what schools should be part 2 of final blog

I think that the model of how should be somewhat represent what schools are like today. With quite a few changes, such as the elimation of MCAS testing, and differnt ways of making learning more fun especially as the children start to get older. The reason why i think Mcas testing should be elimainted completely because the amount of information and the pace the teachers are going trying to teach. For my pre practicum i sat in on a third grade class who has to take the Mcas this year. The pace the teacher has to go to try and cover everything is ridiculous. The children are nine years old and they do not get to enjoy being nine years old. I dont mean that there should be constant fun all day. However when a nine year sits in a classroom staring at a blackboard all day that is not fun. Its not fun for the teachers or the students. The class that i sat in the teacher was using different teaching techniques to get the children up and moving around to try and keep them interested. Shes a great teacher but she doesn't have any time to enjoy her class and who the students are as children because she is constantly giving them MCAS prep papers and differnt MCAS activities to do.





I also believe that teachers should find fun ways of learning. I know when i was younger i struggled with reading. I had a great teacher who helpped me get threw it and succeed. However she found so mnay fun ways to keep me interested. Whether it was playin the match game or playin bingo with words. I stopped gettin fustrated and started learning. For the longest time i was gettting so fustrated and did not want to go to school. But the effort she made with me made the biggest difference with me. I want to do that my students, i want them to have fun with learning and never to get discouraged. Whether it be trying different techniques to get a child to understand i will be completely dedicated to that.





I also believe that schools should be a great place for learning. I believe that schools should emphasize the fun in learning, which would encourge children to want to learn. In my city i defintely noticed that my little sister loves to attend school. She loves her teacher and her classmates. I truely believe it's because the teacher make it a fun place for learning and having fun. She never complains about goin to school or even doing her homework. She is at that age where she would say "i hate school" or "i dont want to go to school" but i never hear that from her. She loves school because its the way the teacher conducts the class that allows the children to love it. If the teacher is constantly smiling and talking with the students it make the classroom an easy place for students to learn. I believe every teacher who is teaching should love the profession and love teaching children. If you have a teacher who is just teaching to teach, it is defintely not the right profession for that person.





World's Hardest Test
Preparing today for the standardized test
our teacher said there was a lot to digest.
We'd have to divide by the square root of three
and learn to spell zygote, façade and marquis.
We'd need to play xylophone, trumpet and flute,
accordion, banjo, piano and lute,
recite all the capital cities by heart
and learn to take rocketship engines apart.
We'd have to speak Latin, Swahili and Greek,
learn nuclear fusion and fencing technique,
remember the fables of Persia and Rome
and crack all the codes in the human genome.
Then just when we thought that our heads might explode
from learning Chinese or dissecting a toad
she told us the very best thing she could say:
that she was just kidding; it's April Fool's Day.
--Kenn Nesbitt
WEBSITE -http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-51.html

FUN CLASSROOM QUOTES

• If you're sad, don't waste time. Life is too short. Turn over a new page, new start, new thoughts, new happiness." - Hannah M.
• "Thinking positively will only take you to positive places." - Unknown"Leave today with no regrets." - Unknown
• "When no one believed in me, I believed in myself and achieved more than anyone thought possible." - Stephanie Saffe

website- http://community.scholastic.com/scholastic/board/print?board.id=snapshot912&message.id=26&format=one

Social Justice part 1 of final blog

Social Justice plays a key part in schools everywhere all over the United States. In most schools around the world there are many children from all different backgrounds. This means that they were brought up different and their first language may not be English. However that is only one of the social justices that come to play in a classroom. There are many for example in an article titled What does it mean to teach for Social Justice?, it states that many areas of social Justice contains “race, class, gender, ability, or sexuality group”(Pat Russo) As a teacher it is very important to understand Social Justice and work to make your classroom a place where there is no inequalities. Which figuratively speaking sounds a lot easier that it is to do. There are numerous amounts of steps a teacher needs to take to help solve this problem.

