Reflection on Waiting for superman 3-31

Today we watched a documentary called waiting for superman. It is a fairly new documentary that is very good and raises some good questions. Some of these questions are is it the bad neighborhood that is making the schools bad or is it the bad schools that are turning good neighborhoods into bad ones. Are thinking in the past has been to think that schools that are put into bad neighborhoods fail because have many problems with the students. However new research has shown that these bad neighborhoods are really becoming this way because the school is failing and kids are dropping out at great rates and then not doing anything. I also was shocked to see when put to vote on how tenure can be shrunk and when the teachers had to vote no one did because of the grip of the union. This movie is very hard to watch because you see the good sides of the lottery for charter schools and how excited each kid is but then you also see how they can effect them when they dont get in and how sad both the parents and the students feel.. like they failed and with a lot of these lottery the spaces available and the amount of people trying to get in is so overwelming that the odds are really stacked against them.

Reflection on Group 5 and What my high school was like for 3-29

Today i saw group 5 do a presentation on Charter school. I thought they did a very good job and there was many information that i learned that i hadnt known about before. When i think of my high school it was not a charter school but a regular public school. Since i grew up in the subarbs i feel that the school was a lot nicer than if  lets say i went to school down in minneapolis. My school had many students but most of them were just like me in a sense of being raised in the subarbs with nicer neighborhoods.

Schools Under Pressure to Spare the Rod Forever

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/education/30paddle.html?ref=education

This article i read was very different than most the articles i have read because you dont really hear about punishment that much because it works so well for schools, but suprisingly enough that isnt the real truth out there. I can see both side of this argument about using punishment in school and why it should be allowed and then not allowed. When you hear of punishment in today's schools most of the time you here detention not paddling a custom that has almost disapeared in its own right. I think that this will become a bigger issue because each side is so thoughly opposed to each other and the students are the ones feeling it. I did find it weird that a school in New Orleans the student wanted to bring back the paddeling.

Reflection from March 24 "2 Million Minutes"

Today was defently one of the most interesting days being in class so far in my young career. I was shocked to walk into the classroom and see our teachers head on the big projector screen talking to the class. I had never expierenced a teacher doing that so it was neat but kinda weird at the same time. After that experience we watched a documentry called 2 million minutes about three different countries: USA, India, and China and had two students from each and it followed them their senior year looking forward to getting into colleges. The USA students were less experienced in both math and science compared to the other countries. They did have very outstanding high self confidence even though are education system was called "Broken" because of the amount of hours we spent not studying but doing other activites such as tv watching and sports. For China because the economy is growing rapidly there is great motivation to stay out of poverity by getting a good education. Also they have a one child policy so means that put all there effort into making that child very successful. China also absorbs a full month longer schooling than students of the US. India which was a lot like China in some aspects such as the poverity issue and working hard to stay away from it. India also has a policy toward academics where its that or nothing else matters. You know what your gonna do early for your career. Both China and India spent more time studying than the US. After getting to know these students it was kinda shocking at the end to find out that the US Students were accepted into the colleges they wanted but the students from the other countries that were in different systems of learning couldnt not be accepted into their college of choice because the admittence level was so high that only so many students were accepted.

Group 4 presentation Philosphy of Education

I though that the group who presented today did a very good job. There was a lot of information about Philosphy and if you hadnt read the chapter yet you still were able to find out what it was about from them. I thought this presentation really was a good opener for the paper we have to do on the same stuff. The hand out we recieved from the group was very helpful in understanding my own education philosophy.

Diplomas, and an Uncertain Future, for Japanese Pupils

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/asia/23graduate.html?_r=1&ref=world

After reading this article i had to get a tissue and wipe my own tears away. My heart goes out to these students that have faced through so much adversity in all that has happened in the past couple of weeks and to remain strong and brave like they have really is oustanding. This article shows how important education is and even through adversity it shows its importance. This article brings hope that this great challenge can be fought with and that japan can rebuild.

Ideal teacher prep program reflection 3-17

The three things i feel that would best prepare future students to becoming teachers are:
1. Student teaching in a urban setting.
2. Special Education Classes and not just one of them but more.
3. Bridging the culture gap in classes between students and teachers.

Group Three Presentation on history of education 3-17

I though that the group that presented today did a very good job on there presentation. Each one knew their information and it was very informative as well. I also thought the wordfind that they gave us at the end with key words in it from the presentation was a very good idea, and had never even thought of doing something like that before. It was a really creative activity and made sure that the class was listening. In all i would gave the group a A because they did that well.

