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Flyers' Luggage Draws Suspicion; Building a Better Teacher; Battle for Better Public Schools; Hurricane Earl Strengthening in Atlantic Ocean; Surprise Jump in Consumer Confidence; War Never Over For Grieving Families, Friends
Aired August 31, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories this Tuesday, August 31st.
Today, after seven years and five months, the formal end of American combat operations in Iraq. But for the families of the fallen there is no end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEILA PATTON, MOTHER OF STAFF SGT. JAMES "JIMMY" PATTON: I've been given a mission, and that mission is to try to help other families be resilient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: An impressive snapshot from space. Take a look here. Hurricane Earl swirls past Puerto Rico today and may bring a Labor Day weekend washout on the East Coast.
And "Fixing Our Schools," CNN's weeklong focus on American classrooms and crisis. Today, how to build a better teacher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think adding creativity to teaching really helps keep our attention in the front of the classroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's see here -- shampoo and medicine bottles, wristwatches and cell phones. Harmless, but when they are found taped together in checked airline bags, red flags go up.
Police in Amsterdam questioned two men about this after they flew from Chicago.
CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve with us now. She's working this story.
And Jeanne, you have new information for us.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tony, we're told that the investigation is continuing, but according to a U.S. government official who was briefed on the situation, "This looks like a nothing. We see no evidence of a dry run or connection to terrorism."
The men were detained in Amsterdam by Dutch authorities after arriving on a flight from Chicago. Here's why.
When one of the men departed from Birmingham, Alabama, a security check found suspicious items in his checked luggage, including watches attached to a shampoo bottle, cell phones attached to a medicine bottle, knives and box cutters. The Department of Homeland Security says the items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves, none of them are prohibited in checked luggage, and the man was allowed to fly. But another thing had security concerned.
That man flying from Birmingham to Chicago and another man flying from Chicago to Memphis, both Yemenis, were ticketed on a flight from Chicago to Washington's Dulles Airport, then went on to Dubai and Yemen. The luggage went on that flight, but both men ended up on a different flight that was going from Chicago to Amsterdam. Investigators wanted to know if this was intentional and the men knew each other.
Well, apparently not. According to the U.S. government official briefed this morning, they both missed their original flight in Chicago due to a gate change. They were rebooked by United on to the Chicago/Amsterdam flight. This official says they appeared not to have known each other.
As to those suspicious items in the checked luggage of the man from Birmingham, the U.S. official briefed on the matter says the man had picked up items requested by people in Yemen, and then taped together the items requested by each person. We're also told that investigators have searched the house of the man in Birmingham, delved into his background, and they have not found at this point anything suspicious.
Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: An amazing turn of events here on this story.
Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington.
Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Building a better teacher. Our education theme today, part of CNN's weeklong focus on fixing America's schools.
Got to tell you, quality really does matter. A Stanford researcher claims a top teacher can convey a year and a half's worth of learning in a school year. Students with a weak teacher get just a half-year's material.
Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI RAGIN, FIFTH-GRADE MATH TEACHER, ROCHESTER PREP CHARTER SCHOOL: What is the measurement of the second angle?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a good look inside this classroom. Notice what isn't happening. Not a single student daydreaming or doodling. Each one alert, focused, engaged.
RAGIN: What is the greatest of the three angles? Anthony C.?
KAYE: This fifth-grade math teacher at Rochester Prep Charter School uses dozens of techniques she says make hers students want to learn.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS (singing): And put in the bottom number, seven. It's tiki (ph) time, eight, nine, 10, 11,12. How many do I got? Five, and keep it lined up.
RAGIN: Instead of doing a regular subtraction problem, they get a little boring after a while. You hit them with a song, and it's so much more interesting to them.
What type of triangle is it?
KAYE: That's just one of 49 techniques Kelli Ragin learned from this former teacher and principal. Doug LaMov says he's figured out how to take good teachers and make them great.
(on camera): You do not believe that a good teacher is born. You believe a good teacher is made.
DOUG LEMOV, SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Yes. I believe great teachers are made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I double-dog dare you to use the word "adjacent" later on.
KAYE: What do you think makes a successful teacher?
LEMOV: I think the first thing that has to happen is the teacher has to have control of the classroom environment.
