Field blog 6 and final field post blog

Today is my final observation at Height High. It has been interesting and memorable. When I went into the class room, I saw that Ms. Russell was frantically trying to set up the class room because the key to her room did not work, so she was late. I helped her pass out laptops and markers. Right when we finished the students started coming in for first period. I now know how the class is set up and how Ms. Russell runs the class. She always has a bell work so the students can warm their brains up and review past material. Then she gives them an independent assignment. She allows them to do this for a little bit, and then she goes over the independent work as a class. She does this so that the students can see what they know by themselves, and then she can make sure they are understanding the work. Today the students are working on a final project. They are supposed to create charts about the reaction rates of enzymes. The students use different colored markers to help them distinguish the data. This project is a better assessment of their knowledge than a test because the students have ample amount of time, and they can apply their knowledge on the subject. Both her second and first period classes work on the projects for the entire period.

Coming to Heights High opened my eyes. My entire life, I attended a public suburban high school that was in an affluent area. Heights High introduced me to people of different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Ms. Russell allowed me to see that teachers must be patient, kind, but accepting of students. She always gave her students respect so they students gave her respect. Ms. Russell is a good teacher because she never gave up on a child. She knew when she had to stop pushing a child that day, but she never stopped supporting a child. She had personal connections with every student and it allowed the students to trust her. The field observations helped me affirm that I want to be a high school biology teacher.

Field Blog 5

Today Ms. Russell is in a tough place. She has to send letters home to students who are below a C in her classes. In her first period class she has 13 students who are getting letters sent home. She says that most of those students are doing poorly in the first period class because they have poor attendance. Her grades are 60% in class and 40% assessment, so class attendance is key. While the students are working on bell work, she passes out the letters. The students seem to either be upset, or annoyed. She announced that the students need to have a parent or guardian sign the paper and the student needs to return the paper tomorrow. The students put their letters in their back pack or fold it and put it in their pocket. Then Ms. Russell has the students work on another web quest. I am starting to think that she uses web quests a lot. Ms. Russell walks around the class room and helps students if they have questions. The goal of today is to get above a 25% on the online quiz at the end of the web quest. This is so she knows that the students tried on the online quiz and did not just hit random answers. The bell rang and Ms. Russell pulled one student aside and said that he had to call home. He was failing the class and if he failed this semester, he would not graduate in the spring. It is his fourth time taking biology. He tried to talk his way out of calling his guardian, but he ended up calling. He left a voicemail. Second period started and the class was small. A couple of students came in late because they were finishing a test. Ms. Russell only had 3 students who had below a C in the class. This was a big difference than first period. Ms. Russell passed out the letters home and then helped students with the bell work and went over the bell work as a class since everyone finished it. Second period is always better behaved, on task, and ahead of first period. I think this is because Ms. Russell can give specialized attention in this class because it is a smaller class.

Field blog 4

The classes are working on another web quest. This time it is about enzymes and reactions. The students are finishing the web quest from the day before because barely any students finished. When they finish the activity, they are supposed to work on their homework packet which is due before Thanksgiving break. The students are working hard because they want to work on homework. I found out that students only receive a homework packet if they have a C or lower in the class. Five kids do not have to work on the homework packet. One student arrives half way through the class and sits in the back of class and listens to homework instead of doing the class work. Ms. Russell told me that he is purposely trying to fail the class so he can go back to juvenile detention. Ms. Russell is still trying her best to help him learn though. He has a C or higher in the class thanks to Ms. Russell not giving up on him. The students finished up the lab and are attempting their homework. They keep asking Ms. Russell the same questions so she does an example on the board. That helped the students a lot because the students were able to understand what the questions were asking. The second period class came in and they had already finished the web quest, so Ms. Russell allowed them to work on their homework packets and work on any assignments that are due this week for the biology class. The students are grateful because each week they have a class packet worth 100-200 points due each week. They want to make sure they complete it and that it is correct. Ms. Russell says she uses the in class packet as a guide on what needs to be accomplished, and it forces kids to make more of an effort in class. Normally the packet cannot be worked on at home so they need to work diligently in the class. Ms. Russell understands that students come from all backgrounds and strives to help every student. She believes that every student can succeed if they want to. This mindset inspires me because she is so kind and helpful to her students and never gives up on them. She is tough on students who need to be taught a lesson, but still kind. She is a great teacher.  

