November 27th, 2009 by admin

With Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, what better time to reflect upon the positive influences and relationships in our lives? Here at CSEE, we’d like to highlight the importance of school connectedness and continued efforts to build school-family-community partnerships.
As described in this publication released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) earlier this year, protective factors like supportive relationships with peers and adults may act as buffers for students against violent behavior and emotional distress. Research has shown that these protective factors improve school attendance, keep students in school longer, and produce higher classroom test scores.
CSEE’s next newsletter, due out in December, focuses entirely on helping schools and districts improve connectedness and engagement. With case studies, practical tips and a wealth of insight from educators in action, this issue is designed to help school leaders promote positive identification with school life and to encourage broad participation in all facets of school life among all members of the school community.
One resource we’re excited to share with you is the DOE’s 5-day practical guide to better understanding connectedness. The guide contains specific tips for helping kids through transition grades, background on why connectedness matters and background on effective promotion and prevention projects. Here are 10 general tips administrators can heed for fostering overall connection to the school:

Brainstorm with students, faculty, staff, and parents simple changes that could make school a more pleasant place to be.
Create policies that are based on student, family, and neighborhood strengths and assets.
Turn mistakes into learning opportunities, rather than failures meriting punishment.
Acknowledge and honor accomplishments and all types of competencies, such as helpfulness, good citizenship, most improved performance, volunteerism, participation in decision making, and cessation of negative behavior.
Set high standards and challenge students to meet them.
Reinforce explicit expectations for positive behavior and academic success.
Encourage highly interactive teaching strategies.
Create a welcoming environment for all who come to the school.
Invite family and community members to take active and regular roles in the daily operation of the school.
Create a common vision of success, and keep it simple.

Getting more specific, what are the strategies and practices that have helped your school improve engagement among students, staff or parents? Share with other educators in the comments below.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss our next issue exclusively about improving school connectedness. For more information about connectedness and school climate, visit our website here, or check out this past issue (PDF) of our newsletter, which focuses on engaging disaffected youth, one facet of improving connectedness.With Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, what better time to reflect upon the positive influences and relationships in our lives? Here at CSEE, we’d like to highlight the importance of school connectedness and continued efforts to build school-family-community partnerships.
As described in this publication released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) earlier this year, protective factors like supportive relationships with peers and adults may act as buffers for students against violent behavior and emotional distress. Research has shown that these protective factors improve school attendance, keep students in school longer, and produce higher classroom test scores.
CSEE’s next newsletter, due out in December, focuses entirely on helping schools and districts improve connectedness and engagement. With case studies, practical tips and a wealth of insight from educators in action, this issue is designed to help school leaders promote positive identification with school life and to encourage broad participation in all facets of school life among all members of the school community.
One resource we’re excited to share with you is the DOE’s 5-day practical guide to better understanding connectedness. The guide contains specific tips for helping kids through transition grades, background on why connectedness matters and background on effective promotion and prevention projects. Here are 10 general tips administrators can heed for fostering overall connection to the school:

Brainstorm with students, faculty, staff, and parents simple changes that could make school a more pleasant place to be.
Create policies that are based on student, family, and neighborhood strengths and assets.
Turn mistakes into learning opportunities, rather than failures meriting punishment.
Acknowledge and honor accomplishments and all types of competencies, such as helpfulness, good citizenship, most improved performance, volunteerism, participation in decision making, and cessation of negative behavior.
Set high standards and challenge students to meet them.
Reinforce explicit expectations for positive behavior and academic success.
Encourage highly interactive teaching strategies.
Create a welcoming environment for all who come to the school.
Invite family and community members to take active and regular roles in the daily operation of the school.
Create a common vision of success, and keep it simple.

Getting more specific, what are the strategies and practices that have helped your school improve engagement among students, staff or parents? Share with other educators in the comments below.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss our next issue exclusively about improving school connectedness. For more information about connectedness and school climate, visit our website here, or check out this past issue (PDF) of our newsletter, which focuses on engaging disaffected youth, one facet of improving connectedness.

