Reflection

I must admit, at first I thought this assignment was just going to be more work piled on to my already hectic course load. I was wrong. Once I really got into posting one to two times a week, it became a fun assignment to do. I really learned a great deal from the posts written by my peers and professor, but especially from my own posts. I learned that the blog could be a very fun and effective way for students and teachers to communicate with one another outside of the classroom. I will definitely try to incorporate this into my classroom. Overall, this was an effective assignment. I am glad I had a chance to experience it and I will certainly continue to post blogs in the future.

Does Grades Do Students Any Good???

I recently read an article that judged whether or not grades do more harm than good. Many researchers, educators, and parents are now beginning to questioning the purpose and effectiveness of grades. They believe parents definitely deserve to know how their children are doing in school and they know students benefit from understanding how they are performing. But they strongly feel how the child’s progress is communicated can have a great impact on how he or she learns. Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” and Punished by Rewards, writes extensively about the influence of grades on learning. He was asked him to articulate how grades impact a student’s education for this article.

Kohn states, “Research suggests three consistent effects of giving students grades – First, their interest in the learning itself is diminished. Second, they come to prefer easier tasks – not because they’re lazy, but because they’re rational. After all, if the point is to get an “A”, your odds are better if you avoid taking intellectual risks. Third, students tend to think in a more superficial fashion – and to forget what they learned more quickly – when grades are involved. As far as I can tell, there are absolutely no benefits of giving grades to balance against these three powerful negative consequences – except that doing so is familiar to us and doesn’t take much effort.”

Kohn goes on and gives suggestions on alternatives for documenting a student’s progress. His suggestions include a written narrative report or parent/student/teacher conferences.

Do you agree that grades do students more harm than good?


To read the rest of the article I posted a link below:
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Grades_Any_Good/

Flocabulary: Hip Hop in the Classroom

On Friday, the class watched two clips that turned the Declaration of Independence and Macbeth into rap lyrics. There were mixed feelings about using rap to educate students. I personally would not use Flocabulary as the sole lesson for teaching my students Shakespeare, however, I would possibly show it after reading a Shakespeare play. You never know, a student might understand the play better by watching the clip. Even though it may not be likely they would understand it better but it is possible…

Catholic School Teachers Strike Over Health Care

The Archdiocese of New York is engaged in a bitter battle with teachers at its 277 schools, which educate about 107,000 students. On Friday, nearly 200 teachers of the Federation of Catholic Teachers union went on strike saying the archdiocese has hindered their efforts to obtain a new health insurance plan. Another Catholic teachers’ union, the Lay Faculty Association, has planned a strike to coincide with Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York April 18 to 20. This latest disagreement underscores the larger financial crisis Catholic schools have faced nationwide, with widespread school closings in urban areas and a decline in enrollment since 2000.

Through the 1960s, Catholic schools had essentially free faculty in the form of nuns and priests, however lay people have replaced them as the ranks of clergy have shrunk. In New York, the Catholic schoolteachers’ average salary is $45,000, nearly $25,000 less than their public school counterparts.

The major striking points in both unions’ contract disputes include an increased premium for health benefits and the unions’ desire for bigger pay raises and a better pension plan. The archdiocese has vowed not to budge since they feel that the offer presented to the unions was a good one and the teachers should have been accepted it. The Federation of Catholic Teachers union called the archdiocese to pressure them into handing over records of health insurance claims that the union needs to obtain a new plan.

A strike during the pope’s visit has stirred up mixed feelings. The unions believe that striking purpose is not to disrupt the visit, but to get the attention of the many high-ranking church officials who will be in town. Others consider the strike to be distasteful because they feel the teachers are using the papal visit, which is supposed to be a spiritual event, to gain traction.

How do you feel about this strike? Do you think the unions are justified in striking, including their future strike during the papal visit?

Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/nyregion/05strike.html?ref=education

5th grader points out mistake @ Smithsonian

I came across an interesting article today. The title immediately caught my action.

Well it appears that an eleven year old from Allegan, Michigan caught an error in one of the Smithsonian’s displays called the Tower of Time during his visit. The Smithsonian is an educational and research institute that is composed of 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. Millions of people have seen the Tower of Time exhibit and not one of them reported any error; that is until Kenton Stufflebeam noticed a mistake.

The mistake was made in a notation that identified the Precambrian as an era. Kenton knew that was wrong. He recently learned about the Precambrian from his fifth grade teacher. The Precambrian is an informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period (570 million years ago). Kenton reported the mistake and weeks later received a letter from museum officials acknowledging the mistake and telling him that the solution would be to simply paint over the word “era.” His parents and teacher should be very proud of him; I know I would be. Sometimes, a child can see what no one else can.

Kings Knight Chess Club Inc.

This past Saturday I volunteered at the Hudson County Elementary Chess Championship 2008 here in Jersey City. The founder and Executive Director of Kings Knight Chess Club Inc., Robert Stewart developed the chess championship. Kings Knight Chess Club is a non-profit organization that teaches inner city youths how to play chess. Their goal is to educate and motivate youths through the game of chess. The club is dedicated to help youths to become independent thinkers.

