I never paid attention to the house when I used to work on the near eastside. Maybe it was for a good reason, and I'm sure the folks in that neighborhood are relieved it got torn down this week. The house on New York Street was where Sylvia Likens was tortured and killed in 1965. I just turned 12 when Sylvia's battered body was found. If any readers of this blog lived in Indianapolis during the mid-60's they'd remember this horrid case. I won't go into the sordid facts; the Wikipedia article does a much better job describing, in detail, Sylvia's torture and murder at the hands of the woman who was entrusted with her care.

Of course in my sheltered northside world, in my own throes of adolescent angst, as I read the newspaper accounts of how Gertrude, her daughters, and neighborhood children, systematically beat, burned, starved, and imprisoned Sylvia, I couldn't fully understand why people would do that to another human being. I couldn't grasp all the particulars of the case, that her ordeal was triggered by an accusation that Gertrude's girls were prostitutes. I didn't know what that meant when I asked my mom about it. Mom said that's something I shouldn't ask, let alone know about. But the girl was just 4 years older than me, and her sister was about my age. They attended Tech High, a school many of my junior high classmates also attended. I'm sure she was full of dreams and hopes like any teenage girl, so why shouldn't I be concerned. Maybe now, with the house gone, Sylvia and Jennie (Jennie lived on and married then moved to Beech Grove; she died a few years ago) can finally rest in peace.

Somehow I had a feeling it would come to this. The host of my very first site, Geocities, will bite the dust later this year. Yahoo, Geo's parent company, will cease the free hosting service by end of this year. Too bad for those of us who have fond memories of Geocities when it was independent and a true community.

It was October 1997, just a few months after acquiring WebTV thus becoming quite addicted to the cyberworld, that I took a crash course in HTML and page design. I'd always wanted my own site, and I needed a good free host and one that was easy on the little black box. Geocities was my first choice, and I had been with them from 1997 to November 2005. Back then, if anyone has ever had a site on Geocities, you signed up, chose a neighborhood that fit your site's theme, then made those first pages. Of course, we always had to put that "Hosted by Geocities. Get your Free Home Page" at the end of every page. I even designed my own logos for the required linkback. It was fun, making my pages, going to the Help chat for real time advice, networking with fellow webmasters on the message boards, meeting Community Leaders. All was well and good. Then came 1999 when Yahoo bought out Geocities.

Gone was the neighborhoods and help chat. There were no more community message boards. My GeoPlus account, which I could pay by check every 6 months was converted to a pay-by-the-month via a credit card. We lost much of the fun and togetherness that made Geocities so special.

However, things do change if not for the better. Somehow I knew Yahoo would cease Geocities in favor of their own hosting service, which really is geared to the business sector and not to the average Joe and Jane who wants a place to show off vacation photos or gush over the latest movie or TV show. Yahoo's own hosting service is not free, a slowly dying entity. Nearly all web hosts, if one wants all the bells and whistles (and not the banner ads), require a monthly fee. Hardly anything on the web is ever free anymore.

To tell the truth, I'm glad I moved my site from Geocities to Webbywarehouse. Geo was getting too complicated, too user unfriendly, and they stopped FTP for their free customers. That meant no transloading for their webtv users. That and I really didn't get too much bang for that $5 a month GeoPlus. I still have some pleasant memories of Geocities when it was a fun and easy web host. I learned much from those Community Leaders, and I still miss those old neighborhoods. By the way, I was on Hollywood Boulevard.

I've been on Twitter almost a month, and I love it. I know it's probably one of those online fads that may fade away in time, but I believe Twitter is here to stay. Unlike my regular blog (of which I really should be more diligent in updating), Twitter is so easy to update. Not just at home on the desktop, but via texting on the bus to work, during my lunch or prep period, at the store, even on recess duty. Just whip out the cell phone and start tweeting on anything and everything.

This is so much fun and I'm gradually gaining followers. When I signed up, I started following the various news tweets: NYT, CNN, Nuvo, ABC, Time, et.al. After I tweeted about job stress, family woes and such, I got all these notices in my inbox. "So and so is following you." So I naturally follow them. Right now I'm following Oprah, Rick Sanchez, Indianapolis Symphony, MC Hammer, a couple of high school kids (they are so funny!), and a cat name Sockington. The cat – or is it really his owner doing the tweeting – is a joy to follow, and his tweets are typical cat musings. I see Sockington has a bunch of other cats and dogs following him, so...I think I'll look up some of his friends and start following them.

