I did not refer to the parents of any of the children as un-caring or addicted to drugs. In fact I stated that although an image of such behavior has emerged there was no evidence to support it. The bullying issue is terrible, I agree, especially if the principal and teachers who were alerted to the problem did nothing to stop it. In fact, I advocated that they be allowed to stay in LCSD, though I do believe there needed to be some sort of punishment. This incident should have led to an investigation of the conditions at school, not focused simply on the parents and the children. Thiank you for updating us with Steven's progress. I hope that he is doing wel.

sure

I am not a fan of saying that recent innovations such as IM'ing, text messaging, etc. are responsible for the deterioration of writing skills, but I think they must play a part at some level. A much stronger effect is likely from the push to have everything our students easily graded and fit into an objective rubric. Being able to manipulate language effectively, creatively and with emotion is not so easily objectified. Even more disappointing is that the state of Florida seems to think it is because in order to get a 6 a student must demonstrate some of those qualities that are unteachable, and yet they punish the teacher for not doing so effectively.

Touché - often when asked if I believe in Christ when explaining the Baha'i Faith, I must tell people that I cannot be a Baha'i without believing in Christ. For all my talk of viewing religion's as one, I inadvertently showed that it is easier said than done to not see such divisions.

Examining one self is exactly what I would like to see people do, but also to dig deeper, become knwoledgeable of things outside of their immediate frame of reference, to be familiar and comfortable with another way of thinking and new ideas. In order to have love for one another, we must be accepting and tolerant that people may be do things differently. I may chant the greatest name 95 times a day, read a Hidden Word and recite the obligatory prayer. Another person may pray on his knees before going to bed, another wear only certain types of clothing while not mixing meat and dairy, and still someone else spend some time everyday in quiet meditation. These are all different methods of communing with the same God, so why do we let these differences keep us apart instead of celebrating the diversity that is worship?

Peter, my objection to the Christian prom is not due to their potential behavior, or that of the others at the prom. Rather, it is against the concept that they should separate themselves in order to illustrate their point. I believe they are doing themselves a great disservice by creating a "safe haven" in which they are free to express their Christian values. Would this not be more meaningful if they were able to live up to their standards of behavior amidst the general population and not just inside the relatively confines of the church?

A very interesting statement was made here... Covello was able to be a straight A student, ranked #1 in his class in a very demanding and prestigious college preparatory school despite his substance abuse problems and the "demons" that he had. Is this what parents can expect for the $17,000+ every year?; a school that pushed its students so hard to succeed that they turned to drugs and criminal activity because of stress? Or, perhaps, is this a sign that the school was so focused on academics that they somehow forgot about the "caring and supportive community emphasizing character, leadership and service" that they so proudly place in their mission statement? Maybe, even Covello's parents dropped the ball and did not notice their son's downward spiral or had abused him in some way. Or is it possible that everyone in this young man's life missed the signs and the sad reality that things like this have happened before and will continue to happen no matter what has been done (or not done). In retrospect, we can put these pieces together and see that something was happening, but rarely do we have such insight as the events are unfolding. This is a sad case, but sometimes it is necessary to have something with a strong impact in order to affect a change. I am sure Covello himself will remember these events for the rest of his life. I also hope that the leaders of the Canterbury School will use this opportunity to bring their community together, to open up communication so they cannot be surprised by something like this again and to seek help for any student that needs it. I know that when I was a student there, there was a sense of community, a family, in which we looked out for each other from the youngest to the oldest.

Sure reading PDFs on the computer screen would cut down on some costs related to printing, shipping and even storing - not to mention damage. But, students can't take them home (we can't assume that kids will have computers at home). Also, I have never seen a classroom with enough computers for every student... meaning group reading or any other whole group activity would be ruled out. If kids had laptops that would work, but they are still costly and more than what is needed. PDAs designed for educational use might be better, though I have heard there can be problems changing font size because PDF is a fixed-width format. I liked what I saw at your site and had been looking for something like it when preparing for this post so thank you for posting the link. I noticed a lot of workbooks there and that brings up another limitation of devices such as the Kindle or Sony's PSR-700 - the user can't fill anything in. However, I know there is freely available PDF reader software that would allow the user to make notes and then return the file to an instructor... or even use a PDF form that could check itself. Some of these ideas will be looked at more in the next post.

You bring up a very good point about not limiting the definition of an eBook to just a single type of device (you're getting a bit ahead of me, too). I began this series with devices like the Kindle in mind, but as I explore them more it becomes more and more apparent that the media being read on the devices is far more relevant than the device that is used. Post 3 in the series discusses that concept a bit more and it will come up again in posts 4-6 as well.

Chris - at the point that devices are what you are suggesting they cease to be eBook readers as we have defined here and move into a different classification of device. There are some applications of modified PDAs being used in the K-12 classroom, but even still what you are describing goes a step further. I see where you are going through and I like it - something like that could be especially useful when it comes to students in ESL courses.