November 27th, 2009 by admin

Now when you make a donation of $20 to BullyBust.org, not only will you be helping schools-in-need get support to prevent violence and reduce bullying, but you’ll also receive your own Stand Up to Bullying bottle cap necklace. 
Wear this necklace to support the cause and demonstrate that you STAND UP to bullying and cruel behavior that’s forcing so many students to suffer in silence. First worn by Sammi Hanratty at the BullyBust Bloomingdales event this fall, this necklace has been gaining traction by students who want to show their commitment to being an “upstander,” rather than a passive bystander to bullying and harassment. In addition, BullyBust ambassador, Allie Costa, actually helped design this necklace. Her creativity and commitment to the BullyBust cause is truly an inspiration to all of us.
And as usual, when you donate $40 or more, you’ll receive an exclusive STAND UP t-shirt by fashion designer Boy Meets Girl®.
So donate today and STAND UP in Style!
Now when you make a donation of $20 to BullyBust.org, not only will you be helping schools-in-need get support to prevent violence and reduce bullying, but you’ll also receive your own Stand Up to Bullying bottle cap necklace. 
Wear this necklace to support the cause and demonstrate that you STAND UP to bullying and cruel behavior that’s forcing so many students to suffer in silence. First worn by Sammi Hanratty at the BullyBust Bloomingdales event this fall, this necklace has been gaining traction by students who want to show their commitment to being an “upstander,” rather than a passive bystander to bullying and harassment. In addition, BullyBust ambassador, Allie Costa, actually helped design this necklace. Her creativity and commitment to the BullyBust cause is truly an inspiration to all of us.
And as usual, when you donate $40 or more, you’ll receive an exclusive STAND UP t-shirt by fashion designer Boy Meets Girl®.
So donate today and STAND UP in Style!

November 25th, 2009 by admin

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the winner of the Pajama School Promo Video contest! I am so grateful for the time and work that went into each of the submissions, and pray that the experience was a blessing to all involved. But, without further ado, the winner of a free family pass to the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is…

Jeremiah Warren, producer of Video #2!

You all have seen his excellent work; now you get a chance to “meet” him! Jeremiah joins me today on the Pajama School Blog for a brief interview:

When did you first become interested in video production? What contributed to that interest?
I was around 13 years old when I saw a short film, created by a family that I know, and they submitted it to the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. I had no idea that there was so much available to “normal” people in the area of equipment and software to create media of such high quality. That’s what led me into creating short films with a friend of mine. We started with fun little skits – nothing very professional, and most were rather silly. I eventually segued into what I am doing now.

Do you have a homeschooling background? How did that contribute to what you are doing now?
I’ve been homeschooled since day one. I’ve never been in an environment with people who said I wasn’t good enough, or could not do this or that, unlike what is often experienced in a public or private school environment. Due to that fact, I do not have a lack of self worth or feel like I can’t accomplish a task.

If it wasn’t for being homeschooled and raised the way I was by my parents, I would not be where I am today. I’m so grateful to my parents for the sacrifices they made and the hardships they went through in raising me to be the way I am today.

What are some steps you’ve taken to develop the art of video production?
I would check out 4 or 5 books at a time at our local library on filmmaking, or on the software and tools I owned. I’ve also watched and read many tutorials online, which have really helped me learn one of the main programs I am currently using. I also spoke with many people who knew more than me, always asking them questions about what I wanted to know.

What other video projects have you worked on?
I filmed all the behind the scenes video on The Widow’s Might, produced by HeuMoore Productions. I also had a small role in the movie as the guy who mumbles and stumbles over his lines while auditioning for the role of the cowboy.  I have been privileged to work with two business owners and one ministry in putting together promotional commercials.  There are some other feature films that I hope to work on, but nothing official right now.

What are some of your other interests besides filmmaking?
I’ve always loved reading, mostly historical books. I have an interest in computers, and even considered going into IT work, but gave that up after I was in an IT department during one summer. I’m very interested in social networking and marketing, along with promotion and advertising.

Are you open to producing book trailers for other authors? How should they contact you for more information?
In short, yes, but it depends on my schedule, what other projects I am working on, and what the book is about. They can contact me through my website at www.JeremiahJW.com. More of my work they can be viewed on my YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/JeremiahJW. I update it regularly with new videos.

