The Oh No Second

The LAUSD district choose to cancel the aeronautics elective school wide on a day that USA Today ran a cover story about the urgent need for up to 500,000 pilots globally in the next twenty years. There are at least two aeronautics programs citywide that have shown great success. John Burroughs Middle School teacher, Charlie Unkeless, was taking his students into the wild blue yonder before his class was cancelled leaving over 200 enthusiastic students grounded in their overcrowded classrooms. Unkeless taught aeronautics and computer technology to 7th and 8th graders at John Burroughs Middle School. He used Microsoft Flight Simulators hooked up with a Joystick and a classroom PC. A creative teacher who delivers content in unique ways, Unkeless has seen his Aviation class become one of the most popular elective courses offered at Burroughs. The past and present Principal at his school both supported his methodology. New rules put in place recently by the district will not allow the ...

Charlie Unkeless John Burroughs Middle School Technology Lab and Aeronautics Instructor Press Release Two weeks ago I received a Pink Slip along with 4500 other teachers in the LAUSD. I'm told that even if my RIF is rescinded, I won't be allowed back into the computer lab because the Principal will no longer be able to authorize my ability to teach technology. My credential is multi subject k-8, and I am deemed unqualified to teach a technology class. A Little History In 2003 I was recruited to teaching by the LAUSD District Intern Program. This program offered me a chance to become fully credentialed after a three year internship. LAUSD was recruiting professionals who wanted to bring their life experiences into the classroom. I had been a lighting designer for Oingo Boingo, led by Danny Elfman, for 20 years before he disbanded the group. I also worked as a lighting designer and operator for other artists including Barry Manilow, INXS, Debbie Gibson, and radio station ...

The fabulous Bill McHenry take a great solo at the concert Friday night, August 6.

Michael E. Goss, software engineer for Google, demonstrating Building Maker at the Sigraph show in Los Angeles July 27. Howdy, Charlie Reporting from the Sigraph show in Los Angeles this week. Picasa Gallery from Sigraph Sigraph is the yearly compendium of everything in visual computing including scientific, game, and special effects graphics. It was held in Los Angeles this year, only a couple of miles from my house. I could only wander the show for a day but Google had a booth. I met Michael Goss, software engineer for Google, who demonstrated,"Building Maker." What fun my 7th and 8th graders are going to have constructing buildings in Los Angeles. The area in which sets of oblique photos allow for the wrapping of geometry matches where most of my kids live. There are many other cities where the oblique views allow construction using the simple and intuitive tools Google has provided. Bravo! Check out Google's building maker: http://sketchup.google.com/ 3dwarehou...

Rain curtains over the North Rim of the Grand Canyon shimmer and undulate with the afternoon light.

John Burroughs Middle School celebrated the Inaguration of our new American President, Barack Obama, in a festive mood during a 1st period assembly.

The aquarium album Her life was lived in the dimension of 48 inches by 18 inches by 15 inches, the confines of a 60 gallon aquarium. I purchased her in 1989 to grace my new salt water tank along with a rose anemone. In the intervening 19 years, she grew, and along with her, my rose anemone cloned itself into 28 separate beings. I learned a few years ago that these so called Clown Fish, ( Premnas biaculeatus ), could breed in captivity so I bought her a companion. She was too old by that time to reproduce but they were compatible. Also known as the spine cheeked anemone fish, these fascinating animals are immune from the sting of the rose colored anemone and wiggle, writhe, and finally relax as they sleep inside their hosts. One day I saw the anemone seem to tear itself asunder and there were two complete animals. Astonished, I consulted every aquarium book I could muster and learned that they clone themselves into colonies that dominate rock shelves in the Indo -Pacific ocean. I have ...

I suppose it was fortunate that I was teaching aeronautics to middle school kids when a teachable moment arrived with the quick thinking and heroic actions of a veteran pilot. New Yorkers have been in the midst of a funk about the collapse of the financial industry and the tales of scurrilous advisers who sank their portfolios, so it was good that they could rejoice in a momentary miracle. Captain Sullenberg's great skill and experience along with fate allowed him to ditch his airplane in the Hudson River. As it happened, two ferries, engines running and ready to go, plucked the 155 survivors off the wings of that sinking airplane, and the captain, checking the aisles one last time was the last to leave the ship. We all need teachable moments. My students, needing a way to understand how valuable their skills could be in a time of crisis, saw how good judgment and experience could avert a terrible disaster. Flying a plane is challenging and you may only have a short time to rea...

D ear School Board and concerned citizens, I want to address my concerns about the way the Microsoft settlement has been handled by our school district. A little over one y ear ago, I entered my new middle school classroom and beheld 40 Windows 98 desktops purchased in 1999.    I had been teaching 6th grade math and science the previous four years using multiple strategies including technology to further students' understanding of Earth Science.    I wrote a proposal to teach an aeronautics unit as a full elective, and California's State Assembly awarded me a small grant to buy computers, flight yokes, software, and books.    I subsequently agreed to teach technology full time, not quite aware of how poorly my room was equipped.   I began teaching one class in Aeronautics and four crowded classes of Introduction to Computers to 7th and 8th grade students in the Fall of 2007.  I managed to replace seventeen of the Windows 98 desktops by the end of December 2007, but struggled wi...

