studentsfirst.org

http://www.studentsfirst.org/#

This site is for the group that Michelle Rhee the former Chancellor of District of Columbia Schools. This groups number one goal is to change the way teachers are tenured so that younger teachers are not the first to be fired when school districts are cutting budgets. She justifies this by showing that younger teachers are much more effective and care a lot more while they are working. I think her number one goal is to keep good teachers. I think she might go around this in no the best way. She is automatically making more established teachers not care for her work but I think she has a good idea and I wish her luck. I am glad she cares about teachers.

Presentation Seven

This presentation was about the legal and ethical parts of being a teacher. Although some of the topics you would look at and say, "of course I should not do that!" It still needs to be talked about because some people do not know all the laws and ethical questions of teaching. One that pops to my head right now is a students right of privacy so we should as teachers never talk about students unless we are talking to another professional that deals with that student. Also the fact that teachers are mandatory reporters so if a student claims abuse to us we must tell authorities so we can help that student.  I thought they did a really good job and I was interested during the entire presentation. They also made me think a little while they where presenting about eliminating my facebook due to the legal/ethical issues that can be found with those. Good advice for future teachers.

Presentation Six

This was our group. I thought it went great although there was a lot of information to cover due to the fact that we were doing governance and finance. I think that the number one thing people should take from our presentation is that all is not created equal which is clear in our examples and our interview. Also they should take away a few views/opinions on school choices. Good job group.

My Ideal Teacher Prep Program

My ideal teacher prep program would be similar to what we are doing now with some differences. I think that we should all have a formal education as in college but I also feel that we should spend more time in the field working with current teachers learning what we can do to be better in the first hand. Much more time that student teaching should be spent in the field almost like tech school for the trades. I feel that we should convert things that way also mixing in more technology. Teachers must be on top of their game as far as technology goes so we should be using some of this technology every year we are in class. I think this would really help teachers today.

Unequal Education: Failing our Children

This video is comparing two different seventh grade students at two different schools. The thing that I found interesting is the film was how different their educations where. One school is a more inner city ghetto school and the other was a more up class suburban style school. I could not believe the differences between the two different schools. One thing that really stuck in my mind was the simple things. Like band equipment at the inner city school they had very basic equipment and at the suburban school they had much more to choose from. The thing that really bothers me is that this is actually happening. I feel bad for the children in America due to the fact that some are getting a great education but others are really struggling to get along just based on where they live. This is really a sad thing I feel that all children are entitled to the same level of education and in order to make that happen we have to push some form of equalization legislation to help schools get what they deserve and what they need.

Two Million Minutes

This was a very interesting film. I really enjoyed it. The video compared students from the United States, China, and India. What I found interesting where the several differences between all the countries. In the United States everyone is provided a free education, in India they have to pay for school. Also a difference is that in the United States every student in high school has a chance to go to college. In China it is hard to go to college and to advance through high school in that fashion. They seem to do more tracking in China than what they do in the United States. One thing that worried me was that the film said that the India Technology Institute is the best engineering school in the world because Bill Gates says so. The issue that I have with that is the fact that Bill Gates is not an engineer. I feel like a little more scientific evidence would be fitting for that claim. I thought it was a interesting film I enjoyed the fact that we could take time to compare all the different places. I would like to see another film with the same kids 10 years from now to see where they have gone.

Presentation Five

This group talked about everything you need to know about teaching. The basics of how schools are organized. The barking order as far as principles and teachers. They talked about the several different school levels such as high school, middle school, elementary, and early childhood. This was a great presentation and I really enjoyed it. I thought they did a good job keeping everyone interested the entire time. I look forward to the next presentation.