G.S. Ed. Week post

In the October 27th issue the article "Teacher Speed Rights on Curriculum Rejected" proves that there is a very fine line for teachers that we have to tow. The article talks about a teacher who had students read books that were not o.k.'d with the school officials and parents and she was fired. When she took them to court...to my shock she lost. The courts said "that public employees do not have First Amendment protection for speech "pursuant to" their official duties. We as teachers have to be on our toes with not only how we teach but what...to save myself in the future I will always check with the principal first...and probably parents too. This will be a daunting task since not every parent will agree with all material.

G.S. Ed. Week post

In the October 27th issue, the article "Turnaround Team...Kentucky" talks about the staff of The Academy @ Shawnee and how they are desperately trying to raise performance levels in this school. I was heartbroken to hear just how many of the students do not think they will be able to go to college. The teachers are not only teaching the academic...they are also showing their students that they care about them which is forming community among the students as well as with the teachers. Just as we have learned in more than one of our classes...getting to know your students is crucial to their success in school.

Multi-Media Project

Oh Man....after watching this, I need to practice my speech skills because I said um and so too many times:} I put this off for a while because as usual I thought it was going to be hard and time consuming. What I found was...the powerpoint took the longest time. Adding my voice with voicethread was easy and posting/embedding the presentation was lightening fast.

GS Ed Wk post #6

In the October 6th issue, I literally was in tears reading the article, "Superman, builds houses". I soooooo want to see this movie. I have heard mixed reviews but this article proves that the movies message can clearly save/change lives. Safford Baskins did not feel safe or wanted in school. The teachers and the subjects were boring and he felt that the teachers/staff didn't care if he was there or learned. That"s so sad! I do not want to be that teacher. I will make sure my students know that I care about not just their academics but them personally and they will feel safe in my classroom. Safford and his friend both stated that having close personal relationships with their teachers and having those teacher hold high expectations for them but in a caring sincere manner gave them the self confidence needed to excel. The teachers in this program (YouthBuild) were a great support system. That"s what I want to be and in order to do that I have to know my students, their backgrounds, their families/communities. The job of a teacher may seem daunting and definitely time consuming but it will be worth it!

GS Ed Wk post #5

In the October 6th issue of Ed.Week the article "Districts begin looking harder at absenteeism" brings to mind something that I have often thought was a big issue in how well students do in school already. I have often said that I believe one of the reasons I did not do well in math, as well as other subjects, was due to absenteeism. Math, because it builds upon itself is one subject that you can't miss too many days or you will quickly get behind...and I did. Going back to school as an adult, I ended up having to start at the bottom level in math and I am grateful because there were concepts that I had never understood fully and I believe it was due to missing school. In the article Miss Sparks said, "one of the strongest and most often overlooked indicators of a student's rick of becoming disengaged, failing courses and eventually dropping out of school is absenteeism". The article states that some of the causes of chronic absenteeism is illness due to asthma, missed buses, parents/students not realizing the importance/link between attendance and grades, and teachers who make learning boring (especially in high school). A report out of a Baltimore school district showed that students who were chronically absent scored 15 to 20 percentage points lower than those who attended on a regular basis. One high school student stressed to her peers that graduating from high school and college will give students a million more dollars than a student who does not...and that may make kids choose to attend more often.

Because I feel so strong about this issue I will be trying my very best to understand why any of the kids I teach might be missing school and do my best to help make it easier for them to come to school...legalities aside.

GS Ed Wk post #4

In the September 29th issue the article "Educators advised to be cautious on Facebook profiles" really got me thinking about how we as educators need to be extremely careful what we put out publicly. How we conduct ourselves in the public eye can reflect on us scholastically. Students have access to a tremendous amount of technology in today's world including information on/about their teachers. Unfortunately this means that we do need to have higher standards for ourselves when putting personal information online or anywhere our kids might have access to it. The article said that "educators need to behave in a professional manner, realizing that one's actions reflect directly on the status and substance of the profession" and I agree. In a world with so many technological devices available to students we do need to be "moral exemplars". Almost every year there are teachers who are fired due to misconduct in various degrees. Children, especially young children are modelers, they will repeat what they hear and see and its a matter of trust too. Older kids need to know they can trust their teachers...if we are not morally sound then they are not going to take us serious as teachers.

GS Ed Wk post #3

In the September 29th issue, the article "Study finds homeless pupils hard hit by school closures" was heartbreaking. As if these kids don't have enough to worry about. The article talks about how much harder it is for homeless students to do well in schools when their school ends up getting closed and they have to be transferred to another school..usually one that is a low performing school. Lisa Fuentes, a principle at one of the high schools said, "Just because they're homeless doesn't mean they are any less capable to graduate than the other children". I agree...being homeless does not mean they have a lower intellect but it can make it harder on them to get homework done/turned in due to not having technology readily available to them not to mention nutrition and a good nights sleep. Then when schools close, these kids might have to travel farther making it difficult to get to school. In Minneapolis,the districts are trying to place homeless students in schools that are not slated to close, anytime soon, by restructuring their tracking system for those students.

As a teacher, it would be vital to know which students might be homeless and do my very best to help in any way possible...extensions on assignments...access to school computers after hours etc. I don't know if there are any homeless students in my district...but I do need to find out and to find out if there are already any policies implemented for these students.