KAYE: Doug has been at this for five years. He seeks out schools with high poverty and high performance, then asks himself, what's in the water? Why does this work? he sits in the classroom, takes notes and records the teachers to perfect his techniques. He already has more than 600 hours of videotape. (voice-over): Doug shares his favorite techniques with his teachers, sort of like paying it forward. In this video, the teacher asks a question. And then calls on a student at random, even calls on the same girl twice in a row.
LEMOV: The kids really have to be on their toes.
KAYE: And in this seventh grade math class, students snap if the classmate's answer is right and stomp if it's wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two snaps or two stomps on two. One, two.
(STUDENTS SNAP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nicely done. Number four --
KAYE (voice-over): It forces the whole class to engage in the answer. Eighty percent of the students here come from poverty. This may be their only shot at a future.
(on camera): Here at Rochester Prep, some students arrive only able to read at a third grade level. Some don't even know their letters. But after just two years here, Doug says those same student are twice as proficient as the rest of the district and ten times more prepared for college.
LEMOV: One hundred percent of the kids were proficient in seventh grade in math and English.
KAYE: One hundred percent?
LEMOV: Every single kid.
KAYE (voice-over): Good odds for improving public education.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Rochester, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Got to tell you, the risk of failure in school is staggering for African-American males. Meet two educators, David Banks -- and David's on the left, and John Jackson on the right. They're fighting the battle for better public education. We will talk to them in just a couple of minutes.
And what makes a great teacher? We want to hear from you. Send us a tweet on Twitter, or send us a note on Facebook, or you can just log on to our blog page at CNN.com/Tony.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: "Fix Our Schools," those three words driving much of what you see on CNN this week, because as America's children return to school, CNN has a mission to document the nation's education crisis, while also shining a lot on success stories that can empower us to offer our children much more than what they are getting right now.
Joining me from New York, David Banks, principal of the Eagle Academy for Young Men, an all-boys public high school in New York; and John Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public education.
Gentlemen, it's good to see you both. Good to get an opportunity to talk to both of you.
John, let me start with you. Your report on public education and black males shows only 47 percent of black male students graduating. That in 2007, 2008.
You say that achievement gap was closing consistently until the Reagan administration. What happened in that administration to reverse that positive trend?
JOHN JACKSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SCHOTT FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: Well, I think you have to look back. And coming out of the '60s, you've got the 1964 Civil Rights Act, you've got the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, and through it, Title I, which dedicated resources to disadvantaged communities. The impact of those policies, if you looked throughout the '70s, you began to see the achievement gap close. However, in the early '80s, with the entrance of the Reagan administration, you saw a retrenchment on civil rights, and you begin to see the achievement gap opening, and it has continued to increase to this day.
HARRIS: Did it have anything to do with the '80s recession, the retrenchment that you talk about?
JACKSON: Well, I think you've got to look at the fact that even during times where the economy is tight, it's more about targeting the resources on what works: access to early childhood education, highly effective teachers, college-bound curricula. So, it's not about just spending more money, but getting a higher return on investment with the resources spent.
HARRIS: Yes, we love the idea of that.
David, did the idea of The Eagle Academy grow out of the idea of this widening achievement gap? And the question that was actually starting, as you know, to enter the mainstream media, do black men even matter?
DAVID BANKS, PRESIDENT, THE EAGLE ACADEMY FOUNDATION: Well, Tony, I'll tell you, the Eagle Academy really grew out of the minds of the members of the 100 Black Men of New York City who saw this issue as a crisis and had really just gotten tired of all the conferences and the panel discussions and the books that were being written and the analysis that was being done. But at the end of the day, people in our community have to stand up, and men in particular have to stand up and make a difference in the lives of our young man. That was really the impetus of the creation of The Eagle Academy, and we're creating more and more of these schools around New York City and eventually around the country. HARRIS: Maybe, David, you just answered my next question. Seventy 70 percent of the inmates in the New York City prison population come from seven communities. What's missing in the lives of this young men? Is it black men?
BANKS: I would say to you that right at the top of that is black men. Our young men are coming from communities that are just completely unbalanced, young men who can go from kindergarten through 12th grade and never have a black male teacher, not have fathers in their lives or otherwise responsible male role models.
We need men and we need black men to stand up and to be responsible for taking care of their children and getting involved in school. That's the work that is happening here at The Eagle Academy. You have got to have phenomenal teachers and you've got to have all the other great things that good schools have. But I think the missing ingredient in the lives of our young men are men that they can look up to who show them what it takes to be a real man.