As a teacher I feel it is are job to find different strategies to incorporate activities into the classroom which involve gender, race, and class. Whether it’s having children talk about their backgrounds to the class, or just doing a fun project regarding a family tree. Which as a teacher you make the student feel as comfortable as possible. Always let a child know that they are beautiful what ever skin color gender or language they speak. If you are one of those teachers who chose not to talk about any of these topics it hurts your class and the children who are touched by such issues. If as a teacher I do not let them know that being different is a wonderful and beautiful thing, then they might come to be ashamed about whom they are. As a teacher I will always correct a student who is saying negative things about skin color, gender, or a disability. No child deserves to be bullied by any child and I will never condone such behavior in my classroom. If as a teacher the student who is saying disrespectful does not get consequence for their actions nothing will ever change with that student. If anything the student might get other children to join in which is a harder thing to stop. So as a teacher the vicious circle must be stopped before it gets out of control.

Social Justice impacts most every educational choice that is made in a classroom. As a teacher the children look up to everything that I do therefore i must constantly be setting a good example for the students. I also need to let them no what is exceptable and what is unexceptable in my classroom. I will not except any student who talks negatively about another student, nor will i accept any kind of racism or fighting in my classroom. I will teach and do many activities to help get the students to get to know each other as well as brining out the beauty in the difference of who they are as people. Some activities may include have the children draw picture of their families and explain who each person is in the picture.

WEBSITE USED -http://www.oswego.edu/~prusso1/Russos_what_does_it_mean_to_teach_for_s.htm

Poem for social justice
http://davepoems.tripod.com/id4.html

Prayer for Justice
You came to set men free LordYet men are still bound by oppressionTo proclaim your justice LordBut still injustice is rife in your world.You came in love but men preferred hatredYou came in peace but men preferred war
How shall we show the world your care Lord?
The Lord says:Where man is oppressed - proclaim my freedom.Where injustice rules - let my justice be known.Where there is violence - I give you my peaceWhere there is hatred - I give you my love.
Lord show that you care through us your people that we might be:
For freedom and against oppressionFor justice and against injusticeFor love and against hatredFor love and against violenceThat we may follow the example of Jesus our Master. Amen
1984

Teaching metaphors!

When i first saw this assignment i click all the links that were given and i could not think of a teaching metaphor at all! So i did a little bit of research online and found one that i really fell in love with. IT talks about how teachers have to dig deep through the fogg the snow and rain to get a childs true protential out. It discusses how when a child over comes an obstacle how happy and proud the teacher becomes. Thus all the fog and drearyness of the day clears up and the sun starts to come out. I also think that an example of this would be when a child is having a hard time understanding a topic that the teacher is disussing in class. When the students asks questions the teacher can better explain it to the student! Most likely there are several other students who are having the same trouble. When they all start to understand there knowledge of that topic is no longer foggy.

A teacher can also be like a weatherwoman! Because as a teacher youa re telling the children what they are going to be learning over the coarse of a year etc. You are instructing them the best way to do things and the way in which is correct. Like weather people ar doing with the weather they are saying what is going to be happening over a certain period of time and what to expect.

weather metaphor for teaching

website found this metaphor on is http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/sslick/metaphor/a_metaphor_to_teaching.htm

social justice *Poverty*

The social justice isssue that interst me and i think is really imporant is the poverty issue. Poverty is a big part of the stuggles in the United States today. Not only among the homeless but children that are effected by it. Poverty has a great effects is school, because children come to school with certain needs that schools and teachers are not prepared to meet. Because of the children who are raised in poverty is makes them become one of the children who are refered to as "at risk." Which means that they are more at risk of failing or not able to complete school. With parents who are obviously in poverty it becomes a vicious cycle.

With the issue of poverty issue becomes the learning issue. Because parents are raising children it poverty it means that they develp certain learning disabilities that children who are not living in poverty. It is said that children are commonly unwilling or unable to interact with peers or adults in school. aLong with the child being unprepared in class with assignments because there parents might be constantly working and not have time to have to sit down with their children. Which has a major impact on the child because they may get the impression that school is not imporatant.

