Learning to Manage College Finances and Debt

A topic we don't discuss enough - managing debt in college and down the road. Here's a good article on why college students should take a personal finance course:
In College, Learning About Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/your-money/08money.html?_r=1

Every college student should consider enrolling in such a class. For example, here are Personal Finance courses offered by my department at Georgia State University:
http://www.rmi.gsu.edu/certificates/undergrad_pfp.shtml

As a side note, I am proud of my alma mata, Binghamton University - selected again by Kiplingers as "ranked among the nation’s top 10, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance on the magazine’s new list of 100 Best Values in Public Colleges."
http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/binghamton-ranked-in-top-10-by-kiplingers-personal-finance

Adaptive PE teacher inspires athlete

Everywhere Debi Anderson goes, she inspires and amazes. Her most recent show of talent and confidence was on "Skating with the Stars" on ABC. While doing a promo for Special Olympics, she was offered the opportunity to skate with one of the semi-finalists, John Moseley, in a show that aired a couple weeks ago.

She also recently competed in the Special Olympics Fall Games and won a gold medal in bowling. While there, Bill Shumard, CEO president of Special Olympics in Southern California, asked her if she would serve on the board of directors as an athlete representative. ... Soon, she started working at George Key School as an aide, and she got more involved with softball. She went to her first summer games in 2004, where she did track and field. She came away with three gold medals and a bronze. Through the encouragement and direction of George Key's Adaptive PE teacher Windy McGinnis, Anderson got into rhythmic gymnastics, using balls, hoops and ropes.

Continue reading: ON CAMPUS: District grad inspiring others
CORINNE GRIFFITHS

Motivated in the Classroom, Year after Year

As I reflect on this past semester, I'm already preparing for 2011 classes. As I do so, I'm proud to say that a former student just applied to the Teach for America program. For the teachers and professors in this profession for the short term or the long haul, here's my take on staying fresh in the classroom:

There is a symmetry to every college semester, with a set number of weeks and exams at fixed intervals. Just like a Hollywood screenplay has three acts, I love the predictability that the semester structure brings. After teaching for a while, I became adept at seeing common class trends and defining plot points along an arc - when to expect enthusiastic student participation, when students might be stressed or losing confidence, when to pull back on the material or forge full speed ahead. While the structure is predictable, every semester has an energy and a life of its own.

Someone once asked me how I can teach the same subjects year after year without getting bored. My answer back: “Do you think that a recording artist gets bored singing the same song for the past thirty years?” It may be the same song, but there’s a different interpretation and a fluid audience each time. A performer can kill one night, and then fall flat the next evening if the crowd’s chemistry isn’t there. The song remains the same, but those sitting in on the sessions may not always be on the same page. Yes, the course material is similar from year to year, but meeting different students each time is the secret part of the equation which keeps things lively, unpredictable, and exciting.

A teacher’s job is to keep things fresh and provocative, regardless of mood, subject, or student engagement. The show must always go on. The good news is that there’s ample opportunity to shift gears from week to week to capture attention and to captivate. ...

Naturally, my curious students ask me why I don’t practice law anymore. The best answer I can come up with is an analogy from the movie, Good Will Hunting, when psychologist Robin Williams is discussing personal relationships with patient, Matt Damon. Damon just had a perfect first date with Minnie Driver, and he tells Williams that he’s never going to call her again. To which a surprised Williams inquires why. Damon explains that the date was so perfect, that he didn’t want to ruin that memory or image, and risk an imperfect second date. The psychologist smiles and reminds his young patient that he’s not so perfect himself, and neither is his recent date. The trick he says is to take a risk and discover whether you’re perfect for each other.

Being a teacher is not a perfect profession, and I know I’m an imperfect teacher. But we’re perfect for each other. I’ve learned, changed, grown, and gotten back more than I bargained for in many courtrooms and classrooms.

Today, I am refreshed and ready, but already messed up on the first day of the current term in front of 120 students. While I remembered to bring the syllabus, I forgot to bring their outline for the first unit. The class was already confused about the first assignment.

