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.