My Letter to the Editor:

Dear Editor:

It has come to my attention that children from families with low socioeconomic status make up a disproportionate number of those most at-risk for school failure. Although children of low socioeconomic status may begin school with significantly different experiences and skills than their middle-class peers, research indicates that these children can catch up. Also students from families of low socioeconomic status often attend schools facing other problems some that are attributed to at-risk students. These schools typically have many students with high mobility rates, severe behavioral and emotional problems, and limited English proficiency. In addition, children of low socioeconomic status may come from culturally diverse backgrounds, and the classrooms that they are stuck in are that with lack of motivation by not only the students but the teachers as well. It is important to create and affective environment for every student in every school no matter what their socioeconomic status may be. This includes every classroom in every school to have a classroom that is orderly and focused on learning, a positive learning environment, parental involvement in their students learning, and some form of misbehavior intervention. I also wish that one day all schools will be granted equal funding so that every student can learn in an equally healthy environment with the best possible tools that they can. The way schools are still separated by income need to change because the policy is no child left behind but yet we are leaving many brilliant children behind because they don’t have the same opportunities as other more wealthy kids. The first step is to get every teacher involved. There are many great teachers in these lower SES schools, but we are still lacking in great education. There should be more willing to work to make the change.


Sincerely,

Kristen May Daniels
St. Cloud, MN  

Field Experience Reflection

I teach swimming lessons at the YMCA and have for some time now. On my first day of field experience I was very warmly welcomed by a little girl named Ellie. Ellie has been in my swim class a few months this past winter and I always joke with her to not wear her nose plug. It was a very nice feeling to start off with on my first day going into a real classroom, already knowing a student and quickly meeting others because she was so excited to introduce me. I did have to remind her that I am Ms. Daniels in school though not Kristen. I got the opportunity to have my field experience at Clearview Elementary with a wonderful 3rd grade teacher named Allison Auer. There I had the chance to teach in small groups, supervise and help in the library and assess some children’s reading ability.  

While getting started on my field experience I was a little uneasy because the teacher that I was assigned to had e-mailed me stating that she did not need me for math help because they do math in the morning (and I was scheduled for 12:30-2:30 in the afternoon due to my school schedule) and she was not sure what to do with me. But after talking to Carol and figuring out something different I could do, I found myself very useful in her class. I started my first day meeting with the teacher and talking about the schedule, and then we took the class into the library. Her class is 33 kids and they are all just out of recess so it was pretty crazy. I helped them find books and kept them from bouncing off the walls. The first day was a busy one, but after school was let out Mrs. Auer and I made a plan to split the class in half when I come so they are not so hectic and things could be more relaxed on Mrs. Auer’s part.  

The next few weeks were such a great practice.  When I went to Clearview we would split the class in two and Mrs. Auer would take half to the library and I would stay with half and go through the Kids Scholastic News articles. Then after a certain amount of time we would switch. This was great because it made me in charge of the students. I would have the students sit in a circle as we went around and each got to read two sentences. No student could skip as authorized by Mrs. Auer. I had my times with students who wanted to interrupt or make rude comments. I also had to even deal with some small bullying. This was a problem in the classroom but myself and Mrs. Auer would try to figure out ways to try to get the students to respect together. It was a challenge and I still didn’t master it, but it was a good learning experience to go through that.

After going to Clearview for some weeks a student teacher also joined me in the classroom. We still had the same routine for a while with splitting the class, but as the standardized testing was going on the schedule had to shift with it. This gave me a great opportunity though. On one day I got to watch and assist Mrs. Auer in a small group science lesson. This gave me personal experience with how the teacher ran a small group. Then on the last day Mrs. Auer had me read with two different students and this was my favorite part. She picked a little boy Jamarcus, who is at a kindergarten level of reading, and Ellie who I spoke about earlier who is exceptionally well in her reading ability. This gave me an experience of noticing the differences in the students in the learning levels and capabilities and it was great reading with the both of them.

Overall my time with the 3^rd graders in Mrs. Auer’s class was amazing. It was great being in the classroom and helping the students learn and engage. I had a great teacher to learn from and the variety of different things I got to do was remarkable. I am more excited than ever to keep going to further myself in becoming a Special Education Teacher. There were some tough times, but a job with a reward is the best and it is great to know that I impacted these students.   

The Root: Good Education Is A Right — Not A Crime

The article talks about the different schoold in different SES areas. Since January, two African-American women have been publicly shamed for sending their children to a school district that was better than the one in which they lived. This is outstanding to me because every child deserves the same education. It explains real life in the movie the pursuit of happiness and the meaing of being poor and how hard it can be on your child. Yes, school districts exist for a reason. According to America's idiotic public education system, tax dollars determine how decent an education your kid gets. This is a vary sad thing to know and read about, I hope that this will be changed soon as I know it is one of the most important issues right now involving our students in getting thier best education.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/22/135627125/the-root-good-education-is-a-right-not-a-crime

Education in Africa: Where does the money go?

