Monday, November 26, 2007

Inquiry project

As the end of the semester comes closer and closer the inquiry project is becoming more and more of a problem. I have emailed my teacher from Newark and he has still not responded to them. And quite frankly I'm getting really pissed off about it. I know it was just Thanksgiving and was a short week but is it that hard to respond to an email. This is becoming more and more of a headache. I already set up an appointment at my school from home if he doesn't get back to me by mid week this week because I am done wasting my time with emailing him 500 times. But me, Frank, and Lauren have been getting our information set with the citations and main points are just about ready to sit down and start writing the paper. It might take a couple days to write it and get everything straightened out but hopefully we can get it done before the last day of class because I personally cannot afford an incomplete in this class or else I will not get into the teacher program which will set me back yet another year.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

ed.gov website

I think the ed.gov website is a really interesting website. It gives you a chance to look for anything that relates to education in the United States. One topic we had to look at was the No Child Left Behind Act. It let us look into all different articles about it. It has tons of information about it and some interesting facts. It talked about that the funding for the arts is being cut. They are testing reading, math, and more subjects in schools. They also talk about the Title I funding. Which is free or assisted lunch in schools. And that is the % of students living at or below the national poverty level. It also talked about the Abbott Decision which is from Abbott vs. Burke. The case referred to school funding formula that was inequitable and Universal Pre-School.
Also in the article we found differences from the old law to the new law. One difference is the qualifications the teachers need. You can not teacher with out an Associates degree like you used to in the old law. Another difference is the raising of the standards. A lot of school districts are changing the standards to have better schools and having the children learn more.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Annenberg Reading

I think this reading was very interesting. The A, E, I, O, U concept was also very interesting. The exercise we did in class proves that this concept applies to most schools. When we came up with questions we had about Arts High and had to put them under the specific category it fit. I agree with all of the AEIOU concepts and what they say about all of them. I too also think that the promise is in the urban schools because thats where most kids need the most. I also think that diversity does bring creativity. The more diversity the school has the more the students can do with that like; plays, musicals, and many other things. Another important thing that was mentioned in here was that you have to acknowledge the students strengths. This is important because to know what they are strong at makes it easier for you the teacher to teach them the material.