The Best Paragraph I've Read:

When the brain encounters information, especially during the act of reading and learning, it's searching for and making connections to what is personally relevant and meaningful.  What is relevant and meaningful to an individual is based on his or her cultural frame of reference.  Finding cultural relevance and personal connections give us perspective, engages our attention, and assists us in interpreting and inferring meaning, enabling the depth of understanding and interest needed for what are considered acts of high intellectual processing such as conceptualizing, reasoning, or theorizing.

Unfortunately, teachers are too often unaware of the fact that the connections they choose to assist students in understanding concepts being taught are in fact "cultural," reflective of the lived, familiar experiences of students who are not students of color, leaving students of color in a state of disconnect, and often a deep sense of frustration.  As much as they search to find the relevance that would enable them to be engaged and make meaning, they are unable, so their innate ability for high levels of cognitive processing is inhibited... ... ...

Cultural responsiveness is not a practice; it's what informs our practice so we can make better teaching choices for eliciting, engaging, motivating, supporting, and expanding the intellectual capacity of ALL our students.  

These paragraphs comes from the book Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain.  The book is written by Zaretta Hammond.  You can find the book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Culturally-Responsive-Teaching-Brain-Linguistically/dp/1483308014/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=culturally+responsive+teaching+and+the+brain&qid=1646875792&sprefix=culturally%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1

Diversity Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Michelle Cureton joins Zac and Don.  They discuss some of the key ideas in Ms. Hammond's book including what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher.  

If you have questions or would like to contact Michelle here is her email address:

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

A fighter plane equipped with artificial intelligence could eventually execute tighter turns, take greater risks, and get off better shots than human pilots. But the objective of the ace program is to transform a pilot’s role, not to remove it entirely. As darpa envisions it, the A.I. will fly the plane in partnership with the pilot, who will remain “in the loop,” monitoring what the A.I. is doing and intervening when necessary. According to the agency’s Strategic Technology Office, a fighter jet with autonomous features will allow pilots to become “battle managers,” directing squads of unmanned aircraft “like a football coach who chooses team members and then positions them on the field to run plays.”

This paragraph comes from the New Yorker in an article titled: "The Rise of A.I. Fighter Pilots."  The article is written by Sue Halpern.  You can read the article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/the-rise-of-ai-fighter-pilots

Zac and Don talk about the challenge of getting humans pilots to trust the A.I. that is learning to fly their planes.  They also talk about the concept of A.I. in war and if humans should always have the final say in "kill" or "no kill" decisions.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

State Rep. Norlin Mommsen's bill would require cameras to be installed in all public school classrooms that are not being used for special education or gym. Parents or legal guardians would be given access to live feeds, which they could access while school is in session. School districts would be required to pay to set up and maintain the cameras.

Mommsen told The Center Square, a news offshoot of the conservative Franklin Foundation, that teachers should welcome his legislation, arguing that the effort would "showcase the great work our teachers do," while holding schools and teachers accountable. He compared the classroom surveillance to police body cameras, which law enforcement agencies across the country have increasingly adopted in the wake of high profile police killings of Black people.

"Similar to a body camera on a policeman, a camera takes away the 'he said, she said' or 'he said, he said,' type argument and lets them know 'hey, we are doing a good job.' It takes that argument away."

This article comes from yahoo.com.  The article title is: "Iowa Republican wants cameras in public school classrooms so parents can monitor teachers 'similar to body camera on a policeman.'  The article is written by Brent D. Griffiths and Nicole Gaudiano.  You can read the full article here:

https://news.yahoo.com/iowa-republican-wants-cameras-public-203413352.html

Zac and Don discuss three recent education legislative proposals.  They discuss the merits of cameras in classrooms, teacher retention bonuses, and a mandate for schools to offer a personal finance course.

