Jeff for America

At FlowingData.com, information is beautiful. I was introduced to the site a few months ago at one of my TFA sessions and fell in love with it. It’s basically a blog collection of graphics and visual representations of data, ranging from Co2 emissions of animals to the spread of the H1N1 flu. The variety of information it presents is entertaining enough, but its sheer simplicity and beauty makes the site a daily must-visit.

When I stumbled upon some of their education graphics, I was happy to find that I could order some prints for my classroom. And even happier to discover that the guy who runs the thing was willing to donate a pair of education prints to a school for every order made. Which I did. And which I received.

So I made this display in my classroom.

The two posters tell the storied tale of American education through numbers and statistics. Making clear, for example, that Utah has a small teacher-pupil ratio, and also one of the lowest per pupil expenditures, yet score high on most standardized tests. It also gives data on income levels and education levels – a good point to make clear to my students early on. Money is, after all, the only thing that matters in life.

I decided to send the picture of my display to the people over at FlowingData.com as a kind of thank you. Then, yesterday, I logged into my blog account and saw this:

That sudden spike on January 6th was the result of a blog post made at FlowingData showing off my use of their goodwill. You can find the blog link (with my picture and blog) here. It was my first contact with the outside blog world, and actually quite exciting for me. A good lesson in giving and getting in return.

If nothing else, check out FlowingData every now and then to get some mental stimulation and learn something new with a visual twist.

- Jeff

P.S. and if your wondering, 49.6 is the percentage of students that graduate from Philadelphia public schools. Yes, you read that right – less than half of Philly students make it to graduation.