Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Fall in Colorado
Wayne and Marti sent us some photos recently taken in Fort Collins, Colorado. Looks like the fall colors are out!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Skatepark Sunday
Michelle tried out our new camera at the skatepark today. See below for some photos. Hopefully we can take it to the beach later...
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
More Jesse
You are going to get a lot of these photos simply because we have been hanging out with Jesse and we have a new camera...... Amy took this photo at our house. Jesse and I are wearing matching sweaters :)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Fun With Photos
Its amazing how much fun taking photos can be once you have a camera that shoots a decent photo. Today we experimented with a variety of features on our new camera. Below are some of our favorites....
By the way....I have no idea who was in the surfing photo. This was our surf photo experiment...
By the way....I have no idea who was in the surfing photo. This was our surf photo experiment...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Lets Shoot
Michelle and I just purchased a Canon T1i DSLR camera. There are a ton of options to explore....but we spent 20 minutes reading the quick-start guide then went out in the backyard and shot a few photos. See below for samples of our first photo shoot.
Waiting for Superman
Last Thursday I had the opportunity to watch Waiting for Superman, a film which follows the lives of five families as they enroll their children into charter schools in an attempt to flee failing public schools. I found the movie to be thought provoking and controversal.
Director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) puts much of the blame for the current state of the public school system on teachers unions and local district and government bureaucracy. He provides examples of educational reformers who attempt to turn around "drop out factories" (as he refers to public schools, some of which have 50% drop out rates) but are thwarted by "the system" at every turn.
A panel discussion followed the movie. Panel members included a SDUSD board member, the president of the San Diego Teachers Union, Larry Rosenstock (founder of a successful group of charter schools in San Diego) and a local businessman. The debate was lively and entertaining (though I felt one sided). The audience was in general "pro charter".
The film, like most stories, had moments of truth and elaboration. The director states he wanted to motivate audience members to action. So it is no surprise he stretched the truth on a few occasions for sake of creating a compelling and emotional story. But he did bring up some good points regarding the difficultly schools face when attempting to improve the quality of education through radical change.
The movie showcases the public nature of the selection process for charter schools. It showed parents and children crowded into gymnasiums while school leaders called off random numbers as part of an entrance lottery. The look on the faces of children who were not accepted into the charter school (and therefor doomed to failure at their local public school) "pulled on the heartstrings" of the audience members. Mr. Rosenstock commented on how he disagrees with that type of selection system because it creates opportunities for students to be publicly disappointed and humiliated.
One interested fact brought up in the movie was that 4 out of 5 charter schools fail. Mr. Rosenstock confirmed this statistic. Being that Rosenstock's group of "High Tech High" charter schools have a record of success, I wish he could have been given an opportunity to elaborate on what it takes to make a successful school.
Below is a picture of one of the girls who showed promise and excitement for education, but was denied a seat at a charter school. She was an example of a student who's optimistic attitude filled you with hope, but then replaced it with despair once you learned she was not accepted into her school of choice. The director did a good job of creating a sense of outrage among the audience.
While I don't agree with 100% of the facts shared in the movie, I did find it inspirational in one area. The movie motivated me to have "difficult" conversations with adults....both staff and parents. I movie stated that sometimes public education focuses on making the adults happy, instead of making sure students are successful. I posted a photo of this girl on the wall of my office and occasionally glance at it while conducting conversations with adults to help remind me that what is right for children is more important than what is convenient for adults..
Director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) puts much of the blame for the current state of the public school system on teachers unions and local district and government bureaucracy. He provides examples of educational reformers who attempt to turn around "drop out factories" (as he refers to public schools, some of which have 50% drop out rates) but are thwarted by "the system" at every turn.
A panel discussion followed the movie. Panel members included a SDUSD board member, the president of the San Diego Teachers Union, Larry Rosenstock (founder of a successful group of charter schools in San Diego) and a local businessman. The debate was lively and entertaining (though I felt one sided). The audience was in general "pro charter".
The film, like most stories, had moments of truth and elaboration. The director states he wanted to motivate audience members to action. So it is no surprise he stretched the truth on a few occasions for sake of creating a compelling and emotional story. But he did bring up some good points regarding the difficultly schools face when attempting to improve the quality of education through radical change.
The movie showcases the public nature of the selection process for charter schools. It showed parents and children crowded into gymnasiums while school leaders called off random numbers as part of an entrance lottery. The look on the faces of children who were not accepted into the charter school (and therefor doomed to failure at their local public school) "pulled on the heartstrings" of the audience members. Mr. Rosenstock commented on how he disagrees with that type of selection system because it creates opportunities for students to be publicly disappointed and humiliated.
One interested fact brought up in the movie was that 4 out of 5 charter schools fail. Mr. Rosenstock confirmed this statistic. Being that Rosenstock's group of "High Tech High" charter schools have a record of success, I wish he could have been given an opportunity to elaborate on what it takes to make a successful school.
Below is a picture of one of the girls who showed promise and excitement for education, but was denied a seat at a charter school. She was an example of a student who's optimistic attitude filled you with hope, but then replaced it with despair once you learned she was not accepted into her school of choice. The director did a good job of creating a sense of outrage among the audience.
While I don't agree with 100% of the facts shared in the movie, I did find it inspirational in one area. The movie motivated me to have "difficult" conversations with adults....both staff and parents. I movie stated that sometimes public education focuses on making the adults happy, instead of making sure students are successful. I posted a photo of this girl on the wall of my office and occasionally glance at it while conducting conversations with adults to help remind me that what is right for children is more important than what is convenient for adults..
Monday, October 11, 2010
Flashback 2005
Michelle and I were cleaning out the back closet a couple of days ago and ran across an old role of undeveloped 35 mm film. We had no idea what to expect......and took it to get developed.
Looks like some photos from a Baja trip. I'm guessing around 2005 because Michelle's hair is short, we are wearing wedding rings, and the truck doesn't have the new front bumper. Some photos were taken in the mountains while others are near the ocean. We remember taking a trip to the Picacho Diablo Mountains (outside of Quatro Casas) and later ending up at Punta San Carlos. The dirt road with cactus looks alot like the drive out to Punta San Carlos. If I remember correctly, that wave was breaking off the inside point at Punta San Carlos.
We miss Baja! Need to go back soon!
Looks like some photos from a Baja trip. I'm guessing around 2005 because Michelle's hair is short, we are wearing wedding rings, and the truck doesn't have the new front bumper. Some photos were taken in the mountains while others are near the ocean. We remember taking a trip to the Picacho Diablo Mountains (outside of Quatro Casas) and later ending up at Punta San Carlos. The dirt road with cactus looks alot like the drive out to Punta San Carlos. If I remember correctly, that wave was breaking off the inside point at Punta San Carlos.
We miss Baja! Need to go back soon!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Pumpkin Carving
--sent via mobile phone--
Scott
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