Laos Books

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will stop at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi this week to see the campus and conduct scheduled meetings.

Flavius Killebrew, president of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said the regents’ visit will give university officials a chance to show off the school, its programs and latest research.

The regents last visited the Island university in 2004, when Killebrew was named president, he said.

Some of the regents arrived Tuesday and attended meetings as well as an evening reception Wednesday at the Art Museum of South Texas.

During today’s scheduled board meeting, Killebrew plans to give a university update about A&M-Corpus Christi’s enrollment growth and need for facilities expansion.

“We are just flat out of research space,” Killebrew said.

His update can help show what university officials hope for as their next steps while detailing what accomplishments and goals have been reached.

Periodic meetings at system universities are planned this year, said Steve Moore, the system’s marketing and communications vice chancellor.

The board chooses locations for its meetings, he said.

The regents typically meet in College Station.

Moore said a board meeting isn’t planned at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Most of us have been very familiar with military boarding school and other kinds of military-related schools. We’ve also been oriented as to what these army schools have done in order for the young generation to grow and develop into responsible citizens.

But how effective are these schools really? How are we going to attest it? Well, testimonials from parents who chose to let their children enrol to these schools will definitely serve as good evidence. Here are three of the various quoted testimonials that parents shared in a post. It was specifically detailing a definite military school to which some of you might have been interested to go to.

I really cannot believe what some people say about the MMA, It’s the most wonderful school environment ever. Our young men become well rounded and strong in all aspects of their world around them. My Hats off to the MMA. - Submitted by a parent

My son attended the summer camp program and he had an excellent experience. He worked hard, made good friends, had a lot of fun, got to feel an enormous sense of accomplishment running the obstacle courses and he even learned to make his bed and sweep the floor (lol). He was also in the aerospace elective so he now has knowledge and some experience flying small planes which is SUPER COOL! I am very satisfied with my decision to send him for a month this summer. It was an experience of a lifetime for him and he will take the memories and many of the lessons he learned with him. - Submitted by a parent

I hope the listed testimonials above served as your evaluator that indeed, military schools are worth enrolling to.

A year ago, I wrote a blog about using ArcGIS Online to explore ecoregions, and doing it on an iPad, in addition to a regular computer. I want to enhance the map by adding another key layer: drought status. I’m interested in learning which ecoregions face a near-term issue.

The U.S. government runs a portal about drought, with maps, data, news, and links. But what if you just want to drought data added into your ecoregion map? Think back to another recent blog entry that walked through finding and adding special services. This time, we need to find some drought data. By searching the information, links, and applications at the drought portal, I found the National Climate Data Center’s web service for the Palmer Drought Severity Index. the combined map.

Finally, since the two color layers compete, I used the idea from another blog entry to create a three-panel map, showing a location by terrain, drought, and ecoregion.

Read more…

What makes for good teaching? And how does the Dallas school district get more of it?

That is one of the themes we are going to explore on this blog this year. So, let me take a stab at the start of an answer. I’d like to hear ideas from Education Front readers, though. This conversation is ongoing.

As far as what constitutes good teaching, I’d say it starts with a passion for the work. In my experience as a student, parent and journalist, a sense of calling has seemed to separate the stand-out instructors from the average to dismal ones. The leaders have a deep desire to connect with kids.

That quality points to the next must-have ingredient. A top-tier teacher knows how to relate to their students. I remember talking to one Dallas principal a couple of years ago when he brought this point up. I was thinking more about a teacher’s pedagogical skills. But he was right. Good teachers have a knack for letting their students know they care about them.

Read more…

Miramar cornerback Tracy Howard and Palm Beach Gardens offensive lineman Avery Young were listed among Rivals.com’s update Top-100 prospects list, released today.

Both prospects are undecided on where they will play college football next year, among the 21 uncommitted players on the Top-100 list.

Howard is the top-ranked cornerback in the class of 2012, Young the 12th ranked offensive tackle. Howard is the 13th overall prospect on the list with Young coming in at No. 74.

Both players will make their college decisions soon. Howard will chose between LSU, USC and Florida, with Young choosing between Auburn and Georgia, with Miami making a late push to keep the 6-foot-7 star in South Florida.