the cradle of golf. She’s shot an 81 to take first place in the GHSA regional tournament. And she’s been within an approach shot of Tiger Woods. She’s Tyler Lawrence, a Grady High senior and one of Georgia’s top golfers whose performance on the greens is matched only by her performance in the classroom. Read more about Lawrence and her trip to Scotland in the Fall issue of The Atlanta Educator, which arrives at school and district-office newsstands this week — just in time for the Thanksgiving break!

The National Council on Family Relations (www.ncfr.org) members and Dr. Jonathan Davis worked in collaboration with Chris Vizzina, head chef at Samford, to serve breakfast to the women and children at First Light  Friday, November 20 at 5:35am. 

First Light(www.firstlightshelter.org/), the only emergency shelter accepting homeless women and homeless women with children 24 hours a day in the area. The Department of Family Studies has maintained a collaboration with the First Light Shelter for 7 years, through our Family Life Education service-learning course. This new involvement by our student organization is another great way Samford gives back to its community, and we hope to have events like this each semester in the future.

I came across an interesting article authored by Daniel Willingham entitled “Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?”

This was published in the Summer 2007 edition of American Educator. Here is an excerpt: “Following the release of A Nation at Risk, programs designed to teach students to think critically across the curriculum became extremely popular. By 1990, most states had initiatives designed to encourage educators to teach critical thinking, and one of the most widely used programs, Tactics for Thinking, sold 70,000 teacher guides. But for reasons I’ll explain, the programs were not very effective – and today we still lament students’ lack of critical thinking. After more than 20 years of lamentation, exhortation, and little improvement, maybe it’s time to ask a fundamental question: Can critical thinking actually be taught?

Click here to read the full article in PDF format.

More than 800 APS students, parents, faculty members and staff welcomed prospective students, parents, and members of the community during the inaugural neighborhood education celebration on Saturday at North Atlanta High School.

The two-hour event included a pep rally, open house, live performances, a parade of schools, educational displays and other colorful events highlighting the educational experiences of students attending North Atlanta High School, Sutton Middle, and Brandon, Bolton, Garden Hills, Jackson, E. Rivers and Sarah Smith elementary schools. All of these schools offer the acclaimed International Baccalaureate (IB) academic program. 

Atlanta Board of Education members Kathleen B. Pattillo (District 4) and Mark B. Riley (At-Large), newly elected board members Reuben McDaniel III (At-Large) and Nancy Meister (District 4), and APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall also participated in the event. Community leaders attending the celebration included Atlanta City Council members Clair Muller and Howard Shook, Rep. Ed Lindsey, Sam Massell (president of the Buckhead Coalition), Jim Alexander (president of the Atlanta Board of Realtors) and Cynthia Brown (president of the North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools, or NAPPS).

“When it comes to the North Atlanta cluster of schools, all six elementary schools, as well as Sutton Middle, are distinguished,” said Dr. Hall. “That means they’ve met adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law for the last three years in a row. And North Atlanta High School’s college-prep course of study continues to raise the bar on achievement, with students walking out of the door with acceptance letters and scholarship offers to competitive colleges.”

Sharing master of ceremonies duties were comedian, actor and author and APS alum Finesse Mitchell and APS music teacher Greg Hucks.

The neighborhood education celebration was sponsored by APS, the Atlanta Education Fund, and the Parent Teacher Associations at each of the participating schools. APS also collected canned goods during the event to benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Based on the success of the initial event, APS plans to organize additional neighborhood education celebrations throughout the district.

Hollywood Film & Acting Academy is making movies a reality for actors… Every 6 Months.  With the introduction of HWFAAs’ 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program, an actor enrolled in this particular program is not only taking classes to learn both the creative side and business side of acting, but are preparing themselves to shoot a movie in four months.  The students study improv, scene study, movement/voice, the business of acting and the Journey of the Actor all with the expectation of starring in the movie that will be professionally produced by Hollywood Film & Acting Academy.

