Risk and life…

Sometimes there is just not enough time for life.
Take last weekend’s Risk game for example.
Two of my teens and I started the game while Friday evening’s dinner was cooking.
We still played after dinner.
Then it was a movie…

Saturday we all slept in, then ran around a little… grocery store, etc.
And played Risk in between trips – it seemed every time I came back into the living room,
there they were – my teens, sitting at the Risk board… waiting for me.
and telling me “It’s your turn mom!”
In between laundry washing, dinner cooking, movie watching…. school work
“It’s your turn mom!”
Saturday came and went.

And then Sunday, there was the early service at church.
Then re-cooking leftovers, and then school work
“It’s your turn mom!”
After youth it was roasted chicken and fixings… and after dinner,
in the living room
laptop on my lap – reading the PDFs of my assigned weekly school readings….
“It’s your turn mom!”
Well, today is Tuesday – the game is still on the coffee table…
I’ve tried to loose – and I’m not loosing – although my son is certainly in a world domination role right now.
When I walk in from work it will be… “It’s your turn mom!”
and I suppose, again, after dinner it will be some more… “Its your turn mom!”

I am trying to be happy about this – it’s a good thing – my kids – who I think are wonderful…
must like me too!

Cymbalta and an untimely end

What follows is the true story of a friend’s daughter’s struggle. I have changed the names, to protect their privacy, but every other word is unchanged.

The story as her daddy told it at her memorial service.

Suzanne’s fight. . . . . . .. that others may live.

Words cannot express the deep sorrow when a beloved daughter is tragically taken from this world. We know without a shadow of a doubt that Suzanne — did not take her own life – the devil stole it. He stole it from her, from her daughter Megan, from her fiancé Scott, from her Mom and Dad, from her brothers and sister, from grandpa, from her friends and extended family.

Suzanne had been prescribed by her dermatologist a prescription which had side effects of depression and anxiety. It gave her horrendous headaches and loss of appetite as well. When she contacted her parents about the depression she was advised by them that if it makes you feel bad stop taking it. Practical advice any parent would give their child.

The acne problem she was battling was important to her to have cleared up so to fight the depression (most likely caused by the medication) she went to her family physician and was prescribed two additional medications. Both Klonapin and Cymbalta were prescribed. The side effects from the prescriptions drugs Suzanne was taking became increasingly unbearable.

Note that the warning on the literature of Cymbalta states:

These medications can help prevent suicidal thoughts/attempts, however, studies have shown that in a small number of people (especially in females ages 18 to 25) who take antidepressants for any condition may experience worsening depression other mental/mood disorders or suicidal thoughts or attempts.

The FDA has recently issued a new warning about the potential for suicidal thinking in adults taking antidepressants, but the agency specifically singled out Cymbalta (generic: duloxetine) because of a

higher than expected rate of suicide attempts in recent studies. The warning comes after a review of Cymbalta by Eli Lilly. It found that 11 of nearly 9,000 women taking it for urinary incontinence tried to commit suicide. The fact that these patients were suffering from urinary incontinence and not depression is significant because the drug companies have long argued that antidepressants are used by depressed people who have a higher likelihood of committing suicide.

One of the Klonapin warnings is that it could strongly enhance the effects of any other antidepressant when taken together. Another side effect was confusion – Suzanne’s brother Pat, the last person to talk to Suzanne, said that she was crying hysterically. Pat kept asking “Where are you”; and she kept saying, “I don’t know, I don’t know”. That was at 10:02 a.m. Monday morning, Sept 8th, 2008.

This was the last time anyone on earth heard her precious sweet voice.

Note the short chronology of this horrible tragedy. On Wednesday, September 4, 2008, Suzanne began taking Cymbalta in addition to the Klonpin. By 10 p.m. Sunday night on Sept 7, she had become extremely suicidal. And on Monday morning September 8, 2008, under the influence of these two antidepressants, Satan stole her from us.

Do not let this happen to anyone you know; we beseech you to warn your loved ones of the dangers of Cymbalta. This drug is put in the hands of family physicians; Suzanne was given handfuls of free samples. A drug that changes the chemistry of your brain should only be prescribed by those ualified to do so, with the patient under very careful observation.

