Maddenation
Service Trip and Ramblings
Hello Everybody! Sorry for the long absence from the site. I’ve been unbelievably busy and consumed. To give you an idea, since returning from Uruguay I’ve not had a free weekend - it’s been 3 weddings and graduation with Daniel. Add to that the end of the volleyball season with catholic and state playoffs. And to top it off, today was the last day of school - so I’ve been going nuts finishing up stuff there. Side story: kids somehow got a hold of the Integrated Science 1 final. We got word via an anonymous note saying “there are sophomores with the IS1 final” - that’s it. (no, they didn’t use ‘ransom’ font). We took the action we could - spend the next day making a new one. We’ll show those kids! We obviously didn’t let on that we knew or that we’d done anything - setting the trap. Many kids bought it (we had figured that kids would do any number of things with the final - mostly likely punch in all the scantron answers into their calculators, or also possible - as I would’ve done so as to avoid any possibility of getting caught - memorize all the questions and answers (so then why not just study?)). Lots of kids were absolutely amazed at seeing the different final - I could see it on their faces (I proctored another teacher’s class). Only one kid was stupid enough to use ALL of the old test’s answers (we made sure to make the test exactly the same length and format - most my ideas - proving once more that I could be an excellent crook/cat burgler/mastermind/bad guy/villian). So we busted this kid and the rest of the scammers will soon be apprehended. Unfortunately, most cheaters weren’t dumb enough to just blindly put all the old answers.
Later in the day of the final a teacher got an Instant Message from an anonymous student(s) saying they had info about the cheaters. They wouldn’t give their name(s) and nothing showed on their aol profile. From them we got names of 5 other kids. As of now (a day and some time later) nobody’s been officially busted by our weak and pathetic deans of students. Also, it’s believed that 5 other exams were stolen - most likely by hackers much smarter than our tech guys.
Kinda interesting eh? I’ve also been kept busy this week finishing up grades, writing technology grant proposals (to get a new computer and multimedia hook-ups in my classroom), and a grant proposal for summer work at Ignatius (probably more on that later - should be radical). Topping that off my excuses for being lame about Maddenation participation is my preparation for my service trip this week.
I’m going to Neon, Kentucky with school as part of a service trip, Appalachia-style. Gina is also a chaperone with me, along with two others. It should be a blast. The trip is rather structured around 4 main idea pillar things = service, prayer, simplicity, community. No TV or soda or treats, we wear the same pants all week, kids plan and cook and buy meals, and plan reflections. We’ll be working 8 hours a day either helping construct a house or demolish one or paint or something like that. I’ve been taking some time lately to get ideas together for prayer and reflection (even though it’s the kids’ job, I figure I can provide some ideas - like Romero’s “This is what we are about”, A prayer card from Mother Teresa, and 8 different prayers for peace, each coming from a different religious tradition (Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Native American, Jewish, etc.).
There’s my update on what’s going on. Not terrifically exciting but I’m keeping it real nonetheless. I’ve also thrown in some beach volleyball for recreation purposes.
My final thought is on the new Live song (Live is a band I like and rhymes with hive, not give) called “Heaven”. It’s pretty good and reminds me of our family some and my faith some. The lyrics aren’t great, and neither is the song. But they’re good. Check them out here. See what you think - probably most helpful if you download it too. I especially love the lyric “I see my daughter and I believe”. I don’t have a daughter, but my brother and parents do (sons just the same) and I’m sure it’s true. I love all of you. My family is enough for me to believe in God and Love and Heaven.
I look forward to getting fully back into Maddenation when I get back on june 14th. Pray for me and I’ll do the same (for YOU that is).
David • News • 06/07/03 • 1 comments
Comments
Dad • 06/07/03 • 1:22 PM:Do you have an “honors program” at Ignatius? We had one at Marquette, where everyone pledged not to cheat, but also to report those that did. Don’t know how it worked because I didn’t cheat and didn’t ever notice cheating. I did, however, hear about it going on in other classes. We had seven levels of classes from the “ones” where I was to the “sevens” where the stupid kids were. There was no attempt to hide the fact that the Jesuits were separating us according to performance (or intelligence if you like) by naming the groups “tigers” or “barracudas” or anything silly like that. I was with all the nerds until it came time to decide on taking Greek or not. I opted out and was demoted to the “twos”.
Regarding catching the cheaters, that is a basic problem with multiple choice tests as the determinator. I have taken tests where the questions were permuted so that the order was changed, but the questions were identical. A further approach would be to make up, say, four times as many “equivalent” questions as you need and then randomly pick a different subset of questions for each student (do this immediately before the test). This would be a lot of work, but maybe not, if you combined tests from prior years. Having a computerized database of questions could facilitate this. Let me know if Ignatius wants to hire me as a testing consultant.
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