My daughter wrote a persuasive essay for 9th grade English. One of the requirements was to have an adult review the essay, help make grammatical and other corrections, and fill out a sheet that looks like a rubric that a teacher would use. I was more than happy to do this for my daughter (I homeschooled her in English in 7th and 8th grade). Some observations:
1. What about the kids without parents willing and/or able to do this?
2. I have found that my daughter's ability to write essays has actually declined from were she was under my instruction in 8th grade. I attribute to the decline to the involvement and expectation of a teacher (me) with only one student (my daughter). I have a great deal of respect for her teacher (my older daughter had her as well), but my daughter just seems to be dialing it in. She does not have the passion and commitment she exhibited last year.

I am considering dual enrolling my daughter going forward (Homeschool and selected classes at the High School). This would mean that my daughter would not graduate from the public high school, but it would mean that she could focus on more important considerations without the other things which get in the way of learning. At the end of the day her college transcript is really all that matters (she wants to go to medical school). I don't think she got much out of English this year.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/02/12/pendleton-murder-suspect-violated-probation-3-times/


The two suspects charged by police for the shooting of Hadiya Pendleton both had criminal records and one of them was on probation at the time of Pendelton’s shooting, reports CBS 2′s Roseanne Tellez.

In fact, CBS 2 has learned he violated that probation three times before her killing.

18 year-old Michael Ward was put on probation after pleading guilty to a weapons charge in January of 2012, when he was still 17.


There is no computer somewhere sends out an alert when someone on probation gets arrested, but probation officers have the job of spotting violations by routinely checking arrest records.

The head of the probation department tells CBS 2′s Roseanne Tellez that archaic computers, big caseloads and fewer officers, make the job extremely challenging.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/convicted-of-killing-his-neighbor-trevor-dooley-talks-of-race-but-not/1262479

"In his own testimony, Dooley portrayed himself as the true victim, saying he fired only to save his life. After trial, Dooley, who is black, told reporters the whole case was racist. David James was white."

Interesting case of Stand Your Ground in Florida.

My daughter is doing a video project on what should be Obama's most important action as President. My belief is that it is securing more high paying jobs for Americans. In particular my daughter is going to focus on STEM (she is already doing a series of youtube broadcasts on STEM education in our state for her Broadcast Journalism class). In particular if encouraging STEM education is actually building a bridge to nowhere (or are our politicians pulling the rug out). Item number one being the lack of resistance to stapling Green Cards to PhD and even MS graduates in STEM.

Anyone have any thoughts?

A further 29% of steel is produced in Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF); much of the electricity used in this process is generated from coal-fired power stations.

About 150 kg of coal are required to produce 1 tonne of steel in Electric Arc Furnaces.

Does anyone know if their are any plans to open an EAF near a high wind resource area. Plenty of wind is available in the iron range of Michigan. Wind economics are difficult because of remote location to where the power will be consumed. Move the mountain to Mohammed and produce steel using wind power located near iron ranges. Dramatically reduce shipment of iron ore and coal. Avoid the burning of 150 kg of coal for every 1 tonne of steel.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge that may hurt Obama's second administration.