Maybe I have an overactive imagination or a hypersensitive ear, but I could’ve sworn I heard a student mutter under her breath: “This professor sucks!”

Excerpt from Unlocking Your Rubber Room: 44 Off-the-Wall Lessons
c 2009 Perry Binder

Classroom Humor Sparks Creative Problem-Solving

In my recent article, The Case for Humor in the College Classroom, I wrote: As college professors nationwide prepare for a new academic year, my message for them is simple: Lighten up! Your students just might engage and learn.

Now, researchers on humor and thinking (not kidding, that's a field of study) at Northwestern University found that people were more likely to solve word puzzles with sudden insight when they were amused, having just seen a short comedy routine. “What we think is happening,” said Mark Beeman, a neuroscientist who conducted the study with Karuna Subramaniam, a graduate student, “is that the humor, this positive mood, is lowering the brain’s threshold for detecting weaker or more remote connections” to solve puzzles. ...

In their humor study, Dr. Beeman and Dr. Subramaniam had college students solve word-association puzzles after watching a short video of a stand-up routine by Robin Williams. The students solved more of the puzzles over all, and significantly more by sudden insight, compared with when they’d seen a scary or boring video beforehand.

Continue reading Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/science/07brain.html?src=me&ref=homepage

Free the teachers: Give classroom educators the freedom to inspire students

Below is an interesting Op-Ed in The NY Daily News - I agree with the tone of this piece, to give more freedom to teachers in the classroom. However, overthrowing an entrenched bureaucracy is a daunting task, and more immediate impactful suggestions are needed. For the short term, rather than asking what's wrong with K-12 education, I would ask each school the opposite question (as I quote from the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard): "What's working right now" at your school?

To me, what's working right now is that there are so many talented teachers who are doing great things, while toiling in anonymity. That is the main reason I created The Inspiring Teacher Series - to highlight the inspiration so evident in these teachers. So why don't we give financial or other incentives to the superstar teachers to mentor other teachers in your own school? With meaningful feedback for other teachers.

Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking on how best to connect with people to get them excited and engaged, whether in a classroom, boardroom, or bored room. I believe that if you show learners that you have a sincere stake in their futures, you have the ability to inspire them on a daily basis, and spark a “light bulb moment.” And if teachers commit to a sincere interest in each other's future, that level of commitment will become evident to the students, and learning will be infectious.

My mantra: Learn from each other and grow as a team. Borrow the best classroom secrets from each other, just as comics observe great comics to improve their own material and delivery.

Op-Ed by Philip K. Howard

Free the teachers: Give classroom educators, suffocated by bureaucracy, freedom to inspire students
Cathie Black, the controversial choice as New York City's schools chancellor, hasn't been saying much lately about her theories of education. But in her 2007 book, "Basic Black," she had this to say about what makes a good teacher: "The best educators bring an instant smile to your face." The worst ones, she went on, "were the ones who seemed to be on automatic pilot, teaching out of a sense of duty rather than joy, and just counting the months or years until retirement. These teachers lacked authenticity in their work ...

Inspiration is what makes a good teacher. Just as Black remembers, the good teachers are the ones who have that spark, that spontaneity, that essential honesty. The good teacher inspires her students to respect her and listen to what she has to say. These traits of personality cannot be taught.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/11/28/2010-11-28_free_the_teachers_give_classroom_educators_suffocated_by_bureaucracy_freedom_to_.html#ixzz16xZmyxiU

WVU football uniforms honor Miners lost in April's Upper Big Branch disaster

As Massey Energy settles lawsuits with grieving families, West Virginia University's football team honors the miners who were in harm's way.

To create West Virginia's "coal dust" uniforms -- designed to honor those lives lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in April -- "Nike started with a clean white uniform and then envisioned what it might look like if it were to emerge from a coal mine." The "smudged black" appears throughout the uniforms but is particularly noticeable on the Mountaineers' helmets.

