SPC under Lockdown

Well, last week the school was under lockdown. I'm sure everyone already posted about this, meaning i'm a bit behind but oh well. Although nothing happened and I wasn't nervous through the whole thing, it does make me a little nervous. I worry about how schools will be when i'm a teacher. I'm sure everyone has these questions, like what kind of stuff will happen in our classrooms, what kind of children will we teach. Stuff like that. idk i've just been thinking about it for a while. It gets me worried...does anyone else worry about safety in our schools? there has to be someone out there! lol.
--Mike

Since there was no class Friday...

I'll talk about my experiences at BHS again! Yeah, I know everyone's excited lol. This past week the kids studied the Jacksonian era and a little before and after that time period. To assess the students, the teacher used the smart board to play a little game. (If you couldn't tell already, I love technology, especially the smart board.) It was a quiz game in which the students played against one another. They played a preliminary game to win me on their team lol. I was put on the "democrats'" team. Naturally, we won lol. The key, though, was that the teacher told me not to answer anything directly, rather to ask the kids what they thought and "steer" them toward the right direction. Overall, I had a blast. Guess there's not much else to talk about.
--Mike

Technology in the classroom

After yesterday's lesson, I think most of us saw how various technological advances can be incorporated into our lesson plans. After observing in the high school, I noticed the school district in Bayonne is actually pushing the teachers, new and old, to use technology. For example, next year all lesson plans must be done online with the software provided. Some classrooms are equipped with several computers and a smart board. (Which is so freakin' awesome) I personally use OneNote and think it's a great way for students to take notes during class. Unfortunately, laptop computers aren't allowed in the classroom yet for students. I bet they will in the near future, though. Blogging is a great way to keep the students interested and alert. Also, its a great form of homework. A few teachers in the high school are actually testing their students online, which is also pretty awesome. My point is technology is being used in the classroom nowadays, things certainly have changed in 3 years.
--Mike

Article in TIME

This month's TIME magazine has an article in it about how to make better teachers. The article was interesting in itself, but I found the statistics more interesting. Did you know there are 3.2 million teachers in U.S. public schools? That excludes all private schools as well. With all those teachers, we need 2.8 million more by 2015. The average salary of a teacher is $47,602. Teachers quit the profession for a myriad of reasons, such as: too much load, not enough time to prepare, classes are too large, poor salary and benefits, and student behavioral problems. Another aspect of the article that caught my eye was a column on how to measure merit. What is the difference between a C paper and an A paper? Its gonna be our job to determine that. I guess being a good teacher takes the bear minimum and running way past that. It'll probably be hard, but its supposed to be a job, right?
--Mike

Today's Youth

Conjunction Junction really opened my eyes. LOL no but seriously that skit is awesome. Yesterday's class made me think about how strict to be when i'm a teacher. Today's youth hates guidelines, but you can't eb their friend either. I noticed that yesterday during my field experience. The first teacher I observed with was tough but fair and all her students seemed interested and alert. The second teacher was much younger than her and quite lax with his lesson. Children were walking around the classroom and yelling out the window. He did, however, have a small following of devoted students but the disruption caused by the other students was overwhelming the classroom and nothing was understood. I realize as a teacher you have to set rules but be fair and kind to the students. Like Mr. Grimes' second try at educating, the students like him much better when he was being helpful instead of attacking the students.
--Mike

Dropouts?

I just finished reading an article in the Baltimore Sun about dropout rates. Maryland had the idea to require students to remain in school, by law, until the age of 18. This would be fair and constitutional, considering 18 is the age required to be an adult. However, the cost would be outrageous. Also, the size of classrooms would nearly triple and the board of education would need 1100 more teachers. Do you guys think it's important that everyone be educated no matter what the cost? even if they don't want to be educated? how about if 16 was the cut off line and to 18 was left to the parents? Obviously a well educated society is necessary for our livelihood to be optimal. I think this education is important no matter what the cost. (If New Jersey doesn't hire me I might move down to Maryland lol)
--Mike

heres the link.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.ar.dropout11feb11,0,4548737.story

Sophomore Field

I wasn't there this Friday either, yeah i'm a horrible student lol. I guess i'll just talk about what I expect from sophomore field. I'm kinda nervous to go back to my high school. I've heard stories from the other teachers that the kids this year are horrible, makes me not want to go. I know what to expect and at the same time I really don't know what to expect. I just want it all to be over with. Hopefully in 3 weeks i'll look at this post and say the opposite, that i want to go back lol. We'll see i guess. Is anyone else nervous? anxious? scared? excited? all at the same time? I just can't wait to get out there but at the same time it feels like its happening all at once. Leave some comments about this and we can look here when were finished and see if we still feel nervous, scared, anxious, or excited.
--Mike

Different Types of Assessment

This blog is actually from Friday, I just never posted. Oops lol. Well on Friday we discussed different types of assessment and generally about how students and teachers feel "victimized" by assessment. It really doesn't have to be that way. The student and teacher can engage in different types of assessment beside the traditional pen and paper. For example, in a Math class students could handle their own "make believe store" and assign discounts to various items. Even in a History class assessment can be fun and memorable. In one of my classes, we actually held a mock Constitutional debate and convention. We compared our Constitution to the real one. Stuff like that can get students to even remember their assessments and actually remember the material. I'm not saying traditional pen and paper is a bad method to assess students, i'm just agreeing with today's (Friday's) lesson in saying expand your horizons and try different methods to get your students interested. I think that's what our public education system lacks.