Thanks

Hey Dr. Pope,

I HAVE ENJOYED OUR DISCUSSIONS AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THE FUTURE AROUND CAMPUS. SORRY I MISSED YOUR "STUDY SESSION" BUT I KNOW EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TIME.
C-YA,
GEORGE

Sorry to skip out on you guys tonight. I am going to the doctor Thursday. They think I might have mono. I was ready to pass out by the time Dr. Pope went to get ice. Anyway, sorry I couldn't add my brilliance to the discussion. lol

Reading articles in the news they discussed the N.C. Association of Educators, which is an association of teachers that acts much like a union and pushes for changes in public policy. Lindsay had asked about Unions and such a couple weeks ago, so I wanted to pass along this link if anyone was interested in taking a look.

http://www.ncae.org/

What's to come of the 2010-2011 school term will be an Education catastophe!

Below is a link to an article out today off the MSN.com news website from The New York Times, warning that teacher cuts are just a "new economic reality" and districts have no choice to cut jobs without any money to pay teachers. It doesn't end with teacher lay-offs, schools are being closed, programs are cut, class sizes enlarged, and school days and weeks are going to be shortened to help save money. Charlotte-Meck's own superintendent, Peter Gorman is even interviewed and quoted for the article stating, "We are doing things and considering options I never thought I'd have to consider." What other options can he possibly be considering? Having teacher's volunteer their time, oh wait! They already work furlough days! Gorman and the Char-Meck school system is expected to cut 600 of the district's 9,4000 teachers, when they had already laid off 120 teachers last year. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is right this is an "education catastrophe!"

This is a state of emergency for our country, and like we discussed last week, Americans can raise millions of dollars for Haiti relief (not that I am knocking that), but what about raising money for our children's school systems? To keep their teachers in the classrooms? Where is the $100 billion in emergency education financing that was passed in the economic stimulus bill from February of 2009? Have we already gone through that money, or are they saving it for a rainy day? Look outside America, it's POURING! I'm with Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa, he proposed a $23 billion school bail out bill last week to help with holding off the lay-offs. I don't believe that districts need to "learn to live with less" like Mr. Petrilli states in this article, the government needs to bail us out and help until districts are well enough to stand on their own two feet. I do believe that raising the excise tax on beer, wine and cigarettes might be the way to go, but only time will tell what ideas lawmakers will come up with to save our schools.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36674830

Yes, Another Video

I know there have been a lot of videos posted recently, but i just wanted to inform yall of this. I know a group did their presentation on how much access you can recieve on students. And this little video talks about how a student in CMS was contacted by a stranger in his school. The person just showed up with a picture, and was given access to the student. Something is wrong with that!

Supposedly, the rest of the story was on the news tonight at 6pm. I was unable to watch it because we were in class, but did anyone hear about this? Do you know any details!? I just want to know exactly how did some stranger just walk into a school, and recieve all of this access. I know, personally, that would not be ok with me as a teacher or just in general. I would have major issues with some stranger coming in my classroom.

Here is the link. let me know your thoughts!

The best acting, is no acting at all! Drop the act and Teach!

Frank McCourt author of Angela's Ashes, was a teacher in the New York schools long before he was an author. This clip describes his take on teaching...His book, "Teacher Man" documents his 30 years in the classroom, to live out his "American Dream" to be a teacher. Is this our "American Dream"?

Frank McCourt states in "Teacher Man"... ""the further away from the classroom a person in education goes, the more he gets in pay, prestige, and perks." Is this true?

Is scapegoating teachers the answer?

Attached is an article I came across in Newsweek magazine a few weeks back and just found it again. It speaks of the decline of the American Education at the hands of the teachers...but what about parents, administrators, school boards and the community? The article discusses how the quality of teachers to some degree is not there. It is stated in the article that "most schoolteachers are recruited from the bottom third of college-bound high-school students." As future teachers, and people who have degrees in studies other than education, how do you feel about this statement?


http://www.newsweek.com/id/234590

What extreme would you go to, if you believed it was for the "greater good"?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Today is the 15 year Anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombings by Timothy McVeigh that marked the deadliest domestic terror attack of U.S. soil. Is homegrown radicalism on the rise again?