Field blog 3

When I go into the class, I am starting to recognize students and learn names. The first period is very talkative. Today they are working on a lab quest. They are using Google Chromebooks. The students are complaining because the computers are slow. The teacher told me that the middle schoolers get iPads. The middle schoolers used to be able to take the iPads home, but high schoolers would wait for them after school and steal them and bully middle schoolers. Now middle schoolers cannot take home the iPads. To punish the high schoolers, they have not given them iPads yet and are forced to use laptops. The lab quest they are working on is about enzymes. Throughout the quest, they must take online quizzes and send their results to Ms. Russell. Ms. Russell does this so that she knows that the students are taking the quizzes and working. This relates to what we were learning about in class. In the reading from Ayers, Chapters 5 and 6, we learned that the curriculum needs to have hands on experiences. The lab quest allows students to apply their knowledge and learn material in a new way. While the students are working, she is at her desk grading papers. Once she finished grading papers, she passed the papers back to the students. Some students did not receive a paper because they did not do the assignment. Ms. Russell announced that the students who did not get a paper handed back need to see her after school. When the bell rings, everyone leaves except for one student because he is asleep. Ms. Russell woke him up and told him that his grades reflect his habits. He needs to start putting in more effort if he wants to pass the course. Ms. Russell says that she is not a babysitter. She is supposed to help students learn and teach them what they must learn. She cannot force students to learn. They must desire it. All she can do is facilitate it.  Ms. Russell’s second period class is very quiet. They all sit down and work on the lab quest silently. This class has a girl who is learning English as her second language, so Ms. Russell gives this student more specialized attention. Ms. Russell helps her with the lab quest and helps her try to process the information.

Field Blog 2

Today when I went to Heights High, I found out that attendance is rare in this class. I come to Heights High from 8-9:30 usually so I see two classes. The students in first period slowly trickle in. At my first observation, I thought that there were around 15 in the class. Today the teacher told me that the class is supposed to have 28 students in it. She said that usually she has around 15-20 students on any given day. It is hard for students to arrive at school on time due to busing. The high school got rid of high school busing due to budget cuts, so students either must find a ride to school, walk, or rely on public transportation. When students take public transportation, they are at the mercy of the system. If the buses are behind they will be late and if they miss the bus they may have to wait a long time for the next bus. There may also not be a bus that comes to them. Because of this, many students are late, and have bad attendance. We learned on a field trip to Noble elementary that they have received a lower rating. I think that the lower rating affected their funding for the school. I think that school funding should not be based off tests. Students need busing so they can learn. It is not a student’s fault that they cannot find a ride to school. Today the students were taking a test. There were 13 kids at the start of class, and by the end of class there were 18 kids. Right when the students came in, they grabbed the homework packet and then took the test. The teacher allowed students to stay after class to finish the tests if they came in late, but only 3 kids stayed after class. I witnessed one kid turn in a blank test. I have noticed that this student is always on his phone during class, so he did not understand the material for the test and did not know any answers, in my opinion. Ms. Russell was very helpful to the students, answered questions and made sure that no one was cheating during the test.  

Field Blog 1

Today was my first day observing at Heights High. I am observing a high school biology teacher named Ms. Russell. She has been teaching for over 16 years and loves it. When I walked into Heights High, I was greeted with by a security guard and was asked to present my license. After this, I attempted to go to my teacher’s class room. A security guard tried to force me into the lunch room because the guard thought I was a high school student. I tried explaining that I was a student at John Carroll University and that I was doing teaching observations. She did not believe me, but when I showed her my Carroll card, she let me go to the class room. The class room was small and had bare white walls. The teacher said that the school used to be a small middle school but it is being used now while the new high school is being made. The students all came into the classroom talking and joking around. On this day, it was the day after election day. The students had just woken up and either had their dreams come true or their worst nightmare became a reality. The teacher struggled to get the classes attention because the students kept talking about the results of the election. All the students in the classroom were African American and it seemed like most, if not all, were unhappy that Donald Trump would be the next president. After about 10-15 minutes of time where the teacher tried teaching a lesson, she lectured the class saying, “I am a immigrant. You don’t think I am just as scared as you are? I am a woman, an immigrant, a teacher, and a mother. I am a mother of 2 kids who are the minority of the minority. They are mixed, and I am worried about them. We can either keep wasting time and keep being fearful of what the next president can do, or we can educate ourselves. He cannot take away your education and your knowledge. Now let’s expand your knowledge and learn today. He can only win when we stop educating ourselves.” This speech was amazing. The students listened to her and did their work. I gained so much respect for the teacher after her speech and the students did too. This helped me understand why the security was so tough on me today, because they may have been on edge after the results of the election. This teacher was able to inspire her students in 2 minutes and give them a new desire to learn. This relates to what we learned in class. We learned about how African Americans and other people can be discriminated against and how school needs to be a safe place. This teacher made the classroom into a safe space.

