Texans students deserve a high quality education, which are not getting at these times in Texas. Texas K throught 12th grade education is in a very bad condition and this has to change presently. I found a commentary of Charles Kuffner on the blog Off The Kuff that discuss new techniques for the education system in Texas. “The case of using social media in the schools” talks about the innovation of social media as a resource of innovation for teaching. The authors intended audience is teachers, students and teachers because they all are involved in the issue of better education in Texas. The author credibility is support by his higher education acquired from Trinity University in Texas. He works in the IT industry, currently as a BlackBerry administrator.
Apparently he is aware of how technology works around our times and how people are influenced by. He supports the use of social media in schools. In his commentary he introduces the new teaching program by giving a short summary of how the program started in Portland, Oregon by a middle school teacher Elizabeth Delmatoff. He states that after the program was implemented by the teacher in her classroom, they noticed a great improvement in that school. For example students were doing extra credit, students grades were up 50% and the school achieved the absence goal of the year. I believe these are great accomplishments that prove that probably social media would benefit the education system in Texas. The author also provides to the readers a link of the social media program that explains in details how the program works. For example the link provides samples of innovative teaching lessons for teachers. This program will charge teachers 4 dollars per month, which I believe is very affordable. He states that even though some teachers do not welcome this program, he believes that this type of program shouldn’t be ignored and instead teachers should try to fit social media into schools for the benefits of everyone.
I agree with Mr. Kuffner because one thing that Texas education needs is innovation. I worked as a counselor in an after-school program and I know that children learn very fast, and they learn even faster if is about technology. I remember that one of their favorite classes was computer class. We need to face the problems of education in Texas and implement innovative literacy in the classroom. I believe that if teacher incorporate this program a long with standard techniques of teaching, big advancement will be seen. This program will make teachers job more dynamic and it will make students learning more agreeable.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Governor Rick Perry's Best Contributors
Next month Texans will be electing a governor for the state of Texas. The candidates are the current Republican governor Rick Perry, who is running for re-election and his rival the Democrat Bill White. They have created impressive campaigns to win these elections and have spent a lot of money. I always wonder how they support their campaigns, especially Rick Perry who has been governor for the last 10 years. I found this interesting editorial commentary that talks about how the current governor Rick Perry has received substantial donations for his campaign from people he had appointed as regents for top Texas universities.
The author of this commentary is Michael Landauer, who is the assistant editorial page editor in The Dallas Morning News. His credibility is sustained by his work on the voices program since 2002 and his higher education acquired from Texas A&M University. His commentary “Rick Perry has amassed a financial army of appointees” is about Rick Perry’s political campaign capital. His intended audience is the general public because this information involves public Universities in Texas, which is significant for every Texan. Landauer argues that “$17 million has come from people appointed to boards of regents for our top universities”. He offers a link to the Texas Tribune which has a list of names of different regents of universities in Texas, which gives credibility to his argument. This list shows that “Texas A&M regents were Perry’s second source of appointee cash, $113,127 per appointee and where Wendy Lee, the Texas A&M regent, was the most-lucrative appointee”. “The University of Texas regents ranked fourth, with a contribution that averaged $83,463 each”.
Personally, this information surprised me because I did not know that the regents of these universities contribute these amounts of money. I think Mr. Landauer is trying to make a statement that Rick Perry chooses appointees that will be good contributors for his campaign. Based on this information we can assume that these appointees were very good donors because some were appointed multiple times. I agree with Mr. Landauer that it shows that the appointees supported Rick Perry in order to be appointed. I thought that in order to hold a position as a regent of a University was based on qualifications, and not on being good contributors to a political campaign. The author is not satisfied with the re-election of Rick Perry. He states:” if Jesus Christ himself were governor, I would not want him to serve more than 10 years because no one should be able to appoint all the members of the state’s important boards and commissions”. Mr. Landauer also states that even thought he has always voted for Rick Perry in past elections, now he is undecided because our current governor has been in office for too long. I agree with him, we need a new person that brings diversity to the state and gives appointments to people who are well qualified and understand the diversity of the state and brings innovation, and takes in a new direction.
The author of this commentary is Michael Landauer, who is the assistant editorial page editor in The Dallas Morning News. His credibility is sustained by his work on the voices program since 2002 and his higher education acquired from Texas A&M University. His commentary “Rick Perry has amassed a financial army of appointees” is about Rick Perry’s political campaign capital. His intended audience is the general public because this information involves public Universities in Texas, which is significant for every Texan. Landauer argues that “$17 million has come from people appointed to boards of regents for our top universities”. He offers a link to the Texas Tribune which has a list of names of different regents of universities in Texas, which gives credibility to his argument. This list shows that “Texas A&M regents were Perry’s second source of appointee cash, $113,127 per appointee and where Wendy Lee, the Texas A&M regent, was the most-lucrative appointee”. “The University of Texas regents ranked fourth, with a contribution that averaged $83,463 each”.
Personally, this information surprised me because I did not know that the regents of these universities contribute these amounts of money. I think Mr. Landauer is trying to make a statement that Rick Perry chooses appointees that will be good contributors for his campaign. Based on this information we can assume that these appointees were very good donors because some were appointed multiple times. I agree with Mr. Landauer that it shows that the appointees supported Rick Perry in order to be appointed. I thought that in order to hold a position as a regent of a University was based on qualifications, and not on being good contributors to a political campaign. The author is not satisfied with the re-election of Rick Perry. He states:” if Jesus Christ himself were governor, I would not want him to serve more than 10 years because no one should be able to appoint all the members of the state’s important boards and commissions”. Mr. Landauer also states that even thought he has always voted for Rick Perry in past elections, now he is undecided because our current governor has been in office for too long. I agree with him, we need a new person that brings diversity to the state and gives appointments to people who are well qualified and understand the diversity of the state and brings innovation, and takes in a new direction.
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