Spending money for your classroom

http://www.edutopia.org/amount-you-spend-out-pocket-each-year-classroom-supplies-2007Spending money out of your own pocket can be rewarding when you see the students enjoying learning that much more. It is sad that with new budget constraints this money can't be alocated from the general budget.The government wants our schools to adapt to new exciting ways to teach students to grasp their attention and give them a desire to learn. However, they don't give the district enough money per pupil to allow for this extra espense. I only get to spend $20 for my class each year. This is barely enought to purchase a new stapler for the one you broke last year when Johnny shot a spit ball at you and got you right between the eyes along with a few whiteboard markers. By the way the spitball strTherefore, teachers have to resort to spending their own money. I'm glad to see that we can at least right off a portion of our expenses. A new teacher, who needs the materials the most, will have a hard time spending a lot of money with a 35,000 dollar salary no matter what.

Pay on Merit?

Coming from a typical polititian's standpoint, paying teachers based on student merit sounds great. The students of great teachers will perform to a higher level than the students of a poor teacher. Right? After all, teachers are the one and only influence on a child's success in the classroom.However, when an educator looks at a student's success they see more than one class, one teacher, or even one school making a student successful. A politician that bases a child's success on a standardized test does not see the leaps and bounds a students could have developed in school to prepare them for the workforce or a blue collar job. They don't see the social skills that a student may develop to get along with others in a job that requires cooperation. Politicians only see a means to compare students through standardized testing. A great teacher should not be judged by how a student fairs on a standardized test, but on the inpact the teacher makes to the student's life. To punish a teacher who is trying their hardest to reach a student who has no parental suport behind them or a student that has to worry more about their safety on their way home from school rather than the upcoming MME. If a school district is doing a good job monitoring a teacher's performance in their career before tenure and even after tenure they should be able to weed out the poor teachers. To link financial rewards to testing will only hurt education. Teachers will teach to the test and forget about life skills, hard work, and inginuity. The reality is that a program like President Obama's education-reform will not lead to students who can problem solve or even think independently.Check out the brief article below and tell me what you think!http://www.edutopia.org/poll-teachers-rewards-student-performance

Sex Education

To me sex education is very important in school. I may seem old fashioned to some readers, but I do believe that the primary mission of a sex educator should be to teach the benefits of abstinence. Obviously children are going to make poor choices at times and other preventative method such as contraceptives need to be taught, but teenagers are not mentally prepared to have a relationship based on sexual contact. This is not love, it is an infatuation and curiosity. The problem is that many parents are not fulfilling their parental duties. Some children come into a relationship clueless to how a sexual relationship can impact a student's emotional life. We have children committing suicide because they are not emotionally prepared to deal with the breakup of a relationship that involved sex. I personally know a few girls that had abortions in high school who were never the same afterwards. Abstinence should be taught as a primary method to help keep children-children. I do understand that many will still choose to have sex no matter what and need to be taught other methods of contraception, but we should not loose track of the 100% effectiveness of absinence and the other problems that could arise from safe sex.Check out the article found below and tell me what you think.http://www.edutopia.org/poll-sex-education-abstinence-only#comment-60881

Has the fight against discrimination gone to far?

Judge Sotomayor, Supreme Court nominee, has been criticized for comments she has made regarding her ability to do a better job that a white male could do and for a case regarding a fireman. After reading this article and listening to some of the decisions that Sonia Sotomayor has made and give me your opinion on whether you think that there is such a thing as reverse discrimination.

Did Firefighters Stand a Chance Against Sotomayor?

I agree 100% that teachers are being pushed to focus on the students with low achievement and can not push the gifted students. This subject to me is at the core of what is wrong in our current educational system. If we spend all of our time with the underachieving students in order not to leave them behind we will neglect to push the gifted students. There has been a push in our educational system to dumb down the material and assessments in order to give everyone a chance to pass. The problem is that our gifted students are bored and are left unchallenged. The only option left seems to be to allow them to skip grades in order to challenge thse students. The problem is that they may miss important foundations or basic building blocks that could hurt their education in the long run.

Our gifted students are those who will most likely be driving our countries economy providing jobs for many others. Do we really want hold back their potential in order to keep Suzie from failing a class?


Check out this article from Edutopia.
http://www.edutopia.org/gifted-students-skipping-grades

What Parents think about student achievement

I understand that the government want to make sure schools are doing a good job educating students. Are standardized test really the right way to do this? This article points out that although the government and schools like to compare themselves to each other through test results, parents actually find preparedness for the work force, happiness, and the development of a well rounded individual is more important in the long run.

As a parent myself, I could not agree more. Schools push too much for test results when our children really need real problem solving skills and the ability to work collaboratively with others. I want my children to graduate from high school ready for the real challenges that they will face instead of the ability to successfully complete a state or nationwide test.

Check out this link to see the article that I am responing to.
http://www.edutopia.org/student-achievement-parents-thoughts

Asking Questions

http://www.edutopia.org/asking-students-good-questions

This article points out that most students are not getting anything out of the random questions that teachers ask during class. The article suggests waiting three seconds after asking the question before picking a student to answer the question. Honestly, I laughed to myself after reading the article and its strategy that will suposedly get all of my students thinking about the question. There are always going to be kids that don't care, don't pay attention, and have their mind on something else no matter what you do. Pausing three seconds may be benefitial for a few students, but this is not going to solve the real problems in the classroom with motivation. Most of this comes from the poor parenting. Maybe parents should be in school to learn some parenting skills.