No Need To Reinvent the Wheel

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/

Not that the Library of Congress does not want to promote the people's online library, but most people honestly do not know about the treasure trove of knowledge that lies right at their fingertips. A revolution in the way people learn how to learn is possible, from "stand and deliver" to a "student centered" approach to inflaming young minds with a passion for learning essential skills and knowledge. Spread the word, your taxpayers and the blood of patriots paid for these online resources.

As a student of the latest approaches to Special Education, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach that dovetails best with the style of learning that enabled me to overcome my own executive function challenges and succeed at Georgetown University and beyond. Universal Design for Learning is based on an architecture metaphor rooted in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) -- if we enable people with learning disabilities to more easily access the General Education curriculum, we facilitate access to all people in the process. Just as curb cuts make access to a building easier for everybody, making the people's primary sources more easily accessible to people with learning disabilities makes them more accessible to everybody.

Universal Design for Learning is technology-oriented, whereas there was no Internet when I was growing up. Similar to the many ways curators of the online Library of Congress have made primary sources universally accessible, I was taught how to hunt-down primary sources in DC to complete personally meaningful projects. In high school, I took a bus ride to the National Archives in Washington. Today, students can ride the Internet.

New Lyrics

This song is for someone I care about who recently told me her sad story. While walking Mabel this morning, the lyrics kept evolving, so had to write them. Not like I have any time to strum my guitar or write poetry, but my ADD wouldn't let these lyrics die.

It wasn’t you

I was as blind as I could be.

It wasn’t you, it was me.

I had to find a girl more like me in the bars.

I was the guy who was corporate-clean.

My star was rising up AT&T.

Then I saw you in your blue jeans.

I had to know what I could buy you that night.

Your curls looked so heavenly in the moonlight.

I had to build you castles in the sand.

You were the cool girl I could never understand.

You were the darling of everyone in the band.

You stretched me like a rubber band until my heart snapped.

You never came. You never blamed. You never cried.

You just sat there stone faced when I dumped you.

Now I’m texting you again from the bar.

I’m going far. I’ll buy that car. Do you still miss me?

I’m on my way to that corner office.

In five years I’ll be worth my weight in gold.

Please never unfriend me on Facebook.

I wasn’t just some one night stand.

You were nothing I ever could have planned.

Follow me on Twitter. Please don’t be bitter.

Have a good life, but I'm moving on.
I have to find that girl who's more like me.