Work is Great! There is just too darn much of it. I reflect upon this thought while relaxing during my summer break. I am blissfully able to sleep late, indulge myself in idle pursuit, and follow my muse for a few weeks before I start the new semester. To be sure, I love teaching but it strikes me that there is never a good balance between the demands placed upon us and the time we need just to be ourselves. The last year seemed like a whirl of events, deadlines, grading, meetings, and filling out forms. Stop the merry-go-round, I wanna get off. Thankfully, we have summer break and I feel renewed or will after I spend some weeks camping in the wild of Colorado and resetting my internal safety valve.

Link to Picasa Web Albums I went out last week during a nearly full moon to photograph the backside of Downtown Los Angeles. Accompanying me were two Italian friends, Dario and Federico. We used tripods to steady the cameras and long exposures to capture the light which is why some of the exposures look like, "Day for Night."

My 6th grade class ended their school year today. We viewed Spy Kids 3-D with anaglyphic glasses during which we all consumed far too much sugar and salt. Next year I will supply more fruit and veggies. Letting the kids provide lunch was a bit of a mistake. After wreaking havoc, signing each other’s yearbooks, and playing games, we cleaned the classroom. I sat them down and quieted them for the last five minutes of the school year. I spoke quietly to them about what the year had meant. “This is your last moment as sixth graders. My doors are now a time portal through which you will pass into the future. Think about how you came here and what you have accomplished and reflect on its’ meaning to you. This room and your place in it will never be the same again.” All this was delivered while the overture from Scheherazade played through I-Tunes. Their eyes got wide and we all looked at each other and I felt they had understood what I meant. I must admit that I was a little...

I have come to the end of my class on the Read/Write web. We've covered a lot of topics in the last six weeks and I feel that I have barely scrached the surface. Everywhere I turn there is another curve or whirl that draws me hither or yon. I don't mind though. It is like the surface of my desk at school. It looks a mess but I can usually find what I'm looking for. I am excited about the possibilities of merging my math, science, and elective curriculum with new media tools. They offer greater possibilites for content, exploration, and expression for both my students and myself. I have enjoyed publishing a web page , blog, and several groups . I subscribed to a social network , news aggregator , and several other organizations that can assist me with content, grants, and other help. Will I continue to blog. You bet!!!

Parsing the knowledge Here we see proof of ancient technology at work as a young Greek girl shows her mother how to use a laptop. Of course the operating system was different but the tools were the same.

Page Museum Field Trip and Study June 4, 2007 Final Questions Subject - Biodiversity, habitat destruction, resource use and global warming 1. What kinds of changes were taking place in North America as the Ice Age was ending? 2. What were the causes of extinction in southern California during the last Ice Age? How were the Ice Age extinctions different from what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago? 3. How does our use of petroleum known as fossil fuel affect our environment? 4. How would global warming affect the survival of species alive today? How would humans be affected?

Our research from the field trip is almost done. The kids are editing a variety of documents and I expect to finish next week. I have uploaded the files from student's cameras and posted the photos at our Picasaweb site. Some of their group writing work is on posted on unkelwiki Other students are using power point or word documents to edit and we will make them available at the Classroom group. I have not been able to get them all G-mail accounts yet. One enterprising group has recorded a podcast This is really fun for them and I wish you could see my class. They are on fire.

Wow, that was a tough crowd. I wanna be someplace else Chang Lee, one of my colleagues, and I presented a development meeting about using Google search, docs, and spreadsheets. We started with a video about a 16th century gentlemen who is having trouble operating a book and calls the help desk. Introducing the book Some teachers continued to grade papers and talk while others just sat stone faced during the film. I got more laughs from my 6th graders who viewed this video. There were some teachers of course who were engaged and joined the John Burroughs group. The group, Burroughs-ms , will help to assist teachers implement technology and establish a culture of collaboration. Chang talked about the use of Docs. We both emphasized the variety and flexibility of the tools, they are no cost to students or faculty, and posed some ideas on how to connect content and rigor to these programs. I also started a classroom group for my students and they were very excited. My Classroom This is...

Marcia Tate, according to my notes, once said that professional development meetings are like flocks of seagulls. Presenters fly in, drop a load, and leave. Look out! Ms. Tate is the famous teacher and development specialist who contrary to her metaphor, provided one of the most inspiring workshops in my recent teacher training. Developing Minds I am scheduled to deliver PD's in the coming weeks and I want to make a positive impact with the tools I am learning. My real challenge is to make the tools work for me and figure out how to teach others to take and adapt what works for them More to follow.