Why are we telling you this heart wrenching story? One reason and one reason only – that God would use this precious life to save others. And we know He will ……..in fact he already has

Chiggers anyone???

What a pretty log cabin bed

& breakfast!!!

We stayed here recently while looking at land in Tennessee. Lovely weekend. Lovely land. It would be a wonderful place to retire, but, then on second thought, so is North Carolina, my adopted home state.

What brought us to Tennessee? A mailer. We responded to an ad about lake front lots for sale, called Jason and made our reservation for as early as possible, 3PM. The cheap lots (waterfront and beautiful for $29k) were all sold at 9AM. Our appointment was for 3PM… by then the only lots available were so tilted I wouldn’t want to build on them – and I’d be afraid to walk on them!!! One mis-step and you’d roll down the hill into the water!!!

Actually, there were 110 lots total, by 3PM, there were 80 sold. Many of the lots remaining were over $100k, one with spectacular views of both the lake and the Great Smoky Mountains – was listed for a mere $400k.

We had a great time though. The log cabin B&B was great, breakfast was delicious each morning. Sunday morning we met a Polish lady who happened to have that very B&B listed in her Polish travel guide! As our conversation continued I discovered that she is a travel journalist for National Geographic’s Traveler magazine (Polish version). What a GREAT job!

I got ate up by chiggers our last day in TN. Maybe I sat on a “nest” of the newly hatched critters. A short time later, the backs of my knees began to itch.

Back in school – let’s talk about assessment!

This class is about assessment. Our text is from the National Research Council, and it focuses pretty closely on assessment as related to public schooling. I’m trying to glean the nuggets from it so I can apply them in my corporate training world…

Let’s take a peek and see how it’s going.

This week’s topic:

There are three foundational elements that make up the assessment triangle. What roles do these three elements play in effective assessment? Are they related? If Yes, how and why? How important is the relationship of these three elements to effective assessment?

My response:

The three foundational elements of the assessment triangle are observation, interpretation, and cognition. Effective assessment in corporate training involves a blending of these elements with consideration for how adults learn rather then the focus on learning in childhood presented in the text.

The elements are related in that observation (of a service technician completing a task) is not possible until the service technician has successfully mastered the prerequisite knowledge upon which the skill rests (cognition). The trainer’s interpretation of the task success is the final leg of the assessment process.

Both formative assessment, evaluation as the course proceeds; and summative assessment, final exam confirming mastery of the topics presented; are critical to a successful delivery of a technical training program.

So, I guess I’ve addressed the topic, however I failed to do so with all the proper educator terminology. So, when I read a very well written, and as far as I can tell, accurate response which was full of the terminology I still wrestle with, I was obligated to post this response:

“…but sometimes, since I’m not educated as an educator, I have to stop and think about what each word means. When I do that, usually it means I have to read it through a few times. So I have, but then, it seems to me that anyone who was concerned about doing a good job teaching someone; anyone who wanted to be sure their student had ‘caught’ it, wouldn’t they do these things naturally?

“Wouldn’t they check for understanding (cognition) by asking if the student understands? And, upon receipt of an affirmative answer, ask a more probing question? And then for the observation, maybe after completing a show, and a do-it-together, having the student do it alone. Now, you’ve talked with the student (or done a paper test) and watched the student perform, so you ponder what you’ve seen, and decide how to adjust your teaching. That’s the intrepretation part.

“Am I missing something, or have I over simplified?”

I’d love to hear the viewpoint of other educators!!!

Captivate Master’s Week

We arrived in NYC on a 92+°F Sunday afternoon. I climbed the stairs out of the humid subway into the hot late afternoon sun, my laptop on my back, and strolled the 3 blocks to the hotel in a matter of minutes.

The group met at Lodestone‘s NYC office that evening for introductions prior to beginning our journey of Captivate discovery.

We depart, to various locals over the next several hours, wiser, and with our brains stretched a bit. I suppose, when the last one of us strolls out the door, the Lodestone staff will sink into a comfortable chair and nod off, they’ve worked so hard to ensure each of us had a captivating experience, I suspect exhaustion is setting in.

