Apace of Change » Parents

Blogging Too Close to Home

damian — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:11:40 +0000

In Wes Fryer’s latest post, he debates what to do about his child’s teacher’s decision to show ten full-length feature films over the course of a semester. Wes raises questions of copyright and fair use, and I highly recommend you head over his way and leave your thoughts on the matter.

The post in question raises another matter in my mind, though, one that I don’t think was part of Wes’s agenda (well, there is the issue of showing ten full-length films in a semester, but I’d need more information to determine if that’s rant-worthy or not). What guidelines does one follow with regard to blogging about one’s child’s school? I’ve blogged about the schools at which I’ve worked and I’ve commented on issues of national relevance, but my kids haven’t yet hit the K-12 stretch of their educations. It hasn’t been an issue in the two and a half years I’ve been blogging, but Dylan starts kindergarten this coming September.

Should that change things?

Much like Wes, I don’t want to be seen as a troublemaking parent, but at the same time, I’d like to think I reserve some right to use this space to comment on what my kids experience, both good and bad. So what’s fair game (if anything) when it comes to blogging about your kids’ educational experiences, and what’s off-limits? What have you decided was just too touchy or hit too close to home to blog about with regards to your child’s school experiences?

The Fine Print

damian — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:48:31 +0000

My kids’ daycare sends home flyers every so often advertising this program or that that our kids can participate in beyond what the normal tuition fee covers – pull-out classes for music, gymnastics; that sort of thing. The other day a flyer came home advertising a dance class. There was nothing unusual about it, but as I scanned the legalese at the bottom (as I always do), the last line popped out at me:

I…release any photos taken of my child in class to be used for media outlets.

I didn’t see an opt-out checkbox for parents who don’t want their kids’ pictures being taken and put on flyers, pamphlets, or worse – THE INTERNET. It was just, “if you want to participate, this is how we do”.

I understand that’s a slippery slope to head down, but my question is less legal than philosophical in nature – what happens between the pre-K level, where this is an accepted practice (and presumably unchallenged, though I can’t be sure) and the K-12 level, where most of us are dealing with hysteria regarding publishing student work (including pictures) online? It’s OK for our kids to unwittingly advertise for corporations but not to promote their own work & interests?

Hello? Is This Thing On?

damian — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:25:19 +0000

I’m not normally in the habit of recycling previous posts (especially those barely a month old), but I really need some feedback on this from teachers, CST specialists, parents, administrators, students, consultants – really, any stakeholder in the world of special education. Here’s what I wrote last month:

So every member of my new Child Study Team has some ‘pet project’ that they contribute to the department, and along those lines, I’ve been approached to put together a website for the department (not sure if it’s just for CST or Special Services in general; will get more details in the summer).

[...]

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments here – parents, what info can we make readily available to you? Special ed teachers/service providers, what “frequently asked questions” or topics would you put on a site for the community?

Although this project is still in the very early stages, I have some thoughts as to what I think needs to go on this site at minimum:

“plain English” description of the NJ special ed determination process
downloadable PDFs of NJAC 6:14 (special education code), PRISE (Parental Rights in Special Education), and similar documents
little blurbs about each of the CST members (4 psychologists, 2 LDTCs, 1 social worker) and our supervisor, along with contact information (phone, email, fax)
information on transition services and options
links to useful external sources

I’m not quite at the point of creating a Twitter account for our Child Study Team, but I would like to do something a little more personalized than a static website, like maybe have a monthly blog post from a different CST member (a la a newsletter). I did create a wiki for the Special Services dept. at my last school as part of my grad school internship project, so I do have a basic blueprint, but given the additional year and a half or so of technical experience I’ve gained since putting that up (plus the fact that I’ll be using locally hosted WordPress as my canvas), I think I can kick this site up a notch.

So what do YOU think needs to feature on this website? Sky’s the limit, at least as we kick ideas around in this space.

Spank You Very Much!

damian — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:16:52 +0000

I originally wrote this blog post for parenting blog This Mommy Gig; it appeared on August 26th, 2008. I have edited it slightly for inclusion on my blog.