Blog Post 10

When I look back at all my blog posts, I realize how much I have learned about education. I brought real life experiences, opinions, and lessons together so I could reflect on education in greater detail. I spoke about how I think that schools should not diagnose students left and right with different learning disorders. I also wrote about how I think discussions are very beneficial to students. It allows students to apply their knowledge and answer and ask questions. I also believed that schools need to be safe havens for students, and teachers need to be accepting of all students. I also wrote in a couple blog posts about how schools need less standardized testing and more funding.

The themes that were common were that standardized testing hurts students. I wrote about how at Noble Elementary, they lose funding if they do poorly on tests. Schools also get graded on how well students do on tests. Noble received a poor rating, so now they must provide money to students in the Cleveland Heights and University Heights area who wish to go to other schools. I also wrote about how standardized testing causes teachers to have to teach to the test. Teachers must focus on information that will be tested. It is not bad to focus on material that is tested, but it causes teachers to forget to teach other valuable lessons and skills to students that their students can use to further their education and knowledge.

Introduction

I believe that standardized testing and the Common Core do not benefit students or the educational system. Standardized testing causes students to have more stress in their lives. A couple of tests throughout their lives cannot and should not dictate their future. I believe that education should shape and form students. It should allow students to grow and understand the world around them. Teachers should be able to teach information that applies to what is going on in their community. A school’s purpose is to help students find passions and gain knowledge. Schools should help students find a subject matter that they enjoy and can possibly apply to a job. Standardized tests take the focus away from that and turn the focus onto whether you can do something. Now do not get me wrong, students need to be tested to see if they understand subject matter, but standardized tests are so broad that teachers have to cover too much information. Adding on the that, Common Core causes teachers to not focus on helping students find their passion and gain knowledge. It causes teachers to force information down students’ throats. School should be a safe haven where students can find themselves and learn about the world around them. Teachers should be able to facilitate these ideas and nurture students so they can grow. Standardized Tests and the Common Core cause all growth to be stunted and it turns schools into factories where each student is made to regurgitate information.

Problem Statement

Common Core fails students because it dictates what teachers should teach. Teachers cannot teach students different ways to understand something. This can cause some students to be confused. Common Core and Standardized Testing causes teachers to teach information that will be tested on, or information that is mandated by the government. I think that the idea behind Common Core is good. There should be a standard saying what students should know at each grade level, but it should be flexible and allow teachers to teach the information how they want to. Standardized tests take up too much time in the class room. Teachers give students practice tests. These practice tests take up valuable time in the classroom. Standardized tests also take up time in the classroom because there can be days, up to weeks, dedicated to administering and taking the tests. Standardized testing affects students who are not taking the tests too. This topic is important to me because my junior year of high school I was affected by the mass amounts of standardized tests that were given to freshman. I was in an AP US History class and the teacher was forced to administer the freshman standardized tests. My teacher had to miss over two weeks of class time because of the tests. This caused our class to be behind in the subject matter. Those two weeks of class time that was lost could have helped us learn ore history. The class had only gotten past WWII. In the time that was lost, we could have gotten to present day.  During the test, there was a question that counted for 40% of the exam. It was about the conservatism of the 1980s. I knew nothing about it, and the class knew nothing about it. Because of the time lost to standardized testing, the class performed poorly on the AP test.

