Free Field Trips

The two most dreaded words that can possibly exist for an educator are "budget cuts." With budget cuts, students miss out on a lot of educational opportunities; but as future teachers we need to find resources that will allow our students to still experience the wonders of this world. What better way to integrate real life situations into a classroom than by actually exploring. When I was in elementary school, my third graded teacher tried to get us motivated about specific subjects so she would take us on cool and exciting field trips. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, schools and teachers are being limited to the field trips they can take. Looking through the internet I came across this amazing website, which gives amazing suggestions of free field trips that are literally across the street or around the block. Field Trip Factory gives great ideas for field trips for any grade level, from kindergarten to high school. I definitely think that kids would enjoy any of the field trips mentioned in this website especially since it takes them out of the classroom and into their community.

Hope this website helps and motivates you to go out and explore the wonders of our communities. :)

http://www.fieldtripfactory.com/default.aspx

Set of National Standards. Is it a Good Idea?

I found this article to be very interesting. Forty eight of the U.S. state governors came together to propose a national standards system. NCLB wanted proficiency by 2014. So the states were left to determine what they felt their students should learn, hence the difference in curriculum and what-not. This point of this proposal is to have a national system of standards that cover the core curriculum for math, language, and history.

Do you feel that it would be a good idea to have a national standards system?

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/governors-state-education-officials-propose-national-education-standards/story?id=10063270

"Funding Cliff"

As I was searching through the web I came up this article that was written last month. After reading Jonathan Kozol’s book, The Shame of a Nation: the restoration of apartheid schooling in America, I have been more aware about the effects of economic distress in schools. It is sad to hear and see what is happening in low Socio-Economic Status (SES) schools and how the education of the children is affected by budget cuts, low qualified teachers and lack of resources. After reading this article I was dumbfounded to see that many of the nation’s schools will no longer have federal money to spend since most of them maximized the budget given to them. This only makes me wonder what will happen to the American school system. As of right now we see that poor funding tends to hurt the education that student receive, which unfortunately affect many low SES schools, so what will happen to the schools who are hanging off the "funding cliff?" What can we do as future educators?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/education/08educ.html

Political Textbooks?

I found an interesting article describing a recent vote among Texas lawmakers with a ruling in favor of promoting conservative ideals in their schools textbooks and curriculums. I don't want to say here which ideology is right: conservative or liberal; but shouldn't we be teaching students history in an unbiased and apolitical way? Conservative ideals these books will promote include highlights on the NRA and a diminished look at liberal spokesman Thomas Jefferson.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1973276,00.html

Classroom 2.0

Classroom 2.0 is a social networking site for educators and future educators. This site is wonderful because it brings teachers together. After you sign up, the site advisors will check your information and make sure that you are joining the site for the right purposes. After being admitted, the doors open to a wonderful site full of information and networking. Teachers begin blogs asking for advice and bringing up new topics in education. It is also wonderful for new teachers to network with experienced teachers. My favorite part about the site is that they do multiple daily live webcasts about different topics. Each week there are amazing people speaking on the site about informative topics for teachers. For example, this week there are topics such as E-books and libraries, Digital tools and math, and Job Opportunities for in Collaborative Learning. These are just to name a few. This site is wonderful because it connects real educators with other educators and is a learning environment for experienced and inexperienced teachers alike. Another great thing that this site does, is connect educators together from around the world. This is a great opportunity to learn about opportunities abroad and to establish penpals with teachers classrooms in other countries. The opportunities are endless. Sign Up! It's so worth it!!!
http://www.classroom20.com/

School Banned Spanish

A secretary claims that she was fired because her principal banned her from speaking Spanish to non-English speaking parents. The truth is that she was hired as a bilingual secretary, but when the new principal took over, all staff employees were “no longer allowed to speak Spanish to parents.” Yikes! Well, this definitely stirred up some trouble. The case is in the federal court right now. So, what do you think? This comes from a district where as much as 16% of the students are Latino. I think that in order to get parents informed, and into the classroom to volunteer, Spanish must be spoken by the secretary when needed. After all, parent involvement boosts student success, doesn’t it?! After the principal set this policy in the school, many parents were misunderstood, ignored, and upset. This is certainly a controversial issue in education today. It definitely applies to our county as well.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/02/07/1230320/worker-school-banned-spanish.html