HARRIS: Well, that's strong.
John, your report outlines conditions for success that are necessary to turn things around. What are some of those?
JACKSON: Well, we talk about the need for access to early childhood education, highly investing in highly-effective teachers, college-bound curricula. Listen, any discussion that starts with pro- or-anti-charter is not a productive discussion, because charters only educate four percent of our children.
What about the 96 percent? We need a plan for the 96 percent. Any discussion that starts off pro-or-anti-union is not a productive decision --
HARRIS: I agree.
JACKSON: -- because if the unions were the problem, in the right-to-work states the educational systems would be better, but they're not. So we need a systemic solution for a systemic challenge.
HARRIS: Well, John, you worked on the Obama/Biden transition team on education. And yet, is it fair to say that you believe the administration has moved away from maybe even what you're describing here, a more comprehensive education agenda beyond Race to the Top?
JACKSON: Well, I think we have to get back to a comprehensive agenda.
Listen, what David is doing at Eagle Academy is great, but a school-by-school approach is not the solution for a systemic challenge. It's like offering grains of sand to fix a dam where you need sandbags.
So, right now, the conversation is blame-rich and solutions-poor. And we need to begin to get to a comprehensive agenda for all states. At this point we don't necessarily need a race that leaves behind 50 states, but we need a plan that lifts every state to create one America.
HARRIS: David, one last one for you. What would closing the achievement gap mean for this country? And I'm describing a country where black and Latino and white kids are all achieving more evenly than they are right now. What would that mean for the country?
BANKS: Closing the achievement gap really -- you know, we have to recognize that this is a global race to the top, and that this country is in competition with countries all across this planet. And the reality is that we are losing.
And for us to have so much wasted human capital sitting on the sidelines, it's just an economic reality that we're going to have to deal with. We cannot win this global Race to the Top unless we address this issue, and that's what we're trying to do with Eagle. And Eagle really represents a call to action to our community and to the powers that be in this country that we have got to do much better than we are doing.
HARRIS: John, same question for you.
JACKSON: Well, I think we've got to recognize that in order to solve this challenge, yes, we need opportunity to learn states, but we also need opportunity to learn businesses, businesses who will invest in the types of mentoring and other programs that provide students an opportunity to learn. We need opportunity to learn faith-based institutions, and opportunity to learn parents.
We need to focus on the resources that create the conditions for students to learn. If the federal and state governments can pay for probationary officers for students, we can also pay for mentors for students. And I think that's what it's going to take to provide the policy changes, as well as the supports that are necessary to provide students an opportunity to learn.
HARRIS: John, David, gentlemen, I appreciate that. Great conversation. Thanks for being here with us this morning.
JACKSON: Thank you.
BANKS: Thank you.
HARRIS: Yes, a real pleasure.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan believes one way to improve African-American outcomes in school would be to recruit more black male teachers. For those who answer the call, it is an opportunity to change lives.
Here's a case in point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM HAYES, TEACHER, NEW MISSION HIGH SCHOOL: So the introduction starts with a broad outline of the research --
HARRIS (voice-over): William Hayes can understand why most black men don't teach.
HAYES: When you're growing up, you're taught that you need to be able to provide for your family. You need to be able to support those around you. Teaching doesn't necessarily paint the picture that I can get rich.
HARRIS: So after college, William went into teaching. He cared less about money and more about having an impact.
HAYES: I have a personal investment in the community as an African-American male who's benefited from all that my culture, my community, my family has to offer. I think it's up to me to give that back.
HARRIS: Giving back to students like Solomon Mastin, who, in high school, was in and out of trouble until one teacher changed the course of his life.
SOLOMON MASTIN, STUDENT, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: This is where my -- I was trying to be hard, you know, trying to be hood and stuff. That came into effect and the cops took me down and arrested me, put me in jail, in a holding cell.
HARRIS: That was Solomon in high school, the same high school where William Hayes achieved the goal he set after college -- give back. The two met when Solomon was at a breaking point, something William immediately noticed.
HAYES: He was a young man who I saw had a great deal of potential, but he was kind of on a rocky roller coaster. So there was one day where he came in, and it was a terrible morning for him. He was obviously distressed and I asked him, how's it going? I introduced myself. What's going on? And at this point he was crying.
