the champ: a reflection of the ever-increasing gap

so sometimes i like to play this little game with myself. it definitely puts me in my place and reminds me about who i am and what i can afford. the game is called, "go onto apple.com and see how much the most expensive computer can be."

the last time i played was about a year and a half ago. the reigning champion clocked in at just over 5k. needless to say, the new heavyweight champ is well over this.

this is the current price for a power pc with all of the frills, and i do mean ALL of them. of course, this gives us a bit of a skewed image of just how expensive this computer really is, but i think it does provide a meaningful message. we are seeing computer companies cater more and more to the higher end.

but perhaps this is just the embittered rantings of an avid apple user who feels that the company is making super high end products and super low end products. is there still a computing middle class out there?

what has and hasn't worked

it's been three weeks exactly since we started school, and it hardly feels like it's only the forth week. honestly, it feels as if i've been doing this all my life. it's still a little bit strange sometimes when i stop and realize that i am a teacher now at my former high school. but in all honestly, there really isn't anywhere that i'd rather be.

when the "experts" say that our generation is wired, i don't think they quite knew the extent of the truth that they were speaking. i really think the field of psychology or sociology will be revolutionized in the next decade or so when researchers really examine the fundamental differences in cognition between this generation and any that have come before it. i can write my lecture notes on the board, but if i put that exact same information on a powerpoint, then the students pay more attention and remember the information better. the overhead projector is ancient technology now, and the digital projector reigns supreme.

all in all, i think i have been having tremendous success in my classrooms. this might be due to the fact that upon completing my masters program, i suddenly and instantly became a master teacher. but i suspect it might be because i was trained in belleville michigan, a district that has struggled for the past few years, and now i am in northville, one of the best public schools in the state. most of my "problems" come from my non-AP class, exploring psychology. here, i find that demonstrations rule the day. lecturing for thirty minutes is a wasted thirty minutes if there isn't at least three demonstrations in there somewhere. they must constantly be writing, seeing, and doing. once, i tried to lecture for most of the hour.

mutiny.