Discovery Science Center

The Discovery Science Center located in Santa Ana is a playground filled with scientific experiments for young children. The facility itself is a wonderful resource for any educator able to schedule a field trip, but the Discovery Science Center also has valuable programs available to educators free of charge. The first of these is the Teacher Education Network (TEN), a network for Southern California science teachers. TEN members can also receive rewards for their participation, such as free field trips and outreach programs. Another program for developing professionals is the standard based TEAMS (Teacher Education Advancement in Math and Science). Each month, a TEAMS workshop addresses math, science and language arts concepts through story books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. At the end of these workshops, teachers will receive a copy of the lesson plan and $60 worth of classroom materials for free. Lastly, and the most interesting, is the Free Educators’ Evening of Science; a relaxing preview of upcoming educational programs after which drinks and hors d’oeuvres are provided. If you are interested in any of these programs above, I encourage you do visit the professional development department of the Discovery Science Center using the link below.

http://www.discoverycube.org/education.aspx?q=11

Success in High Need Schools

I know that finding a teaching job is difficult in this economy right now and a lot of people are finding a job wherever they can, including in low socioeconomic schools and high need schools. The environment is a very different one but, and this article explains what can establish success in High-Need schools. There is a huge achievement gap in these schools, and the teacher turnover rate is also high. These High-Need schools need great teachers that "must assemble pertinent knowledge, commitment, and action to reduce the gap between our highest and lowest performing schools." Preparing leaders to address the achievement gap in high-need schools poses a challenge for educators, high poverty schools, and our nation. School leaders must demonstrate a heightened awareness of how schools initiate the national mission whereby “the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself.” (Obama, 2009). Although complex issues surround poverty and diversity, the first steps to action may not prove as illusive as we may fear. The same values and desire we bring to surmount other educational challenges can guide us in how to better understand and meet the needs of children in low socio-economic and poverty-ridden schools. It must begin with competent and caring leadership. This article reviews key resources for understanding how a new generation of school principals is making a difference in closing the achievement gap in high-need schools.

"Yes We Can" Success in High-Need schools

Behavior Management in a Court Room!

My research topic deals with classroom and behavior management and during my research I stumbled upon a news article in Los Angeles Times titled, "Truly a Jury of Their Peers" (Kim, LA Times, 2010). After reading the article I could not believe the story itself; I have never heard of anything like this. The news article proceeded to explain that high school students from Dorsey High School are one of "17 groups" that meet after school in a court room to act as a jury to their peers, "deciding the cases of first time juvenile offenders accused of misdemeanors, such as petty theft" (Kim, LA Times, 2010). Wow, is the first thing that came to mind while reading this description of the group, I did not know whether to think of how influential this could be in a troubled teens life and that of the jury or how disastrous this could be. I know in inner cities, revenge is a common event; however, I would hope that the experience of this would benefit both parties and as the article notes students "do better in school and are no longer in trouble" after undergoing this trial (17 year old, LA Times, 2010). This could certainly in a classroom, but I wanted to know what you all thought about this article? In addition, I can see how this can help behavior management in the classroom for both parties, do you think this is something you would support your students to become involved in if teaching at Dorsey High School? I encourage you all to read the 2 page article, it is truly something I have never heard of before. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teen-court22-2010mar22,0,4418530.story?page=1. Article By: Los Angeles Times Writer Victoria Kim, March 22, 2010

High Expectations

An article in Teacher Magazine showed that although a majority of teachers and principals believe that having High Expectations for their students is important, a small amount of teachers and principals believe that all their students can succeed academically. We often talk about having high expectations for our students. Our classes teach us to make sure our expectations for our student's achievements are high, but it would be helpful to talk about what this looks like in a classroom. How can we have high expectations for our students on a day to day basis? How will actually having high expectations change our classrooms and our students?