Located in the Heart of Hollywood “it is a prime location for what we do” says Director of the Academy and Filmmaker Josh Sands.  ”Not only do we have creative and business classes for the actors, we help them build up their show reel for agents and managers, they also are exposed to networking with Directors, Producers and other filmmakers that come in and hold screening and special guest speaker nights here at the Academy.”  Sands also noted that housing is included in the 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program saying, “Aspiring actors and filmmakers would move to LA with every intention of following their dream.  Most ended up stuck in the grind of working a full time job, or two, to pay for rent and bills. Then, disenchanted, they would move back home and put their dreams on the sideline.  It is time that an actor do what they came to LA to do…  ACT!”

“With the 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program a student can come to LA, begin classes, and in 6 months star in a movie.  That is unheard of in LA” added Sands.

“With our 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program and 16 Week Feature Film Program, we expect to make at least 3 movies a year.”

Is Another Crisis!

BEYOND THE CRISIS

http://www.iippe.org

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR PROMOTING POLITICAL ECONOMY (IIPPE)

and

GREEK SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

RETHYMNON, CRETE, SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2010

“BEYOND THE CRISIS”

Pre-amble: Following its three previous highly successful international research workshops for students in Crete, Naples and Ankara, the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) is now holding its FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, co-organised with the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy, and open to application from all engaged in political economy. Summaries of papers for consideration for inclusion (maximum 1000 words) should be submitted by 31st of March 2010 to iippe@soas.ac.uk with subject heading IIPPE CONFERENCE 2010. Full papers are required to be made available by 30 June 2010 for pre-circulation to Conference participants. It will be possible to attend the Conference without submitting a paper but numbers will be limited. There will be some funding available for those who are unable to rely upon institutional support for participation, with special provision for research students.

Themes: Following the global crisis, the prospects of, and need for, progressive political economy are stronger than for many decades. Orthodox economics is in disarray, but with only a smattering of its own practitioners accepting this, generally by demanding more realism and the incorporation of a few more or less arbitrary behavioural principles. After the collapse of the post-war boom, the recession and slowdown that followed gave birth to extreme forms of monetarism followed by a mild reaction in terms of reliance upon market and institutional imperfections and weakened Keynesianism. The prospects for a radical rethink within orthodoxy and of tolerance to heterodoxy remain bleak. But it is still crucial to sustain critical commentary on orthodoxy’s continuing principles and innovations as a new generation of students and researchers are caught between conforming to its reduced and flawed content and the economic realities of the world around them. Political economy has begun to prosper in the wake of the crisis, not least with the rising popularity of Minsky for example. It is imperative that the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse, often insightful, analyses of the nature, causes and consequences of the financial crisis be debated and fully engaged across competing paradigms and emphases. Nor is the crisis confined to economic effects and causes alone. Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to address the nature of, and prospects for, neo-liberalism, the shifting character of the “new world order”, US hegemony and the rise of China, and the economic and the social and cultural restructuring that have both preceded and will follow upon the crisis. This offers opportunities to engage with activists in understanding the impact and incidence of the crisis and in formulating alternatives and strategies in response to it.

The Conference welcomes proposals for papers that address one or more of these issues or any other issue within political economy. IIPPE working groups are entitled to organise a panel. But we also welcome proposals for panels independently of working groups on well-defined themes, with three or four contributions and contributors specified in advance. These must be submitted, ideally with paper summaries by March 31st, 2010, although earlier submissions have greater chance of acceptance as the Conference programme is filled out.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

You can now follow the posts on this blog via Twitter at www.twitter.com/regservices

UCF will partner with Valencia Community College and the University of Florida to launch a new Bachelor of Design program in Architecture starting in fall 2010.

Approved Thursday by the UCF Board of Trustees, the program will prepare students for a variety of careers, including professional architecture, construction management and industrial design. The median annual salary for design professionals is about $72,000, according to Workforce Florida.

Students will take two years of classes as Valencia students and two years as UCF students. They then can move on to obtain their master’s degree, potentially by staying in Orlando and enrolling in a University of Florida College of Design program based in UCF’s Center for Emerging Media in downtown Orlando.

