Volume 2, No. 10                     27 December, 2002 [To view this newsletter on line: http://www.emck.net/eline/02_12_27.htm.]

Our New Year's Resolution: Making Public Education Better!  This edition brings sources for thoughtful reflection, and an examination of this newsletter and its future.

The Help Desk reaches out...A Note from Jeffrey L. Jones, Editor

As another calendar year closes, the new year brings with it a context for self evaluation, reflection, and goal-setting, The Help Desk is at a crossroads. The Partnership for Kentucky Schools has been the sole source of funding for this initiative for some time, and I (with occasional input from wife Dee) have been its sole editor and researcher. Together we are looking for support, assistance, and context for a continuation of this newsletter.

• What is The Help Desk? This newsletter is a free resource for any interested Kentucky middle school teacher, providing sources for Internet-delivered lesson plans, free software, teaching ideas, sources of information, and information about professional organizations, for classroom teachers.
• Who is The Help Desk? I produce the newsletter under contract with the Partnership at home during my spare time, with Web assistance from Liz Jones. The recipients currently include over 1,100 public educators throughout the state of Kentucky, a mailing list accumulated primarily with the help of the various coordinators of the Summer Academies.
• What can I do? The Help Desk is looking for your input. That input can be nothing more than ideas or resources, or as much as a complete adopting of the newsletter. None of the materials - the name, the logo, the format, the materials themselves - are copyrighted beyond their use as a published work, hence The Help Desk can be anyone! Contact us, if you or your organization . . . 
  • ...are interested in sponsoring, or partnering to sponsor, The Help Desk. If your district, office, or other organization shares in The Help Desk's vision, we would love your company and support!
  • ...are interested in the preparation and distribution of The Help Desk. All that is needed is a high-speed Internet connection, an email client that supports HTML email (I currently use Outlook), and the capability to edit HTML and digital images.
  • ...are interested in providing research, resources, and other help in the preparation of The Help Desk.

We want to hear from you! The future of The Help Desk may depend on it!

A Few Readings on Education We take a Winter Break from the grind of lesson planning with some readings. Several of these were obtained from MiddleWeb's Of Particular Interest, a newsletter edited by John Norton	The Price of Accountability http://www.nsdc.org/library/results/res11-02elmore.html Richard Elmore is a professor of education at Harvard. In this excerpt from his e-book, he discusses the importance of reciprocity in accountability - all school and teacher accountability initiatives (including our State student testing and the Kentucky New and Experienced Teacher Standards) require an associated commitment to support and reeducation. This offering comes from the National Staff Development Council, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to school improvement through staff development.
	Sheila Tobias on Re-Thinking Teaching Math, Science http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev026.shtml Sheila Tobias is the author of Overcoming Math Anxiety. In this article she discusses some strategies for improving math and science student success, including some striking observations about student learning styles.  This offering comes from the Education World, a past featured site of The Help Desk.
	It's Time to Start the Slow School Movement http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0212hol.htm This editorial, a take-off on the "slow food" movement originating in Italy, advocates a "...backlash against today's 'hamburger' approach toward education, which emphasizes uniformity, predictability, and measurability of processes." Penned by Maurice Holt, professor emeritus of the University of Colorado-Denver, and currently residing in Oxford, England. Phi Delta Kappa International is a service organization aimed at public education whose current president is Eve Proffitt, a Kentucky native. The Phi Delta Kappan Magazine is one of the premiere education journals.
	We Get What We Get...The bottom line on parent accountability http://teachers.net/gazette/DEC02/page.html An editorial on what expectations we should have for parent accountability. From Bill Page, educational consultant.  This offering comes from Teacher.net, a free online environment providing chats and other teacher contact, and free lesson plans on a variety of grade levels and subjects