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/03/17/metlife_expectations.html

Mobile Lessons

This article in Education Week talks about how many teachers are trying to make lessons accessible via cell phones or other mobile devices. By allowing access on these types of devices, teachers are providing students with more opportunities to access important information and become more involved in the learning. This task comes with some difficulties, though. Not all portable devices are capable of such tasks. They may not have the capabilities to run the lessons, which would not be beneficial to these students. The use of these mobile lessons has created some bonding experiences for some teachers who are currently using it. They cause the teachers to work together more closely and share information and tips. Do you think that these mobile lessons are beneficial? To whom are they beneficial? What are some of the benefits? What are some other drawbacks, which are not listed?

Link: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/18/26mobilecontent.h29.html

The SciGirls site and series, sponsored by PBS, encourages girls to become more interested in and aware of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This site offers girls the opportunity to create their own STEM profiles, through which they can upload and share posts about STEM related activities, questions, or current events. They also receive newsletters and information about upcoming events in their areas. There are also helpful teacher links and suggestions for integrating STEM activities into the classroom, with options to select specific grade levels for optimal compliance with standards. This is a fun and educational way to get students interested in STEM, particularly females, since there is currently such a high social concern for young girls in these areas.

Going to School During Spring Break?!?

I know everyone is excited for spring break next week, but what if we were students at a “chronically failing” high school and during spring break, we attended tutoring review sessions to prepare for standardized testing? I don’t know about you, but I believe spring break is meant to be a break! Even if there are projects, papers and work (one of the major pitfalls of a semester system), at least we do not have to attend classes and tutoring sessions with teachers at school.

Spruce High School in Texas held math review sessions during spring break for a group of 87 students. This was an attempt to increase the scores on the upcoming Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests. The threat is that the school will be closed if they fail to meet the standards again.

What do you think about holding review sessions during spring break? Do you think this was a necessary step in an attempt to raise test scores? With the smaller groupings of students, do you think the more individualized attention will ultimately lead to more learning and thus, higher scores? Do you think taking away that break from school is overall beneficial for students?

This article by Diane Rado was published March 17, 2010 in The Dallas Morning News.

Middle School Gets Students Pumped About Reading

I work in the Reading Center in the College of Educational Studies, and, the other day, my boss told me about a video called "Gotta Keep Reading." Teachers at a Florida middle school were brainstorming ideas on how promote reading in their classrooms. According to the Orlando Sentinnel, the school's reading coach said that "Students have a lot of other interests. Oftentimes, reading takes a back seat to that." Therefore, teachers and staff decided to take the lyrics of the popular Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" and change it to a song called "I Gotta Keep Reading." They then taught all 1700 students plus faculty and staff dance moves so that they could create a flash mob video. Oprah Winfrey heard about the video and talked about the school on her talk show. Not only did it give the school some well-deserved publicity, but creating the video has also sparked students' interest in reading just as the school's teachers hoped it would.

This video reminds me a lot about what we're reflecting on in our Tapestry class. Integrating core subjects with the arts is a great way to inspire students to learn. Not only will we be creating lesson plans that incorporate the arts, but integrating different subjects within our classrooms has been a theme throughout many of our Liberal Studies courses. I think "I Gotta Keep Reading" is a great example of how music can inspire students and how little ideas that teachers have can make a huge, nation-wide impact.

You can read more information at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-oprah-ocoee-middle-video-030510-20100305,0,3588100.story

School Bullying

Bullying has become a major and serious issue in schools today. What once began as innocent teasing and name calling among children has now become more hurtful on a greater scale. It is found within the school, after school, and now it is even found outside of school on the internet (known as cyber bullying). Bullying has led to many children having a number of self-esteem, emotional and psychological issues. In addition, bullying has led to children dropping out of school, becoming depressed, and even leading some to commit suicide or mass murder. Now more than ever it is important for teachers, parents, and students alike to become educated about bullying. This website provides a number of articles with information and resources about bullying. "The warning signs of bullying," "how to prevent bullying," etc provide insight on these topics and how to prevent bullying. The site also provides videos, links, questions/answers, and quizzes on bullying, to help viewers gain a better understanding of the subject matter. By using all of the various resources and information that are provided on this site about bullying; teachers, parents, and students alike can now become more educated about bullying. It can only be hoped that by doing so, we can prevent and stop bullying from occurring, and children can once again feel safe and secure in school.