The Valencia and UCF classes will be taught at the new University Center building shared by the two schools at Valencia’s West Campus. The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects has worked closely with Valencia, UCF and UF to develop the program.

For more information, visit www.architecture.ucf.edu.

Source: UCF Today, Thursday, November 19, 2009
http://today.ucf.edu/blog/2009/11/19/new-architecture-program-links-valencia-ucf-uf/

Listen: We hit week three of Meet The Need running, Day 15 of 50, with Neu Life Community Resource Center. Funny thing, I bike/bus by their main building every day, off the corner of North Avenue and Fond Du Lac, and I never noticed the building before (see below). I asked Director of Neu Life why it’s never jumped out at me and she give me a very clear answer — why would she spend money on signs when she could spend it on programming for her kids? Point well taken.

Not only is Neu Life completely focused on programming, but they develop it in a subtly innovative way; they ask kids what they want to do. If kids don’t want to participate in a program, no matter how good that program is for them in theory, it is not a good program. Successful after school programs view themselves as a competitor for the kids’ time. What do youth need? Alternatives to being idle and rudderless. If you manage to structure what they want to do, they’ll be willing and eager.

In these four pieces, Jody gives us an inside perspective on how they shape their work around the kids:

-The need for Neu Life and what they do:

-Jody said to me, “If we’re going to do a youth program for kids, let’s do a good one. Let’s do a high quality one.” Find out what she means by high quality:

-Consider the alternative to what these kids would be doing without Neu LIfe:

-The story of K, a young man that went from having serious anger management issues to a Neu Life leader:

For more information on Neu Life Community Resource Center visit their bustling Facebook page (talk about engaging youth on their own term!), and if you’d like to help New Life meet their needs this holiday season, learn how you can contact them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Just a reminder that there will be a PACT meeting (Police and Communities Together) this evening, which is open for anyone to attend. It starts at 7pm in the Students’ Union.

See Our Bobby for more details.

If you can’t make it, be sure to check the blog later tonight for information about what was discussed.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  Sorry about that.  With my dad’s health issues and Christmas preparations starting around church, blogging was the easiest thing to let go of to allow more space in my life.  Everyone needs some margin in their life right?

Anyway, this past weekend brought our annual high school retreat to J-Town (Jumonville via Pittsburgh Kids Foundation).  This was the biggest J-Town weekend in the history of the retreat with around 500 students (70 of whom came from our church).  If you’ve not had the opportunity to go to J-Town, here’s a glimpse into what goes on throughout the weekend:

Students arrive by the busload Friday evening, greeted by a very animated program staff from PKF.  There are 4 ‘club’ times throughout the weekend that include worship, a run-on skit, and teaching that progresses through the Gospel message.  The run-on skit exists to help students let their guard down and be comfortable and open to hearing the Gospel.  Some of the activities that the students can participate include a day-spa, movie, football, air-soft, guitar hero, a hike up to the cross, coffee-house, improv, and a number of other things.  After the 3rd club time (the message of the cross), everyone spends 20 minutes outside, alone in silence.  This is by far the most powerful time in the whole weekend as the students are alone with God.  After that 20 minutes (as well as after every other club time) there is cabin time where students and their leaders discuss the talk from club, relating it to life and what ever is going on in their lives.  Every cabin time is different because every cabin has different dynamics.  Sunday morning is the only time there is no cabin time because after club it is time to head home.

Now for my high points throughout the weekend…

I had the privilege to lead a student band this weekend.  It was an incredible experience for me as I got to witness hundreds of students jump right into worship wholeheartedly.  It was awesome to see our students leading them as well.  Our student band from blitz is growing into an incredible team of lead worshipers.  They are not just up there performing for their peers, but they are worshiping God from deep in their hearts and leading their peers is just a natural product of their worship.

After the 20 minutes of silence, our cabin time was deep and focused.  Just like last year, we took extra time during this moment to allow the students to get real and be open.  My favorite part was when John openly and publicly recommitted himself to Christ, accepting Him as Lord and Savior.  With a lot of freshmen in our cabin, it was great for them to see an upperclassman do that.  This was THE high point of my weekend.