Perhaps most noteworthy is the yellow accent featured on the pants and bright cleats -- it "represents the canaries used long ago to test toxicity in mines." The helmet also included a "thin yellow line running from the front to the back that represents the beam of light emitted by a miner's headlamp."

Continue reading
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2010/11/26/1837435/nike-pro-combat-uniforms-west-virginia-pittsburgh-backyard-brawl-ncaa-football

HS teacher honored by Cornell for inspiring former student

Teachers usually never know when their class or activity can plant the seeds of a student's future. In different ways, I express to my students: Every one of you is what inspires ME, because every one of you has a story to tell - What will your next journey be?

In this story, we discover that a Language Arts teacher's lesson shaped a student's journey - a career path from a Biology lab to a Hollywood screening room.

Ewan Good, who teaches French and German, has been recognized by Cornell University as a teacher who has made a unique contribution to the life of one of the college's top graduates, a former Mt. Blue student who Good taught seven years ago.

In class, Good said he introduced students to French poetry, literature, history and film and challenged them to analyze and discuss what they were learning. One particular movie generated an emotional reaction and made a lasting impression on Ramsey, steering him toward a career in film, according to Good. The film was Louis Malle's award-winning autobiographical classic, “Au Revoir Les Enfants.” The 1987 movie took place during World War II when the headmaster of Malle's Catholic boarding school decided to shield Jewish children in the midst of Nazi-occupied France to tragic repercussions.

Continue reading Mt. Blue teacher honored by Cornell for inspiring former student:
http://www.sunjournal.com/franklin/story/944286

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Paul Cohen

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

Paul M. Cohen
High School Science Teacher
St. Francis Prep
Queens, NY

Bio

- Graduated from Queens College with an MS-Ed in Biology and Secondary Education

- Currently working on a chemistry degree at SUNY Old Westbury
- Teaching for 10 years. Six years at St. Francis Prep in Queens (The nation's largest catholic school and ground zero for the swine flu : 0)
- Retired from NYPD in 1997 as a Detective assigned to the Organized Crime Control Bureau due to line of duty injury

What inspired you to teach?

My inspiration to teach came from the most unlikeliest place. From Arnold Schwarzenegger. In or around 1990 I saw the movie kindergarten cop. I always liked kids and was involved in coaching little league baseball. Jokingly, I thought I would become a "kindergarten cop." I was injured in the line of duty in the mid 90's and my early retirement seemed imminent. I needed a plan. I thought back on becoming a teacher and decided to go for it. My initial choice of K-6 changed quickly as 1) I fell in love with science and 2) I actually did some student teaching in a k-6 environment. In a "life imitates art" moment, I walked into a kindergarten class as a substitute teacher and the kids burst into tears. I'm standing there with twenty 5-year olds in tears. Remembering how Arnold saved the day in the movie, I grabbed a school aid to watch the kids and ran to my car to retrieve some insect samples I prepared for an entomology unit I produced for college. The kids were instantly hooked. Moments later an entourage from the superintendents office walks in with press in tow and here I am, freaking out, but calmly talking to the kids about how many legs an insect has and how many shapes can we use to draw them. No amount of undercover police work can prepare you for that, but I too was hooked on teaching. I did, however, decide that high school was a better choice for me. Additionally, as a police officer, I often encountered kids who were lost and heading closer to jail than home. I felt as a teacher, if I could change the course for one kid then I've made a difference.

Tell us about your career prior to teaching. Any words of wisdom for people wanting to transition into a teaching career?

