Field Experience

On, Dec. 7, 2007 I visited St.Benadict Catholic School. It was a really great experience. St. Bens goes from k-8 and their is only one P.E. teacher there, will just call her Mrs. T. Mrs. T has to come up with diferent curriculum and gradding system for nine different grade levels. It is challenging but she loves it. She sat me and another class member down and just talked to us for almost two hours about where she went to school, how she got a job, the challenges of teaching so many grade levels in the same day, different kinds of students you will encounter, different kinds of parents you will encounter,lesson plans, and ways to keep all of your students in all of your classes occupied for the entire class. She also gave me at least six books and a few great web sites for P.E. and health. She explained the differences in how catholic schools are run and public schools are run.
I got to observe her teach kindergarten, first, fifth, and seventh grade classes today (Each grade only has P.E. once a week for 40 minutes). It was fasinating to see the different activities she came up if, how she got everyone involved, and how she even got me involved in the class activities and teaching her class. Teachers and experiences like that make you realize how much you actually want to be a teacher.

Middletown Board of Ed. Meeting.

On November 20, 2007 I went to the MIddletown Township Board of Ed. Meeting. At the start of the meeting the audience was 75% students and 25% adults. There are 11 board members, 8:women, 3:men. 1 man wasn't present at this meeting.

(the sequence of events)

• The Pledge was said
• 2 representatives (one from each high school) came up to the podium and talked about their schools extra curricular activities for the next few month's like dances, sporting events, plays, bottle cappers.
• The 2 principles (one from each high school) and an advisor took the podium and handed out civics awards that students from both high schools had won.
• There were 30+ awards handed out.
• MHSS Principal Kelly announced and gave out awards to MHSS girls soccer team.
• After that many students left.
• MHSN Principal Cartier handed out an academic award to a student.
• Then the same principal handed out awards to the girls gymnastic team.
• A MHSN student got a singing award.
• Another student got an award for running a marathon.
• MHSN received an award for their field hockey team.
• All students where dismissed from the meeting.
• There was an open mic to any town member that wanted to say soemthing.
• One person came up and asked why two janitors got fired.
• The board then explanned why.
• closed open mic.
• Moved to the treasury and secretary report about Oct. 2007
• A Bill Lists was approved.
• The approval of Budget transfer was approved.
• The upcomming plays at both high schools were talked about.
• Mentioned that someone donated $25,000 to the library.
• Announced Thanksgiving football game.
• Talked about State Test Assessment
• Voted on weither or not they would except a foriegn exchange student. It was approved.
• Voted for 15 items on a town bill.
• Then there was confussion and argueing between two board members because they were holding two different policies in their hands, so they were argueing about nothing.
• Voted to put agenda items online.
• Presentation of the 06-07 finace report.
• 19 new policies were announced to the board for review. One of the policies talked about the presence of HIV and AIDS and how to spread awareness.
• The board then debatted as to wether parents should be notifiedor that students life illness shold be kept private.
• Talked about school drug and alcohol policies.

It was very interesting to see what goes on at a board meeting first hand.

Thanksgiving Football Game at Middletown High School South 2007

Middletown North vs. Middletown South

On Thanksgiving I went over to Middletown High School South to watch the 2007 Thanksgiving game where Middletown South plays there cross town rivals in the annual turkey day football game. You forget how big your town is until you see a good portion of it assembles in one place. What a great experince. Everyone there seemed to be happy. You saw families walking in together just beeming with holiday spirit. I saw thousands of high school students interacting and having a good time, Moms where talking about how they had to leave early to finish cooking or where crying that it was there son or daughters last Homecoming game in high school, Dads where talking about where there sons where going to go next year or what the players of the past have done on Thaksgiving. I saw old friends reunited after having gone away to college and I saw Middletown South destroy North 35-7. I myself saw some teachers and friends I haven't seen in a while. It was as holiday as holiday gets.

Community Service

For the past 12 years I have been a volunteer karate teacher at Amato's Karate and Weapons Academy. I volunteer every Saturday from 11am - 1pm. What an amazing experience every single week is. I am constantly having students come in from different age groups, ability levels, races, religions, and economic backgrounds. I have taught students with down syndrome and have taught kids who are "naturals". I have taught students who live in area's where the only time they were aloud to go outside was to go to karate and I have taught students who's parents make six figure salaries a year. Regardless these students backgrounds we are all brought together by one thing, and that is karate. Regardless what these students do or don't have to put up with outside of the dojo all goes away once they come to class.
One of best parts about this experience has been finding new ways, every week, to reach all of my students in some way.I want them to leave my leave with a smile on their face or feel as though they have accomplished something. This isn't always easy, but it is what makes it rewarding and was what made me want to become a physical education teacher.
Through my thousands of different experiences and dealings with so many different kinds of students I believe that I have been and will continue to be a very affective educator of physical things.