Is tweeting any better than writing on my Facebook? Well, it is easier since I can text updates from my phone, from whereever I am. But I do like the Facebook better as it's easier to find and hook up with people I really know. I tried MySpace but had a tough time navigating the place, and I have an account with Orkut but hated as it doesn't have a "wall" for comments, cute interactive quizzes, or reliable ways to communicate with friends other than that "scrapbook" which is no way like FB's wall.

Drop by my Twitter anytime. Most likely I'll text many updates throughout the day tomorrow and the weekend. And maybe I can get the nerve to reply to MC Hammer's or Oprah's tweets. Who knows, perhaps I'll get replies.

Thank God that's over, at least for another year. Although I had middle school kids, most of our elementary students didn't fare so well with the math portion of this year's ISTEP.Third through eighth graders who normally do very well on the math part were shocked and confused by the the test questions, some, in my opinion, were poorly written. I had a few students ask, "What is this? What do they want me to do?" Of course, I read some of the questions, even worked out solutions, but there were a few I had to re-read two or three times to figure out exactly was being asked. I'm no stranger to standardized tests, having taken the SAT, NTE, GRE, and all those achievement and aptitude tests during my school years. But try to present a confusing question to an eighth grader who ordinarily does well with regular classroom work.

This is the first time in several years since its inception ISTEP was given in the spring semester. When ISTEP started in the late 80's, it was given in March. A relaxed week for most students, and the test wasn't all that bad, the resultant low scores notwithstanding. When worked in one high school during the late 80's, we tried to make test week as stress-free as possible. We brought in fruit and breakfast breads for the students; some students even brought their own breakfast. Obviously a well-nourished child performs much better on a test. Ordinary routine was suspended for those few days, allowing students ample restroom breaks, a chance to move around to relieve boredom (this was high school after all, and these kids need much release time or else they get very antsy). However, once the test was moved to September, all those little amenities we allowed the kids were no longer allowed. They sat for three to four hours straight. No restroom breaks, no release time.

It's still that way now, even though ISTEP is now administered in the spring. And this year, release time for students was sorely needed, in light of frustrated, even crying, students. They're under too much pressure to perform, to get those high scores. They know much rides on those test scores, such as how much (or how little) funding their school will get come next year. Whether their school will get a blue ribbon, be placed on probation, or, heaven forbid, be relegated to state control,

It's been said of all the state-mandated tests, ISTEP is the most unreliable, most expensive to administer, and one of the more difficult to score. The latter I know since I've scored writing samples done by first graders (In August when many are just learning to write!), open ended math responses by eighth graders whose reading and writing skills are no where on target. Maybe it's time to scrap this sorry test and allow teachers to teach actual content, not merely go over material that may appear on a standardized test.

Even more importantly, why not take time to teach kids how to take such a test? After all, ISTEP is the first of many standardized tests these kids will take in their lifetime. Sadly, I've seen too many kids stall over one question, wasting time trying to decipher what is asked or how to arrive at an answer. Fifty questions in thirty-five minutes. Not much time to mull over Question #2 when half the allotted time has gone by. Some kids simply shut down because they're so overwhelmed.

Again, this week, I've collected half-finished test papers, after I've repeatedly drove home that all the questions need answers, even if it's a lucky guess. The machine scores responses, not empty bubbles. I really dread seeing those scores come May.

Gee, what took me so long? After several months thinking it over, I finally got a Facebook profile. My sister has one mainly to show off her 2-year old daughter – and Ella is quite the show-off!

So I signed up for Facebook last week and already I've gotten poked and stuff scribbled on my wall. What is really nice about these social networking sites is the control over who contacts me. That and it's much better than the usual Yahoogroups type mailing lists. No unwanted or uninteresting posts to wade through. And just in a few days of signing up, I've gotten messages from old high school friends I haven't seen in more than two decades, not since the 20th year reunion, and one I hadn't seen since the 10-year reunion. Hopefully more Broad Ripple '71 alumni will find that profile. I've put the Facebook badge on all my websites and have a text link on the blog sidebar.

I also, just today, signed up for Twitter. I've been curious about "twittering" so I took the plunge. So far, no one's following me, but I'm following a couple news Twitters, mostly NY Times and CNN. Love Rick Sanchez's show on CNN so I'm following his Twitter page, too. I've always said the Internet has proven to be the Great Equalizer; anyone and everyone can have a site, blog, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, et,al. to express ideas and opinions or just to show off creativity. Though it's just one person manning the keyboard and mouse, there is a sense of community and camaraderie when one indulges in social networking, blogging, or site building.