You can read about the other two legislative proposals here:

Teacher Retention Bonuses (Detroit News)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/02/06/teacher-staff-retention-bonuses-michigan-whitmer/49771831/

Mandatory High School Personal Finance Course (Detroit Free Press)

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2022/01/01/high-school-curriculum-financial-skills-money-management/9059586002/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

The star of the show was the F-150 Lightning—an electric version of the pickup that belongs to the best-selling vehicle line of any kind in the U.S. since the early nineteen-eighties. In a good year, Ford sells on average nine hundred thousand gas-powered F-series trucks, and earns about forty billion dollars annually from the line.

The Lightning, together with the Mach-E, and an electric Ford Transit, its cargo van, collectively represent the hundred-and-eighteen-year-old automaker’s best and perhaps last chance to catch up with Elon Musk and Tesla, the dominant company in E.V. sales. (Tesla delivered close to a million electric vehicles worldwide in 2021; Ford dealers sold only about forty-three thousand E.V.s globally last year.) When Ford’s electric truck goes on sale this spring, the future of mobility will meet America’s favorite ride—a momentous encounter not only for Ford but for all of us, whether we drive, bike, or walk. The future of the planet, and of human life on it, may depend on how rapidly the auto industry can reduce tailpipe emissions.

This article comes from the New Yorker.  The article is titled: "America's Favorite Pickup Truck Goes Electric."  The article is written by John Seabrook.  You can read the full article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/americas-favorite-pickup-truck-goes-electric

Zac and Don discuss the question, which company is making the best investment - The Ford Motor Company with it's new electric truck?  Or The McCormick Spice company and its recent purchases of popular hot sauce brands?  Both of these iconic companies have been around for a century.  Zac and Don wonder if each can last another 100 years.

The following article on McCormick's purchases of hot sauce brands can be read here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-mccormick-franks-cholula-hot-sauce-supremacy/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Semmelweis Reflex: People tend to reject evidence that doesn’t fit the established worldview. Named for Ignaz Semmelweis, a surgeon who, before the discovery of germs, claimed washing hands could help prevent patient infections. He was ridiculed and locked away in a mental asylum

Planck’s Principle: “Science progresses one funeral at a time.” Scientists, being human, don’t easily change their views, so science advances not when scientists win or lose arguments, but when they die so that younger scientists with more refined views can take their place.

Bias Against Null Results: Studies that find something surprising are more interesting than studies that don’t, so they’re more likely to be published. This creates the impression the world is more surprising than it actually is. Also applies to news, Twitter.

p-hacking: “If you torture the data for long enough, it’ll confess to anything.” Academics get around the Bias Against Null Results by performing many statistical tests on data until a significant result is found then recording only this. p-hacking is largely why we have a…

Replication Crisis: A large proportion of scientific findings have been found to be impossible to replicate, with successive tests often yielding wildly different results. Too many studies are bunk to take any of them at face value.

Luxury Beliefs: Cultural elites often adopt views that signal status for them but hurt the less fortunate. E.g. Those who claim that concern about Islamism is Islamophobic appear open-minded but in fact dismiss the (usually Muslim) victims of such extremism. h/t: @robkhenderson

Bulverism: Instead of assessing what a debate opponent has said on its own merits, we assume they’re wrong and then try to retroactively justify our assumption, usually by appealing to the person’s character or motives. Explains 99% of Twitter debates.

Scout Mindset: We tend to approach discourse with a “soldier mindset”; an intention to defend our own beliefs and defeat opponents’. A more useful approach is to adopt a “scout mindset”; an intention to explore and gather information. h/t: @JuliaGalef

Operation Mindfuck: A conspiracy theory that can protect you from conspiracy theories. The Operation is being conducted by persons unknown, and is a plot to make you believe lies. Whenever you receive information, ask yourself, is this part of Operation Mindfuck?

Hitchens’ Razor: What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. If you make a claim, it’s up to you to prove it, not to me to disprove it.

Decision Fatigue: The more decisions you make in a day, the worse your decisions get, so rid your life of trivial choices. Steve Jobs, Barack Obama & Mark Zuckerberg have been known to wear only 1 or 2 outfits to work so they don’t have to choose each day.