There have been many studies that show that students who have been taught with the Common Core have had lower test scores. There have also been studies that show that students who have been taking standardized tests their entire life, are less prepared for college. I think this is because schools have been rewarding students who can regurgitate information, instead of rewarding students who can think critically, make connections with the world around them, and apply what they have learned in the classroom. I also believe that basing a school’s funding off these tests is terrible. The standardized tests a designed to help some students and hurt others. For example, if a student was told to write a story about the time their mom took them to the beach. Can a student without a mom write as good of a paper as one who does have a mom, or can a student who has never left their city let alone gone to the beach write as good of a paper compared to a student who was been to the ocean. A school’s funding should be based on their need and what they will use it for. Standardized tests already cause some students to be at a disadvantage. 

Blog Post 9

Works Cited

"Envisioning a common core curriculum." American Educator, vol. 34, no. 4, 2010, p. 37+. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA296963901&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=ab0b2626451b0ff380cff83f50289df7. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source gives different views on the Common Core. Most of the viewpoints in this source say that they dislike the Common Core, but believe there needs to be a standardized core across the country. In the journal, it talks about each specific subject area and how the Common Core fails it. What I like about this source is that then they describe how to fix it in each subject area and what should be focused on. The source also has one person who thinks that the common core is good and that it does not need to be fixed. This opinion challenges people to think of a better core that the government will agree with. This person believes that there cannot be a better Common Core that the government will agree with. This source will add more information on how to fix the Common Core and it will give me opposing viewpoints. Opposing viewpoints allows me to disqualify those opinions with other sources.

Singer, Alan. "Results Are in: Common Core Fails Tests and Kids." The Huffington Post, 2 May 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/results-are-in--common-co_b_9819736.html. Accessed 12 Nov. 2016. This source talks about how the Common Core failed students. Seniors from 2013-2015 showed that their performance in math dropped and they did not improve their reading at all. Compared to 1992, the seniors were further behind. The source says that only 37% of students are prepared for college due to the implementation of the Common Core. The standardizing of education should not mean that only 37% of students are ready for college. Yohuru Williams, who is a Fairfield University Professor, says that the standardized tests are unfair to needy students and causes students in urban areas to fail. This source will give me data and examples of how the common core is hurting students. The source shows that the Common Core is causing students to digress and not be prepared. The data shows that there needs to be a change in the system.

"The standardized testing problem no one talks about." Washingtonpost.com, 17 Apr. 2016. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=News&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA449824134&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=c738b4ff89ea3829a4703045afbbd60d. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source is about the problem with standardized testing that is rarely talked about. The problem is that students do not care about them. If the students have a mindset that they only have to pass a test, and that getting a good score does not matter as long as they pass, then the students will not try very hard. This causes results to be skewed and not be a true representation of the students learning and knowledge. It also causes schools to look bad. Kids think it is cool or funny to not care about standardized tests. This causes more students to not try their best so that they can fit in with their peers. This source brings up another problem of standardized testing. I can use this source when I am describing why standardized tests are not a true representation of students and knowledge.

"The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing--But You Don't Have To Be." American Educator, vol. 39, no. 3, 2015, p. 39. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA431349001&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=ef63160d256b50878b8efd0c1ff2d8cf. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source talks about how standardized tests should not be focused on. Personal assessment and performance assessment is key. If a student can perform math correctly and pay attention, that is more important than being able to do 20 math problems in 10 minutes. The source also talks about how Common Core is not helping students as much as it helps businesses. Businesses can slap the title Common Core on a book and sell it to schools. Common Core has also caused school to buy new books so it meets standards. Buying new books has allowed book publishers to make more money. Th worst part is that sometimes the books that say Common Core do not actually follow the common core. This source lets me talk about who benefits from the Common Core. It also brings up what kind of assessment should be valued over standardized tests.

Urzillo, Robert L. "Prosperity requires more rational testing: standardized assessments take the art out of teaching and measure wrong skills." District Administration, Jan. 2016, p. 68. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Magazines&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA440551114&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=99c8d693f5c156f10c669922e62d5368. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source talks about the unnecessary stress that standardized tests put on teachers. It causes teachers to teach to a test and try to teach students how to test. This source explains how standardized tests stress teachers out, but it stresses administration even more. The results of the tests reflect on the school. The problem is that the administration only has standardized tests used as an evaluation of their job. This causes administration to be rougher on teachers and for teachers to not teach students about everything they want to or believe is important to know.  This source shows how the standardized tests put pressure on everyone including administration, and teachers. It shows that you cannot blame the teachers for teaching for tests. You must blame the system or the process that enforces it. In this case, that is standardized tests.