Another high point for me was cabin time in general.  To see the students asking questions and being real with the answers they were giving to our questions was awesome to see.  Some students that I didn’t really expect to hear much from had some of the deepest input into our conversation.

With this past weekend being such a spiritually high moment, it is now important for me and the other leaders to keep up with the students.  We need to stay along side of them as they navigate being back at home, back in school, and the inevitable trials that they will face.  Please pray for us and all the students that were at J-Town (and all the students that will be there in 2 weeks).

Here’s some really cool research that might give you another excuse to get up off the couch and break a sweat doing something healthy.

Researchers at Princeton found that, at least in rats, brain cells of rats who exercised were buffered against stress. In other words, when exposed to conditions that were uncomfortable and unpleasant (swimming in cold water in this case), the runner rats proved to be under less stress than rats who had spent all their time loafing.

Exercise actually reshaped the brain to make it more resistant to stress. One researcher put it this way:

“It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms.”

Here is the article from the New York Times.

And just so you know, it takes a few weeks of working out before the benefits start to surface. Makes me wonder whether aerobic exercise should be mandatory for students – or whether I need to adjust my teaching to take into account both exercising and couch-potato students.

I’d love to talk more, but I need to squeeze in a run before class.

Urgent request for two females and three males age 18-20 for
extra roles in a Deaf youth tv programme.
The work is unpaid but valuable experience and actors will be given DVDs for their showreels.
They would be needed for less than 1 hour from 2pm approx this Wednesday November 25th in the Temple Bar area.

If they can send CVs and headshots to fran@mindthegapfilms.com on Monday or Tuesday
(today Monday 23rd & tomorrow Tuesday 24th November)

Amazon's Global Kindle Reader

I heard that Amazon now has a global version of Kindle. I was disappointed to find this morning that the new version still will not work in my country.

Since I’ve wanted one for some time, but have been waiting until they got a version that would work in my country, I checked out their website this morning, only to be disappointed again. Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new Global Kindle for a Christmas gift this year, since the new version will only work in SOME countries, I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Lately I’ve had unwelcome desires to belt out Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” I’m sure the folks around me might find that unwelcome as well.

It’s crunch time at the end of the semester and I’m not happy with some of my choices for research papers; it would be nice to hit reset on the semester and choose new topics. C’est la vie, I suppose. I am certainly learning from the experience. It’s been a while since I had to sit down and conduct this type of research and write up heady academic papers; I am not as quick as I once was (but hopefully more thoughtful with age? I’m sure the stuff I pulled out of thin air in my undergraduate days was crap…hopefully compared to what I’m writing now!).

Saturday night brought birthday parties for some friends, and as I’ve been learning, I’m getting too old for this stuff. OK, not actually too old, but it’s true that I am more tired and less tolerant of alcohol.  In short, I’d like a good night sleep and to arise the following morning feeling more human than less.  That didn’t stop me from admonishing a friend’s younger cousin to live it up and not squander her youth.  (And, yes, in just under two weeks I celebrate a birthday, and yes, I will still be in my 20s. I’m feeling a little melodramatic right now.)

There are certainly things I regret not taking advantage of; I take those things as lessons and try to incorporate them into how I live my life going forward. It doesn’t always work out the way I think it will, but I’m an optimist, so I’ll keep trying. I find myself wishing I could tell a younger version of me some of these lessons, particularly as I navigate graduate school. I’ve found freedoms as a graduate student that I didn’t feel the luxury of having as an undergraduate. I believe these come from age. For example, as undergrads, we were less snarky and more accepting of others than we were as high shool students, but I still felt that sometimes there was pressure to hang out with the “cool kids” and that there was consciousness of who you were seen with, who you sat with, etc. I love that I can walk into an situation with my graduate school colleagues (they are also friends) and sit with any one of them, converse with any one of them, and never feel any sort of social anxiety.  I hear my students, all freshmen, talking and I can feel some of the social anxiety bubbling up.  I admire them, though, because they are in a unique situation on our campus that seem to help break down some of the social constructs that sometimes thwart efforts at feeling confident and good about yourself.

