personal comment on Amanda’s blog

I really got some great insight from reading Amanda’s blog on the Labree reading. I too took a look at the section on democratic equality in schools. It is something that I feel should be of great importance to the institution of education in order for society to truly become socially equal. However like Amanda I know that this is not always a possibility due to a whole host of outside factors; funding, motivation, and socioeconomic statues. From reading this blog I can see the contradiction in equal schooling versus individual’s goals. Not everyone wants to be academically equal to one another and as a school system we should facilitate that want. This idea is explained was made clear to me through social efficiency, but I did not know the proper way to explain all of these idea down at one time. This idea that not all children want or will develop at an equal academic rate is a struggle to me coming from and academic family and having my core peer group all working towards a college degree. As an educator I need to keep these ideas in mind and work towards the most affective education for each of my students. Amanda’s blog really aided me in shaping my own idea about these two concepts and how they counteract with one another. When a school can facilitate learning that is equal to all students’ regardless of political biases and standardized tests then I believe education will be equal.

keena

It really upsets me that you have had a bad experince and thats that. You have to look at the positives in all experiences. At first I hated my classroom, the way the class was ran, my teacher, but I didn’t want to just write my class off and chalk it up to a bad experice. I know that this experience is basically over for you but now use this as a tool in your next classroom. Not all of your experiences are going to be fun, but you can always learn from them. Take all the bad things you saw going on inside the classroom and use them to your advantage. You saw first hand what does not work and how that can affect the entire classroom enviroment. I’m sure you witnessed times when your ideas may have worked better than the teachers. AS we move further along in this program we will be given more opportunites where are ideas will be implemented, this is only the first stage. Whatever you do don’t walk away from this experience without learning something benefical for you and your teaching career.

what

I really found Erica’s article about increasing math and reading to be horrific. As a social science major I see the importance of learning beyound standarized tests. Almost completly doing away with history, geography, music, and art leaves the child cultureless and ignorant to the world around them. How does this make a better more educated student? I really likes Erica’s idea about increasing math and reading in elementary school. Many of subjects outside of these two subjects are reiderated again and middle and high school and can be talked about in greater depth. It would be more benifical to start early if this is what a school district is worried about. I sincerely hope that this shift does not become nation wide because not only are we depriving kids of an adequate education but I am out of a job.

Response to transgendered article

I really liked reading what Katie felt about this article and her input on how she would handle this situation if she was part of that school. After reading this article and Katie’s response to it I realized the need for these situtations to be part of the educational system. It’s great for kids to experience this different types of people at a young age. The more diversity that a child is exposed to the more tolerant they are.

As a principal at that school I would push how valuable a teacher like this is to their kids. These children are going to get more positve things out of this teacher than negative. It has never been proven that gay parents or gay teachers turn out gay kids, the same findings also apply to transgendered individuals. Much of the population has its preconcieved notions about homosexuals and of course religion plays a huge role in acceptance. None of these reasons should ever prevent someone from being an educator. Articles like this one are extremly exciting to me because they are proof that society is moving forward and that discrimination and homophobia are no longer preventing individuals from pursuing their dreams, what ever they may be.

Response to bush/hitler article

I couldn’t disagree more with Keena’s response to the CNN article about the colorado teacher who was put on temporary leave for his conversation about Bush’s State of the Union adress. My personal article last week covered this article and I had a completely different opinion. Him being reinstated and given his job back was a victory for teachers everywhere. Even though his speech was out of the norm, it did exactly what he wanted it to do, it sparked his students interest. It motivated his students to question what he said and evaluate whether or not they agreed with that statement. As a government teacher we should not just present what they media puts out, we need to show an opposing view, which is what I felt he did. Regaurdless if it was his personal opinion or not it was the opposite view point. Going against the grain is something that I value in an educator, we should always be challenging our students to question the things around us and it’s great seeing educators out their doing just that.

Comment of weinstien article

I really liked what Katie had to say about time management. I have the same worries that she has about how to keep the class moving and avoiding downtime. After reading this weeks article, like her I was happy that my fears were not warranted. That most of the time teachers don’t have enough time to get through all the material before the end of the class period. I also liked her writing about transitional activities. This week I saw first hand how helpful these activates can be during a transitional time for the teacher. I think as educators we should move away from statements like “I hated that when I was in school,” and move into what strategies will be most helpful in controlling my class. In Katie’s blog she pointed out that she did not like transitional lessons but she sees the usefulness of them now.