Blog Post 7

         What is greatness in teaching? To me, it is being an ally to students, being helpful and understanding, and being supportive. Greatness in teaching is also teaching in a way that students learn material and can retain and apply it. Last Thursday, we explored what being a good teacher is in the book, To Teach: The Journey, in comics. On page 101, it specifically lists the best parts about school. The book says that students who are comfortable, and believe they can be successful are the ones who have been affected by teaching. I think that all students should be comfortable and feel successful and that it is a teacher’s job to allow students to feel this way.

When I am future planning, I hope to be an ally to students. I was fortunate enough to have had a couple teachers who I could go to with anything and they would help me. I could go to them saying I had a bad day, or tell them about a problem that I was having and they would always be there for me. I would hope to be one of those teachers. I want students to feel comfortable coming to me for help or guidance. Students need to know that school is a safe place, and teachers can help students realize that school is safe.

My Planning Guide is:

-to always be an ally to students

-have a no tolerance for bullying policy

-be supportive and understanding

-teach to the best of my ability

Field Post 3

How can a teacher challenge students in the classroom?

When I went to Height High, I was put in an honors biology class. The class had students from all backgrounds. On the day that I was observing, the students were going to be working on a lab. The students got to work with their friends during the lab. The teacher challenged her students by having the students create their own experiment to test diffusion. Normally students have to perform a lab that the teacher assigns. By letting students create the experiment, it caused them to be more engaged. I wish that I would have been challenged to create an experiment of my own so that I could apply and practice the scientific method, and critically think about how to test an idea. By having students create the experiment, it forced them to think critically and work with others to come up with a way to test diffusion. Ayers and Freire would have liked seeing students apply their knowledge and not just regurgitate information. In a way, performing a cookbook lab (lab with directions) is almost like having students sit through a lecture. Only in this format, the students get to move around.

How can a teacher help students learn without lecturing?

At Heights high, the teacher forced students to create experiments, but she also allowed them to make mistakes. When she walked around the room, she let the students think of new ideas and ways to test ideas. She only took control if students got off task, or they would not be able to test their ideas in the time allotted. When I was at Heights High, I saw kids enjoying learning and enjoying others company.

BLOG POST 6

For homework, we were assigned to read chapter 8 of the book, Educational Foundations. While we were reading, we were told to put post it notes in sections of the book that interested us, caused us to have questions, or areas where we were confused. When I was reading, I put a post it note on page 104 for the first paragraph. The section is about how teachers make students into “receptacles” who memorize information and regurgitate it. I put a sticky note there because I agreed with the idea. I think that teachers sometimes just teach to the test or relay information. They do not care if you understand it, they just want you to do well on the test.

I brought that up in class when we were broken up into different groups. My partners agreed with me. We both felt like many teachers just stand and lecture and expect students to spit back the information. To me, that is not what learning is. Yes, there needs to be some lecture but there should also be discussion. There should also be application of the material so students can see what the know and apply the material before they take an exam on it. This seems to be a problem in college because there are so many lecture classes and for some classes, the only hands on application or discussion is when students are taking an exam.  Education is not just depositing information, but reflecting on the information and drawing new conclusions or asking questions.

Blogpost 5

Rofes believes that there needs to be more changes done for the LGBT community to be accepted. There are liberal and radical approaches, and liberal approaches are more common. The problem though is that liberal approaches do not bring radical change. It is true that liberal approaches are more common. Many high schools have GSA’s and support systems for students. There are also many websites, support centers, and programs for LGBT people. Rofes thinks that there needs to be more education for the people against LGBT people. Those people are the problem. LGBT people are not causing any problems.

My junior year of high school, students at my high school tried to create a GSA. The students who were trying to create the club were all close friends and they told me about all the backlash the principal gave them about the GSA. In the end, the principal allowed the GSA to be formed. Unfortunately, my senior year, seven of the eight founder of the club graduated and the person left in charge of the club stopped caring about it. They only held one meeting the entire school year. A reason the GSA was not a priority was because the president my senior year was not LGBT and did not feel any discrimination. I think that no matter what, people should care about the hardships LGBT people go through. They may not be public, but problems still happen.