Over the last decade public spending on education in Africa has increased by more than 6% each year. The article shows details government spending on education in each of the 45 sub-Saharan African countries. It presents the most up-to-date data on how much is spent on different levels of education, and digs out historical data to track trends over the last 10 years. The report also presents figures on the qualifications and salaries of teachers, the running costs of schools, and the provision of textbooks. It is nice to look at another country and see how their funding for education is distributed. Especially in Africa.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/apr/27/africa-education-spending-aid-data

West Point Refuses To Readmit Lesbian Cadet

In this article a cadet who happens to be lesbian resigned from West Point last year. She has been rejected for readmission to the academy even as the military moves toward repealing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy. This is rediculous. Officials at the U.S. Military Academy said they had no choice but to reject Katherine Miller's application, because the repeal of the policy barring gays from serving openly in the military is not in effect yet. The policy's repeal did not occur immediately after President Obama signed the legislation in December; training and certification are required before the ban is lifted. This is outragous to me that things like this are still going on in America. Everyone should be treated equally in any circumstance. What I like best about the article is in the end it lets us know that she now intends to graduate from Yale and join the military through officer candidate school.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135781963/west-point-refuses-to-readmit-lesbian-cadet

COPE releases a summary of 2010 activities

COPE is The Council of Pacific Education. And a body of teachers in the pacific have just published the journal of pacific teachers union's latest addition. International Labour Organisation’s Officer Laila Harré delivered the keynote address, acknowledging that “teacher unions are a substantial component of national trade union movements and enjoy many advantages when it comes to the [ILO] work for social justice.” This is facinating to me because looking through this website I was amazed to see all the teacher union things that were/ are going on. I had no idea that there is even teacher unions but it makes sense when you think about, I just never have. I would reall like to take a look at the journal that was published I bet it is a vary educational and interesting read.

http://www.ei-ie.org/news/news_details/1789

Ravitch: Standardized Testing Undermines Teaching

Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch talked about no child left behind and her story and opinion on standardized testing. In her book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System", Ravitch criticizes the emphasis on standardized testing and closing schools as well as the practice to replace public schools with charter schools. One reason, she says, is the increasing emphasis on privatization.
Also in the atricle Ravitch says that charter schools undercut the opportunities for public schools, making public school students feel like "second-class citizens." She touches base on the likelyhood of change in public schools and says that it is possible if parents work together. I agree with her but I also want to say if parents and teachers work together because teachers are what really affect how the child is learning in the classroom.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135142895/ravitch-standardized-testing-undermines-teaching

UK: teachers decide on strike over pensions

 The National Union of Teachers (NUT) General Secretary, Christine Blower, emphasised the union’s clear message to Government “that teachers will not stand by as their pensions are eroded.”  The NUt said that it will take coordinated action with another national affiliate of EI, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), as part of the struggle over pensions. Under plans, the NUT is set to ballot up to 300,000 members in schools in England and Wales, while the ATL is likely to ballot 80,000. This is ineteresting because it seems that funds and pesnions like this are happening even in America. It is an issue that should have been delt with long ago and we will still deal with it for many years.. I just have a guess.

http://www.ei-ie.org/news/news_details/1790

U.S. to Join Suit Against For-Profit College Chain

The Justice Department is planning to intervene in a lawsuit charging that one of the nation’s largest for-profit college companies, the Education Management Corporation. This is the first time prosecutors have joined such a case, one of dozens in recent years that accuse the for-profit college industry of illegal practices devised to increase federal student aid revenue. For-profit schools enroll about 12 percent of the nation’s higher-education students yet receive about a quarter of all federal student aid; their students account for almost half of all defaults. In general, these institutions get more than 80 percent of their revenues from federal student aid. I think that this is ineteresting to read about because of the funding or lack there of in most educational instuttions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/education/03edmc.html?ref=education

The Global Achievment Gap (Chapter 6)

In chapter 6 Tony wagner talks about closing the gap. He offers up three high schools as models for what public secondary education could look like. On page 195, Wagner states that students "crave dignity," and observes in a qoute from John seely Brown, how this craving is met by a societal hypocrisy. Wagner interviews teachers and one of the teacher he interviews is Warwick. Warwick states that he teaches his schools to prepare them for the real world, to be prepared in many ways after graduation. This is important I believe in the case that all students grow up. He also touches base on how important a teacher-student relationship is. Our students need to want to come to school and feel important and enjoy thier time in school. It is up to us teachers to make sure that happens. Overall I thought the book was a very good read and I learned so much throughout the pages that will help me to be the best teacher when I graduate one day.