It’s Breakfast Time, and Education Will Pay

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/us/13cncwarren.html?_r=1&ref=education
This Article i read really makes me wonder what is going through school boards minds when they shorten a school day that is already shorter than most districts in the day to include a staggerd breakfast time for student cutting into precious time that the students need to learn. I think Chicago needs to redo their education system and make it so that the students utilize there time while in school to learn as much as they can.

Reflection On Unequal Education Video from March 15

After watching the film in class Unequal Education, i became more aware of how education was looked in the 90's. The film showed how two different schools in two different areas were compared to each other and how quite different they were and how much funding really changes a education. One school didint have much funding so they couldnt afford the same things the other school did such as actualy music instruments for a band instead of just keyboards. I felt that with the whole vaucher system it really didnt work because giving them 1000 dollars doesnt help them pay for the rest of the amount due.

Reflection on my group dealing with chapter 5

We presented two weeks ago, and i thought we did a really good job. We put a lot of time on the presentation, working very hard on it and i thought it turned out as great as we had planned on. I felt my partners did a great job speaking in front of the class and presenting. I however felt that i got to nervous and spoke to quickly when it was my turn. The videos we included were really good and really showed the view of being someone with a learning disability. Overall i was very proud of everything we did on it.

Chapter 4 the Time/Place Edge in Education Nation

The five points I learned in this chapter are:
1. Shifting of learning to anytime/ anywhere.
2. Change in the workforce hours put in equals a change in amout of learning time to 6 hours to 9 hours for children.
3. Turning buses to have mobil wifi making them portable study halls.
4. Changing schools gridding of the school day making children excited to go to school.
5. Creating more after school programs that help students be able to study.

Chapter 3 The Technology edge in Education Nation

The five things I learned from this chapter are:
1. Studies show learners in online conditions spend more time on task than students who were face to face with a teacher.
2. lectures are bing outdated and only deliver information on a one way stream.
3. In lectures if a student gets lost in the first 15 minutes they remain lost of 45 minutes.
4. In today's schools newer technology is always changing causing the teaching methods to become outdated.
5. Technology is helping students with disabilities connect with class and not feel like outsiders.

Chapter 2- The curriculum Edge in Education Nation

The five key points I learned in Chapter 2 are:
1. Project based learning gaining momentum with technology.
2. More impact on students using project based learning that is relevant to students lives.
3. Teaching beyond the text teaching students to communicate through images and sound is gaining popularity.
4. The ability to think globally is a critical skill learned now.
5. There is a hidden connection between students minds and their hearts.

National Center on Universal design for Learning!

I went to this site and started to explore it and was really suprised at all the fresh and new ideas they are coming up with to help students succeed. I think this site is a great resource for student and teachers alike and will help them with learning. I think its so neat that we have technology now that can help students who in the past struggled. Having the curriculm change from words on a page to American Sign Lanuage for a deaf student or to turning into brail for someone that cant see or to being read to are all things that are very inpressive and very helpful making advirsity able to be defeated.

Representatives from Ireland to showcase Irish universities in Dallas March 8-9

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/mar/04/ireland-educational-tour-dallas-march-8/

This is a very good article on how important Irelands Universities are to education. Irelands Universities are known for attracting many students wanting to study abroad. With the rich culture, Adventurous lands, and being one of the most friendlest places only helps the colleges to excel quicker. I for one have always been interested in Ireland and can see how studying there really would be quite a experience. This showcases shows students the advantages in studying in Ireland and how it can change their future.

Reflection for week of March 1st: Speaking in Tongues

Today we finshed watching a documentary called "Speaking in Tongues" which is about 4 different immersion school programs, three of them which are dealing with chinese and one spanish. This Program shows the pros and the cons of these schools. If started young enough these students can become bilingual and excel in both languages better than most of their peers. The parents arent so certain about these programs because they feel that might not retain their original language and could lose it and that in America English is a primary language that they need to know in order to be real successful. I thought that when the commants were made that this is America and everyone should know one language i really didnt agree with it. We are not just a one culture society we have many and it is important that we embrace all of them and be exluded them all, we not only hurt their identys but ours as well. After seeing this film I can see how these programs can be very successful and can help the children in their success of going to good colleges and getting good jobs.

Feb 24 Reflection on 1st group presentation

I though that the first group that presented did a very good job presenting today. First of all they had a lot of good information which was spoken clearly to us. Second of all they did a very good job of making the presentation interesting and flowing very well. Thirdly I felt that the activity they used that was jeopardy was very informative with all the different stats from the video clip which i also felt was a very good way to end the class because it got us included and made sure that we remembered important peices.