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Parent Panel

    I thought that the parents did a great job of explaining their interaction with the school and teachers.   They were honest about their involvement with their children's education.  I appreciated Steve Belay's approach of not getting overly involved with every little thing that goes on at school.   Most parents want their children to figure out relationships some what on their own.   Truthfully, parents are so busy working and running that they don't bother with daily student- teacher interactions. 

    Mary Kay is a parent of a special needs son.  Of course she had more involvement with his teachers because of the IEP meetings.   I liked her approach of working as a team to help her son achieve appropriate goals.   Parents shouldn't be affair to offer advice to teachers because parents know their children better than anyone else.  Hopefully, teachers will welcome this advice and use it to assist students in learning.

    Rebecca seemed like a parent who advocated for her children when it was obvious that one of them needed more help or to be better understood because of a learning disability.   I have experience with a son that struggled in the lower grades.   As a parent I wanted his teachers to know that he was an auditory learner and would need some accommodations even though he didn't qualify for an IEP.   Most teachers were willing to listen and cooperate, unfortunately some were not.   The best teachers were the ones that saw the strengths in our son and encouraged him to keep trying.   These teachers also knew that we the parents were working with him at home to help facilitate his learning. 

    The parent panel reassured the prospective teachers in the audience not to be affair of parents but to work with them for the good of the students.    As we discussed in class, the parents were not impressed with NCLB.  This surprised many of us.   I have mixed opinions about NCLB since I am a parent that doesn't think standardized test scores are an accurate reflection of my child's abilities or knowledge.   On the other hand as an educator it was and will be my job to accept and understand the law that promotes NCLB for the success of all students.   We will see what changes education will see with the new administration under Obama  in the next few years.

DCS Board Members

This entry is a reflection about the Decorah Community School Board Members that spoke to our class on Monday evening.  I thought that Mona Nelson and David Ranum were both very informative about their experiences as school board members.   It was interesting to learn about the allocated funds and that most of the money is earmarked for specific items and is out of the control of the district.   Ranum commented that only about 10% of the funds were decided on by the board.   Nelson stated that Iowa allots a dollar amount per student so that tax dollars are spent fairly across the state.  She called it equitable education.   

As a parent and tax payer in the Decorah district I never knew that we used very little of the Federal grant money from the Free and Reduced Lunch Program.   

The positive attitudes about NCLB were refreshing.   Until a different or better national policy comes along for education in the U.S. we are legally responsible to follow the laws of NCLB. I also think U.S. citizens have to realize  that we that have taken on the responsibility of educating ALL children, not just the top selections of elite students like some other countries that our kids scores are being compared to.

We need to celebrate the whole child and develop strengths for our future generation.   As both Nelson and Ranum agreed, there is always more that can be done and improved on, but at what cost.   The question is will our society put more money into education.   A cultural shift is needed in order to change the traditional views of schooling.   Maybe some day Iowa will go to year round school or even change the time schedule to a 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. day.  (What do you think?   When could this actually happen?)

Leona Holt & Adam Riley- Guest Speakers 10-13-08

   I enjoyed that comments and responses by the two administrators that were guest speakers for this evenings Ed. Psych. class.  The highlights for me were the points made about what good teaching is.  (The teacher has to connect with the kids, motivate students, be a facilitator, know intent and outcomes, feel rewarded, but most of all have a passion for working with kids.)

   The discussion about the international competition with the U.S. was interesting.   Many reports show that the educational system in the U.S. is behind Japan and European countries.  Ms. Holt stated that education is not a priority in our culture anymore, school comes second to most other activities.  I do agree with this statement.  We hosted an exchange student from Germany several years ago.  She told us that school was just for education.  Involvement in sports was separate from school.   You had to join a club and pay for it to be in a sport.  The same was true for music.  The issue of year around school was also an interesting topic.  Tradition and finances may make it difficult to establish year round education in many places.

We have many challenges ahead of us as teachers and administrators.  The best way to deal with these issues is to be open minded and remember to put the kids best interests first.

High Stakes Community Schools

   I thought the activity of the "mock public meeting" was an effective teaching/learning tool.   The proposals for the imaginary school district were good ideas to get us students thinking about real life situations in education.  So often there are differences in opinions about what are the best practices for a school district to implement.   Education is a personal and emotional issue for many people.  (Some of the students roll playing really got into their characters.)  Many lives are affected by the decisions made by a school board.  The school district is a reflection of a community. Children, parents, teachers, administrators, community members and tax payers all should have a say in how the school operates.   But the bottom line is that the federal and state governments will enforce laws to make sure that No Child Is Left Behind.   All public schools must ensure that their students meet the standards that are set.

   I think that this exercise makes us future teachers realize that accountability for how and what students learn is the focus of our job as educators.   Teaching isn't easy, it is complex and demanding, so you better make sure that you are up for the challenge.  

  

The movie 13

I talked to my 17 and 20 year children about the movie 13 and about the Mall of America discussion we had in class last week.  My daughter remembers seeing a part of the movie 13 about four years ago.  She said that it was disturbing to her then to think of the sad lives so many young people have.  It was apparent that the girls did not have good role models in their lives.  The school seemed too open with little or no adult supervision.  

My son is 17 and likes to shop the name brands.  We talked about the kids in Minnesota prostituting themselves in order to buy the labels them prize.  We all agreed that selling sex for clothes is sick and goes to far in this material world we live in.  I explained to my kids that these children have major issues that are deeper than wanting expensive clothes.  Poor parenting is probably at the root of this problem.  The question was posed in class, Where are the parents? Obviously not very involved in their children's lives.  

Both the movie and the news report are disturbing.  It seems like in today's society kids are raising themselves; there are no boundaries with promiscuity as the norm.

How are educators suppose to do their jobs when students are so troubles with serious life issues?  Learning and achieving academically are not priorities for a lot of kids or their parents.  It makes me wonder why some of us want to pursue education as a career.   Maybe it's the idea that helping one troubled youth have a positive future is worth being a teacher.   

My Three Mules