IDI Results

Recently we took an inventory of our intercultural developement. It looks at what we think that we are at and what we are actually at. In mine there was a rather large gap. Where I am actually at is much lower then what I am at. This is something that I will have to work on as I take more classes and work in more classrooms. I have to learn to look at what i am doing and making sure that I address the problem instead of overlook it. It is something that I always do. I come from a small community, so to overlook it I feel is best. But like we talked about in class it isn't the best to be colorblind, but to be accepting. And that is my goal for myself. To stop being colorblind. But look at the differneces between the kids and celebrate them. Now its up to me to make sure that I correct this and hopefully in the process it will make me a better teacher.

To Write Love On Her Arms

On Wednesday of last week, I went to the program "To Write Love On Her Arms." It is an amazing program that works with people of all ages and walks of life. Their goal is to make sure that everyone knows that their story is unique. And even though we all go through tough times there are resources out there to help you through them. And more importantly you are not alone. Thousands of people struggle with problems of depression, cutting, and attempted suicide. They are putting resources out there to help people and say it is OK to ask for help. What Jamie is doing is incredible. He quit his full time job to work only on this project and it has paid off. He is making an effort to stop people from during destructive things to themselves and seek help so they can live to see another day. If you haven't heard of it I recommend at least checking out the site. It is really cool what he is doing to help people rethink taking their life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJS2yXw8dKo
Here is a link to watch a video, interview the founder did with NBC Nightly news. It gives a quick summary of what the organization is about.

Europe's Push to Teach in English Creates Barriers in the Classroom

http://chronicle.com/article/Europes-Drive-to-Teach-in/126326/

In this article classrooms of higher education are having troubles trying to integrate English in the classroom. Many professors would rather speak their native tongue like German or Danish. But with England trying to get as many study abroad students as possible to boost their profile of students who are their from other countries. More has to be taught in English. But it is making it difficult for some students to understand who aren't as familiar with the language as others. I think that what they are doing is great putting a language in the classroom that isn't theirs. But they have to be careful. They need to make sure that what they are teaching kids they are able to understand. The article said that many students aren't asking for help but simply just nodding along. They need to have programs available for the teachers to make sure they are fluent enough that the transition is easier for the kids that speak English well, and programs for the students that English is a second language. Or have options that these kids that English is their second language have options or resources where they can receive help if they are too afraid to ask themselves. But this issue can't be overlooked or all those kids that went to England for higher education aren't going to get anything out of it simply because they didn't understand what was being said.

Education problems with urban migratory children in China

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYZ/is_3_32/ai_n15397207/

In this article it goes on to say that people in China are having trouble on how to teach and get the migratory children up to speed with the rest of China's children. Out of 120 million migrant workers 2.4 - 2.6 million are school aged children. And they are not receiving the same level of education as the rest of the students in China. This is an epidemic for the simple fact that millions of children are receiving spotty education. They are not receiving the same level and rigor of education as the rest of the kids. It is not fair that these kids have to suffer. Why not break the pattern? How are they supposed to be anything but a migrant worker if they are not giving and education? It is not fair and China needs to figure out a solution that makes it better for these children. They shouldn’t be discriminated against just because of what their families occupation is.

Field Experience

My first Field Experience

On Wednesday I had my first field experience at Talahi Elementary in St. Cloud. I work with a 6^th grade classroom. This week I had the opportunity to observe and get to know the students that I would be working with for the next few weeks. They were very energetic and had many questions for me. I found out that I will be working with 3 groups of 4 students teaching them in the area of reading and literature. I also got the chance to work with many students one on one as like a teacher’s aide the first day. It was cool to see how my teacher ran the classroom and tactics she used to discipline and get the students attention. And see how the structure of a classroom works. They switch sometimes during the day and go to their homeroom classrooms and then come back to their actual class. It was very interesting to observe and take in. I’m super excited for next week when I get to start working with my groups and see how things all go!

This week in Sped 200

This week in Sped 200 we talked about bullying, and what goes on in schools. And what we as teachers need to look out for, and what steps we can take to make sure that ever student is safe in a school environment. This topic of bullying hits so many students in different ways. Each child has their own testimony of how they were affected by bullying. It may not have happened to them directly but they know of someone, or maybe they them self were the bully. Listening to stories and reading articles of children that are so young take their own life because of bullying. Something needs to be done. More schools need policies to protect these children. So many are taking their own life. And its not just elementary students, some college kids have to deal with this. This issue isn’t going away anytime soon so something needs to be done. I went to a school that felt strongly about bullying but our school had reason to feel that way. 2 innocent kids died because of bullying. I hope that no other school has to go that far, to get a wake up call about this subject. In the wake of my schools situation, came some good. We had strict no bullying policies and we got involved in extra programs that enforced these policies. If every school took the time and money to implement these programs, fewer kids would be afraid to come to school. And the best part kids would not feel the need to take their own lives. It’s up to us as teachers to make sure that stuff like what we are seeing now, never happens again.

Anoka School District

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/17/anoka-hennepin-bullying-suicides/

            In this article it talked about how 6 students have committed suicide over a 15 month spread. But the district states that it was not because of bullying, that they would have to look into each case and determine what happened. A mother of one of the students that committed suicide said that she is not sure what pushed her son to committee suicide on his last day. But she does go on to say that she knows that he was bullied and she wants to make the school more welcoming for students like her son.