Chapter 13 (Instruction in Today's Schools)

I learned that motivation is a very important key in affective teaching. Motivation is not only important for current learning; it also sets the stage for future success in schools. Expert teachers make a series if desicions as they plan a lesson. Some of those include: Selected a topic important for students to study, specific learning objectives realted to the topics, prepared and organized learning activities to help students reach the objectives, planned an assesment to determine the extent to which the students reached the objectives, and ensure that the instruction and assessments are aligned with the learing objective. Essential teaching skills can be considered basic skills for teaching. They are abilities that all teachers, including those in thier first year of teaching, should have in order to help students learn.

Chapter 12 (Creatinve a productive learning environment)

I did this chapter as my presentation and the part that I mainly focused on was the part with getting parents involved in their childs education. It is vary important for parents to be a part of thier chilrens education. Mainly it has shown better improvement in grades and even more graduates at the end of high school. Ways to get parents involved is to invite them on field trips, have take home homework, send home notes, and even parent teacher meetings are important. It is important for the teacher and the parent to be in it togther for the child to get the best education they can achieve.

Chapter 11 (The Schools Curriculum)

There is a variety of definitions of curriculum, and no single one is generally accepted. Definitions of surrisulum and instrustion often overlap, and in some cases curriculum subsumes instrustion. Experts use four aspects of curriculum to describe how schools help students acquire these different abilities, attitudes, and values: The explicit curriculum, The implicit, or "hidden" curriculum, The null curriculum, The extracurculum. The forces that influence the curriculum deal with standards and accountability, the federal goverenment, textbooks, philosophy and teacher perfessionalism.

Chapter 10 (School Law)

Laws regulate the rights and resposiblities of teachers, but two limitations affect the extent to which they can guide our professional decisions. First, laws are purposely general, so they can apply to a variety of specific situations. Second limimtaion of laws is that they were created in response to problems that existed in the past, so they don't provide specific guidelines for future decisions. Teacher employment also needs guidelines. Teachers need a licensure, and a teaching contract. Also teachers are granted Tenure which is vary controversial to many. One thing that has been noticed and changed in prayer in school. There is a law that forbids the official use of religious symbols in schools.

Chapter 9 (Governance and Finance)

Because the governer and legislators have an entire state to run, they turn most of the responsiblity for steering their state's schools to the state board of education, the legal governing body that exercises general control and supervision of the schools in a state. A state board of education makes policy; the state office of education is responsible for implementing poilcy within a state on a day-to-day basis. A school district is an administrative unit within a state that is defined by geogrphical boundaries and is legally responisble for the public education of children within those boundaries. There are many important people that make up the school: a local school board, a superintendent, a principle and many more. Some schools are funded in differnent ways and there are even charter schools.

Chapter 8 (The organization of American schools)

At the simplest level, school is a place where teachers teach and students learn. One comprehensive study of schools identified the following major goals: Academic, Social and Civic, Vocational, Personal. The school levels start at early childhood programs which is a general term describing a range of educational programs of young children. Next is elementary classrooms which are typically self-contained, then junior high and middle schools that today have a variety of offereings, although not as comprehensive as those is high schools, and they include competitive athletics and other extra-curricular activities. Before they make the choice to go to college or not students go to a comprehensive high school, which is a secondary school that aims to meet the needs of all students. There are differnt kinds of schdualing in differnent schools such as a block schedual or hours.

Atomic Learning

Atomic learning is online training video tutorials and technology integration resources designed for schools, districts and educational institutions. Atomic seems to be more application-specific and with greater detail about how-to-do many different items in that application. Learning that the atomic learning library contains thousands of short tutorials on various software programs and operating systems shocked me. We really do live in the future. I think that it can be a good way for people to learn from spots that would normally be impossible to learn in. From anywhere. The fact that there is so much information gives many different opportunities.

21st Century Skills/ Tony Wagner

Wagner talked about seven survival skills for a new economy. The 7 skills are: critical thinking/problem solving, collaboration/leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity and imagination. The video does a good job explaining these to us. The interviews and information kind of made me open up my eyes to what we need to do to get our children going. I notice that these skills all incude activity in some way. I think teachers around the nation should listen to Wagner and help him fill the gap.