MASTIN: Before anything he could have said or done registered with me at all, he brought tears out of my eyes. That's when I knew, like, this -- this is something serious. And I must be -- I must be on the verge of doing something great in life, because I don't do this mess.
HARRIS: An instant connection, because both know the struggle of being a young black male.
HAYES: Where I saw pieces of myself within him, and agreed to cultivate that. What I saw in Solomon was what I see in so many of my students each day. It's that fear that, will I get out of life what I'm trying to put into it? And it's that fear that tomorrow is not necessarily promised and I don't necessarily know that I will be successful, so is there a point in trying?
HARRIS: Of the nation's three million public school teachers, less than 2 percent are black men, 24 percent are white males and 76 percent are women.
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: When I was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, I used to go into elementary schools that did not have a single black male teacher.
HARRIS: It's one of the reasons U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan developed The Teach Campaign. It's an initiative to get more black men in front of the classroom.
DUNCAN: The nation as a whole have far too few teachers of color. How can that be a good thing for young children, especially our young boys? Historically black colleges and university, including Xavier, were established a century ago for the purpose of training a generation of black teachers. Education must be the great equalizer in America. And if you care about promoting opportunity and reducing inequality, the classroom is a great place to start.
HARRIS: Currently, schools across the country are dealing with budget cuts, layoffs and growing classrooms. Still, Secretary Duncan believes making this initiative a priority, calling black men to serve.
DUNCAN: To the men here, I'm sorry to say, please don't expect that Denzel will be playing you any time soon if you become a teacher. And the truth is, I don't want to romanticize the job of a good teacher. Teaching is hard, hard work.
HARRIS: But William says the hard work of teaching is well worth it when you see a student like Solomon turn his life around and find success.
MASTIN: I never thought I would be this successful. And right now, I don't even see it as success. I'm still striving and I'm -- you know, I'm fighting, I'm running, I'm crawling, I'm dragging, I'm flying towards success. You know, I'm doing it all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: You know, teachers could learn a lot from their students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think adding creativity to teaching really helps keep our attention in the front of the classroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Revealing insights from teenagers on what bores them to tears and what excites them in a teacher.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The administration wants to cancel it, its supporters are fighting to save it. The fate of the Ares rocket is literally up in the air, but a major test is moving forward this hour.
CNN's John Zarrella live from the Kennedy Space Center with details for us. And John, look, the critics say this test today of the solid rocket motor is a test to nowhere, that the program is too expensive, and that the technology is antiquated. So, if you would, set the stage for the test and give us some of this backstory.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're going to have -- there it goes right now.
HARRIS: Yes.
ZARRELLA: You can see the firing of that 154-foot rocket. This is supposed to be the replacement to the space shuttle rocket, going to propel humans up to the Space Station, on to the moon and off to Mars.
The White House decided it's 20th century technology. They wanted something new, 21st century technology. Congress, on the other hand, is saying, well, look, wait a minute, all of that is pie in the sky, there isn't anything out there besides this rocket that's being developed. So we need to continue to develop this rocket while you're trying to come up with some 21st century technology in case you don't get anything.
So there's this great debate right now as to whether the White House and Congress can get together some sort of a compromise to continue to fund this rocket development and this Ares rocket now --
HARRIS: Hey, John, can I interrupt and have you talk to us about what we're seeing here? This is pretty dramatic stuff. What's the test that's going on here?
ZARRELLA: Yes, 4,500 degrees. That is solid rocket propellant, it's two-thirds the heat of the sun. It's going to burn for about two minutes, which is about the amount of time it takes before you have booster separation and get on to your next stage of the rocket.
You're talking about 3.6 million pounds of thrust, enough energy produced here, Tony, during this test, you could have powered the Super Bowl and all five days of the Super Bowl experience, is what I've been told by NASA. And you can see there, the crowd has gathered for this test.
This is really -- it's called DM-2. It's the Second Demonstration Motor 2. And I was out there in the winter while they were putting this rocket together. It is a fascinating facility out there in Promontory, Utah, north of Salt Lake City, where this rocket is being developed.
One billion dollars has already been spent on development of this Ares rocket. It's a $2 million budget. And while the White House doesn't want it, it's part of the fiscal budget, so ATK Corporation out there in Utah is continuing the development of the rocket while there is this great debate as to whether it will ever really become part of the future of the U.S. space transportation system many years from now.