Cumulative Culture: Humanity’s success is due not to our individual IQs but to our culture, which stockpiles our best ideas for posterity so they compound across generations. The ideas we adopt from society are often far older than us, and far wiser.

These concepts come from the website: www.nextbigwhat.com.  They are written by Gurwinder Bhogal.  You can read the author's full list of concepts here:

https://nextbigwhat.com/40-concepts-that-you-will-enrich-your-knowledge/

Zac and Don discuss twelve more of the 40 concepts that will enrich your knowledge.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

YEARS AGO, I asked a friend what kind of case she planned to buy for her shiny new flip phone. She paused, a little offended. “I don't like to buy stuff for my stuff,” she said. Those words drilled directly into my hippocampus, never to depart. She's right! I thought. Don't buy stuff stuff! So simple! ... ... ...  The problem is that certain kinds of stuff simply attract more stuff. The home is an obvious one: It craves sofas, sweaters, buffet cabinets, chandeliers. Computers are another; they grow USB tendrils. Smartphones beget earbuds, cloud backups, and music service subscriptions.

This paragraph comes from an essay in Wired Magazine by Paul Ford.  The essay is titled: "A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff."  You can read the article here:

https://www.wired.com/story/a-grand-unified-theory-of-buying-stuff/

Zac and Don talk about the idea of Stuff's Stuff.  They talk about all of their stuff's stuff and wonder if this is a reason for many of the human caused problems in the world.  At the same time they wonder if Stuff's Stuff represents why life is so great for people - so many cheap items that can be thrown away after one use!  They also debate the merits of Mr. Ford's theory on stuff and how it can be a mask that hides actual mastery.  Finally, they wonder if education is a place that can get blinded by stuff's stuff instead of learning.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"The way it works is a little like a crypto-infused and lawsuit-focused GoFundMe, if the crowd stood to profit from their investment. The company takes advantage of a rule created through former President Barack Obama’s JOBS Act, which allowed a private company to crowdfund up to $5 million from Americans, regardless of their wealth. Using the Avalanche blockchain, Ryval will allow “all investors regardless of accreditation status” to purchase tokens associated with a specific case and then hold or trade them on the open market. Whoever owns the token at the time of a settlement or verdict then cashes in."

This paragraph comes from www.vice.com.  The article is titled: "Tech Startup Wants To Gamify Suing People Using Crypto Tokens."  The article is written by Maxwell Strachan.  You can read the article here:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7d7x3/tech-startup-wants-to-gamify-the-us-court-system-using-crypto-tokens

Zac and Don discuss whether crypto crowdfunded lawsuits are a win for the average person or just an excuse to increase frivolous lawsuits.  They also talk about the increasing use of crypto currencies in developing nations and the people who are earning a minimum wage by playing crypto video games.  Finally, they wonder if crypto could have a role in education and student achievement.

The following articles are also referenced in the discussion:

Wired.com: We All Need to Stop Only Seeing the Dark Side of Crypto

https://www.wired.com/story/crypto-remittances-cuba/

Wired.com: The Escapist Fantasy of NFT Games Is Capitalism

https://www.wired.com/story/escapist-fantasy-of-nft-games-is-capitalism/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Our bedtimes were filled with stories: “Guess How Much I Love You.” “The Day the Crayons Quit.” “Ramona Quimby, Age 8.” “Madeline.”

Now she is 11 and more interested in TikTok than in 12 little girls in two straight lines who lived in a house that was covered in vines.

And while she certainly can read, she really doesn’t like to.

As someone who comes from a family of educators and writers, this is painful for me. To my regret, reading has become one of our most reliable points of friction. (The other two: sugar consumption and screen time.)

“Just read for 20 minutes a day,” I plead.

“I don’t want to,” she replies.

“You have to,” I say.

“Or what?” she asks.

What I want to say: “Or you will never make it in school! You will never go to college! You will work a minimum-wage job your whole life!”

What I actually say: “Or I will take your iPad away.”

“Well, then,” she replies, “how about if I read on my iPad?”

Touché.