Not only does this effect the children in the poverty situation but it effects the students in the class. Other students notice the types of clothes their classmates if their classmates go to class etc. So if you have a child in poverty who is always poorly dressed and comes to school here and there, other children are going to ask questions. Pretty soon this child that comes from practically nothing is going to get made fun of or talked about by the other students. Even though it's not this students fault because his or her family has a low income if an income at all, he or she is still going to made fun of.

I come from a city of diversity and i guess you could say a city that has alot of poverty. I live in a small city called Everett outside of Boston, where i have defintely seen alot of poverty and its sad to watch or even see. There are students who go to school without jackets in the winter. Not because their family chooses not to get them a jacket but because they cant afford to get a jacket for their children and feed them.

http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/poverty/2/

vocational schools

I would have to say that Vocational-Technical Schools are a great idea and if i had no idea what i wanted to do after high school i would have definitely thought about going to a vocational school. Vocational schools are great for teenagers who struggle with school or can not stand to sit in a classroom for seven hours a day. Vocational schools offer specific trades for students which help them explore what they want to do either before they graduate or while they are in school. They even help to student get a job after high school. For example my cousin Chris went to a vocational school for high school, and was trained in electrical. He loved it and decided that when he go out of high school he'd be able to get a job. Which he did and he is now working not quite as an electrician but as an apprentice to an electrician, which is great for him.

I would definitely recommend a vocational school for those student who know that they want to do something that a vocational school offers whether it be electrician or culinary. It's a chance for a student to grow and learn outside the classroom. Although it is in a classroom but when you learning something you want to learn about it makes it easier to follow. It becomes fun and a learning experiences for all students involved. If a child decides they do not want to do a certain thing, they can easily try something else that is offered. But are giving the opportunity to explore different options for their future, which is a great thing. Because they can say that they never tried or had the opportunity to try something they always wanted to do.

The reason why i picked vocational schools to learn about was because my cousin went to the voc, as well as a few of the boys that i hang around with. For my cousin Chris it was a learning experience as well as a great opportunity to learn new things. For some of my friends they were offered the experience and really didn't use it to there advantage. Which a lot of kids tend to do, they do not use this program to their advantage. Which is a major disadvantage for them because they could possibly have gotten a job like my cousin did.

Marie Montessori

The educational philospher that i chose to align myself if with Marie Montessori. Marie;s philosphy is said to apply more to elementary education than any other area of eduication. Her philosphy states that children at an elementary level have different needs that elementary teachers need to be sensative toward.Which i totally agree with there are things in a kindergarten class that a teacher needs to be sensative or careful toward that a fifth grade teacher wouldnt do. She says that from birth to age 6 "children are sensorial explorers wtudying every aspect of their enviroment" such as culture language and the actions of other. Which i totally agree with because everyone one has had an experience when a parent accidently slipped out a bad word in from of there child and they repeat it over and over again. Just proving that a child is learning language by observing the enviroment that they are in.

One of her philosphies are that children at age 6 through 12 start to go through different stages where they are developing "new powers" and there imagination is growing. Which is completely true age 6 is when a child is in first grade and is startting to learn and understand and comphrended what is going on around them. They start to build an imagination, which can br brought out by drawing pictures etc in a classroom.

Marie Montessori also says that " a childs work is creates the person he or she will become." In order to become this person that there striving to be they must be taught the proper things in education. Which is a big part of her philosphy as well, she thinks that if a child is not taught young good learning skills by there teachers then it will be harder to teach them when there older. She thinks that teachers should recongnize the certain stages that a child is going through and use these persiods of time to indivulaize the chiild and use the appropriate matterials to benefit them in a classroom enviroment. Which i totally agree with when a child is going through differnt stages the best thing to do is to capialize on those points in time and make it benefit the child in so many ways.

social justice!