This video is a chilling interview that was aired on The Today Show this morning and it answers many questions for me, as to why McVeigh committed such crimes and what his rational was...he is quoted in stating "As I analyzed the history of not just the U.S. but all nations throughout the history of mankind, people have killed for what they believed was the greater good..." McVeigh went on to say that "killing is accepted," and how do we teach our children what is right and wrong when on the news there are reports every day of what is happening overseas with our U.S. military. As a graduate of a Military University I understand first hand how it feels to see my friends put their lives on the line for our country, some of whom have given their lives for the freedom of Americans. How do we teach our children what is right, when killing is wrong? Especially when some of these children might have parents in the military serving overseas to protect and defend the U.S.?

My last question to all of you reading is, how do we as future teachers provide the foundation for our students to be individual thinkers, to question authority (to an extent), and to provide the foundation of ethical decision they will make in the future? I would love to find articles and interviews from McVeigh's elementary teachers describing him as a child. At what point in his life did his teacher or family fail to provide him the right love, care, attention and support to have him believe this was for the greater good of mankind? 168 people including 19 children were killed by a fellow American in our own backyard.

I understand this doesn't go along with Dewey and what we are learning currently but I do believe this is something that is affecting our lives today, and fear and distrust of the government is something that can affect anyone. The anchor stated that McVeigh "did not see himself as a lone wolf. He saw himself as a movement...A guns-rights based, anti-government, so-called patriot movement." It is important to realize that not everyone believes that what our government does and stands for is always "good" and how do we as teachers remain neutral to such ideas?

Just something to think about today, and take a moment to remember those who were killed in Oklahoma back on April 19th, 1995.

Here is a link to the Today Show website with the video if your flashplayer does not work (like mine!)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/36640839#36640839

Maxine Greene Interview

The Death and Life of the Great American School System & Teacher Ed. Article

The Death and Life of the Great American School System was a book title that caught my attention the other night while watching a PBS interview. It was interesting to hear, especially in light of our many discussions regarding testing and accountability measures. For those of you interested, here’s more about the text and the video of the conversation:

http://www.dianeravitch.com/news.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100413.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100413_ravitch.html?vid=1467888185#video

As we also discussed the nature of teacher education, I still reflect back on my own teaching experiences. Yes, we need standards, but I was amazed to see the number of students in English 102, American Literature, and even Business Writing classes who could not formulate their ideas on paper. Seeing it firsthand, I recognize there is a need for reform, radical or otherwise, in our current system. As educators, I think we need to truly reflect on our assessment practices and encourage thorough and thoughtful feedback that requires our students to write, reflect, and synthesize, not just check a multiple choice answer – even little ones can do this, if we give them the tools to be thoughtful, reflective thinkers and writers.

Monday night’s PBS documentary The Hobart Shakespeareans touched me as a former English teacher who has taught those works. Part of my decision to change careers was the apathy I saw and heard each semester… “We have to read Huck Finn, As I Lay Dying, Thoreau…why!? – Well, at least it’s better than taking British Literature!” Over the course of the semester, I hope I changed some narrow mind sets and helped them realize that indeed literature and reading and discussing literary works does matter – words matter. I like to think it makes it you a better human being who can relate to others who are often different than you.

I truly believe in public education and I also believe that when students are young, they are the most impressionable. As a teacher, I want to be the one who helps that child see things differently, and understand and appreciate the joy of learning. Seeing a teacher such as Esquith reach a diverse group of 4th graders with such sophisticated and challenging works illustrates that when we are creative in our teaching, wonderful things occur! The scene when the child is so moved by Huck’s choice speaks volumes. We as teachers have to think outside the traditional box of standards and use innovative ways to reach our students. I firmly believe that reading and examining challenging and thoughtful materials is the key. As a society we want to simplify, but life is full of choices and nuances. These kids get that. I can only hope I can maintain a level of passion such as Esquith and reach my students in innovative ways while continually learning myself and reflecting on the best ways to reach a variety of learners.

Teacher Ed article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html

One-size-fits-all reform isn't working

Me again! In light of our conversations on radical school reform, here's an interesting column:

Education reforms get a failing grade
Neither conservatives nor liberals have a cure for bad schools
Steve Chapman
April 15, 2010

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-oped-0415-chapman-20100415,0,2567437,full.column

What we're bringing to Dr. Pope's house

I thought I'd get the food sign-up list started!