Last week, CNN.com reported that over 200,000 children in the US were spanked at school in the 2006-2007 school year. As I read the article (with this blog post in mind), I took note of what I felt were some the key takeaways:

Corporal punishment is legal in 21 states, but only used frequently in 13
Texas led the paddling pack with 48,197 students receiving CP that year
CP was disproportionately applied to Black students (17.1% of the population received 35.6% of those swats, and was 1.4 times more likely to be paddled than White students)
A mother whose 13-year-old son was paddled was told by school administrators that paddling is “the quick and dirty way of dealing with discipline problems”

I was originally going to focus this piece on the utter dearth of empirical support for corporal punishment (sorry, my access to EBSCOhost is limited over the summer), but then I got to the user comments, where I was taken aback by the overwhelming support for corporal punishment in schools. Scroll down to the end of the article to the “Sound Off” section (can’t link to it directly) to read the comments.

Go ahead; I’ll wait.

…

Please don’t get me wrong, folks: I’m not here to tell you how to raise or punish your kids, and I know that the spank/no-spank debate is a hot-button issue on successful dates in parenting circles. My concern in this instance stems not from whether or not people spank their kids, but rather that so many people seem willing to put this decision in the hands of their children’s schools.

Postscript: As I read this article, I was reminded of someone I once knew who told me she “could not wait” for her son to turn 1 so she could start spanking him (not sure how she came by that magic metric). We had quite a few discussions about parenting, but never did I feel less comfortable than when she’d talk about spanking with such fervor. I always thought the phrase “a gleam in one’s eye” was just a figure of speech until I heard her wax romantic about the ways she could, would, and did spank her child.

Post-Postscript: Check some statistics regarding the breakdown of corporal punishment in public schools by state and race at The Center for Effective Discipline. I’m genuinely curious as to how many of us work in schools where corporal punishment is practiced, and if so, what does that look like?

Fathers & Sons, Vol. III

damian — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:54:59 +0000

We ate breakfast this morning at a local deli/diner with my brother- and father-in-law. In between mouthfuls of Mickey Mouse-shaped pancake, my just-shy-of-three-year-old said, “Daddy, I want to tell you a secret.” I obliged by leaning in close, and I heard his breath quicken slightly as he whispered:

“I love you the bestest ever.”

Can you believe there was a time I thought fatherhood wasn’t for me?

Talk about going out on a high note, 2007. Happy New Year, everybody.

Wait ‘Til Your Father Gets Home 2.0

damian — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:11:11 +0000

This isn’t the first time eBay has been used as a disciplinary measure (I think someone put his kids’ as-yet-unopened XBox up for bid last Christmas), but this one is seasonally appropriate.

I can’t help but wonder – who would pay $20 (bid + shipping) for what amounts to about $5 worth of candy?

Thanks to Miz Mercer for the eBay link.

Slideshare + Podcast = Slidecast!

damian — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 04:08:04 +0000

The good folks at Slideshare have a new mashup online called Slidecast, which allows you to upload an MP3 of music, narration, etc., and sync it to your slide presentation. I’ll try to give it a whirl tomorrow evening and post the results here Sunday or Monday (here’s a link to their blog post about it from July 24).

Also, this story from Gizmodo [via Sci Fi Tech] makes me cringe on so many levels I can’t even begin to describe. I know there are tragic stories every year about parents leaving their kids in cars unattended, so I guess there’s a ~~market~~ need for these things, but… words fail. Having been a tired, stressed out, sleep-deprived father of a newborn, I can proudly say that I’ve never needed a keychain alarm to remind me that I’ve left my infant son alone in the car. Have we become this reliant on technology?

Actually, the more I roll this around my mind, how different is this from something like a baby monitor? We really valued having a little B&W video baby cam/monitor setup when our son was younger, and it still comes in handy from time to time. I still don’t think they’re equivalent, but maybe I should tone down the snark a little bit (naah). With another little one on the way, I’m still mindful of the role technology plays in our parenting. To me, utilizing the technology without letting it become a crutch is key, and my wife and I are still trying to strike that balance. I think this is true in teaching as well – use the technology, don’t let the technology use you.

This was just meant to be a two-line post about Slidecast. I’m off to check the baby monitor.