Any words of advice for aspiring filmmakers?
You don’t need a $5,000 camcorder to make something good. Start where you are now, and learn by using what you have. It’s not about using the highest quality or most expensive gear, but how well you can use it.

November 21st, 2009 by admin

On Wednesday evenings, we have a movie night at our house and the rest of the family lets me choose a video for all of us to watch together. I have collected several sets of documentaries and lectures and we’ve enjoyed watching and learning from them over the past several years. When I recently came across the documentary To Be One, I was excited about the opportunity to view and review it. It arrived Wednesday afternoon – just in time to make it the selection for this week!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a documentary highlighting the path to marriage for three couples. There are so many different views on dating, courtship, betrothal, etc., so I was prepared for a reiteration of various principles and teachings that I’ve heard over the years advocating for a specific approach or set of rules to follow. I was pleasantly surprised to find that that’s exactly what this video isn’t. Having experienced close-up the courtship of one of my sisters (a story that I share in my book), I echo the truth that God deals with relationships on a personal level, not according to some set formula. It’s important that we don’t become attached to extra-biblical ideas and expectations, but instead trust that God will work according to His purposes in our lives and relationships.

To Be One does an excellent job of emphasizing the centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ and the importance of earnestly seeking Him to guide each of us in matters involving relationships (just as in all else). Each of the three couples that were featured (Jeff and Ashley Baird, Timothy and Brittany Lindvall, and Max and Jenny Parish), along with their parents, shared the very different approaches that ultimately led them to marriage. They each shared specific ways that the Lord led them, making His will clear to them so that they were able to proceed with confidence. A desire to seek the Lord, maintain purity, and honor and involve their parents in the process were unifying themes of each testimony.

In discussing the video afterward, our family concluded that this probably wouldn’t be the best way to introduce alternative relationship practices to someone whose only frame of reference is the dating culture (it might be a bit much – i.e. radical – at points for someone to handle all at once!). But for someone who has already heard about courtship and/or betrothal and is interested in learning more about the heart that undergirds such counter-cultural approaches, To Be One is both informative and inspiring. One thing that especially stands out to me after having watched this documentary is the great deal of thought and care that each of these families put into preparing for and entering marriage. It is a refreshing contrast to the flippant attitude with which most young people today approach relationships. As my Dad declared after watching it, it certainly “provides some food for thought.”

HT: Jasmine Baucham

November 19th, 2009 by admin

CSEE is excited to share the work of two leading Emotional Intelligence researchers with our friends and colleagues.  Emotional Quotient, or EQ, is a measure of your Emotional Intelligence (just like IQ or Intelligence Quotient is a measure of your mental intelligence).  Improving EQ is a key factor to all social-emotional and school climate improvement efforts, and the work of Dr. Rock and Dr. BarOn is providing valued insight into how EQ impacts our lives.  Their current research is focused on the relationship between spirituality and EQ, and they are seeking individuals to respond to a brief survey on how these two factors connect and impact your life. 
Take the Survey: A Survey on Spirituality
Their goal is to get 1000+ participants from the world, so please participate in the survey and share it with others. Eventually, Dr. Reuven Bar-On and Dr. Michael Rock will examine the relationship between this construct and emotional-social intelligence as well as its impact on academic performance and on other aspects of human performance and behavior. We will be sharing out their findings in the future on the blog.CSEE is excited to share the work of two leading Emotional Intelligence researchers with our friends and colleagues.  Emotional Quotient, or EQ, is a measure of your Emotional Intelligence (just like IQ or Intelligence Quotient is a measure of your mental intelligence).  Improving EQ is a key factor to all social-emotional and school climate improvement efforts, and the work of Dr. Rock and Dr. BarOn is providing valued insight into how EQ impacts our lives.  Their current research is focused on the relationship between spirituality and EQ, and they are seeking individuals to respond to a brief survey on how these two factors connect and impact your life. 
Take the Survey: A Survey on Spirituality
Their goal is to get 1000+ participants from the world, so please participate in the survey and share it with others. Eventually, Dr. Reuven Bar-On and Dr. Michael Rock will examine the relationship between this construct and emotional-social intelligence as well as its impact on academic performance and on other aspects of human performance and behavior. We will be sharing out their findings in the future on the blog.

