Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Georgia School Board Association’s summer meeting in Savannah, Georgia. One of our sessions was on how the education community needs to be doing a better job ingraining technology into the lives of our students. The speaker was David Warlick and it is his contention that if we do nor redefine what literacy mean in ours schools we are going to see education be passed by the technology wave that is upon us.

He made the point that as educators we for the first time in history are preparing students for an unknown future. At the rate that technology is advancing it is very difficult to plan and prepare how to adequately instruct a student over a 13 year span in K-12th grade. The student will most certainly see numerous changes in how we access, retain, and process information. Mr. Warlick indicated that consequently as a result of the pace of change we need to be teaching students how to more efficiently and effectively teach themselves.

He gave numerous examples on techniques and strategies that could be employed to give students the ability to become technology “detectives” and ensure that the resources that they are using are credible. Because of the TV/Gamer paradigm that kids are growing up into today they can process change in information much faster than their adult counterparts.

Mr Warlick stated that “We see technology and kids see streams of information”.

As educators we need to make sure that we do not do technology for technologies sake. This conversion that is taking place in our classrooms needs to meet the students where they are and have a real, tangible impact on their learning experience. In the public education sector we are never going to be able to keep pace with the expense and speed of technology changes but we can equip our students so that they have the skills to compete when they have access to all of these information resources in the future.

For more information on these topics please visit the following web-sites:

http://www.landmark-project.com

http://www.davidwarlick.com/wordpress/

In light of Sen. Obama’s plan to tax this country into a weaker position, I thought that this article might shed some light on who is paying the tax burden currently in this country.

His plan to increase the tax rate on those people making over $250,000 per year will hit small business people who report both their income and the income of their business on their personal income tax return.

Everyone should be asking themselves why in this sluggish economy driven largely by the housing market would we want to over tax the very people we rely on to create jobs for hard working Americans.

Read this article and find out the truth on who is paying the taxes in America and say NO to Barrack Obama!

Guess Who Really Pays The Taxes?

Obama’s Redistribution of Wealth Plan

Check out this article on how Obama’s plan would impact Tiger Woods!

Steven Curtis Chapman lost his youngest daughter Maria in a tragic accident at their home. Here is just a glimpse of the amazing spirit that she was. Post your thoughts here!

Maria Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter to Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident in the family driveway on Wednesday evening. She was LifeFlighted to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she went home to Him… not to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.

Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours before this close knit family was celebrating the engagement of the oldest daughter Emily Chapman, and were just hours away from a graduation party marking Caleb Chapman’s completion of high school. Now, they are preparing to bury a child who blew out 5 candles on a birthday cake less than 10 days ago. These words are unthinkable to type. And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again. - Jim Houser

Please check out Steven singing Cinderella below:

I had the honor to attend the dedication of the new track at White Elementary school today. This track was funded over a 4 year period by the students, parents, teachers, and business partners from throughout Bartow County. My father was an administrator at WES from 1979-1991 and my sister and I were students at White throughout our elementary school years. It was an exciting time in the history of the school and I was lucky to be a part of it. This is a GREAT example of the school community taking the initiative to think of and see a project completed on their own. This may be the only elementary school in the state to have a striped 200m track. Coach Lynn Hedden who was the inspiration for the track will no doubt put it to good use as she continues to teach our students about the importance of fitness throughout their lives!

I finally get to check the lawn tractor box on my Man List and I am pretty excited about it! It has a cup holder and my yard is going to be looking sweet this summer!

This is another reason I love Oakleaf Church! We have some of the most creative people around! Keep it rollin Baby “J”~

The board met last night and we named Dr. John Harper as our new Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Harper was an Assistant Superintendent under Dr. Abbe Boring and has served in an interim capacity since January 1st 2008. 

He brings to us a wealth of experience both with his local service and his previous experience as Superintendent.  I am looking forward to working with Dr. Harper as we look to move this school system forward.

I also want to thank all of the finalists for their preparation and the presentations they made for this board.  We had an exceptional group of candidates this time and they made this a very tough decision for the board.

Click HERE for the story from The Daily Tribune!

Today Michael brought a great message for the those of us who call Oakleaf Church our home. It was a message that served as a milepost in the history of the church.

One of the things that I hear constantly from the traditionalists is that those of us who attend more contemporary churches are blind followers who never had an original thought. They go on to say that all of these churches are ripoffs of each other and that they offer little substance to “real” Christians.

I was really happy to hear him say that our church is about Unity of Purpose and not UNIFORMITY. The thing that has always made our church interesting to me is that we have a wide array of people who attend week in and week out. I like the fact that our church is diverse racially, socially, economically and about every other way you can be unique. Our strength is that we care about all people and want to in Michael’s words:

Lead people from where they are……To where God wants them to be!

We have had some changes in recent weeks and it is more important than ever that we come together as a church and continue to exercise Unity of Purpose. It is not important that we all do things the same way but we must never lose sight of what our ultimate goal should be. We all have ideas, opinions, likes and dislikes but that should not interfere with the God ordained mission that Oakleaf has been called to serve.

Oakleaf’s mission may not be for everyone but I am proud to attend a church that has the core mission of seeing lives changed through Jesus Christ.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord! (Joshua 24:15)

Barack Obama in a moment of unplanned honesty finally revealed what he really thought of people in small town America.  He is a Liberal elitist of the worst kind and his ascendance to the Presidency would put this country and our security at risk.

He said: “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

He has shown time and again by his policies, his associations, and in statements like the one above that he cannot win in the vast majority of this country.  He has primarily succeeded in the primaries by winning the urban vote while Clinton has performed far better in the more rural areas.  The states that Obama has had the most success in have been traditionally carried by Republicans in the general election.

It has always amazed me why minorities and working class Americans have been so tied to the Democratic Party when the leadership of that organization believes in largely the same thing expressed by Obama in San Francisco.

I am proud to be a person of faith who happens to believe that the founders of this country are much smarter than Sen. Obama and placed the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution for a purpose.  He takes a swipe at two constitutionally protected freedoms in his derision of rural Americans.

The more I hear about Sen. Obama the less I believe he is interested in America’s prosperity.  Freedom is the answer to America’s problems and we need a lot more of it! We do not need the Socialist agenda that Sen. Obama is trying to sneak into this country in the guise of fancy speeches and Hollywood endorsements.