Category Archives: Uncategorized

#15 Girls / NPR Series 

For the next three weeks in Economics we are going to look at girls from around the world.  National Public Radio has posted an excellent series on fifteen year old girls.   I have placed these podcasts in a common Blendspace at the end of this post.  While we could look at this as an economic or social or cultural, or even a political issue, you also need to see it as comparative world issue.  I talk all the time in class about “your little sperm and your little egg” and all of the opportunity that you have before you on this planet.  Well, this series ought to hammer that notion home.

You’ll have three assignments for this unit.  All are posted in Schoology.   Each will have its own due date; those dates will evolve as we work our way through the unit.   Each assignment counts 100 points; that’s a 300 point total.  So make sure you stay on top of  due dates.  While you may listen to the podcasts with a fellow student, and discuss the issues  (in fact I would encourage it)  assignments requirements are individual.  

In addition, as we move through the next two weeks, we will take time in class to discuss issues that this series brings to light. Continue reading →

Parent Meeting – Wed 10/28 – 7:00 to 8:00 PM – Mr. Wood’s room

Go here for full access Oakridge Close UP at Pages above.

Important materials for the membership meeting are linked below… I will handout hard copies at the meeting. If you are a foreign exchange student please take the hard copies for your host parents and send the links to your folks back in the old country.   Time to get rolling – Close Up 2016 is ready to rock.

• Go here for introductory letter to Close Up 2016.
• Go here for introductory video from the Close Up Foundation.
• Go here for sample schedule for a typical Close Up week.
• Go here for participant guideline form.
• Go here for corporate donation 501 c3 tax deductible form.
• Go here for Breanna Johnson’s 2014 Personal Promo Flyer.
• Go here for Sky Webster’s 2014 Personal Promo Flyer.
• Go here for the backside of the above flyers.
• Go to the Blendspace below to listen to Oakridge students reflect on their 2013/14 Close Up experiences.  

Please check Close Up Pages above for more 2017 Close Up Info.

Close Up Starts Today.  We have three student membership meetings available for you to attend.  You must come to one of these three meetings (and only one) to be eligible to join Close UP 2017/18.  We will schedule a parent meeting later in  October.   This one is student’s only.  

• Tuesday September 26 – 3:0o to 3:30 PM
• Wednesday  September 27 – 7:00 to 7:30 AM
• Thursday September 28 – 3:00 to 3:30 PM

Important materials for the membership meeting are linked below… I will handout hard copies at the meeting. If you are a foreign exchange student please take the hard copies for your host parents and send the links to your folks back in the old country.   Time to get rolling – Close Up 2017/18 is ready to rock.

• Go here for introductory letter to Close Up 2017/18.
• Go here for sample schedule for a typical Close Up week.
• Go here for participant guideline form.
• Go here for Close UP Fellowship (Free and Reduced Lunch) form
• Go here for corporate donation 501 c3 tax deductible form.
• Go here for Breanna Johnson’s 2014 Personal Promo Flyer.
• Go here for Sky Webster’s 2014 Personal Promo Flyer.
• Go here for the backside of the above flyers.

Go here for a pretty good piece from the Huffington Post on personal courage…

When Yves Biggoer-Burger was in the second grade, he witnessed a group of peers teasing an overweight girl. Drawing himself up to his full 8-year-old height, he stood by her side and said:

“Guys, she might be bigger than you, but she’s definitely not as stupid.”

The boys slunk away, shame-faced.

Many of us can remember times in our childhood—and our adulthood too—when we would have liked to act as bravely as Yves. But we couldn’t muster the courage. Maybe we weren’t lion-hearted or quick-witted enough. Maybe we thought that courage belongs to an elect class of noble souls and daredevils and not for the likes of us.

I have felt all of these things.

But this is a mistake not only for those who might benefit from our courage but also for our very own selves. Courage helps us grow and give. And it’s available to us all.

This post is not about how to take monumentally brave actions, like Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani education activist who was shot for her efforts, or like a firefighter rushing into a burning building. It is instead about understanding what courage really is and training ourselves to perform small, daily acts of bravery.

Please go here for survey results.