Waiting for Superman

The film follows five young children and their families as they try to get into schools that have a proven success record. And for the most part that means private or non-public schools. It’s a sad truth when a child’s success is tied to either wealth or blind luck. I was really touched by this film. I had no idea that children go through that. It was heartbreaking seeing the children who really want a great education not get there name called in the lotary of their education. Watching the film gave me perspective on life outside my Minnesota box, and these kids all need a good education and no matter where I land I will do my best to give them that. It is sad to even see the difference between the teachers and supplies at these schools only certain kids can go to. Overall it was a very touching movie.

Two Million Minutes

The documentary film, "Two Million Minutes," highlights bleak contrasts in the educational experiences, perspectives, and expectations of high school students in the United States, China, and India. I feel that American students should try harder to keep their minds in school. They seem to be to busy, worried about whats going on in the streets and with their friends. It also is sad how it really shows America isn't as advanced as other schools in more than just technology. The thing I found interesting was what the film said to be America's four great educational myths.
1. Our kids are more well-rounded.
2. Asian education is rote memorization.
3. Our kids are more creative and more innovative.
4. U.S. education is the best in the world.
This is so true and so sad to think about. America needs to wake up!

The Global Acheivement Gap (Chapter 5)

In chapter 5 there is a discussion about motivating students today for the world of work tomorrow. Business leaders and educators are worried about the decline of the work ethic among young people who are hungry for praise and impatient of promotions. I see this everyday, and can understand that worry. A number of individuals think young people today have a different ethic. Young people growing up in the digital age have become multitasking, constantly connected, instantly gratified and expect the speed of light in things.  It was suggested that in order for young students to respect learning and school, we need to ensure that learning and schoolwork is real adult work that requires both analysis and creativity. The teacher should work as a facilitator rather than an information dictator. This I am not sure I agree with because during high school teachers that would use this teqnique made me not want to be in the class or learn because it was not fun and boring. I as a teacher want to be a good example to the kids, and have authority of course but most of all I want to make sure my students are enjoying themselves (which I know is not an easy task).

The Global Achievement Gap (Chapter 4)

In Chapter 4, Wagner describes his consultation with a group of previous educators which depicts how teachers do not have the agreement on the assessment of an instructional tasks. He uses his personal story to shed light to the realities about the practice and preparation of the teaching profession and suggests that students take a bunch of different of courses that are not coherent among each other for a diploma. Teachers and administrators are having difficulty figuring out how to get all students to be proficient and improve teaching continuously. However, teacher and administrator collaborations are increasing in the profession. This doesn't suprise me because many of us want to educate and will never give up. I think that we should still work on giving kids a quality education with letting them enjoy themself trying out new and different things.

The Global Achievement Gap (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 outlines issues surrounding the testing mania that is currently sweeping our country. He asks readers to work through several test examples to demonstrate the trivial nature of high stakes tests and the difficulty of creating truly valid tests. One of the major points of the chapter is shifting our collective thinking in the world of education about what we value. He suggests that “In today’s world, it’s no longer how much you know that matters; it’s what you can do with what you know.” I think that this chapter does a lot of good helping me understand the way I would like to teach with different assesment than testing. I myself get anxious and do nad because of it during a test.

The Global Achievement Gap (Chapter 2)

In Chapter 2, Wagner takes us on “Learning Walks” through several high schools. In these classroom observations he observes repeated examples of minimal student engagement, students working independently on low-level tasks like worksheets/workbooks, teachers lecturing, low-level test prep, and few meaningful authentic teacher-student interactions. Sadly, the administrators accompanying him were, in many cases, surprised that these examples were so different from what they saw in their formal observations. He also provides research data that indicates the situation is no better in elementary schools. He states that our students are learning at basic levels but they are not learning to be thinkers! I think as future teachers we need to try our best to give the best to every kid no matter where we work. Encourageing the kids and making them want to come back is what is most important.

Law Schools Go Global

Students now have more options for gaining international expierence. As the world moves increasingly toward globalization,schools are offering students more opportunities to immerse themselves in foreign legal systems and international law. There are lots of student abroad programs that are now available and even forein exchange students all over the world. The programs aren't for everyone. They can be pricey and may preclude a student from taking work or internship opportunities in the United States, which some fear might set them back in landing a job. But many experts disagree, saying global experience has become a major plus on résumés. Clearly, the thousands of students who enroll in these programs agree.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2011/03/29/law-schools-go-global

In New York City, 3,100 Kindergarteners Waitlisted, Up 1,000 From 2010

The New York Daily News reports that the number of kids waitlisted for kindergarten for this fall has increased by nearly 1000 from last year. More than 3,100 kindergartners have been placed on waitlists for their local schools, according to the data released by the city this Wednesday. This is shocking to me and I think that it just shows how all school should be funded equally. That way every kid has a chance to get the education that they want. Now in order for a child to go to a quality school they have to be put on the waiting list. Though this is based in New York City this happens all around the nation and it is something we should pay more attention to.