Eat your veggies

Recently all of my blogs have been full of motivation and I wanted to change up the articles and write about a different kind of problem facing schools in every town regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or gender; childhood obesity. The article I read was about a new system they are trying to implement into schools were parents can electronically monitor their child’s eating habits. 

“ Primero Food Service Solutions, developed by Houston-based Cybersoft Technologies, allows parents to set up prepaid lunch accounts so children don’t have to carry money”, said Ray Barger, Cybersoft’s director of sales and marketing. Now parents can log into the school system and set up a lunch account for their child. There are several benefits in using this new system. One kids no longer have to carry around cash, with this system parents can put money into the account up front. The main focus of this is for parents to regulate what their kids are eating. If a parent doesn’t want their kids not to eat dessert or they only want them eating chips once a week they can program that into the computer and it flags all of those items. The cashier is now aware of any food allergies or parent-set diet restrictions for his or her account, and the student is not allowed to buy an offending item. 

This system already is being used in schools in Arizona, Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee, and Texas. Several other companies have similar cafeteria monitoring programs at other schools. Schools have been using some form of this system for the last 10 years. This article was focused on a Houston school district, and they are spending an estimated 5.3 million dollars on this program. They felt like by implanting this system will shorten lines and allow parents to control money and diet without having to be there. 

There are some skeptics to this program. Karen Cullen, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, cautioned that this program will only work if parents and children continue communicating with one another. School lunch is an important tool for kids. This is the first time many kids are choosing on their own what to eat. “Kids need to be able to make healthy choices,” Cullen said. “Parents can’t be in charge. Children need some freedom.” If parents are still regulating what their child is eating how will the child be in college, or when they move out? 

To me this system is going to be a great addition to schools. Parents need to be respectful of their children and sit down and talk about healthy eating and what are appropriate eating habits. I think that childhood obesity is something that we as educators should really care about. If a child is filling themselves with junk at lunch what kind of student are they going to be in your classroom? 

coping comment

It was nice to read a blog about an idea that i dont think we really discussed in class before. The idea of coping as an indiactor of motivation has never crossed my mind. LIke you i always saw just coping with school and grades was a negative, until this article i never realized how important it was for a student to be able to handle failure inorder to increase motivation. I also like this blog because it pointed out that there are many players in a childs educational development. It is not only the job of the teacher but a network of adults all commited to the childs development.

Divesity in the classroom

Schools today are becoming increasingly more diverse. Due to this increase we, as educators need to be prepared and educated ourselves as to how best include all students. This week we read about the alienated apathetic student. Many times when a student feels like they are the minority they begin alienating themselves from learning and other aspects of the school experience. The article I read covered some important techniques that teachers can use to increase active learning from all students.

The first step educators can take to increase active learning is by recognizing biases or sterotypes that they themselves may have absorbed. They need to examine how these biases effect how they talk to different types of students. All students need to be treated as an individual, not as a part of a minority or majority group. An example of this would be teachers discouraging women from persuing math and science classes. Although many minority students tend to stay in groups it is important to realize that even within these groups each student learns and is motivated at different levels.

Teachers also need to include every student in changing the cultural climate in the classroom. It is important not to avoid talking about the differences that exsit in the classroom. Use lesson plans to examine these differences. More often than not, prejiduces stem from ignorance. When students are allowed to ask questions it opens up the lines of communication between students, increasing the understanding, and thus the unity in the classroom. One way to implement this concept is to introduce a lesson about Plessy vs. Ferguson or women’s sufferage. When students are educated about the history of diversity and what struggles each marginalized group has gone through to earn certain freedoms they have today, understanding and unity can begin to occur.

grading scale

I completly agree with your blog about the way that grading makes students feel. Many times even i felt like i have a great grasp of the material but recieved an average grade on my standardized tests. You mentioned that this will not change unless the entire school system is changed but i do not see the school system as the main problem. It involves so many more factors. In everything we do we are grouped into categories and levels of performance. This is how we determine what colleges people get into, who gets what job, even small things like sports you are group based on a standardized method. As educators we need to find a way to incorporate grades to work for the students instead of against