When I in vision the school that I will be teaching in, I think of a school that is very accepting of students. I would hope that the staff and faculty were open minded and supportive of all students regardless of race, sexual identity, or identity. I would want to be a teacher that was welcoming to all and a safe haven to all students. I would listen to students’ problems and support them. I would also have a zero tolerance for bullying of any kind.

Field Post 2

This past week, we attended Shaker Heights Middle School. I went to two science classrooms. One was a seventh grade class and the other was an eighth grade class. When I was in the seventh grade class, the students were learning about energy transfers. The students were split up into table groups. Each table had boys and two girls except one table had 3 boys and two girls. The students were working on a worksheet that forced the kids to communicate with each other to find the answers. The teacher walked around the room and allowed the kids to struggle a little bit before he helped them, so the kids would at least attempt the worksheet before giving up. In the eighth grade class, the teacher was leading a community circle. During this time, students get to talk about a specific question to the entire class and build a greater sense of community. The teacher allowed everyone to speak and only let one child speak at a time. In order to ensure that only one child spoke at a time, she passed around a talking stick and made the rule that only the person holding the stick could talk.

What Ayers means by building bridges, is that students need to make connections and grow as a person due to those connections. In all of Ayers examples, the bridge built helps the child learn and grow. In the eighth grade science class, the student built bridges between each other because they all got to express their opinion. The students were able to feel closer as a class and gain more of a community in the room.

Blog Post 4

Dear Representative Marlene Anielski,

In my Education 100 class at John Carroll University, we are learning the basics of education. What we have been told is that since 1997, Ohio's system of school finance has been found to be unconstitutional and still has not been changed. In our class, we watched a video about how poor the school buildings are for the students. Some kids have to walk through puddles of water in the hallway, and others have foundation that is cracked. All schools are being affected by the lack of funding. Suburbs and urban schools are affected. I am an alumni of Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School. Brecksville has the stereotype for being full of affluent people.  Brecksville recently got a new high school. You would think that the school would then have no problems. That is not the case. The school was built backwards, meaning the from of the school is now in the back. The school has mice and garden snakes in it. The school has orange water from rusty pipes. The school, back in November, had two floods in one week, but students had to stay in the school. During the floods, poop water was in the hallways, ceiling tiles were falling, and peoples lockers were ruined. People also had to walk outside in the rain to get to certain classes. All these problems are not even bad compared to the fact that the school is sinking. There is a gap in between the floor and the wall. There is also a crack in some of the walls that separates walls. Ohio needs to change their finances so that all schools are safer.
Thank you for your time,
Maddy McBride

Field Post 1

Descriptions	interpretations	Parking lot
Students were being taught about phonics, specifically the    -th sound	Children are struggling speaking those words.	Children who are younger struggle with pronunciations and need to learn what sound those letters make
The students are practicing spelling by having the teacher say the word.	They do not know which word to spell. If there are 3 forms of the word there, their and they’re
The teacher has a stop light for behavior	Some kids are misbehaving badly	Some of the kids I thought were misbehaving were not listed as in the bad zone
There was a woman who walked in and focused on one child	She is helping the kid who is struggling in the class	I have witnessed in my old school that specialized help means the child is behind
Students were pushing chairs and calling names	The kids were bullying the other child	The boy who was pushing the chair and calling names was in  the red zone meaning he was in trouble. I am presuming he is causing this.
Students are reading to themselves	Students are not comprehending	The teacher says they are not doing it, but from what I saw, they were.
The students read out loud as a group but you could only hear a couple voices	The students are still struggling with reading	They are in second grade so I do not know what level they need to be reading at.