I was at the library on campus the other day, standing in line for a caffeine fix. I inadvertently jumped ahead of a young student who was there before me. After I placed my order, I apologized and felt bad about the situation. He looked at me and said, “Oh, no worries, ma’am.  You look like you are busy.”  Ma’am?  I was ma’amed?  I don’t live in the South anymore; why am I getting ma’amed?  Probably because I look (and often dress) older than his fellow students.  I didn’t take offense.  I thought it, to some extent, another freedom that came with age.

And I’m not even old.  I always think about age this time of year.  Perhaps in 30 or 40 years I’ll ruminate on what “old” is.

Fingal Community Television is a new broadcasting channel for the Fingal region that is currently broadcasting online at www.fctv.ie
FCTV require voluntary actors to work on upcoming drama programmes.
They are currently looking for males and females aged between 14 and 65
- Experience not essential but an advantage -
Applicants MUST reside in the Fingal area
They will be holding a workshop style audition day for talent at the Millbank Theatre in Rush on Saturday 5th of December from 9.30am until 17.30pm
Interested? Please send a recent headshot to alison@fctv.ie to secure a place at the auditions

Last week was a great week for making sure that both, in terms of our environment as well young people ,we are preparing for Sheffield’s future.

Recycling – An Award for Sheffield

I was happy to celebrate Sheffielders great passion for recycling.  Sheffield has won a national award for our plastic recycling sites such as the one I visited in Waitrose.  It is really great that Sheffielders are rolling up their sleeves and recycling for the future as well as the Council providing such sites with local private sector businesses to ensure that people can recycle easily.

Eating for Sheffield

I was delighted to attend the Eat Sheffield Restaurant Awards.  No matter what your tastes in food, Sheffield has some great eateries, whether it be a slight snack or a great gourmet meal.  These awards celebrate the restaurants and eateries within Sheffield and I was very happy to present a prize as well as celebrate the wonderful work that the hospitality industry does for our city.

My Place, My Future, My Voice

Listening to Young People at a new development in Lowfields, Sheffield

I was really happy to listen to some young people who are spreading the voice of young people at the centre of the new development in the Lowfields areas of Sheffield.  I listened to their views and was absolutely bowled over by their determination and their vision about what they want.  I will make sure that their vision is listened to and part of the vision for the new My Place development in the area.

Celebrating Young People Leaving Care

I was delighted to be invited to share the success of a number of Sheffield young people who have been in care and now, having left care, have developed fruitful and successful lives.  It was really heart warming to hear the stories of young people who have started work, started families and really making a difference, not only to themselves but also the area of the city they live in.  Absolutely bowled over by the fact that this was hosted and developed by young people who had left care and a real, real credit to the determination and spirit of young people.

Future Jobs

I hosted some Senior Executives over from the Hitachi Group and spend an evening with them to discuss Sheffield’s approach to try to ensure that the Hitachi train development which will be their European Headquarters comes to Sheffield.  They fed back how much they enjoyed the city and I just hope that for Sheffield jobs and the future of hi-tech manufacturing in Sheffield, that we can get Hitachi to locate here.

Dreaming Bigger Dreams

I showcased the positive work that many students do in Sheffield.  Quietly behind the scenes students from the two wonderful Universities we have, day and day out volunteer and raise money for charities and organisations in Sheffield.  I was able to hand over cheques for £117.00 to local charities and listen to the heart-warming stories of how students volunteer and making real differences every day to local people.

Bag a Book

Painting a plant pot as part of Bag a Book Week activities, with children in Sheffield

I was delighted to go down to an event we have in Sheffield to give each young person who has either been adopted, or been fostered, a book token to improve their reading skills.  A number of activities took place including me painting a spotty plant pot as part of showing my creative side.  I was really pleased to join so many young people as well as their carers and adopted parents.