But, in between Sunday and now, we’ve studied the mysteries and marvels of Captivate 3, and enjoyed a special visit from Captain Captivate

Dream Dog

Lily has been so good. I’m very proud of her – and so very grateful!

Lily, "kicked back" in her crate

Lily Laser, retired racer

She won’t do her business in our yard – even though we prepared a place for her – her own sand box so to speak. But, that’s fine – it just means slightly longer walks. Unfortunately for her, we picked her up about 11 AM and she never went to the bathroom until about 8 PM that evening – when I took her for a walk around the block instead of out to her specially prepared area.
She’s loving her food and I think could easily eat, oh, 2 or 3 times what we’ve been feeding – 2 cups of Pro Plan for active dogs, 2x a day. Hopefully she’ll gain the 6 or so pounds she needs quickly. Everyone comments on how thin she is… so for now we say she’s underweight.

Retired Greyhounds

So one day recently as I walked to the other building to get my lunch from the cafeteria, there was a small crowd gathered around the entrance. In the midst of the crowd was a very composed, smallish, brindle colored greyhound. My co-worker and I stopped to pet it, commenting about how peaceful the dog seemed. As we turned to walk away it took a step or two as if to follow us, hesitantly wagging it’s tail.

That night at dinner I mentioned the experience to my family. My husband commented that greyhounds are one of the few dog breeds he might be prevailed upon to have as a pet. After dinner was cleaned up the laptops came out onto the kitchen table, and the web-surfing began. We read stories about adopted greyhounds, greys as affectionate owners call them. Looked up information about a grey’s racing life, general disposition, retirement activities, health, and life expectancy. We liked what we saw.

The next night we looked them up some more. Hubby found a dog who’s litter mates had gnawed off it’s tail, and told me about her. Sight unseen she tugged on my heart-strings.

The next morning I returned to a relatively local retired greyhound adoption site, and completed an application form. It was Friday.

Saturday morning, we got out of the car and stood around the parking lot waiting for 11:00AM opening time at Project Racing Home. We went inside where a volunteer’s pet greyhound was “draped” on the couch, dogs were completing their grooming in the back, and the old mommas were running in the pen just outside. Immediately I noticed that it didn’t stink like wet dogs – but there were several there. And, for the number of dogs present, they were quiet and well behaved.

We explained that we have no cats, our kids are teens, our yard is not fenced, and we have no other pets (Well, we do have gold fish, but figured the greys wouldn’t care about them!). So, a short list of greys was provided, and we headed back to the kennel area to look at them in their crates. Then we selected a few lucky ones to come outside and play with us. Ultimately we took two greys for a walk, they were great on a leash, and after a relatively short walk were glad to return to the kennel for a chance to cool off and have a drink.

We selected Lily, but could not take her home yet, as she must be spayed and have her vet visit first. Project Racing Home has a forum, I went to the forum and asked questions about greys, and within 12 hours had several reassuring replies, one from the farm where Lily had been most recently. On Saturday, when we pick her up we’ll receive her complete medical history – as well as her complete racing history. How exciting!
Tomorrow is the big day – we can’t wait! Will post again soon!

Mandated Curricula

This week’s question from my new class

How do mandated standards differ from place to place?  Should there be wide differences in standards?  Do you favor mandated standards or do you think each school and locality should be allowed to set its own standards?

My background is in the military and manufacturing, I am not educated as a teacher, so, I may be off base a bit – if so, please correct me! My understanding from the text is that we have national, state and local standards. In some cases there is general overlap of standards, and in some topic areas the standards may be weak or lacking. Based on what the text has said, it seems that all public school teachers are required to teach to meet a standard, and yet they’re not usually provided lesson plans. This could be cause for concern as an experienced teacher will have had time and experience to develop (good) plans, whereas a teacher straight from college will (likely) have lesser quality plans.