November 17th, 2009 by admin

Posted by BEN BEAUMONT - In conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Center, six Clinton School students today discussed their work completing public service projects – both domestic and international – in the school’s Master of Public Service degree program. 

Clinton School students Ashley Davis, Harvell Howard, Todd Moore, Nathaniel Owen, Sophia Said and Ali Turro each discussed how their projects have affected both them and the communities and organizations they have worked with. CLICK HERE to watch video of the panel discussion.

While the students learn public service skills through their Clinton School core courses, they also complete 30 percent of the degree program through three for-credit service projects:

Turro discussed her international project in Nyakagyezi, Uganda, with an HIV/AIDS orphanage; Moore discussed his international project in Shanghai, China, with the American Chamber of Commerce; Owen discussed his Practicum work on an urban renewal project around the campus of Arkansas Baptist College; Said discussed herPracticum work evaluating a leadership program for the STAND Foundation in North Little Rock; Howard discussed his Capstone project with the African American Male initiative at UALR; and Davis discussed her Capstone project with the William J. Clinton Foundation’s climate change initiative.

The students credited the Clinton School for preparing them both academically and practically for future careers in public service.

Said, who hails from Pakistan, said the school has helped her decide what she wants to do in the future and that she was drawn to the school because of the chance to complete an international project.

“I believe the school allows us to restore a connection between the future leaders of the U.S. and the rest of the world,” she said.

A first-year student, Owen said the school is helping him learn more about himself.

“Before I can be an agent of change in the world, I have to first understand who I am,” he said.

Clinton School student Sophia Said discusses her public service project work.

November 13th, 2009 by admin

In reading De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, I came across this pertinent excerpt from Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Paper No. 71:

The Republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they entrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests. It is a just observation, that the people commonly intend the public good. This often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend that they always reason right about the means of promoting it. They know from experience that they sometimes err; and the wonder is that they so seldom err as they do, beset, as they continually are, by the wiles of parasites and sycophants, by the snares of the ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate; by the artifices of men who possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and of those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it. When occasions present themselves in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection. Instances might be cited in which a conduct of this kind has saved the people from very fatal consequences of their own mistakes, and has procured lasting monuments of their gratitude to the men who had courage and magnanimity enough to serve them at the peril of their displeasure.

I especially like the last sentence. Many legislators are too short-sighted and lack the principle to do what is truly best for the long-term interests of our country. I would venture to say that this is equally true of how the populace-at-large operates on a daily basis, so it makes sense that this same myopic vision guides the leaders of our nation. We all need to embrace a quality that is often maligned as outdated in our day and age: Prudence.

Having spent some time studying prudence, I would define it primarily as “choosing not to do something because of where it may lead.” Instead of making rash decisions or pouring time, energy, and resources into digging ourselves out of pits that could have been avoided in the first place, it would behoove us to spend more time thinking, pondering the consequences that attend to a particular set of actions, and crying out for wisdom to the Almighty God who alone sees the “end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10).

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” Proverbs 22:3.

“The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit” Proverbs 14:8.

“For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” Proverbs 2:6.

Let us all aim to live more prudently and demand the same of those governing our nation!

November 13th, 2009 by admin

Posted by student TODD MOORE - Southeastern Conference (SEC) Commissioner Mike Slive knows success. He discussed the delicate balance between business and athletics at the Clinton School today.

Since becoming the SEC commissioner in 2002, Slive has overseen arguably the most successful run in conference history. Slive has seen the SEC lead all BCS conferences with six football and basketball national titles, more than 40 total national championships and reach an unprecedented new mulit-million dollar deal with CBS and ESPN to televise SEC sports.

Managing lucrative relationships while maintaining the balance between commercialism, athletics and academics in today’s intercollegiate climate is challenging, Slive said.

“Nowhere in the world is athletics meshed in the university experience more than in the U.S.,” Slive said.