My Reflection:

This past Thursday, we visited Noble Elementary School. It was very interesting. I am from a suburban public high school and I have little experience with urban schools. Observing the class opened my eyes to a whole world outside what I perceived as school. When we walked into the school, we had to have our licenses for identification. My old elementary school was very lenient. To enter the school, you just had to sign in. We listened to the principal of the school describe the school and give us information about the school. We then went and observed classes. Chloe and I observed a second grade class. Being in this class helped me realize that I do not want to be an elementary teacher. I do not have the patience needed to teach phonics and teach kids how to read. A special kind of person is needed and I am not that person.  I also observed a teacher giving special attention to a boy. He seemed to be struggling paying attention and with basic reading. I also know that I could not be that kind of a teacher because even more patience is needed. I know that teachers need to be patient, but I would rather teach harder concepts. I also enjoy science more than teaching others how to read. We went back to the principal and learned that Noble Elementary School is a focus school and has to pay $5,000 dollars to families who send their children to private schools in the district. I think that that is wrong and the school should not be forced to do that. I also learned that there is a third grade reading guarantee. This means that in order to move to 4^th grade, you have to pass a reading test. I think that stresses teachers out but it is a good rule. This makes sure everyone can read.

Blog Post 3

One question that I came across during my reading of, To Teach,  was, ”Should schools start diagnosing children with different disorders?”  I think that there is some good and bad that can come out of the spike in the diagnosing of disorders. Some children really do have a disorder such as ADHD or a learning deficiency. Those children need to be able to have special attention and accommodations made for them. I do think that we diagnose kids too willingly. When people are questioning if there is something wrong with a kid, they think the worst. They believe the kid has a disorder. I have witnessed this when I worked at a daycare. The teachers and workers would always diagnose the children with disorders. If a child acted out just once, they would say the kid has some disorder. The problem is that sometimes kids are just being kids. They have to learn from mistakes. There's an idea that if students do not fit in a box, then they are broken or messed up. That is not true. Everyone is different, and teachers need to realize that. Kids have lives outside of school. Those lives could be affecting their performance. Before we say a child has a disorder, we have to listen and talk to the children more to understand their home life. Teachers need to be understanding of each student and not expect each kid to be perfect all the time.

Why Teach?

My family is full of teachers. My dad is a high school English teacher, my aunt is a middle school English teacher, and my cousin is a fourth grade teacher. Teaching is in my blood. I want to become a teacher so I can help students understand the world and inspire them. I really enjoy biology, math and science, and I would like to help kids enjoy those subjects too. The best teacher I ever had was my sophomore biology teacher. He made biology interesting and fun. He covered great amounts of material, but it never got boring. He assigned lots of homework and projects but it never felt like busy work. I enjoyed the discussions we had on the ethics of biology and on the biological world. He inspires me to be a teacher. I want to inspire kids just how he inspire me.

In Chapter 3 of the book, Educational Foundations, there were ten questions asked and discussed. The most important question to me was, “What do you know that you can teach to or share with your students?” I think that the answers to this question really explains what you can do. My answer to this question is that I can understand people from different backgrounds and be equals with that person. I can share my past experiences to teach others how to be respectful. In today’s world, learning to be respectful is extremely important, but hard to learn. Hopefully, I could change that.  

Another question that was asked was what age do you want to work with. I want to teach high schoolers because I want to go more in depth on discussions. I do not have the patience to teach second graders the rock cycle for a month.

Hi!

I'm Madelyn McBride, but you can call me Maddy. I am from Brecksville, Ohio. It's about 20-30 minutes away.  I am majoring in Biology, but I think that I want to be a High School biology teacher so I plan on getting a Teaching license.

I am on the JCU Dance Team and part of the Honors Program at JCU.  I used to dance competitively, and I would be a dance assistant for some teachers. I helped teach little girls around the ages of 6-9 how to dance, and I really enjoyed it. I also worked this summer at a Daycare center and I worked with infants to 5th graders. This experience helped me realize that I do not want to teach younger kids. I would rather teach middle school to high school.

To me, being happy is what matters most to me. In the book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore says, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." This is very significant to me because it helps to remind myself that I can always be happy if I remember that I can choose to be happy.

For me to feel comfortable in a classroom, I have to have students around me who are kind and respectful of others opinions. I also enjoy teachers who listen to students and realize that there are different ways to learn.

When I was a junior in high school, I was taking an honors chemistry class that was run by a teacher who did not care about teaching her students. She missed over 20 days of school and when you asked for help she would tell you to ask a friend first. This has inspired me to not be one of those teachers and to help all students.

Some issues that the education field is facing right now is that teachers are forced to teach toward standardized tests instead of teaching other items. Teachers are forced to focus on the same concepts and are not able to expand students minds.

Have you always wanted to be a teacher?