Chapter 31

I found chapter 31 to be really disturbing to say the least. I understand that Derek’s behavior was disruptive and not at all how it should be, but to suspend a child once and then expel him at a meeting the following Monday I find to be a bit ridiculous. Yes, Derek acted out but why wasn’t counseling advised for him? He obviously wanted attention, even if it was negative and that stems off from something deeper than just wanting to be in trouble all the time. Then, instead of getting him counseling he is suspended and almost immediately expelled. Then Jan doesn’t even really give Derek another chance.

Merely judged him on what she personally observed, even though she already had an attitude towards Derek, and expels him. I find this harsh, and unfair. I do not feel that the staff did enough to help this student and that troubles me. Furthermore, the part on page 493 where Don is quoted as saying, “Call the police. I’m going to call the police…He is damaged goods.” (page 493) This is the worst thing you can ever say to a student and he is saying it to a student that is already distraught. Whether Derek deserved the suspension or not, to tell a student that he is damaged goods is a striking blow to that child’s self-worth. And I for one, think it is horrible.

Hidden Curriculum

I really found the section in chapter 27 under “critical pedagogy and the curriculum” to be really interesting. Hidden curriculum is rampant in our school systems and has existed since the first school opened up its doors. It is diminishing with more and more teachers teaching from a multicultural viewpoint but they are the minority in the percentage of teachers out there. The small portion of this following excerpt pretty much sums up what hidden curriculum is. “The hidden curriculum refers to the unintended outcomes of the schooling process. Critical educators recognize that schools shape students both through standardized learning situations, and through other agendas including rules of conduct……….and grading procedures”. (page 413)

This excerpt shows that ways of teaching are very important and what is being taught and how is equally important because the underlying messages given can stick without students for a lifetime. The example on page 414 showing that even administrators and teachers have a skewed viewpoint of gender stereotypes is a great example of hidden curriculum getting in the way of actual facts. I really liked how the author also listed things that can come out of ‘classroom sexism as a function of the hidden curriculum results in the unwitting and unintended granting of power and privilege to men over women and accounts for many of the” outcomes listed. (page 414). It is important that we as teachers understand that not only is our teaching knowledge important, but the way in which we teach it is important so we can get rid of things like racism, sexism, stereotypes, etc. This will help the future generations live together in more peace and having more respect for one another.

The first article I read for this week was “Kids Take on ‘The Test’”, and I found it extremely interesting, but it raised some important concerns as well. I really enjoyed reading all the answers the students gave to the questions. It is always an amazing thing to really know that students are enjoying the learning experience and that can be found in any PBL project we have looked at as a class. Whether it be from the video or the articles. I also found it wonderful that test scores were raised from what they had previously been. However, throughout the article the PBL project and learning for the state test seems a little intense on an overall level. By intense, I mean, is there any time left for studying anything else but reading, English, and math. These are three very important subjects but what about science and social studies?

I know that in the school I am student teaching at as well as other schools in the area the amount of time given to social studies is not adequate in my opinion. It is important to remember that with social studies it is not only dealing with history. It is dealing with a broad number of social sciences: history, geography, sociology, psychology, political science, and economics. If three subjects are getting hours of attention both in class and outside of class, where does that leave social studies? I wish there were more time during school and during the year to teach but there isn’t and social studies is equally important to the other subjects. So, that would be my only concern. Time limitations.

The second article I read was “What Do Lepidopterists Do?”. I really liked this excerpt from the article: “Because lepidopterists (butterfly experts) themselves do not yet have answers to these questions, the students could not find the answers in the back of any textbook. So, taking on the roles and responsibilities of scientists involved in such a study, they set out to find the answers on their own. The unit was, in other words, problem-based”. I really liked this because too often we see students just turning to the glossary or index in the back of the book to find answers. But the way this PBL was done, it forced the students to look outside their book and that is really important. This way the students had to do research and that is a tool they will need to know for a lifetime.

Trouble

I found the reading in the two chapters assigned very informative and equally disturbing. Many of the points made throughout the chapters were things that I already knew, however the use of real life examples helped me get a good appreciation for the information. The two portions of chapter 20 that I found to be the most interesting were under the title, “Getting in Trouble: Regulating the Self” and were under the subtitles of ‘Body Trouble’, and ‘Trouble and Emotion: Attitude’. My first points will be for the portion under ‘body trouble’. It is true that we as teachers can tell a lot by body language but I wonder if sometimes teacher’s look too deeply or simply assume something simply based on body language. For example, when I was in middle school I always stood with my arms folded across my chest. My friends and family knew that that was simply the way I stood.

It didn’t mean I was having an attitude, it was just comfortable to me. But at school, my teacher’s would yell at me to stop giving them attitude and to unfold my arms. I never understood that and to be honest I still don’t. What difference does it really make if my arms were down by my side or folded. I could still learn either way, but the teacher yelling at me didn’t help anything. It actually made everything worse. I didn’t have an attitude to begin with but after the teacher yelled, I definitely did. I wonder how many other students have gone through the same thing. As teacher’s we need to be more worried about whether the students are comprehending the information rather than to try and force them to conform into cookie-cutter standards. This is not to say that all body language should just be left alone. Rolling of the eyes, certain body movements can be construed and should be thought of as disrespectful. But not all body language should be thrown together in that category.