http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/152878

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is based on Educational Philosophy. There are many branches of philosophy. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that examines questions of how we come to know what we know. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that considers what we know. Asiology is a branch of philosophy that considers values amd ethics, issues now promnent in America education. Logic is a branch that examines the processes of deriving valid conclusions from basic principles. The book says that developing a personal philosophy increases your professionalism by providing a concrete frame of reference for both action and reflection. Philosophy plays a big role in education and I agree it is important for us future educators to learn and recognize.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is an interesting one to me. It talks about education in its hisorical roots. Going through a timeline as the chapter goes through all the way to the modern period. The Colonial Period (1606-1775) there was different in different colonies, but mainly rrelion and schools were closley linked together. The Early National Period (1775-1820) the constitution is starting to shape education. The Common Movement: the rise of state support for public education (1820-1865) was a historic attempt to make education available to all children in the United States. Many important events happend during this period. The Modern Era, began after World War II and continues to present. It is characterized by an increased national emphasis on education, which is now viewed as the key to both individual success and the progress of the nation.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 goes along with chapter 4 in the diversity aspect. But the diviersity is different; development, ability, and exceptionalities are important factors to include when talking about diversity in the classroom. Children all develop in different ways. Development in the chapter is defined as the physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, and social changes that occur in student as a result of maturation and experience. Ability for students sometimes puts the students in groupings. There is difference in intellegence, learning styles, metacognition, disabilities, and giftedness. All these different facors are important to look at and study for those who want to be a good teacher. Every child is different and we need to recognize how each student can learn and benefit the best. In this chapter there are different ways to deal and work with all the different diversities in the classroom.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is about student diversity. Student diversiy is an important topic when it comes to schools and education. There is cultural diversity, language diversity, and gender even is a aspect in the classroom. Multicultral education is a term that describes a variety of stragities schools use to accomodate cultural differences in teaching and learning. Multicultural education will evolove according to the book, as educators discover what works and what works and what doesn't. There are alot of students who do not speak english very well or at all. There are programs in school such as ELL and ESL to help accomodate these students in the English speaking schools. Gender seems to have an effect in some classrooms. Gender bias has become a problem when forces in schools and the larger society limit the growth and acedemic potential of either boys or girls, as appeared to be most cases. This suprises me.

Chapter 3

Chaper 3 is about changes and influences on American society and how it affects our students. the chapter talks about socioeconomic factors in a students life. The different statuses. Also about the changes students go through as they get older and mature and the issues that could come along with that such as crime and violence. There is sucha thing as at-risk students who are most likely to drop out. One objective I am passionate about is bullying. The book states that bullying is a more subtle form of school violence. It is recieving increased attention, as educators are realizing its damaging effects on students and its possible links to suicide and school shootings. It is a big problem that is going on in schools and I think that every teacher should make it a point to work with thier students on bullying in the classroom. I personally have already witnessed a great amount of bullying in my feild experience classroom. The teacher has to now send any student straight to the offic if there is any notion of bullying going on. This has been an issue for a long time and will continue to be an issue but we as future teachers can slow it down and hopefully it will be prevented all togther.

China Debutes at Top of International Education Rankings

Shanghi ranks number one in reading, math, and science, far outspacing their American peers.
"The 2009 PISA data demonstrate the rise in the quality of education in Asia among the top performers were Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea," said Tony Jackson, Vice President of Education at the Asia Society. "Aligning education goals to economic development, Asian nations have scoured the world for models of effective education systems, and implemented them consistently through deliberate policies and long-term investments. Any definition of a world-class education must include knowledge of Asia and the language and cultural skills to deal with Asia. It's a two-way street: America must now learn from and with Asia and the world." I agree that America should start paying more attention to what they are doing in Asia so that our children have the best education that they can get. China has obviously been doing a good job with educucating their children. Anything that they can do and succeed with we should try. Education is an important thing exspecially at a young age. These systems could help the children of America.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/china-debuts-top-international-education-rankings/story?id=12336108

For Teachers: Many ways to cheat on tests

There was a teacher assitant in 2008 helped her Olando fourth graders on the state achievment test. She supposably erased wrong answers and whispered corrections while she was helping non-native English speakers with difficult words. They say she even snapped her fingers in a code students understood to mean they should correct an answer. The assistant teacher told the students they would fail the fourth grade if they told anyone including their parents. At least one of the students told their parents and the school began to investigate. According to academic studies teachers cheat sometimes and so do principles. The concequences can be darastic. They say cheating can cost school districts thousands of dollars for makeup tests, set back the careers of gifted teachers and create confusion for schools and parents over a child's academic progress. I had no idea that this was an issue going on in America. I myself will never have a problem with that because I believe that a children will learn bad traits dishonesty as one. They are taking measure to ensure the truthfullness of how the tests are being taken now. I hope this situation gets resloved.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-10-1Aschooltesting10_CV_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