This exchange comes from an editorial in the Los Angeles Times.  The editorial is titled: "Does it really matter if our kids refuse to pick up a book?"  The author is Robin Abcarian.  You can read the full editorial here:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-02/kids-who-will-not-read  

Zac and Don talk about whether it is important for kids to read.  They reflect upon the reading habits of their children.  They also reflect on how technology has changed their own reading habits.  They wonder if maybe reading for pleasure is overrated?  Or is it just nice to hear someone else say reading is overrated?

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Michigan was part of a wave of states that implemented teacher accountability measures, based on the studies that showed students learned more when they were in classrooms with highly effective teachers. Before the reforms, determining which teachers were superstars was nearly impossible, because virtually all teachers were rated as effective. Having a four-category rating system was seen as a way to allow schools — and families —  to distinguish the great teachers from the average ones.

“It was seen as a potential reform that could make a big difference and improve equitable outcomes,” said Lenhoff, the Wayne State professor. “It was bipartisan, and had broad support from the education advocacy community.”

A December Brown University study, though, found the reform didn’t work, either in Michigan or most other states that implemented similar laws. That study found that, while there were exceptions, on average, teacher evaluations tied to student test scores did not increase learning.

This paragraph comes from an article on the website www.bridgemi.com.  The article is titled: "10 years of strict teacher evaluations haven't boosted learning in Michigan."  The article is written by Ron French.  You can read the article here:

https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/10-years-strict-teacher-evaluations-havent-boosted-learning-michigan  

Zac and Don are joined by Dr. Amanda Mckay, education administrator, and member of the Creative Design Education Group.  The three discuss the effectiveness of the teacher evaluation system used in schools.  They talk about why the system may not be working and if there are better models that schools could be using.  They discuss whether teachers are more magicians than technology.  They also wonder if the right incentives are in place for both teachers and students.

You can connect with Dr. Mckay and the Creative Design Education Group Here:

https://www.designeducationgroup.net/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Bitcoin is also easy to lose. Conventional money comes full of safeguards: paper currency is distinctively colored and has a unique feel; centuries of design have gone into folding wallets and zippered purses. And once your money is deposited in a bank you have a record of what you own. If you lose your statement, the bank will send you another. Forget your online password and you can reset it.

The sixty-four-character private key for your bitcoin looks like any other computer rune and is nearly impossible to memorize. It can also be difficult to remember where you have stored the key. On Reddit, one user, writing in 2019, complained that he had lost ten thousand bitcoins because his mother had thrown out his old laptop. Another early crypto user was irritated by a clicking sound on his hard drive and unthinkingly tossed it out. It contained a file with access to fourteen hundred bitcoins, which he had bought for twenty-five dollars.

From the start, users debated whether it was a feature or a bug of the system that bitcoin was so easy to lose. In a 2010 post to an online forum, a newbie named virtualcoin complained that bitcoin seemed risky. “If somebody’s losing his wallet (e.g. due to disk crash) he’s not able to get back his coins, is he?” the poster wrote. “They’re lost forever?” A more experienced owner named Laszlo Hanyecz, a Web developer in Florida, asked what the big deal was—people lose their wallets in the ocean, and “it’s really not that significant.” Nakamoto weighed in a few hours later, and he was unapologetic: “Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more.”

This paragraph comes from the New Yorker in an article titled: "Half A Billion In Bitcoin, Lost In The Dump."  The article is written by D. T. Max.  You can read the article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/half-a-billion-in-bitcoin-lost-in-the-dump

Zac and Don discuss the question of "Which treasure will we see first?"  Will it be the bitcoin password buried in a garbage dump?  JP Morgan's Pocket watch?  Gold from the San Jose Shipwreck?

Zac and Don also discuss these articles and video clip:

JP Morgan Watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi1hp3vKkMo 

San Jose Shipwreck

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190908-a-shipwreck-worth-billions-off-the-coast-of-cartagena

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/545416/take-closer-look-cargo-billion-dollar-san-jose-shipwreck