Secondly, I really enjoyed the use of real life scenarios on page 317. It shows that students definitely do pick up on whether or not their teacher’s have attitudes towards them. If you know someone, whether it be a teacher or someone else, has an attitude about you, you are not going to be as nice to them as you could have been. You are going to have an attitude with them as well. The golden rule needs to be followed not just by the students but by the teachers as well. It is important to show the students that we as their teacher’s care about them and the way we can do that is by showing respect. If we show respect and don’t have an attitude, 9 times out of 10 the student’s won’t either. This is not to say, however, that the students should not ever be disciplined. There are always going to be cases where they need to be, but it needs to be done in a constructive way so the students will not feel singled out or ‘attacked’ verbally.

Inequality

Reading chapter 18 created a lot of emotions for me. None of which were good. The state of public schools in our society is atrocious and worsening every year. The whole concept behind our society is equality in treatment and in opportunity. So where is it? We have students coming from environments that are already dismal because most students going to public schools are coming from families that are struggling to make ends meet. And for the most part when we talk about communities that are impoverished we are referring to minority communities. Then on top of that, we add stress onto the students by treating them as though they are little more than criminals. Metal detectors, name tags, police supervision- and for what? Just because they are not from suburbia we treat them like this? The money being spent on all of these things should be being spent on resources for the schools. Furthermore, money needs to be given out equally to every school regardless of the demographic or economic status of its students.

I can say that growing up I had the opportunity to go to several different schools- public, private, charter. And everything mentioned in this chapter I saw first hand. In private schools, the students were treated with respect and were very pampered. They were able to get away with being late to classes, not turning homework in, etc. If a student didn’t turn in their homework they would get an extension. If they were late to class they would get a verbal warning, even if it kept happening. There was a nice gymnasium, a variety of lunch choices, immaculate buildings, great labs for science and computers, new text books, etc. Students were able to dress out of uniform, and classes were much smaller with a lot of space.

The exact opposite was true for public school. In public school, you have to get a pass if you are going to be late to a class and if you don’t have a pass you get a consequence like detention or ISS automatically. There is no verbal warning. The students are treated like they have been doing something wrong automatically with no reasoning behind it other than they are just problem kids. There are uniforms, no choice of what to wear. There are detentions for not getting homework assignments in, and the building themselves look like they are ready to fall at any point. The gym and space for classes was small, there weren’t enough text books, and the one’s that were used were old and falling apart. There was no computer lab, no science lab, and barely any variety in lunch much less having a lot of choices as to what to eat.

Is this equal opportunity in the educational system? Is this what we want for the future of this country? To create another generation of students who are ill-equipped due to the lack of resources they had in school. We have to stop playing favorites in this society if we are truly going to give everyone equal opportunity. That means equal funding and creating a positive atmosphere for all students. I hope that we will see change soon, because the future of our children and this country depends on it.

A Really Interesting Article

In my group we are discussing classroom management as well as getting help from and working with parents, administrators, counselors, etc. One article that I really found interesting was entitled "The Positive Alternative Learning Supports Program: Collaborating to Improve Student Success" and was written by Patricia S. Arter. What I found really helpful was at the very beginning of the article, the author gives 2 scenarios involving classroom disruption by students. I found this helpful and also very real. Real in the sense that both of the scenarios could happen to any teacher, and interesting because it really made me think about what I would do in a similar situation.

Also, one excerpt I found very interesting is the following: "Teachers at all levels of mastery cite classroom management issues as their number one concern. Moreover, approximately four of every five incidents of classroom disruption can be traced to some dysfunction in school organization and management or staff training (Mayer, 2001). Many teachers in urban-setting schools are ill prepared to deal with diverse academic and behavioral needs of students with chronic misbehavior. Consequently, nearly half of classroom instructional time may be devoted to discipline problems (Ohlund & Nelson, 2001)."

This excerpt was really interesting and related to my group project extremely well, because effective classroom management is vital and is key to being able to teach a class efficiently and in order to be able to get the best results. Also I think that statistically speaking, if four of every five incidents of classroom disruption stem from some dysfunction in the school I think that is something that the administration should really be aware of and work towards fixing. Furthermore, I think that the article makes a good point about teachers in urban-setting schools being ill prepared to deal with the various needs of the students. That is why I strongly believe that future teachers should have gone through a student teaching program in an urban setting. This will give experience, and will help give the student teacher more insight and knowledge on how to deal with the students in a positive and helpful way.

Isn't middle school a transitional school program?

First off, I would just like to say that I am not at all clear about what chapter 9 was really trying to say. It wasn’t ever clearly laid out what exactly the difference between having a middle school and having a junior high school is. Maybe I just missed something in the chapter, but in my opinion having grades 6-8 is sufficient for being the buffer or transitioning zone between elementary and high school.

One quote from this chapter that I found to actually go along with what I just stated better than actually proving the chapter’s point was on page 165 under the “young people in transition: summary” and it stated the following: “These changes that occur during the period of transition from childhood to adolescence should be reflected, we believe, in a transitional school program…………………………………………This transitional period is unique in the developmental sequence—a uniqueness which renders children and young people at this stage of development as quite different from those in the first few years of school and those in the high school years.”

Sooooooooooo, what exactly is the reason for needing a change from middle to junior high and what exactly is the difference? The middle school now provides a place for the students to have three years to adjust and then prepare for high school. So, doesn’t that constitute it as being a transitional school program? The one thing in chapter nine that I did really like was the way the author laid out the “young people in transition: summary” on page 164. I felt that the points he made were indeed valid, and putting it in a format like having it listed was helpful.