A few teachers from local schools registered some of their students for the championship game. Some students practice after school everyday to prepare for this annual event. It was good to see over eighty students gave up their Saturday morning to compete in a non-athletic sport. I was fascinated how the teachers managed to get so many of their students to come out and play. These students were very good chess players. Students walked away with trophies and medals for all their hard work and dedication. The teachers were proud of their students and students were proud of themselves. It was a win/win situation for everyone.

Messaging Shakespeare

Ms. Brown has been a ninth grade English teacher for nine years. Recently, she had to teach eleventh grade English. Her eleventh grade students appeared to be unmotivated. That was until she incorporated cell phones in the learning activities. Ms. Brown was beginning her lesson on Shakespeare’s play Richard III. She noticed that many students used text messaging to communicate, and considered how she might use cell phones in summarizing and analyzing text to help her students better understand Richard III.

She created a weblog with the help of a colleague. The weblog consisted of entries that were selected passages from the text of Richard III and her six narrative-framing questions. Ms. Brown’s questions deliberately focused students' attention on key passages. If the students could understand these passages well enough to summarize them, she knew that their comprehension of the play would increase. And it worked. Ms. Brown saw that she could use a technique students had already mastered (text messaging) to teach literature.

I was really impressed by this article. Ms. Brown finding a common ground between her and her students. She made learning Shakespeare fun and exciting, which is not an easy thing to do. Ms. Brown showed that cell phones can be effective educational tools.

To find out more about her Richard III learning project go to this link below: http://www.netc.org/focus/examples/messag.php

My Access

As we discussed in class on Tuesday, teaching writing is difficult because students have different writing styles and methods. I think the My Access writing program is a good way to provide students with skills that can improve their writing performance. What appeals to me the most is the fact that the program grades students' essays and provides immediate feedback. When I begin teaching Language Arts I would like to use this program with my students.

For those of you who do not know what My Access is here is a brief synopsis:
“My Access is an instructional writing and tutoring program designed for use in schools and educational institutions. The program provides comprehensive instructional support for educators, unmatched accuracy in scoring writing assignments, and unlimited opportunities for students to write, revise and learn.” (This definition is from the Go MyAccess website.)

Here is the My Access website:
http://www.gomyaccess.com/myaccess/do/log

10 Tips On How to Deal With Difficult Parents

I was browsing the Internet for lesson plan ideas and I came across this article about how to deal with difficult parents. Barbara & Sue Gruber offer good advice on the topic.

Here is the link:
http://teachers.net/gazette/MAR08/gruber/

Bullying in the Classrom

Since we as future educators will have to deal with bullying, I decided to post a short essay I wrote on the topic.


Bullying is direct behaviors such as teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting, and stealing that are initiated by one or more students against a victim. Bullying in schools has become a worldwide problem. Students are entitled to learn in school without the fear of being victimized. Bullying creates an unsafe school environment for students and faculty members. The act of bullying not only has negative consequences for the victims; it also affects the bullies as well. Children who are bullies in school often grow up to be criminals and low achievers. Victims of bullies grow up to be antisocial and angry individuals. They also become violent. In the past few years there have been several incidents of victimized students coming to school to attack the person or persons who are responsible for the bullying. In addition to direct bullying there is indirect bullying. Indirect bullying involves causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion. Girls usually participate in this form of bullying. An example of indirect bullying is the spreading of rumors to force social isolation. Whether the bullying is direct or indirect, any form of repeated intimidation is wrong.

In my classroom, I plan to deal with every incident of bullying that I am aware of. I will have to pay close attentions to the students and be able to pick up any characteristics of bullying. Some characteristics of bullies are the need to feel in control of others and the little to no empathy bullies express for their victims. The victimized students display characteristics such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and antisocial behavior. I would have conflict resolution workshops and peer counseling for the students involved. Having other students cooperate in developing classroom rules against bullying can be effective. I would also increase the parental awareness and involvement. The parents will be asked to participate in the prevention of bullying done to their child or by their child. The school as a whole should be involved in the intervention of bullying. There should be non-bullying policies implemented to deter the victimization of students.

As a teacher it is difficult being aware of everything that goes on in the classroom. To help victimized students I will promote social skills that allow them to improve on their self-esteem. From my personal experience I have seen students be harassed and abused while the teacher is oblivious to the situation. I want my students to feel safe when they come to class. Hopefully my means of intervention will help defuse the situation or appoint someone to the victims or bullies that will be of better help to them.

Mixed Results for New Jersey Students On Statewide Tests

As required by the state, 3rd through 8th grade students and 11th grade students are required to take and pass an assessment test. Each test is scored from 100 to 300. A score of 200 is considered proficient (passing).