My experience has been when we moved to a neighboring county that the third graders were about 4 months ahead of my son, who freaked out the first day in his new school to discover they were already doing division, and he had just begun multiplication. Did it reflect on the younger teacher in his previous school, and the older more experienced teacher in the new one? Or, was it, as the new principle stated, a matter of demographics – we moved to an area of college educated parents who were more involved in their children’s education from a rural, farming area where many parents were not involved.

I think that standards serve a purpose in unifying education across our country. It makes sense to me that as a country we would seek certain goals to be attained through education, and thus the resulting standards. If localities had complete freedom to set their standards it could make the value of diplomas questionable. It could result in areas of the country developing significant changes in demographics and employment opportunities due to the available workforce. As a previous homeschooling mom I must comment that to a point homeschoolers operate outside the mandated standards, and I have seen some disastrous results – there are also some spectacular results.

…………………………………

Let’s confound the question with an issue currently being hotly debated in the Charlotte / Mecklenberg school system – separating schools by sex…

We already know that many girls – by mid-elementary school think that “girls can’t do math” and other such silly thoughts. What would happen if we forceably segragate by sexes in our schools?  for example, would girls loose the opportunity for ROTC, shop, metal working; and would guys loose the opportunity for home economics, and clerical training?

The rationale I’ve heard so far is it would enable students to focus on their schoolwork. Maybe. But would they be getting the “right” schoolwork? I’m glad my kids are not in that school district!

…………………………………..

Another thing. What about the varying needs for types of education in different areas of the country. For example, one region is very “high tech” and requires workers with a specific skill set, a different region is primarily agricultural and teaching students high tech stuff would be a “waste of time,” and a third region is very heavily skewed toward medicine and medical research and pharmaceutical development, yet another skill/knowledge set – provision must be made to adjust for the needs of society in educating the workers of tomorrow.

Recently there was a multitude of plant closings – leaving hundreds of people with low education and low skills unemployed. Everyone “celebrated” when a decision was made to locate a medical research facility on the grounds of the former mill. Who will work there? Not the high school drop-outs who make up a majority of the mill’s working population. New workers will have to be “imported” to the area to fill those positions. I believe local schools should have started a year ago adding to the curricula to enable local people to fill those positions, and that requires flexability which mandated education may not allow.

……………………………………

One final thought. Particularly because this country is a “melting pot” of sorts – and education still serves to some degree as an equalizer. If each area could do as it chose with regard to schooling, it would do little to further the goals of our nation. And, I suspect, federal funding for education would probably be impacted.

Second Life and the learning community

This is the content of a paper submitted for a grade. Comments GREATLY valued!

A Survey of Educational Application in Second Life’s Virtual World

In a recent keynote address delivered by Joe Miller of Linden Labs, creator of Second Life (SL), the appropriateness of using internet based virtual world environments for education was showcased. Second Life is a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), a virtual world accessible through the internet and free to all “residents.” Within SL a resident is represented by an avatar or 3D customizable character. Everything about the avatar is customizable, from gender and facial characteristics to clothing and accessories. Residents, through their avatar, can interact with others, make purchases, and create items such as clothing, cars, and buildings. Residents can purchase land, on which they can build a permanent presence, sub-letting business space or living quarters to other residents uninterested in purchasing land.

The Conference

So, I’m sitting there in meeting room 206 waiting for the speaker to arrive and begin. He’s not late, I’m early. My experience at the last conference he spoke at taught me to arrive early. I am very early.

As he walked into the room I pondered his lofty position of respect and honor – duly earned in 30+ years in the field of education and training, from the days of mainframes to web 2.0 and interactive elearning.  For just a moment I reflected upon the thought; “Someday, when I grow up, would I aspire to his position?”

Immediately upon pondering the thought, the memory of a recent HPI course and it’s practice and ramifications for operational success crossed my mind.

Ah, no! I thought. I do not want to be a highly revered elearning guru; the author of many books, speaker at multiple conferences, and owner of a highly respected e-learning development company. That wouldn’t contribute to society the way I want to. I want to discover the root causes of business problems, search for answers through mountains of data, and help management identify and implement programs and processes which would effectively address the problems. Why you ask? Because in doing so I would help industry within the US remain strong – and fight the global forces which are eroding  US business profitability and success. It is is perhaps my way of giving back.