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