The questions that i wanted to know about teaching for social justice, is what are the concepts behind it and what programs are in line to help handle it. Searching on the web i learned that teaching for social justice is a very big deal. it states in an article that i researched that social justice means recongizing oppression, and that it comes in multiple forms. There are various ways of taking action in the classroom to stop oppression. Some steps or strategies used is to address race, class, gender, disability, sexuality throughout all the levels of abilty in the class.
The way the teacher goes about dealing with all these issues make all the difference. Teachers have to be taught a way of dealing with these issues as well as being able to talk about it and handle it correctly with there students. Social justice is a big part of teaching and there are many stratergies put in to help prevent children from getting hurt by the idea of race and, disabilty, etc. I feel that educating teacher on how to deal with these things are a great way of going about it. Teachers need to know how to be able to deal with these types of issues, and its a good thing to know how to deal with especailly if as a teacher you have your own classroom

http://www.oswego.edu/~prusso1/Teach_for_SJ_main.htm

Special Education -Inclusive eduaction

The topic that i am choosing to talk about is Inclusive Education along with students that have an IEP. Both in which we read about in chapter 3. Inclusive education is defined as a program in which special needs students are put in depending on their learning disabilities. There are so many conflicts out there that involve inclusive education. Inclusive education can be segragated classrooms and or seperate classrooms. Depending on the childs disabilitiy and how well they can adapt in a classroom. It is said that if you take a child out fo the classroom where all their peers are learning they begining to think that they are different and become upset. Depending on a childs learning disabilty they should not be taken out of the classroom. However they could be provided with a resourse teacher, that can help them and give them the extra attention they need. Or they can also be provided with an IEP, which is an indivulaized education program to help students. It outlines where a child struggles and special things that should be put in place to help the child learn better. I defintely believe that children with learning disabilities should not be pulled out of a class away from there fellow peers. They make think of it has punishment or that they have done something wrong. In most cases a resource teacher sits in on the class and helps out the teacher and student when needed. That may as well be the best thing. I have experienced IEP first hand because when i was in elementary up to high school i had one. IT was nothing serious but when i was in elementary school i had alot of trouble reading etc. So they deveolped an IEP for me. At times i hated having to go into the resource room with only a few other students but it helpped me out. I though of it as being embarressing and i never wanted anyone to know. But now that i look back it was not really a big deal and infact it was a great help. However i dont believe that a child should be pulled out of there classes and if they are the teacher should explain it to them because alot of students do not understand what was going on.

Children that are at risk

The topic that I chose to talk about is the struggle that every school around the world is facing, which is kids that are at risk. Kids that are at risk according to chapter 2 in our books are the kids who live in poverty or parents struggle with making money etc. It states that "low income communities often mean underfunded school districts and poorer schools in virtually every way". Thus meaning if a city has a high poverty rate it means that children do not have the materials and nessecities needed to get a better education. Such as the schools that have all the money to do things with. More money means better funded schools, new books and a better education.

Now that the schools are so aware of at risk kids they are trying to form programs to change things and turn everything around. They have started the National Defense Education Act which is extended counseling, that informs the children to understand the imporatance of success! Which is a great program to have. Especailly for the children who do not have the support at home. And it is very easy to see who those children are in school. When observing I started to notice certain things in the younger children. Such as in kindergarten is when children start writing or learning to write there names. For example most of the students parents have sat down with there child and has tried to take the time to teach them write there name. I have witnessed children walk in and have no idea what letters are or even how to write the first letter of there name. It is because there parents have not sat down to take the time with them. As a teacher you can see which parents are given the support and which parents are not. Thats what this program helps to do, it encourages children where there parents are not standing behind them. There are so many other programs that have been formed in order to help children to understand the importance of being an educated person.