HARRIS: Hey, they are ramping it down.
ZARRELLA: You can see it's just about burned out. Yes, just about burned out there.
You know, Tony, when I was out there and I saw the last test of the shuttle solid rocket booster, that generates enough heat that the sand that they place to buffer behind it literally turns to glass. You can get big chunks of it afterwards, and it's glass.
So there you go. That looks like -- they'll know how successful or not this test is once they go back and evaluate the dozens and dozens of sensors they have there. They chilled that motor down to 40 degrees for this test so they can simulate a cold-weather launch, Tony, but spectacular sight out there in Promontory, Utah.
HARRIS: Hot dog, glad we were able to get it. The timing worked out perfectly for us, Z.
What is this other story here, this other note that I have that the Space Center is hosting some stars of note today? What can you tell us about that, please, sir?
ZARRELLA: You know, and I just missed him. When we stopped to get our credentials today, Will Smith is here with a contingent. And I guess they're doing a site survey. They're going to do a filming out here for "Men in Black III," apparently. "Transformers" is also going to be filming some out here for their next - I guess, you know, with the shuttle program about to end, it'd be nice to have something go on out here, why not the movies?
HARRIS: Amen, amen. All right, Z. Good to see you as always.
John Zarrella for us.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hurricane Earl heading for the Eastern Shore. We'll check in once again with Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's see here. Let's roll some of this video and rain coming down in buckets really and the winds howling. Let's have a listen here. My friends, that is a category 4 hurricane. That's it right there, Jacqui, lashing the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. This from an iReporter Mark Rosetta, vacationing there this week from Los Angeles. Got to hunker down a bit here. He says most of the people in the area were excited by the storm also a bit scared. So that's St. Maarten.
Turks and Caicos also in the cone? The Bahamas?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. They're coming up next. Nobody got a direct hit, by the way, and that's something important to note. When we look at that video, that's not what a category 4 storm is going to do. That was probably tropical storm force conditions. And we really need to be thankful because this is really a monster of a storm. Category 4 is just about as bad as it gets. 135- mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. The worst winds of a storm are in the northeast quadrant, so they're going to be in this part of the storm. You can see that this all skirted well to the north of these northern Caribbean islands.
Where is this thing going? Yes, here's the Turks and Caicos. You see them there on your map. They're going to start to feel the impact s of the storm later on today. Again, we don't think that they'll quite get a direct landfall but they are going to be seeing some pretty nasty conditions.
Here you can see the direction that Earl is going and our concern we have for the United States. We've got watches and warning up in the Bahamas and we might see them issued later today or tonight for the Carolinas. There you can see the cone of uncertainty and you are well within that for Thursday night and into Friday morning.
Just a little nugget of information for you, there have been 28 land falling in hurricanes in North Carolina since 1886. You remember Isabelle a couple of years ago, and you remember Floyd, some of the worst that the state has seen. This is expected to be a major hurricane.
Now, even if we don't see direct landfall, we'll definitely get some of the outer bands here. Heavy rainfall in the Outer Banks, as well as some very strong winds. We're also concerned about rip currents all the way up and down the Atlantic Coast. Of course, the big holiday weekend coming and then it's going to make a run toward the Cape and then into the Canadian Maritimes.
One of thing of note, we want to let you know we've got Fiona out there, too, believe it or not. This storm is kind of following on the heels of Earl. This is not expected to strengthen a heck of a lot. A lot of uncertainty with Fiona, by the way, mostly because it's interacting with Earl. Earl's taking a lot of that energy and this one is running behind it and it's got some strong winds and that's why it's going to have a hard time developing, as well.
HARRIS: OK, just looking at that track there. All right, Jacqui.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
A sliver of positivity, yes. Shoppers surprised the experts and grow a little more confident about the recovery. OK. The CNN Money Team breaks it down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Fix our schools. Those three words driving much of what you see on CNN this week because as America's children return to school, CNN has a mission to document the nation's education crisis while also shining a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children much more than they're getting right now. Who better to ask about what works in the classroom than students themselves.
Carl Azuz is getting answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Teachers, should they be your friends on Facebook?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
AZUZ: Anybody think so? Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So my teacher has her own Facebook page and all of my friends add her, all my classmates, and it's so convenient because we ask her a question on what homework we had that night and she automatically replies.