The SEC’s 15-year television package with ESPN is the most comprehensive in the history of intercollegiate athletics. ESPN will televise over 366 events per year over the next 15 years becoming the most widely distributed conference in the country.

“Every single SEC football game will be television,” Slive said.

Slive also highlighted the academic programs developed over his tenure such as the SEC Academic Consortium and the Task Force on Compliance and Enforcement.

Housed at the University of Arkansas, the Academic Consortium is a voluntary consortium of the SEC universities to advance academic successes throughout the conference by pooling resources and creating new ideas through a collaborative approach.

“[The Academic Consortium] works to develop programs that tie together all 12 of our institutions in academic and faculty matters,” Slive said. “It is an exciting way to create relationships between our universities.”

Part of ESPN’s commitment to SEC academic programs will be the production of an annual Campus Connection telecast at each SEC institution, in which students take part in the production.

The programs will feature telecasts of two programs annually dedicated to the academic accomplishments of SEC student-athletes, a weekly academic feature segment on ESPNU’s SEC show;and selection of one undergraduate student from every SEC institution to participate in ESPN’s summer internship program.

With innovative academic programs and powerful intercollegiate athletics, Slive is proving that the two can mix.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive speaks at the Clinton School.

November 11th, 2009 by admin

Examiner.com - To talk to actor Jonathan Morgan Heit it’s easy to forget you’re talking to a nine year old boy.  During a recent interview with Examiner.com Jonathan talked about his career aspirations, his Hollywood co-star wish list, and his desire to help the less fortunate. But he also threw in few quick giggles and shared some of his soccer expertise, reminding me this talented young actor is still only a fourth grader…but a clearly talented one at that! There’s little doubt Jonathan is Hollywood’s next big thing.

With new projects popping up what seems like every day Jonathan Morgan Heit is a busy young man. The star of Bedtime Stories has a part in the star-studded Valentine’s Day, a leading role in a new animated Disney TV series Jakes Team Pirates, lends his voice for the upcoming Build-a-Bear Workshop holiday feature Holly and Hal Moose: An Uplifting Christmas Adventure, made a recent guest appearance on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, appears in the upcoming movie Dinner for Schmucks and is currently filming The Search for Santa Paws in Vancouver.  In typical 9-year-old fashion he reminds me his career has already come a very long way explaining he doesn’t do much commercial work anymore, “Unless,” he says, “It’s a really good commercial.”

Along with acting, Jonathan sings, does voice over work for animated films, and is a young director.  “I’m going to New York Film Academy.  I’m making a silent film.” When I ask why a silent film when it seems this youngester has so much, he explains his inspiration…full article.

November 7th, 2009 by admin

Posted by BEN BEAUMONT - Middlebury College professor Allison Stanger, author of “One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy,” is slated to speak next Wednesday at noon at the Clinton School.

Her book, about the growing use of private contractors in American foreign policy, is the subject of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s latest column:

As we debate how many more troops to dispatch to Afghanistan, it might be a good time to also debate just how far we’ve already gone in hiring private contractors to do jobs that the State Department, Pentagon and C.I.A. once did on their own. A good place to start is with the Middlebury College professor Allison Stanger’s new book on this subject, “One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy.”

Every year, more and more of the core business of national security — diplomacy, development, defense and even intelligence — “is being shifted into the hands of private contractors — much more than our public realizes,” Stanger said to me. One big reason why we’ve been able to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with so few allies is because we’ve basically hired the help.

“Afghanistan and Iraq,” explained Stanger, “are our first contractors’ wars, differing from previous interventions in their unprecedented reliance on the private sector for all aspects of their execution. According to the Congressional Research Service, contractors in 2009 accounted for 48 percent of the D.O.D. work force in Iraq and 57 percent in Afghanistan. And the Pentagon is not the only government agency deploying contractors; the State Department and Usaid make extensive use of them as well. Contractors provide security for key personnel and sites, including our embassies; feed, clothe and house our troops; train army and police units; and even oversee other contractors. Without a multinational contractor force to fill the gap, we would need a draft to execute these twin interventions.”

CLICK HERE for the full column. To RSVP for Stanger’s lecture, email publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu. CLICK HERE for more information.