The reason why i did choose to write about this topic is because i have witnessed this while observing. I can defitnely pick the children out whose parents having been helping them and expressing the importance of success. There are so many children who are at risk, and i believe the risk starts at a young age. I understand when your eighteen you can drop out of school because you are an adult. But there is a reason you choose to drop out. It because you have been pushed for success at a young age, and if your parent are gaurdian pushed for success and to help you learn chances are you would not be dropping out of school. If you maybe had that extra push an adult you wouldnt be an at risk child. I truely believe that the structure starts at home and is reinforced in school. It can not be one of the other it has to be both

Disabilities in the Classroom*

The educational topic i chose to write about this week is children with disabilities in the classroom. The reason why i chose this topic is because i find it interesting and a very controversial topic in schools all over the United States. My article talks about getting an bill called the IDEA act passed in order to help out students with disabilities. IDEA stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and this act was developed to "require schools to give students with disabilities individualized education programs designed to meet there education needs." (Christina A. Samuels) Which many schools have because they receive federal funding for it, however there are schools that do not have enough funding for it. There are certain criterias that have to met in order to recieve this funding. Therefore there are many children that are not covered which makes it very hard for parents and care takers of these children. Because they end up having to pay money to send them to special schools etc.

I truely believe this is a very important topic because it touches me personally. My little cousin is in special classes for students with disabilities. Although he is not physically disabled he is just a very slow learner. And sadly what is called a drug baby, meaning when my aunt was pregnant with him she did drugs and basically thats why he is slow. Which is not his fault and he tries very hard but hes just not all there. Without this program in place he would be sitting in a regualr classroom and not be able to follow the criteria that the teacher is covering. So i feel by having some kind of aid and help hell be fine and hopefully develop to be okay. I wish that all children were as lucky as him to receive such good treatment.

Title- Changes to Disabilities Act Seen as Offering Students Protection

By Christina A Samuels

Website -www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/24/05ada.h28.html

Laurenn Concannon

My educational issuse is does technology effect learning in the classroom?

The reason why I am asking this question is because i grew up in a city that was always behind in technolgy. We never had the projectors or the black boards etc. Are classrooms held over thirty kids and the teachers barely knew everybodys name. I know it sounds kind of bad but it actaully was not as bad as it sounds! For example my high school was so old that everything leaked the doors didnt lock kind of "ghetto" i guess you could say. But as i graduated high school of course a brand new high school was built the following year with all the blackboards and the automatic locking doors! I guess you could say i kind of lucked out on the new teachnology part of things. Although i do believe because my commuinty was a poor community without the proper equipment and books it made it hard to compete with schools in a riched community with all the books and proper equipment to teach. Example of this is the mcas test, my school was one of the lower scoring schools compared to schools say in Reading or Davers, which are the richer communities.

In the article i found it states that "It should be among our top priorties to provide our students with the tooks they need to maintain and build upon this standing"(Sutton) Which is exactly how i feel with out the top technology and teaching strategies how would you expect students to do there very best at all times. Providing students with new books, and new advances in technolgy should be a top priority in are state. The students in our schools our are future and without the proper equipment it make its harder for students to advance and compete against other students who have such equpiment. It is also said and stated in the article that "The US Congress has given the go ahead for a new centre to explore ways advanced computer and communication technologies can imporve learning."(Bonnie Tracy Sutton) Which is also proving and working on proving that infact technologies do improve students learning.

Name of article :Teachers to blame? I dont think so.. Look more closely at the poltics of Education

By: Bonnie Bracey Sutton

Website : http://www.siteblog.org/

Introducing myself =]

Hi everyone!!
My name is Lauren Concannon I am 19 years-old I am an early childhood education major with a minor in English. I love children i have 5 brothers and sisters! My youngest sister being 9! I was constantly taking care of my brothers in sisters and my mother use to always call the 2nd mother in the household. My house is always crazzy with so many people in it but that why i love it! Which is part of the reason i want to be a teach i can handle the kids and love the crazyness of it all.My father is a principal in my city! So i would said i get my inspiration from him! My life right now is crazy!! i have so much going onn, Everyday its schoool and work! I also play softball for salem state so its crazy balancing everything but i think i am doing pretty well. I love to have fun! I have tons of friends and love hanging around them and having a great time!! without my friends and my family i wouldnt know what i would do!! Well thats meee!!!

http://laurenM15.blogspot.com