NCLB

The intent off the NCLB is good, but is unrealistic. The NCLB was formed to help improve the school performance of US students. I believe that every teacher should try and reach and teach as amny students as they can, but making every school 100% proficient, I believe, is impossible. There are to many variables and to many different kinds of learners in this country to achieve this. There are too may different kinds of teachers and to too many different kinds of students. Finding the perfect mesh of teacher/student in every school in every town in every state, even though it would be great if it happened, is unrealistic. If a school is close to being 100% proficient and just has a few bad seeds, it will ask it's "not so good students" to not show up on that day (you know this has and does happen), so the schools proficientcy scores will go up. If that happen's, that isn't an accurate depiction of what the school and area are reallly like. Just because a school looks good on paper, which is all a proficientcy test is, doesn't mean that we are actually turning out good students. It is sad to say, but the world needs lawyers and the world needs ditch diggers. Society needs people to succeed and fail to stay alive.

Arts High

I really enjoyed my first trip to Arts High. I really have never seen a class setting like that. It seemed like every student that was there really wanted to be there. You didn't see any kids with their heads down sleeping or getting loud and disrupting the teacher. All of the students seemed to want to be there and want to do well.
The administration and teaching staff all seemed to love their job. They all where so connected to what they do and I got the feeling that they truely wouldn't want to work any place else. As opposed to other schools I have seen, none of the teachers seemed to be there for a pay check, they all wanted to make a difference. Thats what America needs and thats what kids need and I hope all of us feel the same way about our profession because if we don't, it's time to change majors.

First thoughts of the Inquiry Project

I like the four goals of the inquiry project and I think we will benifit greatly from our findings. I haven't narrowed down what my question is going to be yet, but I'm thinking about it.

Annenberg Reaction

I found "Promises of Urban Schools" eeye openning. Sometimes coming were you come from you think the whole world is "peaches and cream" and it isn't. Not only did this reading have great examples of urban schools, but it also gave us some demographic statistics. This reading showed us that most urban schools host low- income families and families of color. I found that upsetting and if you read some of my previous posts you'll find out why. I liked the fact that the Senior Fellow were A) supporting the addition of music and poetry to instill some creativity in the students and B) Were looking for ways to correct the problems in Urban areas. Lastly, there was a quote that talked about how urban schools can't afford the same things rural and suburban schools can, so their students aren't getting the same caliber education. I believe that schools should be funded by the US government so that every single one of the United States's children has the same educational opportunites as the next! (Now I relize that this proposition might raise alot of controversy, so if you have any ideas comment on it.)

Parker Post and Question Answer: 4. What role should schools and schooling play in the US? In a democracy? #2

I believe that public schooling is the first step out of idiocy and as democratic as a setting as we have in the US! The public school isn't a private, closed minded, place like our homes were we just practice what we want and can exclude the realities of the world. It is a place of variety. Like Vivian Gussin said in the reading, " The children I teach are just emerging from life's deep wells of private perspective…variety doesn't exist at home, or in churches, temples, or mosques either. It exists in public places where diverse people are thrown together, places where people come from numerous parts private worlds and social positions congregate on common ground." This is so true! If we all think back to when we were in school (or when most of us started going to school) it was the first time we all saw people of different colors, races, and ethnicities, in the same place with a common goal. Now here is a question for the schools. Since public schools are filled with diversity why don’t they educate all of their students about the different kinds of people around them? If every student was more well versed on the different cultures of the US this would cut down the number of hate crimes in the school and essentially make us more “united”. The United States is the “Melting Pot” of the world. Shouldn’t we know what our own ingredients are? Our countries different ingredients are what makes us, us. It’s almost as if we are living in “mistery stew” right now. If we make our students more aware this will make them more understanding and more accepting. If they are more accepting at a young age then they will be able to preach and lead by example and eventually America will not fear what it doesn’t know anymore, it will accept it and want to incorporate it. This will make for more well rounded people and a more well- rounded democratic country. This is the easiest and most realistic solution to ending our American “Idiocy”.

Parker Post and Question Answer: 4. What role should schools and schooling play in the US? In a democracy?

