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In class on Friday, Jim distributed an article asking us all to take a look at it sometime in the future. Like myself, there are many people who just pretend they have read certain articles because they believe they wont find the material in them relevant. I thought about doing this same thing until I read the byline under the title. It said "By firing bad teachers and paying good one six-figure salaries, Michelle Rhee just might save D.C.'s schools" and from that moment I knew I had to read the article.
Overall, I found the article to be extremely interesting. Not only do I admire Rhee for taking the intiative to creat change but I am also impressed by how she is able to overcome adversity. One of the most interesting parts of the article focused on the support she has for her changes and where that support is coming from. She has the support of the mayor and many schools but parents and council members are worried about some of the radical changes she is making. She is alreaday made huge leaps by ridding D.C. schools of ineffective principles and now she is working to change the process of tenure. What suprised me the most about the proposal is that I could actually see myself taking the 1st proposed idea. Throughout my experience with the education system, I alwasy thought that tenure was one of the best things about becoming a teacher. Now I see that it could be one of the major areas where we are being held back.
Link to Newsweek article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/154901
Once again, I was unbelievably enlightened by Monday night lecture. When Jim told us that we would be having speakers coming in again, I immediately was thinking of a repeat episode of the library talk. However, when he mentioned they were administrators, I gave the lecture a little more hope. Needless to say, the discussion that occurred between the class and the administrators was perfect in every way. Ever since I can remember, I have loved talking with other teachers about teaching. Hearing their stories and insights has offered many a variety of perspectives on teaching and reshaped many of my decisions about the teaching profession. Not only did these two administrators bring great experience into the discussion but they also represented areas of education that I have not experienced. One was a high school activities director and assistant principal and the other was a middle school principal. Despite being from my particular area of interest, they offered information that could be applied to any aspect of the profession.
One of the main ideas that dominated the discussion was the topic of NCLB or No Child Left Behind. This has also been a main topic in our individual classes because it is relatively new legislation and has greatly changed the teaching profession. Because we were provided with a list of questions that would be addressed, I was not surprised that the topic was brought up but I was sincerely surprised with the answer both administrators gave in response. Instead of negativity, both administrators stressed the idea of multiple ways to teach something. The middle school principal offered the view that some teachers will teach to the test and blame the test but the good teachers find ways to make learning for the tests just as fun and creative as other aspects of the day. The high school administrator reiterated this by stressing that there are many ways to introduce ideas and teachers are more than equipped because they already change lesson plans to fit different learning styles. I found this idea to be very enlightening because, like many of my classmates, I have been surrounded by the negativity with NCLB. Although I realize that NCLB will affect my teaching career, I realize now that the extent of its effect is completely left up to me, the teacher.
The website below is a link to the NEA's website about NCLB
http://www.nea.org/esea/index.html
Today, I was enlightened by class. I had never explored the idea of IQ and how it relates to intelligence until we were required to read the text. When we took the test today in class, I was surprised to see the variety of questions that it included. I must confess that I did guess on a few, especially the pattern ones. Ever since I can remember, I have never been good at picking those out on other tests. What I found most interesting about today's class was the categories that Jim aligned with our certain scores. He presented with ACT scores and GPA that often correspond to certain IQ's and I was surprised at the variety of scores we discussed. For example, my IQ score landed in the range that also corresponded to my exact ACT score and GPA. That made me feel pretty good about myself. I also thought it was interesting when we started talking about the presidential election and what is more important between IQ and EQ. To answer this question, I would say that the best thing is a good balance because a president must have both in order to respond to different international situations. I also feel like the idea of EQ is not addressed enough in our society and that we are a nation that revolves too much around a person's IQ and neglects one's feelings.
As I was walking to my 11am class today, my mother sent me a text message. Now, this is not something she usually does but she informed me that she was at the Obama Rally happening in La Crosse, WI. She then called and proceeded to let me listen to over five minutes of Obama's speech as I made the trek across campus. I was excited to hear him speak and know that he was reaching out to the people of La Crosse Wisconsin. So what does this have to do with education? Well I came back to my room and naturally went on Facebook. I was amazed to see the number of my high school age friends who had attended the rally and were already posting pictures. I wanted to know how they got away with it because my school is known for its strict attendance policy. So called one of the students up and found out that my principal had formally excused all students that wanted to attend the rally. I was shocked considering he had enforced the rules strictly when the situation occurred in 2004. I then went to the La Crosse Tribune website and was shocked to find an article about the very idea of students missing school.
This brought me back to our class discussion about voicing our opinions and what we are morally obligated to teach our students. Overall, I was proud of the message the area high school students were sending to their students because I believe students should be given every opportunity to voice their opinions and learn from educated sources. What better politics lesson than to hear a presidential candidate make a campaign speech. When I think about moral judgments in relation to the school setting, I think decisions need to made based on the age of the students. Elementary students need know who the presidential candidates are but they do not need to know a teacher's position on gay marriage. Similarly, I think teachers should educate high school students more effectively on politics and not worry about offending anyone as long as they present the information without bias. These students are the future voters and need to understand the importance of such a role.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/10/01/breakingnews/9obama.txt