Public officials, private schooling

To follow up on our conversation of public officials who choose to send their kids to private school, Here is a link to SC Senator Mick Mulvaney's stance on public education: http://www.mickmulvaney.com/site/pdf/Education_Issues.pdf.

Yes, he sends his triplets to Catholic school, but I think what we should be looking at when we go to the polls should be his voting record on education and where he stands on the issues. He's up against long-time incumbent John Spratt to represent the 5th district in the US Congress.

I must state my bias here-- my first job out of college was working on Ralph Norman's campaign for Congress in '06 to unseat John Spratt (we lost!) But regardless of your political views, I think it's important that we as citizens and future educators pay attention to the way politicians vote on education issues. These people are making decisions that impact our jobs, our children, and ultimately our society.

Are creative teachers the same as teaching creatively?

This was an interesting video I found, that discusses the importance of learning styles, creative teachers and ethics in education. Dr. Gururaj Karajagi, is the Director at the International Academy for Creative Teaching in Bengaluru, the capital city of the Indian state of Karnataka. The Academy for Creative Teaching is a unique training institute that deals with all aspects of teacher training and management. Dr. Karajagi is a scientist that follows philosophical paths in his goals to train teachers. I thought it was interesting to see how someone from another culture viewed ethics of teaching, and the importance of creativity. Dr. Karajagi believes you are first and formost a learner, then a teacher. He works hard to incorporate Western thought with Eastern philosophy.

Howdy!

Hi class. I know it seems I have been MIA on here, and I was not in class last week, I was having a massive allergy attack, thanks to all the beautiful pollen out there. Besides that I thought I would comment on here this week. I was reading the Chapter 7 in strike, and I was thinking about the whole due process that he was referring to and making us think about during the whole ethics book. It is interesting that some do still want to consider religion in those ethics and some still agree that they cannot possibly be discussed without including religion, however Strike has proved that different that those thoughts and ideas can be discussed without the religion. He gives us different ideas to think about, and different cases to think about to help us see this clearer. As Billie and Kelsey mentioned he refers to the two ways of thinking such as consequentialist and nonconsequentialist views. I do believe as mentioned in one of their questions that most people take some from each view point to come up with their own reasoning or answer. Strike really opened my eyes to different ideas and looking behind the actual moral values and into just ethics not based on religion or what not. I ran upon this site and thought it was neat. It goes along with the whole strike book and there are different cases of people going through due process and their perspective on it. There was a child's perspective, mothers, and a ton other cases. Just thought I would share.




http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/dp.child.perspective.brody.htm



See yall Wed!

Spanking

Hey Guys,
I know this is a little off topic but I wanted to share.
Beware : that if you spare the rod you will spoil the child.
Check out the link from Yahoo.
George

Hey guys! here are our questions. Please look at Strike as we will start with that book first on Wednesday. Think about reflective equilibrium and how do we find it in our schools, in our social groups, in our communities.

Thanks!

Billie and Kelsey

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14797234?source=most_viewed

http://www.freireproject.org/blogs/education-killing-democracy

Strike Questions:

1. On Page 132 Strike suggests that neither consequentialist or nonconsequentialist views are sufficient. The authors suggest that one view offers what the other lacks. Do you now believe that a person has both consequentialist and nonconsequentialist tendencies? Why or Why not?

2. In the postscript discussion, Strike and Soltice disagree about the justification of ethical concepts, but they agree that people should be treated fairly and that dialogue and reflection are how people find common ground. Do you feel that we have accomplished a common ground through our discussions. In chapter 6, they call this common ground "reflective equilibrium". What are some of the moral intuitions and moral theory on which we as future teachers base our professional reflective equilibrium?

3. Do you agree that creating persons is the first and foremost business of teachers? Why or why not? Do you feel that we as a democratic society have been successful in caring about others and that we as a people are willing and able to accept responsibility for ourselves and that we engage in open, undominated dialgoue with others about a common life and accept shared responsibility for the group's (society's) life?

Dewey

1. American democracy has been successful because it has been mutable and ever-changing. Our forefathers allowed for interpretation because they knew that we would have conflicts as a nation. They expected radical change in our society. Do you feel that radical change is possible in our institutions such as education?

2. In Creative Democracy, Dewey says that democracy as a way of life is controlled by personal faith in personal day-by-day working together with others. He also says that democracy is the sole way of living that believes in the process of experience as end and as means. He also said this about education. What correlations exist between democracy and education? Do they have the same ends and means?