India pioneers volunteer-led assessment of educational standards

In India enrolment rates are now running at about 95%, and a new tax has been introduced to pay for primary education. Out of the 200 children in India, 195 million are now in school. But they are saying fewer that 100 million are actaully learning to read and do basic math out of the 195 million. The kids are in school but it is not doing much good. They are putting out a Aser Programme, which is a program that puts information in the hands of citizens and helps engage the whole commuity in educational issues. There has been a number of spin-off benefits from this. It broadens engagement in education through its 25,000 volunteers; it helps engage parents, many of whom are illiterate, in the educational process so that they can be more confident about monitoring what their children are learning, and whether the teacher is really doing their job. I think that the education of any child is very important and I am glad that they are doing something to make their knowledge grow. I hope that these programs will work and the percentage of children actually learning someting from school grows.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/15/education-goals-assessment-india-school

Classrom and Playground, all rolled into one

The Long Island Chilrdens Muesum has many different fun playground learning equipment such as giant bubbles, and musical instuments. There are as many as 225,000 people who visit the 18 year old museum just this year alone. They are mixing learning and fun, they say a neat trick that the best of the musuems pull seemingly without effort. The nation has 250, with another 80 more of those museums in the nation. Only a handful have closed and there are many expanding. A great key to these muesums in expeirence, and these museums have alot of engageing experimental things for the children to play and learn from. After a day at these museums the kids leave with a happy note and graowth in their education. I think that these museums are a great idea and way for kids to learn. Everyone learns more when they are enjoying themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/classroom-and-playground-all-rolled-into-one.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=education

Australia: long history of international higher education

Australia has had a long history of higher education. Austarlia is one of the worlds top study desitnations for international students. There was a bunch of violent attacks against Indian students in 2009 which made this success in Australia damper. These attacks made the number of international students coming significantly dropped. Now Australia has been encouraging a global outlook across a range of activities boader. The aim is to also nutrure global citizens, something that international students can play a significant part in. I think that this is a good idea for Australia to put the numbers up with the international students. I myself would love to get education in Australia in an international program.

 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110305121304874

Listening to America (video in class)

I reallyed liked the video that we watched in class and I learned alot about how different schools can be from eachother even in the same city. The video about 2 boys put in the catagory of exceptional and gifted children, and they both have huge differences in thier backgrounds. One child named Lonnie goes to a school called South Fordham in the inner city of Chigago. And the other boy was James who went to Riverdale in a suberban city in the Chicago. Riverdale is a special school cause its atmospher is a good one. It has teachers trained in thier areas and good training helps teachers do a better job. James even has a community center for kids to go after school. Lonnie's school is different. The teachers are not as well trained and alltogtehr didnt have faith in the kids. The principle has to walk corner to corner to make sure kids are going to school and there is no trouble. After school Lonnie onlyy has a few unsafe places to go, and arcade or basket-ball in a nearby school court. This video really opened my eyes to the differences in schools and how things need to change so every child is getting the same education.

First Day at Field Experience

On my first day of field experience I was really excited to see what it was going to be like. I am going to a 3rd grade classroom. I was worried because I was supose to be helping with math, but the teacher did that in the morning and I was assigned to go there in the afternoon. So I was not sure if sheeven needed me for anything. Turns out she did! I walked in and right was introduced and we went to the library. Mrs. Auer has 32 kids in he class so things we really crazy. So we decide that every Tuesday when it is time for library I will take hakf the kids for half the time and read over Scholasic Kids News and then after 15 min we would switch kids. This helped the teacher alot with managing them when it comes to the end of the day and I seem very useful. The kids were fun and great as well. It is kind of cool having kids call me Ms. Daniels.

Read across America

 Miss North Carolina, Adrienne Core had a special meeting with the Cat-in-the-Hat in recognition of Read Across America. Its 13th annual National Education Association's (NEA) Read Across America on March 2, 2011. Started in 1997, Read Across America is an annual reading awareness and motivation program that calls for everyone to celebrate reading on the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss. NCAE members across the state will participate in this special day with reading events in schools and communities in North Carolina. I love that there is alot going on in the nation to get chilldren to read and when important people are that dedicated it shows in the children who idolize them.