Prior to teaching I was a NYC police detective. I experienced all kinds of people and had all types of supervisors. Coming from a para-military background I was able to transition quickly and easily to the supervision style of academia. I was able to take orders and criticism with equal enthusiasm. I am not saying that as a teacher I agreed with, or even complied with, every order given. Nor did I accept all criticism. You don't survive on the street by not following your instincts. I learned to smile, nod and disregard that which I didn't feel comfortable with. That is the key to teaching. YOU must be comfortable with what you are doing. If not, the kids will see right through you and your effectiveness goes out the window. What works for me may not be what works for you. So, for those coming into the game late like I did: The late great martial artist Bruce Lee once said that when approaching a new master, one must show that he is willing to learn by coming with an empty cup. The idea being that a full cup can hold no more. An empty one can be filled with all that is useful. So, to all those new teachers, empty your cups and fill it with all you think useful and spill over all that doesn't help. Just one more thing - don't ever spill out in front of your supervisor. Smile, nod and quietly disregard!

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their goals?

Educrats like to talk of innovative pedagogy, standards both national and local, multiple intelligences and a myriad of other strategies. I use what works for the class which can change from day to day and class to class and even minute to minute. The material dictates the type of lesson. I usually have a plan a, b and c for every unit. I won't stick with a workshop model if I detect it is not working for the material. I do believe firmly in discovery and problem solving learning. I often present some basic concepts and leave some obvious road signs out when I assign a new concept. When a person can put something together for themselves, they have an ownership that can't be delivered by another person. If they can claim ownership for the knowledge then they will want to know more, just to know why, not just to score well on a test.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?

I am always looking for improvements for my teaching. I view my skill set as a toolbox. If I am presented with another version or a new tool by a teacher or even a supervisor, I am always willing to try it out. New is not always the answer. We have a smartboard in every classroom in my school for enhanced presentations. It works great, but when the Internet goes out or when technology has a techno-fit, one best still have some chalk in the room.

What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started your teaching career?

After taking about 20 credits of education courses not one of them truly prepares you for the day to day operation of a classroom. It is frightening when for the first time you enter that room and realize that you are in charge and all these faces are staring at you and expect you to do or say something. Be prepared! Classroom management issues are multiplied without good preparation. You must be everything to all students in that room. They will ask you things you can never be prepared for. You can't be prepared for all the extras that will go on. But of utmost importance is to get them seated and engaged as quickly as possible. Teenagers are self centered by nature and demand instant gratification. You must teach them to delay that hormonally driven order. The one thing I wish I had known before I began teaching is how much work it really is. No one provides you with lessons. You must do it all. You work through weekends, holidays and after school. And, the work keeps coming. Remember that you must decide how you will assess the work you give out. Learn to regulate the flow or you will drown yourself. That is the major cause of first year teacher burnout. This will, however, be the most rewarding and satisfying career you can ever imagine. For all the hard work and frustration you are paid back with the kind of unconditional love that is reserved for parents.

College Class from Midnight to 3:00 a.m.

How's your schedule looking these days? Looking for a good teacher to student ratio?

A community college in Maryland has joined a growing trend nationwide: midnight classes.
Inside a brightly lit classroom, professor Paul Vinette stands near a chalkboard making comical noises. He is trying to keep his "Introduction to Psychology" class engaged and awake. His class begins at midnight and ends at a yawn-inducing 3 am. Kory Fox-Ponting is 1 of 10 students taking the Wednesday course.

Continue reading College Holds Classes At Midnight To Meet Demand

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130911603

"Do What You Love, But Don't Jeopardize Anyone You Love; Including Yourself."

Lesson 33 from Unlocking Your Rubber Room was just quoted on Twitter by a fellow tweeter:

@Perry_Binder "Do What You Love, But Don't Jeopardize Anyone You Love; Including Yourself." - Perry Binder J.D.

My reply back:

Good words R far gr8er than the utterer!

Lesson 33 - Do what you love but don’t jeopardize anyone you love. Including yourself.

Recognize and assess the risks in every major decision you make. And how they affect those around you.

When I left the full-time practice of law to teach, I was single and had no children. Would I have made such a career transition if I had a spouse and two kids at the time? I’d like to think so because in the end, career satisfaction is one key to personal fulfillment. Some opportunities are rare and don’t come around often. The difficult part is learning whether to jump at or pass on an adventure when your responsibilities require the support of those around you and a closer look at risk and reward.