Bullying at School and Online

Nutrition in Schools

The video is about First Lady Michelle Obama kicking off Lets Move. Lets Move is a program designed to tackle childhood obesity by encouraging exercise and healthy eating. The First Lady is joined by Cabinet members, athletes, educators, students and others at the kickoff event.
I believe obesity is becoming something that needs to be addressed by teachers. Students in their early ages are being exposed to unhealthy eating habits. Most students are uneducated about their eating habits and therefore I think it would be a god idea for teachers to step in. Teachers are people students look up to and therefore would take into consideration what he or she says. As a caretaker of his or her students, I believe that the student’s lifestyles should be addresses. Just as if another person or the child was causing harm to him or herself would be unacceptable, so should the food that enters their body that may be harmful. What are you own thoughts about nutrition in schools?

The Problems with Tenure

This video talks about the politics of tenure. Tenure is very sensitive topic when it comes to teaching. This is a subject that is often talked about within the liberal studies program because it effects us all. Tenure is given to teachers after two full years of teaching and is a title that can not be taken away and gives great benefits. Once you have tenure, it is nearly impossible to get fired from teaching regardless of the results in your classroom. The debate with tenure is that all teachers should not receive it. Once teachers past this certain date, they get tenure without any question. I have talked about this idea in many classes and I believe something should be done. I think teachers should be observed or show that they deserve this wonderful opportunity. How do you think tenure should be decided? Is it too easy for bad teachers to get tenure? Is tenure even important? All of these questions run through teachers and administrators minds and we will probably never have all the answers or agree with everyone.

Building a Better Teacher

This is a recent article from the New York Times that I examined for one of my credential classes. It looks at the real problem behind struggling test scores. Doug Lemov went to many different struggling schools and found that the problem could be the way teachers are teaching. Therefore, he created a 357 page book on simple teaching techniques that could be incorporated into everyday use. For example, when giving directions to students, stand still. Students are more likely to pay attention to you if you are giving your full attention to them instead of passing out papers or multitasking in some other way. I tried a few of these strategies out with my tutee in my Literacy & Learning class and she really responded well to them. I really want to read this book and find out about more strategies to improve my teaching. This article also gave me a sense of responsibility in that it stresses that if a student or a class is not doing well in something the teacher needs to change his/her approach. You cannot put blame on your students, but you need to adjust your teaching strategies to support their needs.

Smart Shorties: Students mix rap music and math problems

Why is it that students can remember lyrics to songs and not basic math? A teacher in Toledo, OH found a way to connect the two. She noticed a large percent of the students in her class were not remembering basic skills math so she decided to come up with a fun new way to engage the students using rap songs. She creating a program called “Smart Shorties” which “is a music-based math program that takes popular rap songs and changes the lyrics to help kids memorize their math rules.” Since the students had to write the lyrics, they had to know the process. As a result the more times they wrote the song lyrics down about math and shared it with the class, the more the students internalized math skills. She has seen her class gone from 0 percent passing on the state test to 48 percent.
For more info visit
http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=12064046

Middle School Teacher Gives Student ''Minus 20% For Being A Loser'' Grade On Test

A middle school teacher in North Carolina has been writing "Loser" on her students' tests and even going as far as to grade students down for being "losers". This issue was brought up to me by the teacher that I am observing for my research paper. How can someone who believes that calling students "losers" is appropriate go into the teaching field? This news clip introduces the story and shows how much influence a teacher's dispositions, responses, and teaching techniques have on students. To the teacher, the notion of calling students "losers" was not serious nor inappropriate but to many students and parents this issue is very serious.




