When you read this, I will (hopefully) be somewhere in western New York in our adorable little teardrop camper: Aggie Mae.
We are trying a working vacation - some days touring and seeing new places, and some days working in our wee ‘mobile office’. And we’re trying this for a month! It means that the posts over the next few weeks will be a little more sporadic than usual. I have some pre-planned, but I also want some to be topical and timely, so they might pop in at different times than usual! I’ll share a few pics as we travel! Don’t worry, the pups are in very good hands with a house-sitter/pup sitter. I know you were worried about that.
By the way, the Substack app is now available for both Apple and Android - I much prefer this way of reading the writers I follow, because you can see when there’s a new post more easily.
In other bits and bobs:
The Department of Energy is awarding funds for tidal and river renewable power. We don’t use this potential renewable resource in America much, but this boost is designed to enable us to increase the percentage of our power produced by ‘hydrokinetics’. I like the idea that we can tap into the ‘flow’ of water to give us more energy. Seems appropriate on many levels!
Early Voting Turnout: The state of Georgia as well as several other key states for possible senate and house ‘flips’ have seen massive early voter turnout. Over a million early votes in Georgia already. That’s amazing! No matter who these early voters are choosing, it shows commitment and faith in democracy. This is in stark contract to the voter intimidation that is happening in Maricopa County, AZ and other places. Some of those ‘watching’ the drop boxes are armed. Absolutely disgraceful and I hope there are prosecutions for this voter intimidation (a crime).
Math Teaching innovations: Lots of kids lost ground during the pandemic, but apparently, it was especially notable in math. One school in Connecticut is trying out some new methods for getting them back on track. They have maintained averages while other schools have lost ground, so early results seem promising. I don’t know what I think about such a regimented time-based approach as this one, but I think options that challenge the status quo and help us learn how to help students learn is a good thing!
Finally, it’s Halloween on Monday and I am going to make the case that Halloween is the most eco-friendly holiday. You walk places, you create more connection in the neighborhood, no kid is going to waste the treats they’re given, usually no driving for hundreds of miles to visit family for the weekend, and aside from a plastic bucket or two (but why not use a pillowcase? It holds more!), there is little waste, plastic or returned gifts. So I think we should designate Halloween as Earth’s Next Chapter’s fave holiday….right?