Community Service

My community service was at Lafayette School for 4th and 5th grade. An after school program called Work Family Connection involves kids whose parents work late have a place to do home work, play outside, and arts and crafts, with the supervision of an adult. I went on a Friday so there was not too much home work the kids had to do. I met the women in charge that was very nice and helpful. She showed me to each station the kids could choose from. First there was a sort of cooking area. That day the kids had the option of making rice crispy treats with m&m's or what looked like a veggie medley. Guess what everyone was picking.... The good thing about cooking is it's hands on and fun. The kids still learn the how to do the right measurements, work with people, and to fallow instructions. In other groups there was ares and crafts. the kids are into beads and necklace making. This was mostly the girls on this table with one charming boy who seems to get along with everyone. This group to me seemed like a club where they talked and joked around with each other. They were very kind in letting me have a little place in their circle. After that I ventured outside were a game of basket ball/ dodge ball was taking place. The guy in charge told me he lets them do whatever they wont. All they need is a little room to run around and they get all their energy out. So this way they go home nice and quiet and the parents are happy too. All in all, it was a short and nice experience for me. The kids seemed nice and just happy to be somewhere that could provide them the things they can't get at home.

Character Education Program

I read an article about the Character Education Program that is made to develops student's characters by "teaching lessons such as self respect, integrity, and responsibility." The article talked about "The League" wich is getting this movement up and running. The only problem with the article is it did say what the "Character Education Program" would involve!

The article did talk about how President Bush has already funded $25 million to the Department of Eduation toward this Character Education Program. So far 1.2 million students are in it at 1,700 schools. So it sounds like a big deal, but I have not heard of it until now so it might be a good topic for discussion in class. Here is the article.

http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/11/11052007.html

Classroom on wheels

I found this article and thought it would be interesting to talk about. I know some people in class are doing technology in the classroom as their inquiry project. The article is short too but it also stirred some feeling in me. They talk about what kind of purchases are appropriate for federal funding, due to the no child left behind act. Here is the web site... http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/11/07/neil_bushs_education_firm_investigated/4195/

Frustrated and Freaking

I'm sure a lot of us are freaking out right now about the project. I feel overwhelmed with all of my school work. For my inquiry project I was thinking of collaborating with a friend to take the edge off the work load, but now I'm even more confused then before. We were talking about doing how Dance specifically influences English. I think to properly answer that question I would have to do a lot of research and more time for the work. I don't want to start my inquiry project without being confident on the subject I'm tackling. Should I take on a simpler question? If anyone reading this has any ideas I would greatly appreciate it.

Observations and the Iquiry Project

For my inquiry project I would need to gather information about special needs children. I would have to observe a day in the life of the student as well as the teacher. I would then compare the type of teaching used today, to the past. I would ask the teachers who have been around longer if they have seen a change in the teaching of the students. What kind of changes have been made? I'm not sure what to look for on my observations of social events. If someone has a suggestion as to where I should go and what to look for, I would greatly appreciate it.

Inquiry Project

There are a few aspects of school I would like to go into more deeply. Although I am studying to be an English teacher, inevitably I would like to teach a learning skills classroom. For my inquiry project I would like to look more into the different types of education special needs children have. I would ask questions like, how are special needs children helped today, as opposed to in the past. I would like to compare the teaching strategy of separating the special needs children to the more recent strategy of integrating children with special needs.

Teaching Against Idiocy Edited

The importance of Democracy is illustrated in Walter C. Parker’s “Teaching Against Idiocy”. Parker uses “idiocy” not as today’s understanding (“stupid or mentally deficient”), but for people who are concerned with “private things and unmindful of common things” (1). He specifically is referring to the type of people who do not have interest in the larger community. For example, they may only concern themselves with the problems going on in their own household. The problem with this is that if everyone only concerned themselves with their own private problems, the community loses its unity. No longer will anyone strive for social excellence. As a result, people may become closed in, which does not better the community. He then goes on to connect this idea with school and democracy. Before students can learn about democracy they must make an important transition to public life. As a child, they know little about diversity, which Parker explains is also essential for raising democratic citizens. To interweave different social groups in the construct of school gives students an idea of how our democratic community works. Without this construct, “[idiots] lives are out of balance, disoriented, untethered, and unrealized” and “fail to grasp the interdependence of liberty and community, privacy and puberty” (Parker 1-2). Parker’s explanation simply states that to teach democracy is to develop virtuous citizens.

Democracy, compared to other types of government, is superior “because it better secures liberty, justice, and equality than the others do” (Parker 3). This statement goes along with Parker’s notion that democratic individuals do not manifest from nothingness, and must be developed school. Here students “learn tolerance, the respect, the sense of justice, and the knack for forging public policy with others weather one likes them or not” (Parker 4). The beauty of school is that they contain “collective problems and diversity [are] contained within them” (4). It makes it that much easier to nurture democratic students with these essential qualities found in the school system.