Ok, I believe that catches me up and will post at least two more by the end of the month...probably even more. There are some good articles in the other Ed. Week Magazines I want to talk about.

Ed. Week post (catch up #6)

In the Ed. Week January 12 issue the article, “Tucson District Holds Firm Despite State Ultimatum On ethnic-Studies Classes” discusses the issue of Tucsons’ forcing schools to stop teaching ethnic studies. I really don’t understand how this became an issue. It doesn’t seem equitable to tell schools they cannot teach this. I would think that the United States Government would intercede on the basis that it is discriminatory. Mr. Horne, Arizona’s schools chief said, “It is fundamentally wrong to divide students up according to their racial group and teach them separately”. Furthermore, Mr. Huppenthal, a former state legislator and Mr. Horne’s replacement said his classroom encounter “clearly revealed an unbalanced, politicized and historically inaccurate view of American history being taught”. In my undergraduate history and anthropology classes, as well as my upbringing, I was taught that there are two sides to every story and that each side has value and some truth to it. Therefore, I think it is unconstitutional to tell these schools that they cannot teach this “different” point of view as long as they are teaching both sides. One thought I had was, If they teach these classes as an extracurricular class or elective class then there should be no dilemma.

Ed. Week post (catch up #5)

In the Ed. Week January 12 issue the article, “Simulations Helping Novices Hone Skills” talks about the TeachMe program that the University of Central Florida created. Using online technology teacher candidates can practice real life classroom issues in a virtual classroom. I love this idea, it may not be perfect but it would help teachers in training to be better at anticipating certain situations and how to deal with them, kinda like in our classroom management class. The simulations are not to take the place of face-to-face student teaching but hone our classroom management skills.

Ed. Week post (catch up #4)

In the Ed. Week December 8th issue the article, “Volunteers Are Ready—All Schools Need to Do Is Ask”, Mr. Tully suggests that there is a plethora of volunteers just waiting and ready to be asked. I beg to differ. Although the story was heartwarming I believe that this was an unusual case. I have seen this first hand in the schools in Corvallis. You will see a lot more volunteers in the higher socio-economic districts but it is hard to get parent or otherwise volunteers in the lower socio-economic areas. Having said that, I could not say if they have tried to call on businesses or churches etc. but I can’t imagine this not being done. The author wrote that “Retirees, alumni, parents who may or may not have students in the schools and a long list of others—understand the issues facing struggling schools and are looking for more ways to get involved”. Again, I disagree. If people really truly understood and wanted to help then they would pass the necessary measures that would increase education budgets instead of decrease them. My feeling is that most people feel that once their children are out of the school system, or if their children go to a private school, or if they have never had children in schools, then they do not want to “pour” money into the educational system. Just my opinion.

Ed. Week post (catch up #3)

In the December 8th issue of Ed. Week, the article, “Elementary Students Encouraged to Raise College Expectations”, talked about getting students as early as Elementary school excited about the idea of going to college. I love the quote “Waiting until they are in high school for college readiness is as crazy as starting parenting when a kid is 13. You miss the opportunity”, so true. Having the students learn early on about colleges is valuable. The article states that “By creating a college going culture, they hope to inspire students towards a lifelong path of deeper learning that will end with a degree”. Mr. Lopez, a former principal, acknowledges that “for kids who live in poverty, it will take a childhood to break down myths about college and get the child to the place where they can see college in their future”. I came from a family where college was just not done and therefore didn’t seem like a possibility for me. I somehow overcame those thoughts to become the first college graduate in my family but not until I was an adult. If something like this would have been in place who knows, I might have done it earlier. The article goes on to say that they try to get the community involved by using volunteers from universities, businesses and other organizations (who will be trained) to inspire students to “aim high”. There is also a New Haven Promise Scholarship that will give $2,500 annually towards college tuition to qualifying students (positive disciplinary records, 20 hours of community service, 90 percent attendance rate and a 3.0 gpa). They are even trying to get the parents more involved, which I think will be the hardest to accomplish in the lower socio-economic areas. Ms. Cargile, Principal at Rio Grande Elementary School said, “By the time they leave elementary school those patterns and habits are set” and I agree that starting young is the key.

Ed. Week post (catch up #2)

In the December 1st issue of Ed. Week, the article, “New Vigor Propelling Training” talked about an NCATE study about how best to revamp teacher prep. I am very excited about this one because they are trying to determine if changing the teacher prep to a yearlong apprenticeship would be better and I certainly agree. First of all it would give new teachers a huge benefit to be under the guidance of a veteran teacher for an entire year! What a huge educational experience that would be! New teachers could enter the field with more knowledge and confidence. Also, I know first-hand how hard it is going to be on me financially to not be able to work. I believe it is one of the reasons that some people do not go for an education degree. The amount of time you have to take off from work to do the student teaching, FOR FREE, is tough. If it were set up as a “residency” like doctors, or an apprenticeship and we were actually paid, more “qualified” people would become teachers.

Ed. Week post (catch up #1)

In the December 1st issue of Ed. Week, there was an article about how Chicago has put into place the “nation’s first state mandate for providing bilingual education to preschoolers”. The new rule states that if there are at least 20 students who speak the same language, then the preschool center must offer bilingual education and that ALL lead teachers have to have an ESOL endorsement. So my thoughts are, really? HAVE to? I believe, and maybe as I go through this program I may change my mind, that having your children learn a second language, while valuable, should be a personal choice. Furthermore, this means that preschool teachers will have to spend more money on their education which some may not be able to do or want to do. I guess this article boils down, for me, to administrations/governments TELLING me what I have to do and I am kinda a rebel that way…this should be a personal choice for the preschools and the teachers. I just want to reiterate that I do think learning a second language is valuable, it should just be a choice.

Updating Ed Week Blogs

It has been a while since I have been on here so therefore I have A LOT of catching up to do. By my calculations (two postings per issue/two issues a month) I need to do 6 Ed. Week postings to catch up and then 2 more by the end of the month. Is that correct? I know that some of the article blogs will be old news but the point of this blog is to talk about education issues that are of importance to us so some of the article posts are from the December issues. I WILL be doing a better job of getting these posts up. I have had a few family/personal issues happen these past couple of months but my head is now back in the game….promise.