Pledge of Allegiance

I've visited a high school and was surprised to hear the Pledge of Allegiance first thing in the morning. I thought this was an elementary school phenomenon, and am wondering how common it is.

Next observation is that fair number of kids did not bother to stand up and recite. I wonder how many had reasons other than laziness.

Equity in the classroom

I've been thinking about how best to discuss the issues of equity in the classroom with pre-service teachers. Some people aren't aware of myriad of issues that exist when one is placed in a diverse population of students (some people still grow up in homogeneous environments). What would be the best way to discuss this in a methods course? I have a classroom episode that involved ESL students which I think would be good to discuss, but there are plenty of other things I would like them to think about, such as cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, gender, disability, different learners.... So, do I just try to weave that into the course as it goes on and not talk about it in one spot concentrated, rather keep coming back to it throughout the year?

Electronic portfolios?

I've been searching around for documents about teaching portfolios. Most of the stuff I've found talks about what should be in there, which is good. However, it seems that largely favorable form of presentation is a paper copy. Do I need to say that that seems boring? I ran into one commercial software that helps teachers build one, although I know nothing about it: Teachers' Portfolio. Now, free is the word, so I look for other stuff. Should html be the answer? Hence, questions for math teachers out there. How do you make your portfolio? What would you suggest getting ready to come out of school not quite yet teachers use to make their own and what you suggest they put in there?