AZUZ: Anyone of you think teachers should not be a friend on Facebook want to say why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still really think a teacher is a teacher and students are just also there to learn.
AZUZ: What qualities does a good teacher have? Think of your best teacher. Tell me what he or she is like. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a way of adding humor to the class, but then when we were studying she would be serious about it. And we had a level of respect for her because she added that comedic level to the classroom.
AZUZ: Sort of a human factor?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it weren't for the dedication and passion that my teachers have we would all probably be all failing in those classes. But it's the fact that they're willing to stay after school, to be there after school, to walk around during lunch and say, oh, you're working on the homework? How are you doing?
AZUZ: So I'm hearing passion, dedication, and humor.
Let's say your administration asks you to sit in on a hiring session. What qualities are you going to be looking for if you could make that decision to hire a teacher?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say someone who always prepares you for the next step.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would definitely ask them to talk about the subject, maybe talk about their favorite ways to teach. My teacher doesn't teach the same way every day. He finds different ways to communicate the information. It really sticks. You laugh about it and you share experiences with your classmates.
AZUZ: You aren't afraid of a challenging teacher as long as you're learning something.
Does anybody not like a hard teacher?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It depends on what you mean by hard teacher because there are teacher that be more hard than they should be. It's a difference between being hard and overly aggressive.
AZUZ: What do teachers do that make you shy away from learning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you take too much time on one subject and you can't complete the entire course, it makes me shy away from trying to study myself because I think we're going to spend that much time on each subject, that long.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something that shies me away from learning is when I know what's going to happen in the classroom. For instance, I had a math teacher that every day we would walk in and we knew what we were going to do. We were going to check homework, take notes, start on homework. I think adding creativity to the teaching really helps keep our attention in the front of the classroom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: So creativity, unpredictability, the human factor. A lot of these students have a lot of different ideas on what makes a great teacher. But that personal connection really matters to them.
While on the subject of the personal connection, I thought the Facebook question was interesting, Tony, because when you and I were in school, that was not an issue or an option.
HARRIS: Right. You got your notes, you went home, you had the parent/teacher conference and that's where the connectivity was.
I know a lot of schools, or at least I believe a lot of schools have e-mail systems set up, don't they, Carl, where the teachers can communicate with the students and vice versa. Maybe we don't need to do it with all this Facebook and Twitter and like through social networking. But there is a way. And a lot of these schools now for teachers to stay in contact with their students.
Am I correct in that?
AZUZ: You absolutely are. It really depends on the school and what the teacher is comfortable with and to some extent, what the parents are comfortable with.
But when you bring Facebook into the question, there was a student who brought up the fact that students put personal information on Facebook and he was concerned that if he were to put something personal about himself that his teacher was concerned about, she might talk to another teacher or a parent. And then you see where the line blurs and things can get dicey. HARRIS: There's a lot of over-sharing on Facebook.
Carl, good stuff.
AZUZ: Thank you very much, Tony. Appreciate it.
HARRIS: What makes a great teacher? We want to hear from you. Who was your favorite teacher? I'm going to modify the question a little bit. Who was your favorite teacher growing up in school?
Do you remember yours, Carl?
AZUZ: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Who was it?
AZUZ: My mom, school teacher and my mom. I've got to say that answer otherwise I'm in trouble when I get home.
HARRIS: Perfect answer. Send us a tweet on Twitter, send us a note on Facebook, or just log on to CNN.COM/tony.
We're back in a moment.
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HARRIS: This just in to CNN. Mexican police are investigating a deadly attack in a bar in Cancun; eight people reportedly killed. Police say several Molotov cocktails were thrown into the bar early this morning, the victims all employees, all Mexican nationals. The bar is located about three miles outside of the tourist area of Cancun, but that's still too close.
Taking a look at top stories now, Hurricane Earl now classified as a Category 4 storm and battering parts of the Caribbean right now. It could hit the U.S. East Coast sometime this week.
Mexican authorities have arrested American-born, suspected drug kingpin Edgar Valdez Villarreal. AKA La Barbie, was caught after a shootout. Authorities believe he was sending about a ton of cocaine into the U.S. each month.
And combat ops for U.S. troops in Iraq officially over in just a few hours. The president will address the nation this evening. CNN will, of course, carry the speech live from the Oval Office 8:00 p.m. Eastern, that's 5:00 Pacific.
