Considering Charter Schools

In case any of you missed our scintillating role play on 10/14 when we played the roles of various curriculum theorists to debate charter schools, here are the highlights. Meet the two “John Deweys” and “Franklin Bobbitt”. These photos were taken by Donna. Thanks, Donna!

Here's Donna in her role as John Dewey

Here's Sarah as Franklin Bobbitt

Here's Beth as John Dewey

And finally, our Curriculum Development class!

Who Owns Lesson Plans? By: Demitra Georgalas, George Ioannou, and Tammy Tavarone

Recently an old practice has taken on a new form. Selling services and products have gone from being sold physically to being sold via the internet. This new technology has opened up new markets and ease of sales for everything imaginable, from music to furniture to term papers and now to lesson plans. Some teachers have a prolific ability to create lesson plans, and since they have been doing this for years know what works and what doesn’t. They are able to benefit from their talents now by offering their goods to the world via the internet. Just look up lesson plans on Craig’s List or Ebay and you will find a myriad of lessons to choose from. With just a click of a button you can have a new lesson plan for each class without putting in much effort.

Do You Have What It Takes? by Liz Heath, James Marotta and Andrew Clark

Now more than ever students are being evaluated by state regulations and regents scores.  Recently state officials are turning the tables, putting teachers to the test.  Certain officials in New York State have proposed to mandate new assessments to evaluate teachers beginning in 2013.  These evaluations and assessments include: an initial assessment performed during student teaching (i.e. video clips of prospective teachers working with students),  and a second assessment in order to obtain permanent certification, in which teachers after two years teaching will be evaluated based on the performance of their students.  In creating this lengthy certification process, New York State’s Education Commissioner feels that the state wants to emphasize that the work the students do is directly a result of the impact and success of the teacher.   With this said, specialty teachers (i.e. those in math and science areas) are eligible to receive cash bonuses if they are willing to teach in low-performing schools in the future.

New Age Bullying…

By Meredith Frey, Carole Gilfedder, Bryan Knipfing, and Lisa Rankin

Why do people have a need or desire to act superior to others?  This desire is usually driven by a subconscious need to make ourselves feel more important and generally displays weakness in our own character.  It has found its way into our families, school yards, and even places of work.  There are many definitions that can be used for this unpleasant and unwarranted behavior but the one that best suits the purpose of this article is: “the intimidation of a weaker person: the process of intimidating or mistreating someone weaker or in a more vulnerable situation”.  Bullying has been a long standing “tradition” in society but it has spiraled into more danger than we once believed. Recent bullying statistics show that half of all traditional bullying incidents go unreported. Statistics regarding cyberbullying indicate even less of these type are reported. Traditionally, a schoolyard bully is the child who is the biggest, strongest, and stereotypically the meanest.  The ability to intimidate others out of toys, friends, and of course lunch money belonged to the ill mannered boy or girl that could most easily intimidate the other children.  A cyberbully on the other hand can remain nameless through technology.  This means that the general character of the intimidator no longer needs to be the biggest or the meanest because behind a screen name or a blog no one can truly depict who the initiator is.  This makes cyberbullying more of a threat because more students can participate without the fear of retaliation.

Diversity in Schools…How will your classroom be affected? By, Erin O’Hara, Alyssa Biel, Jessica Tornatore, Dan Heller

 

  As populations become more ethnically diverse, so do our public school systems. This reality generates a lot of challenges for our schools. Schools are faced with getting all of their students to pass standardized tests.  Statistically, schools in low socio-economic areas score lower than higher income areas. Ethnically diverse communities in low income areas are challenged even greater. There is a consensus amongst some that the communities should merge.

According to an article in USA Today, there are programs in the United States that strive to make schools more ethnically diverse. Their methods are very controversial. Traditionally, students go to school based on where they reside. This initiative strategically manipulates the demographics of schools. In an effort to make districts more evenly (ethnically diverse), they are sending students to the schools that need that particular demographic.  This issue is now before the Supreme Court, as some believe it may restrict constitutional freedoms. 

This particular issue of manipulating the demographics is a form of reverse segregation.  This creates a multitude of issues. One might consider, if Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregation is unconstitutional, then why would it in reverse be anymore so?  The need for diverse population in schools is explicable.  As society continues to become increasingly diverse, then schools should arguably mirror that reality.  Students learn how to co-exist peacefully in a diverse community.  It sets them up for success in life outside the classroom. It is additionally beneficial to expose children at an early age to diverse populations. The benefits appear to outweigh the potential risks, however it is a very controversial topic. 

In terms of education, it presents challenges to the students, as well as teachers. Teaching diverse populations are more challenging since there is a necessity to accommodate the students’ culture.  In Dewey’s article, My Pedagogic Creed, he writes about the importance of school as an extension of the student’s social environment.  A student, he believed, only truly learns when the information is made socially relevant. This is a difficult task to achieve in an ethnically, and socio-economically diverse population.