Teacher Grades Kids as 'Loser' - ABC News

Trends in Testing

Dr. James McLean, Dean of UA College of Education, discusses different trends in Educations. He first trend he discusses is about specific learning objectives. Tests force teachers to teach specific learning objectives rather general topics and general abilities. It has become this way because No Child Left Behind wants to measure accountability. The problem with measuring accountability is it doesn’t measure what has been learned. Dr. McLean states, “The purpose is not to improve learning as much as it is to measure what has been learned. It also has limited use in improving learning other than to make overarching judgments.” I found this statement to be one of the most powerful statements stated throughout this video. He further discusses the negative of testing takes away from teachers teaching general knowledge. The last trend he talks about is ACT and SAT scores. More colleges and universities are looking more at grades than standardized testing scores. The reason is that colleges can predict how successful a student’s grades will be in college by looking at the past grades a student achieved in high school. I very much agree with this because I can personally relate to it myself. My SAT and ACT scores really did not predict how successful I would be in college, my scores were very low. The only things those scores did was low my self-confidence in my abilities. Which shouldn’t have happened because I did so well in high school, and I am doing well in college.

I agree with Dr. McLean in every aspect of his interview. I think that in schools we put too much emphasis on tests rather than how much students are really learning. Higher test scores really mean nothing to the students, so why should they to us. I feel students are missing out on so much, just as he mentioned ‘general topics’ that can help students be more successful outside of school. Isn’t that why we go to school, so we are educated to survive outside of the school grounds? So, why is it that tests are such a big trend and not learning?

Discover Some Educational Fun at Discovery Science Center

To get your students’ imaginations flying high, have them go on a field trip to the Taco Bell Discovery Science Center (DSC) in Santa Ana. Whether the child enjoys science or math, or needs a more kinesthetic learning environment, this center is a place to explore, learn, and appreciate different aspects of science. Dino Quest, Virtual Volleyball, a Musical dancefloor, and events like Bubblefest offer notable learning experiences. A new, permanent Hockey Exhibit is at the Discovery Science Center featuring some fun facts about the sports and the NHL Anaheim Ducks. There are lesson plans online that give creative ideas or an experience at the center itself; there are many options and opportunities to educate minds. Someone from the DSC can come to your school too.

Education in rural part of Nigeria

When i watched this video i felt like crying because i never went to this type of school and i don't live in the rural part of Nigeria. The school in this video is a public primary school. also called elementary school which is mostly attended by children from less privillege families. The schools are taken care and supported by the Federal, state and local government of NIgeria. The schools are the way they are like in the video not because of lack of funds, but because of the egocentric nature of man.But despite all the problems and challenges the teachers and pupils face in terms of infrastructures, teaching materials, textbooks and all, the teachers,students, parents and community as a whole are willing and ready to help in the development of the school.......And also they all have hope.

"Nigeria education has evolved through a number of phases. The education system in Nigeria has been formed by a number of influences, - the colonial influence, the influence of the military rule in Nigeria and then the impact of independence and a new constitution. The progress of education in the southern states of Nigeria reveals the involvement of the Christian missionaries towards the education system in Nigeria during the colonial period. History of Nigeria EducationNigeria education was slowly but soundly developing during the colonial time until the conclusion of World War II. The Christian missionaries introduced the western education system in Nigeria in the mid nineteenth century. Three fundamentally distinct education systems existed in Nigeria in 1990. They were, - the indigenous system, the Quranic schools, and formal European-style educational institutions. Higher Education in Nigeria originated with the colonial government launching the Yaba Higher College in1934.

Education in Nigeria became the responsibility of the state and local councils according to the 1979 constitution. First six years of primary education was made mandatory, which was a significant factor in the development of education in Nigeria. There has been a noticeable upgrading of educational facilities in Nigeria in the latest years. The apparent rates for adult illiteracy in the year 2000 is 35.9%. Nigeria Education SystemAt present, there are 13 polytechnic colleges and four institutions of technology in Nigeria, along with a number of state universities, colleges, and schools. The local and state governments manage primary and secondary education in Nigeria. Higher education is the responsibility of both the federal and the state governments.

Education is free but not compulsory at present in Nigeria. The formal education system includes six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, three years of senior secondary school, and four years of university education consequently directing towards a bachelor’s level degree in the majority of the subjects. The annual term of school in Nigeria stretch through ten months, and is sectioned into three ten to twelve weeks periods each at the pre-primary, primary, junior and senior secondary stages."