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HARRIS: Authorities describe him as one of the most ruthless drug traffickers in Mexico, accused of smuggling about a ton of cocaine a month into the United States. Details on the capture of the alleged kingpin known as La Barbie in a live report at the top of the hour.
Plus, find out what it would be like to be trapped deep inside a mind. A frightening, a -- boy -- realistic simulation coming up.
That and much more next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Let's get you to CNNMoney.com, your source for financial news and the great work of the CNN Money Team.
Come on, Jack.
And I -- OK, that's the least story here, "Problem Bank List Climbs to 829," but I'm more interested in what's going on with stocks today, and we've got a little bit more of a rally, a little bit of a bounce. Stocks bounce back on consumer optimism.
Let's get you to the Big Board now. We are trading in positive territory, we are up 52 points. We haven't been able to say that in awhile.
So, of course, the focus on Wall Street remains the health of the overall economy, and the new figures on consumer confidence are looking pretty good. Let's get you to Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more on the numbers today.
Alison, let's highlight some good news, please.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, you said it. You know, sometimes all it takes is one positive economic report to see some green on that screen, and today we're talking about consumer confidence.
We got the consumer confidence report for August right after the opening bell when we found out that it jumped unexpectedly, because economists were actually expecting it to fall. So this is the kind of surprise that Wall Street likes.
Now, let's go ahead and take a look deeper into those numbers. We found out that the conference boards at consumer rose to 53.5 from 51 in June. Sure, it's good to see an improvement, but we're still a far cry from where we once stood. The index was actually hovering around 95 back in October 2007. That was just a few months before the recession began.
Now, despite this uptick, the gloom is not completely gone. Another part of this report is showing that almost half of consumers say that jobs are hard to get. It's certainly a sentiment of that millions of Americans can relate to.
But at least we can hang our hat on some positive economic news today. The Dow right now up 61 points -- Tony.
HARRIS: Love it, Alison, see you next hour. Thank you.
KOSIK: Sure.
HARRIS: And speaking of next hour, coming up right after the break, actually, the formal end of American combat operations in Iraq, but not for the families of the fallen.
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SHEILA PATTON, MOTHER OF STAFF SGT. JAMES "JIMMY" PATTON: I have been given a mission, and that mission is to try to help other families be resilient.
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HARRIS: A war without end, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: More than 4,000 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq. For their families, the war is never over, their families never forgotten. Here is Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
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SHEILA PATTON, MOTHER OF STAFF SGT. JAMES "JIMMY" PATTON: I put it together on the anniversary, four-month anniversary of his death.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CHIEF PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sheila Patton shows us a book of tributes to her son, Army Ranger Staff Sergeant James, "Jimmy" Patton; photos, memories, and letters of condolence.
(on camera): Your first is a letter from the president of the United States.
PATTON: Yes.
STARR: It's important.
PATTON: Yes, it is. It is very important.
STARR (voice-over): A home of memories.
PATTON: This is his dress blues.
STARR: Jimmy was killed in northern Iraq in April. That alone, a tragedy, but there is more for this mother of three. Her husband, Command Sergeant Major Gregory Patton, Jimmy's dad, is serving in eastern Afghanistan. When Jimmy was killed, his father flew to Iraq, picked up his son's body, and brought it home.
This week, the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially ends, but the emotional cost of the war in Iraq for thousands of military families like the Pattons does not.
(on camera): For your family, which has made the ultimate sacrifice --
PATTON: Yes.
STARR: -- how long will Iraq be with your family? PATTON: Forever.
STARR (voice-over): Patton has long counseled other Army wives and mothers about the importance of being resilient, now more important than ever before.
PATTON: To be honest with you, I think that's why I'm doing this interview. I think that I have something to share.
STARR: Patton says many Army wives and mothers are now sisters in arms, the backbone of military families.
PATTON: I have a voice and I'm willing to share my voice.
I think that with Jimmy's death, I've been given a mission, and that mission is to try to help other families be resilient. Cause you've got to find humor, you've got to find laughter, and you've got to be positive to get through it. Otherwise you're miserable and depressed and you can't take care of your children, you can't take care of yourself, you can't do your job, so you have to have a positive attitude.
STARR: Patton says she still feels Jimmy's presence in the quiet woods behind the house. Jimmy, she says, died the way he wanted to, in combat with his buddies, in a war likely to be part of the American experience for years to come.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.
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