3. Given the end of the Strike book and the final readings from Dewey, would you say that the two books agree or disagree in their beliefs in the role of the teacher? What should our professional goals as teachers truly be? Is this a universal or individual belief?

Do schools kill Creativity?

http://
I think that this is very fitting with a lot of the topics that we have been talking about this semester in this class. I know this video is very long but I think that it is very worthwhile to watch. I also would like to know what you thought about the video and if you agree or disagree with what the video talks about!

At what point do we need to step in as educators?

I understand this has to do with a high school student and is a little off topic from our readings for the week, but at what point in the older grades of Early Childhood Education do we need to step in to stop the bullying and taunting? Trying to relate it back to our reading, how do we make a safe environment for all the different children we will have in our classroom. I understand many have the view that "kids will be kids" but at what point is it crossing the line. This is a video clip from Fox News on the South Hadley, MA case in which a high school freshman, Phoebe Prince was "bullied to death." School should be an environment where students feel safe, where did it all go wrong?

A quote from USA Today states, "These bullies are so subtle and cunning it's hard for school staff to know if what looks like bullying really is, and what to do about it. "Some of it is so under the radar that without training, you can't see what's in front of you," says Marlene Snyder, a Clemson University expert on bullying."

What steps are we as future educators taking to ensure we receive the proper training to recognize bullying and the damage it can cause, especially for teh younger children?

It is stated that "school officials failed to stop it, even though the bullying was "common knowledge" for months. Phoebe's mother twice complained to school staffers, and some bullying was witnessed by teachers. The school's inaction, while not criminal, was "troubling," Scheibel said."

Below is the article from USA Today...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-04-bullying_N.htm

I understand some of you are parents, and how would you feel if your child came home and confronted you with issues of bullying at any age?

Happy Easter

I realized after looking over my post that I forgot to say Hello and I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. It bugged me just enough that I had to post again to say just that. So..........


HAPPY EASTER!!! see you guys in class.

Questions and additional reading for April 7th

Additional Reading

Questions for Dewey:

Nationalizing Education
1. Dewey makes the statement on pg 268. "Since the idea of the nation is equal opportunity for all, to nationalize education means to use the school as a means for making this idea effective." Does education today reflect this statement?

Education as Engineering
1. Dewey compares modern bridge building to education in this piece. He basically says "that to his knowledge there was no definite art to modern bridge building until after bridges of the new sort had been constructed." Dewey thinks that the ability and biological/psychological means to build a new educational system are already present in people, but we tend to think about the system we have rather than think outside the box about a new system entirely. He sees the problem with education as human and not scientific at all. Do you feel he is right?

2. Is Dewey's idea of taking an individual thought and running with it even conceivable in today's current system? Can we as teachers build a new bridge without careful planning and consideration?

3. Dewey relates teachers to followers and that the more docile young are the ones who grow up to be teachers and consequently listen docilely to the voice of authority. Is this the case for today's teachers? Why or Why not?

4. We have a saying in our culture that goes 'he's got that down to a science" The phrase means that a person has become so accustomed to doing something a certain way that it becomes rudimentary. Dewey sees this as the problem with education. He says that "we confuse faith with worship and term science what is only justification of habit." We as a system have committed our educational system to habits and are unwilling to experiment. Dewey sees education going no where for this reason. Is he right?

Strike 6

Strike says that we need to keep separate the question of what the right decision is from the question that constitutes legitimacy in decision making. Is the teacher in the 1st case in the right just because she knows whats best?

Participation in the Classroom

http://bit.ly/cShNtJ

In the reading for Dewey next week, "Nationalizing Education," he says that "the American nation is itself complex and compound......Our national motto, 'One of Many,' cuts deep and extends far." We have discussed this before that our classrooms will be filled with plenty of different cultures and backgrounds, and that we as teachers have to establish a learning environment inviting to all of the children. This lady discusses some different issues that have happened in her classrooms before. I just wanted to acknowledge some of what Dewey says, "He is not American plus Pole or German. But the American is himself Pole-German-English-French-Spanish-Italian-Greek-Irish-Scandinavian-Bohemian-Jew-and so on. The point is to see to it that the hyphen connects instead of seperates."