 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/miss-north-carolina-celebrates-read-across-america-with-ncae-116726364

Delaware courts: States scramble for solution to shortage of drug used in executions

In Delaware they are pending an execution of a man who murdered another man but are waitnig to get the lethal injection drug because it is rare and there is alot of controversy over the death penalty. I think it is weird that they still have the death penalty on my opinion. I didn't know it was allowed in Delaware They are trying to get the drug imported from Italy, but Italian authorities would allow such production but did not allow correctional systems in the United States to use it for capital punishment. I think that this is good and smart. Most the world thinks the death penalty is not right. And I was clearly suprised by the article I read showing more people than one where waiting for this drug to come to the country for them to die. Its a weird world we live in.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110213/NEWS01/102130367/Del-scrambles-solution-drug-shortage-executions

The Global Achievment Gap (Chapter 1)

In the first chapter of The Global Achievmet Gap, the author Tony Wagner reviews over the seven survival skills for todays students. Critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration across networks and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurism; effective written and oral communication; assessing and analyzing information; and curiosity and imagination. Looking at these attributes makes it clear to me that these are equally valuable for business success, but perhaps even more important, are imperatives for good citizenship. He also in the first chaper does an experiment with CEO's to see how well you would go through the hiring process and not to know the correct answers, but the ability to ask the right questions. I thought that the first chapter kept me interested and I learned alot with out boreum which makes a good author and shows my insterest in the subject. I am looking forward to reading on and learning what we need to do to make our schools a better place to be in.

Kenya drought

In Kenya near the primary school is going through a serious drought. The school does not have enought water for them to drink let alone wash their hands. No food has arrived since January. Last year the school had 280 pupils now it is down to 90. The drought has been killing the cattle and leaves little or no food. Droughts are common in Kenya and the last bad one was 2 years ago. When it starts to rain, heavily armed nomads steal livestock from each other to stock up on those animals lost during the drought. I think that it is so sad to hear about this happening as I can get a drink of water any time I please. I wish that the US would spend more time helping Africa in all the ways they need help instead of spending money on rediculous things like Troops to Iraq. There should be more help to those kids and the commuinty so that they dont have to fear they will starve to death. Though the drought will end, another will come and they seem to need help in figuring out a way to control health issues during this time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12371130

Anoka Suicides

After reading more than one atricle about the Anoka Hennippin School District and the horrible situation as having six suicides in less than one year. There is something that needs to be done seriously to get these kids to believe in themselves. There is not a good enough punishment control, and I belive that after that many tragities the principles should do something big or get fired. I grieve for the family members and friends of those who thought that thier life was not worth it enough to live. Though I hear they are working to change policies, but it is a very serious issue. Looking through the atricles at least 5 out of the & kids were bullyed in school in some way. It makes me so sad to think that these kids who are probably amazing with so much potential feel the only way to live is to not live at all. I hope things get better through the school distric and the suicides stop,

http://minnesotaindependent.com/71475/following-suicides-anoka-hennepin-community-presses-school-board-for-change

Bullying

Today I watched the movie Bully, as a future teacher I will always listen to my students when they come to me. I will support any student in the whole school no matter who they are. If a student comes up to me with a bullying complaint, first I will listen second I will take action and actually do something about the situation. If it takes more than one attempt I will never give up to give students the jusitce and sercurity that they can feel safe at school. School should be a happy place for a child to come. They should be excited to be there not afaid.

Health Care reform

Health-care reform is likely to come down to the decition of Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, his views on the individual mandate, requires all those who can afford it to purchase health insurance. And here’s the irony of the whole thing: the individual mandate was a policy that Democrats adopted precisely in order to attract moderate Republicans like, well, Anthony Kennedy. If it gets rejected, what’s likely to come next is going to be a whole lot less congenial to conservatives.

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/06/the-justice-will-see-you-now.html

Pakistan abortion hotline

In Pakistan theer is an inexpensive drug that is primarily used to treat postpartum hemorrhages, to prevent ulcers, and to induce labor. It is also used as an alternative to illegal or expensive surgical abortions. There is a hotline that is being offered in hopes of lowering the high rates of pregnancy related deaths. I think that this is a good thing to have in order for women to talk about their situations but really how much can a hotline do. They need to take more action in Pakistan to inform women of the dangers of illegal abortions or the  risks of any heath related problems with pregnacy. This is a good start to that, but it is sad to to see that so much is going on so more needs to be done. I am pro-choice, but most definatly everything should be done the healthy way.

 http://newsdesk.org/2010/10/pakistan-abortion-hotline-sparks-controversy/

Chicago in big snow storm

There was a huge snow storm in Chicago Illinois on February 1st. The article states many car pile ups along with stuck cars. 70 mile an hour wind gusts. This is intense for Chicago because though it is the windy city for a huge storm to go that way is nuts. But they made a way to big deal about it because we get these kind of storms all the time and I am currently sitting outside with -22 out. The wind is crazy there with so many buses, cars, motorcycles stuck in traffic for over 45 min. But big whoop. I live in Minnesota.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/us/03chicago.html?_r=1&ref=us

