Teaching Beyond Our Subjects

A few days ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about how many people make themselves sound kind of ignorant and, for lack of a better word, stupid when they speak. It's one thing if you're with a group of friends, not necessarily peers, and talk one way, but once you are in a professional setting--like college--a person is expected to present themselves better. Its very sad that people who I know got good educations in high school cannot express themselves with proper English. I actually had an English class here in which a student described one of the characters as "mad crazy", after he called her a "chick". I was absolutely appalled. Who were this students teachers in the past??

I am now realizing that this is where we come in. No matter what subject we teach, whether it be English, Social Studies, Spanish, Math, or Science, even Music or Art, it is necessary that we hold students to a higher level of communication. I'm not saying that every lesson has to be an English lesson of how to speak properly, but if they know the correct times of when to use proper grammar, they will be better off in the future. If they become too comfortable with using their every day language around peers, this will continue through college, and their future jobs. So no matter what we teach, we have to place some kind of emphasis on speaking properly, with correct grammar and speech, so that students are better prepared for the future. It all comes with the package, I guess.

Flexibility

Last week got me thinking. Not just the craziness on campus on Wednesday, but the week as a whole. We're always taught while making lesson plans to be sure to be flexible and prepared when we're actually out there teaching. Last week was a perfect example. Monday we didn't have class, which we knew about since it was a holiday. Tuesday was normal. Wednesday we had two classes, then lockdown. Thursday was normal, but classes were unusally small, perhaps students were wary about coming to school after Wednesday's events. Friday was a snow day (yay!). If this had happened in a high school, the lesson plans for that week would almost be shot. If a teacher is flexible enough with their lessons and prepared with extra material, a crazy week like last could be handled beautifully unlike so many times days are wasted in high school because teachers cannot deal. Just a thought..

Letter Etiquette

Just a quick thought...

I'm in the process of applying to study abroad next semester and today I had to send in the application fee. I had to write a formal letter to mail in with it, and it occurred to me that I completely forget how to write a letter--headings, greetings, etc. I know I learned it almost every year in middle school, and probably senior year of high school, too. I haven't written a letter since then, though. Everything is either an e-mail or a phone call. I actually had to go online to search how to write a letter, which is kind of ironic. Are we going to have to teach our students proper e-mail etiquette instead of letter-writing? Or maybe text messaging or instant messaging? A lot of offices now use inter-office instant messaging to communicate with each other, so will that be the next thing we'll have to teach? Or maybe something that we're not even familiar with ourselves yet...

No Child Left Behind

OK, so I was home for the long weekend and saw an article in the local newspaper (I can't find it online, unfortunately) about the No Child Left Behind Act, and its affects on the schools, the students, and the teachers. Teachers do have a tendency to "teach to the test" because of the law restrictions of children who have to pass the tests, we all know this. Maybe the students don't learn as much about the curriculum as they should, since teachers omit certain points to focus on others that are on the test. I went to high school in New York State, where they give the Regents exams. Unlike the state tests in New Jersey, the Regents were in all subjects (English, Math, Spanish, Sciences and Social Studies), and were given different years for different subjects. So basically, ALL of the teachers in our schools taught to the test so that we would all pass. But most of us did pass. We learned, the school got a good rating, and so did our teachers. Is that so bad? No, I don't think so. I don't think there is still a need to focus on the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act, do you?

How Good is Technology?

While on my way to Yahoo Games this evening, I came across a headline: High School Calls All 2,550 Students to Detention. My first thought was, sweet! a blog topic. My second was, that must have been one huge senior prank. After reading the article, I realized it was one of those tricky ones that the students didn't actually do anything wrong, and the school's automated calling system called each household and left a message with the parents that their child had to serve Saturday morning detention the following day (the messages were left on Friday afternoon).

A little disappointed after not hearing some huge scandal (just kidding...), I got to thinking how useful things like that are. The principal of the school said that by the time they figured out what was wrong, it was 9:30 at night, and too late to call everyone. They used the system again, which seems silly to me, to call everyone back and apologize. What a hassle!! I've used a system like that before, and it didn't really make sense. There were only sixteen people on the original list for Saturday detention, what is wrong with calling their parents individually? That way, if the parents have a question, they can have an actual converation with a human being (imagine that!!), instead of hearing a recording, hanging up, and then accusing their child of something they didn't necessarily do. Sometimes all this technology seems like its a waste of time, and there are some things--not everything--, but some things that should be done the "old-fashioned" way.

Check out the article!! http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2008-02-12-fla-students_N.htm?se=yahoorefer

Can We Teach Morals?

After doing a paper for Principles and Techniques on educational philosopher Nel Noddings, I began to think if we can teach our students morals and values for their good outside the classroom. Her philosophy is all about caring, and sometimes crosses the border of moral education. For some, it is ridiculous to think that moral education is something that should be done in the schools, while others believe the schools are where children should learn values, since not all parents can be depended on to do so. Should us teachers be depended on, though? We have enough trouble dealing with the actual content of the curriculum, do morals really need to be immersed into that also?

Most children's morals and values come from their family, and usually their religious and cultural backgrounds. Since each student is different, we don't really have a right to impose on them. However, I do believe it is our duty as teachers to teach them common courtesies-- saying please and thank you, everyday respect, making eye contact while speaking, professional greetings, etc.--that may not necessarily be taught at home, all of which will be expected from future employers. How to behave in certain situations, on the other hand, is something that can be dealt with by each individual's conscience, or their families--those morals should not be up to the schools to handle.

Asperger's Syndrome

For whatever reason, I decided to visit http://www.education.com, really, just to see if the website existed. As I thought, it was a website consisting of different articles and such for parents, teachers, and students. While looking through, I actually found an interesting article generally explaining Asperger Syndrome. I realized how important it is for educators to be aware of a disease such as this, since often times it is quite possible to overlook, claiming a child may just be "socially awkward".

Recently, Asperger's has been more open in the public eye. For example, a contestant on America's Next Top Model had Asperger Syndrome, as well as a fictional character in a book I recently read. Since it is a milder form of Austism, it is often times not seen as very serious, but it is difficult for these children to learn, unless a teacher can understand how to help them.

Here are some websites with advice and other links to help students with Asperger's that may be in your class. Since they, usually, are "normally" functioning, there may be a student in our classes with Asperger's, whether it has been recognized and they have an IEP plan or not. We need to be able to recognize how to help these students with their learning!

http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/education.html
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/karen_williams_guidelines.html
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Asperger_Syndrome/