The New York Times reported that elementary students performed the best overall. At least 80% of the students tested in grades 3, 4, and 5 passed in both math and language arts. Middle school students showed improvement from last year’s math scores but they made little to no progress in language arts. Students in the 11th grade were the only ones to perform substandard on the math test but showed improvement in language arts.

Test results are important because schools that repeatedly fail to meet federal standards face discipline actions that can include limits on how federal money is spent. In some cases, schools are restructured, often resulting in the replacement of the principal, administrators, and teachers.

Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy stated that the state education officials are in the process of developing a plan to improve performance in both middle and high school.

A link to a PowerPoint presentation of the test results is provided below.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/schools/achievement/2008/pres_files/frame.htm

Another College Shooting

A nursing student at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, L.A. opened fire yesterday on two of her classmates before taking her own life. At this time no one knows the motive for the tragic incident. The police learned of the incident after students started calling 911 simultaneously. The police arrived within four minutes. Students in the classroom and others surrounding the area were questioned briefly before being sent home. Classes were cancelled yesterday and will resume either Tuesday or Wednesday.
My condolence goes out to the families of the victims.

To read more about it I posted a link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/us/09campus.html?ref=education

Online Schooling

A recent article in The New York Times notes that online schooling is rapidly becoming the alternative to the traditional classroom schooling in some states. Wisconsin and Florida have a large number of school-aged children being educated by virtual public schools. There are two types of virtual schools. One type of virtual school is led and financed by the state, but it does not offer students a diploma. Instead it offers courses that complement regular class work at a traditional school. This virtual school is geared towards middle and high school students. The other virtual school is a full-time online charter school. The schools are publicly financed and are geared toward elementary and middle school students.

With virtual schooling, students would often download assignments and communicate with their certified teacher sporadically via Internet. These students are not considered “home-schoolers” because the online schools are financed by taxpayers and subject to federal testing requirements. The students are legally public school students.

Parents and some educators support virtual schools because the students can work at their own pace and they can receive an education without physically being present in the classroom. However, the article mentioned that virtual schools could create risk concerning the quality of the students’ education. Another downfall is that money is taken from school districts to support the virtual school in that town.

I would rather see high school students participate in online school because the majority of colleges in the United States conduct online courses. The online school will prepare them for online courses if they attend college. As for the elementary and middle school students, it is not a good idea to remove them from the classroom at such a young age. They will miss out on the advantages of a formal education if they participate in online schooling. A few things they will lose are the interaction with other classmates and the personal connection and support from a classroom teacher.

I provided a link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/education/01virtual.html

Block Scheduling: Friend of Foe???

What is block scheduling?
“In contrast with the traditional daily, six-, seven-, or eight-period schedule, a block schedule consists of three or four daily longer periods. Commonly used forms of block scheduling are the alternate-day schedule, the 4/4-semester plan, and the trimester plan.”

I experienced the block scheduling from seventh grade until I graduated from high school. I happened to like the set up because most of the teachers I had used the time effectively. However, there were a few teachers who BORED me with their lectures. So below I listed the pros and cons of block scheduling. Check it out!!!

Pros
1. More time for learning and student-teacher interaction
2. Teachers have more planning time
3. More time to work with students who are not grasping the material
4. Less stress for both the teacher and students
5. Have fewer classes to prepare for

Cons
1. Students may not receive instruction in a particular subject for a large number of time
2. It exceeds the students’ attention span
3. If a student misses a day of school it will be harder to catch up because a large amount of the material would be covered in the class
4. Difficult to cover all the material in an Advanced Placement course
5. Subjects requiring repetition, like mathematics and foreign languages, are difficult to teach in this format


Here are some links that discuss block scheduling:

http://www.jefflindsay.com/Block.shtml

http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=document&documentID=667

http://712educators.about.com/cs/blockschedule/a/blockschedule.htm

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin029.shtml

Nel Noddings & the ethics of care

Recently in my Principles and Techniques of Teaching in Secondary School course, we discussed an educational philosopher by the name of Nel Noddings. Noddings worked in the education profession for a number of years. She started out as an elementary and high school math teacher and school administrator. Noddings later became a college professor and administrator for over twenty years before she retired in 1998.

She developed an educational philosophy called the ethics of care. The ethics of care involves the teacher, who is called the carer, exhibiting a deep understanding for the student, who is called the cared-for. After the understanding is developed, the teacher then base his or her behavior on the needs of the student. Finally, once the teacher establishes the caring relationship the student must show they he or she knows how to care for others as well as themselves.

Critics of Noddings’ philosophy believe that the teacher is carrying out the traditional female role in life of giving while receive little in return. They also believe the relationship between the teacher and student is unequal because the act of caring is solely controlled by the teacher thus making the student dependent upon the teacher. To the critics this is seen as an unhealthy relationship.

Whether one agrees with her philosophy or not, it is good to see the diversity in the ways a student can be taught. I have provided a link to Noddings’ ethics of care so you can read more about it.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/noddings.htm