Islamic protest

In Egypt there are tens of thousands of Egyptians taking to the street in defiance of a curfewstrong stand in favor of the rights of the Egyptian people and to use its influence with Egypt's President Mubarak to prevent further bloodshed. I think that this is the start of something good in Egypt. I dont think that the US should get involved because this is a big step towards there revolution in gaining a new president. There rights have been violated and it is a good thing that the Egyptians are taking action. Though there is much bloodshed and death they are making a point towards a better economy for there future. This should have happend a while ago since the president has been in office for over 30 years.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-02-01-column01_ST2_N.htm

The Freedom Writers: Movie

The Freedom writers is a very good movie. The Teacher Erin Gruwell doeas such a great job at getting the kids to work together instead of against eachother. This movie is based off of a true story, and I can beleive it. I come from a very diverse High School and I was in a speech class with so many different races and groups of friends. My teacher Mr. Pop reminds me alot of the techer in the film. As what started out as a class segragated to there own groups to every single person in that class became my friend! We all even took speech 2 togther because my teachers skills were good and got us all to accept and enjoy eachother even with all of our differences, and I learned so much in those 2 classes. Freedom Writers also shows how kids with no want or care to go to school to come with the right teacher skills and attitude, this happened with a few kids in my speech class as well , my teahcer got them to want to come to class. I loved the movie The Freedom Writers and would encourage anyone who hasnt seen the movie to go out and watch this insipring film.
1. Some hopes Erin has starting her new job is any hope for a teacher to teach the kids and have a good year not knowing what is coming to her
2.Some challeges she faced were the kids in her class who did not get along with one another all in groups and segragated. They didnt have any respect for her so they didnt listen and did what they wanted and started fights and caused a rough time.
3. A student Eva's boyfriend, Paco, goes by a convienent store to attempt  a drive-by shooting, trying to kill a guys but misses, accidentally killing cindy's boyfriend. Eva is a witness, and has to testify at court and she intends to protect her own kind in her testimony.
4. When they all didnt care about school and had no intention of graduation they had no motivation to do good at all in class thinking they never had a chance anyway.
5. She gradually earns thier trust starting off by teaching them about racism in the holocost and buying them new books and giving them hope.
6. I thought that the journals and sharing was one of the best teaching skills
7. Erin thought it was a good idea to choose a book for them to read that in some way would relate to their own lives such as the diary of ann frank
8. It seemed like the teachers and even the principle of the school and little faith in the kids education which was upsetting. She had to pleed with the principle in order to tech them for another year. All the other teachers seemed to have no hope compared to Erin herself.
9. Erin never gave up on the students learning and no matter who they were or what background she had high expectaions that they tried and did their best. She even got a second job so she could provide them with books she had high hopes for these students.
10. I learned to never give up on my students and have faith that any student can do it. I also learned that even when it get frusterating to not give up on my own self in teaching and know that I can do it and always to keep on trying. And have the highest positivity towards my students along with giving them hope and realting to them.

Response to article in Kare 11

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=900178

I have known that this was happening because I work with a lady who has gone to school for environmental studies(or something along that line) and is getting her teaching license through a very easy process. I never knew about it before she told me. I don't know what to think about it though. I think it is kind of unfair to all us education majors who go through all the specific classes in order to be a good teacher. I think that those teachers who are/will recieve the alternative teaching license will not be as good of teachers as the people who went to college for that specific reason. But depending on what those who are/will get that alternative license have gone to school for in the past, they may be well prepard and good at teaching a certain subject or class. There are pro's and con's for this situataion as there is in many controversial topics.

Why do I want to be a teacher?

Throught my life I have always wanted to be here for a purpose but I never knew what that purpose was for a long time. Going through High School I taught swim lessons and 1st grade Sunday School. Realizing that I have a nack for teaching kids and enjoy doing it, I thought I wanted to be an elementary teacher. Going into college I was a little unsure so I stuck to my generals. I teach swim lessons at the YMCA here in St. Cloud and after teaching a family of adopted kids all with special needs in one family, for about a year I grew to realize that I have the patience and really enjoy working with special needs kids. This is when I choose my major as a Special Ed teacher. I still teach those amazing kids in swim lessons and still have no doubt in my mind that this is the area in which I will be able to have a purpose helping out others and enjoying my time with it aswell.

Hello

Welcome to my Blog. My name is Kristen Daniels. I am a student at St. Cloud State University, majoring in Special Education. I am very excited for my journey, and am looking forward to sharing my experiences with you!