I believe that public schooling is the first step out of idiocy and as democratic as a setting as we have in the US! The public school isn't a private, closed minded, place like our homes were we just practice what we want and can exclude the realities of the world. It is a place of variety. Like Vivian Gussin said in the reading, " The children I teach are just emerging from life's deep wells of private perspective: babyhood and family. Then, along comes school. It is the first real step to the outside arena. Boys and girls are both there. Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists are all there together. There are Africans Americans, Asian Americans, and many more. Immigrants from the world over are there in school.
This buzzing variety doesn't exist at home, or in churches, temples, or mosques either. It exists in public places where diverse people are thrown together, places where people come from numerous parts private worlds and social positions congregate on common ground."
Parker also said," Problems and diversity are essential assets for cultivating democratic students." If we produce more democratic students we will have produced more well rounded people that will help stear us out of "idiocy".

Schools for Citizens: Preserving the Republic

In our previous readings we have read about segregation in schools, the actual statistics as to who is occupping our schools, and how race, religion, age, and wealth shouldn't play into someones success in the school environment, but does. In this article (page 20) there are two very intelligent quotes that if payed attention to and put into action, would put everyone in the US on the same playing field so that everyone could be as successful as they want and not be held down by a language, money, or racial ball and chain. The quotes/ ideas are, "that unless we educate our immigrants, they will be our ruin." And, "to sustain an extended republic like our own, there must be national feeling, a national assimilation." I totally agree with both of these statements. I feel that the US has a little false advertizing. They advertize that this is the land of the free, you can do what ever you want and succeed. So families pick up there roots, head over to the US to make there lives better and then geet shut out by society because they can't speak our language, they are "different", and they don't have any money, so now they might be in a worse situation. If the US started assimilating it's immigrants that wouldn't happen and immigrants could achieve everything they want and they would no longer be (as the article reads) "Our Ruin".

Martian Posting

ONE- Schools are seperated into local school districts (there are over 14,000 in the US). They are funded mostly by state and local institutions, and get some money from the national level. What a school is like varies depending on what school district you look at, depending on how much money they have. Some schools are severely undefunded and don’t even have enough money for new textbooks, while others have enough money to buy whatever they want.
TWO- America is also known as, "the melting pot" of the world. The birth of our nations individuals was originally from other countries. Theseindividuals fled there home land in search of opportunity. Because of this we have created a nation full of diversity. One cannot classify a typical American under physical characteristics. The students who fill our classrooms come from all parts of the world. They range in age, knowledge, language, and ethnicity. 53% of students are white, 24% are Latino, 15% African American, 6% multiracial, and 5% Asian. But all have one intended goal, to achieve anything and everything they want, but because of diversity, they can't always do that. America is the land of the free but that doesn't mean that all people are treated equally. It's a shame things are like that, they need changing.
THREE- Most of our teachers are highly educated in their field and are looking to be further educated. But teaching by no means is easy mentally or physically and is not a very diverse job. 9 out of 10 are white, and 8 out of 10 are female. The percentage of teachers who are africn american is ever declining since the 1970’s. Teaching is a very important but highly stressful job, and 46% of new teaches leave within the first 5 years. So if you are looking to be a teacher, make shore it's what you really want to do.

Hodkinson

One of the openning facts in this reading blew me away, "only five states will have a 20 percent (or more) increase in school enrollments; most states will have smaller increases and about nine states will have declines." How are we, as a nation, ever going to dig ourselves out of the "Trench of Segregation" if we can't keep the kids that are in school in school and bring new students into the schools? It's impossible. Schools are the building for success and the majority of people that are "successfull" (even though success is a super subjective word) went to school or had some kind of schooling. The only way that we ,as a nation ,are going to make everys "tomorrow" more successfull is by getting and keeping every kid in some kind of a school!

In response to "Things teachers can neever preparee for."

I have read a few articles like this one and have heard a number of life stories like that and they all make me sick. America is put on a pedestal by the world and is concerned about foreign affairs when in fact it doesn't even take care of it's own people. We (as a country) need to get our priorities straight.

Blog entry numero uno

It was interesting to see an actual breakdown of the ethnicities/races in schools. I found it even more interesting how the projected percentage of ethnicity/race really isn't suppossed to change that much over the next 10 years. Unfortunately the playing field isn't totally equal yet. It still looks like whites are dominating the percentages as opposed to it being evenly spread out between the ethnicities and races. This needs to change.
Another statistic that supprised me was that 27% of school aged students in 2000 were born in foreign countries. I had no idea that 1 in 4 students in 2000 were born in other countries. I guess I grew up in a town that really isn't to diverse.