            The question shouldn’t be if these kids were bullied. The question should be what can we do to make this stop happening. Stop the bullying and have programs out there like yellow ribbon for kids who are having troubles and thinking about taking their own lives. The school district needs to stop saying that it isn’t because of bullying it may not be the reason some took their lives, but if you place these programs in your school. Like anti bullying campaigns I feel like many students who wouldn’t have stood up for themselves will benefit from them. If that school district can take what has happened to these 6 students and learn from this situation, then more kids later down the line will be saved. The school district needs to stop sitting on the side lines when it comes to bullying something has to be done. How many more students are going to commit suicide before the district realizes that this is for real? Hopefully no more if the school district implements policies that protects these children and makes it a more welcoming environment.

Bullied: One kids struggle, helps millions just like him

After watching the DVD Bullied, as a teacher, my eyes were opened. To a world where kids are that cruel. And that we can't look the other way. Too many kids are dealing with being bullied and are scared to come forward, for fear that it will only get worse once they open up about it. Too many lives have been lost due to being bullied. If it wasn't for Jamie coming forward and putting his story at the front of national headlines, how many more students lives would have been lost? Its a subject that every school district needs to take seriously. It isn't going to go away and every school big or small has some degree of it. It needs to be addressed and not pushed under the rug like it did in Ashland. Have a class or a day that deals with bullying and the affects it has on children. It may be small but it is a step. Making it the schools mission to carry out that every child feels safe coming and leaving school. At a young age children need to be taught that bullying is never the answer, to keep promoting this idea of tolerance of every race, religion, sexual orientation, gender. If schools don't jump on board and realize that this is a problem and a real situation how many kids lives will end too soon because of bullying?

The Global Achievement Gap Chapter 1

In the novel the "Global Achievement Gap" by Tony Wagner, he stresses that our youth are not up to standards with the rest of the world. And we are the ones to blame. There are many cases in which we are not doing enough to prepare our students for he real world. That all the schooling children and young adults participate in and achieve, they are still not measuring up to kids in other parts of the country there same age.The first key point in the book is the fact that we are teaching kids to a test. Not to there full potential. Teachers and administrators are so worried about being accountable for there kids not passing these standardized tests. The only real gain we have achieved as of late is the ability to take tests well.
Secondly the book stresses the ability to work in groups. Which is most important we are an ever changing society. And the ability to work with others is a must. More and more work these days are team efforts and less on your own. But in classrooms we are taught to work independently. This is a skill that we must work on because it is becoming more and more valuable in today's world.
The third thing we need to be more aware of is our awareness of other cultures. As our country is going global and more and more jobs are be put overseas. As students we must understand that we will be working not only with the people in our office, but people in offices overseas. Many companies have offices all over the globe. Thus putting the emphasis on learning about other countries traditions, culture, values and beliefs.
The fourth thing is effective communication. Now that we are a global country and we communicate with many people daily. We have to make sure that what we want to get across comes through. We need to learn to better articulate what it is that we are trying to say. We take many English classes for grammar and spelling, but we also have to take into account our ability to critically think. We need to go beyond the problem and figure out solutions that have not yet been thought of. All of these skills are important when working in the world around us.
The last thing that I pulled from this chapter is the idea of creative thinking. We are so used to one right answer to a problem. That we often stop right there. We need to become creative thinkers again. Making sure that we are looking at the problem from many possible angles making sure that we have incorporated every lasting detail. All of these skills are important and are sought after by many top companies. That is why the need to teach all these skills is growing heavily. If we do not teach these kids the skills top companies are looking for, chances are the jobs that they hoped to get when they graduate, will be going overseas to a person who is qualified.

Mixture of Spoken Languages

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20110129/NEWS01/101290019/St-Cloud-schools-see-mixture-of-spoken-languages

In the article by the St. Cloud Times, the number of spoken languages in the district is on the rise. It has increased since the 2005-2006 school year. The district is adding more teachers and doing more with non-English speaking kids. I think that this is great. They are working with these kids, and as we learned this week about the global achievement gap. I think that this step is a great one, proving that we are at least trying to make that gap a little bit smaller. It will take time and more money and effort from teachers. But the district is at least noticing the problem and addressing it and taking it head on. All of these steps are positive and hopefully the outcome for this program will be a huge success. But time will be the real test for this new and budding program.

This week in Class

This week in class we went over the educational gap between different nations. We looked at what other schools are doing in countries like China, Finland, and Singapore. All these countries are "blowing us out of the water" when it comes to critical thinking and the ability to problem solve. American students are now being taught towards a test and not to their full capabilities. More or less they are being educated to a multiple choice question that has one right answer.They are memorizing, the answer and not relay learning how we got there. All these other countries spend more time and emphasis on these skills that we lack. There is something to be said about the United States educational system, but we need to come up with answers instead of more questions. But statistics keep putting us further behind the pack. We also learned about the standard tests we as teachers will have to take, and about alternative options like Teach America. Making it easier for people who have a bachelors degree the ability to teach. With programs like these hopefully we will be able to fill the holes in our teaching deficit. Reaching students full capabilities and bringing the United States closer to the top of national education.