In an article, Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom, it states that since the 1960’s, (the rise of the civil rights movement) colleges have been struggling to find a way to educate students from different groups/cultures. The demographics in classes have become more diverse. The article also states that students of different cultural backgrounds such as African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and immigrants feel unwelcome in colleges. These students feel that there needs to be a social change against discrimination, as well as respect and appreciation for their ideas and thoughts in the classroom. Just like colleges, high schools and elementary schools deals with the same issues. This article includes strategies in handling diverse classrooms for educators. Some helpful tips include but are not limited to:

•   Become more informed about the history and culture of groups other than your own.
•   Treat each student as an individual, and respect each student for whom he/she is.
•   Do not try to protect and group of students.
•   Acknowledge all students good work.
•   Monitor your own behavior in responding to students.
•   Make it clear that you value all opinions.
•   Provide opportunities for all students to get to know each other.

 As we read some of the helpful tips, it should encourage us to educate every student the same with understanding who they are and the backgrounds they come from. As prospective educators, we will be challenged with much diversity  in  schools and even more challenging in our classrooms. No matter what age, race, gender, culture or ethnic background a student is, they all want to learn and can learn as long as they are respected as an individual.

Sources:

Biskupic, Joan. (2006, November 14). Justices to weigh school diversity. Retrieved November 5, 2009, from  USA Today: http://usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2006-11-14-deseg_x.htm

Davis, Barbara Gross. (1999). Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom.  Tools of Teaching, Retrieved November 5, 2009 from, http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/facdevcom/guidebk/teachtip/divers/htm

Dewey, John.(1929). My Pedagogic Creed. Journal of the National Education Association, 18(9), 291-295

Video Games for Enrichment By: Melissa Pfeffer, and Meredith Prisco

Video Games for Enrichment

By: Melissa Pfeffer , and  Meredith Prisco

Video games and gaming systems have become a part of almost every child’s life. There are countless games that are designed to target children of all ages, and intellectual levels. The designers of most of the games center there programs around either education or entertainment.  Typically the games that are the most popular are the ones that were designed for entertainment purposes.

In recent years game designers have taken into consideration how much time is being spent playing video games, “Among all kid gamers, approximately half are light users (5 hours per week or less) and the other half are medium, heavy or super users (6 to 16 or more hours per week)” www.consumeraffairs.com. With this in mind the games that are being designed now are starting to focus more on getting the children active or educating them in some way.  The goal in games centered on education, is to help the child develop their problem solving skills, and the use critical of thinking. www.nytimes.com.   Leapster, Leap frog, and Vsmile are popular handheld educational gaming systems for children that are similar to Gameboy.  Being that they are handheld they can use them in a variety of different places, whereas before, those games could only be played at home. There are also educational games you can play on the internet and gaming systems that connect to the internet while you play, allowing you to play with others on the system. “The difference in many today’s educational games is that they are online and social, allowing children to interact and collaborate to achieve common goals” www.nytimes.com.

“To Play or Not to Play?”

By: Heather Bloom, Justin Lomagistro, Petrina Vicchio

School systems around the world carefully select subjects to mandate in their schools. However, how do we determine what is beneficial and what is not? We can argue that the core subjects, Math, Science, Social Studies, English and Physical Education are essential for developmental growth. What about recess? Sure, you may not consider this to be a subject but according to Pellegrini and Smith, recess is a necessary “break period.” Just like other periods in the day, recess is an essential time block to aid in developmental well-being in a child’s growth.

In 1989, school districts had at least one recess period during the day. Since 1989, many schools have abolished recess. Recess was viewed as safety risks, liability concerns, and fears that recess will disrupt work patterns. Teachers as well as teachers feel an increased pressure to complete more work and raise state test scores all within a limited amount of time. Recess is viewed as impeding on valuable instructional time.

Sex Education: How Should We Be Teaching Our Children?

By: Kristin O’Brien, Jeffrey Rosbash and Kathryn FitzPatrick

For years, the debate about Sex Education has been one motivated by religious and moral beliefs. In today’s society children need to know and understand sex; the risks and the consequences of what can happen to them as result of sex. According to the Heath Guide in the New York Times, “younger adolescents (12-14 years) are more likely to have unplanned sexual intercourse and more likely to be coerced into sex.” This implies a lack of education and a complete ignorance on behalf of educators. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006, there were 435,427 births to mothers ages 15-19 years. “Hispanic and non-Hispanic black teen pregnancy rates are three times higher than white teen pregnancy.” And there are 1.1 million Americans living with HIV. The problem is most teens do not want to ask the embarrassing questions about sex and adults tend to avoid the topic altogether, even denigrate teens for wanting to know such information, so technology has stepped in to help eliminate all the embarrassing, face blushing, moments they may have during health class, to answer some of these questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Child’s Play

By: Grace Thornton, Jean Marie Kempster, and Emily Sternfeld

When watching children play with blocks, many adults wonder what is going on in the child’s head, and if actual learning is taking place. In the Education Digest article, “The Powerful Effect of Play in a Child’s Education,” by Miquela Rivera, the author discusses how children playing simple games are actually very important to a child’s development and learning.  Rivera also addresses the issue that there are many cultural differences between how students play, especially when there is parental involvement.

Is the School Day Too Short for Students in the United States?

By: Shannon Sweeney, Patricia Lopez, Sara Manello and Frederick Feraco

There has been much speculation regarding the school day in the United States. According to Newsday, many politicians, including President Obama, feel the average school day is not long enough for students to reach optimal levels of achievement. In recent articles, there had been much debate over shortening summer vacations, lengthening breaks throughout the school year and creating a longer overall year for students. However, is this practical for the children in the nation?